Magic Cat Academy: The Adventures of Momo

The Connection

Momo had a connection with the dead.

She knew, because she could talk to the ghouls of the Ghost House and Muffin the Dead Sorcerer, and she could almost feel their ghostly touch whenever she came back injured and they tried their best to heal her. She had a connection with the dead because she found solace in the dead of night, gazing at the moon and stars in solitude and, despite the chilly winds and her yearning for warmth, it felt so true. So, so true, as if it was meant to be like this, her wishing upon an unmoving sky for a life.

She never knew that many years later, she would find herself in a picture same yet different still - a foreign sky that she might call home regardless, with a star descended from a dream both young and archaic who was willing to answer her pleas, even if it meant for the star's glow to flicker so immensely. It would scare her to no end, but the star - oh how that presence may ground her to the present so steadily amidst the blinding darkness - would be the zenith of life, shining on resiliently no matter what.

Momo knew she had a connection with the dead, because she had been so close to death way too many times. Because the first spell she had ever learnt in her life was to summon a ghost...

Maybe that's why she couldn't find anything "magical" at all in Magic Theory. She was already half dead, walking the fine line between the two states - she presumed.

Peppy and Oliver, on the contrary, did very well. They both claimed to have done that before during their wild times, with the fox having to concentrate whenever she set up a particularly tricky trap and the dog mustering his utmost might to protect Baxter from time to time. She congratulated them, all the while internally chastising herself for her own incompetence.

I shouldn't be here. Spoke a voice inside her head. She tried to dismiss it, but it kept coming back and back and each time sounding even more convincing. The new students didn't help. Of course their parents would've warned them about unreined sorcerers, so the trash-talking behind her back, the hostile glances, and the occasional shrieks calling them "beasts lurking in our midst" were expected. She was already used to that. But here, she couldn't run. Unlike her times on the street, she couldn't just turn her back and leave to never return.

In truth, she always could, but she couldn't bear to think about how disappointed Goldiha would be once she did. She wanted to turn back on her own words, but she couldn't find herself to. "Lingering ties" - Momo dubbed the feeling as. She had ignored Muffin's warnings and crossed the river. She realized way too late that she had long grown out of her old habits despite her instinct still being active. Now, the black cat was stuck in a society she could neither fit in nor escape. She had to either leave one many a dear one behind or let herself suffer.

That was why she took on the second-best option: the Creek. Ever since that late November day, she had been frequenting the place whenever she could. Either that or the higher stories of the Library Tower, since the lower ones had a common space and reading rooms where many children would spend their evenings doodling, or teenagers trying to figure out their homework, she made herself as invisible as possible as soon as she left the day's lessons.

And then, she thought, perhaps her life was made of opposites now - the same substance that made human relations so complicated. She wanted to run, she wanted to stay. She wanted to not ever be seen, but she appreciated a few eyes on her. Mr.Valre, her Morals teacher, for instance, often tossed her a mysterious white pack every other day when she was last to exit his classroom, mouthing something like 'Harley'. The Librarian later patiently explained to her, with her ever-cold eyes behind thick glasses, that those were heat packs, meant to be popped and kept in her pocket whenever she venture out for extra warmth. Juliana also never failed her weekly visits with rare treats specific for each of them. Jack, being an animated pumpkin lantern, had wicks and matches, since he had to instead burn on vegetables and cooking oil for the rest of the week. At the very least, this lack of care in their diets was justifiable, because the Academy's students were mostly humans, who actually enjoyed their meals.