If he minded kitty claws in his shirt, picking up a frightened cat was a bad way to display it. Rhiow clung like she was hanging on for dear life. "Ohhh, I know what he's trying to do. Oh my poor Hhuha, it was my fault, my fault..."

Behind her, emergency vehicles were screaming down the street - much faster than they should have been arriving, given both the traffic and the size of the city. As the firefighters began to pry the back of the taxi open, it was clear that whoever had been inside it - a woman it looked like - had not survived the crash. And it was not a pretty sight.

Rhiow turned to look, just once, just because she couldn't not, and then her claws flexed in Plays' shirt and she hid her face with a soft wail.