Catalyst

by Sarah Beth Durst

  “Alex!”

  “Zoe!” He scooped her up in a hug, swung her in a half circle, then set her down. “I think you grew.”

  “Hah-hah, very funny.” Zoe lightly punched his arm.

  He wrinkled his nose. “I also think you need a shower. Maybe even before Dad makes dinner. How rustic was this camp?”

  “Very.”

  As Harrison let Kermit in through his garage, Alex called, “Welcome back, Harrison and Surita!”

  Surita gave him a wave, and Kermit wagged his many tails as he trotted into Harrison’s garage. Both Surita and Harrison were trying to shield Kermit from view from the street, but his greenness and his tails were visible from Zoe’s house.

  “Hey, what’s up with that dog’s tail?” Alex asked. “And his fur?”

  “Long story,” Zoe said. “I was kind of hoping to tell you all at once, with Harrison.”

  “After you shower?”

  “It’s kind of important.” This could work, she thought. Sure, a few people who had seen Pipsqueak on their journey north had panicked: the mother on the playground, the store employee, whoever was driving that truck. But Surita had been ecstatic. And everyone had to agree that Buttermouse was adorable, right?

  After one more glance back at Aunt Alecia’s truck, Zoe went inside, with Alex’s arm slung over her shoulder. He bellowed, “Zoe’s home! Smelly, but here!” He shepherded her into the living room, where Dad put down the book he was reading and jumped up. Mom had her laptop balanced on her knees, but she set it aside.

  “Finally!” Mom said.

  All three of them hugged her at once.

  “You, young lady, were supposed to be home an hour ago,” Mom scolded. “Surita told us you were getting a ride home with a friend . . . You know better than to change driving arrangements without clearing it with us. Why didn’t you text us? We don’t like you driving with strangers.”

  “I wasn’t driven by a stranger,” Zoe said. “And I’m fine. Sorry for worrying you. My phone battery was drained.” She took a deep breath. Despite spending the whole drive down obsessing over it, she still didn’t know what she was going to say. There wasn’t a good way to break the news. It was going to be a shock no matter what words she used. She just had to go for it. “I, um, have a new friend. Actually, you’ve met her already, but she’s a little . . . different now. She grew.”

  “Zoe, what are you talking about?” Dad asked. “Who drove you? What new friend?”

  Harrison burst into the room, with Surita and Kermit in tow. All three of them were panting, as if they’d run full speed across the lawns, which they most likely had.

  “Did I miss it?” Harrison asked. “Did you tell them yet?”

  “Are you sure this is a good idea?” Surita asked, nearly simultaneously. “Remember all those movies where everything goes wrong! Remember the reporter who came to your house!”

  Mom had stood up. “Zoe, what are you trying to tell us? And what on earth is wrong with that dog? It’s green! And look at its tails!”

  “Never mind its tails,” Alex said. “Look at its teeth!”

  Zoe saw movement out the window behind Mom. She smiled encouragingly at Pipsqueak. They’re going to love her, she thought. I hope.

  Loudly, through the glass, Pipsqueak said, “Hi, Zoe’s family!”

  Alex leaped into the air.

  Mom turned, saw the cat, and screamed.

  Everyone began shouting at once, with Surita saying “I told you so!” and Harrison and Zoe trying to calm everyone down. They have to listen! Zoe thought. This will never work if they won’t at least try to listen! “Please, let me explain!”

  Alex shouted, louder than everyone, “Let Zoe talk!”

  Amazingly, her family calmed. Maybe it was because of Alex. Or maybe it was because the giant cat outside the window had disappeared instead of attacking and it was easier to pretend they’d all imagined it. All of them turned to look at Zoe.

  She, with Harrison adding comments, told them everything.

   Chapter 19

  AFTER SHE FINISHED EXPLAINING, Zoe led the way out the back door. She’d expected more questions, but everyone just wanted to see the proof. And there was the giant cat, curled up beside the barbecue grill.

  “Um, do you want a burger?” Dad offered. His eyes were so wide they seemed like they were about to pop out, cartoon-style. He was looking from the giant cat to the green dog and back again. “Either of you?”

