Inside the barn, the smell of hay and dry wood made her nose twitch. Oval, slitted eyes, in various shades of green, gold, orange and blue peered at Pandora from behind bales of hay, above in the hay loft and on top of stacked pallets. The barn hummed with unseen energy as the cats of Mystic Notch dialed up their senses and came forward to greet her.
“What brings you here?” the large, black cat, Inkspot, their leader, asked from his perch atop two stacked bales of hay.
Pandora puffed up. “I have important news.”
The cats crept forward from their hiding places. Snowball’s fluffy, white fur glowed in the small shaft of moonlight that spilled in from the open doorway. She assessed Pandora with curious eyes. “Important news about what?”
“Something’s been unearthed. Something that could have evil consequences for the cats and people of Mystic Notch.” Pandora had to admit that she was being purposely vague so as to draw out the moment. It wasn’t often that she got to come to the cats with an important discovery.
“That’s not necessarily news.” Otis, the fat calico, sat on top of a stack of pallets and studied his perfectly honed shivs. “I already knew about it. Heard this morning from Ming.”
Inkspot turned his green gaze on Otis. “Who is this Ming and why did you not bring an important discovery to the group?”
“I was doing the requisite legwork to determine if it really was important.” Otis glared at Pandora. “Unlike some members, I do not bring every little thing to the group until I do the appropriate research.”
The hairs on Pandora’s back stood on end. It was just like Otis to try to steal her limelight and make it seem like she was over-reacting. He had been a thorn in her side since the very beginning. The cantankerous calico was one of the older cats, stuck in the old ways, who disapproved of the new methods Pandora liked to use.
Pandora wasn’t sure if that was the only reason he had taken such a dislike to her, or if it was just in his obstinate nature to be contrary. He was always rubbing it in her face that being a male calico was extremely rare. Only a small percentage of calico’s were male, and he seemed to think that made him ‘special’, whereas Pandora was just a common, mixed-breed shorthair.
But sometimes, underneath his air of superiority, Pandora could swear she sensed the teensiest flicker of humility, as if he wasn't really as stuck-up as he made out to be. This, however, was not one of those times.
She bristled at his comment about doing research. She had to admit she didn’t have any hard research to back up her claim. She had something much better, though.
“I didn’t need to do research. I was told about it by a ghost cat, so I know it is a true threat.” Pandora shot Otis a smug look. She could see ghosts and he couldn't, a fact which she liked to rub in his face whenever she could.
“What ghost was this? Are they always truthful? I think some research would be prudent,” Otis hissed.
“Stop the fighting,” Inkspot growled. “Both of you tell me what you know. Pandora, you go first.”
The other cats crept closer as Pandora told them about the cloaked ghost and the conversation she’d had with Obsidian. When she was done, Inkspot turn to Otis.
“And what does this Ming know about this?”
“Ming is very close to his human, Oscar Danforth. Apparently, there was a groundbreaking ceremony for the new historical society building where this box that Pandora speaks of was unearthed. Ming said his human was very upset about it. Ming sensed the box contained something very important which could be vital to our cause. That’s why he mentioned it to me.”
Kelley, the Maine Coon, swished her tail. It was enormously fluffy and when she swished it, everyone noticed. “So, what’s so important about what’s in the box? And where is it?”
All eyes turned to Pandora and her stomach did a nervous flip. She hadn’t been able to get that information from Obsidian. Maybe she should have waited to bring this news to the group. “I don’t know exactly what’s in it, but it’s something that can be used to harm us. Obsidian mentioned the two-faced cat in particular. And he said it was so important his human was burned to death for it.”
The cats hissed. Some of them humped up their backs. The thought of being burned alive was not a pleasant one.
Everyone’s eyes slid toward the back corner of the room where Hope, a young chimera with a half-black and half-orange face, sat calmly on top of a stack of wooden boxes. Hope was a cat with extreme magical ability, but she was too young to have honed it properly. The cats of Mystic Notch were protective of her, knowing that in the future she could be instrumental in helping them keep the balance of good. Pandora herself had bonded with Hope when they’d narrowly escaped death together earlier that year. Her heart squeezed at the thought of anything happening to the young cat.
“Very well. Then it seems that we should take this under consideration. We need to know more about what the box contains. You say that Striker has it?”
“I’m not exactly sure about that,” Pandora said. “Obsidian said he had access to it, but I don’t know where he is keeping it. I’m sure I can find out if I—“
Otis had padded into the middle of the circle of cats that had crowded around Pandora. He interrupted her, practically pushing her out of the way. “I know where it is.”
“Where?” Snowball asked.
“Ming's human said it had been taken into police custody at the Mystic Notch police station. There is some question as to who it belongs to. Anyone who thinks it belongs to them must put in a claim with the appropriate paperwork to prove it. Ming’s human is doing that now,” Otis answered.
“Well, we certainly can’t do that. We’re just cats,” Sasha, the Siamese, said.
“True,” Otis nodded. “But we can influence our humans to do that. I think our best bet is to try to telepath our intentions to Elspeth. We already know she is sympathetic to the cats and on our previous attempts to communicate with her, we have had some limited success.”
