Marvela kept her eyes shut. A cold wind lightly caressed her fur. The morning sun warmed the wood beneath her paws. The sound of a bubbling brook filled her ears. Marvela took a deep breath. "Just... Focus..."

There was the faintest stirring within her. She called to it, trying to coax it out of hiding. Finally, like a wounded animal, her magic came to her. With a steady exhale, Marvela released it.

She opened her eyes.

In front of the railing of the bridge she perched on, the now-empty vial pendant floated in midair. Marvela smiled weakly at the sight. Finally, her magic was willing to obey her.

The kitten blinked. She swished her tail along the rail behind her. Or maybe... Maybe now she was willing to call to her magic. Marvela watched the necklace bob in the air. Yes, her magic had returned...

But it was not enough to defeat Asra.

It would never be enough.

She let the pendant fall, and it splashed into the brook below. The rippling surface obscured where it sank to the bottom amongst polished stones.

The kitten pounced from the railing and skulked away from the bridge toward the Vigilance Library. The people she passed by gathered in the streets in whispering groups. Marvela's ears twitched as she caught snippets of remarks about the curious weather last night.

And the rumors of missing people all around town.

Marvela ducked her head as the numerous posters depicting the faces of the missing stared at her from the walls they were plastered to. She couldn't bring herself to look Agatha, Phoebe, Olive, or any of the others she never got a chance to meet in the eye.

She finally reached the sanctuary of the library. Marvela paid the vines enveloping the building no mind as she brushed pawfuls of its leafy green lengths out of the way to reveal the window she and Curious always kept propped open. Inside, the building was as devoid of life as ever. Books slumped against each other on shelves, awaiting the day someone in need of an escape would take them home. Judging by the layer of dust coating many of the books, they had been waiting awhile.

That was a sad thought, but Marvela had other sad thoughts to dwell on. She made her way beneath one of the empty desks, kneaded at the old forgotten jacket she had claimed from the lost-and-found box, spun around a few times, and then curled up in a ball on top of it. She shut her eyes.

A small hand prodded at her. "Whatcha doin'?" Marvela heard Curious ask.

"Hiding," she answered without opening her eyes. "You should be too. We don't want Branwenn or Asra to find us, do we?"

Especially now that she knows I'm a witch...

Curious continued to poke her. "No, I suppose we don't. But hiding doesn't just mean moping in the dark. We could be practicing our magic. Getting better and stronger—"

Marvela's lip curled up. In an instant, she bolted upright, making the rat fall away from her. "But that's the thing, Curious!" she yowled at him. "Those other witches... Agatha, Phoebe, Olive, and... and Sable! They were already more powerful than me! And Asra still defeated them! It's like everyone says. I'm just a cat. A very tiny cat. I wasn't even a good familiar." Marvela sighed. She sat back down on her haunches with her ears flat against her head. "I'm not a witch."

The rat tugged on his whiskers as he regarded her. "Hmmm. Just a cat, huh?" He turned to the window where, despite the mass of vines swinging on the other side of it, sunlight still shined through. "Well, if you're 'just' a cat, Marv, then stop worrying about all this witch stuff! Just go out and be a cat!"

Marvela blinked. That was precisely what Midnight had done, wasn't it? Midnight had looked happy, without a care in the world. "I... I don't even know what regular cats do..."

Being a familiar was all she had known. Ever since she had first opened her eyes, she had been at Sable's side in the world of magic. She knew no other way of life.

The cat sat trembling, but the rat scurried to the window. He paused with two paws pressed against the glass to look back at Marvela. "Let's go find out!"

The sunlight shifted, falling across Marvela's face. In the sudden warmth, Marvela found herself standing. A strange little thrill of excitement swelled within her. She took a paw-step forward after Curious.

Then stopped.

"Wait..." she mewed. She held a black paw to her face. She and Curious would be on Asra's radar. The green-eyed witch and her feathered familiar would undoubtedly be on the lookout for a small black star-spotted kitten and her white rat. She turned to the bookshelf that hid her spellbook. "One more spell before we go..."

"That's the spirit!" cheered Curious from the window.

It hadn't taken them long before they had another potion brewing in front of them. Marvela and Curious stared into the hypnotizing liquid that constantly changed color as it swirled within the flowerpot, their makeshift cauldron. With a smile, Marvela dipped a claw into the fluid. She lightly touched her dripping claw to the star on her chest. Her fur rippled like a field of wheat in a windstorm. The potion bleached the black fur around her star white, and gradually the color spread until Marvela was as white and spotless as freshly laid snow. She touched her claw to Curious and watched as the potion dyed his white fur a cool gray hue.

The rat scrutinized his changed appearance. "Aw, a boring gray rat?" He pouted. "Couldn't you have made me a more fun color? Like purple, or blue, or... Or chartreuse?"

Marvela giggled and stuck her tongue out at him. "How about I make you a mouse instead?"

"On second thought, gray is fine."

