Shifting (11 page)

He also thought it odd that Sheila Mochrie did not question him after he had come home. He reached out for Meghan to say goodnight. She was already sleeping.

Tomorrow, before school, he would tell Uncle Eddy. Perhaps he would have some answers.

“I have to say this is a little unexpected, so soon at least,” said Uncle Eddy. “They’ve accepted you, though. That is good.”

53

“I’m not so sure they have actually accepted us.”

“If their leader has, then they will, too. Not that I don’t still have things to teach you.” Colin was pleased that their uncle was not angry or worse, leaving, and reached out for his sister. She was blocking him.

“When do you want us to come back, Uncle Eddy?” he asked.

“Whenever you can, Colin. I will be here waiting.”

Timothy came floating in then, talking to something neither Colin nor his uncle could see.

“C’mon, almost there, a little bit farther,” coaxed Timothy. “Look what I found!” he exclaimed. A kitten followed him, meowing softly.

“Where did you find that, Timothy?” He leaned over to have a closer look.

“In an ally searching for food. Poor itty bitty.”

“He does look hungry,” Colin said, picking up the kitten, noticing the tuft of white hair on top of its tiny head.

“Searched all over for its mother, no luck though,” said Timothy, looking worried about the kitten’s future.

“I don’t see why I couldn’t keep him, or her. Which is it? asked Colin.

“It’s a her,” pointed out his uncle. “Curious, though,” he added. “Wonder how she got here?”

“I’ve seen plenty of Svoda with pets,” said Colin. “I guess I would have to okay it with the Mochries.”

“I am sure they would not abandon a poor little kitten,” said his uncle, proud that Colin would be so quick to take in the little thing.

“Look at this,” said Colin. “She’s got two different colored eyes, one green and one white!”

“Huh. So she does,” replied his uncle. The kitten snuggled up in Colin’s arms and fell to sleep, lightly purring.

“Guess I better go. I’ve got to get this little thing home, meet up with Meghan, and then, off to school.” His voice did not sound hopeful in the least. “Bye, Timothy. Bye, Uncle Eddy.” They both waved and floated away.

By the time he reached the Mochrie house, Mireya and her mother were welcoming Meghan home, Jae was asleep on the sofa, and Ivan and Irving were already off to work. Jae’s father had changed his mind and not taken him to the office that morning.

“Hey, Sis,” Colin said.

“What’s that?” she asked, pointing at his stirring pocket. Colin took out the fury little mass.

“Found it in Grimble, lost, hungry and no mother.” Everyone huddled around it, oohing and aahing. Mrs. Mochrie went to the kitchen to retrieve some milk.

“Timothy really found it,” he sent to his sister, adding, “Uncle Eddy wants us to come back when we can, say’s he got more to teach us.”

Meghan was relieved he wasn’t leaving them yet, too.

After feeding the kitten and pointing out its different colored eyes, which Mrs. Mochrie ogled at as inquisitively as his uncle had, she announced it was time for them to be off to school.

“Lunches are ready. Grab one on the way out!”

Colin reached for the kitten, which had made a home on Meghan’s lap. It hissed at him, hiding under Meghan’s arm.

54

“That’s it then!” decided Sheila Mochrie. The four children feared she had decided against keeping the kitten.

“Mom, it’s only a baby,” cried Mireya.

“Don’t worry, honey. I don’t think its going anywhere,” her mother clarified. “The kitten has made its choice.” The four gawked at Mrs. Mochrie as if she had lost her senses.

“Mom, what on earth are you talking about?” asked Jae.

“That’s no ordinary kitten you’ve found Colin Jacoby, that there is a Catawitch. You can tell by the tuft of hair and her eyes. They always have one white one, just the females you know, no male Catawitch’s.”

Colin, Jae, and Mireya backed away. The only stories they had ever heard of Catawitchs warned of their evil tendencies.

“Oh, it’s fine kids. Meghan is a good girl, she’ll raise it well.”

“Me,” squeaked Meghan.

“Yes, it’s chosen you. You’re its master now. Or mistress if you like.” She said it matter-of-factly, and then added, “I’ll go add some milk to your lunch. Strange, I wonder how it came to be in Grimble?” she mumbled as she walked away.

“I’m to take it with me?” Meghan said, not understanding.

