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“That sounds like a good plan to me,” I said, largely because I had no other ideas to offer. “I’ll stay here to greet people and take their pictures while you go talk with the others.”

“Oh, wonderful, wonderful,” he said, pushing the sleek digital camera into my hands. “Would you mind watching E.B. too? She’ll probably just sleep through everything. I have her leash tied to that back camel’s leg there, so she shouldn’t give you any trouble.”

“Of course we’ll keep an eye on her. No problem at all,” I assured him.

“Bunny-sitting duty? Gag me,” Octo-Cat moaned beside me.

Mr. Gable smiled quickly, but the slight look of happiness disappeared from his face in an instant, and he rushed off muttering something to himself.

I glanced toward the nearest parking lot but couldn’t see any new festivalgoers arriving. That meant I had a small bit of privacy and could talk to the animals again.

“I thought we were going to find Mags,” Paisley whined.

“That is what she said we were going to do,” Octo-Cat added. “But you know how fickle humans can be. Angela, how long are we going to be stationed here, away from the action?”

I wished I knew. There were a lot of things I wished I knew right about then, and only one new creature I could ask for information.

I slipped down from the sleigh’s bench seat and tiptoed toward the nativity display, careful not to disturb the rabbit. From last I remembered meeting her, she was a very nervous sort and I needed to see if she knew anything that could help me. If I frightened her, though, chances were she wouldn’t talk to me at all.

I needed to play this exactly right.

For Mags.

Chapter Ten

Once I reached the nativity display, I sat down gently beside the manger. An icy dampness immediately saturated my bottom, but I didn’t care.

“E.B.,” I said softly. “E.B., it’s me, Angie. We met at the pet shop when we were there for pictures with Santa. I don’t know if you remember me, but—”

The hay beside me twitched, and a little gray nose poked its way out, followed by two dark eyes.“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh. Who are you? What are you doing here? Where’s Mr. Gable? Are you going to eat me? Am I going to die? Is everything okay? Oh Merry Christmas, what a Christmas…”

Octo-Cat appeared at my side with a snarky grin stretched between his whiskers. I couldn’t tell whether he was here to help me or to have some fun at E.B.’s expense.

“Relax, rabbit,” he snarled. “She’s not going to eat you. But if you don’t cooperate, maybe I will.”

He laughed devilishly in the same way he did when he threw up outside my bedroom door, enjoying the means much more than the end. So he’d be helping me and making things more difficult at the exact same time.Great.

“Oh, Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas!” E.B. sputtered, using the holiday greeting as a curse word. “I do not want to be eaten. I donot. I knew I shouldn’t have left home today. Mr. Gable made me, but I didn’t want to go. I just wanted to sleep at home and eat carrots, and oh!”

With a wildly flicking tail, my cat shouted,“If you know what’s good for you, you’ll listen to what the lady has to say. No more of this ‘Merry Christmas’ business. You got me?”

The bunny nodded slowly, her long ears flopping in the hay.“I’m sorry,” she sputtered in fear. “I didn’t mean to make you angry, Mr. Cat. It’s just… I always have to be on alert or bad things can happen. Life isn’t so easy when you’re prey, you know? Anybody here could hurt me. Lots of bunnies don’t get the chance to live as long as I’ve lived already, and I want to keep on living. I love my human.”

Paisley joined us now. I had no idea where she’d been the last couple minutes, but we still seemed to be free of any newly arriving visitors, so I pressed on.

“Do you—” I began, but Paisley interrupted me, which was very uncharacteristic of her.

She let out a sad howl. Now her normally erect ears fell forward as she tilted her head and studied the bunny with an expression of sorrow.“Oh, you poor bunny. I can’t imagine what life is like for you. Do you want to talk about it? I’m a very good listener.”

I was just about to say something to get us back on topic when an increasingly perturbed Octo-Cat came to my rescue.

“Once again, this isn’t the Dr. Phil show, and we’re not here to talk about the bunny’s feelings. We need information. We need to find Mags. Keep your eye on the prize. Keep your head in the game. Yada yada. And all those other favorite human clich?s, too. Now,” he said, turning back to E.B.with flashing yellow eyes. “One of our humans has been kidnapped by dangerous men.”

The bunny gasped.

“Yes,” said Octo-Cat dramatically, nodding as he did. “Dangerous. And we need to get her back before it’s too late.”

He took two quick steps forward and unsheathed the claws on one paw demonstratively.“Now tell us what you know, rabbit.”