___

  “No, it’s not.” This time, as he spoke, he lifted his grey eyes to mine, and I matched his stare. We were too close, and this was too much. Too soon. I broke away from his gaze and took my arm back, rubbing my wrist where the mark was.

  “No,” I admitted, not meeting his eyes again. “It’s not a bruise.”

  ______

  He got out of the car, ignoring the fact that I just admitted to something so huge I knew I couldn’t take it back.

  I got out of the car, only to find Ryan offering me a hand. Despite myself, I took it, but this time it was warm, almost hot. Standing up, I removed my hand from his quickly, and I looked up to find him smiling at me.

  “Cool trick, huh?” I moved past him and started walking towards the restaurant, trying to straighten out my thoughts.

  He caught up to me, and cut in front of me to grab the door. My mind was still reeling, I stepped inside and didn’t even hear the waitress talk to me.

  “Just the two of us.” Ryan said, standing next to me. Numbly, I followed Ryan, sitting down and trying to focus on the waitress as she mentioned the specials, and filling water glasses. Taking a breath, I waited until she was gone before sliding my chair closer to Ryan’s around the circular table we were seated at.

  “How did you know?” I ask, keeping my voice down.

  “That night we met. You didn’t have the mark yet, but I could tell. Not many people glance at the back door that leads to the basement here. That is, unless they’ve been here before.”

  “So you guessed?” I say, incredulous. He smirked at me, taking a drink of his water.

  “Pretty much, yeah.”

  “Okay,” I started, but stopped talking as the waitress came back. She took our drink order and we both ordered the pasta this time, and neither of us spoke until she left again. “How do you know about the spell?”

  “The mark, obviously.”

  “I mean how do you know that that mark is from that spell, specifically?” I needed to hear him say it.

  “That’s a,” He hesitated, blowing a breath. “A long story.” He finished. But at least he hadn’t lied to me.

  “Fair enough.” I told him. “So, I’ve been thinking about what you said last time, about the fox?”

  “What about it?” He leaned forward, still keeping his voice low so the others couldn’t hear us. Though he seemed to relax now that I didn’t press him for answers about the spell.

  “You said the fox I saw, you said you didn’t think it was just nothing. So, what do you think it is?” He was quiet for a moment, obviously considering his words.

  “I think it’s connected with the spell.” I frowned, not understanding.

  “Like I’m hallucinating the fox?” Ryan laughed, his voice low, a sound I hadn’t heard before.

  “No, I mean, as far as I know no one has had hallucinations from the spell.” My thoughts drifted back to the flashes of images that appeared when I touched my side earlier, but I kept listening. “And the fox ever touched you? Acted strange, done anything that wasn’t normal animal behavior?”

  I remember feeling the weight of it’s head on my leg. And the way it approached me instead of shying away. I nodded.

  “Do you know the term familiar?” I frowned, puzzled for a moment.

  “You mean like witches and their,” I waved my hands to try to find the right term. “Spirit pet things?” Ryan laughed again, and I smiled, enjoying the sound.

  “Yes, their ‘spirit pet things’, and if I guess, that fox is yours.” I shook my head, that wasn’t possible. I thought for a minute.

  “So, do you have one then?” He wouldn’t answer directly, but I’d already made the connection that he had at least tried the same spell as me. I just didn’t know how far he had taken it. But as soon as I finished speaking the words, I regretted it. Ryan’s face only fell for a moment, but he tensed and pulled back, starting to fidget with his eyebrow piercing.

  “Had.” He whispered. There wasn’t any way for me to ask him to explain further. At least, not tonight.

  Thankfully, the food arrived a moment later, and I turned the conversation back to my work.

  “So you work at a cafe?” He asked me.

  “Yeah, we sell coffee—“

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  “With sugar and whipped cream and sprinkles and all that?” Ryan teased.

  “Yes, don’t act all high and mighty like you’re better than sweet coffee.”

  “Oh, I don’t have to act. I am 100% above drinking sweet coffee.” I rolled my eyes as he grinned, obviously making fun of me.

  “What do you do for work then? Since it’s obviously not serving coffee.” I ask.

  “Well, actually—“

  “No! You can’t give me a hard time about serving lattes—“

  “I don’t serve lattes.” He clarified loudly.

  “What then?”

  “I serve plain coffee with cream and sugar.” He explained slowly. “At weddings and stuff.”

  “Like caterer?”

  “Yeah, I serve food and beverages at weddings, funerals, receptions, things like that.”

  “Huh,” I say, smirking as I lift my glass of water to my lips.

  “Huh, what?”

  “Nothing,” I say, still grinning and shaking my head.

  “Just imagining you in a suit.”

  “Ah, well, yes, there are suits involved, if you must know.” Ryan winks at me as we finish up our supper.

  We make easy conversation as we get back to the car, and on the drive back to my apartment. As he parked a few cars down again, I wondered what I was supposed to do. Should I invite him in? Just thank him and get out of the car? I didn’t have a lot of experience with this lately. Thankfully, Ryan saved me from my panicking thoughts.

  “I have to get up early tomorrow, otherwise I’d come up and say hi to Tanya, but I’ll walk you to the door.” He got out, and as I moved to unbuckle my seat he told me not to move. I waited until he had come around to my side and opened the door for me.

