I sat up, propping myself up on my hands, leaning back into them as I stared back at the cat. The cat stared back, still purring. I bet if cats could laugh, instead of purring, that’s what that cat would’ve been doing. It took me a minute to notice that the cat was just as big as the wolves, making her the biggest cat I’d ever seen. “You’re a really big cat,” I said, wondering if she was someone’s pet or something. Certainly a cat as big as this would’ve already clawed me, or already run off, if they were wild. As I got to me feet, I noticed the purring had stopped. Turning slowly, my jaw dropped to the floor and I stared stuttering like there was no tomorrow.

Sitting on Mack’s bed, buck naked, cracking up at my expression, was Amy. As I slammed my back against the wall and tried to gasp something intelligent out of my mouth, what ended up coming out was a gasp of a different sort. Pain. My stomach felt like I had major cramps, and my bones ached. Amy stopped laughing as a whimper escaped me. “Carlie?”