Chapter 11 – All in the Family
Kate sat by the window, Charlie napping half-over her lap and Abbie medidtating on the other half of the bench seat.
"Okay Emma, how about we get Dratini out of storage?"
"Mm?" Peter was talking some more on the balcony outside.
"Professor Reed has been taking good care of him since the last time you were here. Come, we can go to the computer at the Pocket Monster Center."
Kate looked at the balcony, Grandma doesn't look that sick.
She does not look ill, but she feels it. Abbie had an answer, look at her.
Kate reaffirmed her shield before looking.
Good habit to be in. Abbie again.
Her grandmother's colours were a mess, like everyone else's, she still had a long way to go to understand them. But there was an overcast of black. Spikes or a darker colour, it was hard to tell. Will she be okay?
She knows where she is, she knows where she wants to go. She mistakes you, but you do look like your mother. Abbie shrugged.
Thank you Abbie, she smiled a little, remembering the dream she had seen of her mother. Are you sure we should let her take us out?
It's your choice.
"I'm not going to wait for a Slowpoke if they take too long to put on their shoes."
Even if the Dratini is gone Kate tied her shoes, it might jog her memory. I remember somewhere about people with a companion monster lived longer and better than people who didn't. Kate nudged Charlie awake, and we should keep an eye on her for grandpa.
That answers that then.
"I've never met your granddaughter. So this is Jocelyn?" The professor looked into the view screen from her side of the video call. Professor Reed was stationed on the edge of the city where she had the room for the Monsters stored on the computer system. Her straw-coloured hair was tinged with grey.
"Yes Professor Reed, she's getting so big." Kate's grandmother squeezed her shoulder and gave it a wiggle for emphasis.
"Please, Harriet call me Debbie. It's just been so long since I've seen you last. How old are you Jocelyn?"
"I'm eleven." Kate squeezed her grandmother back. Does the professor know about Mom?
Debbie leaned forward towards the camera, as if that would make it easier to see Kate, and all her shortness, over the edge of the video phone.
Kate leaned up on her toes so it was easier to see her head and shoulders.
Debbie smiled at Harriet, "Nice to meet you Jocelyn. How long will you be visiting your grandparents?"
"A while."
Debbie smiled and turned to Kate's grandmother, "Ammelia's Dratini is doing well here, she's grown big after all these visits. Peter's always picked up the Dratini before, how is he?"
Harriet smile at the professor, "Oh he's fine. I was thinking that Dratini would do better with my grand-daughter.
"Well, good luck on your monster-journey Jocelyn. But do you have others? This Dratini is a little tricky for a new trainer."
"I know a couple already. Abbie and Charlie."
"Aw, you named them. How cute." Debbie sounded liked she was talking to a small child with the comment without being an outright insult. Her laugh lines crinkled with a smile.
Kate was smaller for he age, though she was not so small to wan to have a grown-up use that tone with her. But she only responded by raising her chin ans thinking of her closeness with her monster-friends behind her.
"That's my girl," Harriet patted Kate's shoulder this time.
The console started beeping after a light turned on and the lid's lock engaged beside the view screen.
"Okay, she's coming through now, don't let me get in the way of spending more time with your grand daughter."
After a moment, the transfer completed and the monster's pocket-ball appeared under the glass lid.
Kate thanked the professor while her grand mother and Debbie exchanged good byes.
Ammelia had the Dratini more as a pet and companion than a trainer and had left her in the care of her parents. The professor had mentioned that Peter had left the Dratini in her care more and more as Kate's grandparents became older
Kate had several more questions to ask her dad when she got back to the condo.
"Not now Jocelyn." Harriet had a large smile while putting her hand out against Kate releasing Ammelia's Dratini.
"It's not proper to have your monster walking around just anywhere around people."
Kate looked at Charlie and Abbie walking alongside her. Abbie just gave a human-like shrug at the comment.
