by Fitz Molly
“If we were that close, why didn’t you try to find me?” I asked.
“We did. My parents even hired a private detective after the state police gave up. But there was no trace of you anywhere. It was like you simply vanished. It was awful,” she added before a fresh batch of tears began streaming down her face.
“I’m back now,” I said, trying to cheer her up. It felt weird consoling someone over my disappearance. I could only imagine how stressful it must have been. If I’d had any answers, I would have gladly given them to her.
“If you want to know your past, just touch her,” said Werewolf.
“I don’t really know how to use my powers. I don’t see entire lifetimes, just glimpses and images,” I said.
Werewolf did a double eye roll. “Amateur. If you don’t concentrate on finding the information you want, you’ll see whatever that person happens to be thinking about and feeling at that particular moment,” he said.
“So how do I extract specific information?” I asked.
“Do I look like a professor from the School of Witchcraft and Wizardry?” he said.
“What’s the School of Witchcraft and Wizardry?” I asked.
“Where you went to school and apparently failed to learn anything, dummy,” he said.
“It’s called amnesia,” I said, tapping my head.
I turned back to Ava who was patiently waiting for me to finish my conversation with Werewolf.
“What did he say?” she asked.
“Apparently, I have some super power that allows me to read people’s minds if I touch them,” I said.
“Try me!” she said, like it was a parlor trick, before propping her hands on the table, palms up.
Even though this already happened twice before, it was by sheer accident. I wasn’t sure how I felt to be doing it on purpose now that I knew it was real.
Ohmigosh, it was real!
“Werewolf, do I ever have false visions?” I asked on the off chance Ulyanna wasn’t really planning to murder Alistair. The dude was a private detective. Why couldn’t he figure that one out on his own?
“Like touching someone when they’re sleeping to enter their dreams?” he asked.
“I can do that?” I asked. That sounded like something out of horror movies. No wonder my powers were so generally feared. They even scared me.
“You can do anything. Do you have amnesia again? I already told you. You’re the most powerful witch that has ever existed,” he said. “You can even absorb other witch’s powers when you touch them.”
“I gotta go,” I said, standing up and gently placing Lucky onto the table.
“Wait, where? Why? You don’t have to read me if you don’t want to,” said Ava, jumping up and blocking my path.
She was probably worried that I would disappear for another decade, kind of like someone you only see at a class reunion.
“There’s something really important that I just remembered I have to do,” I said.
“Please. I just found you. Or rather, you found me. But I can’t lose you again,” she said, silently pleading with her eyes. “Did you get your memory back?”
That would’ve been nice, but no. I blurted out the truth since I couldn’t think of a good lie. Plus, it sounded like she believed all this witchy stuff. More importantly, I was starting to believe it, too.
“There’s going to be a murder that I need to stop,” I said. How? I had no idea. Too bad this power didn’t come with a manual. “I touched a woman earlier who plans to murder her date. Honestly, I just thought it was a random movie memory or something else or I swear I would’ve said something right then and there. At the time, I didn’t really believe the talking cat and I’m still not sure I do, but if I’m wrong and someone dies because of it, I’ll never be able to live with myself.”
Unless I got amnesia again. In that case, all my guilt would just disappear. But getting amnesia twice was probably right up there with being struck by lightning twice.
“That sounds dangerous,” she said, still blocking my path. I hoped she wouldn’t try to stop me. “I’m coming with.”
All right, I wasn’t expecting that.
Chapter Seven
Just when I thought that little, ruddy Abyssinian couldn’t get any cuter, I found out he traveled around with Ava in a kitty bjorn, strapped to her chest. Werewolf caught me looking at them, whereupon he shook his head no and added, “Not a chance. Don’t even think about it.”
“He gets cold and likes to hide inside my jacket,” she explained when she caught us both looking at Lucky.
“That’s so adorable,” I said, reaching over to pet his cute little face that was peeking out. I so needed to convince her to make a kitty exchange. “Does he have any siblings that are still available?”
Werewolf came over and shredded the bottom of my pants with his kitty shears. “Trying to get rid of me for the second time in one day?”
“Maybe you’d like a little brother or sister to play with?” I suggested. One that could positively influence Werewolf into becoming a nice cat or at the very least, one that didn’t threaten to kill me every five seconds.
“Oh, yeah, we can name her Little Red Riding Hood,” said Werewolf, baring his itty bitty cupcake frost covered kitty fangs.
“Actually, yes. I could check with his breeder and see if she has any other Abyssinians available if you want,” Ava offered.
Perfect. It wasn’t like my house wasn’t big enough for an entire litter of little Luckys.
We quickly closed up Ava’s bakery and headed down to the Wharf where Alistair said the Halloween Bash concert was. If I thought downtown Clover Creek was crowded, this was like Times Square with a Halloween theme. The wind picked up and it was getting pretty cold so a lot of costumes were hidden under trenchcoats and jackets, making it nearly impossible to spot Alistair and Ulyanna.
“What color was her hair again?” asked Ava.
