by Fitz Molly
Zoey twisted her mouth in a grimace. “I really think that until we figure out how to make Spook miniature again, right here is the best place for him.”
“My family is here,” I insisted. “Spook needs to get as far away as possible.”
My friend bit her bottom lip as she looked between Spook and me. “And you’re still sure you don’t want to just tell your family?”
“My mom had a cat familiar when she was younger. It turned on her and bit her hand. Seriously, I was worried enough about telling her about Spook when he was just a normal cat. Seeing him like this will make her die of fright.”
“I’m pretty sure Spook is a girl. Look how pretty she is!” Zoey batted her eyelashes playfully.
“You have been spending way too much time with Zia,” I said as I started to slink out of bed, stepping carefully over my monstrous familiar.
“She’s just not that threatening right now. I mean she’s—” Spook let out a decidedly un-ladylike snore.
That was all it took to send me leaping over her and running to stand behind Zoey, my own personal human shield.
Spook opened his eyes and tilted his head in question. He didn’t growl, roar, or attack. Instead he let out a massive yawn.
“How can you be afraid of this wittle kitty?” Zoey cooed, her heart already melting for him.
“Okay,” I admitted at last. “He’s adorable. But even cute cats have big claws, so I still want to get him out ASAP.”
“So, like, you want to put her on a leash and walk her like a dog?”
“Stop saying her. Spook is a him,” I muttered, mainly because I had no idea how to answer Zoey’s question. A leash would keep Spook from getting away, but it would also keep him close to me and that part terrified me.
“There’s another option,” Zoey said gently
I raised a brow but continued to cower behind her. “Yeah? Like what?”
“We can leave right now, shut the door behind us, tell your family and then let a much adultier adult deal with this for us.”
I immediately bristled at this idea. I didn’t like anyone cleaning up my messes. Besides, I’d been raised around magic my entire life, and I knew there were no coincidences. Spook and I were meant to find each other. But why?
My eyes widened as it came to me. “The blood. We know it wasn’t Spook’s. Maybe if we can figure out where the blood came from we can figure out how to fix Spook!”
“Your disregard for authority continues to shock and amaze me,” said Zoey, completely deadpan.
“I’ll take that as a compliment,” I said with a smile, feeling emboldened enough now to creep out from behind her back. “Now how do you get Zia to do what you want her to do?”
Zoey shrugged. “We’re… connected. Like even though she has her own life, we’re also kind of the same.”
“Just say telepathic.”
She groaned. “It’s not like I hear her thinking ‘I want a steak.’ I just will somehow know that she wants steak.”
“Food! That’s a great idea. We’ll get him to follow us with food.”
“Considering you’re already afraid that she’ll eat us, do you really think feeding her is a good option?”
“Why do you insist on calling Spook a girl?” I hadn’t exactly checked parts, but I also hadn’t doubted for one second that my strange new familiar was of the male persuasion.
Zoey broke out in a wide grin. “Because it bugs you.”
I lightly jabbed my elbow into her side. “Milk. We need milk. Is it still around here somewhere?” I’d brought up a jug last night, but Spook had fallen asleep so quickly and soundly I hadn’t wanted to wake him. “Do you think milk that was left out for a few hours is bad for a cat?”
Zoey shrugged. “It’s not like the stuff they get from their mom is chilled.”
I nodded with newfound determination. “That’s horrible logic. But it supports what I want to do so we’re gonna go with it.”
Chapter Four
While keeping my eyes glued to the cat-turned-panther, I carefully tiptoed over to where I’d left the milk and bowl on top of my dresser. Of course, by now Spook was fully awake, and his green eyes traced my movements across the room. He didn’t seem to be stalking me or preparing to pounce, more like he was just interested for curiosity’s sake.
I thought back to how Zoey had explained her familiar bond. She just knew what Zia was thinking. And right now, even though the logic part of my brain said I should be terrified, I also felt deep down that this animal wasn't a danger to me.
Okie… This was fine. Everything would be fine.
