Chapter Six

Matt gets some unexpected (and uninvited) guests

I pulled up in front of my store/apartment, and looked about before getting out. Maybe I was being a bit paranoid with it, but if you had just gone through what I had, I’m sure you would have acted a bit paranoid as well. After seeing nothing suspicious in the area, I got out of the car. Looking about, I could see that there really weren’t all that many cars out today, and the ones I did see were regulars, the owners of the other stores about mine and a few of their regular customers. I had a decent relationship with all of my neighbors, but I couldn’t say I was on great terms with any one of them. I knew them all by name, and talked to a few of them from time to time, but we never had a poker night, or anything like that. They found my shop just a little too…strange for their collective taste, but they never bothered me about it, and I never bothered them about what they sell.

I walked over to the passenger side of the car, and opened the door for the kid cowering in the seat. Holding out my hand I assured him, “It’s alright. You’re safe now. You can trust me.”

“Where-where are we?” the kid stammered, still frightened by what had happened to him, and I couldn’t blame him. It would take a lot out of me to be held captive by a monster, and then trust a complete and total stranger. I knew where the kid was coming from, but I still wanted him inside, and quick. I had no idea how long it would take that guy to recover from what I did to him, and I wasn’t sure if he could track me or not. Inside my place, I would at least feel a bit of security, seeing as how I had it magically protected from a lot of things. What did you need with a burglar alarm when you could protect what you owned with magic.

“We’re at my place. I thought this would be the safest place to keep you for now. I’ve got a friend who’s a cop. I’m going to call her as soon as we get in, and let her come by and handle things from here. That okay with you?”

“I want my mother,” he uttered so softly that I almost didn’t hear him.

I reassuringly squeezed his shoulder, and said, “When I call my cop friend, she’ll call your mother and let her know where you are. Don’t worry. You’ll be safe with us. Want to come in now? I might have a few cookies laying around you could have.”

He perked up at the mention of the word cookies, and took my hand. I lead him into my place, and settled him at the kitchen table with a package of Keebler Elves and went off to call Michelle. I could tell by the fact that she was not here, and with Edwin ducking his head under one wing, that he had decided not to call her after all.

“Police Department. May I ask who’s calling?”

“Michelle, it’s Mathew. I’ve got the kid. He’s at my shop.”

There was only silence for some time, and I could just imagine that she was trying to keep from exploding right then and there. Her voice was tense and strained when she said, “I thought you were going to tell me once you found him.”

“Yeah, and I did.”

“That didn’t mean you find him and get him yourself. That meant you found him and called me. What happened to that plan?” she asked in a tone that did not bode well for me.

“Things change,” was all I could think to say.

“You want to explain that to me?”

“No, not really. Want to come over and get the kid?”

With a sigh, she said, “Fine. I’ll be over in a few minutes. See you soon. Don’t run off again without telling me.”

“I won’t. Cross my heart.”

“I start to wonder if you have one.”

“Ouch, that was harsh.”

She hung up the phone without saying another word, and I turned back to the kitchen to find that the boy had finished his treat, and was looking very intently at
Edwin.

“Neat, isn’t he,” I said as I moved over to stand next to the two of them.

“Is he your familiar?” the kid popped off, as if that were the most common thing to talk about.

Flabbergasted, I shook my head. No one had ever guessed what Edwin was before, but I was not about to admit it to a kid, even if he supposedly knew a lot about magic. No need to feed this openness he had for the subject. “No, he’s just your common, run of the mill raven.”

The boy turned to look at me with eyes filled with mischievousness. “Sure. He’s just your normal, run of the mill bird that happens to be more sanitary than most people,” he said, pointing to Edwin’s perch, which was incredibly clean of bird droppings. As a matter of fact, there wasn’t a single sign of a mess anywhere in the apartment, and that isn’t the most common thing one can say when they have an indoor pet.

“He’s a very tidy raven,” I lamely said, knowing the kid probably wouldn’t believe me.

