Sweat beaded off Rachel’s brow, the heat of the dying sun nowhere near capable of shaking DC of its chilly March wind. She slowed to a stop near the grass of the rec center near the White House and dropped to her back, Alexa and Little Nia joining her, trying to collect themselves.
A chuckle came from Barbara, Anthony, and, shockingly, her big brother, all standing on the sidewalk without a drop of sweat on them. Rachel felt like she’d never worked out a day in her life, and her pride took a hit upon seeing Selvaria puff to a stop near the three. How was Selvaria, the uber-weighty sea monster, still standing when she was on her butt?
“W-We going another mile?” the Leviathan gasped, taking deep breaths and bending over, her hands pressed against her knees. “I… don’t think I have another one in me.”
Nam flashed a grin at the three of them on the grass. “C’mon, Lexi, just a bit more, and you can beat my sister!”
“I can’t!” the blonde gasped, her fingers clutched against her chest. “I am… s-sorry—so out of shape…”
Anthony snorted, hands held behind his neck as he looked down at them, gasping for air or, in Rachel’s case, feeling her muscles burn in ways she hadn’t since she was thirteen. “C’mon, Rach, I had money on you. The sun can’t be this bad on your cardio. Scarlet had her five dollars on Nia, too.”
“I tap out!” the little girl groaned, wearing her brand-new jogging outfit. “Ugh. Why does the sun affect me, too, Captain? Why do… do we need to test out the thing—the no energy—blah… I want to throw up!”
Arm held over her eyes as she swallowed the lump in her throat, Rachel forced out a laugh and peeked out to see Barbara offering her a hand. Taking it, a rumble shook in her throat while being helped up before stretching out her tired muscles.
“Mmmgm! Thanks. I didn’t know you could keep up with Legends, Nam,” she joked, accepting a towel Anthony offered her as Selvaria trudged over to a fountain to absorb some liquid. “Next time, Mom will probably show me up…”
Her brother reached down to help his wife to her feet, turning her around to massage her shoulders and making her groan; the blonde had only just started training, but she seemed adamant about it.
Nam was careful with his wife. “It’s good that Mom and Dad are able to spend some personal time together, and Grandpa grabbing Mason to spend a few months with him might be best. He was failing out of school, anyway; he’s already been kicked out of two private schools.”
Rachel rolled around her own neck, a little jealous of her sister-in-law having someone to work the knots out every night. Nia offered yesterday when they’d started this testing phase, but the kid had absolutely no idea how to give a massage.
“I see where your mind is: no concern for your little sister.”
More chuckles from the others followed as Alexa tentatively asked, “How are you feeling? It’s hard to tell between you having Lunar Energy and without. Is ten days enough time to start exercising again?”
Barbara went to her nearby parked SUV to pull out some water for all of them as Rachel thought about her response. Selvaria returned to snag one, still looking dehydrated in her smaller, teenager form; due to her size and, to some degree, her age, changing based on her water levels, the woman opted for more elastic clothing.
Rachel accepted a bottle and guzzled half of it before looking back at the rec center doors, where Scarlet and Coral waited inside for them to finish; the Halloween bun did take a small amount of solar damage, but it was primarily due to her ghostly attributes more than being a slime bun.
“Physically, I think I’m in top shape—”
“Your pace says otherwise,” Anthony cut in. “Even when you had Lunar Energy last night, you were choking at times.”
Rachel scowled his way as the redhead pulled out the two basketballs that Barbara brought for after the workout, wanting to play a game. Nam caught the ball that was tossed to him, dribbling a few times.
“He has a point, Sis. Sure, you’re not collapsing out of bed like you were last week, but you’re hardly up to a military mission if you can spontaneously collapse out of nowhere jogging.”
“Which is why I wanted to test my strength without moonlight,” she added, helping Nia relax by sitting down to massage her legs and making the girl’s ears sag over her face. “I’d like to do a Quest with you guys in another three days or so, and I’ve got the private Congress and Senate discussions coming up, where I’ve been called to speak. I can’t sit still anymore and go over my notes.”