The other cats nodded and murmured their agreement.
Limited success? Pandora couldn’t believe her ears. Were they actually considering relying on communicating with humans? Near as she could tell, the humans were slow on the uptake. That plan was fraught with all kinds of problems. Not to mention that it could take way too long and in the meantime, the box could fall into enemy hands … like maybe this Oscar Danforth person.
“Hold it!” she cried out. “This is an urgent matter. Ming said his human is already preparing the paperwork to take it and we have no idea if we can trust him with it. We can’t depend on the humans. We can figure out how to do this on our own.” Her tail thudded sharply against the floor for emphasis.
Otis shook his head slowly, and in the most patronizing of manners. “Hold your horses, young one. It is true that we don’t know if Ming’s human is trustworthy. We do not want him to take possession. But I think we still have some time. I know that you favor the new ways, but sometimes the old ways are best.”
Pandora’s blood boiled. The old fart would wait so long that the whole town would be ruined. She didn’t dare say that, though. The cats’ society depended on respect and he was her elder. She turned to Inkspot.
“I don’t think we have any time to waste. If it’s at the police station, I think I know a way that we can get at it,” she pleaded.
Inkspot tilted his head to consider her plea. “I am not totally against going in ourselves, but if the police are holding it until someone can make a case that they are the rightful owner, I think that means we have time. It should be safe at the police station. In the meantime, I think we should do our due diligence and research this box to uncover the real story. Only then will we know to whom we should entrust it.”
“I object!” Pandora blurted out. “Nothing is safe when it comes to evil forces.”
“I can’t argue with that,” Otis said in his annoying, passive-aggressive manner, “but the best way to handle this is through influencing the humans the old way.
That is the only way the humans will think the outcome is of their doing.”
“What say you all?” Inkspot asked.
The others exchanged glances, then one by one nodded their agreement.
Kelley looked at Pandora apologetically. “Only since we have time. It seems like the best way.”
Pandora nodded and accepted the group decision. Maybe they were right and she was being too rash. But she didn’t think so. No one else seemed to feel the same urgency that she did. Maybe it was because they had not talked to the ghost cat in person.
She took her leave. As she trotted away from the barn, a rock lodged in the pit of her stomach. Despite what the others thought, she knew getting possession of the box was critically urgent and if no one else wanted to take action now, she would just have to do it all by herself.
4
The next day, Pandora awoke to the weight of her lonely task. She pretended as if nothing was different, though, because she didn’t want Willa to get suspicious. She ate her Fancy Feast and obediently accompanied Willa to the bookstore in the Jeep. Once there, she settled down in the cat bed for her usual nap.
Except she didn’t actually nap. She merely feigned sleep while waiting and watching for the moment when Willa would take the trash out to the dumpster. That was her only opportunity to escape the shop unseen.
It was risky, but she'd done it with success before. The secret was to slip out just as the door was about to close, and skulk low to the ground and close to the wall, then dart under the dumpster while Willa’s attention was focused on wrestling the trash into the giant beast. Those other times Willa had never even missed her, thinking that she’d snuck off into the storeroom for a quiet nap as was her custom when the shop got busy. Later on, she could always sneak back in through the front door with the customer traffic. This method was more risky, though, so she chose to use the dumpster escape method whenever possible.
When she finally saw Willa struggling with the trash bag, she sprang into action. Forcing herself not to rush, she leisurely got up from the cat bed, yawned and trotted over to the storeroom door.
“Going into your private nap already?” Willa bent down and petted Pandora affectionately.
A pang of guilt stabbed Pandora. She hated deceiving her human. But she consoled herself in the knowledge that what she was doing was for Willa’s own good as well as that of all the humans and cats in Mystic Notch.
Pandora trotted into the storeroom. Then, once Willa turned her back, she padded back to the doorway. Standing in the shadow of the cracked-open door so Willa would not notice her, she watched as Willa opened the back door and pulled the trash bag through, her attention focused on the small dumpster against the wall of the store five feet away.
Pandora snuck out just before the door closed, and hugged the wall, then squeezed under the dumpster, waiting until she heard the door slam, announcing that Willa was back inside.
The first part of her mission a success, Pandora crawled out from underneath the dumpster. She shook off the particles of paper and cardboard, then thanked the great cat goddess Bastet that the dumpster was not filled with garbage, before trotting off in the direction of the police station.
The police station was easy to get into. The doors were constantly being opened and Pandora had learned long ago that humans rarely look down at their feet. If she made herself small enough and skimmed close to the walls, she could go practically anywhere, almost as if she were invisible.
Once inside, she hunkered down under an orange plastic chair. The industrial tile floor was cold on her paws. The smell of sweat and paperwork permeated her nostrils and she dialed down her senses just a tad so as not to be overwhelmed by it while she considered her next move.
Where would they keep an important box?
Pandora realized the humans probably didn’t know how important the box actually was. Even though, they must have sensed something about it because, according to Otis, they had taken it to the police station to hold until the rightful owner could be determined.
