Underneath

The children were being noisy again. Minstrel could hear their excitement without glancing up from her comfy perch on the windowsill. She could tell from the shape and color of the fallen leaves that it was only a matter of time before the two little ones would be outside going door to door in the dark of night, requesting sweets with their big smiles and silly costumes. Before this year, the youngest of her charges wasn't even able to walk on her own. Now she would be trick-or-treating decked out in all orange and as round as the strange smelling fruit they kept on the porch as decorations. Her brother, on the other hand, would go as a bat complete with a black bat mask.

Only when they approached the living room did Minstrel raise her head to acknowledge them, ears flinching slightly at Gracie's excited giggling. With Gracie was her big brother, Malcolm, just exiting the rather lanky and awkward phase human children seem to go through. He'd recently turned sixteen and from his widened eyes and pursed lips, Minstrel could tell he was not entirely ready to chaperone his baby sister this evening. Minstrel graced them with a meow as she stretched out, vibrant emerald eyes flashing before she leaped down to weave between the young girl's legs in customary cat fashion until she got some back scratches. Now, she saw them to the door, looking happy and welcoming, but dreading the approaching festivities. She knew the darker it got, the louder it got.

Gracie gave one last encouraging scratch under her chin before leaving, telling her to be good and watch the house. Her parents had said it to her brother enough times for Gracie to remember it and used it on Minstrel every time she left. Even now, she said it with a smile under her black and orange face paint. The cat felt unnerved letting them leave, but couldn't remember why at the moment. Plus, there were too many reasons to stay home and try to sleep until it was all over.

Not even an hour later the sounds became too much to let her snooze. Not even the sweet smell of pumpkin spice candles was enough to keep her. It seemed the neighborhood had an endless supply of children who knew the house kept goodies. The next time the door opened, Minstrel bounded out and under skeleton legs, nearly taking someone's big skull scarf with her.

She hadn't thought about where she would go and she was getting sick of the smell the pumpkins gave off. Those things were everywhere and the trick-or-treaters were everywhere else. It was tiresome to snake through legs and avoid getting stepped on or kicked by foot traffic. Minstrel knew she could always cut through the yards and brush but the sidewalks had their own appeal and she liked the way her claws clicked on the concrete.

In her traveling, she picked up on the reason for her uneasiness earlier. Teens dressed as witches mentioned an old urban legend about a monster under the neighborhood park. It was said the adults fed their children to it once a year to keep it from eating the whole neighborhood. Normally, there was no way she would believe some human garble but Malcolm was a news bug and Minstrel was a pampered lap cat. She also recalled Gracie and Malcolm's parents telling them to cut through the park on their way home. Minstrel changed direction and headed towards the center of the community. There was a small chance she could beat them there.

Maybe the news reports and rumors were the real reason the boy had been so reluctant to head out alone with his baby sister. Especially once his parents instructed him to cut through the park on their way home. She berated herself for forgetting they were just as prone to acts of idiocy as the other parents who allowed such a vile trade. Minstrel was their guardian by an oath made before Malcolm was even born and before the family coincidentally adopted her. It never occurred to her that the true threat could be the very people who raised her charges.

A familiar glint on the ground made her pause. She recognized the origami bat. Malcolm loved folding paper creations, and must have made it while they went door-to-door. It was something he had been doing for so long, he hardly had to think about it. They were already in the park.

Minstrel raced on, much more alert and hoping she wasn’t too late. If she had to, she could probably fight the creature off, but she didn’t want it to come to that if there were alternative means. It wasn’t that she was old but the children didn’t need to know her secret just yet. With Gracie as young as she was, there was no way she would understand.

Her pace and heartbeat slowed to normal when she caught sight of Malcolm cautiously following the path through the park with Gracie in tow on his back. The neighborhood they resided in was not a small one and the girl had exerted a lot of energy before she even left the front step of the house. Seeing her snoozing on her brother's back was no surprise to Minstrel. The gradual rising of earth from one side of the park, however, was a different story entirely.

