Fire and Ice

Chapter 31 † Kayleigh

We talk until well after dinner with Valentine. I almost hate to take them away. Almost.

"C'mon kids. Bedtime," I say, slapping my thighs while standing up.

"But mooooooom," Petra whines. Ender glances sorrowfully at Val and lets go of her hand.

"We can come back tomorrow?" Ender asks me. I shrug.

"It's up to you honeybun. I have Official Military Business to attend to tomorrow, and as far as the IF is concerned, you'll be assisting me. However, if somehow you two manage to miraculously slip out from under my nose before I wake up and disappear, I suppose that I would have an extremely hard time tracking you down." Val snorts and Petra nods.

"Dually noted," Ender states from the floor where he struggles to convince his feet to go back into his shoes. Val walks over and hugs me.

"I'll get started tonight," she whispers.

"Roger that," I whisper back as Petra passes behind us and heads toward the car. I release the hug and follow suit.

†††

I glance at the clock as Petra snores.

0146.

Perfect.

I gently ease myself out of bed to avoid creaking and flip the small switch in my gloves that encases me in the battle version of my flight suit. Explosives, knives, ammo, phasers, and comms units meld into the inky black suit and add an extra layer of protection against attacks. I pull my hair up into a ponytail and put on my sunglasses. I double check on Petra once more and sneak out of the window.

I walk several blocks from the hotel before even daring to flick out my motorbike.

≈≈≈

I jolt awake.

Why was there a moose in my dream?

Wait, what?

Huh?

Whatever. I look over at Kayleigh.

Invisi-Kayleigh.

She's gone.

I glance at the clock.

0204 hours.

Weird.

I flop out of bed and look under it. No Kayleigh.

Oh well. Hope she doesn't die ...

I manage to tangle and untangle myself in my bedsheets and flop back into bed while the room fades out.

†††

I hop off my motorbike at the IF headquarters and flick back into my suit. The gate swings silently open and two officers appear to escort me. I don't acknowledge them, and they return the favor.

†

After they led me throught the sterile, lab-like building to the sterile, cold library I was left alone to do my research. And so I did.

≈≈

I groan as someone violently shakes me awake. I roll over slowly and see Ender wide-eyed with concern.

"Where's Kayleigh?"

††

Nuts.

Nothing. Useless, as usual. I sigh and follow the two officers back out to the gate. People stare at me the whole way. I glare right back at them.