“True, but once you are under the influence of the herb itself, she will easily be able to poison you with the extract. You cannot risk getting too close. We don’t know what will happen if the extract is administered undiluted.”
Good point. Pandora hadn’t thought about that. Maybe there really was something to the older, less spontaneous ways. “But we have to do something before it’s too late for the others …”
But it was already too late. Pandora could see the other cats racing into the clearing from the woods on the other side. She leaped out of her hiding position to warn the cats, but they’d already ventured too close.
Pandora hissed a warning anyway.
Rebecca whirled around, noticing her and Otis. “Here, Kitty, Kitty,” she cooed, as if Pandora would fall for that.
The other cats had put the brakes on, but it wasn’t fast enough for most of them. Pandora could already see their whiskers twitching, their necks craning uncontrollably toward the catnip bowls, their noses sniffing wildly.
And all the time, Hope sat calmly in her plastic prison.
Rebecca turned her attention back to the bowls of catnip, squirting the silvery liquid onto the herbs haphazardly.
Some of the cats had already eaten the catnip and were rolling on the ground. Relief flooded through Pandora when she noticed they’d eaten from the bowls closest to them—the ones Rebecca had not yet doused with the extract.
The others were doing all they could to resist the pull of the enticing herb. All except for Sasha. Sasha was immune to catnip. As Pandora fought the pull of the herb herself, she watched Sasha skulk around the perimeter, presumably so she could attack Rebecca from behind.
In her weakened state, Pandora’s resistance was low. The herb drew her away from the woods and toward the circle of bowls in the clearing. Otis latched his claws into her tail, trying to pull her back.
Where were the humans? Inkspot had been so sure that Striker had this well in hand. Where was Striker now? With most of the cats looped up on catnip, they could really use his help. She remembered Danforth was also headed this way, but her hopes of the humans enacting some sort of plan to save them were dwindling.
Apparently, Hope had a plan in mind. Pandora knew that Hope’s special powers had to do with fire. And she saw Hope training her eyes on the new construction. She could feel Hope focusing her entire being in that direction. A flame burst at the corner of the building, lighting up one side of the circle.
As the flame flickered, it cast ghostly shadows of the cats into the circle, their legs and ears appearing elongated as they writhed in a catnip-induced dance. Inkspot wriggled on the ground. Kelley leaped in the air, her bushy tail sticking straight up. Tigger ran in circles.
The fire grew larger, it’s crackling heat consuming an entire wall of the building.
Hope aimed again, this time igniting a stack of logs apparently cut from the trees that were removed to clear the area.
Sasha took her chance. She launched herself at Rebecca and landed on her back. Rebecca straightened with a shriek, throwing Sasha off. Sasha landed on the ground and readied for another attack, but Rebecca was faster. She hadn’t lost her grip on the eyedropper or the vial and she squirted silvery liquid at Sasha.
The liquid landed on Sasha's side and her fur immediately burst into flames. The sickening smell of singed hair flooded the clearing. Sasha yowled and dropped to a roll.
Rebecca turned her attention to the cat carrier. “Time to make a sacrifice!”
She jerked open the door to the cat carrier, reached in, grabbed Hope by the scruff of the neck and pulled her out roughly. She held Hope up in front of the other cats, whose eyes bulged with terror.
She cackled wildly and clenched her fist tight around the back of Hope’s neck forcing her mouth open. She threw the empty eyedropper on the ground and raised the vial up above Hope’s head.
Pandora’s blood froze. Rebecca intended to pour the liquid straight into Hope’s mouth.
Pandora didn’t know what the extract would do to Hope, but judging by the way it had set Sasha’s fur on fire, she didn’t think it was anything good. The liquid amplified energy and with Hope's special abilities with fire, Pandora could only imagine the cat would probably self-ignite.
“No!” Pandora leaped toward Rebecca, intending to knock her down before she could administer the extract.
But Otis was faster. He had leaped a second before and shot out his paw, knocking her out of the way. He landed on Rebecca’s shoulder, causing her to drop both Hope and the vial. Hope lay where she fell, apparently exhausted.
