Chapter 24 - Mansion of Memories

January 1^st, 8:11 PM

The house was like a mansion, nestled in among all the little houses. The yard was overrun with weeds which had taken over the neighbors’ yards, reflecting the people who had lived in the house. It used to be lovely, taken care of by a gentle man, a servant of the house. Now the whole thing had been taken over by nature and was considered a bad omen among the people. Everyone had been put under much fear by the inhabitants and now that they were gone, they simply wished it away, pretending that it didn’t exist. Even the houses surrounding it were empty. It was indeed a very sad mansion.

~*F*~

“Wait, wait, wait. Ally’s mind and this cat’s mind... switched places?”

Ven stood in front of Kon and Carumati at the festival with a rope tied around Ally’s body so she wouldn’t escape and the Ally in the cat’s body sitting at his feet. “It’s like I told you. Some mage’s were chasing this black cat and when the cat brushed past Ally, they switched places.”

Carumati knelt down and scanned them both with her device. “It was done by magic. The only way we can revert them back is to find those mages and have them undo the spell. Besides that, it must be done within thirteen hours, or the change will be permanent.”

Kon knelt down and gazed at the black cat which was Ally. “Well, I guess if we fail to change you back in time you can always go get married to Cato, that werecat.” Ally clawed his face in response.

“At any rate, we’ve got to find those mages. I’m sure they’re looking for the black cat right now,” Ven surmised.

“Maybe we can find their booth,” Carumati suggested.

Everyone agreed and went looking for the booth. They asked around from other people if they had seen any mages, but there were so many around anyways, it was hard to figure out which one it might be. As they came upon a booth where mages were telling fortunes, one came up to them and asked pleasantly if they would like their fortunes read.

“No, actually, we’re looking for someo-”

“Meow! Meow meow!” Ally walked up to the mage and began pawing at her robe.

“Oh, my. Is this your cat?”

“Well, sort of. Ally, what are you doing?” Kon asked.

“Wait! I recognize you,” Ven exclaimed. “You’re Mindy, that mage that was friends with Ally Kat, right?”

“Hmm? Ally Kat? Yeah, I’ve known her for years. Are you friends of hers?” the girl questioned.

“Yeah, and that cat you’re petting is Ally Kat.”

“Wait, what?” she looked down at the cat which looked back up at her. “It is you! How did you get in this form?”

The others explained what had happened to her and Mindy burst up in laughter. Ally hissed at her and clawed her hand.

“Hey, now. It’s not my fault. You should have been more careful.”

“Is there any way you could turn her back?” Kon asked.

“Sorry, but I’m afraid only the mage who cast the spell is able to undo it. I think I might know who did it though. They’re mages-in-training. They were doing a demonstration of giving a cat human characteristics. No doubt the spell went wrong and the cat got loose. I’ll take you to their booth. I know where it is.” Mindy lead them to the booth where they found an older mage woman scolding a younger mage boy.

“Excuse me. Are you by any chance the mage who cast this spell?” Mindy asked the boy, pointing to Ally and the cat.

The boy’s eyes grew wide and he began repeating, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry. It won happen again!”

“See? This is what happens when you fool around,” the teacher said. “Now you have to learn to undo it before the thirteen hours are up.”

“You mean he doesn’t know how?” Kon asked.

“He doesn’t even know what he did to create the spell in the first place. You’re hopeless, Nole. In any case, lets get to studying those books before these nice people hate us for the rest of their lives.”

Just then, the cat (the one in Ally’s body) broke loose from Ven’s grip and ran off through the crowds, half on two legs and half on all fours. As soon as the cat took flight, Ally ran after it, and Kon pursued as well. The two cats were much faster than Kon, however, and he soon lost sight of them. He continued searching in hopes of finding them, trying to think of where a cat would go, but he really had no idea where to go and just ran about in a nonsensical pattern.

Meanwhile, Ven, Carumati and the mages hopped in a car and drove to the mages’ library where they kept all their spell books. Ven kept in contact with Kon while Carumati, the teacher and the student scoured the books, looking for the spell the boy cast and the counter spell.

Kon ran across the street towards the neighborhoods, thinking maybe the cat lived there somewhere. As he did so, he caught sight of the cat in Ally form running toward him with the real Alameda right on it’s heals. The cat was now running upright, rather than on all fours. Konrad supposed that it was getting used to how it’s new form worked and was taking full advantage of it, which meant it could run faster even than the real Ally. As soon as the cat spotted Kon it dove into a side yard and leaped over the fence. Ally did the same, but Kon wound up running into the garbage cans and getting banana peels and leftovers spilled on him. Once he untangled himself from the disaster, he jumped over the fence and was greeted with a gunshot.

