Journeyman Cat by Virginia Ripple

Author:Virginia Ripple [Ripple, Virginia]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: talking cat, cat magic, magic cats, Christian fiction, Christian fantasy, fantasy books, fantasy young adult
Published: 2013-04-11T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8

The boy is dead,” Tobias said as soon as they were locked into their room. “I found his unmarked grave on the far side of the cemetery this evening.”

“Are you sure?”

The gray tom’s eyes widened. “Am I sure he was dead?”

“Are you sure it was Adam?” asked Lowrance, glaring at him. Tobias narrowed his eyes, his whiskers clamping shut.

“Unless they’re burying a lot of people with arms that bend at the wrong angle, I’m pretty sure.”

The young man leaned back on his cot, his hand going to his chin to stroke the nonexistent beard.

“So how’d you find the grave?”

“I fell into it.”

“Metaphorically?” Lowrance asked, tilting his head down and scrunching his eyebrows together. Tobias shook his head.

“Literally.”

The boy grimaced. “That sucks.”

“I’ll say,” Tobias said, ears flattened and nose wrinkled. “I don’t think I’ll ever get that stench out of my nose.”

He shook himself from ears to tail wishing it would rid him of the memory of being in Adam’s grave. Lowrance patted the bed beside him. The gray tom jumped up and settled in beside his friend, letting him massage his shoulders with one hand. He let out a rumbling purr of gratitude as he shut his eyes and enjoyed the moment. Lowrance shifted beside him.

“Got any ideas how we can find out who did this?”

The gray tom opened his eyes and rolled onto his side so he could face his partner. “I read somewhere that the scent of decay stays on someone handling a dead person long after the deceased has been buried. I could see who around here handles dead things.”

Lowrance gave him a lopsided smile. “So you’re going to sniff everyone here? You’re going to look like some sort of weird dog.”

“You have a better idea?” asked the gray tom, flattening his ears and sitting up.

The human shook his head, a frown on his face. “I was just thinking that if these cats can brutalize and kill children then they’d think nothing of ending your life. And if they did capture your father and are still torturing him for information after all these years, whose to say they wouldn’t do the same to you?”

“Or you?”

The partners stared at each other in silence. The number of dead on this mission was increasing. The thought brought back the memory of the spectral moan in the chapel, raising the hair along his spine again. Lowrance cocked his head.

“What’s up?”

“Nothing.”

“You don’t go ridge-backed about nothing.”

Tobias sighed and closed his eyes.

“Don’t laugh,” he said, opening his eyes again to look at his human. Lowrance nodded.

“I heard a moan in the cemetery while I was searching for signs of Adam. It scared the devil out of me.”

The boy slid a hand over his mouth, his eyes twinkling, but he didn’t laugh. The young tom’s whiskers twitched.

“I know. It sounds ridiculous now, but at the time I almost expected a ghost to fly out of the weeds and snatch my soul away.”

“Any idea what it was?”

Tobias shook his head. “No. I only heard it once, so there was no way to track the sound.

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