"Okay, so let's just go back home then grandma."
"I don't care!" Henry's diatribe to Kate went on. "You don't leave without me. And certainly not without telling me!"
"But Dad, grandma and I-"
"I don't care, your grandmother is not well, she's sick. You could have gotten her hurt or." He looked to the front door of the condo. "Your grandfather is out there, still looking for his wife. You're lucky it was me who stayed behind. Your grandfather would not have reacted well at all. You should have seen how upset he was that Harriet had left home."
Kate decided against arguing anymore, not realizing at the time how sick her grandmother was and the care her grandfather took with Harriet.
Henry went on, and on. Kate took it, embarrassment and all and kept listening.
"You are staying put, understand? We haven't come this far just for you to go wandering off with a sick relative. "You do realize you could have dragged her into trouble if you had been seen? By anyone we do not talk about, with anyone?"
"But I didn't see any. Grandmother and I were fine."
"That's the problem, you don't see." Henry raked his hair with desperation. "Look, I'm sorry, you have noticed it before. But it's dangerous to think you will all the time." He knelt to look Kate in the eye, "I care about you, but they're dangerous. They're trouble and I don't want you any more involved in my mess anymore that you have."
Kate bit her lip against tears, the feelings coming off her father, adopted or not, she could feel his caring, compassion and a little sadness. It was all making her cry.
"Henry pulled her into a hug, "I don't think they know we're here. Please, don't go out again. Not unless you're with me and we're leaving. I only thought to ground you to keep you inside. I'm trying to keep your grandparents out of this, okay? We keep each other safe but I'm not sure how well that will work if Harriet and Peter are in trouble and we're somewhere else."
"Okay dad. I'll stay out of trouble."
"And?"
"I won't go outside until we leave."
"Thank you."
The front door opened, making a swishing over the floor of the front of the home. "Henry! How- Harriet! Thank goodness! Henry! How did you-"
What followed was a different homecoming. Peter was so happy to see Harriet again, checked how she was doing and had her settled on her seat on the balcony quickly. Kate did not feel so welcome anymore. He thought he had lost his wife and a small gap had seemed to appear between her and her grandfather.
She felt it would be a long time before he was warm with her again. She hoped it would just be until the next morning, though it was more being optimistic. Abbie pictured a shadow between her and Peter and it seemed to fit. How did we not know they would be this upset for a walk? How sick is grandma?
Abbie replied with I do not know everything, Harriet is hurt inside and it makes it hard for her to care for herself. As for us coming back, I did not know that this would happen either.
Be we are telepathic, how could one of us not read their minds and prevented is? I don't get it.
We hear what they think. If someone does not think of a thing, we do not 'hear' it. And Harriet had no understanding of this. Henry was right, If someone who is dangerous to us does not think 'dangerously' let us say, then we will not think we are in danger and they will recognize you and we will not know they are there.
I thought things would get simpler with time.
"Kate, go to your room, I need to talk to your grandpa."
Abbie and Kate's little discussion had been taking place under Peter's lecture about taking care of his wife.
"Okay, dad."
Kate, we get stronger and more complex with time, so why not everything else?
Kate did not respond as she went into the bedroom. Recalling the monster-ball in her pocket since she had returned.
Did professor Reed give a gender or even a name for my mother's monster?
She is a she. Those boxes are still strange. I see the person between the black lines but they are not near to be heard. How far away can they be?
Anywhere in the world. Anyway, Reed never gave a name. And I did not like the way she talked about you.
Abbie snorted quietly at that comment right on top of the answer to the phone question.
Here goes, The monster ball made the usual noise, she slipped the empty ball into her pocket as the dratini appeared.
White fins, shaped like wings, looking like large ears on either side of her head. She had a long and sleek dark blue body and a long white belly. A large stone was on the centre of her forehead. The Dratini moving on her belly was even taller than Abbie by over a foot. She was much longer than the pictures Kate had of photos and normal Dratini. Not as long as Dragonair bu longer.