“He is a familiar, isn’t he? Does he have the soul of someone who is already deceased, or did you give one to him?”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. The kid had just described the two most common ways to create a familiar. Most wizards who had one used the souls of the departed to give the creature the intelligence to talk and become a helpful servant, and warlocks created their own familiars more or less from scratch. They took an animal, and made the soul for them. We found it sort of creepy, and believed it was against the will of nature, so we wizards never practiced such arts as that. Granted, taking the soul of the already departed and imprisoning it in an animal probably isn’t all that natural either, but sometimes we just didn’t think when we did such things, like when I had done it to Edwin when I was only fifteen to see if I could do it or not.

I looked at Edwin, who only shrugged his wings at me. Well, there didn’t seem to be any reason to keep denying it. I didn’t need the kid attempting a spell on Edwin just to prove a point. Sighing, I said, “Yes, he is.”

The boy turned to the bird with eyes filled with awe. “I’ve never seen a familiar before.”

“Well, now you’ve seen one,” I said, not sure how to continue this conversation, or if I even wanted to.

Moving closer to Edwin, the boy said, “He’s awful quiet for a familiar, isn’t he? He can talk can’t he?”

I gestured towards the raven, and he took his queue, a bit to eagerly, I might add. “Yes, I can talk, and like to do so often, although Mathew is not always appreciative of my desires.” He gave me a look that just stank of contempt for this particular rule.

“If I let you, you’d talk to everyone that comes through the door,” I pointed out.

Edwin gave me a hurt look, and placed one wing over his heart. “Mathew, I am hurt. I would do no such thing.”

“Yeah, sure.”

“What happened to you face, by the way. It looks like you were standing on the wrong side of a semi truck. I thought you had everything in hand with this. Did I really need to call your friend?” he asked, the concern in his tone was very touching.

“I had a bit of mishap with the guy. I thought I was up against a warlock, not the incredible hulk.”
“That bad, was it?”

“Yeah, he was an incredibly buff guy with scars all over him, as far as I could tell.”

Edwin nodded. “Would you like me to try to find out anything on this guy?”

I shrugged. “You can try, but I don’t have a name to work with. That’s going to make it like ten times harder to do a search for him. I doubt goggling scarred warlock is going to get you anywhere.”

Edwin seemed to deflate a bit with that. “I do suppose you’re right. That isn’t much to go off of.”

“You really care for each other, don’t you?” the boy asked.

I looked down at him, and then back at Edwin. The raven answered for me. “Of course we do. Matthew is the closest thing to family I have. I’d do anything to help him, if I could. Obviously, being in the body of a bird has its limitations, but I’d like to think I help out a bit.”

“It’s more than just a bit,” I assured my friend. “And I appreciate everything you do.”

“Well, I should hope so.”

With the moment over, I turned to the kid, and said, “Do you know anything about the guy who nabbed you? A name or why he did it?”

The kid shook his head. “No. All I know is that he was big and scary. He never told me anything except to be quiet, and I wouldn’t get hurt. I don’t have any idea why he took me off the street the way he did. I don’t know what he wanted with me. It was scary. Real scary.”

I ruffled his light blond hair, and told him. “It’s going to be okay now. My friend will be here soon, and she’ll have talked to your mother before hand. You’ll be going home soon.”

Just then, there was a knock at my door, and I went to let in Michelle. Another woman was with her and from the look of her, she was the kid’s mother. She rushed to her son, and took him up in her arms, sobbing and carrying on that it was so good to see him again, and that she was so happy he was safe.

A bit taken back by this, I turned to Michelle, and whispered very softly for her ears only, “What is she doing here. I thought you’d take the boy and have them both meet at the station. Why bring her here?”

She looked at me with weary, tired eyes. “We don’t want them going back to their place, just in case the guy goes for the kid again. If you had called me, we could have had a chance of getting this guy at his hideout, and they’d be safe from harm now. As it is, the guy is still at large, and still a threat to this kid. It was your bad, so you’re now responsible for their safety.”

“What?” I asked, just remembering in time to keep my voice low. “What kind of asinine decision is that? I’m a civilian. I don’t’ have to take orders from you, and I don’t have to let anyone stay here that I don’t want to.”

“You were interested enough in this case to interfere and put them at risk in the first place. Are you really going to kick them out now?”

