The fight stopped instantly and a smidgen of hope brewed in my tummy, tumbling along with the kibble and cream. Had she done it this time? Fixed the problem without true love’s kiss?
“How dare you accuse me of being a stalker!” Kara shrieked, and the manic, loving smile was gone. She quivered with rage instead, turning bright red at the accusation which Chase hadn’t actually made. He’d been too polite to say it outright.
“Oh no,” Ami whispered.
I couldn’t have agreed more.
Movement by the fence caught my attention and I peered between Pen’s legs. My heart sank.
Elias Stout was positioned by a gnarled Maple tree, an expression of glee on his wrinkly mug. He had his phone out, camera pointing directly at Penelope.
Code Red!
Chapter 7
I sprinted between Penelope’s legs and down the path, chasing after Stout and his damned smartphone. Everyone had one of those things these days, and while I wasn’t necessarily behind the times, I couldn’t understand the fascination with devices and apps.
Not behind the times, ha! You’re three hundred year’s old. I’d say that’s about as behind the times as you can get.
Shut your beak and get in the air. This is serious. If Stout gets away with that phone there’s no telling the havoc he’ll wreak. Penelope’s future in Shadowkeep will be doomed before we can get our paws and claws on the witch who’s sucking her powers.
Sage didn’t grace me with a reply, but he took to the air in a flurry of feathers as I passed the fence.
Stout was ahead of us, hurrying along the road, and neither Penelope nor Ami had noticed him or the phone. Luckily, Stout hadn’t seen us either. He trundled along the road, glancing left and right, then crossing to the other side, where a car waited.
Crap, we couldn’t follow him in a car, short of Sage attaching himself to the top and me hopping onto Elias’ lap in the driver’s seat. That wasn’t a ride I was prepared to take. Stout looked like the cat-skinning type. Hell, maybe he’d even been to China where they eat domesticated animals.
Sage dive-bombed the balding fellow and he screamed and raised his arms to protect himself exposing the phone.
Now! Take it, Sage!
But the owl was in the process of swerving back into the sky to turn and make another round. I leapt across the road, paws growing hot on the tar, then leapt with my claws out. This seemed to be a thing lately. If it wasn’t El Chupacabra, it was Stout in my line of fire.
I dug my claws into the back of Elias’ shirt and hung on for dear life, grimacing at the icky sensation of fabric brushing at the sensitive skin between my ‘kitty toes.’ Yeah, we have them too, people, don’t act surprised. And don’t ever tickle us between them. Not even with a string of yarn. If you value your sensitive parts.
Stout yelled and grabbed at me with both his hands, bringing the phone within my range but out of Sage’s, who was in the middle of a dive.
This isn’t working, and I hardly think molesting Elias is the answer. He might get the wrong idea. Beastiality, anyone?
Oh yeah? You got a better plan, wise guy? Enlighten me.
I didn’t say I have a better idea, just that this isn’t a good one. Sage thought it just as he landed on Stout’s sweaty pate with a schlap.
Elias grabbed me with his free hand and wrenched me from his clothes, swearing. I dropped to the tar and dodged a mistimed kick from the geriatric, hurrying under his car and out the other side.
Sage followed my example and scrammed for the tree line. We’d lost our element of surprise and Elias’ expression spoke volumes about what he’d do to us if we got close again. We’d probably done more harm than good because our behavior was more than peculiar. It spoke volumes that we weren’t ordinary animals.
We’ll have to let him go and pay a visit to his house later. Sage had disappeared, but his words of wisdom echoed across the distance.
I didn’t like that plan in the slightest. He’d have too much time to use the smartphone and its videos if we let him out of our sight now. There had to be another way!
Tali? It’s Fawn, can you meet me on the shoulder of the road in the usual place? I have something to tell you. Hurry please. Her anxious call came through and I could almost picture her shaking tail.
