Yeah, we’ve got a plan to get Amelia back, but we’re going to need your help. This was it, time to bite the bullet. To pay the piper. To…
Enough with the idioms. Tell her what’s what. She has a right to know because it’s dangerous. It should be her choice, Sage snapped from his roost upstairs. Nosy owl. Or was it beaky?
What’s going on, Tali? Lola sat back and considered me with those big, beautiful eyes.
It’s like this, doll face. We really need your help to get us into the Chokecherry mansion, unseen. If we don’t sneak in, Pen will walk right into a trap. She’s already been baited by Bianca and her dumbass brother. It came out in rush of thought.
Lola reeled for a second. She blinked and looked up at Penelope and Dr. Luke. They sat across from each other at the kitchen table, without speaking. Dr. Luke had his hand on the table, inches from Penelope’s, but his expression said he was too afraid to make that final move.
Pen was in a state of distress, or distraction.
“I can’t believe she’s gone,” Pen wailed, eyes welling up with tears again.
“Can you explain what happened?” Dr. Luke asked.
Penelope fell into silence again, bobbing her head from one side to the other, weighing up the past, the present, the future too, no doubt. Hopefully, that future would include a healthy Penelope and a safe Amelia. She swiped at her eyes and her gorgeous halo of silky black hair fell across her flushed face.
I don’t get it. I mean, I’d love to help, Tali, but where do I come into all of this?
Here’s the deal, Jessica Rabbit. The Chokecherry mansion has a loophole big enough for you to fit through. You get in there and open up for us, and we’ll take care of the rest. I wanted to tell her it’d be safe, but I wasn’t much of a liar. Unless the question was: “What happened to all the cream?”
Sounds simple enough. I’m in.
You’re fantastic. A real star. I nuzzled her and we twined our tails.
Get a room. Or rather, don’t. We need to focus. I’ve got a feeling that Pen’s going to try to take matters into her own hands again. Sage had a knack for picking up on Penelope’s vibes. He could be perched on the roof and able to tell whether she was asleep, awake, or having one of her infamous hot chocolate midnight snacks.
“Penelope,” Dr. Luke murmured, and finally touched her hand.
She flinched and looked up at him, doe-eyed. “I’m sorry, I guess this is just taking a toll on me. I can’t think straight. I can’t –” she broke off and shook her head.
That was part of the siphoning of her magic. She’d lost too much now and there was only one way to get it back. Smooch, smooch, nudge, nudge. I twirled in a circle and gave Lola a kitty kiss on the nose, hoping to light the spark but I remained ignored.
“Amelia ran out of here the other night, remember? I think she was on to something. Something big,” Penelope said. She paused, then cleared her throat and continued, “I think it was for an article in her paper.”
My mistress had to cover her tracks. She couldn’t exactly come clean and tell Dr. Luke she was a witch and that Amelia had been taken by an evil rival hell bent on destroying Penelope’s life.
That’d raise an eyebrow or two. Induce a fainting spell. Stuff like that.
“An article?” he asked, face scrunched up in confusion. Probably wondering how something in the sleepy town of Shadowkeep could produce something so nefarious.
“Yes. On the, uh, on Lucinda Chokecherry.An exposé on her family and their, uh, business practices.”
“Business practices? What business?” Now, Penelope had only succeeded in getting Dr. Luke more riled up. If this situation weren’t so dangerous, I’d sit back and enjoy her trying to weasel her way out of her web of lies.
“I don’t know all the details,” Penelope replied, brushing the question aside with a wave of her hand. That was because there weren’t any details. “But Amelia ran out of here and then I got a message from the Chokecherry family.”
“What did it say?”
“That they’ve got Amelia and I have to come get her back. No cops or I’ll regret it. I really think they would harm her.” Penelope gulped. “I know this all seems crazy, but I really want to protect Amelia. I don’t want anything to happen to her. I’m telling you this in good faith, so please don’t go to the authorities. Okay? Can you do that, Luke?”
