Smokey grinned. “Somewhat. I got to chat with Alita, but only for a few minutes. This is her event, so she’s got a lot of demands on her time – guests, the crew, servers, and so on. Still, it was nice of her to make a little time for me, and I really enjoyed talking to her.”
“A word of advice: I’d avoid sounding so chipper when Atalanta asks you how the party was.”
Smokey outright laughed at that. “I already sent her a few pics. If she thought I was having too much fun, she’d have let me know.”
“Or flown here at light speed and punched a hole in the boat.”
We both chuckled at that. I occasionally needled Smokey about how powerful Atalanta was, but I honestly thought he’d had it right earlier when he mentioned that she wasn’t the jealous type. It just didn’t seem to be her style. If she ever felt that Smokey had done something inappropriate as a boyfriend, my impression was that she’d simply end the relationship.
“Well, I think I’m going to leave you to your moping,” Smokey said after a few moments. He then gave me a clap on the shoulder before preparing to go back to the party.
“Hey,” I said as he started to walk away. “Any thoughts yet on when you want to go home?”
He turned to me but continued to walk backwards, saying, “Honestly, I’m leaning towards giving it another night.”
I gave him a smile and a nod, essentially conveying that his decision was fine with me. He really seemed to be enjoying himself, and for the umpteenth time I was happy Mouse had suggested bringing him with me. I had been having a lot of fun going to various events the past few weeks, but having my best friend with me made those experiences transcendent in a way that was difficult to explain.
After he left, my mind quickly turned back to thoughts of Cat and her unspecified power. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I realized that my focus on this was bordering on obsession, but I couldn’t help myself. I simply had to know.
I might have stood there at the railing indefinitely, simply replaying in my head what had happened and trying to determine what it meant. At some juncture, however, I noticed someone approaching me.
It was Cat.
As she walked towards me, I picked up feelings of nervousness, trepidation, and anxiety. No – it was actually more like dread.
Once she reached me, she just stood there for a moment, plainly uncomfortable. But then I sensed something resolve in her.
Plainly nervous, she said in an unexpectedly soft voice, “So you know about me.”
“Not really,” I admitted. “I mean, I know that you have some sort of power or ability, but that’s about it. I have no idea what it is you can do.”
“But you want to know.”
I nodded. “Yeah.”
Her brow crinkled for a second and she asked, “How’d you even find out about me? Did someone tell you?”
“No,” I assured her. “Nobody betrayed your confidence, if that’s what you’re asking – certainly not Vestibule.”
Cat smiled. “Yeah, I know she’d never tell. We’re tight, and even if we weren’t, she adheres to the motto that blood is thicker than water.”
“And I respect that,” I said. “So, your power – what is it?”
Cat stared at me for a moment, then looked down at the ground.
“I thought I’d be able to do this,” she muttered, almost to herself. “Thought I could just walk over here and tell you.” Then, looking up at me, she added, “But I can’t.”
“I don’t understand,” I stated with a frown. “Why is this such a secret? Why can’t you just blurt it out?”
Cat’s eyes suddenly looked watery, and I could tell that she was on the verge of tears.
“I like you,” she finally said. “Not in a boyfriend-girlfriend kind of way, just as a friend. And I got the impression that you liked me, too.”
“I do,” I admitted. “You’re smart, witty, and just a lot of fun to hang out with. But what does that have to do with your power?”
“Because if I tell you,” she said flatly, “you aren’t going to like me anymore.”
“Huh?” I muttered, perplexed.
“You aren’t going to want to be my friend. You won’t want anything to do with me.”
I simply stood there for a moment, trying to process what she was saying, then exclaimed, “That’s absurd! What could be so bad that I would stop being your friend or wanting to hang out with you?”
“Please,” she said. “Just let it go. I really want us to be friends.”
“As far as I’m concerned, we are,” I assured her. “But the thing about friends is, they trust each other. Part of what makes a friendship is letting people in as opposed to keeping them at arm’s length. So the real question here is, are you going to let me in?”
She didn’t say anything at first, just looked at me, and I could sense her wavering.
“I’m sorry, I just can’t,” she finally said, before turning and walking away.
Chapter 16
I gave it maybe fifteen minutes so that it wouldn’t appear that I was storming off mad (especially since I wasn’t), then I chased down the others to tell them I had to go. I found them on the dance floor near the DJ, clearly enjoying themselves. Even Cat appeared to have shrugged off the doldrums that had plagued her during our brief chat and was showcasing her dance moves.
Rather than approach them directly, I reached out telepathically to let Smokey know I was taking off and got a mental “Good luck” from him with respect to my upcoming dinner plans. I also opened a channel to Vestibule, putting her in charge of getting Smokey back to my cousin’s place if I didn’t make it back in time.
<No problem,> she assured me, <but where are you off to?>
It hit me then that I hadn’t shared with Vestibule or Cat that I would be leaving.
<There’s something I
