"You can do that?" Despite being around magic my entire life, it still manages to surprise me.
"It's not the most sophisticated of spells," he admits. "But it will give us a good indication of the origin of the curse."
"I thought we already knew that it had come from Ivy?" I ask.
"She's your best bet, I think. But even if she's the one who cast it, she's not going to know how to undo it. We need to find the origin to find the countercurse."
"That kind of sucks," I observe.
He chuckles. "It does. Now, are you going to let me do that spell?"
I nod, and close my eyes.
Thomas touches his wand to the top of my head, and a cool trickling sensation travels through my entire body.
A giggle escapes me, and a concerned meow comes from Rhubarb in response. I open my eyes and hold out a hand to him. "It's okay, it just tickles," I promise, despite the fact he's just a kitten and probably can't understand what I'm saying.
He nuzzles into my hand, purring loudly. I don't know if it's because he's the first one I conjured, but Rhubarb is the kitten I feel the most connected to.
Despite that, he clearly decides he's had enough of me, and turns away, sticking his tail in the air and going off to explore the dips and folds of the duvet once more.
"Is that all?" I ask Thomas, hoping my kitten didn't interrupt the spell.
"Yes. It's deceptively simple." He shrugs. "To be honest, I'm half expecting it to fail."
"Good to know. I guess I should play and find out." I raise my wand again, not waiting for him to respond.
I tap the first block, turning it red with a tiny spark of magic. "I did it."
"You did," Thomas responds. "Try another one? I didn't get much of a feel for the magic that time."
I nod and press my wand on to the next one. The wood turns from a light oak to deep green, perfectly matching the second side of the game. This time, I don't wait for Thomas t
o prompt me, and move on to the next one. The quicker I do it, the more magic will flow through me, and that should give his spell more time to work.
The last block turns yellow, and I look up at him expectantly. "Anything?" I ask hopefully.
He shakes his head. "It's hard to...ahhh."
Hot tea splashes against his leg as Rhubarb gives us both the cutest not guilty eyes I've ever seen.
Without thinking, I raise my wand and blast out a spell to take the heat out of the tea and stopping it from burning Thomas. Magic shoots through me before I even realise what I've done.
The tea disappears from his jeans, but we both know that isn't the only thing that happens when I do a spell.
Fluff flies through the air, hurtling towards Rhubarb. I'm just quick enough to scoop the grey striped kitten off the table before he's bowled over by the new kitten that's just appeared.
Thomas dusts himself off until his eyes lock on the kitten in front of him. "Wow."
"That's not the word I'd use for it," I mutter darkly.
"It's amazing, Mona. I've not seen you do it before."
Oh. Right. I forget because the rest of my friends seem to be pretty used to the magically appearing kittens by now.
"Sorry." I set Rhubarb down so I can get a look at the new kitten. This one is completely grey, almost like a shadow. "He's called Aspen," I say softly, not sure why I'm choosing that name. Aspen strikes me as a name that's better for a wolf, rather than a cat.
Thomas picks the kitten up and examines it closely. "I think you'll find that he is a she," he points out.