Listening to nature’s song and seeing the beauty of the nighttime forest bathed in the soft light of the moon, June’s rage began to diminish. She found that the feelings of loss and betrayal hiding underneath hurt too much to bear, and she focused on building her anger back into a bonfire. If she had been duped by Aunt—Dr. Langley, then Dr. Langley had probably had a good laugh behind closed doors at how June called her family. In all likelihood she despised June. She must have never meant the kind and encouraging things she said to June whenever they were together.
Fittingly, Cordelia and her tremendous inability to be fooled had, in fact, been tricked a hundred times over, and now it was up to June to rescue her. That was, if she hadn’t left town; at this point June couldn’t rule out anything on Cordelia’s part. But if she had stayed in Seven Falls, then she was at least safe until midnight, so June just had to find her before then. June had a lot to find before midnight.
Reaching the edge of the woods in her backyard, June eased into a crouch and Brendan hopped down. “What time is it?” she asked.
He glanced at his calculator watch. “11:05.”
She grimaced. One hour to go.
“Hey June, I’m sorry about your aunt and all.” He walked up and stood in front of her.
“Thanks,” June rumbled. “Dr. Langley isn’t who I thought she was.” Her shoulder muscles tightened painfully. “That’s the theme of the day it seems.”
“Yeah.” Brendan held eye contact. “You’ve always got me though.” He smiled and then dropped his gaze and toed the grass.
June tried to smile, but she felt certain it looked half-hearted at best. “I know. Thanks.”
Still concealed from view of her house, June paused and listened, ears rotating, whiskers twitching. She only heard Abraham Lincoln snoring loudly inside. Where was Cordelia?
They moved quickly to the backyard and then up the concrete steps to the back door. It was locked, and the electronic keypad was way too small for June’s paws. She waved Brendan up to punch in the door code.
Once inside, Brendan paused in the kitchen to pull out the Geiger counter. June resisted her first instinct to tell him to put it away. Cordelia had experimented on her as a baby, and Aunt Violet was a giant snake demon—the list of things June would have once labeled impossible was quickly shrinking. Maybe the serum was in her house.
Upstairs, she found Abraham Lincoln in her bed, fast asleep on his back, with his large gut slipping to the side and his rear end on her pillow.
“Abraham, wake up!” she growled. “Where’s Cordelia?”
He stretched lazily and looked at her with a perturbed expression. “I don’t know, June. But you look lovely. Really putting your best foot—or should I say paw—forward.” He laughed.
An involuntary frown tugged at June’s mouth—he was as bad as Brendan with the jokes. Speaking of Brendan, June looked up to see him staring at them from the doorway, spellbound.
She turned back to Abraham. “When did she leave?”
“Sometime earlier this evening.”
“Did you hear where she was going?”The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
“No. She gave me extra wet food, so I left her in peace. I had a full night of bathing and sleeping ahead of me, and I wanted to get an early start.”
“Ugh, you are useless.”
Abraham rolled his feline eyes. “No one told me it was my job to keep tabs on the humans who serve me. And I’ve never really trusted your mother, June. Owls prey on cats, you know.”
“So do larger cats,” June said threateningly. Abraham snorted. “Did you see anything unusual at the house today?” she asked.
“I’m afraid not,” he replied coolly. “Although the one you call Aunt Violet did stop by earlier for a spell. She left shortly before your mother.”
“What’d she say? What’d they talk about?”
“I didn’t really pay attention. There was a bird outside the window that was just infuriating, so I focused on it for the afternoon.”
“Did they argue?”
“I couldn’t tell you.”
June threw her front paws in the air and stomped away. The floor shook. Abraham Lincoln shrugged and rolled over to return to his nap.
“Er, there’s a note from your mom on the counter,” Brendan said, still staring in awe at Abraham Lincoln.
June sped back down to the kitchen and grabbed the note.
June, if you are reading this, then know that I am sorry, and I will fix things. Do not go out tonight. Just wait for me at home. I’ll be at the lab with Violet, and I’ll be back some time after midnight, so don’t wait up. <u>Stay at home</u>. I love you.
“Your aunt’s at the lab with your mom, huh,” Brendan said behind her. “That’s not good.”
June rolled her neck to relieve the tension that had seized it and faced Brendan. “Let’s join them.”
“Wait,” he said, holding up his hands. “Hear me out. Midnight’s the deadline, right? So even if your mom is with Aunt Demon, Cordelia’s probably okay until midnight. Those guys we left with Dr. Idiot might know where Mr. Moseley is, and it’s just past eleven. We should go check on the two other demon guys. They might be awake now.”
Brendan made a good argument. They had to try to find Mr. Moseley before midnight. And Dr. Langley’s house was to the north, just like the lab, so it was sort of on the way.
June blew out a loud breath. “Okay. Let’s go.”
***
Approaching Dr. Langley’s house for the second time that night, June heard, before she saw, a car running in the driveway. When she did see it, she thought her head might explode if she didn’t make someone else’s explode first. She drew closer—Brendan still on her back—and knocked on the driver’s side window so roughly that it cracked. Dr. Chase jerked awake, saw her, and put a hand over his heart. When he had rolled down the window, June resisted the urge to pull him out and throw him into a tree, settling for a growl so quiet but so deep that something inside the car rattled.
“What are you doing?” she demanded through clenched teeth.
“Why, resting, of course,” he said, though he at least had the good sense to look embarrassed and more than a little afraid. “You said that those two couldn’t possibly escape the duct tape. After a few quiet minutes I thought I might rest my legs a bit and came out here for a spell of fresh air.”
“You are a dimwit,” June rumbled and crouched so Brendan could hop down. Dr. Chase went to open the door and she pushed it shut. She felt the door thump into some part of him, and he muttered a curse. Good.
June led the way back to the basement, Brendan right behind her. Again, she heard the trouble—or lack thereof, rather—before she saw it. And what she saw were two empty mounds of duct tape. Anger and confusion bounced around her head as she examined the piles. She found clean lines where the tape had separated, allowing the two Europeans to pull themselves free.
June held one severed section up to Brendan, who had a scowl on his face. “Do you know what this means?”
“Someone cut the duct tape.”
June turned to Dr. Chase, who had finally joined them in the basement. A section of air duct ran right over him, blocking some of the light from the nearest bare light bulb, and casting a shadow over his eyes.
“Did you hear that?” she said to him, her voice thick with fury. “Someone cut them loose while you were sitting in your car.” Her voice started to rise. “And then they escaped. Maybe right out the front door under your incompetent nose!” June slammed a paw into a row of boxes and sent them flying against the back wall. Dr. Chase flinched and shrank back. He said nothing. She glared at him for an uncomfortably long time. “Go home now and pray I don’t see you again tonight.”
June turned to Brendan. “We need to hurry.”
As she rushed up the stairs, she heard Brendan say behind her, “I’ll just be going now with my partner, old chap.”
Despite her boiling anger, June snickered. In the front yard, Brendan pulled out his goggles and climbed up her back. They were gone before Dr. Chase even made it out of the basement.