“It ain’t the same!” the other hissed.
“You work for humans while they work for me. You’re worse than a pet. You’re a slave.” I could just imagine the PTA diplomat’s smug expression as he lorded his superiority over the other feline.
“Hey,” I cried, covering the rather colorful retort from the offended cat.
I glanced down and made eye contact with the unfamiliar black cat through the slats on my bench.“Sorry about that. He’s really not so bad when you get to know him.”
He narrowed his eyes at me.“Yeah, I got no intention of that. Now get outta here. You’re compromising my stakeout.”
“Stakeout? You sound like a cop,” I mused with a sight chuckle.
“Iama cop.”
“I thought you were a familiar,” Fluffikins corrected him, referring to some part of the conversation I’d missed.
“I can’t be both?” He crouched closer to the ground, breaking eye contact with me. “Now get out of here before Scavo catches wise, and the whole gig’s up.”
Fluffikins sucked in a startled breath.“Scavo?”
“Yeah, Scavo. What about it?” All I saw was a blurry black body to one side of me and another blurry black body to the other. Yes, I’d definitely be needing that eye exam.
Mr. Fluffikins took on that same pedantic tone he took whenever describing anything magical to me.“The PTA’s been tracking him for decades. He’s that normie mobster who found out about magic and started using it for personal gains. Created a whole black market.”
“That ain’t even the half of it. So go back to your litter box and ‘please try again,’ or whatever your PTA thing is.”
“Your disrespect has been noted and will be thusly punished,” Fluffikins promised in a low rasp. “I am a diplomat for the Paranormal Temp Agency, so I can do that, you know.”
“So go be diplomatic somewhere else and leave this one to the Blueberry Bay Paranormal Division,” our new acquaintance countered.
“Is this like a national versus local thing?” I suggested.
Both cats hissed at me, and I returned to being a silent observer as their conversation continued.
Mr. Fluffikins spoke next.“Scavo died a couple years back, so unless he’s walking around as a reanimated corpse, your mission is pointless.”
“Wait. Are zombies real, too?” I squeaked. A chilly gust of air swept past, making me shiver and wrap my arms around my torso.
Both cats ignored my question.
“Shows what you know,” the cop cat spat. “He’s back and up to his old tricks, too.”
“Not possible,” Fluffikins maintained.
“Yeah, I bet you also don’t think a guy fifty years in the grave can wind up as a magical talking cat, and yet here I am.”
“Fine. If Scavo’s back, then where is he? Because if you haven’t noticed we’re a long way from Boston.”
“If I knew where he was, I wouldn’t be on this stakeout, ya chowderhead. He’s close, though.”
“Yup, this one’s a straight nutter,” Mr. Fluffikins told me, hopping onto the bench at my side. I couldn’t say I disagreed, exactly, but still, a crummy lead was better than no lead.
“Stop bullying him. He may be able to help,” I said gently, then got down on my hands and knees to address the other cat head-on. Now that I saw him a bit more closely, I noticed that he wasn’t an exact replica of Mr. Fluffikins. For one thing, he didn’t have a white patch on his chest. Andfor another, he wore a thick buckle collar with an odd star symbol on it.
“Again, I’m sorry about him,” I said with a polite smile. “I’m Tawny. What’s your name?”
“It’s Blackjack now,” he revealed with a bemused smirk.
“We’re a long way from home on an investigation of our own. Cats have been disappearing from the streets in our hometown of Beech Grove, Georgia, and we have reason to believe they’ve ended up here on Caraway Island. Any ideas how we might find them?”
He balked at me.“This whole thing is about cats? I thought you were tracking Scavo?”
“That’s right. We’re trying to find several missing field agents. One human girl is missing, too, I guess.” I couldn’t even tell him how many cats had disappeared, seeing as Mr. Fluffikins had given me the bare minimum in our debriefing.
Blackjack tilted his head to the side, then nodded.“Well, why didn’t you start with that? Come with me, kid. I know someone who might be able to point you in the right direction.”
19
I got up and followed Blackjack toward a hole in the fence. He squeezed right through, then turned back to wait for me.
“Um.” I shifted my weight from foot to foot. I couldn’t fit through that hole, and climbing over the fence when there were already two perfectly fine exits would definitely raise the suspicions of other humans in the park.
“I’ll go around and meet you on the other side,” I offered.
“Suit yourself,” Blackjack said with a sneer. “We’ll be in the west parking lot.”
“Cover me,” Fluffikins said, then blinked out of view and flashed back on the side of the fence.
“Neat trick,” Blackjack said with a twitch of a tail. “You pick that up in diplomat school?”
“Yeah, it was right after we removed theRs from Sesame Street for Boston public access.” Who was this new Fluffikins? He normally had a superior air about him, but he seemed to hate this other cat in a way I’d never seen him detest anyone or anything before—including the Haberdashes.
Blackjack, of course, gave as good as he got.“Didn’t watch that one. I was busy at ya mother’s…”
Thankfully, their voices faded away as I walked quickly along the edge of the fence until I reached the exit. After letting myself out, I traced back the way I’d come. I found the hole in the fence, but not the cats.
The corgi man caught my eye as he bent down to pick up a dingy tennis ball and gave me a questioning glance.
I waved briefly, then turned and pushed through the uncut grasses on the wild side of the fence, searching for either parking lot or feline, whichever I could find first.
I wished for two things at this point—a warm jacket and my cell phone. Yeah, I may have been smart when it came to words, but I’d never been able to discern east from west without the aid of tech. Glancing toward the sun only hurt my eyes. It didn’t tell me the direction from which it had risen.
Darn cats! Why couldn’t they have just gone through the normal exit with me?
A woman with bright teal hair wearing ripped jeans and a leather biker jacket approached from the side.“Tawny?” she called.
I nervously tucked a strand of pink hair behind my ear and swallowed.“Yes, hi.”
She smiled kindly.“I’m Val. Your familiar said you’d probably be lost.”
“Oh, I’m not… Um.” I turned back but could no longer see the corgi man or any of the people from the park, thanks to a slight incline behind me.
“You are a witch, right?” Val said as she studied me and my gothy garb. And honestly, who even knew anymore? I didn’t have magic, but I doubted I was just a “normie,” anymore, either.
I struggled with how to respond to Val.“No. Yes. I mean, I was, but I’m not now.”
She tilted her head to the side, and a sympathetic smile flickered across her face.“Feeling all right there?”
Great. Now both normies and magicks thought I needed to get my head examined. Maybe I did. I could add that to my list for when I was safe and sound back home. First the eye doctor and then the shrink.
“I’m fine,” I managed at last. “Fluffikins and I are here to investigate a string of abductions.”
“So he says. C’mon, walk with me.” A shiny badge that matched the star pendant on Blackjack’s collar glinted from Val’s belt, showing the world they belonged together. But me and Fluffikins? If there was anything actually tying us to each other, he’d chosen to keep it a secret.
“Tell me about these abductions,” she pressed in a way that told me she was a far more experienced interrogator than I’d ever be.