When they arrived upstairs in their apartment, they made sure all the windows were closed. Jess then peeked outside their living room window at the center of Clervaux. The crowd had retreated from the castle and had regrouped in front of Jess and Aidan's building. When they saw her, they started to shout furiously and thumped on the front door. One of the town men arrived with a club in his hand and tried to smash the front door, which, luckily, was strong enough to keep him out. Utterly distraught, Jess hid again behind the curtain and decided to wait until the hysteria went away.
Was her family the scapegoat because they were foreigners? Or did they all know now that she had accidentally killed a cat?
Clervaux had degenerated into mass hysteria. What remained was horror. The very soul of the town was under the spell of this curse.
***
Around half past one that night, it was finally quiet in the streets of Clervaux. Aidan and Jess were still on the sofa, wide awake. Aidan had taken his wife in his arms, and she had let him.
“You know, I was thinking about us the other day,” Jess said. “I was thinking about how we first met.” Her face was turned away from him, but from the way her jaws moved, he could tell she was relaxed. There was even a hint of a smile. “You have no idea how much I admired you. I saw you in that restaurant and you spoke with so much passion about your love for animals, and I knew it was you. And it's still you. The only man I love.”
For a while, she remained silent, and Aidan cherished the moment of them bonding again, though he knew it could only be briefly.
A tear welled up and he turned his head so she wouldn't see it.
“I don't want us to fight all the time. I forgive you,” she said. He looked at her again and their gazes met.
“Our marriage will be much stronger because of this. We'll make it work. I promise,” Aidan said. He was glad she was once more the woman who loved him no matter what. This time, though, he would put in the effort to be worthy of that love.
They fell asleep, sitting on the sofa, with Aidan's arms around her, unable to let go of each other.
***
Around three o'clock that night, Aidan woke up. He tried to work his way off the sofa without waking up Jess and went to the kitchen to pour himself a glass of water. The door of the fridge was open, and someone sat in front of it.
“Eleonore? What are you doing up this late? You're supposed to be in bed.”
Then it dawned on him that it wasn't Eleonore who sat crouched in front of the refrigerator. It was a little girl with long black hair, no older than ten. She looked wild. Her posture reminded him of that of a cat. Her arms and legs were covered in dirt as if she'd been sleeping on the soil for months, and the unusually large nails of her hands and feet reminded him of a predator's claws. She held the roast that was supposed to be tomorrow's supper and gnawed at it as if she were famished.
Aidan stared transfixed at her presence.
Who was this little girl? Hadn't she heard him? Or did she not care he was there?
Aidan approached her. “Can I help you?” he tried guardedly.
The girl turned her head to look at him.
It wasn't a girl.
It was an animal.
Or was it?
Making a bow with its back and its head low, it hissed at him, baring long, jagged teeth, greasy and dirty from the beef it was eating.
Aidan instinctively stumbled backward, his heart stuttering. He couldn't process what he was seeing. The curse was real. The creature whose existence he had denied stood in front of him as if to mock his skepticism.
The monstrous thing darted away with an entire roast beef in its mouth, jumping out the window with feline grace and dodging back into the pines that lined the road behind their apartment.
Eleonore woke him up four hours later. He was still lying on the sofa with Jess in his arms as if he'd never been awake before at all. Chances were he had only been battling demons in his sleep.
Eleonore prodded his shoulder. “Daddy, I'm hungry.”
Jess, too, opened her eyes. “Good morning,” she half-whispered.
“Take your time. I'll take care of Eleonore.” Aidan kissed her on the lips. “I love you,” he said and then set off toward the kitchen. Eleonore followed suit.
Aidan took the bread out of the box and put four slices out to toast, while Eleonore sat down at the kitchen table. As he removed the Hëpperdanger cheese and a tomato from the fridge, he noticed the floor underneath him was greasy, and the roast beef was gone.
He nearly jumped at the sound of Jess appearing behind him. “You look tired,” she remarked. She sat down next to Eleonore at the kitchen table. “Did you get any sleep?”
“Hardly.” Aidan took the bread out of the toaster, garnished it with cheese and thin slices of tomato, and put the plates in front of his wife and daughter.
Eleonore interrupted them: “Why? Did you see my monster, too?”
Aidan's nerves practically rattled at the question. “There's no such thing as monsters, Eleonore.”
He didn't want to tell them what had haunted him in his sleep. He would never admit to what he'd seen. Never. Not because he was still afraid it would send him on a plane back to America – that was something he had come to terms with by now, at least partially – but because he was afraid that admitting to it would make the monster real. A part of him still believed he was only falling victim to this town's collective paranoia.
CHAPTER 22
Sunday.
Lorenza let the hard jets of water in the shower pummel her neck and shoulders, alleviating the strains in her muscles.
