The Unkindest Tide (October Daye #13) - Seanan McGuire Page 0,169
If you simply wish to taunt me because my magic is insufficient to get me out of here, please, continue. I’ll remember you later.”
The cat swished her tail. “They treat too many of us poorly. They let too many of us die.”
I thought of Uncle Tybalt in the shelter, opening cages, sweeping kittens away, and a sinking feeling grew in my stomach. He was only one man, and he had never been able to spend every night doing rescue work. The humans would have noticed. And those were only the cats who were captured or surrendered by their people. It wasn’t the cats shivering in alleys, the strays fighting for scraps to stay alive.
It wasn’t the cats whose humans could choose to discontinue care.
“I am sorry,” I said. “Once I go home, I’ll talk to my regent. Perhaps we can find a way to make things better.”
“There’s no ‘better’ when there are humans involved,” sneered the cat, and got up, and sashayed away, her tail a banner held high behind her, her posture telling me without any further words between us that she had no use for me or my Court.
I tucked my paws underneath myself and watched her go. When she was out of sight, I closed my eyes and thought about what she’d said. Yes, we tried to help the mortal cats around us, and yes, there were some of them who made the Court of Cats their home, but there was so much more we could have been doing. Had we done exactly what we accused the Divided Courts of doing, withdrawing so far into ourselves that we could no longer see how much our subjects needed us?
A new woman approached my cage, a fresh clipboard in her hands. “You’re awake,” she said, with evident delight. “Let me get a look at you, handsome boy. Oh, you’re a nice one, aren’t you?” Her voice had dropped, taking on the honeyed sweetness of a human who truly enjoyed the company of felines.
I decided to grace her with a purr.
“Aren’t you a sweetheart? I wish you could talk, handsome boy. I want to know where your owners are. I want to give them a piece of my mind. You’re too old to be running around the city unaltered, and if you’re a breeder, you should never have been able to escape. I almost hope you came from a kitten mill. Then we can be responsible with you before we help you find a new home. A handsome fellow like you, you won’t have any trouble.”
Were all humans this obsessed with the testicles of others? I couldn’t plant my butt any more firmly on the floor of my cage, so I settled for flattening my whiskers and giving her my most imperious glare. Uncle Tybalt’s subjects have been known to fall over themselves trying to get away from me when I look at them that way, as if the force of my disdain might be sufficient to do them physical harm.
The woman laughed.
“You’re a charmer, aren’t you? Well, you’re a lucky little charmer because you didn’t break any bones, and you don’t have any internal bleeding. It’s just bad bruises and a little concussion. We’ve been giving you painkillers and space to recover, but you should be right as rain in a few days.”
It was fascinating, the way she spoke to me, like she expected me to understand. I meowed at her again. She nodded.
“Yes, you’re a good boy.” She produced a syringe from her pocket.
Damn. I’d hoped they were done adding things to the IV bag. My head was finally starting to clear, and I was going to need my wits about me if I was going to break out of here.
“Don’t you worry about a thing. This will help you stay nice and calm, and I’ll examine you again in a few hours, when I’m sure you’ve been here long enough that we would have noticed any additional complications.”
I meowed again, or tried to, anyway. The world opened up and swallowed me whole, and I fell back into the darkness.
SIX
We were running, running through Blind Michael’s lands, Helen and I hand-in-hand. We had tried running separately, but she was too afraid; she kept losing her balance, unable to focus on where she was going and look over her shoulder at the same time. This way I could guide and protect us both, could keep her heading for the safety of the trees.