No. No, no, no. Tears formed in her eyes, clogged her throat, burned her nose. Not Shona. This couldn't be happening. She'd tied that wardrobe shut. And left it outside.
She'd done the right thing.
"MROW!" howled a furious feline on the other side of the glass panes of the parlor door.
Rachele spun around. Shona bristled in the foyer. Her grey tabby coat puffed straight out, making her look twice as big as she was. She rose on her hind legs and began batting at the glass as if she could break it with her claws. Her eyes, as blue as the portal, promised vengeance.
Oh, my. Her Majesty sure hated closed doors. She'd also been trapped in the house for three hours. No doubt Rachele would find some prized possession thoroughly pissed upon by morning. But this did mean Shona had been elsewhere this evening, not in the parlor. Not with the wardrobe.
She hadn't crossed the wall.
Rachele felt like she could breathe again.
She walked to the armoire, nerves still jangling, and slammed its door. It stayed latched. A faint blue line she could only see because the parlor was dark gleamed around the door edges. It looked like the armoire was wired for electricity and she'd left the light on.
This beastly box was going down.
Rachele slipped out the parlor door, batting Shona aside with her foot, and earned herself a painful laceration on her ankle.
"Damn cat," she muttered while Shona stalked her through the house, miaowing imperatively. "You're not the boss of me."
All four plates in the kitchen had been licked clean. Grumbling, Rachele stuck them in the sink and limped out to the minivan. She left the cat flap unlatched, hoping that the cats would disappear for a while. That would make her task easier.
She didn't have time tonight to enact her plan of armoire destruction, but the chains ought to suffice until dawn. The salesman had assured her they were sturdy enough to hang or drag several tons, if that was what she needed to do, and were guaranteed not to rust for five years.
Their weight was almost more than she could manage. She heaved them through the house and into the parlor without allowing Shona, who hadn't disappeared into the night as was her wont, into the room.
As she padlocked the chains around and around the armoire, Shona stared at her through the glass panes of the door.
"Go outside," Rachele yelled. "There are dogs to taunt and things to sniff and that possum is probably eating persimmons right about now. Just leave that collar on. It has rhinestones, did you see? Very regal. It suits you."
Shona didn't budge. Didn't blink. She was soon joined by the other cats, who had never seen their human do such a curious thing before.
Considering all the curious things Rachele did do, that was saying something.
She resisted the urge to flip them off.
Finally Rachele hooked the last padlock into the last heavy link of the chain. The triangular shape of the antique wardrobe, with the widest portion at the bottom, meant the chain wouldn't be sliding off anytime soon. While she did wonder what had become of her expensive yarn, a quick survey of her property revealed no traces of it.
She was tired. So very tired. And scared.
And...for the first time since the beginning...lonely.
Yawning and hugging Luiken, taking comfort in his heft and solidity, she fell into bed. If she could read Faerie in the dead plane, she could see what was in that blasted contract, but it was an impossible language without magic.
She and the cats might need to leave as early as tomorrow, desert their perfect little cottage on Danube Street, and disappear like Joely into a drift of autumn leaves.
Rachele dreamed of monsters. Loud, machine monsters, chasing her with deep-throated growls and belches of dirty smoke. They pursued her relentlessly, never tiring. Found her behind furniture, behind trees, behind buildings, everywhere she fled. The enemy and their automatons were no longer deceived by her intrigues. Her sly, slinking ways, her careful spying. There was nothing she could do but lead them away from her charges.
And from Jacques.
She hadn't done so well with that last one.
She grew tired. Stumbled. One of them caught her, its huge, iron arm pinning her to the ground. The massive weight of the deadly limb would crush her unless she told...unless she told it...
Its merciless glass eyes flared to life as she gasped for air. They swiveled down at her, the beams increasing in intensity until the dazzle turned her vision to water.
"Stop. Stop." Rachele couldn't inhale. Was she dying? The heaviness on her chest crushed her bones and ground her into the earth.
She struggled with all her might. She'd trained for this. She was the infiltrator, the escape artist, the schemer, the planner. The brilliance of the construct's high beams turned her scrunched eyelids red until they gradually kaleidoscoped to blue.
