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reminiscing, or was she entering
one of her episodes where she would soon be ranting and angry?
Summer and Tori often times had to cut classes short with Aunt
Myrtle because of these maniacal fits she’d transition into.
    “Are you okay, Aunt Myrtle?”
    “I am most certainly fine. What is it I’m
doing here? I have so much to do,” she said getting up and moving
for the door.
    “But wait, you were telling me about my
sister.”
    “Sister? You don’t have a sister,” Aunt
Myrtle said, mumbling something irate under her breath as she shut
the door behind her.
    Something about this story of her sister and
her grandmother abducting Summer from the Macabres’ seemed to bring
on these outbursts in Aunt Myrtle. If she was going to get answers,
it would have to be from someone other than Aunt Myrtle.
    This was the second time Summer had tried to
get the woman to confide in her, with the same result: nothing. But
if not her, then who? Morti was less than inviting, and he didn’t
seem very receptive to chit chat beyond what was absolutely
necessary for the lesson plan of the day. Hunter may know, but he
was hundreds of miles away with Jackson, and that only left Daniel,
who had already told her once that he was not supposed to reveal
details of her life for fear of changing her path, whatever that
was.
    But things seemed different with Daniel now.
Maybe he would be more forthcoming knowing that Myrtle was
incapable of revealing the vital information she needed. She knew
Daniel took his position as watcher, not teller, very seriously,
but she hoped maybe given the circumstances, he might oblige her
this one time. It was at least worth a try.
    * * *
    She thought she should check on Tori and see
how she was doing with the loss of Sister Mary Louise. She texted
her in hopes she’d answer.
    “R U up?” she wrote.
    After a few moments her phone chimed.
    “Yup.”
    “How R U?”
    “OK. You?”
    “The same. Want to go have pancakes?”
    “Idk. I look like crap—eyes R puffy.”
    “Me 2— We could wear sunglasses.”
    “It’s raining.”
    “2 cover our puffy eyes, LOL.”
    “Oh. Ok. I’ll meet you at IHOP in 20.”
    “I’ll be there.”
    She thought since she had to kill some time,
she would check the office out, make sure the mail was picked up
and such. When she headed for the back gate, Sully came sliding up
all muddy and soaked as if he was going with her.
    “Oh, no you don’t. You’re covered in mud and
water, boy! I won’t be gone long.”
    Sully cocked his head at her and then turned
as if insulted by her put off.
    “Don’t sulk,” she said as he walked away. He
turned one last time to see if she’d changed her mind due to his
pouting, but when he found she hadn’t he became distracted by a
leaf that went tumbling by with a push of the gusting wind.
    She smiled at him as she secured the gate
and drove off.
    She pulled into the empty parking lot of
Paws and Whiskers. As she made her way to the door, a woman ran up
behind her.
    “Please, can you help me?” she said. She was
soaked to the skin and carrying a black cat with a white tuft of
hair on its chest in the shape of a diamond. The cat looked
unconscious.
    “The clinic isn’t open. The doctor’s on
vacation.”
    “Please, she’s hurt,” the girl pleaded.
Summer agreed and let her in, turning on a couple of lights on
their way to an examining room.
    The dark-haired woman with shockingly green
eyes laid the cat on the table as gently as she could and hovered
over the cat, while Summer washed her hands.
    “Can you tell me a little about what
happened?” Summer asked over her shoulder.
    “Um, well she was on my window ledge and
this horrible mocking bird kept dive bombing her from the air,
squawking up a storm. One of the attacks on her must have knocked
her off her balance, and she fell from the second story.”
    “Let me take a look at her. What’s her
name?”
    “Vixen,” the woman said.
    Summer pet the cat gently. “Vixen, what