by Mikayla Lane
“Where to now?” Crator called out.
Mikey looked beneath the ship and saw a clearer trail than he did before, leading him to believe they were getting a lot closer than he expected them to this quickly.
“West!” Mikey called back.
“West!” Crator repeated before the ship began to move again.
“Do you think that’s Emily’s baby?” Lauren asked Indrid as he continued to stare at the teddy bear he’d brought with him from the house.
“I do not know. I know that the child does have a familial bond with Emily, but it could be her sister or her daughter,” Indrid admitted.
“She left in a hurry, probably to get away from those assholes back there,” Disc added.
“I can’t say I blame her,” Mikey agreed, sympathetic to the poor girl. Then he turned to Lauren. “Anything on that property?”
“No, I did a quick check, and it was classified as abandoned. It was bank owned,” Lauren said, wishing they had something more to go on.
Mikey ran a hand over his head in frustration when Indrid put a hand on his shoulder.
“Patience. Trust in your gift,” he said as he pointed towards the ground where Mikey was tracking Emily’s energy path.
Mikey nodded and looked back at the ground. He’d completely forgotten about watching the vid for Grai as they got closer to finding Emily.
Chapter Nineteen
It had been a week, and they’d encountered half a dozen more abandoned properties that Emily and the child had stayed at for brief periods of time. Each location took them farther and farther west until they all sat eating breakfast one morning and Crator had to speak of his concerns.
“I know I’m not the only one who realizes just how close we’re getting to where the military has the folly locked down,” Crator said quietly.
Silence hung heavily in the room because no one really wanted to discuss it, even though they all knew it had to be addressed.
“We can’t ignore it,” Disc agreed, throwing his napkin down on the table in frustration at the situation.
“We can’t leave her out there with a child when she could still be hunted by the Relians! Hell, she could even go right up to those military idiots without a clue she’s the kind of thing they’re looking for,” Lauren argued, unwilling to give up on trying to find them.
Mikey squeezed Lauren’s hand in support and cleared his throat.
“I’m definitely not excited about being anywhere near the place, but I don’t think we can stop now. We’re too close,” he said.
Crator sighed, hating the thought that he had to be the devil’s advocate here.
“But we don’t really know that we’re close. We thought we were close a week ago. I’m not saying give up, I’m saying we need to draw the line somewhere, or Grai’s going to looking for more than just his brother,” he argued.
“Mikey is right,” Indrid said, his eerie white gaze holding Crator’s. “We are close; I can feel it. I can also feel the military you speak of and will make sure that we do not venture too far in their direction.”
“Good enough for me,” Crator said as he stood to head into the cockpit and get the ship moving again.
Everyone broke up to take care of personal matters before they all ended up at the floor of the ship while Mikey called out directional changes to Crator when necessary.
“Oh my gosh! The Christmas play is getting ready to start. I hope Traze or someone is recording it,” Lauren said, wishing they could back in Dillon to see the children perform.
Disc roared with laughter.
“Traze? Hell, ask any of the parents or grandparents, and they’ll all have it recorded perfectly from multiple angles. I have a feeling we’ll all be watching it for the next month,” he only half-joked.
Lauren grinned broadly as she realized he was exactly right and was getting ready to reply when Mikey called out.
“Stop! Now!”
Lauren, Disc, and Indrid looked beneath them and didn’t see anything that would have caused Mikey to call for a stop.
“What is it?” Lauren asked.
“Give me a minute,” Mikey said as he grabbed his comm and began projecting the vid on the wall of the ship.
“We don’t have time for this,” Indrid said as he looked at Mikey like he’d lost his mind.
“Just wait!” Mikey barked at Indrid before turning his attention to the vid.
Crator left the ship on hover and came out of the cockpit to see what was going on. He looked to the others curiously when he saw Mikey fast forwarding the vid of Koda’s crash.
“Oh my God,” Mikey whispered as he stepped back from the wall, the vid paused.
“What?” Disc asked.
“We’re above the area that I think Koda’s pod went,” Mikey whispered.
“Are you freaking serious?” Crator asked as everyone started looking between the paused vid on the wall and the ground below them.
“I’m not kidding; this is the direction his pod went. I can see her energy path clearly intersecting with the faint trail I’ve seen in the vids. Get moving, I think we’re closer than we realize,” Mikey said, his excitement and concern clear in his tone.
*****
Everyone was gathered in the large training room in one of the lower levels of the headquarters building in Dillon, Texas. All of the equipment had been pushed to the sides of the room, and a small stage had been built in the center with chairs lined up in front of it.
Jess, Jax, Cari, Tricia and half a dozen other hybrids were running around behind the curtain of the stage trying desperately to corral the children running around screaming, practicing their lines, or eating the decorations on the stage.
Megan ran in front of the curtain and stood in front of the patient audience.
“Ladies and gentlemen! Thank you so much for coming to the children’s first hybrid Christmas play!” she said with a smile then heard a crash behind the curtain and ran behind it.
Most of the audience laughed at the antics they could see going on in shadows behind the white stage curtain. Balduen bounced his baby son, Lucan, on his knee.
