by M. Street
Like stalking unsuspecting prey, we shifted through the scene with our telescoping eyes, cupping ears, and twitching whiskers. I dilated my eyes, further engrossing my assessment of the impossible barriers. Dev wanted to wait until the pack joined us in two hours, but Haruz and I burned for more answers. Knowing that the pack was coming to selflessly sacrifice themselves as a last resort wasn’t sitting well.
The only sense left unencumbered by the encased palace was smell. Haruz’s nose locked onto Raven and Jeremiah silently talking in the wind. Their wildly different scents raised more questions. Like pushing on something leaning, Haruz took off into the ripe forest surrounding the outer ball of light. Dev and I hit our private bond at the same time. I quietly insisted we follow. He screamed to stay.
I trailed Haruz, chasing the base of his tail. He refined his shadowy run, flowing over the ground. Moving with the power of four legs was truly invigorating. Dev followed out of anger and wild protection. He watched behind us while darting forward. Haruz spied a strategic vantage point a hundred yards downwind of the palace. We would be able to use our animal olfactory senses with laboratory accuracy to discover more of what lay within the palace walls.
I skated on survival highs until I felt a tug and a snap. My heart stopped, seeing my necklace snagged and swinging like a pendulum on a random, broken branch. Like shattering glass, the unfortunate accident blew out the floor. Caught off guard and totally unmasked, I dumped high-pressure silver and pearl into the air like a ruptured plane. With the speed of life, I scrambled to hide. My hind legs triggered like cannons, banking wide. Casting light from my cat eyes, I snatched my mask. My light extinguished upon contact, but the flash flood of light had been discharged.
With collective inhales, we diverted our course, automatically putting as much distance between us and the spilled light as possible. In a mad dash, we zipped up a sturdy oak obscured by a school of young trees. We froze behind the cover of the full summer leaves lacing our faces with shadows. I held the pouch of emeralds, pearls, and ivory in my mouth. I fought back my growing bulk, provoked by my tension. I was freakishly large in the wake of the unforeseen fate.
Two patrols spun toward the place where I had gone bare. We were radio silent, sitting incredibly still several blocks away. The mishap cut the cord on our investigation time. We would have to leap before Arbitri got close. Scents of information started streaming through my nose, causing my nostrils to flare and my sinuses to engorge. I petrified, flipping my response to run into an uncontrollable, monstrous rumble. The breeze, loaded with unbiased clues, leisurely flowed through the humming, impregnable walls of energy surrounding the palace. The inside-out view drew stories of distractible proportion.
Dev pushed hard for us to leap, but I was already lost with Haruz. I filtered through the puzzle pieces chemically erupting inside my feline brain. Two patrols geared up in charge, heading into the forest toward us, but the threat didn’t seem as important as what I was discovering.
A familial trace fired on every one of my nerves. The floral gardenia scent I first breathed in the Congo came wafting from the palace walls, connecting possibilities. My Aunt Theia was the queen of this palace. I streamed through Ahnah’s celestial reading in a confident flash. Maybe this was the moment the Cetacite queen had predicted. Maybe now was the turning point when my family foe would turn friend.
Sparking riveting suspicion, Raven and Ozwald scented as though they were sleeping. Raven couldn’t control her pheromones; her usual rich cinnamon was as dry as dust. Ozwald always made a point to smell pretty regardless of his circumstance, so his blandness read with the unease of a medical flatline. Jeremiah’s defeat spiked the air with a stiff sour. The Canite king was broken by distress, cracking my heart. Whatever was transpiring in the palace was killing him.
Instinct caused my mouth to open for a better taste. Hammering on my Vampacoti awareness, Junjari and Valbeth spoke their presence loudly in the air. Dev jumped knowing his trusted confidante was inside, but it didn’t distract his demands to exit. Weirdly, both women gave off repulsive orders of fermented, age-old anger.
