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Many apologies that Amber isn't here today. The P.A.'s mum, aka Nanny, fell over on Wednesday, and the day was spent in A&E on the other side of the city... Nanny is fine; she's home, and Grampaw has been in the nursing home again for the last two weeks... so mew can imagine... Because Wednesday was lost, the P.A. didn't have time to write Amber's post, so we're sharing this again instead.
Amber will share her Halloween Top Book Pick next week, and she says she hopes mew won't be mad with her! MOL
Prepare to enter a world where nightmares become reality, danger lurks in every shadow, and survival is anything but guaranteed!
Claws of Terror is a heart-pounding, fur-raising rollercoaster of supurrnatural horrors, explosive battles and terrifying twists that will plunge mew headfirst into the chaos alongside The B Team!
So buckle up, hold on to your whiskers, and prepare to stare terror in the face as the ultimate Halloween nightmare unfolds!
HANG ON TIGHT, FLOOFERS, THIS IS GOING TO BE ONE WILD NIGHT!!!
~ Chapter One ~
Twas All Hallows' Eve, and the mist rolled across the fields surrounding Mewton-Clawson. Now, rolling mist isn't something mew usually need to be concerned about, and in all honesty, it's usually furry therapeutic to watch. However, this was not a normal mist... this mist was something else entirely.
Earlier that day, The B Team had been preparing for our annual Halloween Pawty, and everypawdy was busy in the bunker.
The bunker had been decorated over a week ago for Amber's and Pandora's joint birthday pawty (and in all honesty, that pawty has been going all week on and off) so the only thing we had to do was get the food and drinks set up on the buffet table in the Nip Nirvana Lounge on Level 11.
As we busied ourselves, well, everypawdy but Amber, as she said, she was too old to be carrying out such menial tasks. So the rest of us busied ourselves. Smooch and Humphrey were busy setting up the spooky mist machine with the added bonus of extra primo catnip being infused directly into the machine; catnip mist, whatever next! MOL
Fudge and Melvyn were getting the spooky playlist ready and at random intervals, Thriller kept blasting through the bunker tannoy system.
Posie and Snowie were putting the finishing touches to this year's Halloween costumes in the Repairs Room on Level 2, and Parsley, Pandora and I were doing one last security sweep of the village before nightfall.
"Basil," Parsley asked. "Did mew invite anypawdy extra to the pawty?"
I sighed. "I asked Chuffer, G.D., Solitaire, MadCat and Winston to join us, but after their torturous time in The Clockwurk Labyrinth, Halloween is the one holiday none of them will participate in, like ever. And they are staying on Level 8 with Horice, locked and barricaded in the biosphere."
"I can understand that," Pandora chipped in, in her odd, little foreign accent. "I wouldn't want to be reminded of all that creepy stuff if I were them either!"
Parsley nodded, then added. "So mew definitely didn't invite anypawdy else?"
I stopped and looked at him. "No, why?"
We were standing on the outskirts of Mewton-Clawson in the middle of a dew-laden field. The air was chilly, and a damp breeze ruffled my fur in all manner of ways I didn't like.
The church sat in the distance, and Parsley was fixated on something in the field beside it. He lifted his all-seeing binoculars and peered at the same spot again.
Pandora was transfixed too, and I flitted my gaze between them for a few moments, watching as they tensed up and bared their teeth.
'Oh fluff no!' I thought. 'What the fluffing fluff is about to happen now!'
Focusing on what they were fixed on, I suddenly saw it. A thick, white mist roiled and bubbled up from the ancient well in the field next to the church, and just as I lifted my binoculars, a crow cawed ominously in the tree above us.
"Jumpin' juniper berries!" I said, nearly dropping my binoculars. I looked up, and the crow flapped its wings and hopped onto the branch with much agitation. Its wing suddenly pointed back toward the centre of Mewton-Clawson, and I turned to see more mist emerging from the old dry-stone sheep pen, used for escapee livestock many, many years ago.
Pandora spun around and saw the mist. "Basil, there's something apaw," she said worriedly and held out her paw to me, and I saw the Aethereal Magi sigil: an infinity sign surrounded by the five elements of fire, earth, water, metal and air, which was branded on her paw, and it was glowing bright red.
If mew're not sure what an Aethereal Magi is, check out Chapter 11 and Chapter 12 in The Clockwurk Labyrinth
I took a deep breath, exhaled slowly, and nudged Parsley. He turned, looked at the glowing mark and spat. "Fluffing fluffer!"
Remembering what he'd just asked me a few minutes ago, "Why did mew ask if I'd invited anypawdy extra to the pawty?"
