Chapter Thirty-two

Zora looked around the room, her nervous eyes scanning one face after another. Connor's was the only one she did not study, but each of the others gave her cause for suspicions. Though she liked the leather-clad girl's style, she had to wonder why she was even in the meeting. She certainly wasn't from Alderberan! At last, her eyes rested on Katrina and Vang, and she waited for one of them to start.

Katrina moved to stand by a table that was in the room. A small mirror that was built into the table faced the group that circled around the room, and Katrina brought their attention to it. "If you will watch the mirror, Zora, you will see our homeworld. I think the best place to start is with our homeworld even though it no longer exists. You need to know your roots, and they start on a small planet called Alderberan." A picture appeared within the mirror.

Zora watched through eyes widened by shock as the mirror displayed a moving picture. It panned over a world with a pink sky and lush, blue grass. Catpeople could be seen, and she noticed that they seemed to have fur like all the different feline species of Earth.

The scene changed, taking them to a palace and then inside it. They entered the throne room and saw, sitting on a throne, a regal Queen with a jeweled crown; long, flowing robes; and Siamese-colored fur. Beside her, on the King's throne, sat none other than Meesy, the royal familiar.

Meesy had to advert his eyes. It was painful seeing the Queen.

Salem looked at Meesy and then looked at the cat on the throne. "You really weren't making it up! You are royal," Salem told him.

Meesy nodded. "The Queen was a wonderful woman. She was good to Her people, but our country was at war."

"Yes, unfortunately," Katrina took over, "we were at war with a very aggressive planet. Our planet was one of peace, love, and learning. Our people were peaceful until they came. They came out of nowhere, attacking planets smaller than ours and devouring them. Soon, almost our whole galaxy was gone except for Alderberan. We never knew where they came from, only what they called themselves."

The picture had changed to reflect a spaceship full of the Robotic Reptilians. "The Robotic Reptilians attacked our planet. I was a Spaceship Captain. Tom, Celina, and Meesy were on my ship that day. It was a bloody war, and we were losing. While we were out fighting them, our planet was destroyed. We were hit, engulfing our ship in fire and sending it out of control and spinning towards Earth."

"I know they're still out there somewhere, but so far, we've been lucky and they haven't found us. We were trapped in the craft and could not get out. I feared we would all die. I passed out, and when I awoke, I was laying out in the grass. The sky was blue, and the grass was green. But we were alive."

"I looked around for my sister, Tom, and Meesy and found them to be laying next to me, Celina already talking to our rescuer. Morph had come to our rescue and saved us. Even as I began to sit up, our spaceship exploded. That is how we came to be here. I don't know how your mother came to be here. Vang will know that." Katrina looked at Vang. "Your turn." She went, sat down, and waited for Vang to take over.

Vang stood, revealing Sebastian from the hiding place he'd dug himself into while Faith had been on the rampage. The crab had been laying underneath the tiger and now looked at Faith as though fearing she might decide to eat him. Faith smirked, and he scrabbled backwards until managing to find a new hiding place. Meesy glanced at the crab who was now using him as a shield, shook his head, and returned his steady gaze to Vang.

Vang's tail swished slowly as he walked before the table, dismissing the mirror all together. He had never been one to put much trust in magic, preferring by far to use his own physical abilities. "Zora," he began, looking deep into his girl's eyes and searching for some sign, any sign, that she might be considering truly forgiving him, "what I have to tell you comes in two parts. First, I was a tigerman, and I did love your mother. Ours was a forbidden love, and . . . it was the Queen who punished me."

He sighed, glancing at Meesy who he could sense was bristling. He could understand why he did not like any one to speak badly of the Queen, but all he spoke was the truth. He looked back to Zora. "She changed me into a full tiger, so that no . . . nothing more could happen between your mother and I. Had I learned my lesson, she would have turned me back, but I refused to dismiss my love for your mother. Seraphina was a beautiful, wonderful woman, and I loved her like no other. Even if I had been willing to speak falsely, the Queen died before she could ever reverse the curse."

