Familiar!

"KIT!" Mrs. Black slammed the gate open, screaming at the top of her lungs. I spun toward the apparent threat, holding up my plant-filled hands in automatic defense. Extending both of her hands, palms open, in my direction before clenching both hands into fists as if grabbing something and pulling on it hard, she spoke.

"Dolorum mortuus est!"

"MOM, no!" Kathleen screamed at her mother.

Everything went black.

"Come on. Come on! I can see you breathing, so I know you're still alive. Please wake up. Wake up!"

The words were urgent sounding and followed by a slap across my cheek. A second slap followed the first.

"Wake up!"

"Grrf." I tried to wave my hands to ward off any other slaps.

"He lives. Now leave him." Mrs. Black's words were a stiff command.

"Not yet." Kathleen shook my shoulders, making me wobble like a limp block of rubber.

"Wake up. Try harder! Come on." Another slap landed on my cheek.

I managed to open my eyes to see Kathleen on her knees, bending over me. We were still on my front doorstep, her mother hadn't moved from where she stood at the edge of my driveway. The same place where she'd been standing when she hit me with the stun gun and knocked me out. I hadn't seen any stun gun, but what else could she have used at that distance?

"Kit." Mrs. Black commanded her daughter. "Come. Before he beguiles you more than he has."

"I'm not bound." Kathleen tossed the statement over her shoulder before grabbing a fistful of my hair, rocking my head with her hand. "Try. More. Wake up. Live!"

"Ahhawok." My mouth didn't seem to work like I wanted it to.

A fourth slap landed. It hurt. Kathleen wasn't pulling her punches.

"Ow!" Okay, now I was awake. Sort of. Every nerve in my body was jangling from the aftereffects of the stun gun charge. Even my brain was still buzzing.

At my cry of pain, she grabbed a second fistful of my hair. She yanked my face directly toward hers before giving another twist of her hands in my hair to hold my head still.

"Who am I?"

"Kitty cat." I couldn't stop the words leaving my mouth. They sounded dumb because I knew she was Kathleen. Apparently I was more loopy from whatever had just happened than I realized.

"Who are you? What's your name? What is your name?" She insisted I answer her.

"Daniel. McAllister." I gave her the name on the mailbox wondering why she was asking. It's not like she didn't know it already.

A third twist of her hands in my hair as Kathleen bent closer until her nose was nearly touching mine.

"I need you to listen to me. Okay?" Her voice was a harsh whisper.

I just blinked up at her. I hadn't noticed it before but her eyes were gold, just like the cats. There were very faint freckles scattered across her cheekbones which somehow enhanced the gold in her eyes and made them sparkle.

"Danny? Listen to me. I need you to do something."

"Daniel." I corrected her. Danny was a kid's name and I wasn't a kid.

"Daniel, I need you to help me. Can you help me?"

Why wouldn't I help her? I tried to nod yes but her hands in my hair prevented me from moving.

"Daniel? I need you to stop doing what you're doing. Okay? Just stop."

"Not doing anything." Freckles? How come I hadn't known she had freckles? Where had she been hiding them, in a suitcase in her closet? That'd be a neat trick if it was true.

"Yes you are. I need you to stop doing it."

"Yes." I decided I liked her freckle hiding trick. She was really sneaky, but what else could you expect from a cat?

"Yes, stop doing what you're doing." Golden eyes bored into mine from inches away.

"Not doing anything." Pretty eyes. Maybe if I asked, she'd kiss me?

She frowned down at me. "Yes, you are."

"Kiss me." Okay, there, I asked.

"What?" Her response was sharp as her eyes opened wide in surprise. "No."

"Yes." I spanned the short distance between our lips and kissed her on the mouth.

WHAM! Whatever they'd used on me once already hit me again. My head slammed backward to connect with the concrete of my doorstep. I groaned. At least I thought it was me. It sounded like me.

"Well, that's one way of getting him to stop broadcasting a challenge." Mrs. Black's tone was scornful.

"Mother!"

"You are the one bound. You either control him or he will control you."

"I am not bound to him! Look at me, he is not my Master. I still have my free will."

"Do you?"

"Yes." Kathleen stood up and spread her arms. "Look."

At her prompt I opened my eyes again. She sparkled like gold nuggets under bright lights. Not just her eyes, all of her.

"Stop that!"

"No. Look at me!"