He considered her for a long time, tapping his finger against his chin and pursing his lips. “I’m still confused. Why would they demand anything from you? Why would they want to ruin your life? I know you turned down Damien’s romantic advances, but that shouldn’t be a reason to resort to violence.”
If he only knew.
“I have no idea,” Penelope said, and slid her hands off the tabletop. She balled them up into fists in her lap. “All I know is my friend is in some kind of danger. I have to help her somehow. Bianca and Damien’s rancor is directed at me. Not Ami. If something happens to my best friend since childhood, I’ll never forgive myself.”
Pen’s huge eyes became wet again and Dr. Luke appeared to melt in front of her. “All right, I understand. Look, Penelope, I’ve got some contacts on the police force. I know people. I can help you sort this out before –”
“No! I told you, no police!” Penelope jerked back in her chair and almost fell.
Dr. Luke reached out to catch her. He steadied her, but Pen pulled her arm from his grip a second later.
Oh boy, looked like the vet had irritated her good this time.
“I’m going to have to ask you to leave, Dr. Collier.” Penelope rose from her seat and pointed to the door, all formality. Bristling with annoyance. “And to forget what you heard.”
“I can’t just forget, Penelope. I want to help you.” Dr. Luke rose, and wrung his hands. He was a good guy. A real good guy, and Penelope was determined to push him away regardless. True love had never been this difficult.
I swished my tail against Lola’s to remind myself I had my love, at least.
I’m so grateful for you, doll.
“Penelope –”
“Out.” She kept pointing, her jaw tightening, a muscle twitched in her arm. She really was past the point of no return. Penelope DeLacroix had officially gone tough. All it’d taken was Amelia’s absence to cause it.
Dr. Luke walked to the door, slowly, then paused and looked back. “If you need me, I’m only a call away.” Then he left.
Chapter 9
Oh boy, this isn’t going to end well unless we get her to follow the plan. And she’s been a loose cannon worthy of the Civil War lately. Complete with gun powder. You should have seen her lay into Dr. Luke last night. I ran alongside Penelope, streaking through the night out of sight.
Sage soared high above, looking out for danger. I’m glad I wasn’t there to see it. If they would just kiss, none of this would be happening and we could all go back to our perfectly boring lives. I miss my ennui.
Penelope had waited until dark to go after the Chokecherry family. It was wise to her, but it also meant she kept tripping and stumbling every few feet. Her strength continued to wane.
Why don’t you do your human thing? Lola asked, padding a short distance off. She had to keep to the shadows more than I did, since she was bright white. She could’ve graced a cat food advert in a magazine. Have I told you today how hot you are as a man?
I can’t do the human thing anymore. Penelope doesn’t trust my human, ever since the last time I tried to lead her into the woods. I left out the part where I’d been half-naked. That was an embarrassing oversight on my part. Maybe if I’d been dressed like a normal human, Pen would’ve trusted me. But alas, clothes were rarely just laying around. Unless I wanted to emulate Caitlin Jenner.
We have to get ahead of Penelope and get Lola through that chink in the magical defenses. Get her inside to open up for Penelope when we arrive. A back door. Sage was a feathered shadow in the night.
It was a new moon, and he was practically invisible overhead. At
least, to normal human eyes. And to mice. Poor suckers. Poor tasty suckers. Why wouldn’t he ever share?
What are we waiting for? Lola bounded ahead, stretching those luxurious legs and displaying power I hadn’t realized she possessed. Wow, the full package. Beautiful, smart, motivated.
You’re making me uncomfortable. Keep the feline love for bedroom time, will you? Sage remained above Penelope’s head, watching the path ahead.
We entered the woods. Penelope tripped more, and switched on the torch she’d brought along. Admirable decision on her part. I’d half-expected her to go running right into the Chokecherry mansion, subterfuge aside.
You’re hardly keeping up. That was a faint thought from Lola.
I lengthened my strides, but a gut feeling kept me close to Pen. I didn’t want to leave her alone in the woods, what with Damien Chokecherry wandering around and the Silverchime mansion ahead.
