It was lunch period on the last day of the school year. Anne led Jinx to their usual corner table in the cafeteria.
Stop! Anne cried to Jinx.
What? Jinx asked, sniffing the enticing smell coming from the floor.
That smells something like antifreeze from Earth. I recognize the smell because my dad’s car overheated one day, and that’s what it smelled like.
It smells good, Jinx sent, licking her lips.
Yes, but it’s dangerous, Anne told her friend. According to experts, it smells good and tastes sweet to dogs and cats, but when they drink it, they end up with crystals growing in their kidneys that kill them slowly and painfully. Some people even set bowls of the stuff out to kill strays. The anguish in Anne’s last sentence made it through their mental link to Jinx.
That’s messed up! Jinx exclaimed. Wait, that means someone here wants to hurt me. Who would want to do that?
That’s something we need to find out, Anne growled as she started scanning the lunchroom.
Dan the Man, as he wanted his friends to call him, sat with anticipation as the snob Anne and her mutt companion walked to their table. The Goody Two-Shoes was so concerned about not being a bother that she always sat in the corner closest to the exit. She made this so easy it was criminal.
This was the last day of school, and by the time the mutt was sick, no one would be able to connect him to it. Serves them right. When he’d asked Anne for a date, the stuck-up little witch had turned him down, and when he’d tried to pressure her into going out with him, her mutt had growled at him! Well, this would show them!
Anne closed her eyes to block out distractions as she scanned the cafeteria. Using the ability she’d developed with the therapist, her head started to hurt, but she ignored it. There! Glee. Anne opened her eyes and found she was looking at the table where that Dan creep sat.
Stevie arrived at the table she shared with Anne and Jinx just in time to see Anne’s eyes glow blood-red and claws grow from her fingers. Stevie quickly grabbed a girl who was going to intercept Anne and pulled her away, shaking her head.
At the girl’s questioning look, Stevie sat and pulled the girl down beside her. “The bistok droppings are about to hit the rotating object.”
Stevie sat transfixed as Anne stalked across the cafeteria. She was almost bouncing in her seat as Mr. Jenkins stepped in front of Anne. Stevie saw the exact moment Jenkins realized he wasn’t facing a normal person. The big swallow he took told the story. As much as she despised the man, she had to give him credit for not bolting away.
“Get out of my way,” Stevie heard Anne tell the shop teacher.
“You’re out of line, and I can’t let you do whatever it is you intend,” Mr. Jenkins proclaimed.
“I wasn’t asking permission,” Anne told the teacher.
“You are a student here, and you will do what the staff tells you!” Stevie was glad it was Anne he was shouting at because she was certain she saw spit flying at her friend.
“I’m afraid apprehending an attempted murderer outranks you being a teacher,” Anne replied coldly.
“What are you talking about?” Mr. Jenkins demanded.
“Him!” Anne thrust her arm past the teacher, pointing at a Were Stevie wasn’t familiar with. “He tried to poison Jinx.”
The Were called, laughing, “She’s sick. How do you attempt murder on a mutt?”
Stevie didn’t hear Anne’s response, but from the way Anne was standing, she suspected a conversation with Seshat was going on.
Seshat, is Bethany Anne available? Anne asked her EP friend.
>>One second,<< Seshat responded instantly.
What does my researcher need today? Bethany Anne’s voice came a few seconds later.
I need a royal statement regarding the status of the dogs. I plan to kick the crap out of someone when they resist arrest for attempting to murder Jinx. Trouble is, they’re claiming Jinx isn’t a person. Anne futilely put her hands over her ears at the deluge of profanity that came from the Empress.
Finally, Bethany Anne calmed down enough to ask, You at school?
Yes, Highness, Anne answered formally.
Be right there.
“The Empress will be here shortly,” Anne declared.
“In the meantime,” Anne stomped on Mr. Jenkins’ toes, “that’s for obstructing Justice.”
Anne smiled evilly as the shop teacher hopped around on one foot and bumped into a trashcan. Anne picked up the surprised teacher, toed the lid off the full trashcan, and, turning Jenkins upside-down, dumped him into it. “And that’s for Stevie,” she said as she brushed her hands together as if trying to rid them of a noxious substance.
