Found (23 page)

“Oh of course, we totally get it.” Sophia
nodded quickly. “And don’t worry, we won’t come barging in on
you.”

“Though we can’t promise not to come visit
your shop once you get it up and running again.” Olivia licked her
lips. “Isn’t it a cupcake boutique? I was reading your menu
online—your Deep Dark Devil’s food chocolate cupcakes sound
absolutely
divine.
”

Kat laughed. “Don’t mind Liv—she’s
pregnant.”

“Oh, are you?” Lauren smiled at her blonde
cousin. “Congratulations. Do you know what it is yet?”

“A boy,” Olivia said promptly. “It’s always a
boy with Kindred. Well, almost always.”

“Oh, of course.” Lauren nodded. “Well I would
love
to bake you a whole batch of cupcakes—just let me get
everything up and running again. In fact, if you want I could send
some to your baby shower. Unless you’ve already had it?”

“Not yet.” Olivia smiled. “I’ve got awhile to
go. I’m only just now into my second quadmester.”

“Quadmester?” Lauren said, frowning.

“You heard her right.” Kat grinned. “When
you’re carrying a Kindred baby the pregnancy lasts a
whole
year.
Can you imagine?”

“Hey, you’re the one who’s going to have
twins—if you ever get around to it,” Olivia pointed out.

Kat made a face. “God, I can’t even imagine.
I’ll get a big as a house.”

“You’ll be even more lovely, little Kat.”
Deep kissed the top of her head.

Sophia looked wistful. “I know a year is a
long time but I don’t think I’d mind so much.”

“Your time will come.” Olivia hugged her twin
sister before turning back to the viewscreen. “Sorry, Lauren, we
didn’t mean to leave you out. We get started talking and we can’t
stop.”

“That’s okay.” Lauren smiled and then stifled
a yawn. “Look, it’s really nice to meet you guys but I think I
ought to get going. I’ve had a super long day and I have, uh, lots
of unfinished business back at my apartment.”

“Oh, of course.” Kat winked. “I get it.” She
looked at Lauren’s mom. “It was really nice to talk to you again,
Mrs. Jakes.”

Lauren’s mom smiled. “Please, Kat, call me
Aunt Abby like Olivia and Sophia do. I’ll never forget that you
gave me hope when things looked darkest.”

“She did?” Lauren looked at her mom
questioningly.

“Kat and her men are finder/seekers,” Sophia
explained. “They have a way of finding missing people.”

“A very
interesting
way.” Olivia
winked and Kat elbowed her gently in the ribs. “Ouch!” she
complained, laughing. “Take it easy on the pregnant lady.”

“What Liv is trying to say is that Kat and
her guys checked up on you after you and Xairn left,” Sophia
explained. “And they checked again recently because we had reason
to fear you were in danger.”

“I was, several times,” Lauren admitted,
surprised. “But how did you know?”

“I saw you,” Nadiah said quietly.

“You saw me? How?” Lauren frowned. “Are you a
finder uh, person like Kat, too?”

“Nadiah has a gift—the Sight. She had a
vision about you,” Sophia explained.

“A vision?” Lauren asked, looking at the slim
blonde girl. Beside her, Detective Rast coughed and shifted
impatiently but she ignored him.

“I know it must sound strange, but it’s
true.” Nadiah lifted her chin defiantly. “I saw you walking in a
dark alleyway filled with purple shadows. You were wearing an
outfit that was all blue with a long red sash and blue shoes with
crimson soles.”

“Oh my God!” Lauren put a hand to her mouth.
“That happened! You really saw that?”

Nadiah nodded gravely. “I did. And I felt as
though you were walking into a trap.”

“I nearly did.” Lauren shivered at the
memory. “If Xairn hadn’t come and saved me just in the nick of time
I’d still be there—stuck in
O’ah.”

“Where the purple mists never recede,” Nadiah
whispered. She put a hand to her head and her eyelids fluttered.
“Oh, Lauren, I felt such fear for you!”

Beside her, Detective Rast shifted again and
cleared his throat. He looked like he wanted to say something but
in the end he kept silent.

“Thank you,” Lauren said to Nadiah. “It was
pretty awful but I’m okay, thanks to Xairn.”

“Sounds like you owe him a lot,” Olivia
murmured.

“I owe him my life,” Lauren said seriously.
“Several times over.”

“You may still be in danger,” Nadiah’s big
blue eyes widened dramatically. “I’ve had another dream about you.
At least, I
think
it was you.” She frowned. “Um, Lauren, do
you have any giants in the town you live in? People of really large
stature maybe around, um…I’m trying to work it out in your system
of measurement…around twenty feet tall?”

