Page 29 of Monster's Pet

“Didyou lock the door this morning?” I asked Aiden, bending to check under the unmade bed in the corner.

“Always,” Aiden said, shifting boxes to look behind them. “I don’t understand how this could have happened.”

“Okay, I have an idea.” I pulled out my grimoire and started flipping pages. “Remember how I wanted to try a tracking spell last fall when people were disappearing?”

“Yeah, but you needed a part of their essence, so we had to abandon that idea.”

“We’ve got some of Moonbeam’s fur here.” I pointed at the squishy bed we’d made for her. “I can use it to track her.”

“Perfect.”

“Ah, there it is.” I scanned the spell carefully, my finger leading my eyes down the page. “Not too difficult, thankfully, and won’t require much energy. Can you collect some of her fur for me, please?”

I grabbed a piece of chalk, drawing the symbols needed to set up the tracking spell on the desk in front of the grimoire. Aiden arranged the fur in a little pile in the middle.

“Do you want to have the spell cast on you as well?” I asked him.

“Yeah, then we can both watch out for her.”

“Great. Focus on this sigil, and make this sign...” I showed him the pattern required, drawing the energies of the fur and tracking symbols into my eyes. I blinked, the spell settling over my vision like a thin veil.

“I can see where she used to be,” Aiden said wonderingly, glancing around the room. “She curled up on my pillow.”

I turned to his bed. There was a splotch of purple magic on his pillow. “I think that the bigger the spot, the longer she spent there.”

“Makes sense.”

My gaze followed a purple trail to the kitten bed we’d made. A dead end. I switched to the other trail. It led to the door and out into the hall.

“Come on,” I said, scooping up my grimoire and following the purple line. I didn’t wait to check if Aiden had obeyed.

The trail led us on a merry chase to several other dorms, pausing outside the doors and never venturing inside. I didn’t bother going into any of the other wings, despite the fact that the purple trail led into them; it also came out again, heading down the stairs.

“A curious little kitten,” I muttered to myself, hurrying down the stairs. The veil made it harder to see reality, so I kept one hand on the railing and the other outstretched to avoid bumping into anyone.

“Wasn’t it the cutest little thing?” someone said nearby, when I got to the main floor.

“So friendly!” said another voice.

The purple trail led me into the mess. There were a lot of people in the room, seeing as it was dinnertime, and the wave of noise was almost deafening.

I took a deep breath, trying to block out the sounds of the voices so I could focus on my sight.

“Is it always like this?” Aiden asked from behind me. He sounded winded.

“Like what? Overwhelmingly loud? Everything else being blurry?” At his nod, I added, “I’ve never cast it before, but I would assume so.”

“Aww, aren’t you cute?”

“What a pretty kitty!”

“Does she belong to you?”

“No, not me. I wish, though. She’s so sweet.”

“I don’t think we need the tracking spell anymore,” I said with a chuckle.

“I’ll keep it on just in case it’s someone else’s escaped kitten,” Aiden said.

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