Bethany Anne arrived at the school cafeteria as Anne formed a disk of Etheric energy between her hands and pushed it forward, cutting the cafeteria table in half.
Anne ignored the smoking and melted plastic and stalked toward her enemy. Everyone scattered except for one boy, who swung a fist at Anne.
Anne didn’t even acknowledge the punch. She simply flicked out her hand too fast for a normal person to see and backhanded the boy. She hit the Were with enough force to throw him five feet, where he lay in a heap on the floor, moaning in pain.
Easy there, champ, Bethany Anne sent to Anne, hoping the girl was still in control of herself.
He tried to poison Jinx! Anne’s reply was so intense it almost gave Bethany Anne a headache.
Are you sure it was him? Bethany Anne verified.
Yes! I scanned the room for the person responsible. When I singled him out, his defense was that Jinx is just an animal. This time, Anne’s communications didn’t blast into Bethany Anne’s head.
Does anyone realize how you discovered him? Bethany Anne wanted to know.
I don’t think so, was Anne’s hesitant reply.
Let’s try to keep it that way. There aren’t many of us with the ability, and having you as a secret mind-reader would benefit me immensely, Bethany Anne informed her young friend.
As you wish, Anne responded quietly.
“What’s going on here?” Bethany Anne’s voice cut through the screams and chatter of sixty some-odd teens.
Understanding that Anne was trying to get her and her littermates official status, Jinx growled, “This piece of bistok droppings tried to poison me, and I request trial by combat.”
So it can talk, Dan thought as he forced himself to stand. Stupid animal is doing my work for me! “Bring it!” he screamed to the cafeteria.
“Anne?” Bethany Anne asked.
Anne smiled at Dan the creep, showing her fangs. “Sounds good to me,” she said as she stepped back to allow Jinx a clear path. “All we need to know is if he wants his little boy parts chewed off or his puppy-making parts.”
Dan started stripping, which caused some of the girls present to shriek and giggle. Dan pointed at Anne. “She can’t interfere!” he snarled, then shifted.
Jinx worked hard to control her hackles. She wasn’t concerned with the outcome, but a canine’s hackles rising to make the animal look larger was almost instinctive. She watched the Were shift and noted that he wasn’t any larger than she was.
Jinx watched in disbelief as wolf-Dan launched himself into the air with a howl. He has serious issues if he thinks he’s a bird instead of a wolf, Jinx told Anne.
Jinx could sense Anne’s amusement underlying the Concentrate dear one that Anne sent back to her.
Staying low, Jinx moved forward to get under her opponent, and as soon as his teeth couldn’t reach down to grab her, Jinx darted up and clamped her jaws on a dangling foreleg. She pivoted so all her feet could be used for traction and braced herself. As soon as the Were’s trajectory had carried him far enough that Jinx felt his leg start to tug in her mouth, she yanked backward as hard as she could while shaking her head violently. Jinx imagined even the humans could hear the joint pop when it came free of the socket.
With the front leg successfully dislocated, Jinx let go and backed up. She had no intention of givin
g the Were a chance to grapple on the floor and possibly rake her belly with his rear claws. When the wolf got back on his paws, Jinx started circling toward the dislocated shoulder, then darted in, feinting attacks on that leg. When the Were tried lunging to grab her on one of her feints, Jinx spun quickly and, using her shoulder to brush aside her enemy’s muzzle, Jinx darted past and grabbed the rear leg opposite the useless front leg. This time Jinx yanked, backed up, and shook while grinding her teeth into the bone as hard as she could.
Jinx had to give the wolf his due; he stayed on two feet longer than she expected. Suddenly she got the right angle on his leg, and, putting all her weight and strength into a savage twisting motion, she heard a satisfying crack! The Were yowled with pain and finally lost his footing and went to the floor, where Jinx continued to savage the leg in her mouth.
Anne was watching her friend make the fight look easy when a man grabbed her arm. “Call her off!” he begged.
