He deciphered my expression and dropped his gaze, then the last of my light spell blinked out and I was left in the all-consuming dark.
‘I want to stay! I want to die!’ Eric moaned.
‘Enough,’ Alan retorted.
I heard his footsteps and Eric’s moans fade away. Before long, the cavern was completely silent.
For several moments I didn’t move. Part of me wondered whether Alan’s maze monster would show itself immediately, teeth gnashing and claws thumping as it came to rip me apart, but I could hear nothing. It was possible I could wait for its arrival for hours, if not days.
I sighed, still annoyed that Alan had taken my backpack, sat myself down awkwardly on the cold stone ground and called out, ‘Come on then. Out you come.’
I heard a distant rustle followed by the tiniest of purrs. A few seconds later, I felt warm fur brush against my fingertips as the silver Maine Coon reached me. ‘Were you following me?’ I asked. ‘Or did you simply happen to be here?’
The cat didn’t answer.
‘Do you know Trilby?’
Again, nothing.
I tried for the easiest question of all. ‘What’s your name?’
Nada, zip, zilch, but he did give me a fuzzy headbutt. I stroked him. ‘You know what’s about to happen? You’re okay with this?’
This time I received a definitive answer. The cat miaowed once and licked my fingers. I exhaled. ‘Okay,’ I said. ‘Thankyou.’
I’d been banking on the handsome moggy’s help as soon as I’d realised he was lurking in the dark shadows behind Alan but there had always been the possibility that the cat would decline. I scratched his ears to indicate my gratitude, then plucked a tiny clump of fur from his flank. He didn’t protest; in fact, the long-haired beauty purred his approval.
The chains that were clamped around my wrists and held me in place were warded against magic but my escape involved me bespelling myself, not the chains, so no ward in the world could stop me. It was one of the many benefits of being a cat sith.
My transformation would be tricky because I needed to arrange my limbs to avoid twisting and breaking any bones when I shapeshifted, but I’d done it several times from handcuffs in the past and I knew exactly what was possible.
I tilted my head and swallowed the fur. Bring on the cat.
Thirty seconds later I was free. On four legs, I stepped carefully away from the chains and circled, checking out my new body.
Interesting.
I had transformed into cats on far too many occasions to keep count. Every transformation was slightly different as I took on the characteristics of whichever cat’s fur I used. I could see echoes of the dead when I used She Who Loves Sunbeams; I could jump higher and had greater stamina when I ate fur from He Who Roams Wide, and I felt more belligerent when I used She Without An Ear. I had anticipated a surge of something different from the Maine Coon, but nothing felt unusual. Physically, I was a long-haired cat but in my head I was still me.
I turned around then jumped up and landed on the same spot. I gave a small miaow. So far so very normal. I didn’t need a Wicker spell to see now; my feline eyes were capable of piercingthrough this darkness to register shapes, shadows and closer objects.
My tail twitched and I glanced at my donor. The Maine Coon was sitting on his haunches watching me. The intelligence in his eyes was unmistakable; this was no ordinary cat but I was none the wiser as to how or why.
His tail flicked with annoyance at my ongoing perusal. He was right: this wasn’t the time for questions. We both had to get out of here – and quickly. I glanced behind me at the looming wall of the Night Maze and my ears flicked defiantly.
Then, with the Maine Coon by my side, I padded away from the Maze and escaped into the tunnel beyond.
Chapter
Twenty-Two
Under any other circumstances, I’d have enjoyed the journey. It was always pleasurable to travel in a feline body and, as a Maine Coon, my limbs were twitching with vim and vigour. I wanted to test this form out, to jump and run and climb. I wanted to feel my long fur blowing in a breeze above ground and I wanted to sharpen my fabulous claws on a tree trunk and romp playfully through an open field.
Alas, none of those things were appropriate. This was not the time for delays or diversions; I had a destination in mind and a quarry to hunt for.
The real Maine Coon remained by my side, matching me paw for paw. I appreciated the company. The further I strayed from a donor cat, the more my transformation weakened and it appeared that this strange cat was aware of that.
It was mere minutes before we reached the yellow barrier and returned to the mapped tunnels of the main Understream.Although the spectrum of colours I could see as a cat was more limited than when I was wholly human, yellow remained clear and on this occasion it was very welcome. I felt a wash of reliefwhen we crossed over and I released an involuntary purr and a lot of tension. Even the Maine Coon appeared pleased and twitched his whiskers.
