I waited in the car while the girls made a quick pitstop at one of those twenty-four-hour grocery stores they had peppered all about the city.
To justify leaving me behind, they claimed they’d be fast and didn’t want to waste any time trying to explain my presence to the workers or other customers. Frankly, it didn’t matter to me if I got lots of steak and tuna out of the deal. Maybe chicken, too, while I was at it.
Of course, I fell asleep while they were inside, and then as soon as we got home, I planted myself firmly on my favorite bookshelf and went right back to sleep.
“C’mon, old boy.” Kaye woke me up by lifting me from the bookshelf and carrying me toward the kitchen. “Come eat breakfast. We gotta get back out to the sales.”
I grumbled and complained, but even I knew she was right. The objects our exposer had cursed so far had been more irritating than dangerous, but the tide could change at any moment. Instead of cursing at the humans, that mirror could’ve cursed them. Now that would have been much trickier to undo.
“I don’t understand why there isn’t a magical way to track this guy,” I moped as Kaye set me down on the kitchen table. “What’s the point of having magic if we can’t even use it to find one teensy, tiny bad guy?”
Kaye sighed and dropped a helping of scrambled eggs onto a plate in front of me.
Oh, yum. I snagged a lump of edible gold with one claw and jammed it into my mouth. “Fanks,” I mumbled as an afterthought.
Amy winked at me and got up to pour drinks.
“I’ve got the two objects in my room with an automatic scrying spell set on them,” Kaye explained as she picked at her food. “I was hoping that by leaving that mirror intact, it would help me find our guy, but so far, no dice.”
“Why isn’t it working, do you think?” Amy asked as she poured milk for herself and water for me.
Milk didn’t agree with my belly. We’d learned that early on. Yet another thing humans got wrong about cats.
Kaye cocked her head and watched me as I gulped down another helping of eggs. “I suspect our exposer never actually made physical contact with the items. They reek of his magic but won’t track back to him.”
Amy nodded as if Kaye’s suggestion made perfect sense.
It didn’t to me. Magic had a feel, a distinct flavor. If I ran into the guy, I’d be able to smell his magic. For instance, Kaye’s signature felt like… comfort. Like kindness.
“What we really need is something that belongs to this guy. Something he’s touched, bonded with,” Kaye said as she set a few sausage links in front of me and began cutting them up into bite-sized pieces.
“It could be a girl, you know,” Amy pointed out with a shrug. “I mean, why are we all assuming our mark is a man?”
“That’s a fair point,” I admitted before dropping the other shoe. “Except the magic we’re dealing with feels masculine.”
“How does magic feel a certain gender?” Kaye asked as she narrowed her eyes on me.
“No, he’s right,” Amy said after a moment. “Now that Moss mentions it, the magic does feel masculine.”
Kaye grunted. “Must be something shifters can sense because magic feels like magic to me. There are as many different flavors as there are people who use it.”
“Well, whatever the case, I don’t believe we’re looking for a witch,” Amy said as she drifted toward the kitchen. “Hey. Where’s the bread?”
“Oh,” I called. “It’s here.”
It was still in a bag on the table where they’d left it when we came in early this morning. I reached my head into the grocery bag and tugged at the packaged loaf with my teeth, but it was far heavier than I’d expected.
“Argh.” I grunted before spitting out the plastic. “Sorry, I can’t get it.”
“Thanks, Moss.” Amy patted my back and took the bread from me, lifting it out of the bag.
I tried to move away from the bag so that I could get back to my delicious breakfast, but I couldn’t budge. Panic flared in my gut, but I was just being silly. I simply had to turn my head and…
And I couldn’t!
Okay. What was happening here, and why was no one helping me?
I sat quiet and listened. Amy was busy putting bread in the toaster, and Kaye had left the table. Perhaps to go to the bathroom.
I could do this on my own. I could get out of this perilous plastic predicament.
I angled my gaze down. It appeared I’d stuck my head through the bag’s handle instead of going through the hole.
I attempted to pull my head back slowly, but pressure on my neck kept me from moving.
Oh, no.
No!
I had to get out of this bag. It was going to suffocate me. I’d die before I ever got back to my human body. No way, I couldn’t go out like this.
I had to... I had to… Move my butt. If I couldn’t move my head, perhaps I could move my butt.
I wiggled and wriggled. And fell straight off the table, bag and all.
No, I would not be dying today!
I took off running with a janky gait. One of my front legs was also trapped in the bag. I was flying blind here. All the while the bag crunched loudly, hurting my ears, and startling my senses.
My instincts went wild. Adrenaline poured through me, pushing me to move faster, to go farther.
And then I was in Kaye’s bedroom. I darted under the bed, panting, crying, pleading for my life.
“Moss?” Amy called out with a slight chuckle.
I could just make out her feet in the doorway. I needed help, but I refused to be a punchline. “It’s not funny!”
“I’m sorry I laughed,” she cooed softly. “Come out from under the bed and let me help.”
I took a deep breath—or at least as deep of one as I could give my unwanted face covering—and began to creep out from under the bed.
Slowly, slowly.
And I was stuck. Snagged on something. Perhaps the bed frame.
It spooked me, and I jerked forward using all my strength. I shot forward, but the bag stayed behind.
Freedom. Relief. Sweet success!
Amy stooped toward the ground with her arms wide open, and I made a beeline for her.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered soothingly as I rested my head on her shoulder and my heart whomped a million miles a minute. “It’s all okay now.”
“That was horrific,” I managed to say between pants. “It nearly killed me.”
She chuckled softly as we walked back down the hall, but I chose to ignore that. The whole incident had been mortifying enough without adding embarrassment to the mix.
One thing was for certain, though. I had to work on being a bit smoother, or I’d never have a chance with her once I was human again.
Cat me was turning out to be a ball-buster.
Sometimes I really hated that guy.