Even with the dire circumstances she’d been in, Hope hadn’t stopped her fire starting spree. The bulldozer exploded with a loud bang. Trees ignited in flames, one by one. It looked and sounded like a war zone.
A police siren wailed somewhere in the distance. Finally, Striker was coming. Pandora didn’t have time to relax, though. Rebecca was crawling on the ground, trying to recover the vial.
Pandora ran forward to stop her, but once again, Otis was quicker. Pandora was surprised at how spry the older cat was. He leapt onto the vial, wrestling Rebecca for possession.
Pandora’s heart pounded against her rib cage. She didn’t want to jump in the middle and get in the way of Otis’ moves, but she desperately wanted to help him, especially since it looked like Rebecca was getting the upper hand.
She watched in horror as Rebecca’s fist curled around the vial and then Otis reached out raking his claws down Rebecca's arms. The woman loosened her grip and Otis grabbed the vial with his claw, tipped it to his mouth and guzzled down the liquid.
17
“Otis!” Pandora raced to the calico’s limp body, her heart twisting, as Striker’s cop car slid into the clearing, followed by Danforth’s brown sedan.
“Hold it!” Striker yelled to Rebecca, who had taken off toward the woods.
“Otis, say something!” Pandora screeched, surprised at how much she cared about the old calico. She could still feel the tug of the catnip, but Otis had fallen far enough way that she was able to resist its lure.
A swirl of ectoplasmic mist appeared beside Pandora. Obsidian.
“He’s not breathing! He’s dead!” Pandora mewled. She was devastated that Otis had sacrificed himself for the good of Mystic Notch … and just when it seemed like they might be friends.
“He’s not dead,” Obsidian said.
Pandora jerked her eyes away from Otis. “What do you mean. He's not breathing.”
“It only looks that way. He is barely taking any breaths. He is almost dead, but I can tell from this side that his spirit is not here. He is hovering, though … only something very magical can pull him back now.”
“Magical? What do you mean?”
But Obsidian was already fading … his words just an echo. “Go with your gut.”
Pandora wracked her brain for the answer. And then she realized the answer wasn’t in her brain—it was in her gut. And in there, she had the same feeling she got when she was sick. The pit of her stomach felt like a leaden hairball was stuck inside it. She wondered if that was how the lily extract felt inside Otis’ stomach … and what she could do to relieve it.
Then it came to her—maybe the medicine in Strikers car would work!
Striker’s car was on the other side of the clearing. She would have to go past the catnip at great risk to herself … but if she didn’t try, Otis would die for sure.
Was the medicine magical? She didn’t think so. Yet, it was her only hope.
Pandora’s eyes slid from the car to Otis. His body was so still, his whiskers wilting. Even his fur had lost its luster.
She had to try to save him.
Casting aside all concern for her own safety, Pandora tore herself away from Otis and lurched toward Striker’s car. The urge to detour over to one of the catnip bowls was strong, but she resisted, focusing on her desire to save Otis.
Diving in through the open driver's door, Pandora was relieved to see
the tube of hairball remedy still on Striker’s dashboard. She grabbed it in her mouth and raced back out of the car.
Within seconds, she was at Otis’ side, the realization that she’d resisted the pull of the catnip barely registering. Twisting the tube with her claws while gripping the cap in her mouth, she wrenched it open, spit the cap out, pulled Otis’ mouth open and squirted almost half the tube of jellylike, brown goo down his throat.
Otis swallowed, then gagged. Pandora’s heart fluttered in relief when she saw his chest moving with shallow breaths.
“It’s working!” Pandora said.
“Yes, it is,” Obsidian replied. “His spirit is withdrawing from this side and moving solidly to the physical plane. He is out of danger now.”
Pandora looked at the tube of hairball remedy dubiously. “But this is just hairball remedy that you can buy in the store. It’s not magic.”
