Despite the silence of her passage, something – perhaps a whisper of sound just audible enough for a cat, perhaps a glimpse of her in the mirror – something caught Beryl’s attention. She got up, shut the door, then tried to peer under the bed. “Who’s here? I can’t see you that well right now.”
Felisa listened intently, but couldn’t hear the grouchy man, so she poked her head out. “Strifeclaw?”
“Lisa?” Beryl shook her head. “Wait, no. You can’t be Lisa.” She finally got down on all fours, bringing her closer. “I see. Fargazer, then.”
“Yes.” Felisa crept out fully, puzzled at Beryl’s reaction.
“You shouldn’t have come here. Though I guess you haven’t, really. How are you doing this?”
“The Dreamfields. I was able to find you again.”
Beryl frowned. “That’s strange, considering I’m awake.”
Felisa’s ears laid back in surprise. “That is… interesting.” Part of her wanted to investigate this phenomenon further, but she knew there really wasn’t time. “But are you all right? No one’s seen you in days!”
Beryl shrugged, the ripple working its way down her arms to her front paws. Felisa stared, then batted at them, trying to see them more closely. Beryl pulled them away. “That’s… still sensitive right now.”
Suddenly, the large cat looked toward the door. Felisa froze; there wasn’t anyone approaching in the Dreamfields – she knew that. But apparently someone was now talking to Beryl in the waking world, and Felisa didn’t want to distract Beryl too obviously.
Beryl finally nodded and said, “Yes, Mr. Nicholas. I will.” A few second later, she turned her attention back to Felisa, who managed to keep her voice low, despite the dismay that made her want to yowl. “What have they done to you?”
“They haven’t done anything to me, Lisa. I’m perfectly fine.”
She growled a little. “Not from what the Folk have told me. They said you looked terrible.”
“I…” Beryl sighed. “I may have appeared distraught… but it’s nothing I can’t handle.”
“Strifeclaw, this is getting out of hand. Do you know what Mr. Wright and the others have done?”
“I do. They’ve done more than they know. And that was…” She broke off for a moment. “Lisa, Mr. Nicolas knows. He knows what they did.”
“And he’s taking it out on you?”
For a moment, Beryl was silent. “He did not appreciate any connection,” she finally said.
Felisa felt time was getting short, and there were still things she needed to ask. “Strifeclaw. I don’t know if you can see it, but there are four leashes around your neck. One of them is attached to the bed here. The other three lead outside.”
“I am aware.” Beryl shrugged a little.
“Do you have any idea what they represent?”
She nodded. “One to my witch, one to Fly, one to Cyan. And one… to here. To Mr. Nicholas.” As Felisa tentatively touched one of the three that led outside, Beryl continued, “The leashes prevent me from having a choice, Fargazer. I am trapped by them. I am bound to act as I must. Mr. Nicholas isn’t that bad, really.” At the smaller cat’s look of utter astonishment, she added, “Really, he isn’t.”
Felisa eyed the leashes, wondering if she should try to break them. But she wasn’t sure she should dare the attempt, at this point. She remembered, all too clearly, Tepic and his talk of obligations. Reluctantly, she set that thought aside, and went back to the previous topic. “Strifeclaw… did you ask Mr. Hyde and the others to do as much as they did?”
“No. I did not.”
Her whiskers arched forward in relief. “Good. I’d heard Miss Bookworm was very angry with them. And I think maybe with you, too. I think she thinks they did what you wanted.”
Beryl looked angry at that. “I asked Hyde to talk to Tepic. Do it Tepic’s way, in making someone sprain a leg tripping, or something of that sort.”
She nodded. “I’ll tell her that… and them.” She paused. “Strifeclaw, are you any closer to fulfilling your obligations?”
“Only some of them,” Beryl replied softly. “Fargazer… tell them if they hear me scream, that is the signal.”
“All right. I’ll tell the Folk, too. Some will slip in and out as they can. Give them any messages you need passed to me.” Felisa looked up at her friend with compassion-filled eyes. “Is there anything else I can do?”
Beryl shook her head. “I’m fine, Fargazer. Truly. It’s the others you should worry about.”
Felisa rose to her feet and followed Beryl to the door reluctantly. “I don’t know if I’ll be able to do this again. But if there’s great need, I will try.”
Beryl nodded, opening the door silently, shifting her weight to hide her feet behind the skirts of her dress. Felisa slipped through, listening carefully. There was no activity nearby, so she quickly rushed downstairs and beneath the sofa near the door. She had to wait longer this time, before the door finally opened, letting in a group of customers. She worked her way against the stream, dodging their feet, and dove into a flowerbed at one side of the door.
Once the coast was clear, she marched back to the door and relieved herself, wishing, for once, that she was male, so it would stink more. Then she leaped up for the Dreamfields path, and the way back to her body in the waking world, ready to tell first Miss Bookworm, then Mr. Wright, what she had learned.
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