"Willow's Missing Tail" 7

The sun was setting on this very strange day as they pulled into Martha’s driveway.

“Here take this,” Perfidia said and handed Martha a flashlight, then took another from her car’s glove box before closing the car door. “Don’t worry, wherever Avery’s set up house in your meadow Martha, we’ll find him.” Perfidia promised.

Chaos jumped out from the car’s open back window and followed his human and the other one through the gate that led into the garden.

“I don’t understand how he entered the meadow without permission.” Martha complained as she stepped under the weeping willow’s branches.

“And that will be the first question we ask him,” Perfidia suggested as she followed her.

Chaos watched his human and the other one slip under the hanging branches of a willow tree but he couldn’t imagine why they’d need to hide under the tree. He took a cautious peek around the garden looking for the danger but saw no threat. He slunk closer to the tree and peeked under the hanging branches and his suspicion turned to amazement.

The open portal led to an enormous meadow filled with giant trees and blooming wild flowers; it was a cat’s delight. He ran into the meadow and a butterfly fluttered near him. He lifted a paw to playfully slap at it and caused the butterfly to flutter away. His cat smile widened as he chased it, but his human called to him and regrettably he had to answer.

“This way Chaos.” Perfidia waved him over.

Chaos took one last, playful swipe at the butterfly before he ran to catch up with his human.

“Does that card show you where he put his residence?” Perfidia asked Martha.

Martha held her flashlight over the card and shook her head. “Not really; the X is over the entire meadow.”

“So we'll have to search for it?”

“Looks that way.”

“Great, we’ll be stumbling around here for hours,” Perfidia said and then she looked at Chaos as she added, “I wish we had a map to follow.”

The Chaos gave his human a slight nod and then blinked.

Perfidia turned back to Martha and suggested with a sly smile, “Why don’t you try turning that card over and see if it gives us another clue.”

Martha turned the card over and to her surprise, a map with an arrow appeared on it.

She smiled at Perfidia and acknowledged the help. “Chaos is a talented familiar.”

“Yes, he is…so now, which way do we go?”

“The arrow's pointing us in a north easterly direction.”

“Then we should go.” Perfidia stated.

The three followed the ever changing arrow as it took them deeper into Martha’s meadow. It led them through a forest of fossilized roots that lay beneath the earth where prehistoric plants had once thrived. It was where the rarest of Martha's plants resided. Martha warned them to step gingerly through the area, careful not to disturb the plants that flourished there. Then the arrow suddenly turned and directed them onto a narrow path and to the spot that mathed the x on the map.

“According to the map we’re here, but I don’t see anything,” Martha said shining her flashlight ove the area, but nothing was revealed in the light.

Chaos stepped gingerly over to the area to investigate and his whiskers began to twitch. His curious meow got his human’s attention.

“I think Chaos found something,” Perfidia said and and walked over to the cat.

“Chaos certainly did.” Martha smiled at the cat.

“Of course he did,” Perfidia grinned at Chaos with pride.

Chaos may have found it but he wasn’t sure he trusted it. His whiskers danced wildly as he eyed the strange, almost invisible, doorway. He slunk closer with caution and sbiffed but he didn’t detect any scent of trouble.

“I think we should go in,” Perfidia said, ready to confront Avery.

“I'd agree but have you noticed the door has no door knob?” Martha informed her.

Perfidia stepped closer when the door suddenly swung inward and a familiar figure stood framed in the doorway.

“Welcome,” Robin said to the trio hovering at the entrance.

“You again…?” Perfidia smirked at the man-bird.

“Yes, it’s me again,” Robin said with a mocking smile, “and as much as I’d rather not see you again…Avery is waiting for you both.”

“And we can’t wait to see him either,” remarked Perfidia with an unfriendly chuckle.

Robin shook his bird head and grumbled, “Please, follow me.”

Martha and Perfidia disappeared into the dark hall way with Robin but Chaos didn’t follow his human into that dark entryway; instead, he sat down outside the open entry and decided to protect them from out there.

Robin led Martha and Perfidia into a large living area where Avery was sitting comfortably on a couch and sipping what appeared to be brandy.

“I’m glad you’re both here,” Avery said putting down his drink as he stood up and walked over to them.

Martha surveyed her meadow framed in his large picture window and her expression was less than friendly. “We’re here but the question is-”

“How are you here?” Perfidia finished Martha’s question, earning a look of surprise from Martha and Avery.

“How do you mean that, Perfidia?” Avery asked with counterfeit innocence; knowing exactly how she’d meant it.

“This is Martha’s Meadow and she didn’t let you in so, how are you here?” She emphasized her words with accusation and enjoyed the annoyance that appeared on his face.

Avery frowned at her then turned his attention to Martha.

“This is a splendid piece of real estate Martha,” he complimented, offering her a genuine smile. “Its invisibility and closed access are a touch of sheer brilliance.”

“That’s all true,” Martha allowed his compliment but she wasn’t placated. “It is an unusual space and, as you stated Avery, not accessible unless invited. So now I’m asking you, how are you here?”