He pointed off toward Fuskerston on our right, toward the woods between the two villages. "Over there," he said. "There's a clowder of cats in raggy costumes."
I raised an eyebrow and stared at the precise location he was pointing at.
"Where?"
"Right fluffing there!" Parsley replied, jabbing his paw.
"I can't see a thing," I replied. "Only trees. Pandora, can mew see anything?"
She spun around and looked, then gulped. "I see dead cats."
"What?" I asked.
"They are definitely dead," she replied with a shiver. "And it looks like they've seen us!"
Lifting my binoculars, I looked again, and fluff me. I saw them. About fifty or more of them, stumbling around in the shadows of the trees. And even more emerging from the woods.
Note to self: get some glasses stat!
Heavy white mist roiled from the woods, creeping along the ground and heading our way in a rather disconcerting way.
'This is not good,' I thought. 'Like seriously, NOT GOOD!'
The crow cawed again. Its screeching sent shivers down my spine. This time, it flapped its wing towards the field to the left of us; a small brook meandered along the far side of the field, and it too was oozing thick white mist that was puthering over the ground, tumbling towards us.
I spun around, looked at all the sources, and realised this mist wasn't natural.
Yes, I know I'm a bit late to the game, but if I'm honest, I've had a lot of catnip this week; blame Amber and Pandora's pawty!
Anyhoo, it suddenly dawned on me that the mist was springing up at compass points, and this was some hinky-hoodoo kind of vibe.
"Something must be drawing the mist," I said. "Where is the centre point for all four sources?"
Parsley and Pandora stared at me like I'd grown another head.
"What?" I asked with mild frustration.
"Mew seriously have had far too much nip this week, Basil!" Pandora chided. "And did mew try Humphrey's new blend, the Total Wipeout yesterday?"
I cast my mind back and tried to remember last night. I just nodded because I actually couldn't remember a thing.
Pandora looked at Parsley and said. "Mew owe me £10, dude!"
"That explains it!" Parsley said. "Dude, mew seriously have to stop trying all the nip mixes. They're messing with your mind!"
"Pay up!" Pandora demanded.
Parsley harrumphed, pulled a crisp £10 note from his rucksack, and passed it to Pandora.
"Thank mew furry much!" she grinned, stuffing it in a side pocket on her utility belt.
"Mew bet on me?" I said, with utter incredulity.
"Yep," they both said in unison and laughed.
'Fluffing fluff, I'd better not have any more of Humphrey's catnip!' I thought. 'It's severely impairing my Basildom!"
Dragging my mind back to our predicament, I asked again. "So where exactly is the centre point?"
Pandora gave me quite a withering glance and pointed at the ground. "Right here, commander; this is the centre point."
"But there's nothing here," I declared, as if that made it all ok.
But sadly, I'd spoken too soon.
The ground began to shake and quiver beneath our paws, and Parsley grabbed me, dragging me back towards the village, with Pandora leading the way.
Once we'd jumped the fence and reached the road, we turned to see what was happening. The ground was still shaking, and we looked at the spot we'd just evacuated to see the ground rupture and a stone circle emerge from the earth. Nothing as fancy as Stonehenge, more like the Avebury Circle, but with a lot fewer stones.
Nevertheless, there was now a henge in Mewton-Clawson, and it was quite impressive; some of the outer stones were at least ten feet tall, and a secondary smaller inner circle pushed through the earth and stood at about five feet tall.
A deafening crack boomed through the sky as a blinding flash burst like a fireworks display at the centre of the circle.
I turned to Parsley. "Dude, this is bad, real bad."
He nodded, and Pandora said. "Basil, look, there's a figure walking out of the circle!"
Darkness had descended, and the only light was from the rising full moon as I watched the tall figure stride towards us, with a large cat bringing up the rear.
"Basil, dude, we need to do something," Parsley murmured. "I only have a taser on me, and I think we need something a little more robust!"
"Parsley, don't panic," I whispered back. "We've got a Pandora, one of the most powerful magical cats in the world."
"True," he replied, relaxing just a smidge.
"Pandora," I hissed. "What's the plan?"
Pandora watched the approaching figure and said through gritted fangs, "Hold the line!"
**AND CUT**
WOW, this still brings tingles three years on!!! MOL
We'll share Chapter 2 tomorrow and run the entire story if you want to read it over the next few weeks. Do let us know in the comments!
If not, that's ok too! MOL
Click here to go to Chapter 2 ~ Link coming later...
Here's hoping your Friday is fun and the mist stays friendly!
See mew in the morning, bright and breezy, and...
In the meantime...
...AND ZOMBIE FREE!
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