Three humans in long white coats came into view huddled together as they walked, intent on whatever they were looking at in a file folder. Henry let out the breath he was holding and ducked into a darkened doorways. He studied the metal door, wondering how he was going to open it. It hissed open and several more humans hurried past.

  When the doors hissed open again, Henry darted past another set of feet, nearly being trampled by more preoccupied humans, and managed to tuck his tail in from the door in the nick of time. He scurried under a nearby rolling cart and looked out onto a scene from one of the movies he’d watched in Liz’s living room. Men and women encased in white outfits and hoods with clear viewing masks hovered around various workstations within the enormous room. Glass cases with gadgets and contraptions attached to them dotted the room between what appeared to be metal tables, desks and filing cabinets.

  The Artificers would be salivating at all this. He frowned at the thought. No time for that. How am I supposed to find the rest of the medallions? He considered following the token around his neck, but tossed the idea aside as foolish. While he might be able to hide under the desks and tables for some time, he was sure someone would spot his fluffy brown tail disappearing under something eventually. He looked around, his gaze floating upward in his search. Henry spotted an observation track halfway to the ceiling with stairs leading up.

  He raced up the stairs and belly crawled around the perimeter, sneaking peeks over the footing to spy on the scientists until he found the workstation he was looking for. Horrified, Henry took in the various forms of testing the humans were doing on the four disks. It looked as if they were trying to find what ways they could use to destroy them. He shuddered to imagine what might happen if one of them managed to accidentally unlock the magic potential of even one medallion and set it loose unchecked on the world.

  The token on the cord around his neck bobbed in the air, tugging ever harder the longer he waited until he was sure it would strangle him. He ignored it the best he could as he thought of and discarded plan after plan. Suddenly the four medallions zoomed toward him and attached themselves to the cord, settling themselves over his chest as if they were content now that they were together.

  Alarms blared and scientists stared up at him as military personnel poured into the room, aiming large guns at him. Henry raced back toward the stairs as bullets ricocheted around him. He shouted an incantation to befuddle the enemy as he leaped down the stairs, hoping to confuse the humans nearest the bottom.

  A bright light flashed from the medallions and quintupled the effect of his spell, leaving the entire area in disarray. Avoiding stumbling human feet, He careered toward the exit, leaped to the exit button and fled the room.

  As he raced down the hall toward the lobby, he saw Meg and Liz enter. Meg’s eyes widened, then her features constricted into something demonic. As if someone had torn a blindfold from his eyes, Henry saw the leader of the Horde rising over Meg, his claws sunk into the woman’s skull, hissing curses at him.

  “Liz, close your eyes,” he shouted.

  Henry said the befuddlement incantation again, tweaking it to keep Liz from being blinded. He hoped it worked on demon’s as well as it did ordinary humans. Meg’s scream redoubled, echoing inside his mind. His whiskers widened for a moment as he saw the hideous creature attached to the woman clawing at its bulbous eyes. He pawed at Liz’s leg to get her attention.

  “We gotta go.”

  Liz’s expression registered surprise as she gaped at the humans stumbling around the lobby. She blinked down at him.

  “What did you do?”

  “Blinded them, but it won’t last. We have to go. Now!”

  Liz nodded and followed him as he raced toward the door.

  “Wait,” she called. She turned and ran back to Meg’s office. The humans were beginning to straighten and blink, turning to find the perpetrator who had blinded them.

  “We don’t have time—”

  “Got it! Come on!” She raced past him, crashing through the doors. Together they fled to her car. Liz yanked open the driver’s side door, tossed something cylindrical into the back and flopped into her seat. Henry dove over her lap and slid to a halt against the other side as she slammed the door.

  “Did you get them all?” Liz asked as she jammed the key in the ignition.

  “Almost.”

  “Whaddaya mean almost?” Her voice rose half an octave and she slammed the car into gear. The tires squealed as they shot toward the parking exit. Liz took less than a second to check for oncoming traffic before stomping on the gas pedal. The car leaped into the right hand lane.

  “I mean, I got all the ones in their secret lab. There’s still the one around Meg’s neck and there’s one still missing. At least, I didn’t see it anywhere in the lab.”

  “Well that’s just great,” she snarled, turning the steering wheel sharply. Henry held onto the seat with his claws. “How are we supposed to get Meg’s?”

  “With excellent planning. Now, would you mind telling me what you went back for?”

  “I almost forgot,” she said, glancing at him and smiling. “I saw a map on Meg’s desk with some symbols that looked like the ones on your medallion. I thought it might come in handy.”

  Henry’s eye whiskers rose and he smiled. “That was quite brilliant.”

  “Thanks. I thought—” Their gazes jerked upward at the screech of metal above their heads. The roof remained intact. The car lurched sideways as if something rammed it. Liz veered into oncoming traffic. She twisted the steering wheel and a trash truck slid past, its horn blast fading as it passed. Henry stretched upward to peer over the dash and wished he hadn’t.

  The demon dove toward them, sulfur trailing as it screeched. Liz screamed and pushed herself back in her seat, shouting something Henry vaguely recognized as a call for help to some deity. The demon turned to smoke and ash, dispersing into little whirlwinds as the car passed through it. The quiet shush of passing vehicles filled the sudden emptiness as the world returned to normal.

