Paws and Effect (Mystic Notch 4 4) (9 page)

P
andora reeled
as if she’d been slapped. Otis was right. She’d been a self-centered jerk, thinking
her
way was the only way when she should have been working together with all the cats.

She raced after him at full speed, hoping she wouldn’t be too late. Pandora's legs weakened and her energy reserves drained, but she pushed on—Mystic Notch needed her.

She caught up with Otis about a half-mile before their destination. He barely acknowledged her, he was so focused on running, but she thought she saw him crack a quick smile in her direction. Or maybe she imagined it.

She could smell Rebecca’s evil intentions well before they got to the site of Hester Warren’s house. The foul, rancid stench set her nerves on edge.

When they burst out into the clearing, the moon was almost at its highest, lighting the area with an eerie glow. A backhoe sat on the east side of the cleared area. A giant oak tree dominated the north. To the south, they’d already started work on the new historical society building—the foundation had been poured, the first floor decking put in place and the studs for the walls erected.

In the middle of the clearing was a smooth spot at the center of which sat a cat carrier.

Rebecca stood beside the cat carrier, her face twisted with evil. In her hand, she held the vial. Moonlight glinted off the silver newt that wrapped itself around the glass. The silvery liquid inside glowed as if it had come to life under the moon. No one else was there.

Otis motioned for Pandora to stop at the edge of the woods before Rebecca noticed them. Pandora fought the urge to rush in and help Hope without thinking things through, as she might have done not that long ago. Maybe she was becoming wiser and less head-strong. She knew waiting was the right thing to do. They needed to maintain the element of surprise.

“Where is everyone?” Pandora whispered to Otis.

“They should be coming soon.” Otis glanced up nervously at the moon.

Pandora shifted her weight from left to right, then back again. She could see the side of Hope’s face through the metal bars of the cat carrier. Her orange side was in shadow, the black side facing toward Pandora, giving her the illusion of being all black.

Hope sat calmly in the carrier. As Pandora watched, Hope’s nose twitched, sniffing the air. Then her head turned toward Pandora like a radar dish homing in on a signal. Their eyes locked. Was Hope trying to communicate something? She got the impression that Hope did not want them to venture further. That she had things under control.

But Pandora couldn’t be sure. It would be just like Hope to sacrifice herself for the good of all but Pandora wasn’t about to sit back and let Hope do that.

Next to the carrier, Rebecca was extracting the silvery liquid from the vial with an eyedropper. Apparently, her experiment with the feral cats had revealed exactly how much to administer. Further scrutiny of the site told Pandora exactly how she planned to use it, too.

“She has dishes set out with catnip!” Pandora hissed in Otis’ ear.

Otis nodded. “She is using Hope as a lure to bring all the cats of Mystic Notch here.”

Pandora’s heart twisted. Otis was right. Once the cats of Mystic Notch got close enough, they wouldn’t be able to resist the lure of the catnip. They would eat it and die. There were only a few cats that could resist the herb's siren song, but they would be no match for evil once the others were gone.

Rebecca bent down, squeezing out a few drops of extract onto one of the dishes then mixing it in with the cat nip. She’d only administered the extract to a few of the dishes. There was still time.

“We need to stop her!” Pandora rocked back on her haunches ready to spring forward, but Otis stuck his paw out in front of her.

“No,” he hissed. It’s exactly what she wants. We need to be smarter about this. We cannot get too close to the catnip.

“But she hasn’t spiked it all yet. The vial is still almost full.”

“True, but once you are under the influence of the herb itself, she will easily be able to poison you with the extract. You cannot risk getting too close. We don’t know what will happen if the extract is administered undiluted.”

Good point. Pandora hadn’t thought about that. Maybe there really was something to the older, less spontaneous ways. “But we have to do
something
before it’s too late for the others …”

But it was already too late. Pandora could see the other cats racing into the clearing from the woods on the other side. She leaped out of her hiding position to warn the cats, but they’d already ventured too close.

Pandora hissed a warning anyway.

Rebecca whirled around, noticing her and Otis. “Here, Kitty, Kitty,” she cooed, as if Pandora would fall for that.

The other cats had put the brakes on, but it wasn’t fast enough for most of them. Pandora could already see their whiskers twitching, their necks craning uncontrollably toward the catnip bowls, their noses sniffing wildly.

And all the time, Hope sat calmly in her plastic prison.

Rebecca turned her attention back to the bowls of catnip, squirting the silvery liquid onto the herbs haphazardly.

Some of the cats had already eaten the catnip and were rolling on the ground. Relief flooded through Pandora when she noticed they’d eaten from the bowls closest to them—the ones Rebecca had not yet doused with the extract.

The others were doing all they could to resist the pull of the enticing herb. All except for Sasha. Sasha was immune to catnip. As Pandora fought the pull of the herb herself, she watched Sasha skulk around the perimeter, presumably so she could attack Rebecca from behind.

