Candle moved away, giving Panther a curious look as she did so. Panther didn’t like that look, wasn’t sure what it meant. Owl waited until the little girl was out of sight, and then she motioned for Panther to come close.

“I already know what you’re going to ask me,” she said.

“You do?”

“You’re going to ask me about Cat.”

Panther knelt beside her, his lean face intense. “Yeah, that’s right. Where is she?”

“She’s gone.”

Panther stared at her. “What do you mean, She’s gone ? She’s gone where? Where would she go?” He gestured angrily. “What are you talking about?”

Owl put a hand on his shoulder. “Calm down. She left during the night, not long after she talked to you. She came to me first and told me what she was going to do. I tried to talk her out of it, but she had her mind made up. I couldn’t change it.”

“She left? Just like that?” Panther was stunned. He gripped the arms of Owl’s wheelchair in frustration and dismay. “No reason for it? She just left?”

Owl furrowed her brow, and by doing so Panther could tell that he wasn’t going to like whatever she was about to say next. “She had a reason, Panther. A reason she felt strongly about, which is why I couldn’t change her mind.”

She glanced over at the three girls, who were still working, but who were trying hard, as well, to listen in on what she and Panther were saying. “She’s begun to mutate again. She’s changing into a Lizard.”

Panther shook his head. “What? That’s not true! Is it? She’s changing? When did this start to happen?

Why didn’t she say anything to me about it?”

“She didn’t say anything to anyone. She could barely bring herself to tell me, but she didn’t want to leave without anyone knowing the reason. She was so unhappy, Panther. She just couldn’t face what it would mean once you found out.”

“Once I found out?”

“Once anyone found out. She was convinced it would change everything. That none of us would feel the same way about her. She believed we wouldn’t want to be with her anymore. Or if not that, that we would simply tolerate her because we wouldn’t want to tell her the truth. We would pretend to care, but really we would want her to go away.”