The Book, The Witches, and the Doorway (Fated Chronicles Book 1)

by Humphrey Quinn

  They nodded.

  Colin reached for the kitten, which had made a home on Meghan’s lap. It hissed at him, hiding under Meghan’s arm.

  “That’s it then!” decided Sheila Mochrie. The four children feared she had decided against keeping the kitten.

  “Mom, it’s only a baby,” cried Mireya.

  “Don’t worry, honey. I don’t think it’s going anywhere,” her mother clarified. “The kitten has made its choice.” The four gawked at Mrs. Mochrie as if she had lost her senses.

  “Mom, what on earth are you talking about?” asked Jae.

  “That’s no ordinary kitten you’ve found Colin Jacoby, that there is a Catawitch. You can tell by the tuft of hair and her eyes. They always have one white one, just the females you know, no male Catawitch’s.”

  Colin, Jae, and Mireya backed away. The only stories they had ever heard of Catawitch’s warned of their evil tendencies.

  “Oh, it’s fine kids. Meghan is a good girl, she’ll raise it well.”

  “Me,” squeaked Meghan.

  “Yes, it’s chosen you. You’re its master now. Or mistress if you like.” She said it matter-of-factly. “I’ll go add some milk to your lunch. Strange though, I wonder how it came to be in Grimble?”

  “I’m to take it with me? To school?” Meghan questioned, not understanding.

  “Of course,” Sheila said, disappearing into the kitchen.

  The other three stepped closer.

  “I can’t believe it,” exclaimed Jae. “A real Catawitch, here, in my house. I’ve seen them before.” He tossed a knowing look in the twin’s direction. They had as well, while in Cobbscott. “I’ve never seen a baby one though.”

  “It doesn’t look evil at all,” whispered Mireya. She bent down and gently stroked the kitten’s pointed ears.

  “What am I supposed to do with a cat?” asked Meghan.

  “It’s considered a great honor in the magical world to be chosen the master of one of these,” noted Jae. “It doesn’t happen often.”

  Colin let out a huff. Really? Another magical gift for my sister? Not that he wanted to have a cat tagging along with him everywhere he went. But still…

  The kitten nestled its way into Meghan’s soft sweater pocket. It curled up with a soft purr and went to sleep. “This is so weird,” said Meghan, shaking her head.

  They grabbed their lunches and headed to school.

  “You know what I love?” started Jae, “about the Catawitch choosing you, Meghan? Almost any Svoda would die to be chosen. Man, people are gonna hate you!”

  Meghan frowned.

  “I meant that metaphorically speaking, of course,” Jae clarified, seeing her reaction. “They’ll be extremely jealous.”

  “But everyone’s afraid of them,” she said.

  “I think it’s because the only ones you ever hear about are the bad ones. They’re actually rare creatures, and I think their magical abilities have created an evil mystique about them. But they’re only evil if their masters are, so we’ve got nothing to worry about, do we?” He grinned. The twins thought this was the happiest they had seen Jae in a long time. Meghan wished that the kitten had chosen him instead.

  “I think I will keep this to myself, for a while,” said Meghan. “I don’t need anything else making me stick out right now.”

  “I think it’s far too late for that, Sis,” jested Colin.

  Jae nodded in agreement. “It’s going to get out, fast. Good chance my mother has already told someone. We don’t get much news to spread around, especially anything juicy.”

  And both twins knew the Mochrie’s needed any plus they could get at the moment.

  Meghan listened to the kitten purring softly in her pocket. “I guess Kanda was right,” she whispered.

  Colin overheard her. “About what?”

  “That I need to accept, I can no longer control anything,” she sighed.

  As they arrived at school, a rolled up paper hit Jae across the head; he bent down to pick it up.

  “What is it?” asked Colin.

  Jae didn’t answer. He let it fall to the ground and kept walking.

  Meghan picked it up. “Oh, wow,” she declared in shock.

  “What?” asked Colin.

  “It’s the Jackal Lantern, the paper those two old ladies put out. And there’s a crimes committed section in here, written by someone named Magda Scraggs. Wonder if she’s related to Darcy?” she muttered sarcastically.