Avery didn’t take any offense at her query, he understood her concern. His wide smile even included Perfidia as he responded. “That’s due to an interesting twist I need to tell you about.”

“And we’re interested to hear it,” Martha stated blandly, clearly not amused.

Avery chuckled and tried again to dispel her mistrust.

“Martha; you can trust me; your meadow has not been breached…well not entirely. Please sit down and I’ll explain.”

When Martha and Perfidia sat down he began his explanation.

“You already know of Willow’s sibling, Thistle.”

“Yes,” Martha nodded.

“And of course you’d assume she’d have a genetic makeup close to Willow’s.”

Martha nodded again.

“Well, I discovered it was close enough to allow us access to this meadow.”

“That is questionable but even so, how would you know to test that theory here? When you couldn’t have known my meadow existed?” Martha asked.

“True and I didn’t know of its existence.”

“Then how did you find it?” Martha asked drolly.

“I was on my way to your house, with Thistle. I was going to ask for you help to convince Thistle to help us.”

“If you needed my help why didn’t you call me?”

“I needed your in person help and Thistle was compliant with taking the trip to your house, until we arrived here. Then she ran under that willow tree in your garden and when Max and I followed her, the rest is self explanatory.”

“That’s not possible; the magic of one familiar is not transferred to another,” Martha insisted, “Even Thistle couldn’t have entered without Willow.”

“Then how would you explain this?”

Martha frowned; she had no alternate reasoning to offer and the fact that they had entered was apparent. Thistle’s relation to Willow did seem to be the only explanation.

“I was surprised too Martha,” Avery noted kindly, “But you have to admit, once I was here; it was too perfect a gift not to take advantage of. Daphne can’t find me and now we can form a plan to save Willow and stop Daphne’s attempts to ruin me.”

“I understand your reasons for taking up residence but-”

“But she doesn’t understand your lack of etiquette,” Perfidia interjected, crossing her arms in judgment.

Avery shot Perfidia a look of annoyance but he understood she was defending Martha’s rights.

“You’re absolutely right Perfidia,” he agreed with a sharp nod and offered his apology to Martha. “I’m sorry if I took advantage of the moment and yes, I should have asked for your permission first but time was essential. If it’s any consolation, I now know where Daphne is keeping Willow, and we can rescue her.”

“You know where she is?” Martha’s eyes lit with hope.

“I do.” Avery said as he picked up the large manila envelope from the coffee table. He opened it up and partially lifted several pictures from within. He handed the top one to Martha.

“What’s that?” Perfidia asked as she stood up and walked over to Martha.

“It’s a picture of the building Daphne rented in the industrial area,” Avery answered, “and it’s where she’s keeping Willow.”

“How did you get this?” Martha asked staring at the picture of a three-story, red brick building.

“Once Max returned-”

“What?” Perfidia interrupted him, “Max is back with you and he left Willow behind? Her eyes accused him of a crime and she looked around for Chaos, thinking of teaching him a lesson in loyalty; she needed her familiar to do that.

Martha wasn’t pleased either but she tried to calm the situation.

“I don’t like that Willow was left behind Perfidia but I’m sure Avery intends to get her back. So let’s hear him out.”

Max heard his name called and slunk into the room. He assessed the hostility coming from the red haired human as he sat down next to his human and quickly built a wall of resistance around them both.

Perfidia eyed Max with a threatening look.“You’d better be planning to go back and get Willow.”

“I promise we’re working on a plan.” Avery defended his cat returning Perfidia’s obstinate look with one of his own.

“Working on one,” Perfidia scoffed with a smirk, “Well in that case, just for added incentive to work on it, you should know that if I have to present you both to Daphne tied with a bow to get Willow back, I’ll do it.”

The anger simmered in the room and Martha sighed knowing her job would be to diffuse the situation; she wished she’d had the forethought to bring some calming tea leaves with her.

We need to remain calm and plan on how to get Willow back.” Martha insisted.

Avery eyed Perfidia with irritation but tried to reason with her.

“Max didn’t plan on leaving Willow behind. He’d captured Thistle and brought her to me so we could combine strengths, and defeat Daphne. Besides, you both know, Willow is capable of defending herself.”

“What I know is that you’ve left her there and for what, a cat, who is not Willow, and some pictures?” Perfidia accused and grabbed the envelope from Avery’s hands. “What else do you have in here?” She asked as she opened the flap and pulled out the rest of photos.

“More reconnaissance pictures,” he said with a shrug.

“Lovely, let’s have a look at them.”

“I think tempers are getting out of line and being anger at each other isn’t going to help us,” Martha warned, trying to calm those tempers.

Perfidia frowned but agreed. “Okay, I’m sorry I overreacted so…can we look at the rest of these photos?”

“Please do.” Avery said amicably.

The next picture was another angle of the building showing the entrance and Perfidia scoffed. “Did she buy a factory?”

“No, it was converted to loft apartments but Daphne rented the entire building,” Avery told her.

“Why would she need an entire building of lofts?” Martha inquired.

“I’d say it was to keep her activity secret.” Avery suggested.