Elias stomped around the side of the car and lowered himself. His hooked nose was the first thing to appear beneath the bottom rim of the door, and I scratched at it. He yelled and hopped back gripping at his face, and I took the opportunity to dash out from underneath his beat up Honda and disappear into the long grass on the side of the road.
“I’ll get you cat! Mark my words, I’ll get you for this. You and that stinky owl. To think I ever wanted to adopt one of you vicious creatures. I’ll kill every damn feline that crosses my path again.”
Stinky. That’s hardly an accurate observation. I smell like a bed of roses. Not a dead one, before you use that tired joke.
I skidded to a halt beneath the trees and laid myself flat, watching as Elias fed himself into his car, patting at this forehead and nose, checking for scratches and blood. There were hardly any scratches and no blood whatsoever, and he still had that damned piece of technology gripped in his greasy fist.
The car started and coughed a plume of black smoke from the exhaust. Yet another reason Elias Stout was bad news, bad for Penelope, and worse for the environment. With the fifty percent divorce rate you’d think he could spring for something that had been manufactured after the nineties.
Tali? Are you coming? My dad will be here any second and I’m scared. Another wavering thought from Fawn. The kid was a bundle of nerves ever since Damien Chokecherry had tried to take her down, and she’d hardly been the bravest chick on the block before that.
We could follow Elias.
Sage landed in front of me on the grass and mulched up leaves. The sun was hot this afternoon and a low haze rose over the road, turning the air into a shimmer.
I panted and licked my lips – I’d kill for a sip of water – but didn’t answer for a few minutes. I needed to assess this situation. We could follow Elias, yeah, but we probably wouldn’t be able to get the phone from him while he was awake and aware. Our best shot was to catch up with him at night.
Hopefully, he was as hapless as he seemed and wouldn’t be able to transfer the pictures to anything before we got to him.
I checked the position of the sun and sighed. A few hours till dusk. We’d strike then.
We should check out what Fawn wants.
Better not let your woman hear you say that.
I actually glanced over my shoulder to check that Lola hadn’t appeared and overheard my directive. Maybe it was for the best she was still pissed at me.
That was another problem I’d have to deal with later. I didn’t want that gorgeous feline thinking she wasn’t number one in my sexy green eyes.
Fawn sounds urgent. She might have information about the witch and, I hate to say it, but that’s more important than Elias and his video.
I paced back and forth, flicking my black tail.
We can do damage control with Elias because he’s already been branded by public opinion as a dipshit, but the witch…
Sage hooted in agreement.
If she siphons all of Penelope’s power, there won’t be a Penelope to defend from Stout’s rage.
Precisely.
My kitty heart thumped in my rib cage. I was a cool cat, I didn’t usually panic in the face of danger, which probably had to do with the whole nine lives thing, but the thought of Pen in peril set my nerves jangling.
Fawn, I’ll be there in five minutes.
I turned and scurried in Fawn’s direction, cursing Elias Stout and his crooked nose as I lumbered along the shoulder of the road.
Chapter 8
Fawn was a wreck. Seriously, I’d never seen the gal this afraid and that said a lot. She quivered from the tips of her pale brown, velveteen ears to the base of her flicking tail. Her massive brown eyes
shifted from side-to-side sweeping the trees and underbrush constantly.
I shouldn’t be this far away from father, but I had to come, Tali. I had to let you know what was going on.
And I appreciate it, Fawn.
I tried my best not to be freaked out by her antsy behavior. Sage had positioned himself on his usual post as lookout and removed himself from the conversation. Either he thought I could handle it or he didn’t have the patience for Fawn’s incessant jittering. It was probably the latter.
I – I don’t … Fawn broke off and drew in a shuddering breath. Her legs went weak-kneed and she collapsed onto the grass in a sitting position.
Just relax, it’s going to be okay.
I soothed the thoughts even though I had no evidence that it would be anything of the sort. I had to calm her down before she passed out. I could only imagine what Stag would do if he found me hanging around his unconscious daughter. I pictured myself on the feline predator listing.
