Duty calls, she said, and a big tawny
leopard stood over me.
The next minute was a blur of leaping
and slashing. All the moonshadows
went straight for the boy, and that let
me attack them from behind. I didn’t
let a single one pass, though my paws
felt frozen through by the time I was
done. I heard Fee fighting elsewhere
in the room, but I didn’t have time to
look until I’d dispatched the last of
them.
A moonshadow as big as a prehistoric
sabre-toothed cat was unravelling on
the floor, disintegrating into
streamers of smoke where Fee had cut
it to pieces, but a dozen smaller ones
were wrapped around her. There was
a thud and Fee’s body fell to the floor.
I rushed over to her side, and started
pulling the icy cold creatures away,
but my paws were so numb I couldn’t
do a good job. And then I sensed
something moving behind me. I
whirled, but it was only the boy. He
bent over Fee, and I could see his
clever pink fingers working to peel
back the moonshadows from her
body. As soon as he peeled one away I
slashed it, and in a minute we’d
destroyed them all. But still the
leopard lay motionless.
Fee! I wailed. The boy put his hand
on her icy fur. He tried to pick her up,
but she was too heavy, so he lay down
beside her and wrapped her in his
arms. I didn’t understand why at first,
but then I saw the ice was melting.
Mrghl? What’s this? Fee’s mind-
speech! Ugh! He’s all over me!
I was worried there for a moment,
Fee’s a leopard after all.
Don’t hurt him! I said. He’s warming
you up!
What? What? Oh. . . .
It took me a minute to realise what
the sound was, because I’d never
heard her do it before. But at last I
realised: Fee was purring.
~
T H E
E N D
~
19