Will took another sip. “It looked like a Pokémon ball.”

“Ah.” I patted Will on the cheek. “Your job is weird.”

He grinned at me. “So is yours.”

“Touché.”

Still smiling, he leaned back his head and yelled, “The coffee fairy is here!”

Ritual Ink wasn’t tiny, but it wasn’t huge, so Will’s yelling was probably unnecessary since no one had turned on the music yet. Once you were past the waiting area, Bay’s tattoo shop opened up, revealing six tattooing stations, each partitioned off with portable folding screens in case people needed privacy.

There was also a piercing room, where Will worked. Next to that was the dirty room, which shared a wall with the aptly named clean room. The dirty room had a little window so people could pass through the scrubbed and packed gear into the clean room. Once it was in the clean room, they would autoclave the packs of tools or jewelry they used in the shop, like piercing needles. We had a similar setup at Family Familiar.

In the back there was a little break room where the artists went to eat or sketch out tattoos for appointments. Not all the artists at Ritual Ink could do what Bay did. They were talented, creating works of art out of ink and skin, but they weren’t magic. The tattoos Bay could do were different, down to the special set of inks he used.

Bay specialized in sigil work—using arcane symbols, runes, and so on to create an effect. Need to write your dissertation, but can’t focus? Trying to get a promotion and need a dash of luck? My brother can help you. He’ll craft a tattoo to suit your needs, sealing it in your blood for extra kick. If someone needed something smaller, more basic, Bay had a series of temporary tattoos he could use…as long as you were okay with saliva. I mean, something had to kindle the magic, and the list of bodily fluids he could use for that was short.

Once the magic had been used up, the design disappeared. It was precise work, more art than science, and expensive as hell.

Nicki, one of the other artists, came over and squeezed my arm. “I could kiss you. How did you know I had the tireds?” Her normally neatly styled black hair was slicked back under a hat, and her eyes had dark circles under them.

“Busy night?”

She rubbed her eye with the heel of her hand. “Super busy. Did a fundraiser for the pet shelter last night. So many adorable pet portraits! Next time I’ll be smart and arrange my schedule so I can at least come in late the next day.”

I handed her the large drip coffee. “Sounds wise.”

She took the cup with a hopeful expression on her face. “Black like my heart?”

“But warm like your love for me,” I said. “Did you raise a lot of money?”

Nicki lit up. “Six grand! Plus a lot of donated food and other supplies. We’re totally going to do it again.” She grabbed the soy latte from me. “I’ll give this to Bay and let him know you’re here. He has his headphones on and I don’t think he heard Will’s bellow.”