Page 23 of Heart Shaped Wreckage
Relax, dude.
“Cat? Where are you? Show yourself?”
A glimmer in the air, and his silky, lean body jumped through. He landed on the ground easily and sat on his haunches.
“I need you to send us to Lamass. I have to warn her that…”
No. Lamass is safe.
“You saved her, too?”
No. Aurelius was only here for you. They care not for the others.
“How did you know? I…”
You could just thank me.
“I could, huh? You’ve always been a troublemaker. Thank you, Denzu.”
“What happened?” Kevin whimpered. “God, my head hurts.” He slowly sat up and looked at Moon Cat quizzically. “Is that really a cat, or am I hallucinating again. I was hallucinating, wasn’t I?”
The kid can’t take it. This is gonna be a very long day for you.
“Denzu, be nice.”
“You can talk to cats? No, I’m hallucinating.” Kevin rubbed his head.
“You’re not hallucinating. There really is a cat.”
“And you can talk to it?” He looked at me as if I were the crazy one.
“Anyone could talk to him if they knew how. Humans, even witches, don’t know the secret.”
Humans really are dumb. Even witches. It’s not that hard.
“Why did you save us?”
I like my secrets. You’re safe for now, but I do have other places I need to be. From here on out, the quest is yours. I won’t be able to do that again.He turned and slinked over to a rock, where he jumped up on it.Well, maybe. We’ll see if I’m awake.With a wink, he leapt in the air, and it shimmered around him. With a small pop, he disappeared.
“Maybe I did hit my head.” Kevin looked like he was on the verge of tears.
“No, sadly, it’s real. Moon Cat is… Well, he’s a very old being who likes to meddle.”
“He’s a cat. Is he a… familiar. I feel like I have a familiar. Even the word makes me feel like a part of me is missing.”
“No. Denzu is no one’s familiar and owes allegiance to no one but himself. As far as I know, anyway. He’s a bit of a trickster sometimes, and other times he’s right where you need him to be.”
“Moon Cat… Denzu? Is that his real name?”
I frowned. Denzu had been around since I could remember in one guise or another. “It’s what the Sumerians called him. But he was old even then. What his real name is, I don’t know.”
“He had the pretty crescent on his brow. I’ve always liked cats.” Kevin stood up and started brushing himself off. His pants were even filthier than they had been. We should have stopped and gotten him new clothes. He was a disaster.
“Come on. I have no idea where we are, and it looks like it's going to be dark soon.” I turned to start the trek through this fairly barren landscape. “I think the little shit dropped us in the desert. Fuck…”
“Why was… Wait! What the fuck was that?” He pointed to the sword, which was now blackened and still lying in the dirt. “What is that?” His face went even whiter than it normally was.
“That is a sword that has long since been unused,” I growled with distaste. Many of my brethren fell with the slice of that sword. I wasn’t ready to talk about that.
