Falconbeak
and

The Black Cat

‘Old Oak Road is a bit outside of my direction. Probably haven’t been that way in years. Why?’ Riley lay on her back on Joey’s bed, staring at the ceiling.

Flick and Joey herself were seated on the 3-seater in Joey’s bedroom. The weekly movie night had turned into a Hayao Miyazaki marathon. After the third one it had gotten rather late and Riley was about ready to tap out for t he night.

‘I overheard Mr Groenendale telling my dad that some weeks ago artwork started popping up on wooden boards alongside the road. Nobody knows who put it up,’ Flick said.

Joey snapped her fingers. ‘Oh yeah, I saw that on Facebook. Mostly drawings of some blonde woman, right?’

‘What? I didn’t see any of that,’ Riley said.

‘Of course you haven’t. You aren’t reachable through normal methods of communication,’ Joey said.

Riley shrugged. ‘Sad but true.’

‘Yeah. A blonde woman, that was it. Then the neighborhood kids started copying and drawing their own interpretations and stuck their drawings everywhere too. Now she’s everywhere like some sort of mascot for the entire street,’ Flick said.

‘Interesting. Some guy not satisfied with the attention he got online and tried a more creative, potentially illegal, way of bringing his art to the people and go viral perhaps?’ Riley said.

‘Don’t our local underground artists traditionally put their stuff up in Artist Allery?’ Joey asked.

‘That alley is surprisingly competitive. The graffiti people would have probably buried it instantly,’ Riley said.

‘Maybe the artist is trying to get the attention of their muse? It must be so romantic to be sung your praise like that,’ Flick said.

‘You mean ridiculously creepy,’ Joey responded.

‘But do they know the subject then? That would at least explain one part of the mystery.’

‘Not that I know of, no,’ Flick said.

‘I guess we could check it out sometime. A Roaming artist paying tribute to their personal Beatrice Portinari might make a good story for The Roaming Evening,’ Riley said.

‘We shall put the hunt for our local Dante on the agenda for next time, when you ladies aren’t yet half asleep,’ Flick said.

Riley closed her eyes and pretended to snore.

Joey’s yawn was genuine. ‘I guess it’s getting pretty late. You gals staying to crash for the night?’

‘Nah, I need to be up early in the morning. I should be heading home,’ Flick said.

‘Guess I’ll hop back home too then,’ Riley said.

Joey zapped off her DVD player. The TV automatically switched to a station playing reruns of the late night news featuring such exciting topics as regulations regarding forest footpads being challenged, a break-in at the local animal shelter, and an 80-year old lady having fulfilled her childhood dream of building a treehouse.

‘We shall continue our journey through the works of Mr Miyazaki next week then,’ Joey said.

The girls getting out of their movie-induced state of idleness alerted Joey’s black cat Paka, who had been sleeping in the chair that had been reserved for Riley.

Flick stood up and got closer to the black cat. ‘Will his royal grumpiness let me pet him this time?’ Flick stretched out her hand but Paka responded by swiping at it. ‘See? He just hates me.’

‘Maybe he can sense that you’re more of a dog person?’ Riley jumped to her feet and joined Flick in front of Paka’s claimed chair. She slowly stretched out her hand, and Paka leaned into it. ‘See? He loves me.’

‘You bribe him with snacks when I’m not looking,’ Flick grumped.

‘What can I say? Loners recognize loners.’ Riley bumped her nose against the cat’s. ‘Isn’t that right, Paka?’

The girls walked downstairs where Flick and Riley put on their shoes and coats, and Joey opened the front door.

Flick shivered as she stepped out. ‘Man, it’s cold. I can’t wait for it to be summer again.’

‘Meh, you can dress against the cold. There’s no escaping those heatwaves we’ve been having the last few years,’ Riley said.

‘True, but right now I could really go for one,’ Flick said as she walked over to her bike that she had locked next to Joey’s house. ‘I’ll see you girls later.’

She undid the chain and departed, with the other two waving her off.

Riley sighed.

‘You alright there, big girl?’ Joey asked.

‘Yeah I’m fine. It’s stupid really.’ Riley put her hands in her pocket and nudged a loose tile in front of Joey’s porch.

‘What is?’

