Merlin the Magical Fluff (A Hilarious Mystery with a Witchy Cat and his Human Familiar)

by Molly Fitz

  With his support and encouragement, I would be okay. And thanks to the plan he’d concocted, we could scrub my name from the suspect list within mere minutes.

  I was going to be okay…

  In part, because I didn’t really have any other options.

  20

  Merlin and I both marched outside. He headed to the yard to do some work with his bird bath cauldron, and I climbed into my car and backed out of the driveway. It would take me about five minutes to reach the police station, which meant I had precious little time to sort through my latest thoughts.

  According to Merlin, Officer Dash had lied to me about the poison that killed Harold. But why? The simple answer would be that the medical examiner couldn’t trace the presence of magic and truly thought gas line antifreeze was to blame.

  But something in my gut told me that wasn’t quite right.

  Had Officer Dash knowingly lied to me to see how I responded? But if she’d intentionally lied, did that mean she knew magic was to blame? Or had she yet to hear anything conclusive from the medical team?

  Once again, I wound up lost in the churning sea of my thoughts. So lost, in fact, that I forgot to pay attention to the road signs. I blew right through a stop sign at a quiet intersection that led out of my neighborhood, only realizing it once it was too late to brake.

  Crud. I really needed to stop getting consumed by my thoughts and start paying better attention to traffic. I would be better after this quick trip to the police station. Maybe I’d start pulling to the side of the road when the urge to overthink became too great.

  Yeah, that would make me less of a hazard to myself and others. And yet…

  It seemed I’d made this vow too late, because a police cruiser pulled out after me and turned on its siren.

  No, no, no!

  Yes, I’d been caught and deserved to be punished for it. I’d find some way to pay the ticket. Right now, I was more worried about the delay in joining Merlin at the police station. Hopefully this routine traffic stop wouldn’t add too much time to my trip. And, yeah, maybe Merlin would be mad about having to wait a few extra minutes, but it wasn’t like running from the police was a viable option here, especially since I was heading straight toward their HQ, anyway.

  I groaned and pulled over to the side of the road. The cruiser pulled over behind me, and I watched through my rearview mirror as a uniformed officer climbed out and slammed the car door shut.

  Officer Dash, herself.

  Double crud.

  She motioned for me to roll down my window, and I instantly complied.

  “Well, well, well,” she said with a dry chuckle. “You just can’t stay out of trouble. Can you, Springs?”

  “I’m sorry,” I murmured, hating this—hating it so very much.

  “License, registration, and proof of insurance, please,” she barked, all business.

  I slowly reached into the glove department and grabbed the needed documents, then took my license from my purse and handed that over, too.

  “I’ll be right back,” Officer Dash told me.

  I stared straight ahead as I waited for her to run my information and issue my ticket. Time passed much more quickly than I would have imagined, because it seemed like only moments later, Officer Dash returned to the driver’s side of my car.

  “Out of the vehicle,” she ordered with a cold, assessing gaze.

  “What? Why?” I squeaked.

  “Don’t ask questions. Just do what I say!” she shouted.

  Her sudden fit of rage frightened me so much that I stumbled out of my car as told. And though she frightened me, I hoped she’d be less frightening if I complied with orders.

  “Hands against the vehicle,” Officer Dash spat.

  “What? No. I didn’t do anything wrong!” I shouted.

  Dash pushed me into the side of my car. Hard.

  Pain shot through my shoulder, burning even worse as she grabbed my wrists and slapped a pair of handcuffs on them.

  “I didn’t do anything,” I sobbed. “Please let me go.”

  “Stop whining and turn to face me!”

  When I turned, a giant Cheshire smile filled the policewoman’s face. She was loving every moment of this.

  “I don’t understand,” I mumbled. “Did you find new evidence?”

  Instead of answering, Officer Dash place a hand on my shoulder and forced me to meet her gaze. I watched in silent horror as her eyes changed color and shape, shifting from unassuming gray to a bright and robust green.

