The One's You Love (Cat Johnson Chronicles Book 2)

by Katerina Degratte

  “I caught her first experiment, Tiger, there. He’s the big orange kitty. Maori and I led him to the woods so he would be safe,” I tell him as he tilts his head at Tiger to get a closer look. “Susan wasn’t all too happy about that, though. So while I was out of the apartment, Susan’s men kidnapped Maori. Took her to her lab to experiment on her. Something went wrong with the experiment, so she became huge and killed Susan in self-defense.” The last part rushed as I notice him stopping his petting momentarily, wandering if he should be scared. Leaving out all the more colorful details, he didn’t need to know or judge Maori for the special types of hell she went through.

  “Maori was just protecting herself,” Colin says as if it’s simple logic. Black and white, and I guess it was. Or at least was to his mind. “Can I meet the secret society?” The idea of that causing some inner excitement. No way in hell!

  I bite back the urge to facepalm. Secret … that isn’t something you exactly went around telling everyone. “No, you can’t, Colin,” I tell him, “You already know more then you should.” He frowns. “And please don’t tell anyone else about it. I could be in trouble if you do. Just think of it as our little secret.”

  He looks a little bummed by that answer, but then secretly smiles to himself. He knew about something others didn’t. “Can I tell dad?”

  My livid expression must have answered for me, because he drops that question in a New York minute.

  “It’ll be alright, kid,” Maori tells him as he hugs himself against her leg.

  “Maori. We should take off.” I regard Colin and Raven. I’m not so bad of a sister that I would abandon my brother in these forsaken woods. And I can’t continue the conversation I’m having with Miss kitty with listening ears. I could splurge with what I told Raven, but Colin on the other hand already learned more then he should.

  “I just got here,” Colin complains, getting a few more pets in. He puts his other hand out to Tiger as well, but Tiger just sniffs it then walks off. Well, better then Tiger’s first reaction.

  I take a look at the sky. It’ll be getting dark in the next hour or so, and this isn’t a place for us humans to be. “I promise we’ll revisit her soon.” I’m not sure how soon that’ll be. I need to get Colin back to the apartment, then ask Raven a few questions on the way to HQ.

  “Bye, guys,” Maori calls out as I rush to give her one more hug. I pocket the cat brush so I could use it with future visits here.

  While we’re walking away, Colin comes up with another question. “If she can make animals bigger, can she animate toys?” Like a creepy version of Toy Story? That idea isn’t as appealing as it sounds. Wake up one moment to see a plushie with a knife at your throat. There’s a reason most movies with animated toys are of the horror genre.

  “I think she was looking for something bigger so she could take over.” I sigh.

  “Why not dogs then?” he asks. Good question.

  “Stray cats are easier to find, plus she had a cat. That’s who Tiger was,” I explain, trying to keep the irritation out of my voice. I feel like I kept repeating this speech between HQ, Raven, and Colin. That all my life was just repeated spiel.

  “Why doesn’t he like me?” Usually, cats don’t dislike him, but Tiger is a special case.

  “He’s just iffy around humans because his human ditched him and then used him when she saw fit,” Colin nods, starting to understand.

  The rest of the trip home includes several more questions from Colin. Less than it would have been if it was just Colin, and I since Raven gave us a lift. Not being able to take a moment and enjoy the outside scenery, Like different plushie reactions to if they were animated, would Buzz have an actual working laser gun. Would Blue be an actual talking, breathing dog that would have to take shit’s and eat dog food? So many that I can feel a migraine start to come on if it weren’t for the fact that we weren’t at my place to drop Colin off.

  “Keep an eye on Charming this time,” I tell him, as we drop him off apartment. “There’s leftover lasagna in the fridge for dinner. Make sure the kitten butt has food.” I remind him, not wanting Charming to see the need to find his own food if he’s not given any. I didn’t need a new mess to clean up when I got home.

