Betty-the only one who might be paying me any attention, has her back to me. There are a few seniors gathered outside, but they’re either lost in thought or chatting away happily while they wait for the library to open. And it’s not like there’s some Peeping Tom outside one of the floor-to-ceiling windows, watching old lady Violet shuffle across the faded carpet. “Meo-uff!” The cat-who’d gone back to running circles around me-pulls to a stop, sits on his haunches, and wags his tail in agreement.įor a split second, I almost convince myself to do it. “I swear the door seems farther and farther away every day,” I mutter, though I’m not sure who I’m trying to convince: myself? Or Stacks? It’s probably just over-exertion from crossing the library. Not because I’m thinking of Nolan Barrett, my twenty-year-old bear shifter library assistant. My cheeks flush, and my heart starts to race.

The moment I utter those words, I feel butterflies in my stomach. “Nole’s going to be late again, isn’t he, Stacks?” Which is why I could just go with the safe choice and half-shift into my twenty-year-old self. I could even half-shift into that hairy, scarlet-skinned demon I’ve seen at Jewels Cafe, and no one would ever notice! Well, except maybe for the height difference. I could hide an entire set of angel wings underneath this getup. That, and I’ve got old lady clothes on-baggy dress pants paired with an oversized, buttoned up cardigan. Unlike my sister, I can control my chameleon powers-most of the time, anyway. My hip protests, my joints ache, and I briefly daydream about shifting into someone else: a vampire? A dragon? A chupacabra? I wouldn’t even need to fully shift-just my lower body should do. It’s not like you’ve got any reason to hide who you are.” I lean on my walker and start to slowly make my way across Spell Library. “I can find you a book on how to be a cat,” I suggest. He pulls to a stop and starts wagging his tail happily in response. “You could at least pretend to be a cat,” I tell him. “Meo-uff!” The fluffy, gray tabby takes off and starts running circles around me. Except for brief quotations in any reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without the prior written consent of the authors. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.Īll rights reserved. All names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination.

Violet by Mia Harlan