The Dratini trilled in confusion, moving around the bedroom. Nearly knocking over a lamp, she went over and under the bed, looking for something.
"Hey, it's okay." Kate made a shushing noise and tried to calm the monster.
The Dratini froze in place and looked at Kate. Still looking confused, she slithered towards Kate. Giving her a sniff then recoiling to the bed and giving another trill. The noise was quiet, Kate could barely hear it.
"I'm Kate. Emma's daughter. Do you remember Emma?"
The Dratini coiled itself together on the bed, leaning away from Kate. Abbie was watching everything and Charlie was near the closet, curled protectively around the flame on the tip of his tail.
The Dratini made a noise like "ehh-rah, ehh-rah" in a sort-of squeal.
"Yeah, Emma. She was my mother."
The Dratini relaxed on the bed, still not moving towards Kate. Making some sort of noise she had never heard a monster make. Kate's thought was that the Dratini was crying, in her own way. All the noises she made were soft and quiet or just quiet.
"I am Kate, Emma's daughter." She decided to take a risk, give the Dratini something hopeful. "I think she's still alive, will you help me find her?"
The Dratini snapped to attention and jumped off the bed towards Kate. Landing right in front of her and looking her right in the eyes as if to challenge.
"Either that or I have an older sister. But please, will you help me? You are family to me. Like an aunt or an old friend of my mother." She tried to match the Dratini stare fore stare, but the monster was so fierce and intense Kate could not hold after the staring matched seemed to go on forever.
The Dratini sniffed at Kate after winning the staring match. Kate thought it might start a bad trend.
Yes it will. And now you have to fix as soon as you can or it will get much worse. Abbie broke the silence for a moment, giving Kate a tip on treating other monsters. Abbie seemed to clam up or hold in after that, leaving Kate on her own with the Dratini.
"Look, let's start somewhere else. Let me see. What is your name? What did my mother call you?"
The female Dratini looked at her and used the human gesture of rolling her eyes at Kate while seeming to cast her gaze around the room for inspiration, also a human gesture. She started making another noise. Like a trill or a high-pitched hum or something in-between there was a beat to it and the monster started repeating herself. To drill the pattern into Kate it seemed.
Kate had a feeling that the monster was suing some kind of grown-up sarcasm. She had forgotten that monsters could be so smart, but the monster was older than Kate and had been around her mother for years.
Kate held onto her shield with a mental fist and tried listening to the Dratini. The monster stopped her name-song right after Kate tried to read her mind, but Kate had it quickly. The understanding of the human sound in the noise came with the thought of someone looking at the Dratini and making a sound she would respond to. It was the same as two of the syllables in the song. Pulled out and used as her name. Kate also realized that she had heard her mother's voice again, speaking the monster's name.
"Mimir. She called you Mimir."
The Dratini stopped turning away and looked at Kate with her head cocked and only facing with one eye. Making a sound like a question mark, Kate could never explain it, some things were simply known to her.
"Mimir?"
Mimir turned back to Kate, still holding herself upright stiffly but not staring Kate down.
Better. You have her interest but not her respect. Do not think it is over.
Kate twisted her lips together, not forming a response Abbie would hear, or so she thought. Abbie's ear twitched at the sarcasm.
"Mimir, this is Abbie. She is my first friend and-"
Mimir glided over the carpet to Abbie and went around her in a circle. Abbie managed to stare flatly at Mimir and still keep her eyes as nearly-closed slits on her vulpix-like face. Mimir looked away first that time as she finished a rotation around Abbie. She then glided over to the closet, where Charlie was curled up, before Kate could introduce him.
He growled at the monsters' approach. Protecting his tail above all else.
"Charlie-" Kate tried to break the tension, "Charlie, her name is Mimir. She is our new friend."
