Luna the Magickless Fluff

10

“Back so soon?” Tess cried when I returned from outside. So much for sneaking by undetected.

“Don’t worry. Food is on its way,” I said without making eye contact.

“Somehow I don’t believe you,” the torty said with a sneer.

The nerve of this cat.

“I enlisted a helper. Relax, it’s coming,” I muttered as I wound through the clowder and made my way back toward the interrogation chamber Luna and I had set up in the bathroom.

With Tess still hot on my heels, I had to push myself into the bathroom quickly and slam the door behind me so she couldn’t follow. Unfortunately, this resulted in another very unpleasant experience…

“How dare you!” Virginia boomed. Her voice felt as if it originated from deep inside of me, and it now echoed through my chest.

A thousand little spiders skittered over my skin—at least that’s what it felt like. I wanted to run away screaming, but neither my legs nor my lungs seemed to work in that moment.

And then, all those little spiders ripped away from my skin, leaving an icy chill behind. Virginia now floated in front of me, and she wore a look of absolute indignation.

“You’ve violated me,” she choked out. Then, regaining some of her bluster, she shouted, “Violated!”

“I-I didn’t mean to,” I sputtered, raising my hands to rub at my arms in the hopes of bringing some of the warmth back.

“Hmmpf!” the ghost cried as she turned her nose up in the air and phased through the wall, leaving Luna and me alone in the bathroom.

Luna jumped up onto the counter and regarded me with curious blue eyes. “If we knew that was what it took to get rid of her, we could have been doing that all along.”

I shuddered. “You do… what you… want, but pers…onally I’m nev…er doing… that… again.” I had to take several pauses to suck in deep lungfuls of air before I could even make it through that full sentence.

Luna flicked her white poofy tail. “That bad, huh?”

“Worse,” I said, my teeth chattering violently.

“Well, at least she should leave us alone now,” Luna pointed out, her brows pinching in concern. “But Gracie, will you be okay?”

“I’ll be f-f-f-f-fine,” I managed.

She studied me for a long moment before asking, “Shall I go get the next suspect, dear?”

I nodded dumbly, then opened the door so she could do her thing. Rather than closing it all the way, I left it open a crack so that I could watch for her return.

But Tess the torty saw me and pounced toward the door, shouting something about food she’d been promised.

I slammed it right in her face for the second time in a span of just a few minutes.

I loved Luna and Merlin and had no doubt I’d love their kittens, too—but apparently, I was just not a cat person. At least not when it came to this particular group of cats.

I ignored Tess’s indignant meows and the scratching at the door that followed. That is, until Luna called out, “Gracie, open up, dear!”

I did as told, keeping a watchful eye out for Tess as Luna and a small black cat slipped into the bathroom with me.

“This is Luna,” my cat told me.

I looked from the white cat to the black cat but said nothing.

“Don’t look so shocked,” the black cat said with a grin. “It’s a pretty common name where we’re from.”

Both cats hopped onto the counter, and this time I sank down onto the closed toilet seat—still too wrung out from my encounters with Virginia and Tess to remain standing.

“Well,” the guest stated. “Luna here says you have some questions for me. Ask them.”

“I…” I started, but then my words fell away. My energy was still zapped. Even if I could speak, I wasn’t thinking as clearly as I would have liked. Still, I cleared my throat and tried again. “Did you…?”

“I haven’t got all night,” the black-furred Luna snapped rudely. “Keep me too long, and I’ll miss the food Tess said was coming any minute now.”

“Sorry,” I said, keeping my eyes on the tile floor. “It’s just… I mean, I’m so…”

“You’re feeling out of sorts after what happened with Virginia,” Luna finished for me.

I sighed and nodded.

“Rest up, dear. I can take over the questions this time.”

“Who’s Virginia?” the other Luna asked.

“Never mind about that,” my cat said as she rose to all four feet and began pacing the length of the counter. “What we really need to know is if you know anything about the destruction of our wedding garden.”

“Wedding garden? I’ve never been to a wedding before, so you’re going to have to take this a little slower. What’s a wedding garden?”

