Cat-astrophic Spells (13 page)

I
didn’t stay
for very long, maybe a half an hour… forty-five minutes tops. Min and Amalia would never know how much good they did for me.

I listened to them tell stories about their day, and Amalia was like an open book. The poor thing was more than happy to laugh at what seemed to be a never-ending series of unfortunate events.

On her day off about three months ago, she managed to put gas in her car, drop off dry cleaning, and make it halfway through grocery shopping before someone told her that her skirt was tucked into her pantyhose. At work, one of the new residents had received flowers from her family, and when Amalia went to fill up a vase, she spilled all the water on her shirt. Nursing uniforms are quite sturdy, built to stand up to all kinds of spills, and hers was no different. Ironically, the uniform had multicolored cats all over it. When she got home and took off her shirt, the colors of the cats had transferred onto her skin.

“I looked like I had Morgellons disease. All these goofy, multicolored lines all over me. It took over a week of near-scalding hot baths to get them off completely.”

The way she told a story had me in stitches. I found myself liking her more and more. It wasn’t just because she was so willing to share her misfortune with a smile and such good nature, but I saw a lot of myself in her.

She never talked about going out with girlfriends or partying or anything like that. She worked and kept to herself until Min came along… just as he’d done for me in high school.

When I finally left, I felt good. For the first time in a couple of days, I felt like myself. A good night’s sleep in my own bed, knowing my cat and family were safe, was all I needed. But as I drove down the dark and deserted streets, I began to feel uneasy.

I couldn’t be sure, but I thought every couple of blocks, I saw the glowing eyes of felines peering out at me from the roadside, from around mailboxes, from side streets and alleyways. I scanned the roads for any other cars but saw none.

Finally, I arrived at my house. I swear that the journey, which had only taken about ten minutes, felt like it had slowed down. I was shocked to see it was only a little after midnight. I had been sure it was at least two in the morning.

Climbing out of my car, I listened and heard nothing. As I walked up the steps to my house, my footsteps echoed loudly. The key slipping into the lock sounded like an explosion against the quiet neighborhood. Again, I listened but heard nothing. Shrugging, I slipped inside, locked the door behind me, and let out my breath.

Without Treacle, the house was very still. Just to be on the safe side, I checked all the windows and the back door and found everything to be locked up tight, just as I had left it.

Even though Bea’s home was spacious and lovely and always smelled of a soothing spice or flower, I loved being in my own little house. Sage hung in the air, my crystals hung from the corners of the ceiling, and my clothes, notes, magazines, and books were scattered wherever I set them. Even the most skilled witch should appreciate her own sacred space.

Letting the water heat up in my shower, I thought of Amalia’s story and began to chuckle again. The shower felt good and helped clear my mind. When I finally emerged, my fingers were prunes and my internal temperature was raised, so the cool air outside the bathroom felt invigorating. Slipping into flannel pajamas, I checked all the doors and windows again, left one light on in the living room, crawled into bed, and snapped off the light on the nightstand.

Then it hit me. There was no sound outside. No sound of any kind. No crickets. No hum from the busy streets a couple of blocks down. There was no wind rustling the leaves.

My eyes popped wide open, and I held my breath.

“Meow-er-eow!”

A layer of sweat instantly broke out all over me. Not wanting to look but feeling an invisible pull turn my head, I turned to the window and saw not just one but three sets of glowing eyes staring in at me from behind a tiny slit of open curtain.

The cats banged and scratched viciously at the window with a feverish determination. What they would have done to me had they been able to get in, I don’t know. But I saw nothing in those glowing orbs that would make me think they were anything other than fully consumed by the beast that had chosen them to do her dirty work.

I got out of bed carefully and looked at them. I tried to talk to them, to hear their thoughts, but I couldn’t. All I could hear was screaming.

PING! PING! PING! The light, bouncy sound of my cell phone ringing made me jump and clutch my chest.

I walked over to the phone, expecting it to be my aunt or Bea calling to tell me it was like a crazy cat lady’s dream come true at their house, with a couple of dozen felines howling and meowing in their yard.

Instead, when I answered, I felt an ice-cold breath across the back of my neck.

“Cath? Why do they call you that? You have half a name because you are just half a person. They all know that. Don’t you?” The voice on the other end of the phone was hypnotic. I began to tremble, but I couldn’t put the phone down. “I can see you.” Her sing-songy voice reminded me of the condescending way Darla used to insult me in high school, with her voice sounding kind, even though the words were anything but. “Did you like my driving tonight? You looked like you did.”