“What are you doing here, this is private property,” an older man shouted, aiming his gun at him.

“Sorry, I’m just your neighborhood superhero, don’t mind me,” Kon replied hurriedly, starting to run across the yard.

“Oh, no you don’t. You’re not going anywhere.”

“Then, let me explain. My friend switched places with a cat and now they’re both on the loose and I saw them come through your yard, so I’m chasing after them so they don’t annoy such kind, hard-working people such as yourselves.”

“Do you expect me to buy all that?”

“No, but it allowed me enough time to get to the other side of your yard. Ta ta!” Kon jumped over the other side of the fence as gun shots sounded through the air along with the man’s yelling.

“That was close- whoa!” Kon shouted as a car nearly ran him over. “I really need to get a handle on myself before I get killed.” Kon looked around, but he couldn’t see Ally or the cat anywhere. In the distance, he saw a park with a hill and a tall tree on top. Hurrying over, he climbed the tree and looked around. Suddenly, he heard a rustling beside him and looked. There, sitting on a branch and staring at him was Ally Kat (the one with the cat’s mind). “Ah....” Carefully, Kon reached out and the cat sniffed his hand, then jumped onto the branch he was sitting on which broke under his weight and sent both of them crashing down to the ground. Kon landed on Ally and Ally meowed, trying to get out from under him, but Kon grabbed it and picked it up, holding it under his arm so it wouldn’t loose it again. “Now, where did Ally end up? Ah, well. I’ll find her once I take this cat back to the library.” Kon carried it back and dropped it off.

“Where’d you find her?” Ven asked, setting out a bowl of milk for the cat. None of them could help but laugh at the sight of Ally drinking from a bowl.

“It was in the park in a neighborhood near here. I’ve still got to find Ally.”

“The real one, you mean? Shouldn’t she have been with the cat?”

“She must have lost sight of it somewhere and ended up going the wrong way.”

“Should I help you look?”

“No, you just make sure that cat doesn’t escape here again. At least the cat that’s missing now has a human mind.”

“True. Um...”

“What?”

“Do you want a shower before you go?”

Kon looked down to smell his trash covered clothes. “I would love one. But I have no time. I’m gonna find Ally first.”

“Okay, then. Have fun.”

“Yeah, right.” Kon ran off once again, going back to the place he last saw her and then going in the direction of the park, looking down every street and alley.

“There he is, officer! It’s that man!” someone yelled as he came out of an alley.

Kon looked to see the man with the gun from before and a policeman. The officer approached him.

“You there. You are under arrest for breaking and entering.”

“Wha-! Wait, I had a very good reason. I was chasing my cat which had taken off,” Kon explained.

“Be careful, officer. I think he might be insane. He said he was a superhero in pursuit of his friend who had turned into a cat.”

“Right. I’m afraid we’ll have to bring you in for questioning, mister.” The officer cuffed him and put him into the car.

“But officer, really, I’m not crazy. If you would just listen, I-”

“You can talk when we get to the station, lets go.”

~*~

“Hello? Ven? Do you think you could come bail me out? I was arrested for going through a guy’s yard when I was chasing Ally.... Well, I managed to convince them I’m not insane, but they’re still charging me.... Yeah, could you come down here and get me?... Yeah.... Okay, thanks.... Bye.”

Ven came and got him out, and took him back to the library where they checked up on how things were going. “It’s almost two in the morning. We only have six hours left to change them back. Have you figured out the spell yet?”

“We’ve figured out the basics of the spell he used, but we’re far from figuring out the counter-spell.”

“Keep working at it. I’m going to take a shower,” Kon said. He walked back to the airship and took his shower and changed into some clean clothes, then hurried out again to search for the missing Ally Kat. As he passed through a neighborhood, recognized it from his childhood and decided to check out a certain house that was there to see what had happened to it. Once he arrived, he spotted a black cat sitting on the doorstep, looking up at it.

“Ally?” Kon called.

The cat turned, and he saw Ally’s gold eyes.

“Ally, it is you. What are you doing here?”

Ally just sat there and stared at him. Then she reached up and put one paw on his sunglasses and pulled them off with her nails.

“Ally?”

She got up on her hind legs and licked the scar that ran across his eyes.

“Don’t tell me... you remembered?”

The black cat just stared sadly at him.

“You remembered... everything?”

Ally closed her eyes and turned, leaping off the curb and into the street. As she started to run, Kon shouted, “Wait!” and Ally stopped.

“You... you promised that you wouldn’t disappear when you remembered. I... I don’t blame you. I don’t blame you for anything you did.”

The cat gave him a look that said, “Liar” and ran off.

Kon just sat on his knees, too weak with shock to run after her.