Page 35 of Monster's Pet

“It wasn’t too far in. I think I see some of the blood,” I said, pointing out a black smear on a damaged tree. “What kind of clue?”

“If I knew, I wouldn’t have to go and look,” Aiden said with a chuckle.

Moonbeam growled, catching my attention, and I watched her curl up to scratch at the little device with her back paws as well.

“I can kinda understand why Professor Wright freaked out,” I said slowly. “The mother was easily eight times our size. But so are dragons. I’ve heard from Rhiannon that he’s cooed over venomous creatures and all sorts of other dangerous beings. I feel like his mind made leaps of logic that don’t make any sense. The manducare might eat magic, but if they’ve lived for so long, why haven’t they drained the ley lines before this? I can’t imagine that this is the first time that one was attacked, and the ley lines haven’t been drained in a thousand years. It makes no sense.”

I saw the clearing where we’d found Moonbeam ahead of us. “Should we bring her into range of her mother?” I asked. “We don’t want her to get upset.”

“I don’t think she’d realize it was her mother,” Aiden said thoughtfully. “Rhiannon said she’d imprinted on me, remember.”

“Be ready to deal with a possible scratching if she gets upset,” I warned him.

“Noted,” he replied dryly.

But when we entered the clearing, there was no sign of either the mother or the wolf.

“What happened?” I asked, turning in a circle. “There’s nothing here!”

“I think I know,” Aiden said grimly. “Professor Wright left the office earlier than us by just enough time to get here and clear the bodies away.”

“Either that or other animals took care of them,” I said.

Aiden shook his head. “Unlikely. It’s only been about a week. Scavenged, sure, but not a whole carcass.”

I felt a little sick. “What could he want with it?”

“Potion ingredients?” Aiden suggested. “Proof?”

The nauseous feeling in my stomach got worse. “That’s terrible.”

“We should still check around for clues... Anything we might have missed.”

We avoided the blackened areas as we scouted around, knowing the ground was saturated with blood. In the spring, those would be rich with life, but in the dead of winter, nothing was growing yet.

“Nothing,” I said at last.

“I hate to agree with you.”

“No, you don’t,” I teased.

Aiden chuckled. “Normally, I love to agree with you. This time, though...” He let his sentence hang in the air between us. “We should get Moonbeam back to the castle.”

“What’s the plan? Invisibility spell?”

“She’d probably just eat it,” Aiden said, shaking his head.

“Not if I’m holding the charm. And we’ll give her another ball.”

The one we’d rigged up was almost gone, both magically and physically. Moonbeam was curled up in Aiden’s arms, her eyelids slowly closing.

“Or she might sleep her way through it,” Aiden said hopefully.

“But what if—” I cut myself off with a little shriek as Aiden tripped over a tree root and fell, twisting in mid-air to take the brunt of his fall on his back to protect the kitten. “Are you okay?” I asked, hurrying over to help him up.

He winced, sitting up stiffly. “I’m going to feel that in the morning.” He rubbed the back of his head and grimaced, pulling his hand away.

His hand was dark with something, and I swallowed my fear, removing my nightsight and calling a low light into existence.

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