The Curious Cat: A Petunia's Peculiar Particulars Prequel

Cat Naps

Author's Note: Edits and Reformatting 7/12/21

Rhiannon's house turned out to be a four-bedroom colonial on the city's upper west side. It had a very tidy front yard with a big, ancient oak tree out front. Something about the place seemed incredibly familiar to Bathsheba, but she couldn't put her paw on why. It didn't appear that different than any other houses of the era. It was white with black trim, though someone painted the front door a deep shade of crimson. It was still reasonably ordinary as far as houses went. The front yard was pretty. The bay laurels planted along the front were fragrant and quite large. The scent was very relaxing to Bathsheba. To Rhiannon, it smelled like home, and she took in a deep breath before heading for the front door along the front walk.

Bathsheba assumed that Rhiannon's parents liked to garden because there were various tidy plantings in all of the flower beds. Even so late in the season, there were large pots of mums by the front door for a pop of fall color. The effect was very inviting, but she also noted protection runes scrawled along with the entrances to the home. They were subtle, white chalk on white paint on the door jamb. A suncatcher in one of the front windows caught her eye because of the pentacle shape it made amidst the dried flowers pressed between its panes. Rhiannon did not seem to notice any of this, so Bathsheba did not tell her, but it was clear that one of her parents was a witch of some sort. She would have to be quite careful to avoid being overheard or getting caught.

Rhiannon opened the screen door and walked into the house. The front door was unlocked as if someone were waiting for Rhiannon to come home. She set Bathsheba down on a table beside the door and hollered, "Mom! Dad! I'm home!"

"In the kitchen, honey!" Her mother shouted.

"I need you guys to come here a sec. I have something to show you," Rhiannon said as she unwound her scarf and hung it up on a hook by the front door.

Bathsheba, wisely, remained silent and looked up as a woman with hair as dark as Rhiannon's and eyes just as sharp came into the entry, and she recognized her from Emilia's coven almost at once. Her name was Tabitha Simmons. "Did she follow you home?" The woman asked, looking at Bathsheba suspiciously.

"Yeah, I thought I'd try looking for her owner. I posted her on Insta, and I found out she belongs to Beth, my friend from gym class. She asked me to keep an eye on her for a couple of days since she got out of the house somehow, and her parents took her to some resort in Tennessee. I told her it was no problem. I didn't think you would mind."

Her mother eyed the cat and nodded, "Sure, but you could have just told me you found a witch's familiar, honey. There's no need for the story."

Rhiannon looked at her mother in shock. "You know about witches?"

Bathsheba looked from mother to daughter and, with a sigh, said, "She knows my owner. She is a member of the coven."

"You're kidding me?! Mom! You're a witch?" Rhiannon's jaw dropped in surprise.

With a withering glance at the cat, Rhiannon's mother gestured to her daughter. "Come in, honey. I guess it's time we talked about some things, and you can start by explaining to me why you have Emilia Bitterling's cat."

They followed Rhiannon's mother into the kitchen. Rhiannon pulled out a chair for Bathsheba and gently set her down in it. She looked at her mother as she took a seat beside the cat and said, "I went to this shop this afternoon." From there, she told her mother the entire story. To Rhiannon's surprise, her mother listened without saying a single word until she finished.

Then and only then did her mother say, "You met Petunia Petaluma?"

Rhiannon nodded. "Is she famous or something?" "Well, in a way. She's more of an urban legend. I didn't think she was real."

"She is," said Bathsheba. "She put me in your daughter's path, or at least the magic of her shop did."

"So she's a witch too?" Tabitha asked.
      
"She is," Bathsheba paused for a moment before adding, "At least that much, is what she told me. She is also a clairvoyant."
      
"This is fascinating. I can't believe you actually met her!"
      
Rhiannon thought her mother sounded unusually excited. "So, if this is what happens when I bring home a stray cat, maybe I should do this more often?"
      
Tabitha laughed. "Well, Bathsheba isn't exactly a stray. What happened?" She asked as she turned to address the cat. "Where's Emilia and why aren't you with her?"
      
