The Adventure of Fel

chapter two

       The cats are waiting for me when I come home at the end of the day. It's not often that I spend all day out, but lately inside reminds me too much of Ivy. Gwen's sitting on one of my travel guides when I enter my room. She won't tell me how she knows how to read.

       "Cat's secret," she tells me whenever I ask.

       I settle down on my bed, running a hand over her silky fur, as I feed the mermaid some chocolate from my sock drawer.

       Outside my window I can see fields turn into woods and bright blue sky into black.

       "Look at the sun," I sigh. Leo turns from his spot in the windowsill and gazes out the window. Even with only black and white vision, he nods appreciatively at the sunset.

       "I've been looking at some schools," Gwen mews. "There's one in the Kingdoms that sent you a pamphlet. They're trying to fund a big cat study, and would love to have you."

       "How would I get there though?"

       "You still have a year to save up. I'm just looking at options."

       "How about this: I can run off and join Ivy at Elements, and I can hide in her dorm forever."

       "Ha-ha," Gwen says. "Leo, what do you think?" Leo opens one green eye from his spot on my pillow and stretches.

       "I think Fel should not worry about it, because the right school will come around, and if it doesn't, she can work at the Market and live with us forever."

       "Oh yeah?" I poke him in the stomach. "And what would I sell?"

       "Ooh! Ooh! You could have a booth where people bring you their sick cats and you can tell them what's wrong!" Gwen jumps in.

       "Yeah. That's not a bad idea," I say, smiling down at my furry friend. Next year, I'll be twenty-one, meaning I have the option to join a school, the Market, or neither. I've never known anyone who chose neither before. Ivy and I have been lucky. Our parents are both in jewelry; my mom, with her ability to control flowers, grows and presses them, and my dad, with his bracelet ability, inserts them into his work. They met at a design school nearby, and now they spend their days at the Market, often bringing home travel pamphlets, pictures, and maps for me, paper and pencils for Ivy. They couldn't have been more proud when she was accepted into Elements, the school for important people.

       And I can talk to cats. Which is why I should become a scientist or a vet. Yet every time I think of spending long days at the Market in a booth or days in one spot in a field watching some tiger, I cringe. But it's my ability. It would be absolutely selfish for me to not help scientists study cats, or help people and their pets. When I'm twenty-one, I know I'll go to the nearby science and math school, then join the Market or a lab.

       Something wet touches my face and I jump.

       "Blech," I say to Leo, who has licked my face.

       "You were spacing out," he mews, settling back down onto the pillow.

       I lean back onto the bed, each hand petting a cat. I suppose I could go to school for travel – map making or being some sort of tour guide, but I'd never get accepted. Not if I was up against an artist or expert memorizer who could name all 700  countries in the Kingdoms.

       I hear a creak from downstairs.

        "Mom and Dad," I say. I roll off of my bed, landing with a thump, and race downstairs, almost slipping.