“They’ll die if we leave them out here.” I glanced over at my sister. She had trouble having other cats in the household. It was a territorial thing, given her werecat status, but she tolerated my spirit cat that she had given me for a present just fine. “We can’t put them back. I’ll take them with me to Talamh Lonrach Oll, if you can handle their presence till then.”
Delilah stared at the fluffballs in her arms. “They’re fine. They’re kittens, and I can control myself around them for a while. I haven’t been as antsy about my territory for a while now.” And with that, we headed back inside.
Of course, talk of the spirit seal was halted for the time it took everybody to coo over the kittens and for Iris and Hanna to confiscate them and wash them up.
“We’ll make sure they’re fed and safe in your suite with a clean litter box. We can’t let them go traipsing around the house free in case Maggie finds them. She’s not safe for small animals or babies to be around.”
Maggie was a sweetheart, but gargoyles were carnivores and small animals were natural prey. She also was rough on her toys and might consider the kittens just that. The thought made me queasy.
“Yes, please. See that they’re locked in my study with a baby gate or something they can’t climb. That way they won’t dart out when I open the door.” I gave the calicoes both a smooch on the nose, loath to hand them over before Iris swept them off to the kitchen, followed by Hanna, who was clucking over the black and white ones.
“We should get back to the maps and our discussion,” I said, suddenly tired. First the vroll, then the meeting with Aeval and the others had left me feeling highly emotional. “Knowing what we do about the Great Fae Lords makes it imperative that we find the final spirit seal as soon as possible. If they wake before I can control the diamond, and they wake the wyrms, everybody’s going to be in trouble.”
“Does anybody have any more information about K’thbar? What he’s like? We need to know if there’s a chance he’ll wake up when we go after the spirit seal. Where’s he hiding it, and how are we going to spend time under water without drowning?”
Delilah made a sudden mewing noise and I glanced over at her. She looked petrified. She was terrified of water, couldn’t swim, and only took showers, never baths. Like most cats, she resisted getting wet and it transferred to her human side, as well. I made an executive decision right there.
“Tell us now if you think this one’s beyond you. I know all about fear and what it can do. If you don’t think you can go with us, then please say so now. We can’t take a chance on you freaking out in the water, especially if there’s a chance that K’thbar might wake up.” I held her gaze, hoping that she wouldn’t try to play the hero if she couldn’t face the water.
Shifting in her chair, Delilah finally let out a long sigh. “I hate to admit it, but you’re right. Any backup I can give you from the shore, I’m there. But I’m afraid if I tried to go under the water, I’d have a panic attack and then you’d have a very frightened tabby cat—or panther, more likely—on your hands and I’d probably drown. I’ll go, but I’ll keep my feet on land.” She sounded so apologetic that I wanted to snuggle her.
“We work to our strengths,” I said, smiling at her. “It’s okay, Delilah. I don’t do well with heights.”
“Yeah, but you’ve fought on top of the Space Needle before. You’ve climbed up mountains before—and down them.”
“Stop beating yourself up. I fought on top of the Space Needle because there was a railing there to keep everybody from tumbling over the side. And Chase went through hell getting me up there. As for climbing up and down mountains, well, I follow the rule of don’t look down. When Hanna helped me escape from Hyto’s lair, the fear of what he had done—and what he was going to do—outweighed my fear of going down the mountain. Torture’s a good impetus to suck it up.”
I tried to smile but my stomach lurched. I still suffered flashbacks and though I tried to keep them at bay, there were times when the PTSD would hit me full force. Not long ago, I had woken from a nightmare about Hyto and the only way I was able to stop the memories from sucking me down a deep, dark well was to hide in my closet. Morio had found me in the morning, and he carried me back to bed, never saying a word. We hadn’t told Smoky. He was still blaming himself for what had happened.
“I’ll talk to Shimmer tonight.” Menolly stood. “Whatever you decide to do, I’m in as long as it’s at night.”