The Cascaders

by Glenn, L. M.

  ****

  The next evening Mihael approached her cot on silent paws and bent down on one knee. He smoothed the hair from her face and took a strand between his fingers, enjoying the texture. She fluttered her eyes open.

  “It’s time,” he whispered.

  She frowned. “Time?”

  “We found it.” He leaned in and pressed his lips to her forehead. He stood and padded out without another word

  Wait, what? “Found what, Mihael?” She jumped up and ran after him. “Found what?” she repeated, catching up to him.

  He turned and hissed. “We found your way out. Get your things ready.” He snarled at her and then he crouched onto all fours and ran from the village as if the demons of hell were after him.

  She gasped. What had she done now? He should be happy now that they were going to be gone out of his life.

  Home. Finally, they were going home. She quickly changed into her own clothing and went to wake Jayden.

  “Can Nigel come too?” he asked.

  “No, he has to stay here and you know that.” She had fallen in love with Perceforest but she missed her home. There was still so much she wanted to do. If she could come back, would she? Maybe someday just to see how they were doing. Would Mihael follow her if she asked him, she wondered. But deep down she knew that was impossible. Their two worlds were too different.

  Jayden shook hands with Nigel and then gave him a hug. Standing next to Genèva, Rose turned up her nose as Desiree gave Genèva a hug goodbye.

  “I will miss you.”

  “As I.” With tears in her eyes, Genèva smiled.

  “You must hurry; you have taken too much time as it is,” Mihael hissed from behind them.

  Desiree turned and glared at him. “Why are you angry with me? What have I done?”

  He sighed, his tone softening. “I’m angry because I feel as if you were sent here to taunt me.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “We can’t come with you. This is our home. Can you imagine what would happen if we resurfaced? Go home. Be with your own kind, Desiree.” He turned and padded away.

  Desiree watched him go. Why would he say that? Did he want to go with them? Had Jayden said something to him? She had never asked for him to come with them.

  After changing cleaning up the room, Desiree took a last look around. She would miss this place, Genèva, and Mihael, especially Mihael. He hadn’t spoken since he had woken her. He acted as if he was angry with her for wanting to leave and go home. But he knew she couldn’t stay. She was confused.

  The group of cats were gathered together waiting for them. “Wait, I’ll be right back,” she called out to Trevore. Desiree had to say goodbye to him before they left.

  She lifted the flap and stepped inside his hut.

  They looked at each other across the hut, and the air crackled between them. “I came to say goodbye …” Desiree stopped abruptly at the look on his face.

  “Why?” he asked her in a patronizing voice.

  She took a step back faltering. “I-I’m sorry,” she cried and turned to run away. “This was a mistake.” He didn’t want to see her.

  He grabbed her arm and stopped her. “Wait.” There was despair in his voice despite his quiet tone.

  Desiree stopped but couldn’t look up. She couldn’t face the rejection.

  “I don’t do goodbyes well. I lost my wife, my children, my friends. I still mourn them. You saved Nigel’s life, Desiree, and for that I will be forever be in your debt. But we are different, you and I. You come from a place I would never be accepted, and you could never live your life here. I am much older than you. We are, how do you say it? Cursed? Yes, we are cursed. Do I wish it were otherwise? Yes, I do for I have strong feelings for you.

  Desiree hesitated. “You do?” Hope fluttered in her chest.

  His lips tightened, “Desiree, you know I do. How could you not after what we shared?” He closed the distance between them. He lifted her chin. “You are so young yet wise beyond your years. It’s something that can never be, why prolong the agony?”

  She saw the truth of it in his eyes and it hurt. She knew it could never be. His kind would be caged and prodded and poked, maybe even killed if they surfaced and her … She could never stay for she too would soon become ill. There was no hope for them.

  “I just want a kiss. A kiss to take with me. Please, Mihael,” she begged.

  He sighed deeply and pulled her toward him slowly. He bent down and captured her lips. His teeth cut into her bottom lip. She didn’t care, and she savored every second of it. She wrapped her arms around his neck. She savored the taste of him—exotic. She took everything she could from his lips knowing this would be the last time she saw him. The last time she would hold him.

  It ended too quickly. He pulled away and stepped back. “Go.” His voice shook.

  She nodded her head, and before she reached the flap of the tent, she heard him quietly say, “Don’t come back …”

  .

  Chapter 21

  When Desiree and Jayden surfaced, it was from a different area than where they first entered. They came out of an old drainage pipe behind the Catholic church. Walking home, they didn’t speak as they held hands. A light drizzle landed on them cooling their heated flesh. They didn’t stop or turn their heads as bystanders gawked and pointed or as cars honked and slammed on their brakes. They didn’t stop when someone called out to them.

  They walked as if in a daze toward home. She wasn’t sure how long had passed here, but in Perceforest it had been two weeks, yet felt longer. Were they considered missing? Were their parents out looking for them? So many questions ran around her head as they walked. What would her parents say when they saw them? She glanced down at Jayden. He was filthy. What a horrible sister she had been. She had never thought to wash his clothes or make sure he bathed, considering at his age, he wouldn’t have unless coerced. And what happened to his shoes? His feet were caked with dirt.

