Page 10 of Heir of Uncertain Magic

Hulda stiffened and purposefully did not turn her head. “Y-Your lawyer?”

“Lawyer by trade, yes. He’s very organized.” He tipped his head toward Mr.Baillie. “I assure you BIKER would be in excellent hands with him.”

Hulda tried to imagine the lanky, disagreeable man behind this desk, assigning her to jobs, reading her reports ...

“And then our third candidate, of course.”

Folding her hands in her lap, Hulda asked, “Third?”

Mr.Walker looked surprised. “But of course, MissLarkin. I suppose MissSteverus didn’t have a chance to tell you that your name is up for the position as well.”

Hulda found herself fish-mouthing again. Because despite being an augurist, she certainly hadn’t seenthatcoming.

Chapter 3

November 3, 1846, Blaugdone Island, Rhode Island

The dog stared at the paper card and tilted his head to the side.

Merritt sighed. “Did you say something? Because I didn’t hear it.” His communion spell was a mess. Sometimes it went off on its own, and sometimes the signal got lost when he actually needed to use it. Or was it two communion spells? Were there separate spells for plants and animals? Or perhaps even a particular one for reeds and then another for, say, conifers?

Either way, it was utterly maddening. And yet not quite maddening enough to motivate him to seek help from the one person who should be able to give it. The letter he’d written to Nelson Sutcliffe still sat crinkled on the back-right corner of his desk.

O?The dog wagged its tail, and again Merritt wondered how much of the mutt had integrated itself with Owein, or if Owein simply embraced his identity as a terrier.

“Close.Q.” He set the card down and picked up another. “How about this?”

Owein’s attention strayed to the office window. Its mullion was a wood so bright it looked almost yellow, which dropped down into a curving and curling apron Merritt doubted had been part of the original structure. Most likely it had been a fanciful change wrought by acertain boy wizard, especially given that this window did not match any of the others in the house. None of the windows matched, actually. It had taken Merritt a while to realize it, and yet he sort of enjoyed the eccentricity of the fact.

Merritt turned in his chair, the back of which pressed against his desk, to glance out the window, but there was nothing. Likely Owein had heard a whimbrel or something of the sort. Which was fine, so long as Merritt wasn’talsohearing a whimbrel or something of the sort.

“This one?” Merritt tried again.

Owein’s ears drooped.This is boring.

“Do you want to read or not?”

The terrier sighed in a very humanlike way.Let’s take a break and work on magic!

Merritt cringed. “We’ve barely been at letters for ten minutes.”

The dog whined.

Merritt set the cards aside and reached forward to scratch Owein’s ears. Just like every other dog, possessed or not, Owein enjoyed this. Or perhaps he simply enjoyed being touched—a sensation he couldn’t truly experience while stuck in the walls of this house. On the floor behind him was a large alphabet chart Hulda had made, which had gone mostly unused. The idea was that if Owein could learn to read, he would be able to spell out things he needed when Merritt wasn’t around, or when Merritt preferred to keep his vocal abilities intact. “I can’t communion every minute of every day. You need to learn to use that chart.”

Truly, Owein fascinated him. Despite having a spirit some two hundred and twenty-something years old, Owein still behaved like a boy. He’d died at the age of twelve, and twelve was the age engraved into his heart. Perhaps his lack of maturity came from being alone for so long, away from the social and familial interactions that would have helped him grow up. Perhaps aging was a thing of the body and not the soul.

Merritt’s hands slowed. A long breath passed through his nostrils. “Best to learn it quickly. And take care when you’re running about the island. I don’t know how close I have to be to hear you.”

Owein pulled from Merritt’s fingers and tilted his furry head to the side.What do you mean?

Unease scraped along Merritt’s stomach. “Just take care.”

Owein pushed his nose into Merritt’s knee and huffed. Merritt sighed.

“You’re not a house anymore, Owein.” He ran his palm over his head. “Dogs ... don’t live as long as people do. So you have to decide what you want to do with the time you have left.”

Owein pulled back, whined. Walked in a circle clockwise, then counterclockwise.I didn’t think of that.

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