The Palace of Glass

“You’re not very loyal,” Isaac said as Alice took his hand.

“Loyalty,” Ashes sniffed, “is for dogs. Cats have better sense.”

The more he didn’t know, she reasoned, the easier he would be to fool.

Of course, where magic is involved, appearances don’t mean much.

I must say, you are the least unintelligent human I have ever met.

“We’re doomed,” one of the sprites said, turning wildly in a circle as though excited at the prospect. “Doomed! Doomed!”

“You’re mad,” he said. “You’ve gone mad. There’s no two ways about it.”

“Your mother was the one who helped me,” Alice said.

“Then she’s gone mad too.”

“You know, you could be a bit more constructive,” Alice said.

“I’m still trying to wrap my head around the magnitude of your insanity,” the cat muttered. “Once I’ve got that handled, I’ll get started on the mind-numbing terror.”

Alice scooped the cat into her arms and planted a kiss on his fuzzy forehead.

“What was that for?” Ashes sputtered. “What have I ever done to deserve that?”

“I wanted to say thank you,” Alice said, putting him on the ground. “For everything.”

“Yes, well. Far be it from me to dispute my own heroism,” Ashes muttered. “But proper thanks should involve tuna.”

“Well?” the cat said. “Are we going to walk all the way there?”

“You’re going to get fat if you keep being so lazy.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing. For cats, being fat that just means that you’re winning.”