In her weakened state, Pandora’s resistance was low. The herb drew her away from the woods and toward the circle of bowls in the clearing. Otis latched his claws into her tail, trying to pull her back.

Where were the humans? Inkspot had been so sure that Striker had this well in hand. Where was Striker now? With most of the cats looped up on catnip, they could really use his help. She remembered Danforth was also headed this way, but her hopes of the humans enacting some sort of plan to save them were dwindling.

Apparently, Hope
had
a plan in mind. Pandora knew that Hope’s special powers had to do with fire. And she saw Hope training her eyes on the new construction. She could feel Hope focusing her entire being in that direction. A flame burst at the corner of the building, lighting up one side of the circle.

As the flame flickered, it cast ghostly shadows of the cats into the circle, their legs and ears appearing elongated as they writhed in a catnip-induced dance. Inkspot wriggled on the ground. Kelley leaped in the air, her bushy tail sticking straight up. Tigger ran in circles.

The fire grew larger, it’s crackling heat consuming an entire wall of the building.

Hope aimed again, this time igniting a stack of logs apparently cut from the trees that were removed to clear the area.

Sasha took her chance. She launched herself at Rebecca and landed on her back. Rebecca straightened with a shriek, throwing Sasha off. Sasha landed on the ground and readied for another attack, but Rebecca was faster. She hadn’t lost her grip on the eyedropper or the vial and she squirted silvery liquid at Sasha.

The liquid landed on Sasha's side and her fur immediately burst into flames. The sickening smell of singed hair flooded the clearing. Sasha yowled and dropped to a roll.

Rebecca turned her attention to the cat carrier. “Time to make a sacrifice!”

She jerked open the door to the cat carrier, reached in, grabbed Hope by the scruff of the neck and pulled her out roughly. She held Hope up in front of the other cats, whose eyes bulged with terror.

She cackled wildly and clenched her fist tight around the back of Hope’s neck forcing her mouth open. She threw the empty eyedropper on the ground and raised the vial up above Hope’s head.

Pandora’s blood froze. Rebecca intended to pour the liquid straight into Hope’s mouth.

Pandora didn’t know what the extract would do to Hope, but judging by the way it had set Sasha’s fur on fire, she didn’t think it was anything good. The liquid amplified energy and with Hope's special abilities with fire, Pandora could only imagine the cat would probably self-ignite.

“No!” Pandora leaped toward Rebecca, intending to knock her down before she could administer the extract.

But Otis was faster. He had leaped a second before and shot out his paw, knocking her out of the way. He landed on Rebecca’s shoulder, causing her to drop both Hope and the vial. Hope lay where she fell, apparently exhausted.

Even with the dire circumstances she’d been in, Hope hadn’t stopped her fire starting spree. The bulldozer exploded with a loud bang. Trees ignited in flames, one by one. It looked and sounded like a war zone.

A police siren wailed somewhere in the distance. Finally, Striker was coming. Pandora didn’t have time to relax, though. Rebecca was crawling on the ground, trying to recover the vial.

Pandora ran forward to stop her, but once again, Otis was quicker. Pandora was surprised at how spry the older cat was. He leapt onto the vial, wrestling Rebecca for possession.

Pandora’s heart pounded against her rib cage. She didn’t want to jump in the middle and get in the way of Otis’ moves, but she desperately wanted to help him, especially since it looked like Rebecca was getting the upper hand.

She watched in horror as Rebecca’s fist curled around the vial and then Otis reached out raking his claws down Rebecca's arms. The woman loosened her grip and Otis grabbed the vial with his claw, tipped it to his mouth and guzzled down the liquid.

“
O
tis
!” Pandora raced to the calico’s limp body, her heart twisting, as Striker’s cop car slid into the clearing, followed by Danforth’s brown sedan.

“Hold it!” Striker yelled to Rebecca, who had taken off toward the woods.

“Otis, say something!” Pandora screeched, surprised at how much she cared about the old calico. She could still feel the tug of the catnip, but Otis had fallen far enough way that she was able to resist its lure.

A swirl of ectoplasmic mist appeared beside Pandora. Obsidian.

“He’s not breathing! He’s dead!” Pandora mewled. She was devastated that Otis had sacrificed himself for the good of Mystic Notch … and just when it seemed like they might be friends.

“He’s not dead,” Obsidian said.

Pandora jerked her eyes away from Otis. “What do you mean. He's not breathing.”

“It only looks that way. He is barely taking any breaths. He is
almost
dead, but I can tell from this side that his spirit is not here. He
is
hovering, though … only something very magical can pull him back now.”

“Magical? What do you mean?”

But Obsidian was already fading … his words just an echo. “Go with your gut.”

