"Willow's Missing Tail" 27

Jon entered the study and all eyes swung to him, all except Perfidia’s. 

She was standing across the room and pretending he wasnt there. Her recent attempt to be rid of him made it crystal clear she didn’t want him here, but he didn’t care. He was here and he wanted answers. He was going to be a pest at her side until she explained her actions tonight and as a bonus he’d demand to know why she needed to wear that charmed love potion of a bracelet since last summer. His mind was made up as he walked towards her with a determined stride.

Perfidia tensed; it wasn’t going to be easy to placate him; her only hope was to keep avoiding him.

 

Martha and Dillon entered the study just after Jon.

Percival was surprised to see his brother. “Dillon, I had no idea you were in town,” Percival said as he hung up the phone’s receiver, “Is this a party we’ve intruded on?” he asked with an apology in his tone.

Dillon scoffed and side eyed Martha with annoyance, he was still stung by her actions, trying to shove him out the door with Jon, “Doesn’t feel like a party to me,” he grumbled.

Martha wouldn’t look at Dillon but smiled at Percival, “You’re not intruding on anything Percival; is he Perfidia?” she asked as she walked away from Dillon and over to Perfidia.

“Nope, not intruding, stay as long as you like,” Perfidia concurred and was only too happy to see Martha run interference and block Jon’s approach. She'd stepped in front of him to stand next to her.

Jon sent her a ‘this isn’t over’ message with his eyes but Perfidia kept her focus on Percival.

“That’s very kind of you Perfidia and I may have to take you up on your hospitality as I’ve called every road assist in the area and they’re all telling me its extra busy tonight and won’t get to my car until tomorrow morning,” he concluded with a defeated expression.

“I’m not surprised,” Perfidia mumble.

“But that’s not all Perfidia,” Percival continued in a bewildered tone, “the ride services are saying the same; none have available cars until sunrise. Is that crazy or what?”

Perfidia poured brandy into a large glass then held it out to him. “Percival, I’d say that’s par for the course tonight. So drink up; it appears the games have begun.”

“Games; what games?” Percival questioned, accepting the glass from her hand.

“Terrible games,” she whispered darkly glancing at Jon. She wished she could make him disappear...just until sunrise.

 

Miriam stepped closer to Percival and looped a proprietary arm through his holding on to him like a life support.“Maybe we can’t get a ride home?” she whispered, “You can ask one the guests if they have a car,” she suggested with a shivered, feeling the cold deep into her bones.  Perfidia’s house was giving her a strong desire to leave it.

“No Miriam; that would be rude to ask someone to drive us. It’s obvious they’re all invited guests here and we aren’t,” Percival whispered back then tugged on her arm to walk with him over to a small love seat.

“But there must be a way to get us home,” Miriam insisted as they sat down.

“I don’t see how.” Percival shook his head.

“Can’t we walk home?”

“Miriam, my home is over two miles away and it’s already dark outside.”

Miriam took the brandy glass from Percival’s hand and downed its contents. “Then I may need a few more of these,” she told him, handing him back the empty glass.

 

Dillon lingered at the doorway; he hadn’t followed Martha when she walked over to Perfidia.  After the literal shove out the door and attempted shove out the window he didn’t feel welcome and glared at her with indignation. 

“I’ll brew us all some tea,” Martha suggested in a forced but cheery tone and didn’t wait for a response. She walked off towards the kitchen.

 Dillon waited only a heartbeat before following her.

"Tea won’t help,” Perfidia mumbled under her breath.

Jon had sat down in a chair across from her keeping his eyes, annoyed and focused on her.

Perfidia shivered, not from Jon's stare but because of the conflict nudging her and everyone in her home, making them aware of its chilling weight. It snaked around the room, hovering, waiting for any volatile conversation to begin. 

Perfidia had already decided the best course of action was not to engage, no matter what or who demanded she play the game, she’d ignore them. Most especially Jon and his infuriated eyes blasting questions at her.

 

Avery walked over to Perfidia and eyed the tray next to her that held the bottle of brandy and several pristine glasses. “Got anything stronger?” he asked her.

“Martha’s tea?” she chuckled.

“Funny and not what I meant.”

“The cabinet over there; help yourself,” she nodded to an almost hidden cabinet door in a mahogany wall unit.