‘The Old Oak thing. The mysterious muse. It would just be nice if for once anybody cared that much about me.’

‘I mean that’s probably not a good thing because it’s weird as hell,’ Joey said. ‘Don’t fret too much. Someday you’ll find someone who appreciates you. And if all else fails, you always be stuck with the Red Saint and Me.’

Riley smiled. ‘Yeah, that’s what I’m afraid of. See you tomorrow.’

Felicity drove her bike over the Roaming City ring road, mostly empty at this hour. A car passed by occasionally, a trio of drunks yelled something she was glad was incomprehensible, otherwise the city was the complete opposite of its daytime bustle. A regular liminal space. She slowed down when she came to Santarossa Cars and stopped at the driveway to her house. She pulled out her cellphone to check the house. 1:18. Not unreasonably late. A quick shower and straight to bed then. As she put her phone back in her pocket, she noticed something peculiar. In the middle of the street, underneath a streetlight on the divider between roads, sat a black cat that was staring at her.

‘Paka?’

Felicity got off her bike, checked for traffic (none) and slowly approached the cat.

‘You certainly look like Paka, but you couldn’t have followed me, could you?’ she whispered.

The black cat sat silently, then bolted away to the other side of the street when Felicity got too close. Instinctively Felicity jumped after it.

‘And apparently you don’t like me either.’ Felicity sighed.

The cat now sat in the parking lot at Hicker’s Gathering, next to the road leading into the Roaming forest. Felicity tried to move more slowly this time, presenting herself as calmly as she could, but once again the cat jumped away when she got too close, this time out of sight into the bushes. Flick took out her phone and called Joey.

After three tones Joey answered. ‘Hey Flick, everything alright?’

‘Yeah, fine. Look, it’s probably nothing but is Paka still there with you?’

Flick heard Joey moving for a few seconds. ‘Yeah, I’m looking at him right now. Why?’

‘Oh nothing. I came home and I saw this stupid black cat sitting across the street and … aaaaaAAAAAHHH!’

‘Flick? Flick!?! What the hell was that?’

No answer came from the other side, but the line was still open.

‘Shit.’ Joey ran down the stairs, hurriedly put her coat on and ran out the door to Riley’s house. She furiously knocked on the door until a confused Riley answered.

‘What the devil is going on?’

‘Flick is in trouble. Get in the car,’ Joey ordered.

Without hesitation Riley took her hat and coat and followed towards Joey’s car. They got in, sped off the driveway between their houses towards southern Roaming.

‘Okay, details, details. What’s going on?’ Riley demanded.

‘She just called me about some black cat she saw at her house. Thought it was Paka or something. Then she screamed.’ Joey handed over her phone. ‘Line’s still open. She’s not responding.’

‘Think we should call the cops? Just in case?’

‘They’ll be 20 minutes late if they decide to show up at all. I’m not waiting for that.’

‘If she were attacked her assailant also wouldn’t leave her phone on. Best guess she just dropped it and can’t get to it,’ Riley said.

Santarossa Cars came into view. Riley scanned the surroundings while Joey maneuvered the car into the parking lot. They both got out.

Joey pointed towards Flick’s bike which sat unprotected on the driveway to her house. ‘She wouldn’t just leave it out here like that.’

Riley motioned towards Joey's pockets. ‘Your phone. Is the line still open? Hang up and call back.’

Joey did exactly that and held the phone to her ear. ‘It’s going over.’

Riley paced around when the ringtone on the other device started echoing through the night. ‘Over there! Hiker's Gathering!’

Joey hung up and ducked inside her car to fish two mismatched flashlights out of her glove compartment. ‘Here,’ she said as she tossed one to Riley.

They ran across the street and found Flick’s phone next to one of the benches at the hicker’s rest.

‘Okay, now I’m getting really worried,’ Joey said.

Riley looked at the ground and looked over all the sets of footprints in the vicinity of the phone. She sprang her flashlight to life and focused on a particular series of footprints heading in the forest. ‘These seem fresh. Could be hers.’ She shone the light near the phone's resting place. 'They're dug in deeper over here. Start of a sudden sprint.'

‘I don’t know, why would she go to the Beak this late at night? I’m starting to worry we need to consider kidnapping,’ Joey said.

