Rosetta began walking along the edges of the room. When she reached the door in the far wall, Rosetta paused. At first, it looked like all the other automated sliding doors in the house. The humming was louder from behind the door.
Molly jumped down from the stairs and stood at Rosetta's feet.
"Half-cat," Rosetta asked, "why would there be a door here? That should be the basement of Mama and Papa's house. Why would they connect the two houses?"
Molly's only response was to wind herself around Rosetta's legs, a move that was both comforting and disorienting.
"Do you suppose there's a brick wall behind it, like in the cartoons?" Her curiosity nagged at her like an itch. "I bet you could open it up," she said, "and I could just peek."
Molly looked up at her with one half-open eye and a h