  She blinked once… Twice…

  21

  I crashed into the earth, unable to catch myself, thanks to my wrists being cuffed behind my back. I kicked out with my legs and twisted my torso, struggling to bring myself into a sitting position. At last I rammed into a thick tree trunk and was able to wiggle myself upward.

  Once I had a moment to take in my surroundings, I recognized the small garden cottage almost instantly. We’d come to Luna’s, and I was pressed against the same Magnolia tree I’d clutched onto after my very first teleportation.

  The front door of the quaint brick house flew open, and Virginia ran outside in bare feet. Her toenails were painted in a shiny lavender I wouldn’t have expected from her.

  “Oh, goody!” she cried, racing into the yard. “Is it time at last?”

  “It is.” Officer Dash spoke from behind me. I twisted in an effort to see her, but the thick magnolia tree blocked her from view.

  “What do you want with me?” I shouted to whoever was willing to answer.

  “I’ve got this one,” Virginia announced, sauntering forward with a soft expression that belied the vitriol of her words. “You should’ve been in jail by now, but your bond to that stupid cat formed too fast, which means Plan B became necessary.”

  “I didn’t kill Harold,” I told her as I struggled to slip my wrists from the handcuffs. The task seemed impossible, but that didn’t mean I’d stop trying. Especially since this seemed to be shaping into a try-or-die type of situation.

  “Of course you didn’t,” Virginia said with an almost-pleasant smile. “I did.”

  “You?” I asked, my voice now shaking with fear. I hadn’t even considered her. Luna, yes. But her powerless familiar? Never.

  Virginia simpered at me. “Don’t you remember asking me to leave the coffeehouse that day? I was sitting right there. I thought for sure you’d put it together when you showed up at my house yesterday, but no. Turns out you’re not that smart, after all.”

  “You were the customer!” I shouted as the final pieces clicked into place. No wonder Virginia had seemed so familiar. She’d been sitting in plain sight that day. Amateur sleuth or not, how had I missed something so major in my investigation?

  Virginia’s smile widened. I had the sudden urge to slap it right off her face, in part for Harold and in part for me. “See, Dash. She does catch on eventually.”

  Officer Dash didn’t respond, so I took the opportunity to ask a very important question. “Are you going to kill me, too?”

  Finally, Virginia’s tight smile disappeared. “Unfortunately, no. You’ve made things quite difficult for us, I’ll have you know. You were supposed to take the fall for that old miser’s death so the authorities could shut you up and throw away the key before your bond with Merlin had a chance to solidify. It was our best chance of getting rid of him, but you ruined that for us.”

  “What?” I snapped as I scowled up at her. “Do you want me to apologize?”

  “Uh! No manners.” Virginia let out a few slow breaths before continuing. “Any murders that happen within the magical community are instantly traced. If I would have killed you outright, then I’d find myself locked up. But since your former coffee boss knows nothing of the magical world, his death wouldn’t have registered.”

  “Do we really need to do the whole villain monologue thing right now?” Dash growled from somewhere I still couldn’t see. “We’ve caught her. Now we need to dispose of her.”

 
“So you are going to kill me?” I shouted with triumph. I had been right, but I wish I hadn’t.

  “Worse,” Virginia revealed with wide, bright eyes. She enjoyed this, the villain.

  “What? What’s worse than death?” I asked. I had to keep her talking, to give Merlin time to find and rescue me.

  Virginia played straight into the wicked stereotype and threw her head back to cackle. “You’ll see soon enough, my dearie.”

  “But I don’t understand. Why did you want me out of the way? What did I ever do to you?”

  “Absolutely nothing,” Virginia admitted with a sniff. “But Dash wanted Merlin out of the picture, and I was all too happy to oblige, given the history between him and my boss.”

  So this was because my playboy cat had broken the wrong cat’s heart. Ugh!

  “People fall in love and break up all the time,” I argued. “That doesn’t mean you kill them.”