  “Seriously, Dad?” Alex said. “There’s a giant magic kitty and a mutant dog in our backyard, and you want to know if they want dinner? Aren’t there better questions to ask?” He faced Pipsqueak. “Uh, hi, Pipsqueak? Guess that didn’t turn out to be the most accurate name. Ha-ha.”

  Pipsqueak lashed her tail sideways and glanced at Zoe.

  “She likes her name,” Zoe said quickly. She could tell that Pipsqueak was just as nervous as she was. Her fur was extra fluffy, and her pupils were wide. But the rest of Zoe’s family might see a large, angry feline swatting her tail.

  “Great! It’s perfect then,” Alex said.

  Her tail stopped. “Zoe, would I like a burger?”

  “They’re delicious,” Zoe assured her.

  After starting the grill, Dad rushed to the kitchen and returned with hamburger meat. He shaped it into a few patties while they all stared at Pipsqueak, and she stared back at them. Slinking closer to the grill, Kermit lolled his green tongue out and drooled.

  Mom looked like she was trying to decide between terrified, awestruck, and furious. “How could you . . . You just wandered off into the wilderness? All the way to New Hampshire? With . . . Zoe, I don’t know what to think or say!”

  Despite not knowing what to say, Mom opened her mouth to talk more, but Pipsqueak beat her to it. “Zoe and Harrison just wanted to help me and keep me safe. And find answers, which they did.”

  Crossing to Pipsqueak, Zoe plunged her hands into the cat’s neck fur and began to pet her neck and cheek. Closing her eyes halfway, Pipsqueak began to purr. “Alex? Want to pet her?” Zoe asked.

  “Um, sure?” He tiptoed closer, his hand outstretched.

  “Can I pet her too?” Surita asked. She was so excited, she was dancing from foot to foot, her hands clasped over her heart.

  Leaning closer to the cat, Zoe whispered, “Do you mind if they all pet you?”

  “That’s fine,” Pipsqueak whispered back. “They don’t seem angry. Except your mother. But she seems mostly confused.”

  “You can pet her,” Zoe told Surita.

  Surita scurried over with Alex, and both of them began petting the giant cat. “She’s so soft!” Surita gushed. Alex looked enchanted, with a goofy smile on his face.

  When they stopped, Pipsqueak began meticulously licking her fur where they’d ruffled it.

  Dad solemnly offered her a burger on a paper plate. “Bun? Lettuce? Tomato?”

  “I’m a cat, not a rabbit.” Pipsqueak delicately plucked the burger off the plate and swallowed it in a single gulp. “Oh, Zoe, you’re right! Delicious!”

  Dad gave her a second one and also one to Kermit, who devoured it instantly with num-num-num sound effects that caused Dad to stare at him. “Did he just . . .” Dad began.

  Finishing her second burger, Pipsqueak declared, “It was a good decision to come back.”

  “You were living in the shed, right under our noses,” Mom said. She asked Zoe, “Is she why you and Harrison built a box fort?”

  “Cats like boxes,” Zoe said.

  Mom nodded, as if the pieces were all fitting together. “Ah, I see . . .” Her voice sounded a bit strangled, as if she were doing her best to stay calm. Zoe was impressed that she hadn’t lost it yet. So far, Zoe wasn’t even grounded. Maybe when she has a chance to think about it more, she’ll be angry. Or upset. Or confused. Or . . . maybe Mom just doesn’t know what to feel.

  “I wish you’d trusted us enough to tell us,” Alex said.

  “I’m telling you now,” Zoe pointed out
. It had taken her a while to see this was the right thing to do, but at least she’d seen it. “I wanted you all to understand. I shouldn’t have ever lied to you. I should have believed in you and given you a chance to help. But I’m doing that now. I’m asking you to understand. And to let me visit Pipsqueak and Kermit and Buttermouse in Sanctuary. Please, can I visit them?”

  She looked to her parents, but it was Alex who spoke. “I want to visit too. Every time I’m home from Paris, I’ll take you to New Hampshire.”

  She hugged him. “Thanks, Alex.” Maybe that wasn’t as good as Alex never leaving home, but it would be amazing to share this with him. She remembered what Dad had said back when all of this began: Zoe, things never stay the same. That’s just the way life is. It doesn’t mean it’s all bad. Change can be good. Even exciting!

  Maybe he was right.