I preferred to think of it that way. Not rightfully the Chokecherry mansion. No, it was Arwen Silverchime’s and we wouldn’t let Amelia meet the same fate.
Movement in the woods behind us brought Penelope to a halt. She froze and shone the torch back, then forward, side-to-side. Kind of like an old fashioned disco with less annoying music and more fear.
“Hello?” She whispered, a hoarse croak. Running around in the dark was so not Penelope’s thing. Looking after animals, esoteric spells, and interfering in love lives, yeah she’d sign up for that. But this? Spooky nightmare forest? Hell no.
I paced between the trees, keeping my eyes peeled.
Movement caught my attention.
Oh yeah, there was definitely someone following us. A little out of my superior cat line of sight.
Sage, I need your eyes down here. We’ve got trouble with Penelope.
What about Lola?
I swallowed and flicked my ears back and forward. I hate to say it, but she’ll have to look after herself for now. But after her imitation of Usain Bolt, my bets are on her.
The soft clatter of Sage landing in a tree set Penelope turning in circles again, flashing her torch around. “Who’s there?”
It’s Elias Stout.
What is that nimrod doing out here?
Save the litterbox talk for later. He’s here. Creeping nearby. He’s got eyes on Penelope and an evil smirk on his face. Sage’s observations were clipped. Hardly alarming. But then, we’d never truly considered Elias an evil threat. More of an annoyance. Because he was a lawyer.
What’s the difference between a vacuum cleaner and a lawyer on a motorcycle?
The vacuum had the dirt bag on the inside.
Bada bing.
He’s not… armed, is he?
With stupidity and a bald, ugly pate. No. Unless you count the camera.
So that was his game. He’d been following Penelope to find out if she was up to witchiness and to use his shutterbug skills to capture it for all posterity. Little did the idiot know that his camera wouldn’t work properly in the force field around the Chokecherry mansion. He’d run home all aflutter with anticipation and end up with a bunch of four by six white prints with black streaks. Kind of like the few wisps of hair floating around his shiny head.
Technology worked around magic in small doses, but a big barrier like that? His camera might fully self-destruct. I took solace in the fact that it meant the Chokecherry family hadn’t watched Netflix in a long ass time.
No internet for those suckers.
Regardless, if Elias caught sight of what was about to go down, it could spell disaster for Penelope. All his suspicions would be proven and he’d work doubly hard to implicate her in his ignorant conspiracy theories.
We’ll have to take care of this ourselves, Sage hooted softly to accompany the thought. Ha! I scared him. He jumped.
Penelope had heard it too. She spun on her heel and fled through the woods, in the direction of the mansion.
He’s moving. Coming your way, Talisman.
I’ve got this.
Finally, Elias appeared in my view. He stepped out from behind a tree and started toward me, hurrying along in the dark. Stumbling, clutching the strap of the camera hanging from his neck.
I took a running jump and scratched up a tree, then clambered onto a low-lying branch. I had to time this perfectly.
On three.
I crouched low and wiggled my butt.
One.
Sage rustled in the leaves overhead. Elias Stout hurried closer. Almost close enough. Just a few more feet.
Two.
I flicked my tail from side-to-side.
Three!
I leapt from the tree, claws extended. Sage dove from his perch, talons at the ready.
We collided with Elias Stout. I scratched at his neck, arms, and any bit of him I could get my hands on.
Sage, bless him, went for the camera. He pecked at the lens and the nylon camera strap. There was a tinkle of breaking glass.
Elias Stout shrieked and spun on the spot, flailing and swinging his arms around like a madman. He capered left, then right, swearing and sweating. Fun times.
“Damn – stinky – animals!”
He reached back, grabbed me by the scruff of my neck and launched me over his shoulder. I swirled end over end and orientated myself. I hit the ground and skidded back on all fours.
That’s right. I’m a boss.
Sage backed off with the attack. He’s had enough.
Elias wept, grasping at his camera in the dark and fingering the broken lens. “No,” he grunted. “No, this can’t be happening.” Elias groped his camera in disbelief. A moment of morose reflection passed before Elias turned and hurried back the way he’d come.
