A few days later, Griselda spent most of the day sleeping in, letting Leonore and I run around the house and gardens on our own. That night, however, she said she had a special surprise. When she pulled out her broom, I meowed loudly at her, not wanting to be chased out of her house.

“Silly! I won’t chase you! I’m taking you flying today. It’s a new moon tonight! Don’t tell me you don’t want to go?” she asked.

I didn’t know what she meant, but I could see Leonore was excited to go, so I didn’t want to be left behind in any case. Griselda was wearing black clothing and a black cape she hadn’t worn before that had special padding with a wide hood that draped down her back a little.

She had to ask me twice to jump onto her back. I didn’t feel quite safe, but then Griselda had never hurt me and after Leonore squawked at me, I felt like I had to. Once I jumped up onto her, I realized the hood hugged me in place and made me feel much safer than it looked. She walked outside before mounting the broom. Then we were in the air, Griselda whooping in delight, Leonore cawing alongside us and me with my claws dug into the cloak.

“Settle down, Shadow. Enjoy the ride!” Griselda told me. I was not inclined to relax my posture as the ground slipped precipitously away beneath us, but she mumbled something under her breath and I did relax and crouch down distributing my weight a bit more and that did make me feel a bit more stable as we zipped through the air.

“That's it!” Griselda yelled into the wind. She laughed in her tinkling way and we sailed over the forest treetops towards the village where I had been born. The humans in the town had fires burning around the gates and some along the streets. Light from windows flickered all over town as the humans ate their evening meals or walked along the streets. She flew over the town and landed up on a tall spire.

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“Smelly as ever, isn’t it?” she asked, once she had dismounted. Leonore flew up and perched on her shoulder and I looked over her other one. I had never realized how large the town was nor how many humans lived in it. They looked like bugs walking the streets from our vantage. Griselda was right about the smell. It was familiar to me, but I had forgotten it. Even up here, there was the rank, ripe, decay smell of sewage and sweat, smoke and fur.

“So, are you happy you came to me, Shadow? You could go back, you know,” she said and I wondered if she was teasing me. I meowed at her in response.

“Just asking,” she said, chuckling. “Leonore has been with me a long time, right old thing?” The raven squawked in response and she chuckled again. She reached up and pet both of us.

“Well, I just wanted to see it was still here. And give you a tour. I’m glad you settled down, Shadow. And I want you both to know how grateful I am that you stay with me. Shall we head back?” she asked and Leonore cawed. She remounted her broom and we were off again, the raven flying beside us.

I felt a little easier on the return since I knew what to expect. I have no idea how Griselda managed to find our little cabin again. She had not relit the fire when we’d left and everything was pitch black. I did hear her mumble under her breath, so perhaps her magic assisted her.

We got back to a cold, dark cottage, but she soon had some delicious stew in the pot over a merry fire. She seemed in high spirits that evening giving us generous portions of food and pouring herself some foul smelling liquid out of a bottle she had on one of her shelves.