I'm glad I made so many people happy by continuing this!

Pike studied the small bottle as he leaned against a car bumper. Vail was lying on her back staring up at the stars. He tossed it from one paw to the other, rubbing between his pads. No matter what he did, the bottle stayed cool as if it were simply sitting on a shelf. The waxy seal kept the glass stopper in place, and could easily be broken by someone running a claw around the edge.

"Did he specifically say, 'poison two cats?'" Pike asked suddenly.

Vail sat up, staring at her brother. "He didn't," she said, slack-jawed. "Pike, you are a genius!" She leapt up and gave Pike a squeeze. "So," she said as she sat back on her haunches. "What are we poisoning?"

Pike shrugged. "I was just thinking a couple of rats," he suggested. "And then we could just get rid of them to make sure nobody eats them,"

"Then we won't risk anyone else getting poisoned." Vail smiled. She may have gotten strength, but Pike was the one with the real brains. She ignored the fact that Pike couldn't bring himself to say 'kill'. As Vail stood to find a pair of rats, she noticed Pike looked like he had something else to say.

"How close do you get to Macavity?"

Vail felt her limbs grow cold as she realized what he was suggesting. "Not that close," she breathed.

…

"I'll name you Munkustrap, and you Deuteronomy." Vail said to the two struggling rats she was carrying back to Pike. The squeaked in terror; what would this cat do to them? She tightened her grip on their tails, thinking it would be better just to break their necks now instead of waiting. When she returned to the small space, she noticed Pike had a stick sitting on the ground before him, and he was sucking on his paw as if it were injured.

"What happened to you?" Vail asked, sitting cross-legged in front of Pike. He pulled his paw out of his mouth to examine it.

"I had a thought," he said, satisfied that he wasn't bleeding. "I tried different things, to see if the potion would soak in." He gestured to the stick, and Vail noticed it was burned at one end. "The poison did that to the stick, so using a dart tipped with poison is out. Then I wondered what would happen if it was put on a claw—"

"Hold up," Vail said, stopping him with a frown. "You're thinking up ways to kill Macavity?"

"Think about it," he said, holding up the small bottle. Vail could see that the seal had been broken, and a few drops were missing. "Life will be easier for all of us if he's dead."

"True," Vail mused. Then she realized what he'd said earlier. "Wait, you put some on your claw?" she snatched the paw he had been sucking on. There was indeed a claw missing.

Pike gingerly pulled his paw back. "I wondered if it would soak into it," he replied sheepishly. "It did, so I had no choice but break the claw off. I was thinking if someone poison-tipped their claws, they could scratch Macavity and he wouldn't realize he was poisoned until it was too late."

"Well, that idea is out, I guess." Vail bent down, seeing his blackened claw lying on the ground.

"Not entirely," Pike said. "I think we'll be safe from poisoning if our claws are coated in wax first."

"Where are we going to get wax?" Vail asked, but as soon as she spoke, her eyes fell on the bottle. There was enough wax there to coat all the claws on one paw.

"I didn't want to try it," Pike said. "In case there wasn't enough wax and it didn't work."

Vail was silent as she stared at the bottle. "Give it here," she said, holding out her paw. The two rats she'd captured scurried off, completely forgotten. Vail peeled the wax off, coating each claw on her left paw. Once she was satisfied with that, she very carefully dipped one claw into the poison. It oozed on the wax, shining a bit before drying hard. Vail grinned at Pike. "Dear brother, you are a genius."

=^..^=

I leaned into Talon's chest, grateful that Griffyn demanded that we rest for the night. We'd been travelling all day, and were already out of Ireland. The rest of the toms had gone off hunting, with Talon and Wallen—Griffyn's son—staying with the queens in case of protection. I smirked. Even though the queens were perfectly able to fight; myself included, Griffyn had insisted on two toms staying with them. It seemed as though the pregnant calico was taking over the role of leader from Taru, what with how demanding she'd become. I couldn't ever remember acting like that.

The fur rose on the back of my neck as though I was being watched, and I glanced around. Everyone else was simply lounging around, not talking and not moving. Wallen was standing stock still in a pose that very much reminded me of Munkustrap. I smiled at the thought of returning. Maybe I had been getting worked up for nothing.

Without a word, I rose and began stalking out of the circle. Talon watched me curiously, but didn't say anything. I didn't go far, but began sniffing around. The last time I felt like someone was watching me, traces of Macavity were found nearby. I shivered. He'd only come once more after taking Vail, but that didn't mean he wouldn't come around more often.

After being satisfied that the ginger tom was not nearby, I returned to Talon's side. He wrapped his arms around me and pressed his mouth against my neck. "I wish you wouldn't do that," he said softly.

"Do what?"

"Look for him, even though we all know he's not there." I could hear the slight disgust in his voice.

"I can't help it," I whispered. "I feel like I'm being watched."

Talon softened when he heard the fear in my voice. "Try to ignore it," he suggested. "Nobody here will let him touch you."

I nodded, but couldn't shake the feeling. I settled into Talon's chest, waiting for the toms to get back with our supper.

…

"Look what we found!" Rascal said, leading back the hunting party. He was leading a small tuxedo tom, who looked very jumpy and nervous to be surrounded by such burly cats.

"Mistoffelees!" Taru said, catching her cousin up in a hug. "What're ye doin here, ye rascal?" She put him down, and he rubbed his arm a bit.

"Munkustrap told me to come and escort you to the junkyard. We saw that you weren't far off, so he suggested I come."

"All by yourself?" I asked; from what I remembered of the conjurer, he wasn't brave enough to be travelling on his own.

Misto shook his head. "Alonzo's with me, though he said there was something he had to check out, and he'll be here later."

I took a head count of the toms and noticed that Gruve, Griffyn's mate, was not with them.

"So anyway," Raena said. "What did ye bring for us to eat?"

"We found some voles," Rascal said. "An' these ones are nice and fat, plenty for us to eat."

Everyone tucked into the food, enjoying the delicacy of the voles. About halfway through our meal, I was tackled to the ground and instinctively began wrestling with the opposing cat. It wasn't hard; Rascal and Talon had both been beaten by me on several occasions, and soon enough I had won the small battle.

"We were beginning to wonder when you'd show up," I said coolly, enjoying the baffled look on Alonzo's face as he picked himself up off the ground. I noticed that a similar look was on Misto's face. I casually licked dirt off my paws, fully aware that Alonzo was tensing to spring again.

"Well," he said just as calmly. "I wanted to surprise you."

Before he could pounce, I tackled his stomach, and we began wrestling again. I could hear shouts of encouragement and advice from the rest of the barn cats, and readily adjusted my body to comply.

"His back paws aren't connecting with the ground properly, toss him!"

"Keep your back loose, though! You don't want to strain yourself!"

Alonzo grunted as he struggled to pin me on my back. I could tell he was being distracted by my friends as they called out to us, so I decided to… help it along.

"How's Liebe these days?" I asked lightly, as though we were sitting and chatting instead of wrestling.

That really caught Alonzo off guard, and I was able to get him flat on his back. I grinned at him. "Don't ever let yourself get distracted by others," I said, raising an eyebrow at him. "Otherwise, you'll lose every fight."

I returned to Talon's side, who threw an arm around my shoulders. "Why can I never get you to fight like that?" He asked playfully.

Taru grinned at me. "That was probably the best fight I've seen in a while!" she guffawed, "I don't think I've ever seen a tom be beaten so easily!"

Alonzo's face went bright red as the rest of the barn cats joined in the laughter.

[A/N] I know there was something I was going to say, but… Anyway. I can't remember. Please review if you read!