Cat-astrophic Spells (4 page)

A
s I came
around the corner, I saw that Darla was still there. Her new friend had pulled up a chair and made himself comfortable at her table, leaning in to talk.

“Cath.” I turned to see my best friend Min Parks.

“Hey!” I suddenly felt happy and confident.

Min and I had met in high school and had been glued at the hip until we graduated. Min had recently moved back to Wonder Falls a retired millionaire, and I could honestly say nothing had changed in him. He was still the sweetest guy I’d ever known.

I gave him a big hug. “What brings you in here at this hour? Let me guess. It’s the people.” I jerked my head to the right, making Min turn toward Darla who was obviously trying her hardest to look as though she weren’t paying attention to us.

Min’s fortune never made a difference to me. Whether he’d come back rich or poor wasn’t the issue. I was just thrilled he’d come back to Wonder Falls.

Darla, on the other hand, hated the fact he’d come back to town a multimillionaire. Not only was he the richest resident in ten counties, but he had no interest in Darla, and that was what bothered her the most.

His disinterest in her wasn’t just because she was mean to me for sport or because of idle gossip or teenage teasing. Her affiliation with Ruby Connors was why Min would never have anything to do with Darla.

Ruby Connors’s big brother tormented Min. One horrible moonlit night, Ruby’s brother stuffed Min in a sack and dumped him in the river. It took some fancy maneuvering on my part and a deal with the Lady in the Lake to rescue him. He almost died that night. But that is a story for another time.

Darla turned to stare at me. I knew it was killing her that Min and I were still such good friends, and that he had heaps of money.

Of course, I liked Min before he made his fortune. Rich or poor never made a difference to me, which was probably part of the reason Min and I were such good friends and the reason why Darla and I would probably always be mortal enemies.

The sweetest thing about his success was that without trying, Min had achieved the most divine retribution against the bullies he’d had to deal with. He was happy, healthy, and just happened to be rich.

“Can I get some of that chocolate you guys have? The little toffees?” In all the years I’d known Min, he’d never had a huge sweet tooth. A man after Bea’s own heart, he liked fruit and maybe, if he were splurging, a little honey as sweetener. But he usually came in for green tea and not much else.

“Of course you can.” I pulled out one of our delicate little bags with The Brew-Ha-Ha written in antique script across it. “But eat them slow. We won’t be getting anymore of this quality for a while.”

“Really? Why is that?” he asked.

Darla had shifted in her seat and was trying to hear what I was saying. I turned my back to her and slipped my arm through Min’s to pull him down closer to me so I could talk semi-privately. “Marvin the chocolatier at Sweetie’s is dead. Died of a heart attack just yesterday morning.” I released Min’s arm and folded the top of the little bag over then added a gold sticker to hold it shut.

“You’re kidding,” Min said in a hushed voice.

I shook my head as I handed him the candy. When he reached for his wallet, I waved my hand. “On the house, as always. And no, I’m not kidding. You didn’t hear anything about it?” I probed a little. Min didn’t know about my bewitching family history, and I preferred to keep it that way. If our friendship were to ever progress in a more intimate direction, I’d fess up, but at that moment, I was just your average woman asking about the latest town gossip.

“No. Nothing at all.” He looked down at me with shock on his face. “I have been spending a lot of time at the nursing home. I haven’t had a lot of time to even see my parents, let alone get the scoop on what’s happening with the locals.”

“You’re right. You have been very busy. I haven’t seen your bright face around here as much. Is everything going okay with the Wonder Falls Retirement Community? Are they liking their new Chairman of the Board?”

One of Min’s goals when he returned to Wonder Falls was to give back to the community. He chose to start volunteering at the old folks’ home. Maybe it was his Asian heritage that made him feel more indebted to the older members of our community since it was part of his tradition, or maybe it was just that he had a kind heart. Either way, he was helping, which was ultimately what he wanted to do.

“Oh, I think they are liking me fine.” His cheeks reddened as he looked down at his shoes and smiled.

“Min? Are you…blushing?” I bumped him with my hip. “Something is up. Tell me now before I have to resort to violence.”

Finally sitting on a stool at the counter, Min made himself comfortable and ordered tea. I hopped around the other side of the counter, propped my head up on my hands and waited.

“Her name is Amalia.”

My jaw dropped. A girl?

“She’s a nurse at the Home. She’s been there for over two years but had worked the graveyard shift…”

“Not a good term to use in regard to the ‘old folks’ home.’” I used air quotes to emphasize my point. Any talk of graves, tombstones, or death should be avoided at all cost for fear of bad jokes ensuing.

“Right?” Min chuckled a little. “When her schedule changed due to one of our older nurses retiring, I got the chance to meet her.”