“Of course,” Sheila said, disappearing into the kitchen.

The other three stepped closer.

“I can’t believe it,” exclaimed Jae. “A real Catawitch, here, in my house.” Mireya, leaving her fear behind, bent down and gently stroked the kitten’s pointed ears.

“What am I supposed to do with a cat?” asked Meghan.

“It’s considered a great honor in the magical world to be chosen the master of one of these,” said Jae.

The kitten nestled into her soft sweater pocket.

“This is weird,” said Meghan, shaking her head, as they departed for school.

“You know what I love?” started Jae, “about the Catawitch choosing you, Meghan? Almost any Svoda would die to be chosen. Man, people are gonna hate you!” Meghan frowned, beginning to understand.

“I meant that, metaphorically speaking, of course,” added Jae, seeing her face. “They’ll be extremely jealous.”

“But everyone’s afraid of them,” she said.

“I think it’s because the only ones you ever hear about are the bad ones. They’re actually rare creatures, and I think their magical abilities have created an evil mystique about them. But they’re only evil if their masters are, so we’ve got nothing to worry about, do we?” He grinned.

The twins thought this was the happiest they had seen Jae in a long time. Meghan almost wished that the kitten had chosen him instead.

“I think I will keep this to myself, for awhile,” said Meghan. “I don’t need anything else making me stick out right now.”

“It’s going to get out, good chance my mother’s already told someone,” Jae informed her. “We don’t get much news to spread around, especially anything juicy.” Meghan listened to the kitten purring softly in her pocket.

55

“I guess Kanda was right,” she whispered.

Colin over heard.

“About what?” he asked.

“That I need to accept I can no longer control anything,” she sighed.

As they arrived at school, a paper hit Jae across the head; he bent down to pick it up.

“What is it, Jae?” asked Colin. He didn’t answer, letting it fall to the ground, and kept walking.

Meghan picked it up.

“Oh, wow,” she declared in shock.

“What?” asked Colin.

“It’s the Jackal Lantern, and there’s a crimes committed section in here, written by someone named Magda Scraggs. Wonder if she’s related to Darcy?” she muttered sarcastically.

“So?” replied Colin.

“Jae and his family are the main focus.”

“Still think Juliska Blackwell is so great?” Colin asked. Meghan dropped the paper and ran to catch up with Jae. They didn’t discuss the article, but walked together into the schoolyard, where the twins gasped and froze. Two life-sized, and life-like, statues of Scratchers towered over them.

“I keep forgetting there’s so much you guys don’t know,” Jae said apologetically.

“Why are those here?” demanded Colin.

“They serve as a constant reminder of what we are training for, what we have to overcome,” he said, as if tired of repeating the pre-recorded responses he’d been taught.

“That is sick and wrong,” said Meghan. “I was hoping not to look at another one of those.” They continued forward; the eyes of the statues followed them as they passed by.

“Are we in the same classes, Jae?” asked Colin. “What can we expect in here?”

“There’s one beginners’ class, actually it’s technically called elementary level, so yes, we’ll be together. It’s a lot of information, but you should both do fine.”

“Not too hard, that’s right up Meghan’s ally,” jested Colin.

“Ha ha, very funny,” she retorted. “To be perfectly honest, Jae, I’m glad you’ll be in our class. I know I’ll need your help. It’s not fair, though, you getting into trouble for helping yourself stay alive.”

“Fair does not have the same meaning here. If you break the rules, you pay a price, no exceptions. But it won’t be so bad doing it together,” he said.

“If I were Juliska Blackwell, or any one else here, I would be nothing but proud. Do they even realize what you were up against? What do they expect?” Meghan practically shouted. Jae stood, speechless at the buildings’ entrance.

Mireya snuck up on the trio, nudging her brother.

“Are you blushing?” she asked him.

“No!” he defended.

The four of them jumped in unison at the clanging of a bell.

“We better go, don’t want to be late, especially on your first day,” said Jae.

56

Mireya raced away, waving goodbye. She had already graduated from Elementary level. The twins followed Jae closely. As they reached their classroom, they found the corridor was blocked. The Three D’s. Great! thought the twins in unison.

“I can’t believe they let a criminal into the school,” scoffed Darcy Scraggs.

“Yeah,” agreed Dulcy. Today she was snapping gum, instead of twirling her hair. Before she could say another word, Darcy motioned for her to zip it. Daveena laughed heftily.

