“You need us, don’t you? Otherwise you’d have gotten rid of us years ago—”

“I don’t need you.”

“Then we’re useful to you. You take over other people’s bodies—if anything happened to that one, you might need a spare.” Iona’s thinking on this was evolving as she spoke. “But if you could switch to one of our bodies you’d have done it by now. It’s the cage, isn’t it? It keeps us all alive, stops us from aging—but it also means you can’t leave that body. You’re stuck as a cat. So you’re keeping us alive for when you get out.”

Cats can’t shrug but Clarence created the impression of shrugging nonetheless. “You’ve worked it out again, then. I wondered how long it would take.”

“What do you mean, again?”

“You’ve done this all before. The city was a great deal smaller then. But it was so long ago you’ve forgotten.”

Iona wasn’t sure if Clarence was making this up. Was he just trying to make her think she couldn’t possibly beat him? That he would ultimately win no matter what she did?

“You could just agree to help me voluntarily,” he went on. “That would be easier for all of us. I am trying to get us all out of here, you know.”

“Help you? You killed my colleagues back on the ship—you nearly killed my wife and then almost drove her mad with suspicion and fear. You’re not getting out of here. I can promise you, we’re not—”

“Have a care, Ms. Taylor—I reiterate that I don’t need—”

Then there was a commotion behind Clarence, farther up the stairs. Someone was pushing past the ranks of citizens, moving through them before they had a chance to react. Clarence turned just in time to see the king striding in his direction. Iona had never seen the king at such close quarters before: as Saori had said, he was human like the rest of them. And yes, she did recognize him as the pilot of their ship, the one who had owned the cat.

“You little bastard,” said the king, bearing down on Clarence.

Clarence shrank back. “Your Highness, I’m dealing with a mass insurrection—it isn’t safe, you must return to your—”

But the king ignored him, reached down, and grabbed Clarence by the scruff of the neck.

“Careful,” Saori warned, pushing her way down the steps behind the king. “He’s a murderer, remember.”

Clarence hissed and spat, swinging his claws at the king, who held him at arm’s length and flinched at each vicious swipe.

“He can’t do anything,” said the king. “He’s just a cat.”

“Get him off me!” said Clarence, appealing to the ranked citizens, who were still dumbly awaiting an order.

“No!” said the king, turning to those same citizens. “I order you not to do that.”

But the citizens obeyed Clarence. They started to move.

“This way!” Iona shouted, pointing downward.

Saori and the king hurried down the steps toward Iona and together the three of them ran. The king still held Clarence by the neck and the cat still struggled to free himself. The king grabbed his legs and tried to hold him. The citizens had a steadier step and were gaining—but Iona heard footsteps coming up toward them—