"Ah, little Isabel. I feared that you had forgotten me! But now, I see that I was wrong. I'm terribly sorry!" The tall man smiled patronizingly at the little heap of a child on the floor. Isabel was making a wheezing sound as she fought to breath.

Cat didn't know what was happening, but he felt it was his job to stop it. But how could he? He could barely move his eyes! 'Maybe.' he thought, 'maybe I should just lay here a minute.'He wanted to stop, he didn't want this responsibility! Why did everything always have to boil down to him?

"Because you're almost a Chrestomanci." Hissed Ralph, answering his thoughts. "As long as you stay in that castle, as long as you agree to that life, you will be responsible for THIS!" he pointed down at Isabel. The little girl was crying, trying to stand up, trying to fight.

"Ah, little Isabel, calm down. You brought this on yourself." the man purred, giving the little girl an almost soft look. "Don't you remember, how I cared for you? Don't you remember how I talked to you on those dark nights when you were all alone? Have you forgotten what your mother did to you?"

Isabel began to stand up shakily, "please stop!" she gasped, her face turning red.

"Do you see Eric? Do you see what you've done? You care for her! This is your fault! You are EVIL! You hurt everything you love, that's just your nature! YOU were the one who wanted to ride the steamship the day it crashed, YOU were the one who sent Gwendolyn away, and YOU are the one who has led your dear uncle right to me! No, little Isabel, I am no longer your uncle Ralph. I have trained for a long time for this moment, and ever after you will call me Dreamspinner!"

The room was spinning. Bright lights were flashing and becoming one with the once dark stone walls. Everything was changing, transforming. The floor gave way, and Cat found himself floating in mid-air.

He fell, plunging into darkness, only to land on something soft and bouncy. It was like the net preformers had fallen on at a carnival Cat had once been to. He looked around, and realized he WAS at a circus of some sort. He was a PREFORMER! Cat looked down to find himself dressed in bright reds and yellows. He blushed when he saw an immense crowd watching him.

Isabel was standing on the typerope platform, smiling down at the crowd. Her breathing was normal, and she actually seemed to be HAPPY! She strutted across the rope like a princess, and climbed down to a man dressed in rainbow silks. RALPH!

In one hand the man had the biggest cone of cotton candy Cat had ever seen, The other held a bunch of ballons. Isabel took the candy and ballons, smiling. Ralph picked her up and carried her onto another platform, the only one without a safety net. Cat stared in horror as Ralph TOSSED her off the platform.

Cat ripped off one of his shirtsleeves, "HELP HER!" But the cloth couldn't get there on time, and Isabel fell to the groung with a sickening thump.

A rage boiled in Cat that he'd only felt once before. "YOU &$(! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!" A raging fire was burning inside of Cat, It was so hot that he could feel his insides turning to ash! He HAD TO control it!

"Come with me Eric! I will take you away from this. Come with me, or feel the wrath!" It was Ralph.

Cat could hardly bare the searing pain, but he had to! If he didn't, all would be lost. But if he didn't let out this fire, this magic, Cat knew he would burst from within. He wanted to think, but there wasn't any time. In an instant, Cat decided.

He turned toward Ralph, arms raised. "I'm sorry." he whispered to Isabel, to Chrestomanci, to his dead parents, to his sister. "I'm sorry."

Then, tears in his eyes, Cat turned on Ralph. He raised his arms as high as they would go, feeling every ounce of the power behind them. Ralph was bowing and grinning like an idiot at the audiance. He saw no threat in Cat's actions. Just a stupid little boy, with his stupid little tricks.

Cat screamed as he threw his arms down, feeling all of his power and strength leave him in a wild rush of magic and passion. The sounds and sights around him began to swirl and buzz. "I'm sorry." he whispered again, as he fell to the ground. "I'm sorry."