Page 264 of Lethal King

With careful steps, I follow the cat through the tangled forest floor until we reach a small clearing. At the edge of the clearing is a fallen log. Its bark is mossy. Its inside is hollowed.

The cat disappears inside of it.

Curiosity pulls me forward. I hear a meow.

Then another.

And another.

By the time I shine my flashlight inside the trunk, a chorus of cats are singing at me. A dozen yellow, green and blue eyes shine through the darkness.

“Not again,” I mutter, remembering the mess in my basement when we were searching for Kaja. The place was filled with strays for a week before we managed to rehome them all.

This time is different, though.

Immediately, I know I won’t be getting rid of these kittens.

Not when Roz shows up and sees them.

“My place is much nicer than this,” I tell the cats. “You guys will like it there. You’ll like my sister, Mel, too. She’ll be in heaven. Same with Roz.”

Shining my light through the hollow trunk, I search for more cats. It doesn’t even register how crazy I must sound, talking to a bunch of strays like this.

“What is that?” I mumble, when my flashlight comes across their makeshift nest. The bed of the trunk is filled with leaves and twigs. Some small bones are sprinkled in there too.

In the midst of it all, though, is something far more unnatural.

Wires.

Black ones. Red ones. Blues ones. Yellow ones. They almost match the cats' eyes. Some are twisted into the fabric of the cozy nest. A few others hang down from the slits in the trunk, like toys.

It’s too curious to ignore.

“Mind if I take one of these?” I ask.

No one stops me as I reach over and grab one of the dangling wires.

It doesn’t immediately come sliding out. And I quickly realize that’s because it’s attached to something. Reaching through the slit it hangs from, I find what I’m looking for and pull.

One of the kittens hisses as the bark gives way.

“Sorry,” I apologize, pulling back out of the trunk. “Now, what the hell is this?”

The strange black box doesn’t look like it belongs in the middle of these dark, isolated woods. And it definitely doesn’t look like something that we’d have found in Roz’s old village.

Running the tip of my finger over the edges, I search for a ridge or an opening.

I find a button.

“What do you do?” I ask, pressing down on it.

A first, nothing happens. But then, I hear a small engine whirl alive inside the box.

Suddenly, a slot flips open and a bright light bursts out of the little machine, blinding me.

I drop the box and jump back.

I’m still trying to recover my vision when I hear a voice that sends a shiver up my spine.