  Henry turned to look at Liz. Her face had drained of color and her fists gripped the steering wheel tight enough to cause her knuckles to whiten.

  “Are you alright?” he asked.

  Liz took a deep, shuddering breath and exhaled. “What in blazes was that?” She kept her eyes locked on the road ahead. Henry checked the road behind them, then turned back toward Liz.

  “More than we bargained for.”

  Chapter 3

  Henry ran his tongue along his paw, then rubbed his paw over his ear. He longed for his kittenhood when his mother’s rough tongue would wash away his nightmares. Liz stood in front of the TV, turned it on, flipped through several channels, then turned it off again. She tossed the remote onto the coffee table. He felt her stare on his fur as he switched paws.

  “You wanna tell me what that thing was?” asked Liz, crossing her arms over her chest and scowling down at him.

  He continued to focused on the rasp of his tongue against his chocolate fur, pulling its barbs slowly along his front leg, letting the rhythm sooth his rattled soul. He barely had time to register Liz had moved before his paws left the couch.

  “Well?” she asked, staring him in the eye.

  He wondered for a moment if there was a way to answer Liz’s question that wouldn’t send her into fits. After all, she hadn’t exactly taken to his ability to talk or use magic right away. How would she react to this new reality? Best get it done quickly, then. He took one more lick over his ruff, then looked back into Liz’s brown eyes.

  “A demon,” he said.

  “A demon. Like pitchfork and horns at Halloween demon.”

  “I didn’t see any pitchfork, did you?”

  Her eyes widened and let go. Henry fell to the floor, pleased to find his shoulder didn’t scream when he landed. He watched Liz drop to the coffee table, putting her head between her knees, then gave himself shake. He padded over to put a paw on Liz’s knee.

  “Are you alright?”

  “You just told me demons are real. How do you think I am?” she asked, her voice muffled by her jeans.

  “I know it’s a lot to take in, but you really must pull yourself together. We have two more medallions to liberate.”

  Liz pulled her head up just high enough to glare at him.

  “I know I said I wanted to be a hero, but if you think I’m going up against a swarm of demons you’re crazy.”

  “Actually it’s a Horde with a single ill-tempered, clever leader,” he said, cocking his head to the side. “Not unlike your infamous Genghis Kahn, I imagine.”

  Liz groaned and lowered her head. “Great.”

  “Sorry,” he said. He lowered his paw, sitting back on the carpet and wrapping his tail around his paws. “I know this can’t be easy for you. My offer still stands. I am willing to face this danger alone.”

  “Just give me a moment to process all this... this... insanity,” she said.

  Henry waited in silence, expecting the young woman to make some kind of apology and tell him she just couldn’t handle this strange new reality he’d shoved her into. Liz pushed herself to a sitting position, bracing herself with hands on knees. She took a deep breath, then turned a steady gaze on him.

  “I’m not a coward.”

  “I never said you were,” Henry said, cocking his head.

  “We’ll do this together or not at all. Now,” she continued, “give me the crash course on demons and let’s get to finding the last medallion.”

  Henry’s whiskers widened. “It’s really very simple. Everyone and everything in creation is bound by love to the One, the Creator of All. Through this love and the sacrifice of the Beloved, we all have the power to call upon the One to rescue us from the Demon King and his followers.”

  Liz’s brow wrinkled as she frowned. “But I didn’t call upon this One you’re talking about when that demon disappeared. So what made it go away?”

  “Actually, I believe you did. You see,” Henry explained, twitching his tail. He looked down at the empty floor and blinked. He had expected one of his Books of the One to appear before him like it always had before. His whiskers drooped as reality crashed over him. A gentle hand on his head drew his gaze upward.

  “We’ll get you back. We just have to take care of this Horde first and then we’ll figure out how to send you home.”

  Henry nodded, pushing the longing the word brought to mind aside.

  “Where was I?”

  “You were telling me how I called on the One.”

  “Oh, yes. Are you familiar with the Books of the One?”

  Liz shook her head.

  “Perhaps you have a different name for them in this time. In short, they are a collection of documents that tell the story of the One’s love for Creation from its beginning to the time of its eventual end. Scattered throughout these documents are the various names of the One. I believe that over time language has evolved and those names have been translated over and over until in your time the name we use, the One, is something entirely different.”

  “Okay, so I get that languages have evolved and changed over time, but how does a deity’s name change? Doesn’t it always stay the same in whatever religion you choose?”

  “Only if that name is a name. The One’s names are more a list of characteristics than proper names. There is, according to Moesha, only one name by which the One is known, but it is a name never spoken aloud.”

  “If it’s never said, then how do you know what it is?”

  “It’s recorded in the Book of Hehgehrah. But, again, even that name is more of a description than a proper name as we know it.”

  “So what you’re telling me is that I called on the One using this other name I grew up using in Sunday school and that’s all it took to defeat a demon? That’s crazy.”