Anne looked at the man and noticed a resemblance to the Were that Jinx was fighting, so she shrugged and proclaimed, “He made me swear to stay out of it.”
Anne. The voice in her head belonged to the Empress.
Fine, Anne replied, but just so you know, I’m rolling my eyes at you.
Brat was the reply as Anne moved forward to put a hand on Jinx.
I’ve been informed that playtime is over, Anne told her friend as she walked her fingers along Jinx’ back to her neck.
Not quite, Jinx growled as she released the Were’s leg. She pounced on the wolf’s tail, and with a single chomp of her massive jaws, she bit off about three inches. Jinx carried the end of the tail over to the spot that had been poisoned and dropped the slobbery mess there.
If it doesn’t regrow, he’ll be Stumpy. If it does regrow, it will be a different color, and he’ll be Tippy. Jinx’ voice sounded extremely pleased.
“The challenge has been won by Jinx, and I sentence you—” Bethany Anne was interrupted by Anne’s voice.
“Guardian Silvers!”
Bethany Anne had to bite her lip to keep from laughing; her young friend had a better sense of Saint Payback then she did. “What do you mean?” she asked out loud.
“He becomes a Guardian recruit and has to spend five years training under Peter Silvers.” Anne’s voice rang through the cafeteria.
“I accept your recommendation, and may God have mercy on him because Peter won’t,” Bethany Anne proclaimed officially.
Chapter Eleven
As Anne waited for her tablet to connect, she wiped her sweaty hands on her jeans and took some deep breaths.
“Baby girl?” Her dad Mason had answered her call.
“Umm…” Anne hesitated as she wondered how to do this. “Would it be possible to meet with you and Mom today?”
“What’s wrong, Anne?” Mason’s concern carried over the call.
“I’m okay,” Anne hastened to assure her father. “Just, something’s come up I need to talk to the two of you about.”
“Where did you want to meet?” Mason asked.
“Well, if you come to my place, Mom doesn’t have to deal with Jinx in her space, and my security team won’t have to travel.” Anne bit her lip as she let that nugget of information out.
“Security team?” Mason’s eyes opened so wide that his eyebrows almost made his hairline.
“After some thugs attacked us, trying to dognap Jinx, the Empress thought we should have security.” Anne tried to word it as unthreateningly as possible.
Thanks for throwing me under the bistok’s hooves, Jinx whined.
Oh, pish, Anne replied. What I’m doing for Bethany Anne is secret, so that excuse is the easiest to use.
“Pish?” Jinx snorted the question.
Hush. It was in a story I read recently, and I liked it, Anne defended before returning her attention to her father.
“I heard something about an attack, but I didn’t realize it was serious.” Mason frowned at the thought that his daughter had been in danger.
“They figured it would be a snatch-and-go,” Anne diverted. “They didn’t expect John Grimes to show up.”
Mason winced. “Oh, that must have hurt!”
“Yup. One dead, two in custody,” Anne replied, failing to mention that she had been the cause of the death, while Jinx had taken on the other two assailants.
“Oh, and just so you know, we’ve moved,” Anne threw in casually.
“We?” Mason asked, his expression a mix of confusion and concern.
“Jinx and I, Daddy. What did you think?” Anne asked with exasperation.
Mason looked contrite. “You wouldn’t be the first young woman to be swept up in new love,” he tried to explain.
“Eeww.” Anne’s nose wrinkled in disgust. “Jeeze, Dad, I’m only sixteen!”
Mason just looked at his daughter and shrugged.
Anne shook her head. “No, no! Just no!”
Mason, not wanting to continue the current conversation, informed Anne, “I have just over an hour left at work, then I’ll pick up your mother, and we’ll come visit.”
Anne smiled at her father. “See you then.” She gave her dad a quick wave before disconnecting.
Did you do that on purpose? Jinx asked.
Yes and no, Anne replied as she reached over to scratch behind her friend’s ear. You should know by now I think of us as US. I can’t help it if Dad doesn’t understand that.
Okay, I’ll concede the point, Jinx allowed, and it was effective at taking his mind off of other things.
