by Harper Lin
With hope in my heart and tears in my eyes, I began my search. A small thread of Treacle’s energy caught my attention, and I followed its glowing color from my house, through the streets, through a park, until finally it disappeared near the industrial area of Wonder Falls.
Deep in the industrial neighborhood was a building Aunt Astrid and I had broken into not long ago. At that time, the place housed a demon of sorts. The building was important because a feline had been there who had remembered Treacle. That puss even had a concrete opinion of me, so if I could find him, he might be helpful.
But I was having trouble finding anything that slinked on four legs. Usually, they sensed me as if I were one of them. They would come to inspect who was in their neighborhood. I got very nervous all of a sudden. Where had they all gone?
I continued at my casual pace. A few people were sitting on their stoops or hanging around on the corners, and they paid no attention to me. I wasn’t drawing attention to myself, and I had conjured up a camouflage spell before I left. I wasn’t totally invisible, but I took on the appearance of what the gazer expected to see. In one instance, I might look like an old lady, and in another instance, I was just a young man making his way home. But the cats could see me as I was if any of them peeked out from their hiding places.
Finally, after a few more blocks, I caught sight of a calico peering from behind a dumpster. Her ears were flat back as she stared at me, her eyes glinting pale yellow against the darkness.
You look scared down there. I’m not going to hurt you, I said in my mind. I was speaking slow and clear, but the cat looked at me as if I were a junkyard dog. I just want to ask you…
The cat let out a hiss and darted off. She didn’t say a word, but I could tell she was terrified of something. Whatever it was must have looked or acted like me… like a person. My blood was beginning to boil as I thought of someone terrorizing these cats.
Another black-and-white tuxedo cat slunk along the ledge of an old, run-down apartment building. A television light glowed through one of the apartment windows.
“Hey! You look like you see a lot of things going on around here,” I called to the cat, again making my thoughts clear and calm. “I was wondering…”
In a split second, the cat arched its back, its fur stiffened, and it gave me a deep, guttural growl. My eyebrows shot up to my hairline. This had never happened before. Never.
As I watched the cat slink back underneath a raised window and into the apartment with the glowing television, I stopped for a moment to think.
During the days when witches and suspected witches were being burned at the stake, family stories and legends always mentioned how cats seemed to be aware before anyone else. In their simple minds, they knew a storm was coming, and they took shelter. Was that what was happening? Was a storm coming?
I kept walking. My camouflage spell was holding up, and I was weaving in and out of the neighborhoods with very little attention being paid to me.
Then I saw a familiar face. A large gray four-legged beastie glared at me the same as he’d done the last time I was in this part of town.
He was perched on a tall stack of skids at an alley entrance. I would never forget that cat’s face, with his scarred mug and dirty, gray fur. He knew Treacle and didn’t like him. He obviously picked up Treacle’s scent on me and decided he didn’t like me either.
“I know you,” I said to him. He watched me with wild, wide eyes. “You told me I didn’t belong in this neighborhood and neither did the black cat I took care of. Do you remember?” I stood perfectly still. I could see the muscles rippling underneath his fur as they tensed. “I’m not going to hurt you. I was just wondering if you saw that black cat of mine. You know the one.”
He still didn’t respond.
“What is wrong with all of you?” I mumbled out loud.
Finally, the big alley cat stood up. His fur was on edge, and his back arched as his unblinking eyes bore into mine. “I’ve seen that one. Five nights ago.”
“Five nights ago? Where did he go?” I pointed up and down the street. “What direction?”
“He was lost in his mind. He walked in circles and mumbled and made his way through the buildings. He wouldn’t fight. Couldn’t fight and rushed past all of us. Something has him. He won’t be back.”
Tears filled my eyes. “What? What has him? What are you talking about?”
“There is a badness here. It’s here! And it’ll get you, too! You talking humans can’t be trusted.”