Anthony tossed Nia the ball, making the girl’s ears fly up. “Then prove that you won’t be a liability because the Quests recently have been pretty combat-intensive. Barb and Selv will tell you. It’s put a lot of things into perspective regarding your whole private military company idea.”
“Wait, do I get to join and not Big Nia?!” the bun excitedly asked as she got up, causing Rachel to sit back as the girl used two hands to dribble. “I want to try making it into the hoop.”
“You can play a one-on-one game against me,” Selvaria said with a big grin. “I’m not good with the fast stuff, and we can practice together.”
“Yay!” Nia cheered, tossing the ball into the air to catch. “I’ll get good enough to beat The Captain!”
“Good luck with that, Lt. Little Bun,” Rachel chuckled. “As for the Quests that you’ve been doing, I’ve heard the scope, and it’s more or less bandit pruning—nothing huge. We’ll see how I feel in a day or two. Let’s get ready for the game and meet up with Scarlet. Maria and Fiona are supposed to be back from Miami tomorrow, right?”
Barbara put her quarter-empty bottle of water under her arm to press the button on her SUV’s door, triggering the automatic close before locking the vehicle. “So far as I’ve been told. They’re bringing her lawyer friend back with them, apparently, although… I don’t know how much use she’ll be for you,” she added with a strained smile.
Rachel scratched her temple and followed them into the building, her crippling weakness dissipating greatly the second she was out of the sun’s rays.
“Yeah, Fiona said she went through a bad breakup, and due to her self-image, it’s been tough on her; her other friends aren’t helping, saying she looks like a gorgeous fox girl now, but that doesn’t address how she feels. In any case, I figured having something to preoccupy her mind might help with her heart. Fiona said they’ll look over the legal arguments Congress and the Senate will bring up that Tom gave us, but I’ve studied it myself over the last few days.”
“Right,” Anthony hummed, trying to ignore the many looks they received from the crowds going inside or leaving the rec center. “You were an undergrad, going into law. I guess you have some experience with it. Oh, and I wanted to have a chat with you about your mom later, Rachel.”
Rachel snorted, accepting the ball from him to dribble a few times and passing it to Barbara. “My mom—okay, weird? And while I was ahead in my grades, I was still at the start of my course, so I only know some terms. It’s not confusing to me if that’s what you’re implying.”
Dammit, why is even that hard to admit? It’s fair not to be as advanced at that level! Damn you, [Lunar Pride].
“Haha. Lunar Pride, huh?” Anthony winked, making her ears lower and cheeks color, but he nudged her with an understanding smirk. “I get it’s rough. I actually wanted your help with my Level 10 stuff since you’re the expert. Chill later tonight?”
“Sure,” Rachel grunted, trying to let go of the tightness that gripped her chest. “Only if your girl’s fine with you hanging out with another woman.”
“Amelia? Naa. She’s cool with you. In fact, heh, she called you both hospital buddies earlier today when we were live chatting. She appreciated the time you spent talking to her over video calls over the last few days. It’s been good for her to have someone else to shoot the breeze with.”
Rubbing her elbow, Rachel sighed, remembering how weak the man’s sweetheart was, slowly dying of cancer. “Any luck on a cure in the Quests?”
Everyone was silent as the Legend somberly shook his head, though he still showed a smile. “Not yet, but maybe this woman in the woods we’ve heard about has some kind of remedy. We’ll see. Thanks for asking.”
“Yeah.” Rachel cleared her throat, moving past her thoughts to continue the previous topic. “As for Erika, she can help catch me up to speed ten times faster than me trying to do it myself. Anyway, we’ll continue to discuss it on the court, along with your weird shoo-in involving my mom, but I will be good to go on a Quest in three days. Bet.”
Her brother kissed his wife on the forehead as they were breaking away to their separate locker rooms, making her smile; he was a lot more affectionate than she remembered. However, it was Barbara who stole her attention when they went through the doors to the girls’ side.
“You still haven’t been contacted by Arthur, Charlemagne, or Jeanne, have you?”
Rachel pulled her hair back to reapply her ponytail, the end swinging a bit as Nia answered the Saint.
