Chapter 19 – Clawdia
CHAPTER 19
CLAWDIA
“ W ell?” Mary snapped when the silence went on too long. “Where is the cat?”
Nausea rolled in my stomach as I waited for the hunters in the tiny bedroom to reply to her, my body still tucked tightly in the corner under the bed, behind a box, blocking my view of Mary in the doorway and, more importantly, hidden from them all. All I could see were the men’s feet, so I couldn’t gauge their reaction to the witch’s demand.
I was on tenterhooks with my paws crossed that neither of them would tell Mary about me, because if anyone could foil my plan to rescue Zaide, it would be her. She knew me, my connection to Zaide, and had probably taken great joy in informing Fafnir of my past with him, too.
The very thought that he knew I was alive sent shivers down my spine and made my fur stand on end.
Jack answered her question. “Why do you want to know about the cat?” he asked curiously, with the malice Michael had.
“Because the titan was fully healed last night and I want to know how.”
If I had fists, I would have pumped them at the small victory. But it was short-lived.
Now they might go to extra lengths to ensure he stayed injured for longer.
I checked our bond just to be sure he was still safe, and saw it burning brightly, yet our feelings and thoughts remained blocked from each other. He was alive, but I didn’t know the state of his well being.
Jack started laughing loudly and slapping his knees, bringing me back to the moment. “And you think a cat could have done it? Even if the cat was a shifter, they can’t heal anyone.”
“I won’t bother to explain since you don’t understand basic laws of magic,” she replied smartly, “but yes. A cat could have done it. Especially a cat with purple eyes and long cream fur.”
She was right, but I had to hope that the hunters trusted her less than Michael trusted me.
But Jack had seen me too, and I knew he would want to know why a cat with that description could have healing magic and why his friend would bring in a cat with powers. “Wh-”
Michael jumped in before Jack could ruin things. “You’re forgetting that I can tell whether things are supernatural creatures. And this cat was an ordinary cat.”
“Are you sure?” Mary asked with suspicion clear in her voice.
“I’m sure. Perhaps it was another cat who healed your titan,” Michael replied sarcastically.
She hummed before asking, “Where is it?”
“The cat?” Michael replied easily, “Hiding. Like cats do.”
“You won’t mind if I have a look at it?” She asked, and my heart hammered as she stepped into the room.
Michael hissed, “If you take another step into my room, I’ll break your arm. I don’t like you and I don’t want you near my things.”
“No worries,” she replied. I’ll just check the cameras. I’ve got some time since the guards are beating him and the scientists are draining him of blood.”
The door slammed shut, and I shuddered, feeling helpless and heartbroken for my soul pair.
“What the fuck was that?” Jack exclaimed.
Micheal tried to pretend ignorance. “What do you mean?”
“When are you such an arsehole to the witches on our side? I get they are annoying, but you’re not usually like that.”
“Forget the witches. There’s something bigger going on here.” Michael stooped and caught my eye. “Come out. I promise nothing will happen to you.”
He’d better not be lying. But my titan was being beaten within an inch of his life and I feared I wouldn’t make it in time to save him. I had to take risks. I mentally apologized to Baelen and crawled out from under the bed.
The two men looked like giants as they stared down at me, Jack confused and Michael worried.
“Why did she think a cat could heal a titan?” Jack asked. “Specifically, a cat with purple eyes and blond fur that looks exactly like this cat?”
“Change,” Michael ordered and against my better judgment, I did.
Jack flew backwards, a scream locked in his throat, and all he could let out was a squeak. “What the fuck?!”
“Shhhh,” I tried to cover his mouth, but he slapped my hands away.
“You’re a shifter.” He breathed and turned his wide eyes to his friend. “You’re hiding a shifter in your room? What the fuck?”
“I’m a familiar actually,” I said and although their eyes seemed to bulge with the additional knowledge, they had other questions on their mind.
“Did you heal the titan?” Michael asked in an accusatory tone while pulling a t-shirt and sweatpants out from his drawer and handing them to me.
“Yes. But in a dream, not in person. I don’t know where he is here,” I replied honestly and hurriedly pulled on the clothes.
“You knew a witch here knew about you, and that you could be linked to me and didn’t think to mention that?”
