The Last Day of June

Chapter Eight: Panic in the Streets

Where was he? Why didn't he come?

In all of the past month or so, Axel had never missed a night in coming to see me. He was always roughly on time; there should be no reason why he wouldn't be there.

Unless...

He had told me that he'd been staying at one of the families who'd fostered us for a while that was close by. They were only a couple of blocks from here and I knew the route. Sure there was the occasional dog, but with all the trees lining the block he could've technically traveled without touching the ground.

So where was he?

There was no way he'd let something as simple as dogs or stray catchers capture him. He was too smart for that. And there was no way he'd miss us seeing each other, not if I knew him. And I did know him. I knew everything about him and vice versa. In a world were food and shelter were unpredictable, the one thing we could count on was one another.

If I'm not wrong, then the worst has come to pass.

All morning the anxiety churned in my gut, my instincts whispering that something had gone terribly astray. I couldn't stomach my breakfast and instead lay on the window sill, furiously thinking about what had happened.

Kace glanced at me with worry. "She hasn't eaten anything all morning and all she's done is sit there staring out the window."

Selene put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry, go to class. You'll take her to the clinic in the afternoon and I'll watch the three of them until then."

"I don't know, maybe I can reschedule so it's earlier..." He still seemed uncertain.

Nevertheless, she ushered him out the door. "You want your bachelor's degree, right? Well, you can't skip classes, now go or you'll be late! Everything will be fine."

He walked out the door, still reciting instructions on how to care for the three of us.

"Yes, yes," Selene waved at him. "I got it! Now shoo!"

She shut the door and turned back to us, scratching Bailey behind her ears and tickling Sage. "Honestly, sometimes I think he cares more about you guys than his degree!" She smiled and threw a chew toy for Sage, watching him toddle after it. "I can see why though."

I threw another glance at Selene then returned to stare out the window. Even if I dreaded going to the vet, Axel's disappearance was a much more pressing matter. At least the trip would let me go outside and maybe I would be able to look for him.

Maybe if I hadn't wished to avoid going to the vet fate wouldn't have caused this to happen. It was like they were dangling a piece of fish in my face, yanking it out of my reach and leaving me with the scales.

Stop it! I scolded myself. What would Axel think if he knew you were thinking like this? He'd probably say I was being irrational and that those two events weren't related. I thought glumly. Now that he was gone, I had to step up and be responsible for myself.

Now if only my leg would heal I could go look for him.

Selene hummed a tune to herself while she cleaned the dishes from breakfast. Afterward, she clipped a leash to Bailey's collar and retrieved a bike from where it had been leaning against the wall. She kept Sage in the living room but walked over to me.

"You should probably get some fresh air too --" She started, trying to get close to me so she could pick me up.

HAHAHAHA I'd like to see you try.

I evaded her grasp until a lightbulb went off in my mind. If I let her pick me up then I can go outside. And if I go outside I can look for Axel.

So I let her try, smashing my pride to bits while I was at it.

There was a basket attached to the front of the bike that she set me down in and zipped a semi-transparent fabric over. Then she wheeled the bike outside and hung Bailey's leash on the handle. Bailey seemed to know what was happening and we set off down the street.

I mentioned before that dogs hated me and the same thing applied to Bailey. Between the two of us, no dog or cat would come within twenty meters of the bike.

Though I scanned the streets for any sign of a black cat I saw not a scrap of fur.

Bailey sensed that something was wrong but didn't ask me about it, holding her tongue. She kept sending me questioning glances but I wasn't in the mood for any conversational dances right now.

When we started to turn back on the road to home I froze. I couldn't go back there until I'd found Axel. I would not go back until I knew where he was.

"Let me out!" I growled, pushed against the suffocating synthetic fabric enclosure that surrounded me. "Let me out I have to go look!"

Selene gave a surprised yelp and stopped the bike on the corner.

"June?" Bailey asked, nervously circling the bike. "What's wrong?"

"I have to go look for him!" I grit my teeth, trying to bite the zipper open so I could squeeze my way through the basket. "I need to find him, he didn't show up yesterday and I know he'd never just leave!"

My anxiety was rubbing off on Bailey and she barked worriedly, "Are you talking about that black cat that comes every night? I think I picked up his scent a while back."

I froze. Selene unzipped the basket to see what it was and I jumped out, ignoring the pain in my leg. The pain there didn't even compare to the adrenaline flowing through me at the moment. I sat in front of Bailey and stopped her pacing.

"Where." The intensity in my stare made her wilt slightly and I tried to rein in my roaring emotions.

"It was down the road some. I started heading off to the Master's house but it ended near the street."

My sense of smell was powerful but not as powerful as a full-grown dog. She could'be tracked down something I lost a long time ago. Why didn't I think of this before?

"It stopped near the street," I stated. "How close to the apartment?"

"Pretty close," Bailey answered. "Just at the corner of the next street down."

By this point, Selene was utterly bewildered and decided to take us both home ASAP. I was dumped back into the basket and Bailey was led back home.

A few hours later Kace burst into the apartment. "I saw your text, what happened?!"

While Selene talked it out with Kace, I sat near the window again, praying that Axel was alright. Bailey had said there was no scent of blood but there were marks of a struggle. He couldn't have been caught out in traffic. He was too smart for that. A struggle meant he'd probably been captured.

The question was by who?

Kace couldn't make head or tail of my actions and I wasn't about to enlighten him. Oh hey, I'm actually a human who can shapeshift into a cat. Don't worry about me I'm just trying to find my friend who also happens to be a shape-shifter. 

Yeah, no.

At this point, the word "friends" was too loose to describe me and Axel. I didn't know what exactly we meant to each other, just that I couldn't possibly live without him. I wouldn't have made it out on the streets without his guidance. He was a mentor but I didn't treat him as such. I respected him but that wasn't it either...

The realization shocked me so much that I didn't resist when Kace pushed me into a cat trailer and set the cage in the car.

By the time my thoughts came down to earth we were already driving down the highway to the vet.

(Side Note: Fun fact! I've never actually had any pets aside from fish...so I took inspiration from my friends' pets!)