I started to pour out the milk into the bowl, and Spook perked up. Apparently he knew exactly what was going on. He pushed himself up and sauntered to my side without making a sound.
Zoey let out a giggle and covered her mouth with her palm.
“What?” I demanded with a scowl.
“Well you were right. It’s a boy.”
Huh. Well, I supposed it would be easier to tell on a full-grown panther than a cat. At least now Zoey would stop with the “she” stuff. I was all for being able to choose your own gender identity, but Spook was a boy through and through. Maybe that was another benefit of him being my familiar. I somehow just knew how and what he was.
He approached the milk cautiously before crouching down and starting to lap it up. Oh my goodness, my heart was about to explode. Zoey and I exchanged a besotted glance.
“Can you use your glamour to make him look normal again? That way we can sneak him out of the house,” she suggested after I’d refilled Spook’s bowl twice.
That was a great idea but also much easier said than done. I’d played around a lot with my abilities, but I’d never done it on an animal. Heck, I didn’t even wear makeup that was tested on animals. But seeing as we didn’t have any other options readily available… “It’s worth a try.”
I reached out to Spook, and the panther’s bright eyes immediately found mine. For a few seconds I stood frozen to the spot. All I could do was stare into those deep and beautiful eyes. This creature had found me, and now that some of the horror was beginning to fade away, I was so incredibly grateful.
There was a gentle knock on the door. “Girls, are you up yet? It’s Halloween! We have lots to celebrate!”
That broke me out of my spell. “We’ll be down soon, Mom!” I called, trying to sound as casual as possible.
“Glamour time?” asked Zoey.
“If this even works,” I muttered, cracking my neck to either side and bouncing like a fighter preparing to go into the ring.
Zoey laughed and sunk down onto my unmade bed. “C’mon. If anyone knows the value of faking it until you make it, it’s you. So just fake it already.”
“Sure, that’s easy to say when I’m the one giving advice. It’s a bit harder when I’m expected to receive it.” I reached out and stroked Spook’s head. It was coarser than I’d expected. Tough. Not like a house cat at all.
“Hey, Spooky Spookums. Want Mama Phina to give you a little make-under?” I whispered, then closed my eyes and pictured the kitty exactly as we’d found him last night.
Focus, Phina. Focus!
I’d been trying to stretch myself lately to see just how far my powers could go. But this was going to be the biggest challenge I’d faced yet. I channeled everything I had toward that strong, stable image of last night’s Spook. By the time I opened my eyes, my heart was racing and hands trembling.
But Spook was once again a tiny black cat.
“That’s amazing,” said Zoey in awe, raising a hand to her chest. “You did it.”
I leaned heavily against the wall as I stood up, knees shaking. “I don’t know how long I can keep it up, though. Let’s get out of here before my glamour goes boom.”
Zoey refused to move from the bed. “Wait, boom? You’ve glamoured me a bunch of times and there’s been no mention of boom.”
“Don’t worry about it.” It was just a turn of phrase, but also a g
reat way to get Zoey back for bugging me earlier with her incorrect pronouns.
Dressed. I needed to get dressed. And I had to do it the old-fashioned way because every ounce of strength I had was going toward keeping my familiar fun-sized.
It was Halloween, so I found a black lacy dress I could throw on and some black ankle boots with a reasonable heel. I could rock some pretty high heels if I really wanted to, but right now all of my focus needed to be on escaping with Spook and not in keeping my balance.
Once I was dressed, I looked around the room and tried to think what else I might need. What did one need for investigating a bloody cat? I suppose my phone and the cat in question would be good enough.
“Our ride is on its way,” said Zoey as she zipped up her hoodie. She was wearing a decidedly drab pair of jeans and t-shirt. I was really going to have to stress the importance of Halloween to her. I mean, even though I was in a hurry I’d at least managed to put on a party dress.
But that wasn’t my biggest problem right now. Grabbing an oversized tote bag, I stuffed my softest sweaters in it. After all, Spook deserved a much higher quality fabric than simple terry cloth.