Believe it, buddy, that’s what happens when you mess with Penelope DeLacroix. I turned and flicked my tail. Time to leave this guy in our dust.
We’d better catch up to the others. Sage took to the skies again. I’ve got a bad feeling about that.
I hate it when you have bad feelings.
I rarely have good ones.
That’s why I hate it. That and Sage’s feelings usually turned out to be accurate. I bounded through the night with my owl friend scanning the skies above. The mansion was close. Hopefully, Penelope was still outside and safe by the time we got there.
Chapter 10
The Silverchime mansion was anything but silver. Whatever majesty had run in the Silverchime bloodline, whatever beauty in the building, had been scoured clean by its current occupants. Everything they touched turned to stone. Of the gargoyle variety.
The Chokecherry witches had ruined the place. Not that it was rundown, apart from the tangled weeds on the front lawn, but they’d made it gothic, dark, horrifying. It was the perfect picture of a haunted house before it became abandoned and ramshackle.
A central building was joined to two lower brick constructions. All three edifices had gabled roofs and gothic windows. A light was on in the foremost room, a floor up. Flickering in quality. Seriously, this place was creepsville with a capital ‘C.’
Penelope was nowhere to be seen.
You got eyes on her, Sage?
I’m looking, cool your paws.
They’re burning hot. I’m a fireball. So hot Lance Armstrong tested positive for Snapple. Humor was my weapon of choice in these situations. Even if it was lame humor.
I paced around the side of the house, keeping close to the wall, but never touching it. I didn’t want to activate whatever voodoo might be at work. Once Lola was inside and opened up a door, window, whatever her dainty kitty paws could handle, we’d be able to bypass that Chokecherry magic.
I went around the back, toward the area of the map which Papa DeLacroix had pointed out to us. I’d had to verse Lola in it just before we left. Hopefully she’d found the entrance, he’d mentioned.
Lola?
No answer. That wasn’t good. Pure kitty panic had curled around my heart and proceeded to claw and squish. If something happened to my Lola, I’d lose my mind.
It’s a
bit late for that. You’ve already lost your mind. Sage swept down and landed next to me.
Do you see her, tarred and feathered?
Let’s keep this conversation ambiguous from now on. You never know who’s listening, or who has the ability to listen for that matter. Sage cast a yellow-eyed look up at the darkened windows above our heads.
Right. Have you found her?
Sage flapped his wings and settled them. Penelope’s around the corner, looking lost. I think she spotted Lola entering the rusty hole to the basement.
And you absorbed this information, how? By osmosis?
Sage clipped my head with his wing and I pressed my ear flat.
Can it, tuna lover. I know because our darling Pen is calling out for Lola, bent over said hole with both hands cupped to her mouth. I have no doubt that one of the Chokecherry brood will hear her if we don’t shut her up sometime soon.
I turned and padded around the corner. Oh yeah, there she was. Hunched by the mystical loophole.
“Lola? Come out of there this instant. Lola!” Penelope was even paler. Being this close to Chokecherry magic, stolen power had taken its toll on her. She scraped her hands through her curly, raven hair and succeeded in tangling it. “Lola,” she hissed. “Naughty kitty.”
Oh, if only she were even naughtier.
I bounded up to Penelope and bumped her against the crease of her knee.
She winced horribly, then looked down at me. “Tali? Oh thank goodness, it’s just you.” She paused and frowned. “Wait a second, what are you doing here? What are you and Lola up to?”
I had no way of telling her to shut up. At least she’d stopped calling for Lola.
A noise from inside turned my blood to ice. A low yowl of pain.
I went rigid as steel. That was Lola’s voice.
Lola! Lola, baby, are you in there? Are you okay?
Tali, it’s so dark. I can’t. I’m sorry. I couldn’t do it. So much pain. They got me. Lola’s howls were distant, like they came from upstairs. That horrible window upstairs, the flickering light. What if they hurt my woman?
Fur Magic Boxed Set: Talisman, Sage, Fawn, Lola: Paranormal Romantic Comedy Page 23
