by Sam Cheever
Are those bats flying around up there? I asked Posh. This is like something straight out of a horror film.
It ’pears dis killer like ta put on da show.
I glanced over at the big cat sitting next to me. Posh scanned the area carefully, her enormous form completely still. I understood the seriousness of the task ahead. It would be a miracle if we even survived. Still, there was something that had been bothering me. Something I had to know. So I asked. How come you only have a Cajun accent in cat form? I wouldn’t ask why she was so much...erm...fluffier too. That would just be rude.
She slid a narrowed glance my way. ’Tis da way of things, cher. And just so’s ya know, y’all sound like a bimbo in fur.
Said fur stood straight on end with outrage. I do not! But even as I protested, my mind registered the high-pitched, sexy drawl of my voice. I’d never even noticed it before. In my brain I’d always thought I was me no matter what form I took.
Mm, hm. You sho do. And you dat much nicer as a cat too.
I shook my head, suddenly anxious to change the subject. What is this place, anyway?
This here’s the old, historic Hotel Xavier. It been closed for decades but it was quite da place in its day.
Xavier? I thought of the X cut into Tabitha’s delicate hand and sadness flared through me, pulling the air from my lungs. Of course. She’d been trying to tell me where her killer was.
I gave it another careful look, noting the details in the roofline and the enormous, broken fountain in the bricked, circular drive at the front. If I squinted really hard, I could almost see the grand structure it had once been. Cool.
It were built on a lee line and dere used ta be all manner o’ goin’s on here. Folks reported run-ins with vampire-like creatures, men who transformed into wolves, and more than the usual share of ghostly goings on.
If I’d been human I would have grinned. In my current state the smile came out as a purr. Sounds pretty normal to me.
Me too. But I ain’t a pale, stick-limbed human.
I chuckled.
Come on, cher. We got work ta do. Posh slipped a thick leg between the spires and somehow managed to compress herself enough to slip through. I quickly followed, but despite my determination to get to my family, the oily energy pulsating around the place as we got closer dimmed my enthusiasm and slowed my steps.
Each stride forward seemed mired in quicksand, every movement required an excess of strength. I was soon panting with the effort and my pulse pounded so hard I was afraid I was going to stroke out.
Posh wasn’t faring any better. With her added bulk, she soon became unsteady with weariness. We stopped to rest in a row of bushes that edged the circular drive. I guessed the prickly things had probably been neatly trimmed once upon a time, but in their current state they were little more than spikey barriers, tangled and overgrown so that they were nearly impossible to pass through.
I tried to ignore them as I lay down in the icy dirt next to Posh. The big cat’s chest heaved from the effort of approaching the killer’s hidey hole.
Clearly the place had been heavily warded.
Even as I had the thought a sharp pain speared my side. I gave off a soft yowl and bent away from the pain, only to encounter a similar sting on my thigh.
Posh hissed softly and jumped to her feet. I turned in time to see a prickly finger of bush snap out and pierce her in the chest. Blood dotted her coat and her eyes were wide.
Two more branches sliced through my skin and one wrapped around my leg, yanking hard and flinging me to the ground. I lost track of the number of times I was stabbed by the horrid greenery. Posh writhed and yowled beside me, clearly going through the same agony I was.
We need to get out of here! I panted. Unfortunately, another prickly branch had found my throat and was quickly closing off my air.
Posh’s situation wasn’t any better. One of the enchanted vines had her around the middle and was squeezing hard. Her strange colored eyes were bulging. Shift... she gasped out as blood spurted from the place where the thorns dug into her body.
She didn’t have to tell me twice. Though I knew it was going to hurt a lot, when I had more skin for the branches to grab, I also knew I’d have a better chance if I were bigger.
With a yowl of pain, we both reached for our transformative magics and shifted, bumping against each other as our bodies grew and thrashed.
Agony wrapped me in a prickly embrace and I bit down on my screams so I wouldn’t give away our position. As soon as I was me again, I crawled on hands and knees through the rabid greenery, my skin ripping as I moved.
