Thank you all for 70 reviews! Last chapter was the halfway mark for this story (I've changed it to 26 chapters instead of 24). If you keep this rate of reviews up, this story will have more reviews than any of my other ones by the time it's completed!
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Annie stretched her cat legs, noting with pleasure that she was once again in the body she had owned as Gingerstar. She was a cat every night in her dreams, so she didn't have to miss it, but it did feel nice, even though in truth she had never wanted this to happen again.
First and Also were gone, but Star and Moon sat on the dining table, watching them in amusement.
Ryan and Sam were in the same bodies as usual. Two other cats, ones Annie had not seen before, sat in other chairs.
The golden tabby she-cat looked pleased with and happy. Annie could only assume she was Finchwing by the way she looked comfortable and content.
The tom, though, was shocked and scared, giving off a distinct fear-scent. He had a smoky black pelt and eyes as blue as his mother's. It was clearly Sammy, her son.
"Wh-what happened?" he squeaked out in terror.
"You're a cat, dear," Annie said comfortingly, leaping over to join him on his chair. "It's okay. It's only temporary." She glared up at the two remaining Originals. "Or at least, it had better be."
"Don't worry," Moon assured. "As soon as everything is sorted out, you'll be humans again."
"What about me?" Finchwing asked.
"You'll get to choose," Star said.
"I want to be a cat," she said immediately.
"We'll see about that later," Moon murmured.
"Where do we go to find them?" Ryan asked urgently.
"Go to where the note says," Star suggested. "Track them to their hideout from there. They won't notice cats."
"Are you sure?" Sam Xavier asked suspiciously. "They were cats themselves at one point."
"If you need any help, just call," Moon said. "We'll come." Without saying anything else, the two Originals vanished.
"Good riddance," Annie grumbled. "They were getting hair all over the table."
"Let's get going!" Ryan exclaimed, leaping from the chair and racing to the door, his tail waving.
Annie agreed. She jumped down and followed him, with Sam and Finchwing right behind her. Sammy fell down from his chair and stumbled after the others, clearly unsteady on his new legs.
"Come on, Sammy!" Sam called out.
"This is hard," he shouted in frustration. "I'm not used to this like you guys are!"
Ryan pawed at the door handle until it opened. Annie ran out past him, tasting the air for the scent of her children and the two younger girls. She caught the familiar stench of Twolegs, that had grown more of a perfume the longer she lived in her home as one of them herself, and recognized Kyle.
"I have Kyle's scent!" she announced, waving her tail. "Follow me!"
Sammy lagged behind the rest of the cats, who were much more used to this. Annie did not fall back to keep him company, she had to focus on leading the group along the path Kyle had taken. She did hear Finchwing keeping pace with him and making small talk. Sammy was blustering and boasting, trying to impress her. Annie smiled wryly. So her son had a crush. She doubted it would work out for him, Finchwing had no interest in him or in staying human.
Annie led the group along through the neighborhood, keeping her nose high in the air, the better to catch Kyle's scent without confusing it with the smells stuck to the ground. They had reached the edge of the neighborhood when Kyle took a sharp right turn. Annie frowned. Why had he gone that way? The lot where the ransom note had said to come was left.
"This way," she announced, following the scent trail.
"The lot's the other way," Ryan said in confusion.
"Kyle went right," she explained.
"Why would he do that?" Sam Xavier asked, turning her head in puzzlement.
"I don't know!" she snapped. "Just follow me!"
Soon they understood. He doubled back after a few blocks, heading into town. But then his scent became strangely mingled with unfamiliar smells, and then stopped altogether.
"Where did he go?" Annie demanded angrily, pacing around. "Kyle! Are you still here?"
"He wouldn't understand if he was," Finchwing pointed out. "He's not a cat now."
Sammy wrinkled his nose. "I think I smell something," he said hesitantly. "That way—do you think maybe he was captured, too?"
Annie fell silent. She hated to think of that. First Holly, her little treasure, and Mason, the sweet singer, had been captured—and now Kyle, too? Plus Grayfeather and Poolgaze, who had been under watch as well.
She nodded to Sammy. "I don't smell it, Sammy. You lead."
"I—me lead?" he stammered uncertainly.
"Yes," Ryan agreed. "You know your brother. Go on."
"O-okay," Sammy agreed hesitantly.
Sammy walked forward slowly. He led them away from the lot, all the way to the other side of town—the nasty side. Even Annie could smell it now, residual fear-scent from her son everywhere.
"Here," Sammy announced, stopping outside a run-down, lightless house. "He's in here."
"Are you sure?" Sam Xavier asked. "It doesn't look like anyone's home."
"Wouldn't you want people to think that if you were doing that?" Ryan pointed out.
"Look," Annie said. She walked up to a small vent at the bottom of the house. "Listen."
Faint crying wafted up to their ears through the vent. Annie knew that noise—it was Holly.
"Holly," Sammy whispered.
"They're here," Ryan said.
"How do we get in?" Finchwing asked, tilting her head. "They won't think much of cats, to be sure, but they will notice us."
"We could sneak in as humans," Sam suggested. "Pretend we belong here."
"But—" Annie protested, seeing a million different problems with that plan.
Suddenly Star and Moon appeared in front of them again. "It will work, up to a point," Star said.
"What do you mean, up to a point?" Annie asked suspiciously. She didn't trust the Originals, not one bit, after everything that had happened between them.
"They'll notice you if you've got the children," Moon explained. "But we could turn you—and them—back into cats at that point."
"It does seem pretty reasonable," Ryan said, nodding.
"We've got to get them back," Sammy said firmly in a small voice.
Annie didn't like it, but she couldn't see a better option. "All right," she said reluctantly. "Back to humans we go."
The group quickly reassumed their human forms in the usual transformative process. Annie cracked her knuckles and felt along the wall. To her surprise, she found a doorknob. She yanked on it, and a well-hidden, dirt-covered door opened into a dimly lit passage on the inside in the building.
"They really need better security," she muttered.
"Hey, don't look a gift horse in the mouth," Ryan said cheerfully. "We can get in easily this way."
Sam picked up a blunt-tipped stick from the ground. "Just in case," she explained grimly.
"All right, we should split up," Finchwing said. Sammy nodded in agreement.
"I'll go with Ryan," Annie said. "We'll look for our kids. You two can search for the girls." She pointed at Sam Xavier and Finchwing.
"Hey, what about me?" Sammy protested. "I'm going too!"
Annie shook her head, scowling. "No, you're not. I'm not letting you go in there. I don't want to lose you, too."
"You can guard the door and make sure no one notices it's open," Ryan suggested. "Your mother's right, Sammy. Not this time."
He scowled, but neither Finchwing nor Sam spoke up for him. Muttering a foul word under his breath (Annie pretended not to hear—she couldn't blame him, and she felt the same way), he kicked the dirt and crossed his arms. "Fine!"
"All right," Finchwing said, facing the door. "Let's go in."