Matthew intervened before we could go way off topic. There was an old farm at the bottom of the access road, giving us a perfect spot to the park the cars and hide them. Ash and Dee, along with Matthew, would remain with the cars if things went south, allowing Kat, Andrew, and me to help Blake and Dawson retrieve Beth and Chris.
“This shouldn’t even take fifteen minutes.” I sat beside Kat and leveled a pointed glare at Blake. “And then you will take Chris and get the hell out of here. You have no reason to come back.”
“And what if he does?” Dee asked. “What if he finds another excuse to blackmail you into helping him?”
“I won’t,” Blake said, and then he looked at Kat. “I don’t have a reason to come back.”
Man, I was going to seriously hurt this dude. “If you do, you’re going to make me do something I don’t want to do—I’ll probably enjoy it, but I don’t want to.”
Blake jerked his chin. “I got you.”
“Okay then,” Matthew addressed the room. “We meet here at six thirty tomorrow. Do you have things covered, Katy?”
She nodded. “Mom thinks I’m doing a sleepover with Lesa. She works anyway.”
“She always works,” Ash said, staring at her nails. “Does she even like to be home?”
Kat stiffened. “She’s paying for a mortgage, food, bills, and all my expenses by herself. She has to work a lot.”
“Maybe you should get a job then,” she suggested, her eyes flickering up. “Like something after school that takes about twenty hours or so of your life.”
Kat folded her arms, lips pursed. “Why are you suggesting that, pray tell?”
Ash smiled in a way I recognized. “Just think if you were concerned about your mom making ends meet, you should help out.”
I placed my hand on Kat’s back, prepared to tell Ash to knock it off, but Kat spoke, holding her own. “I’m sure that’s why.”
“There’s only one thing we have to worry about,” Blake said, changing the subject. “They have emergency doors that shut every so many feet when alarms are sounded. Those doors also have a defensive weapon. Don’t go near the blue light. They’re lasers. Rip you right apart.”
Oh yeah, that’s just a small detail.
Blake smiled. “But they shouldn’t be a problem. We should be in and out without being seen.”
“Okay,” Andrew said slowly. “Anything else? Like an onyx net we have to worry about?”
Blake laughed. “No, that should cover it.”
“Then it’s time for you to go,” Dee said, looking at him like she wanted another go at his face, and I sure as hell wasn’t going to stop her.
Without further pressure, Blake was out. Our group disbanded, leaving Dee and Dawson behind with Kat.
Kat clasped her hands together. “I want to practice the speed thing. I mean, I know I can do it as fast as you guys, but I just want to practice.”
Dee didn’t say anything, but Dawson spoke up. “We can do that. I could use the practice myself.”
I wrapped my arms around Kat’s waist. “It’s a little dark right now. You’ll probably end up breaking your neck, but we can do it tomorrow.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” she replied.
“You got it.” I kissed her cheek.
Kat elbowed me and then turned in my arms, facing Dee. I felt her take a deep breath. “Will…will you help?”
I willed my sister to respond, to just say yes, because it would be a step in repairing the rift between them, but she said nothing as she left the room, walking upstairs.
Damn.
“She’ll come around.” I gave her a little squeeze. “I know she will.”
Confusion marked Dawson’s face. “I don’t know what happened to her while I was gone. I don’t understand.”
“We all changed, brother, but things…things are going to get back to normal soon.”
Grief crept into Dawson’s eyes, and I longed for there to come a day when he wasn’t haunted by the dark memories of his time with Daedalus. He blinked, and a wan smile appeared. “Ghost Investigators marathon?”
“You do not have to ask me twice.” I raised my hand and the remote control shot forward. “I have like six hours saved up. Popcorn? We need popcorn.”
“And ice cream.” Dawson stood. “I get the munchies.”
Smiling softly, Kat settled in next to me. I brushed my lips across her cheek. “He’s coming around, isn’t he?” I asked.
“Yeah, he is.”
Our eyes met. “Let’s just make sure tomorrow doesn’t make it all for nothing.”
We spent the better part of Sunday morning and afternoon practicing. Since the snow had melted, the ground was saturated, and Kat was covered in mud.
She was a dirty Kitten.
I swiped at her as she stalked past me, and she shot me a level look. I grinned. “You have dirt on your cheek. Cute.”
Kat glared at me, and I knew why. There wasn’t a speck of mud on me. We’d been running back and forth for hours, and I hadn’t even broken a sweat. She turned to Dawson. “Is he always this annoyingly good?”
Dawson nodded as he wiped the back of his hand across his forehead. “Yeah, he’s the best at this kind of stuff—fighting, running, physical stuff.”
She kicked mud off her sneakers. “You suck.”
I laughed.