It stopped.
It arched its back in an unmistakably feline way. Cocked its head—a subtle elongation to its jaw, shallow dips where eyeballs should be—at them.
“Uh… guys? What the fuck is that?”
Only now realising they’d left Cinn unattended on the table, Julien spun to find him sitting up, pale, eyes wide and stunned. Then he slid to the floor, crossing the room, hand extended.
“Don’t touch it!” hissed Julien, reaching out to stop him.
“It’s… it’s Béatrice!” Cinn said.
Julien laughed, manic and high-pitched.
“No, really, it is!”
Julien studied the eyeless monster, which was crouched low to the floor now, ears flattened as its head flicked between them. It hissed, an eerie, guttural sound that no normal animal would be able to produce. Then, with one final snort, it spun and darted into the kitchen, using its four legs in sinuous, shadowy strides.
Cinn threw himself towards it, but his legs gave way, sending his knees to hit the wooden floor with a heavy thud.
Julien rushed to his side, jumping out of the way of the other two, who charged after it.
“It’s gone out through the window!” Darcy shrieked. “Get it!”
Then there was the click of the back door handle and the pounding of Darcy and Elliot’s footsteps fading as they chased the creature.
Still on the floor, Julien heaved on Cinn’s arm to pull him up. There was still a slight tremble in his legs.
“Sorry. I always forget it takes a while for my body to behave again,” he muttered.
Julien pushed him towards a chair, and when he was seated, he could wait no longer. “So what happened? Did you find her?”
“Yes,” Cinn said, and the relief that coursed through Julien was enough to almost knock him to the ground. “I did.”
“Merci,”Julien breathed, pressing his palms together.
“I had to chase her for a while. She was a little girl, in a white dress. I watched you guys have a picnic in a field. Then we went on a… trip through some of her other memories for a while.” Julien tensed. “You were in them. Every single one.” Cinn stared directly into his eyes. Swallowed as if choked with emotion. “She loved you so much, Julien. I could feel it.”
A prickle of goosebumps tingled across the back of Julien’s neck. “Which… memories did you see?”
Julien waited as Cinn considered what to relay to him, his hesitation obvious.
There were so many miserable memories he and Béatrice had experienced together and then, of course, there was the icing on the cake.
Please, please, not that one.
Cinn rose from the chair, then gently clutched Julien’s arm. “I didn’t realise—” he started in a whisper, but Julien raised his hand.
“Please,” he said, begging him with his eyes. “I can’t right now.”
Nodding, Cinn kept hold of him. “Okay,” he whispered, then pressed a quick kiss to Julien’s forehead, before offering him a shy smile and ducking his head.
The intimate gesture froze Julien momentarily, knocked him off kilter. Before he had a chance to recover, there were footsteps in the hall—Elliot and Darcy had returned.
“She’s miles gone by now, little minx,” said Darcy, panting and shaking her head. “Not a chance in hell we’re catching her. Maybe we should buy some cat food, leave it out?”
Elliot snorted, folding his arms. “I’mnotconvinced it’s Béatrice.”
“Itis,” said Cinn. “I know it’s her. Theyfeltthe same. Had the same energy.”
