Hilary shoved Terry aside. "Shut up and move!" She ducked through one of the gaps in the wall, and hid on the other side. Giles climbed through, too, and then climbed up to a higher row to get a view of the sidewalk. If Terry was going to be squished, he could at least watch.

A pack of humans nearly trampled Terry, but he dove into the garden at the last moment. They must have seen him, because they screamed and backed away, pointing to where he had been.

Two houses down, behind the humans, a pumpkin toppled from the wall and smashed on the sidewalk. The humans spun around and renewed their chorus of screams. Their screams softened into embarrassed laugher as they ran past Giles. Unconcerned with the humans, Giles' attention was on the top of the wall where the pumpkin once sat.

A chubby tomcat sat on the wall as though he not only owned it, but had designed and built it. The humans must have spooked him into nudging the pumpkin over the wall's edge. The cat nonchalantly cleaned its deadly claws, pretending the whole event had been staged at his command.

Giles grinned. The orange menace was exactly where Skit said it would be. He watched it for a few more heartbeats, admiring its confidence and utter lack of fear, even as an unseen dog barked nearby.

"Well?" Hilary hissed up to him. "Now what? Skit's gone off without us."

"You two wait here, that's what. One of those humans spilled more candy two walls down when your ferocious brother scared the water out of them. Nice job, Terry!"

"Not this time, Giles. It's my turn, remember?"

"Alright," Giles said, cutting her off. "You missed out on the last treat, so you can go first this time. Bring as much as you can back here. If Skit returns first, we''ll join you. Now go, before I change my mind."

Hilary dipped her nose in a slight gesture of acknowledgement, as one might do to recognize an inferior, and walked away at an imperiously slow pace.

"Hurry up!" Giles growled.

As she vanished through the gap into the next garden, Skit flew down from above and landed on the steps beside Giles. "Let's give her a little head start," Giles said, grabbing Terry's tail as he started off after Hilary.

A few seconds later, as Giles and Terry entered the garden on one side, Hilary was leaving on the other. She stopped, looked around, and turned back to them.

"I don't see any candy," she hissed across the yard. "Are you sure it was he ..."

The orange tom pounced. Giles heard her bones snap, or at least he imagined he did as the cat landed right on her back. Either way, it was a happy sound. Hilary's face was slack, expressionless. The cat bit into her neck and twisted so violently that her head came off in its mouth, and her body soared into the darkness nearer the house.

Terry surprised Giles by chasing the cat as it ran after Hilary's corpse. That wasn't part of the plan. He wasn't done with Terry, yet.

"Terry!" he called. "Get back here! It'll kill you, too!"

Terry vanished through the wall to Tom's garden.

Giles cursed the oaf, and slipped over to the sidewalk while Skit took to the air. There were more humans coming towards him, but they were far enough away that he wasn't worried about them, yet.

Overruling his survival instincts, he ran towards the humans along the brick wall. When he reached the smashed pumpkin, he looked into the yard. Terry was on the lowest of five steps leading up to the building, standing over Hilary's body, while Tom sat on the step above, playfully swatting at him. Terry's right ear was torn, and his shoulder was red with blood.

"You stupid, stupid rat!" Giles whispered.

A tiny squeak answered from beneath a shattered dome of pumpkin rind. He lifted the edge, and drew a surprised breath. The prettiest little whiskered face he'd ever seen, looked up at him beneath perky round ears. It was a mouse.

With the humans almost upon him, Giles left Terry to his own devices and crawled under the pumpkin shell. The little brown mouse scooted away from him, dropping the pumpkin seed she had been nibbling.

"It's ok, little one. Sit still. I'll protect you." He picked up her discarded seed and handed it to her. As she took it, their eyes met, and Giles was lost. Such beauty had never before existed in tiny black orbs. She was utterly beguiling. His only intention had been to keep her quiet until the humans had passed, but looking into her deep, lovely eyes, all he wanted was to keep them safe; to protect this fragile piece of perfection so that he could stare at her forever.

The cat screeched outside, and the dog they heard earlier started barking again. If Skit was right, it was a Yorkshire terrier in the next yard. The terrifying beasts were designed by the devil to kill rats, and Giles liked to keep tabs on such creatures. The mouse looked away when the dog barked, and Giles was free of her spell.

"Don't be scared," he said with uncharacteristic bravery. "I have a plan. I'm Giles, King of the Alley Warren. What's your name, my sweet?"

If his title and bravery impressed her, she gave no sign. She only squeaked in reply.

Suddenly, the world became a whirling blur of confusion. The pumpkin rind had been shoved aside, and he looked down from high above it as the little mouse fled into the cat's yard. It would kill her with a single swipe of its claw. Giles wanted to help, but he couldn't get back down to her. Instead, he only went higher.

A giant human face appeared below him as he spun. "You should have hid better, little fella," it said. "Your tail was poking out from under that pumpkin. Well, you''re gator-bait, now. A guy at the serpentarium pays good money for rats like you."

The human dangled him by his tail. Giles jerked sideways, lunging at the human's fat fingers, but he couldn't reach.

Below, the cat was deciding whether to play with Terry or the new mouse that had just run into its yard. It showed Terry a bit more respect than earlier, so he must have given it that red scratch on its chin. As Tom's attention turned to the mouse, Terry hopped down from the step, and slipped out of the cat's yard.

And into the terrier's.