“At least I’m a live pessimist.”
“There ain’t no need for you to make up your mind today. Think about the idea for a while. You’ll come around to my way of thinking,” Lynx predicted.
“Now there’s a scary thought, yes?” Gremlin interjected.
“Lynx, there’s no way I’ll ever agree to this asinine plan of yours,” Ferret stated. “I let you talk me into becoming a Warrior against my better judgment, but I’m not giving in this time. We have a good life at the Home. The Family treats us with respect and has accepted us as members, and in return we use our hybrid abilities to protect those who have been so kind to us. We do our fair share of work, and we face our fair share of danger. There’s no reason to rock the boat by demanding to be taken on the next run. Gremlin and I aren’t bored, and we want to leave well enough alone.”
“Party poopers.”
“Besides, how can you want to travel far from the Home when you have Melody?” Ferret asked.
“She won’t object if I go on a run.”
“Of course she won’t. She loves you too much to stand in your way. For her sake you should think twice about your idiotic ideas,” Ferret said.
“You have the most to lose, and you can cause the woman who loves you tremendous grief. Think about how lucky you are. Lynx. You’re the only one of us who has a mate, a woman endowed with feline attributes exactly like yours. You’re the only one who has someone to go home to when your work is done for the day. Do you know how much Gremlin and I envy you?
Do you know how badly we wish we had a mate of our own?”
Lynx averted his gaze and pretended to be interested in a nearby oak tree. “It’s not fair bringing Melody into this.”
“You were the one who made an issue of fairness,” Ferret countered.
“How fair are you being to Melody if you’re willing to desert her for weeks at a stretch just because you’re bored with your job?”
“The other married Warriors leave their wives when they go off on missions,” Lynx said defensively.
“Yes, they do. But I don’t know one wife who’s happy about the arrangement. They recognize the necessity but they resent being separated from their loved ones. Take Blade and Jenny as an example. He leads every mission. He’s away from the Home more than anyone else, and his prolonged absences have upset Jenny immensely. Do you want to do the same thing to Melody?”
“You should never hurt the one you love, no,” Gremlin commented. He gazed at the azure sky, anxious to resume their search, thinking of his close friend. Blade. Then he glanced at a patch of weeds to his left.
“We could always take Melody with us,” Lynx suggested.
“Are you out of your mind? You’d imperil her life by taking her into the Outlands?”
“She can handle herself. And she’s always sayin’ how she’d like to get out of the cabin more often.”
“Excuse me, yes?” Gremlin said, but the other two ignored him.
Ferret gestured angrily at Lynx. “You’re amazing! Do you know that?
Just when you come up with the dumbest idea in the history of this planet, just when I think you can’t possibly top your previous stupidity, you outdo yourself! Now you want to take Melody on a mission. The Doktor must have given you a lobotomy when no one else was looking.”
“This is important, no?” Gremlin stated.
“Butt out,” Lynx snapped, glaring at Ferret. “What Melody and I decide to do with our lives is our business. If she wants to go on a mission, it’s fine with me.”
“Well I’m not going, and that’s final!”
“Who needs you? Stay at the Home and hide in your shell. Let life pass you by.”
“Stop arguing, yes?” Gremlin urged, to no avail.
“It would serve you right if Melody kicked you out the door.”
Ferret said to Lynx.
“You’d just love that, wouldn’t you?”
“No.”
“And why not?” Lynx demanded, his voice rising.
“Because if she gives you the boot, you’ll probably end up bunking with us.”
“And I suppose you’re too good to share a room with me?”
“It’s not the sharing I mind. It’s the fact that you snore like an erupting volcano.”
“Says who?”
“Says me!”
Gremlin stepped between them, grinning happily. “I’m sorry to interrupt your friendly conversation, but this is most important, no?”
“What the hell is it?” Lynx asked.
“We must return to the Home immediately, yes?” Gremlin informed them.
“Why?” Ferret asked.
For an answer, Gremlin extended his right arm and opened his hand.
“Damn!” Lynx exclaimed.
“What are we waiting for?” Ferret asked.
Off they raced toward the Home.
Chapter Five
Who was this woman?
Floating on the threshold of consciousness, Berwin saw a lovely woman running toward him, a radiant vision with blonde hair and green eyes, her body clothed in a shimmering silver gown. He seemed to be standing at one end of a grass-covered field. She approached him from the other end, sprinting with the fleetness of a doe, her arms outstretched in his direction, her mouth moving, forming the same word over and over and over again.
Berwin couldn’t hear her.
He took several strides, his head cocked to one side, but the mysterious woman was still too far away. “Who are you?” he shouted.
“What do you want?”
The blonde kept coming, kept mouthing the word.
Berwin trembled as an intense feeling that he should know her swept through him. Strangely, although the word she spoke wasn’t audible, although at least 50 yards separated them, her features were incredibly clear. He could see every detaiclass="underline" her full lips, her rounded cheeks, and the panic in her eyes, as if she were afraid she wouldn’t reach him in time.
“What is it?” Berwin called out.
She opened her mouth wide to reply, and suddenly the entire scene dissolved into shards of light. She abruptly disintegrated into glowing bits and pieces.
“No!” Berwin cried, and a black fog enshrouded his mind. Fear gripped him, an inexplicable fear out of all proportion to the content of his dream. “No!” he cried again.
And woke up.
Berwin sat bolt upright in bed, momentarily disconcerted, sweat caking his skin. He gulped and blinked a few times, wondering why the blonde woman had disturbed him so, and wished he could identify her.
“Are you all right?”
Berwin looked at the door, ill at ease at the sight of Nurse Krittenbauer standing in the doorway. “Fine,” he mumbled.
The nurse walked over to the bed and placed her right palm on his forehead. “You don’t have a fever. What’s wrong? I heard you yell.”
“I had a bad dream,” he replied.
“What about?”
Berwin licked his lips and sighed. “It was nothing, really.”
“You let me be the judge,” Krittenbauer said. “Tell me about your dream.”
Reluctantly, self-conscious while relating the account, Berwin complied, concluding with, “So you can see it was no big deal.”
“Perhaps,” she said ambiguously. “Did you have any other dreams?”
Berwin shook his head. “Not that I recall. All I took was a short nap. I dozed off while waiting for Doctor Milton to return with my family.”
“Your parents and your sister will be here soon,” Nancy informed him.
“Good,” Berwin said, excited at the prospect.
“And from now on I want you to fill me in on every dream you have.”