Souring the air with the power of rot, Safe’s injuries cried out. My Guardian brother’s salty blood clotted in my nose. The sheer strength of the smell announced the magnitude of his situation. He was critical and getting worse. Ozwald’s ungoverned spell had shattered every bone in his body. Even the tiny ear bones had exploded, making him deaf. Sharp pains ricocheted through my body knowing how badly Ozwald had hurt him. Junjari’s control cast was so potent that it was calcifying his brain in the aftermath. I knew from his decaying smell that he wouldn’t make it through the night. My fangs and claws extended as my bravery went unchained with the need to heal him. Somehow, I had to get to him. With Theia’s predicted help, saving Safe didn’t appear impossible.
Two Vampacoti from the patrols fanned out from the pack, and one was headed straight for us. The danger snapped me back from the scented data to Dev, demanding that I leap. Just as Haruz conceded to go, the bishops funneling the domes dropped their powerful casts. Like a flipped switch, the red-velvet night engulfed the yellow palace in a thick frosting. Everyone, including the approaching Vampacoti, paused to figure out what was happening.
The unexpected lowering of the impregnable defenses shifted me into a pensive waiting, despite Dev’s escalating persistence to bow out. I heard the broadcasted summons to return to the palace in bronze, silver, and platinum. At once, all the patrols reversed course, heading back to the palace like good, obedient Arbitri. My fearlessness took advantage of the timing, shedding any urgency to run.
A surprising sound swiveled my ears, hooking a recognizable hum. A high-pitched song, like steel reeds flying fast, voiced the signature sound. The wings of an Avian were uniquely beautiful. The gold light approaching from the east increased the rate and size of what was going down. The doors of the palace scraped open, winning my attention over the buzz in the sky. Dev silently scaled down the trunk of the oak to join my branch.
Drawing all attention, Junjari and Valbeth stepped outside. Dev solidified, eavesdropping on the tarnished disdain spilling from their silver auras. Both Vampacoti had high-dose spells hissing around their wrists. There was no question the two women openly disliked each other without restraint. Their friction generated heated purples and reds.
“Your attempt to win over Sabina is futile,” Valbeth said with checkmate certainty. “She will never betray Piper. Not even if the child has coupled with Dev.” The nimble, sleek woman ground my love’s name under Junjari’s skin and nails.
“Not to worry. I know what you are up to. Your attempt at the Vampacoti crown is even more futile,” Junjari retorted sharply, churning out more red than the endless sky. “Dev will figure out your betrayal.”
The private words tore through Dev as though they were razors.
“I know you were in Tahiti to make me look bad before you turned in the child!” Junjari stated aggressively. “Eli has Ahnah. He will get to the truth.”
Valbeth’s pulse increased, but her stature remained composed.
“If you two cats do not stop bickering, I will make you sleep outside.” A brilliant Theia glided outside through the palace entrance with a frail, elderly infant man. They were surrounded by dozens of Guardians.
I rubbed against Dev, licking his face. The hurt in his heart kept him motionless. The betrayal by his long-trusted cohort was beyond repair.
My heart tightened as I realized the old man with Theia was Jeremiah. Although he was masked, his ancient, shallow face, snow-white hair, and hunched, withered frame bore rivers of sadness. The once-mighty Canite king was giving up.
The closeness of the unmasked Avian riding her atomic anger registered through my mask. I shared with Dev and Haruz that Sabina was incoming from the east, flying solo. The arrival of the blaringly agitated Avian queen further complicated the deadly playing field. Dev pushed me to cut the mission. His hurt brewed into anger, but I hardly felt his persistence in
the wake of my heart rocking from the amassing instability.
Sabina came in hot, trenching the old cobblestone driveway in her defiant landing. Brilliant golden fireworks formulated the great falcon into a petite, elegant human. She came to a graceful stop. The queen stood short but her glittering royal aura poised her taller than anyone. She was young with braids of gold chaining back her blonde locks. Laden with livid reds riding on motherly courage, she burned hot. Although she was adorned in formal dress, the gold in her seasoned aura was armed for battle despite her being grossly outnumbered. The queen marched unafraid past the growling Vampacoti, snorting Equuians, and smirking Guardians directly to Jeremiah.
“What have they done to you?” Sabina asked with heart-moving compassion to the battered king. She took off his mask so she could be close to him. The small-framed Avian lowered her anger, shining an aged yellow-pink for her longtime friend. She held the despondent royal Canite, infusing her glittering gold into his dimly flickering copper.
