Sorry, this chapter is only 4 pages long, too. I'll try to make the next chapter longer, but I NEED to think of stuff! I wrote like crazy til' the third page & that's when I needed to think of stuff. LOL!! I'm listening to Dane Cook!

Facilier was stunned. Why would she come to him, not knowing who he was? Lynn began to shyly crawl up to her, giving her an innocent look. The lady looked down at the shadow. Kitten expected her to be frightened; but instead, she petted her. Lynn purred for a moment; then she sniffed the air. Her eyes turned to slits and she arched her back and hissed like she'd seen a ghost.

"Lynn!!" Kitten yelled, grabbing her. Lynn continued to give her that look. But, her eyes quickly widened back to normal when she looked at Kitten. She wined as Kitten dragged her away.

"That was weird…" the lady said, "Well, hi. My name is Gypsie. Gypsie Alexandra Fiora." She grabbed Dr. Facilier's hand and shook it welcomingly. When he did nothing, she gave a confused face. "Something wrong?" Facilier shook his head and smiled, charmingly.

"Of course not, chère." he said.

"Good. So…" Gypsie smiled, "Nice umm…place you got…here." Kitten could swear he turned red.

"It's umm…" he said.

"This is our place." Kitten chimed in, stepping in front of him to meet her. "Hi. I'm Kitten McCurdy." Kitten extended her hand. Kitten gave a suspicious face as Gypsie shook her hand. Gypsie seemed to give off some kind of aura. Kitten shook it off until she began to feel pain in her hand. From the hand she was shaking with came a burning sensation that made her yank away and squeal. Gypsie gave an innocent face.

"What?! What's wrong, Kitten dear?" she asked with concern in her voice.

"Back off!" Kitten hissed. Gypsie looked hurt. Facilier glared at her disapprovingly. Kitten shot him a warning glance. Facilier pushed her behind him.

"I'm sorry, chère." he said, "She is my umm…friend. And she can be a little assertive." Kitten looked insulted. Sure, it was true at times, but this was a complete stranger.

"Oh, that's alright." Gypsie's smile returned as Kitten could swear she was looking at her. "I get that a lot. I'm wearing too much perfume." Kitten looked at her hand; there was nothing there, but she could still feel it, like fire. "I'm really sorry, Kitten. I need to work on that."

"Ha!" Kitten said, pretending to be ok, "Oh, that's ok. What scent is it? Extra crispy?" Gypsie looked shocked as if she didn't understand.

"Kitten!" Facilier scolded.

"Can I see you in the kitchen…?" Kitten asked.

"No. You go somewhere else." Kitten growled and went to sit on the couch. Lynn followed her. When they were far enough away, Kitten looked at Lynn.

"You don't trust her, do you?" she said. Lynn shook her head no.

"Bad." was all she said.

"Her hand felt like fire." Lynn nodded her head yes. They watched as Facilier and Gypsie talked at the doorway. Kitten glared at them the whole time, resting her head on her hand.

"Why don't you come in, chère?" Facilier invited.

"Why, thank you, Mr.…" Gypsie began.

"Dr. Facilier, at your service." He tipped his hat to her as she giggled. Facilier's eyes made their way upwards in embarrassment. He quickly slipped his hat back on as he and Gypsie passed Kitten and Lynn on the couch. Lynn looked at her and her eyes shrank, as if every time she looked at her, she was looking directly at the sun. Her eyes became normal again as she looked at Kitten. She gave her a concerned face. Kitten looked around, noticing the line of darkness across the floor. She looked around the corner. Facilier's shadow was sitting in the corner, watching them. Kitten raised an eyebrow.

"That's odd…" she said. "His shadow is always with him." Kitten patted the couch for the shadow to sit. It obeyed and slithered over. When he sat down, Lynn smiled and leaned on him. "What's wrong?" The shadow shrugged. Kitten gave another suspicious face a she gave another glance at Facilier and Gypsie.

Kitten had gone to Tiana's restaurant and sat at the table with Vena. Lynn had stayed at the Emporium because Facilier's shadow had begged her not to leave him. Kitten waited for her bowl of gumbo to arrive. She sighed just as Tiana delivered her food.

"Something wrong, Kitten?" she asked.

"Oh, no…not exactly." she said. "Sort of…"

"What's up?" Tiana sat down next to her. Kitten decided not to try to keep it from her.

"This girl Gypsie showed up the Emporium today and she's really strange."

"Strange how?"

"Well, I mean, she's really nice. But, Lynn hissed at her really hard, and her eyes would turn all thin and when she shook my hand, it burned!" Kitten knew she sounded stupid.

"Well…have you told him about it?"

"No. Every time I try to talk to him, he goes, 'Not now, Kitten.' and continues to talk to her."

"Well…maybe when she leaves for home, you can tell him."

"Yeah…"

"Better eat. Your gumbo will get cold." Tiana stood up and walked away.

"Yeah…thanks…" Kitten muttered, spooning her gumbo. She glanced over at where a huge line would've been if it were earlier. She remembered how she was standing in line as Lynn waited for her food to arrive. And the red-haired girl…

"It's her!!" Kitten exclaimed, breaking away from her thoughts. She had been louder than she'd intended. Everyone was staring at her. "Uh…" she said, attempting to find her voice, "Sorry…I uh…remembered something…" she reasoned. Everyone shrugged it off and went back to talking and eating. Kitten blushed in embarrassment. Then, she wolfed down her gumbo.

