Infiltrating G.A.T.O.

The Truth behind the Curse

The alarm buzzing woke up Sebastian. After Isadora hit the alarm for what felt like the hundredth time, Sebastian stood up and stretched on the bottom of her bed. She had done this more and more over the last six years, but Sebastian didn’t mind that much. What he did mind was when she left for school without him. Granted, taking a cat to school wasn’t socially acceptable.

Sebastian trotted to Isadora’s head and rubbed against her cheek. She pulled him under the covers and he purred in response. Dobey whimpered from the side of the bed because Isadora wouldn’t allow him on it and he really wanted in on the morning cuddles.

“I don’t know why you don’t snuggle with me when I sleep anymore,” Isadora mumbled and pulled him tighter to her chest. “But I’m glad you cuddle with me in the mornings.”

His only response was to purr louder. Somehow cuddling with her in the mornings felt less creepy than sleeping next to her. He didn’t like her not knowing who he really was, but her dad had requested it stay that way. If it’d been up to Sebastian, he’d have told her long ago.

“Oh, stop whining, Dobey.” The poor dog flopped onto the floor with a heavy sigh. Sebastian wiggled to get out of her arms to go to him. “Wait, don’t go. Just this once, you can get on the bed, Dobey.”

Without a second of hesitation, Dobey hopped onto the bed with his little tail wiggling. Sebastian wanted to chuckle at Dobey’s antics, but he couldn’t. The reminder sent a pang to his chest and he lowered his head to the bed. Ever since Isadora had said what she did the night before, he’d been depressed. The probability of him turning back into a human seemed next to nothing at this point and it distressed him more than he wanted to admit.

Dobey wiggled his big body up the bed and nuzzled Sebastian’s side. In reality, Dobey was Sebastian’s dog even if Jason had claimed he wanted the dog for himself. Sebastian rubbed his head against Dobey’s. The squirming dog tried to stay still, but his wagging tail seemed to move his entire backside.

Isadora scratched Dobey’s ears and muttered, “I’ll never understand you two.”

With one of his paws on Dobey’s head, Sebastian leaned back into Isadora’s arms. The young girl had captured a place in his heart from the first time he saw her and he’d do anything to protect her. Well, almost anything. Killing someone seemed a bit drastic.

As Isadora stroked his side, he allowed himself to fall back asleep for a little while. His head being lifted woke him and he watched Isadora go into the en-suite bathroom. Dobey snored softly next to him. Sebastian stood up and arched his back before stretching. After he yawned, he went to the end of the bed and started cleaning his paws.

The worst part about being a cat was cleaning. For a while, Sebastian had refused to bath himself, but when his fur got oily and nasty, Jason threatened to take him to the vet if he didn’t fix it. Of course, Sebastian grudgingly complied.

Dobey jumped off the bed and stretched on the floor. He put his head down in front of Sebastian in an effort to get Sebastian to clean his face. Sebastian never did, but that didn’t dissuade Dobey from trying. The silly dog was as stubborn as they came and rarely gave up on anything he wanted, but that was probably part of being a Doberman.

When the shower turned off, Sebastian jumped to all fours and looked around the room franticly. The bedroom door was still shut and Jason had yet to put a handle instead of a knob on it. Sebastian leapt to the floor and ran to the door. His scratching and meowing had no success in calling someone to his rescue. Dobey just cocked his head and stared at Sebastian, which helped a grand total of nada.

The bathroom door swung open and Isadora waltzed into the room with nothing on other than a towel. Sebastian averted his eyes and meowed at the door again. Maybe if he stared at the door long enough it would magically open.