Moments

“Do you know? Do you know? Do you know what I wonder?”

“They say an engagement made in a Duel can never be broken!”

“But, what if one of the Engaged Ones falls from grace?”

“That’s of no consequence. The Engagement still stands.”

“But, what if you didn’t tell your Best Friend? What will happen?”

“Do you know? Do you know? Do you know what will happen?”

*************************************

“Don’t we seem like the kat who ate the canary!”

Feral looks up at Clawson, who was entering Feral’s office. “Do I?”

“Uh, huh.” Clawson sits down in one of Feral’s office chairs. “You look like your old self.”

“Really.” Feral takes a mechanical device of his phone, and stores it in his desk.

“But, getting to more important things, bro,” Clawson says, “We have a conflict.”

“I know.” Feral sighs, placing his paws behind his head. “Terri breaking out opens up a lot of old feelings.”

“How come you didn’t know Terri was in Alkatraz?”

“When our resident duo captured her, the feds swooped in and got her before I had a chance. And now, they’ve dropped this in my lap.”

Clawson nods. “Our gag order isn’t helping, either.”

“Our mission in the Boonies is still classified by the Brass, even after all these years.”

“So, what are we going to do?”

“I don’t know.” Feral sighs. “I suppose we wait.”

******************************

“What’s the big deal? The cards don’t have any meaning.”

“The High Priestess, the Devil, Judgment?” Lokii stares at her Tarot cards, which were reversing at shifting at will. “Should I view the Squires as one or separately?”

Finally, the cards settle down in a simple cross. Lokii gingerly flips a card.

“What’s this? Is the Tower suddenly crumbling?” Lokii smiles, pawing the Tower Card. “But is this against one Squire, or. . .”

Lokii looks at the other Cards. “Hmm. The Cards say the time is right to steal the Arcana spell books. But how?”

Lokii flips another card, and smiles again. “Well, well. . .”

************************************

“So, how have you been?”

“All right, I guess.”

Phoebe nods, carrying a teapot over to table Jake was sitting at.

Jake stares at the teacup placed in front of him. “Umm. . .Phoebe?”

“Hai?” Phoebe pours herself a cup of tea.

“About this ‘Jakey-chan’ thing. . .”

“Gomen.”

“Huh?”

“It’s just that it’s been 5 long years since you left home. . .” Phoebe looks at her tea. “. . .J-kun.”

“Too long.”

“Have you told?”

“No.”

“I see.”

“Does that bother you?”

Phoebe shakes her head. “It’s understandable. Mother didn’t agree to our Engagement up until recently.”

“Because of my dishonor?”

Phoebe looks down. “Well. . .”

Jake reaches over the table and take Phoebe’s paw in his. “Phoebe, it’s okay. Even though I feel it wasn’t right, it’s still a dishonor on the family.”

“But, it isn’t fair!”

“No, it isn’t.” Jake sighs. “And, it isn’t fair for me and Chance to be saddled with that enormous debt. But, those are the consequences.”

Phoebe tugs on her kimono sleeve with her free paw. “But. . .”

Jake smiles. “Phoebe, were you lonely all this time?”

Phoebe looks up at Jake, a glimmer of understanding in her eyes. “Hai.”

“Then, let me comfort you. . .”

****************************

“Why should I help you?”

“Because you owe me, Turmoil.”

Turmoil glances behind her to look at her spirit. “How do I know this isn’t one of your games?”

“It is one of my games.” Lokii extracts a Tarot Card from her deck. “But, you won’t be affected by it. In fact, it might even help you.”

Turmoil sighs. “Very well. What’s the plan?”

“I want you to lure the Commander out to the MegaKat City Museum.”  Lokii grins. “I, in turn, will lure your T-Bone and his friend there, also.”

“How will I lure Cabreti there?”

“By using this.” Lokii hands Turmoil the Tarot Card she extracted.

Turmoil looks at it. “What’s this?”

“That Card has Cabreti’s personal phone number in his office,” Lokii explains. “I’m sure you know how to talk to him.”

“But, that still doesn’t answer my question. I doubt Cabreti will just come at my beckoning.”

Lokii smiles. “He will come if you threaten the Queen.”

*******************************************

” *I have you, and only you, my love. . .* ”

Callie looks up at the computer screen and realizes what she typed. She hastily deletes it.

Callie was finishing up a report when Anshi walked in. As the Deputy Mayor was tapping away on the keyboard, Anshi’s eyes falls on the calendar.

“Sorry for stepping out, Briggs-sama.”

“Not a problem, Anshi. You handled the office well.”

“Thank you.”

There’s a silence for a moment, only broken by Callie’s continued typing.

“Briggs-sama, isn’t your anniversary soon?” Anshi speaks up, continuing to look at the calendar.

Callie stops typing. “Huh?”

“Oniisama mentioned it the other day.”

“Oh,” Callie resumes typing. “He’s probably the only one that remembers.”

“No one else does?”

Callie takes her paws of the keyboard. “Nope. Not even the Mayor, as many times I’ve saved his tail. But, that’s the consequence of being a Deputy
Mayor.”

Anshi nods, and begins to walk out the office.

“Oh, Anshi?”

Anshi stops. “Hai?”

“You accidentally switched my phone with Feral’s.” Callie reaches into her purse and extracts the phone.

“Gomen.”

“He gets some strange phone calls.” Callie says distantly.

“Shall I switch them back for you?”

Callie shakes her head. “No. I can do it.”

“Very well, Briggs-sama.”

Anshi barely gets to the office door when Kandi storms through it, a blur of burgundy.

“Have you ever heard of knocking?” Callie asks, annoyed.

“I have. But, this method is much more dramatic.” Kandi purrs.

“What do you want?” Callie resumes typing again.

“Manxy wanted me to tell you that he wants another press release about those spell books that were found.” Kandi smiles.

“Since when do I take orders from you?” Callie speeds up her typing.

“Since now. Manxy is terribly busy.” Kandi starts strolling towards the door. “See ya!”

**************************

Feral sits at his office desk, pouring over some new files the feds had deemed him worthy to read. It was all the same information, excluding the
classified. The Commander sighs.

A ringing phone interrupts Feral’s thoughts. He answers it.

“Commander Feral.”

“My!” A female voice on the other end says, “Have we ascended the ranks of command.”

Feral froze. “Terri.”

Terri laughs. “Cabreti, my dear love, it’s so nice to hear voice again.”

Feral says nothing. Terri laughs again. “We had some good times in the Boonies, didn’t we, lover? You would have made a great criminal with me. But, then again, your conscience got the better of you.”

“Is that what it was? I thought it was just following the letter of the law.”

“Some law. If it always you to do what you did to me, I’d rather not follow it.”

“Oh?”

“Don’t act innocent with me, Cabreti. Does ‘By any means necessary’ mean anything to you?”

Feral sighs. “Why are you calling me? Shouldn’t you be planning revenge?”

“Oh, but I am. By targeting the one she-kat with ties to you and that other tomkat.” Terri pauses. “And, I suggest if you don’t want anything to happen to your Queen, Cabreti, that you go to the museum.”

“It’ll be definitely worth your while. . .”