Chapter 40: Oweynagat
In the depths of the Cats' Cave, Oweynagat, time flowed differently, measured only by the heavy drops of water detaching themselves from the limestone ceiling.
As soon as the water of the Mirror of Time in Cairo released them, Anemo burst to the surface of the Other Mirror in Ireland. He was breathing raggedly, gasping for air as if after a long, deep dive. His very first instinct was to check the green front carrier backpack, where Remi had remained calm and motionless.
The Collar of the Two Skies, which she had worn both as a blessing and a curse ever since the evening of the summer solstice, began to pulse like the warm heart of a runaway creature, just as the obsidian mirrors of Oweynagat began to stir with unease.
"Are you alright, Remi?"
The white cat's eyes seemed to measure the damp cave walls with awe and disbelief.
"I have a cat's eyes, Anemo, so it doesn't surprise me that I can see, but what about you? Are you alright? Did we really make it?"
They really had made it. The exercises of imagination and printing images onto their retinas had truly helped them reach their destination.
"We are... we are in Ireland, Remi! We are going to be fine!"
"Quickly, Anemo, get this collar off me!"
With trembling fingers, Anemo first undid the buckles of the green carrier backpack to clear his way toward the Collar of the Two Skies. Then, with a feverish dexterity he didn't know he possessed, he unlocked the collar's hidden mechanism and threw it away, completely at random.
For a few seconds, the cave ceiling transformed, revealing a true Aurora Borealis floating above their heads. Then, a streak of electric-blue lightning, matching the exact shade of Remi’s eyes, lit up the entire cave. Finally, Remi—returned to her human body, wearing the emerald-green dress she had worn on the night of the summer solstice—found herself right in Anemo’s arms. Together, they were reflected in the damp, glassy walls of the cave.
***
Meanwhile, outside, by the edge of the frozen road near the cave, Professor Simoon's jeep idled, its headlights cutting through the darkness of the longest night of the year.
"We've arrived, children!" the Professor said, paying no mind to the black ice that had settled on the narrow, dead-end road and across the grass-covered field that still remained green around Oweynagat cave. "I’m getting out to stretch my legs. If you want, you can step out for a bit too. I hope we won't have to wait very long."
The animals—all three of them—did not wait for a second invitation. They burst out of the car like a wild horde. The biting wind and freezing cold did not deter Sirocco in the slightest; he bolted like a ginger arrow, rushing past the boundary between the road and the field, shouting at the top of his lungs:
"Anemo! Miss Remi!"
Aeolus, who had just settled back into the thick black fur around Mistral’s neck, managed to shout into the cat's ear:
"Don't let him go, Mistral! The little guy has no idea what dangers could be lurking out here! Run after him!"
The Professor didn't even have time to wipe his fogged-up glasses; the animals' sudden dash caught him completely off guard. His first instinct was to run after them, but then he changed his mind. "They'll come back to the car, those little rascals," he told himself.
"Stop, kid!" Mistral panted, nearly out of breath, cursing his "impressive" stature in his mind. "Sirocco, stop, don't go in! Anemo will appear any second now! Don't go in, I said!"
But it was too late; Sirocco was already inside the cave. He had vanished like a ghost through the low entrance, which looked more like a vegetation-covered hollow in a ditch at the edge of a field.
"You lunatic!" Mistral yelled from behind. "What do I do now, Aeolus?"
"What do you mean, what do you do? We go in after him!"
"Yes, easy for you to say, you're just a passenger!"
"Stop complaining! We've almost caught up to him!"
A mad chase followed through the freezing mud of the cave, which was packed with Heaven knows what tiny creatures scurrying through the narrow corridors, all on the trail of the restless ginger cub.
And just when they thought they had caught him, just as Mistral was about to reach out a claw, they saw Sirocco leap to a considerable height. He caught the Collar of the Two Skies right out of the air on his head, just like a circus acrobat.
At that exact second, the cave ceiling once again put on the show of the aurora borealis, followed by the lightning flash that illuminated everything around them.
In that blinding light, right at the peak of that high jump, Mistral and Aeolus from behind, and Anemo holding Remi in his arms on the other side, watched as a ginger-haired little boy landed—stark naked, about three years old, with the Collar of the Two Skies shining in all its glory around his neck.
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