Obsidian shook his head. “You have a lot to learn, young one. It’s not the tube that was the magic, it was your actions. You risked your own hide to save one who you used to see as your enemy. That was the real magic.”
Otis sputtered and coughed, making the most awful retching sounds. He gasped, his stomach heaved, and then out came the biggest hair ball Pandora had ever seen.
“This stuff is gross. What in Hades did you give me?” Otis glared up at her.
“Give you? Why, just the thing that would save your life.”
“Save my life? From what?” He glanced down at the half-empty tube of hairball remedy. “Looks more like you were trying to do me in with that vile stuff.”
Pandora couldn’t believe how ungrateful Otis was acting. “Don’t you remember? You swallowed that whole vial of lily extract. You were practically dead until I risked my life to give you this hairball remedy. You must’ve coughed the extract up with the remedy because you seem to be back to your grouchy self already.”
“That’s right. I remember now.” Otis glanced over at Striker’s car then slid his eyes over to Pandora. “I guess thanks are in order, but I see you acted impetuously again, risking a run through the catnip to get to Striker’s car. You might well have been harmed yourself. And then where would we be?”
Well, if that didn’t beat all. Leave it to Otis to admonish her after saving his life. Pandora almost regretted saving him now, as she second-guessed the feelings of friendship she’d thought were starting to develop between them.
But as she studied Otis further, she thought she saw a playful gleam in his eyes, as if he was only playing the part. Maybe he did not yet want to admit that they were allies.
“It appears the lily extract is now gone, thanks to your friend Otis. We can rest in peace.” Obsidian bowed at Pandora. “You did good, kid. Thanks.” He glanced over toward the woods. “And I see the humans are doing their part, as well.”
Pandora followed his gaze. It was almost as if time had slowed down for the humans while she had been busy saving Otis, because Rebecca was just reaching the edge of the woods. Danforth and Striker were fast on her heels.
Rebecca ran toward the giant oak tree, reaching for a low branch. Pandora didn’t know if she was planning on climbing the tree or what, but she never made it because Danforth clapped his hand over her wrist and pulled her down. Striker grabbed her other arm.
“Let go of me!” She tried to pull her arms away from the men, but they were too strong. She twisted and kicked, but they easily dragged her away from the tree.
While Striker tried to wrestle Rebecca into handcuffs, Danforth ran to the center of the clearing. He quickly checked the cats, especially Hope, who was still too exhausted to move. Most of the other cats also lay motionless, but Pandora could tell that they were breathing, and even though her heart shattered at the sight of her friends lying there, she had hope they could be saved. Maybe even with the hairball remedy she’d used on Otis.
After checking the cats, Danforth rushed to his car, took out a large, copper box and proceeded to dump the catnip from each bowl into the box. Pandora could feel the seductive pull of the catnip growing weaker as Danforth put more of it in the box. Somehow, the copper must block the effects!
Once enough of it was in the box so that Pandora felt she would not succumb, she sprang into action. Grabbing the tube of hairball remedy, she ran to the center of the clearing and started administering it to the cats. As she did this, Pandora was vaguely aware of Striker dragging Rebecca to the police car.
“Rebecca Devon-Smyth, you’re under arrest for malicious vandalism of town property.”
18
“I guess she can kiss her mayor position good-bye,” Hattie said two days later.
They were gathered in the bookstore, talking about the fire and destruction of the historical society site, which was big news in Mystic Notch. No one could figure out why Rebecca would set fire to the site. No one knew what to make of her incoherent ramblings about good and evil and magical extracts.
Of course, Pandora knew what had really happened, but most of the humans thought Rebecca had just become unhinged and set the fires.
“You can say that again, and to be blunt, I’m not the least bit upset about it,” Elizabeth Post huffed. “Imagine the mayor ruining the new construction of the historical society building like that.”
“I guess the devil must have gotten into her.” Elspeth slid a knowing look in Pandora’s direction. She’d stopped by the bookstore after picking up from Doc Everett’s several of the Mystic Notch cats who had been affected by the catnip, where they’d been kept for observation.
