“Sorry, I can’t deal with this right now.” I grabbed my fresh cup of coffee and marched toward my room, ready to slam the door in his face.
Merlin trailed behind me, too fast for me to shut out without spilling my precious coffee along the way. “I’m sorry. I forget how sensitive you humans are about things like that. I chose you because I believe you have what it takes.”
“To be the brainless face of your operations?” I asked with a growl.
But Merlin either didn’t pick up on my ire or chose to ignore it. “Exactly. I’m so glad you understand now.”
“I’m sorry, but I have bigger plans for my life than that.”
Merlin’s eyes glistened with mischief. “What plans? Tell me, and I can make them happen.”
I stared at him quizzically, afraid to ask for more.
“You don’t have magic, but I do. Remember? Being a familiar is an important job, but not a thankless one. Many of the famous folks in your human history were secretly familiars.”
I crossed my arms and glared at him. “Really? Like who?”
“Well, consider my namesake,” he said with a smile stretched wide between his whiskers.
I balked at this. “Merlin. The wizard?”
“Ha, he wishes! The Merlin you humans know about was actually the familiar for an extremely powerful cat witch. His name was also Merlin, which makes it a bit confusing. The human Merlin wished to achieve power and fame in exchange for aiding his cat. But he became greedy and self-important, which is why the real Merlin cursed him to age backward. Meanwhile, he found a much more suitable familiar in a new human called Arthur. He only wanted power and prestige in the human world, which was much easier for my great ancestor to cope with.”
“So Merlin was a fraud and King Arthur was just somebody’s familiar?” I summed up.
“There’s no just about it. Familiars are incredibly important. We witches do what we have to in order to keep you happy.”
I raised an eyebrow in question.
“So could I be the next Lady Gaga?”
“That would take some talent. You may not have been born that way, but I can sure make it happen.” Merlin paused and flexed his paws. “Is that what you want?”
“No, it was just a hypothetical,” I rushed to explain.
“Careful then, because wishes that size only come around once. There’s a lot of small stuff I can do on the regular, but truly life-changing alterations are a one-time deal.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” I promised, still not quite believing all this.
“As you should.” Merlin appeared to be satisfied now. “Come. Let’s begin.”
7
“Where are we going?” I asked as I chased my cat through the house.
Instead of answering, though, he ran through the pet flap and outside.
Hurriedly, I pushed my feet into a pair of cheap flip-flops I kept by the door, then swung the door open in just enough time to see him jump into the birdbath and splash around. I knew Maine Coons liked water, but it was still strange to see him enjoying himself in this way. Back where I came from, cats were cats—they hated water and they definitely did not talk.
“I saw you the other day,” I said as I approached cautiously. “Yesterday,” I amended.
Wow, that felt like a week ago at least.
Merlin stopped splashing and glanced over his shoulder at me. “Yes. And what did you see?”
“You f-fl-flew,” I sputtered, wrapping my arms around myself in a hug. “After a bird you wanted to eat.”
Merlin sighed. “First thing’s first, I did not want to eat him. That guy owed me money.”