I should never have downed those sleeping pills last night, she thought. They hadn't fully metabolized yet, and she felt drowsy, sluggish and disoriented as if she was still half surrounded with the gray fog of sleep. Knowing their ravaging effect, she hadn't taken any pills for years. Her mom had been addicted to them for over 30 years, and now, she looked and felt almost 15 years older. But now that David, Simon, Claire, and the others were gone, and death was waiting around every corner of the house, she could no longer resist. It didn't matter that these pills were bad for her because she would never make it through the following week anyway.
Take a few more, and you'll never have to face your nightmare, she thought. It was tempting, but she wasn't courageous enough.
She pushed her long, wet hair down her back, squeezing the shampoo out of it, rinsing it clean.
A shift of light in the bathroom made her turn around. A shadow moved behind the shower curtain. It was a shape that was uncannily familiar.
She quickly turned off the faucet.
“H-Hello,” she called out, hearing the nervous stammer in her voice.
There was no answer.
But somehow her house didn't feel empty. She had the feeling she wasn't alone in this huge maze of rooms.
Her heart raced. Something was there. She was certain.
Maybe it was her neighbor because she was the only one who had a double of the keys to her house in case she'd lost her own. But what would her neighbor be doing here?
She called out again. “Hello? Anybody here?”
Silence.
She stood there listening.
Waiting.
She heard something.
Not footsteps.
Something else.
Click.
Click.
Click.
And then, the sound was gone.
She quickly squeezed the excess moisture out of her hair, grabbed a large towel from the rack, and put it around her. She moved away from the shower and toward the door that led to her room.
Nothing.
Except for a single fawn-colored cat that sat on the dressing table, the room was empty.
But then she paused, her heart beating fast in her throat.
The door to the communal hallway – the one she always kept closed – was standing slightly ajar.
Steeling her nerve, she reached out and pushe
d the door open, struggling to keep her hand from trembling. It creaked on its hinges, startling her so badly she jumped backward. Then, when she realized what had happened, she peered into the hallway and down the staircase.
The entire house was teeming with cats. They were everywhere – on the ground, counter, cabinets, tables. They just stood there, their eyes boring into her, waiting for her to come out.
Most of these cats weren't the ones she was fostering, so how did they get inside? She had made sure she'd fully latched the outside doors and closed the windows. It couldn't have just been an oversight because she'd even double-checked. She knew the risk.
She couldn't stay upstairs. If something or someone was in here, it might corner her, and she wouldn't be able to get out.
Or maybe there wasn't anybody here at all. Maybe there was no need to be scared.
But no matter how hard she tried to convince herself, she still couldn't make herself believe those words.
There was something to be scared of; she was sure of it.
Through the sea of fur, she started through the upstairs hallway and down the stairs. As she moved through her house, more cats crowded around her.
They seemed to be picking up on her nervousness as they were all emitting a chorus of high-pitched wails as they rounded their backs.
She quickly noticed where the cats had entered.
The door leading up to the garden was unlatched and open.
Of course, she knew what the cats' presence implied.
Earlier this week, she'd already spotted it from a distance. Now she was certain this range had decreased.
It was here.
Lorenza didn't want to die. Not here. Not alone. She wanted someone by her side when it happened.
She peered down into the street below. A mass of tourists was walking toward the center of the town, toward the hustle and bustle of the festivities. She'd be safer in town, surrounded by these crowds. At least, she hoped she would be.
But first, she needed to call someone.
***
Aidan hadn't expected it to be easy. To his big surprise, Carl Fehrenbacher, their landlord, had agreed on canceling their rent and returning the advance. In fact, he seemed relieved to see them go. He'd probably feared for his life because he'd heard about the accident with the cat. Yeah, that seemed like a logical explanation. Aidan would never have thought this superstition would play to their advantage one day.
Aidan had called his parents immediately after that and asked if they could give them a place to sleep, temporarily. That worked, too, though Jess and Eleonore would have to stay at his uncle's because there wasn't enough room to shelter all three of them at his folks' place. Once they were in Dublin, Jess and Aidan would do any job they could get their hands on and work as much as they could to save for a new apartment. Eleonore's school would be much cheaper, too. There would be no high tuition fees for international schools anymore. Jess would have an easier time finding work considering everyone spoke English over there, so moving back to America could happen fairly quickly from then on. As soon as they had enough money to leave Dublin, they would.
But for now, they'd spent the rest of the day packing their bags. Only the bedroom was left, and then they were ready to go.
A smile crossed Aidan's lips. “We're going to make it,” he told Jess.
“I think so, too.” Jess’ voice was soft. Aidan knew she was glad to be out of there soon.
“Come here.” He hugged her, and Jess was happy to reciprocate.
The telephone rang, breaking the spell.
“I'll get that,” Aidan said.
“Aidan, can you come over?” said a female voice at the other end of the line. It was Lorenza.
“I can't. I don't work for the clinic anymore.”
“Please,” she pleaded. “All the other veterinarians are dead, and I think one of my cats is dying. I don't know who else to call apart from you.”
Silence.
“Aidan? Are you still there?”
