Paws and Effect (Mystic Notch 4 4) Read Free Page B

ghosts on all planes. Willa and Striker could only see them on one plane—and not the same plane, either, which explained why Striker never saw the ghosts that frequented the bookstore and why Willa could not see this ghost now.
    The hairs along Pandora’s spine tingled with electricity. This might be something she should pay attention to. She heightened her senses even further, bringing the sketchy outline of the ghost into focus. Pandora rarely notched her senses up this far. It took too much of her energy. She would have to spend a lot of time lying on Willa’s keyboard or standing in front of the monitor to charge up her energy stores.
    Willa and Striker were still rambling on about the box and bones, but Pandora had little interest in their conversation. She was busy watching the ghost. By the way it was gesturing, it really wanted some help. Now that she could see her better, she realized she was a very old ghost, dressed in garb from centuries ago. She must have been haunting this plane for a long time. Pandora knew a ghost would have to have a pretty good reason to stick around that long.
    “Pssst.” Pandora heard a strange noise from near the swirling ghost and cocked her head, angling her ear so as to hear it better. Then she saw it peeking out from behind the ghost’s swirling cape.
    A ghost cat! And it was beckoning Pandora over.
    Ghost cats were incredibly rare. Cats usually had no reason to hang around on this plane and preferred to pass over to the other side immediately after serving their nine lives. Pandora didn’t know why any would stay here. She heard the other side was quite beautiful with a colorful rainbow bridge and filled with flowers and fields and lots of mice for the taking. A cat would have to have a powerful reason not to be lured over to the other side right away.
    Pandora was intrigued by the ghost cat. She hunched up her back and extended her front legs in a stretch, then jumped down from the window and trotted over to inspect the feline apparition.
    Her journey caused Willa and Striker to pause. Striker frowned down at her, glancing from her to the ghost cat then up at Willa. Willa was also frowning at her and Pandora figured her actions of trotting to sit in the middle of nowhere to look at nothing must seem pretty random to the human. Then again, she often did random things just to keep Willa confused.
    The ghost smiled when she saw Pandora and bent down to pat her on top of the head. Striker’s eyes widened and he gave Pandora a quizzical look. Pandora decided to freak him out, so she looked up at him and winked.
    “What’s going on?” Willa asked.
    “Nothing. Nothing at all,” Striker said quickly, causing Willa to cast another suspicious glance behind her.
    “You’re acting kind of strange,” Willa said.
    “I need coffee,” Striker replied. “I didn’t get one before the ceremony.” He pulled Willa over to the desk and away from the ghost who just followed him anyway, all the while blathering on about some box that she needed him to protect.
    Pandora addressed the ghost cat. “What’s that all about?” She jerked her head toward the two humans and the ghost.
    The cat shrugged. “Humans. Who can explain their strange behavior?”
    “No one,” Pandora agreed. “But ghosts usually behave that way for only one reason. They want something.”
    “Oh, that . Right. My human was entrusted with a very important silver box. She has waited on this plane of existence all these centuries to make sure it does not get into the wrong hands.”
    “Why wait so long?” Pandora asked.
    “It was hidden, but has recently surfaced. The human over there has access to it.”
    Pandora’s whiskers twitched. “You mean Striker?”
    The cat nodded. “Yes, the male.”
    “What are you doing here?” Pandora asked. “I’ve never seen a ghost cat before and I’ve seen my share of ghosts.”
    “Yep, that’s right. I’m a rare, cool cat. Not many of us have the guts to tough it