We went into another room, a walk-in closet and she cussed, running her hands nervously through her brown hair. This room was about eight by six feet, lined from the floor to the roof with selves and hangers. Clothes hung around the room and were all designated by color. She had three racks of shoes and I wondered if this was only her closet. How could one person have so many clothes to themselves? Did she actually wear all of them? I ventured in further, noticing how some of the clothing still had its original price tag on it. $300 for a pair of black trash bag jeans? What a waste of money.

All the clothes Avery and I ever got were hand-me-downs from other dorm residents. Tamara had given me a blue frilly shirt that I never ended up wearing due to it being a little too small for my arms. We had gone shopping at the thrift store for clothing once, but after that, we never needed to. We only had what we needed for practicality and seeing all these clothes that weren't even worn made me speculate how spoiled Cassie was, even if she hadn't a clue.

Looking back at Cassie, I realized how scared she must be. Her hands shook slightly as she folded them in front of her. I wondered if this mansion actually had a panic room and if so, why she wasn't there.

"Aria, I forgot my phone in the other room. Could you go get it?" She questioned quietly in a panic, cussing again. For someone who had all these clothes, she didn't have a spare emergency phone stashed away?

"This is why people think I'm crazy. I ask the impossible of animals." She said quietly, and I went out the second door before she closed it. She gasped quietly and watched as I pushed the first door to her closet open slightly and she turned off the light in the big closet.

I went over to her bed, jumping up quickly and grabbing her phone in my mouth. It didn't really fit, so I had to drag it a little ways. I looked to see if she was watching and she wasn't, so I shifted my mouth bigger so I could fit it inside. I hopped off the bed when the door to the room opened slowly behind me. I quickly dropped the phone and started to play with it, like a normal cat should. I kicked it around until I turned and saw a man sticking his head in the room. I slowly moved forwards, trying to hide the phone under my small body.

He looked down at me and I turned my head to the side. The man in front of me was scraggly, very thin, and wore dark clothing. If he was trying to be discreet, he was doing a really bad job of it. Coming in broad daylight, dressed in black.

He came into the room and bent down, picking me and the phone up. I internally growled, not liking his hands on me. He put the phone in his pocket and I knew I had to get it back somehow. He pet me for a couple seconds, which gave me enough time to reach my back foot into his pocket to try and pull the phone out. I hoped Cassie was locked in the second closet and well hidden from sight. All she had to do was stay quiet and somehow, this man wouldn't find her. Not if I had anything to do with it.

Even though I hadn't known Cassie for very long, I still felt some sort of connection. Plus, she had tried to feed me pristine sushi. It was more than anyone had done for me in the past three months.

"Where's your master little cat? Show me!" He said, patting my head and putting me down. As he put me down, I quickly pulled my foot out of his pocket. Dammit. I'll get it from him if I have to shift and rip it out of his cold, lifeless hands.

I glanced back at the closet which stood semi-open, and I turned to head out of the room. I waited to see if the man would follow me and he did, walking down the hallway. He followed closely, which was almost crazier than Cassie thought she sounded. I glanced back at him, her phone now in his hand. He was trying to unlock it, tapping on the screen a few times.

"I wonder how much the pictures on this phone will be worth," he yammered on, talking about everything he was hoping to steal. From jewelry to art to toothpaste.

I walked into the huge room at the end of the hall, which was obviously the room that belonged to Cassie's father. The bedding was a deep burgundy and the room's walls were dark. There was a black leather sofa in the one corner of the room across from another walk-in closet. A flat screen TV was mounted to the wall, and to my surprise, it was on and playing a National Geographic show. The show was about the big cats of the wild. Giving me an idea.

I hopped up onto the immense bed and then waited until he followed me on top of the bed. I hopped off the bed and quickly ducked underneath. Bones cracked as my body extended and claws lengthened. My body was hesitant from not having shifted in a while, but I ignored the resistance. One more snap and I had shifted into a very menacing-looking tiger, waiting for him to look under the bed. It had been a while since I had shifted, my bones aching from the oddity that was once normal.

He peered under the bed, cueing an eery low growl from the pit of my stomach, which would have scared the pants off of anyone. The man screamed and dropped the phone on the ground, scared for his life. He scrambled off the bed as I lunged for him. Chasing him out of the room, I stopped at the door as he ran out of the room. I grabbed the phone in my paw and roaring after him. He sprinted down the stairs and I threw the phone into her room, it gliding perfectly to the closet door. Leaping down the stairs, I trapped the man in a closet, pushing a chair against the door. He squealed like a small child as I hit the door with my massive paw and let out another growl. I was careful to not leave a mark with my claws.

