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“Well…” Merlin shifted his weight from paw to paw before continued. “I’ll have you know that we got attacked by a zombie robin this morning and have reason to believe more will be on the way.”

“More? Are you sure it wasn’t just a one-off? A new magic user practicing the life-share spell that accidentally transferred it to the wrong entity?”

“We’re sure,” Luna answered with a grave expression.

“Well, since I’m already here, do you need my help?” Fluffikins offered. “It’s the least I can do while I search for my mark.”

“Who’s your mark?” I asked, unable to hold back my curiosity.

Fluffikins let out a weary sigh.“It’s an unfortunate thing. A young vampire is running rampant in your town. He risks exposing all of magical kind to the humans due to his recklessness.”

“I haven’t noticed anything unusual,” I said with a shrug. “Maybe it’s not as bad as you think.”

“We’ve been lucky so far, but if he isn’t reined in soon, we’ll have quite the situation on our hands.” He paused and turned away from me, redirecting his attention on the highest-ranking individual here. “Merlin, do you need my help handling your zombies?”

My cat sniffed the air and shook his head.“Thanks, but no. We are fully capable of dealing with this on our—”

“CHEE TEE TEEE YAAAAAH!” A loud cry rent the air unlike anything I’d ever heard before. Shortly after, a small projectile shot through the bush and landed before us.

It rose on two legs, expertly shaking off the force of the impact, then turned toward Merlin with murder in its dark, glistening eyes.

“CHYAHHHHHH!” It belted out again, throwing itself at the Maine Coon’s face.

Merlin staggered backward, but his tiny attacker grabbed onto his whiskers and clung tight, refusing to be shaken away.

Luna and Fluffikins both jumped into action. Luna hurled herself at the invader, slashing out with sharp claws in an urgent desire to defend her mate.

Mr. Fluffikins summoned a swirling pink tendril of magic and used it to lasso the creature and pry it away from Merlin. Once captured, he held it up for a closer inspection.

The little thing hissed and snarled, trying desperately to break free. When Fluffikins didn’t let it go, the creature began to gnaw at his shoulder.

That’s when I recognized the creature for what it was—a squirrel. No sooner had I figured that out than the attack squirrel broke his arm clear off and slipped from a surprised Fluffikins’s magical grasp.

He bounded out of the bush and screamed again.“TCHI-TCHI-TCHIIIIIYA!”

Mr. Fluffikins spun in a circle, then sent a burst of magic straight into the air. It exploded around us, and I threw my hands over my head defensively.

“No one in a one-block radius will see or hear us, but we must dispose of this vile creature quickly!” he shouted. And just like that, all three cats bounded from the bush, ready for one heck of a fight.

7

Squirrels rained down from above, a veritable army descending from the sky—or at least from a nearby tree branch. Being that I was stuck on my hands and knees with my head pushed into a bush, I found myself completely at their mercy.

Tiny, clawed hands scraped at my back, and—oh—how it hurt! I backed out of that azalea as quickly as I could and scrabbled to my feet, but the tiny fiends hung on tight.

Merlin, Luna, and Mr. Fluffikins charged forth and fell upon the squirrels who’d attached themselves to me.

But more kept coming in a steady wave. Black, gray, brown, even red squirrels, all with crazed looks in their eyes, all determined to tear us to shreds.

And honestly I didn’t know how to fight them. Nor did I want to. I’d always loved watching the playful squirrels who came to snack at the bird feeder in our backyard.

While just as agile, these squirrels were decidedly different. Unhinged. And given the spectacle the first one had treated us to, I was willing to bet they were also undead. It seemed our zombie master had found us, which meant the plan had worked. In hindsight, it was a horrible plan.

Another worry zoomed to mind. Could undead squirrels still spread rabies? I’d have to add visiting the hospital for a screening to my long list of things to do later that day, providing we even survived this heckin’ crazy battle.

One of the little bucktoothed monsters sunk his teeth into my neck, and I roared in pain. Served me right for getting so lost in my thoughts when I should have been present in the moment.

I’d only just shook off the last squirrel when another assaulted me and a turbo-charged acorn thwapped into the side of my head.

What the…?I turned sharply to the side as a half dozen more nuts and assorted other projectiles slammed into my face.

Oh, that did it!

Gone were my inhibitions about hurting the cute little animals. They were already dead-ish anyway, and if I didn’t fight back, then one of the cats or I could follow in that unfortunate wake.

Ms. Gracie Springs was no pushover, no sirree!