Once I had a nest for him, I scooped him up and carefully placed him inside the bag. The entire time I willed him to stay quiet and not fight me—and to my surprise he did just that.
“You can just lift him up? Like the glamour makes him weigh less, too?”
I snorted. “Remember that the laws of physics and the laws of magic don’t play well together.” Once Spook was carefully tucked inside, I added one more sweater to the top to hide him from view. “Okay. Now we just have to get out as soon as possible. You ready?”
Zoey shrugged, which wasn’t much of an answer, but it would have to do. I cracked my door open and looked left and right. We had a clear path to the stairs, but I had no way of knowing whether any parental units were hovering near the foot of the stairs.
I motioned for Zoey to follow me and raced down the steps as quickly as possible without making it apparent that I was trying to flee from the scene. If I was too fast or too sneaky, it would just make my parents that much more suspicious. And the last thing I needed was their—
“Morning, girls!” called Dad, appearing from the living room and wearing the ugliest sweater I’d ever seen. “Happy Halloween! Are you ready to start the day?”
“So ready,” I said as I simpered at him.
As soon as he saw my makeup-less face, his smile fell and suspicion crept into his eyes. “You’re going out? Now?”
“Yeah. It’s Halloween. It’s only natural to celebrate with a pumpkin spice latte. We need to go get some before the day gets away from us. Right, Zoey?”
Zoey stood silent behind me on the stairs, so I elbowed her in the knee. “Oh, yes. That’s right, Mr. Moralis. Pumpkin spice, yum yum.”
“But… you’re not wearing any makeup,” Dad said slowly in the way that someone might have said ‘you’re going outside without any pants.’
And he was right about that. We were a family of glamour-abled, after all. I don’t think I’d ever left the house without a fully done face since I was twelve years old. Heck, even my dad used a subtle application of glamour each day to hide the dark circles and camouflage a few grays.
My head had already started to pound from the exertion of keeping up Spook’s glamour, and little beads of sweat were starting to form on my forehead. If I didn’t get outside fast, my dad would for sure know something was up.
“Welcome to the future, Dad. Hashtag No Makeup is a thing, and if I’m going to take my place as the influencer we know I’m meant to be, I have to be able to show my face in public without any artificial enhancements. Besides, I think I look good. Don’t you?”
He coughed and averted his gaze. “I—”
“That’s what I thought. See you later!” Before my dad could hold us any longer, I strode out of the house, snagging something from the table next to the door as I walked out.
The second I was in the cool fall air I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding. Ugh. This was so much harder than I thought it would be. Spook’s glamour was going to give any minute.
“It looks like our Uber is still five minutes away,” said Zoey as she caught up to me.
I shook my head. “There’s no way I’m making it that long.” I held up the keys I’d swiped from the front table. “We’re driving ourselves today.”
Chapter Five
I grabbed Spook from the bag and set him on the back bench seat of the SUV, then immediately slammed the door behind him. He burst back into panther form the moment the door clicked shut. The relief was immediate, like I’d just gone weightless after being burdened by gravity for far too long.
“I didn’t know it was going to be that hard,” I said between gasps for air.
Zoey rubbed my back. “Are you okay? Do you want me to drive?”
I frowned. Even though I was utterly exhausted, I also didn’t want to risk my parents’ car by putting an inexperienced driver behind the wheel. Actually... “Do you even know how to drive?”
Zoe giggled. Her bright orange hair floated in the soft breeze, making her look crazy. She shrugged. “I passed my driver’s test, if that’s what you’re asking. Never had a car of my own, and my aunt wasn’t much for sharing, but I know the basics. Gas for go and brake for no go. Did I get that right?”
“I’ll drive,” I yelped and then channeled every bit of energy that remained to race around to the driver’s side before Zoey could beat me to it. “I’ll be fine. Promise. Just need some pumpkin spice latte.” Sure, it had started as an excuse to explain our early morning departure, but now I totally craved the seasonal coffee. Needed the energy it would provide, too.