Shaking from side to side, I shifted back into my little white and black cat form, heading back upstairs to Cassie's closet.

Chasing the man around the house and blocking the entrances from him had given her enough time to grab her phone and call her dad and the police. The sirens were already outside by the time I got back into Cassie's room. We went to the window, I in Cassie's arms, and watched as the police took the wild-looking man away.

"I swear it! He has a tiger!" He screamed at them wildly, and they put him in the back of one of their cruisers, slamming the door. The two police officers seemed confused as they exchanged a look. They came up to the door downstairs and Cassie brought me with her to answer it.

"Hello, Ms. Cassie Walters. Sorry to have to meet you like this, but do you have a tiger in the house?" The one police officer questioned and she laughed, looking down at me. The uniformed men stood with their arms by their sides, looking very professional. Both of them wore a badge on the right of their chest, but only one wore a scooped hat, completing his uniform. The other's hat sat on the roof of the cruiser outside. His short brown hair was neatly in place, whether held by gel or sweat, I was unsure.

"The only cat you'll find in my house is the one in my arms." She said laughing to herself, thinking that the police were absolutely crazy for asking. I mean, the man had claimed to see a tiger so they had to investigate even if it did sound crazy. Tigers weren't allowed as house pets, as they were protected under the endangered animals act put out last year. Though, in some parts of the country, I knew of higher-up vampires or mythical families from the royal family having them as guard pets.

"May we search the place?" The one without a hat asked and she nodded, moving aside to let them in.

They did a quick five-minute search of the house. The police split up, taking sections of the house. One opened a door that had stairs leading down. I hadn't even realize this place had a basement. The one had been in Cassie's father's room and noticed that the TV had an animal show playing. He laughed to himself, realizing the man was probably on drugs. After the short search, they turned up with nothing.

"Sorry to bother you, Ms. Walters." The police said and she shook her head.

"That man must have taken some hard drugs before coming to the house." The other cop said, looking at his partner. He made mention of the show upstairs and the other nodded.

"I'll put it in the report once we get to the cruiser. We'll have to test him when we get back to the station." The original said as they walked out the front entrance and got into the cruiser. The one picked up his hat from atop the cruiser and placed it back onto his head in one swift movement.

"Thanks for picking up the burglar!" Cassie said, waving as they pulled away from the lot.

We went back inside, Cassie shutting the main door behind us. Flipping a few locks into place, she put me down and I remembered the sushi on the counter. I sprinted over there and jumped up, hungrier than ever. Cassie followed behind me, watching as I gulped down four more pieces of shrimp tempura. I glanced over at the smashed glass window near the back sliding doors. Cassie went over to the closet I had forced the man into and grabbed out a broom. She cleaned up the shards of glass, dumping them into the trash can next to the island in the kitchen. I watched her intently as I ate. At the very least, she knew how to clean. Maybe she wasn't as spoiled as I had once thought.

"Aria, don't worry. You'll get used to it after a while. We get people trying to rob us often." she said, tapping her fingers on the marble finish. I must have looked a little shook when I ran back to the marble island but I was just super hungry. She sighed, running a hand through her hair. She turned on her heels and headed back up the stairs to her room. I held in a burp and followed quickly behind her. She sat down on her bed, texting again. Man, do kids these days do anything else?

"I can't believe he thought he saw a tiger though! That's the first I've heard. Normally people make up crazy things about our house to try and get out of trouble, but a tiger? Seriously? He couldn't have come up with something else?" She said, laughing to herself. For someone who's been through a robbery before, you'd think she'd know how to defend herself by now. At the very least, gone to lessons or to the gym to become stronger. She was just a teenager though, and the real struggle of adulthood hadn't even begun.

Her closet must be sound proof, seeing as she obviously hadn't heard me roar.

I jumped up on the bed and stretched out, yawning. I walked in a little circle next to her and curled up, laying my head on her stomach. I felt like I was falling into a food coma; the savors of the sushi was getting to me. She placed her hand on my head and running her fingers through my soft fur. Purring and pawing at her hand, I rolled over and stretched out.

"It's almost like you protected me today. You're a good cat Aria," she said and I meowed, closing my eyes.

"Have a good rest now." she said and I did, dosing off as she instructed.