A Kitten Called Cat

Chapter Twenty Nine - Hospital

I drifted up through the clouds a couple of times and, whenever I did, I sort of knew that Master was there. Somehow that was a comfort.

He was still there when I woke up properly but, by that time, he was fast asleep in a funny looking armchair with his head hanging uncomfortably to one side. My own head felt like it was stuffed with cotton wool and there was a funny sort of dull ache in my side. There was also some sort of funny clicky thing going on though I wasn't quite sure whether that was just inside my head.

I looked around and was astonished to see that Terri was there too. The poor thing looked as if she had not slept for a week. And in the corner there was an old woman who I'd never seen before. No... I corrected myself. She was not an old woman; she was definitely an old lady. She was tiny - even smaller than me - and, though she was really old and dressed all in black, she managed to look really smart. She was busy knitting - that explained the funny clicky noise. She smiled and nodded when she saw me looking at her and sort of waved with her knitting needles; whatever it was she was knitting was a beautiful baby-blue colour.

"Where..." I managed to croak.

The old lady said something in Italian and Terri stepped across, poured some water into a baby-style sippy cup and helped me to drink. "You're in hospital," she explained. "Simone..." she managed to pack an astonishing amount of anger and disgust into that name... "shot you."

Then I remembered - not so much the facts, they were all blurry. Instead I remembered my feelings: my terror that the vile Slimeball was going to get his hands on me; and how angry I was when I realised that the silly, plastic, toy gun that he was pointing at Master was the real thing.

For some reason, poor Terri sounded really scared by the whole situation. I mean, nobody likes hospitals but she sounded much worse than that.

"Who..." I asked, looking towards the old lady.

"This is Zi'Anna," Terri explained. "My Aunt Anna, I suppose. She was my governess until I was eighteen. Then, when Nonno worked out that I was going to have to come to England without him, he asked her to come with me. He didn't think it was..." she paused for a moment trying to work out the proper word in English, "fitting, I suppose... for me to be travelling on my own."

"But what are you doing here?" I asked, still trying to fight my way through the cotton wool that was filling my head.

"We all wanted to know that you are alright," Terri explained. "And to see if we could help."

"And Mr Andretti wanted to convince me that he had nothing to do with the attack," Master explained, stretching out his shoulders. He was rewarded with a startlingly loud crack. "So he has offered me the most precious thing he possesses as a hostage."

"But you won't hurt..." For a moment, the horror that Mr Scary might do horrible things to Terri overcame the cotton wool in my head.

"Certainly not," he promised, taking hold of my hand. "Not even if I thought he was responsible for the attack. I never extract vengeance by proxy."

He turned to Terri and looked her in the eye. "Little one," he reassured her, "you are completely safe with me."

She automatically dropped to her knees, lowered her head and said, "Thank you, Sir."

He stepped across and helped her to stand up then kissed the back of the hand he was still holding. Then he flashed a wink to Zi'Anna who was trying to look cross but not doing a very good job of it.

Though I was beyond happy to see the two of them, it was all getting a bit much. "I'm a..." I began but everything was becoming too blurry.

Mr Lovely was suddenly back with me. "I'm sorry, Kitten," he said. "We should have paid more attention to you." He stroked my hair gently. "Either Theresa or I will be here when you wake. But now you must rest."