“Oh, yeah,” she chimed, rubbing her ears, “the Arthur guy left us a message that he wanted to meet for dinner tonight! Rachel accepted it, so we get fancy food and wine, but, uh… after that creepy lesser god—yeah… I don’t know if I want any.”
“Hear, hear,” Anthony yelled from outside, probably just catching the end of their conversation. “That dude sucks!”
“Yeah!” Nia roared back, throwing up a fist. “He hurt Nike real bad and cursed me—dude sucks!”
Rachel smiled at the emotion and copied vocabulary the girl used when talking with people. “We will not be drinking in the first place since we’re both underage, and we don’t have licenses to prove otherwise. The UK’s drinking age is 18, while here it’s 21, but Arthur probably doesn’t know our age.”
“Oh…” Nia’s cheeks bunched up, once again throwing her fist in the air. “Now I want to drink the stuff because they say I can’t! The law sucks, too!”
Rachel’s stomach hurt as she laughed with the others at how quickly the kid could change her position on a matter. “As for Jeanne and Charlemagne, I think they’ve been pretty busy with French affairs because that’s all I hear them talking about whenever they’re in earshot… A lot of politics and mostly in a language I don’t understand.”
“Not my thing then,” Selvaria mumbled in her monotone voice, dangerous tail swinging back and forth as they entered the locker room, spotting Scarlet playing with Coral on a bench. “Ooh! I want to hug the squishy slime bun. Coral, I’m back.”
“Fififi!” the bun chirped, flying toward the Leviathan to make scary faces that the girl mirrored, making them both laugh while Nia hid behind a row of lockers.
“Why does she always have to be spooky?!” the kid cried to her in private. “How can I not be scared of her when she is scary?!”
Give it time, Nia, Rachel soothed, bumping fists with the grinning fanged girl as she neared. She’s been nicer to you lately.
“Only because you told her to be… I’m her leader; I shouldn’t have to be scary for her to listen to me.”
Letting the bun complain in silence, Rachel went to the locker to change out her running shoes for her court shoes. “Get lonely alone?”
Scarlet shook her head, sweeping her black locks into a ponytail to mirror hers. “Nope! Coral kept me company. She can be a little stinker and mess with people’s stuff in the lockers, though. I’m pretty sure she did something to a few people’s phones.”
“I wouldn’t put it past her,” Rachel mused, glancing right to see Selvaria and the orange blob comparing teeth. “I have a lot planned for tonight, so you may need to keep an eye on Coral for me a bit longer.”
“I’m happy to help,” the raven-haired girl chirped, yet her cheer dampened after handing over her phone. “I, umm, I bet you heard already, but Tom said that my father’s funeral is going to be… tomorrow. The flight to Miami is only two hours from here, and it’s, umm, it’s hard to believe that nearly three weeks have passed since, well… since everything happened.”
She caught the looks of the other women in the area as others came in and out, more or less minding their own business; in the past three weeks, a lot of things were beginning to normalize, including many aspects of the economy. In fact, new discussions were being had in the news, online, and in government about technologies, including magical instruments. Powers were a giant topic, as well.
“Oh,” Scarlet added, trying not to look down, “and you got a call from an unknown number. Isn’t it linked to your old phone, so it should come up with the name, right? I didn’t know if you wanted me to answer it or not, so I let it go to voicemail.”
“Thanks,” Rachel said with a smile, swiping the phone for it to activate through facial ID; she had to update her picture after her transformation, which was both funny and depressing to think about. “I bet it’s Jeanne since the craziness with France’s political scene is starting to settle down, but it sounded pretty intense with those uprisings from past figures.”
Barbara hissed, checking her newly fashioned braid. “Yeah, there were some bloody riots that caused some political tension with some woman claiming the French Parliament killed her husband—she smuggled a bomb into the National Assembly. Crazy shit, but we’ve had our fair share of far-left and far-right terrorist attempts in the past week. I’m glad things are starting to calm down, in part thanks to some of your ear work, Rachel.”
