Cat Tales Issue #3
Page 5
The sun was just starting to set. Merilee considered changing back into a long-furred cat again, but she knew Angelina would bitch about the hair on her pristine furniture.
Maybe Merilee should do it out of spite…
Angelina had an impressive backyard, much larger than Merilee’s. Her house sat on half an acre, at the foot of a hill. The backyard had three tiers, the middle one being the “fairy garden,” the area lined with a circle of blessed rocks, so Merilee, Angelina, and the other local witches could dance the entire night of the summer solstice. The top tier had a small fountain that even this early in the year had cheery water splashing.
Merilee went to the backdoor. A rough mat sat there, which tickled her paws.
She couldn’t open the door. Couldn’t even reach the doorbell. Maybe if she leaped up, she could, but that felt, well, humiliating. She couldn’t transport herself into the house either: she felt the pressure of Angelina’s magical protections gently pushing her away.
Maybe she would have to try to reach the doorbell, though, if couldn’t find some other way in.
Merilee walked along the small concrete sidewalk that curved around the side of the house, heading for the front yard. Perhaps she could find a better way into the house from the front—an open window or something.
And stopped.
Huge boxwoods grew in the front of Angelina’s house. She kept them well trimmed into square hedges.
The robbers crouched behind them on either side of Angelina’s front door.
They’d nab her when she came out, unsuspecting.
Merilee found the back of her neck automatically bristling, the hair rising up. A low growl sounded deep in her throat.
But she was only a cat. She couldn’t attack them.
She had to scare them away. Save her sister, somehow.
Save the day despite her current size and stature.
She was sure she could do it.
But how?
Merilee paced around the fairy garden three times before coming up with a plan.
First, she changed her fur again, turning herself back into a bright-white, long-haired Persian. Why she could change the color of her fur and not transform back into a human puzzled her. Something must really have gone wrong with the first transformation spell.
It wasn’t twilight, not yet, but clouds had filled the sky and darkness was coming soon. The smell of rain floated through the air, along with scents of fresh grass and lilacs.
When Merilee was ready, she raced up to the front of the house, yowled once, twice, hissed, then raced to the backyard again, still yowling.
The robbers knew they’d been found.
As she’d hoped, they left their hiding places to chase after her.
Merilee didn’t know if she’d made enough noise that Angelina might glance out her window, or even better, step into her backyard, looking for who was causing such trouble.
At least Angelina would be prepared, as opposed to innocently walking out her door and into an ambush.
The men chased Merilee down the concrete sidewalk and into the backyard. She knew she had no place to hide here. Angelina kept the grass cut short. The bushes on the edges of the yard were also well trimmed. While Merilee could go underneath them, she couldn’t hide.
Perhaps she could go over the fence, though she judged it as too high.
The three robbers stopped once they reached the bottom tier of the yard and looked around.
Really? They were just going to give up? Not chase her anymore? Geez.
Merilee raced toward them again, yowling, as if she was a huge creature challenge them, forcing them away from her territory.
Because really, it felt that way. This space was hers. It belonged to her family. Who were these men intruding on her property?
The men backed up. Merilee didn’t stop hissing or yowling, despite how scared at least one of the Things looked. She focused on him.
He took a step back. Then another.
Good. She would drive him away first, then deal with the others.
Crap.
The others.
Merilee saw a flash out of the corner of her eye but it was too late. Even her quick cat reflexes weren’t quick enough.
The other Thing captured her in a rough burlap sack.
Merilee hissed and yowled. She hooked the cloth with her claws and tried to tear it.
She felt herself flying through the air, only to land with a solid thunk.
She cried out, dazed.
Had one of the robbers just swung the bag and hit it against the side of the house?
She crouched lower when she felt the air whizzing through the loose-woven burlap again.
This time, she hit her head.
Dazed, Merilee shook herself. Then she stopped moving. Stopped making noise.
“Think that killed her?” Thing One asked.
“Takes more than that to kill a familiar,” the boss replied. “Come on. I got an idea.”
Merilee shivered. Where were they taking her? What were they going to do to her? And how could she get out of this mess?
Whichever Thing had the bag whacked it one last time, probably against the door of the car. Merilee was certain her entire side was one solid bruise. The bag had little air or light. She found herself panting in the darkness.
Where were they taking her? She found that while she hurt, she could easily push away her pain, ignore it.
Huh. She’d never been able to do that as a human. Was that another cat thing?
She closed her eyes. She’d tear her way out of the bag as soon as they left her somewhere.
To her surprise, she found that she slept. Quite comfortably, actually.
