Feral

by Jami Lynn Saunders

  A light went on in Pippa’s mind. “She came to find other werecats.”

  Mother Frances nodded. “You are your mother’s daughter, and you have her traits. In fact, you look just like her.”

  “Where is she? Pippa asked.

  “Let me tell the story, Pippa.”

  Pippa nodded and Mother Frances continued. “When Piper made it to New York, she was brought before Alexander’s brother, Gabriel, because Alexander was away at the time. She was nearly dead from a feral attack outside the gates, but Gabriel nursed her back to health, or thought he did. When he watched her heal at a rapid pace, he knew what she was. And when she finally opened her eyes and he saw her pupils, there was no doubting it. But Gabriel had fallen in love with her, and he begged Alexander to keep it secret. But Alexander had become a greedy, jealous man, and he took her for himself. She became pregnant and bore a child. That child was you, Pippa.”

  Pippa felt the blood drain from her face. “So, I’m not only an abomination but also a bastard. A mistake.”

  Mother Frances smiled. “The Lord doesn’t make mis-takes, Pippa. You are the pure part of what Alexander had been before greed corrupted him. He was a good man, a man I respected, and we worked together to turn this building into something for the people. You were a blessing, Pippa, always remember that, and your mother loved you very much.”

  “If I’m his daughter, why am I not with him?”

  “Alexander desired a son. He sent you here to live as an orphan because he knew a daughter would cause him trouble in maintaining his position. When Piper didn’t produce a son to carry on his legacy, he lost interest in her, yet he wouldn’t let her go. All she wanted was to return home, but she wouldn’t leave without you, and you were too young to travel across feral land. She came to visit you often and told me of her plans to escape with you and Gabriel once you were old enough to travel.”

  “Why didn’t she and Gabriel hide somewhere in the city until they were ready to leave?”

  “Because she wouldn’t have been able to see you.”

  Pippa closed her eyes and tried to remember her mother, tried to catch hold of a fleeting image that seemed to want to reveal itself. But those early memories were too dim, like shadows within shadows.

  “Piper still loved Gabriel, and they continued to see each other, but they tried to keep their love a secret,” Mother Frances said. “Eventually she had Gabriel’s child, Abby.”

  Pippa looked at Abby and smiled. “So, we’re sisters.”

  Abby nodded and squeezed Pippa’s hand. “I’ve wanted to tell you, Pippa, but Mother Frances made me promise. Uncle Alex told me years ago that we were cousins, that you were his daughter, which was why we looked alike. But he said if someone found out, you might be in danger. So he told me that I should become close to you but not reveal the secret. But I never knew the whole truth. I never knew we had the same mother.”

  Pippa’s mind was reeling from the revelations. “What happened to Gabriel?” she asked Mother Frances. “And my … our mother?”

  “Although Alexander had abandoned Piper, he was a jealous man and came to hate Gabriel,” Mother Frances said. “So one night he put his own brother in the front lines of a feral attack so that he would be killed. When your mother saw what was happening, she rushed out through the gates to help Gabriel, revealing her true nature. Alexander chose to let her go and be killed in front of his people to protect his leadership. He never revealed that Piper was mother to both of you. No one else knew the truth, except me.”

  “So Alexander was willing to sacrifice his own brother and our mother, and then he abandoned his own daughter.”

  “I’m afraid so. Yet in his own way, Alexander loved you, and sending you here was also a way to protect you. He knew that if anyone found out that he had a daughter born of a mother who was a werecat, you would be killed. He also revealed that his brother had a daughter and told his people it was in his best interest to have his niece, Abby, raised here as well.”

  “Did you know I was a werecat?”

  “I had my suspicions. Although there were no visual signs—your eyes and teeth were normal—there were other, more subtle, indications. But we weren’t really sure what was happening to you. Besides, no one had ever heard of a werecat who had a human parent. Alexander had one of his doctors create a suppressive medicine to calm your seizures. We told

  people you had a mild form of epilepsy.”

  “But the medicine stopped working,” Pippa said.