  “So bossy,” Raven teases , after she was practically mute the whole time. “Your brother seems like a good guy. Sorry that I overshared with him.” Her expression is genuine. Trust if things went on would still need to be worked on either way, with how everything started. Could a relationship start after being planted with a lie? Friendship could be worked on first, I had too many other obstacles in life before I could think about the dating scene. I didn’t need to rope anyone into all that.

  I curse myself for thinking her apologetic smile is cute.

  “You haven’t been responding to any of my messages. Then you show up out of the blue with my brother. He’s special needs, so he shouldn’t have been out there.” Not that I think he’s weak, but it isn’t the typical place for humans to try to hang out. Unless they were me or some teens trying to get an adrenaline high from doing something potentially dangerous. Something that many weren’t likely to walk away from.

  “That would explain a lot.” She contemplates. “Not that I have anything against it.” She holds her hands up in mock defense before I can derail her in the process of defending him.

  “He’s a good guy. This is just stuff he didn’t need to get mixed up in, Raven,” I softly explain, giving her hand a little squeeze. Her eyes look like she hasn’t slept in days.

  “Have you been alright?” I ask her, a sudden pang of concern going through my heart.

  She shakes her head. “Family stuff. Ex-husband won’t let me see the kids. Dying to drink, but that’s how I fell off the wagon the first time. So I’ve been resisting. They were in the pictures you saw at my place.” She couldn’t be lying. No one would lie about something as serious as that. That took courage to stop, even with the pain she’s in.

  My heart hurts for her. Her losing her children, while I was on my way to taking on the parent role. It’s a wonder that she wants to be around me. I want to ask more, but her grim expression warns me to ward off for now.

  I say, “Sorry. That’s gotta be rough.”

  “Sorry about the funeral and the responsibilities you’re going through,” Raven gives me sympathy. “I read everything.” I basically texted her like she was a journal, figuring she blocked me anyway. My cheeks turn tomato red. I’m terrible about oversharing, kind of just wanted to hide from the embarrassment. Not that she seems to mind.

  “I’m just going to HQ to check on things,” I offer, not sure what else to say. “Wanna come with?” I offer.

  She nods. “It’ll be quicker if I come with you because I have wheels,” she teases. Trying to cover up from the serious topics that were barely touched. Leaving me wondering what all didn’t I know about her? I knew she wasn’t a student, but that she had a divorce and wasn’t able to see her kids. What spiraled that into happening? Usually it’s more so a lead up to events, not just one thing. “Could use the distraction.” She starts up the car’s engine, as it goes to a light purr. Popping a cd in the disc slot, to have something to distract her.

  We pass by several buildings, my game store job, the comic bookstore right in front of it. A mass of trees less than half a mile away from it, making me think of Maori. Those weren’t the same trees of the woods that Maori was in though. If they were that close to the city I’m not sure how the youth could survive the desire to check it out. I just saw my sassy kitty, and was already missing her terribly.

  We don’t really talk on the drive to HQ, Raven singing out with the lyrics. She has a beautiful singing voice, carefully being able to convey the emotions of the songs. If she were a siren, sailors would easily be able to be lured to their death.

  “What?” The siren stops singing, seeing my amused expression.

  I hold my hands up. “Nothing, you sing beautifully.” I tell her, as she gives me a bashful smil
e.

  “Why were you giggling then?” She raises an eyebrow.

  It’ll sound stupid, but I decide that I’ll delve into it anyway. “I was thinking that you had the voice of a siren, and that sailors would be lured to their death easily by your voice.”

  Her expression is flat, until she can’t contain the laughter anymore. “You are an odd one Cat.” Didn’t I know it? She shakes her head, going back to singing with the lyrics. We make it to a less busy part of town. Her taking a left down the field, and further down. Until were in front of what is HQ. Easily hidden, only a few miles away from the job but not seeable at first. She parks.

  Before we get out of the car, I take the chance to tell her something. “Raven if there’s anything you need to talk about, I can be a listening ear.”

