Without giving it a second thought, I slammed the trash can lid down, startling them all into silence, then stormed back into the house.
4
Merlin and Mr. Fluffikins left shortly after dinner. While I was curious how the two young cat guys would celebrate their bachelor’s night out, I didn’t dare ask. As long as Merlin was happy and didn’t overhear all the terrible things some of Luna’s friends were saying about him, we’d be okay.
And this would all be over tomorrow.
I just have to get through the night.
With Fluffikins gone, the barrier he had erected had also dispersed, which meant I needed to get all the lady cats to stay indoors for the next few hours at least.
I clapped my hands together to get everyone’s attention. “Who wants to play a game?” I shouted with every bit of cheer I could muster.
Their eyes wandered over to me rather reluctantly, telling me my job would not be an easy one.Oh boy.
“Okay!” I called out with more enthusiasm than I felt. “This one’s called toilet paper wedding dress. We’ll split off into groups and each pick a model. You weave the toilet paper like this…” I paused to demonstrate by looping some double ply over my torso like a sash. “See? It’s easy, right? And whoever makes the best dress before time’s up wins.”
A Russian blue tapped my foot.“Wins what, human?”
I leaned forward, putting my hands on my knees.“Um, you can just call me Gracie, okay?”
“Okay, so what do I win?” the blue demanded again.
“Well, you win bragging rights, of course!”
She curled her lip at me.“A cat doesn’t need to prove herself in order to brag. What else you got?”
I glanced around the living room and kitchen, trying to think fast.“Uh, extra canned food to take home with you?”
A symphony of meows rose to meet my ears. Well, well, well. Suddenly they were very interested in playing my little game.
“Groups of five to seven, okay?” That should give us about six groups, which wouldn’t be too bad or cost me too much in toilet paper. “Luna and I will both be judges, but she’ll have the final say!”
Luna jumped up onto the kitchen table and motioned for me to join her.“I think I invited too many cats,” she whispered in confidence.
I kept my face as neutral as possible. It wouldn’t be right to shout “I told you so” at a distressed bride on the night before her wedding.
“Some of them are…” She trailed off, glanced toward the far corner of the living room, and sighed.
I tried to follow her line of sight, but there were just too many furry bodies moving about to be able to tell which of them she was looking at.
“Luna,” I said softly, placing a gentle hand on her back. “I know.”
I paused to sigh before revealing,“I heard them talking outside. They have no right to judge you or Merlin. You know that right?”
She shrugged delicately, as was her way since sacrificing her magic.
“They don’t know the two of you like I do. You guys are perfect for each other. I have zero doubts in my mind.”
She glanced at me through half-lidded eyes.“Do you really think so?”
And I gave her the biggest smile of my life.“I know so.”
We didn’t say anything more as we watched the cat-testants configure their toilet paper wedding gowns.
When I called time, a few of them hissed at me and demanded they be allowed to finish.
At Luna’s urging, I granted that request.
Unfortunately, that meant the game took an agonizing two hours to complete. I even had to run to the store to buy more toilet paper partway through. And since Luna was proving far too distressed to carry on much of a conversation, I ended up spending most of the evening playing a match three game on my phone. Not exactly what I had planned for the big night before, but I’d already learned more than once—and the hard way—that the act of planning when it involved magic cats was mostly time wasted.
After what felt like an eternity, the last of the groups announced that they’d finished, and I heaved a giant sigh of relief.
Now, at first, I tried to help Luna judge the various dresses, but none of the cats knew how to take even the slightest criticism. When an orange tabby struck at me with her claws for pointing out that the hemline was uneven, I decided to let Luna finish evaluating the toilet paper gowns on her own.
Of course, I’d forgotten to specify that they should use the provided material only when crafting their dresses. Many of the teams had trotted out their magic to create impossibly beautiful works of art. My personal favorite belonged to a frost witch who had adorned the entire bodice with tiny beads made of ice and the skirt with a subtle snowflake netting.
Ultimately, Luna declared everyone a winner, which meant I’d be traveling around the county tomorrow morning to buy all the pet stores completely out of their stock.
“I’d like the duck pate, please,” a black and white spotted cat informed me.
“And I’ll take the salmon cuts,” an orange Persian declared.
And then they all started mewling orders at me.
Oh, no. Oh, no.There was no way I’d be able to cater to all their special requests. Why had I ever thought a cat wedding would be a good idea? Luna was not a bridezilla, but all her guests were of the feline persuasion—and that was so much worse.
“I just need a minute to catch my breath,” I said, backing toward the front door and groping for the knob. I burst outside into the empty night and heaved another giant sigh of relief.
What am I doing here? Is Luna even enjoying this? I wondered as I thought back to our brief conversation at the table.I’m such an idiot for even suggesting this.
It would be okay, though.
It had to be.
Hopefully, nobody would remember the night before when they thought back to this occasion. Tomorrow’s ceremony would be a true thing of beauty, and I knew Merlin and Luna were looking forward to it after all the time they’d invested in watching wedding rom-coms the past week.
I smiled to myself as I crept around the house, making my way toward the gorgeous wedding garden I’d created. Looking at it would remind me of what was important here. It would give me the strength to make it through all the casual complaints and pointed demands.
It would…
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” I screamed into the night, no longer caring who heard it.
5
Only hours ago, my backyard had been a gorgeous oasis of flowers, herbs, and everything a former garden witch, who was also a future blushing bride, could possibly desire.
Now it all lay in tatters. The spell-casting herbs had been ripped out by their roots. The flowerbeds stomped into the dirt. Worst of all, though, the wedding arch had been shredded into confetti.
So much for wisteria keeping the demons away. Whoever had done this was a monster of the worst kind.
I stood silently, shaking with rage as I struggled to keep the tears back. It wasn’t just that all the hard work had been lost, but also the fact that Luna deserved a beautiful wedding to celebrate her love with Merlin and officially mark the start of their new lives together. He did, too.
Yes, someone had just selfishly and cold-heartedly ripped that away from them. I would find out who had done the deed and make sure they never received so much as a crumb of hospitality from me ever again.
I’d barely had time to take the whole scene in when a sparkling pink cloud erupted a few feet in front of me and both Merlin and Mr. Fluffikins leapt out, ready for a fight.
“What’s the matter, Gracie?” my cat asked, running straight to my side.
“We could hear your screams all the way on the other side of town. Or at least he could,” Mr. Fluffikins added with a sneer. Rather than approaching me, he turned to survey the scene.
And I could see the exact moment he noted the wreckage that surrounded us. His golden eyes grew wide before blinking hard and then darting wildly from side to side to take in the full extent of the damage.