"Kit! Stop before someone sees you." Kathleen's mother waved her hands and the dust motes sparkled again. After the sparkles were gone, Kathleen looked like she always did, black jeans, black T-shirt, black shoes and long black hair hanging straight down her back.

"Gold." I wanted the other Kathleen back.

"What?" They both turned to me.

"Golden Kitty."

"Crap!"

Another zap from the hidden stun gun and I went black again.

Chapter 3

Kathleen was on her knees beside me with old Mr. Espinoza bending over both of us when I came around again. Mr. Espinoza lived across the cul-de-sac and was, like, ancient. He'd been old when I was still a bratty little kid running around the neighborhood and getting into trouble. Now he looked like a mummy with wrinkles, worn dusty clothes, and everything else, including a faint smell of mildew and mothballs.

He was harmless. A nice old man who'd taught me how to ride a bicycle, tossed a football with me when I thought I was good enough to be a star quarterback someday, told me stories from his time in the Army as I helped him wash his car, and listened to the Dodger's game on the radio while he puttered in the garage on Sunday afternoons. He genuinely tried to be someone everyone liked. It'd worked. At least with me.

"What happened?" My voice sounded like a croak.

"I think you fell and hit your head." Kathleen explained carefully while giving me a look which said to not say anything. "You were unconscious."

I tried to roll over and get up. Immediately I gagged as my head swam and pain struck like lightening through my temples.

"Don't move!" Kathleen commanded me.

"Stay still mijo." Mr. Espinoza's words followed Kathleen's. "I called an ambulance. You were out long enough I got worried."

"'Mokay." I tried to roll over again and predictably gagged once more.

"Don't move!" Kathleen commanded me again.

I looked up at her.

"Please." The command was softer this time, almost a plea.

"No."

"No? No what? No you won't try to get up again?"

"No begging. Cats don't beg."

Kathleen's face drained of color and she quickly stood up, taking a step backwards before looking at Mr. Espinoza.

"I think he has a concussion."

"Sounds like it." Mr. Espinoza agreed with her.

I could hear a siren wailing closer and closer. It was probably the ambulance they'd called for me. I didn't want to be taken away in an ambulance. I wanted to stay home. Lifting my arm at Kathleen, I tried to beckon her close again.

"Here kitty, kitty, kitty."

Despite how silly the call sounded, Kathleen warily knelt next to me once more as Mr. Espinoza watched.

"Kiss me."

"No." She shook her head in refusal.

"Please. Before I die."

I tried to whisper but it sounded more like a scratchy rasp than a whisper. Kathleen shook her head in refusal again.

"You're not dying."

"Please?" I tried to lift my head, gasping and giving up as more pain lanced through my skull. Quickly Kathleen held me still, the touch of her fingers cool on my face.

"I told you, no."

Her refusal was solid. No matter how many times I asked, the answer would always be the same - no. I wasn't any sort of Casanova, but I'd played the dating game often enough to know I'd never change her mind.

"I'm sorry." I tried to apologize.

"For what?"

"For whatever I did wrong."

"You didn't do anything wrong. Maybe you didn't do the right things, but nothing you did was wrong." She gave me a caress across my temples with cool fingers before suddenly giving me a crooked little smile. "Putting cream out like that was playing dirty though. It was hard to resist and I really wanted to just give in."

"Did you? Give in?"

The quirky smile appeared again. Right before the tip of her tongue touched her lips.

"Maybe."

"That's my girl."

"'I'm not your girl. Or your anything else for that matter." The gentle caresses stopped as fast as the smile disappeared.

Closing my eyes I tried to nod my understanding, but she held my head to prevent me from moving. The ambulance siren went silent as they turned into the cul-de-sac. Car doors slammed. Heavy footsteps joined the itch on the back of my neck to tell me someone was looking at me. The faces of two strangers appeared when I opened my eyes again, their uniforms telling me they were the ambulance guys Mr. Espinoza had called.

"I think he fell. He was unconscious when I found him." Kathleen lied to the two paramedics.

The EMT's wrote down my name and other information, took my vital signs, and put a foam collar around my neck before loading me onto one of those wheeled stretcher, hospital Gurney, things. The last familiar sight was Kathleen's face right before they closed the doors and took me away.

I have no idea how anyone can think a hospital is quiet and restful. There's nothing but constant talking, banging, slamming, coughing, beeping, and shuffling feet every hour of the day and night. And I had a concussion, along with a skull fracture to go with the black eye I had from Kathleen slapping me too hard, too many times.

