Cat couldn't shake the feeling that she was being followed. The sun was still setting, but the light in the forest was almost gone. She had tried multiple times to get back to Flame, but the dark trees towering overhead seemed to shift when she wasn't looking.
"Just face it," Catalina told herself, "You're lost, and it's all your fault. Now you're going to get captured and eaten by who-knows-what and there's nothing you can do about it." To punctuate her point, a series of eerie howls and guttural roars rang out among the trees. They seemed to echo all around her, and no matter how hard she tried to convince herself that they were far away, the sounds seemed to get nearer and nearer. Catalina could've sworn she heard rustling in the bushes, but it could have been the biting wind.
How warm and bright the Golden Forest had seemed only hours ago! Now the sun had gone and taken all the light and warmth with it. Cat almost missed the burning heat and intense light reflected throughout the forest. Almost.
Cackling suddenly broke out from the branches above. She remembered what Flame had told her earlier while they were eating. There's a garden near the edge of the forest. It's owned by some old witch, but I don't think she'll notice. Had she noticed and come back for revenge?
"Poor thing," a voice cawed high in the branches hanging over Catalina's head.
"I think she's lost," another voice said. It let out a cough that ended with a loud squawk.
Did the witch have a friend? Was there a whole flock of witches waiting in the trees? Did witches even travel in flocks? "Leave me alone," Cat called up into the tree. She cursed herself for how frightened she sounded. "Leave me alone!" she forced herself to shout, trying to keep her voice steady.
"Very well," the first cackly voice said. There was a rustle in the dark tree limbs, and a flurry of feathers and dull golden leaves rained down. Catalina covered her head but looked up in time to see two black crows flying off into the night.
Cat was surprised to not see the flock of witches she had imagined soaring away on broomsticks. Then she remembered what Flame had said when they first met. Man, we haven't had an animal whisperer in these parts for a long time. Was that what she was? An animal whisperer? She liked the sound of that. Cat couldn't wait to tell Flame that she really was an -
"Boo!"
YOU ARE READING
Timeweaver
Fantasy*COMPLETED...just found this short little book I wrote a few years ago...* When Tabitha, a girl living with her famous parents in the Big Apple, decides to go through a magic portal with her best friend, Catalina (great decision, right?), she enters...
