Sandy Morrison and the Pack of Pussies

Chapter 18

Sandy opened her bag, smiling at the collection of clothing in the bottom of her bag. She was down to only one outfit. During her “road trip,” most of her possessions had either been burned or stained, and yet, she’d always managed to recollect her bag and put on another set of clothes to ruin.

As she pulled on the faded jeans and navy blue shirt, she considered the results of Donald’s mediating efforts. No truce had been declared, but Sandy would not be moving to a coven. Instead, Vanessa would remain with Sandy to train her. Donald would also serve as a trainer, and given Sandy’s unique nature, Vanessa could readily agree that the witches didn’t have a proper claim of ownership to determine her fate. She could not be a part of the coven unless she wanted it for herself. Since she didn’t, Donald agreed to declare her a warlock for legal purposes.

This compromise worked for Darin and the other council elders. Darin had been the wounded Manx cat, and he’d been conscious to hear Todd’s refusal to kill him in cold blood. He recognized how Sandy had been taught better by her parents, and he’d misread Velma’s intentions.

Like Vanessa and Sandy, Darin also professed guilt for Velma’s death. Between Darin, Vanessa and Sandy, there was plenty of blame to share. Each tried to take on the full burden, and each insisted that the others shouldn’t bear the full weight of the crime.

A truce had not been reached, but the accord brokered by Donald would open the door to a truce offer in the future.

Sandy would stay in New Orleans, outside the area of influence of the werecats or Vanessa’s coven. Which would mean going to a new school where no one knew her past. But it would also mean being unable to see Maggie, or any of her friends. Trisha would be returning home, had already called her parents and concocted a story of being abducted and transported to Louisiana. She’d requested airfare home, but her parents were flying to pick her up. With a bit of help from Vanessa and Donald to shore up her story, Trisha would be able to get back to a semblance of normal life.

Sandy would too, and would even be able to approach her new classmates without fear of her past catching up with her. She could almost feel cheerful about it, but the move meant losing contact with Maggie and Leon, who had done so much to support her and build her confidence. It meant losing contact with Kyle and Trisha, and this felt horribly unfair. She hadn’t expected to feel so much for either of them in such a short amount of time, but the idea of being separated hurt her chest like a pair of stab wounds.

The door opened, and Sandy glanced around, nodding to Vanessa. “The cats are ready to leave?” she guessed.

“Yes, but Maggie and Leon are asking for you.”

Sandy followed her aunt down the stairs and into the foyer. Kyle was hugging Maggie as she started down the steps, but he stepped back, offering his hand to Leon next.

“Thanks for watching my back out there,” Kyle said.

Leon smiled as he clasped Kyle’s hand. “Thank you for taking care of Sandy. If you hadn’t gotten her out in time...”

Sandy spoke up, saying, “Maybe it’s best not to think of the worst now that it’s in the past.”

Both of the guys turned to look at her, and then Leon nodded. “Yes, you’re right.”

Sandy smiled at Kyle. “You aren’t going with them?”

“No, I’m riding back to Austin with Ray and Darlene.” Kyle’s smile warmed. “I wanted to spend more time with you and Trisha before we have to split up.”

From the top of the stairs, Trisha said, “Oh good, I thought I was the only one being sappy.” She clomped down the stairs, capturing Sandy’s hand as she passed by on the steps. Sandy followed after Trisha, and they went first to Maggie for a group hug. Trisha leaned back and said, “You can get in on this too, Leon. This might be your only chance to cop a free feel of my butt.”

Leon chuckled and moved in to join the group hug.

“Firm,” Leon said, causing everyone to laugh.

Maggie said, “Actually, that was my butt.”

“I know, but it’s the butt I prefer.”

“Good answer,” Maggie said. She laughed, and then let go of a sigh when her gaze settled on Sandy. “So, this is goodbye.”

“It’s goodbye for now,” Sandy said. “You can write to me. I’ll still have the same email address, right?”

“Yeah, good point.” Maggie hugged Sandy again. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Sandy said, squeezing Maggie tighter.

Leon replaced her, and his voice was a husky whisper as he stroked the back of her cropped hair. “You be careful, your hear?”

“Yeah,” Sandy said, swallowing a lump as she backed away.

Maggie and Leon left, and Vanessa wandered off to the kitchen, leaving Kyle and Trisha in the hall with Sandy.

Nothing was said to decide their direction, yet they moved to the front door on unspoken agreement, watching on as the vans full of cats crunched out of the driveway and sped away to begin their journey home.

The trio sat on the porch steps, staring at the empty road long after the vans had gone.

Trisha said, “I haven’t made any definite college plans yet.”

Sandy looked at Trisha, trying to deduce her line of logic. Then she recalled their earlier talk and shrugged. “I’ve still go two years of high school to worry about. Really, you should go where you want. Once I learn the counter spell to remove the charm, it probably won’t matter as much anyway, right?”

Trisha pouted and looked away. “Maybe it might.”

Kyle said, “It’s hard to say what the future will hold, but the important thing is, none of us will have to hide or live in fear of our futures.”

Trisha’s head swiveled back around as she looked at Kyle. After a moment of silence she nodded. “Okay, you’re right. We shouldn’t be sad. We’re all safe, and Sandy will get training to keep her safe from her powers.” Trisha draped her arm over Sandy’s back. “But I’m still going to miss you.”

Sandy smiled and turned to hug Trisha. “I’m going to miss you too.”

“And hey, maybe after you lift the charm, I’ll still have the hots for you.” Sandy smiled, but said nothing. Which made Trisha pout and lean her head to the right. “You don’t care one way or the other?”

“Of course I care. I just don’t want to get my hopes up.”

Trisha smiled. “Yeah, cause losing all this hotness would be a major tragedy.”

Kyle snickered and reached over to pat Trisha’s back. “We’ll miss you too, bitch.”