  “So?” replied Colin.

  “Jae and his family are the main focus.”

  Colin let out a disgruntled groan. “Still think Juliska Blackwell is so great?”

  Meghan ignored the question and dropped the paper. She ran to catch up with Jae. They didn’t discuss the article, but walked together into the schoolyard, where the twins gasped and froze. Two life-sized, and life-like, statues of Scratchers towered over them.

  “I keep forgetting there’s so much you guys don’t know,” Jae said apologetically.

  “Why are those here?” stammered Colin.

  “They serve as a constant reminder of what we are training for, what we have to overcome,” he said, sounding tired from repeating the pre-recorded responses he’d been taught.

  “That is sick and wrong,” declared Meghan. “I was hoping not to look at another one of those. Ever.” They continued forward; the eyes of the statues followed them as they passed by.

  “Are we in the same classes, Jae?” asked Colin. “What can we expect in here?”

  “There’s one beginners’ class, actually it’s technically called elementary level, so yes, we’ll be together. It’s a lot of information, but you should both do fine.”

  “Not too hard, that’s right up Meghan’s alley,” jested Colin.

  “Ha ha, very funny,” she retorted. “To be perfectly honest, Jae, I’m glad you’ll be in our class. I know I’ll need your help. It’s not fair though, you getting into trouble for helping yourself stay alive. And lying, for us.”

  “Fair does not have the same meaning here. If you break the rules, you pay a price, no exceptions. But it won’t be so bad doing it together,” he said.

  “If I were Juliska Blackwell, or anyone else here, I would be nothing but proud. Do they even realize what you were up against? What do they expect?” Meghan practically shouted it.

  Jae stood speechless at the buildings’ entrance. Mireya snuck up on the trio, nudging her brother.

  “Are you blushing?” she asked him.

  “No!” he defended.

  The four of them jumped in unison at the clanging of a bell.

  “We better go. Don’t want to be late, especially on your first day,” said Jae.

  Mireya raced away, waving goodbye. She had already graduated from Elementary level. The twins followed Jae closely. As they reached their classroom, they found the corridor was blocked.

  The Three D’s. Great! cringed the twins, in unison silent thoughts.

  “I can’t believe they let a criminal into the school,” scoffed Darcy Scraggs.

  “Yeah,” agreed Dulcy. Today she was snapping gum, instead of twirling her hair. Before she could say another word, Darcy motioned for her to zip it. Daveena laughed heftily.

  “Oh, Daveena, have you left Elementary?” questioned Jae, not in the mood to take any of their taunting. “When was the happy occasion?”

  Daveena’s face went blank and she growled.

  “C’mon Dulcy,” ordered Darcy. “We don’t want to be late for our higher education.” They left Daveena behind for the elementary class, which she had not yet successfully passed.

  The three let her enter the room first and made sure to go in the opposite direction. The class laughed as she stumbled to her chair. Colin did not join in. Daveena scowled, but Colin felt momentarily bad for her. Meghan caught a whiff of his thought.

  “She was about to pound you not too long ago, remember?” Colin still didn’t join in the laughing, but lost his sympathy for Daveena rapidly.

/>   A stout, middle-aged woman appeared at the door’s entrance. “Since you’re here I expect you’ll be helping your new roommates,” she blathered upon seeing Jae. “Exam time is not far away. I only hope we can get them caught up in time.” She spoke as if the twins were not in the room.

  The classroom was windowless and a chalkboard covered the entire circumference of the wall. A precariously hanging chandelier dimly lit the room. There were no desks. The students each claimed a square pillow from a stack off to the side, sitting and creating a circle around the teacher. Jae motioned for the twins to sit next to him.

  In the middle of the students, the teacher positioned herself onto another pillow, which rose a few inches in the air, slowly rotating as she spoke.

  “Silence please,” she requested.

  Speaking ceased. However, the student’s attention focused on the twins, not the teacher.

  “Yes, let’s get this out of the way, shall we. Two new students today, actually three, including Jae.” The twins could not tell whether she liked Jae or not. “Tell us about yourselves, it’s not often we get new students among us.”

