Black Magic

Chapter Six

"Why the hell is there a bluebird tapping at our window?"

I glance up from my Human Origins textbook to see Camila glaring at me like I've personally offended her. As though a bird tapping loudly on our window and interrupting her obnoxiously loud phone call with her friend is my fault. I narrow my eyes at her but she only raises a perfectly sculpted eyebrow, and I just can't be bothered to deal with her right now.

Instead I glance at the window—to see Kerani, sitting on the windowsill and tapping her black beak against the glass. "She's not a bluebird," I murmur, dog-earing my textbook and closing it as I slide off my stomach and onto my feet. Kerani flutters away as I unlatch the window. "She's a blue-winged parakeet." Kerani flies inside, immediately landing on my shoulder, talons digging into my oversized cable-knit sweater. She chirps and I can't help but smile, reaching up with one finger to tap her gently on the beak.

Camila huffs. "Excuse me, did I ask? What the hell is it doing in our room?" She wiggles her cell phone. "I'm in the middle of a phone call!"

I glance at Kerani and she chitters, nudging her head against my chin. Ignoring Camila, I turn and grab my purse, slipping my dagger and my phone inside and shrugging it over one shoulder. "We're going out," I tell Camila, shoving my feet into my boots as she splutters at me. "Don't wait up." Then I step out the door, closing it behind me to the satisfying sound of Camila demanding explanations after me.

Four flights of stairs later and Kerani and I are leaving through the front door. Once we're outside she leaves my shoulder, flying a few paces in front of me, leading me around the side of the building to the parking lot.

"Hey, kiddo," Raj calls once we round the corner, waving a backpack presumably filled with Kerani's clothes in greeting. "We figured we'd take you out, reward you for completing a week of school. Nothing like low-budget entertainment on a Saturday, right?" He jostles the bag, motioning it at Kerani as she flutters around it. "C'mon, get in a bush and get changed."

Kerani chirps, landing on Raj's wrist.

Raj raises a thick eyebrow, lifting his wrist so he's looking Kerani in the eyes. "Are you still not changing in bushes anymore?" She twitters, clearly miffed about something, and Raj just laughs. "That was one time, you big idiot."

Ignoring Kerani's indignant chittering, I raise my eyebrows at Raj and ask, "what happened?"

A crooked grin spreads across Raj's angular face. "She got poison ivy on her ass."

I can't help the giggle that startles out of me. My hand flashes up to cover the grin but Kerani notices. She chirps, clearly disgruntled, and pecks her black beak softly against Raj's wrist. "Sorry," I say, swallowing down another laugh at the ridiculousness of a parakeet being embarrassed. "That sounds—terrible."

"She complained for weeks afterwards," Raj drawls, ignoring Kerani's chittering as he moves her from his wrist to his shoulder. He moves towards me, slinging his arm around my shoulders, using the considerable height he has on me to tug my head haphazardly against his ribcage. "C'mon, Des, let's find Princess a bathroom to get changed in like a civilized person and then we can go do something fun. Maybe get you back into shape."

"Actually . . ." I push away from Raj's side enough that I'm not walking lopsided. "I already have someone I'm training with."

Raj gasps, free hand fluttering near his throat. "Excuse me?"

I backhand him on the chest for the dramatics. "He's the guy who found me and brought me back home. A vampire-witchborn hybrid." Kerani twitters at the mention of a vampire, but I ignore it. "He's already teaching self-defence at Salem, he offered to give me more advanced lessons, I accepted. Figures if I'm ever going to dealing with vampires again, it'd be good to learn from someone who fights like one."