Theresa and Daphne were confined to their room together for two days. It was excruciatingly long for both young women.

Theresa understood that she needed to stay there. There were no locks or guards keeping them in and the door was opened often enough when food and various necessities were brought to them, but she had no desire to ignore Wildwood's orders again and make him more angry at her.

His scolding kept burning in her ears.

She wanted to dismiss it, but she could not, because she knew he had been partially right, if a bit harsh.

Therefore, she waited in the closed rooms while Francine made her way to the capital to influence the king with her lies.

The rumors of what Francine's invented version of events were probably all around the country already.

Theresa really had no choice but to wait. Even if she did somehow get to the king, she could not explain what had happened, because she still was a cat.

She was a cat stuck in a room with her moping, complaining sister.

Theresa felt like she was in a prison.

Being tortured.

Slowly.

"I miss Sir Thomas," Daphne said, for what felt like the millionth time.

Theresa wished Daphne would stop repeating herself. Not only was it tedious but it reminded Theresa of her own impulsive actions. Theresa swallowed thickly.

She felt foolish. Was she not supposed to be the intelligent, wise, self-controlled sister? Daphne had always been the pretty, charming, much beloved one.

Now Theresa was doomed to be the pathetic cat sister, she thought hopelessly.

Then her mind moved on to recall the look that she had put on Wildwood's face. He had been so tense, so disappointed, so closed off.

"I wish Sir Thomas was here," Daphne said again mournfully.

Theresa wished she had her human hands back so that she could slap them over her sister's mouth.

Daphne seemed to think that it was perfectly fine to repeat the same idea over and over as long as she had reworded it slightly.

What did Daphne think would happen; would he magically appear if she said his name often enough?

Daphne knew as well as Theresa that Thomas was out scouting to see if Francine had truly believed they were not at Wildwood. He would be back with Daphne once they were certain that all was well.

Or at least as well as could be hoped for under the circumstances.

It was not Theresa's fault that he was not there. At least not entirely.

Daphne sighed.

Theresa gritted her teeth.

She had seen what an accomplished liar Sir Thomas was firsthand when her aunt was there. Who knew what he was really thinking? He might even be playing her sister for a fool, charming her with pretty lies.

Wildwood, too, could apparently lie with the skill of an actor. Thinking his name made Theresa's stomach knot up again with tension.

She had only thought that she should make sure that her interests were being taken care of. She had not been trying to put everyone in danger.

She hated that there was nothing she could do; that she had to rely on Wildwood to take care of them. Why could he not understand that?

Now Wildwood thought that she did not trust him. While it was actually true that she was not ready to do anything so foolish as that, Theresa had not wanted him to know of her distrust.

She was certain that her comfortable days with the wizard in his tower were gone and the thought made her feel—

Daphne broke into her thoughts. "Why ever did you sneak into that room?"

Theresa scowled.

Daphne was still continuing her habit of asking questions a cat could not answer. With each question, her mood grew fouler.

"Francine could have sensed you."

No kidding, Theresa thought with rapidly increasing irritation. It was not as if she had not already been told that a hundred times, more than half of them by her own self recriminations.

Daphne frowned and continued, "If Francine had caught us I would never see Sir Thomas again."

Theresa stared at her sister in aggravated disbelief. Even if she had been able to speak, there were no words that she could imagine saying to describe her aggravation.

Instead of following through on the tempting and oh so satisfying action of digging her claws into Daphne's arm to demonstrate her feelings, Theresa slunk down behind a chair and pretended to go to sleep.

Hopefully Daphne would keep her mouth mercifully shut for a while if she thought Theresa was sleeping.

Sir Thomas was welcome to take her sister if it meant that Theresa never had to listen to Daphne's endless stream of thoughts come out her mouth again.

Theresa's brain went round in unpleasant circles and finally wore itself out and at last she did fall asleep.

* * * * *

The sound of a knock on the door awoke Theresa. She did not bother getting up or even turning to see who it was.

She heard Daphne walking towards the door.

"Sir Thomas!"

Thomas sounded happy. "Greetings, Lady Daphne."

Daphne's words were breathless. "Is she gone?"

"It appears that she does not know that you are here."

"Oh, thank goodness."

Thomas said slowly. "Of course we do not know what she is thinking."

"Of course not," agreed Daphne, but she sounded completely unconcerned. "Would you perhaps have time to go for a ride now?"

