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A Regular Old Black House Cat |
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It wasn't long after Gabriella and I got Jinx, that we learned there was more to her then one might have expected.
One afternoon, the three of us went for a walk through the woods. Gabriella was arguing with me, as usual, and Jinx had run up ahead to investigate one of the forest's many strange noises.
"I am telling you Gabriella, there is no such thing as a Tribeast! Whoever heard of a creature that's part lion, part wolf, and part dragon?"
"And what makes you an expert?" Gabriella stuck her nose in the air. "Mo said he saw it with his very own eyes!"
"Oh!" I huffed. "Mo saw it with his very own eyes, huh? He also said he saw you flying around with that wretched Leonardo from the next village over."
I glared at Gabriella. She turned a bright shade of red. Leonardo was one of very few male faeries Gabriella kept company with and I knew she had a thing for him, but she would never admit it.
"That is none of your business! And even so, Mo doesn't always know what he's talking about..."
"Exactly my point!" I stopped. "Where is Jinx?"
I glanced around. In the midst of our argument, we had wondered into a much darker, denser part of the woods then we had been in. There were trees and thick brush everywhere I looked, and i could scarecely even see the deer trail we had been following anymore.
Gabriella and I exchanged nervous glances.
"Jinx?" I called out weakly.
Suddenly, a dark luminous figure leaped out of the brush and stood snarling in the path, not five feet in front of us. I screamed and Gabriella dove for cover in the pocket of my jacket.
I stood trembling in front of the wolf, knowing that it would be impossible to outrun him, and even my chances of shimmying up a tree were slim to none, as close as he was to me. I didn't move, I barely even breathed.
The beast snarled fiercely and took a step towards me, and before I could even begin to react, another figure emerged from the dense foilage and came face to face with the wolf. I stared in amazement. It was a black panther and it wasn't there to feast on me as well. As I watched, unable to uproot my feet from the spot where they were held in fear, the panther stared down the wolf. Eye to eye, they challeneged each other silently. The panther took a step forward, the wolf took a step back. Without any warning, the panther pounced and the wolf was taken by suprise, knocked to the ground and still snarling, but seeming less and less powerful by the second. The panther stayed still, glaring at the wolf, and I couldn't believe my eyes when the wolf pulled away from her gaze and bolted back into the forest.
The panther turned and looked at me. I was still frozen, rooted to the spot, and a new terror took over. Now it wasn't a wolf I had to worry about, but a giant black cat!
The panther took a step towards me and to my sheer and utter amazement, sat down on her haunches, looked up at me, and spoke!
"Are you alright?" She asked.
My jaw dropped. "I-I-I..." I stuttered. "You...can speak!"
"Yes" She replied calmly. "I can speak to all animals and even humans. That's why I did not have to fight the wolf. I just warned him away, told him to leave you alone, or there would be a fight and I would surely feast on his carcass the way he planned to feast on yours."
I was perplexed.
The panther continued. "You saved me from that witch in the marketplace. She had planned to take me home and skin me for one of her potions. If it weren't for you, I would have died."
She turned and headed back down the path the way we had come. I followed her, my mouth still hanging wide open.
"You're...you're Jinx?" I asked. The panther in front of me was roughly ten times the size of the cat I had rescued in the marketplace.
"Yes", she said, still walking. "The witch put a curse on me. She made me into a house cat so she would be more powerful then me. The curse allows me to turn back into a panther whenever I want, as long as it's never in her presence."
I couldn't believe my ears. "Does the curse allow you to talk as well?" I asked.
"No, that was granted to me by a faerie that I helped long before I met the witch. Much like the one that's in your pocket."
Gabriella poked her head out of my jacket pocket for the first time since the wolf had appeared in the woods.
Jinx continued speaking. "I was afraid you would be scared of me if you knew what I really was. So I stayed a house cat until now. But please know...I would never hurt you. Not after what you've done for me."
She turned and looked at me. "I can change back to a house cat if you prefer."
"No", I said. "You saved my life. How could I be afraid of someone who's protecting me? I think you should be whatever you want to be."
"Thank you." She sat down on her haunches again and looked at me.
Gabriella flew out of my pocket and made a tight circle around the big black panther. She stopped in front of Jinx, hovering in mid-air, and huffed. "If you can talk to all animals, why didn't you just call all the wolves and lions and bears to attack the old witch so you could be free?"
Jinx looked at her calmly and answered, "The witch has many spells. She could've defended herself against them, maybe she would've even killed them all. Then she would've killed me for attempting such a thing."
Gabriella flew back over to me. "Something smells rotton!" She declared.
"Don't be silly, Gabriella," I replied. I looked at Jinx. "You're welcome to stay with us as long as you like." I thought for a second. "But maybe it would be a good idea if you weren't a panther around my mother and grandmother. They might not be as...understanding as I am."
I pictured my grandmother walking into her kitchen and seeing a giant, talking panther sitting in the middle of the floor.
Jinx bobbed her head up and down in agreement. "I understand", she said.
The air around Jinx started to sparkle and glitter and suddenly, the giant panther turned back into a regular old black house cat. I blinked and then I smiled and scooped up the cat in my arms and hugged her. "Thank you for today, Jinx", I said.
She purred up at me. "You're welcome."
I started walking back towards the cottage with Gabriella flying beside me.
"Oh and...I wouldn't recommend talking in front of them either", I added with a grin.
Kamii Alyssa · Wed May 17, 2006 @ 12:15am · 0 Comments |
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