“Hush now… You did your part as her mother….” I kept my eyes on Trevor before forcing a smile. Birdie’s rath was not to be played with and the longer I sat here, the worse it would get. I couldn’t even bring myself to look at Himora anymore, but it was just fucking curiosity for crying out loud.
“I may not be much in this body, but I’ve been around for a long time. I got a cat that can move through different mediums…. He can find anything and anyone. His name is Felix…want me to get em?”
“Lady, if we can’t find her?” Maverick, another alpha said as he crossed his arms over his chest. “I doubt a cat–––”
“Felix does good work now… Don’t count him out…Clarenceeeee?!” She shouted. “Go call on Felix!”
“Say what now?!” He hollered back from the grill.
“Call on–––Oh never mind. Jayden! Call on Felix to come here! Honey, one of y'all bring me something that belongs to thegirl. He will find her. Dead or alive, he can find her, and he likes a good challenge. If you see a stray looking cat walking around, chances are it's Felix looking for somebody.”
Whatever any of us had to say about it was ignored when a scraggly house cat appeared out of thin air from the woods. He trotted towards us with eyes only for Raven and waited by her feet for further instructions. My mother had a picture of Maggie while Namir kept a lock of her hair. I tried calling Birdie back-to-back on both of her phones before attempting to call one of her teacher friends to see where she is. Raven, with the baby in her arms, leaned down to show Felix the picture before dangling the hair against his nose.
“Ain’t this witchcraft too?” Seth muttered. Raven snapped her eyes towards him with a sharp tongue in response.
“Mind ya business young man…It’s whatever I say it is.”
“Aight, my bad,” he said in surrender with his hands in the air. “Sheesh…”
“Felix, go find my niece and bring her here…Ain’t she with somebody? Do we know the girl? A picture of her or something?”
Namir was given his phone as he showed a picture of Maggie and her roommate at the time…the Solhari princess that was reportedly missing as well.
“Find both girls and bring em to either Namir or her mother,” she pointed. “If they’re not available, bring em to me.”
“Does he know or have an idea?” My mother desperately asked. Felix the cat silently turned and walked off before disappearing into the night air without so much as looking back.
“He knows where they are, or he wouldn’t have moved from this spot. Dead or alive, he’s gonna find em.” Raven nodded as she began to rock the sleeping baby in her arms. “Now, backto the plan this weekend…Because if they’re going to strip away our rights to live on this earth the same as everybody else…My babies, my chirren don’t bother nobody. They’re well behaved and eat when told…For the most part, they can manage small meals like everyone else in addition to blood. They got their lil school friends and make good grades. All of this attacking and killing just because of what we are ain’t right so what do we need to do to bring it to their front door?”
“That is where I come in,” Himora said as she stepped forward. “I received some information that might prove useful.”
Maggie Grey
I tucked my hands underneath my arm as I looked around the quiet old part of Legacy Row. A neighborhood full of history, wild nights and a murder sprinkled in. Now it was just old homes for the Greeks and alumni who didn’t want to leave this school alone. I stood on the doorsteps of the newly renovated Beta Nu house as I quietly knocked on the door, barely even a tap.
“Come on…Come on.” I hissed irritably. The moment someone catches me out here, it was going to get around. “Answer the damn door already…Sheesh–––”
The door swung open as a Feza, a fourth year in a satin green pajama set with the bonnet stood rubbing her eyes with an exaggerated yawn.
“Welcome to the Beta–––”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah…” I barged in. “Beta Nu, true to thee, black women rise, we have arrived…yadi yadi ya. Where is Clem?”
The house was dark with a few lit lamps in the corners and pockets of the old Victorian home. It was study hours that eventually fell into sleeping hours. If you wanted to talk you had to be conscious of your fellow sister who could either be asleep or studying.
“She’s upstairs in her room. I think she’s asleep…”
I went up the spiral stairs, taking two at a time as the door closed. The halls of Beta Nu were covered with portraits of famous black women above and below wearing their green brooch. Quietly representing the fantasy sorority, it was always an if you know, you know basis with Beta Nu Pi. Most of the portraits were enchanted with a looping spell that would occasionally have the women follow you or greet you up and down the stairs. So I made sure to give a respectful nod before making it to the top floor. The bedroom doors were closed, quietly letting out muted music, rain sounds or just snores from the bunk beds and multiple twin beds laid next to one another. These women would do anything to stay in this damn house. Personally, if I were going to live with a bunch of women, I would rather it be my friends on the grounds.
“Maggie, she’s asleep,” Feza anxiously whispered. “You know how she doesn’t like being woken up from her–––”
I opened the door with a gentle shove, careful not to cause too much commotion before turning around to close the door on the nosey sister. Clementine’s room always smelled of orange spice with hints of cinnamon and vanilla. I wasn’t sure if it was the mix of plug-ins, or she had some sort of room spray but her obsession with smell goods in the room needed to be studied. It was like walking into Bath & Body Works. All she was missing was the basket full of Japanese Cherry Blossom lotions.
“Clementine?” I whispered. “Clem?”
I heard the light snores suddenly stop as I crept over towards the large bed, praying to God there wasn’t a woman hiding under the sheets beside her.
“Clementine?!” I hissed. Leaning over the bed in the dark with nothing but the light from outside peering into the room, itgave the space a blue undertone of light. All I could see was the outline of her body under the green covers. I gently shook her shoulder as her body whipped around with the frilly green eye mask and black tape in the shape of lips, covered her mouth. She had tape on her cheekbones, and something wrapped around her neck when she rose like a zombie from the spa.
