Her reflection frowned. “It is a cable network.”
“Shut up!”
“And you can’t open a hole of darkness big enough to cause much trouble because the physicality of the body denies you access to that kind of power.”
“I am that kind of power.”
“Then you’ll have to destroy the body. You’ll cease to exist. Gone. No more reality than you can find in that stupid television program about those people on the island.”
“What do you mean?”
“Read your lips. You’ll be absorbed back into the darkness. No more you.”
“Oh, like it’s such joy to be a teenager.” But it was better than being nothing at all, better than being a lesser part of a greater whole—actually it was remarkably similar to being a lesser part of a greater whole. Byleth chewed thoughtfully on the edge of a thumbnail, spitting bits of navy blue polish into the sink. If she could open a big enough hole, cause enough mayhem and destruction, she could maintain her identity even in the darkness where individuality depended on being more of a shit than the next guy—and not always metaphorically.
She’d have to open the hole quickly, before the Keepers found her, so she’d need a spot where at least part of the work had already been done.
“And I know just the place.”
Unfortunately, her evil chortle fell flat as her reflection ignored her, concentrating instead on the dorky little flip ruining the right side of her hair.
“One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four.”
“Are you all right down there?”
Samuel stopped counting and glared up at Diana, cream-colored whiskers bristling indignantly. “Why?”
“No reason,”
“I’m fine.”
“Okay.”
“This four legs walking stuff is a lot harder than it looks, you know.”
Diana bit back a snicker as she pushed the elevator call button. “It couldn’t possibly be. I think I should carry you,” she added as the elevator arrived. “I’ve set it up so people’s attention will slide right off you, but in an enclosed space you’d likely get stepped on.”
“Something tells me I didn’t think this transformation thing through,” Samuel muttered as she scooped him up. Still, it felt surprisingly pleasant to be held. He flicked his tail out into a more comfortable position as the door opened.
A small child stared up at them with widening eyes. “Kitty, Mama!”
“Yes, sweetheart,” his mother agreed, as Diana moved past her, “a stuffed kitty.”
“Who’s she calling stuffed?”
“Kitty talks, Mama!”
“Toy kitties don’t talk, sweetheart.”
A small hand closed around Samuel’s tail and pulled. “Ding dong!”
“OW!”
“Kitties don’t ding dong either, sweetheart.” Shooting Diana an apologetic smile, she grabbed her son’s wrist with one hand and pried his fingers free with the other. A bit of fur came free as well. “And it’s not polite to touch things that belong to other people.”
“Especially tails!” Hooking his claws in Diana’s jacket, Samuel swiveled around until he could stare down at the child, golden eyes narrowed to glimmering slits. “Listen to your mother, Ramji, because someday she’ll die and you’ll wish you had.”
Ramji wrapped his arms around his mother’s leg. “Kitty knows my name.”
He was still wrapped around her leg when the elevator reached the lobby, and she crossed to the hotel’s front door with a resigned shuffle.
“That’s a kid who’s going to need serious therapy down the road.” Diana shifted her grip. “What kind of an angel says something like that?”
“The kind that just got his tail pulled. Besides,” Samuel continued after a few quick licks at his shoulder, “it’s the truth and one day he’ll thank me for it.”
“One day he’ll spend thousands of dollars being convinced you were a metaphor for toilet training.”
“He grabbed my tail!”
“I know. I was there.”
“You said people wouldn’t be able to see me properly.”
“He was a proto-person.” She set him down in one of the lobby’s over stuffed chairs and stepped back. “I’m going to check out. Stay there.”
“Or what?”
“I haven’t got time to go into it right now, but why don’t you apply that Higher Knowledge thing to the joint concepts of can openers and opposable thumbs.” As she walked over to the counter, she considered all the things he could have become and asked the world at large, more in search of sympathy than enlightenment, “Why a cat?”
The world at large offered no answers.
Left to amuse himself, Samuel did a little kneading, claws moving rhythmically in and out of the corduroy cushion covers. Shoulders up, head down, his eyes began to close as he moved in a slow circle. He didn’t know what it was, but something about that yielding surface under his front paws created the most incredible feeling. Kneading harder, really putting his back into it, he heard a sudden loud noise and froze.
Two-stroke engine, single spark, gas and oil mix…oh, wait, it’s me.
Which was when he spotted the other cat.
A marmalade tabby, it had a cream-colored bib and the same color markings around both muzzle and eyes. The darker stripes down tail and legs made it look as if it was wearing footie pajamas—the effect emphasized by the way the legs were still a bit too long for the body.
Samuel stared at it.
It stared back.
Head cocked to one side, Samuel took a cautious step forward.
It took a cautious step forward.
Hoping he wasn’t rushing the introduction, Samuel leaned forward for a good long sniff.
The cinnamon triangle of his nose mashed flat against the mirror.
Leaping back, his back feet scrambled for purchase as he nearly went off the chair, only the barricade of Diana’s legs saving him from an embarrassing fall. Blinking rapidly, he leaned against her knees, looked up at her, and said in what he hoped was a convincing tone, “I meant to do that.”
“Okay.”
“I knew it was a mirror.”
“I believe you.”
“Right.” He took a few quick licks at the edge of a stripe. “So, where do we go from here?”
Diana sighed. “Home.”
“But what about the demon?” Samuel demanded. “I’m not blocking it now. We should go after it.”
“Yes, we should. But we can’t.” She dropped down onto the arm of the
