Kitty Katt 11: Alien Separation (26 page)

A
S SOON AS WE
were out of the room I picked Ginger up and used hyperspeed to get out of the house. Did a fast check of the village also at hyperspeed—everything looked serene. But there were no Lecanora on guard duty.

Of course, there was technically no need. The only ones who lived here were Fancy's Albinos. Once inside Haven, they all considered themselves safe. And they were, under normal circumstances. But the circumstances now were no longer normal.

What my mother called instinct, Jeff called my feminine intuition, and I called my gut were all saying the same thing—we were going to be attacked. Sure, the door was locked from the inside, but all it took was one traitor on this side and that was over.

Had no idea why I suspected a traitor, other than this was the only way the door could be unlocked. But a traitor within the Albino Clan was unlikely—if they were here, Haven would be overrun already.

So if there was a traitor, we'd brought them with us, with King Benny's Gypsy Clan. Only none of the Lecanora had given off anything that would have triggered Jeff. When we were in the Bronze Land this wouldn't have been a surprise. However, his empathic talents were working in the other areas we'd hit so far, and if there was a traitor, focused on me, Christopher, and Chuckie though he'd been, I was sure that Jeff would have noticed.

The katyhoppers and strautruch were in the room with the rest of us, so they were out as potential door openers and, besides, they didn't have the paws for the job.

Retraced our steps but at a human walk—I didn't want to miss anything and I wanted to conserve energy just in case. Besides, I could speed it up if I needed to and this way, Ginger didn't have to deal with hyperspeed. Though she'd only gagged a little when we'd stopped outside the village.

All of Haven was asleep—clearly they functioned on the same daily clock as the rest of this world did. Had no idea how they managed it, because Patrina was right—looking up I could see no stars. There was nothing but a dark golden glow. At least the rocks ensured that they didn't have to burn torches all over the place, so there was that small blessing.

This land was beautiful. It was hard to connect with the rest of the planet that we'd seen. Not because of its beauty—this was potentially the prettiest planet in the galaxy, if not the universe—but because it looked so normal. Normal for Earth. Normal, from the little I'd seen and the A-Cs had told me, for Alpha Four, too.

I was getting more and more convinced that this world had had more than a little help in its creation. Which made sense considering we'd been so carefully placed here.

As we walked and I noted that there were literally no sentries anywhere, my memory nudged. King Benny had carried a short sword in his tail when he'd first come to meet us. And I'd had the thought that we weren't who he was worried about. So, that meant there was someone in his clan who he didn't trust. Took the leap and assumed it was one of his advisors.

Ruled out Skunky because if King Benny didn't trust him he wouldn't be planning to leave the rest of the Gypsies in Skunky's care.

This left a few options. My top three choices, based on their willingness to speak up, were Nanda the beaver, Grover the weasel, and the woodchuck guy I'd named Brown, for Charlie Brown, a joke that only Chuckie had gotten or appreciated.

On Earth, suspicion would fall firmly onto Grover based on his species. But I was willing to keep an open mind. King Benny hadn't wanted Nanda in charge because of her willingness to be rash. And Brown, once we'd been accepted into the clan as Gods, had basically been quiet and not interacted with us at all.

“Hey.” Christopher appeared out of nowhere and I managed not to scream. Only just. Ginger, too, based on her jumping at him and only getting her claws pulled back and her jaws slammed shut at the last moment. “Ack! Get your cat off me!”

“Hey, Ginger has fast reflexes and you scared the crap out of us. What are you doing here?”

“Little kids don't stay quiet, even when they're trying hard. Patrina woke us all up on accident. Pinky told us what you were worried about and where you were going and why. Jeff was going to go after you but Chuck pointed out that the Lecanora are listening to the two of them, Chuck and Jeff, far more than anyone else, and that if we were in trouble, I was the fastest so could get you out the quickest.”

“And Jeff listened to reason? Wow. I guess he doesn't care anymore.”

Christopher laughed. “No, but he's clear on what you think could be going on, and the destruction of Haven and all the people in it requires him to stay put.” He shrugged. “Like when we were running Centaurion Division, he knows when he has to make a choice he doesn't like.”

“Sounds a lot more like politics, but either way, works for me.” Brought him up to speed on my theory about the potential traitors. Now wasn't the time to discuss this world and why we were in it. “So, it could be one of them or none of them. I have no guess right now.”

Christopher picked Ginger up under one arm and took my hand. “Let's find out sooner as opposed to later. I got some sleep and food and I feel fine.” With that, he zipped us off at hyperspeed, but at the regular level, not his Flash level, for which I was grateful.

It didn't take us long to get back to the T-intersection where this road met the pathway coming in. We stopped, Christopher handed Ginger to me, and while she settled her stomach as quietly as possible, he zipped around the corner and back. “Clear so far, but I can't see all the way to the doorway.”

“We're ready. Who do you think it's going to be? Nanda, Grover, Brown, or someone else? Or no one?”

“I have no idea. That's why we're going to investigate.” He took my hand again and we sped down the trail.

To come to the door and remember that it took more than one to move it. “Or,” I said conversationally, as we stopped behind them, “it could be all of them.”

H
AD TO ADMIT,
I was surprised to see so many of the Gypsy Clan working together against their king and the people of Haven. However, it was who they were working with that was the complete shocker.

“So, Under-Clan Leader Karason, you're opening the door to let the Horrors in?” I could hear banging on the other side. It was dull and faint, as something banging on rock would be, but it was still distinctly there. “And you're not afraid that they'll eat all of you first?”

The all were the rest of King Benny's advisors, other than Skunky and, I was happy to note, Nanda. But Grover, Brown, and others I hadn't bothered to get to know yet were all here, clustered together, looking hugely guilty.

