“Right now, I’m not sure, though.”
“You come by that naturally.” He smiled again. “Your mother is a notable adventure seeker.”
“I hadn’t thought of it that way.” Linn got up. “I’m going to try and get some rest.”
“Good idea. Sleep when you can.”
She sighed. “That’s what Grampa said.”
Linn went back into the darkened cabin. The children were still asleep. Bes turned his head and opened his eyes briefly. She sat down next to him and took his hand without speaking. He squeezed her fingers and then she closed her eyes. This time, she didn’t dream.
Chapter 21
Sekhmet sighed and stretched. They had run halfway around the globe and weren't done yet. They had Cloud safe, and the Japanese triplets, who had been a handful to retrieve. Their next charge was the oldest of the children on the list. He wouldn’t have been on the list at all, but his mother had insisted. With her people scattered and her legends all but forgotten, she felt vulnerable.
Sedna, the mistress of the Inuit underworld, had a thirteen year-old son whose father she had not named. Raised on the edges of human society in the last frontier, he was likely to be another interesting child, Sekhmet mused.
They fell to Earth near the designated meeting place. The tundra was ablaze with fall color, the end of the warm season came early here. They walked carefully through the bright clumps of blueberries and birches. None of them came higher than Sekhmet’s knees.
A bright-eyed Siberian husky came bouncing up to them, barking. Sekhmet laughed. “Hello, Stith.”
The dog transformed to a short, stocky boy with a beaming smile. “Hello! You must be Sekhmet, and you must be the Mayan god of terrestrial fire.”
“I prefer Steve. Nice to meet you, young man.” The black jaguar laughed.
“Boy, am I glad you guys are here for me!”
“Has something happened here?” Sekhmet looked around, pricking her ears forward.
“No, nothing haseverhappened here!” Stith scowled. “Mom won’t let me go to Anchorage. I can’t have a Ski-doo. I am dying to get out of here.”
Steve laughed. “Well, then, let’s get going, kid.”
The two great cats exchanged amused glances as Stith picked up a backpack. This one was normal as American apple pie. He ran the high path with them exuberantly.
At the Sanctuary, one of the Coblyn greeted them with a bow and a lei for the delighted Stith. The goblin turned from the boy to Sekhmet. “Linn and the kittens will land shortly. Would you like to wait for them?”
Sekhmet sighed and rubbed her face along the soft inner side of her foreleg. “We still have three children to bring back, and they are on the other side of the world.”
“No, they aren’t,” the Coblyn contradicted her.
“What?” She wasn’t sure she’d heard that right, and cocked her ears at him.
“We are flying them in. Cora is on a private jet of her father’s, and the twins are flying commercial with their mother.”
“Why not wait for us?”
“Heff didn’t want you two to be exhausted, and there have been no moves made against the other children.”
Sekhmet sat and sighed. “And might not be. But I do feel better knowing they are all safe.”
“Heff said you would say that. He also said to tell you that he could give you guys three days, but then you had to be at HQ with him.”
Steve laughed. “Sounds like him. Well, I know these sore paws could use a break.”
“Shall we go to the airport?”
“Absolutely. Let’s go get the kids, then we can play on the beach for a while.”
She laughed at him. “I thought your feet were sore.”
“I’m a god.” He shrugged. “I can heal them.”
She batted at him with a paw the size of a dinner plate and he ducked away, laughing. She chased for a minute, and then they returned to Stith. “Are you going to be all right?” Sekhmet asked.
“Can I go to the beach, too?”
“Yep, you can meet us there, right?” She looked at the Coblyn, who nodded.
“Of course,” he assured the Inuit boy.
“Why not all the kids, and we’ll make it a welcome party. When are the others due in?”
“Cora should be here in a few hours. The others, not until tomorrow.” The Coblyn looked like he was getting into the idea.
“See if you can coax the Scholar out in the sun a little, too?” Steve suggested.
“Quetzalcoatl thought she and Linn should meet.”
“Oh, really?” Sekhmet mused. “Yes, I think that’s a great idea.”