Avery did help himself, taking out an impressive bottle of spirits from the cabinet and giving a grateful nod to Perfidia before filling a large glass with the amber liquid.

Daphne sighed dramatically and walked over to her cousin. “Why are you imbibing him; he’s already obnoxious enough without it?” she nodded towards Avery.

Perfidia laughed earning a hard look from Jon. She swallowed her laughter and focused on Daphne, “I think to get through this night, we’re all going to need a little help.”

“I don’t need anything. I’m going up to bed,” Daphne stated then turned and walked to the doorway that led into the living room and beyond that to the stairs up to the bedrooms. Only. when she got to the doorway from the living room, she found she couldn’t walk out of it. An invisible something was keeping her from exiting.

“What is this…?” she turned around to look at Perfidia, "Why can’t I leave?”

Perfidia had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. Not only were they trapped in the house; they were trapped in specific rooms. No one would be given an easy way out of the uncomfortable night. She sent Daphne a sympathetic look.  “Like I said Daph, you might need this,” she lifted up a glass of brandy, “the games are afoot cuz. It appears, we'll all have to stay and play.”

“That’s ridiculous! This is all ridiculous!” It was Jon who'd responded.

Perfidia didn’t want to but she turned to him. “Is it?” she asked with a raised brow.

“If someone wants to leave they should be able to leave,” he stated and his eyes narrowed on her with annoyance, “but I suppose a shove out a window will do if a doorway doesn’t work,” he offered the solution with a snide chuckle.

Daphne gasped. “I don’t want to be shoved out a window; I just want to go to my bedroom.”

“Then I'm afraid Perfidia can’t help you, she only pushes you out doors and windows; isn't that right?” he concluded but he didn't wait for her response. He walked over to the open liquor cabinet determined to find a friendly spirit to consume.

Perfidia wanted to defend herself but no defense was available. It was true, they were all stuck in this house and pushing Jon out the door or window had been a good remedy, if only it had worked. Now she had implement her second solution; avoiding Jon at all cost.

 

Avery wanted Daphne to go away so, to that end, he put down his drink and walked over to her at the doorway.
“Okay, let’s get you out of here,” he cajoled taking her arm to move her out of the room but soon found the air had substance. Stepping beyond the doorway felt like a rubber wall stretching but only so far before it pushed back. She was right; something was keeping them from leaving.

“What is this Perfidia?” It was Avery’s turn to look at her with a perplexed expression, “What have you conjured here, and how?”

“It’s not me Avery,” Perfidia said with a shrug, “It’s that primordial stick.” 

Avery understand the ancient ramulus was in place for the cats to battle out the rivalry and it had absorbed all the magic into itself but until that moment he hadn't realized the alternative to that process. The ramulus had expelled conflict into the space devoid of magic, and they all were in that space.

Perfidia saw by Avery's enlightened and troubled look, he'd figured it out. 

"Nothing I've done or can do," she reiterated and took a sip of her brandy trying to remain aloof as everyone began asking questions.

“What do you mean ‘stick of conflict’; what aren’t you telling us?” Jon stood up; he was past ready to confront her.

“What stick; where is this stick?” Percival inquired looking around, “Is this the game you mentioned; do we have to find this stick?”

“I think she’s saying stuck not stick; as in we're stuck here! Isn't that what you're saying Perfidia? We’re trapped in your home ?” Miriam’s high pitched voice attacked the ears and made everyone want to cover theirs.

"I want to go home," she cried to Percival. She didn’t trust Percival around Martha for an extended amount of time, and a whole night was too long. Whatever the game was, they had to be able to refuse to play, and leave.

Daphne wasn’t having it; she was not going to be trapped in this room with Avery. She called to her familiar. “Sahara, I demand you fly through that doorway and open it for me,” she commanded the parrot.

Sahara, from her perch on the curtain rod, looked at her human then looked at the doorway, then back at her human and back at the doorway assessing the situation. Then she buried her head in her feathers and ignored both.

“Sahara…?” Daphne’s tone was questioning and annoyed.

Sahara took deep, exaggerated, parrot breath and feigned sleep.

Avery chuckled. “I believe your familiar has turned you off.”

“Oh really…and where’s your pet? I don’t see your talented cat helping you either,” she challenged.