I closed my eyes briefly. “I held back information which I knew wouldn’t help my cause. I want to say I’m sorry but I’m not. You would do the same in my position.”
His jaw tensed, and his eyes narrowed. “How do you know her? The witch?”
“She was my witch’s girlfriend until she murdered her and almost killed me, too.”
That seemed to startle him out of his anger. “You have a new witch? I didn’t know that could happen.”
“I seem to be the first.”
He crossed his arms and glared. “Your new witch isn’t here?”
“He’s … busy.” Being another dragon. But you don’t need to know about that.
“He? A male witch?” Michael glanced at his friend, who just stared at us both with the same shocked look frozen on his face. “We don’t know that there’s a male witch that powerful.”
A smile pulled up the corner of my lip as pride washed through me. “He’s special.”
Michael’s eyes narrowed. “I thought you were in love with the titan.”
“I am. It’s complicated. I’m with all of them.” I waved a hand dismissively. It would take too long to explain, but hopefully, with my honesty, he felt he could trust me again because what I had to say next wouldn’t be easy to believe.
“All of them,” he repeated, his eyebrows high, and he glanced at Jack again to share his astonishment.
Jack coughed, coming back to life, and then, with big animated movements, exclaimed, “I’m sorry, am I in the twilight zone? Can we circle back to the fact that you,” he pointed at Michael, “are hiding a familiar in your room? Rule-following, schedule-making, neat freak, you?”
Michael sighed. “Look, you know something weird is going on here. Clawdia has told me about this Darren, and he’s not what we think. He’s not even human. He’s a magic draining dragon and the witches are working for him. The supernaturals we’ve captured are his breakfast.”
“You’ve cracked. You’ve actually cracked.” Jack stared at his friend, mouth agape, and shook his head. “She was naked.” He looked at us. “Is this an Alani thing?”
An Alani thing? Was there more to this story? He said he didn’t know if she was alive.
Michael shook his head. “You know me—”
Jack interrupted. “I love you dude, you’re my brother, so I don’t understand why you think taking a familiar and hiding her in your room is a good fucking idea. And listening to her stories about a dragon? Are you mental?”
I cut in before they had time to get into a real argument and faced Jack. “If you love your friend, you’ll listen to me. He isn’t getting promoted. He’s going to be killed. His power is supernatural and Fafnir is going to use that to prove that the dragon, i.e. himself, can tell who is supernatural, even when hunters can’t. If you let Michael go to that meeting, he is going to die.”
“What?” Jack and Micheal shouted simultaneously.
Hands grasped my forearms and swung me around to the furious green eyes of Michael. “What?” He growled again.
“You heard me,” I muttered.
He let out a frustrated huff, releasing me and throwing his hands up. “You didn’t think to tell me this earlier? You were going to rescue your titan and let me be murdered?”
“Hold on a second.” Jack interrupted again. “You believe her? You’re listening to this shit? Dude, she’s telling you what you want to hear. Something that makes this new leader a bad guy and you’re falling for it.”
“I’m not lying. I wouldn’t make this up.” I laced my fingers together as anxiety attacked my empty stomach and I pleaded with the hunters. “You were planted in the organization. You’ve grown up with hunters, but you are a descendent of supernaturals and you have powers. It’s why you feel a connection with us. You’ve even suspected it yourself sometimes.” I finished in a whisper and gently touched his hand.
I had no proof of what I was saying but I could feel it, the rightness of the words, the truth in them, similarly that I could see the truth in visions.
“How do you know any of this?” Michael whispered. The pain in his eyes made me want to give him a hug. Losing your identity like this, hearing you were going to be betrayed by your people, couldn’t have been easy.
“I saw it. I know what he said when he set this whole plan in motion years ago. I know you have the power. And I know my soul pair heard him say he was planning a meeting to introduce the dragon to the hunters. They said you were born for it. Please believe me, it’s not a promotion.”
Michael nodded and sat on the bed, his face blank as he thought. Doubt creeped into Jack’s eyes as he watched his friend. He just needed a little push more to believe me.
“He’s been making Michael more segregated, stirring suspicion about the gift he has. Others have been cutting him out, no longer speaking to him. You’ve seen this, you’ve noticed it. The witches have been walking around smirking at him. Even Mary just came in like she has the right and she knows. She knows. She’s not concerned that you didn’t let her look at me. If she can’t find anything on the cameras, she’ll be back while you get eaten. He’s in danger here. You need to get him out of this meeting. Maybe out of the hunter organization altogether.”
