Part 12 (1/2)

Anica had no breath to waste on Julie. She was in a tug-of-war that had to go her way. She yanked harder and there was a loud crack. The plastic carrier, which wasn't very st.u.r.dy to begin with, came apart.

Jasper exploded out of it, scratching anything in his way.

Anica made a grab for him and felt his claws dig into her arm. Then he launched himself from the cab to the sidewalk.

”Stop him, Julie!” Anica cried.

But Julie wasn't quick enough. Jasper darted around her and raced down the sidewalk, with Anica, Julie and Edna in hot pursuit. A block later, they all stopped, panting.

Jasper was nowhere in sight.

Edna leaned over and put her hands on her knees as she tried to catch her breath. ”See? See what you've done?”

”What I've done?” Anica longed to put her hands around the woman's chubby neck and squeeze. ”If you hadn't interfered, Jasper would still be safe in my apartment!”

”It's my fault.” Julie looked miserable, even more so because her mascara had smeared, turning her into a frightening sight indeed. ”I shouldn't have let Miss Shoumatoff through the door in the first place, but she seemed so sure of what she was doing. She brought the carrier and tuna, and then the door was open and I was afraid Orion got out. But he didn't.”

”It's not your fault, Julie, it's all Miss Shoumatoff's doing.” Anica glared at the older woman.

Edna was unrepentant. ”Since you weren't handling your responsibility, I took on the job.”

Anica clenched her jaw. A shouting match in the middle of the street wasn't going to accomplish anything. She shouldn't have left Jasper, or she should have asked Lily for help instead of putting that kind of responsibility on her young neighbor. This was her fault, all of it.

She pulled her cell phone out of her purse and speed-dialed her sister.

Lily took a while to answer, and when she did, she sounded groggy. ”What's up?”

”Jasper got away.”

Lily gasped and seemed instantly more alert. ”What do you mean, got away?”

”It's a long story, Lil. But I'd really appreciate it if you'd come over and help me look for him. Come to the front of the apartment and then call me. I'll give you my location at that point. I need to keep looking.”

”Sure, I'll help. I'll make up a thermos of coffee and be right there.”

”Thanks, Lily.” Anica snapped the phone closed. ”All right. You two are free to go home.”

”I want to help you look for him,” Julie said. ”I feel partly to blame.”

”Julie, you're not. Truly.” Anica was the screwup. How she hated to apply that label to herself, but there was no avoiding it.

Julie sidled closer. ”Even if I'm not to blame, I want to help. I looked through your bookshelf, and I-”

”All righty, then! You're helping! Thanks!” Anica needed to get Julie off that topic immediately.

”I'll look, too,” Edna said.

Anica faced Edna and prayed to Hera that she could control her temper. ”I don't want you to. He won't come within a mile of you, anyway.”

”That's nonsense. He didn't know where I was taking him.”

Anica couldn't tell her that Jasper had understood every word and had been convinced that if Edna won the tug-of-war he'd be robbed of his family jewels in short order. She couldn't blame him for running. ”You'd be surprised what animals know,” she said.

Jasper hunkered down in an alley next to an old metal trash can and tried to figure out where he was. The alley mostly contained Dumpsters and large plastic garbage bins, the kind a truck could lift with a mechanized arm. But for some reason, this normal-sized trash can was sitting here, too.

He wanted to orient himself before he did anything. The world looked completely different when you viewed it from twelve inches off the ground. He could get a better view from on top of the trash can but then he'd be more visible, and he sensed being visible might not be the best thing for a stray cat.

That's what he was now, a stray, and the thought sobered him quite a bit. He'd run on pure instinct, knowing he had to get away from the woman who planned to de-ball him. Freedom had felt great for about the first five minutes, but now he wasn't sure what ground he'd gained. The potion might still work, but becoming naked in the middle of the city with no ID could be a problem.

That was a.s.suming the potion worked, but what if it didn't or only worked for a little while, like last time? If he separated himself from Anica and her sister, he might end up stuck this way forever. He desperately needed to get back to Anica's apartment, while making sure the Shoumatoff woman wasn't anywhere in the vicinity.

If Anica came looking for him, that would be better than him trying to get back to the apartment. She might, but then again she might figure finding him would be nearly impossible. The city had lots of alleys, lots of places where a cat could hide if it didn't want to be found. She might give up the idea as hopeless. She might be relieved to be rid of him, to be honest.

Briefly he considered trying to make his way to his condo, but then he realized that wouldn't work out very well, either. The condo, by his design, had bucket loads of security, including good locks and a state-of-the-art alarm. He wouldn't be able to go inside.

His best bet was slowly retracing his steps to Anica's apartment and then figuring out the easiest way to get in. Shoumatoff lived right down the hall from Anica. He'd have to be very careful.

”You mangy sonofab.i.t.c.h! Get away from there!”

Jasper looked around to see what mangy sonofab.i.t.c.h the guy was talking about. A brick whizzed by his head and smacked against the wall behind the trash can, and then another one hit the trash can itself with a loud clang.

He was the mangy sonofab.i.t.c.h? s.h.i.+t. There was nothing mangy about him. But he'd better get the h.e.l.l out of there before he got beaned.

The brick thrower had a mouth on him. Jasper was impressed by the creative string of curses the guy sent his way. He didn't take time to look, but from the sound of boots smacking pavement and the brick that landed inches behind him, Jasper decided that the guy had retrieved his bricks from beside the trash can and was firing them off again.

Scooting around a corner and down another alley, Jasper looked for a place to hide and spotted a partially collapsed cardboard box leaning against the side of a building. He ducked through the opening and heard a cat hiss. He was not alone.

Anica's imagination ran wild as she pictured Jasper flattened by a truck, attacked by stray dogs, trapped at the end of one of the blind alleys that crisscrossed the downtown area. She'd taken one route, while Julie had gone in another direction and Lily in a third. They kept track of each other by cell phone.

Anica called Lily for probably the tenth time since they'd started looking.

”What now?” Lily sounded short-tempered. She probably needed more caffeine.

”Any luck?”

”Anica, I told you last time. I'll call you if I see a black cat, any black cat.” A blender whirred in the background.

”You're in Starbucks, aren't you?”

”Yeah, I stopped at Starbucks. You wanna complain about it?”

”No, it's okay, Lily.” Having her sister buy an espresso from the compet.i.tion was the least of her worries right now. ”Are you sure there isn't some way you could use magic to find him?”

”Not in broad daylight on a crowded street. I tried chanting a discovery spell on Michigan Avenue and a cop followed me for a block. I didn't dare go down an alley looking for Jasper at that point or the cop might have taken me in for suspicious behavior.”

”It's been an hour. I'm scared that something's happened to Jasper.”

Lily's tone softened. ”I know you are, An. Don't give up. We'll find him. Gotta go. My triple shot is ready.”

Anica closed her phone but kept it in her hand instead of tucking it back in her purse. Calling Jasper's name, she continued down yet another alley lined with smelly Dumpsters. She was about to cross the street when her cell phone vibrated. She flipped it open, desperate for a sc.r.a.p of hope. Julie!