Chapter 6 – Clawdia
CHAPTER 6
CLAWDIA
“ H ow are we getting in there?” I whispered.
We stared at the warehouse conversion from an alleyway on the opposite side of the road. I shivered, desperate to get this over and done with, yet the entire journey here, Elizabeth hadn’t said a word. Nothing about a plan or what we might do, so I assumed she wanted to look at the place before deciding how we’d break and enter.
But she still said nothing, despite us standing in the cold like a pair of lemons for five minutes, just gawking.
With us both acting so suspiciously, we were definitely going to get caught, but thankfully, the warehouse home was seemingly empty. And with the sunset blinding the occasional drivers passing on the road, it was unlikely anyone saw us.
Elizabeth turned to me, an incredulous look on her face, as though she thought I’d already read her mind and knew the plan.
I must be standing here for the view. I snickered at the thought. I sound like Charlie.
“Clawdia, you are a cat,” she responded.
I frowned and glanced back at the building. Yes, cats are fantastic jumpers and skilled acrobats, but I didn’t know I would be cat burgling and wasn’t ready for something so strenuous. I’m already so tired.
An excuse came to me quickly. “Yes, but I’ll be a naked human when I turn back. That’s going to stand out.”
“Give me your clothes. I’ll hold on to them until you can get me in there too. Then you’ll be able to wear them again.”
I sighed as I pulled the damp material from my skin, already hating the thought of putting them on again while they were still wet. I stopped as I realized something. “You want me to get naked? Here? Now? In the cold? In front of you?”
She gave me a look that suggested I stop being dramatic and started undressing. And while I hated the indignity of it all, the faster I did this, the faster we found information, the faster we could leave, get warm, and focus on my men again.
I huffed and muttered, “I’m so tired of being naked in front of strangers,” as I began peeling the fabric from my body.
“You are being dramatic. This is more important than your dignity.” She took the top I handed her and continued as I unbuttoned my trousers. “And I’m not a stranger. You are practically my daughter-in-law.”
“Which makes this stranger, does it not?” I remarked and handed her the last of my garments before I swiftly turned into my feline form, shrinking until I was close enough to Elizabeth’s damp trainers. The smell coming from them overwhelmed my nose. I gagged and jumped away from her before she could say anything.
Darting through the bushes and across the road, I hummed the Mission: Impossible theme in my head as I scaled the bins to reach an open window. Peering inside, my eyes widened at the beautiful open-plan space. Furnished with stunning canvas artwork, decorative statues (that didn’t look like genitalia), as well as comfortable and stylish furniture, it suggested the owner was very well off.
There were a few items that suggested someone, hopefully Elizabeth’s family, was using the space—a handbag on the table and a coat thrown over the sofa—and if I listened carefully, I could make out the sound of a dishwasher.
I couldn’t see anything that indicated Elizabeth’s family occupied the space, so for a moment, I worried they weren’t even there. Then worried they were.
Please, Lord, I pray they’ve been staying here but aren’t inside at the moment. We could really use a win right now.
Using my paws, I nudged at the gap between the window and the sill, hoping to make the opening bigger, but it didn’t move. Blast. It’s on a latch.
I meowed pitifully in the hope someone inside would find me and pull me inside. No one turns down the call of the cat distribution system. But then I remembered that one of these witches killed mine, and the others allowed demons to be captured and have their fire taken in order for Fafnir to rise. They were monsters. And monsters ate fluffy beauties like me.
After hopping down from the bins, I searched for another entry point toward the back of the building, the side hidden from the road with a small, fenced patio area. A second-story window was wide open, but it was only accessible by a slender ledge. One even a cat might struggle to walk along.
I was glad for the bravery instilled in this form, because human Clawdia did not have the mettle needed for this task. Yet Clawdicat lived for the challenge.
Doing my fellow felines proud, I easily vaulted up onto the fence and walked toward the building with the idea that I could jump onto the top ledge of the back doors. Once I successfully landed that elegant hop, I readied myself for my next move: ascending onto the second-floor window sill. And with a prayer and the muscle memory of a big cat, I made it. Barely. I held on just by my claws and dangled as I curled my body around the small piece of plastic. My stomach rolled as I glanced down. I’d survive if I fell, but I wouldn’t like the feeling.
Scrambling to pull my back legs up, I eventually made it onto the window ledge, where I let out an enormous sigh of relief and quickly hurried inside. Exhaustion weighing down my bones, I caught my breath and admired the lovely bedroom. With its crushed velvet headboard and multitude of pillows and bedspreads, the bed itself was a beautiful feature and called to my lackadaisical nature for an early evening nap. Yet, I didn’t have time to relax. I had to make sure there was no one around before I headed downstairs to let Elizabeth in.