The centuries-long bond sent tremors around my heart.
Jeremiah took a big breath like he had been held under water. With the Avians and Canites unified in spirit, Ozwald must have gone rogue casting against Safe.
“I want to see my son now!” Sabina demanded tersely to Theia, leaving the reviving king. “I demand you release him immediately.” Her voice was piercingly high.
“Watch yourself, Sabina.” Theia visually restrained herself, flaring her backlit green on green eyes. My aunt was stressed and low on patience. She tarnished red wine, flexing her platinum, easily pushing a supercharged Sabina back several feet. “Make your plea to Eli. He arrives in the morning,” Theia snapped, rising into the air. She laid down an oppressive disgust from a story above.
My cat eyes read within our family lines. Reluctance inside my dad’s sister stirred with internal conflict, darkening her corona. My intuition operated with nonlinear accuracy, foretelling like a Cetacite. Theia was going to raise the domes, sealing away so many that I loved from seeing another sunrise. The rush of potential loss tore through me, tipping my reason.
Dev brushed up against me, fully scenting me with his minty rose, ending my ability to smell anything else. I snapped out of my involuntary, painful premonitions, but not because of his heavy, hallucinogenic taste. All my toiling visions played out undefined, focusing me into the now. I prepared myself for choices whose responsibility was solely mine. Harboring motherhood amplified the unity that beat through my lumens for all of life. Separation was only possible through illusion. We were all one. Being so totally in love with Dev had opened doors in my heart that I never knew existed, growing rooms upon rooms. Aligning myself, I acted on mindless impulses of love and blissful courage. I rubbed up against Dev, scenting him heavily. He felt my heart in the feline goodbye. Not thinking about myself, I discharged forward to get inside the palace before the domes were raised.
I pushed record-breaking speed clamped with precise slinking. Dev launched after me, feeling my heart’s intentions overflow my mask. Before he could gain, I reached the far side of the palace, stopping under a castle wall. Dev, then Haruz, joined me before Theia commanded the bishops to raise the domes.
One by one, feet-thick bubbles locked us into an undetermined fate.
37
Different Sides of the Same Truth
T
hree solid domes of impenetrable light extended above and below, negating all possibilities of leaping away or drilling a subterranean exit. I was living sonically without sane navigation, powered by my cracking heart. I could not let Safe go. Besides intimately caring for him, we all needed him. The absolute force containing us inside an Arbitri camp sobered me up with the slapping bite of supercooled water.
The dichotomy of following my strung-out heart crashed head-on with Dev’s massive opposition, building a quantum charge. My love hit face-first into panic, floored by our impossible circumstance. He was consumed with me and the twins I concealed away in my pitch-black feline form. Haruz panted rapidly, jacked up on pulsating do-or-die acuteness. Dev dropped his anger for fear, flustering my focus.
The three of us huddled close against the assembling odds, waiting for the patrols to resume their inspection of the castle grounds. We had less than seven seconds to make a move. Dev and Haruz remained diligent, holding back their unappealing scents, but I soured the air with distress.
Racing down diminishing possibilities, I formulated human, taking the necklace from my mouth. “I’ll take them out,” I suggested. Dev and Haruz formulated, aging younger with each remaining tick of time.
“No. That will alert them to our presence. Get us into the palace.” Dev spied an open window on the top floor, throwing heat into the cooling night like clear smoke. Out of time, I pulled Dev and Haruz in close, flying up the stone walls. I followed a twinkling red shadow cast from the singing stars.
Preparing arrows of sedative Vampacoti spells, I silently flung the windows open. I darted us into the attic room, ready to put down any occupants. I exhaled, finding no elemental light in the ornate sitting room. I put Dev and Haruz down with care, casting the window exactly how I found it. I slid to the corner of the window, preparing myself for the next unknown that was surely inbound.
Breathing silently, we nervously watched out the window as a massive orange Siberian leopard with a wavy silver aura slowed, sniffing our ground trail. Her aura surged and her violet eyes flared, catching my elevated vapors. A licorice-black stallion with a flowing bronze aura trotted next to the spotted cat. The muscled horse’s eyes smoldered a baleful red, matching the hues of the dark energy filling the sky. She stretched her nostrils, snorting with the force of a bomb blast. I braced for the alarm to our foreign presence to be pulled.