“Jet black like mine but I think it was a wig to complete her Cleopatra costume. It had braids, beads and gold-foiled twine mixed into the strands,” I said.
“I have a friend on the police force that I think might be working this event. His phone went straight to voicemail. Let’s try to find him and see if he can help us,” she said, texting me a picture of him.
“Great. Actually, let’s split up. I’ll cover the right side and you take the left. Meet back here in an hour if we haven’t seen anything?” I suggested, texting her a picture of Alistair.
She gave me a thumbs-up and took off into the crowd. At least, I thought she did. She doubled back five seconds later to give me another hug.
“I’m so glad you’re back. I missed you so much. I swear, not a day went by that I didn’t think about you,” she said. This time, I hugged her. Not only did she believe my crazy witch story without question but she even closed up her shop and left the second she sensed I needed her help. I had no idea who the old Sakara was or what could’ve prevented her from keeping in touch with Ava, but now that I’d found Ava, I intended to spend the rest of my life getting to know her again.
“Give me the iPad. I’m going back to the car,” said Werewolf as soon as Ava took off. When I didn’t answer him, he jumped inside my overpriced Hermes bag and started pawing through himself. “I am not stepping one paw inside that wharf. I’ll wait for you inside the car.”
He couldn’t leave me now. It was dark, I had no idea where I was, and even if I found Alistair and his murderous date, I had no clue what to do.
“You can’t desert me. I don’t know anything about magical witch cats but I’m pretty sure they’re supposed to stand by their witch and help her. And your cat carrier has you tagged as an emotional support animal. So, support me,” I protested. Not only did we do everything he demanded for his birthday but he also ate Ava’s entire stock of cupcakes. I was so getting him a little Lucky sibling once this was all over. I doubt he would abandon me.
“What part about sensitive kitty ears did you forget? Not a
chance I’m stepping inside a concert,” he said, finding the iPad and hopping down.
“But I need you. You’re my cat, friend, person, companion, roommate,” I said, pleading to his sensitive cat companion side, if there was one.
“Smell you later,” he said with the handle on the iPad case clenched between his kitty teeth and eagerly bounced away.
Before he was out of earshot, I hollered, “If you do not come back here right now, I swear, I will adopt not one, not two, but three new little Luckys to come home and live with us.” I held up three fingers and waved them from side-to-side.
He stopped and turned his head back. “You wouldn’t dare.”
“Oh, wouldn’t I?” I retorted, raising an eyebrow and making a mock kitty bjorn hammock with my arms.
“Fine. But you’re so paying for this later.”
Ignoring his haughty attitude and sour mood, I took the iPad from his mouth and dropped it back into my purse. Placing him up on my shoulder, we headed into the crowd, scouring for Alistair and his murderous date. It was already eight PM. That gave her four more hours until it was too late for me to save him.
“Can’t I do a locator spell or scrawl with a pendant or a crystal to help speed this up?” I asked.
“What part of you’re a terrible witch didn’t you understand? You can’t cast a spell or mix a potion, not even if your life depended on it. Have you learned nothing from your amnesia?” Werewolf hopped up onto my head and gave it a good whack for extra emphasis.
“But you said I went to the School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Didn’t I learn how to be a witch when I was there?” I asked. I was hoping it was like muscle memory and once I started doing it again, all the secrets would come flowing back to me.
“You failed out of the School of Witchcraft and Wizardry,” he said.
“I did?”
“All right, the truth is you were expelled. After a fire, some explosions, a few missing students and lots of screaming,” said Werewolf. That didn’t sound good, but it seemed like I enjoyed trying out new things. On the plus side, maybe someone at the school could mix a potion to cure my amnesia.
“Where is the school located?” I asked.
“It’s hidden.”
“Like, only witches can see it?” I asked.
“Like, only anyone but Sakara Decker can see it. After you were expelled, they cast a spell to hide the school from you.”
Oh. That sounded so harsh. I made a mental note to research it some more later. Right now, I needed to focus on finding Alistair. I pulled out his business card and dialed as quickly as my fingers would allow. It rang and rang before going to voicemail. The concert was too loud to leave a coherent voicemail so I texted him: Ulyanna is planning to kill you. Hidden gun holster on her thigh.
I hated it in movies when people were cryptic and didn’t get right to the point. I knew I’d want someone to come straight out and tell it like it was. All right, death warning message sent. If Alistair died, it would be his own fault for not heeding my text message warning.
The cat spied my handiwork from over my shoulder.
“I’m sure that’ll fly. He already thinks you’re crazy for talking to a cat. I’m sure he’ll heed your warning very seriously.”
He had a good point. I sent Alistair another text: Not joking. Very serious. Your date is a professional hitwoman and getting paid a lot of money by some woman with red hair to kill you.
No one could accuse me of wasting time on pleasantries or small talk.
I held the cat above my head. What was the point of being super tall and having a cat with night vision if I couldn’t use it? Also, how could a cat know how to read and write?
“Put me down,” said Werewolf, squirming to escape and clawing the life out of my arms.
“Not until you find Alistair,” I said, holding him tighter.
