Children of Bast (24 page)

“I know I love you.” She touched her nose hard against mine.

Chapter 24

Cats are smarter than dogs. You can’t get eight cats to pull a sled through snow.
Jeff Valdez

I
froze when I heard Pauly’s footsteps coming down the stairs.

“Fergus! Fergus!”

I ran to the food bowls and came very close to dropping dead. Following Pauly were two kalb. One was so big it made Schatzi look like a puppy. It was almost as tall as Pauly and was black and white, and it had a huge head with a mouth that could swallow an amait whole without chewing.

But, its eyes were bright and playful, and its tail wagged all the time. That, of course, means nothing, if you know kalb, and I know you know kalb, Chubby. It went to the amai that were eating and nudged them with its nose and began licking them all over. I thought I’d puke.

The other kilaab was a lot smaller. Black on its legs, belly and back, up its neck and almost to its ears. The faraawi was curly. It had a long snout and extra curly fluffs of faraawi above its eyes and down its square muzzle. Its eyes were full of delight and mischief like the monster teasing the amai at the food bowls. In the meantime, Pauly disappeared into a small room under the stairs.

I ran to Fergus, who was laying by a bowl and dosing. “Fergus, wake up. We gotta get outta here.” I pushed him hard with my nose. “Get up! We’re gonna get fixed if we stay here!”

He looked at me and frowned. “What?”

“Fixed, you idiot. Fixed. Not have kiths.” I tugged on his neck faraawi.

“Hey, I can’t ever have kiths, Kith. I’m a tom. Do I have to explain that, too?”

“Stop calling me Kith! Get up. We gotta go.”

He grabbed me by my neck with his paw and slammed me to the floor. “Simmer down, Nebibi. I think you’re going a little crazy.”

“Look, Fergus, just trust me and go outside. I’ll explain everything. Millicent’s going with us.”

“Maybe I’m going crazy.” He got up, releasing his hold on me. “Millicent is going? Where? I thought she wanted to rip your throat out.”

“It’s a long story. Let’s go.”

I ran to the door with Fergus plodding behind, and found Millicent leaning against the swinging door. How could she lean against the swinging door? I wondered.

“It’s locked”

“No! Locked? Now what?” Terrified, I began to tremble.

Fergus walked up. “What’s going on?”

“We’re locked in. We’re gonna to get fixed.”

“Tell me what this fixing is about.” He was cranky because I disturbed his nap, poor thing.

“Okay, Fergus, it goes like this. It seems Pauly doesn’t want kiths around, so he’s taking mollies to a vet somewhere, and when they return, their bellies are sore and they can’t ever have kiths again. Right, Millicent?”

“That’s pretty much it.” She still leaned against the door.

“You had this happen, Millicent?”

“Yes. And I’m afraid you two may be next.”

“But I can’t have kiths. Why would they fix me?”

If I hadn’t been so scared, I’da laughed at Fergus. How could an amait as old as he was not know how kiths got here?

“Fergus, you ever settle a mollie?”

“Lots of times. About every month if you need to know. What’s that got to do with . . . ?” He stopped and stared at me and then at Millicent, who smirked and shook her head. “Oh. Oh, you mean . . . Get outta the way, Millicent, I’m smashing that door out.”

She moved just as he slammed into the door and bounced back.

“I think it’s a losing fight, Old Friend. We’re probably going to have to fight.”

“I’ll shred any bašar that touches me.”

About that time the monster kilaab strolled over and licked Millicent from her tail to her ears.

“Stop that, Newfie!” She turned to it, getting licked all over her face.

“Ahhh! Yuk! Kilaab spit all over me.” She growled, swelled up and hissed. “I’ll rip your nose off if you do that again.”

He did it again and got a slash on his nose that caused him to yelp. But then he laughed. I almost swallowed my tongue; Kalb don’t laugh, right?

“Hey, Millicent, take it easy. That’s my nose.”

My mind left me. I stared at the monster. Kalb don’t talk. Kalb can’t talk because they’re too stupid to talk, their brains are the size of pebbles—all this went through my head as I watched and listened.