She only woke when someone picked up the bag again. She complained, loudly.
And regretted it an instant later when she was whacked against the hood of the car.
She shook her head, feeling lightheaded and dizzy. Where were they? Somewhere outdoors. Cold night wind blew through the rough burlap.
She smelled fish.
And water.
Before she could voice her displeasure once more, she found herself flying through the air. The time seemed endless.
Then she hit the water.
Cold. Dark. Wet.
Merilee froze.
Just like her nightmares.
Frantically, Merilee scratched at the bag. She couldn’t see anything, but she felt herself making progress. She tore a small hole in the bag, followed by a larger tear.
She couldn’t breathe.
She drifted down into the bottomless lake. No current to take her away.
She was going to die. She couldn’t swim. She couldn’t even float, not with that heavy fur dragging her down.
She tore at the bag, finally freeing herself.
She needed to create a portal. Something. Now.
She waved her paws, churning them rapidly in the water. Her lungs ached with the lack of air. Her coat was too wet for her to float. The cold wrapped firmly around her, freezing her limbs, slowing her down. It smelled of rotten seaweed—lake weed—and death.
A small oval of light appeared to her left.
That didn’t look right. It wasn’t similar to the cat portals she’d created before.
Those had been a small circle of blue light.
This was gray, like lighted clouds, and the center was the blackest night.
Merilee propelled herself toward the oval.
It was a portal, all right.
Not one that she’d created, however.
She reached out a single paw.
The portal told her several things.
This was the doorway to the afterlife.
She would lose her life if she went through.
Or rather, a life.
As a cat, she’d only lose one of her nine lives. She’d have eight remaining.
As a human, she’d lose the only life she had.
The consequences quickly became clear to her.
If she floated through the portal, she could never go back to being a human.
The portal would take one of her lives. As a human, she only had one to give.
If she remained a cat, she would have many lives.
Merilee paused briefly, but she didn’t really have a choice.
She wanted to live, no matter what form she might take.
She bunched herself together, then pushed out, gliding easily through the opening. It felt like passing through a window of ice. Jagged edges combed through her fur, snagging a single tangle and keeping it.
Light blinded her on the other side. But her paws were on solid ground. Her fur was dry, though it would take some time before warmth seeped back into her bones.
She shook herself and looked up.
Somehow, she’d landed in the middle of Angelina’s kitchen.
With eight of her lives fully intact.
Merilee paced in a tight circle, growling low, deep in her throat. The white-painted wooden cabinets in the kitchen echoed the sound softly. Her claws clicked against the cool gray linoleum. The smell of greens and carrots, fresh fish and lemon oil, thyme and basil, all swirled around her.
The refrigerator door far above her opened slowly, and her cat food levitated out, then downward, toward the floor.
Merilee took a practiced swipe at the lid, knocking it off.
However, before she could lift the plastic tub and pour any out, Angelina came walking into the kitchen.
“I wish you wouldn’t do that!” Angelina complained. She reached down to pick up the food, but paused when Merilee hissed at her.
“You know that if you’d just wait another five minutes, I would have gotten the food out for you,” Angelina told her, obviously exasperated. “You can still tell time, I know that.”
Merilee gave a feline shrug. She was hungry now. And she wasn’t really beholden to any human.
Despite the fact that she now lived with Angelina. Plus, it was raining outside, so she wasn’t about to leave the house and try to catch something. It would take forever for her fur to dry and for her to get warm again.
Merilee gave an expressive sigh and backed up a few paces so Angelina could pick up her food. Her sister reached for a clean plate and scooped out a small amount.
“You know, I always considered myself a dog person,” Angelina commented.
Merilee rolled her eyes. Of course. That was part of why she’d never gotten along with her sister. Angelina preferred dogs.
While Merilee was a cat at heart.
She felt so comfortable in her feline form. She couldn’t imagine going back to being a human. Plus, that would be the death of her.
She did wonder sometimes, though. She wasn’t transgendered—she was happily female in whatever form she chose.
Was she instead trans-species? Had she been in the wrong shape all along? Had that spell that had gone awry actually gone right?
Merilee found herself purring loudly as Angelina put the food down in the accustomed corner.
“I found the last of the robbers today,” Angelina said. She reached down and stroked Merilee’s back while she ate. It felt satisfying, eating while being adored. Merilee rarely allowed Angelina to touch her.
“As we’d suspected, they’d been hired by Randolph Huntingford to put pressure on me to create a forecasting spell, so he could better time the market.”