“Max is where he should be, helping a friend in need unlike some who’d rather destroy their friends,” Avery responded with a dark and unreadable look.

“Are you speaking of your actions towards me?” Daphne inquired sweetly.

“You know I’m not,” he growled.

“Then I have no idea what you mean,” she said in a saccharine tone, giving him an uncaring shrug before walking back to the uncomfortable chair in the corner.

Avery itched for a fight. He wanted to make her tell him her reason the day she’d tried to destroy him financially, and then he wanted to finish their inconclusive talk earlier. It had left him with too many questions. And if they were truly stuck here, he decided a captive Daphne wasn't a bad thing; he'd get those answers from her.

“Wait a minute,” Daphne stood back up.

Avery assumed she was addressing him but she’d turned to Perfidia. 

“How did Martha leave from that other doorway and go into the kitchen?”Daphne asked her cousin.

Perfidia put down her brandy and responded for the benefit of everyone. “Because the conflict isn’t going to starve us and I’m sure we'll also have access to the restroom too. It’s only if we try to leave the allowable areas that we'll be blocked.”

“What’s really going Perfidia? Tell us the truth,” Percival’s furrowed brow rippled with confusion.

Perfidia resigned herself to the task of explaning everything to them and nodded.

 “Okay. It’s a long and complicated explanation Percival but I’ll try to fill you in,” Perfidia nodded to a chair, “and I think you should sit for it,” she suggested.

Percival did and Miriam scooted her chair next to his looping her arm through his again.

Everyone else in the room quieted and riveted their attention on Perfidia too

Perfidia condensed the last day’s events as best as she could, explaining Willow’s catnapping, the uncovering of Daphne’s identity as the catnaper and her plan to annihilate Avery, Avery’s knowledge of Daphne and his desire to trap her in her own plan, the discovery of a sibling twin cat, Thistle, who desired to usurp Willow’s magic, and the remedy found for the rival cats by way of  a primordial ramulus that confiscated all magic from sunset to sunrise to help the cats battle the rivalry, and last but not least, the nights conflicted occupants trapped in her home until sunrise when the ramulus released the magic and returned to the ancient forest.

“Sunrise…we’re stuck here until sunrise?” Miriam squeaked. She didn’t like the idea of being here all night or Percival being near Martha all night.

“As I just said, the conflict we’re experiencing won’t evaporate until sunrise so,I suggest we ignore it and we'll have no complications…I hope,” Perfidia said the last part in a prayerful whisper.

"That's why you’re avoiding me? Why you won’t answer any questions?” Jon asked close to her ear.

Perfidia jumped. She hadn’t known he’d crept up on her. He was standing too close and she backed up as she shook her head. “I can answer your questions Jon but I’m afraid with the amount of conflict in the air tonight, you won’t receive my answer in the best way and we'd remain conflicted after this night. We need to be careful and that's why we need to wait until morning to have our conversation.”

“After sunrise,” he smirked.

“Exactly,” she agreed, offering a hopeful smile.

Jon shook his head. “If confrontation is the reason we’re here tonight why should we wait? If we feel this conflict it's because we are in conflict. And I think, if we wait until tomorrow; you’ll only hide from the truth again.”

“I’m not hiding,”

“How will I know? If we wait for tomorrow’s sunrise…I’ll never know, will I?”

Jon's eyes projected doubt and Perfidia felt the conflict pushing her to have this conflicted conversation. And she did see Jon's point, but she knew that dark matter of conflict sitting on their shoulders wouldn't allow the conversation to end well for them.

"We have to wait," she reiterated.

 “Do you care anything for me Perfidia?” he asked, his eyes burning into hers.

“Of course I do.”

“Do you care enough to tell me why you had to charm that bracelet and use it on me?”

“I will tell you…everything...tomorrow. Trust me Jon; I will be honest but we need to wait.”

Jon felt something wither within him. “As you wish,” he shrugged and walked away.

 

Perfidia had seen the cold disillusionment in Jon’s eyes and had to consider the possibility she’d misread the pitfalls of having a conflicted discussion tonight? Once again, the insistent whisper to speak her mind pushed at her but a quiver of regret foretold a poor outcome.

No, the best solution was to ignore this desire to talk and wait for tomorrow. She wasn’t wrong. She couldn’t be wrong…could she?