Cat-astrophic Spells (12 page)

“You sounded different.” My legs felt stronger as we drove away, but my head was pounding.

“It was the first time in my life that I didn’t see a dozen things taking place at the same time. The first time I was almost like everyone else. I enjoyed it. The simplicity of it.” She turned her head and smiled at me.

“Well, it made me puke, literally. I didn’t enjoy it.”

Aunt Astrid patted my arm, and as we got to the road that led back to Bea’s place, we were both feeling much better. But Bea had been correct—the psychic backwash we were going to swallow was going to be hell to pay tomorrow.

A
s soon as
I pulled the car into Bea’s driveway, she came running out of the house, slamming the door shut behind her. She was waving and shouting, and her eyes were wild. My first thought was that something had happened to Jake or Blake.

“You won’t believe this!” she called before the car was even in park. “Hurry! Hurry!”

“What?” I asked, a little annoyed due to my upset tummy.

“Jake called.”

“Yeah, and?” I got out of the car and slowly walked toward the house with Aunt Astrid at my side.

“He reported to a scene at the Walona Motel.”

“Eww, gross. He was just over there the other day. That place right by the expressway, right? Do I want to hear this? The Walona isn’t exactly known for high-profile celebrity clientele, I hear.”

“Right?” Bea nodded in agreement. “But Jake said there was a woman there answering questions about the noises she’d heard in the room next to hers. Apparently, the man there was dealing with some shady people, had a big argument, and then bingo—this woman said he had a heart attack.”

“So? Maybe this person just had a good old-fashioned heart attack,” I said with about as much tact as a porcupine in a room full of balloons.

“And what makes her so special that Jake had to call you?” Aunt Astrid asked.

“He thought that he was being funny when he said she was dressed all in black. She had this whole gothic theme going on, including wearing a pentagram in rhinestones on a big, gaudy ring. He wanted to know if I’d like him to introduce us, you know, like a joke. If we wanted to add anyone to the coven, are his exact words. He thinks he’s so clever. I told him… Cath, what’s the matter?”

My heart stopped beating, and for a split second, I thought I was going to have a heart attack myself.

“Did you say a ring with a rhinestone pentagram on it?”

Bea repeated herself and described the woman as Jake told her. Aunt Astrid and I agreed that it had to be the woman Brit had shown us a picture of, complete with that ring of horror and tackiness from my dream. Quickly, I told them about my dream—the fog and the thing crawling through my window just before I snapped awake—and how it came true, with the threatening notices, the cats that started showing up, and all that other witchy business.

“Did she give the woman’s name?” I asked.

“Yes, Jennifer something, I don’t remember.”

Close enough. I was feeling as though we had her trapped. It would take just a day or two, maybe just a matter of hours, before we would have her cornered and begging to go to jail. She would wish she didn’t even know how to spell the word
witch
, let alone pretend to be one.

“So, who was the man?”

“She said she just met him at the motel when she checked in. She was in town visiting friends. She said she didn’t know what he was doing there. Living there, perhaps. But she felt sorry for him since he was all alone.”

“She sounds very charitable,” I said sarcastically.

“Yeah, well, Jake said she was coming on strong with him even as the ambulance was wheeling away her neighbor under a white sheet on a stretcher. You don’t act that way when death is that close to you.”

And you don’t act that way with Bea’s husband
, I thought.

“Lucas. That was the guy’s name. I don’t know if that was his first or last name, but that was what I heard Jake say to Detective Samberg before he hung up the phone with me.”

“So we’ve got her.” I rubbed my stomach to try to help the queasiness out of my system. Bea nodded with excitement.

“Not quite, girls,” Aunt Astrid said as we made our way to Bea’s kitchen. My aunt took her seat on the stool at the end of the counter. “Yes, in the world of witches, she has committed horrible crimes against the universe. But in Wonder Falls, she hasn’t done a thing. Nothing that could be pinned on her at any rate.” She pointed to the kettle, letting Bea know she wanted some tea.

I grabbed a step stool and pulled down the Doritos from their hiding place that Jake had revealed earlier. But one whiff of the processed cheesy goodness made me weak in the knees and light-headed. I put them back, swallowed hard, and pulled up a stool next to my aunt.

“Maybe we should sleep on it.” Bea yawned. “It’s already past ten o’clock, and we still have to work in the morning.”

“I think that’s a good idea,” Aunt Astrid said, still pointing at the cold, empty kettle while looking at Bea.

“Oh, you want some tea, Mom? Is that it?” Bea rolled her eyes and smiled, snatching the teapot and quickly filling it from the tap. “It’s not like you don’t know how to make tea,” she teased.

“It just tastes better when you do it.” They both laughed.

I was sure Bea’s tea would sooth my stomach, but the thought of trying to get it down was too much. I just wanted to go home and sleep in my own bed.

“Are you sure you think it’s safe? We’ve got lots of room and love having everyone around,” Bea said.