Kitten had to go home. But, in the morning, she woke up for school and remembered Gypsie. What she tried something while she was gone? Kitten couldn't stand it. She knew she would. She raised her hand.

"Yes, Kitten?"

"Can I go to the bathroom? I think I'm gonna puke." she said.

"Go! Now!" the teacher agreed. Kitten dashed out of the room. Shannon and Jade looked at each other and shrugged.

"I hope she's ok." Shannon said. Kitten stopped when she knew there was no one watching. Then, she slammed her hand onto her watch. Blue light flew everywhere as she felt herself changing into her PatF fursona, and being sucked into the portal. She arrived at a tree by the bayou. She glanced around.

"Why am I here?" she wondered, "I was never here yesterday." she remembered how she'd usually go where she left from when she returned to the world. She became confused as her skin felt warm. She beamed and jumped to her feet. She bolted down the street back into New Orleans.

When Kitten stepped foot in Facilier's territory, she was tackled by Lynn. Kitten looked around in confusion as Lynn squeezed her, lovingly.

"Lynn? What's up? You're never this excited just to see me." Kitten said.

"Glad you here." Lynn said, "Girl just left."

"Gypsie?" Lynn nodded. Kitten jumped up. "What-what did she do?"

"Nothing. Bad feelings." Lynn replied.

"Oh. Come on." Kitten and Lynn ran to Facilier's purple door and pushed it open. It creaked as it slowly opened. Kitten looked around; it was pitch black. "FACILIER!" She heard a yell and then a clang.

"UH-UH No one's home!" she heard him shout. Kitten smirked.

"It's me." she said.

"Me who?"

"ME Kitten."

"Kitten? Wait, that sounds familiar. Did you deliver pizza to me last year?" Kitten's face got red as she heard a whack. "OW!! Stupid shadow!!" She heard rustling and then something tumbled over. Kitten clapped her hands together and his light came on. "OH! I'M BLIND!" Kitten grabbed his collar and yanked him up. She noticed he wasn't wearing his black jacket and his hair was a wreck.

"What's up with you?" Kitten snapped.

"Huh…?" She could tell he was dizzy. He looked at her like he was trying to figure out which her was her. He shook his head. "Oh, I'm sorry, Kitten…"

"What happened?"

"Oh, uh…Gypsie was leaving—she came back to get her purse—and the lights went out, so I tripped and fell over. I just told her to go, but I hit my head real hard." He rubbed his head.

"Aww…" Kitten said half-joking, half-sincere. "Gypsie didn't hurt you, did she?"

"What? No! Of course not. We talked and she got cold, so I put my jacket on her. I forgot to get it back."

"I'll get it back for you." Kitten offered.

"Oh, that's ok…"

"No. Really, I'll do it."

"What's eating you, Kitten? You seem jumpy."

"I am." Kitten helped him sit down and she sat next to him. "Something's up with Gypsie."

"Oh, Kitten…" He began to get up, but she pulled him back down.

"No. Really. There's something weird about her."

"I think she's fine." Kitten found this weird. Why was it she and Lynn thought she was weird, but Facilier, the palm-reading voodoo man, couldn't see it?

"Don't you think it's weird how Lynn hissed at her like that?"

"Well…yes, but you never know with shadows."

"But, Lynn is our shadow! Why would she…"

"Ok, Kitten, that's enough."

"But…"

"Stop. I'm hungry and I have a headache." Kitten gave up. No use arguing. She laid on the couch when he got up. She sighed; she didn't care if she was late. She had told her teacher she had to puke. She'd figure she was sick. Lynn sniggled up against her.

"Is ok." she said. "No danger here."

"Thanks, Lynn." Kitten replied. Kitten hugged Lynn. It seemed to last awhile, but the two perked up as someone knocked on the door. Kitten watched as Facilier opened the door up.

"Hey, uh…someone left this at my restaurant." Tiana! What a relief. Tiana handed Facilier's jacket to him and turned to leave. He put a hand on her arm.

"Did she happen to say where she was going?"

"No. She just said it was yours." Tiana replied, walking away. Kitten rested her head on her arms as she let them hang in front of her face.

Maybe, I'm just not giving this girl a chance. Kitten thought, She could've been in a bad mood when I met her. And maybe Lynn did smell something weird on her. The fire thing was weird, but…there has to be an explanation. She's probably an innocent girl who's curious about this place because she's never heard stories about the Shadow Man.

"Lynn?" Kitten said.

"Hm?" Lynn said.

"How about we try to be friends with Gypsie?" Lynn shook her head, rapidly. "I know you're freaked out by her, but Facile isn't about to believe us, so we may as well try to live around her. Because, it looks like she'll be around for awhile. If she does something dangerous, we'll know." Lynn sighed.

"Ok. Pet?"

"Sure." Kitten started petting her as she purred.

I hope I know what I'm getting into.

-TO BE CONTINUED-

LOL, if it were me, I would push & push, but in stories, it's no fun. XD