chapter 56

I wake up several hours later, groggy and disoriented from a daytime nap in a strange place.

Sometime while I slept, the cat disappeared, and I must have looked cold because someone tossed a soft white blanket over me. I stretch beneath the cloud-like fabric, testing out all the aches and pains I fell asleep with. I’m sore—and probably will be for a few days—but I’m able to function.

Not a bad thing, considering that if I were human, I’d probably be bound for the hospital. Possibly in a body bag.

I swing my legs off the couch and rub the sleep from my eyes. By the look of the sunlight outside the bank of windows behind the couch, it’s early afternoon. There’s no immediate sign that my companions are around, and I have a brief moment of fear that they’ve left me. That they’ve set me up to lie here and sleep until the homeowner returns and catches me.

But when I focus on listening to the quiet house, I hear low voices filtering into the room from down the hall. Shoving aside the blanket