She and Steve nodded to the boy and his guide and started for the front entrance. The winding tunnels of the Sanctuary contained a lot of things no one on the surface of the island had any idea about. The Library was only one of them. It made getting from one place to another tedious, but they still had time.
Sekhmet walked shoulder to shoulder with Steve, feeling relaxed in knowing that they were done with their mission, and the kittens were coming here. No one knew how long this war would last, and Hawaii certainly wasn’t a place to be stranded should civilization come to screeching halt. For now, and the children, it was a good place. Pele’s power so saturated the islands that the Old Ones didn’t dare approach.
Chapter 22
Linn jolted awake as the plane touched down. She reached down, but the buckle was done. Looking across the cabin, she could see the twins were holding hands and looking around with wide eyes. Bes was sitting still, holding onto both the armrests. She knew without asking he would do this until they touched down. Blackie and Gareth were nowhere in sight.
“Blackie, Gareth?” she called.
Quetzalcoatl answered. “With me, Linn. Don’t worry.”
Linn sighed and leaned back. Her protectorship might be coming to an end, but she thought she would always feel like this toward all the kittens. The plane slowed and then turned. She felt a little sad. Her adventures were done. Pretty soon she would probably get on a plane back to Seattle and the apartment.
When the plane stopped she unbuckled the girls, giving them an extra hug and kiss as she did so. Gareth came scampering into the cabin, his tail held high. Quetzalcoatl, laughing, followed him.
“They watched the landing from the co-pilot’s seat. Blackie is still glued to it. Also, you have a greeting party waiting for you.”
“Oh, Blackie!” Linn handed the girls off to Bes, who put them down and took their hands.
She went into the cockpit, where Blackie had his paws up on the instrument panel and was lashing his tail.
“Looks like fun, doesn’t it? Maybe you can be a pilot someday, like Quetzalcoatl.”
He turned and looked at her, and for the first time she saw his power in his eyes. Raging blue fire... she blinked.
“You’re excited, but you can’t stay here,” she told him firmly. He hopped down and came over to her, putting his forepaws on her knees and headbutting her stomach. “I’m staying with you, my friend,” Linn assured him.
They followed Bes and the twins out of the plane and down the narrow steps. A small group of people was waiting for them there in the bright sunlight. Linn squinted, trying to see. Bes handed the girls off to a tall man... Steve, she realized. Gareth and Blackie ran ahead of her and pounced on their mother, who sat down on the tarmac with an exaggerated “Oof!” before ruffling their fur and letting them lick her face.
Linn smiled, and then got a good look at the other woman.
“Grandmother!” she shrieked, and ran into her arms. As they closed tightly around her she could feel tears rising in her eyes. Grandma smelled the same as ever... exotic and flowery. “I missed you so much,” Linn told her, choking up.
“I missed you, too.” Her grandmother put a hand under her chin and tilted her head back. “Let me look at you. How much you’ve grown!”
Linn gasped. Her grandmother’s eyes glowed with power. Rich crimson and whit
e danced with yellow glints. “You are Pele...”
Her grandmother’s round cheeks appled with the broadness of her grin. “Yes, I am. Welcome to my home, my dear.”
Linn laughed in delight. “Of course he would choose you,” she marveled. It seemed so obvious now.
“Maybe it was me who chose him! Pursued him shamelessly, too!” the older woman retorted joyfully.
They both laughed, hugging again. When they finally let go and turned to look at Bes, still arm in arm, he chuckled.
“Anyone seeing the two of you together would know you were related. Although,” he made a small bow in Pele’s direction. “as mother and daughter, not Grandmother.”
Pele laughed heartily. “Flattery will get you everywhere, Bes. How are you, old war-horse?”
“Well, despite the harrowing experience of having trained Linn.” He returned smoothly with a wink at Linn, who stuck her tongue out at him.
“Do you stay with us?” Pele asked.
