A little over 20 minutes later Cat swore and pulled the car up off the road.
“What?” Kass asked, worried something was wrong with the car.
Cat made a sort of growl like sound and then sighed. “Nothing, I just need a pee break. I thought it wasn’t until late in pregnancy, when the baby’s big enough to press on your bladder that you end up needing to pee every friggin' hour.”
Kass relaxed. “Well, that happens too, but in the early months your heart rate increases so it can pump blood faster. That speeds up the processing of your kidneys and makes you need to pee more.”
“Why does no one ever mention that,” Cat complained as she stepped out of the car and gave the surrounding area a once-over.
Kass frowned. “It’s in all the baby books.”
But Cat was already half-way toward the rear of the vehicle. She waved a hand absently back. “Watch for dragons.”
“What do I do if I see one?” Kass asked. But she kept her voice at a normal volume and she doubted Cat heard her from where she was squatting behind the car.
Kass scanned the skyline. Half-subconsciously she also looked for the glint of sniper’s scope. She knew it was unlikely there was anyone out here except for them and the dragons, and the dragons were definitely the bigger worry, but she couldn’t help herself. It was habit more than anything.
Cat was back in the car a minute later, looking much more relaxed. She wasted no time in putting her seat belt back on and starting the car. Soon they were off again.
Kass was silent for the first few seconds, unsure if Cat wanted any advice. Then she said, “You really should read a couple of pregnancy books. It’ll give you a preview of what you’re in for. It’s less worrying when you know something you think is weird is actually totally normal.
Cat frowned but didn’t reply.
Kass continued. “Well, maybe that’s a lie. You’ll probably still worry.” Kass trailed off quieter at the end. She decided not to say anymore. Cat obviously didn’t want to talk about that topic.
But another brief glance at Cat’s expression showed it had shifted to a more thoughtful look, and after a moment of silence, she asked, “What was your first like? Was it planned? Something you wanted?”
“Marc? Yeah. The pregnancy at least. The rest not so much. I mean, we weren’t actively trying, we just weren’t not trying. We figured whatever happened happened. I don’t know. We did talk about it, kind of like wishful thinking and I was overjoyed when I found out I was pregnant. We both were, at least at first. Then, I don’t know. I guess I thought it was just hormones, maybe it was, but something didn’t feel right. And it didn’t feel right the whole way through. Sparrow always said it just nerves. But even after Marc was born I felt like something was wrong with him. Sparrow didn’t see it but then it was like he was different around his dad, even as a baby. Maybe I was just hallucinating it. I sometimes wonder if I’m the reason he turned out the way he did.”
Kass paused there, suddenly realising she’d been rambling. She’d gotten lost in her memories, memories she hadn’t really talked about to anyone before and now here she was talking about those memories to someone who was about to be a first time mother. At the look on Cat’s face she bit her lip.
“I’m sorry. Maybe I’m not the best person to be asking these questions. My experience is probably not the normal. Indi’s probably a better person to ask.” Kass tucked her elbows in close, making herself smaller and linked her fingers together.
Cat was quiet for another moment and then she asked, “What about your other two?”
Kass glanced at her, trying to gauge if she really did what to know or if she was just being polite. But polite wasn’t really Cat’s style. Kass took a slow breath in. “Jesse yeah. Theo no. He was a complete surprise.” Kass smiled sadly, thinking of her youngest, the way he had been before he’d had his head bashed in by his older brother.
“What was it that made you think something was wrong with Marc?” Cat’s question was direct, and without emotion.
Kass could still picture the way people had looked at her after Theo’s death. Many had given her looks of pity but none had wanted to get too close, almost as if it might be contagious. Then there were some who had given her looks of judgement, as if it had been her who had wielded the baseball bat.
“I don’t know exactly, just a feeling. But then, that’s probably common.” She didn’t want to worry Cat. “Except, I didn’t really feel it with the other two.” She supposed it wasn’t that surprising for two assassins to have produced another killer. “I was morning sick a lot, and his birth was the worst of the three of them. Compared to him Theo was almost easy. Jesse was a bit harder, more like Marc for the birth. He kicked a lot more too. Marc was often so still, like I don’t think he kicked as much as other babies.”
“When did you know?” Cat asked. Same clinical tone, same thoughtful look.
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“I don’t know if there was singular point, more like lots of little things that added up over time. The way he just stared. It was unsettling. And he cried a lot. That’s not unusual, some babies cry a lot. When he was two he took a knife from the kitchen drawer and ran at me laughing. I just thought that was a one off, kids being thoughtless as small kids often are. Then I later found him stroking the new baby’s face with the same knife. We got locks on the drawers after that. Moving them out of reach wasn’t enough. He broke his arm trying to climb the pantry to get them down, and when we went to the doctor’s he blamed me. Maybe that was the key sign. The way he’d act so different around different people. He was always an angel with his father. It was just me he hated. At least it felt like it, but I don’t know why. He’d lie all the time. He was physically abusive toward other kids, and animals. At first I thought he was just a bit rough but...” Kass looked from her hands to out the window to back down again. She was quiet for a few seconds, too afraid to look at Cat.
Cat didn’t say anything.
