“So that’s it.” Lulu looked grim. “I thought that they were getting larger, night after night.”
“Yeah, you’ll probably have a wharf rat on your plate before this is over,” Huey said bitterly.
“They can’t do that,” Lulu said. “The holy rules that govern Seekers and Seers alike come from Lady Bast herself, great goddess of cats since the days of ancient Egypt. Her words must be obeyed, for she commands the kitty-flap in the doorways of space and time, and is mistress of the Broom of Admonition and the Water Pistol of Chastisement! She decreed that because we assured our future as treasured masters of the human race by keeping the granaries of Egypt free of mice, only mice can bring us the secrets of that future.”
“A big, fat future, in your case, if Señor Pantalones gets his way,” Huey put in. Abruptly, he frowned. “Uh-oh.”
“Uh-oh?” Lulu repeated. “I don’t like the sound of that.”
“You shouldn’t.” Huey chewed one claw, agitated. “There’s this mouse I know, Big Rudy. His mama was pet store stock. Lucky girl escaped on snake-feeding day, but rumor has it she got a little too…
friendly with one of the Guinea pigs in the shop before that.”
“Is that even possible?”
“Seeing is believing, and if you ever saw Big Rudy-which no one has, lately. He vanished a week ago.” He gazed at Lulu with bleak eyes. “
They’ve got him. I’ll bet my last seed on it! If Señor Stinky Pants wants a mouse fat enough to turn your prophecy on its ear, he’ll never find one to equal Big Rudy. That’ll make two good friends of mine he’s killed.” He began to cry.
Very carefully, so as not to alarm him, Lulu patted Huey gently with the tip of one paw. “Maybe not. Even if they’ve got him, that doesn’t mean they’ve killed him. If he were dead, wouldn’t you be able to ‘talk’ to him?”
“Not if they ate him.”
“But they can’t eat him! They need to keep him alive and gaining even more weight until the full moon conclave. That’s when Señor Pantalones is going to turn your friend into a weapon of mouse destruction for me. I don’t need a glob of entrails to see what’s coming: as a Seer, I answer all Seekers’ questions, but at the conclave I only perform Readings concerning the future of Catopolis itself. As soon as the Elders ask if anyone wants such a Reading, Señor Pantalones will claim he dreamed that Bast appeared to him and named him our sole ruler. His minions will swear they had confirming dreams, but because of the magnitude of his claim, my gift will be called upon to verify it.”
“Except there was no ‘I’m king of the cats’ dream for Señor Stinky Pants. Game over, right?”
“Not until I eat the Reading,” Lulu said. “All of it. Him. Big Rudy.”
“Oh,” Huey said. “Oh, crabapples.”
“And thus the Reading will be deemed reversed and binding. Every Reading is a word spoken in the goddess’ own voice and must be obeyed. It won’t matter that we’ve never had a lone ruler before. If it’s the ‘will’ of Bast, it must be made so.” Lulu laughed without joy. “After he’s in charge, it’ll be simple for Señor Pantalones to have me killed. He’ll replace me with a false Seer, one whose predictions will always ratify his desires. I’m doomed.”
“But you look like a house cat,” Huey said. “You could stay safe at home. He’d never be able to get at you there.”
“I am a
Seer,” Lulu said staunchly. “It’s my duty to make my powers available to my kin. If I die, I die, but I will always honor Lady Bast’s gift as I honor my goddess.”
As she finished speaking, she glanced to where Shirley’s body lay. Her chin rose. An air of purpose possessed her. She strode toward the mouse’s remains and began gathering bits and pieces of alley debris around the corpse.
“What are you doing?” Huey asked, scuttling beside her as she worked.
“Giving Shirley the best burial I can manage,” Lulu replied. “I feel responsible for her death.”
“You didn’t kill her!”
“But she still died because of me. Let me do this, Huey, for your friend and for you.” She found a half page of old newspaper and dropped it onto the pile of blown leaves, discarded candy bar wrappers, and crushed soda cans covering Shirley.
“That’s-kind of you, kitty.” Huey cocked his head as if listening for something. “And it worked. Her spirit’s moved on. I hope someone does the same for Big Rudy, when the time comes.”
“You’re my colleague, a fellow Oracular One. It was the least I could-” Suddenly, inspiration flashed in Lulu’s agate eyes. “Yes,” she said, half to herself. “It was the least I could do. But the least is not enough! I am a Seer, an Oracular One, a servant of the goddess! If I stand back and let Señor Pantalones fight me on his terms, I might as well show him my underbelly. No. Never. By Lady Bast’s sacred name, I’m going to take the battle to him.”
“Oh, my Seeds, you’re gonna try to save Big Rudy!” Huey exclaimed. He raised his forepaws to his temples. “Your thoughts are blaring about how you know where Señor Pantalones’ hangs out with his minions, how that’s where they’re probably holding Big Rudy, how if he’s set him free, there’s no way they’ll be able to catch another mouse his size in time for the full moon conclave.” He lowered his paws and grinned at her. “Good plan. Let’s roll.”
“I don’t remember inviting you,” Lulu said.
“You need me and you know it!” Huey declared. “Any lookout can keep his ears open, but I can keep my mind open and let you know if Señor Stupid and his goons are heading your way even before they do! Whaddaya say?”
Lulu thought about it for a moment. “I say… let’s fight crime.”
“Well, that could’ve gone better.” Under the icy moonlight, Lulu raced down the center of one of many paths snaking through the city’s foremost public park. “Did we lose them?”
This question was tossed back to the hamster clinging desperately to the red collar around her neck. Huey cast a fearful look behind them. “I can’t tell. All they’re thinking about is what they’re gonna do to us when they catch us.”
“Son of a-” Lulu grumbled and put on a little extra speed.
If only I didn’t have to stick to the open road! she thought. I’d have a better chance of shaking them if I could dive into the shrubbery. None of those toms is small enough to follow me there.
“Why don’t you?” Huey asked.
“Why-? Hey! You’re supposed to be reading their thoughts, not mine!”
“You should go into the bushes,” the hamster persisted. “That’s what saved Big Rudy, once we upended his prison box. Man, I never saw so much mouseflesh move so fast! If only he could’ve made his getaway a little more quietly-”
“The important thing is, he’s safe, and Señor Pantalones is left empty-pawed for the conclave,” Lulu said. “We did it, Huey! We thwarted his plan to corrupt my Reading!”
Huey was not sharing her optimism. “Ever think he might have a Plan B? I’m telling you, get the heck off the road and into the bushes, unless you want Señor Pantalones’ minions to rip you open like a Christmas present! Are you even listening to-? Oh!” Huey’s paws tightened convulsively on the fur under Lulu’s collar. “Oh, no, you don’t mean it. That’s just too stupid to-”
“What are you babbling about?” Lulu snarled. Her paws were hurting, her ribs were on fire, and she felt ready to hit the wall.
“You’re doing this for me!” Huey cried. “Don’t deny it; it’s screaming at me from your thoughts. You’re afraid that if you hit the underbrush, I’ll be knocked off your back by a branch and the Pantalones mob will get me.”
“You’re welcome,” Lulu said, her voice hoarse with weariness.
“Have you lost your mind?” the hamster squealed.