  “Ever the gentleman,” I joked. “Thank you.” He winked at me again, and his hand shifted from ice cold to warm as I held onto it.

  “You’re welcome.” He answered as I now stood facing him. His mouth opened, he quickly pulled his hand away from mine, and he stared at something over my shoulder.

  “Wha—“ I started to turn around, but he put a finger to his lips, shushing me, then motioned with his head to turn around. I did as instructed, and a few feet away on the opposite side of the street stood a fox on the sidewalk. Watching us.

  “That’s your familiar.” Ryan whispered to me. At the sound of his voice, the fox’s ears pinned back, probably growling, though we couldn’t hear from where we stood. Obviously the fox was demonstrating a warning. “And protective.” Ryan chuckled quietly.

  “I don’t understand. Are you sure it’s not just an animal?” I whispered too, but I wasn’t sure why.

  “No animal would show signs of protectiveness like that without it’s little ones around. And it can understand more than you’d think.”

  “So it can understand English?” I glanced at the fox, and it hadn’t moved.

  “Probably not yet, but familiars learn really quickly. They’re smart because they have animal instincts and skills, but yet, they’re—“ He moved his hands to signify something expanding. “More.”

  I followed Ryan’s gaze back to the fox. It was moving now, along the sidewalk, closer to where we were standing. Ryan laughed quietly.

  “That’s my cue to leave. I’d walk to your door and kiss you goodnight, but I can’t guarantee it won’t attack me if I tried. So, thank you for the date, but I should probably get going.” Ryan smiled and me, and walked around his car, keeping an eye on the fox, who now sat, still watching. “I’ll text you.”

  I watched as he got in the car, and expected him to drive off. Instead he started his car and rolled down his window.

  “I’m not trying to be creepy, but I thought I’d make sure you made it inside your apartment before leaving.” He paused. “If that’s okay.” I smiled.

  “Oh, yeah, of course.” I turned around and made it to the entrance of my apartment and turned and waved awkwardly, not being able to see into his car from this distance. He flashed his high beams quickly and then drove off as I turned and nodded to the concierge.

  I turned and glanced at the glass doors to the apartment building, and saw the fox sitting outside of them.

  “Sorry, just forgot something.” I said to the gentleman at the desk. Making my way back through the door, the fox backed up a bit. But only moving a few feet away before sitting again.

  “You scared him away.” I told the fox. It looked up and blinked slowly at me. “He’s nice, you didn’t have to be like that.” I figured I probably looked crazy speaking to an animal like this, but thankfully I didn’t see anyone out on the street at least. I crouched down and held out my hand.

  “I don’t have any food this time.” I started to speak, but it didn’t seem to mind. It came up and nudged its nose under my hand again, and like before, its head rested heavily on my knee. Carefully, I moved my fingers gently through some of its fur.

  It still didn’t react, so I took a chance and placed my hand on its head. Its eyes met mine, but other than that it seemed tame.

  “I don’t know what to call you.” The fox moved back quickly, making my hand fall, and I adjusted my weight so I didn’t fall over. “Hey!” I called like I was expecting an answer or something. But without another glance, it turned around and walked down the sidewalk.

  “Okay,” I said softly. “See you later.”

  #

  As I expected, Tanya ambushed me when I got back to the apartment. Squealing, she came and hugged me as I walked in the door. I wouldn’t have believed people like her actually existed outside of TV if I didn’t live with her. Grinning, I tried to push her off of me so I could at least close our front door before the neighbors thought someone was being murdered.

  “Calm down,” I laughed, grabbing my keys out of the door and locking the deadbolt. “It wasn’t a date, like I said.” Tanya’s face immediately fell.

  “He didn’t kiss you?” I thought back to what Ryan had said, but at the time it hadn’t registered. Did he really say he was going to kiss me? My cheeks heated at the thought and I saw Tanya’s eyes go wide. “So he did kiss you!”

  “No!” I protested but it didn’t matter.

  “Oh, it was so a date, he so likes you.” She crossed her arms and crinkled her nose. “He’s a loner, he never hangs out with anyone from the group, except y’know, group things. So, that makes you special.” She added the last part in a singsong voice to add to the teasing. I held up my hands in surrender.

  “I don’t even know if I’m going to go out with him again. For all I know he could’ve changed his mind after tonight. Now,” I added quickly before she could ask any more questions. “I need to go to bed, I’ve got class and then work tomorrow.” I turned away and I could imagine Tanya’s stubborn look on her face as she called after me.

  “Okay, but you’re giving more details later!” I grinned back at her and shut my bedroom door. Placing my bag on the bed I collapsed on my bed and shut my eyes letting the night play over in my mind. Ryan and wanted to kiss me. And the fox was mine.

  I wasn’t sure what to make of either of those things yet, but at least he had said he would text me.

  Checking my phone as I put it on the charger, I realized I already had a text from him.

  I really wish your familiar hadn’t gotten in the way tonight. But that’s okay, it means I’ll have to see you again. I had a good time tonight, sleep well. I replied before putting my phone on my end table again.

  I had a great time as well, I’ll text you tomorrow. Have a good night.

  I smiled as I got ready for bed.