“Why would you say that? Wait.” His words struck me. “What other human is talking to you?” Call me territorial, but as far as I knew, being able to communicate with cats was a rare and special gift. If someone else had that same talent, I sure the heck wanted to know who it was and why, since that person had come to town, all the cats were more high-strung than ever before.
Like the crack of a whip, the cat leapt at me. His claws were out, and one sharp nail gouged my neck, leaving a long trail of torn skin that instantly began to bleed in a thin line. He pushed off my body and bound down the street, slinking underneath a parked car and into the shadows.
“What in the world?” I said out loud. I was crying openly. I had never had a cat attack me. Dogs, bats, even a raccoon may have tried to take a swipe at me before but never a cat.
The feline’s words were of no comfort either. Treacle was in that neighborhood five days ago? He walked in circles? The only thing that came to mind was a word I didn’t want to say. A horror worse than any other talking human for my poor, beautiful cat, and if it were true, it would be all my fault.
I took a few steps, not knowing what direction to go. I thought back to the last time I saw Treacle and wished I could go back to that moment. If I would have kept him in the house, maybe he wouldn’t be lost and possibly hurt. I was used to letting him go and picking him up at the animal shelter or seeing him weave in through the back door of the café. I had taken him for granted.
Rabies.
No, I wasn’t ready to say the word or even think it. That horrible disease eats an animal up slowly and painfully from the inside, starting with its mind. Hadn’t Treacle had his shots? I know I’d gotten them for him at the shelter. I know I had.
Hadn’t I?
Rabies. No, there had to be another explanation. Treacle would have come home if he’d been attacked that badly. I would have seen a wound or a bite or something. No, something more sinister was at play.
I was near hysterics. Treacle may not have had rabies, but something was hurting him. Something was keeping him from me, and I needed to find out what it was and make sure it never harmed him or any other cat again.
My heart was broken, and I felt very tired. It was as though a weight had been added to my shoulders and ankles. I needed to get home so I could rest and figure out what to do next.
That big alley cat may not have been telling the truth. But that thought was no comfort.
As I made my way back home, I recalled taking Treacle to the vet for his shots. Wonder Falls had a lot of bats, raccoons, squirrels, and other things that could have gotten a hold of him at any time. I didn’t take chances because I knew how much he loved to roam.
But even if he didn’t have rabies, what if he had some other disease? What if he had gotten into a fight with something bigger and meaner than he was? What if he was hurt and wondering where I was? I felt my heart crack into pieces. I had to find him, no matter what.
Enchantment Spell
The next day, I showed up at the Brew-Ha-Ha half an hour before we opened, and I must have looked a dozen shades of pitiful.
“Cath? What’s the matter?” Bea asked, her eyes wide with concern. “Mom! It’s Cath!” She poured me a glass of water as I took a seat at the counter.
“I’m okay. I just didn’t get much sleep last night.”
“Cath, Bea, what’s the matter?” My aunt came from the kitchen where she probably had been helping Kevin. She wiped her hands on her apron, and her lo
ok of annoyance was quickly replaced with concern. “My heaven’s, Cath. What happened?”
I swallowed hard. “Treacle hasn’t come back.” Both women looked at each other then back at me. “I went out last night looking for him. I didn’t find him. None of the cats were talking. They’re terrified of something. And one of them… ” I took a drink of water to clear my throat and tried to hold back the tears. “One of them managed to tell me they saw him, and he was not acting right. He said Treacle was lost in his mind and mumbling. But that was five days ago. Where could he be?” I lost my composure and began crying like a baby.
Losing my parents was sad, and I missed them terribly. But a pet was different. Most people thought pets relied on us to take care of and protect them. I thought we relied on our pets to protect our hearts. The world could be a scary and lonely place. The animals we kept prevented that world from becoming too much to bear.
“Has Marshmallow been acting any differently?” Bea asked her mother. “Peanut Butter is still so young that I can’t tell when he is onto something or when he’s just chasing a shadow.”