“Yeah, I’m sure. That trip to Brit’s really knocked me out, and I think I’d really just like to be around my own things. Plus, I have the feeling I may be up and down a couple times during the night. The last thing I want is an audience.”

I looked at Treacle who was sitting up straight, looking out the back door. His eyes were little green slits, but I knew he wasn’t sleeping. He was studying.

“I think you should stay here,”
I said to him in my mind.
“You’re safer here than with me.”
I walked over to him when he didn’t respond.
“Treacle? Are you all right?”
Stooping over, I felt the world spin again but picked the big furry ball up in my arms. He let out a little growl like he used to when he was a kitten and watching a bird hop near the windowsill… as if he were trying to coax it closer and closer until he could catch it.

“Something is out there,”
he thought to me.

I held him close and looked out into the darkness.
“Are you sure?”

“Yes. But whatever it is, it can’t get closer. It has a weakness, and it can’t get closer.”

“Is it another cat?”

“No. It’s what the cats see for.”

I stood there, rocking the cat in my arms, letting the heat from his body soothe my aching belly. I strained to see some kind of movement, some ghoulish face, or a pair of eyes blinking back at me, but all I saw was darkness.

“We will take care of him,”
Peanut Butter said, wrapping his body around my leg and standing bravely at the door, looking out.

“Yes, we have a plan of our own should anything find its way in,”
Marshmallow said, prancing up to Peanut Butter and nudging him gently with her head.

“Don’t you guys take any risks. If anything happens, run and hide,”
I said to them.

“Run and hide. Only after we teach whatever that is out there a lesson that you don’t mess with our family.”
Peanut Butter quickly licked his front paw then resumed his vigil.

I contemplated telling them about what Brit had said about this woman’s abusive treatment of cats. I don’t know what she could have done to get inside their heads, to control them so cruelly, as though they were replaceable tools to be thrown away when she was done with them. I didn’t. I couldn’t bring myself to tell them.
“This thing is dangerous. Just do me a favor, and don’t take any chances. Okay?”

They all looked up at me and meowed in unison.

A
s I drove
, I began to feel as though I really wanted to talk to someone about anything but witchcraft. It was late, but I wondered if Min was around. I decided to drive past his parent’s house and see if his car was in the driveway.

As the familiar roads wound and weaved around, I let out a big sigh. My stomach was starting to feel better. I thought of a double cheeseburger and didn’t feel the need to pull over and gag.

I knew Treacle was unhappy but safe for the time being. My blood boiled to think of that woman torturing cats. Even the alley cats had their own ways of doing things. Her treatment was cruel, like slave labor.

So, this Jennifer person was a woman scorned, as if none of us had ever had our hearts broken before. I hated to admit it, but I thought of Min and Amalia. It would have been easier if she were a crackpot, but she wasn’t. She was probably more normal than me, and I consider myself a pretty down-to-earth person, with a few extra talents no one can ever know about.

I was seriously starting to depress myself when I looked in my rearview mirror and noticed the guy behind me had his high beams on. “Jeez, thanks, pal. I don’t have a bad
enough
headache,” I grumbled, flipping the mirror to tint in an attempt to tone down the brightness.

I turned off down a side street that was home to some of the wealthier people who lived in Wonder Falls. Darla lived in a mansion high up on a hill around there, but it was easy to avoid. I decided to do just that.

These were homes for families. I wouldn’t know what to do with so much space, but it sure would be an awesome challenge to imagine. As I looked through some of the open windows, I saw beautifully decorated rooms painted in rich reds or browns. It seemed as if the people new exactly where to put everything to make it look beautiful.

And speaking of beautiful, I wondered what Brit meant about Blake being the really good-looking detective. Jake had always been what most women thought of as a tall glass of water. I didn’t think anyone but me thought Blake was the better-looking one, not that I thought he was hot or anything. But he had some pleasing features I liked. If he would keep his mouth closed, he would be perfect. Maybe. What was I thinking? It certainly wasn’t the time or place to be considering the positive attributes of Blake Samberg.

How were we ever going to get to Jennifer before she got to Brit, Bea, Aunt Astrid, and myself… and anyone else who looked at her cock-eyed? I wanted to just cruise along, but the guy driving behind me was in some kind of hurry, tailgating and weaving back and forth. I hit my hazard lights and pulled over to let him pass.

“Leave five minutes early if you don’t want to be late,” I mumbled as I looked in the rearview mirror. The car pulled slowly around mine. It was dark outside, but as I looked at the driver, something very unsettling looked back at me.

Suddenly, I felt like the locked car door and rolled-up window may not be enough protection for me. I could make out a silhouette by the glow of the streetlamps. It had long, wild hair, a grin like a starving animal, and white eyes. It was her. Jennifer Skala knew where I’d come from and was passing me slowly on the street. I could feel her evil presence like you’d smell garbage from the opening of an alley. You knew it was deep in there and that it was foul without getting anywhere near it.