“What do you want?” I managed to squeak, angry with myself for not sounding tougher.

“You know what I want. I want your cat.” She sounded frustrated. “You don’t even know what he’s capable of doing. You have no idea what kind of power he could radiate because you just want him as a pet. A companion because you don’t have a man.”

“You can’t have him.”

“Oh, says you?”

“Yeah.”

“You know, Cath, you might know who I am now, but you don’t know what I am.”

“I know what you
think
you are. You think you’re some kind of witch. It takes a little more than black clothes and a bedazzled pentagram to make a witch.”

The other end of the phone was quiet for a moment. I was hoping she was embarrassed over that tacky ring.

“I’m not just a witch. Brit’s little trinkets won’t be able to stop me once I have the power of your black cat at my disposal. Don’t worry, once he’s mine he’ll probably forget all about you.”

“It’ll be over my dead body before you get my cat,” I growled into the phone, wishing I could reach through the line and strangle her. Especially when she laughed at me.

“That sounds about right. And the beautiful thing is I can do it. To you. To that old hippie. To the one married to that handsome detective who would inevitably need a shoulder to cry on… or more.”

“You’re disgusting. You’re a slob. We’ve seen your work. You got lucky a couple of times, that’s it. Anyone could make a mess like you did. You’re a hack.” When I genuinely laughed at Jennifer, she said nothing. “I’ll tell you what, Jennifer, if you knew anything, you might have tried a love spell on Marvin to get him to notice your softer side. But see, you didn’t even have the smarts to do that. You just resort to violence. Like a thug. Like an ignorant thug.”

“I’ll show you a…”

“You won’t show me anything. Oh, I take that back. You’ll show me a bunch of cats who will do what? Scratch my furniture until I beg for mercy?” A surge of positive energy coursed through me. I suddenly realized what was happening. Jennifer, having chosen to learn from those darker shadows and beasts in other dimensions, could not maintain the upper hand for long if her victim wasn’t afraid. My gosh, how terrified had Marvin been for her to do what she did to him? “Tell me, Jennifer, what was your plan for Lucas? Did he know you were just using him? Or did he…”

“Shut your mouth, subcreature!” she screamed into the phone. Her voice was like a growl and a scream all at once.

I think I had just gone one step too far. “Yeah, okay. You’re real tough over the phone, Jennifer, but how would you be if I was right in front of you? You think I’m scared of a voice? You think I’m scared of someone who has to stick to the shadows and uses cats because she’s so horrible, she knows no one wants to even look at her?” I was shaking as the words came out of me, especially when the other end of the line had gone silent.

Then I remembered something Jake had said about the notes we received. Jennifer could do parlor tricks. She could make cats act crazy to freak us out and deliver notes, but she was still using the things in this world for most of her scare tactics. And her psychic attacks were as chaotic as her own mind was. She was no match for the Greenstones.

“Jennifer, are you still there?”

“Your whole world is going to become very dark, very soon.” Her voice was low and gravelly.

“Yeah, yeah, well, that may be. But let’s just say we handle this like big witches. You meet me by the waterfall tomorrow at one in the morning. Do you know where that is? There’s a clearing where the water begins to fall. It’s out of the way. Quiet. No way for an ambush. And let’s settle this. If you win, you get Treacle, and I’ll step aside. If I win…”

“Deal,” she said without listening to me, then the phone clicked and went dead.

I looked at the phone. The number was listed as unknown, which I thought was kind of creepy. But the decision I had made, this duel I had arranged, felt oddly comforting.

Until I remembered I had to tell Bea and Aunt Astrid.

“
A
re
you out of your mind?” Aunt Astrid asked me the next morning after we had opened the café. “How could you just challenge her to a duel without even discussing it with us?”

I stood with my hands thrust deep in my jeans pockets as if I were back in high school and being questioned about a failed exam. I shrugged, not looking up.

“She makes people’s hearts explode!” Bea hissed so as not to be overheard by the patrons who were seated in the café, drinking. “Did you forget about that?”

“No, I didn’t forget,” I mumbled.

“Then what? What made you think this was a good idea?” Aunt Astrid asked, not caring about the people who turned to look at her. “I lost my sister because she went into something unprepared. I don’t plan on losing my niece the same way.”