The astronauts on the space station would have to snag me out of orbit in that case.
Fawn babbled incoherently for a minute and I let her get it out of her system.
Oh in the name of all that is nocturnal and feathered. Can you get on with it? It’s going to be dusk soon and we have places to be, in case that’s slipped your fur-brained sensibilities.
She’s clearly terrified. Would it hurt you to show a little compassion? I snapped it at him and flicked my tail.
You wound me.
I blocked out his thought and focused on the quivering deer before me.
Slow down, Fawn, just start from the beginning.
I was out last night after you came to see me and I heard a…a noise in the forest. I went to see what it was and I saw that horrible man, that Damien, walking down the road with a flower in his palm.
A rose?
My stomach sank at her words.
Yes, it looked like a rose, I don’t know, I can’t be sure.
Fawn swallowed, but her demeanor strengthened slightly and she sat up straighter. Communicating about it gave her the strength to go on and I could do nothing more than lend an ear for her, since she was in need.
Cats were good listeners. Came from years of listening to our humans whine about the weather, work, and other humans.
What happened next?
He seemed so happy that I wandered why. So I tried to follow him for a while, through the trees I mean, I didn’t get anywhere near to him.
Oh, Fawn, no. That’s never a good idea. Damien Chokecherry would as soon hurt you as look at you.
I didn’t wanna say it, but I didn’t have the time lately to run around saving her hide. Saving Penelope’s was a full time job. And humans have the gall to wonder why we cats are grumpy. Frankly, I think Grumpy Cat should be nominated for an Oscar.
Cry me a river, Justin.
Anyone ever tell you, you look like an ugly totem pole when you sit up there?
Sage flapped his wings in disdain and turned his back on our conversation.
Fawn licked her lips and her wet black nose, blinking as a car rushed by in the opposite direction. The people inside didn’t look out of the window, though they probably wouldn’t have noticed me in the long grass.
He turned off the road and came into the trees after a few minutes and I followed him s’more. He came to this great clearing and there was a woman waiting there.
What did she look like?
My fur ruffled of its own accord. This smacked of dark magic.
I couldn’t see her face.
Fawn cried, and hung her head.
I tried to get closer, Tali, but she was half in shadow and she had this red velvet hood and cloak on. She spoke in strange whispers and rocked back and forth.
What happened next?
Damien Chokecherry hurried forward with that flower and gave it to her.
Fawn struggled to her hooves and clopped them on the grass.
Then this cloaked lady stood and started making a circle. She walked around and around, pointing her finger in front of her.
Magic circle. Really strong spells need a magic circle. Sage made a circle and came back around again.
No shit, Sherlock. Can we let Fawn continue?
She started saying things in a funny language, and she stopped at four places in the circle and raised the flower in both hands toward the moon.
Fawn shivered on the spot again.
And then she turned around and created a fire of green flame with a click of her fingers.
That’s too much power.
No witch should be able to click her fingers and summon a roaring blaze. That wasn’t how it worked. There were costs to magic, recipes and spells to follow. If the woman could summon a fire out of thin air without a Book of Shadows, she’d been up to no good.
Black magic. The blackest magic in existence.
She tossed the flower into the fire and it turned it to a black crisp instantly. I was so distracted and afraid that I didn’t hear Damien Chokecherry coming up behind me.
What?
Sage turned back to us, showing the empathy he tried to hide most days.
Yes, he wrapped his arms around my middle and tried to drag me off. I managed to kick free at the last moment and get away.
Fawn broke down into strangled sobs.
I’ve never been so afraid in my life. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about what I saw before with El Chupacabra. I was just so…”
Wait a sec, what did you see?
It was the same, a woman in a velvet cloak and she waved her hands over a cauldron and all this black smoke came hissing out and then the clouds and … oh, Tali, it was terrifying.
Fawn was breathless from the tale.
That’s all right, Fawn. You’re safe now, but you have to promise you won’t go back to that clearing again. The Chokecherry’s are dangerous.
