Fire in Rain and Thunder
Part Five: Golden Sky
Halloween was inarguably Charlie's favorite holiday. Everyone was dressed in beautiful costumes, people got to scare the dickens out of one another, and there was free candy! And while Charlie was too grown-up to go trick-or-treating now, Bee had been more than efficient in showering them in sweets and sugar. Charlie couldn't recall a time she had stuffed so many marshmallows, cany corn, chocolates, and lollipops in her mouth at once. Bee even had a new cotton candy machine she was breaking in just for the party that night. By the time they got around to the pumpkin pie eating contest, Charlie was so full she was near to bursting.
Bee kept everyone entertained with a flurry of activities for them all to try. Outside of the pie eating contest, they had a chance to pin the tail on the cat, a marshmallow toss game, a guessing game where they got to put their hands into mysterious boxes and guess what gooey substance was inside, and so much more!
When they first arrived, Charlie leapt at the pumpkin decorating station where she could paint whatever she wanted on the pumpkin she had brought with her. She was quite proud of her portrayal of Dracula, despite the crookedness of his face, and had thought she'd win for sure. But when the night began to close for the evening and everyone's votes were in, she was devastated that she didn't even make the top three. She didn't fair any better in the mummy dress-up competition. Using the toilet paper they all had brought from home, they had to wrap their partner to look like a mummy without tearing the roll. Charlie barely got three squares in before she had been eliminated. Vaggie had done much better.
She wasn't going to let that get her down, though! They still had the candy corn guessing game and she was positive that there were exactly 1057 pieces in the mason jar by the register. The answer to that would be answered at midnight and whoever got the closest won the whole jar of candy corn plus one of Bee's homemade honey jars. Her house was already stocked with her honey so Charlie was more focused on the candy corn. She was a shoe-in to win, for sure!
Despite her consistent failings, Charlie was having the time of her life. All the kids were laughing and playing along with all the games, despite the storm raging outside. It was as if the outside beyond the shoppe's door no longer mattered. Even Seviathan had arrived and joined in on the fun. Though Charlie quickly grew irritated with him when he beat her at the marshmallow toss and rubbed it in her face for nearly half an hour.
Currently, in the winding hour, they were filling the time with a bout of charades. There weren't many kids left at the party, most of them having been picked up hours before, so the remaining crowd had reached a level of friendship through endearment, filling them with a sense of comradery.
The tall kid, Anthony, was great at charades. After watching him limp around like a zombie who'd lost its foot, Charlie was anxious to take her turn. But when it time for her to draw from the upturned witch hat, confidence swelled within her when she read on the small scrap of paper, "vampire." She knew exactly what to do, and with Vaggie there to watch, it was a cinch. All she had to do was bring her index fingers up to her mouth, curved like fangs, and Vaggie instantly guessed what she was.
Nothing could ruin this night. Well, except maybe her dwindled pile of nickels. With Bee's half-off rule for anyone in costume, she had managed to keep a steady flow of soda throughout the evening. But now she was starting to worry if she'd run out by the end.
She was sitting at the counter and counting her remaining total when Tex leaned over. "Ready for another?" he asked with a knowing grin.
"Yes, please," she said, handing off one of her nickels.
He gracefully flipped it in the air before snatching it in his hand. "Comin' right up. And you, Vaggie?"
"I can't drink anymore," she said with a smile as she patted her stomach.
"Fair enough." He shrugged and left to draft Charlie's drink.
Charlie really liked Vortex. He was Bee's husband and sometimes helped at the shoppe. From what she understood, his main job was in security but he never elaborated on exactly what that meant. He was scary at first, being so tall and muscular, but he turned out to be a really cool guy. Like Bee, he'd rather people address him by his nickname with no prefix. And he loved talking about his dogs. He even stopped by Candied Apple Keepsakes when he was walking them once so Charlie could meet them.
