Piper

The Sense of Smell

"Life is either a daring adventure or nothing."

-Hellen Keller

After Tabitha and Lenore left the apartment's entryway, both guards at the doors bowed down before them as if two celebrities had just walked down the red carpet.

Bewildered, Tabitha shook her head as soon as they were out of the guards' sight. She had a hunch that her feline friend had something to do with that trick. Why they treated them like a queen was not her idea. She scratched her head figuring that out before she asked her friend about it.

"Lenore, why did you do that? Fooling those men, as if we were two high-end people. We are not snobs. Well, it was only me they saw, right?"

The cat who emerged from Tabitha's dress had a wet nose from secretly laughing and purred.

"It's my nose, Tabitha. My sense of smell. Must have moved it around too much to launch the spell of a 'queen coming'. Yet, it was quite hilarious that those gentlemen fell for it, don't you think? I should have given you a tiara to look the part."

Tabitha nodded even though she knew it was uncalled for.

"And yes, I stayed incognito, so they only saw you. Which leads me to tell you why I snuck in to find you and your human friends. I found traces of her - the evil spirit we are looking for. And the handkerchief James gave you to inspect might just lead us there as a little girl has become her next victim. Piper accidentally left it along with bits of other clues, so we must hurry. Bring your friends if you must since they already know your secret."

Tabitha's face turned cold as soon as she heard the last words as Lenore shouldn't have known that. She felt guilty for going against the rules.

"How did you know?"

The cat turned her head and faced the witch with glee.

"I can sense things, Tabitha. That crazy warlock should have turned me into a hound dog instead of a pussy cat. Why witches and black cats are always common companions, beats me. There should be a change. A female dog and a witch ... can it not get any better than that? Anyway, don't worry your secret will stay safe with me. Let's find your friends now before the trail runs cold."

Tabitha glared at her frisky friend as she tried to understand her. Lenore was one to talk, but one she couldn't trust, for Tabitha remembered that she was told Lenore was bad luck.  Thus, she had to figure out if that was true.

"She ... she can talk?"

An abrupt voice behind her interrupted Tabitha's thoughts.

James nervously approached the pair of witches as he exited the store nearby. He overheard part of their conversation, despite the fact that he despised eavesdropping on other people's affairs.

"Well, I'm glad to see you too James. Where's Astrid and Hansel?"

Ignoring Tabitha's question, James asked again about Lenore.

"The cat can talk? That is awesome! Wait till I tell the others. Talk to me pussy cat." James implored without paying much attention to what he was saying. 

Lenore faced him and hissed. Her tail was flicked back and forth showing how that remark annoyed her. The only reason why she didn't hurt James as of yet was that he was friends with Tabitha.

Yet, Lenore could only hold on to her patience for so long. 

Seeing this unfortunate scene before her, Tabitha put a stop to it.

"James, this is Lenore, and please refer her by her name only. She is a witch just like me." 

She walked over to where he was standing and whispered in his ear that the phrase pussy cat offended her. 

James knew he had to apologize for what he did. He might be clumsy and say things out of the blue, but he wasn't one to have a mean heart.

"I'm sorry Lenore, it's just that I don't know what to say to an animal who talks. It's not an everyday thing you know?"

Lenore grunted, but patted James' shoe and kissed it, which was a sign of forgiveness.

"Ah, she likes you James."