“Then stop licking me. Your tongue is like a wet mop.” She licked off Newfie’s spit. “It makes me gag, Newfie. Your spit’s like the oil my bašar tried to give me and got some deep scratches for it, too.”

“Millicent. Sweet thing.” Newfie whined and rubbed his nose.

“Go away. Go hang out with Galin. Lick him.”

I turned to the clowder that gathered around to watch and laugh.

“Who’s Galin?” I asked nobody in particular.

“He’s the other kilaab.” Millicent finished cleaning herself.

“Does he lick, too?”

“No. He tries to sniff our rear ends, though,” said someone from the clowder behind me.

“Let him try me,” Fergus said.

I was scared. The kalb appeared harmless, but kalb can do that just before they tear your head off or slam you against a wall. We had to get out of there. Millicent was already cut up by Pauly, and I wasn’t waiting to see me and Fergus suffer the same. But how? Outside door was locked.

“Any other way out of this place,” I asked the nearest mollie, which happened to be Katia, the yellow tabby who was considered the leader.

“None except through Pauly’s place and that door up there. Leads to his and Trish’s place.”

“We’ll have to go that way, then. Fergus, let’s figure this out. Come on. Millicent, is it all right if we use your place?”

“Sure.” She trotted off in that direction.

I looked back and all the mollies were watching us with blank faces. They knew what was going on, but I don’t think they thought we could get away. I also caught a glimpse of Pauly coming out of the little room and going upstairs with Newfie and Galin following.

“How are we going to get into Pauly’s place?” I asked when we got behind the rusty hot box.

“Beats me, kid,” Fergus said and flopped down on Millicent’s bed.

I yelled at him: “Fergus I might just leave you here if you’re going to be that way. I need suggestions.”

“With the kalb it’s going to be next to impossible,” said Millicent. “They’d smell us right away.”

“Not if you fool them.” It was Neko followed by the whole clowder including Abyad, who smiled at me.

“Fool them?” I asked. “What do you mean, Neko?”

Abyad hopped over to Millicent and began licking her ears.

“Do something to get Pauly and Trish to come down here with the kalb like we did when we pretended to fight. If you’re hiding at the top of the stairs, you could slip in while we fool them into thinking whatever we’re doing is real.”

“That’s a long shot and it sounds complicated,” Fergus said. “What if they close the door when they come down?”

“Good point,” Neko said. “It’s got to be something that will bring them down but will not make them suspicious.

We stopped talking and tried to think. Fergus dozed off and was a lot of help. Millicent, Neko, and Katia, who had strolled away from the crowd, put their heads together and started whispering while I paced and thought of what I wanted done with my body. Bury it? Drag it to a quiet meadow, maybe near Adele? I glanced at the rest of the clowder all scrunched down with their tails wrapped around them, blinking their eyes and watching me as I paced. I smiled, and they all smiled back. I felt sorry for them, Chubby. They’d been trapped all their lives and didn’t have a clue about what was going on.

“Wait! I got it,” Neko said. “They really do love us.”

“How can you say that after what they did to all of us?” Millicent said, her eyes darkening.

“They have their reasons. I don’t understand it, but Millicent, you’re still alive and fed. You’re warm and safe. They could have killed us all or left us to the catchers outside in that huge cage. Yeah, I think they love us, but their kind of love is not our kind, so we don’t understand. Put that aside for now, okay. We got to get you and these toms outta here.”

Millicent was still upset, but she sat down and listened while Abyad in her deaf little world nuzzled her and purred.

“What’s your plan,” I asked.

“If one of us is sick, they’ll do everything they can to help. It’s happened before.”

“They take us away,” Millicent said. “You were gone for long time, right Katia?”

“Yup. Thought I’d never get home. But they were kind to me, held me and cuddled me. I was never afraid.”

Her voice quivering, Millicent said, “Where do they take us, Neko? After what happened to me, I do not trust them.”

“They take us to a vet,” Katia said, “and get us special treatment. We’re not always fixed, I don’t think.”