Rachel sighed and rubbed between her eyes. “I hardly did anything. Several crackpot conspiracy theorists thinking the government was filled with lizard people from the underground city of whatever-they-called-it is nothing compared to what the Secret Service has been dealing with recently. Anyway…”
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She nudged Scarlet with a reassuring look. “Yeah, we’ll make it work with the funeral tomorrow. I’m sure Maria and Fiona would want to come, too, with how close you’ve been getting with them over the past bit, what, with all these Quests you guys have been doing. I’m jealous.”
The reaper showed her fangs, yet her eyes became downcast. “I know this is all last minute; my dad had a will, and the lawyer was just cleared of suspicion. As for the Quests, I don’t do much… just transport people and have x-ray vision to help spot things. I’m no hero or anything… Anthony’s the one that tells everyone what we need to do, but it’s nice seeing people have hope when they’re saved.”
“Don’t sell yourself short, Little Fang,” Selvaria said, holding up a thumb. “We’re totally the superhero monster squad. Without you, I’d be dead from running everywhere—no, literally, I’d be dead.”
Scarlet almost choked with laughter. “Wow, Selv! You make me sound like an all-terrain vehicle. Ouch. Designated transport girl, reporting for duty!”
The Leviathan shook her head, Coral’s ears flapping with the blob resting atop it. The monster girl jabbed her finger at the confused saint, spinning the basketball in her hands. “No, that’s Ms. Artillery here. She’s got the tanks, ships, and guns. I keep telling her she needs a plane.”
“Wha—how insane do you want me to be?” the auburn-haired Legend balked. “I only just got that tank due to the Level 10 Limit Break Feats we got from our last Quest, which I can only summon for a limited time, by the way, and now you expect me to fly your fat tail around? You already dented my ship… twice. I don’t even know how to repair it yet.”
“Accidents,” the Leviathan dismissively waved off, “and my tail isn’t fat… I think it’s quite slim and pretty. Just you wait until I unlock my scale color change Feat. I’ll be super cool, and I’m thinking about this strobe-light scale flash attack—like an electric flash bang—I saw it on a wildlife deep-sea documentary. It’s cool.”
Rachel’s chest shook with silent laughter at their rapidly shifting topics, Alexa doing her best to remain totally out of it. “Sounds cool. Okay, I’m going to figure out what’s going on with this call and confirm a few things for tonight and tomorrow. Be out to school the Legends in basketball soon,” she said with a wink at Barbara. “You and Anthony as team captains? Throw me on whichever team you decide.”
Nia jumped up, arms flying into the air. “I want to be captain once; I’ve only been a lieutenant! When’s it my turn?”
“Haha. Not the same, Little Bun,” Scarlet snickered, guiding her out and shooting a thankful smile at her. “I’m glad to see you recovering, Rachel… I know it hasn’t been easy to sit still.”
Rachel waved them off, flipping her phone around in her fingers and forcing a laugh when Selvaria heard a few women talking about a rock climbing area in the rec center, voicing her desire to try it out.
“Yeah, be out in a minute…”
They filed out with a few other women, seemingly going for the rock climbing area of the rec center. Now alone, Rachel hung her head and drew in her bottom lip, hissing out the stress of the pain in her muscles. Nia wasn’t happy, but she wasn’t saying anything, as ordered. Shifting to a bench by the wall to rest her back against it, she flexed her tingling fingers.
In truth, this trouble wasn’t caused by her recovering spirit, or, at least, it had very little to do with it. Her gaze drifted to her toned arms and thighs; this was her first test exercising inside the sunlight, and it showed her dependency on moonlight.
Scarlet knows my body hasn’t recovered enough… She’s trying to off-handedly tell me she’s worried without tipping anyone off. When Maria gets back, I won’t be able to hide it, either, but she can just heal me anyway, so that doesn’t matter… Dammit.
The real reason for her knotted muscles wasn’t how challenging it was to operate in any physical activity in the sunlight, though; last night, before Maria and Fiona left, the whole group got together to discuss her invitation to the company she wanted to build.
She’d already talked to them each personally on the topic, and she forced herself not to listen to give them privacy, which was hard. That was probably one of the reasons Anthony wanted to talk to her, but why bring her mom into the equation for his Level 10 Feats?