I looked up at my aunt. “What do you mean my mom wasn’t prepared?” I asked quietly.

“Don’t try and change the subject. You might be in your own house, paying your own way, but Cath, you are still my responsibility. You can’t just assume you can handle anything thrown your way. Sometimes, you need to let the universe tell you what to do.”

“I thought I was. I have a hunch. I have a gut feeling that meeting her up there is the answer.”

“The answer to what?” Bea asked.

“The answer to getting her to stop.”

Aunt Astrid looked at me gravely.

“Aunt Astrid.” I leaned in to whisper in her ear. “Jennifer Skala is just a big bully. When you take away the gruesomeness, she’s no different than a punk in school.”

“I hope you’re right.”

“I think I am.” I smiled weakly at both of them.

“Mom, there’s got to be some kind of passage we can find to help with this,” Bea said. “Somewhere in one of your books, there has got to be something that would help.”

Aunt Astrid planted both hands on her hips and looked around the café. “If there is, I can’t think of it offhand.”

Bea scooted gracefully around the counter, wiping her hands on her apron. “Sorry, folks, family emergency. We’re closing for the day.”

A chorus of groans went up as chairs began scraping the floor. Papers rustled, and the bell behind the door jingled as the customers slowly exited.

“We’re sorry. So Sorry. Some things just can’t be helped. But come back tomorrow for a free coffee or tea and a slice of apple pie.”

“What?” I asked. “They don’t need to get a freebie for this, do they?”

“Compliments of my soul sister here. She’ll be buying your coffee for you tomorrow. Thanks so much for understanding.” Bea continued to usher people gently toward the door, winking at me as I felt my paycheck totally disappear before I’d even earned it.

I locked up the front door and flipped the CLOSED sign. We told Kevin he was welcome to go home, but he insisted on staying and getting a jump on those free pies we’d be giving away the next day. He said he’d be sure to lock up when he left.

“We need to get the cats,” I said as everyone piled into my car. We drove to Bea’s place, then all of us, each with a cat in her arms, got back in the car.

Treacle, who was usually quite at ease in the car, was trembling in my arms.
“Don’t you hear it?”
he said to me.
“It’s like someone keeps calling my name. I keep hearing it and wanting to go there, but…”

“It’s not what you think it is, Treacle.”
I looked at the other cats.
“Marshmallow, Peanut Butter, how are you guys feeling?”

“We hear it, too.”
Marshmallow shifted in Aunt Astrid’s arms.
“But it’s not calling Treacle. It’s calling me.”

“No,”
Peanut Butter said.
“It’s me. I told you it was me. I heard it first.”

I felt the blood drain from my face. She was starting already. Jennifer was going to get to me by getting to my cat first. We had to find something to stop her.

I backed out of the driveway and quickly pulled onto the street. Before I’d gotten ten feet away from the house, I slammed on the brakes, causing everyone to lurch forward.

“Look! Over there!” I pointed to a long-haired woman getting into a silver car and speeding away. She was wearing all black.

“Is that her?”
Treacle asked.

“I’ll bet it is,”
I said.
“We have to hurry. Who knows what she’ll try to do to us while we’re on the road.”

I was right to be concerned. But instead of using forces around us, like trees falling in our path or birds swooping into the windshield, the person in the silver car drove like a maniac. She pulled in front of us then slammed on her brakes. Turning down a side street, we thought she was going another route until she made a complete circle and sped up behind us. She kept up with us for several blocks, weaving and swerving, speeding up then slamming on her brakes.

I couldn’t panic. I whispered into Treacle’s ear, keeping both hands on the wheel as my cat stared with wide green eyes out the window.

Finally, the silver car pulled away, and I hit the gas to get to Bea’s house. It seemed like every car ride I took recently managed to take a couple of years off my life. This one was no exception.

Finally at my aunt’s house, we all piled out of the car. Looking around, I noticed the street was quiet. Treacle strained and cried, trying to tear free of my arms. I knew he wanted me to let him go. I knew he missed prowling around on his own, but I couldn’t be sure whether it was his idea or Jennifer’s. I wasn’t taking any chances. He had to stay with me.

“I know, Treacle. It won’t be much longer.”
I held his big, squirming body as I tried to get to the front door.

