by S. R Russell
“He is an excellent teacher, for the most part,” the principal said quietly but earnestly. He made an expansive gesture with his arm, trying to encompass more than just his office or even the school. “We’re in a closed ecosystem. It’s not like I can run help wanted ads in London, Madrid, Barcelona, Paris, and New York to hire a replacement. A lot of parents don’t feel comfortable with an alien teaching their children, so I’m stuck. I have to make do with whoever’s available—however upsetting or distasteful that may be.”
Anne was somewhat shocked by the revelation, and her mouth formed a silent ‘O.’
“I’m sorry to have wasted your time,” she said, once she got her vocal chords working again.
The principal shook his head. “I truly appreciate that you felt strongly enough to put yourself out there and bring it to my attention. Just… As I said, we’re living in a closed system. If it’s any consolation, I’ve heard the same reports of Miss Kasyanov’s brilliance. Instead of having to deal with Mr. Jenkins’ personality, just come back here when school’s out. I’ll get a message to Stephanie to report to the office once she’s done for the day.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
Stephanie “Call me Stevie” No-Middle-Name Kasyanov was having a bad day. She could speak English fluently, but trying to understand it as a subject in school? English made no sense at all! Shop was her last class of the day, and she was normally able to submerge herself in the design, plans, blueprints, and machining the class entailed. Today, however, Mr. Jerk-ins was being more of an idiot than normal, if that were possible. And the sour grape that topped off the whole mess? She’d been handed a note as she left her English class to report to the office before she left school. She had to devote some energy to fighting the urge to throw back her head and howl.
“Psstt! Want to go to the school dance with me on Saturday?” Mark Holmes whispered.
Stevie took a quick look around the classroom. The last thing she wanted was for the Jerk to give her detention. “Not any more than the last three times you asked me,” she whispered back.
“Ahhh, man, you’re killing me!” Mark added some theatrical embellishment by putting a hand to his chest.
Alerted by Mark’s loud response, Mr. Jenkins turned to glower at the young man. “Just who is killing you, Mr. Holmes?”
Mark refrained from looking sideways at Stevie, since he could feel her staring daggers at him. She was gorgeous, which was one of the reasons Mark wanted to date her, but she had a very nasty temper if you upset her.
“No one, sir. I was just trying to get this assembled before the end of class, and it’s not fitting together properly.” Mark held up several bits and pieces from his current project as proof.
“I suggest you recheck all your measurements, then,” Mr. Jenkins advised. “You have probably cut a piece to the wrong size if it does not fit together.”
“Yes, sir. I’ll get right on that, sir.” Mark cursed under his breath. Now Mr. Jenkins would watch him carefully for the rest of the class, and he wouldn’t have any more opportunity to try to talk Stevie into going out with him.
—
Jennifer wiped her face with one of the towels stacked around the workout area and watched as Pete put two different Guardian Marines teams through their paces. Always a curious person, Jennifer made her way to his side. “What’re you doing, oh fearless leader?”
Peter had years of practice living with the pranks the Guardians and Marines liked to perpetrate on each other. So, he didn’t even twitch when Jennifer spoke, since he’d been aware of her approach. “You’ve trained with Jinx and Anne, right?”
“Sure. I’ve been shifting and teaching canine combat techniques to Jinx,” Jennifer confirmed.
Peter turned his head enough to look at Jennifer, but kept an eye on the sparring teams. “Did you hear they got attacked walking home from All Guns Blazing?”
Peter waited for Jennifer’s gasped, ‘No! What happened?’
“Three bistok-shit-stupid aliens tried to dognap Jinx. She and Anne objected strenuously, and they ended up with one dead, one running, and one subdued by the time John arrived.”
“Oh, shit!” Jennifer exclaimed. “Who racked up the kill?”
“Anne. She hit one of them with some sort of Etheric energy grenade.”
“How’s she holding up?” Jennifer asked, concerned about Anne’s psychological well-being.