With the last bit of adrenaline rushing through me, I powered my legs to race around the upstairs rooms. There were five bedrooms and two bathrooms. All the doors were open, and although luggage lay on the floor and makeup scattered every flat surface in each room, I couldn’t identify the lodgers. But it was clear they weren’t currently there.
Thank God. I don’t want to do it all again another time.
My bones were jelly by the time I made it down the stairs, and turning human at the bottom only made the sensation worse. Admittedly, in my time as Winnie’s familiar, I broke into Charlie’s house similarly, but I assumed I felt weak because I was still recovering. That feeling compounded as I opened the door with a heave reminiscent of someone pulling up a drawstring bridge, and as Elizabeth slipped in seconds after, I took a moment to lean against the wall while my head spun.
Damp material pressing at my stomach made my eyes pop open. I flinched.
“Get dressed,” Elizabeth whispered and shook the handful of clothes at me again.
I reluctantly took them and, as I pulled them on, said, “You need to check for spells. They could be watching,”
She shot me a sharp glance. “I’ve disguised us so they won’t know who we are if there are spells.” She headed up the stairs. “There are active spells, but only upstairs. Stay down here and look around. Touch nothing.”
I couldn’t face walking up the stairs again, so I was grateful she’d made the executive decision as I hobbled into the huge open-plan kitchen, dining, and living spaces which were even more colorful as a human.
I couldn’t help but stare in awe at the space. Even if evil witches were renting it, they obviously had good taste.
I took a seat on the sofa and riffled through the coat. The pockets were empty, and the coat itself, a pink raincoat, revealed nothing about the owner.
Leaning over to the coffee table, I picked up a few books and flicked through them to make sure they were as innocuous as they seemed. They were. I then crawled over to the cabinets under the television and began searching for anything interesting but also found nothing.
Sighing, I pulled myself up against the dining table and searched the small square handbag, but other than a few bits of makeup and a dirty tissue I jerked my hand away from, there was nothing in there either.
I’m not thinking like a witch. Winnie used to put things in jars …
My head swung to the kitchen, and I limped over to those cabinets and started rifling. Doors slammed as each cabinet I opened revealed nothing out of the ordinary—just plates and bowls and cooking tools and utensils.
Not jars … Maybe … I scanned the room again, and as the sun set behind the trees outside, long and creepy shadows cast about the room. I shuddered as a chill seeped through me. My blood ran cold as I noticed something on the mantlepiece of an electric fire. I thought it was a decorative piece at first. It didn’t stand out in this space, which was probably why the witches felt so comfortable leaving it in such an open, obvious place.
It was a knife. Or maybe it was a dagger. Either way, I recognized it because it looked identical to the one that Mary had used to slit Winnie’s throat.
But I was sure it went missing. Mary gave it to Fafnir, and then that warehouse fell to pieces, so unless someone had gone back to retrieve it, this couldn’t be the same knife, right?
The longer I looked, the bigger it seemed to get, and the details expanded. The swirling, decorative pattern on the gold handle and the delicate writing engraved on the blade were … beautiful.
I want to touch it.
My feet moved without my permission and even though I knew this could have been the weapon that killed my witch and nearly killed me, I became less angry the closer I stepped. With my thoughts floating in a confused fog, I reached out to touch it, until a voice snapped, “Clawdia! Don’t touch that!” and the spell broke.
I gasped and quickly moved away from the mantlepiece, and Elizabeth pulled me back even further before grabbing my face roughly, turning my chin, and checking my eyes.
“That is dark magic,” she whispered. “It can be very seductive.”
I swallowed, my heart pounding in my ears, and muttered, “I thought you said there were no spells on this floor.”
She let my face go and turned back to the blade on the mantelpiece before pulling out her phone and taking pictures of it while she explained, “Spells are magic placed on or taken off items. Enchantments are magic that changes the nature of the item from nonmagical to magical. This blade is enchanted. I cannot break its magic unless I destroy it.”
I blinked and stepped back again. “Why would they just leave it on the mantelpiece?”
“They clearly don’t think anyone is looking for them.”
Peeling my eyes from the blade, I turned to look at her. “You said it’s dark magic, but I wasn’t aware there was such a thing. This enchantment is dark? And Karin’s ward spell was dark?”
“I will explain the details later.” Her gaze darted to the door behind me, and she tapped her pocket. “We need to go.”
“Go? Why?” I tried to clear my mind from the residual confusion. “Have you found something?”
“I broke the spell on a drawer and found a phone,” she told me as scanned the room once more.
“A phone?”
She nodded. “If they are hiding it even from their kin, their allies, it may hold important information.”
