Vicious chanting to our right disrupted our ...whatever it was. The crowd had gathered on Saint Pendragon street to watch the armored vehicle carrying Barnabus Kramp begin its short journey to Glessie Docks. I could just make out Kramp’s outline as he sat, powerless, in the back seat. He turned then. His pale face swung toward the furious mob, his lips twisted into a triumphant leer. Missiles were thrown at the windows of the passing car. A soggy vegetable thumped against the glass at the exact place Kramp’s nose was. The near liquified tomato began a slow and slimy descent down the pane, creating a ghoulish gooey mess of the killer’s features.
A great bulk of a man; dressed well, straight back, walked at a leisurely pace next to the bullet proof car. The same man who had been standing next to Zinnie in the courthouse.
I craned my neck. Who was that guy?
A twitch of black fur close to the well-groomed giant distracted me from the man. I noticed Midnight, his head cocked to one side, pawing at a piece of screwed up paper on the ground before him. I guess one of my cats just couldn’t resist the sheer amount of ‘toys’ that littered the ground outside the courthouse.
“Hat?”
I turned to my friend again. He pulled me into him. A tight squeeze, a fierce kiss on the top of my head, and before I could react he had pushed me at arm’s length again. He gave me a tight smile.
“Okay if I walk you and the kitties home?.”
I considered telling David we were fine to walk back to The Angel by ourselves because quite frankly I needed the peace to think about what had just happened. Why the sudden display of almost harsh affection from him? Instead, I nodded at my friend.
I lifted up on my toes to see if I could spot Midnight. The rest of the Infiniti, minus Jet, made an informal circle around me. “Guys, can you go and get your brother? He’s playing over there.” I pointed to the spot where I’d last seen my night-wandering cat. Eclipse and Carbon nodded at me and trotted through the legs of the bystanders toward their brother.
Kramp’s prison chariot finally disappeared through the green lights at Saint Pendragon and Alchemy intersection. I breathed a sigh of relief. Good riddance.
Carbon and Eclipse were back within thirty seconds, Midnight trailing behind with a balled-up piece of paper in his mouth.
I shook my head at my frolicsome cat. David laughed. Although it sounded forced. “Middie, I know you love to play, buddy, but now’s really not the--”
The sound was explosive. My eardrums burst in a discordant chorus of high-pitched whines, as the ground beneath my feet shifted and twisted. I felt an aggressive pressure on my forearm and turned to see that David had gripped my arm to steady me. He reeled me into his chest and brought both of his sturdy arms across my body. I blinked, trying to make sense of what had just happened, and saw my cats dive closer to me. Fraidy, motionless with paralyzing fear, stared at us all, his eyes as wide as saucers. Gloom, in a rare act of protective tenderness, pounced on her trembling brother and covered his body as best as she could, offering Fraidy a helmet of ample cat-rump. I felt a moving mass of fur rubbing against my shins as my cats all pulled in close to me.
The earth stopped rumbling, and the explosive sound we heard just seconds before, diminished into a hissing, crackling noise. David whirled me around and put his hands to either side of my face. He forced his thick fingers into my hair, and his palms felt so forceful against my ears that he blocked out all sound.
“You okay?” He shouted, almost angrily, in my face.
I nodded dumbly.
The cats didn’t speak. They were in shock, I think. David’s hands dropped to my shoulder, while his head cast downward. I heard and saw my friend’s body lurch as he took in a breath of ragged relief.
My adrenaline jolt dropped from its previous insane level to a manageable notch. My thinking started up again; as if my brain hadn’t just been ‘bombed-out.’
“David, what was that?” I looked at the chief with what felt like beseeching eyes.
“Go home. Now. I’m going to check out what happened. I’ll call you as soon as I know. Get back to The Angel. Now, Hat.” His eyes flashed for a second. Something about that look. Something I didn’t recognize in my friend before now.
“Hattie, go.” His head was already moving away from me, as his hand pushed me in the opposite direction.
“Guys, come on,” I said to my kitties while staring at my friend. David turned and ran toward the source of the explosion, and, in less than a second he was swallowed up by the running crowd who were once angry, but who was now just plain nosy. They ran, like a demented pack of rubber-neckers toward the thick black smoke that rose and strangled the already ashen gray sky. I turned away, shaken. The cats and I -- Fraidy in my arms -- in stunned silence, walked back to the apothecary. Our home, the place where I worked, our safe sanctuary.
Afterword
Hello!
I’m on Facebook, if you’d ever like to join me there?
https://www.facebook.com/PearlGoodfellowbooks/
I’d also like to invite you to join my mailing list. In return for signing up I’m giving away this fabulous book straight from The Angel Apothecary; The Handbook for Healthy Living and Healing.
100 all natural, make-at-home recipes for all aspiring witches of any level. Bring on the lotions and potions!
See below for what you’ll receive. Click the pretty book cover and get your cauldron ready!
About the Author
Who is Pearl, anyway?
Well, when she’s not talking about herself in the third person, she would likely describe herself something like this:
I’m a borderline crazy-cat-lady and I have an imagination much bigger than my small head can contain. So, I write it all out! I genuinely believe in magic of the Universal variety. A magic that can be accessed by every single human that’s lived, living or will ever live. I write about all this from a Witch’s point of view, of course. : )
I’m an English ex-pat living in Atlantic Canada in the magically beautiful province of Nova Scotia. I feel a Peggy’s Cove Cozy coming on!
Other larger than life passions I have are:
Concocting make-at-home, all natural lotions, and potions and teas.
Nature in all it’s outlandish glory. If I could get away with it, I’d literally roll around in nature from dawn to dusk, whatever the season.
Meditation and human connection are what drive me forward and what make me try to be a better person.
www.soarfreepublishing.com/pearlgoodfellow/
[email protected]
The Chimera Charm (Hattie Jenkins & The Infiniti Chronicles Book 6) Page 23