The park in Other Ashdown was not an open, friendly place full of joggers and children. There weren’t even any weird children joggers- just oppressive, overbearing loneliness. Life seemed a little bit greyer here on the other side of things. Autumn found herself once again disturbed by the place, wrapping her arms around herself. It wasn’t that it was particularly chilly, but somehow she felt hella cold out here. But this wasn’t about her. There was a dear, sweet kitty cat in need of her assistance, and by god, Autumn was going to assist it. Another deep breath, and Autumn set out to investigate the park.

Trees were a good place to start. Cats liked trees, right? She knew, just from reading around on the blogosphere, that cats were not as inclined to milk as the internet had lead her to believe. So that was out. But she still had a chicken breast in her purse from lunch, and cats were carnivores. Or… omnivores, or something. The jury was still out on her knowledge of that, but at the very least, she could lure it out of hiding with meat if need be. For now, she wandered in and out of the thicket of trees, casting her gaze upwards to inspect for any tree-bound cats. So far, nothing.

Where else would cats hide? Autumn bit her lower lip, thinking. If she was a cat… she’d probably be somewhere warm, and safe. So maybe an old building? Autumn set off across the park, towards some of the would-be residential areas of Ashdown. She wasn’t typically but a jogger, but for saving a cat, she’d put a bit of hustle into her step.

The neighborhoods proved even creepier than the open field. Rather than just emptiness, it had the distinct feeling of being abandoned. There ought to be… old people, or kids, or some s**t like that. Instead, it was eerily empty. Like everyone had been taken. Autumn navigated up and down between the houses as quickly as she could, staying as close to the houses and as quiet as she could. No use drawing undue attention in her kitty-hunt. While she adored Pax endlessly, from what Zac had said, Mogget was at least uncomfortable around the creature. If something meaner happened to creep up… Autumn didn’t want to consider the thought.

Her jog slowed to a trot, followed by a walk, as her short expedition into the Otherworld turned into a several hour long hunt. It was… weird. She couldn’t really tell what time it was, here. It felt like it’d been hours, but hell if she knew. Her phone was little more than an over glorified camera without any signal.

When she returned to her bench, the cat was there. Staring. Autumn drew a sharp breath, and as quietly as possible walked over to it. Rather than quickly sprint away, it turned from her, only a gentle hurry in its steps. Whatever weird s**t was going on, this cat wanted her to follow it.

So Autumn followed.

Through the trees and under the brush, Autumn hurried after the cat. It seemed that the woods were endless, twisting every which way. After what felt like forever, there was an open grove.

And there, nestled under a tree, was her cat. The beautiful creature stared at her, almost contemptuous, but then Autumn noticed what she protected. Nestled beneath it- her, Autumn corrected herself- were three beautiful kittens.

“Oh,” Autumn said to herself, gasping. “Oh.”