Riley shook her head. ‘I don’t think so. If you were to kidnap somebody, wouldn’t you at least wait until they got off the phone?’

‘I suppose. And I probably would have picked up something beside her screaming. A van speeding off or whatever.’ Joey pondered. 'If she were to simply duck out of the way from someone she didn't want to see she wouldn't have yelled either.'

Riley tried to make sense of the scene. ‘Something definitely scared her, but what? Her house is right there. Why would she flee into a dark forest?’

‘One way to find out,’ Joey said as she started on the path towards the Eagle’s Beak.

Joey and Riley had spent many nights at the Eagle’s Beak cabin throughout the years, but the way to and from was preferably avoided at night. There were no lights illuminating the path and trees blocked most of the light reflected from the moon. Furthermore the Small Tamare flowing alongside the path was only a misstep away. On top of that mist tended to be a common occurrence and even small animals make a startling amount of noise when the rest of the world has gone quiet. Nevertheless the idea that their friend was in trouble rendered such fears as small trifles.

‘I don’t suppose you have like pepper spray or a taser in your backpocket, do you?’ Riley asked.

‘No such luck. If we have to fight we’ll have to rely on pure fighting skill,’ Joey said.

‘Yeah, about that ….’

Joey and Riley passed the wooden gate that marked the edge of their property. It was open, but it usually is. The clearing where the two rivers meet appeared in the distance, and with it the Eagle’s Beak cabin. As far as the girls could tell there was no light on anywhere, outside or in.

‘Crap, maybe we were wrong,’ Joey said.

Riley walked up the steps to the door and tried the handle. ‘Dammit, locked. You got your keys, right?’

‘Yeah, just gimme a second.’

In the meantime Riley knocked on the door a few times. ‘Flick, are you in there? Flick?’

‘Got it,’ Joey walked up to the door with the key ready.

Before she could insert it, the door unlocked from the inside and swung open. Felicity’s hand grabbed Joey’s coat and pulled her in. ‘Get in, hurry!’ she shouted.

As soon as Riley had made it in as well, Flick slammed the door shut and locked it once more.

‘Christ, Red, you scared the hell out of us. What in tarnation are you doing out here?’ Joey said.

‘Me? You shouldn’t have come here in the first place. You didn’t see anything out there?’

Joey and Riley looked at each other in puzzlement.

‘Scary nighttime, but nothing particularly unusual. Why?’ Riley asked.

‘Thank God. Maybe it ran off,’ Felicity said in relief.

‘Flick, what ran off?’ Riley asked.

Felicity held her fists in front of her mouth like she was afraid anyone would hear her. ‘Kludde.’

Joey sighed. ‘Oh come on, Red, we didn’t even watch any horror movies and you’re jumping at shadows.’

‘I’m telling you, I saw Kludde!’

‘Dog, werewolf or the version from John the Fearless?’ Riley asked matter-of-factly.

‘Werewolf, definitely. Big and upright,’ Felicity said while hovering her hand above her head to indicate size.

‘Was he rattling chains too?’ Joey asked much more mockingly.

‘Well I didn’t stick around to analyze him that closely.’

‘Start from the beginning, what happened?’ Riley asked in an effort to calm the other two down.

‘I had just come home and gotten off my bike. Then I saw some black cat sitting in the street and I tried going after it, thinking it may have been Paka who had followed me.’

‘Historically a bad idea even if it were Paka,’ Riley interjected.

‘Then I called Jo to make sure it wasn’t him.’

‘Right,’ both girls said simultaneously.

‘Then when I turned around this huge beast was just standing underneath a streetlight at the Gathering between me and the garage. So I must have dropped my phone and darted here,’ Flick said.

‘Right, that reminds me,’ Joey said and she gave Flick her phone back.

'Did it follow you?' Riley asked.

'I'm not sure,' Felicity said. 'All I could think about was getting away.'

Riley thought for a second. ‘I’m not saying you didn’t see something, Flick, but we looked for footprints trying to retrace your steps. I didn’t see any that would have suggested a giant man-beast. Surely something like that would leave prints.’

‘Yeah, even if there was something, it was probably just some guy pulling a prank. I bet if you had taken a look at its feet, Kludde would have been wearing sneakers,’ Joey said. 'At night the weirdos come out. Present company excluded.'

