Mad Woman Rambles

“Come now, Minerva. How could I resist the opportunity to help when I heard about your predicament. I came right over,” Mallec commented as he walked into the room, removed his gloves and bopped me on the nose.

“Hold it right there, warlock!” Stormi commanded not missing a beat with her food. “You are not welcomed here.” Flo rose from her seat at the table.

“How did you find out about this situation?” Stormi asked throwing her spoon down on her plate and picking up a napkin to wipe her lips. She leaned back in her chair crossing her arms to make herself appear bigger. I bristled again, moving from the table to the bay window seat. Mallec’s gaze flicked from Stormi to Flo to me and then back to Stormi assessing which one of us was the bigger threat. I noticed he didn’t even register the other Waters sisters being in the room.

“Dear Stormala, I was invited by your sister. She specifically asked that I come remove your ‘situation’ as you so eloquently put it,” he responded as he sniffed the pot on the stove and wrinkled his nose. Stormi glared at him, then at her sister, who met her gaze.

“You know what has to be done,” Flo stated not taking her eyes off of her sister.  “We cannot make a move against the Coven.” She pointed my way, “You understand the consequences of harboring her. It will be seen as an act of aggression. We don’t want a repeat of ‘75.” She finished. Stormi rubbed her hand down her face.  

Misty and Krystal sat transfixed by the exchange between their aunts and Mallec, the warlock. He reached past Krystal to get to me causing her to shiver. He did have that effect on people. He is a repulsive human. One I didn’t want to touch me in any way. I swiped at him as he reached for me. Stormi looked away from her sister as he managed to grab me by the scruff of my neck and hauled me towards him.

He sneered at me as I fought with all my feline strength to break his hold. Scratching and trying to bite whatever body part of his was closest to me. He would not take me from this place. The foul stench of his magic flooded over me as it paralyzed my limbs rendering me docile. His even fouler breath made my nose wrinkle as he put me close to his face.

“You know what comes next, Minerva. You have always known it would end like this,” he said bopping me on my nose again causing my ire to rise and blind me with kitty rage. I continued to fight against his magic’s hold over this tiny body. Unfortunately, it was a losing battle because I didn’t have full control over my magic as a cat. Damn my luck! I should not have run afoul of that accursed leprechaun! They know how to hold a grudge.  

“No, absolutely not!” Krystal shot up from the table, reaching out to steal me from his grasp only for him to move swiftly out of her reach. “You can’t just take her. First of all, that is my cat, Max, and I want him back. Second of all, how do you intend to return her to her original body?” Krystal demanded haughtily as she inched closer to us. Her only answer was the back of Mallec’s hand as he smacked her hard enough to send her crashing against the table.

“Insolent child.” Mallec spit out, staring her down and holding me an arm’s length away from his body.

“Krystal!” Both aunts cried in unison as they jumped up from their seats rushing to aid their niece.

“Mallec, that was uncalled for! How dare you lay a hand on our niece?” Flo replied as she helped Krystal up from her prone position on the floor.

“Do not forget your place as well, Flo. Just because we have history does not mean I won’t use force against you. You do well to remind your niece of that place as well.” Turning his glare my way, he shook my limp form. “This beast will be dealt with. There is no need to concern yourselves further.” He shook me once more when I twitched as his magic lessened enough for me to regain some control over this body.

“Get out!” Flo shouted at the warlock with defiance in her eyes. “You have what you’ve come for. Leave and never come back,” Flo whispered the last part while helping Krystal back into her chair. Krystal looked up at her aunt as if she had stabbed her in the back.

“But Aunt Flo, he can’t,” Krystal pleaded with her. “I don’t know what that Djinn has done but she doesn’t deserve whatever faith he has planned for her.” Krystal looked over to her other aunt. “Please Auntie Stormi. Please, save her!” she pleaded.

Stormi bowed her head in submission, “We can’t help her now. Flo has sealed her fate.”

“A fate she will never know,” Misty called from the other side of the room as a portal opened up next to Mallec. Several things happened at once: Mallec became distracted enough that his hold on his magic slipped giving me just enough control to bite his hand. As I fell to floor, Krystal was there to catch me as Misty ‘This is Sparta!’ kicked Mallec through the portal. The portal closed with an audible pop as soon as he disappeared through it.

The silence that followed was broken as Stormi let out a huge belly laugh wiping tears away from her eyes as they shone with mirth. I snuggled into Krystal’s arms feeling uneasy but safe for the time being.

“What is so funny?” Krystal asked her aunt as she finally stopped laughing.

“You have gone and done it now, girls,” Stormi said turning to her nieces. Flo standing by slack-jawed by what just happened.

“I don’t understand. He was a problem, and I solved it,” Misty said inspecting her nails, clearly proud of her actions.

“And in doing so you created an even larger problem. Do you know who he is?” Aunt Flo asked rounding on her eldest niece.

“Nope, and I don’t care,” Misty replied lifting her chin in defiance.

Flo shook her head, “You had better care. He will bring the Hell fires of the seven realms because of your act of stupidity.” Misty just shrugged, a little bit of doubt filling her eyes for the first time since I met her.

Stormi sighed watching her sister storm out of the room. “Girls, you had better find a way to get her out of that body and away from here. Once Mallec figures out where you have sent him and gets back, there will be Hells to pay.”