“Oh, Daveena, have you left Elementary?” questioned Jae, not in the mood to take any of their taunting. “When was the happy occasion?”

Daveena’s face went blank and she growled.

“C’mon Dulcy,” ordered Darcy. “We don’t want to be late for our higher education.” They left Daveena behind for the elementary class, which she had not yet successfully passed.

The three let her enter the room first and made sure to go in the opposite direction. The class laughed as she stumbled to her chair. Colin did not join in. Daveena scowled, but Colin felt momentarily bad for her. Meghan caught a whiff of his thought.

“She was about to pound you not too long ago, remember?” Colin still didn’t join in the laughing, but lost his empathy for Daveena rapidly.

A stout middle-aged woman appeared at the door’s entrance.

“Since you’re here I expect you’ll be helping your new roommates,” she blathered upon seeing Jae. “Exam time is not far away. I only hope we can get them caught up in time,” she spoke as if the twins were not in the room.

The classroom was windowless and a chalkboard covered the entire circumference of the wall. A precariously hanging chandelier dimly lit the room. There were no desks. The students each claimed a square pillow from a stack off to the side, sitting and creating a circle around the teacher. Jae motioned for the twins to sit next to him. In the middle of the students the teacher positioned herself onto another pillow, which then rose a few inches in the air, slowly rotating as she spoke.

“Silence please,” she requested. Speaking ceased. However, the student’s attention focused on the twins, not school. “Yes, let’s get this out of the way, shall we. Two new students today, actually three, including Jae.”

The twins could not tell whether she liked Jae or not.

“Tell us about yourselves, it’s not often we get new students among us.” Daveena, who had finally gotten situated onto a pillow, snorted.

“We don’t need to hear from you, Daveena,” said the teacher dryly.

“What should we tell them?” Meghan asked her brother, who answered only in grunts. He hated public speaking and his face was already turning red. “Fine, leave it to me, again.” She took a deep breath.

“My name is Meghan Jacoby, and this is my twin brother, Colin. Until recently, we lived with our uncle and had absolutely no idea we came from a magical background, until we met Jae Mochrie, and ended up here.” She was sure they already knew that part of the story but hoped it would suffice.

57

“To introduce myself, I am Teacher Lindy. Now, any questions before we get started anyone?” Numerous hands shot up, surprising the teacher. She called on a boy, no more than eight or nine years old.

“I heard that you guys battled Scratchers,” he blurted out enthusiastically. The other hands went down; obviously, they had wanted to ask the same question.

“This is true,” Jae answered on behalf of the trio. “And without Meghan and Colin’s help, I might not have made it home.”

“It was my brother who did it,” added Meghan. “Not me!” She didn’t want to discuss the Scratchers. Her brother glared at her, having hoped not to speak; but the entire class, including the teacher, waited breathlessly for him to tell the tale. As he opened his mouth, unsure of what would come out, a meow penetrated the silent, breathless room. The teacher scrutinized the students. Meghan’s sweater pocket stirred. All eyes in the classroom gaped at it. A tiny little kitten face appeared over the top of the pocket, revealing its different colored eyes.

“What have you got there, Meghan Jacoby?” asked Teacher Lindy. “How on earth did you come about this?” she asked inquisitively.

“My brother found her in Grimble and brought her home and I guess, she decided I was her new master, or mistress.” As Meghan said the last part, recognition dawned on the class. An electric buzz raced through the shocked students.

“Well I’ll be! A Catawitch, right here in our little village! Aren’t you a lucky, lucky girl?” Teacher Lindy was astonished.

Having confirmation of what they were thinking, the class looked at Meghan (as Jae had predicted), with extreme jealousy.

“All right, back to work. The Catawitch stays!” The teacher’s plan backfired. The excitement over the Catawitch overruled getting back to work. It confused Meghan that everyone was stupefied at seeing one, since she had already encountered two during her short life in the magical world.

Teacher Lindy, realizing she was not going to be able to ignore the news, decided to change her lesson plan for the day.

“Since we find ourselves on the subject of Catawitch’s, let’s review the basics shall we? These are important so take notes, class; never know when we might have a pop quiz.” The younger students groaned but opened up their note pads and scribbled down notes, as she spoke.