The animal neared, then stopped and stood upright. It hissed at Quinn. Who are you calling a rat?
“That’s Cordelia, Quinn,” Carrow said. “My familiar. She doesn’t like being called a rat.”
“My apologies, Cordelia.” Quinn frowned. “I didn’t recognize you from a distance.”
Hmm. I’m not impressed.
I glanced at Quinn, who still frowned. “Can’t you hear her?” I asked.
“No.” Quinn looked at me like I was crazy. “She’s Carrow’s familiar, not mine.”
Carrow shot me a surprised look. “Can you hear her?”
Dare I tell her? I hadn’t been able to hear Cordelia earlier, but now I could.
I didn’t answer, and Carrow’s expression suggested she wanted to talk about this later. She turned to Cordelia. “Do you know how to get in?”
Of course. I know all the good ways into all the best places.
Again, I understood her. What the hell was going on? Only a familiar’s person could understand them.
Cordelia shot me a keen glance, her black eyes gleaming. What are you looking at, Fang Boy?
Fang Boy?
I felt my eyebrows rise halfway up my head. Unexpectedly, a laugh almost burst from me.
A raccoon had just called me Fang Boy. It’d been centuries since anyone had so much as considered disrespecting me. Even the sorcerers treaded lightly, though they often hurled spells while they did so.
But this raccoon feared no vampire.
The absurdity of it made the corner of my mouth crack up in a smile.
Carrow stared at me, eyes wide. She mouthed, “Fang Boy?”
Come on. No time to dally. Those egg-sucking rat bastards are hard at work up there.
“Let’s get a move on,” Carrow said.
Cordelia nodded, then turned on her back feet and ran about ten meters down the way. She made a sharp right and dove into what appeared to be a pit. You have to go down to go up, she explained, her voice echoing out.
I went first, climbing down a ladder into a narrow tunnel that extended five meters to the side. At the end, a long tunnel led upward. Another ladder was bolted to the wall, and Cordelia was already halfway up.
Carrow appeared behind me, and I could just barely catch the lavender smell of her magic. She was so much better at controlling her signature. Safer for her, but I missed the scent.
“Be careful,” I said.
“You too.” She grinned. “Fang Boy.”
“Let’s not make it a thing.”
“Sure.” She winked. “Now get climbing.”
I turned and hurried up the ladder, following the fat raccoon to the top. A trap door blocked us, and Cordelia disappeared, climbing right through the wood like a ghost.
I pushed on the wooden door and emerged into a dank, dark room that had to be in the dungeons. I pulled my lightstone out of my pocket and raised it high.
“We’re in a cell.” Carrow’s voice sounded from below. She’d popped her head up though the trapdoor and quickly climbed out.