“Echo’s assignment? Abby, you sure know how to tell a good one. You had me going for a while.” The captain slapped his knee and punched Kane in the arm. “What do you think of that, boy?” Kane looked around uncertainly.
Abby slowly rose. She took off her sunglasses, the golden rainbow swirls from her eyes lighting up the room. At their shocked faces, she raised her hands over her head, stripping off her shirt, exposing her fine golden fur, just like Echo. Without turning, she shook out her wings which had grown to almost adult size. They were dumbstruck, flickers of fear in their eyes. She nodded to Scotty. He rose. With an audible deep breath, he dropped his glasses and removed his shirt.
“Holy shit!”
No one said another word. Abby just let them look and absorb. They stared at Echo as if seeing her for the first time. They downed their brandy. Abby forced herself not to speak. Instead, she picked up the bottle, calmly refilling everyone’s glasses. She folded her wings against her body, replaced her shirt and sat down. The mundane gesture seemed to calm everyone down. Scotty remained standing as if ready to take flight. Abby reached out and pulled him down into his seat. No one spoke.
The silence hung in the air like a rubber balloon, stretched beyond its limits, ready to rupture. For some reason, Mimi chose this moment to waddle over to the table and scratch on Scotty’s chair, her little half-blind bug eyes demanding attention. Scotty bent down to pick her up. He set her on his lap so she could sit up and see everyone. He kissed her tenderly on her head. The tension broke.
“I knew it. I knew there was something odd about you. I caught a glimpse of your ah, your unusualness the other night when you took a swim with the dogs.” Kane looked pleased to have his suspicions confirmed.
Abby couldn’t resist asking. “Why didn’t you mention it to anyone? You kept his secret?”
“Yeah, dude, you covered for me.”
Kane’s face turned red, his shoulders trying to shrug off the moment. “It’s nothing.”
“Do you think you might put your glasses back on, guys? I seem to be having some trouble concentrating while I look at you.”
They did as the captain asked. “Well,” he continued, stopping to clear his throat. He paused, taking another gulp of the brandy. “I have a million questions that, I guess, can wait. But I think this calls for us to talk about how we are going to be able to fit all this wildlife on the boat.”
Abby broke out in a torrent of tears. She jumped up from her seat to run to Captain Cobby. He stood and grabbed her in a bear hug. She sobbed all over his shirt, breaking down about how hard it had been for them, how lonely, they couldn’t make friends, she missed her mother, how scared she always was. Captain Cobby held her until she slowed down, stroking her thick hair and telling her it would be okay. They were there for her. Looking into his competent reassuring face, she knew they had a chance now.
Chapter 10
Ginger Mae swam in Peter’s jazzy heated pool, built in the shape of a sea gull with its wings wide open. She tried to convince Daisy to join her in the water at the shallow end. But Daisy was afraid of the water.
“No, Mommy, I’m not ready yet. I need to work up more nerve, besides Peter gave me these books about vampires. I want to read them. I’m going to sit in the shade and read Dracula. It’s very old. You stay in and enjoy yourself.” Daisy sounded adorable. Adult conversation in a tiny little-girl voice.
“Okay, Daisy Chain. Let me know if you decide to go inside.” Ginger Mae swam to the other end of the pool, looking tanned and fit, thanks to her daily swims. It had been almost two weeks since Daisy had started to talk. Ginger Mae was amazed every time she opened her mouth. She could now see she had greatly underestimated her daughter. Her IQ must be much higher than she had realized. She had shocked them both when they found her trying to climb the shelves in Peter’s library to reach one of Peter’s old college textbooks—on physics, no less. Peter hadn’t seemed particularly impressed when he learned Daisy could speak. Of course he’d only known her for two days at the time. He didn’t seem to understand these words were the first she had ever spoken.
Things were starting to progress nicely. Their project seemed pretty much complete, except for the pickup, whatever that meant. Peter had started to take an interest in Daisy’s education since he had learned she was a prodigy. The two of them were becoming great buddies. That’s half the battle. As soon as they completed the pickup on Abby’s project, they were going to shop for a school for Daisy.