A Guardian man dressed in a tight gray suit lowered down through the tree auras, hovering above the bobbing beastly heads. “What is it, Hodari?” he asked the scanning Vampacoti in a brooding Russian accent. His hair was severely slicked back, and his eyes were beady and depressed, his thin lips naturally curling down. He hosted a strong platinum aura that was disturbingly devoid of color. Holding Dev’s hand, I calmed in our union.
Raspy words emitted from a crystal hanging around the pale Guardian’s neck as the big cat snarled. “Traces of an unknown Vampacoti.” The crystal translated what my brain could inherently do. “She was scared.” The big cat hissed, crinkling her snout and straightening her whiskers.
“And possibly a Canite trace, but the scent is too weak to be certain. The trail must be old.” The bronze black beauty turned around, huffing.
“I will not be responsible for any problems.” The words slithered sluggishly from the Guardian’s sneering frown. He tapped his crystal, causing it to strobe a bright magenta.
Dev squeezed my hand, bracing for the alert.
After a climactic pause, a life-sized hologram of Theia appeared in front of the Guardian man.
“I am not to be bothered,” my aunt snapped impatiently.
“I’m sorry, my lady.” The man bowed submissively. “We’ve detected unidentified Vampacoti and Canite scents just outside the domes.”
None of us blinked, holding our pulses.
Theia pulled up a dimensional terrain map of the palace surroundings, showing their location. “The king is almost done with Ahnah. He will be arriving soon,” she said tersely.
My heart sank into darkness hearing the Cetacite queen’s name tossed around like a locker room rag. Dev felt me slipping, watching our lives bounce around the pockets of a roulette wheel slotted with undesired outcomes.
“Shall I …” the man sheepishly started to ask, raising his hands and crunching his shoulders.
Theia cut him off, clearly dismissing him. “The Canites are after their king and princess—they pose no threat—and Eli has reinforced Junjari’s pride. There is too much vermin under my roof.” She blanked her expression, emanating no-room-for-error seriousness.
“Add three more patrols and review the new intake of Vamps
,” she ordered. “Eliminate any Canite on sight. Prepare for lockdown.” Theia raised her chin, holding the pose for punctuation before powering away.
“Yes, my lady,” the Guardian said mockingly to her evaporated image.
The Vampacoti and Equuian shot magma-colored laughter at the platinum man.
“Hodari, follow the scent to be sure,” he crassly ordered the flehmening cat. “Let’s go!” he yelled impatiently to the black Equuian. The Arbitri Guardian flared magnitudes brighter, rising quickly into the air. The force from his discharge briefly pinned the large cat and muscular horse to the ground, reaffirming his rank.
“Open the domes,” he spoke into his crystal. One by one, the impossibly thick walls of jelly light dissolved, opening the prison before our very eyes. The sniffing, silver Vampacoti slinked toward the palace, encroaching on our position.
Dev swallowed in response to his lightning impulse to run, flooding all of his wits. “Piper, now.” Dev looked at me squarely. Our arms interlocked like electrified magnets. His wide, brown eyes bounced, excitedly waiting for the leap.
“Olo will not survive the night,” I whispered what he could smell.
“That is not your problem,” Dev said bitingly. “You know he would not want you here.” He was right, but any thought of losing Safe broke my back.
“Getting you out of here is first priority,” a dark, hairy-chested Haruz grumbled, disconcertingly dropping his hunt for his beloved Raven and Jeremiah. His focus was totally on me and the encroaching cat.
Before another utterance of pressure could be pushed, the thick bubbles re-solidified around the castle. “Piper, please.” Dev’s tone reflected the crashing red brick wall behind his mask. “If the domes drop again, leap yourself and the twins out of here.” His face flushed, causing the veins in his neck to throb feeling my resistance. His towering stance ignited my kerosene-soaked mood. I broke touch with him but kept our eyes attached. His churning rivers of emotion exposed an angry love that was too hot to hold.