"Of course I would," he responded gallantly.

"You're sure? You've spent a great deal of time with me since we arrived. Don't you have other duties?" she asked shyly.

Theresa scowled at the wall. Apparently Daphne was plenty worried about other people's feelings and priorities when it was the ever so wonderful Sir Thomas.

Thomas answered. "Lord Wildwood has given me charge of your safety. I can't very well send you out for a ride alone."

Daphne giggled. Theresa did not allow a single movement to betray her disgust.

Sir Thomas seemed to be putting all his energy into charming her sister. Theresa wondered if he would act as charming towards her if she was human. Probably not.

Theresa was not jealous of Thomas' attentions towards her sister, but she supposed she did feel just a touch of familiar resentment. Daphne had always seemed the more pampered and dearly loved child. She was smaller and more delicate and seemed to inspire protective instincts in everyone around her.

Which was fine back when she and Daphne were always the most important to each other, but now Theresa was starting to feel left behind.

It did perhaps did not help that Theresa had managed to alienate the one person who had been making her time as a cat more bearable, she thought mournfully. She did not even know where Wildwood was anymore.

"Where's Theresa?" wondered Thomas.

"She's sleeping over there," Daphne said, presumably indicating the chair Theresa was hiding behind.

"Perhaps we should wake her?"

"She was feeling out of sorts earlier. Let's let her sleep. She sleeps at odd times now that's she's a cat. Besides, she doesn't like horses anymore anyways. We'll leave the door open so that she can get out," Daphne said, surprisingly decisively.

Thomas was the one who sounded indecisive. "Wouldn't she like to know that everything seems safe?"

"Don't worry about her. She's very intelligent, she'll reason it out when she finds I'm gone and the door is open." Daphne laughed charmingly and Theresa heard them walk away.

Theresa was both miffed and mollified by her sister's assessment.

She was, although she would never admit it, pleased that Daphne considered her intelligent.

On the other hand, being clever did not make Theresa omniscient. It would be nice if Daphne would tell her what was going on. It was not as if Theresa could ask for additional information.

Still, Daphne and Thomas' footsteps were long gone, so Theresa decided it was time to leave the room.

She was tired of the wretched walls and furniture of their rooms.

Surely she was allowed out if Daphne was. Wildwood would have been more explicit if he was punishing her.

She would go somewhere. Not to the wizard's tower, she had no desire to face him, yet. Perhaps she would make her way to the kitchen.

Theresa walked briskly down the corridor at a rather uncatlike pace. She had no desire to run into anyone along the way. She did not want to see her sister with Thomas nor the housekeeper and most especially not Wildwood.

* * * * *

Theresa scratched on the door to the kitchen and Matt opened the door.

It was as cozy as ever and Theresa was glad to be back. It was one of the few places where she did not feel completely out of place and forgotten. She walked inside.

It was apparently between meal times and there was no one inside beside the kitchen boy. Theresa wondered where chef might be. She usually spent most of the day in her domain.

Matt picked up a broom and began sweeping. Theresa wondered if it was after supper already. She tended to lose track of time when she took cat naps.

She watched as Matt continued sweeping the floor. He was a diligent worker, making sure that he got all the dirt off the floor. She could see why the chef kept him around.

He finished his job and looked at her. "Do you want s-something to eat?" It was the most that she had ever heard him speak. Maybe he spoke less when other humans were around. He probably would not have spoken if he knew what she really was.

Theresa just waited patiently. He stood up and poured milk into a dish and put some beef on a plate. He was a thoughtful boy. She liked him. Theresa began to eat.

"Y-you have pretty eyes," he said. "It's n-nice when you're here."

Theresa wondered what Matt's story was. He seemed so shy and awkward and lonely. She wondered why he worked in the kitchen and why he was not with his parents.

He was probably an orphan or else born into an extremely poor family. Either way, he was probably better off in the kitchen of Wildwood than out in the rest of the world.

Wildwood seemed like a fair master to his people, whether he was trustworthy with regards to Theresa or not. His staff seemed happy enough.

Before the incident she usually went to his tower after visiting the kitchen. She wondered what she should do instead.

Perhaps she might go outside. She had been cooped up quite long enough.

Theresa felt full, so she walked over to the outside door and scratched on it.

"Do you need to g-go outside?" he wondered. "I'm n-n-n-not sure that's a g-good idea."

