Shadow's Edge (Shadows Saga bk1)

Chapter 3- The Right Decision

Mara’s face began to feel warm and the entire kitchen turned into a swirling mass of colors as her vision began to darken. Unable to keep upright, Mara fell from the stool, crashing to the kitchen floor.

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Mara blinked hard, shutting her eyes tightly against the blinding lights of the living room. She sat up on the large floral print couch disoriented, seeing her cat’s large yellow-green eyes just inches from her face.

“Are you going to stay with me now, or are you going to pass out again?” There was a hint of mockery leaking through Sasha’s voice.

Mara screamed and jumped off the couch, sliding to a painful, crashing halt on the wooden floor.

“Get that thing out of here! I don’t want to see it. Lock it in the bathroom or something I don’t care. Just get it away from me.”

“Now excuse me,” Sasha said aghast. “I have been with you through everything, all of those families and homes. You have always talked to me, come to me for comfort, and now when I finally talk back you scream and push me away? What if cats screamed when humans talked? How would that make all of you humans feel? When I found you in that alley, I saved you. I saved you from years of being alone, and now you’re turning away from me?”

Sasha kept shouting, lashing out at Mara with her words, thoroughly enraged by Mara’s reaction toward her. Sasha had waited years in hopes of finally being able to talk to Mara, to finally be able to partake in the conversation and help Mara when she was feeling sad. She hadn’t wanted to be silent all those years, but she had no other choice at the time. Sasha had been forced into silence until they were certain Mara was indeed a witch.

Natalie sighed and went to pick Sasha up, but she had unleashed her claws, imbedding them deep into the arm of the chair. She fought Natalie every step of the way.

“Come on now Sasha, Mara needs space, she needs time to adjust. And you are ruining my couch,” Natalie said calmly yet firmly trying to get the cat to retract her claws. When she had finally detached Sasha from the couch, she hissed and growled all the way up the stairs.

Mara had a hard time identifying the horrid sound that came from the mouth of that cat. It was so animalistic and yet, so human. It made her cringe.

Sasha continued to screech and yell at both Natalie and Mara, even after she was long out of sight. Sasha was enraged, it was her duty to help Mara through this time. It was part of the reason Sasha had been sent to her. She was supposed to be the one to explain the new world Mara was about to step into, and yet there she was, being put off to the side. Unwanted.

Mara closed her eyes and covered her ears trying to flush out the sound of her cat’s voice from her mind. Sasha had been with Mara since she was seven years old. She had found the kitten all alone an alley near her uncle’s house at the time. That cat had saved Mara as much as she had saved it. Sasha had gone everywhere with Mara, she had gone to all the different homes. They had never been separated; Mara would never have let that happen.

Had Sasha really gone down that alley on purpose knowing that Mara would have wandered down there, as she implied had happened? The only thing Mara knew was that she couldn’t handle what that cat had turned into. No, it wasn’t what Sasha had turned into; it was what she had always been. Sasha was, and always had been a talking cat.

It was the proof that magic really did exist, and that thought scared Mara. If magic could really exist, then she could really be a witch. If that was true, then perhaps her aunt had told the truth, and she had been the one to cause all of the accidents.

Natalie went back down the stairs alone and held her hands out in an offering to help Mara up from the ground. Mara looked up into the brown eyes of her aunt and shrugged her off, getting up on her own. “I don’t need your help. I’m fine,” her voice was armed with ice.