Not just magic, but death and monsters too. People come to Ravenfall from all over the world looking for answers, and half my parents’ friends aren’t even human. Wick is so steeped in magic, it’s in the air and the trees, even if not everyone can feel it.

Normally I don’t pay too much attention to how people react, instead letting the guests decide for themselves whether I’m being serious. It’s been a long time since I actually wanted someone to believe me.

“This isn’t a trick, Colin,” I say. “Magic is real, and we can use it to find answers about your parents.”

When all he does is stare at me, my hopes sink. I’m asking a lot: believing in magic, trusting strangers, talking about his parents. But helping people is what I want to do. It’s why I love working at the inn so much.

I just need him to let me.

“You think you can help?” he asks tentatively. “I can’t go to the cops. My brother made me swear. He said they wouldn’t understand.”

“He’s right.” My family tried it once when a vampire was on a hunting spree around Ravenfall. The cops bungled everything and called us crazy to boot. “There was something strange about my vision when I bumped into that person; it was distorted, which is why I didn’t recognize you. That only happens when magic’s involved, and that’s my family’s specialty.”

Colin studies me like a spectator looking for a magician’s trick, and I turn out my hands: nothing up my sleeves.

“Okay,” he says, finally lowering his jacket. “How do we start?”

Relief sweeps through me and I grin. “First, we get your stuff back to your room.” I hold out my hands, and he uncertainly places his jacket in them. Plucking open a nearby laundry chute, I toss it in to the sound of his yelp.

“Don’t worry! The house will return it to your room.”

“The house?”

“Step one!” I throw up a finger. “Embrace the weird.”

Colin runs a hand roughly through his hair, looking as though he already regrets his decision. Then his stomach rumbles loudly enough for us to both hear. His ears turn red as he asks, “I don’t suppose step two could be dinner?”

Max is waiting for us at the top of the staircase. He springs to all fours, tail pointed tall, and trots over to Colin, weaving between his feet as I finish giving him Ravenfall’s pitch.

Colin eyes him suspiciously. “So, let me get this straight. The cat is not a cat, the house is alive, and everyone in your family really is psychic?”

“That’s right.” I lean down to scoop Max up. “He’s a Jabberwocky. They’re guardians of the Shield between our world and the Otherworld, and they help spirits cross over.”