  She’s silent for a moment, making me wonder if I overstepped my boundaries. After a few silent moments, she nods. “Thanks Cat, I appreciate it.”

  “Anytime.” I meet her gaze, giving her a small smile. Nothing was worse in this world then feeling you had to face it alone.

  “Well we should get in there.” She breaks the moment of serenity, as we get out of her car.

  We walk up to what looks like nothing, before the building is revealed to us. HQ’s walls standing tall. It would only show to someone who was a member. Even being out here, you couldn’t be too careful.

  “Hi guys. Here to check on Hank?” Someone asks, as we walk up to the desk.

  “Yup.” I nod, as he confirms the room number. “182, on the second floor.”

  “Thanks.” I nod, going to the elevator. I could get there by foot, but with how many rooms were in this place, the elevator was just the quicker way to go. As if it sensed our presence the doors to it open, before I even have the chance to push the button.

  The elevator ride is made in relative silence, until Raven breaks it, “The world really would be doomed if we were being overtaken by stuffed animals. That brother of yours really has a brilliant mind,” she compliments. He does. It just isn’t something many others can understand.

  “Do I need to be jealous?” I tease.

  “Maybe,” she jibes back. “Nah, he’s not my type, unless I did some spell to make him a woman.” The person in the picture from her apartment was a man if I remembered correctly. Why did they get married, or was it something that was just found out later on, as people were known to evolve and change as they grew older?

  Chapter 12

  Cat

  “You’ll want to put this on, ladies.” The scientist gives Raven and me masks. “I’ve been working with what little intel you gave me on the mixture, and I’m ready to try it out.” The words aren’t accusing, just more so matter of fact. If I knew how to fix the problem myself, Maori would be back home with me.

  There’s a rat on the table, trying to run off the end and escape, but the poor little dude is trapped for his experiment. Caged walls set up around the table, so he can’t run off and escape. I didn’t envy the rat one bit.

  “Just a drop or two of this.” He takes a piece of cheese from the minifridge, carefully putting two small bright blue dots on it. That must be the mixture, how would it work on humans? He gives the cheese to the rat, who first smells it turning up his nose. “Come on buddy, just like we did before,” Hank whispers to the little guy. The rat as if understanding takes it from his hand, scarfing it down like there’s no tomorrow. Smelling at Hank’s hand to see if there’s more. “No that’s what happens in the next part,” Hank promises the rodent, giving him a slight pat behind the ears.

  At first, it appears to do nothing, then the rat grows a few sizes larger, making it screech in pain. It’s like watching Alice go up in size, except much more painful. Unfortunately, we don’t have the luxury of just eating sweets to make our people or animals quickly grow in size.

  He becomes about the size of a human head, his eyes going around bewilderingly like, ‘What the fuck is going on?’ Getting the mixture for the size enlarger was half the battle, now had to see if Alice would go back to normal size. I hold in my screams of glee because I had to see how the one I needed would go down.

  “Now, a drop or two of this concoction to see if we can shrink him back to size.” The scientist puts another two drops, on the rest of the cheese that’s set to the side. A larger piece then before, to go with the bigger appetite. Offering it to the rat, who greedily takes it. The rat falls, and he shrinks back down to his normal size. The poor dear is probably going to have a heart attack.

  “Are you sure—” My words are cut off by the body exploding. A rat intestine hits me right in the fucking mouth. Bloody brilliant. Disgusting. I run over to the trash can to purge my stomach of any possible substance. This being able to go on my top ten list for the worst things that have ever happened to me. Not number one, but still ranked.

  “Sure of what?” The scientist grabs a notebook, glancing back at me before noting what this trial did. I’m so glad Maori wasn’t in their care and being blown up. I’m not sure I would have been able to walk away if I were covered in Maori’s guts. “It still has a few kinks. Sorry about your blouse. Now you can see why I suggested the goggles.”

