Page 19 of Okay, I Regret a Little
Chapter 15
Rei
I
loathed those bells. It wasn’t just that they made this horrible racket. The conversation with Wren needed to happen, and I was glad she was on our side. We could use all the input we could get if we were going to pull this off. She knew what I was now, and I just had this feeling I could trust her with it.
But I had zero time to process or talk about my new tail. I needed to talk to Hauser, but Faust drilled into me about what would happen if I missed count when he woke me up every morning. I needed my mentor, but I needed a solitary stint like I needed a hole in the head. Especially not when I was hopefully getting out of here soon.
Hauser was the one that figured out I was a Kitsune. He was pretty sure, but not one hundred percent. It was the only possible thing he found, but everything we read about them said they had multiple tails. The most powerful Kitsune had nine tails. I only ever just had the one.
It was a crapshoot trying to figure out how to earn an extra tail to know for sure. Some lore said they earned it through great trickery, and some of it said it came with age. Honestly, it could be either. I just had a birthday, but I’d been feeling twitchy since the heist at the museum. It was probably why I bit Venus instead of just hitting her with a rock, taking the amulet, and running like hell.
The only other person I knew who had studied demons was Rajack. He said Kitsune right away, and he always had this look on his face when he stared at me now that he knew. Rajack might have some input Hauser didn’t know, but that stupid bell meant we couldn’t talk about it.
Faust ignored me for count like he always did unless he was waking me up. Wren hopped on my cot and leaned in like she wanted to say something she didn’t want the foxes to hear.
“Does that spare tail mean extra powers?”
“In theory, but all I know is what we found online or in books. It’s not like demons are walking around for me to ask.”
“Well, what can you do? Anything besides sprout ears and a tail?”
“I’m still figuring that out, but so far, anything I want when it comes to stealing. I’ve also been known to inflict a little punishment on douchebags on the street.”
“Kinky. Like what?”
“Food tends to fly through the air, or they make an ass of themselves in front of the women they won’t take no from.”
Wren just scoffed.
“You’re such a delicate flower. I would have just killed them.”
“I’ve never killed anyone before,” I admitted. “But I have stolen shit from some of the most powerful people in the world.”
“Yeah, you had some big foxy balls stealing from the Aether Circle. I’m shocked you made it out alive with their grimoire. Pity about that stray hair. How’d you manage that fuck up?”
I was still mad about that hair. I would have gotten away with it if it weren’t for all that double-sided tape everywhere.
“The Aether Circle might be one of the wealthiest covens in the entire world, but they are kind of hoarders even with cats. I can understand feeding a feral colony outside, but there were enough cats in there to qualify for a feral colony that wasn’t being controlled. I don’t think they fixed any of those cats, and they kept all the kittens, and the kittens just had more kittens.
“They had double-sided tape everywhere to keep them from scratching things up. Everything was covered in cat hair, and it reeked of cat piss in there. I usually try to get in and get out. I was desperate to get out of there because of the ammonia, but I tried to avoid the tape. When I saw it was everywhere, it was totally insane. I tried, but it was everywhere.”
Wren started cackling. I was still figuring this witch out. I liked her, and I was glad she was on our side, but sometimes, she found the strangest shit funny. That silver hair put a death sentence over my head. It wasn’t funny.
“The Aether Circle probably doesn’t just want to kill you because you stole from them. They probably don’t want anyone alive knowing their coven headquarters are nasty like that. They want to be feared by everyone. And those poor fucking cats! If you’re going to get a pet, take care of it. As soon as we get out, I’m leaving a tip for some animal rescues to go liberate those cats.”
“I didn’t take you for being an animal person.”
Wren was tiny and adorable, but she wasn’t the cuddliest person I’d ever met. She was prickly most of the time, and I knew she could easily change her mind about killing us. I think she was angrier about how the Aether Circle treated their cats than whatever they did with the grimoire I stole. She looked far away for a minute.
“I had a pet raccoon before I got arrested. There was this feral cat that showed up on my properties. I started leaving food out. I was intending on befriending her and bringing her inside. This raccoon started showing up for the cat food buffet, so I started leaving extra food out.
“The cat was chasing the raccoon, and they both got hit by a car. The cat didn’t make it, but I saved the raccoon. She was the sweetest little thing. I named her Bella and knitted her little sweaters to wear when it got cold.”
Okay, maybe Wren was a little less scary. I didn’t take her for knitting sweaters for her pet raccoon. I could kind of picture Wren taming wild animals, but some things I just couldn’t visualize.
“I can’t picture you knitting at all, Wren.”