Her personal relationship with Peter still proceeded slowly. The sex was alright, it wasn’t that. But he treated her like a delicate flower. It could be downright annoying sometimes. It made it hard to really bond with him. She wasn’t a delicate flower. And until he realized it, they would never develop the kind of relationship that would stand the stress of obstacles that might come their way. Like Armoni. She was dying to confess some of her history to him so he wouldn’t go into shock at the wrong time—when she needed him to be strong. She had dropped a few oblique hints, but he hadn’t picked up on them. She still couldn’t believe she had slipped away from Armoni so easily. Perhaps her past prevented her from fully bonding with Peter, fully convinced the shoe would drop sooner or later.
In the meantime, she tried to be as indispensable as possible. She had learned never to say no to anything Peter asked of her. She knew all the names of the truckers and their histories. She was an excellent messenger as she made her way between the homes several times a day. Her relationship with Abby, if you could call it that, thawed about 10 percent. But that did count as an improvement. I will wear that bitch down sooner or later, even if I have to use Daisy to do it.
Clearly, Abby harbored some sort of interest in Daisy. She had discovered Daisy huddled with Abby in her study one day. She hadn’t even known Daisy had left the house. She wondered how Daisy even knew where to find Abby. She was only five years old, after all.
One day, while Ginger Mae gave her report to Abby, Daisy wandered out of the study. Ginger Mae found her in the kitchen with the dogs. She could see Scotty, Abby’s brother, outside on the terrace with his girlfriend, Chloe. The girl seemed to be with Scotty all the time. Cute couple but Chloe seemed a bit young.
The most amazing thing happened while she tried to round up Daisy from the kitchen. In walked this funny little creature. She would have thought it was a cat or a monkey, except for the odd long lion tail, or the shining—was that glass?—antlers and what looked like deformed or broken leather wings sprouting from its back. And the creature’s eyes, something was definitely wrong with the poor thing, it must be sick. Grabbing Daisy, she tried to drag her away.
“No, Mommy, I want to stay here. Please don’t call my friend an it. I love her. Echo, tell my mommy we’re friends.”
The creature just stood silently, her eyes giving Ginger Mae a stomachache.
Ginger Mae wondered if Echo might be the scumbag mother fuckin’ freaky pet that Armoni had always complained about. The one he had said he wanted to stomp.
Suspicion shrouded her every waking moment as she realized something very odd occupied Peter and Abby at that house. She had accepted Daisy’s sudden speech appearance as a coincidence. If she hadn’t been in the kitchen getting water for Abby, Ginger Mae would have been with her daughter when it happened. Interesting—Abby suddenly needing a drink of water. Maybe that was to get me out of the room. But for what purpose? Peter had let slip that Abby and Scotty were filthy rich, but he wouldn’t tell her why. Father deserted, mother recently deceased. She heard talk of Abby’s boyfriend, Jose, yet she never saw him around. She wondered if he wore the constant sunglasses too. Peter said they had a genetic infection thing—couldn’t tolerate light. If anyone needed sunglasses, it was that sick little creature in the kitchen.
“Mommy, I’m going back in the house.”
Ginger Mae swam back to Daisy’s end of the pool. She watched her daughter rise from her lounge chair and put on her little robe. Her heart swelled with pride. How did I
ever produce such a wonder?
“Okay, baby.” She boosted herself up and out of the pool, not bothering with the stairs. “I’m just going to lie in the sun for a few more minutes. If you see Peter, tell him I’ll be starting dinner in an hour. Pork chops, okay?”
Nodding and kissing her mother, Daisy trotted off, book in hand. Ginger Mae settled in, comfortable in her lounge chair, the sun sending a sleepy languid sultriness into her body. Umm, she thought, I might just have to seduce Peter before dinner. A smile spread itself sexily across her face.
A hand from nowhere slapped itself down on her mouth. A voice from hell asked, “Got any of those pork chops for me, you two-timin’ thievin’ cunt?”