“You found nothing else? No diaries?” I asked.
“No.” She waved a hand, urging me toward the door.
“What about the blade?” I looked back at it. “It looks like the knife Mary used to kill Winnie. She gave it to Fafnir for him to use on the protector. She said it was poison because it had the blood of the betrayed. I assumed it was lost in the warehouse when it burned down.”
“The blood of the betrayed. She’s embraced such dark sacrificial magic.” Sorrow passed over Elizabeth’s face like a rain cloud, but she shook it off and replied stoically, “It is the same blade. Items like that can be spelled to return when called. Since she went to the effort of making this gift, she wanted to ensure it was going to be used to its full potential.”
“That’s what worries me. If it’s not actually a gift for Fafnir, then who is she planning to use it on?” I shuddered.
Winnie died for the blade to be as dangerous and evil as it is. It wasn’t right.
Elizabeth must have sensed my desire to take it out of their hands. “We cannot bring it with us. It will only be recalled.”
I sighed and nodded, finally heading toward her, but I dragged my feet. I felt sick leaving such a weapon with evil people.
But at the sound of a car coming to a stop outside on the gravel driveway, my heart stopped. My eyes, wide and panicked, flicked to look at Elizabeth, who was just as frozen as I was, and a hint of sadness crossed her expression as car doors opened and closed and then female voices sounded.
Elizabeth tugged my arm, and we stumbled over to the window, threw the latch, and quickly climbed onto the bins below just as the key turned in the lock and the door pushed open.
Without looking back, we raced to the car and prayed our getaway was a clean one. But it was only a matter of time before someone noticed the missing phone, and then we’d really be in trouble.
When my pulse had calmed and I no longer felt like I’d be sick if I opened my mouth, I turned down the blaring car radio and asked Elizabeth, “Where are we going?”
“I’m not sure right now. Away.” She didn’t look at me, but her hands tightened on the steering wheel and her jaw tensed.
Maybe she didn’t want to drive? I’d offer to portal but … “I don’t think I can portal us right now.”
“I didn’t ask you to,” she snapped and then shook her head. In a softer tone, she said, “I’m looking for a hotel. We can portal in the morning. After a rest.”
“Are you all right?” I asked quietly. She might not be my favorite person, but I didn’t enjoy seeing her so distressed. I sympathized.
She sighed and flexed her fingers. “Hearing them after so long … brought up a kind of grief I haven’t let myself feel in years.”
I waited for her to continue, but her lips tightened, and her chin jutted out. Charlie did the same thing when he was in pain.
“Being betrayed by your family is hard,” I began slowly. “When you look at someone you love and wonder if you ever really knew them at all … it’s painful to think you only loved the nice parts they showed you and their capacity, ability, to do evil things was hidden.”
She didn’t acknowledge my words, just stared straight ahead and continued driving. But eventually, she said, “There were no records of dark magic tomes in the library.”
“I’m not sure I follow.”
“I checked every record, every entry, of a book in that library that could teach a young witch like Karin how to use dark magic spells, and I couldn’t find anything.”
I wasn’t sure how we’d jumped from her family to Karin, but I didn’t question it. I simply asked, “Could she have figured it out?”
“No.” She shook her head. “She was a bright witch, but she wouldn’t have tried to do anything outside of a book. It’s how she learned everything.”
“So, how do you think she learned the dark magic?” My eyebrows shot up as a thought hit me. “Your family?”
Elizabeth nodded slowly, her jaw tensed again, but she took a deep breath and explained, “They’ve clearly embraced dark magic. They were close enough to communicate with the witches on the island. They could have influenced Karin and talked her into taking the magic from the wards.”
“That suggests they are working with the hunters. But why?” I asked.
It didn’t make sense. They are witches. The hunters hunt witches and other supernaturals. How are they working together? And to what end?
We checked into a hotel about an hour away, and I practically crawled into the room, I was so drained. Despite my exhaustion, worry caused my mind to spin.
I hope Baelen has found Charlie and that they are together. I hope Charlie hasn’t singed Baelen. I hope Charlie is back in human form.
We ate the takeout we bought on the way in silence, and after we finished, I started getting ready for bed while Elizabeth called her daughters. I listened to them talking on speaker as I brushed my teeth.
A soft Bristolian accent sounded through the phone. “Mum, why didn't you want to call earlier? We thought something else had happened.”
Elizabeth’s accent was more generalized, so I’d never thought about where she was from, but her daughter had an accent. Is that where they are from? Bristol? They were so close to Charlie, and yet he could never find them. My fingers tightened around my toothbrush as I huffed in anger.