Vision narrowing, she rubbed her face, trying to let the tightness in her chest go. It’s almost like I’ve never worked out in my life when I’m in the sun, which might help my base, actually… If I train up in the sunlight, then maybe I’ll be able to increase my Base Stat Grades. It’s worth a shot, and it does give Alexa and me something in common to work toward. Now… if only I could get into anime or manga to—
She shook her head, redirecting her mind again. No, that’s Selv, Alexa, and Scarlet’s thing. I don’t need to share in everything they do. They’re not into sports or fighting, but Anthony and Barbara are, which gives me something with them. We can have different interests and still be friends. I just need to find something else we can share besides leveling. Later…
Rachel unlocked her phone again and looked at the number on the ID, ears tilting to the side and lifting an eyebrow. Arizona area code? Weird. The only person I know from there is…
Tapping the voicemail, her tail went stiff as a familiar voice came from the speaker, one she hadn’t thought about since the start of The Oscillation:
“Umm. Hey, Rachel, it’s, umm… it’s Zoe—you know, heh, loli cat-girl that hates goblins—wow, yeah, uh, that seems so long ago. Ugh. Get to the point, pussy cat!” she angrily chided.
“Right, so… I got your number from your old roommate, and I don’t know who else to call… All my friends went home, no one in my family is picking up their phone, and… mmgm, and the credit card my parents gave me got… canceled? I don’t know! They don’t believe I am who I say I am, and I can’t get anything to go right—it’s like… I’m cursed or something,” she groaned.
“I’ve called, like, literally everyone else, and I borrowed money from this guy that a friend told me could get me some short cash—no-ho-ho! I’m not calling for money—I swear—I just… I don’t know who else to call, and my dorm room got blown up by a rocket launcher during that Crystal attack! How does that happen?! I’m so screwed… Sorry. I know you’re probably saving the world… Sorry… I’ll just… hang up now. Sorry to bother you.”
The call ended with her whimper and a desperate voice telling Rachel the cat-girl was at her wit’s end. It wasn’t like she owed Zoe anything or knew her that well more than the adventure they’d gone on. At the same time, she did count as an acquaintance, and the girl had helped her in the initial change that had laid the foundation for everything she’d done. So, maybe there were some feelings stirring within her to offer what help she could.
Still, she didn’t know almost anyone in Miami herself, other than her Jamaican trainer, but someone else had massive connections around the seaside city. Flipping to the messenger app, she forwarded Zoe’s number to Maria, reading the message in her mind.
Hey, Maria, when you get off your flight, give me a call. I’ve got someone in Miami who’s going through a rough time and may have a loan shark on her tail. She needs immediate help. You know a lot about the social care stuff and have connections in the city, right? Could you give me a call to see what we can do?
The funeral for Scarlet’s dad is tomorrow, so we’ll be flying back. I can meet up with her, but it’s not like I have much I can do. Do you have any advice for me? If not, I can ask my mom since she does a lot of community stuff, just not in Miami. Let me know.
Knowing the cat-girl was probably biting her tail and a total wreck, she gave her a call. A few rings passed before she answered.
“Rachel! I, umm, this is you, right? Yikes. I don’t have the wrong number, do I?”
“Hehe. You’ve reached Julia Forbs,” she said with a fake Southern accent. “What can I do fer ya?”
“Ugh. Sorry… Wrong number,” the cat groaned.
“Zoe, I’m playing with you. It’s Rachel,” she laughed, practically seeing the girl’s cat ears fly up across states.
“Oh! Oh, uh, yeah, you… got my message?”
Leaning left and right on the bench, Rachel suppressed a yawn. “Yeah—and I can’t talk long, but I get you’re in a bad spot. I messaged someone I know who might be able to help; unfortunately, they’re on a flight back from Miami. She should touch down in an hour or so, and I’ll be flying back for several hours tomorrow. Are you okay?”
Relief came from the college girl’s voice. “Thanks, Rachel… I feel so useless and stupid. I can’t believe I borrowed money from this guy, but I thought I could pay it back when my parents called or this issue with my card got fixed. Now he’s following me everywhere—it’s creepy—and telling me I can work it off at this weird cat-girl café?”