  Should have thrown in a hazard suit as well. Oh well, it’s not like I was planning on going to another funeral soon. If I was I’d have to get a new dress since this one was ruined. Not sure how I would explain guts to the dry cleaners. I am in desperate need of a shower though, and several mouth washings, maybe a container of mouth rinse after that. The taste and smell of dead rat, making me want to puke all over again.

  There’s no point in completing my sentence with ratto being dead, the concoction clearly wasn’t ready for Maori testing. “Rest in peace, little guy.” The scientist raises an eyebrow at my compassion towards the rat. To him, they were just creatures to experiment on and make the world a better place; even though he showed them more compassion then he gave humans.

  Genova walks in. “Good to see you, Cat.” She grimaces, going my way and plucking something from my hair. So gross. “Sorry you had a little piece in your hair.”

  I wave. “Sorry for my dress.” I wave towards the disturbing picture I painted, being covered in rat guts.

  She waves it off. “We’ve had way worse here. Just a precaution that comes with the job. People have come in with guts of all types of demons here. One time, this one agent thought she killed this demon but then inherited its power to read minds. She thought it was fun at first …” The way she trails off must mean it wasn’t in the long run, though.

  “Was she alright?” I ask, concerned. It must have been before my time because I figured I would have heard about that.

  “Have you heard any news from Maori about the ongoings of stuff in the underworld?” she quickly changes the subject, so I have to guess that would be a no. She didn’t survive it. Lovely. I’d have to remind myself to never pick up any assignments with mindreading demons.

  “She heard from a source that the experimenting on animals’ reign wasn’t over. Even with Susan out of the picture.” Raven answers for me, making me feel slightly miffed. I had my own voice I could use.

  “And the casket?” Genova asks, just skipping the pleasantries all together now, and getting straight to business.

  “Her casket was empty.” I blurt out, before anyone else can answer that for me.

  “Empty?” Genova repeats, as if not understanding. “Was it because the damage done to her body, did they just have it closed? And you couldn’t sneak a peek?”

  “Empty, as in there was nobody in it,” I sigh. “I snuck a peek. Sorry I didn’t take a picture; I was kind of trying to not get caught though Jack noticed anyway.” Some good that did. Taking selfies with the deceased was in poor taste anyway.

  Genova’s expression slightly staggers at that before smoothing it out. “That can’t be good. With the powers those people have, they could be putting Humpty Dumpty back together again or something of those sorts. Susan could be worse than before. She’d have her ex
periments, but would lack a soul to know any indication towards right and wrong.” That’s hard to imagine as she was already pretty cruel to be around.

  I glance towards Raven, and the scientist to see their take on this.

  “And she had one before?” Raven finally asks, since it sounds preposterous to her ears.

  “She did in theory.” Genova nods. “Who’s Jack?” She brings us back to the beginning when I was telling her someone caught me sneaking a glance.

  “A coworker of Susan’s, he may have had something to do with her death.” But unfortunately, out of all the cat abilities I have, stealth had not been granted to me.

  Gen narrows her eyes at me. “We’re going to have to start calling you something other than Cat with your lack of stealth. You’re too clumsy,” she teases.

  I roll my eyes. It’s not like I haven’t heard that one before about a million or so times. “His name was Jack, and he invited me out to coffee.” I see Raven’s brow furrow, as her face nearly turns green. “Jack was someone who used to work with Susan. Maori even believes he was the person in the room with Susan when she was getting injected. The person that messed with the doses so much that Maori killed her.”

  “That could be promising.” Gen twists a red lock, as her eyes appear elsewhere, considering all the possibilities. “Have you set a time for the coffee date yet?”

  “No.” I shake my head. “He wants to exchange stories about her. I actually meant to ask about it. I wanted to get something that could get the truth from him.”

  With a delicate eyebrow raised, Gen states. “You watch that Alice movie far too much.” Not the original, it was more so the Syfy one. The queen’s people siphon the emotions off of people, so the ones in Wonderland can feel how they want.

  “A little sip of honesty, Jack,” I rib her, and she shakes her head, smiling.