The white cat and the gray rat left the library. Curious led the way, taking special care to avoid streets with crowds and posters. Instead, the familiar led his witch down a more scenic trail in some autumnal woods where few people currently trod. Marvela gazed up at the gently rocking branches overhead. Yellow leaves rained down on the pair. She tried to ignore the rising sun just beyond the tree limbs. Instead, she only focused on the nostalgia she found herself swimming in. She almost felt like she was home in Grudgewood Forest.

...Like she was on her way back to her cottage after a full day of scavenging for potion ingredients.

A large tabby tomcat pounced forth from the foliage that lined the path in front of them. The white kitten froze, for it was the nasty old cat she had encountered shortly after her arrival in Vigilance. The cat grinned at Marvela and her rat once more, displaying his yellowed and broken teeth. He flicked his tail in a greeting. "Afternoon!" he exclaimed. "Lovely day for a stroll, isn't it?"

"It sure is!" said Curious.

Marvela tilted her head at the big old tom who appeared to not recognize her. In broad daylight, he didn't look as scary as before. He was still scruffy and stinky, sure, but there was no sign of menace in his smiling, scarred face.

Perhaps she had misjudged his appearance just as she did Vigilance.

And Marvela couldn't help but smile back, now unbothered by the cat's visage.

From somewhere beyond the woods, a human called out. The tom's ears twitched at the sound. The bell on the collar around his neck jingled as he turned toward the voice. "Sorry, my person is calling," the tom said. He took off in the direction of the person's voice while calling over his shoulder, "Enjoy the rest of the day, you two!"

Marvela peeked between the ferns the tom had disappeared through. Her heart fluttered as she saw a woman scoop up the tom that rubbed against her legs affectionately. She held him in her arms and kissed his scarred nose as he purred away.

She remembered how Sable had used to hold her close like that. The thought made her heart ache, but it also left her with a strange bittersweet feeling. It was nice to see that she wasn't so different from other cats, after all.

"Heads up!" cried a high voice.

Something round and pokey struck the back of Marvela's head.

"Ow!" she yelped, whipping around to confront whatever had hit her.

A trio of kittens stared back at her.

"Um, can you kick that back, please?" mewed the calico at the forefront, pointing a paw at the pinecone that had hit Marvela.

"Oh, uh... Sure," the formerly black cat said back. She flicked the pinecone back toward the other kittens with the back of her paw. Grins spread across each of the other kittens' faces as the pinecone sprang into motion. Each tiny cat wrestled with each other to pounce at their spikey prey.

"Hey!" squealed the brown-spotted kitten, taking notice of Marvela. "Come play with us!"

Marvela shrank back. She locked eyes with Curious who nodded back approvingly. "I... I don't know the rules."

"Rules?" said the other kittens. "There are no rules!"

Curious gave her a light shove from behind, and Marvela found herself amid the tussling kittens.

Obviously, there was a rule: acquire the pinecone.

Okay then.

And despite her initial hesitation, Marvela found herself enjoying herself with kittens her age. The giggling kittens wrestled, tossing up the fallen leaves.

"I got it!" cried the tiny orange tom.

"Nuh-uh, I've got it!" cried the calico.

The brown-spotted kitten batted the pinecone away from the other kittens and held it above his head in victory. "You're both wrong! I've got it!"

Marvela swished her tail. She flashed a sly smile. The pinecone in the black and white kitten's paws began glowing. Then it floated up out of everyone's reach. "I've got it," she said with a giggle.

"Whoa!"

"How'd you do that?"

"Can you make me float like that?"

Marvela and her new friends enjoyed their game of keep away. How long they played together, Marvela had no idea. She had long forgotten the sun in the sky until it had begun its descent.

When the sky began darkening and the jack-o'-lanterns were lit, the other kittens padded back to their homes, their tails waving in farewell.

"Bye, Marvela!"

"Come play with us again sometime!"

"Yeah, and make more stuff float!"

Marvela watched them leave. Curious leaned against her, nuzzling her fur. "Want to go back to the library now?" he asked her.

The white kitten noticed an off-shooting trail that led deeper into the woods. Grinning jack-o'-lanterns lined either side of it. Marvela wasn't ready to relinquish the warm feeling these woods filled her with. "Not just yet," she meowed back as she padded down the path without a second thought.

The woods grew darker the further the sun fell. The trees grew thicker. More gnarled. But Marvela was unafraid. More lit pumpkins marked the route and, eventually, she reached the path's terminus: an old decrepit bell tower long left abandoned in the woods.

The building appeared to be a popular spot for Halloween decorations. Pots of yellow mums sat on what was left of the stone steps. Carved pumpkins sat in every window that had long been blown out. Marvela's orange eyes followed up the building's crumbling, moss-covered side up to the spire that still proudly pierced the twilight sky.

"Creepy..." the gray rat at the kitten's side murmured.

"Yeah," agreed Marvela as she happily made her way through the open doorway.

Inside, dustmotes danced in the moonlight between fallen rafters and upturned floorboards. The wind rustled through the holes in the walls. There came a faint ringing from above. Marvela and Curious looked up to see that the old bell was still very much intact. It had long ago lost its luster, but it still swayed to-and-fro in the wind; the clapper rocked back and forth, making the slightest contact against the inside of the oxidized bell.

