Marvela Mystic | ✔️

Chapter 13 ✨ A Simple Spell

Golden beams of morning light poured forth through the pale boughs of the aspen trees.

The day was just beginning. The creatures of Grudgewood Forest were gradually stirring back to life. From the shadows came a small black kitten: a rare visitor who dared to venture into the old forest.

It had taken Marvela a good portion of the morning to navigate through the streets of Vigilance to find the route back to her forest up on the hill. It could have taken her less time if she had brought Curious with her as he knew the town's layout far better than she, but she had left him sleeping in the library.

She wanted to make this journey by herself.

Alone, she strolled through a sea of fallen yellow leaves, tiptoed over toadstools, and crept under spiderwebs, all while serenaded by songbirds. Marvela's ears pivoted at the lulling sound. Everything was familiar and precisely as she had left it.

Yet she wondered why it didn't feel like she had returned home.

What's changed? the kitten wondered to herself.

"Marvela? Is that really you?" chirped a voice from above.

Marvela looked up into the treetops and saw a pudgy blue face staring down at her in surprise.

The kitten sat amongst the speckled toadstools with her tail curled over her paws. "Hi, Sunshine," she said to the bird with a smile.

The round little bluebird gasped on his branch. He flitted down to the ground and landed beside the kitten with a bouncy hop. "I haven't seen you around in days! No one has!" said Sunshine. "Not since your cottage—ah." The bird held a wing to his beak, unable to say more. His feathers ruffled as he puffed out his red chest to regain his composure. "Well, look at you! Your star's as bright as ever. You seem like you've grown, too!"

Ears askew, Marvela took a long look at herself. She twitched her whiskers. She didn't look any different as far as she could tell. And she certainly didn't feel any different. "You think so?" she asked the bird dubiously.

"I do!" tweeted Sunshine. "And there's something else different about you too." The bird hopped backward away from Marvela. He squinted his eyes to get a better look at her. Then he laughed. "Yes! It's your eyes! There's a new twinkle in those orange eyes of yours!"

Something about that made Marvela's heart want to sing like the songbirds up in the trees. Her chest swelled as a smile spread across her muzzle. "It's nice to see you again, Sunshine," she purred to her old friend.

The bluebird eyed the kitten up and down, a cheeky expression on his face. "It's certainly lovely to see you, too! You wouldn't happen to have any juniper berries with you by any chance? It's getting harder to find them the colder the weather gets. No one can hunt them down like you can! I'll even give you a feather or two in return! Willingly!"

Marvela sighed wistfully. It almost felt like old times... But then she shook her head to clear away the fog of nostalgia. "Not today, Sunshine. Sorry. But next time I'll be sure to bring a whole bushel. Just for you!"

The chubby little bird let out a few joyful notes as he took wing. "Marvelous!" he sang as he returned to his nest, barely able to squeeze himself back into the hollow in the tree.

Marvela turned back to the path ahead of her. She held her chin high and took a deep breath. Her paws continued to carry her forward. She hoped she was ready to meet what lay on the other side of the trees ahead.

Eventually, she came upon a clearing in the woods. And nestled in the clearing, spotlighted by shifting sunbeams teeming with glistening dustmotes, was all that remained of her home.