Raven tried a couple of doors and found that one led to some stairs. Yes, this was the direct way down to the basement area. Once they reached the bottom of the stairs Socks sniffed out the way to the secret room the cats had been using.

Inside was a scene of devastation. Broken musical instruments were lying on the ground and tables and chairs were overturned. Bowls of water had been spilled. Bits of kibble were strewn all over the floor.

“This is terrible!” said Socks. “If they’ve got our leaders, then I don’t know what we’ll do.”

“All right,” said Raven. “You go back and do what you have to do upstairs. Keep the revolution going. That’s the most important thing you can do now. Thanks for your help. I’ll find this van, and . . .”

Socks hurried out of the room. Raven’s seventh sense was telling her something that she couldn’t completely understand. But she was picking up a powerful message from somewhere just over by the stage.

Yes. Under the table. Unconscious, but . . .

Familiar, somehow.

It was the school cat. The violent one. The one the children weren’t allowed to go near. But he seemed different somehow. He’d changed in some unfathomable way, and not just because he was unconscious.

Raven reached out and touched his fur. He was warm. Breathing. She took her wonde out of her backpack and held it just above his head while she said a healing spell. Lexy made Raven carry a vial of high-potency homoeopathic arnica tablets wherever she went. As soon as Neptune was conscious, Raven held one out to him and he took it with his rough tongue. He blinked a few times, and then moved his head. Raven now gave him a dose of homoeopathic arsenicum. In homoeopathy, like cures like, and so a case of poisoning could often be helped with a minute dose of the deadly poison arsenic.

“Who are you . . . ?” Neptune said weakly. “You smell familiar. . . .”

Familiar.

So did he. It was hard to describe, but a heavenly warm smell was coming from his fur. It was floral, grassy, a bit like coriander flowers in the sunshine. Raven felt sort of fuzzy-headed for a second. It was as if she’d drunk a glass of her mother’s wine.

Neptune opened his eyes.

He looked up at Raven. When her eyes met his the effect was electrifying. It was like falling in love instantly. Raven knew that from this moment she and this cat—whose name she didn’t even know—were going to be inseparable.

“It’s you,” he said.

She took a deep breath. “At last. I knew I’d find you.”

“My witch,” he said.

“My familiar,” she said.

“Where are the others?” Neptune asked. “Mirabelle . . . ? Malvasia . . . ?”

“They’re being taken to the university. We have to rescue them.”

Neptune stood up.

“Are you all right?” Raven asked.