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“She’s just a baby?—”
“Ssh…We’ll find her. Now, I want you to take these.” He handed me a pair of silver divining rods. “Hold them like so,” he said, showing me how to hold them. “Don’t grip them too tightly. Then think of Gem and let them do their thing.”
I had never worked with divining rods before. I took them—surprised they were so lightweight—and held them out as he had demonstrated. They were like long “L” shaped rods, and I held them by the bend, with the long and narrow part pointing away from me.
At first, the rods did nothing, then they began to quiver in my hands, moving ever so slightly. They suddenly both turned slightly to the left, pointing straight like a birddog.
“What’s that mean?” I asked.
“Follow their direction. If they start to turn, stop and give them a moment to settle, then again, follow the direction in which they’re leading us. Keep an image of Gem in your thoughts.” He stepped away just far enough to keep his energy from interfering.
I inhaled deeply, then held my breath for the count of four before slowly exhaling, calming myself as much as I could. Sure enough, I felt pulled to walk in the direction they were pointing. I kept my pace steady and slow, making certain to focus on how the rods felt in my hand, and keeping thoughts of Gem forefront in my mind.
About twenty paces forward, the rods began to swing and I froze, waiting to see what direction they were headed. They swung to the right, hard and fast, then abruptly stopped. I turned to match the direction and began to walk again.
I continued this way until we were at the treeline. The rods moved again, to the right a little, which would lead us directly into a thick patch of ferns, vine maple, and brambles. At least I was wearing leather—my pants might take a beating from the thorns on the blackberry canes, but they would keep me from being too scratched up.
Bran right behind me, I reached out to push the thick canes aside. But I froze as a faint ‘mew’ came from below.
“Gem? Is that you?” I kept my voice low, so as not to startle her if it was, and gently crouched down, getting on my hands and knees to peer into the foliage below the brambles. There, huddled against a rock behind the arching canes, was Gem. She was crouched in a little ball, looking terrified and miserable.
“Gem? Baby?” I held out one hand, balancing on my other.
Gem’s gaze flickered to meet mine and she let out another mew, then leaned forward. The moment she sniffed my fingers, she began to wobble toward me and I scruffed her, pulling her to my chest as I leaned back, resting on my heels.
“Oh baby, I’m so sorry. Are you okay?” I wanted to smother her with kisses, but instead—not wanting to overwhelm her—I tucked her down the neck of my sweater, nestling her against my breasts. Bran offered me a hand to help me get up and—holding Gem against my chest with my left hand, I used his support to push myself to my feet.
“Thank gods,” I said. “Thank you, Bran—so much.”
“Hey, I just provided the divining rods. You did all the work,” he said, bending to scoop the rods off the ground.
Fancypants came flying up. “Is she okay?” His usual bright red coloring was pale coral and I realized that it was like blood draining from a person’s face.
“I think so. We’ll check her out when we get back to the house.” Now that we had found her safe, I felt bad for my outburst. “Listen…I know you didn’t mean to let them out—it could happen to anybody,” I said.
“Thanks,” Fancypants said, though he remained subdued. “I truly didn’t mean to do that. I promise you, I’ll be more careful in the future.”
“I’m sure you will,” I said. “Come on, let’s get back inside.” The rain was increasing and overhead, another bright flash—this one blue—illuminated the sky. The thunder came a lot faster. The storm was almost on top of us.
We hurried back to the house, where Grams was drying off Silver, who had managed to get himself wet, as well.
“He looks fine. I don’t think there’s any damage,” she said. “Did you find?—”
I pulled Gem out of my sweater. “Yes, we found her, thanks to Bran and his divining rods. I want to get a set and practice with them.”
Gem was soaked through, but we dried her off and I sat on the sofa, both cats tucked on my lap. Fancypants landed on the back of the sofa, giving me a hesitant look.
“Yes, you can pet them,” I said.
He flew down to the seat and stretched out on my thighs, just above my knees, and began to stroke Silver with his hands, keeping his talons out of the way.
“I’m sorry,” he said, “I never meant…” Pausing, he shook his head. “I really am sorry,” he repeated.
“I know that, and I’m sure they know that. Just watch it in the future. In fact, maybe we should turn one of the windows into a door for you, with a sliding screen. Just make certain the screen’s always closed except when you’re using it. That way you won’t have to keep looking down at the floor if you want to open and use the screen door.”
Bran cleared his throat. “I can help there. That side window over there? The one that looks out over the herb garden? It wouldn’t be any trouble to change out for one Fancy could open. I can help with that. I can even make a little screen foyer, so he can close the window before opening the outer section. That way if the cats jump up there with him, they won’t be able to get out unless he opens the outer screen.”
Grams brought in a tray with three mugs of hot cocoa and cookies, along with two bowls of gooshy food for the cats, and another plate with cat food for Fancypants. She set the cat food on the table, and handed Bran and me each a mug of cocoa and a dessert plate filled with cookies. Then, after serving herself, she curled up in the rocking chair.
