Page 86 of Cats Never Fly

“Better,”Isaid. “Gettingbetter.”

Andamazingly, it was the truth.

Witheach minute,Ifelt stronger and less achy.Iwasn’t sure if that was my magic fixing me, or if my cat’sinnate ability to survive was at play.Iprayed my magic wasn’t stealingOgden’s.Still,Iwas sureI’dlost one of my nine lives.Ahollowness had settled in my chest where my magic lived.Instinctively,Iknew that feeling had nothing to do with the injuriesI’dsustained whenI’dsmacked into the earth from the top of a tall two-story building.Howhad my brothers survived losing one of their lives so many times?

“Good.That’sgood,Simon,”Conradsoothed. “Canyou tell us what happened?”

Right.Ineeded to do that.BeforeIcould start, we swung wildly to the left andConradgrabbed me hard to stop me from flying off his lap.Gretacursed from the driver’s seat and updated someone over the radio.Didthat mean we were chasing after the a-holes who hadOgden?Yeah.Thatmade sense.Ishould have figured that out when they picked me up and threw me in the car.

Huh.MaybeIhadn’t been knocked out for as long asIthought.

Mychest wasn’t hurting quite as bad as it had earlier.Andmy breathing wasn’t as labored.Icould do this.

“Wewere on the rooftop,”Iwhispered, because it wasn’t as hard to push out words. “Ademon… opened a portal.Mage, human, bear… and… and…”Whycouldn’tIremember who else was there?Amage, a human, a bear…Itsounded like the start of a bad joke.ThenIrememberedI’dthought that when it’d happened. “Anda troll came out.Thebear killed…”Whatwas his name again? “Thebird.”

“Wesley?”

“Yeah.”Itried to nod.Painripped down my spine.Okay.Notdoing that again for a while.

“Anythingelse?”

“Somethingwas wrong withOgden.”Everyword was a chore to push out, butIneeded them to know what had happened. “Couldn’tshift.Couldn’tmove.Madehim sleep.Ihid.OtherstookOgdendown the stairs.Beartried to kill me.Ijumped.”

Conradswallowed hard. “Andthe demon?Wherewas he?Whydidn’t he open another portal?”

“Heopened the portal to get everyone on the roof.”I’dsaid that already, hadn’tI?

“Whydidn’t they use a portal to leave too?”Conradasked.

“Themage said it was a risk.Thedemon left through the portal.Didn’tsee him again.Theothers stayed to moveOgden.”

Gretacursed. “Thevan disappeared.Conrad, can you see it?”

Conrad’sattention snapped to the road. “No.”

“Damnit.”Gretaslammed her hands on the steering wheel.Thenshe called in their location, letting everyone know we’d lost the vehicle we’d been chasing.Thecar stopped abruptly and againConradhad to hold me soIdidn’t go flying.Gretajumped out of the vehicle.Conradshoved me off his lap and followed his partner.Wewere in the countryside now, although we couldn’t be that far fromAspenBay.Theyreturned a few minutes later.

Neitherof them jumped back inside to continue the chase.

“What?”

“Wefucking lost them,”Gretasnapped. “Ican’t smell anything out there.”

“Wasit them?Areyou sure?”IaskedConradwhileGretaupdated whoever was listening on the other end of her radio.

Henodded. “Wefollowed their scent trail to the street over.Gotthere just as they were getting into the van.”

“Ballsymove, carrying him so far,”Gretasaid. “It’slike they were taunting us.”

“Probablythought no one would be out downtown to see them and normally they would have been right.”

“We’llwait here for the others.Hopefullywith more help we can pick up their trail.”

Iclosed my eyes and let my head drop onto the seat.Iwondered if evenMamawould swear at a time like this.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

SIMON