My claws extended. I drew back my mouth and showed my teeth.
It all happened in a split second. I was ready for battle.
And whatever this was attacking me, I wanted it to know it would be sorry it messed with Fluffer McKitty.
“Hhhhhiisssss!”
CHAPTER 11
I was ready to fight. I was
pumped
. Kill or be killed.
It is so cool when you feel the razor-sharp claws sliding out of your delicate-looking pink pads.
“Rachel, chill out, girl, it’s just Tobias,” Cassie said soothingly. “Tobias? I think maybe you’d better stay away,” she called up to the sky. “Cats are genetically programmed to be afraid of large birds.”
She was right. The shadow of Tobias scared me pretty good. It was strange, because it was a fear I shared with the shrew.
But it was a different type of fear than the shrew’s. This was more like I was angry, too. Only that wasn’tquite it, either. I guess it wasn’t a real emotion at all. Basically, when I’d hissed I was just trying to communicate. And the message I was trying to communicate was, “Don’t mess with me. You may be bigger than me, you may scare me, you may make me run away, but if I have to I am ready to fight.”
That was my whole cat message to the world: Don’t mess with me. Don’t get in my way, don’t try to touch me if I don’t want to be touched, don’t try to keep me from getting what I want.
I was self-contained. I was complete. I didn’t need anything but myself. It seemed lonely to my human self, but at the same time, it was all very calm somehow.
I said.
“What’s it like?” Cassie asked.
“Can you do this, do you think?” Jake asked me.
“Don’t let the cat’s arrogance get you in trouble,” Marco advised. “Keep a little of your good old humanfear.” He paused. “Oh, I forgot, mighty Rachel doesn’t have any good old human fear. So here’s what you do: Borrow some of
my
good old human fear. I have plenty to spare.”
“He’s right, Rachel,” Cassie agreed. “Keep focused. Between your own natural attitude and the cat’s ‘tude, you could get cocky.”
I cast a glance back toward the mouse. He had broken into the nut at last. I could kill him. I was sure of that. He was a plump little mouse, and I would catch him easily. But I wasn’t hungry. So he’d get to live a while longer.
I said.
“We’re here if you get into a mess,” Cassie reassured me.
But the truth is, I was lying, just a little. See, I wasn’t completely in control of the cat. For some reason I didn’t
want
to completely control the cat. I kind of liked his arrogance. It made me feel more sure of myself. And despite what the others thought about me, I needed all the confidence I could get.
“The morph clock is ticking,” Cassie said. “It’s quarter of eight. Remember that.”
I headed at an easy trot down the sidewalk toward the Chapman home. As soon as I started moving Ithought,
Oh, man, if I could just keep some of this for my next gymnastics class
.
It was like grace beyond any grace you can imagine as a human. I passed a wooden fence. There was a railing up high, maybe three feet up. I looked up at it and then, before I could even think about it, I leaped. My powerful hind legs coiled up and released.
I sailed through the air. Three feet straight up, and I was an animal that stood only about twelve or thirteen inches tall. It was the same as a human being just leaping to the top of a two-story building.
And it was totally
nothing
. It was just automatic. I
It all happened in a split second. I was ready for battle.
And whatever this was attacking me, I wanted it to know it would be sorry it messed with Fluffer McKitty.
“Hhhhhiisssss!”
CHAPTER 11
I was ready to fight. I was
pumped
. Kill or be killed.
It is so cool when you feel the razor-sharp claws sliding out of your delicate-looking pink pads.
“Rachel, chill out, girl, it’s just Tobias,” Cassie said soothingly. “Tobias? I think maybe you’d better stay away,” she called up to the sky. “Cats are genetically programmed to be afraid of large birds.”
She was right. The shadow of Tobias scared me pretty good. It was strange, because it was a fear I shared with the shrew.
But it was a different type of fear than the shrew’s. This was more like I was angry, too. Only that wasn’tquite it, either. I guess it wasn’t a real emotion at all. Basically, when I’d hissed I was just trying to communicate. And the message I was trying to communicate was, “Don’t mess with me. You may be bigger than me, you may scare me, you may make me run away, but if I have to I am ready to fight.”
That was my whole cat message to the world: Don’t mess with me. Don’t get in my way, don’t try to touch me if I don’t want to be touched, don’t try to keep me from getting what I want.
I was self-contained. I was complete. I didn’t need anything but myself. It seemed lonely to my human self, but at the same time, it was all very calm somehow.
“What’s it like?” Cassie asked.
“Can you do this, do you think?” Jake asked me.
“Don’t let the cat’s arrogance get you in trouble,” Marco advised. “Keep a little of your good old humanfear.” He paused. “Oh, I forgot, mighty Rachel doesn’t have any good old human fear. So here’s what you do: Borrow some of
my
good old human fear. I have plenty to spare.”
“He’s right, Rachel,” Cassie agreed. “Keep focused. Between your own natural attitude and the cat’s ‘tude, you could get cocky.”
I cast a glance back toward the mouse. He had broken into the nut at last. I could kill him. I was sure of that. He was a plump little mouse, and I would catch him easily. But I wasn’t hungry. So he’d get to live a while longer.
“We’re here if you get into a mess,” Cassie reassured me.
But the truth is, I was lying, just a little. See, I wasn’t completely in control of the cat. For some reason I didn’t
want
to completely control the cat. I kind of liked his arrogance. It made me feel more sure of myself. And despite what the others thought about me, I needed all the confidence I could get.
“The morph clock is ticking,” Cassie said. “It’s quarter of eight. Remember that.”
I headed at an easy trot down the sidewalk toward the Chapman home. As soon as I started moving Ithought,
Oh, man, if I could just keep some of this for my next gymnastics class
.
It was like grace beyond any grace you can imagine as a human. I passed a wooden fence. There was a railing up high, maybe three feet up. I looked up at it and then, before I could even think about it, I leaped. My powerful hind legs coiled up and released.
I sailed through the air. Three feet straight up, and I was an animal that stood only about twelve or thirteen inches tall. It was the same as a human being just leaping to the top of a two-story building.
And it was totally
nothing
. It was just automatic. I
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