Portals

by Amy Simone

  “I’d recognize that cat anywhere. Who are you?” Catherine now fully confronted Bob.

  “You must have somebody else in mind.”

  “Give him back,” Catherine’s daughter chanted.

  “You have this cat confused with somebody else. It’s mine,” Bob protested. He backed away, then turned and feigned confidence. “Have a good day.”

  As Bob rushed towards his truck, they heard Catherine calling Hayworth to ask her to check on Tiger’s whereabouts.

  Bob slammed his truck in reverse and backed down a full city block so he’d avoid them. As he left the scene, he saw Catherine’s daughter in his rear-view mirror shooting him the bird.

  “That was a close one,” Bob said to the cat carrier in the back seat. There was no answer.

  “Hello. I said, that was a close one. Anybody home?” He turned to look. All he saw was an orange-striped cat looking back at him with Cassie‘s grey-green eyes.

  40

  A Tussle

  “What is this? A joke?” Bob asked.

  He drove down the street and kept scanning his mirror. There was no change. Tiger sat in the carrier quiet now, but where was Cassie?

  Cassie as Tiger the cat realized she couldn’t get out of the cat’s body. She cursed the fact she and Bob both assumed everything would go smoothly. Maybe Annie still had thrown a wrench into their plans. She wasn’t sure. It sure had been strange to see her sister’s face peering at her through the grill of the carrier. She braced herself against one side of the container because the floor was slippery. Bob made several turns. Where the heck was he taking them? She just wanted to go home. It’d be nice if she could return to her old form, too.

  “I’m not sure what to do now, my girl,” Bob was muttering. “Do I just take you back and hope for the best?”

  Cassie tried to tell him yes, but she found she could only cry out in cat language. Violently she threw herself up against the front door of the carrier and rubbed her body against it. Bob didn’t notice.

  “Damn it,” he said. “I don’t know what else to do.”

  They drove on for a while. Cassie could only see bits of sky flash by through the perforated upper walls of her cage. Then he turned off the engine.

  “This is the best I could think of,” he said as he took the cat out of the carrier and tucked it inside of his jacket. “Now you, keep quiet.”

  Bob marched them into the library. The moment Cassie saw the familiar reddish stone of the atrium her entire body stiffened against Bob’s chest.

  “Stop it,” he spoke into his shirt. “Relax.”

  Quickly he found an empty back conference room, then let the cat out. “Here goes nothing,” he said as he let the yellow cat down under the large conference table. Cassie walked around the chair legs, being sure to squirm around his legs too.

  “Change back,” he told her. “Hurry. I don’t want them to catch me bringing a cat in here!”

  A brief shadow passed by the front glass wall of their room.

  “Give me a break,” Bob whispered. “That was Leroy. What a slob.” Cassie saw the usual slime trail the energy force left on the carpet. “Don’t you dare step on that shit,” Bob warned the cat. “I have no idea what’s in it.”

  “Get back to yourself, Cassie,” Bob pleaded. "The emergency is over. You did what we had to do.”

  Cassie still wound herself back and forth, hiding under the table. She knew that if the staff saw her, they’d toss her out pronto.

  Bob took out his cell phone and punched numbers. He looked up sharply when he heard the door open. It was one of the book characters—a tall man with a cylindrical midnight blue hat topped by a longish white plume of light fabric.

  “You called?”

  “Please help us,” Bob begged.

  “What seems to be the problem?”

  “We can’t get her out of cat form. The Coach made her like this.”

  The wizard-like character bend down, then sat on the floor near the table. “Come here, kitty-kitty. What’s your name?”

  “Cassie, I mean Tiger. I’m getting them mixed up,” Bob admitted.

  Cassie held back. She was suspicious. A strange vibration emanated from the man and there was a zone of heat she felt even from as far as four feet from him.

  Bob peered under the table. “Go on, Cassie, let him help you.”

  Why hadn’t Bob called the Coach? She wondered. Who was this man? How did Bob know about him? Her instincts told her that all was not well here. Being a cat, she hissed, then growled loudly.

  “Cassie! No!” Bob prodded her with his foot.

  She grew quiet and considered her options.

  The wizard’s face looked kind enough. It was everything else about him that spelled trouble, though.

  To his credit, the older fellow sat still, passively waiting.

  “You’re scared,” he told the cat. “I understand. I’d be too.”

  Bob looked out of the room, making sure that nobody was watching his antics. Any outsiders would see him popping up and down under the table and wonder what he was all about. It probably looked like he kept dropping a pencil—or that he was spastic. Nobody was likely to register the wizard, though. The secret library population was only visible to a select few.

  Eventually, the wizard got up, then sat at the table, ignoring the cat.

  “Aren’t you doing to do something?” Bob asked incredulously.

  “If the cat doesn’t want help, there isn’t much I can do.”

  “Aw man. We got to get her back.” Bob was getting anxious. “You have no recommendations? Nothing?”

  Cassie remained under the table, at the far end. Now and then Bob would peek under to check on her.

