When we got to the barn, I decided I was done with lessons and looking for missing animals. I also decided I wasn't going to help Seth with his chores. Part of his probation was helping with the animals.

I'm not shoveling shit.

Seth tried. The poor kid really tried to get me to cooperate. But I had other things on my agenda so I walked right into the pen they'd put me in to start, and I went right on through and outside.

He gave up quickly when he and Robin realized the little deer was off talking to the manticore. Whoops, did I leave that gate open?

I chuckled a little. Apparently the manticore was a fan of aspiring demon lords. Or he wanted the thing to get close enough to eat. Heh.

I headed to the most remote part of the paddock. There was no place here that was truly private, but it was getting dark. There were light posts in front of the barn and the city was lighting up, but this field would be pretty dark soon. I found a spot in some scraggly grass that was high enough so I was somewhat concealed. Between that and the darkness, that was about as private as I was going to get.

I wanted to practice my new trick. And I didn't want anyone to see me because my new trick was also mortifying. As long as I could plausibly claim my chicken noises came from a chicken, my pride would be intact.

I settled down to consider this new power. I had eaten only one of the berries. It didn't have any remarkable effect, at most it made where my horns would grow in itchy. I didn't think I got this power from a single berry. I'd gotten the impression that the chickens ate lots of berries before they developed a power.

The power came with a chicken squawk. To me that was concrete proof I'd taken the power from a chicken. The question was how.

I doubted getting kicked by a chicken gave me dodge powers. It had to have been when I pinned that chicken.

What exactly did I do there?

Whatever it was, it happened quickly. I don't think I was using mana at all. I certainly wasn't trying to. I was angry. I bit the chicken harder than I intended to. I remember tasting blood.

Do I get powers by biting people? Am I a reverse werewolf?

That felt ridiculous to me. So it totally fit the theme of this world.

If I ate magic fish, would I get fish powers? What if those powers were detrimental to a cat? Would I need to be careful about my food?

That was a sucky idea. I didn't want to have to deal with that shit.

Without testing, there was no way for me to know. And testing would be randomly biting things with powers. And there was a whole building over there that was full of animals. Many of them had cool powers. Some of them had weird and useless shit too.

It bothered me a little how easily I was considering just going around and biting things like a rabid raccoon. As a human I should be horrified at the idea. Nope, not me. Things are a changin'.

I should be careful about it though. Like if I decided to just go nibble on the manticore while I'm here, I don't think even a supernatural dodge would save me.

I'll put that idea on the shelf for a bit. If I don't work out a plan for that tonight, I'll be here often enough that I can mess with that another day.

Next point. The chicken didn't die. So at least I don't have to kill to get a new power.

Does that chicken still have their power? Did I take it from them? Crap. I have no idea which chicken that was. What happens if the chicken dies? Do I lose the power too, or is it mine to keep?

What kind of abilities could I take? Can I have only one stolen power at a time? How long does the ability last?

Okay. I think I've got a fair list of things to explore. I should probably start with figuring out what happened to that chicken. Barring that, I could just see what happens the next time I find suitable prey.

If I can only have one power at a time I want it to be a good one. I don't want to be taking powers from…

Taking powers.

Is it related?

Is what's happening to the kids the same thing I'm doing?

I sat there as the sky darkened, mulling that thought over.

The answer was, it could be. Or at least, something very similar. The thing I didn't know is whether or not the powers still existed. They could be getting destroyed instead of stolen.

I decided that it was best if I treated these as thefts.

Because if these were thefts, and that was a very big if, then several other things could also be true. One, there were other beasts like me out there. Two, someone would have the powers and potentially be using them. Three, Benjamin was, in fact, complicit. Wait a second, maybe he wasn't. If he were searching for causes and discovered the egg, he might have been trying to identify the process or research how to undo it. But that was a really charitable thought towards an already suspicious guy.

Complicit or not, Benjamin needed further attention.

Should I share any of this with Seth?

That was a hard one. Professor Kaban thought people from my world were the enemy. Could all of them steal powers? Is that why they're the enemy?

Wait a second, wait a second. I'm jumping to conclusions. There were several factors about me that applied here. One, I was pretty sure I was from that egg. Two, I was the same type of cat as the giant leopard with the pronghorns. The intensely magic pronghorns. Three, I was from elsewhere.