  Mother Frances nodded. “As you matured, your true nature began to take hold.”

  “That’s what I’ve been feeling.”

  Mother Frances paused and seemed to lose herself in thought for a moment. Then she turned her attention to Pippa once again. “There’s something else.”

  The silence in the room seemed to intensify as everyone waited for the next revelation.

  “I think you are much more than a werecat, Pippa,” Mother Frances said at last. “I believe you are a hybrid, a mix between human and werecat.”

  Pippa stared into a candle flame and tried to make sense of what she’d heard, but her mind was spinning again, and her breaths were shallow. She tried to calm her breathing and settle her mind. “Abby and I have the same mother. Is she a werecat, too? Or a hybrid?”

  “We thought she might be, because of her asthma,” Mother Frances replied. “But no, all she needed was the ionized inhaler that we had made for her. She has shown no other signs.”

  “What does all this mean for us now, Mother Frances?” Pippa asked.

  “It means your future is about to change drastically. But before I explain how, tell me what happened tonight.”

  “They saw her, Mother Frances,” Aiden responded. “It was Bruno and his gang. And I cut off Bruno’s hand.”

  Mother Frances sighed. “Then Alexander will soon know everything, and all your lives will be in danger. He won’t risk being exposed. You must flee the city. All three of you.”

  “Where are we supposed to go?” Pippa asked.

  “Home,” Mother Frances said.

  “I don’t understand,” said Pippa.

  Mother Frances went to her desk and unlocked a drawer with a key she wore on a chain around her neck. She removed an old paper booklet and handed it to Pippa. “This is rightfully yours, Pippa, and Abby’s, too. It belonged to your mother.”

  Pippa looked at it and began to turn the pages. Each page showed a map.

  “Taken together, those maps show the entire United States,” Mother Frances said. “Your mother traced her path across the country using this book. It can lead you back the way she came, to the safehold. Gabriel gave it to me to hide and protect from his brother. I cannot say whether her notes are still accurate or if the landmarks she mentions still exist, but it’s the only chance you have. If you stay, you’ll surely be killed. If you go, you may possibly find your mother.”

  Pippa looked up, startled. “You said our mother was dead.”

  “No. I said Alexander let her go that night so that she would be killed. But after his militia repelled the ferals, they went to collect their dead and wounded. There was no sign of Gabriel or Piper. I think they were still alive, forced to flee back to where Piper came from. I don’t know for sure, but my heart says they live.”

  “So they abandoned us, too,” Pippa said.

  “No, child, they had no choice. Besides, they knew you were safer with me, and they knew Alexander would send Abby to be with her sister.”

  “We need to leave tonight,” Aiden said. “Once Bruno reaches Alexander and tells him what happened, he’ll swarm this place before we have a chance to go. We need to put as much distance between us and his militia as we can.”

  “I knew this night was coming,” Mother Frances said. “That’s why Abby has been preparing.”

  Abby looked at Pippa. “I’ve got three backpacks waiting in the basement. We’ll leave New York through the old Lincoln Tunnel.”

  “I thought the tu
nnels were collapsed.”

  “That’s what they want you to believe,” Abby said. “You can still get through, but they have guards on both ends. I’ve figured out a diversion to get us past them.”

  Pippa stood up and looked at Mother Frances, tears welling in her eyes. “How can we just leave you?”

  Mother Frances stood up and hugged her, fighting back her own tears. “I’ll be fine. Alexander needs me to lead Mass and protect his sacred warehouse from being ransacked. You must go. Whether your mother is alive or dead, she would want both of you to find your way back home.”

  Abby and Aiden hugged Mother Frances, and then Aiden walked toward the door and beckoned the girls. “We’ve got to go.”

  “Keep them safe,” Mother Frances said.

  “I will,” Aiden replied.

  Pippa was shocked to see the basement lit up brighter than the brightest New York day. “You’ve really got electric down here?”

  “Uncle Alex had power generators installed for when we cataloged his spoils,” Abby responded.

  “I never knew you’d been to the basement,” Pippa said.