"Rachele. It's time."
"Can't...breathe." She coughed herself awake, tussling with the mass on her chest. Her bare arms encountered long, soft fur. Whiskers. Teeth.
"Shona, get off." Rachele tried to shake off the vestiges of the nightmare-and the damned cat-but the room was still blue.
Bright blue. Portal blue.
She sat up. Shona slid into her lap, not without raking Rachele's chest with her claws. The heart-shaped armoire perched in the corner of her bedroom, and the chains lay in loops around its base.
The door was open wide, bathing the entire room in the light of the Faerie.
"It's time to go, Rachele." Shona's blue eyes gleamed at her as she spoke. "Our kindred await."
"You went through this afternoon, didn't you? You remembered everything, and you came back." She couldn't pet Shona, stroke her fur, scratch her belly. Not anymore and never again.
"I did indeed." The cat regarded her with narrow eyes. "I do not appreciate the relegation to cat form for such an extended period of time. I was never intended to eat off the floor, Rachele. You have much to answer for."
"I kept you safe," Rachele cried, afraid to kick Shona off her legs. "I kept you safe when everyone was dying around us."
The cat rose and flicked an ear. Did she not care about her son? The one Rachele hadn't been able to protect? "That was not your place."
"I made it my place, since no one else was able." She burst into tears, human tears, and buried her face in her hands. "I don't want to go back. I like it here, with the seafood and the internet and opposable thumbs. I don't want to fight the Unseelie anymore."
"It's our duty to protect the kindred. They need us. My consort and children have already passed through."
"I don't care." As soon as she entered that portal, she would no longer be Rachele the person anymore. Rachele the barefoot artist. Rachele the good neighbor. Rachele the valued customer of internet retailers everywhere. She would be Rachele the failed informant, Rachele the one who'd let the third son die. Rachele the one who'd have to return to the Unseelie court to spy for her queen.
"Well, I do care." Shona hopped off the bed and approached the portal. Her elegant tail and form were dark against the brilliant blue, like the pupil of a cat's eye. "It was horrible coming back for even this short amount of time to fetch everyone. Thanks to your little spell, apparently I can't exist in the dead plane in my true form."
"I didn't know how else to conceal you," Rachele said. "You're all so...recognizable."
"And you?" the queen asked. "It is not permitted for our subjects to take on the royal form without my blessing, yet there you are."
"If I were a cat myself, I couldn't care for you here." Rachele rubbed her eyes, hoping, just for a second, she was still dreaming. But when she opened them, Shona still stood before the light, as elegant and regal as a cat as she'd been as a fey.
"We must go. I have missed my opposable thumbs. And forks. And toilet paper. For the Goddess's sake, Rachele, I can't believe you did this to me.
"I'm sorry." She didn't point out to the queen that was how she'd lived all her life until she'd performed forbidden magic and cros
sed the wall.
"Don't lie, little spy. And don't delay." The plumed tail flicked. Soon that tail would cease to exist. That beautiful tail. "I don't want to send Jacques after you."
Rachele wiped her cheeks. "What?"
"Jacques, my son? The one who arranged for the portal? I don't want to send him over here to fetch you."
Astonishment buzzed in her ears like a wasp. "You mean he's alive? You're not just lying to get me to follow you?"
"I've no need to lie to get you to follow me. I'm ordering you to follow me." Shona entered the wardrobe, her regal voice becoming soft and distant as the magic of the portal transported her beyond the wall. "And of course he's alive. He's my son. You underestimate him. Feline spies aren't the only ones capable of subterfuge in my court. Now come along."
Rachele rose from the bed, as naked as the day she was born, but considerably less furry.
"Yes, your Majesty," she said as she padded into the blue light.
Jacques was alive. Alive. She hadn't failed. The royal family was intact, and could try again to defeat the Unseelie.
The man she loved was alive.
And suddenly, so was her tiny, pattering, racing feline heart.