Would it be in the evidence room? No. Probably not. Though that would’ve made it easy since Pandora knew how to get in there.
Maybe Gus had it in her office? That was probably why the ghost had said the Striker had access to it. The ghost couldn’t plead with Gus because Gus did not have the ability to see ghosts. But Gus and Striker worked very closely together. He would have access to whatever was at the Mystic Notch police station.
As if being summoned by her thoughts, Striker’s size thirteen boots came thudding down the hall. Pandora decided to follow him.
As she slithered around the corner, her decision was rewarded. There was Gus, holding a silver box. It had to be the box she was looking for!
Gus was talking to a wizened old man whom Pandora did not recognize and a gnarled old woman whom Pandora knew was the head of the historical committee, Elizabeth Post.
“I don’t know what the deal is with this box,” Gus was saying. “But I’m not giving it to anyone until I’m satisfied they're the rightful owner. Not even the mayor.”
The wizened old man wrinkled his brow. “The mayor? What does she have to do with this?”
“I don’t see why it's any of your business, Danforth, but she called just this morning, trying to persuade me to give her the box.”
“That’s not right!” Elizabeth cried. “That box should be at the historical society.”
“Rebecca thinks it still belongs to the town,” Gus said.
“That’s just stupid,” Danforth said. “What’s the town going to do with a silver box? Anyway, I have documented proof here that this belongs to my ancestor.” Danforth shoved papers in Gus’ face.
“Yes, you showed me those before,” Gus said. “All they prove is that your ancestor knew about the box. It’s just a diary entry with a drawing of a similar box.”
“That’s right. I never saw any evidence that your ancestor had this box in his possession. It was in the possession of Hester Warren. That’s why it was buried in her yard. And that’s why it belongs to the historical society.” Elizabeth held her hand out toward the box, which Gus secured tightly against her rib cage.
“Well, if that’s your argument, then Rebecca might be right because the town took Hester’s land to pay for her trial,” Gus said.
Elizabeth threw her hands up. “And what’s the town going to do with it? Sell it? It’s a valuable piece of Mystic Notch history and should be in the museum.”
Danforth stepped closer to Elizabeth, drawing up to his full height of five foot five. “It’s a valuable piece of my family’s history and rightfully belongs to me.”
Elizabeth stepped closer to Danforth so that their faces were now inches from each other. “It belongs to the historical society.”
Striker pushed between them. “Hold it. No one is taking the box. We need to do some more research and look into legal precedents. And besides, Danforth, your paperwork doesn’t prove anything.”
Danforth glanced nervously at the box. “But what’s inside it—it needs to be stored properly. If you guys drop that …”
His voice trailed off and everyone looked at the box. Gus held it out in front of her, her index finger sliding under the lip of the lid as if she were about to lift it. “Yeah, what exactly is this in here, anyway?”
Was Gus going to open the box? Curiosity overcame Pandora and she trotted out from her hiding spot as Gus lifted up the corner of the lid.
It was a fatal mistake. The movement caught Gus’ attention and she glanced over at Pandora, her eyes growing wide. “What are you doing here?”
The lid snapped shut without revealing the contents.
Everyone turned to look at Pandora, who suddenly realized what the expression “deer caught in the headlights” actually feels like.
“Pandora?” Striker asked.
Pandora froze. She didn’t know what to do. By the time she realized running was probably the best course of action, Striker had already lunged for her.
For a human, he was very fast. He scooped her up in his arms before she had a chance to escape. She wiggled to get loose, but couldn’t bring herself to sink her razor-sharp claws into him, so she was unable to escape his grip.
“If Willa finds you missing, she’ll be worried sick. How did you get here?” Striker looked down at her with concerned, gray eyes.
“Mew.” Pandora let out her most pathetic meow, hoping to get in his good graces.
It must have worked, because Striker laughed. “I’m going by the bookstore anyway. I’ll just drop you there.”
Across the room, Gus was frowning at her. “How does that cat get out so much? She seems to find her way to a lot of peculiar places where she shouldn't be.”
Striker shrugged. “Cats are sneaky, aren’t they?”
“I guess so.” Gus tucked the box back under her arm and gestured to the door. “Now, if you people will all leave me alone, I have important police business to attend to.”
“Fine,” Elizabeth huffed. “But you haven’t seen the last of me.”
“That’s right,” Danforth added. “I may have to get my lawyer involved.”
“Do whatever you think is necessary. I’m just following the town laws.” Gus’ fingernail made a metallic clicking sound as she tapped the top of the box. “In the meantime, I’m going to put this box in my office where no one can get it until I say so.”
5
The look of concern on Willa’s face when Striker returned Pandora to the bookstore made Pandora feel like a heel. After a strict talking to, Willa cuddled her and then proceeded to shower her with her favorite chicken-flavored treats.
Pandora pretended to wiggle out of her arms during the cuddling, but the truth was she kind of enjoyed it—which made her feel even worse for worrying Willa. She couldn’t explain to her human that she’d snuck out for the benefit of Willa and all of Mystic Notch.
Paws and Effect (Mystic Notch 4 4) Page 3
