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escapee or something?’ Nisa asked. ‘Did you run away? Or was it some fiendish tom that lured you from home with promises of rampant sex and then dumped you on the street?’ The cat gave her what could only be described as a long-suffering look. ‘Maybe not then.’
    The tuna was not out of date. Nisa picked through it to make sure there were no bones hidden among the grey-pink flesh, forked the fish out onto a saucer, and put it down on the floor in the tiny space she had as a kitchen. The cat give the fish a sniff, almost seemed to nod, and then looked up at Nisa and gave her a meow before starting to eat. It was almost like she was saying ‘thank you.’
    ‘Well, you’re a polite sort of cat,’ Nisa said. Then she headed out to the bedroom to strip and take her make-up off. The animal had been hungry, that was for sure. The tuna had been vanishing at a rapid rate. Obviously it had been on the street, and going hungry, for a while. Well, it could not stay. Definitely. It looked like it had breeding so maybe someone was looking for it. She would check with the local police station in the morning.
    Feeling tired, she collapsed onto the bed and closed her eyes, intending to cover herself after a while. Then she heard the bed springs give a soft protest and something furry brushed her arm. Opening her eyes and turning her head, she found the cat staring at her from near her shoulder.
    ‘There is no way you’re sleeping on the bed,’ she said.
    Ignoring her, the cat settled against her arm and began to purr. Nisa gave a sigh and prepared herself to move. Except that it was really pleasant lying there with the cat purring happily against her arm. She closed her eyes again. It was weird how relaxing that purr was. Kind of soporific. Kind of… nice. Warm. Pleasant. Really kind of…
    ~~~
    Nisa opened her eyes. At some point she must have got under the covers, because they were on top of her. She could not really remember doing so, but there it was.
    The cat was nowhere to be seen, but it could not have got out of the flat. She rolled out of bed and found herself something to wear, shorts and a camisole top, before padding out of the bedroom. She checked the lounge and kitchen, but there was no black feline snoozing anywhere. Neither was the cat in the bathroom when she went to brush her teeth and do a proper job of washing away last night’s make-up.
    ‘Where’ve you got to?’ Nisa mused aloud, but there was no answering meow and late breakfast was beckoning.
    With a bowl of cereal in her stomach and her first coffee of the day on its way there, Nisa settled down in the front room to practise her light spell. Kellog had said she should work on that one and not try anything else for a while. It would teach her the basic form of spells dealing with the summoning of energy. Summoning energy, he had said, would come in use, and she had got the distinct impression that he was not talking about lighting up dark rooms.
    She was busy repeatedly attempting to summon up her little ball of light, and discovering she could make it work a little more than half the times she tried, when she realised she was being watched.
    ‘You’re back,’ she said to the cat.
    The cat looked back at her as if to say, ‘I was never gone.’ It was sitting on the carpet a couple of feet away and seemed entirely unconcerned about the ball of glowing energy floating above Nisa’s palm.
    ‘It’s okay. I mean, I’m not great at this, but it’s safe. I haven’t set light to the carpet or anything.’
    The cat stood up, padded calmly over, and gave Nisa’s index finger a lick. It had a softer tongue than most of the cats she had been licked by, but it still rasped.
    ‘Okay, so magic obviously doesn’t bother you,’ Nisa said. ‘You do look like you should be sitting on a broom behind an old woman in a pointy hat.’ That got her a meow, though what the sound meant was cat-inscrutable. ‘Okay, well I have one more tin of tuna. Then I’m