Two days later, I was told to start looking for a new job.

My boss caught Ani in my office on Tuesday and Wednesday, subsequently sending me home. Finally, he had enough.

“Look, Hayden.” He wheezed, “You haven’t gotten more than a few lines done in weeks, and that damn cat has been showing up every day. I didn’t wanna do this–” he sneezed, then breathed (or attempted to, really) in a disgustingly snotty breath through his nose, “--but you’re going to have to find a new job. I don’t want to fire you” too much paperwork, probably “but I will if I have to.”

My fingers tapped on my desk as I thought through my options. “Alright, I understand.”

My boss’s eyes nearly bugged out of his head. “You do?” he regained his composure, pushing his glasses up his nose. “I mean, good, I’m glad.” He turned on his heel and left, slamming the door shut behind him.

I whipped around in my chair to glare at Ani, clutching my desk like a lifeline. “I can’t believe you! Now what am I supposed to do?” Ani licked his paws and cleaned his face. “...you’re going to do this at my next job too, aren’t you.” His tail swished back and forth, and he made eye contact. “What do you even want from me?”

Ani stopped bathing himself, standing up and trotting over to sit within arm's reach. “Mrreow.” He said, then prodded a paw at my chest, touching the registration amulet.

“Uh, no.” I gently shoved his paw off. “I’m not going to work for them. Heirs was more than enough for me.” I still had nightmares about it.

Ani looked at me again, stars shining in his eyes. “Mrrow.”

“If you can call that helping. But that doesn’t mean I enjoy throwing myself into danger–I was just trying to get home! I’m the intelligent, self-preserving type. Not the hero.”

Ani rolled his eyes as best a cat can.

“It’s true!”

Ani dug at a piece of paper lying on my desk, pushing it in front of my face. On it was a sketch of Aurora and Octavia I didn’t even remember making. “Mrrrow.” He said, demanding.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. Or why I’m talking to you.”

He tapped the paper twice with his paw. I looked away. Aurora and Octavia hadn’t even been mentioned in the Heirs version I was reading on my phone. I assumed they’d died an off-screen death like Manius and Titus, an occurrence the Author had not even considered worth mentioning. The knowledge that they would have died if I hadn’t been there made me feel strangely powerful and guilty at the same time. I hadn’t intended to save them, but I had.

“Mrrrow?”

“No.” I rolled myself away, figuring I might as well start searching for another job.

In the midst of my job hunting, I received texts from Cove.

My father wanted to know how it went with the witch today?

Did you learn anything?

Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

She acted a little suspicious

????

How so?

Asked me if I read Heirs, said she enjoys characters with dimension travel abilities. She also said if she had a familiar, it would be a cat while looking at Ani.

So yeah, a little suspicious

It was a few minutes before he responded again.

Father said good job, and asked me to thank you

I didn’t know how to respond to that. I didn’t want to say “thank you,” because I wasn’t actually grateful to be spying on someone who was supposedly the most powerful witch to ever exist, and I didn’t want to say “no problem” for the same reason. Common responses like “anytime” were out for similar reasons.

In the end, I didn’t have to. Cove followed up with:

He wants to talk about it in person. When are you free?

We’ll work around your schedule.

I can make it tonight

👍

We’ll be waiting

I clicked the phone screen off, letting it drop onto my stomach with a sigh. This whole situation was far more troublesome than it was worth. I let myself recharge on the couch for a few seconds, before taking a deep breath and standing up, phone clutched in hand.

Ani and I were knocking on the door of Jacob’s office not even an hour later, having endured the stares which followed us through the building.

“Come in.” Jacob’s cool voice wafted through the doorway.

Cove was pulling a second chair over to Jacob’s desk as we entered, and I sat down in it with a “thank you.”

He nodded, collapsing into his own chair. Jacob sat patiently, waiting for us to turn our attention to him before speaking.

Jacob wasted no time in jumping into the subject, skipping pleasantries altogether. “Cove said Avalynn was acting suspicious today?”

“Yes,” I said and explained the situation. He laced his fingers together as I spoke, giving me his full and rather intense attention. Cove, next to me, listened quietly, without question. Both of their expressions fell further and further into frowns as I spoke.

“That does indeed sound suspicious, Hayden. I’m sorry to have asked this of you, but it is essential you continue keeping an eye on her. You have done more good than you can ever know.”

I nodded, unwilling to say anything that would make him think I was completely okay with this.

“How are your classes?” He leaned forward, letting his laced hands fall to the desk. “Tell me the truth, please. I’m curious how in-depth they work for intelligent people such as yourself.”

I flicked my eyes over towards Cove, gauging his reaction. When I saw no protest or opinion from him, I answered, “I’ve read through most of the books and resources posted online before the class. He did a fairly decent job of going over the subject matter, though he couldn’t answer my question on why some individuals have multiple affinities and how it affects the rest of their magic.

“He was also unable to stop one of the mages with a superiority complex from storming out of the room.”

The edges of Jacob’s lips twitch downwards into a frown. “I see. Unfortunately, not everyone can learn through books as easily as you or I. Perhaps you’d be better off sticking with learning by reading books from the library? I’m sure Cove could help you if you had any questions.”

His phrasing raised some red flags. My eyebrows raised with them.

Jacob sighed. “I admit, I’m trying to convince you to join us. You are one of the only few people who can.” He gestured towards the far wall. “Most others here are unaware of the true gravity of the situation. This world remained unaffected, as did the people in it. They don’t take it seriously, and out of all the spaciotemporal mages, only Cove has offered to help.” Cove looked away, fists clenching, as Jacob continued. “But you’ve seen them–the results of Avalynn’s twisted scheme. A scheme she tried to drag you into. That, Hayden, is why we’re so desperate. But it isn’t your problem, and we can’t force you. This is why the aid is on the table, regardless of your decision. But I will not stop trying to convince you. I can’t.”

My nails dug into my palms. “I understand.”

“I’m sure you do.”

That evening, I discovered a piece of paper on my pillow. Hesitantly, I reached down, picked the piece of computer paper up, and flipped it over. On the other side was a sketch I’d done of the chimera, attempting to capture the image of it hovering above my hands. My hands twitched, wrinkling the paper.

Worried, I let the paper drop to the bed and nabbed a baseball bat from my closet and walked through my apartment, inspecting every possible corner someone could hide in. Finding no one, I looked at my interfering cat, playing with one of his mouse toys on the floor. “Did you do this, Ani?”

His ears flicked over toward me, but he didn’t pause in his play. Nervous, I returned to the piece of paper, inspecting it for any signs of how it had gotten on my bed. If it had been Ani, there would be tooth marks in the corner, like the image he’d hidden beneath the dresser of Notus and Millie.

There were none. There were no toothmarks on the paper, no damage to my doors or windows, and nothing else out of place in my entire apartment. The nervous lump in my throat grew larger.

It was clear that the break-in had been intentional. The signs, or lack thereof, pointed toward Cove or Ava being the culprit. Clearly, someone wanted me to collect more fragments. But which one?

The ease of the break-in was a cold dump into realizing that in this reality, there was nothing to keep people from teleporting in and out of my house as they pleased. I felt vulnerable, exposed. Used.