I smiled. “I see.” Was I happy about this? I don’t know. It was the first time Min had ever mentioned a girl—no, a nurse. A woman. It was the first time he’d ever mentioned a woman to me. I had to admit I was feeling a little weird.

“You’d like her, Cath. I know you would.”

“I’m…sure that I would, Min. I’m really happy for you. You’ll have to bring her into the café sometime.”

Just then, Darla stood, making a spectacle of herself by flipping her hair and giggling at something her new boy toy had said. He was already grabbing her purse to carry for her, and they both scooted out of the café. How did she train them so fast?

“She didn’t even say if she liked the meal,” Aunt Astrid scoffed, shaking her head in disgust as she finished the last of her napkin folding.

“Well, she did everything but lick the plate clean,” Bea said, holding up the plate, which looked as if no food had even been served on it. “She didn’t stay for her dessert.”

“She couldn’t, remember? She had a very important meeting with her accountant,” I said, not holding back the sarcasm.

“It’s about time someone made her handle her own finances. We all know she’s been mooching off these poor men long enough.” Aunt Astrid slowly stood and stretched her bones. The lunch rush was over.

“She’ll be back, you know, to collect on that. It’s just an excuse for her to come in and do a little snooping. She’s so obvious.” I didn’t try to hide my feelings, yet I felt a pinch of irony since we lured her there to do the exact same thing.

“Your feelings for her haven’t changed,” Min said sympathetically.

“It would take divine intervention to make me even consider changing my opinion of Darla. Sometimes, high school brings out the jerk in people, but when they remain that way years later, then you know the problem is them. If I never saw her again, it would be too soon.”

Min patted my hand. “She’s like that because she’s jealous of you, you know.”

“Of course she is. I have this good-looking guy that I call my best friend. Who could blame her?”

Min smiled broadly and puffed out his chest. “So, you started to tell me about the chocolatier before. Tell me what happened.” He cupped his hand under his chin and leaned forward. I scooted a little closer, and it felt as though we were back in high school discussing our secrets and stories at one of the lunch tables.

I never would have imagined that at any time our secrets and stories would involve a dead chocolatier…and a new girlfriend. I certainly wasn’t prepared for there to be a connection between the two.

A
nother day had gone
by without a word from Treacle. I was beside myself with worry and couldn’t relax. Even when I was sitting, my nerves were stretching and pulling inside of my skin.

Finally, I decided I couldn’t just sit around and wait for him anymore. I had to go out on my own and see if I could find a furry associate of his who could give me a tip or point me in a new direction.

The funny thing about being able to talk to cats is that I have to alter my mind to think like they do. It was easier than learning Chinese but harder than talking to yourself inside your own head.

Thinking like Treacle was going to take me in a myriad of directions I had never even imagined. Most cats loved to prowl at night, so I waited until the sun went down. Cats were connected to the supernatural, so they left a sort of footprint when they were out stalking about. It was how they could find their way back home so easily.

Unlike dogs that got lost and couldn’t find their way back home, cats left a very light trail of energetic breadcrumbs they could pick up on. Even the smallest traces could linger for a long while, especially if it hadn’t rained. And lucky for me, it hadn’t.

With hope in my heart and tears in my eyes, I began my search. A small thread of Treacle’s energy caught my attention, and I followed its glowing color from my house, through the streets, through a park, until finally it disappeared near the industrial area of Wonder Falls.

Deep in the industrial neighborhood was a building Aunt Astrid and I had broken into not long ago. At that time, the place housed a demon of sorts. The building was important because a feline had been there who had remembered Treacle. That puss even had a concrete opinion of me, so if I could find him, he might be helpful.

But I was having trouble finding anything that slinked on four legs. Usually, they sensed me as if I were one of them. They would come to inspect who was in their neighborhood. I got very nervous all of a sudden. Where had they all gone?

I continued at my casual pace. A few people were sitting on their stoops or hanging around on the corners, and they paid no attention to me. I wasn’t drawing attention to myself, and I had conjured up a camouflage spell before I left. I wasn’t totally invisible, but I took on the appearance of what the gazer expected to see. In one instance, I might look like an old lady, and in another instance, I was just a young man making his way home. But the cats could see me as I was if any of them peeked out from their hiding places.

Finally, after a few more blocks, I caught sight of a calico peering from behind a dumpster. Her ears were flat back as she stared at me, her eyes glinting pale yellow against the darkness.

You look scared down there. I’m not going to hurt you
, I said in my mind. I was speaking slow and clear, but the cat looked at me as if I were a junkyard dog.
I just want to ask you
…

The cat let out a hiss and darted off. She didn’t say a word, but I could tell she was terrified of something. Whatever it was must have looked or acted like me… like a person. My blood was beginning to boil as I thought of someone terrorizing these cats.