Striker and Oscar Danforth, who had happened along while Elspeth was struggling with the cat carriers on the sidewalk, had stopped to help her and had joined in the conversation. They both nodded in agreement.
“She sure is acting like that down at the police station, talking all crazy,” Striker added.
“What is up with the cats?” Cordelia asked Elspeth.
“Oh, just brought them in for checkups.” Elspeth covered her lie by bending down to open the doors of the cat carriers.
It had been a minor miracle that none of the cats had perished due to Rebecca’s nasty experiments with the celestrium lily extract. All the feral cats had come out of their comas and all seemed to have no adverse side effects. The Mystic Notch cats who had eaten the tainted catnip had also recovered and were back to their old selves. Everything was as it should be.
Inkspot was the first to poke his face out of the carrier. His black coat was shiny and his eyes bright. He nodded to the others and they slowly made their way out of the crates. Kelley cautiously wound her way over to the sunny window, her tail fluffier than ever. Otis nodded at Pandora, then joined Kelley over by the window. Pandora marveled at how Otis had escaped harm. He’d ingested most of the extract and seemed no worse for wear, though Pandora did think his eyes glowed a bit more brightly than before.
Sasha’s wounds were the most severe; her left side had been shaved and her skin was pink where it had burned. She favored that side slightly, but shrugged off Pandora’s sympathy and headed over to lie in the sun.
Pandora’s stomach twisted. It was the first time she’d seen the cats since that fateful night and she was certain Otis had told them how she'd almost screwed things up by jumping the gun and making the mistake of going after Danforth. She couldn’t really blame him—it was true. Her impetuous actions could have cost Mystic Notch dearly. She had much to atone for.
“What’s wrong, Pandora?” Inkspot asked.
Pandora hung her head. “I acted too quickly and it could have cost us.”
“Pffft,” Inkspot hissed. “I think you are being too modest. Otis told us how your quick action probably saved us.”
Pandora’s head jerked up. “What?” She glanced over at Otis. What had he told them?
“Yes,” Otis nodded. “Take credit where credit is due. I told them all about how your foray to Rebecca’s house forced her to speed up the timeline. If your actions hadn't made her run to the historical society site p
rematurely, she might have done away with Hope before we could stop her.”
“But I di—”
“Psst.” Otis held up his paw to silence her. “I know your impetuous nature can be problematic, but in this case, I think you combined the new ways and old ways and used them to our advantage.”
Pandora was stunned. Otis was giving her credit for the whole thing when she’d almost screwed it all up. He’d been the one to save them by drinking the extract, but he wasn’t boasting about that at all. Her heart melted toward the cranky calico … maybe they would be friends after all.
“But you did the bravest thing,” Pandora said to him. “You swallowed the extract so that it can never be used to threaten us again. It almost killed you.”
“Meh.” Otis feigned indifference. “But it didn’t kill me … thanks to you.”
“That reminds me.” Danforth fished around in his pocket.
“What reminds you?” Willa asked.
Danforth slid his eyes over to the cats and turned red. “Oh, sorry … I was just thinking out loud.” He pulled the vial out of his pocket. The silver newt glinted in the light as he held it out to Elizabeth. “I picked this up when we caught Rebecca. She’d thrown it on the ground. I think it should be in the new museum, along with the box it came in.”
“You mean you aren’t going to try to prove it belongs to your family?” Elizabeth took the vial, obviously pleased.
Danforth shook his head. “Nope. I realize now that it’s part of Mystic Notch history.”
Elizabeth turned to Striker. “And you’re willing to release it to the historical society.”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
“Well, I just hope there will be a museum to put it in. The site was ruined with the fire.” Elizabeth's mouth tightened.
“We’re instituting a big fine for that destruction,” Striker said. “Rebecca will have to pay it and that money can be put toward rebuilding what was there. And to buying the town a new backhoe.”
Willa’s forehead creased. “Wait, so Rebecca was the one who stole the vial? Why?”
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