“MEOW-MEOW-EROW!” He hissed, swiping at my face and clawing a long scratch down my neck. The mark quickly turned from a hot pink to a thin thread of bright red as blood surfaced.

I lost my grip on him, and he landed on the ground. With one push of his strong back legs, he was off, darting into the neighbor’s yard, scooting underneath a car then out the other side to squeeze through a row of Yucca trees. Treacle had made his escape.

“Treacle!” I cried. My eyes burned instantly with tears. I took a few pathetic steps in the direction he’d run but knew I’d never be able to keep up with him, let alone catch him. “Oh, no! She’s going to get him! She told me she would. She told me what she was going to do to him. To all of them. This is all my fault!”

“Come on.” My aunt grabbed me by the hand. “She’s doing this to distract you.”

“No,” I said pitifully. “She told me on the phone. She said what she wanted and what she was going to do. She’s calling him, and he’s going to go to her. What have I done?”

Bea hurried and opened the door to her mother’s house, tossing in a skinny and high-strung Peanut Butter. She quickly came back and scooped up Marshmallow. “Cath, I know you’re scared, but we don’t have much time. If Treacle does go to her, then we need to find a way to get him back and get her in check. She’s not playing by the rules. If she has your black cat, this might be a bigger fight than we anticipated.”

“We?” I asked. “You guys can’t come.”

“Oh, right.” Aunt Astrid stomped her way toward the house. “Bea, get the books from my nightstand. Cath, in the pantry behind the cans of soup, you’ll find
The Outpost of the Enderton
. Grab that and—”

“I mean it. You guys can’t come. I didn’t tell her I’d meet her at the waterfall with my whole family. I just said me.” I stood on the porch as my family stepped inside then turned to look at me. The image of us right there couldn’t have been more perfect. Bea and her mom were inside the house, and I was standing at the threshold, on the porch but not in the house. It was so clear, I almost began to cry.

I didn’t want to admit it, but although I’d never felt unloved, I would always feel as if I were just outside the threshold. I don’t believe my family made me feel that way. I chose it. I knew I would always feel like that, and I had taken a stick to that snakes’ nest and poked and poked until every one of those tails rattled with hatred and aggression.

I couldn’t risk my family. They’d have each other. How awful would I feel if I left one of them feeling like I did? What if I left one of them feeling incomplete, unfinished? I couldn’t even think of it. It was too much.

“Do you think she’s going to abide by that?” Aunt Astrid scowled. “Do you think she even knows the meaning of the words ‘fair fight’? She killed a man for not being in love with her. How unreasonable is that? There is no telling what she’ll do to you if she gets the upper hand.”

I swallowed hard. “She won’t.”

“What time are you meeting her?” Aunt Astrid asked.

“I told her one in the morning. No one will be up there. Anyone around Lover’s Lane would be long gone by then. No one else would get hurt.”

“Fine,” Aunt Astrid said. “Let’s get to work, and no more talk about going solo.”

I nodded without smiling or making eye contact. I stepped over the threshold and felt a strange feeling of unfamiliarity. I wasn’t sure if the feeling was real, or if Jennifer was getting her talons in me from a distance, or if I had just gotten myself so worked up that I didn’t know what to feel.

Either way, I needed a plan, and hopefully there would be something in one of Aunt Astrid’s books to help me. I hated the sense of loneliness I felt. Yet if I could prove to my aunt and cousin that I was capable of handling myself then maybe…

What was I thinking? Maybe this would somehow bring my parents back? Maybe all my years of growing up surrounded by oddities, curiosities, and just plain weirdness would pay off? Maybe this fight would prove I had the ability to get whatever took my mom and do what? Beat it up?

I was having trouble focusing. Why was I so distracted? I turned around and faced the street. In the distance, I saw a Wonder Falls police car cruise slowly by. Why wasn’t Blake Samberg there to help?

What? Where in the world had that thought come from? I felt as though I’d spoken the words out loud, and both Aunt Astrid and Bea had heard me. I turned back to face them, my face beet red and my nerves a mess. This had to be some kind of inter-dimensional warfare. She had sprinkled some kind of fairy dust my way and was trying to get me so wrapped up in the wrong thoughts that I’d never be able to fight her.

“Cath, honey, she’s working on you already. Come on.” Bea took my hand like she did when we were little girls. I let her lead me into the house. Once Aunt Astrid shut the door, I looked around, almost surprised I was inside of the house. It was time to get to work… if I could just focus.