A frown touched Rachel’s eyes as she glanced at a few teenage girls who came into the locker room before they swiftly moved out of sight at her attention. “That seems rather targeted.”
“Right? It’s like, I get there are cat girls now, but hiring only cat girls in the first month of everyone changing? Yeah, it’s super shady, and the class friend who told me about him now blocked me. I’m a little scared—and not just because, heh, I’m a frightened Domestic Cat, I swear!”
“No, I agree, it’s weird. I’ll send my contact your number in case she wants to get the details directly from you. You’re in a public place?”
“Mhm,” Zoe mumbled, lowering her voice. “It’s the café I frequented near the school, but they’re going to close in the next few hours, and the place the college temporarily gave me is four blocks away… ugh, and I only have another week before I have to find my own place. I really don’t know what to do.”
“Hey, hey,” Rachel softly reassured, sitting straighter and separating herself from the emotional point of the conversation. “I’ll do what I can, alright? I’ll give you a call later.”
“Okay… And thank you, Rachel. I know this is more stress you probably don’t need. Thank you…”
“We’ll get through it,” Rachel said, bringing them both into it to further give the girl strength before hanging up.
Flipping to the unicorn’s number, she forwarded Maria the information with the strange details Zoe had given her. Knowing the unicorn, she figured the woman would want to confirm everything herself and go to the source rather than waste time talking to her about things Rachel had no clue about.
Reaching up to scratch the base of her left ear, she sighed. Life really was a mess of events for her. There was always another crisis to handle. Although, strangely, she wasn’t finding herself that put off by the prospect of being the person whom people saw as reliable.
She got up and forced her tired, semi-rested muscles to do a few rounds of basketball. It was a little bit of a jab in the gut to learn Alexa’s zero-muscle ass had been chosen before her, but considering her performance jogging and her brother being on the team that selected his wife, she could let it slide. Plus, she got on Barbara’s team, which meant she had the opportunity to guard Anthony and confront his smug face.
The last match ended with her on her back, eyes closed with a towel over her face, Anthony snickering nearby as everyone else started playing PIG.
“You keep telling me you want to do a Quest, but you’re laid out in a game of basketball, Ears.”
Rachel grunted in response, peeling back the cool towel to level a glare at him. “It’s not like I only have an Average Stamina Stat, or have you forgotten that you put points into it, Mr. High Stamina—uh, forget that,” she growled. “And I haven’t got a lick of Lunar Energy in me. So why don’t you just bite my tail because I still finished three matches against you at my lowest.”
“Correction,” he chimed, “lost three matches to me, Ms. Refined Endurance. What did you boast about again—Below Average to Above Average, right?”
Using her ears to sweep off the towel now that her face was cooled, Rachel forced her aching muscles to lift her onto the stands to join him. “What’s up with you wanting to talk with my mom and me together?” she pivoted, following Nia’s clumsy dribbles as Scarlet let the happy bunny win.
Anthony leaned against his knees, his tone becoming more serious. “Because, as you told me I probably would, I’ve gotten some god looking to give me a Blessed Feat.”
“Who?” Rachel instantly asked, causing the man to rub between his eyes.
“Who?” He repeated. “Only Taranis, the Irish god of thunder… I don’t want to accept it without learning a bit more about the real him, and I heard Scarlet and Nia talking about your mom being able to talk to them. I wanted first to see if you were cool with that before approaching your mother.”
Internally flicking her outfit’s ear, she caused the surprised bunny to trip and slide across the floor, meeting the huffy bun’s glare as Scarlet helped her up.
“Ouch! What was that for?!” she yelled across the room. “Sabotage!”
Try not to talk about sensitive topics when other people are around.
“Oh…” Nia’s face scrunched up into a pout as the others glanced between them. “Well, you didn’t have to flick my ear. I didn’t do nothing bad on purpose; I’m a good bunny. Humph.”
Letting her sulk and get back to her game, Rachel leaned against the back bleachers, keeping her eyes on their group, Selvaria and Coral joining Alexa, her brother, and Barbara in their game of PIG.
“To be honest, I haven’t seen my mom use her powers… I’ll run it by her after I get back from my dinner date with Arthur.”