Another black-and-white tuxedo cat slunk along the ledge of an old, run-down apartment building. A television light glowed through one of the apartment windows.

“Hey! You look like you see a lot of things going on around here,”
I called to the cat, again making my thoughts clear and calm.
“I was wondering…”

In a split second, the cat arched its back, its fur stiffened, and it gave me a deep, guttural growl. My eyebrows shot up to my hairline. This had never happened before. Never.

As I watched the cat slink back underneath a raised window and into the apartment with the glowing television, I stopped for a moment to think.

During the days when witches and suspected witches were being burned at the stake, family stories and legends always mentioned how cats seemed to be aware before anyone else. In their simple minds, they knew a storm was coming, and they took shelter. Was that what was happening? Was a storm coming?

I kept walking. My camouflage spell was holding up, and I was weaving in and out of the neighborhoods with very little attention being paid to me.

Then I saw a familiar face. A large gray four-legged beastie glared at me the same as he’d done the last time I was in this part of town.

He was perched on a tall stack of skids at an alley entrance. I would never forget that cat’s face, with his scarred mug and dirty, gray fur. He knew Treacle and didn’t like him. He obviously picked up Treacle’s scent on me and decided he didn’t like me either.

“I know you,”
I said to him. He watched me with wild, wide eyes. “
You told me I didn’t belong in this neighborhood and neither did the black cat I took care of. Do you remember?”
I stood perfectly still. I could see the muscles rippling underneath his fur as they tensed.
“I’m not going to hurt you. I was just wondering if you saw that black cat of mine. You know the one
.”

He still didn’t respond.

“What is wrong with all of you?” I mumbled out loud.

Finally, the big alley cat stood up. His fur was on edge, and his back arched as his unblinking eyes bore into mine.
“I’ve seen that one. Five nights ago
.”

“Five nights ago? Where did he go?”
I pointed up and down the street.
“What direction?”

“He was lost in his mind. He walked in circles and mumbled and made his way through the buildings. He wouldn’t fight. Couldn’t fight and rushed past all of us. Something has him. He won’t be back
.”

Tears filled my eyes.
“What? What has him? What are you talking about?”

“There is a badness here. It’s here! And it’ll get you, too! You talking humans can’t be trusted.”

“Why would you say that? Wait.”
His words struck me
. “What other human is talking to you?”
Call me territorial, but as far as I knew, being able to communicate with cats was a rare and special gift. If someone else had that same talent, I sure the heck wanted to know who it was and why, since that person had come to town, all the cats were more high-strung than ever before.

Like the crack of a whip, the cat leapt at me. His claws were out, and one sharp nail gouged my neck, leaving a long trail of torn skin that instantly began to bleed in a thin line. He pushed off my body and bound down the street, slinking underneath a parked car and into the shadows.

“What in the world?” I said out loud. I was crying openly. I had never had a cat attack me. Dogs, bats, even a raccoon may have tried to take a swipe at me before but never a cat.

The feline’s words were of no comfort either. Treacle was in that neighborhood five days ago? He walked in circles? The only thing that came to mind was a word I didn’t want to say. A horror worse than any other talking human for my poor, beautiful cat, and if it were true, it would be all my fault.

I took a few steps, not knowing what direction to go. I thought back to the last time I saw Treacle and wished I could go back to that moment. If I would have kept him in the house, maybe he wouldn’t be lost and possibly hurt. I was used to letting him go and picking him up at the animal shelter or seeing him weave in through the back door of the café. I had taken him for granted.

Rabies.

No, I wasn’t ready to say the word or even think it. That horrible disease eats an animal up slowly and painfully from the inside, starting with its mind. Hadn’t Treacle had his shots? I know I’d gotten them for him at the shelter. I know I had.

Hadn’t I?

Rabies.
No, there had to be another explanation. Treacle would have come home if he’d been attacked that badly. I would have seen a wound or a bite or something. No, something more sinister was at play.

I was near hysterics. Treacle may not have had rabies, but something was hurting him. Something was keeping him from me, and I needed to find out what it was and make sure it never harmed him or any other cat again.

My heart was broken, and I felt very tired. It was as though a weight had been added to my shoulders and ankles. I needed to get home so I could rest and figure out what to do next.

That big alley cat may not have been telling the truth. But that thought was no comfort.

As I made my way back home, I recalled taking Treacle to the vet for his shots. Wonder Falls had a lot of bats, raccoons, squirrels, and other things that could have gotten a hold of him at any time. I didn’t take chances because I knew how much he loved to roam.

But even if he didn’t have rabies, what if he had some other disease? What if he had gotten into a fight with something bigger and meaner than he was? What if he was hurt and wondering where I was? I felt my heart crack into pieces. I had to find him, no matter what.