Page 58 of Catastrophe

“Quiet night, boys?” one asked and then spotted me in Michael’s arm. “What the fuck is that?”

“You’ve never seen a cat before, Brian? They don’t exist by you?”

“Fuck you. I just want to know why it’s in your arms. Where did it come from?”

“She was in the trees, but I think she’s hurt, so I’m going to check her over and then take her to a shelter. Is that okay with you?”

“Don’t need my permission. Enjoy your beauty sleep. You need it.”

“Hope your shift is more entertaining than ours.”

“I might get a pet myself.”

“G’night,” the other called as we went inside.

I congratulated myself on successfully executing the first part of my plan, but as Michael carried me through the boring gray halls of the hunter compound, I had to wonder what I should do now. I still didn’t know where they were keeping the witches and Zaide. I didn’t know if Mary was here for her to recognize me, and I didn’t know if I was going to help this man survive whatever the hunters had in store for him.

While I tried to concentrate on remembering the way through the corridors, there was no decoration, all the doors looked exactly the same and didn’t have any labels on them, and they all seemed evenly spaced too so as we walked through multiple nondescript corridors, I knew it was useless to try. I wouldn’t recognize a thing on my own.

Which means I’ll need his help. But how can I get him not to immediately kill me?

Eventually, we reached a tiny room with a double bed pressed against the wall. He set me down, then sat on the bed next to me and began taking his boots off. I took a moment to look around. There wasn’t a thing out of place—no clothes on the floor, nothing littering the chair or desk in the corner and only a lamp on the bedside table. It was completely without personality, which didn’t help me in forming my opinion on him.

“I’m going to have a shower before bed. Stay here,” he told me and headed through a door opposite the bed. I froze and waited until I heard water running before I shifted.

My heart racing, I stepped off the bed and immediately began looking through his drawers for a weapon of some sort. I needed something I could protect myself with in case this was a trick. But after rifling through pairs of underwear, clothing, and the odd wire, I opened the last drawer ready to be defeated, but then I pulled out pink fluffy handcuffs. I side-eyed the bathroom door, trying not to imagine what they might have been used for, and just as I was about to put them away, I paused.

They weren’t a weapon, but they could prevent him from hurting me. And then what, Clawdia? You’re going to talk him into abandoning his cause? He’ll just agree to help you free your soul pair?

But as the sound of the water turned off, I panicked and threw the handcuffs back in the drawer, closed it, jumped back on the bed, and shifted before Michael opened the door in a cloud of steam with only a towel around his waist. I looked away to lick my paw. It felt disloyal if I noticed how muscular and fit he was as he pulled out underwear from the drawers I’d just raided. When he moved his towel from his waist to rub his hair, I closed my eyes, refusing to peek at his naked body as he dressed.

The mattress gave under his weight, and I opened my eyes to see him staring back at me.

“I’ve never seen a cat with purple eyes before,” he muttered, and I looked away, partly because an actual cat wouldn’t keep eye contact. He didn’t need other reasons to think I was different. “Let me look at your tail.”

He picked me up before I could escape and began running his hands over my tail to the tender area. I was healing, but I was tired, and it was slower than it usually would be. And lucky too, because I was sure this astute hunter wouldn’t miss it.

I let out a small hiss as he pressed on the wound the evil bird inflicted, and his voice was soft as he said, “I’m sorry, pretty girl. It’s not bleeding, though, so that’s good. What happened, huh?”

I meowed pitifully.

“I won’t keep messing with it, but if it still hurts when I wake up, I’ll take you to a vet before I take you to a shelter. Okay?”

He placed me on the floor, tossed the covers back, and crawled into bed. I frowned. He’d lost points for putting me on the floor instead of sharing his bed. I glared at his back. Is he actually going to sleep? Does he really believe I’m just a cat?

If he doesn’t know I’m a familiar, then maybe I don’t need to rescue him from the hunters, and since I don’t know who the supernatural is, I can’t feel bad about abandoning them to their unfortunate fate.

When Michael didn’t move for a solid five minutes, I folded my paws under my body, assuming the loaf position, and allowed myself to relax. I am tired. I’ve used so much magic. A little nap before I handcuff a hunter to his bed will be good for me.

Before I knew it, I was asleep and arriving in another dreamscape. I almost groaned. I just wanted to turn off for a moment and actually rest, but it seemed someone else had different plans for me.

But this dreamscape wasn’t Nisha’s living room. It was Tartarus, the same place where I first met Baelen. The green grass and the bench, the flowers. As I turned around, I spotted my golden giant standing with his back to me as he looked up at the night’s sky.

“Zaide!” I called and ran toward him, my heart beating out of my chest. All the fear and worry for him turned to relief at the sight of him. He turned in time to catch me against his chest, and I stroked it repeatedly, assuring myself he was really here and safe. “Oh my lord, I’m so glad to see you.”

His thread was a dark orange, and I gasped, “You’re hurt. Are you okay? What am I saying? Of course you aren’t okay. Just hold on for me please, I’m here. I’m going to get us out of here.” Before he could get a word in edgewise or stop me, I began healing him, pouring energy into his thread.

He pulled my hands off him, his expression dumbfounded. “What—What do you mean? You’re here? They’ve captured you?”

---