I looked around the cage to find Koda gone. I searched the room and there he was, outside the cage. "You weren't caught?" There was fear in my voice. I was afraid that if I was the only one caught, I would be alone.
    He smiled, "Nope. I'm just tiny and frail." I didn't know what that had to do with anything until he squeezed his body through the bars and once again we were face to face. I snatched him into a hug and I didn't let go. Koda seemed okay with it since he was fine with physical touch.
    Our hug was interrupted as a man walked into the tent. This gave us no time to escape and left us trapped. The man gave a sneer, "Look a what the cat dragged in." It was the same man who was chasing us but the girl wasn't there. The weirder thing was that he was now only about 4' tall. The man must have been using stilts which would explain his tiny arms which looked to size now. Koda released a sigh of air signaling a giggle. To make sure Dakoda didn't get us in trouble with his need for a laughter, I smashed my foot against his which didn't make him too happy. My gesture was greeted with an unfriendly glare from him. My plan had indeed worked.
    A woman walked in that I recognized as the girl with the baseball cap but the cap had been removed. Instead, a pair of ears had replaced the cap but her ears were not like mine. They matched her fluffy brown-ginger hair but were stiff and more curved than mine. The girl also had a flowing and waving tail unlike mine. She wasn't a dog and I couldn't put my finger on what really she was. The vinegar sent was emanating so strongly now that it was clear it was coming from her. I then remembered a small animal I had with my mom as a kid and I would see them on the street in the ally. I remembered. My mom had called it a cat. Our cat was named Syrup. "I'll let you watch them for a bit. I gotta go tell the ring master and get the I.D. sheets for our new member." The man then left, leaving me to contemplate my choice of this adventure. I tried to concentrate but it was too hard to try and block out the sting of her smell.
    Before I could realize it, she had fallen to the ground, sobbing. I, for some strange reason, felt this pain radiating off of her. Her eyes were filled with the same sorrow that filled mine. I felt bad for someone I didn't even know, a complete stranger. Let alone, one who had captured me. With both of our pain in mind, I just stood still as tears filled my eyes. I felt stupid crying like a baby. I knew better than to cry. Crying would show vulnerability and weakness. I looked up to breath to find Dakoda outside comforting the cat. I stiffened again and sniffed trying to act tough but only feeling as if I was five again. Being a child trying to fight the unknown thought of realization.
    I got on my knees to her level and reached out of the bars to touch her knee in comfort. She stopped sobbing and look up at me. "Your innocent," she sniffed and went back to crying. Koda went and reached for a hug. It surprised me most when she just gave herself up and fell into his arms. He was a stranger that could hurt her, especially considering she just captured him. I mean, I would only trust to hug Dakoda and Blaze, my father figure in Santo. Why would she just hug a stranger.
    There were a lot of thing in the world that bugged me but she was not at least twenty percent of my wonders. She was so confusing. Most females were. I tried coughing to break my awkward thought and to get her to start talking. She heard my signal and tried to stop. She stood up and became firm in order not to cry again. "I should have left you. I see now that you aren't the right type of people I needed. My nose is to strong and I couldn't help but smell you."
    Koda and I were both extremely confused and the cat could tell. "You mean you don't know about the smelling? Are you even a mangel?"
    Dakoda spoke for me, "What smell? Mangel? What are you talking about?"
    She looked at us as if we were the dumbest things on the earth. "Just take off your hats." Koda did so but I was still hesitant. I wasn't used to being in my true form unless it was just in front of Koda or the gang. She responded to my hesitance with stare as if to say, "What are you waiting for. Don't make me come in there."
    I immediately took my benne, more intimidated by her than before. Both of our ears both shown and my tail popped out of my pants. "See, I was right. You are part of genus called mangel. You're a man-wolf. Well at least most mangel are." She giggled about how we were only domestic puppy and not fierce wolves. "Ok, so I'm part of the cat-human genus called absal. The only other known genus like us is the rabit-humans called icel. They can't live in the U.S. or China though. It's all the pollution, so don't bother trying to find one." She paused for a moment to think and started again, "But people around the circus spread rumors and tell stories about how our circus used to own a snake-man." I hated her use of owned as if he was their slave. I didn't want to be that way for us. "They said that the snake boy got away when the circus somehow caught fire. No one knows how but they say a mysterious man..."
    I had to cut her off. "Please, just get to the point."
    "Oh, ya," she continued. "That's why we travel. We didn't want to have to rebuild and it would be too expensive."
    "The smell?' I was getting inpatient.
    Her attention shot back, "Okay, if a Prymod, what I call our species, is near by, you'll be able to smell them. If you don't like them, it's a smell yo don't prefer. For me, I smell bacon."
    "You hate bacon! How could you!"
    I broke Dakoda's thought, "Not the point Koda. Please continue, cat." I tried to hold back the sting of the vinegar smell illuminating around her.
    She felt angry at this comment, "The names Meshia, or cat."
    I gave her a look as if to say, "Sorry, princess." She didn't like that either.
    "Anyway," she continued, ignoring me. "If you don't hate the person you smell, you smell something pleasing. For me, I smell strawberries. I was forced to work for the circus after they found that out about me. They made me track down other Prymods. Most mangel are robbers and I grew hate most of them so any mangel smells bad to me. Everyone except you. I see now that I was wrong and that you are innocent. I found you in a pack together.
    "What does that have anything to do with it?" I was lost.
    "You don't know anything, don't you," Meshia said in frustration.
    "will you just tell us!" Koda replied frustrated as well. It seemed everyone was angry now.
    Meshia took a deep breath in to show Dakoda how mad she was. "Any smart mangel pack knows to ditch any men who turn to robbers. If you were robbers, you would be alone. Therefor, your not robbers, the people I target"
    She was interrupted by the man from earlier walking in. Koda shot back in the cage to make sure he wouldn't get any punishments. To his luck, the man was too busy reading the paper work he brought in, that he hadn't noticed. After Dakoda was safe, the man looked up ready"Let's get started. Your name, older one?"
     I refused to respond to "older one".
    "come on, what's your name?"
    That was better. I didn't want to have to give in but I preferred this over as soon as possible. "Kagè. Accent on the e. Pronounced kAW-gAY." I had to make sure he wasn't going to get out wrong. If I was going to stay for a long time, I preferred they say it right. I hated it when people would read my name, Kagè, and pronounce it "cage". I am not a cage! Do you think I hold birds!
    Beside the point, he continued asking questions to both of us. Some we refused to answer. It made him mad so, I made sure I did it a lot. after he was done with the paperwork and our nagging annoyance, he took us away. We were sent away like prisoners. We were chained up and taken away through the back rooms. Once we got to our destination, the door swung open to a dark, misty room. I could only see a crate or two in the left corner and a cage with a personage in the right corner with two empty ones to the left of it. We were separated and put in the two cages beside the third. They came up, locked the cages, and left us. I could hear Meshia crying as she left. We were left alone in darkness.