When Anne greeted her parents, she was surprised to find she had calmed down considerably.
“Hi, this is E, one of our security team.” Anne introduced her parents to the Guardian Marine. “Come on in.”
Sheila Jayden looked at Jinx and sniffed as she entered the apartment.
“Hello to you too, Mother. That’s why we’re meeting here where Jinx doesn’t leave hair in your space,” Anne remarked as she waved her parents to a couch that she had just finished putting a fresh sheet on to alleviate any dog hair comments.
“Can I offer you something to drink? There’s water, Coke, or what passes for orange juice,” Anne inquired pleasantly.
“We’ll pass,” her mother decided. “It’s not like it tastes like real orange juice.”
“Okay,” Anne responded, “but if I hadn’t offered, you’d have complained to Dad all night.” Anne was already tired of her mother’s attitude.
Mason jumped into the conversation, hoping to cut off an argument. “What did you want to tell us?”
“Well, the treatment that was used to cure me has some side effects,” Anne stated cautiously. She wasn’t sure how much Bethany Anne would want someone as disgruntled as her mother to know.
Mason put an arm around his wife to forestall a panic reaction. “Is there a reason you are bringing this up now?”
Anne nodded. “Actually, yes. You see, someone tried to poison Jinx at school today, and neither of us took that very well. You will undoubtedly see some posts on social media about the encounter, and I thought it would be better if you heard it from me.”
“Better for who?” Sheila was working to turn her fright into anger.
“Oh, for heaven’s sake,” Anne growled in frustration.
Seshat, are there any obstructions in front of my parents’ apartment?
>>No, surveillance cameras show everything clear.<<
With the confirmation that it was safe, Anne darted behind the couch, placed a hand on each of her parent’s shoulders, and stepped through the Etheric to return them to their front door. Anne turned her father and gave him a quick hug. Looking at her mother, she stated, “When you feel like being a mother and not some sort of prosecutor, we can talk some more.”
Both of Anne’s parents were so shocked by the event that they stood silent as their daughter spun and disappeared.
With the break from school, Anne could finally devote time to other things. First on her agenda was getting Gina t
rained for her new job.
“Hey, Cheryl Lynn,” Anne chirped as she and Jinx entered Bethany Anne’s office complex.
“Hello, Anne. Good morning, Jinx,” the cheerful woman answered. “To what do I owe the pleasure of your company today?”
Anne looked somewhat embarrassed when she realized she hadn’t come just to be social. It was because she needed something.
“I know you’re busy, honey, so just spit it out,” Cheryl Lynn teased Anne with a smirk on her face.
“Thanks. I want to take on a young woman as a sort of personal assistant, but she doesn’t have any experience. I was hoping you could take her under your wing for a few weeks and show her the ins and outs,” Anne requested anxiously.
“You have an EI, don’t you?” Cheryl Lynn was puzzled.
Anne nodded. “An AI actually. Seshat, and she’s great. It’s just, I imagine there will be a lot of people who will feel more comfortable dealing with an organic being.” Anne shrugged. “Plus, she’s in a rough spot, and this will help her and her little boy.”
Cheryl Lynn’s maternal instincts kicked in. “How old’s her boy?”
“Not quite two,” Anne replied. “And she’s been hung out to dry by both families, so she’s trying to do everything on her own. I’d like to change that.”
“He really likes us four-footed ones, too,” Jinx added.
Cheryl Lynn sat forward and placed her crossed hands on the desk. “I want to suggest a trade,” she began. “I’ll train your assistant if you ‘hire,’” Cheryl Lynn unclasped her hands to make air quotes, “my daughter Tina.”
“Is Tina doing okay?” Anne asked, concern evident in her voice.
Cheryl Lynn giggled. “Yes,” she reassured Anne. “she had planned on improving her education once she was finished at the Academy. Unfortunately, the situation here on the Meredith is like it was on Earth. Teens fresh out of school, no matter how good their grades, have trouble finding a situation willing to offer them an opportunity. Working with you will pad her resume.”
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