I couldn't sleep because of all the noise and commotion. What little rest I managed to get was filled with golden eyes staring at me. Nothing else, just the eyes staring at me. The doctors warned me about being careful with the medications they gave me after I told them about the dream eyes. They said sometimes the pain medication, combined with head injuries like mine, caused delusions and phantom images in some people. What would seem very real to me could, in fact, be nothing more than fantasy and I wouldn't be able to tell the difference. Because of the possibility I could do something dangerous and not know it, and because I lived alone and there wasn't anyone to take care of me if they let me go home, they kept me there for three days. It sucked. Right up to the point where the taxi guy took the last of my paycheck.

Opening the door I made it to my couch and sat down before slowly toppling onto my side, feeling too exhausted and ill to go any further. The only thing I remember after that were the golden eyes watching from the darkness.

"Sit up."

The words were soft and woke me. Kathleen was sitting cross-legged on the floor next to the couch holding a bowl of something which had wisps of steam rising from the center. From the smell I deduced it was chicken soup. From the fact the reading lamp overhead was casting yellow light across her features, I next deduced the remainder of the day had passed while I slept on the couch. A roll of my eyes to glance through the window at the twilight outside confirmed I was correct.

"Go away." I hid my face behind my arm before relenting enough to ask. "What day is it?"

"Wednesday."

Great. I'd been wrong, more than an entire day had passed since I'd made it home. I'd been so comatose I hadn't been aware of how long it'd been. On top of that, I was supposed to have been at work three days ago.

"Did anyone call my boss to tell him I was in the hospital?"

"No."

Double great. I was probably fired by now.

"Sit up. Carefully. You need to eat."

"Go away." I repeated my earlier desire to be left alone.

"No. Sit up."

I lifted my elbow to look underneath my arm at her. "Don't you people ever do what someone asks you to do?"

She smirked at me. "No. Now sit up."

"Neighbors from hell." I used both hands to lever myself to a somewhat leaning position against the arm of the couch. "Just don't beat on me any more, they said I have a skull fracture."

The smirk fell away as I grumbled and wobbled while my head spun.

"Sorry. My mom overreacted."

"Your mom wasn't the one who gave me the black eye. Or the concussion." I couldn't stop the harsh words.

"No, she just killed you. I brought you back to life again. Which was a lot harder to do, thank you very much."

A helpful touch on my shoulder stabilized me until the world stopped spinning around and around. When it stopped I looked up to see concern on her face as she offered a pillow, from my bedroom no less, to make a lap table for the bowl of soup. I'd be able to feed myself easier that way.

"Whatever." I lifted a spoonful of the soup. Or tried to. I was so weak and shaky I dribbled soup everywhere as soon as I tried to lift it to my mouth.

"Let me do it." Kathleen took the spoon from me and filled it from the bowl before I could make an even bigger mess. "Open up. It's warm, but not hot."

Spoonful by spoonful she fed me until the bowl was empty. Both of us refrained from making choo-choo or airplane noises the whole time. Although I suspect it was more difficult for her from the twinkle which ignited in her eyes around the third or fourth time she aimed the spoon at me. Her face stayed blank but it felt like she was laughing at me the whole time.

We shared the last of the milk Kathleen scrounged from my fridge. She licked her lips in satisfaction after she swallowed the final drops from the bottom of the glass.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it."

She just shrugged. "I could always let the raccoon have it. He's eating all the cat food anyway."

"Raccoon?"

She shrugged again. "He lives over a garage on the next block. I had to chase him away a couple of times. Apparently somebody doesn't know he shouldn't put food outside because it attracts wild animals who carry diseases."

"Oh."

"Ignoramus. Get some sleep and I'll come by again tomorrow. You need some groceries anyway." Her grin flashed. "You're out of milk too."

"No money." I told her I was broke after the taxi cab ride.

"Pffft!" Kathleen just flicked her fingers.

"You don't need to do anything, I can take care of myself."

She sized me up with a scornful look. "Yeah, right."

"Seriously, don't bother."

"Seriously, shut up."

We bantered about it for awhile longer but eventually I let her win. There wasn't anything I could do to prevent her from doing what she wanted anyway.

Chapter 4

I dreamed of the golden eyes again. They seemed so real. I tried to touch them but they drew back out of reach before closing and disappearing into the blackness.