“Yes. Give me a second. I have to think this over.” He only wanted to focus on his family and getting out of this town. But at the same time, he didn't want to be responsible for the death of a cat. “I'll meet you at the clinic in ten minutes,” he said.
He took his jacket and went to the door. “There's an emergency with a dying cat. I'll be back in half an hour or so,” he told Jess.
“But you don't work there anymore. You're not getting paid.”
“If I don't go, a cat will die because of me,” Aidan said. He gave his wife a tender kiss on the lips. “I love you. It'll be the last one. I promise.”
***
Jess didn’t want to be jealous without reason, but the only thing she could think of right now was: what could be so important that he'd leave his family alone after what had happened the night before?
Maybe she shouldn't have, but her curiosity was too big, so she dialed back the number that had just called. When she recognized Lorenza's voice on the other end of the line, Jess swallowed down the suffocating revulsion that was filling up her chest. It was all she needed to hear.
***
On Sundays, many of the businesses in Luxembourg were closed, but Clervaux was thronged with tourists as the Fête des Chats was still in full swing. Because of that, it had taken Aidan much longer than usual to get through the crowd and to the cat clinic at the outskirts of the town. It would have been impossible to take the car today as a long line of vehicles was waiting in line, trying to find a parking spot.
It was stupid of him to have said “yes” to Lorenza's request. Why didn't he just send her to a veterinarian in another town? That would have been so much easier.
When Aidan arrived at the cat clinic, he feared that Simon might have changed the entry code, but after a first try, he saw that it was still working and the door opened. For a moment he wondered what would happen to the cat clinic now that its owner was dead.
He immediately closed the door behind him and left the blinds closed. No one could know he was there. Then he noticed the surveillance cameras in the waiting-room.
Shoot! He knew they were recording everything. Would there be a way to erase it all afterward or could he get away with the excuse that he came here to save a cat's life?
***
Lorenza was sure the Tengu was following her. As soon as she left the house, she noticed a shape out of the corners of her eyes, crawling from treetop to treetop. She was too afraid to look at it directly, but what she discerned was enough for her imagination to fill in the blanks.
Instead of staying on the motorway lining the forest, she followed the road that led into the center of the town and toward the castle. It was a little detour to get to the clinic, but at least she was farther away from the eyes of the demon that lurked in the trees above.
In the center of Clervaux, the festivities were in full swing. Tourists were enjoying drinks and food outside, while children were playing around the fountain.
Hoping to divert the creature's attention, Lorenza skulked inside a small grocery store. She bought herself a sandwich on a whim because she hadn't eaten yet, but she doubted her nerves would allow her to swallow.
When she came out of the shop a few minutes later, she scanned the area, but the Tengu was nowhere.
For a moment, she thought it was gone, and she let out a sigh of relief. Maybe she was indeed safe. Maybe it realized how well Lorenza had cared for her cats in the past few years.
But then, right when she started once more in the direction of the clinic, the Tengu prowled its way through the crowd on the Grande Rue. Children were hiding behind their parents, afraid of its atrocious appearance, but the adults all smiled. Phones were pulled out, and everyone took pictures. For them, it was all part of an act.
The creature looked at her with a pair of clouded, soulless eyes – a sharp-toothed demon, grinning from ear to ear.
Lorenza started running.
***
The bell chimed, and Ai
dan opened the door.
Lorenza hugged him as soon as she got in. “I'm so happy to see you. Thank you for taking the time.” The sound of her voice indicated she was truly grateful for what he'd done, but at the same time, there was something off about her, though he couldn't tell what exactly. Something about her was different today. As he led her inside, he noticed what it was. She looked as though she had just stepped out of bed and hadn't put in the effort to look good. Her usually fresh face appeared tired and dark circles marked the thin skin under her eyes. She had shrunk into a phantom of her former self.
But there was something else. When Aidan looked into the depths of her sunken eyes, it wasn't manipulation he saw. It was fear.
“Let's go to the examination room,” Aidan said as he led the way. Then he noticed she didn't have a pet carrier with her. “Where's the cat?”
“It was an excuse to have you come over,” Lorenza said. She smiled, though it looked as if she was about to cry. Maybe she'd heard he would be leaving.
He could make love to Lorenza there and now if he wanted to. Jess didn't even need to know. Today, he would be leaving Clervaux, and he'd never see Lorenza again. Jess would never find out. But as he looked at Lorenza and contemplated having an affair with her, she lost all her appeal, and he felt an overwhelming love for Jess and Eleonore.
His sudden guilt was almost suffocating him, burning him up from the inside out. He knew from the depth of his heart that he didn't want to hurt Jess. She meant everything to him. The risk of losing his family churned his stomach and made him realize he would be happier to spend the rest of his life with them, even in America, than to have this little, exciting affair that would probably have lost its charm right after it started.
What am I even doing here?
“I have a wife and a kid. You need to respect that.” Aidan sounded harsher than he wanted to, but it seemed to work because Lorenza backed away.
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