About the Authors
Danube Adele: Wife/mother, educator, romance novelist, blogger. Danube AdeleAdele wrote her first romance at the age of seven when she penned the story of her dogs falling in love and having puppies. She's been dreaming up romantic tales ever since. A lifetime resident of southern California, she spends time playing at the beach, camping in Joshua Tree National Park, and hiking Mammoth Mountain. Always a lover of adventure, she and her husband took their sons on a cross country road trip to Florida and back in an old VW Westfalia, that had no A/C, in the month of July, and still, it continues to be the best trip they ever took. Extensive travel and trying new things has kept the creative spark alive. Danube lives in Claremont with her biggest fans, her loving husband, amazing and wonderful identical twin sons, and a teddy bear of a Rottweiler. Her debut novel, Quicksilver Dreams, Book 1 of the Dreamwalker series, was released January 6, 2014, and Dreams of a Dark Summer, Book 2 of the Dreamwalker series was released June 9, 2014. She's currently working the next book in the Dreamwalker series which is set to come out in December 2014. Her website is https://danubeadele.com/
Angela Campbell, who served as the Cover Magician for this anthology as well as a Contributing Scribe, is an overachiever with a soft spot for men who dress funny. Superman, Charlie Chaplin, Dracula, Doctor Who, Elvis-those are her kind of heroes. Angela read her first romance novel at 16 and immediately attempted to write one, too. Many attempts (and a couple of decades) later, she published her first novel through Carina Press. A mild-mannered reporter with almost 15 years of experience as a general assignment reporter, features editor and graphic designer, Angela has also worked as a production assistant in TV and film. Learn more about her books at https://www.angelacampbellonline.com.
Shona Husk: Three time ARRA finalist Shona Husk lives in Western Australia at the edge of the Indian Ocean. Blessed with a lively imagination she spent most of her childhood making up stories. As an adult she discovered romance novels and hasn't looked back. Drawing on history and myth, she weaves new worlds and writes heroes who aren't afraid to get hurt while falling in love.
With stories ranging from sensual to scorching, she write paranormal, sci-fi, fantasy and contemporary romance.?She is represented by the Ruben Agency, and her website is www.shonahusk.com
Jane Kindred began writing romantic fantasy novellas at the age of 12 in the wayback of a Plymouth Fury-which, as far as she recalls, never killed anyone?who didn't have it coming. Born in Billings, Montana, she was soon whisked away to Tucson, Arizona where she spent most of her childhood ruining her eyes reading romance novels in the sun and watching Star Trek marathons in the dark. Although she was repeatedly urged to learn a marketable skill in case she couldn't find a man to marry her, she received a B.A. in Creative Writing anyway from the University of Arizona.
She now lives in San Francisco with her son Samson, two feline overlords who are convinced she is constantly plotting their death, and a cockatiel named Imhotep who punishes her for sins in a past life (and whom she frequently imagines tastily smoked, dried, and splayed on a stick like omul fished from Lake Baikal). Her website is https://www.janekindred.com/
Nicole Luiken wrote her first book at age 13 and never stopped.
She is the author of eight published books for young adults, including Violet Eyes and its sequel Silver Eyes, Frost, Unlocking the Doors, The Catalyst, Escape to the Overworld, Dreamfire and the sequel Dreamline. She also has an adult thriller, Running on Instinct, under the name N.M. Luiken and a fantasy romance ebook, Gate to Kandrith.
Nicole lives with her family in Edmonton, AB. It is physically impossible for her to go more than three days in a row without writing. Find out more at https://nicoleluiken.com/
RL Naquin is an urban fantasy novelist and short story writer. She lives in a world slightly askew from the rest of us. She is an expert in monsters, urban legends, and mythological creatures. In her spare time, she ponders the care and feeding of cryptozoological creatures.
Originally from Northern California, Rachel has a tendency to move every few years. She has lived in seven different states and had a six-year stint in England. Currently, she's hiding in the Heartland, planning her next grand adventure. She has one heroic husband, two genius kids, three annoyed cats, and an imaginary dog named Waffles. She doesn't have time for a real dog. You can find her on the Web at https://www.rlnaquin.com/.