I shoved my top half free and thought I’d made it. But a large branch shot out and wrapped around my ankle, ripping me backward again. The bushes shook as Posh fought her way out, yelping with pain.
I kicked out to try to extricate myself and felt the branch loosen. But just as I thought I was going to make it free, the thing tightened around me, tearing fresh holes in my skin, and yanked hard.
I flew backward, thorns ripping the flesh of my thighs, and screamed as fire-like pain sliced through me. My fingertips scrabbled desperately in the frozen dirt for something to stop my return to the hedge.
It was no good. There was nothing for me to grab. Heart pounding with terror, I felt myself being slowly and inextricably dragged back inside the deadly bush. Another branch snaked out and grabbed my other ankle.
There was a flash inside the bushes and Posh flew out, sailing overhead with her arms and legs flailing. She hit the ground behind me with a heavy thud and lay there, unmoving.
Giving up on trying to anchor myself, I rolled to my back and fired energy into the branch surrounding one ankle. With nothing to slow me down, I surged more quickly toward the hedge. But at least I’d gotten one ankle free. I quickly killed the second vine but, before I could scrabble away, two more branches found me.
Rage replaced terror as pain and frustration combined to create a potent cocktail. I yanked my magic forward and, with a scream that reverberated through the area around the old hotel, I sent it flying, watching in surprise as it left my hands in a white hot wash of energy that lit up the offending vegetation, turning it to smoking stalks in seconds.
I quickly scrambled away and then dropped, lying on my back for a moment to regain my breath.
“Remind me never to piss you off,” Posh said from behind me.
I twisted my head to look over at her. “You okay?”
She shoved slowly to her feet, groaning. “Yeah. But we need to move. I’m pretty sure we’ve lost the element of surprise.”
I reluctantly climbed to my feet too. “Sorry about the whole primal scream thing.”
She shrugged. “Anger’s potent magic. It certainly gave your power an edge.”
We both scanned a final look over the smoldering remains of the bush and then, without another word, turned on our heels and started running toward the blackened face of the scary building.
We ran along the front of the big structure, taking care to avoid the overgrown bushes hugging the stone façade. The windows loomed overhead, making me feel exposed. They were like giant blackened eyeballs spying on us as we ran.
The feeling of being watched spurred me to run faster, and brought the hairs up on the back of my neck. Posh must have felt the same because she kept looking over her shoulder.
At the end of the building we stopped and peered around the corner. A brisk, cold wind shrieked past us, filled with the stench of the grave. “Where do you suppose that’s coming from?” I asked Posh.
“As far as I know there aren’t any cemeteries back there.”
I shivered as another moist blast scoured over me. “Then somebody’s using death magic.” The realization made my stomach tighten with fear. I couldn’t help wondering what unfortunate Familiar had been sacrificed. “We need to get in there.”
“That’s the idea,” Posh said as she scanned a look toward the roofline. She turned to me. “Can you climb?”
I re
alized she was referring to the tree hugging the wall. “Let’s do it.” I focused my thoughts on my transformative magic and rode out the quick pain of the shift. As a cat, the night surrounding me had an entirely different taste and color. But the rotting stench still smelled like death. Only worse.
I leapt onto the rough-barked trunk of the big old tree and scampered up, hitting the first branch and quickly moving up until I found a branch that overhung the tattered roof. I leapt onto the broken tile and gave a panicked yowl as the shingles shifted under my paws, sending me sliding nearly to the edge before my claws found purchase.
Posh hesitated on the branch, watching me as I carefully made my way back to the peak. Tread carefully, I told her. With her added bulk I had to believe she was in more danger than I was of sending the broken and rotted tiles into a slide.
She stepped carefully off the branch, keeping it between her and the edge, and moved quickly toward the center. I wondered if she knew where she was going. She certainly seemed as if she did. We came upon a wide, concrete chimney and Posh stopped. This is our best entry point, she told me with a straight, if cat-like face.