Zora did not need to ask to know that the Queen would have been the only one able to reverse the curse. She had always known Vang was brave, but now she learned of a new degree of that courage. All he would have had to do was to turn his back to her mother and their love, and he would have been rewarded with his rightful body back. Instead, he hadn't. He'd borne the curse so that he might continue to love her mother, though never being able to be with her again. That was when a thought struck her. "Vang, you say you couldn't be with my Mother, but couldn't she have just changed to a cat form?"

"No," Vang replied, shaking his head gravely. "The Queen cursed her, as well. Whereas I was prevented from taking my man form, she was prevented from taking any form other than her natural catwoman self."

Tom looked at Vang. "So she cursed you that same day we left?"

Vang nodded. "She gave me a choice," he explained. "Or, rather, She gave us a choice. You know She already suspected our . . . union, but that day, She wanted me to go in one direction, into the battle with the fighters, and she wanted Seraphina to go in another, to hide with the rest of the royal family and be the first line of defense there. As you know, our world had never tasted such grave danger before, and . . . We would not separate."

"You wouldn't separate because you wanted to be together if those hours were our last?" Celina surmised.

Vang nodded sadly. "Exactly."

"She was always a good woman and a kind ruler," Meesy admitted, "but she could be a little over-protective of her children."

"A little!" Tom repeated incredulously. "Come on, man! How many times did I get the Royal Litterpan dumped on me!"

The two leather-clad girls stared at the orange catman. "What!" Zora and Faith asked simultaneously. Though Zora continued to stare at Tom in disbelief, Faith laughed. "Damn!" she said, shaking her head. "Good thing we don't have one of those around here!"

"Yes, Grandmama was quite handy with the Royal Litterpan," Katrina told them. "If you made Her mad and didn't manage to get away in time, you got coated! Nothing would get the stench off but time!"

Tom shuddered. "And, believe me, it stunk!"

"Shitt stink," Faith asked point blank, "or Bog of Eternal Stench stink?"

The cats looked at each other before answering matter-of-factly, "Bog of Eternal Stench stink."

Zora shook her head and looked back at Vang. "So what happened? She cursed you but then let you go to the battle?"

"Well, 'let' might be a bit of a strong word," Vang admitted. "Seraphina and I took it. The ship, that is."

"What did you do then?" Katrina asked.

"We joined the battle and fought as long as we could. Unfortunately, with both the Queen's guards and the Reptilians after us, we didn't stand a chance in Hades, truth be told. We were shot rather quickly, and to this day, I don't know if it was by their forces or ours."

"Figures," Tom said. "You would have thought She would have wanted you protected by our people. Seraphina was one of her favorite granddaughters." He shook his head. "Probably couldn't see beyond her anger, and then when She did cool off, it was too late."

Meesy nodded but did not speak. Sheba always had had a problem controlling her anger. In fact, She was the one who both Seraphina and Katrina got their tempers from.

"Like you," Vang resumed, gesturing to Katrina and meaning she and the others on her ship, "we too crash-landed on Earth. We were rescued by Zora's father, but unlike you, we had the misfortune to be followed. We didn't know that for some weeks, however, and as it turned out, it was Zora's very birthdate that they made themselves known."

He shook his head as the memories played through his mind. "We fought our best and finally managed to get away from them, but not without Seraphina being . . . " Tears moistened his eyes. " . . . being hit. She would have been able to recover if not . . . if not for the delivery happening about that same time."

Tears were in Katrina's eyes. She reached out and laid a hand on Zora's and gave it a gentle squeeze. "What happened then?" she asked.

"We delivered Zora while Seraphina was . . . was breathing her last . . . She . . . " He had to fight past the tears that clogged his throat. "She . . . " His striped fur ruffled as he shook his head again. He had to get this out! "She asked us to . . . to keep Zora safe . . . and then she tried . . . tried to . . . to tell us . . . or tell him . . . or tell me . . . "

"That she loved you?" Zora prompted, and he nodded. Tears were in the blonde's eyes, and she had to fight to keep down as she asked Connor in a voice made strange by her emotions. "Connor, are they . . . ?" She let her sentence hang, seeing if he might pick up on her intentions without her having to announce them to the room.

