| Here in the Southeast, once again she enters the rainy | | | | Carolina, the place where she met Ravena for the first |
| season, a time when the sky remains bright and | | | | time. Back then her handbags sold at craft fairs |
| cornflower blue, yet November leaves rain from the | | | | throughout the Southeast instead of upscale boutiques, |
| trees in fiery shades and hues. That evening the | | | | department stores, and gift shops. Ravena's booth had |
| temperature dips below freezing, the trees slowly | | | | been next to hers at a craft show nine years ago in |
| unraveling, the night cloaked in a shawl of silence, too | | | | Columbia, one of Savannah's first craft fairs, and she |
| cold for the strumming of crickets and tree frogs. | | | | had marveled at Ravena's sales savvy, feeling as |
| * * * * * * * | | | | green as the grass beneath her booth. Instead of |
| Monday morning, and Savannah Monroe opens the | | | | ignoring a newbie, Ravena befriended her, offering lots |
| front door to dash out on the porch, grab the | | | | of tips to increase sales, which worked and made the |
| newspaper, and duck back into the house before brisk | | | | show a profitable one for both women. |
| air saturates her robe. Instead she finds a calico kitten | | | | Savannah knew without a doubt the Goddess had |
| rolling with the paper, tackling it as if it were a football, | | | | placed this Wiccan sister in the Craft on her path that |
| gnawing the rubber band. | | | | day, and they have remained best friends ever since. |
| "Hi, Sweetie," Savannah says, slowly kneeling, | | | | It's no wonder Ravena suggested Savannah should |
| forgetting the icy breeze. "Who do you belong to?" | | | | move to South Carolina after her divorce, encouraging |
| The kitten jumps to its feet, meows loudly, and runs to | | | | her young friend the to start over on friendly ground. |
| Savannah, flopping across her slippers. As she strokes | | | | Last month Savannah arrived with Horus and Thoth, |
| its matted fur, she estimates the kitten to be six | | | | rented a house in Irmo, only a mile away from Ravena, |
| weeks old, part of a feral colony living in the | | | | and began mending her shaken self-esteem, trying to |
| overgrown lot down the street. | | | | climb out of the gaping hole scratched into her heart |
| "I'll bet you're hungry," she says, feeling the kitten's ribs | | | | by an abusive marriage. |
| poking through its caramel and ivory coat. | | | | "So the last thing I need is another man in my life," she |
| Suddenly a low growl escalates behind Savannah as | | | | whispers, laying aside her work long enough to find the |
| Thoth, her Maine Coon, discovers the reason for the | | | | kitten sleeping peacefully in a pile of fabric scraps. A |
| open door and chilly breeze swimming throughout the | | | | smile lights Savannah's face, and she quietly laughs. |
| living room. Before she can stop him, Thoth lurches for | | | | "Even if he is a cutie like you." |
| the kitten, which scurries like a white mouse beneath | | | | * * * * * * * |
| Savannah's robe and into the house. | | | | But she can't ignore the feeling that this kitten entered |
| Hearing the howling, Horus bounds down the stairs and | | | | her life for a reason, as if one of the faeries she |
| helps Thoth corner the hissing kitten under the kitchen | | | | communes with every day were whispering in her ear. |
| table, while Savannah slams the door and rushes over. | | | | Too distracted to continue stitching a row of antique |
| "Move back, boys," she says to Thoth and Horus, | | | | lace on a new handbag, she walks into the living room |
| gently pulling the cats aside so she might crawl under | | | | to her altar. Horus and Thoth sit by the sliding glass |
| the table to rescue the shivering kitten. "Let's clean you | | | | door, twittering at leaves raining from oak and elm |
| up a bit," she says to the kitten, as it tries to hide in her | | | | trees, their tails waggling, imagining each one might be |
| arms. | | | | a sparrow or jay they could chase. |
| She walks to the sink and turns on the faucet. Warm | | | | Savannah opens the magickal box containing her |
| water streams over the kitten cupped in her hand like | | | | Wiccan tarot deck. Bast, the Egyptian Cat Goddess, |
| a grapefruit. Its trembling begins to subside, while | | | | sits next to it, her serene feline face watching and |
| Savannah gently lathers an organic flea shampoo | | | | waiting. She returns to the office and places the deck |
| around its eyes and ears, working down to its | | | | on the worktable. |
| shoestring tail. | | | | But before she can cast a sacred circle for a reading |
| Only six inches in length, the kitten stands on the | | | | the doorbell rings. Ravena stands on the front porch, |