  Although her clothes were somewhat clean, her hair was a tangled mess. She looked at her nails. Two weeks ago, she wouldn’t have left the house looking like this, but now she didn’t care.

  When their house came into view, she stopped. Jayden hesitated and glanced up at her. “You know what I want more than anything?” he asked.

  She shook her head.

  “I want a gigantic bowl of chocolate ice cream,” he said wistfully.

  She chuckled. “I want a pepperoni pizza.”

  *****

  Six weeks had passed since they came back. Jayden and Desiree made a promise never to tell. They couldn’t remember, they said. It was as if they fell asleep and just woke up, they said. That’s what they told everyone. They kept that promise.

  As it turned out, everyone had been out searching for them. An amber alert was issued twelve hours after their disappearance. Every inch of the town and ten miles beyond had been searched. They had never given up looking. The day they appeared from out of nowhere was something to remember for a lifetime. The school even held a pep rally in her honor.

  Her parents, for the first time in a considerably long time, hugged her.

  Their disappearance caused both her mother and father to reevaluate their own lives, and they had decided if their children were ever found, they would change for the better, and they did.

  Her mom and dad had changed drastically, older perhaps. Her dad came home early from work. They hugged each day. Somedays her mother would hold her too tight and wouldn’t let go until she pushed her away. Her father said good morning at breakfast. She was amazed at how quickly their lives had changed.

  Of course, she broke it off with Craig.

  Kat said there was something different about her, she seemed more content, and of course, her stutter was gone. The jewel Mihael had given her was actually a red diamond worth thousands. The gems she had spotted in the Morgs’ cave were real diamonds. Now more than ever, her secret must never be revealed. If humans ever were to find out about
all those diamonds, surely they would find a way into the therian’s world. Her father told her since she was adamant about wearing the necklace not to tell anyone it was the real thing. It was the only thing she had to remember Mihael by.

  The night before she was to leave for college, she knocked on her dad’s door to his study.

  “Come in,” he called out.

  She entered cautiously having never been in the room before. Books lined the shelves on the left and right side, shelves to the ceiling. A large mahogany desk sat in the middle. And next to his desk was a counter full of vials filled with chemicals. A microscope and other odds and ends lay on its surface.

  He glanced up as she came into the room.

  “Desiree, are you almost packed up?” he asked setting aside the book he was currently reading.

  She never noticed before, or maybe she had never taken the time to really look at him, but he seemed to have aged since she had been gone. His grey hair was thinner now, and his wire-framed glasses sat loosely on the bridge of his nose covering dark circles under his eyes.

  “Yes.” She walked farther into the room until she was standing close to his desk. “Dad, I wanted to ask you something.”

  He waved her over to the vacant chair.

  She sat down and folded her hands in her lap. “Have you ever heard of were-cats? She wasn’t sure why she asked him. Maybe it was the fact he studied the genes of animals and humans, or maybe it was the pain in her gut that made her ask.

  His breath hitched and his eyes widened. “Why are you asking me this, Desiree?” She saw the startled look on his face. Not a surprised look or even a curious one, but startled as if he was hiding something or he knew something.

  She ignored his question and asked, “Is there a such thing as were-cats?” She watched closely waiting for his answer which took too long in coming. She scooted to the edge of her seat.

  “That’s an odd question,” he answered nervously. His hands shook as he picked up his glass of water and took a sip.

  “Is it? You do study genetics. Surely that’s not at all odd?” She watched him more closely.

  He let out a long sigh and leaned back in his chair. “Coming from you it is. But I can tell you know something. Am I right?”

  “I don’t know for sure, that’s why I’m asking you.”

  He took a deep breath. “It was about five years ago …” He cleared his throat and pushed his glasses up on the bridge of his nose. “I found one. Nothing like I had ever seen before. It was half human and half lion. I was intrigued at what I had found, so I carried it to the lab.”

  Desiree sat up straighter and grabbed the chair’s arm rests with white knuckles. “Was there a storm that day? Do you remember?”

  “Why, yes, there was.”

  “Carried it? Was it dead?” He had found Paltos. It had been her father who found him and dragged him through the hole with him. She was sure of it.

  He ran a hand through his hair. “No, but it was injured. I called Jack Donavon for help.”

  Her eyes widened in shock. Mr. Donavon was Kat’s father.

  “What did you do with him?”

  “I ran test after test. Trying to find answers.”

  “Did you find any answers?”

  “Yes,” he answered beginning to get annoyed.

  “What happened to him?” She didn’t care what answers they found. What she wanted to know was if they killed him. Was her dad a murderer? Tears pooled in her eyes when he didn’t answer right away. Well?” Her voice shook. “Is he dead? Did you kill him?”

  A hurt look crossed her father’s features. “No.”

  She jumped up from the chair. “Where is he?”

  “Desiree, why does this concern you?” he asked confused.

  “I can’t tell you right now. Please, Father, take me to him.”

  “No! That’s out of the question!” He shook his head vigorously.

  “Please,” she cried. “I need to see him.”