  “This is not right. We went on a mission of sorts, did as the Coach told us,” Bob informed the character.

  “Ah, those sneaky Controllers…” the wizard commented.

  “I don’t get what you mean,” Bob said suspiciously. “We trust him. Implicitly.”

  The wizard sighed, then began calmly inspecting his fingernails. “Therein lies your problem.”

  41

  Where is She?

  Hayworth looked at her watch. She already was on edge after getting Catherine’s call about the cat. She’d searched high and low for Tiger and had noticed the carrier was gone. She asked Josh to help her look, too. Now it was approaching three and still no word from Cassie. Maybe her daughter had to take the cat in to the vet? She went through everything Cassie had last told her. No, she had a lunch date, with a man. But with which man? She tried looking up Cassie’s history on the dating website but couldn’t get in.

  “These stupid pass words,” she griped to herself. “Where are you?”

  Already she’d been texting and calling her daughter and gotten no response.

  Finally she called Catherine back and asked her if she’d heard or seen anything.

  “I don’t know, mama. That man looked suspicious though. I am sure he had her cat.”

  “Should I call the police?” Hayworth asked.

  “Maybe.” Catherine looked out of her kitchen window in time to see Annie and Greg working in their yard. Greg had on an old white tee shirt. It was odd he also had long gauze strips showing under the shirt all up and down his upper back and shoulders. Although they looked like the perfect picture of domestic bliss—something she had not seen in a while over there—she wondered if he’d gotten tangled up in a brush.

  “I’ve got to go, mom.” She needed to bring her daughter to soccer practice. The dental appointment for her kid earlier in the day had gone well.

  Hayworth peered at Josh as she finished the call. “Hey, do you have any answers?” she joked.

  He looked up and then went back to doodling on a sketch pad she’d given him.

  “Of course not.” She wrung her hands. None of this made any sense. She started to call 911, then thought better of it and filed a report online. Hayworth was glad to see she didn’t have to wait 24 hours to make h
er report.

  Next she called Frank in Colorado.

  “I’m sure she’ll turn up,” he told Hayworth. “Trust me, I went through this before. Now taking the cat with her? That’s odd. Was she planning on ditching the cat?”

  “No!”

  “Have you complained to her about the cat?”

  “No, Frank. Certainly not.”

  “Just let me know what you find out, okay? I’m eager to see you, honeybun.”

  “Kiss, kiss,” Hayworth replied.

  Back at the library conference room, Bob sat bolt upright. He looked out of the room again onto the main floor. “Wait,” he said to the wizard. “I can’t just be sitting here with nothing in front of me.”

  He grabbed the closest big book off the nearest shelf, then retreated into the conference room.

  “You have got to tell me what you meant by that,” Bob implored of the other man.

  “Controllers are a fickle sort,” the wizard explained. “Sometimes they’re there, sometimes they’re not.”

  Upon hearing this, Cassie hissed from under the table.

  “I’ve experienced that,” Bob agreed.

  “They’ve got their fingers in way too many pies.”

  “I can appreciate that.”

  Cassie now walked towards Bob’s lap, she circumvented the wizard, though. He raised his eyebrows when he saw the cat jump up onto Bob’s lap.

  “You’ve got her vote,” he told Bob. Bob nodded and stroked the cat’s back.

  “What are we going to do?” Bob asked.

  “I cannot help you here,” the wizard told him. “If the cat does not want it and I try to do any magic on it, we might cause quite a stir here in this museum of books.”

  “Library,” Bob said.

  “Museum,” the wizard corrected. “It’s a living museum. You should see this place at night. Man do we have some fun when the patrons are gone.”

  “Great.” Bob accidentally squeezed the cat too hard and Tiger screeched softly. “Sorry!” He implored the wizard, “There must be a way to reconcile everything, to bring her back. She’s got kids to consider.”

  “You tried to reach your friend, right?”

  “The Coach didn’t respond. You were my second choice,” Bob told him.

  “You could always take the animal back to its home and just see if that does the trick. Sort of like a reset button. But after that I’m not so sure.” He shrugged. The massive amount of layers he wore made a slight rustling sound as he then rose to leave.

  “What? No special phrase? Nothing I can say or do to change the outcome?”

  “I will grant you this one thing,” the wizard told him as he put his hand on the doorhandle, “if you are still in trouble, come back tonight, meet me out back.”

  Bob shook his head. “They have security cameras…”

  “What’s a little camera among friends? We can get you in, no questions asked. Your friend the Coach is often here.”

  “If I don’t get arrested first!”

  “Try the animal’s home first. Come back later if you need to.”

  “Thanks,” Bob told him. He scooped the cat up and tucked her inside his clothes, then proceeded outside.

  “Cassie, my dear, I’ve got some lessons to teach. I will run by your house first but if you don’t change, I have to get back to work. Bear with me, baby.”

  She cuddled softly against his chest and purred.

  Driving slowly and cruising Hayworth’s house, Bob examined the cat carrier anxiously. He’d moved it to his front seat. “See? There’s your house, Cassie. Doesn’t it bring back any memories?”

