Page 29 of Incubus with Benefits
“Is that even possible?”
“Dunno. But apparently, they met at a café. She eats lunch there every day.”
A sharp crack split the air, and the plate with my half-finished BLT burst into flames. Penny jumped, I swore, and we scrambled to smother it before it spread. Smoke curled upward, and I stared at the scorched spot, heart thudding.
“Again?” I muttered, coughing.
“What do you mean, again?” Penny asked as she continued to fan the air with my notepad.
“This keeps happening. I melted most of my jewelry trying to build a protection charm at Julian’s place and set his table on fire.”
Penny blinked. “You what?”
“Yeah.” I picked up Julian’s gold chain, which luckily was still shiny and pristine. “I had to borrow this from him?”
“I was going to say, that doesn’t look like what you usually wear accessories-wise. When did this start?”
I knew she wasn’t going to react well, but she had to know. “After that spell at Delerium.”
“Why didn’t you say something earlier?” She looked pissed, and she had the right to be. If something like this were happening to my friend, I’d expect her to tell me too. But I’d honestly forgotten about it.
“Because I thought it was over. I haven’t had any problem casting since then. And I kind of forgot about it.” I left out the part about topping up my magic with Julian. Though, of everyone I knew she would probably understand best.
She stepped closer, eyes narrowing. “I’m not as good as Gigi, but let me check something.”
She placed her hands near my aura, eyes closed, lips moving silently. It tickled a little, even though she wasn’t technically touching me.
“There’s something attached to you,” she said. “A thread.”
“What?” I suddenly imagined a hundred little crawling insects on me. I ran my hands over my arms as if I’d be able to feel this magical thread she was talking about. But I couldn’t.
“It’s thin. Almost invisible. I can barely see or feel it, and the only reason I know it’s there is that I was looking for something. No wonder we missed it.”
“Do you think we can track it?”
“I’ll try.” She blinked. “Crap! I just lost it.” She kept her hands moving as if trying to find it again. She brightened. “There. Let me try again.”
I stayed stock still. But after a moment, Penny swore again. “It fades a few yards from your body, like it gets too thin to detect.”
We tried severing it first, then unwrapping it from my aura. Neither worked.
“I don’t like this,” I said. “It feels like I’m being marked.”
Penny nodded. “We need Gigi.”
We sent her an SOS through our group chat.
As we waited for her to close up shop early and come straight over, a pawing sound at my balcony door caught our attention.
“Hey, is that the stray you’ve been feeding?” Penny asked.
Shadow stared at us through the glass.
“Yup. Let’s see if I can get her to come in finally. She still doesn’t trust me fully.” I went over to the counter and picked up the can of tuna I kept around for just this occasion. Then, with the can open and smelling of fish sitting several feet inside my home, I opened the balcony door, hoping she was in the mood to socialize.
“Why don’t you try your talent on her?” Penny suggested.
I’d never actually tried using my talent on an animal before. Would it actually work? It didn’t hurt to try. I focused my talent on the little black cat.
