I sat, knees jiggling, as the gathering of conclave attendees settled into their seats, chattering and smiling, laughing and talking around me. Clueless. While my stomach flip-flopped like a suffocating fish.

Shenka squeezed my hand, even her practiced smile tight around the edges.

Sassafras crouched in my lap, ears down, whiskers sagging.

Of course I told them. As soon as I walked through the door into our little quarters the night before, the pair of them ...