Abracadabra pspsps

      Some days Andrew hates his job. You’d think people would be nicer to a person helping them with their ghost problem, but no – they just have to be assholes, don’t they?       ‘Why is it taking so long?’ his client kept asking him.       ‘No idea, Karen. But keep yapping all the time and see where it leads to,’ Andrew wanted to say, but bit his tongue. Assholes, as he said.       Dealing with the ghost was actually a piece of cake in comparison to being in Karen’s presence (Andrew didn’t bother to remember her name). The ghost was a little boy who died around 50 years ago because of an accident. The boy didn’t know how he’d died, but Andrew suspected that he’d fallen from the tree and had hit his head. Anyway, the ghost had been living in the house ever since because ‘He just wanted to play,’ as the kid said.       After an hour-long session of hide-and-seek, the boy agreed to leave the house and go to ‘the other side’ without much convincing on Andrew’s part. And just like that, the ghost disappeared, his carefree laughter the last thing Andrew heard from him.       Just like with most assignments, Andrew stayed at the house for the next hour, just to make sure that the problem had actually been solved. Fortunately, there was no more clattering pans or misplaced objects, and he didn’t sense another presence in the house, so he was glad to get the fuck away, finally. When the client paid him (complaining about the price, of course), Andrew was really done with the day and longed for his bed.       Fate had other ideas, though, because it started raining on his way home. Great.       Andrew stops the engine and sighs deeply. The door’s just a few meters away, but the rain’s so heavy that he won’t escape it, no matter how fast he will be. To add to his misery, it’s dark already and it doesn’t help his already gloomy mood. Andrew curses his existence. A terrible day, really.       The rattle of his lock and the rain nearly drown out a quiet meow, but miraculously, Andrew hears it. He looks around, but the darkness doesn’t help at all. Despite his exhaustion, he decides to use magic to scan his surroundings.       He senses that there’s another being to his left, probably hiding underneath his porch. It doesn’t feel menacing, but Andrew remains cautious as he goes to check it out. He’s had too many incidents while on assignments to go into the unknown unprepared.       What greets him when he crouches, small light in his hand, rain soaking him once again, is a pair of startling blue eyes and a hiss. It’s a cat alright, but there’s something different about it. Andrew can’t put his finger on it, but this isn’t important right now. There’s some blood on the cat’s orange fur, and in some places it looks like it was singed, but Andrew can’t really tell in the dim light. The rain got the cat, too, and the small animal is trembling from the cold, though Andrew sees that it still tries to puff out its fur. A pitiful sight, truly.       Andrew sighs. He can’t leave the cat here, especially when there’s some magic clinging to it. The mystery makes Andrew curious, so he decides to do something about the situation.       “Alright, come here.” He extends his hand towards the cat, and gets a swat and a hiss for the trouble. Okay, so a different tactic is needed.       “You can stay the night here, in the rain, or inside – your choice.” This time he keeps his hands to himself, wishing for the cat to move already because he isn’t a fan of staying the night outside.       Finally, the cat moves, or tries to. It falls back on its side with a pitiful meow, and now Andrew’s really worried. He squints his eyes, but he can’t see what’s wrong from his position. Okay, so another plan then.       “Don’t fucking bite me,” Andrew says to the cat and reaches towards it once more. The animal’s watching his every move, but lets Andrew scoop it up gently without much fuss. Small victory.       “There.” Andrew holds the cat close to his chest, trying to shield it from the rain, unsuccessfully.       He rushes towards his house and lets his breath out when he’s enveloped by the warmth inside. A shiver wracks his body, now that the stress of the day is finally catching up to him. The cat in his arms trembles, too, and Andrew starts inspecting it.       