Aunt Astrid thought for a moment then shook her head. “But you have to remember that my house, like yours, is protected with an enchantment spell. Our cats don’t leave the houses. But your cat is a roamer, Cath, and only the threshold spell will protect him if he’s inside the house.” Aunt Astrid made sure we all had some kind of protection on our homes. “Plus, Treacle has been a roamer sine he was a kitten. There is nothing you could have done to keep him inside if he wanted to go outside. You know that.”
I nodded and wiped my nose with a napkin.
Aunt Astrid pursed her eyebrows and stared at the floor. She nodded and then shook her head as if responding to someone else. She mumbled a few words under her breath before looking up at Bea and me. “I think this has something to do with Marvin.”
I cleared my throat noisily. “What? Why do you think that?”
Aunt Astrid walked around the counter and sat on the stool next to me. She folded her hands on the counter and continued to stare down. It looked as though she was studying the grains of the dark wood. “We have some pretty good proof that this witch is not very good at what she does. She or he likes to call themselves a witch more than they care to know the history, the theories, the proper procedures. They like the image and care not for the substance.”
“What does that have to do with Treacle?” Bea asked.
“He’s a black cat. Black cats are the most magical. I think he’s hiding from this wanna-be witch. If what you’re saying about all the other cats is true, he may be hiding, too.”
“But what about what the gray alley cat said about him not being right in the head and stuff?” I hoped Aunt Astrid might have an answer to dowse the flames of nervousness in my belly.
“His solid black coat makes him very attractive to anyone dabbling in the occult. If they are dabbling and doing it all wrong, as we think this witch is, Treacle could be getting hit the hardest.”
“That is, if he isn’t…”
Bea reached across the counter and squeezed my hands. She had wet eyes, too. “Don’t say it, Cath. Just don’t. Treacle might be in bad shape, but he’s still alive. That gray kitty would have told you otherwise, especially since he made it clear he didn’t like you very much.”
Someone suddenly knocked on the glass door. All of us looked to see the faces of a couple of regulars and some new patrons waiting for us to open the café.
“Oh, geez!” Aunt Astrid yipped, hopping off the stool and running to the door. “Sorry, folks! Just a little family business to tend to. Come on in. Glad you’re hear. Free fortune-telling today for the first five customers. That will make things better, no?”
I hopped off the stool and hurried behind the counter to help Bea. It was a beautiful morning. I couldn’t help but think it was the calm before the storm. My body moved mechanically as I served our regulars and smiled, saying “good morning” and “have a nice day.” My mind was in a million places at once, yet I couldn’t cling to a single thought. It was frustrating.
“I’ll be right back,” I said to Bea. She patted my shoulder and nodded. I walked to the ladies’ room at the back of the café, needing a minute to myself. I ran my hands under the cold water and looked in the mirror. My eyes were red and tired. I’d been up all night, and it was starting to catch up with me. Just as I decided to ask for a personal day, I heard a quiet knock on the door.
“I’ll be out in a second,” I called through the door.
“Honey, Min is here,” Aunt Astrid said politely.
“Oh, okay.”
“He’s, uh… not alone.”
I dried my hands on my pants and opened the door. “Really?”
She nodded and walked back to the front of the café. I smoothed my hair back and imagined who Min was with. It had to be a girl, or Aunt Astrid wouldn’t have said anything. Of course, today had to be the day I met Min’s new girlfriend.
A Lead
Truth be told, I was thankful for the distraction. After spending almost the entire night worrying about Treacle, I needed something else to focus on.
I walked around the kitchen to the front of the café and saw Min standing next to a petite young lady. She had curly, auburn hair, wide eyes, and freckles over the bridge of her nose. Min was talking with Bea, and the young lady was also contributing to the conversation, laughing and nodding at whatever Bea was saying.
Aunt Astrid tugged on my sleeve from her regular seat. “You all right?”
“I’ll be fine. I know I’ll find Treacle. He’s around somewhere and…”
“I meant about this.” She jerked her chin in Min’s direction.