“Don’t know for sure,” Peter admitted. “I haven’t seen her in here since the incident.”
“Poor kid. That’s going to be difficult for her to cope with. What’s that have to do with all this?”
Peter turned back to the sparring match. “Bethany Anne has decided Anne and Jinx need their own security.”
“And?” Jennifer asked.
“Winning team gets the assignment,” Peter stated, with a sigh that made it sound like it was an obvious conclusion.
Jennifer laughed. “Oh my God! You’re an only child, right?”
“Everyone knows that. What’s that have to do with anything?” Peter gave Jennifer his complete attention.
“No girlfriend either?” Jennifer persisted.
“My dating options have been somewhat limited,” Peter growled. “What’s that got to do with picking a security detail?”
“Which of these guys is going to follow her into the ladies’ room? Who’s going to go with her when she needs to go shopping for underwear? Do any of them know to suggest Midol and a heating pad at that time of the month?” Jennifer ticked off the points on her fingers as she made them. She finished with, “Think! If you had a younger sister, would you be comfortable with an all-male security detail?”
Peter scratched the back of his neck as he pondered Jennifer’s words. “We don’t have any female Weres available.”
“No, but you have several female Marines. What about those cousins? You know, the ones Bethany Anne recruited from the Israeli Defense Force?” Jennifer felt bad that she didn’t know the women’s names.
Peter clapped his hands to get the attention of the sparring teams. “Take a break, guys. I’ve just been informed,” he pointed his thumb at Jennifer, “that I need a mixed-gender security team. He looked at the Marines. “What are the names of those cousins who are former IDF?”
“You’re talking about Abigail and E,” one of the Marines offered.
“’E?’ What kind of name is that?” Peter couldn’t help asking.
“Her real name is Ethel, but she doesn’t like it. She complains it’s too old-fashioned, so she asks everyone to call her ‘E,’” the Marine explained.
“Does Abigail use her full name, or does she prefer Abby?” Jennifer asked.
“She might prefer Abby, but I think she uses both,” another Marine told her.
“You’re right. It seems to depend on who she’s talking with which name she prefers,” the first Marine added.
“Thanks for your time. That’s it for now, since it looks like I have a couple ladies to talk to,” Peter said as he started walking away from the workout area.
—
Anne and Jinx were heading to the office to meet with Stephanie when Anne caught sight of the familiar profile of Peter Silvers and stuttered to a stop. She heard a whispered “Oh, crap” just before someone bumped into her. “Excuse me,” the same girl’s voice said, and Anne felt a hand on her back as the girl pushed around her. The girl had only taken two more steps when she stopped dead with a muttered, “What the puck?”
“You weren’t expecting to see Peter either, I take it?” Anne asked her compatriot.
“You know him?”
“Yep. Instructor, sparring partner, slave driver… Not sure what he’s doing here, though,” Anne admitted. She looked carefully at the girl and when she paid attention to her senses she caught the scent of Were. “I’m gonna make a crazy guess that you’re Steph—”
“Stevie! I go by ‘Stevie,’” the girl interrupted her.
“—anie Kasyanov.” Anne wasn’t going to l
et the girl upset her.
“How did you know…” Stevie’s voice trailed off. She’d been so concerned about the summons to the principal’s office that she hadn’t been paying attention to her surroundings. When the girl in front of her had come to a quick stop, she had pushed around her without noticing the dog at her side. “You’re Anne, right?”
“Yup, and this is Jinx,” Anne said. She motioned to her companion, then held out her hand to Stevie. I’ll call her Stevie if it makes her happy, but I’ll be thinking Stephanie every time I say it, she sent to Jinx. “I’m the person you’re hurrying to the principal’s office to meet.”
Stevie held out her hand automatically but said, “Do you mind if I withhold judgment on the ‘nice to meet you?’ And do you really spar with Peter?” she asked in the same breath.
“I don’t mind, and not as much anymore.” Anne followed Stevie’s lead and answered both questions. “Shall we?” she asked as she nodded toward Peter and the office.
