Of Mice & Magic: Book 1 Ravenspell

Chapter 2: The Cage (pt 2)

But that morning, Amber's mother was Embraced. Barley Beard was taken a day later.

By then, all of Amber's brothers and sisters had gone, and though there were still plenty of pet shop mice in the cage, Amber felt uprooted, completely alone.

She longed to be free of her dull surroundings, and only hoped to be Embraced.

#

All week long, Ben coddled the monitor lizard. He took baths with it and found that the lizard, whose name was Imhotep, loved to dive and thrash his tail. Then Ben would take Imhotep out, dry him with a blow dryer, and they would watch cartoons beneath a special lizard lamp.

Ben made sure that Imhotep got plenty of water to drink, and kept him warm.

And late in the afternoon on Ben's birthday, March twenty-sixth, Mom told him, "Hop in the car. We're going to the pet shop."

Though Noah's Ark Pet Shop was only three miles from his home, this was the first time that Ben had ever been allowed to go inside. He immediately felt drawn to the hedgehogs that rooted in their sawdust, merrily grunting.

But his mother marched him to the back of the store, handed him a dollar, and said, "Ugh, pick a mouse."

"Which one?" Ben asked.

"Any mouse!" Mom said. "Just buy it, and put it in a bag. I don't want to see the horrible thing." She sneezed and covered her nose. "I've got to get away from these cats before I choke." She took off running.

"A mouse," Ben whispered. "I never thought of getting a mouse!"

But it made sense. Dad had said that if he showed that he could be responsible, he could get a small pet. And what was smaller than a mouse?

He imagined what fun he could have. He could hold it, and pet it, and carry it to school in his lunchbox. He'd let it run around the room while he did homework.

It wouldn't eat much, and no one was allergic to mice. A mouse could be a wonderful pet!

Ben peered into the cage. Dozens of fine mice burrowed in the wood shavings, drank at the feeder, or raced around playing tag.

They were plain brown with beady black eyes. A cage nearby had white mice with brown spots, but they were two dollars each. Ben didn't have enough money for a fancy mouse. The ones he looked at were only fifty cents.

He finally noticed one mouse that was different, the smallest of the lot, sitting in the shavings. It had a yellow tinge to its fur, and it folded its paws across its belly. It peered right into Ben's eyes, as if it had been waiting all of its life for Ben to appear.

"May I help you?" a clerk asked, stepping up behind.

"Yes," Ben said. "I want the little one."

#

"I'll name it Amber," Ben said in the car. He sat in the back seat, with his mouse in its sack. It peered up at him as he petted it with one finger. The mouse sniffed at him, its little whiskers pulling back. Ben didn't know where he got the name Amber. It had just popped into his head.

"I wouldn't get too attached," Mom said as she drove.

"What do you think it eats?" Ben asked. "Would it like pickles? Do we have any pickles in the fridge?"

Mom just kept driving.

"Do you think it's a boy, or a girl?" Ben asked.

"I don't think it matters," Mom said. "Just keep it in the sack."