'Present company very much included,' Riley corrected.

‘Could I really have been so stupid?’ Flick asked dejectedly.

Joey put her arm around Flick’s shoulder. ‘Hey, when you’re scared you imagine all kinds of things. No harm done, we were just …’

*thud*

‘What was that?’ Joey asked.

Riley looked upwards. ‘I don’t know. Something fell on the roof.’

‘Guys, that’s not funny.’ Flick said.

*Thud, thud, thud*

‘Yeah, no, it isn’t. Something is really up there,’ Joey said anxiously.

‘You turned that around really fast,’ Riley said.

‘Yeah, uhm, girl, black, biggest disbeliever of the group. If this were a horror movie then I’m kinda at a disadvantage here.’

Riley ducked down. ‘Shh. Nothing is getting to you. Stay low. Away from the windows.’

Scratching and a low growl coming from the roof confirmed what the girls had feared: that Felicity had been right. Something big was pacing in circles on the roof of the cabin.

‘Three little pigs in a house of fucking wood,’ Joey snarled.

‘I’m so sorry, you guys. This is my fault,’ Flick said.

‘Red, you could have yelled “werewolf” over the phone and we still would have come rushing to help you,’ Joey said. ‘Armed to the teeth with silver perhaps. Right, B?’

Riley didn’t respond. She sat motionless absorbed in thought. Only her eyes darted around wildly.

‘Okay, either she’s on to something or her life is flashing before her eyes,’ Joey said.

The noise from the roof stopped. Another thud and the rustling of pebbles and twigs revealed that the beast had jumped down and was now circling the cabin.

Riley’s focus returned to the present. ‘How does the black cat feature into all of this?’ she whispered.

‘What do you mean?’ Flick asked.

Riley moved closer. ‘You were following a cat when you first saw the beast. It was scared of you but didn’t notice a giant wolf lurking around?’

‘You're not saying they were working together to lure me?’

‘The wolf was the cat,’ Joey said. 'You said it yourself, Red. Kludde. Kludde is known to transform.'

Riley snapped her finger and pointed it at Joey in confirmation. Outside the creature’s pace increased. It bumped into the cabin with its full weight a few times and its heavy breath turned into a growl.

‘Hey, keep it down out there!’ Joey shouted.

'Exactly, except I don't hear it rattling any chains and that's the feature most of these stories have in common,' Riley said.

‘It’s not Kludde because no chains, but also not a werewolf because you think it can change at will?’ Flick whispered.

‘Full moon was last week. At the very least it’s not following conventional movie logic,’ Riley said.

‘That just means we don’t know what we’re dealing with,’ Joey said.

‘Indeed, we don’t. Except if it can change voluntarily that suggests intelligence, not just feral hunger,’ Riley said.

‘So it can brag about outsmarting us while it eats us,’ Joey said.

‘No, Joey, you were right. A house of wood. The cabin is pretty solid but the big bad wolf out there is stopped by a below average door? It probably looks stronger than it is,’ Flick said.

‘So if we can trick it in here, we’ll be long gone before it manages to get back out,’ Riley said.

‘A lot can go wrong before our weak door traps the cringe wolf. How do we make the switcheroo?’ Joey asked.

‘If we can catch if off guard we can maybe throw a bedsheet over it to blind it? We’ve got a bunch of those,’ Flick said.

‘I’ll man the broom in case we need to get violent. That leaves the lure.’ Joey said.

‘If my guess is correct then I think I know how we can get it nervous,’ Riley said.

As planned, Flick grabbed one of the older bedsheets from the cupboard, Joey armed herself with a broom, and Riley positioned herself next to the door, regretting the plan she had just laid out. Riley motioned for the others to be silent and counted down from three on her fingers. She took a deep breath to calm herself down and silently unlocked the door, opened it just enough to briefly look outside. She saw nothing and slammed the door shut and locked it again. The other two braced themselves.

‘Call animal control and then the police, they can handle this. I’m going to take another look,’ Riley said loudly.

Riley unlocked the door again and held the handle. She carefully turned it. As she expected the sound of footsteps rushing towards her came. At the predicted moment before impact she threw the door open and ducked out of the way.

