Off Leash (Freelance Familiars Book 1) Read Free Page B

battered the doorknob with my paws and let out a soft yowl.
    Sabrina shook her head, although her smile had drawn a bit thin, maybe sad. "You don't need anything in there, Thomas. You've awakened into a new life—your old one is gone."
    I hissed in anger and frustration, pressing my lips together to conceal my teeth. There certainly were important things in there! I was just going with her for a question-and-answer session! If this woman thought that I would leave without saying good-bye to Angelica, then she was in for a surprise.
    "Go get in the car, Thomas. We will explain things soon, but you can't let yourself be seen out here. Someone will call animal control, and then they will drug or shoot you."
    I hesitated.
    "Come on! Stop being a sour puss!" The squirrel barked from inside the car. Ignoring the rodent, I looked at the closed door, promising I'd be back, and then trotted over and jumped into the back seat. The squirrel scampered into the front of the car and leapt onto the passenger-side dash.
    As I sprawled out across the Caddy's wide backseat, I was surprised to find it was a bit of a tight fit. I nearly slipped off when I attempted to curl up, and the low ceiling prevented me from sitting up. I could have just lain down lengthwise and rested my head on the armrest in the door, but I needed to see where Sabrina drove. So I wound up hunching uncomfortably, my ears flattened against the canvas ceiling. The door closed of its own accord, and the driver's side opened to admit Sabrina into the car.
    She glanced at the squirrel. "Rudy, dear, I will take it from here." The window rolled down about six inches.
    "Oooh, no! I just found the biggest cat in Pennsylvania. I'm his TAU sponsor by rights! I'm sticking to him like bubble gum in curly locks." The squirrel's voice sounded like a young child's as his bushy tail thrashed.
    So the squirrel had either doomed me or saved me, depending on what happened next. I made a mental note of that.
    "That was not the agreement, dearie." A bit of that iron lady persona seeped into the grandmotherly tone.
    "You never said he would be a big kitty. That's worth a lot more than a new iPhone." The squirrel seemed unfazed by Sabrina’s implied threat.
    Sabrina's lips tightened in the rearview mirror as she slammed the car into gear and pulled away from the curb. She looked about to say something, but the squirrel, Rudy, piped up first. "You don't got nothing to worry about, big guy. First you're feline, which means you can see magic, so you don't even need much training to be a familiar. And on top of that you're huge !" He made a sweeping circle with his arms to illustrate. "But not so huge you can't fit in an airplane or a car. I know this one guy, he's an elephant, and his bond has had to bail him out of the zoo half a dozen times already. One of the major houses will take your bond and pamper you rotten." The squirrel folded his dexterous paws together and let out a wistful sigh.
    As Rudy talked, Sabrina's path did not stray towards the interstate at all. My guts loosened a little bit at the prospect that she lived in town.
    I chirped questioningly as the car swam through the suburban streets, hoping to keep the rodent talking.
    He obliged. "Hell, I bet you could boss your bond around! Be all like, 'I'm tired of magic—get me some tuna-shrimp!' ‘Course if I were you I'd put tuna in my contract. Well, not tuna. Not for me! I'd want a can of cashews per day. And none of that cheap Planters crap either. Real premium roasted stuff from Cali." The squirrel sucked in his breath, eyes closed, seeming to savor the imagined scent. Sabrina tittered but made no effort to stop Rudy from spending the next few minutes explaining in excruciating detail why cashews were the best nuts that nature had ever seen fit to invent. A few polite chirps were interpreted as probing questions into the nature and flavor of cashews. I was considering a more forceful reply when the car pulled into a driveway