When BekkaNeko stepped from the bathroom, a broad blue towel wrapped around her, she found her littermate waiting for her. ReaNeko looked more than a little concerned. She watched as her sister dried herself and flopped onto her bed.
“What happened?” ReaNeko asked.
“Well...”
“Did somebody attack you? They try anything?”
BekkaNeko shook her head. “No, nothing like that. Eric was walking me home. You remember those stories Dad used to tell us about Merle and Riah and the others?”
ReaNeko nodded dumbly, “Yeah, I think so. Why?”
“Well, we were jumped by these things that looked just like the goblins that Dad used to describe...and then there was this demon thing. It looked like a human woman with big bat wings. She fried Eric with a glowing green ball and then she started talking to me,” BekkaNeko shuddered at the memory. The clock on her nightstand said that she’d only been home for 30 minutes.
“A demon? Glowing green balls? What are you talking about?”
“Well, I know its crazy, but I think that was real, actually magic. The woman blasted him with it then she has holding a ball of fire in her hand. And when she left, she disappeared through a hole in the air.”
ReaNeko sat down the bed next to her sister. She watched her face for a moment. She studied her eyes. “I believe you,” she said. “It can’t be true, but I believe you. Maybe it really was magic. It used to exist, that’s a proven fact; there hasn’t been a real wizard for over 700 years. Not even the elves can remember having a wizard since then.
“But that’s besides the point. What else happened? Why’d the demon leave?” She paused for a moment and her eyes went wide.
“What happened to Eric?”
“That old guy showed up. The one I was telling you about. HE showed up and told the demon to go away. It made a face and then made that hole in the air and stepped throw and disappeared. The goblins ran away too. Then he gave me a necklace and took Eric. He said I should go home and he’d take care of Eric while I just left.” BekkaNeko sat up and put her hand to her chest, feeling for the necklace.
“He gave you a necklace?”
BekkaNeko stood up and rifled through the pile of clothing she’d stripped off and dumped on the floor. “Yeah. Here it is.” She held up the braided cord with the dangling blue crystal. “He just dropped it over my head.”
“Wow. I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s pretty. Did he say anything else?” ReaNeko leaned forward to look at the stone more closely.
“Well, he said to meet him in the park tomorrow and he’d explain things to me more. I think he knows what that was all about, and maybe he can tell me why that thing was so interested in me.” BekkaNeko slipped the pendant back on. She found that wearing it was strangely comforting.
“You gonna go?”
“I think so. I really want to understand what’s happening. I think it’ll drive me nuts if I just let this go. Will you come with me? I’m still nervous about meeting this guy alone.”
BekkaNeko stepped over to the dresser and started pulling out clean clothes.
“You think I’d let you go meet some crazy old guy alone? Of course I’m gonna come with you. I just wish one of us had a big burly boyfriend to bring along, to keep that old guy in line.”
ReaNeko stood up and hugged her sister. “Ack! Your hair’s still wet.” She stepped back, wiping her cheek. BekkaNeko giggled and got dress. “You probably shouldn’t say anything about this to Mom and Dad. I don’t think they would understand. I’m your littermate, I know when you’re telling the truth.”
“I know,” BekkaNeko said, pulling on a pair of dry jeans. “Thanks sis.”
BekkaNeko was having a hard time getting to sleep. She lay in bed, tossing and turning. Every time she closed her eyes, she could see that ball of green glowing light hit Eric in the chest and throw him. The truly scary part of that was the look of joy and amusement on the demon-girl’s face as she did it.
She looked over at the glowing numerals on her alarm clock. It was 4:17 in the morning. She’d been trying to fall asleep for more than three and a half hours now. Across the room, ReaNeko was sleeping soundly. She seemed to have a knack for napping. At least she’d stopped purring.
“Kami-sama, please help me get some rest tonight. I need to hear what this old man Akira has to say, and I really don’t want to be tired when we go to meet him tomorrow,” she said, rolling onto her side again. She shut her eyes and prayed for sleep to overtake her. Within minutes she was breathing with a deep even rhythm as she drifted into unconsciousness.
She was plagued with strange dreams. They felt more familiar than dreams, as if they were old, half-forgotten memories. The most vivid of which centered on a young elven man with blond hair and blue eyes. The only other won that she would remember was a nightmare about being chased away from a small pond by a growling, snarling creature made of living stone. It was a hulking brute with twisted features and great stone wings that looked like those of the demon-girl, only large enough to lift the weighty beast.
When she woke, BekkaNeko’s sheets were clammy with night sweat. She shivered slightly and looked out the window. It was bright and sunny outside. It looked like the type of day where nothing could go wrong, the type of day where all was right in the world, and demons and black magic only existed in nightmares and fantasies.
She looked away from the window and saw that ReaNeko was already out of bed, dressed, and gone from the room. She was surprised until she caught a whiff of breakfast cooking downstairs. She dressed quickly and headed out, tracking down the smell of frying eggs and bacon. The tip of her tail twitched as she licked her lips in anticipation. BekkaNeko hurried in search of her food.