| counter nibbling a piece of kibble while Savannah fluffs | | | | the warming breeze fanning her long blonde hair into a |
| its wet fur with a dishtowel. Lifting its tail, she | | | | flaxen cloak, three tiny braids threaded throughout, |
| determines the kitten to be male. Turning him around, | | | | each laced with ribbons and rune charms, a basket of |
| she finds no sign of fleas, but one eye winks red and | | | | cat toys looped over her arm. |
| crusty. Savannah mixes a lukewarm solution of | | | | "The weather station predicts a high today in the |
| goldenseal tea and washes both eyes, a trick she | | | | eighties." Ravena shakes her head. "Must be South |
| learned from her best friend, Ravena Riley, a veteran | | | | Carolina!" She steps through the door, handing the |
| of feral cat rescue. | | | | basket to Savannah. "These are for your new kitten," |
| "When I get a chance I'll call Ravena," she muses. | | | | she says, winking. |
| "Maybe she can find a home for you." | | | | Savannah gasps. "How did you know?" |
| * * * * * * * | | | | "I'm a Witch, remember?" Ravena replies, and then |
| She carries the kitten to the bathroom with a bowl of | | | | laughs. "Seriously, I saw it in the tarot cards this |
| cat milk, not trusting him alone in the house with Horus | | | | morning." |
| and Thoth. After Savannah showers and dresses for | | | | At that moment the kitten wheels out of Savannah's |
| work, the kitten follows her to the office, where he | | | | office, dancing like a Samhain cat, and darts under the |
| immediately dives into the open pocket of an | | | | sofa. |
| unfinished handbag. | | | | "I can see the cards were right as usual," Ravena |
| "Oh, no you don't!" she exclaims, laughing, as she picks | | | | says, plopping down in an overstuffed chair, while |
| up an empty ribbon spool to distract him. | | | | Savannah deposits the basket on the coffee table and |
| Savannah's Magickal Handbags specializes in | | | | extracts the kitten from beneath the sofa. |
| expensive, magickally charmed, handmade purses. She | | | | "Anyway, I'm glad you're here, since I can't possibly |
| started the company ten years ago by accident, when | | | | keep this kitten," Savannah says, setting him next to |
| she couldn't find an attractive yet functional handbag | | | | the basket, which he plunges into, wrestling with a |
| for her job as the personal assistant to a fashion | | | | catnip mouse. "I was hoping you could find a home for |
| designer in Atlanta. Frustrated, she created her own, | | | | him." |
| which caused an uproar the first day she brought it to | | | | Ravena ignores Savannah's comment and lifts the |
| work and generated several orders from coworkers | | | | kitten, laying him in her lap, where he begins to purr |
| and friends. | | | | loudly. "What do Thoth and Horus think of this little |
| Within a year she'd fattened her savings account and | | | | fellow?" |
| gathered a long list of retail and wholesale handbag | | | | Savannah shrugs and stretches out on the sofa. "You |
| clients. She quit her job and moved to the mountains | | | | know cats. They're never happy about a newcomer." |
| of eastern North Carolina, a part of the country she'd | | | | Ravena scratches the kitten's chin, and he closes his |
| always longed to explore. Savannah had finally | | | | eyes in ecstasy, his snowy throat rumbling. "You should |
| realized her dream of owning a successful design | | | | name him Re, after the Egyptian Sun God," she muses, |
| business in the fashion industry. Sales increased every | | | | "for his ivory fur and the Light he brings to this house." |
| year, and so did the prices of her handbags. | | | | "The last thing I need is a new man in my life." |
| Then she met Greer at a trade show, the publicist for | | | | Savannah groans. "You know that better than |
| a national chain of designer boutiques. Their marriage | | | | anyone." |
| only lasted three years, long enough for Savannah to | | | | "Yes," Ravena says, her jade eyes twinkling, "but we |
| realize the quiet man, who made her laugh with his | | | | all need Messengers of Light from the Goddess and |
| offbeat sense of humor, was actually a depressed | | | | the Fey." |
| and angry person. She left when she grew weary of | | | | Savannah moans and waves her hands in surrender. |
| his chameleon nature, when she understood his irate | | | | "Okay, I give up," she concedes. "What did the cards |
| moods were no fault of hers, no matter how verbally | | | | say?" |
| abusive Greer became, no matter how often he | | | | Ravena lifts the kitten and kisses his rosy nose. "Do |
| accused her. | | | | not turn away this Messenger of Light," she says, |
| Now she's thirty-five, divorced, and living in South | | | | softly. "He could be a faery of good fortune in disguise. |