Theodosia and Isis's relationship

Theodosia and Isis's relationship is an intimate bond tested by a curse that turns a beloved cat frighteningly feral. Theodosia responds not by abandoning Isis or meeting her violence with violence, but by learning how to approach her safely: with food, a quiet voice, repeated use of her name, and an amulet invoking Horus’s protection. When Isis finally returns to purring and affectionate contact, the change makes their ordinary closeness feel hard-won.

A familiar companion made frightening

During Isis’s cursed phase, even approaching her requires care. When her iridescent golden-green eyes appear in the hallway, Theodosia hides behind a door, prepared to shut it if Isis comes in. Isis advances toward sardines in a crouch, stopping every few inches to check her surroundings. Once she reaches the food, she attacks each fish with startling intensity, shaking it as though it were prey before eating it. The scene makes a familiar domestic act—feeding a cat—an exercise in managing danger.

Theodosia’s response is alert but attentive. She waits until Isis is absorbed in eating before slowly closing the door; the click makes Isis pause and begin a low caterwaul. Theodosia says Isis’s name carefully. Isis stops snarling and returns to her meal. Theodosia then talks to her for several minutes, working Isis’s name into the calming speech every few words. The tactic seems to ease the cat’s agitation: Isis grows calmer and finishes the last sardine without first shaking it as if killing it again. The episode shows Theodosia adapting her approach to Isis’s altered state rather than treating the animal’s behavior as simple disobedience.

Care through patient proximity

To coax Isis closer, Theodosia settles into a sarcophagus and continues calling her by name, along with Horus, whose protection she has placed in Isis’s amulet. Isis’s eyes become more focused and less frenzied, though she approaches only after many hesitant stops and starts. She eventually balances on the sarcophagus’s edge, then jumps down to Theodosia’s feet and kneads the blanket with her claws. A loud purr follows. Theodosia can finally lie back in relief, taking Isis’s calmer behavior as a sign that the amulet may be helping.

The scene’s tenderness is inseparable from its practical stakes. Theodosia is trying to restore closeness with Isis while the larger crisis threatens Britain; even as she welcomes the cat’s return to the bed, she hopes that a solution to the national danger will come as readily as the idea of how to comfort Isis. The bond is expressed through small, concrete acts—offering food, speaking a name, sharing a resting place—and through Theodosia’s willingness to stay near Isis despite the risk.

The attack on Alistair Throckmorton

Isis’s ferocity also reaches beyond the private space Theodosia has carefully managed. Alistair Throckmorton calls for Theodosia to come and get her cat. In the workroom, Isis is clinging to his back like a burr, while he turns in circles trying to strike her loose with his cane. His efforts mostly result in his hitting himself. Theodosia’s immediate sympathy is for Isis, and she reproaches Alistair in her thoughts for considering the cane against her cat.

When Alistair stops spinning, Theodosia grabs Isis and tries to pull her free. Isis clings so tightly that several attempts are needed, and Alistair curses in frustration before Theodosia finally frees her. Isis fights in Theodosia’s arms as she carries her away. The incident makes clear that affection alone cannot instantly undo the curse’s effects: Theodosia has to protect others from Isis and Isis from the consequences of her own attack. Her next step is to give the cat a mud bath.

Return to affection

The following morning, after a failed attempt to persuade her parents to return to Egypt and another nightmare about the Shabti Figures, Theodosia wakes with the sensation of something chewing her ankle. The apparent threat turns out to be Isis, curled at her feet and gently kneading the blanket. Rather than the violent cat of the previous episode, Isis is warm and physically close; Theodosia rubs her stomach and scratches behind her ears, and Isis purrs repeatedly. Theodosia recognizes that the mud bath has worked and receives one last affectionate swipe from Isis’s paw before turning to the work still ahead.

The recovery restores more than quiet: it returns the recognizable gestures through which their attachment is shared. Theodosia’s care has included restraint, reassurance, protection, and finally the mud bath; Isis’s purr and paw-swipe answer that care with renewed intimacy. Their relationship thus runs from wary feeding and dangerous contact back to the familiar comfort of a cat sleeping at Theodosia’s feet, without making light of the frightening interval that separated those states.