Page 20 of The Magic of Revenge
“Yes! Come and help me destroy these two. They need to be taken down a peg or eleven,” Palmer laughed and I found myself smiling.
Sighing, I pushed myself up and snagged myself a pool cue. The others shit talked and ribbed each other as we took our turns. We only had one ball left plus the eight, and they were dangerously close to one another. Palmer would have to be really careful not to scratch the eight ball. She leaned over the table and lined up her shot. The six ball found its home in the side pocket, but the angle with which the cue ball struck the eight sent it barreling toward the corner pocket.
"Oh damn, you just lost," Sloane chuckled as we all watched the eight ball get closer and closer to its target. Just when it should've tipped over the edge and disappeared from sight, it hovered there. Over the pocket.
"Magic to cheat, really? I expected better from you, Palmer," Cam admonished, shaking his head, but with a smirk tugging at his mouth.
Palmer shrugged and Sloane walked over, pushing on the eight ball to get it to drop into the pocket. A second later, the ball flew up into the air, hitting the ceiling, and the sound of what I could only describe as a rabid goat filled the room.What in the stars is that?
A flash of gray flew out of the pocket and landed on Sloane's head. His shriek was probably the funniest shit I'd ever heard.
"What the fuck is it? Is it a rat?" Sloane was spinning around, trying to get the creature off his head, but it had already burrowed into his luscious locks.
"Snake!" Palmer scolded, and Sloane's face paled. Cam's eyes were flying around the ground looking for a serpent. Whatever was on Sloane's head flew across the room and landed on Palmer's shoulder. "You're such a naughty boy."
"What is that? Where's the fucking snake?" Sloane demanded, looking two seconds away from getting up on the pool table.
"There's no snake. Well, there is. This is Snake. He's my familiar," Palmer explained, as a little face peered out from between her hair. "He's a squirrel."
I stepped closer to get a better look, only to find half of his face was skeletal. As in, exposed bone. One of his ears was missing.
"Palmer... I think your familiar is dead."
Snake started chittering in disagreement, scurrying down her arm to sit in her palm. There were more parts of his body that were skeletal. A back foot, part of his spine. There were two dark red, nearly black actually, fang marks on his neck.
"How is he alive?" Cam asked in wonder, holding out his hand to the small animal. Snake must've deemed him trustworthy because he hopped onto his hand immediately and allowed Cam to study him.
"Part of my powers. Remember what Asrael said about pushing yourself? When I pushed myself, I found I could reanimate animals," Palmer said, shrugging like it was no big deal.
"A necromancer?" Sloane breathed in awe.
"Yes, but so far only with animals. This little guy was attacked by a snake, which was how he got his name. He's taking it back for himself," she giggled and that was when I realized that she sounded at ease and relaxed for the first time since she'd arrived here.
"This is so fucking cool. I'm jealous as hell. He looks like a zombie squirrel," I practically squealed in excitement.
Get it together Kai. But oh my gods, I loved animals.
"Snake doesn't appreciate being called a zombie. He prefers the term hibernator," Palmer told us, holding her hand out for Snake to return to her.
"This is the strangest day of my life," Sloane said and I laughed. Snake's tail pulsed in a clear threat to Sloane as the mage studied him.
"What is it with hot women having cool pets? Palmer has Snake and S—" Sloane was cut off as he doubled over, groaning in pain and holding his head.
We surrounded him, throwing worried looks at each other. Was he okay? Fear skated down my spine. There'd been too much loss lately, my brain couldn't handle anymore of it.
"Sloane, what is it?" Cam rasped, gripping Sloane's shoulders in support.
"Ugh. I'm not sure. I was thinking about how Snake's tail was twitching and it reminded me of something. My brain tried to connect the dots and then it just shut down. I'm okay now." He shooed us away, but there was a fine layer of sweat glistening on his forehead.
"You were saying something about women having cool pets," Palmer murmured, looking concerned.
"Unfortunately, whatever it was is gone now. Maybe it'll come to me later," Sloane grunted, dropping into the spot I'd previously been in on the couch.
"Well, I should probably go seek out Asrael and get ready to kick some ass—" Palmer stopped talking when her phone rang. She walked over to a small table where her phone was vibrating across the surface. A genuine smile broke across her mouth when she glanced at the screen.
"One sec, I need to take this." She walked away a little ways, talking animatedly to whoever was on the other line.
"Dude, what the fuck was that?" Cam asked Sloane.
