Friday, September 5, 2014

The Shadow King's Pet

Hello! I'm briefly breaking my normal schedule for a good cause. 



Today I'm sharing a story that will be part of a charitable anthology to benefit an animal shelter. (Permission granted.) This wonderful compilation is brought to you by Kyra Lennon, and several other wonderful authors will be contributing. Check out Kyra's place to learn more. Happy reading!



The Shadow King's Pet

Source
“The Shadow King is always looking for a new heir,” Grandfather said, his white hairs twitching in a breeze from the air conditioning. “One filled with light to replace the child who fled from him ages ago.”

“The rebellious prince,” Katia finished for him, grinning. She’d heard this story a dozen times while camped around the family living room, but it never lost its appeal. The rebellious prince was cursed for his betrayal, banished solely to the light where he had eventually married a mortal. He was protected by his truest friend, a terrible beast. Katia loved the story unconditionally—until she learned it was grandfather’s delusional invention to help them both cope with Grandma’s death. A fiction to distract them both. Mom and Dad couldn’t get him to stop telling the story like it had happened to him, and with Katia’s 16th birthday only hours away, she’d grown to see through his coping mechanism.  

She picked a crumb off her plate on the coffee table, what was left from her slice of early celebration birthday cake. Grandfather would be in dialysis tomorrow and unable to visit, although she wondered why he’d scheduled the procedure for tomorrow. “Grandfather, it’s just a story.”

His dark eyes turned on hers, the wrinkles around his eyes falling smooth as his smile faded to nothing. “No, Katia, it is not a story. Your father didn’t inherit the light, but you are special and you had best stay away from the King of Shadows.” His fists were clenched white. “He would like nothing more than my granddaughter.”

Katia shivered at the sobriety behind grandfather’s words. She had always assumed the fairytale was one to keep her from sneaking out of bed when she was younger, but the pain glistening in Grandfather’s eyes was more than just a bedtime story. Darn him, she was too old to fear the dark!

Weight landed in her lap. Katia jumped. Pepkin, her butterscotch tabby, curled up and rubbed his furry cheek against the back of her hand. She ran her fingers through his mane, giving him a grateful rub for the distraction. His purr soothed her, as did his presence.

“I have nothing to fear so long as Pepkin is around.” She lifted the cat’s face and rubbed her nose against his pink one. “You’ll keep me safe, won’t you Pepkin?”

His purring increased. Grandfather snatched his cane and lifted one leg over the side of the flowered couch, his brows furrowed low. He steadied on his feet and tapped his cane twice. “You will be sixteen soon, and he will come for you. Stay out of the shadows.” He aimed for the door. “Remember the light within.”

“Yes, Grandfather,” she whispered.

***

Katia slipped down the stairs, aimed for the fridge. At midnight it would be her birthday, and she wanted a slice of cake to enjoy when the clock changed. Was it pitiful that she was celebrating only with family—that her friends were all away on summer vacation, leaving her to suss out this life-altering transition alone?

Fur brushed her bare leg. She reached down and caught the offender’s tail, giving it a playful tug. “You’re not trying to trip me down the stairs, are you Pepkin?”

The cat didn’t reply.

Source
She flipped on the kitchen light with five minutes to spare and quickly dished herself up some raspberry-lemon cake. She sat on the counter. Pepkin jumped up next to her, his tail batting comfortingly across her arm.

11:59…

Midnight.

“Yay! Happy sweet-sixteen to me!” She pumped a fist and glanced around the kitchen.

The bay window around the breakfast nook sucked her in. It was too dark—like a black hole, like all the light had been drained out of that corner, and what remained was tangible blackness. A shiver rattled through her.

Katia couldn’t pull her eyes from the pitch. It had swallowed the light, and now it wanted to swallow her. There was something on the other side of that darkness. She wanted to open the doorway and see what waited beyond.

“Crazy,” she muttered, but she didn’t sound convinced. Stay away from the shadows. She’d seen Grandfather serious many times, but never quite so sober as he’d been tonight—not a single lame pun in their entire conversation.
Pepkin growled.

She twisted toward the cat, startled she stood in the middle of the kitchen, half way to the summoning corner. How had that happened?

The cat leapt down from the counter and circled around her feet, cutting her off from her intended trajectory. His hackles rose, back arching.

A low chuckle bounced off the tile. Katia whirled to the darkness. Her heart thundered through her ears, breath coming in short gasps. She could just make out the outline of a man swathed in the shadows of the alcove.


Get your copy of the anthology today to learn what happens to Katia and read other sweet cat adventures:


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27 comments:

  1. Loved it! Seems like something you could definitely expand upon if you wanted.

    I'm also particularly fond of lemon raspberry cake in fiction (although they're cupcakes in my novel) ;)

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  2. This is a great cause! I used to volunteer at a humane society, and it wrote an article about it in college. It's quite close to my heart. :)

    True story, I know 2 cats over 20 years old! Not so springy or strong, but healthy and happy! Love cats.

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  3. When Timeless is finally released, that will be a good new project.

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  4. This is a really great cause Crystal, my sister fosters animals from the shelter all the time. Every time I talk to her, she has another new animal. I think it is a great thing that she does. If you cannot adopt a pet, fostering could be a great idea :)

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  5. Nice story. The animal morphings took me by suprise :) and could this be the start of a bigger story? Also, that is a great cause. Animal friends need a voice too :)

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  6. Great story, will look forward to reading all of them in the anthology. I had wanted to submit one myself but sadly just ran out of time this summer.

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  7. That was epic and thrilling! I loved the fantasy elements and as has been said, definitely could be expanded on.

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  8. Grandfathers always tell the truth! Great story :-)

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  9. That was an amazing story, Crystal! You're such a talented writer. And I love the visuals that you included to go with your story.

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  10. Great suspense and exciting twists in this one. I enjoyed reading it, Crystal.

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  11. I loved reading this story, wonder whats next? Great story!

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  12. Oh, Oh, Oh, I LOVED this! More please! I loved Grandfathers white hairs twitching in the air conditioning, by the way. Very visual, excellent writing. :)

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  13. Great tension and you could expand this story! Oh, and keep in the lemon raspberry cake.

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  14. I love fantasy to explore good and evil, light/dark. The game I used to play had the diabolical forces at two ends of a floating tower. If you went up, you fought good things and got much loot. If you went down, you fought evil things and gained knowledge/power. Love the writing.

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  15. I enjoyed reading this, great tension and conflict.

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  16. Thanks for sharing this delightful story and for helping such a worthy cause!

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  17. Loved the story!

    Crystal, you've been nominated for "The Versatile Blogger Award"! " :-) Congrats! Here's the post for that one: Versatile Blogger Award: Delighted to Receive it!

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  18. Awesome job! I loved how you had such interesting twists and turns in the story. :)
    ~Jess

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  19. I very recently had to put my 17 year old cat down, so I couldn't bring myself to read this story. Even the picture of the cat (my guy was also a yellow tabby) made me tear up, so I apologize for skipping it. But this is such an awesome cause, so when I'm feeling less weepy, I'll get a copy in his honor.

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  20. I did not expect this. What an amazing story for the anthology.

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  21. Wow this is a fantastic story! And I think this anthology is so wonderful, can't wait to get my copy.

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  22. Crystal - I don't know how I missed this before - I'm SO sorry!

    Thank you so much for taking part in the cat anthology bloghop! <3

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  23. This was a wonderful tale. I do hope you plan to take it further!

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Hit me with your cheese!