Connor knelt beside her. "They speak the truth, Zora. The awful truth."

Connor's confirmation of what she was already thinking was all Zora needed to hear. She withdrew her hand from underneath Katrina's, stood, and walked past Connor. When she was within only a few feet of Vang, she could no longer hold back from running to him. Throwing herself down beside him, she wrapped him in a tight hug. He wrapped an arm around her in return, one of his massive paws pressing against her back as he held her close. Finally, the two let the tears run from their eyes.

The rest of her family sat quietly, knowing that it was a time for she and Vang to rebond with each other.

Salem crept back into Faith's lap, a place he hadn't dared return to before when she'd been so angry. He knew now, however, that she was far more shocked, amazed, and especially touched for Katrina and her family had just opened up not only to Zora but to her, as well. Faith shook her head slowly and fought down the tears that she refused to allow permission to. They'd had to let Zora in on all these, but they certainly hadn't had to invite her to a meeting of such revelations! Yet they had . . . They trusted her! They really, truly trusted her!

She glanced at the others, making sure their attentions were on Zora and Vang before drawing her fingernails against her eyes. The pain was enough to stop her tears from falling, but Salem grinned up at her. He didn't call her on her emotions but only began to purr instead.


As Cole finished delivering the last case of rum to Sparrow's cave, he brushed his hands lightly together and looked around the cave for something to cover the rum with. Sparrow's cave was full of all kinds of treasures, including trunks filled with gold dubloons, pieces of silver, and jewelry. He knew it had been a while since Jack had been down to the cave as he usually sent either Cole or Angel down when he needed funds, but as Cole knew Jack was a very unpredictable man and might just get it upon himself to come down and find some special trinket for Will, he decided to drape some silk cloth over the rum. He didn't figure Jack would be after the silk as he really couldn't see Will wearing it.

He tried to rearrange a few of the fuller chests of jewels to where they would be sure to catch Jack's eye should he come. With that done, he shimmered out to return to Piper. She was not where he had left her; in fact, the kitchen and the living room were both empty. He stood still, listening, and then caught scent of her scent. He followed it upstairs till he stood outside Prue's door. Knocking gently upon the door, he called out, "Piper, are you in there?"

Piper's hand paused in stroking Prue's back at Cole's voice. She glanced at the door. She wanted to answer him, but at the same time, she knew Prue needed her.

It was Phoebe who answered Cole instead. "Yes, she's in here." Dropping her voice to a whisper, she reassured Piper, "Go ahead. I'll take care of Prue."

"I don't need any taking care of!" Prue told both of them. "You best go find Joxer, and you'd better get Cole and get some dinner going before we have a lot of hungry Pirates on our hands! I'll be down as soon as I tidy up a bit." A thought had occurred to her, and she really wanted to get her sisters out of her room. She loved them dearly, but if they had even an inkling of what she was about to do, there would be Hell to pay!

"Are you sure?" Piper asked Prue, her concern clear in both her face and voice.

Prue gave her sister a reassuring hug. "I'm okay. I didn't mean to cry, but it's just . . . Brendan's story is so sad, and he's just too hard on himself! I love him, but sometimes it's very hard not to break down! Now go to Cole. Give him a hug for me. At least, we've got one steady man in our lives."

"We have two," Phoebe corrected her, "even if I'm not sure how to get Joxer to let me teach him." Shaking her head, she told Prue, "I don't know what's going on between you and Brendan, but we're here for you if you ever need to talk. I want you to know that, Prue. Not just Piper but me too." She hugged her sister.

"Thanks, Phoebe. I already knew that. I'm really blessed to have such great sisters!" She smiled bravely up at both of them. "I'll be down soon." She got to her feet and began to brush her hair.

"Phoebe?" Piper asked after a moment of silence. She hoped Prue truly was all right, but as she could not see her sister, she could not watch her for the give aways she knew.

Phoebe, not knowing of the traits that Piper knew of, mistook her sister's call as a request for help. Taking Piper's hand, she led her to the door. She opened it to find Cole still waiting.