  “I don’t know what’s harder to believe,” Mom said, “that my daughter is some kind of magical Catalyst or that my sister was telling the truth about her impossible creatures.”

  Zoe glanced toward the front of the house. There was Aunt Alecia, holding a shoebox, standing in the shadows, listening to everything. Zoe smiled. “If Aunt Alecia were here now, what would you want to say to her?”

  “I’d start with an apology. At the very least, I owe her one of those.”

  “Write to her,” Dad suggested. “What harm could it do to try?”

  “What if she doesn’t want to hear from me?” Mom buried her face in her hands, and Dad wrapped his arms around her shoulders.

  Reaching her head out, Pipsqueak licked Mom’s hair.

  Mom shrieked. Pulling out of Dad’s arms, she patted the licked portion of her hair, which stuck together in wet clumps. “Robert . . . I’ve been so wrong about her.”

  Dad kissed the part of her hair that hadn’t been licked. “We can fix this.”

  “Aunt Alecia drove us home,” Zoe blurted out.

  Everyone stared at her.

  “Remember I said I wasn’t driven home by a stranger?” Zoe said. “It was Aunt Alecia. And I think”—Zoe continued—“if you wanted to talk to her . . . she’d want to talk to you too.” Glancing over Mom’s shoulder, Zoe expected Aunt Alecia to duck back behind the house. But instead she took a tentative step forward.

  Seeing her, Mom looked as shocked as she had when Pipsqueak peered in through the window. Maybe even more shocked, Zoe thought.

  “Alecia . . .” Mom began.

  “Oh no, Buttermouse!” Harrison slapped his forehead with his hand. “I forgot! So sorry, buddy! Let’s get you out of there.” He darted forward to take the box from Aunt Alecia. He opened it, and the winged mouse fluttered up, saw the crowd, and did a loop, showing off his marvelous wings and multicolored fur.

  “Whoa, cool,” Surita said.

  “Hello, new friends!” Buttermouse squeaked.

  “Aunt Alecia will be driving them back to Sanctuary,” Zoe said. “But they wanted to come and meet you and tell you it’s all real. And that everything’s all right.”

  * * *

  While Mom and Aunt Alecia talked, cried, and hugged a lot, Zoe helped Dad make more hamburgers for all the humans and non-humans in their backyard. The people sat on various lawn chairs, and Pipsqueak curled up next to the shed, while Kermit flopped down against her furry belly. Buttermouse perched on top of Pipsqueak’s head.

  “A magical paradise,” Mom marveled. “How did you find it?”

  “You remember our grandfather?” Aunt Alecia asked. “Well, he wasn’t just odd, like our parents always said. He had magic. He created a portal to Sanctuary in the White Mountains, but the notes he left about its location were cryptic at best. I had been searching off and on for years, but on the day I found the portal, I . . . well . . . I was looking for Bigfoot.”

  Surita let out a little happy yip. “Your aunt is my idol,” she whispered to Zoe.

  “It was quite an adventure. I wish . . . I wish you’d been there,” Aunt Alecia said to Mom.

  “I . . . should have been,” Mom said.

  “You didn’t understand. I should have showed you. Like your daughter did.”

  Mom glanced against at Pipsqueak. “She did make her point effectively.”

  She still sounded a little dazed, but she smiled tentatively at her sister, who smiled back.

  “Tell us what this all means for our daughter,” Dad said.

  Alex jumped in. “Is my sister a superhero now?”

  Harrison raised his hand. “If she’s a superhero, I’m her sidekick. She’s definitely going to need a sidekick, especially one with proven camping skills.”

  Zoe grinned at him. “If I’m a superhero, you’re my number one sidekick.”

  “I’ll be sidekick number two,” Surita volunteered. “But only if you introduce me to Bigfoot. And can I ride a unicorn? Can I ride a unicorn with Bigfoot?”

  Aunt Alecia answered Dad. “Your daughter is a Catalyst. It’s not an active power. She isn’t casting a spell or shooting beams of magic out of her eyes—”

  “Aww,” Surita and Harrison said simultaneously.

  “She simply is magic. And when she is in the vicinity of a creature with latent magic inside it, she activates it. Think of it like waking up a dormant gene. From there, the change cascades within the creature until the transformation is complete.” Aunt Alecia waved her hand at Pipsqueak, Buttermouse, and Kermit.