  The cat stayed motionless inside the crate. Bob picked up speed. “Damn and double damn,” he cursed.

  For the rest of the evening, Cassie ended up lolling around his cabin. He let her sniff noses with his old dog, then seeing that all was copacetic between the two animals, he went outside to greet his riding students.

  42

  Nighttime Fun

  Bob almost had tears in his eyes when he finally got back into his cabin and saw the cat and his dog lying next to each other. He gently picked up Cassie, looked into the cat’s face.

  “Baby, we have got to get you out of this suit!”

  The library closed at seven. He ate a hurried meal and fed Whomper, then gave the cat some tuna. “Sorry,” he whispered to Cassie. “I owe you a better meal out.” The sun was almost finished setting. He wanted it to be good and dark before he drove to the library. He fervently hoped that the Coach would join the throng. He’d seen all the book characters out and about a few times. It could be a real mob scene. Unlike Cassie the book souls didn‘t scare him. They all felt interconnected to him. Maybe that’s why he enjoyed reading so much, it was a quiet way to bond with people without all the noise that normally went along with crowds.

  Making sure he parked on a side street that backed up to the library parking lot, he once again carried the cat inside his jacket as he walked through some perimeter brush and made his way towards the building. He had dressed in dark clothes and had a cap that covered most of his face. He figured if he moved slowly and from object to object it would not likely trip the security system. That’s what he did. He posed first next to a light pole, then a mail box, finally a transformer, as he got closer to the rear door. He waited, now hugging the brick wall of the building, not moving at all. A camera, if it was sweeping, would have detected nothing. Only if somebody was actively monitoring this particular stretch of footage might someone have seen him.

  At last the door opened. A Medieval harlot ushered him in. “Come on in,” she intoned. “We’re just getting started.”

  Bob restrained Cassie inside of his shirt. He’d fashioned a harness of sorts around her using one of his baby horse halters and had a light lead rope clipped to her back. He didn’t want to lose control or sight of her. He figured these gatherings of the book souls were full of ruckus.

  They subdued the lighting inside, but the energy was on full throttle. All the characters had emerged and were talking amongst themselves. A few turned and examined him as he walked past. It was obvious he wasn’t one of them but they could tell he posed no threat. His manner of dress seemed to blend right in. He looked too “cowboy” and not “corporate.”

  Up near the check-out desk he briefly caught a flash of silver white hair. Thinking the Coach had made it, he worked his way towards the lobby. A buxom dark-headed brunette caught him off guard and stepped in his path.

  “You’re here,” she gasped. “The wizard told me you might make it. She grabbed his hand and put it on her bosom.

  “God, that feels glorious!” she moaned.

  “No, ma’am. I’m here on business.”

  “So am I!” she shot back. She picked up his hand again. “Touch me!” she urged.

  Bob refused. “I’m trying to get somewhere.”

  He saw the white head of hair walk towards the back of the front reception area, then it was no more. The Coach, if that was even the Coach, had gone back into the inner sanctum of offices. A small collection of partying souls had gathered around the desks. Some were sitting on the desks. Everybody was talking.

  Bob lowered his chin into his collar. “We’ve got to find him,” he said privately to the cat.

  Unknown to Bob, there was a special elevator behind those doors. Once he made it to the front desk, he explained he needed to talk to the Coach. They granted him permission to open a special door. Then he saw an elevator. Entering that, he pushed on the single button in the control panel. Bob must have counted five minutes as the crate traveled down its shaft.

  “This better be good,” he whispered to the cat.

  The doors opened to a tunnel. Bob cautiously walked out. Dim lighting showed the hall to be about 12 feet high and just as wide.

  What is this place, he wondered. The cat stayed still against him. He cradled it softly with one arm.

  “It’s about time you showed up,” a deep loud voice said. It echoed down
the hall and seemed to wash over the pair.

  “I give up,” Bob called out. “What do you want us to do?”

  “Why walk forward. I can’t come to you.”

  Bob strode further down the hall. He looked back once to make sure the elevator was still there. This made him nervous. His PTSD felt like it would kick in soon. They were much further down under the surface than he would have liked.

  After proceeding about 100 yards, the hall took a sharp turn to the left. There were no options. Bob kept on even though he grew increasingly anxious. The cat, though, was purring. That was the only reassuring thing about this place.

  At last he came to an opening, of sorts. It appeared darker than the rest of the hall and had a hazy border around it. Gingerly Bob reached out towards the space. He was unsure what lay ahead.

  “You can step in,” the voice recommended.

  Upon crossing the boundary, it amazed Bob to see a huge cavern in front of him. The floor remained as floor but above him stretched a massive cathedral-like space that took his breath away. The space had its own stars up above. He had entered something he could not fathom. It was unlike anything he’d ever seen… the darkness was not really darkness as it had a deep velvety midnight blue quality about it. The more he tried to peer into the space, the more his vision was absorbed by the vacuuming darkness. It was disquieting on one hand, yet comforting on the other.