8. Back To Shadows

Fonza had indeed awoken the entire neighborhood. Everyone would love to catch some witches and be rewarded for it. Aria considered taking the two cats into the skies, but that territory was ruled by the Crows. And so they ran through dark alles and unpredictable pathways through the River District.

The beating drum of their pursuer’s steps was never far away. Torches were lit up and distributed. The Crows had a hard time flying through the narrow alleys for an attack, but they could easily follow where the trio went.

“We must go inside,” Aria said out of breath. “Out of sight of the Crows.”

“I can’t,” Catia croaked. Her meow turned into a roar. “The ill can’t do anything! It’s hope—”

“Hold on,” Felicia said. “You will …”

She couldn’t finish it. Not in the knowledge that Catia was incurable.

Aria also lost her certainty. They’d lost their way in the maze of slanted buildings and odorous alleys, far from the River. All around them, torches made the night buzz and glow, as if the sun rose much earlier. Their screaming grew in volume.

Even over all those voices, Fonza’s voice was easily heard. “Show yourself! Or go back to the shadows from which you monsters came!”

Catia stopped moving forward. She lay on the ground, shaking, eyes shut against her body’s aches. Aria looked concerned and decide to knock on the closest door—

It flew open already. Three wolves came out, one carrying a torch: a horizontal piece of wood between his jaws that burned on both ends.

Aria pushed herself against the wall and pulled the cats with her. Catia had to keep her painful meows inside.

“Five witches, yes!” the youngest wolf said enthusiastically. “Caught red-pawed as they ritually slaughtered a goat! That’s what I’ve heard!”

“It were three witches, idiot,” the torch wolf spoke, though holding the object made him slur his words. “Two black cats—of course—and a crazy owl with three pairs of glasses.”

“We must find them first,” said the third. “The landlord’s reward is ours.”

Aria’s wings slid off. Felicia’s head weathered a hail of pebbles, while Catia lost control of her body. Only a wooden door separated them from the wolves.

They walked away—then froze. “Do you smell that too?”

“That is burnt wood from your torch, idiot.”

“No, no, a different smell …”

A flock of Crows came this way. Even in shadows, Aria’s bright eyes were hard to miss. They had to get inside, indeed, and quickly.

The wolves sniffed in all directions, their snout awfully close to the floor. The one with the torch went to look behind the door.

Aria came alive and smashed her wing onto his head, knocking him unconscious. The falling torch set ablaze all plants and wooden objects in their surroundings.

“Run!”

But in a reflex, Felicia tried to stop the fire first, using the Firebraid she collected before. It worked only partially. So it wasn’t completely the right recipe or balance yet.

“I can’t,” Catia yelled. She had to be carried by Aria, slowing their pace. The wolves started the chase and pressed the trio even deeper into the maze of alleys.

Catia saw only flashes. A blur of moonlight, dark, walls, then suddenly a torch, until the maze was at its end. The streets grew wider, the houses neater and less broken.

Aria and Felicia fell into a few shrubs covered by shadow. Catia was placed on the cold floor.

“We’ve lost the wolves,” Aria said. She sat in the mud, defeated. “It doesn’t matter. Nothing matters anymore. The entire city will be looking for us, and morninglight will come soon.”

“Inside first,” Felicia said. “Then we’ll see.”

When they were sure nobody watched them, they walked around a chique villa and found a half-open window at the back. The inside of the home was dark and deserted. They would not find a better hiding place than this.

They climbed through the window and fell on a carpet. Catia meowed loudly, which covered the sounds of Crows flying by. In dead silence they lay, even pausing their breathing, until they were sure nobody had heard.

“I’m not going any further,” Aria said definitively. “According to the Book, in the entire history only two animals have evaded the witch hunt. One had to lose their leg, the other had to lose their sanity. I stay here until they find me.”

Felicia bent her back and twisted her tail. “Then you don’t deserve the Book!”

“Your parents surely didn’t deserve it!”

