Lost & Found

Chapter 2

"Where are you going?" Pipsqueak's whiskers twitched as she stopped to look around the featureless forest. "Everything looks the same. And all the smells are boring. How are you tracking... what is it again?"

"It is 'Roger,' and I am not tracking him by scent." Oliver flicked his tail in annoyance and kept walking past the drab trees. "I am carrying memories that involve the spirit. When I get closer to him, they will begin to pull me towards him."

"How? That's not how memories work." Pipsqueak ran to catch back up with Oliver, slowing down as she passed him. "It's... not, is it? I have memories of exciting hunts. They aren't going to pull me after the mouse I killed if we run into it here, is it?"

Oliver sighed again and paused to try and feel the tug of the memories. "It is doubtful we will run into any of your prey here."

"Why not? You said this was the land of the dead. And I killed my food before I ate it." Pipsqueak paused and looked back at Oliver, though her eyes suddenly grew wide. "I mean... it has to be dead for me to eat it, right? I don't need to worry about food trying to crawl out of my throat, do I?"

The orange tabby just stared at Pipsqueak for a long moment, then shook his head slightly. Kittens. "Yes, it was dead. You clearly have a lot to learn about being a cat still, but I doubt you messed things up that badly." He looked back around the forest, then started walking in a new direction. "The land of the dead includes many different places, and different spirits are drawn to different ones. This is not the one that dead prey tends to come to."

"Oh." Pipsqueak rushed to catch up again. "So where's that one? Can I get there instead? This place is stupid; I don't think it has anything to eat at all. All I've seen are those weird gray blobs, and they don't seem very tasty."

"You cannot eat those; they are just dead spirits that have come here. They do not have a body to eat. But yes, you can get to that place. Though you cannot eat the creatures that are there either; there is no hunting in those lands. If you try, the guards will make you leave." Oliver continued walking, then paused as one of the memories suddenly tugged at his back. He sat up and looked around the forest, waiting to feel where the tug was trying to bring him.

"Well that doesn't sound like any fun. What's the point of having all the prey there if you can't hunt or eat them?" Pipsqueak continued walking a few paces, then seemed to realize Oliver had stopped. She turned and ran back to him, then looked around with another bored flick of her tail. "Are any of the places here worth visiting?"

"Actually, that one is very nice to go to. You can't eat the mice or other prey, but the trees growing there have fruits that taste even better than any prey. And they are very fun to climb. Plus the humans there are all very nice, and all seem to know exactly how to scratch your ears. And exactly when they are supposed to stop petting you." Oliver sniffed the air again, feeling the memory tug at his back again... then a second or two later, the other memories gave him a quick tug in the same direction.

"Hmph. Humans are mean. The last one I met used a strange green tube to throw water at me. Cold water. It's better to avoid them." Pipsqueak followed Oliver's gaze for a moment, staring at one of the dreary trees, then began scanning the forest again in boredom.

"That can often be true in the land of the living, but not always. I know a very nice human named Madeline, who brings me nice food and keeps me safe when I sleep. And she has learned how to scratch my ears properly." Oliver perked his ears in happiness at the thought of the nice woman. "The humans in that part of the land of the dead are all like that. They are friendly and very helpful."

"I'll believe it when I see it." Pipsqueak's tail flicked in annoyance, and she looked back over the trees. "So what is this part of the land of the dead, then? What spirits come here, if not prey?"