*
Scotty walked down to the beach within eyeshot of Chloe’s father’s mansion. He waved goodbye to Kane as he headed back to the boat to help with the modifications needed for the animals. It hadn’t been easy keeping his horrible secret from Chloe. They had spent time together almost every day since the excursion to the cat sanctuary. Sometimes Kane joined them when he wasn’t needed by his father. The three of them had developed an infectious camaraderie which helped sustain Scotty and Kane as their mission approached. Then he thought of Chloe. When he was with her, he sometimes forgot what a freak he had become. When they laughed at the same silly things, he almost felt like his life could be normal. Today was Chloe’s birthday. She would be sixteen.
Today, her father planned a big party for her at a swank hotel downtown. He hoped he hadn’t damaged Chloe’s feelings too much when he’d declined to come. He understood her anxiousness for him to meet her father and he felt flattered, but Abby just would not let him risk exposure. He got it. The last thing he wanted was to be the object of ridicule in front of a bunch of giggling teenage girls that he didn’t know. Kane would attend, though, and had agreed to help Scotty pass Chloe a note, asking her to meet him on the beach near her house, after her party.
*
The party had ended two hours ago and he still waited.
Kane joined him on the beach to report on the celebrations. He admitted his own discomfort—swank parties were not his scene. He mentioned Chloe’s agitation, aggravated by the presence of a gorgeous woman at her father’s side. It seemed her father had himself a girlfriend. It had certainly taken the attention off Chloe. Scotty knew she would be bummed out by that. She complained over and over about not getting enough time with her father as it was. She was really psyched to have him at her party. Scotty thought her father sounded like an insensitive ass, just like his own father. Just because her father didn’t beat her or humiliate her didn’t mean she didn’t feel the damage.
The sun made its inevitable slide under the horizon. He glanced at his watch, aware of the lateness of the hour, knowing he needed to go home. Tomorrow stood to be a stressful day. He felt excited and scared—and very sad. He planned to say goodbye to Chloe after he gave her his special birthday present, one of the few things he owned that held any meaning. He raised his head. In the distance he could hear the sound of a soft lawnmower. Rising to his feet he spotted her running toward him down the beach, rascally Teddy at her heels. She arrived breathlessly.
“Hi, sorry I’m so late,” she gasped, trying to catch her breath. “The darn reporters. They just wouldn’t let us alone. My father had some doll face with him. It might have been nice if he’d have warned me about her before my birthday. Reporters crashed the party and took over.” She sighed, throwing back her head and scrunching her eyes shut. “Thanks, Dad, swell party. It’s bad enough my mom couldn’t be there, but I guess he’s already replaced her.” Her bitterness threatened to overwhelm the special moment Scotty had long anticipated.
“Hey, babe, it’s your night now. Just the two of us. Isn’t that what you want?”
“Yes. Let’s forget about everyone else. Just us—oh, and Ted.” She bent down to pick him up and gave him a little toss in the air, catching him and hugging him to her chest. “He’s my guy.”
“And I thought I was the one.”
Throwing her hands around his neck, she demanded impishly. “So, where’s my birthday kiss?” Scotty laughed at her irrepressible nature. She never stayed down for long. He felt like a man dying of gloom who had just found a cocktail of sunshine. She helped him forget.
Pulling her down on the sand, he gave her a quick peck on her cheek.
“Are you kidding me? Come here, you.” She swept Teddy away and stood on her knees, wrapping her arms around his neck. “I know you can do better than that.”
Laughing, tired of teasing her, he showed her that he could, planting a long slow one on her lips. After they stopped rolling around in the sand, he picked up his gift for her.
“I have a birthday present for you.”
She smiled, her eyes alight with the excitement of first love.
“I see you do.”
“I want you to know that this is one of the oldest things I own. It’s very special to me. It gave hope to me and my mother for a long time, back when we were poor. And it was a big part of my childhood. I hope you will think of me whenever you wear it.”
Chloe’s face looked somber as she took the small package, unwrapping it to expose a black velvet jewelry box. She glanced quizzically up at Scotty. Opening it up, nestled against the velvet, lay an old gold coin, mounted on a platinum and gold bezel. Scotty lifted it out of the box, unclasping the heavy platinum and gold chain that held the coin, placing it around Chloe’s neck. “I hope you like it.”