  “I wasn’t supposed to tell anyone. Uncle Alex said he put me in charge because I’m his niece and he trusted me. I tried to live up to that trust. Turns out that was stupid of me.”

  “Stupid you’re not,” Pippa said.

  “Amen to that,” said Aiden.

  “How do you two know each other?” Pippa asked as Abby led them down aisles filled with books and gadgets.

  “Aiden came back to Mother Frances after Bruno cut off his hand,” Abby said.

  “Came back?”

  “I was an orphan here for a long time before Alexander recruited me for his city militia,” Aiden said. “You wouldn’t remember me because I lived and worked down here as a cataloguer with Einstein here before joining up.”

  “What happened between you and Bruno?” Pippa asked.

  “They started doing bad things, as bad as what they tried to do to you. The night I told him I wanted out, Bruno drugged my food. I was half out of it when he and his gang held my hand down and cut it off with a hatchet. They threw me out, and I came back to the only place I knew. Mother Frances and Abby hid me and nursed me back to health. Mother Frances knew I had street skills, and when I was better she sometimes asked me to do things for her.”

  “Like be my personal bodyguard,” Pippa said.

  Aiden smiled. “I was always happy to oblige Mother Frances.”

  “How’d you end up with that?” Pippa asked, pointing at the fire saw. The strange contraption covering the end of his arm looked like a metal nub with solar panels on all four sides.

  “That was Abby’s doing. I told her I wanted something like a hook so I could be like a pirate in those books she tells me about, but she had a better idea.”

  Abby smiled. “I like making gadgets, and I thought the fire saw would be a cool weapon. So I modified it to work with Aiden’s DNA, removed its guard and handle, got rid of the battery, and refabricated the end to attach to Aiden’s arm.”

  “And this little slit is where those lasers come from?” Pippa asked as she pointed at the thin opening on the end of the device.

  “Yeah, hard to believe, huh?” Aiden said. “Einstein here could’ve saved a lot of time by just giving me a sword or something.”

  “I bet you’re glad I didn’t after tonight,” Abby said.

  Aiden grinned. “I love it now. It responds to my thoughts, and it won’t run out of power. Unless we run out of sun.”

  “Here we are,” Abby said.

  They stopped walking and Abby pointed to a darkened corner of the basement.

  Pippa turned to look behind her at the large collection of books. Row upon row lined the walls and aisles, triple the number on display upstairs.

  “Have you read any of these, Abby?” she asked.

  “Just about all of them.”

  “No way.”

  “I’m serious. Mother Frances says I’m a speed-reading genius. I can read any book about ten times faster than a normal person, and I remember everything in it. She says I also have what she calls a photographic memory.”

  “I hope you’ve read something about traveling through a world full of ferals,” Aiden said.

  “In a roundabout way I have. I know about hunting, fishing, survival, and fighting skills. Between that and your militia skills, we should be able to defend ourselves. Now, let’s grab our backpacks and get out of here.”

  Abby moved aside a sheet of plywood to reveal three dark green backpacks along with rugged camouflage clothing and sturdy boots. “Time to change our outfits,” she said. “These clothes will protect us against the weather and allow us to blend in with our surroundings.”

  Abby started to unbutton her top, but Pippa hesitated.

  “Don’t worry, I’ll go around the corner to change,” Aiden said.

  Minutes later they were dressed and ready to go. Abby stopped at a glass case that featured old guns and crossbows. She reached into the cabinet and grabbed a short black stick that looked like a mini club. Along its length was etched the word Excalibur. One end of the black handle had three prongs that protruded slightly outward and then hooked in until they nearly touched.

  “What’s that?” Pippa asked.

  “One of Alex’s prized possessions, something he bartered from an old military man who hunted ferals in his younger days. Watch this.”

  Abby snapped the baton and a silver stem shot out, slipping through the prongs and extending like an antenna until it was a meter long. The three prongs touched the metal stem, and blue sparks crackled.

  “This thing can cut through metal,” Abby said. “I programmed this one to work for me alone.”

  Aiden smiled. “Nice, brainiac. Why is it called Excalibur?”

