He picked up the bottle and poured it into my glass in a graceful stream.
I don’t suppose you could ask him for a saucer? Poa asked.
“No.”
The bartender frowned. “You don’t want the wine?”
I pulled the full glass toward myself. “Oh, I do.”
“Then I’ll get you a glacette.” He left to complete the job, and I looked at Poa.
She could clearly see my confusion, because she said, it’s an ice bucket for champagne, you plebeian.
“Hmm.” I downed half my glass before looking down at her again. She stared at me with irritation. “I’ll get you some wine when we’re not in the hotel, all right? It would look weird if I put a saucer of champagne on the bar next to me.”
Fine.
“Are you sure cats can have wine?”
This cat can.
I rolled my eyes and slumped into the cushy back of the barstool. It was a bold move to drink at the hotel bar where Tommy and his mistress might walk by at any moment, but I didn’t care. I was going to drink his expensive champagne while I sorted out my life, and I couldn’t exactly do that on the street.
So, what next?
“You’re back with me now?”
If you stay this cool, yes.
“I will.” There was a note of determination to my voice that I liked. “I let Tommy make too many choices for too long. I need to make my own.”
I hope they’ll have something to do with your magic.
It was a good first start. Tommy and I had grown up in a magical neighborhood in London, one that humans hadn’t known about. We’d coupled off young. He’d been a sorcerer without much power, but I hadn’t minded.
Looking back on things, it was clear that he’d minded. He’d said he didn’t care about his limited magic, and I’d believed him because I’d been an idiot in love. I’d agreed when he suggested I not use magic around the house because we lived so close to human London. He’d wanted to move there after school, and I’d gone with him.
Why wouldn’t I? My parents had moved to Australia as soon as the commencement ceremony was over. They hadn’t been bad parents, but they’d been more obsessed with each other than anything else. Tommy had been obsessed with me.
“I didn’t notice it happen,” I said, absently sipping at the champagne.
Notice what?
“Losing myself.”
Poa sighed loudly, which was a strange noise from a cat. I noticed.
“It’s why you left.”
I tried to warn you.
“I remember.” But I hadn’t been willing to listen to her. She’d appeared shortly before my eighteenth birthday. Not all witches had familiars—only powerful ones—but I’d been too wrapped up in Tommy to care. He’d made me feel like the center of the world, and I’d needed that. I’d lapped it up. When Poa hadn’t been able to get me to focus on my magic, she’d eventually disappeared.
I sipped the champagne.
Where will you go?
“I have no idea.” Last I’d heard, my parents were in Tokyo. I couldn’t exactly show up on their doorstep and ask for a place to stay. Not that I wanted to. And the temp jobs that I held didn’t pay enough for me to get my own place in London. Tommy had wanted me to focus on making a home for us, and I’d spent most of my time doing that. The temp jobs were my own little rebellion, and in hindsight, they’d been pathetic.
Now that I thought about it, that was another way that Tommy had bound me.
“Why did he put so much effort in tying me to him if he was just going to cheat?” I asked.
Because he’s a bastard. And who wouldn’t want someone to take care of them like you took care of him?
“Good point.” What an idiot I’d been.
I thought of what the woman in the elevator had said. I didn’t want to wait until the morning to push him from my mind. “I need a plan.”
Who else can you go to?
“I don’t suppose you have a flat in a nice part of London?” I laughed low. “Doesn’t even need to be nice, actually. I’ll settle for anything.”
No. I’m a cat.
“Okay, then, that’s out.” I sipped the wine, going over my list of friends and family in my head. Unfortunately, there was just about no one I could count on. All my friends were acquaintances from temp jobs, and the only family I had besides my parents was a grandmother I hadn’t seen in years.
What about your gran?
“Can you read my mind?”
No. But she’s the only one you’ve got.
I sighed. “I guess we should head to the train station.”
Don’t you want to stop by your place to pick up some things?
I thought about the home I’d created for Tommy and myself, and suddenly, I never wanted to see the place again. “No.”
Clothes?
I looked down at the floral dress I was wearing. It was muted shades of mauve, with long sleeves and buttons to the waist. I’d chosen it, but if I were honest with myself, I didn’t like it. Tommy had spent the first years of our relationship being very vocal about what clothes he liked, and I’d listened. The praise had been worth the compromise on my outfits, but in the end, everything in my closet made me blend with the world around me.
“He wanted me to disappear into the background, didn’t he?”
As long as you did the cooking and cleaning, yes. I think that was the case.
“What an idiot.”
Poa patted a paw on my thigh. There, there. With my help, you won’t be so boring anymore.
“Boring.” A cat had just called me boring. “I’m not going back to the flat. There’s nothing for me there except for some ugly clothes.” I was wearing my favorite boots, which were the only thing I’d chosen for myself, and always wore the gold necklace that Tommy had given me. I could sell it if I needed some money to keep me afloat. It had once been so special to me, and now I liked the idea of using it to escape him. But for now, I had enough in my purse to get us to St. Ives, where my grandmother lived. From there, I’d figure it out.
Chapter
Three
Isobel
In the end, we took a bus. By the time I’d checked on the trains, it was too late to catch one to St. Ives. Buses were cheaper, anyway. Poa had complained, of course, but we arrived in St. Ives by morning all the same.
What do you mean, we’re walking? she asked as we set off toward my grandmother’s house.
“It’s not that far from the bus station, and we need to save our money.”
She sniffed. At least you’re calling it our money.
“We’re a team, right?”
You’re singing a different song than you used to, and I like it.
I smiled. I should have listened to her earlier, and I wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice.
My grandmother lived in a large house on the outskirts of the coastal town of St. Ives in northern Cornwall. I’d only visited a couple times, but since she’d been even less interested in me than my parents had been, I hadn’t had much incentive to return.
Was I really that hard to love?
I shook the thought away. I needed to keep my spirits up, keep moving forward. And now that I had literally nothing, I had no other choice than to ask if my grandmother could help me.