‘Now!’ she shouted.

The black beast came hurdling in. Joey swept the broom handle at its legs, which stumbled the beast right into the pillar in the middle of the room before Flick had even managed to blind it with the bedsheet. Riley and Joey prepared to run out the door, but Flick hesitated.

‘Guys, it’s out cold,’ Flick said.

Joey instead held the broom over the creature ready for another whack. ‘Then get the rope before it comes to. Hurry!’

The beast that now lay between them to their astonishment was indeed something that could pass for a werewolf, or a bear with very little fur. It was taller than the largest of the girls (Riley), entirely covered in black fur and having the face of a wolf.

‘I’ll be damned,’ Riley said.

'What do you think? Did we catch Kludde?' Joey asked.

'I don't know. It doesn't look like a costume at least,' Riley answered.

As Flick frantically pulled open cupboards and drawers for a rope suitable to restrain the monster, Riley and Joey were startled by a change occurring with it. It shrunk. Its fur turned lighter. Soon the fur made way for human skin and the wolf face turned into a human head with dirty blonde hair.

‘Seems like we caught ourselves a girl,’ Joey said.

‘We did what?’ Flick turned around to see the fearsome werewolf transformed into a near-naked woman who didn’t look scary at all. ‘Huh. Better pick a shirt as well,’ and she took one of Riley’s old Blink-182 shirts from the shelf.

‘Just hurry before she wakes up and changes back,’ Riley said.

‘What’s this?’ Joey noticed a tuft of black fur sticking out of the girl’s hair. She pulled the girl’s hair aside and saw her wearing a large earring with the piece of fur attached to it.

‘Check out that necklace. I think those are the furs of different animals,’ Riley said.

‘Maybe the earring she wears is what animal she can transform to,’ Joey speculated.

‘Well take out the one she’s wearing then,’ Riley said.

The mystery girl awoke to the Eagle’s Beak Society standing over her armed with whatever they could find. In Joey’s case it was still the broom, in Riley’s a sharp sturdy stick from outside the cabin, and in Flick’s an empty water bottle. The girl tried to move, but found her arms and legs tied to the posts of Flick’s bed, not to mention she was wearing an oversized shirt with a giant creepy smiley on it. She trashed and screamed as hard as she could but she could barely move at all.

‘Guess you were right about the earring,’ Riley whispered to Joey.

‘You have some explaining to do,’ Joey waved the broom towards the girl.

The girl renewed her efforts to break loose, but failed once more. She broke down crying.

‘Hey, you started this,’ Riley said. 'No need to get hysterical for losing.'

‘Guys, easy,’ Flick said. She put her bottle down and moved closer to the girl.

‘Red, what are you doing?’ Joey asked.

Flick lowered her voice and said to the girl, ’hey, we’re not going to hurt you. I will untie these knots. Will you promise not to hurt us either?’

‘Flick, don’t,’ Riley warned.

‘She’s just scared, okay?’ Flick said. She turned back to the girl, ‘well?’

The girl nodded with tears in her eyes. Flick untied the girl, the other two braced their makeshift weapons and prepared for any sudden moves.

‘So are you going to tell us who you are and why you were trying to scare us?’ Felicity asked gently.

The girl started crying again. ‘Please don’t send me back to the animal shelter!’

Riley and Joey threw a confused glance at each other. ‘The animal shelter?’

‘B, you knew!’ Flick shouted.

‘I just said something to make the wolf nervous!’ Riley said.`I wanted it to think help was on its way.´

Flick turned to the girl. ‘Why do you think we’d send you to the animal shelter?’

‘You were holding that thing. That’s when they come.’

‘What thing?’ Flick asked.

‘Your cellphone?’ Riley guessed.

Flick pulled her phone from her back pocket. ‘You mean this?’

The girl nodded. ‘You were talking into it when you looked at me. When the old man did that they came for me with nets and put me in a cage.’

‘Well I’ll be damned. The break-in at the shelter,’ Joey said.

‘The what?’ Riley responded.

‘You know, on the news. Someone broke into the shelter and destroyed some of the cages. That was you breaking out instead, wasn’t it?’ Joey asked and she put the broom up against the wall.

