Pet Psychic Mysteries Boxset Books 5-8 (Magic Market Mysteries Book 2) Erin Johnson (good books for 8th graders .txt) 📖

“Well, at least you’re not completely daft. Yes. In all my testing, you’re the first to get trapped in human form without the ability to shift—the rest got stuck in animal form.”

That answered one of my questions. “Instead of killing those people, you decided to make a few bucks by selling them to the Magical Animal Sanctuary.”

Ludolf splayed his long, bony hands. “I am a businessman. Why pass up an opportunity?”

I shrugged. “So—with me you found a ‘cure’ to shifterism, right?”

He shook his head slightly. “I want to be normal, like those who walk above us. It’s true you can no longer shift, but you can’t do magic either.”

So that’s why he was still testing on me, why he was fascinated by my condition. He was hoping to figure out a way to lose the ability to shift without losing his magic. Anger burned inside me. I had a strong feeling that the two were inextricably linked—that he was on a fool’s errand that had caused him to kill hundreds, maybe thousands of shifters over the years in this macabre pursuit.

He waved a hand. “Go.”

I held very still, not believing. “Just—go?”

He smirked. “Why not? What are you going to do? My associates and I own the judges, the police, the government officials at every tier on this island. I have goons on every corner. Everyone can be bought. Move against me, and you and your boyfriend and even his charming little dog will disappear like everyone else who’s crossed me. And by the way—I’ll be keeping a much closer eye on you, so be careful, Jolene….”

I waited only long enough for my legs to start working again, then I spun and ran. The haunting cackles of the three old women followed me out through the tunnels.

34

Decision

A couple nights later, my friends, new and old, gathered in the living room of my apartment. Heidi sat criss-cross on my threadbare couch, hugging the sloth to her and cooing over it. She turned briefly away from it to take a bite of the slice of pepperoni pizza she’d magicked to hover just beside her head. The brilliantly colored macaw behind her side-stepped closer and opened his beak, his dark tongue reaching as he stretched his neck to get a bite of the pizza.

Heidi giggled and reached back to scratch his head with one finger.

I shot him a stern look and let out a couple of squawks. I’m pretty sure parrots are lactose intolerant.

He ruffled his feathers and glared at me, grumbling and growling. Yeah, well, if you’d been trapped in animal form for the last decade, I’d let you eat some.

I shot him a flat look and squawked again. We tried that earlier, remember? You’re not the one who has to clean up your droppings.

The bird huffed but shuffled back to his place behind Heidi and began to munch gently on one of the twin buns she’d piled her black hair into.

Will slumped beside her, his white lab coat splayed out on the sofa. He finished the bite of pizza he was chewing, then addressed Peter. “So you found the zebra’s family?”

Peter and I sat on kitchen chairs we’d pulled around in front of the sofa. Flashing lights from the neon signs outside my front window glared through the curtains. I glanced over. It was reassuring to know we had around-the-clock police protection—except for Ludolf’s cute little comment about owning the police department. I sighed—I didn’t feel safe anywhere anymore.

Peter nodded at Will, taking a moment to swallow his bite. “Yep, though his wife seemed alarmed at finding room for him in their apartment.” He grinned. “Their kids were thrilled, though. Thanks for your work curing his ear infection.”

Will rolled his eyes. “That so-called vet they were employing at the sanctuary was a hack.” He gestured around the room with the hand holding his slice of pizza. “All these animals—sorry, shifters—were in poor health.”

A black panther who sat beside him rested her enormous head on the arm of the sofa, her gold eyes following the food intently.

I grinned to myself—Will was about to lose that pizza if he wasn’t careful.

Peter nodded. “The veterinarian’s being prosecuted for knowing these were shifters and telling no one. Or, at least he will be, once we lift the hush order over the case.”

I chewed a bite and mulled it over. Peter had hand chosen a select few cops to know about the sanctuary case, with Bon and McCray’s approval. He’d even managed to keep it out of the press, though I doubted we’d be able to keep Madeline L’Orange off the trail for long.

With my animal translation skills, we’d been able to send most of the shifters back to their families or friends, even locating quite a few of the missing activist leaders. Many had immediately gone into hiding with their families, thanks to the police. We had no idea how Ludolf would retaliate, and I had no doubt he’d caught wind of this already. Like he’d said—he had contacts everywhere.

In the meantime, there were a couple dozen shifters whose families we either couldn’t locate or whose speech skills were so rusty, I couldn’t understand what they were saying. Since I’d been seeing Peter, I’d barely been spending any time at my apartment, so I’d volunteered it as a safe haven until we figured out what to do with the remaining shifters.

Heidi, eager to get out of her parents’ house, had volunteered to stay here and look after them all. She’d set out a half dozen bowls of water, magicked newspapers all over the floor, and even referred to half of them as her fur babies. Every time I reminded her she couldn’t keep them, she got teary-eyed, so I’d dropped it. But I knew they were all in good hands, though I didn’t love putting Heidi at risk. Who knew if Ludolf would try to take them all out or hide them again?

A small monkey scampered up Daisy’s back and perched on her head.