“My point exactly,” Millicent said. “We don’t know until it’s too late.”

“Let’s stay on the topic,” Neko said. “Whoever plays sick can recover quickly; maybe they won’t take her away.”

All eyes fixed on Neko as she looked around the clowder with eyes hidden in her black mask. “Who’s gonna play sick?” Eyes shifted around from one to another, but no one said anything. “Come on, mollies, we got to help our friends get outta here.”

“Why?” Katia said, facing Neko. “Why do we have to put our lives on the line for them? I don’t know Gaylord, really, and Fergus is a complete stranger. Millicent’s been so mean and nasty lately that I don’t care what happens to her. Why should any of us care if Gaylord and Fergus are fixed? We’ve been fixed. There’s nothing to it. Why are they so special?” Several others agreed.

Neko sat and licked her paws and said nothing for a while. I was shocked because I thought Katia was in charge and seemed interested in helping us at first.

Neko looked at Katia. “Nothing can be done about us, Katia. You don’t get unfixed. But amai have to have kiths if amai are to survive. Gaylord and Fergus can’t help us now, but I want them to get away so some mollies somewhere can have the pleasure of being queens. Our time was stolen from us, but we have no right to deny others, and keeping Gaylord and Fergus here and endangering them is not fair.”

“I don’t know. Never been a queen, but I’m not sure I want to be from what I hear. Raise them, love them, and bašar take them away. I’m not sure I could deal with that.”

“That’s hard, believe me.” Millicent said. “I had kiths before I came here, and all of them were given away.”

“Not the point,” Neko said. “Whether bašar give kiths away or not, we gotta have kiths to go on as amai. We can’t be selfish.”

“Count me out,” Katia said. She turned and ran away.

Ignoring Katia, Neko asked, “Who’s gonna play sick?”

“I will,” Gato said and raised her paw. “Maybe it’ll be fun.”

“Thanks, Gato. Now here’s what we’ll do. Gato, you’ve got to be really sick. Panting hard, shaking, tongue hanging out, eyes staring, even a little puking if possible.”

“I’ll work on a hairball.” She giggled.

“Good, but make it small. They may think a large one is the trouble and when you spit it up, they’ll quit.”

“Wait,” I said. “That’s it. Get a really huge hairball going, and you’ll really be sick. No faking it. Then, when it comes up, it will relieve your symptoms and they won’t take you away. Just hold it as long as necessary.”

“Great idea,” Neko said.

Millicent licked my ear, and Fergus narrowed his eyes and grinned at me.

“Okay, now the rest of us need to yowl like crazy. Screams that cause their ears to split. We’ll gather around Gato and lick her like the world’s ended. Scream loud and long so it’ll bring them down here fast. It’s got to be like we’re clawing on their door.”

“What about the kalb?” I asked. “Will they interfere?”

“No. They’ll start to lick Gato to death. Gaylord, I keep telling you, they’re sweet kalb. You saw how Newfie treated Millicent after she scratched his nose. He could have swallowed her, but he didn’t. Soften up a little. Not all kalb kill amai.”

“Yeah, well, it’ll take a long time for me to believe that.”

Coach Neko ignored me and continued: “Now, before we get going, Gaylord, you, Fergus and Millicent hunker down on the step just below the door. You’ll probably have to use both sides so you won’t trip them when they come down. As soon as the door opens and they’ve cleared it, jump inside and get under something outta sight. Okay?” Neko smiled at me and licked my nose.

“Okay, but how will we get outside, Neko?” Fergus asked.

“Just before Pauly and Trish go to bed, they let Newfie and Galin out. They call them back after a while, so make your moves either when they let the kalb out or as they let them in. You have to be like lightning to make it, but amai are like lightning, right.” Neko smiled at Fergus.

“Even faster,” I said.

“Good. Now let’s wait ‘til End of Light so you won’t have to hide for long. Millicent, take these ragged alley amai into your den, and all three of you nap until time. I’ll come for you.” She licked my ear, touched noses with Fergus and rubbed heads with Millicent.