what I’d written, surprised to find it as good as I’d hoped it would be as I’d typed. An abundance of pride and ambition filled me. I haven’t written like that since before I met Clay. Even after we were married, I wrote and published, taking a break from it all to raise Wallie. I returned to it when he went to school because I didn't need to work. Clay made enough money, so we lived comfortably. My royalties were my mad money. Not that the money was mad, it was happy to be spent as much as I was to spend it.
However, it’d been a long time since I sat and wrote four effing chapters without my ADD kicking in. And all in one sitting!
I stretched with my arms reaching for the high ceiling, a loud groan spilling from my lips, then I searched my office. There was something I was going to do but I’d been too involved in the new world I created to be bothered. A noise.
At some point during my amazing marathon writing sprint, I’d heard something fall somewhere in the house. I’d been so into my story that I ignored it. Now that I was pulled out of the new imaginary world, I was curious to what it was, if anything. All my life the house had a magic to it that made it alive, animated was what Winnie called it. It made noises often just to get attention. However, there was no magic left in the house. I had all the windows open and none of them had screens, so it was either a random animal sneaking in or the wind knocking something over.
In the back of my mind, my subconscious brain was whispering that it was a bad idea. Things always ended badly for the lone female in the horror movies that went seeking out what made the unknown noise. Well, I wasn't just any lone female. I was Ava Harper, witch with a dark side. I wasn’t afraid to use it.
Okay, that was a lie. I hated my necromancer powers. They didn’t define me.
Plus, I wasn’t in a horror movie. If I were, I would have been the first to die.
Deciding on taking my chances with the dangers that might or might not be waiting for me, I moved through the downstairs of the Victorian. My bare feet were silent as I checked each room. I didn’t find anything that looked out of the ordinary. Strange. I’d distinctly heard something break. Unless I was going insane, which could be the real reason my muse woke up.
That was highly possible.
Giving up on finding the source of the noise that I was beginning to think was a product of my overactive imagination, I crossed the large open living room set on getting back to the book I started. About halfway back to my office a grey blur leaped at me from the stairs like some humongous furry bat. I screamed but managed to catch the large beast in both hands.
“Snoozles! Excuse me Mr. Snoozerson, You can’t jump out at me like that. I’m old and could have a heart attack.” I adjusted the twenty pound, three feet long, Maine coon in my arms to keep from dropping him. Seriously the cat was the size of a large dog. Except for great Danes. Snooze was more like a fluffy basset hound. Only he meowed and had claws.
“Snoozle, you can retract the claws.” I bent over and lowered the monster to the ground. He looked up at me and let out a gruff meow. “I hear ya, Snooze.” The poor cat had so many variations on his name it was a wonder he knew it at all.
Well, crap on a cracker. I didn’t buy cat food. Turning back to the kitchen, I wondered where the grumpy old tomcat had been. Wallie and I had searched all over for Snooze with nothing to show for it. Apparently that crazy cat didn’t want to be found.
I opened the cabinet with the canned food and pulled out the tuna while conjuring my grocery list to add Snooze’s food. He was a special kitty and would only eat the most expensive food on the market, no thanks to Winnie for spoiling him.
Snooze purred loudly and rubbed against my legs. After draining the water from the tuna can, I emptied the contents onto a plate and lowered it to the ground. “Eat up, Mr. Snoozles.”
My thanks were the growl-like sounds