Now that she was paying more attention to her surroundings, Anne noticed three adults standing by the wall on the other side of the office doorway.
One Were, two humans, Jinx advised when she realized her friend had noted the group.
“Hey, Peter! What’s up?” Anne asked when they got to him.
Peter smiled at the young woman and her canine companion. Both had improved so much in their training since he’d first met them. “Let’s move this out of the hallway, shall we?” he suggested as he held the door open.
Once all seven of them had entered the office, Peter looked at Anne and Stevie. “I take it you have business with the principal?”
“We did, but I’m not sure it’s valid anymore,” Anne replied. “He was supposed to introduce me to Stevie here, but we bumped into each other in the hallway.”
“Well, let’s check with him,” Peter said while he scanned the office for the man in question. “Then if he needs to do something else, he’ll be free to go.”
The secretary disconnected from the call that had occupied her when everyone entered. “Ahh, Anne and Stephanie…”
“Stevie!” Stevie ground her teeth in frustration.
“Your official records show your name as Stephanie,” the secretary commented in an officious tone.
“Only ‘cause my mother filled them out when I entered school,” Stevie mumbled.
Just then the door to the principal’s private office opened. The man stuck his head out and looked around the room. “Ahh, Miss Kasyanov and Miss Jayden,” he called, then paused as he noticed the girls’ proximity to each other. “Have you met already?”
“Yes sir. We bumped into each other in the hall, literally,” Anne proclaimed.
“Well, good, then. Is there anything else I can do for you?” the principal queried.
“No sir, we’re good, I’m going to invite Stevie to my place and we can talk there.” Anne smiled at the young woman she hoped was brilliant enough to help her with her research.
The principal looked at Peter and the three adults with him. “Guardian Silvers, do you need my assistance in some way?”
Peter shook his head. “No, thank you. I was just here to find Anne. As you can see,” he waved a hand at the young lady in question, “I have succeeded.”
“Very well, very well. If everything is settled here, I have some other business to take care of,” the principal said. He re-entered his office to grab a tablet from his desk, and as he exited he nodded to everyone and walked briskly into the school’s main hallway.
Anne looked at Stevie. “You okay coming to my place for a few so we can talk?”
Stevie pulled her tablet from her shoulder pack. “Sounds good,” she acknowledged as she typed. “Anne Jayden, right?”
“You know how the school won’t stop calling you Stephanie? Well, they won’t stop calling me ‘Miss Jayden.’ It’s just Anne,” she explained.
Stevie froze and took a reflexive sniff of the air.
Anne laughed. “We don’t need to drink blood anymore, so we don’t stink the way vamps used to. You should know that by now.”
“I know.” Stevie looked sheepish. “It’s a reflex.”
“No problem. Let’s head out.” Anne and Jinx started down the hall toward the school’s exit.
When they headed out, the man with Peter started walking a few steps ahead of the group. Peter stayed with the girls, and the women followed two steps behind. Without thinking about it, Anne took the turn she and Jinx normally used for their walk home. She’d only taken one step when she felt a hand on her shoulder.
“You don’t dart off without your security,” Peter informed her, pointedly looking at the man who had been walking in front of them.
Anne looked at Peter, shock morphing to indignation. She held up a finger. “One, Jinx and I gave up taking the tram, so this is our regular route home. Two, no one has mentioned I have security, let alone what to do with them.”
Peter looked at the young woman he had helped train and felt proud of what he and his team had shaped. Anne wasn’t angry, nor was she afraid to stand up to him. She didn’t feel responsible for any breach of behavior, and wasn’t going to let him make her feel guilty about it. “Bethany Anne told you she was going to assign you a security team, correct?”
Anne scowled but nodded in agreement.
Peter’s hand swept out to include the three people now arrayed around them. “Meet your sec—”
“Ett!”
Peter was shocked when Anne raised a hand and cut him off.
