Ahhh, there's nothing like being in the library, surrounded by all those words, and pretty book covers!
Part 16
(Just so I don't lose track of where I am in the story, well I am getting older, and sometimes forget things these days! MOL)
Muskulls shifted his weight, eyes darting toward the overturned desk, calculating his next move.
Willie tightened her grip on the ancient document, her paws trembling just slightly, but her gaze steady.
We were trapped. But we weren’t done yet.
“Muskulls,” I said slowly, carefully, my tail flicking behind me. “If mew think we’ll let Clawdia walk away with all this... mew seriously underestimate us.”
Muskulls laughed dryly, but there was panic behind his eyes. “Mew don’t get it,” he muttered. “She’s already ahead of mew.”
Willie narrowed her eyes. “What do mew mean?”
“The real treasure,” Muskulls growled, “is already being moved.”
A beat of silence.
Then, a massive crash from the east wing.
The study shook, sending a decorative vase crashing to the floor.
Hissy sucked in a breath. “What the fluff is happening?”
I whipped around toward the window.
In the distant glow of the fire-lit gardens, a large truck was pulling away, heading towards the main gates along the tree-lined gravel drive of the estate. Its headlights cut through the drifting smoke from the summerhouse.
Clawdia wasn’t just stealing the estate.
She was taking whatever was buried beneath it and making her escape.
Willie gasped. “Mew were right, it was never just about money.”
I snapped my attention back to Muskulls, his smug grin wobbling now.
“She promised me a slice of the pie,” he muttered angrily. “But if she’s left, she’s cut me out. The evil, using, piece of scum!”
That’s when I saw it, the brief flicker of doubt, of betrayal, of realisation crossing his face.
Clawdia had used Muskulls.
And now she'd tossed him aside like a bad salad.
Willie stepped forward, voice low, controlled. “Muskulls, mew need to choose. Right now. Stay loyal to Clawdia, and lose everything. Or help us, and stop her before she vanishes.”
Muskulls hesitated.
For the first time all night, I saw uncertainty in his eyes.
And then, he made his move.
Muskulls’ eyes flickered.
The diesel engine of Clawdia’s escape truck hummed in the distance, rear lights glowing red in smoky haze. He turned toward the sound, the sound of his own betrayal.
She had used him. And now? She was leaving him behind.
I took one step forward, locking my gaze on him.
“This is your last chance,” I said, voice low, deliberate. “If mew want to do the right thing, it’s now or never.”
Muskulls clenched his jaw.
Then, he moved.
In one swift motion, he grabbed the overturned desk, heaved it upright, and pulled open a hidden drawer.
Inside was a sealed, leather-bound book, thick and dust-covered.
Hissy gasped. “What is that?”
Muskulls exhaled sharply, flipping open the first page, revealing an archive of estate documents dating back over a century.
“This,” he muttered, “is what Clawdia’s been trying to hide.”
Willie snatched the book, scanning the pages.
And then, she saw it.
Stamped across the final document was the ultimate revelation:
“The original deed of ownership for Fuskerton Grange, signed by the last remaining heir of the Snozrazzle bloodline.”
Everything froze.
The last heir.
The real owner.
And the name on the document?
Prudence Snozrazzle, the eldest sister and first in line to the title.
The blood drained from my face.
“Clawdia’s been lying from the start,” Hissy whispered. “Prudence was never just the heir to the current estate... she’s the heir to the lost royal title.”
Willie stared at her elder sister's name, eyes wide in shock. “She doesn’t even know what she’s sitting on,” she murmured.
But before we could process anything else, a gunshot split the air.
Hissy yanked me down behind the desk, heart pounding, and I pulled Willie behind me as Muskulls threw himself behind the fallen bookcase.
Smoke curled from the hallway, and heavy footsteps echoed toward us.
Clawdia hadn't left at all.
As the small town of Tablerock, Texas prepares for its annual Cinco de Mayo festival, Ellie and Evie Rockwell were counting on a day filled with tacos, perhaps a pinata or two, and a fiesta of feline fun at Silver Circle Cat Rescue. Instead, they’re served a stiff dose of reality when the town’s eccentric tarot card reader Luna Espinoza is found face-down in her award-winning margarita mix.