I ran my hand through my light brown hair and sighed. It was my fault that this had all happened this way, but was this even legal? Could she really keep the two of them here with me? “Who made this decision? Surely you have safe houses to keep them at.”

She nodded her head. “Yeah, we do, but I need your help in this. You saw the guy, and could identify him. Besides, he might be after you now as well, and this is the best way to protect all of you. We’ll have twenty four hour surveillance on this place until we’ve got him,” she assured me.

Twenty four hour surveillance? I couldn’t have that. Looking about the place, I noticed me various magical supplies, and wondered what everyone would think of that. Besides, there was no way I was going to be able to keep Edwin quiet 24/7, and I could just imagine what happened the first time one of Michelle’s friends heard my pet raven complaining about the 21^st century. “You can’t do that,” I stated, very firmly. “You’re invading my right to privacy, and I won’t have that.”
She looked at me, a wicked grin on her face. “What are you afraid of, Matthew? Do you do more here than make magic potions to sell to desperate women who can’t get a man the old fashion way? Do you, perhaps, cast real magical spells you don‘t want the rest of the world knowing about.”
I was silent for a few moments, trying to come up with an answer. If she only knew how I really lived, she wouldn’t be making jokes about my profession. She might have known I was a real wizard, but she had a lot to learn about what that sort of lifestyle really meant. Biting my lip, I came up with the last excuse I could think of. “This is a private business, and some of my clients don’t want anyone getting wind of them shopping at a magic shop. It might ruin their reputation in this city. It‘s my responsibility to see that that doesn‘t happen. I could loss a lot of business if my clients see the place is surrounded by cops.”

She held up her hand to halt my argument, already having one of her own that I knew I would have to bend to. “You’re clients will be completely safe. Their identities will be kept a secret, that I swear to you. We’re not looking to start any rumors about who shops here. We want to stop this creep before he has a chance to strike at this kid again. Why can’t you seem to understand that?”

Oh, I understood it perfectly well. What she didn’t understand was that things happened around my place that were best left secret, in the dark. If she knew half of what went on around in the world I lived in, she wouldn’t be so nonchalant around me all the time. “I just don’t want anyone I sell to getting hurt, that’s all.”

“You could close down shop for a few days.”

I could do that, but my bottom line would take a major hit this month if I did, and I could barely afford that, what with all the items I needed to purchase both for clients and my own use. Items needed for potions and spells weren’t always that cheap, and the cost of shipping and handling an import item was just ridiculous nowadays. Sighing, I finally said, “I can shut up shop till the end of the week, put an on vacation sign on the door, but that’s it. If you don’t have the guy by then, then they’re out, and so are any of your boys you post around my neighborhood. That’s all I’ll put up with.”

“You think you can order an officer of the law around?” she asked, her eyes dancing with amusement.

“We may be friends, but I won’t let you ruin my business. Michelle, this is all I have, and if I have to take you to court myself, I will.”

She stared at me as if she couldn’t believe I had just said that. To be honest, I was shocked myself. I was usually a pretty easy to get along with fellow, but now she was pushing the line. If she found out about my lifestyle, there would be problems. We’re not very kind to those who find out who we are, and I would hate to have to do anything to her to keep her from finding out who I really was, friend or not.

She held up her hands in surrender. “Fine. Fine, the end of the week, and then we pack you all up and take you to a safe house, how does that sound?”

I was flabbergasted. Not only was she threatening my business, but now she was talking about taking me away by force. “What makes you think you have the right to do that?”

She smiled. Actually, it was more of a cruel smirk that looked absolutely adorable on her, but that could wait for a better time. “You and the boy are the only two people who have seen this guy. You’re both under witness protection as of right now.”

“You can’t do this,” I insisted, even though I knew she had me. “What about my store.”

“Hire some help, if you absolutely have to keep it open.”:

I looked to Edwin, but he wasn’t going to be of any help. He just kept looking about, anywhere in the room but at Michelle and me. It was sort of annoying, but I knew he couldn’t say anything, not without giving himself away.

Huffing angrily, I threw up my hands and said, “Fine. Fine, do whatever you need to do, but don’t expect me to be happy about this.”

She smiled at me. “I wasn’t.”

Author's Note

First Draft