Page 44 of Spirit Witch
We shared a look of mutual dismay. ‘No,’ Winter agreed. ‘It’s definitely not.’
Chapter Thirteen
It didn’t take a genius to realise that Eve hadn’t imagined the smell. I didn’t even have to open my front door to notice the reek – and there was no denying what it was.
Winter glanced at me. ‘Is that…?’
‘Cat pee?’ I opened the door to fully appreciate the eye-watering effect. ‘Oh, yes.’
He looked embarrassed. ‘I’m so sorry. Princess Parma Periwinkle is never normally like that.’
‘Don’t apologise. I’d lay money on this all being down to Brutus.’
For a moment Winter looked puzzled then his face cleared. ‘The phone call earlier. This is what you were on about.’
I nodded grimly. Yeah. Talk about rubbing your nose in it.
Princess was nowhere to be seen. Brutus, however, was sitting on the windowsill and staring outside. I marched over. ‘What gives?’
He didn’t so much as twitch.
‘Brutus,’ I said, in my best stern voice, ‘why have you been peeing in here?’
‘I’m so sorry, Ivy!’ Eve appeared in the doorway. She was dressed in overalls and holding a spray bottle. ‘I’ve gone through a litre of this stuff trying to get rid of the smell and clean it all up but I can’t seem to find it all. Poor Brutus has really gone to town.’
My eyebrows flew up. Poor Brutus? ‘Oh,’ I said, ‘I wouldn’t feel too sorry for him. He knew exactly what he was doing.’ I glared at his back. He still didn’t turn around but I was fairly certain that there was a whisker quiver. He was probably suppressing a feline belly laugh.
‘He obviously missed you.’
‘We were only away for one night,’ I pointed out. ‘And he had you.’
‘And Princess Parma Periwinkle,’ Winter added.
‘All the same…’
‘Don’t worry about it, Eve,’ I told her. ‘It was very kind of you to try and clean up but I’ll sort this out.’ I looked around. ‘You could have used magic, you know.’
She seemed taken aback. ‘But that would have been a waste of energy.’
My mouth dropped open in astonishment. Winter looked away, trying not to laugh. ‘Elbow grease never did anyone any harm, Ivy,’ he said, with barely suppressed mirth.
I took the spray bottle from Eve and passed it to him. ‘Go on, then. You are really into your cleaning, you can sort this out.’
‘I can’t. I have to call the Order and warn them about what’s going on. If Blackbeard is trying to gain entry, they need to know straight away.’ He hurried out of the room.
I sighed. ‘Two days ago all he wanted to do was clean. I should have stayed ill for a bit longer.’
Eve looked almost as amused as Winter had. ‘Who’s Blackbeard?’ she asked.
I grimaced. ‘Long story.’
Brutus got to his feet and stretched out before turning towards us and yawning pointedly. ‘Bitch,’ he hissed.
‘I’m going home,’ Eve said hastily.
I waved a hand at her. ‘Yeah, that’s probably a good idea.’
She flashed me a quick smile then departed almost as quickly as Winter. I glared at Brutus. ‘You made everyone run away.’