Perfidia dropped the picture onto the coffee table to reveal the next one.

Martha stepped next to her and looked over her shoulder, and gasped. The picture had been taken through a window and looking through it was an outline of a cage. She could see an grainy image of a cat sitting in the cage. Martha knew it was Willow.

“How did you get this one?” Martha asked swallowing tears of concern for her feline friend.

Avery’s tone softened as he explained. “Robin is pretty good with a camera; he was able to take that through a window.”

“Adorable talent,” Perfidia scoffed, her anger returning, “So why couldn’t that bird man of yours free Willow instead of taking pictures?”

“Because Daphne has a parrot for a familiar; it secured the perimeter. Robin couldn’t breach it so he gave us what he could, clues to her abode. We can see what we’re up against and with Max's and, if we can persuade her, Thistle's combined powers we could disable it.”

“Perfidia has a familiar now too,” Martha offered the information.

“Does she?” Avery looked at her with surprised respect. Familiars didn’t pick just anyone.

“Yes I do; would you like to meet him?”

“I would.”

“Chaos,” Perfidia called to her cat.

“His name is Chaos?” Avery asked, but somehow he wasn’t surprised Chaos would be her familiar's name.

Chaos was still guarding the strange doorway when he heard his human’s voice call to him. He turned and cautiously entered following her voice to a large room. 

Chaos found his human but he also found a wall of resistance encircling the male human and the other familiar in the room.

“Interesting,” Chaos thought as he sat down next to his human and eyed the other cat with a challenge. The he double blinked and a similar, but stronger, wall of resistance now protected himself and his human.

“Impressive talent,” Avery nodded; “Would he be willing to help us?”

“I’m sure he will,” answered Perfidia, earning a grumble from Chaos so she quickly added,” As long as we ask him, nicely.”

“I’m sure every familiar will help us, but we'll need to know what Daphne is up to. We need a successful plan,” Martha insisted.

“You’re right,” Perfidia agreed as she put the picture of Willow down on the table to reveal the last picture. It was a woman looking out of the window.

“Who’s this?” Perfidia asked handing the picture to Avery.

“That’s Daphne,” he said, staring into the eyes of the woman who had a way of worrying him.

Martha looked over at the photo and noticed something familiar about the woman’s face.

“You know, Daphne kind of resembles…,” Martha began but left it unsaid, eyeing Perfidia with speculation.

“What...resembles who?” Perfidia asked, frustrated that Martha hadn’t finished her thought.

“Well, have a look and see what you think,” Martha insisted, taking the picture from Avery and handed it to Perfidia.

Perfidia studied it for a second before her eyes widened with recognition.

“This is Daphne?” Perfidia's voice squeaked with disbelief as she asked Avery.

“Yes, what are you both seeing?”

“Well for one thing, I don’t see a Daphne; I see a Priscilla,” Perfidia informed him drolly.

“Who’s Priscilla?”

“My cousin,” Perfidia answered with a disgusted smirk.

“Your cousin, your cousin is Daphne?!” Avery repeated in a thunderous voice.

“Yes and by the way, she was always making up new names; she hated her name since childhood and she loved all the names in Greek mythology.”

“You’re not joking with me are you Perfidia? Daphne is truly your cousin?” Avery asked.

“You didn’t see the resemblance?” Martha asked him, taking the photo from Perfidia and holding it up next to her face.

Avery stared at the likeness. It was uncanny, they had the same shade of red hair, same pert little nose but the shape of the mouth and color of their eyes were different.

Avery gave Perfidia a half smile. “Now I know why I wasn’t fond of you when we met Perfidia. I guess it was a prejudgment I wasn’t aware of.”

“Forget it; I didn’t like you either and I have no previous reason but then again, maybe that’s not true. I wasn’t fond of those havocs you played on us.”

“It wasn’t personal; it was my job.”

“I suppose," she shrugged, "Anyway, in the end, it did work out for all of us so…maybe I can forgive you.”

“And maybe I can judge you for you, and not for who you resemble.”

“Hey, she resembles me; I was born first,” Perfidia clarified.

“Okay enough; you’re both going to act civil to each other so we can move on to helping Willow, right?” Martha insisted. They nodded and she continued, “So when was the last time you saw your cousin?”

“I haven’t seen her since the summer we were ten. Her dad was my dad’s brother but after my dad died, we didn’t see Priscilla or her mother. Our mother’s didn’t really get along so, even though we’d been close as cousins, we drifted apart too. Shortly after my dad died, we moved and I don’t think my mom gave my Aunt Carla our new address but I did write to Priscilla to give it to her, only my letter came back unopened.”

“Do you think it’s possible these havocs are connected to you, and not Avery?” Martha asked.

“I don’t know but if it is Pris, I’m less worried she’ll hurt Willow but I am curious to know her reason for breaking into my store.”

“You think she knew it was your store?” Martha asked with interest.

“I guess there’s a chance she didn’t,” Perfidia said dropping the picture of Daphne/Priscilla onto the coffee table but she couldn’t help wondering, what her cousin was truly up to?