“It’s exactly what it sounds like. A beautiful arrangement of herbs and flowers, and a special arch Gracie put together as a surprise.”

The suspect Luna shook her head. “I still don’t know what you’re talking about. Sorry.”

My Luna sighed. “What’s so hard to understand? It’s an arch made out of flowers—wisteria, lilac, roses, chrysanthemum, that kind of thing.”

The black cat blinked slowly but showed no signs of guilt. “No, I didn’t see that. I would have remembered something like that.”

Something niggled at the edge of my brain. Luna was doing a less-than-admirable job playing bad cop. It just wasn’t in her nature. But that’s not what bothered me.

“How did you know what the arch looked like?” I asked.

Luna paused for a moment before explaining, “I’m so sorry, dear. I spied it through the window this morning while you were working on it. I didn’t mean to spoil the surprise, but I was just so curious.”

I nodded. “That’s okay. I’m glad you had a chance to see the arch before it met its untimely end.”

It wasn’t like Luna to spy on me, especially since she hated it whenever Virginia eavesdropped on us. Luna had always loved surprises. Plus she knew she’d be seeing the garden on her big day tomorrow. Why sneak a peek so close to the big reveal?

“If you didn’t do it, then maybe you know who did,” Luna demanded, whipping back to face her suspect.

The other cat shook her head. “I don’t. Sorry.”

“Luna,” I mumbled, casting my eyes toward the ground. “Let her go. She didn’t do it.”

“But we’ve only just begun questioning her, dear.”

“She didn’t do it,” I repeated, strength returning as my mind finally put all the pieces together in the right order. “But I’m pretty sure I know who did.”

11

“You know who did it?” Luna asked with wide eyes once our latest suspect had dismissed herself from the bathroom.

“Yes, I believe I do.” My body still felt weak, my brain jumbled. But I was certain I had this figured out despite these difficulties.

“It was Tess, wasn’t it?” Luna hissed. “I always knew that one was up to no good. She’s a bit of a bully, if you ask me.”

I chewed on my lip for a moment before responding, “Let me walk you through the timeline of events.”

She plopped her rear down onto the counter and nodded thoughtfully. “I’m listening.”

I was still a bit light-headed, but I stood anyway, taking care to keep one hand pressed into the wall for support. “I finished the arch just before the guests arrived through the cauldron at dusk. So we know it wasn’t destroyed before then.”

Luna nodded. “Yes, agreed.”

I thought back, reconstructing the order of events that evening—both so that I could lay it all out for Luna and so that I could make absolutely certain of my hunch before sharing it with her. “Once everyone was here, we went inside, and I served supper. There was a period of about ten minutes while I cleaned up and the guests had free roam of the house and yard.”

Luna wrapped her tail around her feet. “So you think someone did it then?”

“No, because I would have noticed when I went around the house to throw away the mess.”

“Okay, that makes sense.” She flicked her tail, then wrapped it around her body the opposite way from before. “What happened next?”

“Next we played the toilet paper wedding game. That went on for a long time, because some of the teams kept requesting more time. I even had to run out to buy more toilet paper so everyone could finish.”

“Yes, I remember that. How could I forget? Everyone was making such a fuss. Sasha was very upset that we changed the original rules of the game. Do you think she acted out in retaliation?”

I shook my head and swooned slightly to the side from the dizziness. “No,” I said, straightening myself back to a full standing position. “It wasn’t Sasha, but our culprit did choose that time to act.”

Luna leaned forward as if confiding a secret, then whispered, “What time?”

“The time when I was away on a toilet paper run.”

She tilted her head to the side and closed her eyes for a moment. “Hmmm, I did notice a few of the members of Sasha’s team grew bored since they’d already finished their gown. They could have easily slipped away unnoticed while everyone was distracted.”

There. Now she was getting it. “Yes, that was the perfect time to slip away unnoticed. I agree.”

“So who did it, then?” Luna asked, shifting her weight from paw to paw.

“I’ll get to the who, but first the why.”