“Like it? You must be kidding. It’s gorgeous. I love it. I love it because it was yours and you cared to give it to me.” Looking down, she said, “You know I’m crazy about you.”
He reached out his hand, tipping her face up to his. His lip softly met hers as his tears slid down his cheeks. He broke off, wiping them away.
“Scotty, what’s wrong?”
He looked at her with eyes deeply filled with anguish. “I have to say goodbye, Chloe.”
“What do you mean?” Her voice sounded tiny with confusion. “Are you saying we have to break up?”
“No. I would never want to do that. We’re moving back home tomorrow.”
“You gotta be kidding me. Why so sudden? Why did you wait so long to tell me?” She gripped his hand painfully. “Tomorrow? I just don’t understand.” She touched her necklace. Scotty stayed silent, lost for words. “Can we please talk about this, Scotty?”
“I can’t change anything, Chloe. And I can’t explain. You wouldn’t understand.”
“How do you know if you don’t give me a chance?” Her voice screeched incredulously as he grabbed her head with both his hands, pulling her toward him. He held his lips to her forehead.
“You have to know how much this hurts, Chloe. Please try. Try to understand. I don’t want to hurt you. I would do anything to prevent that. I wish you could come with me.”
Chloe pushed him away, anger bubbling to the surface. “Don’t be ridiculous, you know I can’t come with you. What would my father say? You’re not giving me anything to go on. What’s the big secret?” She stared at Scotty, his face giving him away. “There is a secret, isn’t there? Why can’t you tell me? I tell you everything. Don’t you trust me?”
Scotty clammed up, then: “I’m not like you, Chloe.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means exactly what I said.” He knew he sounded bitter. All the frustrations of the last few years suddenly overflowed, Scotty unable to hold back. “You want to know why? You want to know what the secret is. Just remember that I love you and never wanted to hurt you.” His bitterness out of control, he whipped off his shades. In the darkness, his eyes dazzled. Teddy froze, then opined with his ear-splitting bark.
“Interesting. That’s all you’ve got for me? Just your weird eye disease? Ted, please.” She picked up Teddy and attempted to comfort him. “You’ve got to do better than that.”
Scotty shook his head back and forth. “I appreciate your unimpressed attit
ude, but I don’t think you want to know anymore.”
Chloe suddenly set Teddy down. Her face showed her outrage. “Let me ask you a question, Scott Preston. And I want the truth. Does Kane know about this?”
“Yes,” he whispered. She started to cry. “No, please don’t cry. I was afraid to tell you. I thought it would scare you away. And now you hate me anyway.”
“I don’t hate you, you big dummy,” she sniffled. “You trust Kane more than me. I feel like a fool. It’s a little odd, but it’s just a little disease, for Pete’s sake.”
“It’s not a disease.”
She looked up, wiping her eyes with the bottom of her shirt. “Well, what is it then?” Rising, he did the only thing he could to explain. He removed his shirt, flexed his tail and let his fully developed resplendent wings unfold from his body. She looked up with big eyes, her mouth wide open. Teddy had no problem voicing his opinion.
“Oh-my-God.” She backed up on the sand. “Are you an angel?”
Scotty flexed his wings, feeling how good it was to be free of his shirt. Furling them back against his body, he put his shirt back on. Replacing his shades, he sat morosely on the sand. He rubbed his hands over his face, stifling a sob.
“I’m not an angel, I don’t know what I am anymore. I just want to be a normal guy like I used to be. Something bad is going to happen. We don’t know what. But we have to leave to prepare for it. My sister wants to save the animals from the Big Cat Sanctuary. I do too. And then we’re leaving. That’s all I know.” He sounded drained, even to himself. Quietly, he added, “You can come if you want. It would make me very happy if you did.”
“Does Abby know you have wings?”
“Yes. She has them too. So does Jose.”
He heard Chloe swallow.
“Can you fly?”
“I haven’t tried. Not exactly discreet.”
She nodded, agreeing. He thought she might be accepting it. Not that it mattered all that much, he was leaving after all. But it would be nice if they could part without her mad at him. “Are you still mad at me?”
Alien Species Intervention: Books 1-3: An Alien Apocalyptic Saga (Species Intervention #6609) Page 45