Night Cat | Night Cat #1 (CURRENTLY EDITING)

Night Cat - Chapter 18

Starting To Make Sense...

When I finally opened my eyes, I found myself surrounded by half a dozen anxious faces.

Brie was the first to notice I’d woken up. “Hey there, Miss Blackout. How’re you feeling?”

I blinked in confusion. I was human again. But how? I clearly remembered being a snow leopard when I had passed out. Was it impossible to stay a cat when you were unconscious?

So many questions tumbled around in my head.

Unfortunately for me, the only person who could have answered my questions was surrounded by my other friends and family members. I was going to have to wait until we were alone to talk to him, otherwise I’d be risking getting us both thrown into the psychiatric ward.

I returned my attention to my worried best friend. “Much better, thanks.” I sat up, slowly. “What happened?”

Brie’s mouth twisted. I knew that look very well – she didn’t want to tell me. “Brie...” I urged.

“The doctor says you may have been sleep walking.”

“Sleep walking?” I repeated. This was a first.

“Yeah.” She said, nodding. “Your mom found you in your back yard, at the fringe of the woods.”

I forced myself to look confused. I’d already figured that Xander might have gotten me back home. “You’re kidding.”

She shook her head, her blond hair smacking the sides of her pretty face. “Wish I was, but no.”

“That wasn’t even the weirdest part.” Another voice chimed in. Kimi.

I looked at her, my eyebrows knitted together tightly. “What do you mean?”

“Well,” she said, pulling her chair closer to my bed. “Guess how your mom found you?”

I cocked my head onto the side. “How?”

Kimi’s face lightened up with each second that passed. She was all about the theatrics. “Your mom was fast asleep when suddenly, she heard this awful sound, like an animal in pain. When she went outside to see what it was, she saw a panther sitting next to your unconscious body, and making this God awful sound, like it was crying or something.”

I looked from Kimi to Brie. “What? You’re serious?”

Brie nodded, confirming Kimi’s story.

“Yup.” Kimi continued. “The panther had one paw over you, like, as if it was making sure you were warm or something. He didn’t let go of you until your mom promised it that she wasn’t going to hurt you. I mean, it wouldn’t even stop it’s crying when she told it that she wasn’t going to hurt it. All the stupid thing wanted to hear was that you were going to be taken care of.”

My eyes involuntarily glanced over at Xander, who was sitting in a corner of my room, not saying a word to anyone.

“Wait...” I said, looking back at the two girls. “You’re telling me that a panther looked after me until my mom got there?”

The two of them nodded solemnly. “Uh-huh. It didn’t budge until we’d gotten you safe into the house. Then it just disappeared.”

I shook my head slowly. “Okay. This is just... strange.”

Brie nodded in agreement. “I know right? Who’d have thought that Avery would have a night cat watching over her?”

“A night cat?”

Kimi nodded. “My theory is, it’s your guardian angel in disguise. I mean, really, you could have died out there if it wasn’t for that weird cat.”

I nodded silently. I couldn’t even think of what to say to that.

I glanced over at Xander again and I remembered how he’d saved my life last night when Keegan was just inches away from murdering me, even though he hadn’t planned to. Maybe Kimi was right... Maybe he was my guardian angel in disguise.

***

After a while, Brie and Kimi decided to let me rest and go see if my mom needed help entertaining my other relations. Xander and I were left alone.

“Hey.” He said, sidling over to my bed. “How’s your head?”

“Pain-free” I replied honestly, sitting up again. “Would you care to fill me in?”

Xander grinned, nodding. “After you blacked out, Keegan and I became so worried about you that we forgot our little war. I shifted immediately and tried to wake you up, but you wouldn’t. So I asked Keegan to shift and help me. Only he couldn’t. Soon we realized that when you broke the spell, you had unconsciously named the real criminal. And since he was already in his cat-form, the spell changed, and instead of trapping Keegan in his human form—”

“Trapped him in his human form...” I finished, understanding.

“Yes.” Xander said, nodding. “Anyway, I shifted and carried you to your backyard and then.. well, you know the rest.”

I nodded. He was talking about the story Brie and Kimi had told me.

“What about Keegan?”

He chuckled. “Well, I delivered our little friend to his grandmother. She lifted the spell and changed it so that he could never shift again.” I grinned. Good old Grandma Sanchez – always the diplomat. “She apologizes for the misunderstanding. She said she been ‘duped by that good for nothing grandson’ of hers.”

I laughed. “Yeah, well... We all were.”

We fell silent for a while, until something else hit me. “Wait... then what about my stupid blackouts? Can you explain those?”

Xander looked uncomfortable. “Well, my mom has a theory about that one.”

I eyes were just about ready to fall out of their sockets. “Your mom? How does your mom know about all this stuff?”

“Because she’s a werecat too. How do you think I’m one?” he asked, as if I was supposed to know.

“Wait... so this is hereditary?” he nodded. “No freakin’ way.” I let out a low whistle. “So who do I get it from? I don’t think any of my parents are werecats.”

“No they’re not. I would’ve sensed it if they were. Maybe one of your grandparents is one.” He suggested shrugging.

“Maybe.” I mused. “Okay, so tell me your mom’s theory.”

“Well, she says that werecats rely a lot on their emotions. According to her, you were probably fighting a mental war, which is why your head has been giving you so much trouble. For a normal human being, these would have just resulted in symptoms of stress, but in a werecat, these little things are amplified and cause more serious things that just the loss of sleep.” He stopped and then added as an afterthought. “Well, that’s what she says anyway.”

I sighed. I knew exactly what kind of mental battle I’d been fighting. I’d been denying the fact that I was fighting it to, so that couldn’t have made things better for me. I took a deep breath, finally admitting to myself what I’d been hiding.

I wasn’t ready to say it out loud, but I assumed that admitting it to myself would be enough for the time being.

“Your mom’s smart.” I said, smiling slightly.

“Yeah. She is.”

I stared out of my bedroom window. Werecats, shifting, killer bobcats, hereditary shifting abilities, and wicca magic... It had been one hell of a month.

“So now what?” I asked Xander.

“Now we go back to surviving the most dangerous time in our lives...” I raised an eyebrow and Xander grinned at me cheekily. “Highschool.”