Purity, Sin, and Witches

Chapter Twenty-three

"Trespassers!" a black cat caterwauled from on top of the kitchen table, causing us to put up our hands in surrender. "What are you doing here?! Are you more of those SWC members? I'll kill you!"

"Uh, Metri, I think now's a good time for you to do that thing," I mumbled, and while Frankie and Steel were confused, Henrietta agreed. "Before we get cat-scratch fever!"

"Cat-scratch fever? What do you think I am, a slum cat?" the black feline snarled, green eyes narrowing impatiently. "State your business, trespassers!"

Metri was gently nudged forward by Henrietta, and grunted, crouching down. "Bevina au witskin, hyuria kimalu yvanki. Y'ael ha—"

"Are you trying to spell me?" the cat hissed, lashing her tail and shaking her head. "How rude! You're wasting your breath, anyhow." Slowly, she climbed off of the table and weaved through our legs, causing all of us to stiffen. "You're taking more caution than the others... I guess you're not a SWC member after all. Are you Cailleach's associates?"

"Uh, yeah," I replied. "You could say that." I retrieved the gloves Cailleach had Ivy give me before the battle, kneeling down and presenting them to the cat. "Does this look like Cailleach's craft?"

"It does, I suppose," the cat said evenly, circling me cautiously and giving me a distasteful sniff. "There's something else, if you're truly his associates, that you'd have." She plopped down before me, tail curling around her paws. "Have you any clue what it is?"

We all thought for a while, but none of us drew any conclusion, until Steel murmured, "Didn't you have a book to return, Hazel?"

I blinked, then nodded fervently and reached into my satchel to pull it out. I set it down in front of the cat, and she purred approvingly. "Wonderful." She blinked longly at it, a bright beam of green streaming from her eyes and levitating the book towards the shelf in the next room. We all followed the cat close. "Now, I can lead you to the entrance of the tunnels." She climbed the bookshelf and swatted something off of the top.

Everyone looked to me, expecting me to pick it up, so I knelt forwards and reached for it. Before I could grab it, the cat leapt down and batted it from reach. "Hey!" I yelped.

"My name's Fern, by the way. I'm Cailleach's familiar."

This cat was a familiar? Eh... I supposed it made sense, since it spoke and could use sorcery. "Uh, hi... Fern. I'm Ha—"

"I know who you all are," she cut in, exasperated. She pushed the item into a hole in the floor up against the wall, and slowly, a doorway appeared, part of the floor shifting. "Follow me." She bravely leapt into the hole, landing within a few moments.

I looked to my companions and climbed in afterwards, everyone following behind me. I felt around for light, but Fern merely cast her green eye beams before us, looking over her shoulder. "Lead the way," I instructed, causing her to scoff and tip her nose up. I shrugged at my friends, and we advanced through the tunnels.

Not too long into our hike, the dirt ground dropped away beneath Fern, and I stopped short, putting out my arms to block my friends from continuing.

"What's this?" Metri asked, disdained, and sounding a bit worried as well.

"The cat's died?" Henrietta tried, obviously picking up on the lack of light just as I had.

"What's that mean? We don't have a guide anymore?" Steel inquired, on edge, clearly. She squinted, then a silver light was cast forth before ourselves. "There, how's that?" We all looked back to Steel, blinking in utter disbelief, and she shrank away shyly. "Or, no headlights... Got it..."