Chapter Two

Almond was at the front of the orphanage, beside Queen Ella. She had her black backpack on the pack. An orange cat came out of the orphanage. “Hello your magesty, and Miss Almond,” he said. “I am here to get Miss Almond.” “Here she is,” said Queen Ella, looking at Almond.

One look at the orphanage and Almond loathed it. She was angry not at the orphanage, but at the Kellicats. The orphanage was the perfect thing she could take her anger out on. The Kellicats will pay when I’m Queen, she thought.

The orange cat took Almond’s bag. “Thanks,” Almond muttered.  The orange cat took her inside and showed her some minor rooms in the orphanage. He then showed her the main rooms. “This is the Dinning Hall.” He showed Almond the beautiful room with the longest table Almond had ever seen in it. The cat didn’t give Almond much time to look at the room. They moved on. The went upstairs. “The entire upstairs is the the bedrooms. Your bedroom is shared with two other cats, all the way down the hall. Almond looked at the door all the way down the hall. That was her stupid new room. “My room, titled “Flame’s Room” is where I, the owner of the orphanage sleeps,” Flame told her.”

Almond was alredy confused, but they went on. “This is the Courtyard,”said Flame, directing Almond to two glass sliding doors. Almond and Flame looked out of the doors. Almond saw a cobblestone path lead through a beautiful garden with flowers of all colors. The garden was wet with morning dew. It sparkled in the sunlight. The scent was overwhelmingly fragrant. After amoment or two, they walked away into a hallway.

“The bathrooms are located next to the Dinning Hall.” Almond nodded, as if saying “okay”. Then they went down the hallway. There was another room. “This is the Commonroom. It is where you will spend most of your free time.” The Commonroom had young cats filling it.Flame turned to another room next to the Commonroom. “That is the Playroom. It has all toys in it. You may bring one toy in the Commonroom if one of our workers says so.”

“There is one more room.” Almond fallowed Flame around a corner to a huge room, filled with bookshelves. “This is the Library. These are all the books, but there is a small bookshef in the Commonroom.”  Almond looked around the quiet Library. There was nobody there. “Why isn’t anyone here?” asked Almond. “Only five cats can come here at once. I supose nobody wanted to come.”

Almond looked at Flame. “I know, this is all quite cofusing, so we say on an intercom when to report where.I’ll bring you to the Commonroom now.” “What about my things?” ” Misty, one of our workers, will put your things by your new bed. Now, let us go to the Commonroom.”Almond and Flame padded down the hallway and entered the Commonroom.

Then Flame suddenly left. As Almond entered, everyone starred. She looked around and saw cats whispering. She heard a few things like,”Look at ‘er tail,” and,”She’s another queen’s heir. They always think their so cool.” Almond sat in a chair and starred out the window. After a few minutes, the cats went about their bussiness. “Great, everyone thinks I’m wierd! I hate this place.” “You ain’t the only one.”

Almond’s ears rose up. “Who said that?” A blur of black fur jumped down from the short climbing wall. “I said that,” It said. It landed in front of the chair. It lifted it’s head, and Almond realised it was a blck tom. He sure did smell like a tom.

“Who are you?” “Well, Queen’s Heir, I’m Midnight.” “How do you know I’m the heir?” “One:your tail and two: Flame told us you where coming,” Midnight said, sounding rude. “Well Midnight, for your information, my name is Almond.” He flicked his tail. “I like that name.”  “I was named that because of my eyes.” There was a slight pause,and then Midnight said,”I can see that,” looking into Almond’s sparkling brown eyes.

The two mingled for a long time. They got to know each other. They still talked. “How come you’re here?” asked Almond.” It’s a long story and I might as well begin. My dad went insane soon after I was born. Nobody knows why. He killed my family. When he was about to kill me, a toriseshell cat jumped in and arested my dad. She was an Ellicat.She brought me to this orphanage.” ”That’s terrible! Do you want to know why I’m here?” “Everyone in Queen Ella’s kingdom knows why you’re here.” Almond forgot, she was famous.

Suddenly a voice came on the intercom. “Please report to the Dinning Hall in five minutes.” All of the kittens began to put away toys and books.It was extremely loud. “Can’t anyone clean up quietly,” yelled Almond to Midnight. “I guess not!”yelled Midnight. By the end of five minutes, the Commonroom was quiet and spotless. Then all of the kittens left to go ti the Dinning Hall. Almond and Midnight fallowed in the back of the cluster of cats. The all entered the Dinning Hall and sat on the floor to eat at the short table. Almond heard tinkling of crystal against crystal. Almond looked above her. There was a beautiful crystal chandelier.It glittered everywhere.

Almond smelled good fish from the kitchen. “So Midnight, what’s for dinner?” “Probobly bitter-tasting fish. they always serve that on Fridays.” That day was Friday. They waited a few minutes.Then everyone heard the kitchen door open. It was the server. The calico cat scooped choped fish on each plate. She sure did serve a lot of the stuff. A nice scent filled Almond’s nostrils. It was the fish. It didn’t smell rotten, but it didn’t smell like it was the freshest fish ever.

Almond took a bite of her food. It was creamy, almost melt-in-your-mouth. Almond didn’t mind that. It ws an odd taste though. Bitter, like Midnight said. She had never tasted anything like it.” Is there dessert?” “They only have dessert on weekends.” Almond ate all of her fish.