“Yes, Friday Bethany Anne said I needed a security detail. This is Monday, and this is the first I’ve heard on the topic since then. You can introduce them all you want, but I’m not taking blame or feeling guilty about taking my normal route home. I’m sure if you check with Meredith she can verify this.”
>> I can tell them.<<
I know you could, Seshat, but as far as I’m concerned it’s up to them to know or find out before they start complaining.
“Well, I was going to wait until we reached your place.”
Anne stopped Peter again when he took a breath to continue. “Sounds like a plan.”
CHAPTER NINE
With Anne giving the occasional instruction, the group made their way to her and Jinx’ apartment.
“I have Cokes, water, and what passes for sweet tea here in Yollin space,” Anne announced from the entrance to the kitchen. She almost laughed when she looked back into the common room area. She wasn’t set up to entertain five humans at a time. The men were trying to defer to Stevie, who was having none of it.
Anne grabbed two chairs from her dinette set and dropped them at the doorway to the common room. “Here’s some more seating. It’s normally just Jinx and me, so we’ve never had a reason to acquire more furniture.”
Since no one had voiced a preference for a beverage, Anne hunted around until she found the six-pack carrier the Coke bottles had come in and filled it with six cold bottles from her refrigerator.
Watching this group is more fun than watching the Three Stooges. Jinx laughed in her mind as Anne rejoined the small crowd in her common room, her spare hand dragging one more chair from the dinette. Anne understood what Jinx meant when she saw her five visitors still milling around. Stevie was standing by one of the dinette chairs, but didn’t look comfortable enough to claim it. The men were looking like they were afraid Anne’s comfy couch would bite them.
“Jeez, guys, it’s just furniture. It’s not booby-trapped, I promise.” Anne set the six-pack of Cokes on the coffee table, extracted two bottles from it, and offered one to Stevie. She pointed at the chair Stevie was hovering by and said, “You take that one.” She arranged the chair she had just brought beside it and sat down.
“Peter, you take the other chair. That leaves you three,” she motioned at the two women and the gentleman still standing, “to share the couch.”
Jinx waited as people got settled in the seats Anne had specified, then walked over and sat by he
r person. She looked at Peter and chuffed, “I know why Stevie is here. Why don’t you tell us why you’re here?”
Peter looked at Jinx, and then at Anne. “You are both aware that BA has decided you require a security detail.” He waited until he got an affirmative reply from them. “We’ve decided, at least for now, to start you off with a Guardian Marine team.” He pointed to the middle-aged man. “This is your Were, Arthur Connors. Your Marines are cousins, and I’m going to let them introduce themselves,” Peter informed her as he pointed to the women. “They were Israeli Defense Force on Earth, so they really know their business.”
Anne leaned forward and offered her hand to the Were. Arthur reached over and shook her hand from where he sat.
“You barbarian,” one of the women exclaimed. “Being able to turn furry is no excuse for bad manners.”
“What?” The Were, Arthur, looked completely confused.
“You stand when you’re introduced to a lady,” the other woman chimed in.
Arthur looking at the two women, whose expressions were like disapproving school matrons’. “Oh,” he said, and stood. He looked somewhat sheepish as he shook Anne’s hand. “My mother taught me better, I promise. I just wasn’t thinking,” he confessed as he released Anne’s hand.
Once Arthur had reclaimed his seat, the woman next to Anne offered her hand. “I’m Abigail Himmel, but you can call me Abby if you’d prefer.”
“I’m her older and wiser cousin E Brenner.” The second woman stood and offered her hand above Abigail’s head.
Anne stood to shake the proffered hand.
Before Anne could ask, Jinx looked at the first woman. “’E?’ I have problems with human language sometimes, but I thought I was getting better. I’ve never heard the name ‘E’ before.”
The second woman sat back down at the end of the couch and sighed. “I’m named after my great-grandmother Ethel.” E took a breath and blew it out in disgust. “’Ethel’ is just so old-fashioned, and I used to get teased about it in school. Once I finished school and applied to the IDF, I started telling people to call me ‘E.’”
