WONDER ( Twisted Forbidden Tales ) Book Three

Happy Assumptions

ALISSA

A subtle meow from Happy took me out of my intense focus on the task in front of me. I had a habit of having a one-track mind once inside the lab, everything else became arbitrary, but Happy’s call reminded me sternly that I wasn’t alone anymore.

I discovered some components inside the powder that were similar to the drug that had been used on me back then but in liquid form. This powder was the advanced version of that, having combined the effects of the Tweedle twin's blood and something foreign I couldn’t quite decipher just yet.

The last component could mutate and transform, giving it a spell-type composite, meaning I needed a witch or, better yet, someone experienced in casting. The Mad Bandit cape cloak only does so much and that was limited to each time I wore it. This powder could be useful in the right hands, but having been in the possession of someone like Enzo and Zuri Tweedle made me shiver inside.

It would explain the rise in numbers of the missing as Haku had mentioned, if this powder was being used. However, the mutative spell within it was throwing me for a loop in why it was added to it when the blood of the Tweedle’s worked arbitrated hallucinogen making its victim submissive to anything.

This alone would make this case a bit more complicated if added to the information Haku and I had already obtained during the ruckus at the Tweedle Club. Though the Mad lab was equipped with almost everything a chemist would need, when it came to magic, that was outside my element. Magic just wasn’t in me, as an apprentice to my master, the original Mad Bandit, after he saved me. We both thought that would be the case considering how I was brought here from another realm.

After many tests and trials, as I trained, nothing was given and things were set in stone, but it did not stop me from studying it. However, I had been at this for a while now and the major parts of the powder had been broken down enough to at least have a lead on where I was headed to next. The night was lingering and time passed for Happy and I to have a meal and settle in for the night.

I couldn’t deny my fatigue, but I couldn’t let Happy or myself go to bed hungry, let alone sleep with the residue of tonight's lab work pursuit lingering on me. The Mad Lab in the basement, unlike the upper floor of the cottage, was divided into two parts.

I had no energy to climb the stairs, so Happy and I would spend the night down here instead.

Happy trailed behind me in silence as we left the lab. I wasn’t the only one who was a stickler for cleanliness, it seemed, and I smirked a bit as I slid my feet across the floor. In stark contrast, the other half of the room is transformed into a cozy living space, the harsh lines of the laboratory giving way to softer, more inviting furnishings. A plush bed, with mismatched blankets and pillows, occupies one corner, its worn frame nestled against the rough-hewn stone walls. A small bathroom, tucked away behind a sliding door, offered a modicum of privacy amid the hustle and bustle of experimentation.

“Give me just a few minutes, Happy, and I will prepare a delicious meal for us tonight.” I said with a sigh.

Before doing anything, I needed to get the sweat and grime of today's work off my skin before retaining enough energy to put together a small meal for us and get on to bed. Happy jumped onto the bed with ineffable ease, he made a comfortable spot for himself and watched me with his intriguing green cat eyes for a moment before closing his eyes as if understanding my words and dutifully waiting for me to finish what I needed to before preparing said delicious meal.

I reached my hand out to pet Happy, then retracted my hand once I thought about how Happy hadn't let me pick him up from the lab table after I finished with the powder. Shaking my head, I chuckled at the sight of him. His tail wagged softly from side to side along the soft blanket on the bed, but he was far from asleep, that much I knew.

The shower called to me, so I headed inside, leaving the door open and myself within clear view of the cheeky little cat I named Happy. He was just too unique for words, several of his actions had raised my suspicions that he was no ordinary feline. After all, the letters were the reason I found myself on that path that night.

After my narrow escape from the Elder Portal, the man in the mask and that slow-witted man. My luck was coincidental when those two began to fight and left me a way out to head back to my home safely and change from my Mad Bandit disguise and just be me, Alissa. The letter that showed up then didn’t surprise me as I had received several before that one that had led me led Happy Town.

Somehow, the name stuck with me and I couldn’t help feeling like that name suited the purple-striped fur, green-eyed cat before me. As my thoughts consumed, on autopilot, my clothes dropped piece by piece on the floor. I started the shower and got in. Letting the water ease the tension in my body as I washed quickly and efficiently, from head to toe. It slipped my mind to close the sliding door in the process, unaware of a set of glowing green eyes that took n my every move.

Fifteen minutes later……..

With my wet hair wrapped up in a white fluffy bath towel, clad in one of my favorite gray cotton sleeping shirts with its lace trim with a v-neck and short sleeves. Donning my pink slippers again, I headed over to the kitchenette nearby without a care in the world, for my stomach was calling the hounds.

I had yet to notice Happy’s green-eyed glare from the bed as I set out to prepare a late-night meal for us as promised. The kitchenette area, though small, is well-equipped with a mini-fridge, electric tea kettle, microwave, rice cooker, and hotplate, allowing for the preparation of simple meals and midnight snacks. As I got to work, Happy made his way over to one of the mismatched chairs at the small but sturdy wooden table. He jumped onto the chair and set his eyes staring at me intensely as his tail wagged at a tempo that seemed like annoyance.

Frowning, I glared back at him as I worked on making the chicken stir-fry in the pan on the hot plate. What was that look all about? Happy was strange. Wasn’t he fine a few minutes ago? Shrugging my shoulders in indifference to this cat’s mood swings. After some time, I turned off the hotplate and headed over to the rice cooker to set up dinner.

It was the easiest and fastest to cook, so stir-fry it was again. All in all, it was still delicious. Happy enjoyed it too, as his face was covered in rice. As my thoughts wandered, he seemed more human than a cat from my point of view. I should have felt uneasy about that being a possibility, but for some strange reason, I felt even more at ease and safe if that were to be true. Those green eyes of his were striking. Those eyes felt familiar like I'd seen them somewhere on a certain person years ago.

My head began to throb at the memory, but I knew that was impossible. I have been in this world for a long time now and didn’t have much hope of return. The only thing I had was that clue I found back in Manhattan that had brought me here in the first place and I had yet to find her. The reason I kept moving forward, the reason I had to make the Millard Family pay if I ever did return. How long had it been? Were they reveling in glory at the sight of my absence? Had this world been a part of their plan?

I had always felt that they were involved. Somehow, that feeling never left me for a moment the more time I spent there. This drug, the missing, the letters, and the things that happened to me in between. My daughter was out there somewhere. I could feel it in my bones. However, I couldn’t stray off on my own now with the letters now being involved. They were the beacon of justice and the final headway to why I couldn’t give up. But what part did Happy the Cat have in this play? Of course, that was just an assumption that he even had a place in these matters.

After our dinner, Happy headed back over to the bed and jumped onto it. While he watched as he cleaned up and then headed over to join him, he was in bed. The bed felt cozy and warm as I climbed in, happy making room for me by moving to the foot of the bed. The deep yet soft rumbling of his purring welcoming melody drifted me off into a deep sleep. Unbeknownst to me, in my dog's tiredness, I failed to double-check the small window in the bathroom slightly left ajar, nor see the fog that slowly began to creep in between our slumbers. I had no idea the night I was about to occur or the changes the fog activated in Happy.