  “Am I complete?” Pipsqueak asked. “Will I grow more?”

  “From what I’ve seen of other giant cats, you are full size,” Aunt Alecia reassured her. To all of them, she said, “The tricky part of being a Catalyst is helping the animals through their transition. It can be a shock to suddenly sprout wings.”

  Buttermouse squeaked, “I love my wings!”

  Mom jumped, and Dad dropped his burger. He picked it up and dusted it off. “I forgot it could talk,” Dad said. “Guess I’ll have to get used to that.”

  He moved to throw his burger away, but Alex intercepted it. “Five second rule!”

  “Alex . . .” Mom began.

  Alex bit into the burger.

  “At least some things don’t change,” Dad said with extra cheer. Mom didn’t look amused.

  “We can search for new creatures that could be magical,” Surita suggested. “Volunteer at animal shelters. Offer to dog-walk people’s pets. Visit petting zoos. Farms. Aquariums. Expose Zoe to as many animals as possible!”

  Mom held up her hands. “Hold on! I don’t want her seeking out new magical creatures. It’s one thing if they’re drawn to her, but actively looking for them? Zoe and Harrison—they’re only twelve. And Surita . . .”

  “My parents think I need more extracurriculars,” Surita said.

  “You can’t put this on a resumé!” Aunt Alecia sputtered. “It’s highly secret, for the protection of all the extraordinary creatures!”

  Zoe said, “Surita can keep a secret. She kept our secret about camp . . .” She trailed off. Maybe it wasn’t the best idea to remind her parents of that little detail. “Anyway, you can trust her.”

  Pipsqueak spoke up. “I trust her.”

  Surita looked like she wanted to cry. “Oh! Thank you!”

  Mom pulled the conversation back on track. “Zoe, I don’t want you endangering yourself to help magical creatures. No more trekking off to New Hampshire on your own.”

  Aunt Alecia agreed. “Yes. When you find any extraordinary creatures, notify me, and I’ll take them to Sanctuary myself.”

  Zoe promised she would.

  “I can’t believe we’re even discussing this,” Mom said, shaking her head. “Why is this happening to us? Why our Zoe?”

  “She got it from your side of the family,” Dad said.

  Mom glared at him.

  “He is technically correct,” Aunt Alecia said. “She inherited her power from our grandfather—”

  “It was a rhetorical question,” Mom said.

  “Zoe has always wanted to rescue animals,” Alex pointed out.


  Zoe gave her brother a grateful smile. Even faced with such an unexpected surprise, he was still on her side. “In a way, this isn’t so different,” she said. “I’m just helping unusual animals.”

  “I know all of this sounds very exciting and wonderful,” Mom said, “but—”

  Kermit wagged his many tails. “It is exciting and wonderful! We all want new friends.”

  Everyone stared at Kermit. “Does everything talk?” Mom said, exasperated, and then shook herself. “As I was saying, all of this sounds like a great plan when Zoe is older, but right now, she’s too young to have to worry about seeking out magical animals. And there are still reporters, scientists, tourists, and many other people searching for unusual creatures—”

  “Creatures will be drawn to her whether she seeks them out or not,” Aunt Alecia said. “What matters is deciding how to handle this new normal.”

  “I’m a Catalyst,” Zoe said. It was the first time she’d said it, and it felt strange to say out loud. “I guess, maybe, I’ve always been one?”

  She wished being a Catalyst didn’t mean having to say goodbye to all these amazing creatures so soon after she met them. She was going to miss them all, not just Pipsqueak.

  If only the portal weren’t so far away! she thought. She wished her great-grandfather had created it closer. Of course, he’d probably picked the White Mountains exactly because it was far from any town or city . . .

  Could one be made closer?

  She wondered, for the first time, how her great-grandfather had created the portal. Aunt Alecia had just said he’d done it, and she’d used his journals to find it. If he’d discovered a way to make a portal . . . could that same way be used to make another one?

  Aunt Alecia continued, soothing Mom. “Keep in mind that magical animals are rare. There hasn’t been a Catalyst in this area in years, so these creatures were waiting for Zoe’s power to emerge. She may not encounter another like them for a long time, even if she tries to look for them.”

  “Good!” Mom said. “Life is complicated enough without—”