Anthony showed a half-smile as he nudged her with his muscular arm, causing a jealous twitch to hit her ears. “Going after a married man, hmm, and one more than three times your age? I guess you need to get your tail from somewhere.”
“Shut up,” she chuckled, hitting him back and enjoying a more friendly atmosphere with someone who was more like her; between Barbara and Anthony, she was finding a lot of stress relief in hanging around people with similar interests. “You’re going to have to show me how to use my hammer when we go on the next Quest.”
“Really?” He gave her a side-long look. “You know I’m a spear and sword man. I don’t have expertise with hammers, and I doubt you’d find many masters nearby to learn from. Like I said, I think you should just pick up a Hammer Expertise Feat if one shows up.”
“Sure… You can help me with weapon basics, though, so stop stalling. You just don’t want me on the Quest,” she shot back with a sigh. “I’m telling you, give me a few days, and I’ll be good.”
“So long as you can prove it to me.” Anthony got to his feet and stretched out, showing phenomenal flexibility for his size. “I’ve got to pick up some sweets and a get-well card for my girl to make her smile. You heading back to get ready for the dinner date?”
Rachel jabbed a thumb at her focused bun, trying to make three-point shots without much success, Scarlet acting as her cheerleader. “When I have Nia, I can be ready with the snap of a finger. She’s amazing. So, no, I’ll be doing other things. You go do your cute shopping trip for your girl. I’m sure it will brighten her day.”
“Send me a text,” he said, referencing the meeting with her mother before bumping fists and exiting through the locker room. “Later, guys!”
Everyone turned to wave him off, Barbara confirming another meet-up tomorrow before their flight to Miami for the funeral. Rachel’s attention was snatched by her phone, catching Maria’s number. She answered it while watching Nia jump up and down at getting her first three-pointer.
“Yo, what’s up? You get my message?”
Maria’s agitated voice met her, still at the airport by the sounds of the crowd. “Aye, what kind of chica estúpida takes money from Ballesteros’ boys; your gata want to be pimped out on the block? Gah.”
“Deep breaths,” Fiona soothed from beside her. “You know how desperate she sounded. She didn’t have anyone to help her, and she couldn’t get ahold of her family… It’s hard right now.”
“Bah,” the unicorn released a long stream of air. “I get you relate, Fi, but it’s not easy, ya know? There’s a lot of shit happening between Ballesteros and the other gangs in the area. They’re tightening down funds for what looks like a war. Look, Liebre Lunar, I sent Felix and Elena to pick her up in my whip; we’ll sort the shit out when we get there tomorrow. Damn, I’m tired.”
Not even waiting for her to answer, the white-haired gangster hung up, making Rachel smile. She figured Maria couldn’t turn down a person in need; despite her tough exterior, she was as soft as they came.
Her lips fell upon seeing the message from Arthur that had come in while they were playing. He’d moved up their meeting by an hour, and surprisingly, Tom would be joining them; they needed to leave soon if they were going to make it.
Doing one last stretch, she prompted Nia to let her know they were going to be heading out soon. It was time to see what Arthur and the good general were up to because Merlin had provided the dignitary a charm that protected their conversations from being overheard whenever they were together.
She expected the Montana incident to come up since its glow had steadily increased over the past two weeks; it was probably going to open soon, and she wasn’t a hundred percent yet. That all could change tonight, though, and Anthony’s request gave her the excuse to see if her mother could bridge the gap between her two powerful lunar bunny Soul Items. She needed the Positive Energy they could provide.
Bidding everyone farewell, they went outside. Nia changed her into their semi-formal purple skirt and white blouse outfit before saluting her and transforming into her adult counterpart; Nia chose a reverse color outfit that mirrored hers to provide a contrast as the limousine pulled up to take her to the appointment.
Nia’s cautious eyes darted to her as it stopped, the driver exiting to open the door for them. “You don’t think Relica is going to make a surprise appearance?”
I highly doubt it, Rachel returned through their private connection, slipping into the seat and smoothing out her skirt, but if she is… then it may get a little heated. Something big is happening, though, and they’ve kept it secret. We’ll know soon enough.
The door shut, and they pulled away from the curb.