When we had dropped the kitten safely onto the balcony Adlercat gave me a piercing hard look that was hard to place.
"What?" I asked.
She said nothing, but let the juvenile out of the bag. The kitten flopped out of the sack and wailed pitifully nuzzling Adlercat's legs affectionately.
"Wahh! I want my mother!" It declared in between sobs.
Adlercat licked it and soothed it with the unmistakable feminine talent that I have noted on occasion as being very handy in such situations. I, on the other hand, was a bit more interested in examining the construct and trying to find a hint as to where Watsoncat might have been taken.
The construct was interesting, but ultimately purposeless. I'll waste no more time mentioning it other than by the time I finished examining it the sun was sinking beneath the horizon and throwing vibrant colors into the sky. The overcast had faded for the most part and now caught streaks of vermillion and hues of violet as the sun tossed them out with its orange flaming arms. For some reason the colors caught my fancy, and though I could care less about celestial bodies, that doesn't mean I couldn't appreciate the show of light playing on the edge of the city.
There, are you happy? I added something that makes me sound normal and boring. Quit bothering me!
Watsoncat's edit: I made him add that, and yes I'm happy. :3
The kitten finally stopped sobbing when I jumped down, somewhat distraught at not finding anything worth noting on the construct.
If there was a clue to where Watsoncat was, I couldn't find it. Me!
Since Moriarty had left no trace I was force to wonder if Watsoncat was his objective all along, but I deemed that as illogical. Why would he warn me if he could have just taken him while he was on his date, and I wouldn't have been any the wiser? No, Watsoncat was still only a piece in the game, and I was still trying to make a defining move.
"Did you find anything?" Adlercat asked.
"No."
"I did."
"What?" I cried out in disbelief.
The kitten sobbed, pushed on by Adler's comforting tongue, and began to speak tentatively in a trembling squeak.
"The King invites you c-c-cordially to have an audience. H-he's waiting on h-his throne on top of the world at the crest of p-p-puh-pro-providuh-providence."
I sat still, mulling over this nearly intelligible clue. No doubt there was significance in each word, but what did it mean?
"Sherlock…"
"Shut up." I snapped at Adlercat. "Don' talk to me, just don't. Don't breathe. I'm going to my mind palace."
And there I was, strolling down halls flipping through information in a uniformed, organized manner. The clues I chose as important were world, providence, and throne. I played with possibilities for a moment, eliminating true providence (meaning dead) and Providence Rhode Island as unlikely, but I got an unexpected hit when I mulled over the possibility of Providence Road in London.
Suddenly I was firing on all cylinders and I got several unexpected hits for each keyword. On Providence Road there was a Travel King hotel with an enormous neon globe as its symbol.
"I know that look." Adlercat said as I came back to reality. "You've found him."
"I think so." I said. "I have to go."
She stopped me suddenly, blocking my path determinedly.
"Oh, what now?" I moaned, tired of the endless string of womanly conundrums that never seemed to cease when Adler dogged my every move.
To my surprise she calmly and tenderly placed her heavy head on my shoulder, coming closer to me than I would have thought polite. Her chest fur brushed against mine and it tickled, but I swallowed the urge to jump away.
"I can't follow you, can I?" She asked with a surge of emotion lacing her voice. I had never heard anything like that before and I wondered if she was acting and why?
"No. Not this time." I answered. "But in all fairness that never stopped you before."
"Then this might be the last time we ever see each other."
"One can only hope."
She lifted her head and glared at me with her remarkable crisp green eyes.
"You can be so mean…" she muttered.
"You can too." I reminded her.
"Touché."
I waited patiently for her to remove herself from the side of my neck, but she remained silently. Not moving or speaking, just laying on me.
I cleared my throat, hoping that she would take the hint, and she did.
"I know you're anxious to leave. But just give me one more moment. This is how I want to remember you: The sunset at your back and your shoulder as my pillow."
I waited, exploding with anxiety. Finally Adlercat lifted her head and I was gone. I ran over to the door that we had left open and I raced out, down the hall, down the stairs, out the door and onto the streets.
It seemed like hours before I came across a patch of Watsoncat's scent. Even thought I knew where I was going it was still reassuring to know that I was on the right path. I followed my intuition and his scent right up to the building, and then I hypothesized that the phrase "on top of the world actually meant above the sign on the roof of the building.
The rest Watsoncat wrote and I have no desire to list again. It would be a repetitive waste of time. I have more important matters to invest my time in such as the current case of the Feathered Wolf or the Brighton Vampire. This was an instructional exercise, yet I have no desire to write again. I'll leave the chronicling to Watsoncat.
Yeah, one more chapter form Watsoncat! Smile everybody!