It was a breathtaking sight to Marvela. All this history, she thought.

Then hundreds of pairs of eyes in the shadows around the bell opened. Hundreds of pairs of leathery wings spread. Then hundreds of bats took flight and descended upon the cat and the rat, orbiting around them and all crying out a cheerful, high-pitched "Hello!"

"We don't get many visitors at night around here!" squeaked one bat in the fluttering cloud.

"Yes! Nice to meet you, Cat!" squeaked another.

"Nice to meet you, too, Squirrel!"

"That's a rat, Benny."

"Don't mind Benny. His echolocation isn't great."

"Oh no, one of the pretty pumpkins the humans left behind is out!"

Marvela turned to spy that the latter statement was correct. One pumpkin's candle must've been blown out. It looked so sad next to its beautiful, illuminated kin.

"Oh, I can fix that!" said Marvela. She clapped her paws together, and the unlit wick sprang to life with a hearty flame. A hearty purple flame. There was a rush of orange wind over every other pumpkin, and the candle inside each one became just as virulent as the purple flame. And each one was a different color as well.

"Oops! I didn't mean to do that," mewled Marvela.

"Oh! But they're beautiful!" said a bat from the cloud.

"Yes! We love them! They're perfect for Halloween tomorrow!"

"Why are all these basketballs on fire?"

"Oh, Benny..."

The bats wished the cat and her rat farewell and returned to the rafters as the pair left the bell tower.

"Now, are you ready to go back?" Curious asked her again.

Marvela stared at the leaves that crunched beneath her paws. Going back to the library meant going to sleep, which would bring the next day—the day when Asra's plan would come to fruition.

She was about to mumble a retort to Curious when her ears caught the abrupt sound of flapping wings. She snatched up her familiar in her forepaws. Holding Curious close, she ducked into the foliage and out of sight.

Then Marvela and Curious both breathed sighs of relief. They had expected to see Branwenn's feathery form, but instead, a cloud of bats blotted at the night sky. Panicked, high-pitched squeaking filled the air. The sound of it made the fur along the kitten's spine rise.

"What's the matter?" she meowed to them, stepping out of hiding.

The flapping cloud descended. Many high voices spoke at once.

"The big old bell finally fell!"

"Down to the ground!"

"What a strange and spontaneous event to occur!"

"Some bats are trapped inside it!"

Curious turned to Marvela. Marvela turned to face the direction of the bell tower in the woods. She took off running.

The exterior of the bell tower still looked very much the same. Inside, however, was another story. Sure enough, the old bell had fallen to the first floor, cracking the floorboards beneath it. Marvela pressed her ear to the side of the bell. She could hear the faint sounds of leathery wings flapping about from inside. The rest of the bats hovered around the bell, offering reassurances to their trapped friends.

She took a step back. "Hang on, everyone!" she called, loud enough for the bats inside the bell to hear. "I'll get you out!"

Without skipping a beat, Marvela clapped her forepaws together and shut her eyes. She called for her magic. She could still hear the frantic flapping inside the bell. Levitating pinecones and lighting candles were one thing...

Lifting an enormous bell and saving frightened bats was another.

She felt nothing answer her call. Nothing rose to fill the hollow space within her. Marvela bared her fangs. Her tail began twitching.

Please.

It stirred within her, hesitating. Then it paused just at the threshold, too afraid to come forth.

Please.

She felt her magic shrivel and recede into its depths. Marvela didn't force it. She didn't chase after it. She didn't shrink away from it.

She embraced it.

Please. I know I can do this.

Her magic filled her body more with every heartbeat. She felt it threaten to overflow as it embraced her in return.

And Marvela laughed and released her second-hand magic in a wave of glittering orange mist. The mist wrapped around the several-ton bell and hoisted it up like it was the weight of a single feather.

The bell tower echoed with gasps of awe as the glowing bell rose from the floor and floated back to the apex of the tower. Now returned to where it had formerly been roosting, metal and wood melded back together and repaired themselves in a shower of orange sparks. The bell returned to its headstock.

A wisp of magic spiraled around the bell, dissolving the centuries of grime that coated its surface. And suddenly, the old bell looked brand new, reflecting all the multi-colored flames below. Its sparkling, glowing sheen could even compete with the glow of the nearly full moon outside.

The bell sang loud in celebration, its beautiful tone echoing from every moss-covered corner of the tower.

The freed bats rejoined the cloud that flapped around Marvela and Curious, all exclaiming their joy at the turn of events.

"Wow!"

"That was amazing!"

"Thank you, Marvela!"

"Yes! Thank you, witch-cat!"

"And thank you, too, squirrel!"

The cloud of bats took wing into the star-strewn sky, leaving Marvela and Curious alone in the bell tower. Marvela looked from her sparkling claw-tips to her beaming familiar.

"What are you thinking?" Curious asked her.

"I'm thinking... That I'm not going to run and hide. I'm not going to give up. Vigilance is worth saving," was her answer. "And I think I can do it."

She was ready.