Kathleen woke me in the morning when she came in through my front door carrying two grocery bags of food. She didn't knock. Instead she just walked in as if she owned the place, strolling past where I was stretched out on my couch to put her bags of food on the dining table. Humming to herself, she rummaged through my cabinets learning where I kept things. I watched her take several items from the bags on my table before disappearing into the kitchen to put the new supplies away. It felt right to see and feel her here. I wished she'd stay forever.

As soon as the thought struck me, she stopped humming and spun around.

"I already told you no. Stop trying to get me to change my mind."

"Didn't say anything." I flapped a hand weakly.

"Whatever you're doing, stop it."

"Not doing anything."

"Seriously Daniel, knock it off." Her voice was stern in warning.

"I said I wasn't doing anything. I mean it. I'm not."

She just looked at me for a minute then gestured with a finger.

"Close your eyes."

"Why?"

"Because I told you to, that's why. Just do it."

"You're crazy, you know that?"

"Daniel! Close your eyes and turn your head away. I don't trust you. Especially right now."

I turned my face to the back of the couch and closed my eyes. I heard her cross the room.

"Can you see me?"

"I have my eyes closed. Like you wanted."

"That's not what I'm asking. Can. You. See. Me?"

"No."

"You're sure? You can't see me at all?"

"No."

"What do you see?"

"Nothing. I have my eyes closed."

I felt a burst of warmth from her direction. I started to roll toward her and open my eyes.

"No! Don't move! Keep your eyes closed."

I grumped, but did what she asked.

"Now, what do you see?"

"Nothing. This is stupid."

"Shut up and tell me what you see."

"Nothing!"

"You're sure? You can't see me at all? You don't see anything?"

"No. All I keep seeing are some stupid eyes staring at me."

"Eyes? What kind of eyes?"

"Gold ones." As I said it, the eyes opened in the darkness behind my closed eyelids to look directly at me. They blinked.

"Oh crap."

I heard Kathleen curse softly to herself. I didn't care. All I wanted was to draw the eyes closer. I wanted to see who they belonged to.

"Daniel, let me go."

"Not touching you." I mumbled as I tried to see through the blackness at the face behind the eyes.

<Who are you?>

I pulled and the eyes moved closer. A face emerged from the blankness in front of me. A face I'd seen before. Somewhere. A face with golden eyes and tiny faint freckles on her cheeks.

"Daniel, stop it!"

"Not doing anything."

"Yes you are. Stop it before I have to hurt you again." Kathleen's voice was a low growl. As if she were gritting her teeth and talking at the same time. "I mean it, stop."

Ignoring her, I looked at the face in front of my eyes.

<Who are you?> I repeated the wondering query. I knew someone belonged to the face, but I couldn't quite remember who.

<Daniel. Let me go.>

I knew that voice.

<Kitty?>

<NO! Let me go!> Eyes flashed in anger as she spat the words at me. <Letmego! Letmego! Letmego!>

The face struggled against my desire to see it clearly. It was painful. The more she struggled, the more it hurt until I couldn't take the searing pain inside my aching head any longer.

<Stop. It hurts. Stop, stop, stop!>

<LET ME GO!> Sensing weakness the eyes fought harder, hammering me with something which made all the previous pain seem trivial.

"Ahhhhh!" I screamed as Kathleen pounded a fist into the center of my chest. Again and again she clawed and pounded at me while the searing pain in my head increased.

"STOP!" I reached deep and somehow grabbed onto the image in my head. "GET AWAY FROM ME!"

Flinging my arms wide, I threw the face from my dreams as far away as I could, simultaneously knocking Kathleen backwards. She flipped over the coffee table and landed against the wall on the far side of the room. Instantly she was crouched on her feet, a fierce snarl on her face as she bared her teeth in my direction.

Her hands were flexed into claws and I could see her muscles tense, ready to spring. Somehow, overlaying her stance, was the image I'd seen of her that one time, the one which was all gold and glitter.

I knew I wasn't supposed to see her like that because it was a secret she was keeping from me. But, I could fix it so she wouldn't have to be afraid any longer. Waving my hands, I reached for the deep something I'd felt just a moment before. I concentrated, the words I needed forming in my head. I didn't know what they meant. I didn't know where they came from. I only knew they fit what I wanted to do and I had to say them to protect her. To help her keep her secret. I shouldn't know her secret, no one should. Not unless she wanted them to.

"Latabra impermeabilante libertas."