Chapter 25

“I was not going to ask, but…why can your cat talk?” Dr. Engel peered curiously at Meow.

“I am a familiar,” Meow said, throwing his nose into the air. “We are different from normal cats.”

“So the rest of you really arewitches. You don’t look like witches to me.”

“What do witches look like?” Ira asked with a small smile.

“But where do you come from?” He scrubbed at his messy hair with one hand. “Why does Germany not have witches? Or any other place, for that matter?”

“Finland has witches,” Dounia said, thinking hard. “And Sweden and Norway, too. I can’t say if there are any farther away than that. We are northern creatures, as far as I can tell.” Engel stared hard at her. “I can’t help but notice that you have…”

Dounia sighed and removed her helmet.

“That’s much better,” she said when her ears sprung up and forward.

“Cat ears,” he finished. “Should I ask?”

“Better not to,” Dounia said, and when she smiled, she let the tips of her canines flash for just an instant.