Shawna Reppert: From earliest childhood, Shawna Reppert has had a passion for stories- for reading them and for writing them. She obtained a BA in English with a Writing Option from Penn State University and has participated in numerous writing workshops and seminars given by the likes of Charles de Lint, David Farland and Elizabeth Lyon. Two of her stories have won honorable mentions from Writers of the Future. Previous short stories sold to 10 Flash Quarterly and to Everyday Fiction. Several 'indie' short stories are available for sale at Amazon, and her story 'The Beast Within' appears in the steampunk anthology Gears and Levers 2 edited by Phyllis Irene Radford. Her first novel, The Stolen Luck, came out as a Carina Press e-book in May 2013 and is also available in Audible format It won a Silver Medal for original world fantasy in the 2013 Global E Books Awards and a 2014 Eppie for fantasy romance, proving that it is possible for a single novel to succeed in both genres. Her urban fantasy Ravensblood launched on Halloween 2013 after a successful Kickstarter and she is currently feverishly working on a sequel. There are a number of other works in the pipeline, including another high fantasy-male/male romance and a novel-length sequel to 'The Beast Within' that she describes as a 'steampunk Victorian detective novel with werewolves.'
A Pennsylvania native, she currently lives in the beautiful wine county of Oregon. Her website is https://www.shawna-reppert.com/
Veronica Scott, a 2013 SFR Galaxy Award winning author, writes science fiction set in the far future and paranormal romance set in Ancient Egypt. Both eras fascinate her and provide endless opportunities to lose herself in research (always a plus!). She started writing when she ran out of books to read. When not researching or tweeting or writing/revising/editing, Veronica has a day job in the government aerospace world.
Veronica is the author of the independently published science fiction romance Wreck of the Nebula Dream and the Carina Press "Tales of the Egyptian Gods" series, which include Priestess of the Nile and Warrior of the Nile. You can visit Veronica on her blog: https://veronicascott.wordpress.com/
A proud member of Here Be Magic, Veronica also blogs about writing and related topics at Word Whores and Paranormal Romantics.
Regan Summers lives in Anchorage, Alaska with her husband and alien-monkey hybrid of a child. She is a huge fan of the low profile. She likes books, ottomans with concealed storage inside, small plate dining, libraries, Corporal Hicks
, certain aspects of pre-revolutionary France, and most aspects of current Italy. She's probably writing right now.
Her debut paranormal novella, Don't Bite the Messenger, was a finalist for the 2013 EPIC eBook Awards. Her website is https://regansummers.com/
Shawna Thomas: Winner of a 2011 RT Reader's Choice award for her debut book, Altered Destiny, Shawna Thomas has been making up stories ever since finishing GONE WITH THE WIND as a child. Once she put her own ending in writing, there was no looking back.
A wife and a mother of seven, Shawna lives in California where she gardens, writes, and drinks a lot of coffee. More information can be found at www.shawnathomas.com
Jody Wallace, who served as anthology editor/formatter and author, grew up in the South in a very rural area. She went to school a long time and ended up with a Master's Degree in Creative Writing. Her resume includes college English instructor, technical documents editor, market analyst, web designer, and general, all-around pain in the butt. Ms. Wallace is published in contemporary romance, fantasy romance, and science fiction romance, as well as straight up fantasy without much romance. She has always lived with cats, and they have always been mean.
To discover other books by Ms. Wallace, visit her website at https://www.jodywallace.com. To discover meankitties, visit the cat's website at https://www.meankitty.com.
About Meankitty Publishing (MKP)
Meankitty Publishing is the self-publishing "arm" of author Jody Wallace. The other Here Be Magic authors agreed it would be funny for MKP to release this free anthology. MKP is not taking submissions, and it is not a formal company. It is merely a label that amuses Ms. Wallace, the other Here Be Magic authors, and Meankitty very much. The list of all MKP releases and version information is at www.meankittypublishing.com.
MKP Author "Hera B. Magic" also released a free paranormal romance anthology called A PIXIE'S TALE you can find at most online vendors.