But Charlie interrupted her. "I've seen them, Kit. Not up on Hellhag Hill at all, and not off beyond it. Right up there," she said, pointing up toward the hills that rose away behind the house and barn. "Up beyond our own pastures, where that little brook comes down. I saw them there. Ten cats, and I'm sure your three friends were among them. A dark-striped fellow with long ears, creamy circles around his eyes and a face like a coyote? A pure-white cat with long hair and blue eyes? And a lovely bleached calico, sleek and creamy?"

Kit nodded to all three descriptions; and Charlie rose, reaching for her jacket. "Come on, Kit. I'll take you, while Lucinda makes herself a nice cup of tea."

Lucinda nodded. "I can look at the drawings again? And read a bit of the manuscript over again?"

"Of course you can." Charlie hugged Lucinda and went to saddle her mare.

Folding a saddle blanket across the pommel of the saddle and strapping it securely, she made a comfortable perch where Kit could ride. And they were off into the hills, the mare twitching her ear as she looked around at the kit. Charlie said, "Your friends could have a home with Estrella Nava-with Maria's abuela. She might welcome a little cat, maybe all three."

"They would never go back to that house, even if Abuela did try to help them."

"Luis should be gone a long time," Charlie said. "Maria is going to stay there with Abuela. She's determined he won't come back there. She means to clean up the house and paint it, and get a job in the village. Maybe rent out the downstairs, for some income." They rode for a long time, but saw no cats. Softly, Kit called to them. They rode up in the direction of the old ruined mansion, searching for the small clowder that the three must have gathered around them. Kit called and called, but no one showed themselves. It was growing late when they turned back, the kit bitterly disappointed. And suddenly there they were, crouched on the trail before them. Charlie pulled up the mare, and sat still.

Maybe they had been following them all along, maybe afraid of Charlie. Maybe taking some time to decide about her. Perhaps they decided that if she was treating Kit so well, then she, like the man who had cut the lock off, must be a friend. As the ten cats stood watching them Kit leaped from the saddle.

Three cats came to her; and slowly, one by one, the rest of their little clowder gathered around Kit. She said, "Stone Eye hasn't bothered you?"

"You know that old mansion to the north of here?" Coyote said. "That huge stone place, all fallen down?"

"The Pamillon mansion," Kit said.

Coyote smiled. "Stone Eye is afraid to go there."

"You made a home there? Where the cougar… Where I saw a cougar once?"

"We smelled the cougar," Cotton said. "An old smell. We made a home, for now. Those cellars are full of rats. Look how fat we've grown."

Kit laughed. They were fat. She licked the cats' ears, and they talked for a long while. Their conversation, about all manner of cattish concerns, so fascinated Charlie that she began thinking of a second book. Kit told them that Abuela would give them a home, but of course that did not appeal. "No," Coyote said, looking away toward the wild hills, and toward the fallen mansion. "We would not do that. This is our life."

Charlie said, "You will come to me, if you are in need?" They looked up at Charlie a long time. They did not seem afraid of the mare, but they were wary of the human. At last Willow said, "We will come." And as the afternoon drifted toward the hour when larger predators would come out to hunt, Kit's wild friends left her. With a last whisker rub for Kit, and a flick of ears and tail for Charlie, gestures that Charlie would not forget, the wild clowder was gone into the falling evening. And Charlie and Kit turned for home, both content, both smiling.

SHIRLEY ROUSSEAU MURPHY has received seven national Cat Writers’ Association Awards for best novel of the year, two Cat Writers’ President’s Awards, the “World’s Best Cat Litter-ary Award” in 2006 for the Joe Grey Books, and five Council of Authors and Journalists Awards for previous books. She and her husband live in Carmel, California, where they serve as full-time household help for two demanding feline ladies.

www.joegrey.com

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