The fur’s really dirty, but what’s more concerning is the blood – more than Andrew anticipated. The cat’s barely awake, and he taps it gently on its head to get some reaction, but barely gets a twitch in response. His heart starts racing. Without giving it much thought, he goes to his car, the cat still in his arms, and he silently prays that Aaron’s clinic is still open.       Part 2       Andrew doesn’t know how long it takes him to arrive in front of Aaron’s clinic. Not much, probably, but he doesn’t give it much thought. What really counts is that he’s finally there.       He takes the cat into his arms, trying not to cause it too much pain, and goes through the sliding door urgently. The receptionist (Emily? Jess?) takes one look at him and the cat, and quickly leads him towards one of the offices. Apparently, they look pathetic enough to treat the situation as an emergency.       She knocks on the door, but instantly opens them without waiting for the answer.       “What.” Aaron looks towards them, his face a picture of annoyance, but it quickly changes to worry when he sees Andrew. “What the hell?” he asks, but it sounds more like a statement.       Andrew’s aware of what he must look like, with water dripping down from his clothes, creating a puddle on the beige tiles, with an orange cat in his arms that’s definitely seen better days.       “The cat,” Andrew says, his teeth nearly chattering from how cold he is.       Aaron’s eyes focus on the cat and he jumps into action. “Follow me.” He rushes through the corridor and opens yet another door. In the center of the room stands a metal table, and Aaron points towards it. “Here,” he says while taking out some jars from the cabinets.       Normally, Andrew would bristle at being ordered around, but this time he complies without a word. The cat stirs as it’s placed on the hard surface. It looks at Andrew, but then closes its eyes again. No, Andrew’s not worried by it, at all.       There’s a slight tickle on his skin that he recognizes as Aaron’s magic. Andrew’s been so focused on the cat that he hasn’t even noticed Aaron’s appearance. There’s a voice inside his head saying ‘Sloppy’ that sounds suspiciously like Kevin, and Andrew shuts it down with annoyance.       A frown appears on the healer’s face, which – again – doesn’t worry Andrew at all.       “There’s something weird about this cat,” Aaron says, turning a questioning look towards Andrew, as if he knew any more.       “It was under my porch.” Andrew shrugs.       “He,” Aaron corrects absentmindedly, still focused mainly on healing the animal.       “Whatever.” The cat’s gender isn’t important now.       “So you took in a mysterious cat without knowing what he is?” Aaron asks, incredulous. And okay, when he puts it like that it does sound a bit crazy.       Andrew crosses his arms and decides to ignore Aaron’s question. Instead, he steers the conversation back on track. “What’s the verdict, doc?”       Aaron sighs. “I need Katelyn here.” His magic’s still flowing, but there’s no reaction from the cat whatsoever.       Okay, so it’s pretty bad, then. Aaron’s a damn good healer, but he specializes in humans. Of course, he can help the animals with minor things, but when it comes to tougher cases, Katelyn’s the expert here. Andrew takes out his phone to call his twin’s wife (with a grudge, mind you), but Aaron’s voice stops him.       “She’s on her way.”       Andrew doesn’t know when his twin managed to give Katelyn an alert, but he’s not complaining. Normally, he doesn’t really make social calls with her and he doesn’t plan to change it anytime soon.       The clinic's door opens with a bang, and soon Katelyn’s in the office, trying to catch her breath. Water drips down from her green raincoat, but it shielded her from the worst of the downpour.       She holds out a plastic bag for Andrew. “Clothes for you,” she says with a smile, but there’s urgency in her movements.       He takes the bag with a nod, and Katelyn jumps into action. Her raincoat is thrown over a chair carelessly, its owner nearly running towards the sink, rolling up her sweater’s sleeves. After washing her hands thoroughly, she joins Aaron, and they both focus on the cat.       “Poor thing,” says Katelyn and pets the cat’s head gently, pouring some of her magic into him. Her and Aaron work in synch, with Katelyn calling the shots because she has bigger expertise when it comes to animals.       