‘I didn’t mean any harm. I just didn’t want to go back there. I’m so sorry,’ the girl said.

Flick hugged the girl and tried to comfort her. ‘It’s alright. No harm done, you just gave us a good fright. Will you tell us your name?’

‘Orelie. My name is Orelie.’

‘Orelie, the werewolf of Roaming City,’ said Joey.

‘I’m not a werewolf, I’m a witch.’

‘A witch?’ the three girls said in unison.

‘I haven’t cursed anyone, if that’s what you’re wondering.’

‘What I’m wondering is how you are unfamiliar with cellphones. You don’t happen to be a time traveler from the past too, are you?’ Riley said.

‘What? No. We just don’t have those in the forest.’

‘The forest? You have a coven out there then that somehow eluded polite society?’ Riley asked.

‘Yes, you won’t find anything out there now though,’ the girl frowned, wondering if she had said too much.

‘Why would that be?’ Flick asked.

The girl doubted. ‘I’m not sure if I should tell you. Witch hunts, you know.’

‘They’d put us in the loony bin before they start burning witches again,’ Joey said. ‘You can trust us. Right, B?’

Riley relented and put her weapon down at last. ‘Yeah, I guess.’

‘You see, we live in a village alongside the Tamare just north of Roaming. If you were to go there right now though you’d walk by, or through, and never notice,’ the girl said.

‘How does one hide an entire village in a country as small as Belgium in this day and age?’ Riley asked.

‘Because you can only enter it at the 31st of the month,’ Orelie said. 'We call it Thicket Space.'

The three girls threw incredulous looks at each other.

‘Well that seems rather arbitrary,’ Joey said.

‘I didn’t make the rules,’ Orelie said with a pout.

Flick laughed. ‘She’s a film critic. Don’t mind her.’

‘Anyway, every 31st the village holds the sabbath at the castle of Kanter-Loofbroek. I had recently come of age so I was finally allowed to join my other sisters. Alas, we must have made a great amount of noise because we were almost discovered by a group of men. In the escape I got separated from my grandma and the others. I lost my way. By the time I found home it was already morning.’

‘So now you’re stuck here for two months?’ Flick asked.

‘I just wanna go home,’ the girl said with tears in her eyes.

‘Hang on, time out,’ said Joey. ‘At these sabbaths you speak of, that’s not like actual devil worship, is it?’

‘What? No. Our coven follows the teachings of Narub. A nature spirit. We're an offshoot from the followers of Arduinna who live in Wallonia,’ Orelie said.

‘Probably all the same to medieval witch hunters. Be that as it may, we’re clearly dealing with real magic here,’ Riley said. ‘Our stories of witches and werewolves apparently do have a basis.’

‘You’re not going to report me to the authorities after all, are you?’ Orelie asked.

‘Of course she isn’t. She just likes to think out loud,’ Flick said.

‘“Sketching the valley”’, Joey added.

‘Look, I think we can solve this easily. You’ll just stay with us for two months and then you can go home,’ Flick suggested.

‘Us?’ Joey said. ‘I can’t bring a strange girl who legally doesn’t exist into my house.’

‘Yeah, same problem here, actually, now that I think about it’ said Flick.

Flick and Joey both looked at Riley.

‘Darn it, I live alone with bedrooms to spare, don’t I?’

‘Beats keeping her here at the Beak,’ said Flick.

`Why? It's the forest,' Riley said.´

`B,´ Flick and Joey sighed together.

Riley sighed too. ‘Ugh, fine. She can stay with me.’

‘What do you think?’ Flick asked the girl.

‘I suppose it’s better than dodging those dog catchers for two months. Sure, I could stay with her if she doesn’t mind.’

Joey dusted her hands. ‘Then it’s settled and we can all turn in for the night.’

'Good, I really want a shower,' Flick said.

So it was decided. The young witch named Orelie Kossegaert stayed with Riley for two months. To say that period of time was uneventful would be a lie, since Orelie turned out to be a friendly yet decidedly mischievous house guest who quite enjoyed her time among regular people, but the werewolf incident that had started it all had luckily been the worst of it. Then, two months later on the 31st of March, the three girls got together at the edge of the forest to see their strange new friend off as she disappeared into the woods to rejoin her grandma and the other witches.