The Iron King by Julie Kagawa Page A

wolves, or hopelessly lost for decades, because I was sure time had ceased to exist and I’d be stuck here forever.
    I took a deep breath, forcing myself to be calm. No, Robbie wouldn’t do that to me. I’m sure of it. Perhaps he ditched me to lead the hunt away, to make sure the hunt followed him and left me alone. Maybe he thought he was saving my life. Maybe he had saved my life. If that was the case, I hoped he came back soon; I didn’t think I would get out of the Nevernever without him.
    Grimalkin, or whatever his name was, continued to observe me as if I was a particularly interesting insect. I eyed him with new feelings of suspicion. Sure, he looked like an enormous, slightly plump house cat, but horses weren’t generally meat-eaters and normal trees did not have little men living inside. This feline could be sizing me up for its next meal. I gulped and met his eerie, intelligent gaze head-on.
    “W-what do you want?” I asked, thankful that my voice only trembled a little bit.
    The cat didn’t blink. “Human,” he said, and if a cat couldsound patronizing, this one nailed it, “think about the absurdity of that question. I am resting in my tree, minding my own business and wondering if I should hunt today, when you come flying in like a bean sidhe and scare off every bird for miles around. Then, you have the audacity to ask what I want.” He sniffed and gave me a very catlike stare of disdain. “I am aware that mortals are rude and barbaric, but still.”
    “I’m sorry,” I muttered automatically. “I didn’t mean to offend you.”
    Grimalkin twitched his tail, and then turned to groom his hindquarters.
    “Um,” I continued after a moment of silence, “I was wondering if, maybe…you could help me.”
    Grimalkin paused midlick, then continued without looking up. “And why would I want to do that?” he asked, weaving words and grooming together without missing a beat. He still didn’t look at me.
    “I’m trying to find my brother,” I replied, stung by Grimalkin’s casual refusal. “He’s been stolen by the Unseelie Court.”
    “Mmm. How terribly uninteresting.”
    “Please,” I begged. “Help me. Give me a hint, or just point me in the right direction. Anything. I’ll make it up to you, I swear.”
    Grimalkin yawned, showing off long canines and a bright pink tongue, and finally looked at me.
    “Are you suggesting I do you a favor?”
    “Yes. Look, I’ll pay you back somehow, I promise.”
    He twitched an ear, looking amused. “Be careful throwing those words around so casually,” he warned. “Doing this will put you in my debt. Are you sure you wish to continue?”
    I didn’t think about it. I was so desperate for help, I’d agree to anything. “Yes! Please, I need to find Puck. The horse Iwas riding when he bucked me off. He’s not really a horse, you know. He’s a—”
    “I know what he is,” Grimalkin said quietly.
    “Really? Oh, that’s great. Do you know where he could’ve gone?”
    He fixed me with an unblinking stare, and then lashed his tail, once. Without a word, he rose, leaped gracefully onto a lower limb, and dropped to the ground. He stretched, arching his bushy tail over his spine, and vanished into the bushes without looking back.
    I yelped, scrambling to untangle myself from the branches, wincing at the shard of pain between my ribs. I more or less fell out of the tree, landing with a thump on my backside that sparked a word Mom would ground me for. Dusting off my rear, I looked around for Grimalkin.
    “Human.” He appeared like a gray ghost sliding out of the bushes, big glowing eyes the only evidence he was there. “This is our agreement. I will lead you to your Puck, and you will owe me a small favor in return, yes?”
    Something about the way he said agreement caused my skin to prickle, but I nodded.
    “Very well, then. Follow me. And do try to keep up.”
     
    E ASIER SAID THAN DONE .
    If you’ve ever tried following a cat through a dense