“What? Oh my gosh.” I hoped my reply was convincing. “Of course. Are you serious?”
Aunt Astrid’s right eyebrow arched, and she gave me a sideways look.
I rolled my eyes at her and walked up to Min with my shoulders back and my chin held high.
When he turned and saw me, he smiled. “Cath!” he stooped down to give me a hug.
I hugged him back, and for a moment, I felt a little superior to the woman. I didn’t want to feel that way, but it crept up inside me like an aggressive vine that wrapped itself around my heart.
For years, it had been Min and me against the world. When he left to make his fortune, I didn’t worry about what he was doing or who he was with, and when he came back, we picked up right where we left off. You can only do that with a rare friend. I had been spoiled.
For so long, Min had been my shoulder to cry on, my pillar of strength, my confidant. But he’d found a cute woman who was going to share her secrets and her dreams with him and, who knew, maybe even more than that.
Min pulled away first, and I followed suit. I didn’t want to come across as one of those women who were clingy and needy, even if all I wanted to do was cling to Min because I needed his help to find Treacle. I stood back and waited for the bomb of disappointment and annoyance to go off between his girlfriend and me.
“Cath, this is Amalia. Amalia, this is my best friend in the whole world, Cath Greenstone,” Min said.
The woman walked around the table and gave me a gentle, heartfelt hug. Some people may have thought it was a little forward to hug someone upon first meeting them, but with the way I was feeling at the moment, I really appreciated it.
“I am so glad to meet you,” she said in a clear and kind voice. “Min has told me so much about you that I feel like I’ve known you my whole life.” She pulled back and smiled pleasantly.
“Don’t believe him. He likes to elaborate and lie,” I said, making Amalia laugh. “Please, guys, have a seat. Let me get you something to drink. Coffee, tea, lemonade or a water or…”
“I’d love a tea,” Amalia said. “I just got off work and don’t want anything too strong to keep me up. I’ll need a nap for sure.”
“I’ll get them,” Min offered. “You ladies can talk behind my back for a few minutes.”
I looked awkwardly at Amalia, who didn’t seem to be uncomfortable or nervous at all.
“It must have been a full moon or something last night because several of the residents had me running my tail from the minute I got there to when I checked out this morning.” Amalia rolled her eyes. “First, Mr. Lessing said he heard scratching on the walls. The residents are allowed to have small pets, and Mr. Lucio’s cat got out of his room and was finally cornered in the recreational center after knocking over half a dozen potted plants. Mrs. Toon said there was a person outside digging at the corner of the building. The best one was Mr. Cavanaugh who said he needed a sponge bath because Marilyn Monroe was planning on paying him a visit.”
I smiled, and a little laugh rattled out of my chest.
“If Mr. Cavanaugh had his way, he’d have a sponge bath every hour.”
I felt my heart get a little lighter. “That’s funny.”
“Don’t get me wrong. I love working at the Home. The job can be hard at times, but I love the stories around all the residents. Sometimes, one or two of them just decide they want to cause a little drama. It’s like high school.”
She was charming. I hated to admit it, but I felt a possible friendship tugging at my thoughts. The corners of my mouth would not stay down. I smiled, and it felt good.
“I’m sorry I’m so talky.” She patted my hand quickly. “I get this way when I’m tired.”
“Would you like a chamomile tea? My cousin adds a little lavender-infused honey, and even though I’m not a tea drinker, I have to say it’s really soothing.”
Amalia stared at me with her mouth open. “That sounds like heaven. Yes. Yes, I would like that. Thank you. Please.”
I laughed again and waved for Bea to make her special tea for Amalia. We chatted a little more until Min sat down with us. Then I really got an earful.
“So the man who made those delicious toffees passed away? Min was telling me about it.” Amelia wrapped her hands around the sides of her warm mug of tea. I was glad she wasn’t hanging on Min. They sat close to each other, but they weren’t all touchy-feely like new couples sometimes were.