“Not the Horrors,” Karason said. “I would never release them on my own people.” The tone was completely honest and believable. But there was a slight emphasis on the words “my own” that was, for me, telling.

Maybe it was because I knew LaRue had been here, and, thanks to my time in Bizarro World, I also knew that LaRue was actually an Ancient, and therefore a shapeshifter. Maybe it was because there were shapeshifters in this solar system, many of whom I knew didn't want to play nicely with others, despite their Queen's views. And maybe it was just because I was so used to this kind of crap that, by now, the idea that anyone or anything was exactly as presented seemed totally out of the realm of possibility.

Whatever it was, what I did was simple. I tossed the animal trained to fly through the air and kill a gigantic, venomous, flying snake right at Karason's head.

Results were, as was so often the case, immediate.

Karason shifted into an Amazon from Beta Twelve, complete with the short spiky hair—in this case, a dirty blonde—and the
Xena: Warrior Princess
outfit. She wasn't one of the tall ones, I put her at about Rhee's height, but that still meant she was taller than me. And, as with all the Free Women, she was very muscular in an attractive way while still being just a bit out of proportion to human eyes.

Speaking of eyes, while hers were the typically Amazonian larger and more elongated, unlike every other Free Woman I'd ever seen, they weren't a dark purple—her eyes were black. With no whites in them at all.

Freaky eyes or no, I'd been expecting a shapeshifter to appear. No one else, including Christopher, had been.

He said one word, “Whoa!” Then he disappeared. Had no idea where he'd gone, but my suspicion wasn't that he'd run off in terror. Had a feeling he was moving so fast that I, and therefore the Amazon, couldn't see him.

The Lecanora panicked. Interestingly enough, this meant that they followed Ginger's lead and attacked the Amazon. Unsurprisingly, even though there were five of them, they weren't a match for her.

She flung them off easily and focused on the real threat—Ginger. This wasn't going to be good for Ginger.

“Ginger, retreat! Come to Kitty!”

She tried, but the Amazon had a good grip on her, one hand on Ginger's throat and one buried in her stomach, and I could tell she planned to rip Ginger apart.

Which was nice, in that sense, because I flipped right into rage, and rage meant I was now a match for a trained Amazon spy.

The Amazon was holding Ginger up, almost over her head. Meaning she was pretty exposed. Also meaning she was either poorly trained or hugely overconfident. Hoped for both.

Bent down, ran, and slammed my shoulder into the Amazon's stomach hard enough that she hit the wall. This loosened her grip on Ginger. Sent a palm-heel strike up to her chin, while my other hand found a pressure point on her arm and squeezed it.

Ginger meanwhile was clawing, and managing to miss me but not the Amazon, and she got a good cut in. The Amazon let her go and focused on me. She swung, I blocked. She tried to sweep my legs. I jumped. She hit me in the chest and I flew away and hit the other wall. She laughed and stepped toward me, and therefore away from the wall she'd been up against.

Which was a mistake, because Christopher had fought as many of the Pissed-Off Amazons during the battle before my wedding as I had. Probably more than I had. And that was before he was the fastest man on Earth and, from all I'd seen, on Beta Eight, too.

Plus, he'd been training me how to use my powers for over three years now, and that meant we knew how to fight together as a team. Which we did.

Christopher reappeared and took the Amazon's back, literally. He had his arm around her neck and had her in a choke hold before she took two steps toward me. He was about her height, which meant he could get her, but he couldn't hope to use his body weight to get her down, like Jeff or even Chuckie would have. But then, that's what I was here for.

She grabbed his arms, meaning her fists were occupied. I'd seen plenty of movies, so when I stepped toward her I was ready for her to lean back against Christopher and try to mule kick me. So I let her try it and jumped out of the way.

She used the falling momentum to try to flip Christopher over her back when she landed. Which would have worked better for her if I hadn't anticipated that, too, and had, therefore, already made a double fist and swung up right at her face as said face came right down to meet my hands.

She went to the ground, Christopher still on her back. The Lecanora, sensing that the Gods and the whatever they thought the Amazon was were occupied, tried to make a dash back up the trail. Ginger, however, was pissed off and she blocked them, snarling and doing the low growl-and-yowl that cats do when they're saying, “yo momma” and “bring it” in feline.

“You five will stop or I will rend you limb from limb,” I snarled at them. “Or I'll just let Ginger do it.”

“A little . . . help,” Christopher said through gritted teeth. “She's down but she's not out.”

Opened my purse to see what I could use or surreptitiously ask for without Christopher noticing that would allow us to tie her up, and saw Bruno and the Poofs. Shoved the thought that that would be a cool name for a band aside and focused on the situation at hand.

“Bruno, my bird, help Ginger keep the five Lecanora traitors at bay and not doing anything Kitty wouldn't like, please and thank you. Poofs, assemble!”

The Poofs poured out of my purse. Every Poof that corresponded to every person with me in Haven right now showed up. Then, when they had the Lecanora's full attention, and the Amazon's too, they went large and in charge.

The Poofs at normal size were merely adorable bundles of fluffy cuteness. However, when roused and in fighting or protective mode, they were as tall as Jeff, with giant mouths filled with razor sharp teeth. The teeth were there when they were small—anyone watching them devour a fallen foe could attest to that—but you just couldn't see them for all the fluffy fur when they were tiny.

Large, however, the teeth really stood out. Especially when the Poofs bared them and did the same low growl Ginger had been doing. Only there were more of them and their growls were a lot deeper, meaner, louder, and longer. The area we were in, being made of hollowed-out rock and all that, assisted with a lovely echo.

The corresponding screams were, as was so often the case, impressive.