  Daveena, who had finally gotten situated onto a pillow, snorted.

  “We don’t need to hear from you, Daveena,” said the teacher dryly.

  “What should we tell them?” Meghan asked her brother through their thoughts. He only answered in grunts and squawks. He hated public speaking, and his face was already turning red. “Fine, leave it to me. Again.” She took a deep breath to explain.

  “My name is Meghan Jacoby, and this is my twin brother, Colin. Until recently, we lived with our uncle and had absolutely no idea we came from a magical background, bloodline, or whatever… until we met Jae Mochrie, and ended up here.” She was sure they already knew that part of the story but hoped it would suffice.

  “To introduce myself, I am Teacher Lindy. Now, any questions before we get started anyone?” Numerous hands shot up, surprising the teacher. She called on a boy, no more than eight or nine years old.

  “I heard that you guys battled Scratchers,” he blurted out enthusiastically. The other hands went down; obviously, they had wanted to ask the same question.

  “This is true,” Jae answered on behalf of the trio. “And without Meghan’s and Colin’s help, I might not have made it home.”

  “It was my brother who did it,” added Meghan. “Not me!” She didn’t want to discuss the Scratchers. Her brother glared at her, having hoped not to speak, however the entire class, including the teacher, waited breathlessly for him to tell the tale.

  As he opened his mouth, unsure of what would come out, a meow penetrated the silent, breathless room. The teacher scrutinized the students, their gazes stuck on Meghan’s sweater pocket, which was moving. A tiny little kitten face appeared over the top of the pocket, revealing its different colored eyes.

  “What have you got there, Meghan Jacoby?” asked Teacher Lindy. “How on earth did you come about this?”

  “My brother found her in Grimble and brought her home, and I guess she decided I was her new master, or mistress.” As Meghan said the last part, recognition dawned on the class. An electric buzz raced through the shocked students.

  “Well I’ll be! A Catawitch, right here in our little village! Aren’t you a lucky, lucky girl?” Teacher Lindy was astonished.

  Having confirmation of what they were thinking, the class looked at Meghan (as Jae had predicted), with extreme jealousy.

  “All right, back to work. The Catawitch stays.” The teacher’s plan backfired. The excitement over the Catawitch overruled getting back to work. It confused Meghan that everyone was stupefied at seeing one, since she had already encountered two during her short life in the magical world.

  Teacher Lindy, realizing she was not going to be able to ignore the news, decided to change her lesson plan for the day.

  “Since we find ourselves on the subject of the Catawitch, let’s review the basics shall we? These are important so take notes. Never know when we might have a pop quiz.” The younger students groaned but opened up their notepads and scribbled down notes as she spoke.

  “Why does a Catawitch have two different colored eyes?”

  A boy called out an answer before allowing the teacher to call on him. “Because they have one normal eye, and a white one, which is said to be able to see really, really far.”

  “Oliver Stamm! How many times must I remind you of the rules? Do we ever allow blurting out of answers in this class?” The teacher reprimanded the boy, who the twins guessed to be around ten.

  “Sorry, I forgot, again,” he frowned.

  “Forgetting isn’t a good enough excuse anymore. To the board!” Oliver Stamm already knew what was coming, and depressingly picked up a piece of chalk and began writing: I will not forget to let Teacher Lindy call on me before answering a question. Why? Because it is disrespectful to the class.

  “How many lines this time, Teacher Lindy?” the boy asked, humiliated.

  “Since you can’t remember, after all the lines you’ve written thus far, Oliver, you can stay right there until the end of the school day.”

  “But I’ll miss my other classes. I’m barely caught up from the last time.”

  “And whose fault is that?” the teacher asked.

  “Mine, ma’am, and I’ll have to try harder to catch up.”

  The twins sent rapid thoughts to each other.

  “I wonder if I have to raise my hand for everything,” sent Meghan.

  “Guess that’s what the huge blackboard is for,” thought Colin.

  “This is so much stricter than Uncle Arnon ever was.”

  “You got that right,” he agreed.

