Abbernathy and the Cat Kingdom

(18) - Cat Brothers -

Abby extended herself over the rock's edge and there, below her, just outside the mouth of the cave, stood two figures, black as pitch. Her heart raced. They weren't cats so much as they were cat-like creatures with bodies as thick as Laos' outer walls and claws the length of her fingers.

"No," she whispered. "That can't be—"

Margo laughed. "It can, it is, and," she patted Abby on the back and got to her feet. "What's more, I think they were hiding in that cave, and that cave is made out of stone, so technically—"

Abby eyed the woman confused.

"So technically," Margo said, eyes sparkling, "I found them under a rock!" She jumped into the air, beaming.

Abby shook her head and noticed two pairs of gold-slitted eyes staring up at her. Their heads were more animal than human, with pointed ears on the tops of their fur-covered skulls, muzzles protruding, wet, black noses glistening in the light. The tips of fangs slipped out between thin, black lips, white and dripping with spit.

Lucy and Sebbi? Those creatures were her Lucy and Sebbi? How? How was it possible? And what if Margo was wrong? Maybe they were strangers and their teeth and claws were meant to be as dangerous and as threatening as they seemed.

Paying no mind to Abby, Margo dove off the rock and landed gracefully between the two creatures. She smiled up at Abby as she poked both creatures' sides. The one on her left hissed, revealing more of his razor-sharp teeth.

Abby shuddered. They were downright menacing.

"See?" Margo said, cupping her mouth so her words would carry. "Real as can be. Both cats, more handsome than most Aelurians - I'll give em that- but still just as ugly as moldy cheese."

The creature to Margo's right placed a large fur-covered hand over his chest. "Ugly? Why I've never been called that a day in my life," he said. His voice was strange, deep and yet sweet, like dark honey.

Margo looked sternly at this creature. "Really, Mister Lucy?" her eyebrows raised in suspicion. "Maybe before, when you were nothing but a bundle of arm fur and sweet purrs, but look at you now! You're all sharp edges." She grimaced as she looked the cat creature up and down. "Fur's nice enough I suppose, but those whiskers, such cat whiskers."

The cat-man on Margo's left, the one who by process of elimination would be Sebbi, extended a clawed hand toward Margo and tugged on her hair. "Shouldn't cats have cat whiskers?" he growled.

Margo swatted him away and pouting, rubbed the back of her head. "Yes," she said. "And that's the real travesty of it all. You're cats. Ick."

She stuck out her tongue and made a gagging gesture, placing both her hands on her stomach for emphasis. Neither cat-man found her as funny as she herself had, though Margo didn't seem to mind.

Abby, on the other hand, would have chuckled, had her words as well as her ivory slippers not have been frozen to the spot. Margo had called that thing Lucy. The large creature on her left, with a streak of white cutting across his face like a tailored pant stripe, that creature  was her Lucy? The one who feigned hurt? Whose voice was thick and syrupy and a bit over-dramatic?

If that was the case, then that meant Sebbi was- the slightly smaller creature, with slimmer shoulders, and all black fur? Could that really be him? He looked so angry, though without any eyebrows it was hard to tell.

Margo pointed up at Abby. "Be a dear and help her down from there." She nudged Sebbi in his side.

He scowled. "Why me? Didn't you use one of your tricks to get her up there?"