AllFreeNovel
Share Us
up with it. The guys flanked her, with Jared at the rear as usual. The mists became thicker the further they ran and she already longed for the clearing they’d started from. She’d had enough of fog to last her a lifetime.
The mist was so thick that she almost bumped into the cat who had stopped and was waiting for them. He curled his tail and somehow, she knew it was time to travel on the Staran.
Macey looked at her men and they all followed him into the mists.
18
She couldn’t see more than a foot or so in front of her, which worried her more than a little, but she had to trust Cat-Man. While he didn’t really seem to like her, Sharara had put a lot of faith in him, and had asked him to help them. And if there was one thing she could definitely say about Cat-Man, it was that he loved, and trusted, his sister. She’d meant a lot to him.
Are you okay? she thought at him. She didn’t know if it would work, but hoped so. All she might get in return was a growl, but she was willing to take that risk.
No, he replied after a silence that’d stretched just long enough for Macey to start doubting her attempts at communication had worked.
Is there anything I can do? she asked, softly.
Stop with the questions, he snapped. Something recoiled within Macey, hating the tone he was using even if she understood the why.
“Sorry,” she muttered aloud, scared to think in his mind again.
The five of them continued into the thickening mists in silence. There was so much they needed to talk about. So much to plan. But something about doing so just felt wrong. It was potentially to do with Cat-Man’s grief, but Macey wasn’t so sure. To her, it felt far more likely to be something to do with the mistrust she held for the mists themselves. As stupid as it seemed to distrust a weather pattern. But the mists seemed to be linked to the Staran. They could even be the Staran as far as Macey was concerned. And while she didn’t believe the Staran themselves were bad, something, or someone, had made them sick. And if they knew how to do that, then they probably knew how to hear and see through the mists.
If there was one thing Macey had learned recently, it was that anything was possible. And that if a story existed about something, then there was a good chance it existed somewhere in the world. Maybe not quite in the exact way the stories said, but certainly in some form.
Are you ready? Cat-Man’s sudden reappearance in her head made her jump.
For what? she replied.
To travel the Staran, he said shortly. She could almost hear the ‘duh’ at the end. Except that he wasn’t her brothers, and was centuries old, so wouldn’t be as immature as to actually say it aloud. Or think it. Or whatever they were doing right now. All this magical communication would give Macey a headache if she had time to stop. Or if she didn’t already suffer from magical headaches induced whenever the Voice made an appearance.
“Yes, I’m ready to travel the Staran,” she said aloud, mostly for the men’s benefits. She needed to remember how much she hated it when Cam and Flint talked in their heads, and that it probably felt the same for the three of them when she was talking to Cat-Man. Then again, it wasn’t like she had a choice with Cat-Man. He couldn’t exactly speak aloud in this form, and she couldn’t ask him to transform back just so she could chat to him. She couldn’t ask him to ever transform back for any reason. Not knowing it was the last time he could do so.
Thoughts flickered through her mind, mostly centred around if there was a way she could change his fate. To make it so he could shift any time he wanted. That ability wasn’t something she’d ever given much thought to, but now it was the only thing on her mind. Maybe there were other things she took a little for granted too. She needed to watch that in future.
Cat-Man nodded his big black head, and before Macey had time to even think another word, she found herself being sucked back into the Staran and down their path to...wait, where were they going? No one had actually told her, other than that they were heading towards Ice. Maybe that was all there was to it. Maybe the Staran didn’t just work on visiting a place, maybe visiting just a person was possible too, no matter where they were.
When they worked at all, anyway. As far as Macey could tell, the Staran very rarely actually did what they were supposed to. Or at least, not for her and her men they didn’t. It was possible that the Staran just didn’t like Wardens. Or that the person who’d made it sick in the first place had programmed it not to like Wardens. Programmed? Spelled? She couldn’t work out the right word for it. Then again, the last thing she’d ever expected was to have to work out a word for a sick travel system. Life had certainly taken a very strange turn.
Without her being fully aware of it, Macey’s feet found themselves on firm ground again. She frowned. That had been a lot smoother landing than just about every other trip she’d taken through the Staran. Unless she counted the first one, but she didn’t. She’d been unconscious for that one, so it hardly counted.
“That was almost like it should be,” Cam said, awe written all over his face.
Macey glanced around, surprised to see the mists were thin here, almost verging on non-existent. She lightened her grip on Cat-Man’s fur but didn’t move her hand away. She wasn’t sure whether or not their connection would survive if they broke contact.
The advantage of having a Cat Sìth with you, he chuckled down the connection.
“Does it really make a difference to have you with us?” Macey asked aloud. She knew Cat-Man would hear her, and didn’t want the other three cut out of the conversation.
Yes, if the damage to the Staran has been done by who I think it has.
“Cryptic,” she muttered, before relaying back to the men. Flint took a step towards her and pulled her close with a firm hand on her waist. He pressed a kiss onto the top of her head, and she almost melted into him.
“We know the Voice is behind it anyway,” Cam pointed out.
“Yes, but what is the Voice?”
He’s like me, Cat-Man said, taking Macey a little off guard.
“A Cat Sìth?”