The power taking ability could just as easily be from the cat. A few people have recognized the cat type and it seemed significant.

Then there was the possibility that Seth and the kids would jump to the conclusion that I was responsible for all the thefts. That would suck.

No, I won't share any of this with Seth. He's a sweet kid, but he just isn't jaded enough yet to keep his mouth shut. I'm sure I could get him to believe it wasn't me, but I'm less sure of the other kids.

I'll tell him as things become relevant. That's how it works, right? Adults keep important information from kids until the last possible moment? Yeah, I know this will bite me in the ass, but I'll try to tell him in a timely manner. The minute he demonstrates the ability to keep it to himself, including from his friends, we'll have a talk.

Presuming we can, of course, talk. Our sign language was progressing nicely, and I was working on learning the language so I could read it. And spell it. After that we would have more options.

In any case, all that was trouble for another day. Right now, my goal was to practice this power.

All right. I used this power at least twice. The most distinctive time was against the manticore. I'm pretty sure I used it against the shadow elephant too. I shouted when I dodged it, and now I'm thinking that I actually squawked. There was also the possibility I used it when the ceiling collapsed on the wyvern. I'm not as clear on that one though, as I was running and jumping at the time.

Neither time I used the power did I do so intentionally. It was reflexive. Should I try triggering the reflex? Or should I try to activate it intentionally?

I am not practicing with anyone, so using it reflexively would be really hard. I don't think I can feel threatened when shadow boxing a clump of grass.

Intentionally it is. That peabrained chicken Twelfth said just think 'AH' and dodge. Let's try that.

I imagined that there were snakes in the grass. Ah! Jump. Ah! Jump back. Ah! Straight up.

Cats have fantastic reflexes. As soon as I think to move, my body is already doing it. But it ain't doing the stupid dodge.

Maybe I need to put magic into it? It's a magic power, so it's got to get its power from somewhere. Can I use mana that way?

I'd only ever tried using mana to activate items. Can I use mana to activate me?

I nearly scoffed at the idea. I'm not an item. But then I thought about it some more. My whiskers sense mana. They vibrate ever so slightly. The effect is much more pronounced when I think about it.

How about my claws then? They seemed supernaturally sharp. They could rend stone easily. I actually haven't tried metal yet. I stretched and extended my claws, focusing on what was happening. Did mana go into my claws when I extended them?

Damned if I knew. My whiskers told me I was a magic beast.

This wasn't something I had the skills right now to tackle. I had a hunch it might have to wait until my horns grew in.

So I can't control the power just by thinking about it. I can't trigger it by jumping around. It does trigger when I'm startled. Most people shout or scream when startled.

I don't like this train of thought. But, I needed to try it.

I squawked while I jumped sideways. And fuck me, the dodge triggered. I tried again without the chicken noise. Nope. How about a hiss or meow? Nope.

It has to be the fucking bawk noise.

Well then. I can use it in a pinch, and in any circumstances where I have no self respect as a cat.

Unacceptable. I continued to practice. I paid extra special attention to what was going on in my body when I dodged. There was mana being used, but I did not have direct control over what was happening.

"I'm going to be having chicken for dinner in the next minute if you don't shut up," the manticore growled.

For the briefest of moments I considered biting the manticore.

Nah. I kept practicing, and kept bawking, until Scorpius was practically roaring. He was yanking on the chain that bound him, throwing all his weight at it.

In that time I learned I could dodge through grass without disturbing it. I could not dodge to a place I could not fit, and if I couldn't pass through normally, a dodge wouldn't let me pass either. I could not dodge through the fence.

This wouldn't let me get out of locked rooms, or out of a cage. It was very short range too, about a body length. Chaining dodges together stopped at three, then I had to wait a few seconds before I could do one more. That last one felt trembly, like a muscle that was getting overworked. I thought I might be able to force more, but it might burn out the power.

What would happen if I did burn it out? If I could only have one stolen power, then if I burned it out I probably wouldn't be able to steal another one. But if I could have multiple stolen powers, what would burning one out do?

Could I have multiple of the same power? Or would it make the power stronger instead?

I was going to have so much fun with this.