“I’m safe, Gemma,” Elizabeth assured her daughter in a gentle tone. “Fafnir isn’t nearby, as far as we can tell, and nothing has happened. Although we now believe he and our defected family are working with hunters.”
“Well, I’m not surprised. We are all reporting an increase in hunter presence outside our areas. We weren’t sure if they knew something or if there just seemed to be more.”
“Everyone is seeing more hunters hovering around portals? Why didn’t you say something earlier?” Elizabeth snapped.
“When should we have told you that?” Gemma replied. “Between you jetting off to Sweden to see your long-lost son, becoming the temporary leader of the witches, and then getting knocked on your arse when hunters attacked your secret island?”
The sarcasm runs in the family.
“I appreciate that I’ve been otherwise engaged, but my priority is always going to be my duty to the portals’ protection.” Elizabeth started pacing past the bathroom door as I spat out toothpaste and began washing my face. “If the hunters suspect the location of the portals, then I should know. What about the shadow portal? Are they aware of that yet?”
“Doesn’t look like it. We knew there was a possibility of the others coming back to bite us. Now we know what we need to do.”
My ears pricked at that. They had a failsafe plan in case of the secret getting out?
Elizabeth stopped dead, and I saw her swallow something back. Probably a shout, because her voice was strained as she said, “You can’t do that alone. Just focus on protection until I can get more information.”
“Defense has always been the plan, but we need to make sure this knowledge doesn’t spread. It’s been the best-kept secret in all the realms, and it needs to stay that way.”
But why? Yes, Fafnir is too dangerous to allow to travel to other realms, but why can’t others freely travel?
The shadows trapped in the human realm could have gone to a more hospitable place, like Akar, if they had the option. The otherworlders are powerful compared to humans, but humans aren’t defenseless anymore. They can protect themselves if they are aware of dangers.
But supernaturals becoming known to humans would only lead to chaos, so maybe they have a point.
“Attacking is our last defense.” Elizabeth continued, “Stay vigilant, and keep me informed.”
“I will. Keep me informed of your incidents, too. Watch out for dragons. And hunters. Kayleigh says goodbye.”
“I’ll be fine. You’ll see. Love you. Look after each other.”
“Love you too. Bye.”
They signed off, and Elizabeth sagged onto her twin bed, the one closest to the door. I watched her from the bathroom door and fiddled with my pajamas as I contemplated all I had just heard.
“You look like you have something you want to say,” Elizabeth remarked as she stood up and began pulling her nightwear out of her bag.
“I don’t,” I replied quickly as I moved to sit on my bed.
“Clawdia, I’m too old for games. Tell me what you want to get off your chest, and then we can go to sleep and put this day behind us.”
I shook my head. “I’m just thinking about the future. Whether Charlie will get to meet his sisters.”
“All being well, and if his control is good enough, I’m sure he will.” She shrugged and didn’t look at me. Her voice was carefree, but the stiffness in her shoulders as she walked to the bathroom told another story.
“But you don’t believe that.”
She sighed, her hand resting on the door. “I can’t guarantee anything. I know you hope for him to return to being the man you love, but I’m afraid it might be too late for that.”
I knew what she thought. But hearing her say it out loud made me clench my jaw so tight that my teeth ached, and I swallowed back the instinctive angry shout that wanted to come out.
Instead, I told her softly, “He’s been alone his entire life. He’s had questions for the family that abandoned him and has always searched for them. You. He always wanted family, but when he couldn’t have that, he tried not to get attached to anything. He fears commitment now. He doesn’t want to be rejected. And all this because you and your family wholeheartedly believed he was evil because he was male.
“He isn’t evil. He never has been. He’s been lost without a family, but he’s mine now. He has me, and he has our faith in him. Being a dragon won’t change him. I turn into a cat, but I’m not entirely changed, and even if there are changes, they won’t alter how I feel about him. And if being a dragon means he’s susceptible to Fafnir’s influence, then I know he will fight it with every inch of his being.”
She scoffed. “You can’t know that.”
“Just as you can’t.” I laughed humorlessly. “But I’d rather have faith than live my life in fear.”
“Fear keeps us safe.”
“Fear stops us from living!” I shouted. “Trust me. I would know.”
Elizabeth hissed, “And I know power corrupts. I will do anything to protect my family from my mistakes.”
“Protect your family from a mistake?” I repeated, both horrified and infuriated.
How dare she insinuate he wasn’t her family. That he was a mistake.
“Isn’t it funny how a mistake you made became one of the most important people in my life? But if you ever make him aware of your thoughts about him again, I promise you’ll not find a more determined or petty enemy. He’s had enough rejection from you. Either you accept him, or when this is all over, you’ll never see him or us again.”