“Your world is but one facet of many.”
The cat inclined her head toward a ring on the table I hadn’t noticed before. I picked it up, shocked at its familiarity. “This is my mother’s.”
“And will be yours when she passes. I know. I plucked it from your mind. Look at the emerald. The top facet is the world you know, Earth. Do you see the facets to the sides? This one is the Dreamlands. That one is R’lyeh. Each of the others is a different plane of existence, but part of the whole.”
As the cat spoke, I found myself not only holding the ring, but standing on top of the emerald itself. I watched the tiny version of me upon the precious jewel. Around me, the tavern persisted, yet became even more unreal.
“Look within the gem. Do you see the other facets? The Elder Gods live here, the Outer Gods there. They want to be on the top.”
Both versions of me watched the play of light through the gemstone. “The facets are moving.”
“Yes.” Insightful walked at my side even as she sat on the table before me. “The facets move. When the edges of the other planes come into contact, beings of that plane can cross over. When all the edges come together…”
“When the stars aligned…” Josephine walked on my other side.
“The gods travel. When that happens, the order is upset. We, the cats of Ulthar, watch and wait and try to prevent that from happening. We don’t always succeed.”
“What happens when you fail?”
“Madness and death.”
All at once I was singular again, sitting in the tavern with Josephine and the cat. Insightful lifted her paw and pulled my mother’s ring from my hand with a delicate claw. The ring disappeared as she did so. I sat back and pet the black cat that had snuggled into my lap, purring. I don’t know when she arrived, but I was grateful for her warmth.
I gazed at Insightful’s green eyes, the color of my mother’s emerald ring. “I…”
“Ask your questions, Carolyn.”
“What are these Elder…Outer…Gods?”
“Beings of great power. Ancient and alien.” The cat shook her head. “That is not your question.”
I flicked a glance at Josephine. She gazed at her clasped hands. “What does any of this have to do with my…with Josephine? I must help her. These nightmares. The wounds on her back.” Josephine raised her head as I spoke her name, but she didn’t say anything.
“That is the appropriate question.” Insightful flicked her ears about as if listening to something. “The short answer is: everything.”
“That isn’t helpful.” I tried to keep the irritation out of my voice. I failed.
The cat continued on as if I hadn’t spoken. “The longer answer is this: your journey here is what will help or hinder Josephine. She has a duty. One she’s forgotten—for good or ill. You also have a duty. To her. Thus her burdens are yours. Both of you will lose something important as soon as you gain what you need from this place. It’s not an easy path you must walk. You have already met the one who will help you.”
I shook my head. “I don’t understand. You didn’t answer my question. What do these gods have to do with Josephine’s malady?”
“The edges of the planes also meet in a point. A point in time and space. A gate. A portal. These points are rare and dangerous. They have so much power. They are protected in the only way we know how.” Insightful turned her attention to Josephine. “You’ve been gone for too long. You need to return to your childhood. You must remember what you already know.”
Josephine pressed her lips together for a moment. “I think I remember the way.”
The cat licked her paw then rubbed her cheek. “How you get there is of no consequence, as long as you get there.” She turned back to me. “You will help her. In your duty, you will lose something so precious it makes me weep at the thought. But you will gain what you need—what you must have—to continue your own journey. This dream is merely the beginning.”
None of this made sense. Not to my logical mind. But there was more here. I could feel it. Dream logic wasn’t the same as waking logic. I pushed my frustration away. “Thank you for your…insight.” Josephine smiled at me. My returned smile was quick and perfunctory. As interesting and unnerving as the idea of alien gods breaking into my world was, it was still just an idea. Surely they couldn’t be actual gods.
I shook my discomfort off and pet the cat in my lap again. My patient was before me. She was very real, and she’d said something I could follow up on. I just needed time and privacy with her. “Josephine, I think it’s time for us to go.”
The black cat in my lap jumped down. I missed her warmth and comfort, but it was time to get to work. The cat rubbed against Josephine’s ankle before she looked back at me. In my mind, I heard her say, “In times of need, think of me.”
In a rush, I realized that the cat’s name was Comfort and she was the reason I’d been taking these most outlandish revelations so well. It was a strange comfort to know that a talking cat kept me from going a little mad. Then again, I understood in all of this there was a journey I needed to take in order to help Josephine. I was willing to do so, no matter how odd or unbelievable.
Josephine and I left the tavern. I realized that neither of us had drunk from the tankards nor paid for the drinks. I wondered if, like in the fairy tales, one should not drink or eat in the Dreamlands. In truth, I wasn’t hungry or thirsty, but we’d only just begun.
“Do you know where we’re going?” I watched Josephine as much as I watched the beautiful buildings of the village that we passed by. Foolishness continued to escort us even as he took a moment to chase a flock of tiny flying books that scattered like butterflies at his half-hearted swipe.
Josephine frowned. “I…believe so. Insightful said ‘back to my childhood’ but I believe she actually meant to…to…” She stopped. “The idea is right there. I cannot reach it. There a veil between my grasping mind and the idea of it.”
“Perhaps, Insightful meant a place you loved as a child?”
Her head came up. “Perhaps.”
I could tell that she wanted to say more, although not here, not in such an open place. As we reached the edge of town, I halted and hunkered next to Foolishness. “Thank you for your help.”
“My pleasure. Nice to get away from my duty every once and a while.” Foolishness bumped his head against my leg.
I obliged him with a scritch behind the ears. “Do you have any other advice for us?”
“Yes. When you’ve done what you need to do, return here. If not to Ulthar itself, return to the glade where we met. I’m sure we’ll meet again.”
“Will we need to save you again?”
Foolishness flicked his tail back and forth. “Perhaps. Perhaps I’ll do the saving. Just make sure you come back to this place. Don’t try to leave through another path.”
Josephine stroked his back. “We will.”
I stood and looked toward the steep, rocky path we were to traverse. “Our path is before us. One step at a time.” I led the way, wanting to put Ulthar and the talking cats behind me. More to the point, I wanted to speak with Josephine about what she wasn’t willing to say in front of the cat.
Chapter 7
One of the hardest parts about being in the Dreamlands with Josephine was remembering that I was in a session with her and keeping that in the forefront of my mind. I was so very curious about where we were. I could not resist asking questions. The more I understood about the Dreamlands, the better I believed I would understand Josephine’s control over it and herself.