Cat Kin by Nick Green Read Free Book Online Page A

spoke it appeared like a waking dream: a blue cat’s eye, staring back. Fear came sharp as a bee sting and he had to blink. The first things he
saw were Mrs Powell’s eyes, and these too were fixed on him.
    ‘You saw it?’ she said.
    Ben nodded.
    ‘It scares you?’
    ‘No,’ Ben lied.
    ‘Interesting. All right,’ she said to the others, ‘you can open your eyes now. What we have been visualising is the head catra, Ptep.’
    ‘I got purple splotches,’ confessed Olly.
    ‘Not all of you will succeed at first,’ said Mrs Powell. ‘But you have learned the principle. We invoke each catra as an eye of a particular colour.’
    ‘What do they do?’ asked Cecile.
    ‘They do not
do
,’ said Mrs Powell. ‘They just are. We try again.’
    She made them picture a red eye, which she called Oshtis. Heat welled in Ben’s stomach. Kelotaukhon, smouldering copper, brought a tingle to his throat. The golden Parda cut through the
dark like a sun, filling his chest with light. He found he couldn’t look at any catra for more than a few seconds. Those glowing irises spooked him more than any cat’s gaze.
    ‘Good,’ said Mrs Powell. ‘Some of you are getting there. We will try an experiment. I need a good subject.’ She cast about. ‘Ben. No, sorry Ben. Tiffany,
we’ll use you.’
    Ben had a sense of being elbowed aside.
    ‘Now there’s a surprise,’ he whispered to Olly.
    ‘Hey,’ Olly breathed, ‘as long she doesn’t come near me, I’m happy.’
    ‘When you’re finished talking,’ said Mrs Powell. She stood before Tiffany. ‘As I explained, Ptep is the head catra, governing balance. The cat’s main senses, such
as sight, hearing and smell, reside in the face catra, Mandira, which is green. But what happens when we combine them?’ She knelt. ‘Tiffany, begin. Let it all go black.’
    Ben found himself hoping Tiffany would mess up. It was childish, but he couldn’t help it. He’d been enjoying today. Though the catra exercises rattled him, he had started to suspect,
to his astonishment, that he liked pashki even more than pinball, and that he might get just as good at it. Yet Tiffany was chosen, as usual. Jim wasn’t the teacher’s only pet.
    ‘Hold the blue Ptep in your mind, Tiffany,’ she said. ‘Now. Summon your Mandira. Let the green eye appear.’
    Tiffany’s eyebrows twitched in concentration.
    ‘Now, Tiffany,’ said Mrs Powell. ‘Bring the blue eye and the green eye together. Head and face, head and face. Let them merge. Become one. Hold it.’
    Mrs Powell raised her hand. Ben craned forward. The hand crept towards Tiffany’s face and came within six inches.
    Tiffany opened her eyes. ‘Hey! That tickles!’
    Mrs Powell turned to the group.
    ‘Did you see? Cecile, tell me. Did I touch her?’
    ‘No.’ Cecile was slack-jawed. ‘She never even touched you, Tiffany!’
    Voices chorused in agreement. Mrs Powell made her try it again. This time Tiffany reacted to a single finger passing by her head. To everyone’s amazement, she sneezed. Ben didn’t
know what to think. If this was a conjuring trick, it was a clever one.
    ‘It’s almost like I’ve got…whiskers!’ gasped Tiffany.
    ‘You have.’ Mrs Powell gave one of her rare smiles. ‘Your Mau body has them, and you have helped them to appear. Mau whiskers work like an extra sense, reaching beyond your
head.’
    Susie snorted. ‘That’s impossible.’
    ‘Implausible,’ said Mrs Powell. ‘Like everything else in nature.’
    At that moment Jim trotted into the studio. Mrs Powell
miaowed
at him. Swishing his tail, he padded through the bead curtain into the kitchen, leaving a trail of clammy grey paw
prints.
    Mrs Powell sighed. ‘What’s
impossible
is training your cat not to go sitting on the modelling clay.’

    Clissold Park stayed open on these early summer evenings. Ben had an urge to wander around the ponds. He didn’t like admitting to himself that he was putting off going
home. The flat was no longer a