I jumped up and eyed the deep, constricted opening. Then I narrowed my gaze on her belly. Posh bristled, literally, making her look even more round.
Don’t worry about me, cher, just scurry on down dat chimney. I’ll be right behind you.
Maybe you should go first. In case you get...erm...
If she had hands and hips at that moment I was pretty sure she’d have connected them. As it was, she had to make do with a swishing tail and a narrowed gaze. Den what? Wid me jammed in da openin’ y’all won’t be able ta get down either. At least if y’all go first den one of us will make it down.
I sighed. After we’d rescued the trapped Familiars Posh and I were going to have a little talk about her eating habits as a cat. It was hard to be a super sleuth when your size restricted your sleuthing. She was just darn lucky the calories she consumed as a cat didn’t translate to her human form. Okay. Wish me luck. I started to climb inside and stopped. Do we have any idea where this ends up?
Nah. But it don’t matter. Dis place is huge. Dere’s like no chance it will take us to the exact place he’s holding them.
Famous last words. I should have known when Posh said them that they spelled my doom. I really needed to trust my instincts. Because if I had, I might have been saved a lot of bladder weakening terror in the coming moments.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
I TOOK A DEEP, BRACING breath and leapt. As soon as I started to fall I went spread-eagled, using my claws against the tar-covered brick to slow my descent. Still, I was moving at quite a clip when I found the bottom and, if it hadn’t been for the pile of ash breaking my fall my landing would have been much harder.
I only wish the charred timber hadn’t still been sizzling hot from a recent fire.
The smoldering center of the ashes flared and snapped as I hit, sending a fine, gray cloud into the air to cover my fur. The fiery remains erupted into flame beneath me.
I shot straight into the air on a yowl of pain and landed outside the fireplace, my sore paws finding dusty brick that was warmed from the fire.
I sat down and began licking the pads of my feet, soothing the pain as best I could. Still, when I stood again, the pain shot up my legs and took my breath away. I considered shifting to heal, but knew I’d have a better chance of finding my prey as a cat. So I tried to ignore it as best I could and moved away from the fire, scenting the space I found myself in.
It appeared to be a large room, its edges lost in the deep shadows lurking behind the fading glow of the fire. Beyond the brick the floor softened under a filthy red carpet that sported a diamond pattern. The occasional piece of furniture showed gilding beneath the grime and I figured the big space had once been an elegant party room of some sort. Broken plaster hung from age darkened beams far above my head. In the center of the lofty ceiling was the remains of a large plaster medallion which had probably surrounded the base of a chandelier. The walls were covered in something dark that hung in tatters. Probably wallpaper. The blackened paper had been worn away by time and, from the rusty stains trailing down the torn surface, I presumed water had been creeping over the walls for some time.
Silence spread ominously around me.
The combined stench of filth, mildew, and mouse droppings assailed my feline senses.
Despite visual evidence of a threat I was on high alert. My fur stood on end and a low growl simmered at the base of my throat. There was an unnatural element to the lack of sound and visual clues.
I had little doubt there was magic afoot.
And to make things worse, I could still feel someone watching me.
Behind me, a prolonged screeching sound was punctuated by a deep, alarmed growl and a meaty thump that sent another cloud of ash into the room.
Posh yelped and flew out of the smoldering remains, hitting the brick floor and sliding sideways about three feet before coming up hard against a heavy wooden table leg.
Her fur smoldered and the tip of her thick tail flared briefly before extinguishing with a soft pop.
I hurried over and nudged her with a paw. Are you okay?
For a long moment Posh didn’t move or respond. She lay in an untidy bump on the floor, perfectly still. I was starting to think she’d knocked herself out on the table when she finally stirred. I’ve been better, cher.
Nothing’s broken? I asked, my gaze sliding around the room.
I don’t think so.
Then get up and let’s keep moving. I think somebody’s watching us. It’s giving me the heebies.
