“It’s okay, Mr. Kitty. I’m not going to hurt you,” a woman cooed to me from outside of my box. Given that she was the one who’d just trapped me, I didn’t trust a word she said.
“Hey!” I yelled and hissed. “This is ridiculous!”
I pressed my face to the top of the box, but she’d closed the flaps tight. I pushed and strained against them, but couldn’t force my way out. They did get a bit bent out of shape, allowing me a small sliver of an opening to peek out from.
And that’s when I saw her.
Granted, the angle was weird. I was basically looking up at her chin profile, but from what I could see, my catnapper was drop dead gorgeous.
“Lady, you can’t do this to me,” I said with my mouth pressed against the gap. “How dare you trick me like that?”
She glanced down as I pressed my eye to the slit again.
When we made eye contact, a shiver ran from my ears to the very tip of my tail. I hadn’t just been beaten by a girl—I’d been thwarted by a real beauty queen.
“Don’t worry, kitty. I’ll take good care of you. We’ve got your Mommy in the car. I’m taking you to her right now.”
Oh. Oh! Nice. She didn’t realize I was human and a shapeshifter. She thought I was a regular old house cat.
That could definitely work in my favor.
I cleared my throat and did my best to sound utterly pitiful. “Meow,” I crooned. “Um, purr, purr, meow. Yep, I’m exactly what you think I am. I’m just your run of the mill butt-licker like all the other cats out there. Nothing magical to see here.”
“Shh,” she replied gently. “I’m really sorry I didn’t have a real carrier to put you in. The box will have to do for now. You’ll be okay soon, little guy, I promise.”
She peered down at me as she walked. “I’d reach in there and scratch your soft little head, but I’m afraid you’ll bite me.”
Don’t get me wrong, I was tempted to do just that. She had trapped me in this box, after all. But she was also speaking kindly—and taking me to Kaye to boot. I might be able to salvage this mission since she thought I was a cat.
Whatever magic Corrections had used to block my shifting ability was pretty potent, if even another shifter couldn’t tell what I was.
I tried again to produce a handful of doleful cat calls, but the woman stopped abruptly and peered down at me with furrowed brows. “Are you okay? You’re not going to barf, are you?”
I grunted and toned down the desperation factor a bit. Maybe I’d overdone it a bit.
“Sorry,” I said and rolled my eyes. I’d have to stop saying meow. It did something odd to my actual meows.
Magic was weird.
I had no idea where this lady was taking me, but we hadn’t left the woods—or the deer trail from what I could tell.
Several minutes later, we stopped at a large utility van. I couldn’t see much of it, but got the gist through my little spy-hole as we walked up to it.
The woman opened the back door and carefully set me down. “Here’s your kitty.”
“Thanks,” Kaye muttered.
Oh my holy hairballs, it was Kaye! She sounded angry, but not like she’d been hurt.
I threw myself at the edge of the box, attempting to tip it over. I managed to knock it onto the side and began clawing at the opening.
“Hey!” I yelled to Kaye as I continued to paw at the box in a frantic attempt to break free. “You okay?”
She nodded, but appeared frazzled. They’d bound her wrists with a thick rope, but her legs remained free.
“Don’t blow my cover,” I added quickly before she could answer. “They think I’m a house cat, and that’s definitely to our advantage.”
“It’s okay, Mossy boy,” Kaye cooed in a cutesy baby voice I immediately hated.
Gag.
“We’ll get out of this. Don’t you worry, Mr. Puddy Cat.” She winked at me as she spoke, and I stopped trying to break out of the box in fear that they might separate us, should I succeed.
“Mommy’s not hurt,” Kaye continued. “Just groggy. Don’t get upset, Mossy.”
Ah, so they’d hit her with some sort of sleeping spell. That explained a few things. “Are the ropes magical, too?”
She nodded and continued spewing nonsensical words like one might offer to a dog. For goodness’ sake, even ordinary non-magical cats were more dignified than this.
“Ask if you can let me out,” I suggested. “Tell them I’m a very well-behaved kitty and won’t be any trouble.”
She winked and turned around on the van floor to face front. I couldn’t see what was going on, but I trusted Kaye on this one. “Excuse me, can I let him out? He’s a very docile and well-trained cat,” she called.
“Sure.” A gruff male voice came from the front. Was that Roberts?
“Okay,” Kaye whispered, groping awkwardly at the sealed flaps with her bound hands. “Come on out.”
I pushed hard, and finally the box gave.
Stupid box. I jumped out of that thing as fast as I could. It had used its powers for evil, and I, for one, didn’t appreciate it.
Now that I was free, I took a good long look at our surroundings. Our guy Roberts sat in the driver’s seat, navigating some off-road path.
In the passenger seat sat the woman who had captured me. And let me just say, she was every bit as beautiful as I’d thought before—and then some, too. She had the palest, milkiest skin I’d ever seen, and hair so blonde it was nearly white.
A goddess.
An angel.
And probably our Wampus cat, too.
I liked her much better in her current form. With a dreamy sigh I just couldn’t help, I returned my eyes to Kaye.
“So, I’m guessing we’re infiltrating?” I asked.
Kaye offered a subtle nod.
“Can I try to cut those ropes for you?” I asked, raising a paw. “I have claws. And teeth.”
Kaye rolled her eyes, then glared at me like I was an idiot as she shook her head once.
“Magical ropes are too hard to cut for me?” I asked, feeling a little silly. I knew that. But we were in a van going down a gravel road, bouncing around like fish in a barrel. The people who’d taken us were dangerous criminals, and we were basically desperate. My thoughts weren’t exactly coming easily to me here.
Wait a minute. When did the dirt road shift back into gravel? And did that mean…?
Yup.
The next thing I knew, we ended up back where I’d began. In that pop-up parking lot with the makeshift ticket stand and not another soul in sight.
The van stopped, and my heart dropped straight into my stomach.
What next?