Marvela Mystic | ✔️

Chapter 12 ✨ Candle-lit Grins

Marvela kept her eyes shut. A cold wind lightly caressed her fur. The morning sun warmed the wood beneath her paws. The sound of a bubbling brook filled her ears. Marvela took a deep breath. "Just... Focus..."

There was the faintest stirring within her. She called to it, trying to coax it out of hiding. Finally, like a wounded animal, her magic came to her. With a steady exhale, Marvela released it.

She opened her eyes.

In front of the railing of the bridge she perched on, the now-empty vial pendant floated in midair. Marvela smiled weakly at the sight. Finally, her magic was willing to obey her.

The kitten blinked. She swished her tail along the rail behind her. Or maybe... Maybe now she was willing to call to her magic. Marvela watched the necklace bob in the air. Yes, her magic had returned...

But it was not enough to defeat Asra.

It would never be enough.

She let the pendant fall, and it splashed into the brook below. The rippling surface obscured where it sank to the bottom amongst polished stones.

The kitten pounced from the railing and skulked away from the bridge toward the Vigilance Library. The people she passed by gathered in the streets in whispering groups. Marvela's ears twitched as she caught snippets of remarks about the curious weather last night.

And the rumors of missing people all around town.

Marvela ducked her head as the numerous posters depicting the faces of the missing stared at her from the walls they were plastered to. She couldn't bring herself to look Agatha, Phoebe, Olive, or any of the others she never got a chance to meet in the eye.

She finally reached the sanctuary of the library. Marvela paid the vines enveloping the building no mind as she brushed pawfuls of its leafy green lengths out of the way to reveal the window she and Curious always kept propped open. Inside, the building was as devoid of life as ever. Books slumped against each other on shelves, awaiting the day someone in need of an escape would take them home. Judging by the layer of dust coating many of the books, they had been waiting awhile.

That was a sad thought, but Marvela had other sad thoughts to dwell on. She made her way beneath one of the empty desks, kneaded at the old forgotten jacket she had claimed from the lost-and-found box, spun around a few times, and then curled up in a ball on top of it. She shut her eyes.

A small hand prodded at her. "Whatcha doin'?" Marvela heard Curious ask.

"Hiding," she answered without opening her eyes. "You should be too. We don't want Branwenn or Asra to find us, do we?"

Especially now that she knows I'm a witch...

Curious continued to poke her. "No, I suppose we don't. But hiding doesn't just mean moping in the dark. We could be practicing our magic. Getting better and stronger—"

Marvela's lip curled up. In an instant, she bolted upright, making the rat fall away from her. "But that's the thing, Curious!" she yowled at him. "Those other witches... Agatha, Phoebe, Olive, and... and Sable! They were already more powerful than me! And Asra still defeated them! It's like everyone says. I'm just a cat. A very tiny cat. I wasn't even a good familiar." Marvela sighed. She sat back down on her haunches with her ears flat against her head. "I'm not a witch."

The rat tugged on his whiskers as he regarded her. "Hmmm. Just a cat, huh?" He turned to the window where, despite the mass of vines swinging on the other side of it, sunlight still shined through. "Well, if you're 'just' a cat, Marv, then stop worrying about all this witch stuff! Just go out and be a cat!"