“Do go on, dear. You have me quite curious.”

“Someone didn’t want this wedding to happen, and destroying the arch seemed like the surest way to make that happen—or rather not happen,” I revealed.

“You’re confusing me a bit with the way you’re wording this, but I think I follow. Go on.”

“Our vandal didn’t want this wedding to happen, and from what I understand, more than one cat fits that particular bill. Some were jealous like Tess. Others thought you were settling for someone beneath you.”

Luna’s mouth fell open, but she said nothing.

“Sorry. I overheard a conversation when taking out the trash, and for what it’s worth, I absolutely do not agree. Our vandal, though—the cat who did this—she didn’t fall into either of these two camps. She did want to stop the wedding from happening, though, and that was because she regretted inviting so many cats who didn’t support her marriage and weren’t happy for her.”

I stopped a moment to let the weight of my words sink in and then asked, “Is that why you did it, Luna? Is that why you destroyed your own wedding garden?”

“How did you find out?” she squeaked, lowering herself to a defensive hunched position.

“It was the chrysanthemums,” I said, telling her exactly where she’d gone wrong.

But Luna didn’t get it. She tilted her head to the side and studied me carefully. “What do you mean, dear?”

I sighed. “When you were describing the arch to the other Luna, you mentioned chrysanthemums as part of the arrangement, then said you had taken a peek in the morning. But I only added chrysanthemums at the very last minute when Mr. Fluffikins showed up and demanded it.”

Now she got it. Luna sniffled and hung her head in shame. “I’m sorry I lied. And I’m sorry I destroyed the beautiful gift you made for me.”

I moved away from the wall and came to stand beside Luna at the counter, running my fingers through her soft white fur. “I’m not mad, but I am worried about you. Your wedding is supposed to be the happiest day of your life, but clearly something is very wrong here.”

Luna stared up at me with glistening blue eyes, her mouth drawn in a deep frown. “I just couldn’t go through with it. I love Merlin, and I am committed to him for the rest of our lives. But I can’t go through with the wedding, not with the way everyone was saying such awful things about him.”

“That makes total sense, but why did you have to destroy the arch? Couldn’t you have just told everyone the wedding was canceled?”

“I didn’t know how else to get everyone to leave and go away. At least not without inviting years of gossip. You know how cats talk. So taking out the arch seemed like the easiest way to call off the wedding. I should have been braver, Gracie. I should have just come right out and said what I was feeling, but I didn’t want to give them even more terrible things to say about me and Merlin.”

“Gracie, this is your day. You get to decide who’s there and who’s not.”

She frowned and whispered, “But nobody can return to Nocturna until nightfall tomorrow.”

The circumstances were certainly less than ideal, but that didn’t mean they were impossible.

“Luna, I have an idea if you’re willing to trust me.”

“Oh, Gracie. I should have trusted you from the start. I’m so, so sorry,” she cried.

“Don’t worry about that, but listen up. We have to act fast if we’re going to make this work…”

12

“Did you get it?” I asked Mr. Fluffikins about twenty minutes after my conversation with Luna in the bathroom. I’d quickly clued both him and Merlin in on the plan while Luna kept the guests distracted and happy. We’d now been waiting for the black cat to return for at least ten minutes now and were eager to put our new wedding plan into action.

“Yes, I secured the goods,” Fluffikins said with a slight nod. “Now where shall I take them?”

I sank into a crouch, keeping my voice low in case any of our guests from Nocturna were watching from nearby. “Go get a human—any human, most of the cats in there won’t know the difference—and then move forward with the rest of the plan as slowly as you possibly can. That will make them angry, but at least it will keep them distracted. Oh, but first, please put up a barrier in the backyard.”

“All right, I’ll handle it from here,” Fluffikins said, then disappeared in a pink, glittery poof.

A few minutes later, he was back with several brown paper grocery bags filled with canned cat food and a pink-haired woman to assist. “This is Tawny,” he said.

I gave her a friendly wave. “Hi, Tawny. Thanks for coming by on such short notice.”

