Free Cat-astrophic Spells by Harper Lin Page B

cold. I gripped the side of the trailer behind which Marshmallow and I were hiding. “Something is wrong with me,” I said in my mind but still got no response. “Marshmallow, what are you…”
    She was staring straight at me. We couldn’t communicate. She couldn’t hear me, and I couldn’t hear her, yet we were right next to each other.
    This wasn’t right. My stomach was doing flips, and I was beginning to shake. Goose bumps had risen all over my arms and shoulders. I was about to scoop up the cat and head back to the woods when I stopped and held my breath.
    Headlights. And they were coming this way. I flattened myself against the aluminum siding and tried to shrink into the shadows. If the car turned right, its lights would flash across us, and we’d be seen. If it turned left, we’d be okay. Closer and closer it came. Just then, lights popped on in the trailer, and I saw a familiar face in the window.
    “Treacle!” I said in a hushed, sickly voice. Could he see us? Did he know we were there? I tried calling to him in my mind, but everything bounced back to me. What was going on?
    Thankfully, the approaching car veered to the left and pulled into the gravel driveway of our plain, little trailer. A short woman, who I guessed to be in her early twenties, stepped out from the driver’s side.
    She wore jeans and a baggy shirt and carried a grocery bag. Gingerly, she stepped around the jars on her steps. Then she bent down and removed something from the threshold of her door. Rattling her keys, she unlocked the door, stepped inside, sprinkled something over the top step, replaced whatever had been in front of her door, then shut it quietly. From where we were, we heard several locks slip into place.
    I wouldn’t be able to kick in the door to get my cat. Even if I wanted to, I was in no condition to do it. My stomach was rolling up and over itself, and as I took a step closer to see what she had put in front of the door, I almost lost my balance.
    It’s a broom. A broom?
    I noticed a gap in the curtain by the tiny window next to the door. I squinted and tried to see in, inching my way closer and closer to the front steps. I tried to see what was in the jars, too. A tiny light outside the door helped me to see.
    Looking into the jars, I saw what appeared to be hair. It was repulsive. I knew I was too close and at any minute, I was sure I’d throw up, alerting not just the cat thief but the neighboring trailers as well. Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore. With Marshmallow in my arms, I trudged back toward the trees. With every step, I started to feel better.
    “Cath! Cath!” Marshmallow was screaming, clinging to my shirt. “Why won’t you answer me? I’m right here!”
    “Marshmallow! I couldn’t hear you. Calm down. I can hear you now. Something was happening at that trailer.”
    “Did you see him? She has him! That person has…”
    “Treacle. Yes. I saw him.”
    “Oh, how are we going to get him back?”
    “I don’t know. There’s something going on at that place, but it wasn’t a spell. At least, it wasn’t any spell I’ve ever experienced. We’ve got to get Aunt Astrid and Bea. Maybe it’s just something that affects me, you know, because Treacle is my cat. Maybe that’s why I was getting sick. I don’t know. But we need reinforcements for sure.”
    “Take me home. I don’t want to be out here anymore.” Marshmallow sounded pitiful. I snuggled her to me as we slowly made our way back to the used car lot and my car.
    “You found Treacle, Marsh. I don’t know what you saw that was glowing, but you saw it. I’d still be roaming around in there lost if it weren’t for you. And Treacle is there.”
    “We have to come back to get him.”
    “Yes, we do.”
    “But how?”
    I shook my head. The lights over the Pizza Hut-looking building guided us back.
    “I don’t know.” I lowered Marshmallow back into her travel box. Before I even started the car, the cat was asleep. I wish I