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    Merlin's Misfortune: Miss Fortune World
    Merlin's Misfortune: Miss Fortune World
    Merlin's Misfortune: Miss Fortune World
    Ebook108 pages1 hour

    Merlin's Misfortune: Miss Fortune World

    By Shari Hearn

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    About this ebook

    Originally published in the Miss Fortune Kindle Worlds program on June 7, 2015.

    Think the Sinful Ladies Society runs Sinful? Think again. I'm Merlin. Yeah, Fortune Redding's cat. I'm with the Sinful Feline League. And together with older-than-the-Sphinx Lula Mae and her sidekick, Spoolie, we solve mysteries and protect the welfare of cats all along the bayou.

    We make sure life is good for the cats of Sinful.

    Until one of us goes missing. Then another. And another. Something doesn't smell right, and it's not the kitty litter.

    Merlin's Misfortune is a fast-paced novella (approximately 24,000 words) set in the world of the Miss Fortune Mysteries, complete with tail-switching suspense and a few licks of humor.

    AUTHOR'S NOTE: Merlin's Misfortune is a story in the Miss Fortune World, wherein Jana DeLeon has allowed writers to create stories using the world of Sinful and the wacky characters it's famous for. I wish to thank Ms. DeLeon for graciously allowing other writers to explore their own writing in a most Sinful way.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJ&R Fan Fiction
    Release dateAug 16, 2018
    ISBN9781386418795
    Merlin's Misfortune: Miss Fortune World

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      Book preview

      Merlin's Misfortune - Shari Hearn

      Acknowledgements

      MANY THANKS TO JANA DeLeon, first for writing such amazing characters and creating the town of Sinful, and second, for allowing other writers to write our own stories set in the world of Miss Fortune.

      Cover by Susan Coils at www.coverkicks.com

      PROLOGUE

      Dear Readers

      ONCE UPON A TIME...

      Yeah, not a very creative beginning to a story. But I’m a cat. Cut me some slack, would you? I have no opposable thumbs, so the fact I’m able to get anything on paper is something worthy of an ear rub.

      I said, worthy of an ear rub. Can you not take a hint? That’s right... higher... higher... higher.

      Ahh... there you go.

      Okay, now stop. I’ve had enough.

      Now, where was I?

      Oh yes, once upon a time, say, five weeks ago, there was a young lady named Fortune—human, not furry—who came to a town called Sinful. She was a CIA assassin hiding out from a very bad man and was told to keep a low profile. Bottom line is, she didn’t. She met two shadowy old broads by the names of Ida Belle and Gertie, and since then she’s been embroiled in one mystery after another.

      But the most important thing about her story is when she met me. She thought our meeting was by accident. I came around begging for food. She took pity on me, took me in and named me Merlin. Fine. I’ll let her believe that’s what happened. But Fortune Redding’s not the only one with a secret. I’ve got one of my own. And those two old broads and the Sinful Ladies Society who think they run the town? We let them think that.

      Who are we? We’re the cats of the Sinful Feline League, or SFL for short. We’re the ones who really run this town and have been doing so for generations. Sometimes we lend the Sinful Ladies a paw without them having a clue we were even involved. Sometimes we need their help and play them like puppets, getting them to do exactly what we want.

      And then there are times when it’s a little of both.

      This is a story about one of those times.

      CHAPTER ONE

      Merlin

      THE SOUND OF HER AIRBOAT signaled her return. Finally. I had spent the better part of the last hour listening to the meows of Buffy, the cute little tabby, outside of my window, calling me to an emergency meeting at the headquarters of the Sinful Feline League. It had to be this day, the one day Fortune forgot to leave the pet door open.

      I stood impatiently in front of the back door, tapping my paws on the kitchen floor.

      Calm down, I reminded myself. Don’t let her know something’s up. But Fortune Redding was a trained CIA operative; it was her business to detect when something was up. And I was new to the spy life, having only been inserted into Fortune’s house two weeks ago.

      She was outside the door now, sticking the key into the lock. Turning the knob. A quick pivot around her legs and I’d be free.

      The door opened a few inches.

      Wider! Wider!

      Hey, Merlin. Just the one I wanted to see.

      Her right foot extended forward, nudging me backward. I swiveled to the left, hoping to squeeze around, but she was too quick, closing the gap with her leg. Using both feet now, she shuffled in, pushing me back into the kitchen. It happened so quickly I didn’t have time to make my break. Before I knew it, Fortune was inside, holding a paper grocery bag. The door was now closed.

      I was her prisoner, once again.

      She shook the bag. I brought something home for you from Walter’s. She tossed her boat keys on the kitchen counter.

      I’m kind of in a hurry, I said, my tail swishing across the floor. I have to go help save the cats of Sinful.

      She couldn’t understand me, of course, mastery of animal languages not being one of her many talents. Thinking a good rub against her legs might appease her, I completed three rub-byes, then raced to the door and plopped myself in front of it. For God’s sake, I thought, even she should be able to interpret this.

      I don’t think you’re going to want to leave when you see what I brought home, she said, cooing like all humans do when they talk to cats. She placed the grocery bag on the floor.

      Then you don’t know me very well, lady. I was a cat on a mission, and nothing could stop me from answering the call to duty. Not tuna. Not soft and chewy chicken treats shaped like hearts. Not even a paper bag on the kitchen floor. Nothing.

      Except...

      I sniffed. The aroma was unmistakable.

      Catnip? I gulped. Yes, cats do gulp.

      It’s catnip, she said gleefully. I dumped an ounce of it in the bottom of the bag. Have at it, Merlin.

      My paws froze, glued to the floor, my brain a battlefield of thoughts colliding into one another as the sweet aroma of catnip danced seductively into my nostrils.

      Walk away, Merlin.

      Just one hit, Merlin.

      It’s the devil’s weed, Merlin.

      One hit’s not gonna hurt... Mer... what’s my name again?

      The next few seconds were a blur. Or maybe it was an hour. A lifetime, perhaps? It felt like a million ear rubs happening at once. Tuna served in a crystal bowl. A soft bed under a thousand warm suns. And if it wasn’t for her smug laughter snapping me out of my catnip-induced trance, I would have stayed inside that bag forever.

      I knew you’d like it, Fortune said.

      It took every ounce of strength I could muster, but I managed to pull myself out of the bag, dried catnip clinging to my fur. I needed to get out of that kitchen fast. It was time for Plan B. I doubled over and forced myself to heave.

      Oh no, you don’t, she said, racing to the door and flinging it open. You are not tossing a hairball on my kitchen floor. Out!

      I was free.

      DESPITE HOW HARD I tried to get it out of her, Buffy wouldn’t reveal why I was being summoned.

      Curiosity killed the cat, she kept saying, smiling as if she had just swallowed a canary. The earthy smell of her breath told me that could have been a possibility.

      We approached the SFL headquarters, a shed owned by old lady Allair, who had the mistaken notion that she owned Lula Mae, an 18-year-old calico and current Supreme Commander of the SFL.

      You might want to shake off some of that catnip before you go in, Buffy said, sniffing the air around me. The old broads have a zero-tolerance policy.

      It’s that obvious? I had tried rolling around in the grass after I left Fortune’s house to get the dried catnip flakes and scent off my fur. Guess I hadn’t done such a great job.

      Here, let me help, she said, drawing closer. She stuck her beautiful tongue out and licked my neck. I tingled as she moved up to my face.

      So, are you licking me because you want the catnip, or do we have something going on here, Buffy? We’d been

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