  “Oh, I don’t care about that. Although all of Luna’s incessant pining for that scruffy fleabag has certainly gotten on my last nerve.”

  “Then what do you want?”

  “Magic is volatile. Did you know that? The more of it that exists within the same area, the more likely it is to cause an unwanted reaction. When Merlin took you on as his familiar, Luna’s magic had to be dampened to protect the town. I certainly see no reason why either of us should be deprived of the level of power we’ve grown accustomed to, so when my companion here offered a plan to dispose of you both, I eagerly agreed to do my part.”

  “But how does getting rid of me keep Merlin from finding a new familiar?”

  She hung her head and let out a deep laugh. “You really don’t know much about how this community works. Do you? Once a familiar has been initiated, it’s almost impossible for a witch to obtain a new one. Not after that whole mess with the two Merlins and Arthur way back when. And without his familiar close by, our Merlin can’t legally practice magic. The powers that be would lock him up so quick, he wouldn’t even have the chance to blink away.”

  “Enough!” Dash shouted from behind me. “She’s just trying to buy herself time in case that kitty cat of hers shows up to rescue her. I’m done dawdling. Let’s finish what we started.”

  22

  As soon as she vowed to “finish what we started,” Officer Dash at last stepped into my line of sight. She looked the same as she always had, except the bright green eyes. Eyes like mine, like Virginia’s, like anyone who’d been touched by magic.

  “You’re not a real cop,” I spat at her.

  “Oh, really. What was your first clue?” The fake officer Dash laughed at me cruelly, then raised both hands and snapped her fingers above her head.

  The air around her rippled and shimmered with a slightly green hue as she transformed from the sardonic police officer into a chunky black cat with a crooked tail.

  I gasped, and so did Virginia.

  “You’re a witch,” she cried, pointing an accusing finger at her accomplice. “This whole time you told me you were a familiar, too. That you were fed up with the status quo.”

  The black cat smiled devilishly. “Dearest Virginia, one of those things is true. The other? Well, you played into my hand so easily, a fact which I most definitely appreciate. But now that your usefulness has expired, I no longer need you.”

  The cat version of Dash clicked her tongue, and Virginia’s face grew into a mask of horror. Her mouth opened wide in a silent scream, and her feet shuffled hopelessly beneath her as she floated a foot from the ground.

  “What did you do to her?” I demanded, struggling even harder against my bonds now. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from Virginia, terrified that I would share her fate. Why wasn’t she screaming? It would be easier to take if she screamed.

  Dash unsheathed her claws and stared down at them, thinking. “Why do you care? She killed your boss and tried to send you to jail for it.”

  “We both know you were the mastermind. Virginia was only a pawn in your scheme,” I shouted. We were on the edge of a large subdivision. Maybe if I screamed loud enough one of the neighbors would hear and come to my rescue.

  “I bet you never even told her why you wanted Merlin out of the picture,” I muttered when Dash continued to stare down at her claws without even acknowledging my precious accusation.

  “Virginia had her own silly reasons for what she did. She didn’t need to know mine.”

  “Tell me,” I demanded, kicking my feet out before me to appear like more of a threat. “I deserve to know.”

  “You deserve nothing!” Dash hissed. “And you will get nothing except what’s coming to you!”

  With that, she leaped toward me. Rather than unleashing a storm of magic, she sliced a claw against my cheek. I instantly forgot the dull ache in my shoulders in favor of the sharp sting that took over. I screamed out in pain, but the movement in my facial muscles only made it hurt that much more. A drop of fresh blood rolled down my cheek and fell onto my shirt, leaving an ugly red stain.

  Dash ignored my misery as she floated back to the ground and studied her blood-tipped claws, green eyes wide with wonder. “Huh. Well, that explains a few things.”

  “What things? What’s going on? Why are you doing this to me?” I cowered against the tree, which seemed to please the evil black cat.

  She paced back and forth for a moment before turning toward me once again. “My blabbermouth assistant already told you more than you need to know, but I’ll let you in on one last little piece of knowledge.”

