Marvela Mystic | ✔️

Chapter 8 ✨ Witch Hunt

"What are you looking for?" asked the appropriately-named rat beside Marvela.

"I'm trying to see if there's some kind of tracking spell or potion to help us locate nearby witches," the kitten answered, without tearing her eyes away from the flipping pages in front of her.

"Neat! While you go through that big ol' book, I'll check out what our good friend, the internet, has to offer."

Marvela mumbled a distracted, "You do that," to the rat while he skittered away. She focused on the book in front of her.

There has to be something in here...

The beam of sunlight streaming through the windows crept over the kitten on the floor as time passed. Finally, she leapt to her four paws, tail waving like a victory banner. "Curious! I found something!"

"Hm? Whazzat?" she heard the rat mumble from atop one of the desks. Marvela narrowed her eyes at his inattentive tone. She hopped up onto the desk with the lit computer screen.

"Curious, what are you—?"

The rat was lying in front of the computer with his head propped up in his forepaws. He kept his eyes fixed on the screen. "Haha, that cat is too fat to fit through that doggy door! There's no way he'll make it through!" He giggled, pointing a finger at a video of an exceptionally rotund cat trying to squeeze itself through a hole in the door that was clearly too small for it.

Marvela slapped a forepaw to her forehead. "Is this what you've been doing all this time?"

"What?" Curious squeaked. "Oh. No. Of course not. I've watched many other cat videos besides this one. Cats are just so funny. I don't know why that is."

"Curious!"

The rat scrambled to his feet with a yawn. Neither Marvela nor Curious got to see whether the husky cat eventually won its valiant battle with the hole in the door before the rat stretched a paw across the keyboard to close the window. A new window filled the screen. "Oh, and I've also found a blog made for and run by local witchcraft practitioners. There's seriously a website for everything! Isn't the internet neat? Anyway, I made an account and sent every member an explanation of the situation warning to leave town before Asra can find them."

Marvela stared at the list of active users in awe. "Wow! Good job, Curious!"

"Yup! Although..." the white rat said. He stroked his whiskers while he frowned at the screen. "This site seems to be full of younger so-called witches, and it doesn't look very active. I guess witches prefer to keep to themselves even on the internet. I doubt every witch in town has an account here... Some of them might not get the memo."

"And that's where we come in." Marvela grinned, pointing a claw at the open book on the floor. The handwritten recipe for a spell that senses the magic of other witches was on full display. Fortunately, it looked easy enough to make, even for a beginner witch and her new familiar. Her trusty book saved the day yet again. "Let's go witch-hunting!"

⭐⭐⭐

Marvela had returned to the streets of Vigilance with Curious riding on her back. Around her neck swung a pendent Curious had procured. The hanging vial caught the last traces of the evening sunlight. The shimmering purple potion within it swirled like a hurricane.

The kitten frowned at the sun as it began its slow descent behind the roofs of the city. All around the furry pair, the streets were emptying, and lights were turning on in the buildings as people returned to their homes for the night.

It had been hours since they had left the library, and Marvela and Curious had yet to find a single witch.

And they were running out of time.