  Liz stood up and began pacing. After several moments watching her think, Henry jumped to the couch and resumed his grooming. He yanked at a claw sheath, wishing he could scour his books for more detailed explanations. Liz was a librarian, a woman of learning and reason. How was she supposed to accept what he said with nothing in writing to back up his claims? She spun and shoved her hands in her pockets, a furrow between her brows.

  “I’m not sure I buy this idea that I can defeat a demon just by saying a Sunday school prayer.”

  “I assure you. The One hears us when we call,” Henry said, trying to convince himself as much as Liz.

  She shook her head, making Henry’s tail twitch in agitation. If he had his books he could show her, but his books were locked away in another time. A shudder raced down his back. It was easy to tell Liz everything was going to be fine. Believing it himself was another thing altogether.

  He’d never had to face anything more frightening than a practice dummy in his entire life, let alone do so without his extensive library to back him up. How was he supposed to face a demon Horde? And with a non-magical human, no less. He shoved the thoughts aside. Best to focus on convincing Liz we can do it first. I can fall apart after she’s gone to bed. He tried again.

  “When we need it, we are equipped to deal with whatever we face. So says the Beloved.”

  “If you say so,” she said. She picked the rolled up map from the floor. “I guess, in the meantime, why don’t we go over this map and figure out what to do next.”

  The pair spent the next several hours pouring over the map and what Henry had seen in the lab, putting together a plan they hoped wouldn’t fall apart as soon as they got near the last missing medallion. Liz bid him good night and fell into bed, her soft snores telegraphing her exhaustion.

  Henry leaped to the windowsill, wriggling between the curtain and the glass to stare out at the dark parking lot below. He hadn’t told Liz everything. She could defeat the demons by calling on the One, that much was true, but what he hadn’t told her was that to stop Meg from pulling the Horde into this reality a sacrifice would have to be made. He wouldn’t ask her to do it. He couldn’t. That left only one who could.

  Loud crashes and the sound of gunfire filtered through the walls to his ears from the adjoining room’s TV. An emergency vehicle sped past on the street below, its siren call spilling through the glass. A group of young people jostled each other as they walked in the opposite direction, their clothing screaming to onlookers that they were doing their best to appear cool by the world’s standards. On the other side of the street a bedraggled person huddled against a retaining wall, a moth-eaten backpack clutched in gnarled hands.

  They didn’t know their lives were in the paws of a terrified brown cat. Would they care if they did? His sacrifice would keep the Horde from rising, but it wouldn’t change anything that already was. His life would be over and theirs would continue on as it always had.

  Henry watched the parade of humanity awhile longer, then hopped to the floor. He stared up at Liz’s hand hanging over the bedside, trying to decide what to do next. Sleep. That’s what I need. A little sleep and it’ll all look better in the morning. As he jumped to the bed and settled in beside his partner the emptiness in his heart called him a liar.

  ***

  Sunlight warmed Henry’s face and prodded his eyes open to the sounds of water running in the bathroom. The pungent smell of sleep was faint on the bed next to him, making him wonder how long he’d slept. Liz had managed to get out of bed and into the shower without him realizing it, much to his embarrassment. He stood with a jaw-popping yawn, arched his back, then stretched each leg in turn before dropping to the floor. He padded to the couch and twitched his tail to open the book on the coffee table, hoping to find something in its pages that would make their next step more likely to succeed.

  The sound of water ended, followed by the scrape of metal against metal. Henry’s thoughts fluttered around the idea of taking showers to clean oneself rather than using his tongue. He shuddered at the thought of water cascading over his fur and turned his mind back to the problem at hand. He cocked his head as he considered whether to create another spider search spell or simply begin reading the large tome from the beginning.

  There was thump from the bathroom. Henry glanced at the door, then returned to the book. If he knew exactly what he was looking for, or even had a good idea, a spider spell would make the most sense, but the problem was he wasn’t sure what he needed to know. Can’t ask for an answer to a question you don’t have. Several more thumps sounded behind the bathroom door, followed by a crash. Henry looked up.

  “You okay in there?”

  No answer. Henry’s eyes narrowed. The silence continued. He perked his ears forward, listening for any sound. Nothing. He flowed to the floor on soundless paws and crept toward the bathroom.

  “Liz?”

  Still no answer. Henry raised his tail to twitch the door open. Liz burst out, arms covering head and eyes closed. She tripped over the coffee table and landed on her back. She scooted madly backward, staring at the open bathroom door, eyes wide and mouth open in a silent scream. Henry turned to see what she was staring at.

  A nightmare stepped into the room. Its bug-like black head brushed the top of the frame and its leathery black wings, crossed in front of it, scraped the sides as it advanced through the door. It unbent its frame, standing to its full height on black bird-like legs, and reached for them with hands tipped in tail-length claws. Henry scrambled away, heart racing, paws cold and prickly. One part of his mind wondered how something so huge can fit in a room built for average sized humans. It seemed to take up the whole room, yet consumed no space at all. The thought sparked an idea.

  “Pray,” Henry shouted, scurrying to Liz’s side.

  “C-c-can’t.”

  “You must. Do it now.”

  “I-I-I-”

  Henry jumped into Liz’s lap and stood with his paws on her chest, his face filling her vision. Her eyes focused on him and the fear in them ebbed.

 

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