Flash Fiction #576 -- Neko's Vacation/2

 

Colin remained quiet for a few miles.  

"I wish we had known about you," he finally said.  "Why did you never try to contact the fae?  I think a few might have come to the store?"

"Maybe one every couple of decades.  I knew they were magical -- but so was Maude.  Until you showed up, I had no way of judging the fae."

"That's something I don't think any of us ever considered.  We're used to people knowing who we are and what we represent."

"I am not people."

"Yes, you are," Colin insisted, which surprised Neko.  "As much as any fae is, at least.  You think, you communicate -- I suspect that you even write.  Humans often judge by shape and color and not by what really matters.  Tell me you never noticed that in all those books you have read."

"I had thought they were getting better," Neko admitted.  "Although considering how most of them scream when I first speak, I suppose not."

"Not," Colin agreed.

Neko yawned.

"Go lay down on your blanket," he said with a wave of his hand toward the back seat.  "I'll wake you when we get to New York."

Neko crawled into his blanket nest and went immediately to sleep.  The soft purr of the car had a soothing effect. In fact, he didn't wake up until cars screamed in rage all around them and monsters as high as the moon rose up on all sides.

He let out an unexpected hiss.

"You are awake.  Welcome to New York.  I am never certain how anyone sleeps here."

Neko crawled to the front seat, stared out the windows, and finally shook his head in disbelief.

"Those are buildings.  Why do they make them so high?  It looks as though they want to be birds!"

"Humans like to make monumental buildings.  They've always been this way."

"Yes.  True.  This is excessive, though."

"I won't argue.  Do you want to see the city from the top of one?"

"Do I look that crazy?"

"I never know with cats," he admitted.

Neko didn't say anything. Even he had trouble reading cat emotions, despite ears, tail, and whiskers.

"Here is the good news.  New York is unique.  We are going to drive to the beach here and officially start the journey from there, unless you want to go back to the bookstore."

"I am ready for the adventure," Neko admitted.

Colin looked pleased.  Then they spent too much time between the monster buildings, often at a standstill.  

"They could walk faster," Neko protested.

"We'll be out of this mess soon.  Then we are heading to Long Island and out to Orient, a small spot about as far east as you can go.  We'll take the ferry from there across to New London."

"Why are we not simply heading westward?" Neko asked.

"I need to take some readings on both coasts so that we get a good idea of what is going on.  This won't take long."

"I don't mind.  I haven't seen the Atlantic in centuries, and the Pacific for even longer.  I am in no hurry to go anywhere, Colin.  Fast or slow, do what you need --"

Neko stopped talking and spun toward the window beside him.  He moved so fast that he startled the woman driving a car just passing, but nothing bad happened.

"Did you feel that?" Colin asked.  "You must have to react that fast."

"Magic out there -- not far away," Neko replied.  "Odd magic.  It seemed to have something to do with time."

"Good catch," Colin admitted.  "I think there must be a genuine fortune teller nearby."

Colin took the next exit and then a right into a residential area filled with big old houses at least a century old. The feel of magic lingered, spiked again, and died down a bit.

"Interesting," Colin said as he found a parking spot.  That had to be magic.  "Ready to try out your harness and retractable leash?"

Neko huffed.  "I am still not a dog."

"None the less..."

"Let's do it."

It really wasn't so bad.  Both harness and leash were really no more than magical images to keep people from bothering Neko.  They'd had enough of that back at the bookstore.

It wasn't hard to find the source of the magic.  She sat on a bench in a small park, a young brown-skinned woman with a flamboyant style in clothing and hair.  She had also planted a pennant that said 'fortune teller' beside her.

There were no lines of people.  Neko didn't know why not because this was the real thing, and from all his study of magic, he knew such practitioners were extremely rare.

In fact, the young man who now leaned close to her was clearly not looking for his fortune.  She shoved him away, and he sneered and reached.

"I think I'll go bite his ankle.  How kind of him to wear shorts and flip-flops."

"Go," Colin agreed and let the leash out of his hand.

Neko bounded through the grass, darted under the bench, and ran straight into the man's leg.  The man screamed in terror and took off at such a run that Neko decided it wouldn't be worth trying to catch up with him.

Besides, Colin gave a little wave of his hand, and the man lost his footing and went down into a mud patch.

The mud patch probably hadn't been there a heartbeat before.

The fortune teller surged to her feet and looked around -- focusing finally on Colin as he neared.

"What did you do?" she whispered, her brown eyes blinking rapidly in fear.  "How did you -- what is that!"

"I am a cat," Neko said with wounded pride.  "A rather nice, good-looking cat.  Why do people so often react to me that way?"

"Quiet, Neko," Colin said and caught the young woman as she fainted.