Page 31 of Office of the Lost

“We’re off to see the wizard?”Leopold asked incredulously.“Seriously?”

If Crispin understood the reference, he didn’t play along.He just sighed.“Needs must.”

The elevator dinged and the doors slid open.

The softly lit hallway had paintings on the walls and little tables holding vases of fresh flowers.Apparently being a wizard paid really well.

Leopold had a thought and came to a halt.“Hey, if this world is so much like mine, how come they have magic and we don’t?”

“You do.But there’s some sort of damper that keeps it from manifesting strongly.Nobody knows exactly how, and frankly, nobody much cares.Earth is an anomaly and also dangerous, so we all tend to avoid you.”

His feelings unaccountably hurt, Leopold followed Crispin silently to the final door, which was marked with a mysterious sigil instead of a number or letter.The door swung open before there was a chance to knock, revealing a plump archosaur with purplish scales and a royal-blue head crest.They wore a pair of neon-green sweatpants and a T-shirt advertising something called Theropod Airlines, with an image of an airplane soaring over mountains.

“Crispin!I am so honored to have you?—”

The wizard stopped and gaped at Leopold, eyes wide.“Oh no!Oh, we can’t havethathere!”

Leopold stared at him.What, now I’ve been demoted from pet to inanimate object?

“It’s fine, Juzir,” Crispin said smoothly.“I know your building has a no-pet policy, but there are extenuating circumstances.I can assure you thathe’shousebroken and doesn’t have fleas.”

Leopold shot Crispin a grateful glance for restoring his personhood.Or at least gender.Until now, he hadn’t been aware that a dinosaur could look both horrified and terrified, but this one did.“N-n-no!Take it away!”And the door slammed shut with enough force to shake the nearest vase of flowers.Several locks clicked into place.

“I guess he has an ape phobia.”Leopold stared at the closed door.

But Crispin was frowning in concentration.“I don’t think that’s the problem.”

“Well, it’s not my fault.I didn’t say or do anything scary.”

“No.But….”Crispin inhaled sharply and paled, staggering back a few steps.“Oh no.No, it’s not possible.”

“Crispy?What’s the matter?”Leopold reached out to steady him, but Crispin only backed away.

And then he spoke in a small, careful voice.“Leopold, you told me that you were adopted.What do you know about your, er, biological family?”

“What does that have to do?—”

“Please, Leopold!Answer me.”

Fuck.It sounded like Crispin was panicking, and Leopold was clueless as to why.And for reasons he couldn’t explain, he didn’t want to see the desk fae distressed.

“I don’t know anything about my bio parents.Some firemen found me squalling in front of the station as a newborn.I was in a basket, like Moses, only, you know, no Nile.No note either, or anything else.Not even a diaper.Authorities did a little investigating but never got anywhere.”He’d always tried not to dwell on it.At least someone had cared enough about him to leave him somewhere safe, and his adoptive parents had taken good care of him.When he was younger, he’d sometimes scanned crowds to see if he could find his features in someone else’s face, but he never did.

If anything, Crispin now looked even more upset.“So you could be… anything.”

“What do you mean?”

Crispin stared at him a moment.His eyes shone as if he were about to cry.“Oh, Leo.We need to talk.”

13

Crispin

Crispin hoped he was wrong.He prayed to the Dark Eye of Pothos that he was wrong.But the look on Juzir’s face… he hadn’t seen the archosaur wizard so scared since he’d had to face his finals in advanced scryology when they’d been dorm-mates at Hastor.And those exams had been potentially deadly.

He needed answers.And he most definitely did not need to think about how Leo’s lips had felt, pressed against his own, back on Phaxsi.Pheromones or no pheromones.

“You’re kinda freaking me out, Crispy.”Leo shut his mouth as a young archosaur couple approached—both male, by their coloring—frowning at the two of them.

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