Harry shivered. The air had grown colder, and the passage floor along with it, making his paws feel like ice chips. He wondered how much time had passed since they first entered the passage, but he decided not to ask for fear of learning the answer. It wouldn’t surprise him if they had been walking for several days and had reached the center of the earth.
“You must remain vigilant.” Kip’s voice startled Harry, making him jump. “Remember, Orpheus has set many traps throughout the opera house to deter cats from nosing around. I assume this passage is no exception.”
“What—what kind of traps does Orpheus have?” Harry asked, his voice wavering.
“Nails on the floor, pointed up, of course. Coils of rope meant to entangle a cat. Hooks, too, placed in such a way to injure or kill an unsuspecting cat.”
“Hooks?” Harry repeated, his fear forgotten for the moment. “You said earlier it wouldn’t surprise you if Orpheus had killed Stripe. Did he set the hook in that passageway where she died?”
“I can’t say for certain,” Kip said, his tail flicking against Harry’s snout, “but it wouldn’t be outside of his capabilities. If that passage is one he uses, then I’m sure he set it.”
They continued in silence, which suited Harry fine. Talking about Orpheus’s traps made his skin prickle. He wondered how Kip remained so calm while they talked about traps and death as they trekked in the dark, abandoned passage.
Without warning, Kip slid down the passage floor, yowling as he went. Harry hadn’t seen it happen but rather sensed it. He’d felt the sweep of air as Kip descended and realized the comforting presence of the rat catcher had left him. As Harry neared the spot where he suspected Kip had vanished, his nose twitching to smell anything that could tell him what had occurred, his paws slid through a hole, and he descended through darkness down, down, down. He flailed his paws in the air, trying to grasp some object to stop his fall. A horrifying image of his body plunging through eternal blackness flashed in his head, but it didn't last long. Harry slammed on the floor, his breath whooshing out in a single gasp.
Harry raised himself to his paws, panting and spitting out blood. He had hit the side of his mouth on the stone floor, dislodging one of his teeth. He spat the loose tooth out and snarled in disgust.
“Where—ack!—where are we?” Harry asked between coughs.
“Shhh!”
Harry blinked at the darkness, ready to ask Kip why he’d silenced him, when a scrabbling noise reached his ears. Squeaks intermingled with the scrabbling, and a strong odor wafted over Harry. The stench resulted in another bout of coughing. Harry’s eyes watered, and he coughed louder. Kip silenced him again, and a dim light came on, startling Harry. When his vision adjusted to the light, his body froze.
Around the room, crawling over one another and nibbling garbage, were large rats. They crammed themselves in the corners of the room, and several of them stood on their hind paws to nibble the peeling wallpaper above them. Their oily fur rippled in the light as they crawled on one another, their tails flailing about them like slender pink snakes. The rats turned their beady eyes at the two cats, which made Harry’s fur stand on end. Other than the rats, the room was devoid of furniture or theater props, adding to the terror of the scene before them. No cat or human had been in this room for a very long time. Harry wanted to run from this horrid place.
“It seems the rat catcher for this room hasn’t been doing his job!” Harry sneered, barely noticing his claws unsheathe. He glared at Kip to see how he reacted to the rats.
Kip stared at the ceiling, his eyes wide, his ears pricked forward. Without looking at Harry, Kip said, “No—it’s not that—I would’ve noticed this many rats—”
“How do you explain this, then?” Harry growled, gesturing at the rats with a sweep of his tail. The rats perked up at the movement, their eyes glued to Harry. Harry swallowed the bile rising in his throat.
“Remain calm,” Kip said in a strangled voice. He backed toward the other wall but jumped when he came in contact with a rat. The rat squeaked and scratched the air where Kip had been. “We’ll figure a way out of this.”
“There is only one way out of the room you are in, and it is only accessible from outside the room,” a familiar voice said, seemingly from the ceiling, the walls, the floor, everywhere all at once.
Harry’s legs stiffened. That voice… “Where are you? Show yourself!” he bellowed.
The voice chuckled. It sent shivers up Harry’s back. The voice—whom Harry recognized as the cat who had told him to leave Roxanne alone at the catwalks, the one Kip called ‘Orpheus’—spoke again.
“I think not. That room is swarming with rats, and I loathe the nasty creatures. Unbeknownst to you, Kip, I’ve corralled the rats into the room you are now trapped in as an extra safety precaution for myself. Tonight, it has finally paid off.”
“Let us out!” Harry screamed. The rats swirled around faster at the commotion, a black sea of fur and leathery tails.
Kip silenced Harry with a short hiss. He lifted his head and shouted, “Let us go, Orpheus! I’ve done you great favors over the years, keeping your existence a secret, and even saving your life once!”
Harry stared wide-eyed at Kip, stunned at such a revelation. But his shock at what Kip said vanished when Orpheus chuckled again.
“How, then, do you explain your companion?” Orpheus growled. “You’ve told another cat. You’re trying to reach Roxanne to take her away from me. It’s time I experienced some happiness in this miserable world. I leave you to the rats. I must warn you, they are extremely hungry.”
“Get down here and fight us like a real cat! Stop hiding, coward!” Harry screamed, ignoring Kip’s admonitions to stay silent.
No reply met Harry’s taunt. Harry’s eyes roved the ceiling as if he’d be able to see Orpheus emerge from the plaster.
“He’s gone,” Kip said.
Harry grunted. For some reason, he knew for himself Orpheus had left. That heavy presence had lifted, and the light—which Harry assumed Orpheus had somehow turned on—had grown even dimmer.
The rats turned their shining eyes on the cats again. One brave rat scampered to them and lunged for Kip’s paw. Hissing, Kip leaped in the air.
When he landed, another rat dashed toward the cats, this time jumping at Harry. Harry also flung himself in the air, his legs churning in fear.
“There’s only one thing to do,” Kip exclaimed as he darted to the center of the room, away from the oncoming horde of rats.
“What?” Harry managed to ask.
“Fight!”
With that, the two cats yowled as they fought the onslaught of rats scraping and clawing at them.