Fomidae

Chapter Four

      “But I did almost catch something,” Mia protested to Shard, who was glaring at her. His eyes scared her, the way their blackness burned in fury. Mia looked down at her paws, trying to avoid his gaze.

     Shard growled. “Fine. I wouldn’t normally accept this, but I suppose I’ll give you another chance. Now go catch something!”

     Mia returned to the cat camp when she finally caught a mouse. It was scrawny, but at least she had caught something. Otherwise, she thought, she would be dead by now.

     Mia dropped it at the paws of a female Siamese cat who was nursing five tiny kittens. Shard had told her they were supposed give their prey to the mothers and old cats first, who couldn’t hunt for themselves, which had surprised Mia since it didn’t seem like something very mean to say. But she knew he was probably just trying to seem good to others. Then the stronger cats that weren’t currently nursing kittens hunted for themselves. The Siamese purred thankfully when Mia had given her the mouse.

     “Thank you, dear,” she had said. Mia then left the Siamese and went to her own den. She didn’t really know what else to do, and she wasn’t hungry. Mia sat down in her leafy, mossy, and feathery bedding and closed her eyes.

     She wondered if her family missed her. She wondered if her friends had wondered why she wasn’t going to school. She wondered if anyone even noticed she was gone. Mia missed her home and her family and her friends. Her stomach felt like a huge rock was in it, and she felt like she was going to puke at any random moment. Mia knew that she was homesick.

     She felt a single tear roll through her fur and slowly make its way down her cheek. She felt like she was quivering on the inside. She wanted so badly to go home. She even missed her annoying little sister.

     Mia sighed a shaky sigh and stood up, forcing her eyes open. She padded out of the den, looking around at all of the cats. The camp was more deserted since it was the middle of the day, but there were still a lot of cats.

          “Hey, you! Mia! Want to share a rabbit with me?”

     Mia turned around to see Lark with a freshly-caught rabbit at his paws. “Uh, okay,” she replied. She padded over and sat down with him.

     “Well, go on, take a bite,” Lark prompted, waiting for her to do so. “I caught it.”

     First, she was a little grossed out by the fact that he wanted her to eat a raw, dead bunny. Finally, Mia forced herself to take a bite of the rabbit. It tasted pretty good, though she knew she probably wouldn’t like it as a human. At least not a raw one. She and Lark ate the entire thing.

     After they were done, Lark licked his lips and said, “You know, Mia, you seem pretty strange for a cat.”

     “I do?” How am I acting strange?

     “Yes,” he only replied. Then he got up, taking the remains of the rabbit with him, and went to bury them somewhere.

     Mia went to work cleaning herself, thinking she may as well get used to being a cat. She hoped she didn’t seem too different, or else she may be in for some trouble.

     Mia stayed up until every cat was asleep. She padded out of the den and snuck past everyone until she was outside. Mia could barely see anything, but her sight was somewhat better at night as a cat then it was when she was a human.

     She tried to follow her instincts that told her where Princess Laia told her to meet her, but Mia knew it wasn’t working all that well. All of a sudden a dark gray shape flew right out in front of her, nearly hitting her face. Its pinkish tail was grasping a low tree branch and its dark eyes gleamed in the moonlight. Its muzzle was larger than a cat’s, and Mia could make out that it was mostly white, while the rest of its body was black and gray. The creature looked at Mia with a strange-looking animal smile.