Theresa did not know what woke her, but when she finally opened her eyes it was distressingly dark. It did not matter that she could see fairly well, she still did not like it.
She was not happy about still being trapped in the stable either. She knew that eventually someone would surely come looking for her, but how long would that take? She tried not to feel frustrated.
She cleaned her fur.
She paced.
She meowed, hoping someone would hear her.
She looked at the sleeping horses. In their stalls they were even more trapped than she, but it did not seem to bother them. If she was truly a cat, she probably would not care too much either.
Theresa sighed. It was going to be a long night.
* * * * *
Theresa did not know how long she waited, but it felt terribly long in her impatient state. She wished she had not given in and napped so much earlier otherwise she could have slept the boring hours away.
She could endure staying in here with nothing to do if she had to. It was not the end of the world. Someone would surely come in the morning to work and until then she could relax.
Then she heard a click. She leapt to her feet. Someone had opened the door to the stable, carrying a lantern. It took her eyes a moment to adjust to the new source of light. The horses slept on peacefully.
"Lady Theresa?"
Wildwood!
"There you are. Were you trapped in here?"
Theresa nodded, and rushed toward the door. He followed. He had a slight knowing smile on his face. Theresa did not mind; she was glad that he had found her. She felt something. Was it gratitude?
"Your sister is in a bit of a state. She wanted to rouse everyone to look for you."
Theresa shrugged. Her anger at Daphne had cooled, but at the same time she felt a nasty little twinge of glee that Daphne might be suffering, just a little. Let her have a taste of what it was like not to be able to find her sister.
"Sir Thomas brought her to me. I decided that waking the servants to look for a cat might draw too much attention to you and your problems. It was easy enough for me to follow my masking spell to your location."
Theresa nodded. It made sense. Although not ideal, she much preferred being traceable by this wizard to being traceable by Francine. Also, it might come in handy if she ever got stuck somewhere again.
Wildwood strode up the steps and went inside. Missus White was just inside the door. She fawned most unpleasantly over Wildwood and pretended not to notice Theresa. Wildwood sent her away.
"Let's get you to your sister. She was crying dreadfully and Sir Thomas looked as if he might faint when last I saw them."
Theresa was glad that her cat face could not smile, because she would have had trouble hiding her unworthy satisfaction.
Wildwood led Theresa to the sitting room. Before they even entered, she could hear Daphne sniffling.
"But what if she got eaten by something?" she asked. "Like a wolf or a bear or a mongoose?"
"Lord Wildwood said that she was fine and that he would get her," Thomas said patiently, sounding as if he had already repeated similar statements multiple times.
There was another loud sniffle. "I don't see how he knows..."
Sir Thomas was spared explaining by their entrance.
"Theresa! Oh, I was so worried! I looked for you everywhere," Daphne gasped and promptly started crying again.
Theresa eyed her sister. The skin around Daphne's eyes looked darker grey than normal and a little bit puffy. Her eyes were probably red to the eyes of the humans surrounding her, Theresa decided.
She sighed impatiently. It was not like anything was really wrong this time.
"Where was she?" Daphne asked, wiping her face with the back of her hand.
"Trapped in the stable," Wildwood explained simply.
"What were you doing in there?" Daphne asked. "I thought that you didn't like horses now."
Theresa shrugged her cat shoulders.
Even if she could talk she certainly would not have admitted that she had been checking up on Daphne and gotten stuck.
Wildwood cleared his throat. "Now that crisis has been adverted, I'll bid you goodnight, ladies, Thomas."
"Thank you, Lord Wildwood," Daphne said quickly and Thomas nodded.
Wildwood left. "Let me escort you ladies to your rooms," Thomas suggested.
"Thank you, Sir Thomas," agreed Daphne with a shaky smile. He took her arm and Theresa followed behind.
They quickly arrived at their door. "Good night, Lady Daphne," he said.
"Good night, Sir Thomas."
Theresa was irritated that she had apparently been forgotten again so quickly.
Thomas belatedly added, "Good night, Lady Theresa."
Maybe he felt ridiculous talking to a cat, but there was still no reason for him to be rude. The least people who knew she was human could do was treat her like one.
Thomas walked off. Daphne gazed after him for a second and opened their door. They walked inside.
"You seem angry at me," Daphne commented. It was not a question. Theresa was surprised she had even noticed.
Theresa shrugged. It was not as if she could explain.
"What are you angry about?" Daphne asked, looking unhappy.
Theresa was sick of Daphne asking her questions that she could not answer properly. Why did Daphne not understand that?
"I'm upset too," Daphne said with a little sniffle, as if to prove her point.
She had a funny way of showing it, giggling and making ridiculous expressions at her precious Sir Thomas, Theresa though caustically.
"I'm worried about what Aunt Francine is going to do. What if she finds us here? I don't know how you'll be turned back to normal. I can't talk to the king myself, you know as well as I do I'll just mess that up! And I'm so tired of you not being able to answer me. I feel like everything I do is wrong, but then you can't even tell me what you're angry about!"
Daphne's tirade should have made Theresa angry at her sister, but instead she just felt terribly weary.
She was tired of the situation, too. She shrugged her shoulders. What could she do?
Really, Daphne should talk to Wildwood or Thomas if she wanted information instead of plaguing Theresa with questions she could not answer. At least they could use words to explain what they knew.
Theresa turned her back to her sister.
"I'm going to sleep," Daphne announced and then marched off to her own bed.
Theresa rolled her eyes inwardly and leapt up on a table beside the window in her own room and looked out into the night.
* * * * *
Over the next several days, Theresa and Daphne reached an unspoken agreement about what they would do.
Daphne learned to leave the door propped open so that Theresa could get through without assistance.
Theresa forced herself not to glare at Daphne for spending too much time with Thomas since it had no effect regardless.
She also tried to act as pleasant as she could but it was difficult with the stress of their situation and her catlike attitude lurking in the back of her mind.
Theresa wandered all over the castle and spent a good deal of time in the wizard's tower, reading over his shoulder. He was always polite and solicitous, if quiet. When he asked her questions he usually phrased them in such a way as she could answer with a shake or a nod.
It was so much better than Daphne's chattering, agonizing, and questioning. Let Thomas have her.
She was coming to prefer spending time with the wizard, although she still wondered if he had a motive beyond mere curiosity. Spending time with him was clearly the best way to figure him out and keep an eye on him.
Theresa also spent some time in the kitchen, preferably when the chef, whose actual name she still had not heard was there and Ildri was not. It was hard to remind herself she hated being petted when she was in the thick of it.
Everything that Theresa needed to accomplish still hung at the back of Theresa's mind, but she drew on her cat side's ease to help her remain patient.
Surely Wildwood would soon be ready to restore her to her true form.