Sara Jane set a bowl of food on the placement next to a water bowl. A black cat slunk downstairs at the clink of porcelain. It hissed at Sara Jane, not coming to eat until she left the kitchen. “Sarcophagus doesn’t like me,” she said needlessly. “He’s a one-person familiar.”

A good familiar was like that. The best chose their owners, not the other way around. The cat finished the food in a surprisingly short amount of time, then jumped onto the back of the couch. I scratched the upholstery and he came close to investigate. He stretched out his neck and touched my finger with his nose. It was how cats greeted each other, and I smiled. I’d love to have a cat, but Jenks would pix me every night for a year if I brought one home.

Remembering my stint as a mink, I shuffled through my purse. Trying to be discreet, I invoked an amulet to do a spell check on the cat. Nothing. Not satisfied, I dug deeper for a pair of wire-rimmed glasses. Ignoring Glenn’s questioning look, I popped open the hard case and carefully put the sougly-they-could-work-as-birth-control glasses on. I had bought them last month, spending three times my rent with the excuse that they were tax deductible. The ones that didn’t make me look like a nerd reject would’ve cost me twice that.

Ley line magic could be bound in silver just as earth magic could be kept in wood, and the wire frames were spelled to let me see through disguises invoked by ley line magic. I felt kind of cheesy using them, thinking that it dumped me back into the realm of warlocks in that I was using a charm that I couldn’t make. But as I scratched Sarcophagus’s chin, sure now by the lack of any change that he wasn’t Dan trapped in a cat’s form, I decided I didn’t care.

Glenn turned to the phone. “Would you mind if I listened to his messages?” he asked.

Sara Jane’s laugh was bitter. “Go ahead. They’re from me.”

The snap of the hard case was loud as I put my glasses away. Glenn punched the button, and I winced as Sara Jane’s recorded voice came into the silent apartment. “Hey, Dan. I waited an hour. It was Carew Tower, right?” There was a hesitation, then a distant, “Well, give me a call. And you’d better get some chocolate.” Her voice turned playful. “You’ve got some serious groveling to do, farm boy.”

The second was even more uncomfortable. “Hi, Dan. If you’re there, pick up.” Again a pause. “Um, I was just kidding about the chocolate. I’ll see you tomorrow. Love you. ’Bye.”

Sara Jane stood in the living room, her face frozen. “He wasn’t here when I came over, and I haven’t seen him since,” she said softly.

“Well,” Glenn said as the machine clicked off, “we haven’t found his car yet, and his toothbrush and razor are still here. Wherever he is, he hadn’t planned on staying. It looks like something has happened.”