Theresa scratched again. "I suppose that I c-could leave the window open. B-but that other time you g-got stuck..."

Theresa scratched again. She did not believe that he would get in trouble. Even if Wildwood did not want her outside he was certain to blame Theresa for her actions and not the kitchen boy.

Matt reluctantly opened the door. Theresa dashed out before he could change his mind.

Theresa walked around the castle until she found a comfortable spot to lay down. She lazily watched the insects flutter around and appreciated the proper blue of the sky and the green of the trees surrounding the green castle lawn.

If she ignored the cold grey wood of the trunks, she could almost imagine that her vision was as it always had been, normal and human.

After a short nap, she got up and stretched and began to wander the grounds again. She walked near the stables, but did not enter, although her cat half would have liked to go inside.

She noticed that there was a barn beyond where she had previously gone and as she neared it she could see that door was wide open.

There were several human workers wandering around, so she did not believe that she would get shut inside.

She wanted to investigate the building for some reason her human mind could not fathom. Indulging her cat half, she walked inside.

The barn was full of scents and movement, all of which her cat side wanted to investigate.

It apparently had not learned the last time she had gotten stuck, but neither had it really cared.

There were several cows inside and one of the men was working with them. She was not particularly interested in his activity, so she kept walking.

Her cat side did like the idea of cream, so she paused and looked hopefully at the farmhand. He ignored her so she eventually gave up.

Theresa continued to wander. She heard an odd noise from above accompanied by a scratching sound and decided to investigate.

She climbed up into the loft to see what was there. She really hoped that it was not something that she would find delicious.

The cat part of her hoped the exact opposite. Even though it was not particularly hungry, a hunt would still be satisfying.

The loft was filled with hay and little else. Theresa thought that perhaps she had misheard and there was nothing there at all. Then she heard the sound again and there was definite movement accompanying it.

Suddenly a large pair of blue eyes poked out of the straw.

It was a cute little kitten. Another one rolled out, apparently curious about what was happening and who was visiting.

Theresa would have smiled had she been human. She had seen kittens before but these ones were as cute and as close up as she had ever seen.

Theresa was instantly enchanted.

The cat inside her was not enchanted in the slightest. Now that it had seen what was making the noise, it was ready to leave. It felt vaguely uneasy about the situation.

Theresa did not care what her feline brain thought. She just wanted to cuddle the little fur balls and play with them, not that it was convenient in her current form.

One of the kittens ambled over to her on its clumsy little legs. Theresa watched it sniff her. It looked adorable.

There was a startling hiss beside her. Theresa turned her head to see another cat.

This cat was not cute and little. It looked to be the same intimidating size as Theresa if not a little bigger.

She had never realized how frightening a cat could be when she used to have a significant size advantage.

It took Theresa half a second to figure out why her cat half seemed so uneasy.

The cat in her head was not so slow. It had immediately moved her body away from the kitten and Theresa watched the other cat warily.

The mother cat was definitely not happy with the feline intruder in her loft.

Theresa tried to edge around her to get back down to the ground.

The mother cat continued staring her down as she moved closer to her kittens.

It was so fast that Theresa did not even comprehend what happened until after it was all over.

The mother cat leapt forward and swiped at her face. Theresa's cat mind reacted instantaneously and moved her body mostly out of the way and then dashed down the stair like ladder.

When they got to the bottom, Theresa surveyed the damage.

Her ear hurt horribly with a stinging, sharp pain. It felt wet. It smelled of iron.

It had been her cat side's fault that she had been up there at all in the first place.

Still, she was glad that her it had taken over again, even if it was a bit unnerving to have her body act without her telling it to.

If it had not, she probably would have had her face clawed off like she did to that dog before she had even been able to think of what to do.

Theresa walked back to the door to the kitchen, feeling a bit shaky. She scratched, but no one answered, so Theresa jumped in the window.

She was grateful that Matt had thought to leave it open. He was such a kind boy.

She found that the door to the kitchen was also open but there was nowhere at all she wanted to go in the castle.

Theresa moved towards the fireplace, and began to clean her fur.

The side of her head felt unpleasantly sticky and her hair was drying in uncomfortable tufts, but she could not reach it with her tongue to clean it and touching it with her paw just made it hurt more. Her ear stung.

At least cleaning her fur made her feel calmer. After a while she moved to the corner beside the fireplace and she curled into a little ball. She felt really alone.