"That's just it, I don't know. I awoke from a nap in the sun to find her and her important papers gone. Everything in the apartment was left as it was when I'd fallen asleep, so I assumed she'd gone out, but when several days passed, I had to go out to forage for food and I tried to look for her. I have seen no sign of her in any of the places that I can reach," Bathsheba explained.
     
"Well, that explains that much at least. I didn't see her at the ritual last night. She never misses them," Tabitha said thoughtfully. "I wonder what could have taken her away from the session? It had to have been something very important."
      
"It must have been. Her grimoire was gone with her. She rarely takes it out of the house," Bathsheba said.

Rhiannon looked at her mom. "Can we get to the part where we talk about how I'm a witch and you've known I was my whole life and never told me?"
      
Bathsheba gave Tabitha slight shrug when the witch looked at her curiously. "It's not my fault. I had no idea she could hear me until it was already too late. By then, she knew cats could talk and that's not exactly something you can explain away easily, even in a world where dragons fall asleep on the highway."
      
Tabitha chuckled. "Fair, all right. I guess I owe you an explanation."
      
"Or two or three," Rhiannon added.
      
"Or two or three," Her mother agreed.
  
"So what's the deal? We're witches?" Rhiannon asked.

"We are. Your father and I didn't know if you were. You weren't outwardly exhibiting power, so we assumed that you weren't and decided you were better off not knowing. Sometimes it'll skip generations." Tabitha looked at Bathsheba and said, "So, why didn't you just come to us?"

"I tried," Bathsheba said quietly, "but the path led me to Petunia's shop. Time seems to have no meaning there. It only seemed a few moments to me, but when I left with your daughter, it was the next evening. Petunia mentioned that the shop travels through space and time to be where and when it needs to be."

"How long did you get to talk to her? Does she control the shop at all?"

Bathsheba shook her head. "Not that I could tell. It seems that her clairvoyance allows her to see what will visit her at the shop, but is limited to the shop and its customers and their futures." The cat paused again, then said carefully, "I was most sorry to hear about your son."

Tabitha took a slow, deep breath and nodded. "She knew about him."

"She said that he was running with the wrong crowd," Bathsheba hopped into Tabitha's lap and curled up there to offer her some comfort. "It is never an easy thing, to lose a child."

Tabitha put her hand on the cat's back and looked at her daughter. "So, what did you ask Petunia to help you with? It was about Isaiah wasn't it?"

Rhiannon hung her head, but eventually she nodded. "I want to know how he died and who killed him. He deserves justice, Mom. His murderers should go to jail."

Her mother looked down at the cat in her lap. "And you were going to help her with this?"

"My plan was to locate your son's shade. I figured this would be safest." Bathsheba said. "It was my wish to grant your daughter some kind of closure without bringing her in harm's way."

"And in return you were going to ask her to help you find Emilia?"

"I was going to ask her to go to the coven to ask for help."

Tabitha smiled. "Thank you for keeping my daughter safe in all of this."

The cat inclined her head, then settled down in Tabitha's lap.

Rhiannon and Tabitha watched as Bathsheba slowly fell asleep.

"I guess she was tired," Rhiannon said eventually.

"There's no telling how long she was actually having to hunt for food. I haven't seen Emilia in over a month. We only meet once a month and she left the last meeting early. I'm worried about her, but this is really not something you should get involved in. You have power, but we're only just finding out about it and we don't know what you can do or not do. I need you safe." Her mother said.

"But, I need to know what happened," Rhiannon insisted, careful not to wake Bathsheba by raising her voice.

"That's fair. You deserve to know what happened to your brother and I can show you. We'll go visit his shade tomorrow. Tonight, both of you need to rest. You can take Bathsheba to your room with you." Tabitha carefully lifted the sleeping cat and passed her to her daughter.

"I haven't had dinner yet. I think Petunia gave her some tea and cream, so she hasn't eaten either."

"I'll bring you up a plate and a bowl of food for her in a bit. Go on upstairs and lay down."

Rhiannon didn't recall the food or her mother coming upstairs. By the the she laid down on her bed with Bathsheba, she was already on her way to a deep and dreamless sleep.