"Willow's Missing Tail" 6

Perfidia opened the front door to her home and Chaos strolled in ahead of her and Martha.

“I guess he knows he’s home,” Perfidia said with a happy lilt and shifted the heavy book in her arms to a more comfortable position and although she was happy to have Chaos, she wasn’t thrilled about the book.

“Do I have to read this?” She asked Martha.

Martha gave her an understanding look. She remembered her first days with Willow, and that book, and the weeks of trial and error that followed, but it was all worth it.

“You don’t have to read it; it’s not a sit down and turn the pages, kind of book.”

“What do you mean; what do I do with it then?” Perfidia’s suspicious nature kicked in; she didn't like surprises.

“I can only tell you, it’s different for everyone but you shouldn’t worry about it; once the book is satisfied with your progress, it will leave.”

At that moment, the book disappeared from Perfidia’s arms and she wondered if it had decided she didn’t need it but a second later, they heard several loud thuds from somewhere in the house.

“That’s just the book getting comfortable,” Martha assured her, knowing the book was looking for its perfect spot.

The Book had indeed made itself comfortable, on the top shelf of Perfidia’s bookcase, after it knocked several other books off the shelf in order to make that prime spot its own.

 

Chaos had been perusing his new home and had just sauntered into the kitchen. He surveyed the large, adequately stocked room with approval and was about to blink in a cat door out to the garden when he noticed, there already was one. Did another cat live here? He sniffed the air with curiosity and sensed a definite presence, but not of the common house cat variety; it was another familiar. That wouldn’t do; there could only be one.

Perfidia and Martha heard a loud, disgruntled meow from the kitchen and hurried to investigate. They found Chaos sitting regally in the middle of the room and his tail was tapping on the floor in an unhappy manner.

“Is something wrong?” Perfidia asked, walking over to the cat.

Chaos blinked and the cat door began to swing wildly in and out.

Perfidia turned to Martha. “I don’t get it; is there something about that door that upset him?”

“I think he senses Willow was here and he isn’t happy about that; there can only be one familiar in the house.”

“Cats really are finicky creatures aren’t they?” Perfidia mumbled, then turned back to Chaos to explain. “Willow is Martha’s cat, not mine and Willow added that cat door for her convenience when they’d visited.”

Chaos got up and sauntered over to the door in question and, with a blink, changed it to one he preferred. Then he leaped through it to investigate the garden.

Martha knew the rainbow delphiniums Willow had planted in Perfidia’s garden would soon be changed too.

“Is this going to be a lot of work?” Perfidia asked as she sat down at the kitchen table feeling exhausted.

Martha placed the large bag of pet items on the kitchen counter and picked up the tea kettle. “What if I make some tea, to help you relax?”

“I’m not sure even your best brew can do that.”

 Martha chuckled. “The first days with a familiar can be complicated but once you’ve adjusted to it, you’ll both be fine.”

Perfidia hoped so. She liked Chaos; she just wasn’t use to accommodating anyone but herself.

 *

Daphne walked into the room where the two caged cats should have been, and found only one cat in the cage and, seeing that lone cat, content and lounging on a feather bed she hadn’t provided, her temper exploded.

“Sahara, get in here!”

Daphne’s demanding voice reached the parrot’s delicate inner ears making the bird shiver and its feathers ruffled with anxiety as it reluctantly answered the call.

Sahara flew into the room and landed on her human’s shoulder.

“Squawk! What’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong is that cat is too happy in there; how did it get that feather bed and where’s the other cat? And why don’t I see those two sibling cats in here guarding the cage?”

Sahara looked around. It was true, the siblings were gone but she couldn’t blame them for fleeing; she’d run away too if she could, but of course she wouldn’t admit that to her human.

“Squawk! Should I look for them; Squawk!”

“Never mind; just bring that happy cat to my lab.”

The parrot titled its little head sure it hadn’t heard right. She didn’t have the power to move that cat anywhere.

“Squawk…?” Sahara had no words; she was befuddled with dread.

Willow opened her eyes and stared at the red head making the ridiculous demand of the ill equip bird.

“So you’re awake,” Daphne sneered at the cat.

Willow stretched languidly before sitting up but her tail tick-tocked a warning to the unwise human who’d caged her.

Daphne caught the menace in the cat’s eyes and took a step closer.

“You think you can take me on cat?”

Willow purred ominously low.

Daphne may have made the threat but she wasn’t foolish enough to step any closer. She knew better than to challenge the familiar’s powers, or goad the cat beyond the protected perimeter.

She smirked at the cat and turned away.

“Never mind bringing that cat; I’ll find another way to get what I want without any of those cats; we’ll just gather up a few dozen of your fine feathered friends.” Daphne told the parrot who’d flown to a safe distance when she’d challenged the cat.

“Enjoy your captivity cat,” she teased, before turning to leave the room.

A random blast of wind wrapped around her for a brief second but Daphne didn’t think much of it and told Sahara to find the open window and close it.