  Dash looked back over her shoulder at Virginia, who was still trapped in soundless torment. “Look at her. She’s currently living her worst nightmare.”

  And I knew from the frozen mask of terror on Virginia’s face that Dash was being truthful with me now.

  I shuddered, hating that the truth was scarier than a lie. Why else would Dash have revealed this to me? “What is it?” I sputtered, groping for words, willing to do anything to keep the conversation going. “Spiders? Clowns? Great White Sharks?”

  Dash smiled. “That’s the beauty of illusion magic. I don’t need to know. The magic finds the fears, the desires, finds whatever I need and latches right onto it. Virginia was a fool, but it was even easier to convince her to fall in line when my magic probed her heart and found what I needed.”

  “You’re an illusion witch?” I gasped. I didn’t know exactly what that meant, but it certainly sounded scary.

  Dash smiled at me again. “The very best that ever lived.”

  “I know why Virginia wanted to get rid of Merlin, but why you?” Strangely, I was beginning to wish that Dash would turn back into the ornery policewoman. This new feline version was much, much worse.

  She shook her head. “Ah, ah, ah! I have no need to reveal my plot to the likes of you. I only told you about Virginia so you’d know what was about to happen to you and fear it all the more.”

  I met her eye, unwilling to cower in fear any longer. “You’ll never get away with—”

  But Dash cut me off by loudly clicking her tongue twice. As soon as she did, the whole world melted away, leaving me trapped in a sea of endless black.

  Noooooooo!

  23

  “Hello?” I cried into the echoing void, but no one answered. Unnerved, I stumbled forward, unable to feel the ground over which my feet moved. I couldn’t feel anything, not even the cool metal which had previously bound my wrists.

  A pinprick of light appeared on the horizon, and I rushed toward it, desperate to get out of this dark place. I still couldn’t bring my hands forward despite not being able to feel the cuffs on my skin, which resulted in my waddling more than jogging toward my destination.

  As I moved closer, the tiny light pulsed and expanded, and out stepped Merlin in all his Maine Coon glory. Instead of normal shining green, his eyes were deep black, lifeless, soulless.

  “I didn’t choose you. I got stuck with you,” he sneered, addressing my secret fear head-on.

  “No, no. It’s not tr
ue,” I said, recalling our earlier conversation. I hadn’t been his initial choice, but he was very happy that we’d ended up together.

  “You’re lying,” I bit out.

  And with that, the false Merlin burst into a puff of smoke and floated off into the darkness.

  “You were an illusion,” I told myself. “Just an illusion.”

  I’d called the imposter cat on his lie and he’d left me alone. I just had to remember to find the truth. Hopefully it would set me free from this awful place.

  Another pale flicker of illumination appeared to the distant right, so I stepped toward it, bracing myself for what I might find there.

  A tall man’s silhouette appeared. I couldn’t make out his features but recognized him as soon as he spoke. Harold.

  “You may not have killed me, but it’s your fault I’m dead,” he told me with great anger.

  What could I say to that? I couldn’t deny the part I’d played. This accusation was perfectly true.

  Harold kept going, feeding my guilt, making it grow bigger and bigger.

  “I always knew you were a worthless employee, but I kept you on out of the kindness of my heart. And how did you repay me? Ha!”

  “I’m sorry,” I mumbled as tears began to form in the corners of my eyes, making my vision blurry. “I’m really, really sorry.”

  “A little too late for that,” he scoffed. “And what happens if you get yourself out of this alive? Will you kill your next boss, too?”

  “I—” My voice broke. “I didn’t mean to. I’m so, so sorry.”

  “I have no one to mourn me, and it’s your fault,” he raged.

  “No,” I whispered, lifting my head high. “Your daughter Kelley misses you very much. All she ever wanted was the chance to know you. And she’s still trying to find out who you were, even though you’re gone, even though her mother doesn’t want her to. And I’m trying to help. I shared stories with her. I helped her stand up to her mother…”