  “They named it after a sword from an old story about a king named Arthur,” Abby replied. “It’ll do a number on any ferals we come across.”

  “What about me?” Pippa asked. “Don’t I get a weapon?”

  “You are a weapon,” Abby said.

  Pippa frowned. “That didn’t help me much tonight.”

  “It will,” Aiden said. “Mother Frances believes that after that first change, your instincts will kick in and you’ll know how to change at will. As you learn to harness your strength, you’ll become as strong as a tiger or a leopard or a lion or a—”

  “Yeah, yeah, okay, Aiden, we get it,” Abby said.

  “I don’t feel strong,” Pippa said. “And I don’t really understand any of this.”

  “Mother Frances believes you will in time,” Abby said. “She believes the suppression for all those years might even make you stronger. Now that you know your true nature, next time you change to defend yourself it won’t be such a shock. You’ll be able to use your strength when it happens.”

  “I hope she’s right.”

  “She is,” Abby said. “But now it’s time to get out of here.”

  Abby led Aiden and Pippa farther back into the base-ment until they reached an area lined with metal barrels twenty deep and twenty wide. Abby jumped up onto one of the barrels and beckoned her companions to follow. The group silently walked along the tops until they reached the end of the basement. Abby nodded to Aiden, and they knelt and grabbed what Pippa realized was another sheet of plywood painted black with barrel tops nailed onto it. They lifted the plywood and carefully slid it out.

  “Secret passage,” Abby said as she winked at Pippa. She hopped down into the hidden opening, and then pulled a length of rope that lifted a smaller piece of black plywood to reveal a passageway. They entered and Abby replaced the top cover. Aiden lit up his sun ring and led the way into the depths of the hand-dug passageway, Abby closing the second cover behind them.

  The tunnel smelled of damp earth, and its ceiling was barely a foot above their heads. It was shored up by rough wooden beams and planks, but the floor was earth and their footsteps fell softly. After a long, shallow descent, they sen
sed the tunnel beginning to rise.

  Aiden suddenly stopped. “Did you hear something?”

  Pippa listened hard, then looked aghast. “They’ve found the tunnel.”

  “We have to run,” Aiden whispered. He motioned the girls to slide past him and held up his sun ring to light the way.

  Pippa raced ahead, ducking low to keep from hitting her head. It seemed to take a long time, but the tunnel finally ended at a makeshift stairway that led up and out. Pippa climbed out and into the middle of a clump of shrubbery. They were on the south end of the wooded park that hugged the west side of the Hunter Library.

  Aiden and Abby appeared, and Aiden looked around the park to make sure the coast was clear. He gestured at a large boulder next to the opening. “Do you think we can push this

  on top of the exit?”

  “We can try,” Pippa replied.

  The three set themselves behind the boulder, and on Aiden’s mark they pushed with all their strength. The rock didn’t budge.

  “It’s no use,” Abby said. “We have to run.”

  Pippa shut her eyes and concentrated on the blood pulsing through her body. She felt the same sensation she’d known when Bruno’s gang attacked her, and she felt herself beginning to change. She opened her eyes and saw Aiden and Abby staring at her. She stared back at them as they watched her pupils elongate into slits. She wanted to roar. She felt an unnatural strength coursing through her. She pushed against the boulder. It moved, and she pushed harder. She pushed again and felt the big rock settle onto the tunnel opening.

  Pippa felt a hand on her shoulder. “Breathe,” Aiden said.

  She nodded and took some deep breaths.

  “You okay?” Abby asked.

  “I’ve never felt better. I feel like I could take on the world.”

  Abby smiled. “It’s the endorphins.”

  “Come on,” Aiden said.

  It took an hour to reach the old Lincoln Tunnel. The wide concrete surface of the approach to the tunnel was cracked and potholed, and abandoned cars and buses had been shoved against the high walls that bordered it. The three slipped into the shadows of one of the walls, and Pippa scanned the area for guards and other militia. “There’s just the two of them,” she whispered. “Just outside the entrance.”