Willow

Prologue

A dark and cloudy night. An abandoned apartment complex. A group of people search through the building, occasionally bringing out bundles wrapped in blankets. A middle aged woman stands a few yards from the door, watching the flashlights shine through the rooms from within and processing the words being spoken to her by the youth volunteer.

"Miss Liz, we've only found six cats in here, which is a good amount unless you consider the fact that the locals say this place is crawling with them."

Liz remarks without shifting her glance, "Many could be out gathering food."

"Yes, well," the teen replies, "we purposely came at night so there was a better chance of that not happening, right?"

"No, that's just when we arrived. Medford isn't exactly close to Eugene, Matt."

"Oh." Matt falls silent.

Another volunteer comes out of the building and declares that there are no other cats in there. As soon as the words leave her lips, a young calico brushes past Liz's ankle and strolls toward the back of the complex.

"Maybe not in the building...," Liz murmurs, then follows the kitten. When she reaches the back, she watches the animal dart through a hole in the tall fence and disappear into the very overgrown garden.  "Well, that's going to make things a bit more difficult..." the woman thinks to herself. Assuring herself that she was still agile enough to make it over the fence, she begins to climb. Just as she pulls herself over the top, a blinding flash of light that looks something like lightning strikes the center of the garden. She averts her eyes as it spreads over everything. When she opens her eyes, she is on the ground inside the fence and the cat is staring at her, as if waiting. Liz stands up and brushes herself off, then follows the calico once more. After a few minutes of wondering how big this garden really is and avoiding fallen trees, they reach the epicenter: an large undisturbed willow tree with a ring of mushrooms underneath its draping branches. Within the circle there is an infant in a silk blanket. The woman walks cautiously towards the child and when the cat doesn't stop her, she picks up and cradles the baby.

Matt's voice echoes through the empty halls of the building. Where is Liz? She can't have just vanished, that isn't possible. Then the sound of a door opening and closing on the first floor beneath him catches his attention. He rushes down there and catches up to Liz, who is walking towards the front of the complex with a purpose. "What do you have there?" he asks before realizing what it is. She's holding a baby with a calico kitten curled up around it.

"I found them in the garden behind the complex. No clue how she got there..."

"Well, what are you going to do with her?"

Liz looks at him like he asked if the world was flat. "I'm going to adopt her of course. And she'll be named Willow, after the regal tree she was under."

As one would expect, there are many questions on the ride home to Eugene, Oregon.