After a quick change of clothes, Andrew sits in the waiting room and fiddles with his fingers. He hates clinics – nothing good ever happens there. At least he has dry clothes, so it’s a small comfort at least. Katelyn even grabbed him a black shirt, and the thoughtfulness stirs something in Andrew’s chest. He doesn’t really know what to think of it.       The shirt’s material is a bit worn out, so it’s probably something Aaron wears on his days off (which aren’t many, Andrew notes with disdain). As the minutes stretch out, his fingers twitch with the urge to smoke, but something in him tells him to stay. Andrew’s instincts have saved him multiple times over the years, and he’s learned to trust them. So he stays right outside the office’s door, fiddling with the hem of Aaron’s shirt, and waits.       Andrew doesn’t know how much time has passed before he gets any news. When the office’s door finally opens, revealing smiling Katelyn, he sighs in relief. She wouldn’t be smiling if things were bad, right?       The cat appears to be sleeping finally, probably tired from his ordeal. His breaths are deep and even, unlike before, when Andrew brought him in.       Aaron looks worse for wear, the dark shadows under his eyes even more pronounced now and his hands trembling. The idiot’s probably been overworking himself again, and the current magic exhaustion doesn’t help the case. Andrew makes a note to himself to have a talk with his twin.       “Sit down, before you keel over,” Andrew says to his idiot brother.       Surprisingly, Aaron does so without any complaint. It appears that he must be really tired, then. Normally, Katelyn and Kevin supervise Aaron so that the man actually rests instead of pulling all-nighters. But, as Andrew sees, Katelyn doesn’t look any better than Aaron, and Kevin’s nowhere in sight.       “Where’s Day?” he asks.       “Visiting Wymack and Abby.” Aaron sits with his head rested on his hands, his skin pale.       Andrew hums. He’ll have a talk with Kevin later about leaving without a word. For now, he goes to the social room for the clinic’s staff and comes back with two steaming mugs, which he places in front of Aaron and Katelyn. The smell of herbs wakes them up from their meditative state, and they start sipping the special tea that Renee came up with to help with magical exhaustion. It doesn’t fill you with energy immediately (that would be ridiculous), but helps with the symptoms like nausea or dizziness.       When the healers look like they won’t keel over if they stood up too quickly, Andrew asks, “So?”       It’s Katelyn who answers him first, “He’s okay now. Most of his injuries are healed, but the burns need a bit more time.” After a pause, she continues, “They just wouldn’t respond to our magic, no matter what we did.”       The mystery only grows, then. Andrew looks at the cat contemplatively, as if he could get any answers. The cat continues to lie there, unaware of everything around him.       Aaron’s voice shifts Andrew’s attention back to the conversation. “We’ll keep him here for a few days, and see if the burns can be treated without magic.”       “No, I’m taking him with me.” Andrew’s statement’s met with silence. He’s quite shocked with himself, too, but there’s no turning back now. The quiet voice from the waiting room is back again, and Andrew’s quite curious where this leads. Besides, he loves a good drama, and the cat won’t disappoint him in this area, for sure. He has some suspicions about the small creature, but no means to prove them – at least for now.       Aaron sighs like he’s aged a few years. “Another stray in the collection?”       Andrew smirks at the jest. “Last time I checked, you and your lovely fiance here were getting along with the ‘stray’ quite well.” Aaron’s pink cheeks and Katelyn’s chuckle are a confession enough about their relationship with Kevin. And don’t get him wrong, he’s glad that Kevin found a place for himself here and doesn’t need Andrew as much as before. Though, being left behind still stings sometimes, but that’s how his life has always been – Aaron found Katelyn, with Kevin later joining them as their familiar, Nicky got Eric, Roland didn’t want anything permanent, so in the end Andrew’s ended up alone once again. And though they all are still in contact, it’s not the same anymore.       Katelyn places a small bag in his hands and a note. “Some medication for him and instructions. Call if anything happens.” She smiles, the dimples on her cheeks showing.       Andrew nods and tries to remember if he still has the cat bed at his house.