Pandora wracked her brain for the answer. And then she realized the answer wasn’t in her brain—it was in her gut. And in there, she had the same feeling she got when she was sick. The pit of her stomach felt like a leaden hairball was stuck inside it. She wondered if that was how the lily extract felt inside Otis’ stomach … and what she could do to relieve it.

Then it came to her—maybe the medicine in Strikers car would work!

Striker’s car was on the other side of the clearing. She would have to go past the catnip at great risk to herself … but if she didn’t try, Otis would die for sure.

Was the medicine magical? She didn’t think so. Yet, it was her only hope.

Pandora’s eyes slid from the car to Otis. His body was so still, his whiskers wilting. Even his fur had lost its luster.

She
had
to try to save him.

Casting aside all concern for her own safety, Pandora tore herself away from Otis and lurched toward Striker’s car. The urge to detour over to one of the catnip bowls was strong, but she resisted, focusing on her desire to save Otis.

Diving in through the open driver's door, Pandora was relieved to see the tube of hairball remedy still on Striker’s dashboard. She grabbed it in her mouth and raced back out of the car.

Within seconds, she was at Otis’ side, the realization that she’d resisted the pull of the catnip barely registering. Twisting the tube with her claws while gripping the cap in her mouth, she wrenched it open, spit the cap out, pulled Otis’ mouth open and squirted almost half the tube of jellylike, brown goo down his throat.

Otis swallowed, then gagged. Pandora’s heart fluttered in relief when she saw his chest moving with shallow breaths.

“It’s working!” Pandora said.

“Yes, it is,” Obsidian replied. “His spirit is withdrawing from this side and moving solidly to the physical plane. He is out of danger now.”

Pandora looked at the tube of hairball remedy dubiously. “But this is just hairball remedy that you can buy in the store. It’s not magic.”

Obsidian shook his head. “You have a lot to learn, young one. It’s not the tube that was the magic, it was your actions. You risked your own hide to save one who you used to see as your enemy.
That
was the real magic.”

Otis sputtered and coughed, making the most awful retching sounds. He gasped, his stomach heaved, and then out came the biggest hair ball Pandora had ever seen.

“This stuff is gross. What in Hades did you give me?” Otis glared up at her.

“Give you? Why, just the thing that would save your life.”

“Save my life? From what?” He glanced down at the half-empty tube of hairball remedy. “Looks more like you were trying to do me in with that vile stuff.”

Pandora couldn’t believe how ungrateful Otis was acting. “Don’t you remember? You swallowed that whole vial of lily extract. You were practically dead until I risked my life to give you this hairball remedy. You must’ve coughed the extract up with the remedy because you seem to be back to your grouchy self already.”

“That’s right. I remember now.” Otis glanced over at Striker’s car then slid his eyes over to Pandora. “I guess thanks are in order, but I see you acted impetuously again, risking a run through the catnip to get to Striker’s car. You might well have been harmed yourself. And then where would we be?”

Well, if that didn’t beat all. Leave it to Otis to admonish her after saving his life. Pandora almost regretted saving him now, as she second-guessed the feelings of friendship she’d
thought
were starting to develop between them.

But as she studied Otis further, she thought she saw a playful gleam in his eyes, as if he was only playing the part. Maybe he did not yet want to admit that they were allies.

“It appears the lily extract is now gone, thanks to your friend Otis. We can rest in peace.” Obsidian bowed at Pandora. “You did good, kid. Thanks.” He glanced over toward the woods. “And I see the humans are doing their part, as well.”

Pandora followed his gaze. It was almost as if time had slowed down for the humans while she had been busy saving Otis, because Rebecca was just reaching the edge of the woods. Danforth and Striker were fast on her heels.

Rebecca ran toward the giant oak tree, reaching for a low branch. Pandora didn’t know if she was planning on climbing the tree or what, but she never made it because Danforth clapped his hand over her wrist and pulled her down. Striker grabbed her other arm.

“Let go of me!” She tried to pull her arms away from the men, but they were too strong. She twisted and kicked, but they easily dragged her away from the tree.

While Striker tried to wrestle Rebecca into handcuffs, Danforth ran to the center of the clearing. He quickly checked the cats, especially Hope, who was still too exhausted to move. Most of the other cats also lay motionless, but Pandora could tell that they were breathing, and even though her heart shattered at the sight of her friends lying there, she had hope they could be saved. Maybe even with the hairball remedy she’d used on Otis.

After checking the cats, Danforth rushed to his car, took out a large, copper box and proceeded to dump the catnip from each bowl into the box. Pandora could feel the seductive pull of the catnip growing weaker as Danforth put more of it in the box. Somehow, the copper must block the effects!

Once enough of it was in the box so that Pandora felt she would not succumb, she sprang into action. Grabbing the tube of hairball remedy, she ran to the center of the clearing and started administering it to the cats. As she did this, Pandora was vaguely aware of Striker dragging Rebecca to the police car.

“Rebecca Devon-Smyth, you’re under arrest for malicious vandalism of town property.”