Chapter 4 THE OWL AND THE CUPID.

"Is that what you call magic?" the owl asked.

My breath caught.

Why did that bird sound so much like him?

What had just happened? Where had Calvin gone? Why were his clothes piled on the chair, with a bird sitting on top of them?

I swallowed hard, my heart hammering, and took a slow step closer. I leaned forward and blinked.

It blinked its round grey eyes.

I blinked again. It blinked back.

"Calvin?"

I cautiously poked it with my fingertip. It jerked backwards, glaring furiously at me.

"What do you think you're doing?!"

I flinched and jumped back.

It was Calvin! Had my spell turned Calvin into an owl?

Realization hit me.

"Ahhh!" I screamed.

The owl flinched at my cry and hopped sideways.

"What's wrong with you?" he growled.

He clearly had no idea what he had turned into.

"Ahhh!" I screamed again, not knowing how to explain what was wrong.

My trembling hand shot forward, pointing at him.

"Yo... you... you're..."

I bit down on my finger to steady myself.

"I'm what?" he groaned, exhaustion evident in his voice.

"You've turned into an owl!"

The moment I said it, his eyes slowly travelled down to his legs, then to his brown feathers.

"AHHH!" His scream was much louder than mine.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?!"

I bit my lip to keep another scream from escaping.

I was supposed to make his heart soften, not turn him into an owl!

"ANSWER ME!" he shouted. "What spell did you cast on me?"

I didn't answer. How was I supposed to explain that the spell hadn't been meant to do this? That I was a Cupid sent to make him fall in love, that I had mispronounced one word, and that I didn't know how to turn him back?

Maybe I should just run, return to the Cupid Realm, and tell them I couldn't find anyone named Calvin or his library.

"Don't even think about running away!"

His voice cut through my thoughts as though he could read them.

"Turn me back right now!" he ordered.

I almost scoffed. Even in this state, he was still trying to be the boss.

"Didn't you hear me? Undo whatever spell you cast!"

I stayed quiet, nervously biting my finger. I couldn't undo it. I wasn't a witch. Apart from shooting love arrows and casting the love-bond spell, I knew almost nothing about magic.

"Hey! Are you daft? I said undo the—"

"Okay! I will! So stop whining!" I shouted before I could stop myself, even though I had absolutely no idea how.

But maybe I could. If I repeated the spell and added turn human where I'd mispronounced owl...

A smile crossed my lips.

How had I never thought of that? It was definitely going to work!

"Fine, I'll do it. Stand up straight and spread your wings," I instructed, pretending I knew exactly what I was doing.

He hesitated, then gave in and spread his wings.

I widened my stance, cleared my mind, placed my left index finger on my head, rolled up my sleeves, stretched out my right arm, and pointed at him, exactly as I had done the first time.

I cleared my throat.

"Ana, love... ro, zo, zinnias... turn human!"

A thick cloud of golden smoke erupted over the desk. It reached me, and I choked on it.

I waved my hands to clear the air.

Please, let it work!

When the smoke finally thinned, I stared at the creature in front of me.

Something was terribly wrong.

Its legs were no longer short and feathered. They were long and bare. A large red comb sat on top of its head, and its beak looked nothing like it had before.

It was a bizarre mix of two animals. A rooster and an owl!

"AHHH!" I screamed again.

He seemed to sense that something was wrong. He turned to his right, then looked down at his legs.

His eyes widened.

His beak opened, but I didn't wait to hear what came out of it.

I bolted for the door.

Before I could reach it, a strange blue barrier flickered across the entrance.

My breath caught. I slowly turned towards him.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?"

His furious voice rang through the library.

I turned slowly and forced a bright smile onto my face.

"Nowhere! I just wanted to..."

My eyes darted around the room, searching for an excuse, and landed on a small jar of dried vanilla seeds on a nearby shelf.

I grabbed it.

"Stay right there!" I blurted out. "I need these to turn you back."

I lied through my teeth.

He said nothing. He simply stared at me, his expression demanding an explanation.

I swallowed.

Vanilla seeds! I'd heard they had powerful restorative properties, though only witches could properly harness them.

But the seeds were right here. Maybe I could give them a try.

I threw one at him. It bounced off his head. I threw another.

Then I said the only words I could think of, the ones I had seen witches use.

"Abracadabra! Abracadabra! Abracadabra! Turn Calvin into a human!"

BOOM!

A golden flash exploded across the room, and everything vanished behind thick smoke.

I squeezed my eyes shut and held my breath.

When the smoke cleared, I opened one eye.

Calvin was standing in front of me.

Human!

His clothes were back on, and he looked almost exactly as he had before.

I gasped. "I did it!"

A huge smile spread across my face.

"Calvin, I actually did it!"

He stayed silent, looking down at himself. Then he slowly raised his head and looked straight at me.

"Congratulations," he said coldly.

I beamed. "You're welcome!"

He took one step towards me.

"Now explain why I have feathers growing out of my head."

My smile froze. "What?"

He reached up and pulled a tiny brown feather from his hair.

I stared at it. Then at him. Then back at the feather.

Oh, no.

Before I could think of an excuse, he turned to the nearest mirror.

His reflection showed a tiny red comb sitting among his dark hair.

And just when I thought things couldn't get worse, two small brown wings burst through the back of his shirt.

Silence fell. A long, terrifying one.

Then his furious grey eyes met mine. He didn't say a word, but I could still feel the danger rolling off him.

I swallowed hard.

Perhaps I hadn't fixed anything after all.