The Familiar (21 page)

"I could leave the house as a man?" My body tingles with adrenalin as the hope hits my bloodstream. I could go to the bar, have a beer with the boys, kick back at the beach and watch the bikini girls go by. I could go out to a movie and not have to travel there in someone's handbag.

"Man, don't tease me with this...how do we get this moving like, right now?

"Your coven's members must surround the house and perform an illumination to determine where the spelled objects are placed. When the objects are removed, you will be able to leave this house without fear of having your animal brother revealed."

"No need to wait. 'Cause I'm okay with calling all of them and waking them up right now."

She smiles a tired smile. "It is four in the morning in France. My priestess requires sleep after such a taxing day. If you could please to show us to our rooms?"

I'm souped up on adrenalin now—I could run a marathon and then turn around and run it again, but I don't have any other choice. I lead the French women up the stairs as Cassie walks Gillian to the door.

I usher Aurelie into Eunice's room where Cassie has had a new bed installed, covered now with the spare satin spread. I settle Maryse into the small but classier bedroom I've been using and which I expect she'll find more restful than the red-themed one. Cassie will be staying in the room she's had since childhood, and she says good night on the way there as we pass in the hall. She looks far away, in her own thoughts.

Downstairs again, I get comfortable on the couch under a slightly tattered quilt. Not that I sleep. How can I rest when my imprisonment may be coming to an end?

A day later, the members of the coven who know about me gather close to midnight, when the rhythms of magic fit best with the rhythms of the earth. The spell requires them to make a ring around the house. Just another tourist attraction in Giles: come see the witches in their inky robes work their spells in public!

Fortunately, what little nightlife occurs in Giles takes place on the other side of downtown. The chance of anyone walking by at this time of night is minimal. Because all the houses on the block have been converted to stores, there are few residents. Cassie and a few renters are the only ones who still live above the shops.

I turn to Cassie, "I have to go out and watch."

"Good idea. I'll go with you."

I shift as I cross the threshold while Cassie holds the front door for me to travel out into the night. She stands by the lamp post in front, but I run a quick lap around to get an idea of what the ritual looks like. What it looks like is a B horror flick. It's not only gloomy because of the hour, but it's been cloudy all day, the wind is whipping up, and it smells like rain is on the way any minute.

The witches stand facing the house with their faces well hidden under the hoods of their robes. At first, there's light from the street lamps, but Natalie, who's at the front of the shop, raises a hand toward them and the entire string of four or five of them within lighting distance of the building wink out with a fizzling pop.

In the darkness that follows, the choir begins the chant. Quiet at first, then building. Cat's ear pick up the low hum of magic beneath their words. The witches raise their arms to each side, reaching for each other's power to share it across the space between.

A thread of gold-brown light jumps from one hand to the other, growing brighter as the chant continues. The ring entirely encloses the building now.

Maryse enters the circle and slowly walks a circuit around the house. As she passes each witch in turn, they stop chanting and slap their hands together in front. The light leaps from their fingertips to the building, settling in to illuminate small patches on the side of the house. The high priestess circles again, using a knife to pry into the wooden siding to dig out the illuminated patches that glow gold beneath. She removes a small item from each of the spots and places it into a leather pouch she wears around her neck. As she does, each patch of light fades.

 After all the patches of light extinguish, the high priestess walks to Cassie and speaks in French, making a motion with her hands to her mouth, urging her with a sign to speak, then backs away from her with a gentle smile. Cassie walks over to me, where I've been sitting on the sidewalk, careful to stay out of the way. She goes down on one knee and lifts my chin so that we're looking directly into each other's eyes.

She says, "Good Tom."

And I start to shift. Outside the house, without the death of Cat to precipitate it, I shift. It's glorious. It's incredible. It's amazing.

It's a little cold.

Unfortunately, nobody thought about the problem of the lack of clothes before they decided to test the success of the casting. Natalie and some of the younger witches greet this development with whistles and catcalls. I take a bow and then strut into the house at a leisurely pace so the ladies I owe so much to can take their time admiring me. I find my robe before I run back out to the street and give that high priestess a hug she'll still be feeling on the flight back to France.

The rain, which has held off until now, begins with a great crack of lightning, followed by the boom of thunder.

Who cares about rain? I lift my human face to it and let nature cleanse me.

While I drink my fill of raindrops, the witches break and run for the door to get out of the sudden storm. I follow them in reluctantly. Cassie is standing in the doorway, waiting.

"I didn't want to interrupt you," she says with a gigantic grin. "You were like this rain god illuminated by the lightning."

She grabs my hand and gives it a brief squeeze, then lets go and nods her head toward the door to the sitting room, where the room buzzes with the sound of excited chatter.

"Go on," I say. "I'll be there in a minute." As she heads for the hall, I turn back to the shop door, where the Egyptian cat jar perches just above on its ledge. It's easily within arm's reach for a man as tall as I am. I walk back into the rain and watch it sail through the blackness down the street. I don't see where it lands, but the sound of breaking clay is plenty satisfying.

I spend the next several minutes accepting congratulations and damp hugs from the happy band of magic-makers. I thank each of them in turn, knowing I'll be indebted to them for the rest of my life. Mere words can't thank them, but I have nothing else.

