Well, she was right about the retainer. I wasn't exactly rolling in funds and now I had to somehow solve my first case and do so on a shoestring budget too.

  I sighed.

  "I know you don't like it, but I think the only thing your going to be eating this week is cat food."

  I'd rescued Anne on my first trip to my Aunt Margaret's house after finding her in an alley outside her apartment building as little more than a kitten and when I'd first met my aunt minutes later she'd known instantly that Anne wasn't an ordinary cat.

  A familiar is an animal, usually a cat or dog but sometimes a reptile or amphibian with both a high level of intelligence and a moderate magical ability. Usually rare, the possession of magical ability allows the familiar to bond with a human through a contract performed by a Fate Weaver.

  "You know," Anne began, "I'm starting to wonder if feeding me cat food violates my rights under the fate contract." I knew she was joking.

  I chuckled. "Unless I somehow feed you to yourself or starve you I'm probably okay." I could only afford canned cat food right now, but that didn't stop me from teasing her.

  Her eyes narrowed dangerously as she looked at me and spoke slowly. "Feed me to myself."

  I started heading over to get my coat and the t-rex ring that held my keys. "I remember hearing someone say once that if you travel far enough you eventually 'meat' yourself. Get it?"

  She sighed. "We better get on this case before I'm investigating it solo. I think the captain would have questions about why I gained weight and you suddenly going missing."

  I chuckled and with my coat on Anne hopped on my shoulder. Part of the contract distracted most people from noticing people who either didn't have familiars with them or weren't magical in nature from seeing people and their familiars. There were of course ways to detect them, the easiest and most expensive of these were glasses with special lenses, but Gary, the detective I'd trained under had shown me a recipe for a paste that went under the eyes. While not exactly cheap to make, it at least wasn't super expensive and you could make it in bulk or even buy it in specialty shops.

  I heard the door close behind us, quickly checked it was locked and headed down the hallway towards the elevator while I thought of what to do next.

  "Well," I said to Anne, "We're looking for a clock right? We need to find someone who can point us to a magical watch repair shop."

  "We need more information period." Anne said in a serious tone that kinda threw me off for a moment.

  "What do you mean?"

  Her voice lowered considerably. "What I mean is, didn't you notice that Hook was almost like an addict jonesing for a fix? I think he's addicted to the ticking of that clock somehow."

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  We got on the elevator alone and the door closed.

  My eyebrows shot up. "I hadn't considered that, but I think your right. The twitching motion he did the few times he talked about the ticking of the clock.." I trailed off.

  "Is just like the twitching motion a drug addict makes when they need a fix."

  "Well that complicates things, doesn't it."

  "Just a little." She said.

  "Good thing you watch a lot of television." I chuckled before I felt her dig one of her claws into my shoulder.

  "Oww."

  "Oh, I'm sorry. I must have been thinking about watching my cat from mars reruns."

  We headed to a small shop a few blocks from where my new office was located. It wasn't far and despite the fact that it was mid autumn and a bit chilly, it was otherwise not bad outside. The wonderful convenience of cell phones just meant that anyone who saw me talking and couldn't see Anne would assume that I was either I was on the phone with someone or crazy. Either way they would leave me alone.

  After a few blocks we turned down an alley, headed down a short flight of stairs before turning and entering an odd wooden set of double doors. The doors opened into what was an underground shopping area catering to folks in the magical community. The set of double doors would open for people who couldn't use magic, but would open somewhere else.

  Above me in the smoky haze were neon signs with everything from 'Witch's Brew' to 'Fate Readings 100% Accurate'. The witch's brew was where we were heading, it was an apothecary shop that specialized in hard to get potions, but also occasionally sold information. The owner happened to be a friend of my aunt Margaret.

  Entering the Witch's Brew was always a treat for me as it smelled amazing, but as we entered I started smirking as I looked at Anne. On my shoulder poor Anne started doing her rendition of the kitty version of barfing, that unique noise that can awaken the dead sleeping or even just the dead.

  Behind the counter I heard Barnaby sigh as I saw two patrons look back to see who was causing the noise, tho they likely could guess.

  I looked at the older shop keeper, a greying man who despite being slightly hunched over from his years still held plenty of strength. An apron covered his clothes and in front of the counter sat an enormous grey dog that was both his familiar and his shops guard dog.

  "Hey Liam." I said to the dog, nodding towards him. The giant grey dog, who had a tiny raspy voice that I'd only heard once, merely nodded back before continuing his guard duties from the floor.

  After flicking a finger the shop's sign turned off and after another few minutes the last remaining customers left the store.

  "Well, you here for potions?" Barnaby asked with a smile.

  "Afraid not. Wouldn't mind some of your wonderful tea while I asked you a question or two."

  He nodded and we headed into the back room. Mentioning the tea was the code word my aunt had specifically told me to say when I needed to speak with him in a secured room.

  Anne had finished barfing up what looked to be bile. The intensely strong smells in the shop along with the amount of them overwhelmed the poor feline Anne had told him after the first time they'd entered the shop.

  The back room consisted mainly of storage shelves lined with drawers full of herbs or shelves of potions with a spot in the middle for a few comfortable chairs, a table and a magical ceiling mounted Gatling gun that never stopped tracking them.

  "Oh don't be so twitchy." Barnaby said. "I've only lost one assistant to that gun."

  "How many assistants have you had?" Anne asked.

  "One." The older man said in a serious tone.

  I looked at Anne nervously and then we both looked at the gun. The gun twitched as if looking at them.

  We sat down in the chairs and with a twitch of my fingers I felt a pressure like going under water surround me.

  "Ugh, I hate that feeling." Anne said before she laid down on Jacks lap.

  "So, what do you need to know?" Barnaby asked.

  Jack told him about their meeting with Hook and Smee and at the end of his tale Barnaby looked worried.

  "What's wrong?" Jack asked.

  "Well," he said with some thought. "You certainly do have your fathers blood in you." He shook his head.

  "What do you mean?"

  "James Hook is not who he appears." He said quietly. "He is not the bumbling, anger prone fool your familiar with. What you saw today was an act."

  "Explain." I said simply.

  "Captain James Hook is dangerous, devious and likely still very strong."

  "I don't understand." I said confused. "Hook is.."

  He cut me off with a swipe of his hand. "No. Assassin's have failed to kill him. Traps don't work on him. Poisons. Bombs. Guns. Knives. He is an expert at them all. He knows combat like ducks know water. Think about it, he is a Pirate Captain but allowed to walk around free. Why is that?"

  I quietly shook my head. There was a lead weight forming where my stomach had been.

  "Exactly. If you fail to cage a man eating tiger, what do you do? You don't keep going after it with all of your men."

  "He's a man eating tiger?" I asked quietly.

  Barnaby chuckled darkly. "No." His smile was grim. "He's the person you send into the jungle, the one who goes in alone to kill the man eating tiger."