Chapter five, people. Poor Cat's got a little crush!

Chapter 5

The children had been talking for well over an hour before Cat heard his name being called. "We need to go" he said to Janet.

"Oh, no, don't go, please, Cat!" the Goddess begged. "It's so boring here, and I haven't talked like this to anyone ever!"

"We have to." Janet replied. "We already should have been in trouble twice today; I don't think we'll get away with it again."

"Oh, but I really want to talk to you some more! I'm so lonely in here, and I've not even showed you the statue of Asheth yet, and…"

Cat and Janet looked at each other. They looked ready to sit back down when Chrestomanci's voice echoed through the temple. "Cat! Janet!"

"I'm sorry." Cat said, really meaning it. "Really I am."

Jane looked at the girl as she sighed and sat down. "Do you like to read?" she asked.

The Goddess looked up. "Oh yes, I love to read, but all the books here are educational." She made a face.

"Well…" Janet opened her bag. "I always carry a book with me. Take it."

"Forever? But will you come back?"

"Cat! Janet, where are you?"

Janet put the book down on the floor, and she and Cat quickly said goodbye and hurried out of the room.

-----

"Where were you?" Chrestomanci demanded as they left the temple.

"Nowhere." said Janet, at the same time as Cat replied "Bathroom!"

Chrestomanci raised an eyebrow. "You didn't even agree on an excuse? Pitiful. Come on, you can tell me when we get back."

They followed, and Cat was wondering if Chrestomanci already knew where they had been.

------

When they arrived back at Chrestomanci Castle, they found Julia out on the lawn, reading with her mother. Conrad was lying on his front on the grass not far away with what looked like a broken camera, and Rodger was sitting beside him, looking quite puzzled.

"Where were you?" Julia demanded, looking up from her book.

"Series Ten." Cat replied promptly. "In the Temple of-"

"How would you know what the temple was called, Cat?" Chrestomanci asked.

Janet was looking at him shrewdly. To Cat, it appeared that Chrestomanci was just asking a question. To Janet, however, it looked like Chrestomanci had cut across Cat deliberately. She also noticed Millie look up from her book stiffly.

"We…we met the Goddess." Cat admitted. There was no point in lying. "She seemed so lonely; we couldn't help talking to her…"

"What's to bet he ends up married to her?" Conrad called over, smirking.

Millie and Chrestomanci both glared at him then. How interesting.

Cat blushed.

Janet said, "What will happen to her when she's older? Only, she said that she was almost a woman, on her next birthday, and that The Living Ashe-"

Millie coughed over her. It sounded rather forced.

"-that she was always a little girl." finished Janet.

Chrestomanci glanced at his wife, who wasn't looking too happy with him.

"Well?" Janet asked. Rodger and Julia had looked up from what they were doing and were listening as well.

"When the Goddess comes of age, she is to be killed." Millie finally spoke after a silence.

And that's when Cat knew where he'd heard the accent of the man under the umbrella before. "She isn't always killed though, is she?" he asked, looking directly into Millie's eyes with a cool expression.

"Hardly ever." Chrestomanci said, drawing Cat's attention towards him again. "The priestesses usually just take a life from one of the cats."

"And then?" Cat demanded.

"And then she lives her life, has children, blah, blah, blah." Conrad said.

"So no travelling to other worlds then?"

"Not often." Millie agreed.

"But not unheard of?" Janet asked, cottoning on.

"No." Millie replied cautiously.

Cat and Janet looked at each other, but said no more on that particular theory. "So she won't die?" Cat asked, needing to be sure.

"That isn't likely." Chrestomanci reassured him. "Not to worry."

Wasn't very likely? Did that mean it was still possible, Cat wondered?

"Will we see her again?" Janet wanted to know.

"That isn't very likely either, I'm afraid." Chrestomanci replied.

Cat and Janet didn't look very happy about that. "Are you sure you couldn't do something?" Cat asked. "The Goddess hates it there! Surely you wouldn't want to leave someone somewhere where they were treated like…like a thing!"

Chrestomanci was back in the past again. He heard Cat speak, and surveyed him closely. Cat stared back at him.

Chrestomanci broke off his stare and turned to Conrad. "What happened to your camera?"

Janet was infuriated at how he'd just changed the subject, but didn't say anything.

"I have no idea." Conrad replied. "Ask Rodger."

All eyes swivelled to Rodger. "Well?" Chrestomanci asked.

"I…Conrad gave me a go of his camera…I put it down on the ground, right over there, just for a minute, and I came back and it was gone. Julia and I looked for it, and we found it in the trash. We can't seem to fix it; none of the spells are working."

"Let me have a look." Chrestomanci insisted.

Rodger brought it over. Chrestomanci opened the back, and a hissing sound followed by steam rushed out.

"He'll have a look at it later." Millie said meaningfully.

"I'll take the children inside, shall I?" Conrad said, and he and the four young ones went inside.

------

In the playroom, Janet and Cat were going on about the Goddess, and Rodger was listening in interest.

"So are we going to rescue your girlfriend from her terrible fate then?" Rodger interrupted Cat.

"She's not my girlfriend!" Cat blushed again.

Janet laughed. "And how do you propose we do that?"

Rodger shrugged. "We'll think about it later."

"These are beautiful." Julia said, not paying attention, playing with the bells.

"They are, aren't they?" Janet agreed.

"Bedtime, children." Mary stuck her head around the door.

"Alright." The children chorused.

They said their goodnights and headed upstairs to their individual bedrooms.

Cat didn't sleep much that night.

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