Something was haunting my dreams. A ring of fire. Golden-orange, burning steady, encircling what appeared to be an enormous black pit. I didn't know what I was looking at, but it scared me. A band of fire around a black hole just didn't seem like a very encouraging dream to have. I'd been having the same dream for five nights, and I was getting tired of it. As I lay awake on the sixth night, trying to get my heartbeat to slow down so I could go back to sleep, I could hear cats talking in quiet voices near me. "Minkears? Are you awake?" "Bluebird?" "Hi." "Hi." "You've been avoiding me." "No I haven't."