“Twenty foot tall giants? In Sarasota?”
Lauren shook her head. “Uh, no, sorry but we don’t. Was that part
of the dream?”

“It was.” Nadiah looked frustrated. “You or
someone who looked a lot like you was standing beside two giants
who were kissing. The male had the female bent over his arm and
they were frozen there, not moving. I saw you standing beside them
and then suddenly you disappeared. And somehow…somehow I knew you
had been taken someplace terrible.” Her voice dropped. “Someplace
you might never return from.”

“Do we
really
have to listen to this?”
For some reason Detective Rast was glaring at Nadiah’s image on the
viewscreen. “I mean, you had me going for a minute with the whole
purple shadows and the blue and red clothes but
giants
kissing?
Come on.”

Nadiah stiffened. “Just because you don’t
understand it doesn’t mean it couldn’t happen.”

“I don’t have to understand something to know
it sounds crazy,” he shot back.

“No, wait a minute.” Olivia held up a hand.
“You said the girl in your dream just disappeared? Like she’d been
taken somewhere? Maybe transported by the molecular transfer beam
the Scourge have?”

“Oh no.” Lauren felt suddenly sick. “But
that’s not possible! Xairn took me to
O’ah
to have my DNA
altered
specifically
so the AllFather couldn’t kidnap me
that way again.” She shivered and her mom wrapped an arm around her
shoulders comfortingly.
“Please
tell me it can’t happen
again.”

“I know how you feel,” Sophia said
sympathetically. “It happened to me too. It’s awful—like somebody
put your entire body through a cheese grater.”

“That’s exactly how it is.” Lauren shivered
again and pressed her face to her mom’s shoulder. “Ugh, I really
don’t want to think about it.”

“I’m sorry.” Nadiah looked regretful. “But I
thought I should warn you. Just in case.”

“It sounds like Lauren will be just fine as
long as she stays away from kissing giants,” Detective Rast said
dryly. “Somehow I don’t think that’s going to be a problem.”

“Very funny.” Kat’s blue eyes flashed. “Did
you ever think that since it’s a dream the giants Nadiah saw might
stand for something else? Maybe they’re some kind of
symbolism.”

“The symbol of a fraud, maybe,” he
growled.

Olivia put a hand on her hip. “Seriously,
Detective Rast, does it say ‘professional jerk’ on your business
cards or what?”

“No, it says that I find missing persons,” he
snapped. “And I don’t need a bunch of psychic mumbo-jumbo to help
me do it.”

“I never offered you my help.” Nadiah gave
him a look that could freeze a laser beam. “And don’t worry,
Detective, I never will.”

His striking green eyes flashed. “I wouldn’t
take it if you begged me.”

Nadiah put her hands on her hips.
“
Begged
you? Are you out of your tiny human mind?” She
sniffed and her eyes flickered down to his crotch. “Though I’m sure
that’s not the
only
thing that’s tiny about you.”

Detective Rast, who was as big as Xairn or
any of the Kindred warriors Lauren had seen, raised an eyebrow at
Nadiah. “Are you saying you want to come down and check out my
equipment? Because that’s certainly what it
sounds
like.”

Nadiah’s cheeks went bright red. “Of
course
not. I have no interest in your…your…in that!”

He crossed his arms over his chest. “They why
were you looking south of my belt?”

“I…I was looking at your weapon,” Nadiah
protested. “I have no interest in anything else.”

“My weapon, huh?” He smirked. “Well I think I
can promise you it’s a larger caliber than you could handle.”

Nadiah looked furious. “Why, you—!”

“Okay now,” Lauren’s mom said, putting out a
hand. “Maybe we should all say goodbye. It’s awfully late and I
know Lauren is exhausted.”

Lauren, who had been fascinated in the
exchange between the detective and Sophie’s cousin-in-law, quickly
manufactured a yawn. “Uh, yeah. I really am.”

“We’re sorry for keeping you,” Kat said,
smiling warmly.

“And I apologize for disturbing your reunion
with your kin,” Nadiah said formally. “Truly, it wasn’t my intent.
I simply wanted to warn you to be on your guard.”

“I will be.” Lauren smiled at her. “I
promise. But don’t worry—I have protection.”

“We know you’re in good hands.” Kat smiled at
her. “Say hi to Xairn for me.”

“I will.” Lauren smiled. “I hope to see you
all in person soon.”