“Squawk, will do, squawk.” Sahara agreed, staring at the wild disarray of hair on top of her human’s head as she walked past.

She’d seen that cat conjure a small tornado and send it out of a small chink in the chain of the cage. It spun around her human and created a frizzled mess of red strands, they stuck out in odd angles everywhere on her head before it vanished.

Sahara wasn’t going to alert her human to her strange appearance but she was going to make sure all the mirrors were conveniently missing.

*

Avery had given the cat, Thistle, a safe, comfortable place to sleep, good food, tasty treats and still the cat wouldn’t comply with his request to join him and Max, to help them enter Daphne’s lair undetected. Their combined powers would have a stronger protection against those sibling cats and Daphne’s parrot familiar but the cat ignored his request, and him.

Max tried to befriend the feline but she didn’t trust Max any more than she trusted his human. She'd made her contempt of Max very clear, with well aimed bolts of electricity that managed, more times than not, to find Max’s hind quarters. Now Max refused to go anywhere near that prickly creature.

“That is one suspicious cat,” Avery told Max.

Max looked up from his dinner bowl and nodded his furry head in agreement but he couldn't have cared less about that cat. Now, if his human asked him to drop this troublesome cat back where it came from, he would do it in a single meow.

Avery sipped the strong coffee in his cup while he considered his options.

Daphne had found his previous location and taken all of his client files and disrupted his business but with the help of Thistle he’d already managed to move his location to an undetectable spot. A location Daphne could never find, but that was all Thistle would help him do. He believed she'd help him only because she’d wanted to be safe from Daphne too, and to that end, she’d given him access to an enchanted spot; but that was the extent of her helpful nature.

“Maybe we need Martha’s help with that cat; she does have a way with ornery felines. What do you think Max?”

Max gave his human a half-hearted meow and continued to eat; he had no interest in what Willow’s human could or couldn’t do with that cat!

Thistle ignored their conversation and settled down on the soft cat pillow and purred contentedly. She didn’t need to escape because she was in a safe haven and it had all the comforts and food she desired. Besides, she hadn’t known her sister cat, Willow, to have to put herself in danger to rescue her, but she did feel sorry for having helped to capture her. Still, Willow would have to find a way to escape without her help; she refused to go near that red headed human ever again.

*

Chaos was enjoying a cat nap under the field of sunflowers he’d planted in place of those dreary delphiniums when he was jolted awake by the sensation of being watched. He opened his eyes to find a strange purple and orange bird sitting on a tree branch above the sunflowers eyeing him with interest.

Chaos gauged the distance between them and was about to blink that tree branch into oblivion and ruffle that bird’s composure when it spoke.

“So that red head has a familiar, imagine that,” the bird said with a bewildered shake of its little feathered head.

Chaos didn’t like the bird’s attitude and was about to blink the bird into the next town when it flew away. He rolled over and watched the bird fly towards the house and land on the doorstep.

Chaos ran out from under the sunflowers, jumped through the cat door, raced through the rooms hearing a melodic song and skidded to a stop next to his human just as she opened the front door.

A man in a purple suit with an orange tie stood there and for a second Chaos was confused until he realized, it was that annoying bird, turned human.

“You again…?” Perfidia said with a saccharin smile just before a ring of fire formed around the man’s feet.

Robin gave a cursory look at the flames and sighed. “Is the other one here? I’d rather talk to her.”

Martha stepped from behind Perfidia.

“If Robin was sent here by Avery, he must have a message for us. I think you should release him.”

“I suppose,” Perfidia acquiesced with a shrug and blew out the flames.

“Thank you,” Robin said to Martha and handed her a blank card.

“Hey I blew out the flames,” Perfidia reminded him, “and isn’t that message for me too?”

Robin continued to look at Martha as he spoke. “Avery would like you both to meet with him,” he said, then looked down at the cat that was giving him a threatening glare and added, “and since you’ve a new familiar in your midst, you should bring it too,” he suggested before turning back into a bird and flying away, with a speed that created a purple and orange blur.

Perfidia looked at the blank card in Martha’s hand. “Where's Avery’s new location?”

“Let’s see,” Martha said and turned the card in her hand over twice. The information appeared immediately but when she read the location, her eyes widened in shock.

“I don’t believe this!”

“Why? Where is it?” Perfidia asked.

“He’s made his new home in my meadow,” Martha told her with disbelief in her eyes.

Perfidia wanted to know how he’d managed that. “I thought only Willow or you could let someone in?”

Martha didn’t respond; she stared at the bird flying away and wished she’d left Perfidia’s ring of fire around it, and asked for more details.

“Martha? Are you okay?”

She looked at Perfidia and shook her head. “No, not at the moment, but I’ll be better with some answers, so let’s go.”

Perfidia looked down at Chaos who was looking up at her. “What do you think; it might be interesting; do you want to come along?” she asked the cat.

Chaos gave a cat shrug of indifference but added an affirmative meow. He may not have cared for that bird’s request that he join them, but he did want to see what was so special about a meadow.