Linn looked at her in dismay. It hadn’t occurred to her that Bes would leave them once he’d brought them to Sanctuary. She turned and looked at him and knew what he would say before the words left his lips.
“No, I return to Heff. I am needed, he tells me. The battle is coming faster than expected.”
Linn went to him, feeling her lip trembling, but not wanting to cry. He hugged her gently. “You will be safe, child.”
“I’ll miss you. Will I ever see you again?”
“Of course. I need to do this, though. Don’t change while I’m gone?”
“I hadn’t planned to.”
He chucked her chin and hugged Pele, who whispered something in his ear. He nodded and then walked away, around the plane. Linn’s vision was blurry with tears. She gulped. “Now what, Grandma?”
Pele squeezed her hand gently. “Now we go home.”
Linn looked around. Quetzalcoatl was standing, waiting for her. Steve and Sekhmet, still in human form, were walking the children toward waiting cars.
“Thank you for bringing us,” Linn told the Mayan god. “I guess we are safe now.”
“You are, child. Don’t grieve. He always keeps his word.”
“It’s just...” She felt her voice slide away. She cleared her throat. “Give my love to Grampa Heff.”
“Of course I will.”
“And mine,” Pele added. Quetzalcoatl laughed.
“I think it will be safer for me if you do that yourself, my Lady.”
Linn watched him walk up the stairs, and then turned to follow her grandmother to the car. She settled into the backseat with her grandmother and Blackie, who had chosen to ride with them. The driver, who looked very small to Linn’s eyes, nodded to Pele and pulled out once they were settled.
“Now,” Pele turned to Linn and took the girl’s hands in hers. “Tell me everything.”
Linn giggled a little, her laughter finally banishing her tears, although there was still a knot in her chest. “Well, I thought it was just going to be another boring summer at Grampa Heff’s cabin... He doesn’t have Internet or anything!”
Her tale took them all the way to the entrance of the Sanctuary, a surprisingly normal door in an office building, which led to an elevator. They all crowded in, Sekhmet adding a few comments as she realized what Linn was telling her grandmother. Linn picked up Moira and balanced her on her hip without even thinking about it, not realizing until later it was not something the Linn from the beginning of this summer would have done. She had despised babysitting. The kittens had been different... cute, cuddly, and helpless.
Linn kissed Moira’s head and told her Grandmother about the helpless flight through the forest, thinking the girls were dead in the wreckage of the cabin. The toddler hugged her neck.
“Linn!” she said clearly. They all fell silent and stared at the little girl. She giggled. “Linn!” she said again, obviously pleased to be the center of attention. The elevator doors slid open.
Pat, not to be outdone by her dark-haired sister, pointed. “Go!”
They all laughed and stepped out into the brightly lit tunnel. Linn looked around her in amazement. The tunnel stretched off in either direction, with doors every so often. Her grandmother spoke softly. “I got the idea from the Cold War of the humans. I wanted to create a place where some of us could be safe through almost anything.”
“What about regular people?”
“We are doing our best, child. But for them to be safe, there must be guardians, and the guardians must have sanctuary.”
Linn nodded. That made sense. She knew her grandfather and grandmother both wanted humanity to continue to grow, unchecked. It was almost, she mused, as though they, Bes, Coyote, and even Quetzalcoatl, felt about humans the way they felt about children. Her train of thought was interrupted as a small train of... golf carts?... pulled up to them.
A funny little person with large ears hopped out of the first once and gave them all a sweeping bow. “Welcome, welcome!” he cried in a squeaky voice.
Then the other drivers all crowded around them, putting leis on Linn and the children. Pele laughed. “They all wanted to come to the airport to greet you, but it was decided such a crowd would be too much to hide.”
Pele and the lead driver, who Linn had decided was the leader of the little people, came over to her. Behind them, Linn could see the little people, who had a greenish tinge to their skin and points on their ears, making much of the kittens and little girls. They were getting into the carts with their parents.
“Linn, this is Daffyd. He is the king of the Coblyns.”
Linn took his offered hand and tried to curtsey. “Pleased to meet you, sir, um... majesty?”
