Rose by Holly Webb

and she didn’t have fur.
    â€œNo, she didn’t!” Freddie had himself more under control by now, and he was no longer shouting. He spoke quietly, but his voice was frozen with fury. It made Rose shiver.
    â€œOf course she did!” Gustavus actually stopped washing for long enough to glare at him this time.
    â€œAll she did was walk in and distract it,” Freddie insisted. “We saved ourselves. And don’t talk in front of her; she’s a servant!”
    â€œA servant who can hear me,” the cat pointed out. “All the rest of them would think they heard a cat mewing. Which just goes to show, doesn’t it?” He rubbed his paw over his ear roughly, muttering disgustedly to himself.
    Freddie looked around the room desperately while he tried to think what to say. “So she can understand cat,” he said at last. “That doesn’t mean anything…”
    Rose wished they would stop talking as though she wasn’t there, but she didn’t dare say anything. Freddie was Mr. Fountain’s apprentice, and Gustavus was his spoiled pet. If they complained of her, she might be sent back to the orphanage.
    â€œShe just interrupted that creature when it was weak from binding us, that’s all,” Freddie said more confidently. “It was nothing to do with her, really.”
    Rose watched Gustavus give Freddie a considering look, then the cat turned his particolored eyes on her. “Where did you learn to hear cats talk, girl?”
    Rose shook her head. “I don’t know. I never knew they could. The cat at the orphanage never said anything, not that I heard. You just talked to me about the cream that first morning I saw you. Last week.”
    The cat sniffed. “Who knows? You wouldn’t expect a servant child to have magic—”
    â€œMagic!” Freddie interrupted scornfully. “Of course she doesn’t have magic. Little guttersnipe. Like I said, it was luck. Coincidence. And maybe she stole something from in here that made her understand you. Yes, I bet that’s it! What did you take, girl?” He rounded on her, working himself into a rage to beat down his fear.
    Rose stood her ground. “I never stole anything, and you know it!” She was past the point of not wanting to get on his bad side by now. It was too late, and she hated him too much to hold back anyway. “And if you say I did”—Rose leaned forward and jabbed a finger in his chest—“I’ll tell your master what I just saw, because I’ll bet my year’s wages you weren’t supposed to be messing with that mist thing.”
    Freddie gaped at her. He clearly had no experience of servants talking back. They usually just moaned about him once he’d gone. “You wouldn’t dare,” he hissed, but with an edge of doubt.
    Rose raised an eyebrow at him, and the cat sniggered. “She’s got you there, Freddie.”
    â€œYou helped,” Freddie retorted. “And Fountain will know that; he knows I couldn’t do that spell on my own. I could hardly even see the thing this morning.”
    â€œYou brought it here?” Rose asked disgustedly. “What on earth were you thinking?”
    â€œWe were experimenting,” Freddie told her in a lordly way. “Testing our power, as is natural for those who hold the secrets of the mages. Which you would know if you had any magic at all,” he added, suddenly sounding much less grown up. “I don’t know how you can talk to Gustavus, but apart from that, you’re the least magical person I’ve ever met.”
    â€œReally? Are you sure?” Rose asked hopefully. She wanted to believe him so much. She wanted to be safe downstairs in the warm kitchen, away from buzzing things, with everyone else who thought those magicians were more trouble than they were worth. She did not want to be one of the troublemakers.
    â€œIt was coincidence,