Tex had been in charge of any rabblerousing taking place during the party, and there had been quite a bit. Alastor had said before that he was surprised Charlie hadn't gotten into more fights when she was a kid. She had thought he was joking but she was starting to realize that it was surprisingly common for kids to fight one another. Boys, girls, it didn't matter. Even Vaggie had gotten a little testy when a teenage boy pulled out a cigarette. But Tex always stepped in before things got bad and resolved the issue, at least for a while until the next fight broke out.
Next year, Charlie will have to invite Emily. She'll love it.
Just as she was sipping at the froth of her soda, she and Vaggie were approached by Arick Burnz. She refrained a sigh and did her best to ignore him. Arick was some teenager in a clown costume who had been one of the most active instigators all night and it was disappointing that he hadn't left yet. So many people had grown sick of him that they started calling him "Burnie" behind his back because he kept burning every friendship before one was even made.
Despite her attempts at staring at a squashed marshmallow on the floor instead of him, it seemed Arick would not leave until he said his piece.
It was Vaggie who lost her patience first. "What?" she snapped.
He didn't answer her. His eyes were fixed on Charlie and he pointed towards her chest. "That's stupid. It doesn't even match your costume."
"What?" Confused, Charlie glanced down to see he was pointing at her necklace. Specifically, the token Alastor made for her. "So? What does that matter?"
"It ruins your costume!" As had been common all evening, Arick was quick to anger and was already yelling at her. "What even is it anyway?"
"What does it matter to you?" demanded Vaggie. "Leave her alone."
"And your costume is dumb, too," he snapped. "And it looks poorly made. Where did you find that? The trash?"
Vaggie was dressed in a black dress similar to Charlie's but hers was accompanied by a tattered white shawl. It was a great costume and Vaggie looked amazing in it. Mrs. Carmine put a lot of effort into making that dress and for him to insult it had her blood boiling.
Charlie slipped off the barstool and pushed Arick away. "Stop it, Burnie!"
He stumbled back, eyes wide in surprise. His shock quickly gave way to fury as he pushed her back. "What did you call me?"
"I called you 'Burnie!'" She pushed him back. "You've been nothing but mean and bitter all night and we're all sick of it! If you keep acting this way, then no one will be your friend!"
"Are you threatening me?!"
Vaggie pushed off her seat next and stood beside Charlie as she said, "No, but I am! Leave her alone."
Burnie looked from Charlie to Vaggie, back to Charlie, then back again. Gritting his teeth, he took a step back. "You know what? I'm sick of this party!" He looked as if he was about to go but quickly turned around and snatched Charlie's necklace. "And I'm sick of you!"
With a sharp yank that had Charlie stumbling forward, the chain on her necklace broke. With teary eyes, she watched as his hand clamped around the gris-gris. Then, twisting on his heel, he ran towards the door. "Wait!"
"I'm sick of all of you!" he cried, pushing past the remaining crowd of kids as he fled out the door.
A heavy weight clamped around her chest as panic fueled Charlie's legs into motion. Tears burned at her eyes as she chased after him. "Give that back! My dad made that!"
Like a bullet, Tex was speeding past her. "I got him, kid," he called as he sprinted after Burnie.
But there was no stopping Charlie. Even when Bee called after her, she didn't stop as she ran out into the dwindling storm. She felt Vaggie beside her as they turned a corner and watched as Tex snatched Burnie by the cuff of his shirt just outside the alley between the Honey Bee and the bakery next door.
It was hard to hear past the roaring winds what Tex was barking to the kid, but Burnie shrank where he stood. It was only when they got close enough did she hear the tail end of the conversation.
"Now you give that young lady back her necklace and apologize," he demanded, dropping Burnie and pointing back to Charlie.
Burnie's glower burned even through the shower of rain. Then, suddenly, he whipped around and hurled Charlie's necklace into the alley. He ducked before Tex could get ahold of him and sprinted across the street.