I catch sight of Gillian, standing next to Cassie, chatting happily. She glances my way as I enter another hug, and she beams me a gorgeous smile that smoothes her skin and makes her look like the young girl I married. I'd take time to just enjoy that smile if there weren't a spider crawling up the wall behind her. Cat's becoming distracted. My eyes return to the spider's path up the wall more and more as I only half-listen to what the people around me are saying.

I see Cassie looking at me curiously as I pull my attention away from the spider and back to the conversation I've been having with a middle-aged warlock. I try to keep my eyes on him as he asks me questions about what shifting feels like, but they keep darting back to the speck still crawling up the wall. I pull back and focus on my conversation again, then the sound of a loud smack explodes through the room. Everyone turns as one.

Cassie is holding a rolled up copy of the Free Times in her hand, and there's a small black splotch where the spider used to be. She waves her hand at the group dismissively. "Carry on."

Our eyes lock, and we burst out laughing. I laugh until there are tears running from my eyes. I laugh, and I cry, like it's the first time in forty-five years.

When the partiers are gone, the French witches have retired for the night, and Cassie is busy in the kitchen, Gillian and I start clearing up in the sitting room. When our hands brush as we both reach for the same teacup, Gillian whispers to me, "So, I'm asking again if there was a moment there between you and Cassie?"

"Maybe. I don't know. I don't know anything about emotions between normal men and women any more."

"Then Tom, you be careful. Because if you hurt that girl after everything she's done for you..."

I take her hand and look into her still beautiful and always kind eyes. "Gilly, I swear to you, I wish that I could take back everything I ever did to you and any other woman I hurt along the way. I probably deserved to be made a cat because I always acted like I was a dumb creature driven by instinct. But I learned from it. Gilly, I learned."

She studies my face. After a long moment, she replies, "Yes, I think you have."

She turns away then, scooping up a cocktail napkin from the end table before she turns back, "And Tom...I truly wish you happiness if you're able to find it. I had a wonderful life with my Martin. I can only wish the same for you."

I nod slightly. She knows I have trouble expressing sentiment, but I can see she gets that I'm grateful for her words.

Kevin watches TV, his belly spilling out of his robe, his legs open, displaying his Fruit of the Looms, his feet encased in terry-cloth house slippers. Keisha has gone home for the night. I guess he can safely be himself now.

From my perch on the window ledge, I yowl to get his attention over the drone of the TV. He looks over and jumps up, moving my direction to get a better look.

I give a heartfelt howl again, Cat's loudest, then jump off the ledge and stand in the bushes, looking up at him as he opens the window higher and peers down. I stick out my tongue and try to get Cat's face to wear a nyah-nyah-nyah look, but it's always tough to know what Cat really looks like in those situations. Cats aren't known for their range of emotions.

I turn around and shake my ass at him. We don't want any mistakes here. He needs to know it's me. Otherwise, how will I distract him?

"For Chrissake! How did you get out of the pound?" I hear him move away from the window, cursing. I jump back to the sill, and he's running hell bent for the bedroom. He comes out fully dressed and heads for the back door. Too bad he doesn't know Cassie's hiding around the other side of the house, just waiting for me to flush him out so she can go in and find the phone he took from Cat.

Kevin comes rushing to the bushes.

From the harness hanging around my neck the words, "Good Tom," sound.

Kevin looks confused as he stands there, eyes wide, watching me change from a helpless young cat to a not-at-all helpless young man. He turns to run, but I have him in a choke-hold before he knows what's hit him.

I bend my head to his ear and talk softly. "Didn't think you'd be going up against anyone who could be a threat, now, did you? Feel more powerful with kittens or under your cloak of invisibility, do you? Too bad, because that's going to be ending very soon. Let's go into the house. That okay with you?"

Kevin nods his head. Man, I want this guy's body away from my bare skin. I drag him along in a rush. He stumbles and swears.

Cassie is on the couch with her cell phone. "That was easy to find. You should have trashed it if you didn't want me to get it back. But keeping it right on the coffee table? Seriously, were you watching the video for a sick turn-on?"

"My father will..."

"I've called your father, Kevin. He's on his way. We'll see what he'll do. Although I don't think Tom and I have much to worry about. We didn't leave the house without protection of our own. You see, Gillian's been training me."

Cassie holds a hand out toward him and rubs her thumb against her fingers. A ball of light-blue fire builds in her hand as she does. "She thinks my protection spells are every bit as good as hers now. If you want to get closer, we could test it out. I warn you, though, I put more pain into my spell than Gillian probably would have put into hers." The blue flame is suddenly shot with flares of darkness.

Kevin glares and doesn't say anything more. Right about now, I'm glad his magical abilities don't extend to laser beams shooting from his eyes.

While I hold him secure, Cassie ties Kevin's hands and feet, her flame dancing across the bonds as she does. Kevin cringes away from it.

When she's done, she says, "I was always sure that Girl Scout badge for knot-tying would come in handy one day. He's not going anywhere." With that, she gives him a solid shove in the center of the chest, and he collapses backward onto the couch.