  “Okay then. Continuing with the lesson, the answer Oliver gave was in essence correct. The white eye is believed to be capable of seeing long distances; the exact distance has yet to be proven. There is also much debate over whether this eye can see more than just distance. That just perhaps they can see into the very soul of the one they call master.” She paused, allowing the students to finish their note taking, then continued. “How does one tell a good Catawitch from a bad one?”

  One child raised his hand slightly then put it back down. Another raised her hand and waited for the teacher to call on her.

  “Yes, go ahead, Maria.”

  This girl looked to be older as well. The students were such a mix of ages.

  “By their masters. Catawitch’s are loyal to them until death.”

  “Good, good. But also remember,” started the teacher, lowering her voice. “The cat chooses the master, or in this case, mistress, based on their own predisposition for good or evil. Alas, this fuels our fascination with these creatures, leading us to the ever burning question, are you a good cat, or a bad cat? Sometimes, one never knows until it is too late.” Teacher Lindy’s gaze peered over her spectacles in Meghan’s direction as if expecting an answer.

  The class studied Meghan, the new stranger.

  Banon Blackwell trusted her. Shouldn’t they?

  “Why am I always being gawked at?” she complained in a whispered mumble.

  “Because, people want to know if you’re a good cat, or a bad cat,” Colin sent into her mind, mocking the teacher.

  The class eventually moved on to another topic. The rest of the day passed smoothly now that the introductions were over. By the end, they had been assigned three essays, a take home quiz and magic practice. They decided that Uncle Arnon was not that hard of a teacher after all. Even Colin was a little anxious about the workload.

  It was too late to visit Uncle Eddy once school ended. Jae showed them instead how to send him a message. They stepped outside of the Svoda Wagon, into Grimble. Jae held a freshly plucked leaf from a tree in Bedgewood in his hand.

  “Recordo,” he said, handing it to Meghan. “Speak what you want written in the message.”

  “Uncle Eddy,” she dictated. “The first day went okay. Did you realize the kitten was a Catawitch? It caused quite a bit of r
uckus. We hope to come and visit soon, tons of homework to do. Love, Meghan and Colin.” After she spoke, the message appeared on the leaf, briefly, and vanished.

  Jae took the leaf. “Find Uncle Eddy,” he told it. The leaf lifted off his hand and drifted away in the breeze. “Now it will find your uncle and only he can read the message.”

  “That’s way cool,” said Colin.

  “It’s a lot easier and faster than hand delivery,” said Jae.

  They raced home and dug into their homework. When Irving Mochrie arrived home that evening, nothing seemed to please him more than seeing four students hard at work.

  CHAPTER 27

  A week passed. The twins had no time to think about anything other than schoolwork. Exams were fast approaching and the teacher was afraid they might not be ready in time to pass. She scheduled an appointment for them with the school advisor, to see about studying with a tutor. Normally, the students had months to prepare. They had only six weeks until late October, and exam time.

  A short, stubby, balding man with a grumpy face met them in the hallway of the school and motioned for them to enter the advisor’s room. The walls were bare and windowless, and the only furniture was a small couch, desk, and chair.

  The man motioned for the twins to sit on the couch. They did and waited patiently while he monotonously waddled his way to the chair, apparently in no hurry. Finally, he situated himself comfortably, and in the same monotonous manner sifted through a stack of papers that the twins could only assume were about them. After carefully separating each page, he spread them neatly across his desk.

  His mouth opened to speak, then closed. He opened a drawer and took out a plaque. The name read, Muckle Mauch, Advisor.

  Colin was thinking, what kind of name is Muckle Mauch, which Meghan overheard and was about to comment on, when at long last the advisor spoke. His rushed, high-pitched voice took the twins off guard.

  “Okay then, we have you in elementary, I see, yes. You’re a few months behind the other beginners. If you plan on getting to the next level, which I suggest and know you do, you will need some extra tutoring to catch up.” Colin and Meghan already had an extra tutor in Uncle Eddy, but of course, they did not bring this to Advisor Mauch’s attention. Plus they’d had little time to visit and practice with their uncle.