"Damn runt! Get out of the street!"
Charlie's heart plummeted into her stomach and she turned into the alley with an anguished cry. The alley was littered with trash and potholes flooded by the recent downpour of rain. Bags shredded by street vermin had loose trash of cans, wrappers, and expired food scattered in discarded clumps across the pavement. The dumpsters, overflowing with rainwater and trash bags, both miraculously intact and mercilessly torn to pieces, did little to contain the filth of the neglected alleyway.
"No! Where did it go?!" Charlie collapsed in the first mucky puddle, blindly searching through the bobbing trash. Water flooded her shoes and soaked her stockings but Charlie gave it no mind in her frantic search. "Did you see where it landed?"
Vaggie was crouched not far from her, also desperately burying her hands in the filthy puddles. "I think he tossed it over here?!"
"Hey, girls, don't worry! We'll find it," Tex assured as he joined them in the alley. "I think I saw him hurl it towards the dumpster."
Before he had a chance to move, Charlie was surging to her feet and racing across the alley. She slipped when her foot landed on an empty plastic bag but she managed to catch herself on the edge of the dumpster before she smacked her head against it. Throwing herself to her knees, partially sitting on a deflated garbage bag, Charlie resumed her search. Vaggie was by her side in an instant, lifting up large chunks of trash as she scoured the ground underneath.
"What's it look like?" Vox asked as he crouched down somewhere behind her.
Charlie's voice was pitched with panic as she stumbled over her words. "It-it's a silver chain! It has a key on it. And there's a, uh, a—gris-gris on it. It looks like a—a—a leather pocket thing! It's got—"
A sudden noise had Charlie freezing on the spot. It sounded so small, so fragile that she thought that perhaps she had imagined it. Then, just as Vaggie was rustling through a particularly loud bag, she thought she heard it again. "Wait, hold on! Stop," Charlie said, raising a hand.
"Did you find it?" Vaggie asked.
Charlie didn't answer. Straining her ears, she leaned forward. And there it was again! And all at once, she knew exactly what the sound was. Bent over on her hands and knees, she peered behind the dumpster where it met the wall of the building. Lying there, soaked and shivering in a little ball of black and white fur, was a tiny kitten. Wrapped around its neck was a silver chain adorned with a familiar key. And there, sitting between its curled paws was Alastor's gris-gris.
"Hey there," Charlie whispered with an comforting smile. "Were you trying to help me?" Carefully, she reached out to the poor thing. It peered up at her with one wary eye but it didn't hiss or strike her hand away. She took that as invitation to scoop the poor thing up into her arms and set it in her lap. She then carefully collected her necklace, key, and token. "What are you doing out here, little guy?"
Vaggie pressed up against Charlie's side as she glanced over her shoulder. "Aw, the poor thing."
The splash of puddles drew Charlie's attention to Tex, who was now towering over them and partially obscuring them from the rain. "Aw, dammit," he said, rubbing the back of his neck. "People are abandoning their cats out here all the time. I try to keep an eye out but, damn, the bastards never quit."
"Someone abandoned him?" Charlie blurted.
"Most likely," Tex said with a frown. He was suddenly smiling and pointing down at her lap. "Oh! Did you find your necklace?"
"Yes," Charlie responded, beaming. She brought the gris-gris up and pressed it to her chest. "Thanks to this little guy." The kitten, despite still shivering in cold, began to purr in her lap when Charlie gave it a loving pet.
Tex bent down and offered his hand. "Here, sweetheart. I'll take care of the cat."
"Can I hold him?" she asked, looking up at Tex with the imploring gaze that always had her father bending.
He sighed but smiled. "Sure, kid." Still, he helped her to her feet with a firm hold on her arm.
Charlie carefully adjusted her hold on the little kitten and it responded by nuzzling up against her chest. Vaggie stayed by her side, leaning forward and petting the little thing with a loving coo.