They both gasped like that would be a fate worse than death, and Michael immediately protested, “No. I can’t do that. I can’t …”
I softened my voice, but my patience was wearing thin and my words weren't as sympathetic as they could have been. “I’m sorry. I know it’s hard to believe. I know I’m completely throwing your reality into question, but I promise you if you go to that meeting, you will be killed in front of all your colleagues.”
“Why is he going to use me? Why not the witches?”
“The witches are his descendants,” I explained. “I’m not sure he is particularly attached to them, but they are on his side and he needs allies for this to work. Even if he doesn’t kill you today, you won’t be safe for long.”
“It’s a compulsory meeting. What am I going to do to get out of it? Especially if I’m the guest of honor.” He scrubbed his face with his hands. “And if I don’t turn up, what then? How else would he prove the dragon can find supernaturals? Are you going to be okay if he uses someone he’s captured as an example?”
No. I would feel guilty about that. But only later. The person in front of me was the one I knew and had a connection to. A nameless witch who stared at me on the island because they believed I was unnatural and my relationship with my witch was immoral, would be an easier loss for me.
“You should hide,” I told him. “Get really ill, really fast, so you can’t be blamed and whatever you do, don’t tell anyone that you know about this. If Fafnir suspects you know something, he will kill you regardless of any plan he had.”
“According to you, he’s going to kill me anyway.”
“I don’t think he’ll kill you without revealing your powers, otherwise that plan goes to waste. He’ll wait for another opportunity. He’ll wait until his control over the dragon is questioned again. If not, he’ll try to recruit you to his side, especially if you make it known that you’re having trouble with your power. If he thinks you won’t know his secret, he will approach you.”
“I’m not sure that’s a better option,” Micheal muttered defeatedly.
“It’s not.” I agreed and squatted to place a hand on his knee and meet his eyes. “With you close to him, he could just as easily kill you for his hunger for power, and no one deserves to feel that.”
His eyes widened. “It’s happened to you? You survived?”
“We have a long history,” I replied vaguely, with a rueful smile.
Jack made cutting motions with his hands, his face red with frustration as he hissed, “No. I’m sorry, but no. You’re usually the skeptical one, but clearly she’s hypnotized you.” He pointed at me and his eyes seemed to blaze with the mania he felt. Ouch. “I want proof of the plot. I need evidence. If you can find me evidence before the meeting, I’ll believe you and I’ll make sure we all escape. You and your titan included.”
I shook my head. “We don’t have time. Mary’s probably checking the cameras as we speak and then she’s going to know it’s me and I’m as good as dead. Please, just believe me.”
“Make time,” he growled.
I looked back at the alarm clock, and panic rose in my chest. I’m running out of time to find Zaide. Rescuing him while all the guards were at a meeting would be ideal. But from the crazed look on Jack’s face, he would not let me go until he had the proof he needed.
The next thing I knew I was a cat, bundled up in his arms, under a pile of sweaty clothes and being hurried down the maze-like corridors. I couldn’t see any of that, of course. I was holding my breath and cursing my feline sense of smell, bouncing and swinging as we went.
Someone laughed and said, “Desperate to get those socks clean, Parker?”
Jack replied easily, “I’m wearing my last pair.”
“Just turn them inside out.”
I shuddered. Men are disgusting.
“We’re here.” Jack whispered. He opened a shoot and placed the clothes, and me, at the top before saying, “The vent in the bottom corner of the laundry room is over the war room. You should be able to hear something there. If not, find something else. I’ll come to get my laundry in an hour, so be quick. No side quests.”
Then he pushed me down the slide, and the opening slammed shut behind me, swallowing the light. It wasn’t a long slide, but my stomach flipped as I dropped off the end and into the basket below. I listened for a moment for the sound of someone in the room but heard no one and scrambled over the piles of disgusting clothes to hop out of the basket onto cold, carpeted floors.
The washing machines, and dryers lined the walls, spinning and banging as they went. But, thankfully, no one was in the room, so I shifted, grabbed the phone from the pocket of the jeans I’d been bundled up with, and checked the screen. Recording.