She could hear it and see it, but she felt no tremors from the ground and this creature had no scent. The latter was too bizarre for her comfort. The lump in the earth rose higher and higher as she charged to Malcolm’s defense. Minstrel could see why this monster scared the humans. Claws as long as a tree branch and darker than the night at its peak. A growl surged from her throat and came out as a warning hiss when she saw it draw nearer. Her tail lashed behind her as she stared down this unnatural creature that commandeered the community park.

Minstrel couldn’t even tell if this thing had eyes, but it was impossible to ignore it had a voice as it mimicked her. Even the sounds that came from it were wrong and caused her fur to stand on end and her back to arch. Malcolm was scared speechless when he finally spotted the reason for Minstrel’s behavior. He seemed unable to figure out if he should run to his cat’s aid or escape home with his sister. The monster shot a clawed hand out after the two and it made up the boy’s mind for him. He darted along the path, abandoning Gracie’s candy bucket this time.

With them out of eyeshot, Minstrel called out to anything willing to help her with the demonic creature. The sound of wings overwhelmed the air as a colony of bats swarmed low, successfully distracting the shadow-like being as she took off after the children to make sure they made it home safely. The feline was seething more and more with every step back to the house, but she had to see their reaction before she made any further choices. Minstrel let out a huff as she ran into the back of Malcolm’s calf. The boy had stopped walking and now stared up at their house, confused. There was no sign of life inside. All of the lights were off but they usually kept the porch light on for trick-or-treaters until at least midnight.

From there, the cat needed no more proof of their part in what occurred at the park. No lights meant they weren’t expecting Gracie or Malcolm’s return. She turned tail and traipsed back to where she knew the creature would still be. Her fury from earlier hadn’t diminished in the slightest. If anything, it was increasing the more she thought about what had nearly transpired. Minstrel may have been assigned as a benevolent protector, easily annoyed and slow to anger, but she held dark intentions of her own now. How dare these humans think they could give away the lives of their own children? Trade their lives off like they were nothing. When she’d been brought to Earth, she had been rescued from a cold and ugly dimension and would be sent back there if she failed to protect Gracie and Malcolm before they became adults. Should she succeed, her third life would be much better than this one. Not that that would be a hard thing to conjure.

The bats were still fluttering around the creature when Minstrel returned. Her whiskers twitched, threatening to give away her rage, but she took a deep breath. Perhaps, this unearthly being had some use left in him? Maybe there was a way to reason with him. She chose to wave off the bats so she could have a chat with the one thing that bothered her more than pumpkins. It lowered its gaze to see her, likely unamused by her saving its dinner. Judging by the size of it, she knew it would have swallowed Malcolm and Gracie whole if she had been much later.

It refused to leave and demanded a meal. Responsibility for its feeding should fall on her for chasing them off. There had been no issue or change in his annual feeding since the first residents had set up a community there, so why now? If he didn’t get his claws on something, he would devour the whole neighborhood. If she destroyed him, she would have to find another way to get back at the adults. A lesson from her past life told her there was a relatively peaceful way to solve just about every issue.

Minstrel ticked her claws on the concrete sidewalk as she pretended to think of a solution. She was already very certain of what she would suggest but wanted to calm herself and revel in how the control had shifted in her favor. So, after a minute, she explained that the children were not to be touched and that he had been dealt an unfair hand. Children like Malcolm and Gracie were either too small to be considered much more than a snack or so skinny to offer much in the way of sustenance. Their parents, on the other hand, would prove to be a much more satisfying and tasty meal. Considering what it had been eating before, they would be a feast in comparison. Minstrel even told him he could eat the parents of already sacrificed children in the neighborhood, but only if they still lived in the area.