Once they got inside, they nearly had to fend the other kids off with a stick when they all laid eyes on the little kitten. From there, Bee took charge and made a cozy warm bed made out of napkins by the radiator. They didn't have a change of clothes but both Bee and Tex offered their coats to warm them up.
No one wanted to play games after that. Everyone wanted to gawk at the kitten. No one cared who won the candy corn guessing game and Charlie couldn't even remember who it was that won.
One by one, the kids gradually began to filter out. And each time, the kids begged their parents to take the kitten home. Charlie wanted the kitten to have a home, she really did, and Bee promised to find a loving home for the thing, but she couldn't quell the spike of anger every time another kid tried to take it home.
There was only a handful of kids left when her dad and Alastor walked through the shoppe doors next.
"Hey, Bee," Lucifer greeted as he led the way through the door.
Alastor wasn't far behind him. He was still wearing the nun dress, but he had since removed the wimple and coif and now wore trousers underneath. His makeup had worn thin over the course of the evening but he still looked like a pretty lady. However, distracted by the kitten, no one gave him much attention. Well, except for Bee, anyway. She was eyeing Alastor with narrowed eyes and a growing grin.
"Charlie! Did you have a fun night?" His smile faded as he looked her over. "Why are you all wet?"
Tex stepped in beside her. "There was an incident with a boy, but everything was handled. No one got hurt."
"A boy?" Alastor echoed, his voice as sharp as a blade.
Before either he or her dad would make a scene, Charlie threw up her hands in a placating gesture. "It was just a fight," she explained. "He was being mean, so—"
"Oh!" Alastor, who could have frozen hell over with his icy stare, was suddenly warm and welcoming as he leaned forward and patted Charlie on the head. "Did our dear princess have a little scrap?"
"My Charlie?" asked Lucifer, bewildered. "In a fight?!"
"It was hardly a fight," she was quick to say.
Vaggie was at her side in an instant. "Really, Mr. Morningstar, it was nothing! He started it and was being mean to everyone."
The grin that broke on Alastor's face nearly split him in two. "And our dear, wonderful, heroic Charlie stood up for her friends! How commendable!"
Charlie felt herself blushing under his praise. She shyly looked down and scuffed her foot on the floor. "I barely did anything."
"Charlie."
She looked up to see her dad proudly smiling down at her. "I'm so proud of you for standing up for your friends." He rested his hand on her shoulder and gave it an encouraging squeeze. "We can talk more about what happened later. But for now, let's get you girls home."
Charlie was overwhelmed with a warmth that had her forgetting about the cold. "Okay," she said with a proud grin of her own as she shed Tex's coat.
She and Vaggie took a moment to collect their discarded costume pieces, painted pumpkins, and bags of candy. With every collected item, she cast a glance over to the little kitten by the radiator. It had one eye on her, watching as she moved from one side of the shoppe to the next.
Lucifer wrapped his arm around Charlie and she expected him to lead her to the car, but instead he leaned down to meet her eye. "What's wrong, kiddo?"
"Well…" She bit her lip and cast one last look towards the kitten. "It's just…"
When she looked back to her dad and Alastor, they both looked earnest as they patiently waited for anything she had to say. It wouldn't hurt to ask, would it? Even if she still carried the guilt for what she had said last night.
"Dad," she started slowly, "Alastor?" Lucifer nodded for her to go on. "Is it okay… Can I have a kitten?"
Alastor quirked his head. "A kitten?"
"Yeah." She pulled from Lucifer and grabbed both of their hands to guide them towards where the kitten lied by the radiator. "He was outside in the rain. I found him when I was looking for this." She showed the gris-grist that she kept in her treat bag. Despite Bee's best efforts, she was unable to fix the broken chain so Charlie was forced to put it aside. "I think it was leading me to find him!"
Lucifer looked from Charlie to the kitten to Alastor. "Does it work like that?"
The smile on Alastor's face was warm as he said, "If we want it to."