“And don’t forget you promised to come for my
baby shower and bring cupcakes,” Olivia said quickly. “I think
we’ll need at least three dozen.”

“Yeah, but what are the rest of us going to
eat, Liv?” Sophie grinned at her sister and gave her a nudge. “You
know I’m kidding. Though I think you ought to ask Lauren if she
does some of the weird flavor combinations you’ve been craving
before you place your order.”

“Somehow I doubt there are any
ketchup/sauerkraut/chocolate cupcakes on her menu,” Kat said
dryly.

“I can accommodate almost any request,”
Lauren said, smiling. “Who knows? Maybe I’ll end up with a new
flavor I can use. I’ll call it ‘pregnancy cravings’ or ‘eating for
two’ or something like that.”

“I seriously doubt you’d want to sell some of
the things Liv has been eating,” Sophie said, grinning. “But you
never can tell.”

“We’ll contact you again when we plan the
shower,” Olivia promised. “But now I think we should probably go.
All this talk about cupcakes has made me so
hungry.”

“Liv, you just ate a whole carton of Chunky
Monkey!” Sophia protested.

“Right.” Olivia grinned unrepentantly. “And
now I want some
real
food. Who’s up for pizza?”

“I’ve got the ingredients at my place,” Kat
volunteered. “As long as you don’t want anything weird on it.”

“Nothing too strange,” Olivia promised. “Just
pepperoni and mushrooms. And…”

“And what?” Sophia demanded.

“Well…” Olivia bit her lip. “Does anybody
have any black jellybeans? You know, the licorice ones?”

“Black jelly bean and pepperoni pizza?” Kat
rolled her eyes and looked at Lauren. “You see what we have to put
up with over here?”

Lauren couldn’t help laughing. “I think it’s
hilarious. And listen, Olivia, I promise to make any kind of
cupcakes you want. Even sardine and pickle or anything else you can
come up with.”

Olivia rubbed her stomach. “Mmm, pickles. Has
anybody ever had a pickle pizza?”

“Stop!” Sophia sounded horrified.
“
Please
don’t give her any more ideas,” she begged
Lauren.

“Sorry!” Lauren laughed again, delightedly.
She could already tell she was going to love her new cousins.

Kat smiled. “I think we’d better go now,
Lauren. Got to feed the pregnant lady before she gets mean.”

“Bye.” Lauren gave them all a little wave.
“I’ll be in touch.”

“Please do,” Olivia said, suddenly serious.
“Sophie and I are
so
glad you’re home.”

“So am I,” Lauren said. “You have no idea how
glad.”

Lauren’s mom nodded at the viewscreen. “Good
night, girls. We’ll talk to you later.”

“Call us anytime,” Sophia said. As their
images faded slowly to a small glowing dot in the middle of the
viewscreen, Lauren could still hear them arguing good naturedly
about pizza toppings.

“Aren’t they something?” Lauren’s mom smiled.
“I swear your cousin Olivia is
just
like my little sister.”
She turned to Detective Rast. “I think we can go now that we’ve
informed the Kindred that Lauren is home safely, don’t you?”

He nodded and shifted uncomfortably. “Of
course. And I want to apologize for my, uh, argument with that
girl—Nadiah. She just rubs me the wrong way but it wasn’t very
professional on my part.”

“You don’t think she’s right, do you? That
Lauren is still in danger?” Abby’s voice was tight and she squeezed
Lauren’s shoulder hard.

“I’ll be fine, Mom.” Lauren kissed her cheek
and tugged her toward the door. “Now could we please get out of the
HKR building and get home? I really do need to take care of some
things.”

Her mom sighed as they walked out into the
balmy Florida night. “You’ve only been home a day, honey. Why don’t
you take it easy?”

“My business isn’t going to run itself,”
Lauren said, lifting her chin. “It’s been sitting empty, making no
money for over a month and you
know
what rent on the Circle
is like.”

“I’ve taken care of the rent so don’t worry
about that.” Her mom smiled reassuringly. “Seriously, Lauren,
you’ve been through a very traumatic event. You should rest. You
might even want to think about getting some therapy.”

“Your mother is right,” Detective Rast said
seriously. “I have the name and number of a counselor who works
with victims who have been kidnapped and, uh, abused.”

“I know what you’re implying but nothing like
that
happened to me,” Lauren snapped, frowning. “Xairn
protected me and he never laid a finger on me.”

“And I’m going to be forever grateful to him
for that,” her mom said softly. “But don’t pretend to yourself that
this didn’t happen. It
did.”