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They were magical cats, able to communicate by speaking to the spirits of people. I had read all about them, and they had all manner of other powers, such as identifying if someone was good or bad, and even manipulating people’s powers. What was a Grimalkin doing here?
“What do you need?” I asked.
It apparently trusted me enough to ask for its help, and I could only imagine whatever it was scared of was a legitimate concern.
The Grimalkin jumped down onto the seat next to me and pawed at my bag. Curious, I opened it, and the animal tried to jump inside.
“Hang on,” I said. I grabbed grandmother’s bag of ingredients and put it on the table.
The Grimalkin mewed and jumped into my bag, curling up but with its eyes peering out above where the zip ended. I wanted to ask it what it was hiding from, but before I could, two pairs of heavy footsteps echoed around the library. Two men dressed in tan uniforms, one of them with a large net in hand, dashed up to the library desk. The librarian jumped back, bewildered, with a hefty Bible in her hands.
“Have you seen a Grimalkin?” one of them asked.
Chapter Three
I balked and zipped up my bag to hide the Grimalkin even more. Were these guys zoo keepers or something? Grimalkins didn’t belong in a zoo. They were usually communal creatures that lived in packs together in the wild. Very rarely they were the familiars of supernaturals, but mostly they were respected as spiritual creatures that were not to be imprisoned.
Whoever these guys were, they had no place taking this poor baby.
The librarian’s jaw dropped, her eyes bugging as she thrust a sharp finger at the muddy footprints smeared into the carpet.
“Out,” she snapped. “Now.”
“But-!” One of the zoo keepers spluttered, pointing with his net into the library.
“I won’t say it again.” The librarian picked up a gnarly wand off her desk and brandished it at them. “Get out, or you’ll be chasing that Grimalkin without any trousers.”
I stifled my snigger in my hand as one of the zoo keepers bolted for the door, while the other grabbed hold of his waistband and waddled after him.
Who needed security when a librarian would do?
The Grimalkin poked its head out of my bag and extended a paw, brushing the back of my hand.
A shiver ran through me as a spiritual line shot up my hand and through my arm right into my soul.
Thank you.
I swore into my hand. Spiritual creatures like Grimalkins could communicate to anyone through their souls, but it was a rare privilege. How big of a favour had I done this creature by hiding it?
The Grimalkin disappeared back into my bag as the zoo keepers dashed past the window again. I had to get this poor baby out of here.
“This might be a bit uncomfortable,” I said, pulling the zip up on my bag. “But I’ll take you somewhere safe.”
Safer than here, anyway. If my grandmother found it, the worst she would do was kick it out. If only I had that option.
The Grimalkin’s eyes sparkled like galaxies through the crack in the zip, full of trust and ease. The poor thing. What had it been through to trust the first person it met?
I took five minutes to put my rucksack on as carefully as I could and tiptoed past the librarian who was squirting water onto the mud stains with her wand, muttering furiously under her breath. The second I was out on the street, I dashed toward home with the magical creature curled up in my backpack.
There was nobody at home when I got back, so I hurried to my room with little concern and opened my rucksack on my bed. The Grimalkin hopped out onto my duvet and stretched.
“Make yourself at home,” I said, gesturing around the room.
Considering I couldn’t stretch both arms out either side of me without hitting a wall, there wasn’t much room to make oneself at home. In fact, the Grimalkin had traded in one prison for another.
“Do you have a name?” I asked, as the Grimalkin padded up to me and rubbed its ear against my leg.
I didn’t even know if it was a girl or a boy. Did magical creatures have genders? How did they reproduce; like regular mammals or through magic?