The monster agreed to her terms and she wanted to grin as she led it to their home. When they arrived Malcolm was sitting with Gracie on the front porch, next to a skeleton. He looked exhausted from all the running he’d done with a small child clinging to his back. The once sleeping girl was still half-asleep and clinging to her big brother. When he looked up, all the color drained from his face, but the only movement he made was to put his arms around Gracie as though it would protect her should the creature attack.

Shooting the shadow creature a stern glance, Minstrel padded up to Malcolm to meow and rest against his leg nonchalantly. True to their agreement, it didn’t do more than pass the trio on its way into the backyard. The sound of sifting air through a window barely audible to the guardian feline, signaling it had entered the building. The screams that soon followed were much easier for Malcolm and Gracie to pick up on. She yawned, groggily asking what was going on, but her big brother just rubbed her shoulders and told her it was just obnoxious trick-or-treaters as he stared at Minstrel. She kept up her act but stared back, green eyes blinking innocently.

Just as nothing was ever left behind when the children went “missing”, nothing would remain of their parents. The young man was trying to stay strong for his little sister. He was also trying to figure out what part Minstrel had in whatever was going on. She assessed him out of the corner of her eye as the creature left. Malcolm’s eyes were jumping from Minstrel to the monster’s retreating form. The fear in his eyes was so intense she considered making him forget this whole night even happened. Maybe decrease the severity of the memory until it was more like a nightmare he could brush off in the morning. Gracie, on the other hand, would remember even less if anything at all. She would be more than a little upset in the morning when she woke to learn her hike around the neighborhood was all for naught. Minstrel knew she would one day be much more thankful for her life at the cost of a barely half full bucket of candy. She wanted to roll her eyes at the strange priorities of human children.

This creature under the park business was definitely not something Minstrel would have thought possible at the time of her assigning. Malcolm shuffled into the house slowly, deflated and traumatized by the evening’s events. He was still very attentive and careful of Gracie as he went to go and tuck her in. Now he knew that if Minstrel was calm, there was no danger. She sniffed from her new spot on the couch. Letting the parents stick around had been her superior’s idea despite Minstrel’s assignment. That idea failed considerably.

Minstrel, however, would not.

~Epilogue~

A few years have passed since the night our parents disappeared. Malcolm gets all pale whenever that Halloween is brought up, so I guess it’s a good thing we moved far away. But I miss Minstrel a lot. She vanished that same night.

The lady who adopted us is really nice but she’s kind of strange. She’s thirty years old and pretty rich, but has no idea how to cook. Mom knew how to cook. She also hates loud noises and the smell of pumpkins. But otherwise she’s sweet and easygoing. She really seems to tolerate a lot. For some reason, she was sick when she adopted us and stayed that way for months. No one had a clue what was wrong with her but she just seemed super weak.

It’s like she was always supposed to be our mom though. Day one of her being our foster parent and it seemed like she already knew everything we did and didn’t like. It’s like she’s known us all our lives. The house was also furnished similarly to Mom and Dad’s, but has a bigger fireplace.

Malcolm is gone a lot since he started college. He’s super into medicine and is going to be a pediatrician. He told me about something he learned about genetics once. People with black hair and green eyes are really rare. I adore her eyes. They are the prettiest green.

She loves black cats and things that jingle, so Malcolm picked up a black cat charm and keychain for her. She keeps it with her keys, clipped to a belt loop on her jeans even in the house while she isn’t doing more than strolling around. The level of love and appreciation she has for the trinket is adorable.

Her smiles are kind of sly sometimes but mostly when she’s trying to get people to leave. She is picky with visitors. She loves to take naps on the couch in front of the fireplace and prefers it to entertaining guests. Her other favorite thing is taking hour-long baths because she hates how rain-like showers are. She lounges in the tub and sings. Her songs make the house feel like a home.

I think her dislike of pumpkins is really silly because she likes the smell of pumpkin spice. Maybe the sweet part makes all the difference to her. Her name is Minnie Starlette.