Water cat
A shadowy shape smacked me in the face and whisked away. It stun but I didn’t waste time on chasing it, this was happening a lot lately. These shadowy things—I like to call them the Obsidian Demons—have been bothering me for days. They kept on biting the tip of my white tipped tail and mocking me for things I didn’t remember doing. Their bites felt solid enough to hurt, but every time I pounced, they vanish into smoke.
“You cowardly mice!” one yelled, making a ring of smoke in the air.
“Ha ha ha ha!” the others chanted.
“You’re not playing fair!” I hissed, puffing up my fur to look twice my size.
More laughter.
I flattened my ears and faced the wall. As far as I knew, there was no getting rid of them.
“You’re not doing what you’re supposed to be doing,” one yelled in my ear.
“So what am I supposed to be doing!” I snapped.
No one answered.
I turned around to see Spotty glaring at me.
“Talking to your ‘Demons’? They don’t even exist!”
“It’s nothing.” I ducked under her and bolted for a tree. Claws pinned my tail down, and I stopped struggling.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Spotty asked.
“Nowhere.”
Spotty rolled her eyes and let me go.
As I walked away, I heard her mutter, “Little brat.”
I trotted wearily toward the small, glassy pool at the edge of the garden, my paws dragging slightly across the damp grass. I lowered my head, my muzzle just inches from the still water’s surface, ready to lap up the clear liquid—when a warm, sticky splat landed right on the tip of my nose.
I froze, my whiskers twitching in disgust. A sharp, irritated huff burst from my chest as I jerked my head up, pawing uselessly at the foul mess on my fur. Without thinking, I slammed my face straight into the pool, submerging my head entirely to scrub away the mess, water splashing wildly around me. When I emerged, shaking droplets from my fur, loud, shrill squawking exploded in my ears, high-pitched and mocking, the calls slowly resonated into sharp, coherent words.
“Stupid little kitty.”
My ears pricked up in rage, and I glared up at the gnarled tree branch above the pool. There they were—magpies, sleek black-and-white feathers fluffed with mischief, their beaks parted as they cawed down at me. It was them, again.
“Look at him! All wet and cross!” another magpie squawked, flapping its wings to taunt me further.
A low, angry hiss rumbled in my throat. I flattened my ears tight against my head, my tail flicking back and forth in sharp, irritated motions, but I didn’t bother snapping back or lunging at them—they’d only fly higher and mock me louder. I turned on my heel, shoulders hunched, and stalked away from the pool, my pelt still damp and my mood darker than before.
A thought lingered in my mind as I walked. I could hear their every cruel jeer, every mocking word from the cats and birds around me clear as day; they never held back their taunts, and I caught every syllable. But when they murmured quiet secrets to one another, when they whispered behind my back or chattered among themselves about things, the words turned to normal bird sounds that meant nothing to me, no matter how hard I strained to listen.
I’d only taken a few more steps when the beautiful blue sky decided it was going to rain on me. A soft drizzle turned into a sharp, pounding downpour in the blink of an eye, fat raindrops soaking into my fur within seconds. I had nowhere else to go, no den or shelter nearby to escape the cold rain, so I darted under the thick canopy of a tall oak tree, pressing my back against the rough trunk to shield myself from the worst of the storm.
I must have been hallucinating a cat forming out of the rain.
There was definitely a cat in the rain.
“I am Silverseeker, member of the Stormy Way,” the watery cat said.
I must have been staring because she went on, “Something tells me you want to join us.”
“I do?”
“Yes!” she sounded delighted. “Just go west, you’ll find us.”
She started to fade.
“Wait, what does the Stormy Way do for me?”
“It will help you a lot.” The cat smiled and vanished.
That was a vague answer, but it got my attention, somehow.
“Silly...” A voice started to say.
I twisted around instinctively and pinned a young Obsidian Demon to the ground. It burned my paw pads where I touched it, but I touched it anyway.
The Obsidian Demon faded away, leaving me staring at my paws. It’s the first time I managed to do that.
Suddenly I felt determined to find this “Stormy Way.” Nothing mattered more.
I sprinted through the rain, I needed to know more.
The cats hiding under the roof stiffened and huddled closer together as I stepped onto dry ground.
“Hi,” I dipped my head in greeting, water dripped from my fur and the cats glared.
“You’re wet,” one pointed out.
“I am just here to ask: do you know anything about the Stormy Way?” I tried to not spray too much water on the dry ground.
The cats just turned away and imagined I wasn’t there.
I wanted to say more, but no, I went away.
As I was going back to Spotty’s house, I met a small gray tabby cat with bright red eyes.
His eyes darted left and right, fur fluffed up.
“Storm Core,” he whispered.
“Huh?” this cat must be crazy.
“Oh, it was nothing.” The cat focused on me with recognition, though I’ve never seen him before.
“Do I know you?” I tried to get around the cat, but he said, “I know what you are looking for.”
I stopped in my tracks, “You do?”
“Those cats are real, you know. They live in the fields and forests, what I always wanted, but I don’t have that kind of power, but I’m sure you can do it.”
“Okay...” I left feeling very disturbed.
