Read Online Switchblade Goddess by Lucy A. Snyder - Free Book Online

gave Pal a look as he placed his tray on the table beside mine. “Really? Seriously?”
    He blinked, seeming abashed. “They do smell delicious.”
    Eat your tuna and stop eyeballing their rodents
, I thought to him, annoyed.
Don’t you have any sense of professional courtesy?
    “I’d be doing them a favor, really.” He wolfed down a patty in one bite. “Familiars killed in the line of duty often receive a reduction in sentence.”
    “Well, he’s not going to hurt your rats,” I announced to everyone at the table. “Otherwise I’d have to kick his ass.”
    I paused. “So, I’m Jessie Shimmer. And y’all are … ?”
    “Callirhoe Jackson,” said the lady to the left. “You can call me Callie. And my rat is named Bosworth.”
    “Involucrata Jackson,” said her sister. “People call me Poppy. And this is Pierre.” She gave her rat a littlescritch on the top of his head between his ears and he gave a cheerful squeak.
    “Pleased to meet you all,” I said.
    “Likewise,” the sisters said.
    “So, are y’all from around here?” I asked.
    “Yes, we are,” said Callie. “And we’re very much—”
    “—looking forward to things getting back to normal,” Poppy finished.
    “Um.” I lowered my voice. “There might be kind of a hitch with the whole ‘going back to normal’ thing.”
    Callie laughed. “You mean other than the town being wrecked?”
    “And nearly everybody dead?” added Poppy.
    “Well, that, yeah,” I agreed. “But also … well, did you two meet Sara Bailey-Jones before Miko caught you?”
    “Sara,” mused Callie. “She’s the one—”
    “—with the dozen cats?” finished Poppy.
    “Yes, her.” I said. “Only now there are a lot more than a dozen cats. And they’re actually devils. Don’t know what kind, but they seem to feed off chaos. And Sara’s acting mayor. And she’s crazy. And I mean
bad
crazy, not ‘Ha-ha, she’s so much fun at parties’ crazy. I mean like Pol Pot shooting people in the head just because they wear glasses crazy.”
    “Oh my,” said Poppy. “That could certainly be—”
    “—a problem. But I’m sure that if all us witches and wizards join together—”
    “—we can get her to see reason.”
    “Or teleport her into the desert.” Callie pursed her lips.
    “Whatever works,” agreed Poppy.

chapter
eight
Potion
    A fter we finished eating, I said good-bye to the Jackson sisters and dropped our dirty dishes onto the conveyor belt. Pal and I went back to our suite where I took my antibiotics and some Advil for my fever. And then I collapsed into the queen-size bed and quickly passed out.
    I slept pretty hard, but my dreams were unsettling. In all of them, I was a little girl back in my parents’ house in our old Lakewood neighborhood in Dallas. My mom was still alive. Even though I was only seven or eight in the dreams, I had all my adult memories. I knew how—and why—my mother had died.
    When I was eleven, I was diagnosed with an aggressive brain cancer that the mundane doctors couldn’t treat. Mom had been convicted of grand necromancy before I was born and was forbidden from associating with other Talents or casting even the smallest charm. Almost immediately after she performed a spell to save me, Virtus Regnum agents quietly executed her for her crimes. I was the one who found her cold body on our kitchen floor.
    In those not-quite-nightmares, I was desperate to warn her about what was going to happen. But whenever I opened my mouth, I couldn’t get any words tocome out. Or if I found my voice, my mother would disappear into mist, or turn a corner and vanish. I ran through the empty house, crying for her, but she was gone.
    The dreams finally ended when the alarm clock buzzed at dawn. I dragged myself from the sweaty, twisted sheets, feeling absolutely horrible: sticky eyes, shivers, cramping stomach. Everything hurt—my muscles, bones, teeth, seemingly even my hair.
    When I tottered into the bathroom and turned on