Free Monster Baiter (An Obscure Magic Book 6) by Viola Grace Page B

or I was. I am sure I can be again.”
    Sophy folded her list and put it in her bra. “You will have a problem conjuring anything here. My home is warded against that kind of thing.”
    “I will make do.”
    Sophy kept her mind on business, grabbed the book and smiled. “Well, if you have to stay with me, prepare to ride shotgun. We are going shopping.”
    Magnus followed her into her house, and suddenly, the comfortable space felt a lot smaller.
    She locked up the book and grabbed her purse. Magnus extended his hand, and her phone was in his palm. “You almost forgot me.”
    “This was a perfectly good phone before you inhabited it.”
    He grinned. “And now it is a great phone.”
    She grabbed her phone and shoved it into her purse, stalking out the door and leaving him to close up behind her. She had gained an assistant, and she had no idea what to do with him.
    Well, she did have a few ideas, but he was sleeping outside, so that wasn’t going to happen.
     

Chapter Nine
     
     
    Sawberry’s Magical Supplies was a huge chain that bragged it had everything in stock.
    Magnus whistled slowly. “Are we going in there?”
    Sophy chuckled. “No. Follow me.”
    She locked her car up when they were standing in front of it and turned away from the supply superstore, walking to the blank brick of the building behind it.
    She pressed her fingers against the brick and tapped out a code. A doorway appeared. She grabbed Magnus’s hand and hauled him with her through the doorway.
    The light settled into a very pleasant room with the air of a library crossed with a tearoom.
    The woman behind the counter surprised Sophy. “Minerva? What are you doing here?”
    “Oh, Tabeel drank some of her own tea and had to check into the medical centre. She will be fine as soon as she stops burping up fortune-telling bubbles.”
    Sophy looked at her friend and grinned. “When is she going to learn that she can’t try her own concoctions?”
    Minerva shrugged and moved to lift a wide box up and over her head.
    Magnus moved swiftly and helped her set it in place. Minerva looked up at him. “Well, hello. Friend of Sophia’s, I presume?”
    “You could say that. She is responsible for me.” Magnus smiled down at her. “However, if I had known that there was an enchantress such as yourself behind that wall, I would have beaten it down for the honour of your greeting.”
    Sophia rolled her eyes, and Minerva grinned.
    “You are not from around here, are you?”
    “No. I am not. I am a very recent arrival, sworn to the service of the Cursed One.”
    Sophy snorted. “Nothing like the word cursed to make a girl feel special.”
    Magnus moved from behind the counter and returned to her side. “That is not what I meant.”
    “You are bound to me. I get it. Now, Minerva, can you help me out?”
    Minerva held out her hand. “Give me the list, and I will tell you what is and isn’t in stock.”
    “They should all be fairly standard.”
    She retrieved the list from her cleavage and handed it over to the most powerful mage of their age. Minerva couldn’t just use magic; she could create a new magical ritual and predict the effect. It was one of the greatest talents of the current age.
    Minerva was an impressive woman all around. She was the image of an ancient amazon crossed with a giant and blessed with curves. Everything about her was striking, even when she moved to gather the ingredients on the list.
    “How long have you known each other?”
    Sophy snorted. “She is too young for you, Magnus.”
    “No. It just seems that you have a camaraderie that is surprising, considering what you are and what she is.”
    “What? That I am over a decade older than she is? Or is it that I tear magic apart and she creates it?”
    He stared at her, at Minerva and back again. “You don’t know what her parentage is?”
    Sophy shrugged. Fortunately, Minerva was at the far end of the shop. “She’s adopted. Nothing more needs to be known. Now, zip