“You know he’ll be in this play next year,” Dare teased. “There’s just no way around it.”
Amun sat beside them with a smile on his face waiting to see his beautiful daughter, Lily, who was performing with Tessa and Amia.
Reven sat with Melina and his baby daughter waiting to see Bayla in her first play. He and Jax had tried to get Melina to participate, but she’d steadfastly refused to be embarrassed like that at her age—not that they could blame her.
Grai, Blade, David, and Traze ran into the room and grabbed seats next to Ivint and Randor just as the curtain opened on Tessa, Amia, Bayla, and Lily dressed as elves and singing about a reindeer with a bright colored nose.
“Awws” were heard around the room at the cuteness of the little girls singing completely off key, huge grins in place as they bounced around the stage making the bells on their clothes jingle erratically.
The room erupted in laughter as a seriously pissed off looking Ranger stomped across the stage with a harness of bells strapped around his body, a red foam nose, and one mangled antler hanging from his furry forehead. Behind him, he pulled a red wagon with Tristan in it, dressed as Santa.
“Did he lose a bet?” someone in the crowd yelled out.
It only took a second for chaos to erupt as Ranger tried to lunge into the crowd at the person who’d teased him, and the wagon flipped over, dumping Tristan to the floor.
“Bad kitty!” Bayla screamed with glee as she ran after the cat while Tessa, Amia, and Lily tried to continue the song through their giggles.
Ranger’s harness and bells got caught on the corner of the stage, and he hung helplessly half on and half off the stage while his paws scrambled against the wood in an effort to right himself or gain traction.
Tristan, who’d been dumped out of the sled and onto the floor, stood with his left hand moving quickly through the
air as the adults stormed the stage to save the cat and try to get things under control.
As if nothing had ever happened, the rest of the hybrid children appeared on the stage singing a song to wish everyone a merry Christmas as Ranger yowled in anger. The little girls rolled on the floor in laughter, and Bayla began eating a Christmas ornament from the fallen Christmas tree.
Finally getting traction, Ranger pulled himself up onto the stage, but he hadn’t realized the Christmas tree had been knocked over and promptly got caught in the strands of blinking lights.
Bark, needles, and ornaments flew around the room like projectiles as the angry, embarrassed cat tried desperately to detach himself from the tangle of lights he’d caught himself in.
The children were evacuated from the stage, some still trying to finish their songs, and the adults made sure the cat had a wide berth as his claws and teeth flashed in his frustration to break free.
It took several minutes, but finally the exhausted cat stopped fighting, and he looked at Jax through the blinking, colorful lights wrapped around his head and body. Someone noticed that a red light was blinking against the red foam nose that had somehow remained attached to Ranger’s, and most everyone tried to stifle their laughter as Traze took a picture.
Jax ran to the stage and tried to keep the cat calm while Grai and Reven attempted to untangle him from the lights he’d hogtied himself with during his struggle. The moment he was free, the cat took off out of the room.
The adults looked around at the wrecked stage and decorations while Tristan patted his pillow covered stomach.
“Ho, ho, ho,” he said belatedly as the adults laughed, and the kids started singing their finale about Santa coming.
*****
Avid trophy hunter Ron Harrington looked out at his expansive backyard from his den. He had specifically spent a lot of money to get a piece of prime property that butted up against the national forest because of the easy opportunity it presented him to try out his rifle skills before his next foray to Africa.
Nothing could have prepared him for the sight that met his eyes and he dropped his coffee cup. He ignored the shattered pieces of pottery on the floor as he ran to the cabinet to get his rifle. At the rate the animal was moving, he knew he didn’t have much time or it’d be gone.
Rifle in hand, he was out of his back door in time to see the large cat heading into deeper snow-covered foliage, and he raised the rifle and fired. He whooped with joy when he saw the small, black panther flip in the air and hit the ground from the impact of the large caliber bullet.
Gibly lay on the ground for a moment, trying to pant away the burning sharp pain in his shoulder. He heard the stupid human running towards him and knew that if he didn’t do something, he’d never make it close enough to send a message to Ranger about where Koda was.
He stood and hobbled to the nearest tree, unable to put any weight on his left foreleg. The bullet had torn through the muscle in his shoulder. Gibly was hoping he could get to a tree and hide from the human, but the man’s next words made the cat shiver.
“Come here, little guy. Let me put you out of your misery so I can get you stuffed before the party next month. Darryl will never believe I bagged your ass here,” Ron said with a grin as he followed the trail of blood through the snow.
Gibly grimaced in pain as he jumped to a low hanging tree branch and his front leg collapsed beneath him. He stifled a hiss of pain as he saw the human male come into view, and he saw the rifle in his hands.
Angry that the human was giving him no choice, Gibly climbed a little higher before moving around the tree as the hunter approached. The man began looking around the tree when Gibly jumped down and sliced his throat open. He clung to the hunter’s chest with three paws as the man hit the ground, then jumped off, saving himself the long drop.
He looked angrily at the human while the man clutched his throat and the blood poured onto the snow around him.
“Stupid man! I didn’t want to hurt you,” Gibly said.
