Page 48 of On A Rift's Edge
Throughout it all, his mother remained silent. That was so much worse than if she had yelled at him.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you all of this before,” Kat said for what seemed to be the hundredth time.
His mother spoke up. “I think Katsuo needs to take a break. Too much talking, too little eating.”
George nodded and stood up, but Naomi and Jenny didn’t budge until Winkie made the same shooing motion toward them that she used on rescue cats trying to steal table food.
Kat wanted to leave too, but he couldn’t hurt his mom even more. His anger and shock at finding out that Lyall and his closest friends had kept secrets from him had faded. Now he was left with guilt and a gnawing feeling that maybe they had been right to not tell him.
“So.” His mother reached out and took his hand. “This Lyall of yours. I liked him—until he turned into a monster and scared us all half to death.”
“He should have told me the truth from the beginning.” Kat thought that through and had to admit he was being unreasonable, given the circumstances when he had first met Lyall in human form. Kat wouldn’t have taken the whole Matchmaker thing well while being chased by ratkind monsters and phantoms. “I’m not a kid anymore, and I don’t like to be patronized.”
That had sounded better in his head. Out loud, it was just whiny.
“Well, you know now.” Winkie squeezed his hand. “Alien Matchmaker or not, Lyall likes you because you’re you—my beautiful, brilliant, and kind Katsuo. Have a little dinner and take a nap. When your dragon friend comes over I’ll send food back for him and the giant dog monster.”
Kat leaned forward to hug her and kiss her cheek, and she left to get him (and everyone, even Lyall) food. He got up and walked over to a front window, wanting a little more time before he had to deal with the mess he’d made of everything.
His watch buzzed, and a three-dimensional image of Remi floated in front of him.
Kat took a step forward, instinctively coming closer as he saw the fear on his friend’s face.
“What’s wrong?” Kat knew Remi didn’t scare easily. He was the son of a mafia boss, after all.
“It’s Snow.” Remi sucked in a deep breath. “He’s sick. I have no idea what’s wrong with him. Kaveh’s off at the Keep, and you’re the only one I know who can help him.”
Alarm washed over Kat. What had happened to Snow? The Riftworld hybrid had always been in the best of health, but maybe he had been injured. The bird was so reckless.
“I’m at my parents’ house. It’ll take me about an hour to get to the ranch.” Kat’s mind raced, trying to think of local vets who treated avian Earth species. Snow was half-cockatoo, and perhaps Remi could get the bird help sooner by taking the parrot into the city.
“I know. I’m driving up right now.” Remi paused, then said something Kat couldn’t catch to another person. He must have asked someone to give him a ride. Javier, maybe? “Can you come out to the car? I think he’s getting worse.”
Kat turned to the window and saw a solar-panel-equipped luxury auto pull into his parents’ driveway. The windshield and windows had embedded energy cells in them as well and were tinted so dark they’d be illegal in most other states.
The vehicle looked oddly familiar, even though Kat couldn’t think of anyone he knew who drove a car like that. Remi might have “convinced” someone to help him get Snow here fast. Kat was willing to let some moral laxity slide when it came to saving an animal.
He raced out of the house into the driveway. The back door popped open and Kat grabbed it and flung it open.
Remi and Snow weren’t in the back seat.
Teo was.
A familiar giant ladybug perched on the hopper’s shoulder. As Kat froze in fear and surprise, the cyberbug gave a friendly chirp before using an exact replica of Remi’s voice to order, “Get in the car.”
Teo patted the seat beside him as a strong arm jerked Kat’s head down from outside the car and pushed him inside.
Mabel and Fable grinned over at him from the front seats.
“Good to see you again, gatito.” Teo dropped what looked like a large worm on Kat’s lap. The Riftworld creature twisted over Kat’s wrists, a living zip-tie, as someone climbed in after him and slammed the door shut.
Kat turned toward his captor, his gut twisting in a queasy mix of fear and fury at himself for walking right into this trap.
“Thank you for your cooperation.” Paul Cicero—aka Arimanius—gestured at Fable to drive. “You’ve made all of this so easy.”
18
The wide-open saguaro forest beckoned, and Lyall loped through it in his Riftworld form.
