Syphon

Chapter 5

Cathy stood at the edge of her bed with a grin on her face. Everything she thought she would need was packed and crammed into a duffle bag. Her cat leapt unto the bed and settled himself inside the opening.

She reached down and picked him up, placing him on the bare floor.

"I'm sorry, Gasper, you won't like it where I'm going."

She stood back and surveyed her room. The familiar wooden shelves with piles of books haphazardly thrown onto the sagging planks. Her dresser that held her dairy and multitude of pictures of friends and family. She sighed and ran a hand across the dusty chess board that sat on her end table. She was actually leaving.

She looked up toward her small window above her dresser and froze. A pair of glowing green eyes peered at her from the blackness beyond her window. She took in a shuddering breath as the musky scent of fallen leaves creeped in and filled her nostrils.

No.

The eyes moved closer and her cat hissed then ran under her bed. The shape of a fox head formed around the eyes. From the tentacles of shadow, it gave her a savage grin.

Cathy screamed, backpedaled, and slammed into her other bookcase. Notebooks and the like rained down on her head as she fell with a crash.

" Cathy? Are you all right?"

Foot steps sounded outside her door as Cathy scrambled to her feet throwing her books off. She glanced at the window as she dashed to her bed.

No fox.

She jerked her duffle off the bed and shoved it under her just as her door opened.

Her mom looked around the room before her eyes settled on her. "What happened here?"

Cathy stood shakily. "I thought I saw a mouse."

"Ugh, did you get it?"

She shook her head. "It was Gasper's tail I saw."

Her mother frowned as she looked around the room again. " Well, make sure you clean up before bed tonight."

"Of course."

The door closed and Cathy released the breath that she had been holding.

After cleaning up the mess she took the trash bags waiting for her in the kitchen and when out the back door of the temple. Gasper darted out before she could stop him.

The cool night air was refreshing. Her family's temple was for the god Kaitos or rather, Father Time, father of all gods. It stood on a hill by its self overlooking the temple square and the town beyond.

Cathy hoisted the trash up and dropped it into the bin before closing the lid. Some bushes rustled near by and a quiet meow could be heard.

" C'mon, Gasper." Cathy kicked the bin back against the wall. Another meow this time more insistent. Cathy eyed the darkness beyond and hesitated. Shaking the fear from earlier she plunged in. "Where are you, you whiny thing."

Bramble and bushes snagged at her legs and low hanging trees tangled her hair as she moved deeper into the woods. Another meow sounded and she moved in that direction. She stumbled into a small clearing stomping her feet and swiping her arms of sticky spiderwebs when she noticed E'dyn. He was beaten, laying prone on the ground, so still that she had to touch him to see if he was still breathing. He stirred lifting his head slightly to look at her with dim eyes.

"Catherine..."

"Shit."

Cathy dropped to the ground on her knees beside him. "Anything broken?" She demanded.