"Come Little Children, I'll take thee away, Into a land, of Enchantment… Come Little Children, The time's come to play, Here in my garden, of Magick… Follow Sweet Children, I'll show thee the way, through all the pain and, the Sorrow… Weep not Poor Children, For life is this way, Murdering beauty, and Passions… Hush now Dear Children, It must be this way, To weary of life and, Deceptions… Rest now My Children, For soon we'll away, Into the calm and, the Quiet… Come Little Children, I'll take thee away, Into a land, of Enchantment… Come Little Children, The time's come to play, Here in my garden, of Shadows…"
Binkxfeather's eyes opened slowly and she looked around her surroundings. Hee eyes popped wide open in shock at what she saw.
She could recognize this small wooden cottage anywhere. It was the Sanderson sister's cottage.
Binx could make out the figures of three young witches circled around a younger girl about 8 or 9-years-old in a witch costume.
Hissing under her - now his breath - Binx leaped down from his perch and landed on Winifred's shoulder.
"AHHHH! Get this wretched thing off of me!" she cried to Mary and Sarah.
Binx held back a snicker at her misfortune. "That's what you get, you old hag!" he heard himself mutter under his breath.
Winifred scowled and held Binx up by the scruff of his neck. "Oh, so I see that thou can still speak. Humph! Thou still lives I see."
"You bet thou still lives!" he retorted with a sarcastic snort of laughter. "You put this curse on me, did thee not, Winifred Sanderson?"
He hissed and swatted at her face with a paw. "I've waited three hundred years to get my revenge!" the feline hissed in a low tone. "I'll kill you for what you did to Emily!"
Wait what? That's not what I remember saying the last time!
Mary and Sarah started cackling manically in the background. "Why thou aren't as smart and powerful as thee older sister, little Binx boy," Sarah said in a sweet but mocking tone. "Can I play with him? Can I?" she asked her eldest sister.
"No Sarah!" Winifred snapped angrily. "He's a gosh darn cat you spineless fool!"
Binx hissed and unsheathed his sharp claws. "My name is Thakery, you mangy old hags!" he growled back, making all three sisters scowl in fury.
"Why you little-" Winifred began but was cut off by another voice cutting through the air.
"Binx?" all heads turned to see Dani, who was staring with wide eyes at the midnight-black cat in stunned surprise. "How are you a cat again Binx? I thought your soul was freed?" Dani blinked again and continued to star at the small feline in front of her.
It was Dani who had called out to him. But how does she know my name? It's still much too early for that! Binx's head was spinning and no words could break free from his throat as he continued to stare up at Dani from his perch on top of the spell book that was still trapped in its glass casing.
"Yes Dani?" Binx eventually mewed, his voice high-pitched and startled.
She blinked and tilted her head to the side, her eyes staring at Binx with concern and longing.
"Why did you leave after we defeated the witches?"
Binx blinked. "Huh?" he asked her. "What dust thou mean Dani?"
She just stared at him, not blinking, as she reached out to petted the top of Binx's head with one of her hands.
"Are you okay Binx?" she easily dodged the question. "You've been acting strange all day."
Binx lowered his head and stared down at his paws. "Yes, I'm fine." He responded.
Dani didn't look convinced as she continued to stare intently into Bin'x bright yellow eyes.
"Thakery, Thakery Binx!" came an all-to-familiar voice from somewhere close by. "It is time for thee to wake up, brother. Thou must wake up now."
And before Binx could say a word otherwise, Emily smiled brightly down at him and patted the top of his head. "Oh brother," she sighed sadly, staring down at her brother's sleek midnight-black fur. "I wish I could see thee again."
And with those last few words, everything faded away into darkness.
•••
"Binxfeather! Binxfeather wake up! You're on the dawn patrol!" Nightclaw's mew woke Binxfeather up.
Binx's eyes snapped open and she hissed at the other cat out of instinct.
"What dust thou want with thee?" Binx mewed, not yet noticing that her olden-day speech was still present from the dream that she had just had about her past.
"Are you okay Binx?" Nightclaw asked, not knowing that Dani had asked Binx that very same question in her dream.
Binx just nodded her head, not saying a word.