She drove past then suddenly hit the gas, speeding off just far enough to turn around. She flashed her lights and revved the engine. Was she seriously going to ram me?

The thing about us witches is that we could be killed by regular, good old-fashioned car accidents, too. I couldn’t tell what this lunatic was thinking, but she was ready to push the envelope. She hit the gas, and her car burst to life, zooming straight for me.

I put my arms up, unable to move quickly enough to do much more, and squeezed my eyes shut. Nothing… no shattering impact, no sound of crunching metal, no glass breaking. Letting out the breath I hadn’t even realized I was holding, I opened one eye and peeked around. I was alone on the street. Shifting quickly in my seat, I turned around.

Maybe she’d passed me. Maybe at the last second, her car had swerved, and I’d see her taillights getting smaller and smaller as she drove away. But there were no red taillights. No other car was on the street. I was completely alone.

“This is ridiculous,” I grumbled, putting the car in gear and pulling back onto the road.

Min’s house was only a few blocks away. I hoped he was there and the lights were still on. It was almost eleven o’clock—a little late to be calling, but as I rounded the corner of his street, I was happy to see his car. In fact, I was really happy because he was standing right by his car… and so was Amalia.

“Oh, geez,” I groaned. How was this going to look? “Hi, Min. I know it’s late, but I just happened to be in the neighborhood and thought I’d see if you had a shoulder to lean on right now.” Yikes. That sounded like something out of a cheesy Lifetime movie about torrid affairs or deadly marriages.

Min and Amalia both looked up at the same time and saw me. I flashed my lights as I pulled my car to the curb and cut the engine.

“Cath! What a nice surprise!” Min smiled broadly.

“Hey, Min,” I said as casually as I could. “Hi, Amalia. I hope I’m not interrupting anything.”

“Cath!” Amalia almost ran up to me. “No. My gosh, it’s so nice to see you. You know, Min and I were just hanging out here because he said there was a meteor shower tonight, but I could have sworn it was next week.”

“Yeah, I heard about that. Sorry, Min, but the lady is correct. That is
next
week.” I had almost forgotten about the meteor shower coming up. If we didn’t get that lunatic Jennifer Skala in line before then, heaven only knew what she might do.

When the heavens moved through their celestial routine, us witches would experience varying degrees of power. Sometimes, our powers were stronger than other times. Meteor showers were like spontaneous bursts of energy. They were fun and exciting, enhancing our gifts and sometimes enlightening us to a new power, temporary or permanent. It was all up to the heavens.

“Oh well, you can’t blame a guy for trying.” He smiled down at Amalia. “So, what are you doing around here at this hour, Cath? Not that we’d ever mind a visit from you any time day or night.”

“I didn’t mean to break up your little stargazing party. Actually, I started to get a little dizzy as I was driving and thought I should pull over for a spell.” It wasn’t a complete lie. I didn’t have any reason to mention the witches’ vials at Brit’s place that made me sicker than a dog or the phantom driver, who tailgated me then proceeded to drive directly into my headlights only to disappear a split second before impact.

“You do look a little pale, Cath,” Amalia said. Grabbing me by the wrist, she gave me a puzzled look. “My gosh, girl, your heart is pumping to beat the band. Come on and have a seat on the porch.”

“I’ll get you some water.” Min dashed into the house.

“I’m really all right. Just something I ate, I think.” That excuse worked before.

“You know, you don’t want to be driving in traffic and feel the urge to puke, pardon my French. I had that happen to me once,” Amalia said in one quick breath of air. She pulled up a small cushioned ottoman and sat down next to me. “There was a twenty-four hour flu going around the Home. It had worked its way through every patient and every nurse on staff within two weeks. I was feeling good, thinking all the orange juice and exercise I was doing had my antibodies in better shape than the rest of them.”

I watched Amalia as she told her story, polishing her nails on her chest as she spoke, then rolling her eyes and shaking her head in disgust as she continued.

“I’m on my way home, traffic is moving but packed, and it hits me.”

“Oh, no,” I said, completely engrossed in her tale.

“Yup. I started to sweat, felt nauseated, and before I could put on my blinker to pull to the right, my whole dashboard… well, let’s just say, it wasn’t pretty.”

I couldn’t help it. I started to laugh.

“And if that isn’t bad enough, home was still twenty-five minutes away.”

Then I was really chuckling.

“The worst part is…”

“You mean that wasn’t the worst part?” I laughed some more as Amalia started to laugh with me.

“No. The worst part was that my car was in the shop. This was my sister’s car.”

“Well, if you’re an optimist, then perhaps that was the best part,” I said, gasping for breath as I laughed.

“I never thought of it like that. I was too busy feeling awful all these years when I should have been thrilled.”

By the time Min came out with a glass of water garnished with a delicate slice of lemon, I was not only feeling a world of better, but I was still laughing with Amalia.