Phone in hand, I rushed over to the vent and pulled it open. Then, human and naked, I shimmied into the vent and closed it behind me before turning into a cat for more ease as I crawled through the vents in the direction he told me.
I didn’t think I had a problem with confined spaces, but I felt like I was expanding like a balloon, like all my fur was static and I was overstimulated, overwhelmed and having trouble breathing since every intake of air seemed to be pure dust. Pushing the phone along the metal made a horrible scratching sound that seemed to echo louder each time and made my pulse skyrocket.
If I don’t get caught, it’s going to be a miracle.
But a noise stopped me at a junction in the vent. Down the other long tube voices murmured and I could hear the distant, bored tone of Fafnir. I left the phone for a moment to rush, as quietly as I could, to the opening and peer through. And there he was, in hunter uniform, sitting in a chair, looking relaxed, clean and smiling at two other men across the table from him.
I knew dragging the phone close to the vent would make too much noise, so I hurried back over to it and maneuvered it onto my paws, pinching the top between my teeth.
He couldn’t have a small phone or the ones that fold in half. No, it had to be like a brick.
But by shuffling slowly back to the vent, I got the phone in the perfect position and only a few moments later, I thanked my lucky stars for providing the evidence I needed.
A bald man informed Fafnir, “Everyone has been informed attendance is mandatory. The guards are going to come in.”
“We are leaving the compound unprotected?” The other man, with gray hair and a comb-over, asked, shocked.
“No, Wallace, we will use some witches to guard,” Fafnir assured the older man. “The whole event shouldn’t take longer than an hour.”
“A mandatory lunch will help the troops decompress after the news, Darren. It’s going to be a shock.” The bald man crossed his arms, but his face gave nothing away.
Fafnir scoffed. “You think food is going to solve that issue?”
“It’ll offer us a way to control the narrative, too. We can’t steer conversation if we don’t know what is being discussed.”
“Very true.” He shrugged. “All right, Jeremy, lunch in the dining hall after. I won’t be there as I’ll have to deal with the dragon, but do let me know what you discover, who is saying what. We need everyone on board for the next part of the plan.”
Jeremy continued, “It’s going to be difficult for them to come to terms with. Michael has been with us since he was a child, so for them to find out the truth and watch him die is going to be traumatic. We should ensure no harm comes to the dragon in retaliation.”
“I could have my witches form a shield around him.” Fafnir offered.
How is he going to be there as a leader and also as a dragon? Surely he will not reveal himself too.
Wallace waved his hand. “No, that could make the rest feel as though they are being controlled by supernaturals, especially with the dragon killing what they believe is one of their own. They would lose faith in this leadership. We’ll just ensure that no one is armed at the meeting. Without weapons, they won’t be able to do anything to a dragon, surely.”
Jeremy grunted an acknowledgment. “No, but they can always retaliate another time. We don’t want a divided group.”
Wallace ignored Jeremy completely and continued, “The speech is good. We’ll explain our plan and ensure everyone can see the vision we have for the group. So much good happened from this project. I’m sure any protests will quickly be quashed.”
They moved on to other topics from there, gossip about another hunter, mentions of family, but nothing that related to Michael, so I took that as my cue to leave. I shuffled the phone back to the laundry room vent and as I changed form; I stretched out my hands to push against it, popping it open. I clawed my way out, panting from exertion and adrenaline.
The phone clattered to the floor behind me, and I quickly picked it up to check it. Still recording. I just hope it could hear what I did.
The time read a quarter till eleven,so I had only been gone for around half an hour. There was time for Jack to retrieve me, and for us to prevent Michael’s death. With the proof, I could stop Fafnir from truly becoming part of the hunters in both his forms.
I didn’t stop the recording. Something told me not to and listening to my gut instincts was a hard lesson learned, but one that I’d taken to heart. I huddled, in my human form, behind a cabinet and changed back to my feline form, just in case anyone came into the room. A cat was less difficult to explain than a naked woman.
Thankfully, I was right and not even a few minutes later, someone stomped into the laundry room. The boots looked small as they passed, heading to the basket under the shoot I came down. Jack? Maybe his shoes look small because they are further away? They all seem to wear the same military grade black lace-up boots. Like an army.
But I peered out of my hiding place. It wasn’t Jack I saw rifling through the dirty clothes. It was Mary.