“It’s only a temporary victory,” Claire reminded him grimly. “The dark forces will be back and they won’t stop until you’re all destroyed.”
“Way to be a downer,” Diana grunted, fishing a nectarine from her pack.
“Ignoring the problem won’t make it go away,” the older Keeper insisted.
“Jeez, Claire. Hair shirt much? They’re not ignoring the problem, they’re recharging so they can continue to fight.”
“Well, we don’t have that luxury. We have to deal with this segue and in order to do that, we have to know what’s happening at the other end of the mall.”
“And in order to do that, we’ll need their help. The food court’s at the other end of the mall,” Diana continued before Claire could voice one of her usual “Keepers do it alone, yadda yadda” protests, “so they obviously know a way to get in and out again.” She wiped nectarine juice off her chin and glanced at Kris, who nodded.
“We do.”
Her gaze shifted from Kris to the King. “So we need to set up some kind of a recon mission. I suggest that Kris and I wander down for a quick look. She takes care of the navigating and any necessary bad-ass whupping, and I handle the metaphysical stuff.”
Sapphire eyes narrowed in confusion as Arthur leaned forward, arms braced across his thighs. “Bad-ass whupping?”
“She means, sire, that I can smack any meat-minds we run across,” Kris explained, grinning broadly. “But don’t ask me why she’s talking like that.”
“Don’t ask me either,” Diana muttered weakly. She could only assume that the thought of spending time alone with Kris skulking through a dark mall had cut the circuit between her brain and her mouth. Claire was looking less than pleased with the suggestion and Sam…Sam was buried so deep in her backpack that only his butt and his tail showed. Grateful for the distraction, Diana tossed the nectarine pit into the fire, turned, and hauled him clear.
“Hey! I was just checking to see if you packed my hairball medicine!”
“You don’t have hairball medicine.” She pulled out a second tuna sandwich. The wrapping had been holed and a fair bit of the tuna excavated. “You have your own food!”
“Yeah? So?” He licked down a bit of ruffled fur. “You going to eat that? I mean, since it’s kind of covered in cat spit…”
Diana sighed and handed over the sandwich.
“You shouldn’t let him get away with that kind of behavior.”
As Sam retreated to the edge of the firelight, she turned a pointed look on her sister. “Like you’re the expert. Austin totally runs your life.”
“Austin and I have an understanding.”
“Yeah, that he runs your life.”
“A reconnaissance mission has merit,” Arthur announced suddenly. From his tone, Diana assumed he’d done some thinking about it while she’d been dealing with Sam. “But are either of you well enough to go? Both of you were injured in the recent battle; perhaps two of my scouts…”
“No.” Claire was using her don’t-even-bother-arguing-with-me voice. “It has to be one of us. Your people can’t see what we need to know.”
“And I’m fine,” Diana broke in. “Headache’s mostly gone, I had a nice nap, I have two working arms…it has to be me.”
Claire nodded agreement. “You’re right.”
“And Claire obviously got hit on the head and we never noticed.”
Arthur turned an anxious expression on the older Keeper, but she waved him off. “Diana’s just trying to be funny.”
“Now is not the time.”
Apparently a sense of humor was not a requirement to be an Immortal King. “Sorry.” The apology slipped out before Diana remembered that Keepers never apologized.
Still suitably serious, Arthur nodded. “Then, as you request, Kris will accompany you. She has been into enemy territory many times and is therefore your best chance to not only get in but get out again.”
“Out again, that’s the tricky part,” Kris muttered.
“When should this…” He stumbled a bit over the shortened word. “…recon mission take place?”
Claire held out her good arm. The hands of her watch continued to spin wildly. “As soon as possible.”
Kris rose fluidly to her feet. “I’m good.” She raked a critical gaze over Diana’s clothes as the younger Keeper stood. “You’ll have to change. Dark colors, nothing to catch the light.”
“I brought jeans.”
She gestured back into the store, her rings glittering in the firelight. “We’ll find you something better.”
* * *
“You should have been there last night, Austin, those guys kicked tall ass!” Dean stepped back from hanging a signed picture of the team on the wall of the office and turned to grin at the cat. “You missed a great game.”
“I also missed being smuggled into the arena in a gym bag,” Austin muttered without lifting his head from his front paws. “Pass.”
Before Dean could answer, the phone rang.
“If it’s three bears,” the cat announced as Dean’s hand closed around the receiver, “tell them we’re full. That one only ever ends well for the bears.”
* * *
Black leggings, black tank, black zip-up sweatshirt, black socks, black canvas fanny pack, black leather driving gloves—Diana wore her own hightops and drew the line at using a black lipstick as camouflage paint. The line stayed drawn for about fifteen seconds.
“So you’re not as pale as your sister…” Finished wrapping the last of her dreadlocks up into one long tail, Kris reached for the tube. “…you’ll still show up in the shadows.”
“I’m a Keeper…”
“And I know what I’m doing. Hold still.”
* * *
“I’m sorry, Sam, but you can’t come.”
His eyes narrowed, flaying Diana with amber scythes. “You’re ditching me so you can be alone with your new friend, aren’t you?”
“No!” She dropped to one knee and beckoned him closer. “Look, I’m really worried about Claire. She’s not used to being without Austin. I mean, one of those meat-minds actually hit her with his little concrete bag thing. How weird is that? Claire never gets hurt. I’m afraid of what might happen to her if there’s no cat around at all.”
Sam snorted. “What a load of crap.”
“Fine; I need someone here who can remind Claire that she’s not always right, that
