“Sorry, Jim,” Van said, taking his reusable cup and giving it a good rinse before she started his drink. “I should have had both doors propped open for you.”

Jim handed her a glass container, which Van filled up with his regular order of edibles. She waggled one of the toffee-colored squares, her eyebrows raised. Jim sighed and took it, popping it into his mouth. He winced at the taste, giving his whole body a shake, like a dog after a bath. When the shudder stopped, Jim’s fur, horns, and hooved feet were gone. He was still big and bullish in his features, but in a human way.

“That looks so uncomfortable,” I said, sipping my coffee and sitting companionably with Trick. Dammit had fallen asleep in the carrier.

Jim looked over at me and smiled. As a favorite regular, Van had adopted him as a friend, which in our group means we shared him now and would cut anyone who looked at him twice. “Hey, Lou. Didn’t see you there.” He held up his order. “It’s not my favorite thing, but I’m on my way to meet with a human client, and I get more work looking this way than not.” Jim was a contractor, and having the strength of the minotaur served him well, but I guess it didn’t stop people from being prejudiced. I glanced up at the clock, an eyebrow raised. Midmorning was late for Jim to be starting work.

He laughed. “My client this morning was a Sea Hag, and neither of us felt bothered to change.” He brought his order over and dropped a kiss on top of my head and then Trick’s. He peeked into my carrier. “What you got today?”

Trick and Van were fairly used to me walking around with some critter or another, and so hadn’t asked about the carrier yet—which was either a feat of patience or a lack of caffeine. But they both knew that I would show the critter off when I was ready.

“A present for Trick, actually.” I whistled at Dammit. “At least, I hope so.” The fledgling peeked out sleepily at Trick.

Trick’s brown eyes lit up at the sight. “Really?”

“You’ve been thinking of getting a familiar for work, and this one was almost literally thrown into my lap this morning.”

Trick set down his cup and held out his hand, stopping briefly to ask, “May I?”

I unclipped the harness so the front panel eased open. Trick scooped Dammit up with a cooing noise. The bonus of being an elementist that specialized in fire? You can cradle a baby phoenix in your bare hands. The rest of us got to wear giant mitts.

“Does it have a name?” Trick stroked the bird, his face lit up with pure joy.

“He, and currently he is going by the moniker ‘Dammit.’”

“Someone dumped him?” Jim asked, smiling down at the little bird but staying back a safe distance. “What kind of person does that?”