Bewitchling

A Familiar Place(2)

CHAPTER 2: A Familiar Place

The noise from downstairs had finally dimmed down to nothing. Kat looked at her watch, 'Crap, it's 11:37 and I have to go to church tomorrow morning', she thought to herself. "Are you finally ready? I just checked downstairs, both of your parents are asleep." Claire said impatiently. Claire had made Kat pack the book and some blankets to wrap it in her school backpack. Kat nodded her head and made her way downstairs. She grabbed a key, to let herself back in once she was done. Claire floated her way downstairs and went right through the front door. Once Kat had quietly locked the door behind her, she and Claire started their walk.

"So where exactly are we going?" Kat asked her ghost friend. Claire didn't answer her. "Well, you could at least tell me where we're heading to." Kat persisted. Claire stopped dead in her tracks, she turned toward a thick tree line and started walking in that direction.

"Hurry up, Lady Katherine. We have almost reached our destination." Claire whispered. Kat shivered, but not from the cold, she knew that there had to be a good reason for a ghost to whisper in the loud pounding of the rain. Kat decided that what the dead feared she should fear too.

The trees provided some cover from the rain. Kat looked around cautiously, in case there was some kind of wild animal hiding in the bushes. Soon the trees thinned again, and the two girls came to a clearing with a small, old, beat up shack. Claire motioned Kat to follow then she walked right through the wall. Kat gingerly pulled on the door as to not make a sound, but the door screeched loudly the instant she touched it. She opened it enough for her to squeeze herself through and she found herself inside the rundown shack with about fifty other animals with her. Kat gaped at the masses of cats, dogs, birds, bats, and even lizards that had all swarmed around her. Kat desperately searched for Claire, but her ghostly friend was nowhere to be seen.

"Tell them your name." Claire's familiar voice had made Kat snap out of her paralysis. Kat noticed that all of the animals were sitting down and staring at her.

"Ummm, my name is Katherine Orcen." Kat said nervously. She didn't talk very much in school, so hordes of animals staring at her was no different from a classroom filled with judging eyes.

"She needs one of you to teach her. She has raw talent that attracted unwanted attention, thus Eve was sent to save this child. Examine her closely, and you shall decide if noble Eve's sacrifice was worth it." Claire said calmly and coldly to all the animals. Kat had absolutely no idea what her friend was talking about. Two cats stepped forward, an old spotted and stiped bronze colored she-cat and a small silver spotted and striped kitten, as the two walked forward all of the other animals started growling and hissing. Claire smiled, "So you will teach her until what little time of your life has gone?" The bronze she-cat nodded her skinny head. "And what of your daughter, will she devote her life too? I would reckon that you intend for her to be Lady Katherine's partner." The bronze cat nodded once more. "Then it's settled. Come on Lady Katherine, get out those blankets, you're going to carry those two home." Kat pulled the blankets out of her backpack and carefully unwrapped them from the book, with the book exposed all animals ceased their hissing and growling. Kat gently put the book back in her backpack and then carefully wrapped the two cats in the blanket, and proceeded to walk out the door.

"I am pleased that the Egyptian Mau selected you. She used to belong to Eve, which is very good for you." Claire said once they had reached the tree line again.

"Egyptian what?" Kat asked.

"Egyptian Mau is the breed of cat. The bronze colored cat's name is Femi, which is Egyptian for love." Claire said.

"What about the small one?" Kat asked her knowledgeable friend.

"She is currently a nameless. You will give her a name later." Claire said. Kat properly examined the two cats. Femi was really skinny, she was missing patches of fur in some spots, and had a scratch that went across her eye. The silver kitten was also skinny, but she looked like she was in perfect health. Kat concluded that these were the prettiest cats she had ever seen in her life.