"Hi, beautiful!" Cole told Piper. "Thanks, Phoebe, for keeping an eye on her." He reached out, took Piper's hand, and kissed it. "Shall we go to the kitchen?" Cole asked.

Piper hesitated. She attempted to glance back at Prue but, of course, could not see anything. Turning back to Cole, she nodded even as Phoebe asked, "Is Joxxy down there?"

"Don't know. Nobody was down there when I came through. They could still be in the basement. If you'll reach out and touch my arm, I'll shimmer all of us down there."

Phoebe shut Prue's door, edged out, but looked warily at Cole. "Shimmer?" she repeated doubtfully.

"Yeah," Piper told her. "It's a teleportation method." She smiled. "You'll like it; it's fun!" She pressed her body close besides Cole's and waited for Phoebe to take his arm and for him to shimmer them.

Phoebe was still reluctant, but at Piper's trusting smile, did reach out and take Cole's arm.

Cole shimmered all three of them to the kitchen where Chong was just coming out of the basement, carrying a huge basket of meat. "Is Joxer down there?" Cole asked before Phoebe could.

Chong looked questioningly at him. "Joxer?" he asked. "Oh, yes, one of those two idiots that Captain Sparrow sent to help."

"He's not an idiot!" Phoebe exclaimed heatedly.

"Perhaps, perhaps not," Chong relented ever so slightly in hopes of avoiding an argument. "However, he could not handle the method."

"Method?"

"Yes, I . . . hum . . . had to take care of the raptors."

Phoebe's stomach churned as she put two and two together. She looked at the basket of meat he carried. "That," she asked, pointing at it with an awful face, "is raptors?"

Chong hesitated but nodded.

"And you expect us to eat that?"

He nodded again, though once more after a moment's hesitation.

That was too much for Phoebe, just as it had been for Joxer. She ran from the kitchen, a hand clamped down over her mouth in a frantic attempt not to let the bile out until she could escape to the outdoors.

"What does raptor meat taste like, Chong?" Cole asked. "You've been on this island long enough; I'm sure you've eaten some."

"Like chicken," the Chinese man answered. "It's what we've been living on."

"I would suggest that you not tell anybody else what it is until after they've had a chance to taste it. The Pirates won't care what it is, but the women may decide they don't want it. If they know what it is, they won't even try it," Cole advised.

Chong nodded in understanding. "I had not meant to tell any one, but I was not going to lie to her."

"Where is Phoebe?" Piper asked, realizing her sister had fallen abruptly quiet.

"She went outside to throw up," Cole told her. "You heard what we were talking about; she couldn't handle it."

Piper nodded. She could not blame her sister for the thought of eating raptor made her own stomach queasy. However, Chong did claim the dinosaur tasted like chicken, and he had handled breakfast well. "I'll . . . reserve my opinion until after you've cooked the first batch, Chong."

"We'll sample what you cook before you continue. If we like it, then you can cook it. We just won't tell them what it is."


The minute Prue realized she was alone, she reached between the mattresses of her bed and pulled the Book out. She had thought about it a long time and had finally made up her mind. She hoped there was something in that Book to help both Piper and Brendan, and if she found it, she was going to use it regardless of the consequences to herself. Laying it on her bed, she opened the very first page to the forbidden Book and began to read aloud, "Hear now the words of the Witches."

Unbeknownst to Prue, there was a small troop of beings hidden in her closet. Their ears were perked as they listened closely. "She's going to say it!" one whispered.

"Say what?" one of the mentally challenged asked.

"Sh!" the others returned.

The one in the back of the group, the only one whose skin was not green, squirmed. The rag in his mouth kept his words from coming out as anything but more than a squeak. The dumb one turned to him and whispered urgently, "Sh!"

In the bedroom, Prue paused to listen. She'd thought she'd heard whispering but did not hear anything now. Dismissing it as her own nerves, she continued:

"The secrets we hid in the night,
The oldest of Gods are invoked here
Great work of magic is sought
In this night and in this hour,
I call upon the ancient power
Bring your powers to we sisters four
We want the power,
Give us the power.
"

To Be Continued . . .