He laughed, a bright chortle. “Daffy is fine. ‘Tis what Pele calls me.”
“And you are all... Coblyns?” Linn was trying to remember where she’d read that word.
“Aye, also known as goblins and the little people. When Pele opened the Sanctuary she called in a gang of us to help with design and construction.” He shrugged. “We liked it so much we asked to stay on.” He waved her to the nearest car. “Come, then! We want to get you to your rooms, and then tonight we party!”
Linn climbed in the cart with her grandmother, and looked around as they whizzed down the tunnel. Grandma murmured in her ear “The Coblyns modified the carts. Keep your hands inside, dear, we are going faster than we ought to.”
Linn nodded. She was not inclined to let so much as a finger stray. “How long is the tunnel?”
“Oh, I don’t really know. The Coblyns add to it every so often. With my power, it’s not going to collapse, and they really are superior miners, you know. Many miles, that’s for sure.”
“Wow. And a party?”
“Oh, yes. We wanted to welcome all the children here with a party on the beach. It was decided we would give you a few hours to rest, and then have our little luau. Linn...” Pele hugged her close. “I am so happy you are finally here.”
Linn snuggled back. “How many of us are there?”
“Well, you aren’t really one of the children. Only those who haven’t reached maturity yet were brought here.”
Linn felt absurdly pleased. She wasn’t a child.
Her grandmother continued. “So, let’s see. There is Cloud, who is very quiet, and about six years old. Stith, from the Arctic, is thirteen and the happiest boy. The Japanese triplets, Akako, Botan, and Cho are very energetic. They are seven years old. Cora will be here shortly, she is Hades’ daughter, and I was told she is twelve. And then in the morning Parja and Fjorgg from Lithuania will be the last arrivals. They are twins, nine years old.”
“So, with the kittens, there are twelve children.”
“Yes, and it should be a lot of fun for all of you to get to know one another.”
Linn nodded dubiously. “The kittens are babies compared to the rest.”
“Not really. They are maturing like cats... the girls are about three, and the boys perhaps even older than that. The girls will ma
ture at a more human rate now that they have chosen this form.”
“I would have thought immortals would mature at a slower rate than humans.”
“Not and survive among humanity.”
“What happens to immortals that don’t make it?”
Pele started to answer, but they stopped just then. Daffyd hopped out and opened the double doors. Pele followed him through them. Linn walked into what looked like a huge living room, with flowering plants and waterfalls everywhere.
“Welcome home, dear.” Pele kissed her cheek.
Blackie padded with her as Daffyd led them down a hall. “Here is your room, Linnaea.”
“Call me Linn, please.”
“Gladly!” the little creature beamed at her. “Now, you have a few hours. There is food and drink within for you.”
He bowed and went out again, leaving Linn to look around the room. She was suddenly very tired, and homesick. It was a nice room, a bit like a hotel room. Bland, she decided. Blackie leaned on her leg.
“We’ve come a long way from the hayloft.”
She started to pick him up and then decided against it. He was really too old to baby. He hopped up on the bed and sprawled out, purring.
“I miss it,” she told him, even though he didn’t look like he was listening.
She went into the bathroom, which didn’t resemble a hotel bathroom at all. A big tub made her decide to take a bath. She hadn’t been able to do that since she had left home. She started the water running and went back out into the other room.
“Shoot. I don’t know where my clothes are.” Her pack, with Lambent neglected in it, lay on the floor. She pulled Lambent out of it, and then unsheathed her. The dancing fire, red and white with little tendrils of her own pink, made her remember the bonding with Bes and Grandpa.
“I hope they are OK,” she whispered, sliding Lambent back away.
She looked in the pack again. Her survival kit, looking rather useless in these surroundings, the books Coyote had given her. No clothes. She laughed suddenly, looking down at herself. She was going to a Hawaiian beach party dressed in ratty jeans, black t-shirt, and a flannel shirt two sizes too big.
Vulcan's Kittens (Children of Myth Book 1) Page 12