“Don’t talk about my parents! The Felix family are healers and helpers and their disappearance is surely a great misunderstanding and—”

Memories imposed themselves on her. Felicia grew confused, light-headed, and pushed them away. Impatiently, she circled the home, which was increasingly well-lit by the first sunrays.

Aria pointed at a cupboard. “Do you really not know where we are?”

Felicia frowned and studied the cupboard. She pulled open doors and drawers, wooden pieces decorated with beautiful engravings, and saw … a picture of herself as a kitten. Her smiling parents behind her. She’d even placed her own paw print next to it and tried to press her name into the parchment: Felicia Felix.

Her head spun. She wanted to rip the drawing apart; she wanted to carry it with her forever.

“What is this? A joke? Did you lead us her on purpose to make me … me …”

More memories intruded. Her parents didn’t wear fancy clothes anymore, no, but filthy rags. Her mother wasn’t stirring a cauldron to make a medicine in Amor, but she climbed on top of a roof in another city to … break in?

“This is where you were born, Felicia.”

“No. No way.”

“Your parents were thieves.”

“My parents were—”

“The Book of Meaning used to be in Chef’s hands. Then it was stolen, and then your parents stole it again. All their riches, wisdom, reputation, was all thanks to that book. Before that moment they were nobody.”

“Shut your beak!” Felicia’s sharp nails lunged for Aria without ever coming close to touching her.

Catia moaned and tried to speak without success.

“You are smart, Felicia. You have a good heart. But even you lie to yourself about your family and heritages, only to feel good about it.”

The entire set of memories returned now, aided by the objects in the room. Vague visions of playing outside in the garden, throwing furniture upside-down as a little kitten, and, yes, that magical book that was heavily guarded in one of the rooms.

“So,” Aria said, beak down, “what am I supposed to believe in?”

Catia had used the wall to scramble to her feet. “Voices! Paw steps!”

Felicia walked further into the home. Each object she touched gave her new information. It brought her the truth about her parents, and she could not understand how she had completely twisted the truth upside-down in her head all this time.

“We have to go!” Catia said. “Come!”

Felicia just walked on. Aria refused to get up, eyes closed.

Catia could not believe her blurry eyes. “We can flee. We can leave this city alive. Felicia! You taught me to keep hope. All that matters is now and the next thing you’ll try. So why aren’t you doing something!?”

Felicia swallowed and froze in the middle of the living room. She looked at Aria. “You betrayed my parents. Thanks to you I’ve lost them!”

“Nonsense! Long ago, with full agreement of the Companions left, I stole back the Book from your parents. I told your parents to move to a different continent and build a better life—for you, their daughter! But no, they used their knowledge from the Book to become rich, powerful criminals.”

“Why should the Companions determine who gets the Book!? Shouldn’t that knowledge be for everyone?”

Aria just kept shaking her head, disappointed beyond disappointed in Felicia.

Catia pulled on Aria’s wings, she dragged Felicia’s paws away from the soft carpet, but both of them refused to move.

“The Crows come! I hear them everywhere. And the—”

The front door was kicked in. All hallway candles were lit instantly by torches. More creatures flew into the home through the open window, moving too fast to recognize.

A crowd of animals entered the home and trampled all childhood memories of Felicia. They grabbed Aria first—she didn’t resist. It shook Felicia out of her daze, but that was clearly too late.

Catia lay on the floor, ill and helpless, and was almost forgotten. She was as small as she felt in the moment.

The trio was tied up and taken to the public square.

The Crows announced a fair Trial of Witches. Oh, how fair and just. Their long explanation ended in the judgment of burning at the stake.

“If they survive or extinguish the fire, we will know for sure they are witches!” they crowed. “If not, we admit our mistake and they go free.”

And very much dead.

The owl and the two cats were put on a pile of straw, their backs tied to a high wooden pole. Multiple torches set the dry blades of straw on fire.

Catia gave the animal crowd a final look—and saw her parents move through it, panicked, screaming their daughter’s name.