Before I headed into the sewer to chase down a mangled rat, I needed equipment. I stopped by a pet shop and picked up a carrier, some rat food, and bandages to tie up the animal’s wound. The attack happened almost a day ago, which meant that if the rat was bleeding out, it might be dead already, and that would complicate things. I was not a master necromancer, and I preferred not to hang around those weirdos.
“You want some bedding?” the cashier asked. “Rats really love our empty nester bedding.”
“No, thank you,” I replied. “Just the carrier and the feed.”
“What about some hay? Or a toy? We have a really nice wheel. Usually for hamsters but rats—”
“No,” I said more forcefully. The happy cashier’s face dropped to an intimidated scowl. I looked at the counter and saw a little fluffy plush cow. I placed it on the register. “All right, maybe just one.”
She perked back up. “Excellent. And thank you for shopping at Pet Stop.”
Police tape lined the perimeter of Ratinger Drug, but there were no officers nearby, just an empty squad car with its lights on. I ducked under the police tape and made my way down the corridor toward Benny’s office. The stench of the sewer still permeated everything, and blood coated the floor in a layer of sticky red goo. I stepped into the office and toward Benny’s desk.
All the blood had coagulated into one disgusting mess. I dug into my pocket and found the rotting rat paw. I would have to get my coat professionally cleaned when all this was over, but I would be lying if I said it was the most disgusting thing I had ever kept in my pocket.
“Paru.”
I tapped the tip of the foot and then pointed my wand at the ground. After a moment, the foot began to glow a haunting green, and when I placed it on the ground, I saw a trail of blood lead into the tunnel behind me. I hopped into the sewer and followed the trail of blood, impossible to discern from the sludge outside from the glow of my spell. The trail turned right, then left, then right, and another right before I saw a barely breathing rat glowing brightly. I rushed down toward it and scooped the rat into the carrier. It would die soon, and healing spells were not my forte. Luckily, I knew somebody who could help me. Somebody who loved all sorts of animals, even the disgusting ones that didn’t seem worthy of love.
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I opened a portal to the Happy Smiles Animal Clinic in Las Vegas. A city known for debauchery, there was plenty of heart, too, if you knew where to look. I had once helped a vet named Claudia to rescue a rare, pygmy, white rhinoceros in the jungles of Kenya. She moved to the states shortly afterward, and we’d remained friends since.
It wasn’t that humans didn’t know about magic. Some did, but I was always wary of them, especially when they traveled in packs. Most humans wanted magic for the power, not for the potential to help, which was why I liked Claudia so much.
Her clinic was small, without even a receptionist out front to welcome me when I opened the door. The smell of dog, cat, and rabbit crashed upon my nose when I took a step into the place. After the sewer, it was an improvement, but not by much.
“Be right there!” Claudia said sweetly as two dogs barked in the distance. A minute later, she walked up, her bright smile illuminated the whole room. Her magic was small but beautiful. She could mend animals in a way that the medical community could only dream of, which meant she had to stay under the radar. She didn’t want to explain herself, after all, and draw attention.
“Ollie!” She ran forward to wrap me in a big hug. “It’s so good to see you. Sorry, I smell like dog, but—I mean, look around.”
“No, I get it. It’s good to see you, too.”
Claudia bent down to the cage in my hand. “And who is this little guy?”
“A small piece of a big puzzle. I’m hoping you can help me figure some of it out by putting him back together.”
“Of course I can. It would be my pleasure.” Claudia smiled at me. “I assume you have the leg? This will be much harder without it.”
She brought me into the back room of her practice and laid the rat down on a metal exam table. She brought over a hose and carefully washed the rat until it was clean, taking extra care to sanitize the wound. She did the same with the leg and then placed it right under the rat’s amputation wound.
“Emantur ligna membri.”
It was exhausting for humans to use magic, and even the smallest spell could zap them for hours or days, but Claudia fell into it like a pro. She had some fae running through her, which increased her magical well. She held her hands over the leg, and they began to glow. I heard a snap and a crack, and the rat yelped.
“Shhh,” she said. “You’ll be okay.” She lifted her head toward me. “Somebody did quite a number on this little guy. Who would do such a thing?”
“That’s what I’m trying to figure out. Any chance you speak rat?”
She held up her fingers very close together. “Just a little bit.” She pressed her hand on the rat’s chest. “It needs to rest now, but when it wakes up, I’ll see what I can do.”