“This is not what we do. We wait until Ulyanna kills him and then blackmail her for the hush money,” he said.
“Well, we’re now in the business of saving lives, not profiting from their demise so you’d better get on board or no more cheesecake or cupcakes for you. Not even on your birthday.”
“I don’t understand how we’re going to make any money from being boring, lame Good Samaritans,” muttered Werewolf. “There’s not even a reward for saving his life.” Where did this cat come from?
I felt a kitty growl rattling through my arms but I still held Werewolf nice and high, and he did as he was told and started looking for Alistair. Touching so many people at the concert was torture. I never met so many women obsessed with the size of their thighs gathered in one place. Or so guilty over the Halloween candy they just ate. I made a mental note to avoid all concerts, crowds and other public events while struggling to prevent skin to skin contact whenever possible. However, there were so many scantily clad women in what were supposed to be alluring, barely there costumes that it was almost impossible. Why didn’t I think to grab a coat before I left the house? Oh, that’s right. Because I had amnesia and had no idea what today was, much less what season we were in.
“There!” yelled Werewolf. “Over by the front of the stage on your left.”
I looked but didn’t see them.
“Your other left, dorkaramus,” he said, kicking my head with his kitty paw. Never mind that he was facing the opposite direction from me so technically we were both looking at our left side. He was a good two hundred yards away with at least one hundred people standing between me and him. The bad news was: Ulyanna was right by his side. The good news? He was still alive. He either ignored my text messages or did not read them. I placed Werewolf gently down on the ground and started to push as politely as possible through the crowd but since the front of the stage was the most coveted place to be, it proved quite a challenge.
I pulled out my phone to text Ava but big, fat rain droplets made the screen unresponsive. Two lightning and thunder roars later, the rain started coming down like Niagara Falls. Everyone ran for cover, including Alistair and his murderous Cleopatra. The scene was complete chaos. I couldn’t see anything except rain and was helplessly bombarded by the nonstop body-slamming people who weren’t standing still in one place like me.
On the plus side, it was much easier to make my way to the front of the stage. Not knowing where else to go, I continued my mission to the last place I spotted Alistair and Ulyanna. The only thing there now was Ulyanna’s Cleopatra wig. Wonderful. Now I really had no idea how to find her. I picked up the wig and noticed a strand of platinum blond hair inside. It could’ve been hers or any of the other hundreds of people who stomped on top of it since she dropped it.
Everyone was heading back to their cars, anxiously trying to exit the Wharf parking lot. If I expected to save Alistair’s life, I had to think quickly.
“What kind of car did Alistair drive?” I asked. Werewolf convinced Alistair to take him back to his office so he must’ve gotten a good look at his car.
“Dry off first, answers later. I like getting wet just about as much as I love loud rock concerts,” said Werewolf, shredding my other pant leg. At least, my pant legs both matched now, like I ripped them on purpose.
Chapter Eight
I sank down on the concrete, unmindful of how completely soaked I was becoming. If I died of hypothermia, it would serve me right for being such a terrible person. If I only said something to Alistair earlier, he might still be alive and not running off to his imminent death with a Russian hitwoman.
Werewolf had already taken the iPad and skedaddled out of there. I didn’t even try to stop him this time.
“There you are!” said Ava, rushing over with an umbrella to cover me. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you. You’ll get pneumonia and die if you stay sitting out here in the rain. Or worse still, you’ll be struck by lightning.”
“I saw them. They were so close,” I said.
“Is this her?” asked Ava, showing me a picture on her phone of a platinum blond with blue eyes in a mug shot.
“Yes, did you find her?” I asked.
“No, but Interpol is here in Clover Creek looking for her, too. You were right. She’s a professional hitwoman from Eastern Europe. They got a tip that she was spotted in Blueberry Bay but with so many Halloween costumes, it’s been really hard to track her down,” said Ava, putting her phone back into her pocket.
“What are you waiting for? Let’s go help them.” I said, springing back to life. “Werewolf knows the make and model of the car they drove.”
That is, assuming Alistair drove them. If Ulyanna drove, there went that theory. Normally, I assumed the guy liked to drive on a first date. But when the date is a professional hitwoman, it screamed feminist. If any woman felt comfortable driving on a first date, it would be she.
We gave all our information, at least all that I managed to pry out of Werewolf to Ava’s police officer friend, Wesley. We had to wait a good ten minutes after putting the heat on full blast inside the car until Werewolf would talk. I made a big show of pretending I wrote the information down on a scrap of paper somewhere in the car and misplaced it while we waited. Wesley seemed super nice, just like Ava. He put out an APB on the car and promised to relay all the information back to Interpol.
“You should both go home now. We’ll take it from here,” said Wesley.
“But Alistair only has three hours left until midnight,” I said to Wesley.
“I know. Ava told me everything,” he said, giving me a gentle pat on the shoulder before remembering that I was drenched and shaking his hand rapidly to flick off the water.
“And you believed her?” I asked. I wasn’t sure how much Ava disclosed to Wesley but I guessed she left out the whole witchy, talking cat part.