“It’s no problem,” she said before picking up the bags and following Mr. Fluffikins inside.

I turned to Luna who was sitting in the grass at my feet. “Are you ready?”

“Ready.” She rose to her feet and stretched.

“Wait,” I said softly. “Before we go back, I have something for you.”

I crossed to the side of the house to retrieve my latest handicraft. “It’s not much, but I was able to salvage a few of the flowers from your arch, and I made this.”

“Oh, Gracie,” Luna whispered as I set the small crown of flowers on top of her head. “It’s perfect.”

“Shall we?” I said, trying not to cry over how beautiful my cat looked in that moment. The colorful crown of flowers contrasted her pure white fur beautifully, giving her a classic bridal look.

“We shall,” Luna answered and allowed me to pick her up and cradle her in my arms.

Carrying her, I walked around the house and into the backyard where Merlin sat waiting amidst a kaleidoscope of floating dewdrops.

Both Luna and I gasped as we took in the magnificent scene.

“My rainbow magic got better with how much Mr. Fluffikins made me use it tonight,” he explained with a half smile. “Now I hardly have to think about it at all to keep the magic going.”

When I set Luna on the ground beside him, Merlin’s smile widened to such an extent that he looked almost comical, like a silly cartoon character with exaggerated proportions. I half-expected his heart to thump right out of his chest or his eyes to pop out of his head.

“Dearly beloved…” I began, choosing to act as both the officiant and the one who was giving Luna away in our private mini wedding. I’d already modified the ceremony to exclude rings. Now, as I delivered my lines, I also chose to get rid of that part that allowed anyone to reject to the union, because when I looked at these two crazy cats, it was plain to see just how much they loved one another, how they truly belonged together.

“I promise to love you for all my nine lives,” Merlin said now, reciting the vows he’d written ahead of time. “We may have been born to magic, but I never knew true magic until I found you. You give me the strength and courage I need to get through whatever life throws at us—and life sure does seem to like to throw a lot our way. Luna, I love you with everything that I am, and I’ll keep telling you until my very last breath. I’m so excited to be your mate for life.”

Luna sniffled while I began to openly sob. Who would have ever thought that my cats would be the ones to teach me the true meaning of love? Definitely not me.

“Merlin, dear,” Luna said softly as she rubbed her nose against his cheek. “I love you so much that sometimes I can’t even believe it. It’s just one of those things that is always there, a thing you don’t stop to think about until the moment you realize that, without it, you would cease to exist. You keep my heart beating, loving, believing. And even if no one else understands, I know it with every fiber of my being. We weren’t just made for each other. We are a part of each other. Two halves of a whole. I promise to always be yours. No matter what or who tries to get in our way. Merlin, without you, I’m not me. We belong to each other. Always. Forever. And completely. I love you so much.”

It took me a moment to realize it was my turn to speak, but even as I dawdled, the two lovebirds continued to stare deep into one another’s eyes, unbothered by my momentary lapse.

At last, I cleared my throat and spoke once again. “I have no power vested in me, but it’s also not up to me to declare that you are joined for life. You have already taken that step together. Your love is already complete, but let this day remind you always of the promise you have made to each other and to the greater world. Merlin, you may now kiss your bride. Luna, you can go ahead and groom your groom.”

As I said those last words, the shredded flowers that had once been part of the wedding arch burst into the air. This fresh confetti mixed with the colored water droplets to form a dizzyingly beautiful spectacle.

I glanced around the yard and spotted Mr. Fluffikins sitting nearby and wearing an enormous grin on his normally unsmiling face. I caught his eye and offered a thumbs up as Luna and Merlin exchanged licks and kisses along with even more assurances of their great love for each other.

Yes, the wedding hadn’t gone to plan, but it had turned out wonderfully just the same.

And in the end, despite my annoyance with him, Mr. Fluffikins had been right about what flowers were needed for the altar. Without his chrysanthemums, I may never have figured out what was truly happening in Luna’s heart, and she and Merlin may not have gotten this one perfect moment that they could look back on for all their lives to come.