Almond regretted eating all of it.There was so much. She got a bellyache afterwards. The intercom went on again. “After all are done eating, you will have three hours of free time. Then report to your bedrooms for bed.”Going to bed at nine o’clock wasn’t so bad. Almond thought she would rest in the Library to cure her bellyache.

The kittens where soon dissmissed from the Dinning Hall.”To…much…fish,” she murmured, stumbling over to the Library. Almond’s first pawstep in the room warmed her fur. There was a crakling fire in the fireplace.Her, a janitor, and another cat where in the room.Almond looked at the Janitor, and the at the kitten reading. Everything was so peaceful. Almond sat on a velvety plum couch. She looked around the room. The room had plum-colored couches and coushins. It had shiny hardwood floors, made from maple wood. The towering bookshelves covered all wall, except for a small amount of wall where the door and a large grandfather clock were. The warm fireplace completed the atmosphere.

Almond began grooming her paws. Her sandpaper touge liked her paws gently. She groomed all over herself until she was completly clean. The whole time she did that, the kitten with long white fur continued reading. She was deep into her book.Almond got off the couch and walked tword a bookshelf. Her eyes scaned the thousands of books, and she saw something that cought her eyes.

It was a scroll. She took it off the shelf and opened it up, spreading it out on the floor. Therer was a strange nonscence words all over the paper. She read one sentence aloud. “onugy uneQe nog cha youiner.” What on Earth, she though, starrring at the paper.She put it back on the shelf.Then she found a book called Pheonix Rider that she understood. She began to read.

The book pulled her in quickly. It was very interesting. The book was all about a cat that went into a magical world with his best friend. Almond read a lot of it. She liked it from the very start.Her belly was not sore now. She didn’t want to stop reading.She looked over at the big grandfather clock ticking. It was five mintues before nine o’clock. She wanted to take the book into her room and read it all night. However, the workers would never let her take it to her room.

The white cat was not looking. Almond folded the corner of the page she was on as a  bookmark. She picked the book up in her mouth. She saw nobody in the hall. She quickly and quietly padded up the hall to the marble staircase. She slowly raised her paw to the first step, and began to walk up the cold marble staircase. She reached the dark upstairs. Just to the last room, and she had compleated her mission.

She walked silently to her room. Almond looked around the room. The room was small and plain. The walls were white. There were three medium-sized baskets with blankets and pillows of all colors. Almond looked around for some identifycation of who sleeps where.

Then she saw sicky notes with names on them. There where simple things by each bed. Her bed had the black bag leaning against the side of her bed. Almond went over and hid the book under one of her pillows. She looked at what the sticky notes said. The bed on the left said “Midnight”. The bed on the right said “Almond”. The bed in the middle said “Emerson”. Almond did not know Emerson, but she knew she would meet this “Emerson”. Almond forgot about Emerson and began more reading.

Suddenly, a cat with long, white fur came in the room with a book in her mouth. Almond looked up into the the cat’s yellow eyes, and the cat droped her book. The cats mouth was wide open. The cat spoke. “Are you the heir?” Almond starred at her for a moment, and then said,”Yeah. What’s your point?” “Well, since we share a room, I’ll introduce myself. I’m Emerson,” said the white cat timidly.

“I’m Almond, and it looks like we both steal books from the Libarary.” The white cat blushed. “I like to study. Most of the kittens here are dumb.” A smart cat. That’s good, thought Almond. “I like learning things, too. It’s good to be smart when you’re young,” said Almond. Queen Ella, of great wisdom, had told her that, and Almond agreed.

“Midnight will be upstairs soon. We should hide our books.,” said Emerson. That was a good idea, thought Almond. “Okay,” Almond said. They both hid the books uner some pillows. They talked for a few minutes.  Almond liked the way Emerson talked. “My mother and father drowned. That’s why I’m here,” said Emerson. “That’s aweful! I feel so bad for you, Emerson!” “Please, call me Emmy.” Emerson smiled. “Okay, Emmy,” said Almond.

The two suddenly heard the intercom outside of the room. “All cats please report to the Bedrooms.” Emmy picked up a toy mouse and put it in her bed, right beside her. “Squeakers is this mouse. He’s my prized posetion. He is the only memory of my parents I have.” “My only memory of myparents is this colar,” said Almond, turning her head to show the colar. “It’s beatiful,” said Emerson. “To remeber my whole family, not only my parents, i have a picture,” said Almond.

 Now that all the cats had cleaned up the rooms, Almond and Emmy heard thousands of pawsteps of kittens coming up the stairs and sveral yawns. They peeked out of the door and saw the smaller, youngest kits being put in th Nursery. A grey cat picked the kits up gently by the scruff on their necks. “That’s Misty. She’s a wonderful cat. Takes care of all the younger kittens,” said Emerson. She looked so nice. Then they walked back to their beds.

 Midnight soon entered the room. “G’night guys,” he said, Getting into his bed and shuting off the lamp. The moonlight shown through the window. Almond starred out at the night. The moon just shown through thedark rainclouds. Water droplets dirped down the window.Almond heard the pitter-pat of rain hitting the roof. Thunder struck. Almond put a small blanket over herself and tried to sleep. She soon did. One day at the orphanage compleated.