If anything, this whole Spooky experience was proving to me that I could still push myself so much harder when it came to exploring my magic. Maybe I could even work on turning Zia into a little kitty cat. Zoey would freak out if I did that. But it was a great way to grow in my abilities, expand my magical prowess. Annoy my roommate.
I smiled to myself as I turned the key in the ignition. Then remembering myself, adjusted the mirror so I could see Spook in the back seat. Even though he had the appearance of a great majestic panther, he was reacting like any other cat in a car. Terrified. His eyes were wide, ears back, and claws biting into the seats. All this and we hadn’t even left the driveway yet.
“Let’s take this slow,” I said more to myself than anyone else.
I gently pressed on the gas, and Spook let out a low growl.
“For real, we can get out of the car now and talk to your parents,” Zoey argued, moving her hand to the door. That was my cue to punch it.
“He’ll be fine,” I muttered as we swung out of the driveaway and ramped up to a speed of fifteen miles per hour. That was the speed I would stay at for the rest of the drive, too. Every time I tried to go even a little bit faster, a thick cloud of nervous tension would fill the car. It could’ve been the telepathic familiar connection, or it could’ve just been the giant panther throwing some magic at me. Either way, I refused to purposefully upset him. Instead, I flipped my hazards on and took it slow.
Sure, maybe I took a bit too much enjoyment from watching how the other drivers on the road freaked out once they realize that—no—that wasn’t just a big black dog in the back of my SUV. Zoey and I might have missed that raging Mischief Night party, but we could still cause a bit of havoc this Halloween break.
Unlike me, my bestie appeared worried by all the attention we’d started to draw. “You don’t think any of them will call the police. Do you?”
A smile stretched across my face. “You think? That would be fun!”
She snorted. “You are such a bad influence.”
We rolled through the Starbucks drive thru while I worked my magic to camouflage Spook once again.
“Aren’t you afraid of overdoing it?” Zoey asked as we merged back to the main road and Spook returned to his full glory as
a panther.
“I live for overdoing it,” I said with a swagger I didn’t at all feel. Way too tired. “Seriously, it’s like you haven’t met me at all.”
“No, not the drivers. I mean...” She dropped her voice to a whisper. “The Restless. Don’t you worry that if you use your abilities too much you’ll, you know, give in to the Void?”
At the very mention of that dark place, a shiver ran down my spine. “I mean, it hadn’t occurred to me,” I answered numbly. In general, the glamour-gifted didn’t get called to the Void. We never developed that much power, so it was hard for us to abuse it.
She moved on to chatter about different things—mostly her new boy toy, Owen—and I did my best to listen, but still my mind was stuck on the whole Void thing. Eventually we made it back to the crossroads of North and Star, the very place we’d discovered Spook instead of the party.
I brought the car to a stop and took a deep chug of my pumpkin spice latte. I was down to the last sips where all the extra seasoning had settled—otherwise known as the worst part of a pumpkin spice latte.
I winced as I swallowed and dropped the cup into the car’s holder.
“Where do we go from here?” asked Zoey as she glanced up and down the street.
I pointed toward a house a couple blocks down that seemed to be surrounded by cars. “I’m guessing we start there.”
Zoey scoffed. “And what? We’re just going to walk right in there and ask why the cat you found turned into a panther?”
“I don’t see why not,” I said with a shrug. “I mean, it’s not like I have the time or information needed to come up with an actual plan.”
Zoey raised her hand as if we were in class. “I have one question.”
I sighed and waited for her to continue.
“Are you going in all halfcocked like this because you really don’t know what to do or because you think we’ll actually find something there?”
I forced a laugh. “Why not both?”
Zoey closed her eyes and took a deep breath. I really didn’t need her judgment right now. We were on an adventure! I had a familiar! We were going to be telling this story to our grandbabies—or, rather, grand-panthers if my unlucky dating streak continued on this downward spiral.