I growled softly and Abby looked up. “What’s wrong?”

I pointed my muzzle at the ceiling.

“You hear something?” she asked, and I nodded. “Is someone coming?”

Rotating my ear flaps, I located the direction of the sound and listened carefully. I heard heavy footsteps, then running water. Eric was taking a shower.

With no way to tel her anything more specific, I settled for shaking my head.

“Thank goodness,” she breathed, eyeing the ceiling warily. I disagreed. We couldn’t get out without a key, and hours spent wishing for one had done us no good. We needed Eric to come unlock one of the cages. Preferably mine.

The shower ran for several minutes as I listened, occasional y rotating my ears to make sure Ryan was stil watching TV. Or that the set was on, at least. I hadn’t heard him enter or leave the living room, but that was al I had to go on regarding his position in the house.

The water stopped, and Eric stepped out of the shower. If he took the time to dry off, I couldn’t tel ; seconds later he was in another room, searching for clean clothes, based on the sound of wood scraping wood as he opened and closed dresser drawers.

Okay, time for action. I sat up straight and flattened my ears to my head, preparing to give a good roar. It was the only thing I could think of to lure him downstairs, and though I stil hadn’t figured out how to get him to unlock my cage, I’d decided to take things one step at a time. Beginning with the roar. It had to be loud enough for Eric to hear, but not loud enough to alarm the neighbors. Volume was always a judgment cal because of the possibility of being heard by humans.

But as it turned out, I didn’t have to make any noise at al . The footsteps turned toward what I assumed was the kitchen and I closed my mouth, listening.

Eric paused, possibly at the fridge, then continued toward the basement door.

Apparently he liked a little recreation first thing in the morning. Lucky us.

Staring at the steps, I growled to warn Abby. She glanced at me, then followed my gaze, her eyes round and her posture tense.

The door opened, and she leapt to her feet. Fast. I was glad to see she stil had a little energy left, since I’d eaten half of her dinner. And since I wasn’t sure I could keep him away from her a second time.

“Good morning, girls,” Eric cal ed from the top step. “You did know it was morning, didn’t you?” Neither of us replied, and he paused to turn off the light then jogged down the stairs.

I didn’t care. I could see in the dark far better than he could. But Abby was breathing so hard and fast I worried she’d pass out.

Eric stopped short at the foot of the steps, staring at me as a drop of water fel from the end of a stil -wet strand of hair onto his collar. In less than a second, his face cycled through fear and surprise before final y settling into an amused grin. The first two expressions were closer to how he actual y felt, and no display of perfect white teeth could convince me otherwise, even if his canines had been bigger than mine. Which they weren’t. Not by a long shot.

He smel ed fresh and clean, like Zest soap, cheap shampoo and mint-flavored toothpaste. That pissed me off. The fur on my head stood up in stiff clumps, matted by dried sweat and blood, though I hadn’t had fur when I accumulated either substance. I hadn’t brushed my teeth in roughly thirty-six hours, and I’d never needed a shower worse in my life. In a word, I felt gross. On the upside, surely gross was rape-repel ent. But even if it wasn’t, claws sure as hel were.

I paced across the front of my cage, slinking around each time I met the opposite wal , pausing every now and then to growl at him. Eric’s eyes followed me.

He was obviously searching for something clever to say and coming up empty. Big surprise.

“Fur suits you, Faythe,” he said final y.

Claws suit me better, I thought, eyeing four long, scabbed-over scratches running from the corner of his left eye to the peak of his chin. I licked my muzzle, pleased with my handiwork.

Eric lurched forward, as if he’d found a hidden stash of courage and wanted to use it al in one careless spending spree. But he stayed wel back from my bars.

Digging in his front right pocket, he came out with a smal silver key, holding it up for my inspection. “As inviting as your cel looks, al littered with napkins and chicken bones, I think I’l pay a visit to your little cousin this morning. She’s more my type.”

Cowards always like them young, small and helpless, I thought, wishing I could voice the insult. But al I could do was watch.

For every step Eric took toward her, Abby took one back, until she hit the wal .

She shook her head slowly, tiny fists clenched at her sides, eyes wide with terror.

She glanced at me and I growled, not at her, but at Eric. He stopped two feet from her cage, turning to look at me. “What’s wrong, kitty? You jealous? That’s too bad, since you didn’t give me a very warm welcome last time.” He touched the angry slashes on his cheek, and I could swear he knew I was smiling.

I huffed at him through my nose, inches from my front wal of bars.

“Yeah, I saw what you did to Miguel,” he said. “Pretty proud of yourself, aren’t you? I guess you’ve figured out by now that he’s given up on you. Gonna trade you in for a newer model.”

I’d hoped he would drop the name of the girl they’d gone after, or at least give me a hint, but he did neither. It did me no good to know she was younger than I was. I was the oldest unmarried tabby in the country. Knowing they would be back by morning told me more than Eric had.