Hope sparked in her chest. "Does that mean I can keep him?" Alastor gestured to Lucifer as if only his opinion mattered. "I'm asking both of you," she elaborated.
Both brows lifted and his smile grew. With a shrug, he said, "If that's what will make you happy, my dear, then I don't mind."
"Oh, sure, put me on the spot," grumbled Lucifer as he ran a hand through his hair. "Charlie, if we take in a kitten, it will require a lot of love and care. You'll have to be its primary caregiver—"
"That's fine," she said with an erratic nod of her head. "I can take care of him—I promise!"
"Shall we make a deal out of it, then?" offered Alastor as he leaned forward. "You promise to take care of that little bundle," he pointed to the kitten, "and in exchange, we leave all decisions towards its care in your hands. Sound fair?"
"More than fair!" Charlie looked to her father for one last confirmation. There was a brief moment of consideration before he nodded in approval. "Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!" She first threw herself at her father, wrapping her arms around him tight and giving him a squeeze. Then she ran to Alastor and did the same.
Alastor went out to the car to fetch the wimple and offered it to bundle up the kitten as they made to leave. It was Lucifer who showed Charlie how to wrap up the little guy and hold it close. They said their farewells and then were on their way home.
She let Vaggie hold it on the way back from the city until they dropped her off at her house. It took a lot of patience for Charlie not to rip it out of her arms, but she could wait her turn. And when she had the kitten in her arms again, her heart swelled.
"Thank you so much," she said in the silence of the car. "I promise to take care of him."
Lucifer looked at her through the reflection of his rearview mirror. "What are you going to name him?"
"Actually," said Alastor, who was finally able to wipe at the makeup on his face, "I got a close look at the little thing. I believe she's a girl."
"Oh, really?" She looked down at the kitten still wrapped in its bundle. It had finally stopped shivering and seemed to be snoozing comfortably in her arms.
"Well then," corrected Lucifer, "what are you going to name her?"
Charlie gently ran a thumb along the kitten's brow, to which it answered with a low purr. She thought back to how she found her, cold and alone. It was terrifying to think what would have happened to the helpless thing had she not been looking for the gris-gris and her house key. "I'm thinking… Key-key."
Lucifer lifted a skeptical brow at her reflection. "KeeKee?"
"I think that's a lovely name!" said Alastor, twisting in his seat to properly look at her. "You'll have to be sure to give her a warm welcome to the family."
"You're right," she said. Charlie bent over and gave her a quick kiss on the head. "Welcome to the family." She looked up at Alastor with a grin. "I guess that makes four."
Alastor's eyes widened slightly, just a fraction, before he quickly turned away. He removed his glasses and began to clean the lenses. "We have a lot of preparation to do. I'll leave work early tomorrow and the three of us can go and buy some pet supplies. How does that sound?"
Lucifer groaned. "I have so much work to do."
"And it can wait one more day," he insisted with an encouraging pat on Lucifer's arm. "I think the three of us are due for a family outing. What say you, Charlie?"
"Yeah," she said. "I'd really like that."
"Splendid! Then a family outing it is!"
"Oh!" She leaned forward eagerly. "And we have to get dinner! Dad said I can pick the restaurant."
Alastor gave Lucifer a curious look. "Is that so?"
Lucifer groaned but there was no real anger behind it. "I let her beat me while making a leaf pile this morning."
"Wait, what?! No, you did not!" Charlie barked as she slapped his shoulder. "I beat you fair and square!"
He threw his head back in a laugh. "You're right, you're right! And a deal's a deal. Tomorrow, we treat ourselves as a family."
Charlie nodded affirmatively and leaned back in her seat with a muffled giggle. As she sat there in the back of family care, watching Lucifer idly reach his arm across the cab and take Alastor's hand in his own, and with a purring bundle in her arms, she felt she couldn't be happier. This was her family, and she loved them with all her heart.