“I hit him once,” Kass admitted in an almost whisper. “I couldn’t take it. And Sparrow never understood because he never saw what I saw, not even when Marc injured another kid at school. He’d make excuses because he loved him. And I never did. Not even when he was in the womb. I think he knew, maybe that’s why he acted out-”
Cat scoffed. “My father beat the crap out of me and I never killed another kid. Parent’s don’t make a scrap of difference to who we are.”
Kass finally turned to glance at Cat. Cat’s eyes were straight ahead on the road. Kass studied her expression. She had a determined look on her face.
“You don’t think you’d be different if you’d had a different father?”
Cat shook her head and replied curtly, “No. Do you?”
“I think my life would have been different,” Kass replied, but this time she didn’t go into detail. There was just too much to sort though, too many wrong turns. Some which had led to beautiful moments, but like anything precious, nothing had lasted. Perhaps that was just true of all things.
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They exited the Dragon Mountains unaccosted by anymore if its scaly residents. They stopped in Nin for fuel and food then Kass napped for a bit. When she woke up she offered to take over driving for a bit, but Cat refused.
Conversation waxed and waned. Mostly they drove in silence. Hours and a few more stops later, they reached the desert.
Kass tracked their position on a map, estimating their distance travelled by looking at the odometer and very rare landscape markers. Out here in the desert, there wasn’t much that stood out. Kass instructed Cat to drive off road and out into the sandy nothingness just before they got to the location of the facility.
Cat peered out the window with a frown. “Hmm, it might be a little sandy for this car.”
“I thought you said desert racing was a thing?” Kass retorted.
“Yeah, on dryer and harder ground.”
“We don’t need to go far, just park up somewhere behind that hill.” Kass pointed up ahead.
“If we get stuck it’s your fault,” Cat replied.
Kass didn’t answer. Worst case, if they got stuck, she figured she could lift the car, although she knew Cat wouldn’t like that solution.
They parked up and Cat did a circle around the vehicle, eyeing the tyres.
Kass grabbed her rifle and a bottle of water. Then she started walking up the nearest hill.
Cat, noticing where Kass was going, quickly scrambled after her. It took her a few seconds to get used to the sand. Kass didn’t wait until she got to the top. By that point, Cat wasn’t too far behind her, although she’d obviously put some extra effort into the last stretch.
“I don’t expect you’ll be able to see much,” Cat told her as she dropped down to lie on the sand beside Kass. “They had some sort of shield around it last time remember?”
Kass nodded but was already raising her scope to her eye. Cat wasn’t paying attention. She hadn’t seen what Kass had yet.
“What are they doing?” Cat asked, finally looking out toward the facility.
It was as Kass had hoped. The fence around the place hadn’t gone out that far, at least not far enough to contain the work crews they’d need to dig the place out quickly. Given someone had seen activity out here was enough to suggest that the cloaking field was no longer active. Of course it was possible that Baelfyre had found out another way but Kass had figured their chances weren’t bad.
“Looks like they’re excavating,” Kass answered.
There were even more people than she’d assumed camped around what was a very visible facility. The gates were open and soldiers were streaming in and out. Some of them carried shovels.
“Do you think they know what they’re digging up?” Cat asked.
“I don’t know. Let’s watch them for awhile. Maybe we can get a closer look once darkness falls.”
They stayed where they were on that hill. Kass didn’t budge from her spot for hours. Cat would occasionally troop back down the hill for a bathroom break and later to set up the tent and cook dinner. Kass finally joined her while the pasta was cooking.
“How can you lie still like that for so long?” Cat asked her between giving the pasta a stir.
Kass shrugged. “Patience?” She stood their aimlessly for a second and glanced around the area. There really wasn’t anything in the way of bushes or rocks to hide behind.
“What you just standing there like that for?” Cat asked.
“I... um, I need to pee,” Kass replied. She could feel her cheeks blushing.
“Well, go do that then,” Cat replied. When Kass didn’t answer or immediately move she added, “I won’t look.”
Kass left her rifle by the car then walked off and found a place far enough from the car or anywhere they were likely to walk later. She glanced back briefly to check Cat was keeping her word. She was.
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“So what’s the plan?’ Cat asked once they were both eating dinner.
Kass rested her fork in her bowl. “I want to do a bit more observation. I didn’t expect quite so many people. It seems like quite a big operation. It would be nice to know who they are but I didn’t see any obvious identification.”
“We know they’re from Mercy though don’t we?”
Kass shook her head. “I wouldn’t assume until we know for sure. I don’t think this place is as secret as people think.” She sighed. “I’m worried about those mimics we left down there. They didn’t die to Amanda’s fire. What if sunlight doesn’t hurt them either?”
“That would be bad I suppose,” Cat agreed, but she didn’t sound that worried. “They’d be like fast zombies then.”
“Fast zombies that can’t be killed,” Kass emphasised.
“Everything can be killed,” Cat replied.
“What if they got caught up in the necromancy spell and that’s why it didn’t fully work,” Kass theorised.
Cat considered it and then shrugged.
“We need to find out, who they are, what they’re doing, and what they know.”
“How do you propose we do that?” Cat asked, sounding vaguely bored.
With a focused look Kass replied, “I’ll set an alarm for very early morning, say 3am. We’ll sleep until then. Then we’ll see if we can get a little closer.
Cat nodded, accepting Kass’s plan without question.