Understatement supreme. They had to be stopped and there was no doubt in my mind that the witch who had summoned El Chupacabra and killed Pen’s garden was Lucinda.
Damien wouldn’t obey anyone else but the matriarch. It had to be her.
Fawn, is there anything else…
Stag leapt out of the forest, kicking his powerful hind legs and lowering the curved antlers on his head in my direction. I scuttled back just in time with an indignant meow.
Take it easy, Stag, we were just talking.
Talking, schmalking! Stag roared. His mood setting was on auto-anger and it reflected in his speech. He turned to his daughter and pawed the ground. Fawn, I told you to stay at home. Didn’t you learn your lesson after the other night?
I’m sorry, papa, I just wanted to help.
You’re no help to anyone, dead. You’re coming home right now. Stag cocked his head, swinging his massive rack, then turned on me. And you! You and that owl better stay the hell away from this end of the woods. You’re nothing but trouble.
We’re trying to put a stop to this. For everyone.
The fur on the back of my neck finally smoothing after the initial shock of Stag’s sudden arrival.
I’ll put a stop to you if you come near my Fawn again.
Stag grunted, then used his giant head to prod Fawn back in the direction of the silent trees.
I’m sorry, Tali. Be careful.
Thanks, Fawn.
I watched them disappear, knowing Stag heard my parting thoughts and not caring, their deer bodies blinking beneath the setting sun. That was settled. Lucinda Chokecherry was the problem and sitting around waiting for Dr. Luke to kiss Pen wasn’t the answer.
We’d have to take matters into our own paws.
Ahem, talons.
I rolled my eyes. Let’s hit the road, bird brain. We’ve got an old weasel to visit and video evidence to destroy.
Sage flapped into the purple haze which had settled on the horizon. I followed, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that things were about to get much, much worse.
Chapter 9
Elias Stout’s house was a
kitty litterbox with less sand and more poop. I could smell the thing from across the road.
Not quite what I expected, I commented, just as Sage settled on the roof and fluffed out his feathers.
What did you expect?
I didn’t have an answer for the bird. Elias Stout’s hovel had stunned me into silence, which was an admittedly difficult feat to achieve. The place was a tiny construction connected to the rear end of a burger joint I hadn’t known existed until that very moment.
Massive trash cans overflowed with greasy burger papers and empty condiment sachets, encrusted with ketchup and mustard. There weren’t enough ‘ews’ in the English language to describe the setting.
He’s a lawyer or something isn’t he? He’s rich. I didn’t expect him to be living like this.
Maybe he saves all his money and spends it on high tech binoculars to spy on Pen and Ami. Sage’s thought was a ball of distaste and I longed to hack it out of my brain the same way I’d hacked out a fur ball a couple days ago.
Penelope’d had a fit about it since I’d spit it in the general vicinity of her Anne Klein loafers, but what was a cat to do? Like I had control over natural bodily functions.
I didn’t want to go in there. I stretched my legs and padded across the road, dodging the trash spill and a few oversized rats which looked less tasty than deadly. I reached the beige plastered house and hopped onto the window sill.
It looked like an episode of Hoarders. The interior was messier than the exterior. Papers strewn across the floor, along with empty pizza boxes and empty bottles of soda. A computer was on in the background, whirring out complaints as it processed photos of…
This guy is a sicko. He’s got pictures of Ami here, and not the kind that he would’ve taken on a date. Stalker pics.
Sage didn’t reply. I could imagine his reaction. Sage was particularly protective over Ami and I’d always figured he had a little crush on her. He looked out for her without his usual disdain.
The window was open and Elias Stout was nowhere in sight. I had two options: sneak through the trash and find the phone, or run back to Penelope’s with my tail between my legs and figure out a method of warning her.
Fur Magic Boxed Set: Talisman, Sage, Fawn, Lola: Paranormal Romantic Comedy Page 16