  “Desiree, what has gotten in to you?” Realization dawned. His eyes narrowed on her. “You’ve seen them. That’s where you’ve been! You and Jayden. That’s where you were?”

  She couldn’t tell him the truth; she had given her promise, but she needed to see Paltos. She had to speak with him and tell him about his family.

  In a voice that shook, she answered, “I can’t tell you, but I need to see him, please.”

  He searched her eyes and then nodded his head in defeat. “All right. I will take you this afternoon.”

  “Thank you.” She turned to walk out of the room when he added, “Don’t say a word about this to your mother or anyone else for that matter.”

  “Of course.”

  Chapter 22

  The building was located in the west side of town near the hospital. Once inside, he directed her down a long hallway with stark white walls and shiny marble flooring. Their shoes echoed off the walls. Click-clack, click-clack. At the end of the hall, large double doors loomed. She stood back as her father swiped his keycard. The doors slid open with a quiet whoosh. This was the first time she had ever been allowed in his lab. The smell was toxic and stronger than the hospital fumes. She followed him through the lab and through another door in the back. This room held the metal cages. She got a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. Rows of cages, one on top of the other, lined all four corners of the walls. Some were empty and others were not. Her eyes widened at all the occupants inside those cages.

  Most of them looked like monkeys. When her eyes landed on the last cage, she almost fell to her knees. A were-lion stood holding onto the bars. She slowly made her way over to his cage. Her father watched her. She turned back toward him.

  “Father, can you give us a minute, please?” she asked fearing he would decline.

  He nodded his head and left on silent feet.

  She walked over and stood in front of the cage. He resembled Rose except he had a mane. She saw grief and anger in him. “You are Paltos, am I right?”

  His eyes widened, but he didn’t speak. He was beautiful. Of course, not as gorgeous as Mihael, but beautiful in his own right. His tawny mane was about five feet in length and stood around two feet on his head. He was tall, taller than Mihael. He had on a pair of brown cotton pants and a loose T-shirt.

  “I know you’re able to speak. My father … I wasn’t aware until recently, I’m sorry. But I do plan on getting you out. I don’t know how or when, but I will do my best to get you back to Perceforest,” she promised.

  “How did you know?” His voice was ragged and deep with the same foreign lilt of his kind. His eyes were filled with pain and unspeakable horrors he must have endured.

  She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. We don’t have much time, but your family helped me and my brother. I want to return the favor.” Her eyes were drawn to his arms. Needle marks and scars ran the length of both arms. She ground her teeth.

  His eyes narrowed. She stepped back when her father re-appeared. Giving him her most ferocious look, she stomped past him and out the door. On the other side, she waited for him to catch up. She swung around once the doors closed.

  “How could you? All those animals? This is what you do? Poke needles in them, cut chunks out of their flesh? “Anger and disbelief twisted around in her head. The thought that all those years her father had kept one in a cage. Her heart pounded hard against her chest in anguish for the suffering Paltos must have endured.

  “I’m a scientist, Desiree. I find cures for disease. I work at finding their genetic makeup to help our own kind.”

  “Really? How does testing them help us?” The words were bitten out between clenched teeth.

  “They have a different DNA makeup then we do, Monkeys are ninety-eight percent like us, while the were-cats are only eighty percent. They heal faster, run faster, and their sight far exceeds ours.”

  “How would you like it if it was you in that cage? Huh? Do you know what it feels like to be in one of those cages? Well, I do!”


  His eyes widened at her confession.

  “They have a heart, they bleed, and they have souls, Dad. Let him go, Dad. Let him go home. You’ve been studying him for five years. Don’t you have enough samples? Please, Dad, let him go!” she cried. If her father didn’t agree to let him go, she would find a way to get him out.

  “Let’s just say, hypothetically, if I were to let him out, where would he go? How would he get back home?” Her father lowered his voice and glanced around.

  “I have an idea.” At her father’s disbelief, she pleaded. “I know I can help him.” At her dad’s frown, she seethed. “They saved your son! He was dying and those animals saved him! Now let him go!” Tears streamed down her cheeks. She wiped at them furiously.

  She knew the moment he had made the decision. His face took on the look of defeat.

  ****

  The wind pounded the windows as flashes of light lit the sky every few minutes. Desiree grabbed her backpack. “I want to go,” Jayden pleaded while sitting on her bed. She told him about Paltos and her plans for freeing him. He had a right to know what was going on. She had to hold off on leaving town with Kay until a storm hit. She came up with the excuse that she wanted to spend a few more days at home with them. She was sure Kay saw past that lie, but being the great friend she was, Kay never said anything.

  She shook her head. “No, Jay. It’s too dangerous. If we’re caught, we could get into a lot of trouble, even Dad. We have to make it look like he escaped. There are those who won’t be too happy when they find out Paltos is no longer their specimen.

  “Come here.” She pulled him into her arms. “I miss them too, Jay.” The look on his face tore at her heart strings. “I have to do this. They saved your life, now it’s our turn to return the favor. We need to prove to them that not all humans are bad.” She stepped back and gave him a week smile.

  He stood, walked toward the door, and then stopped. “Will you tell him to give Nigel a message for me?” He bent his head down and rocked on the balls of his feet.