A Letter to Three Witches by Elizabeth Bass

Author:Elizabeth Bass [Bass, Elizabeth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-10-18T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 15

Griz

I am alone. As alone as I have ever felt in my life.

Tannith left me here. Just dumped me on the porch. In the cold. That’s what I’m still trying to absorb. At least I’m inside now, but everything’s unfamiliar. Some kind of animal is locked in a room nearby, the sickeningly sweet smell of sugar permeates everything, and a large television has been left on with the volume up at levels that drive me to distraction. Of course the images flickering there draw my attention. But instead of being entertained, I’m disoriented. This is a nightmare.

She also gave me an ultimatum: Find out what’s going on there, or else.

Or else what? She’ll abandon me here permanently? Take me back to the shelter? Hex me? There’s no telling what she’ll do when she’s angry. It’s the not knowing that’s terrifying—that and the sinking feeling that I’m being set up to fail.

How can I function under this kind of pressure?

Nostalgia for our old life consumes me. Just a week ago, we were so happy. It was just Tannith and me in our cozy little house, with a yard I was free to meander into at will. That was part of my black-cat magic power—I could walk through doors to the outside world. Well, at least through the door that had a flap on it. Both at our temporary location and here, the doors don’t allow me to walk through them. I feel trapped and a little foolish. I have one less power than I believed. Which means I have no power at all, except that of communicating with Tannith. But she doesn’t seem to listen to me anyway. Is one-way communication real communication?

I glance up at the television. The people on it have changed. Now it’s a large crowd listening to a plump man in a suit. Dr. Tim, he’s called. He’s talking about marriage, and faithfulness, and weathering times of trouble as a couple. People join him, weeping in sorrow at what messes they’ve made of their lives. They’re living examples of situations that can test a marriage—money problems, differences concerning the raising of children, drug dependency.

My tail is twitching. Those poor fools think they have problems. No one knows what it’s like to be dumped on a porch, in the cold, and to be simultaneously told to spy on people and be left entirely alone in an empty house. To be tasked with watching people who aren’t even around.

The man on the screen puts his arms around a frumpy woman. “I know your pain,” he says. “Your suffering is real.”

I blink. The timbre of his voice is so warm, so kind, it’s like he’s speaking to me. I would do anything to have Tannith put her arms around me like that right now.

“What are you doing!”

I shoot up several feet in the air and come down, arched and bristling. I hop about for a moment, wondering where Tannith’s voice came from. When she speaks again, I realize the voice is coming from the disk on my collar.

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