The Cat, The Crow and The Witch ||ONC 2024||

9

Matias

"Matias! I think I might have found something that can help us find Eve." The girl takes her shoes off as the door swings shut behind her.

"Oh? And what would that be?" My tail whips back and forth behind me. "Maybe you've changed your mind about trying the finding spell?" I ask hopefully.

Her smiles drops off her face. "No. And maybe because of that comment I won't give you what I brought."

My ears perk up. "What did you bring?" As I ask something sweet smelling wafts towards me.

She smirks. "Do you really think you deserve it?"

I sit back, my tail now sweeping across the floor. My nose up in the air as I try to figure out what she brought. "Pretty please?" I give her my best kitten eyes.

She sighs and shakes her head. "Fine. Is it alright if I use a knife from the kitchen?"

My eyes widen. "Why do you need a knife?"

"So I can cut the pie?" She holds up a round tin, and finally I figure out what she brought.

Drool starts pooling in my mouth. "Is that...?"

"Mango pie? Yep!" 

I jump up and run for the kitchen. "This way! This way!"

***

"That was delicious," I say, licking the mango and the crumbs off my face. Maybe this girl isn't so bad after all.

"I'm glad you think so," she says as she places a piece in front of Calchas. "Would you like another piece?" she asks, turning to me.

I shake my head even as my stomach cries for more. She must hear it because the next thing I know there's another piece in front of me. The whole kitchen smells like fresh pie. It would almost be perfect, we're only missing Eve.

She pulls out the chair that Eve always sits in. "After Mama and I did some baking I looked at one of the books." She sits down.

Something in me tells me it's okay to let this village girl sit there. So, even as I want to hiss at her to get out of the chair, I don't. "What did the book say?" I ask instead.

"It told me that witches have the most power if they cast a spell on a full moon." She shifts in her chair, her curls falling around her face. "Do you know if there was a full moon the day before Eve disappeared?"

I try to think back, but the only thing I can remember from the night before is Eve kissing my forehead as I fell asleep. "I'm not sure. I don't keep track of the moon's phases." I lick at some of the pie.

"It was," the bird caws. Orange goop and crumbs stick to his beak. 

"Is it possible the spell went wrong somehow then? Maybe she's stuck flying, or is up to high to land?"

"Eve would not mess a spell up," I say, defending my girl.

"That's not what I'm saying. The book just said that spells are more likely to go wrong when there's powerful outside forces helping."

"I guess it would explain what the birds been saying," I mumble. I really hate admitting when the bird is helpful.

"Me?" he tilts his head to the side, his beak open so what he is chewing falls out.

I make a face and push my food closer to myself. I do not need any of his gross crumbs near my own perfect slice. "No. The other bird."

That seems to confuse him more. "But there is no other bird."