She groaned softly as she pushed to her wide paws. This place has been warded. Nothing we’re seeing is real.
Ya think? My gaze still scanning nervously, I nudged her on the shoulder, gently prodding her toward the space beneath the table. I’ve seen places like this before, I told Posh.
Yeah, in a Disney cartoon. This here’s a monster’s lair. If I’m not mistaken, that bowl up there’s filled with gruel.
I would have chuckled except she wasn’t wrong. Somebody was playing with our minds. Come on, let’s keep moving. We can unravel the warding as we go. I have a suspicion things are going to get more interesting before they get better.
Sometimes I think I might be prescient. Most times I regret it a little.
Occasionally, like in the next moment, I regretted it a lot.
As we moved away from the protection of the big table, the shadows burst open and a pair of massive, hairy feet pounded toward us, accompanied by a wall-shaking roar.
A mountain of unwashed, pocked and malformed flesh stomped across the room, hands as big as car tires reaching downward.
Run! I screamed at Posh.
I didn’t need to tell her twice. The meaty feline took off like a shot, her round form seeming to skim across the top of the dirty carpet and her legs moving so fast they were a blur. I wasn’t far behind but, as she disappeared through a wide doorway in the nearest wall, a massive hand slammed down between us and hot, putrid breath scoured my back.
I yowled in surprise and skidded to a halt, barely keeping from slamming into the side of the enormous hand.
“Got ya!” a gravelly, nightmarish voice boomed overhead. And I felt the warm, strong grip of fingers as long as my entire human body wrap around me.
In a panic, I did the only thing I could think to do. I shifted, quickly and without thought.
The result was painful for everyone concerned. I felt as if someone had grabbed each of my four limbs and was pulling me apart into quarters.
The giant apparently felt the burn of my energy because he released me with a roar of pain and stumbled backward a couple of steps, holding his hand.
I hit the unforgiving carpet hard when he dropped me, pain radiating through my sacroiliac and wrenching my neck. But I didn’t stop to think about what I might have damaged in the five foot free fall. There was no time. Already, the putrid smelling gi
ant was lifting his shaggy head, his beady, slightly crossed eyes glaring down at me.
As I shoved to my feet and took off running, I couldn’t help thinking that, whoever was pulling the magic strings in that cursed place had a very sick sense of humor.
I only hoped the final joke wasn’t on me.
I plunged through the same door Posh had escaped through and dodged sideways, looking for a way out as the floor shook under the giant’s heavy footsteps.
I stood there panting like a puppy in August, my heart slamming against my ribs, and watched the door with a sense of horrified foreboding. I expected him to crash through the opening and be on me again in mere seconds. Dread overcame me, locking my muscles and making it hard to think.
I knew I had to keep moving or die. But something kept me rooted to the spot.
Suddenly the pounding stopped.
I paused, wondering if he was trying to wait me out. But nothing came through the door.
Okay, I thought. I wouldn’t look a gift horse—or monster—in the mouth. Shoving away from the wall I was cowering against, I took off running. There was no sign of Posh anywhere and that worried me. I figured she had to be nearby, but I was beginning to realize we’d entered a house of horrors. And It would only take one wrong move...
Even as I had the thought, a strident scream rent the air, the sound so feral and filled with terror I wasn’t sure if it was human or animal.
A sudden fear sprang up inside me. Had that been my mother screaming? Or Celeste? What if the Witch who had them knew I was coming for him and decided to send me a message.
On that thought I dug in, determined to find them more quickly. Because if there was one thing I’d figured out in the years dealing with magical beings, they could be very good if so inclined, but when they went bad...well...I knew there’d be no reasoning with the owner of the house of horrors I found myself in.
I plunged through a door and was immediately smacked violently across the face by something large and wet. With a yelp of surprise, I dodged sideways and spun, energy spitting from my fingertips. I stared, panting, at a wide, dew-covered leaf, attached to a large plant whose palm-like leaves waved in a soft, balmy breeze.