Thor bumped his head against her legs, bringing her out of the horrified trance the specter had put her into. Taking a deep breath, she gathered her courage and stepped forward, gingerly touching the paper with one blunt tipped fingernail.

Nothing happened, no explosions, no golden shimmer, nothing. Getting braver, she took another step closer, prodding the parchment once more. Thor was winding anxiously between her legs, meowing constantly. He finally leapt up onto the counter and sniffed at the parchment, drawing back with a sneeze.

"It looks harmless, doesn't it?"

The cat regarded her imperiously and lifted his paw, licking it and cleaning his whiskers.

"Fine then," she said, picking it up fully. The parchment was filled with words, written in a beautiful, flowery hand. Valerie read it quickly and then again more slowly, absorbing the words. Setting it down with a hand that wasn't quite steady, she turned to Thor. "I'm invited to a ball."

The cat meowed once and leapt down, walking over to his food bowl and meowing pointedly.

Valerie laughed. "So glad you're impressed," she said, walking over and opening a can of the expensive tuna fish that he liked. She drained the water and dumped it into his bowl. He bumped her leg to make her move before attacking the bowl like he was starving.

"Fine, I'm moving," she said irritably, stepping out of the way of his sharp nails. She turned back to the length of parchment on the counter, picking it up and staring at it. She half expected it to disappear. Things like this just didn't happen to her.