Merilee nodded. She was interested in what Angelina had to say, of course, but…but…food was right under her nose. News could wait.
“So they’ve all been taken care of,” Angelina said with a bit of grim satisfaction. “They’ll never bother us again.”
Merilee stopped eating for a moment. She looked back over her shoulder. “Mrrrow?”
She wasn’t sure what exactly her sister had done, however, Angelina could be quite vengeful if she felt threatened.
Hopefully, that meant that they’d all drowned.
“Yes, it means you’re safe now. We’re both safe,” Angelina said. She paused, then added, “You could go back to being a human.”
Merilee couldn’t help but roll her eyes again, then turned back to eating.
“I know, you think you’ll die,” Angelina said. “But there’s this new spell I’ve found…”
Merilee gave an expressive cat-sigh and turned around. She walked directly in front of her sister who was crouched down. They weren’t quite eye to eye, but close enough.
I don’t want to change back, Merilee said as distinctly as she could.
Merilee was never certain how much she ever managed to communicate to her sister. Not because Merilee wasn’t trying, but because her sister didn’t always listen.
“Are you really happy? As a cat?” Angelina asked.
Merilee leaned forward and butted her head against Angelina’s knee. Of course, she was happy as a cat. She got to spend her day lounging and being adored. Or she could transport herself outside, play, chase butterflies or mice.
As for magic, Merilee kept discovering more and different things that she could do as a cat. She had so much more power, now, than she’d ever had as a human.
“All right,” Angelina said, scritching Merilee perfectly, finding that spot along the bottom of her jowl. It had taken forever to train her. “But you let me know if you ever change your mind.”
Merilee sat back and looked Angelina in the eye again. She nodded once, firmly.
Then she turned and went back to her dinner. Magic and sharing could wait until after she finished eating.
About the Author
Leah Cutter writes page-turning fiction in exotic locations, such as a magical New Orleans, the ancient Orient, Hungary, the Oregon coast, rural Kentucky, Seattle, Minneapolis, and many others.
She writes literary, fantasy, mystery, science fiction, and horror fiction. Her short fiction has been published in magazines like Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine and Talebones, anthologies like Fiction River, and on the web. Her long fiction has been published both by New York publishers as well as small presses.
Find Leah’s books here.
Follow her blog at www.LeahCutter.com.
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Also by Leah Cutter
THE CHANGELING TROLL
Piles of books line the floor of Christine’s living room, threaten to take over every surface in her apartment. Christine escapes into her stories every chance she gets. Because magic only happens in fairy tales.Right?
After losing a bet with her brother, Christine forces herself to leave the sanctuary of her apartment and go to a real bar. Listen to a live band. Maybe dance.
She hates all of it with a passion—the noise, the music, the people. Then the impossible happens. She meets her identical twin.
The Changeling Troll—the first novel in a new-adult, urban fantasy trilogy—turns the ugly duckling story on its head in this enchanting, whimsical tale.
Available from your favorite retailers
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THE SHADOW WARS TRILOGY
Read the three books of The Shadow Wars trilogy, about the shape shifters who hide among us and their battles with those who would destroy humanity:
The Raven and the Dancing Tiger
The Guardian Hound
War Among the Crocodiles
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Available from your favorite retailers!
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ADDITIONAL BOOKS BY LEAH CUTTER
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The Clockwork Fairy Kingdom
The Clockwork Fairy Kingdom
The Maker, the Teacher, and the Monster
The Dwarves Wars
Seattle Trolls
The Changeling Troll
The Princess Troll
The Chronicles of Franklin
The Popcorn Thief
The Soul Thief
* * *
The Shadow Wars Trilogy
The Raven and the Dancing Tiger
The Guardian Hound
War Among the Crocodiles
Contemporary Fantasy
Siren’s Call
Zydeco Queen and the Creole Fairy Courts
The Cassie Stories
Poisoned Pearls
Tainted Waters
Spoiled Harvest
About the Uncollected Anthology Series
anthology: a collection of selected literary pieces
uncollected: not collected or gathered together
oxymoron: a combination of words that have opposite or very different meanings
The Uncollected Anthology series is indeed an oxymoron. Sprung from the minds of seven fabulous authors who love fantasy, short stories, and each other’s writing, the series’ main goal is to bring you quality urban fantasy fiction.
Every three months, the authors pick a theme and write a short story for that theme. But instead of bundling the stories together, they each sell their own stories. No muss, no fuss—you can buy one story, or you can buy them all. (We’ll be honest: we hope you buy them all!)
Uncollected Anthology: When you can’t get enough of the stories you love.
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