Before that big, old cat could pounce on me, an all-black cat with a mean scar running down his face leapt out of the corner and pummeled him to the floor.
REOW!
MRRRREOW!
HISS!
They rumbled and tumbled with the best of them, each giving as good as he got.
It didn’t take long for the shelter people to overhear the feline fracas, and they came running in with nets extended and all attention focused solely on the two big guys who were fighting like it was going out of style.
While the human workers were busy, I slipped back into my cage. I needed to time my escape perfectly, or I wouldn’t stand a chance. Right now there were too many humans crammed into this small room. It would be too easy for them to overpower me if I made a run for it.
I watched with mild interest as men and women streamed in, and they all did their best to figure out what in the world was going on.
The two big cats were quickly subdued and secured in cages on opposite sides of the room.
“The rest of the cats are all in a single cage,” one woman pointed out while shaking her head. “But how? Why?”
“Maybe someone snuck in,” an older man who looked like he might be the supervisor said. “No one with half a brain would put multiple cats in the same cage. Not even as a prank.”
Half a brain? The nerve.
“Yet here they are.” The woman let out a little laugh, then covered her mouth in a poor attempt to hide her amusement.
They stood and stared into the cage where most of the cats had already settled down and begun to nap.
“I’ve got one on his own over here,” someone called.
I looked up and saw that it was the same guy who’d netted me at the park.
“Jerk,” I muttered as I flicked my tail.
“Hey, little dude,” he said. “How’d you get over here?”
“I opened the cage, walked in, and closed it again,” I said dryly. “How’d you get out there?”
He chuckled. “You sure are a talkative boy. But I’ve got good news. I don’t have to give you a bath. We got a call from your owner. She’s on her way.”
Oh, thank goodness. Relief washed over me as I reflected on how badly things would’ve gone if I’d managed to enact my escape.
But I was going to have to take a real bath, no matter how bad it grossed me out. Hmmm. Maybe Amy would give it to me. Yeah, that wouldn’t be so bad.
No. Now was not the time to daydream. I needed to remain on alert until I was back with Kaye, safe.
I watched as the other cats got redistributed amongst the cages. Jeez, how many were in here, anyway?
One, two…
Three…
Yeah, I fell asleep.
Later, the sweetest voice in the whole universe roused me.
“There he is. There’s my big guy,” Amy said with the same high-pitched voice people reserve for babies and small animals. I smiled despite her gratuitously bad acting job. I was just so happy to leave this place intact.
“My hero,” I said and only half-pretended to swoon.
“Wonderful. If you’ll just look over here,” Kaye instructed from a few paces back.
As soon as the worker turned, she blew a pinch of her special dust in the officer’s face, then lifted a blank piece of computer paper with her other hand. “Now, doesn’t this all look in order? Here, we have Moss’s shot records and his full veterinary history, everything you could possibly need to prove ownership. Are we all set to take him home?”
The man ran his glassy eyes over the papers, no doubt seeing what he wanted or expected to see. “Yes, this all seems to be in order.” He smiled at Kaye with a goofy sort of expression, then pointed to my cage and gave a thumbs-up.
“Poor sap,” I muttered. He’d have quite the headache when the effects of the powder wore off—or so Kaye had said when I’d asked about it before.
“Ma’am,” a woman called to us from the front counter as we passed. “I just need you to fill out some quick paperwork.”
Kaye smiled sweetly and pulled out another pinch of that powder, which she then blew in the poor woman's face. “I think you'll find the paperwork is already done, and we are good to go,” she declared in a gentle, undulating voice.
The woman transformed right before my eyes, taking on that same dreamy expression, glassy eyes, and stupid happiness as all the others had, too.
I needed to get my hands on some of that powder. It could have so many useful benefits. I bet Kaye wouldn’t even notice if I…
No. Bad Moss! No more stealing. No more nefarious plots. Enough!
When we made it to the car, Amy spread out the oversized denim shirt she’d been wearing earlier, taking great care to cover as much of the back seat as possible. “Sorry to say this, but you are nasty with a capital N. Try to stay on this shirt. At least we can throw it in the wash once we get back to the apartment.”
Maybe it was the added indignity of being treated like a common house pet, or maybe it was the sheer exhaustion coupled with hunger, but one way or another I felt a wave of anger overtake me—not at Amy but rather Kaye.
“How could you let this happen to me, Kaye? You’re a witch. You're supposed to be able to keep me safe during all of this. How difficult can it possibly be to keep one cat out of the pound?” I demanded with a huff.
Kaye gasped and opened her mouth to protest, but I didn't give her the chance to defend herself.
“I knew going to the park was a bad idea,” I continued. “I knew nothing good could come of a cat hanging out at a dog park.”
I hadn't known any such thing, but she didn't need to know that. I'd been eager to help—to try to solve this mystery once and for all—in the hopes of eventually returning to some semblance of normal. And of course, that hadn't happened. Rather than blame myself, though, Kaye felt like the easiest target for my outrage.
“Yes, I may have agreed to danger, but I never okayed getting chased down by a whole pack of flea-bitten, mangy mutts. I am supposed to be doing my time for the Magical Corrections System. Not the human animal control.”
Amy and Kaye kept trying to interject, but I steamrolled over all objections. I must’ve repeated myself a dozen or so times across the city and into the parking garage.
I finally fell silent as we got out of the car. I thought I’d already expressed all my pent-up rage, but no. The moment the elevator doors shut with us inside, my tirade continued.
“And another thing, I had to go through slime, mud, and water today. And now I’m going to have to take a bath to get it off. I think that deserves some special recognition since, at the moment, I am a cat, and we all know cats and water are like oil and… well, water. But that’s not the point. The point is I’m livid.”
The elevator dinged, and we emptied into the hallway.
“From now on, I'm not going anywhere without a magic user.” I looked up at Amy, who was carrying me with the jean jacket wrapped around me. “No offense to you, Amy, but we were like sitting ducks out there without magical backup. You think we would have learned our lesson the first time.”
“Fine, Moss,” Kaye said between gritted teeth. “From now on, you two will stick to me.”
“Do you really expect me to—?” I began, but then Kaye’s words caught up to me. “Oh, yeah. Thanks,” I muttered, then trotted away to lick at the massive wounds I’d taken to my pride.