The man’s eyes bulged out when Gibly spoke to him, and he reached out to the talking cat moments before his body succumbed to the blood loss and trauma. His last thought had been about how rich he’d be if he could catch the talking cat.
Gibly growled in rage. There was no way he could get close enough to contact Ranger now. He’d be lucky to survive the night with his injury. The smell of the blood alone would bring every predator in the forest after him, and he was in no condition to fend off or flee the dangerous creatures that roamed this forest.
When Gibly realized no one was coming to look for the hunter, he crouched low and kept to the shrubs and trees as he made his way towards where the hunter had come from. He looked at the open back door of the house and wondered if he should chance it and what he’d do if he got inside.
With no other options left, Gibly moved slowly around the edges of the yard until he could use some bushes for cover as he hobbled slowly towards the open back door. His ears were alert to any sound that may come from inside.
When he’d finally gotten to the door, he listened intently for any sound. When he heard nothing, he cautiously limped inside. Gibly looked around and kept close to the walls as he concentrated on listening for sounds of other humans.
Gibly stumbled, and his chin hit the bear skin rug when he walked into the hunter’s den and saw all the stuffed animals posed around the large room. He stood back up and moved off of the offending rug on the floor with a look of disgust and horror on his face.
Jax had warned him about humans like this. People who killed for the sake of killing and not to survive. Among the sibiox, they didn’t believe in hunting for sport. Even considering it was so dishonorable it was abhorrent to them. It was one thing to kill to eat and to survive, but killing for nothing was entirely different.
This man had obviously been one sick and disgusting human to have done this to so many creatures and the pity Gibly had initially felt for killing the man evaporated quickly.
Gibly jumped and hissed in pain when he heard the phone ring, and he hobbled over to hide under the desk while he waited to see if someone would answer it. He grinned broadly when he heard a machine say the hunter wasn’t home and to leave a message.
He came out from under the desk and looked around for an easier place to view the room. Gibly sighed and limped up the log that had been used to perch a stuffed wolf on, and he looked around the room.
When he saw what he was looking for, he moved slowly back down the log and across the room. He took a deep breath and jumped to the seat of the chair and then the desk before he sat, lifted his paw off the desktop, and tried to stop the black spots from dancing behind his eyes.
Finally getting the pain under control, Gibly looked around and took a few steps. Using his back foot, he knocked the phone over. He limped towards it and looked down at the numbers, unsure what to do from here. He struggled to think through the pain and finally used his paw to press the three numbers he knew.
“What city and state?” came the automated voice.
“Dillon, Texas,” Gibly said as clearly as he could.
“What listing?” the voice asked.
“Freedom Enterprises,” Gibly said.
“Hold for your number,” the digital voice said before another recording came on saying that for an additional fee he could press a button and be automatically connected.
Not wanting to use his wounded shoulder to press all those buttons, Gibly winced as he pressed the one key and listened to the phone ringing.
“Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from Freedom Enterprises, this is Saia, how may I direct your call?” came the voice.
“I need to speak to Grai,” Gibly said as he laid down near the phone, his weak body unable to sit up any longer as his blood began to pool on the desk.
“I’m sorry, sir, but Mr. T’Alq isn’t available. I’d be happy to take a message for him,” Saia said, wondering where she’d heard that voice before.
Gibl
y was having a hard time seeing the phone, and he remembered the trail of blood he’d left in his wake as he’d come from the forest. He knew he had only a little time to tell Grai where Koda was before he lost consciousness. If he didn’t, they would all die.
“Gibly . . .,” he said weakly.
“Oh Gods! Gibly is that you?” Saia shouted as she jumped from her seat in the reception area of Freedom Enterprises.
She looked around at the curious faces and sat back down, using the Shengari’ to call Grai and Ivint.
“Gibly? Talk to me, buddy. Are you OK? Where are you, baby?” Saia asked more quietly into the phone.
“Found Koda. Tell Grai. They dying. Come quick,” Gibly said, finding it difficult to get enough air in to speak clearly as his vision began to fail.
Gibly barely managed a weak smile when he heard Grai’s voice come over the phone.
“Gibly? Where are you? Someone trace the damn call! Gibly? Can you hear me, friend?” Grai asked, concern evident in his voice.
Gibly opened and closed his mouth to speak, but no words would come out. He never heard Grai’s next words.
“I’m coming for you. Don’t you dare stop fighting, you hear me? I’m coming, my friend,” Grai roared into the phone, uncaring that human customers were in the lobby staring at him in open-mouthed astonishment.
Grai didn’t even notice the trail of people following him into the team gear room as he grabbed his gear and headed to the transport on standby. He entered the craft and headed to the pilots.
“Did they get a location of the call?” he asked immediately.
“Yes, sir. We’ll be there in five minutes,” the pilot answered as he initiated his pre-flight check.
“Make it three!” Grai growled as he turned around and looked in surprise at the full cabin.
“He’s our friend too,” Ivint said as he strapped himself in beside Reven and Balduen. Niklosi, Scaden, Gracus, Traze and Blade were on the same side while Jax, Kintaq, and a half dozen vet techs sat on the other side.
