Chapter Text
A few weeks had passed since the death of the last Button of Button house. People had taken the body away. The absence of Heather didn’t change life that much for the cats that lived there afterwards though. The girl from the village still stopped by daily to feed them and top up the water, even though Julian swore that this was unnecessary. He could turn the tap on just fine, thank you very much.
It was on a fairly ordinary afternoon when everything changed.
A car pulled slowly into the drive, music blaring. Robin was the first to notice it, from his spot on the window ledge. The birds he was watching scattered before it and his eyes narrowed. Who would be driving up here? The village girl usually biked or rode in. Finding his voice, he yowled to the others.
The other cats abandoned the fight to join Robin at the window; Fanny's hackles still raised, Cap's tail still lashing.
The doors opened, and music poured out, followed closely by a woman. Robin could feel Thomas sit up beside him, placing his paws on the glass and mewling softly about how beautiful she was. The Captain also straightened, staring at the man that emerged beside her.
"Aw, they must be lost." Pat was the first to pull away from the window and head out of the room. "Let’s go say hello, see if we can't help them out."
Kitty bounded off after him, chirruping about new friends, with Thomas close on her heels waxing lyrically about the woman's hair or something.
When Robin started to get up to follow them, the Captain shook his head. "Best not to crowd them. They'll be gone soon enough, anyway."
Alison looked up at the house - her house - in awe. It looked even bigger than the pictures she'd seen. She and Mike practically bounced to the door, fumbling the keys into the old door. She opened the door and tripped over something. Something alive and fluffy. Something that was now purring up at her as if to indicate 'no hard feelings'. Bending down, she apologised to the tiny cream cat with a quick rub to its ears. A purr rumbled through its body as it leaned in.
"Do the cats... come with the house?" Mike, behind her, was gesturing to two other cats approaching quickly.
“I guess! Look, isn’t that the fluffiest cat you’ve ever seen? Look at her!” The tortoiseshell cat chirruped and bounded over to her. As Alison ruffled the fluffball with one hand and the little cream cat with the other, she watched the third cat. Was it… Pouting? “Oh no, baby do you want cuddles too? Mike, you’re gonna have to pat it, I’ve only got two hands.”
Mike reached out to the pretty tabby only to have the cat dance out of his reach. He tried again, grasping at thin air as the cat skittered away. Alison gave both her cats one last scratch then stood up, linking her arm through Mike’s.
“Now we’ve met our new roommates, shall we see what else we can find here?”
What they found was:
One Boiler room
One library
One kitchen
Twelve bedrooms
Various fancy parlours
About seven thousand spiders
Several ominous cracks in the walls
A lake!
And
at least five more cats.
The last item was found inside one of the parlours. They’d been bouncing from room to room, exploring, when Alison had opened a door to another parlour or living room or something. And there they were.
A grey tabby cat was staring intently at a persian, tails swishing. A black cat was lounging on a sofa, watching the fight with round yellow eyes. And two cats - one of which was the largest either of them had ever seen - were sat opposite each other, chessboard in the middle.The giant one was holding a chess piece in its mouth.
As the door opened, the cats turned as one to face the door. There was a heartbeat of silence, a moment of still. And then they scattered. Within seconds, the room was empty.
Alison was left wondering how many cats this house actually had, and how high the food bill was going to be.
She was sure she’d heard something in the basement too. Probably just the boiler. There was no way there’d be more cats down there.