Charlie growled at Mimir. Flicking his tail behind him and trying to make himself look bigger, even curled up on the floor. Abbie and Mimir seemed to be neutral with some deference. Charlie and Mirmir was something else. He tried posing, muscles on his shoulders kept twitching as Mimir stared him down.
Kate stayed out of it in every way but talking. Trying to use the noise to distract. "Hey, come on. We're all family here."
In the end it was a tie, Charlie and Mimir looking away at the same moment. Kate had that feeling again. There would be other situations in the future. Especially if she did not find the peace her little group needed.
I will teach you whatever you need to know, what I can, about what we have in common. But if you want to know how to act with people and monsters you have to learn it by watching and doing. I did not tell you how to walk or speak aloud, you do not tell me how to sense danger. These things are learnt by doing, not by telling.
It still sounds like an excuse to leave my to flounder on my own with Mimir.
I do not teach you how to earn respect. You simply get it or you do not. And do not try to speak with Mimir this way, yet.
Oh, did you talk to her? Mirmir settled on the Growlithe cushion by the bed, claiming the space to herself and making sure no Charmanders would wander over with a warning look.
With me it is different. I have taken for granted the asking. Something else You need to be taught. But for now do not invade her space unless she asks.
But, but how do I do that? Abbie? Kate could feel the questions cascading in her mind and Abbie could feel it too.
No, it has been a long day. For now, rest. And settle for tonight, Mimir is territorial and will take offence if you approach this the wrong way. Making it worse. Abbie crossed her legs and settled on the bit of carpet in front of the nightstand and beside the bed. Charlie found a spot at the foot of the matress. Triumphantly curling up at Kate's feet, a display just for Mimir. His tail curled over himself so there was no chance of the bedding setting on fire.
Mimir ignored him, or made an appearance to do so. She was being trouble, though she did not claim the bed of her former owner, Kate believed that it was the difference between real trouble and someone who only made an appearance of trouble. Kate's last thought before falling asleep, early for anyone but Kate, was the sound of her mother's voice and the joy in Mimir's eyes at hearing the word.
Kate opened her eyes to a different place than the penthouse condominium owned by her grandparents.
The place seemed the same. The bed was the same, the carpet was the same. The ceiling and roof were gone. Parts of the walls had fallen away, scorch marks here and there. The sky was the dark-blue-grey of a cloudy metropolis at night. Peeking over a low gap in one wall's remains, the horizon glowed red making it seem like the clouds might actually be smoke. Nothing was there to make her cough but the wind that suddenly swept over another wall was hot and smelled of burnt things and meat.
She went through the door to the bedroom, the frame was intact and the walls were a little higher deeper in the building.
"Dad! Grandpa!" Her calls went unanswered further in, there was no one there but the burning meat and wood smells. Something smelled like burning plastic like when she tried to fix the toaster with a plastic fork, so she would not be electrocuted of course.
The wind still brought her smells, most of it reminded her of a coastal Swinub barbeque, she did not know why. It did not make her feel like eating anything though. Like the meat was rotten or just trying to overwhelm her.
"Grandma? Are you there?"
"I'm watching the sun rise on the balcony Emma."
Kate went through the home, the kitchen door remained, in part. She could see over the bottom half, it was like someone had taken a scoop out of that part of the building. She went from a tentative walk to a run to the balcony, at least the floor did not move under her or make noises. All she could hear was the wind and her grandmother's response.
Kate came around the last wall to the balcony, "Grandma? Are you okay?"
Harriet was looking over the rail, towards the undulating red glow on the horizon, like the world was burning. Over her grandmother's head, through the smoky haze in the sky was brown-black sky and a red sun.
"Grandma." Kate felt her stomach sink into her feet at the scene, watching her grandmother's back as she looked over the ruined city and the burning sky.
Harriet turn to Kate, a thin tendril of smoke rose from her chest. Kate's grandma had a half-melted face, scorching down the front of her blouse and skirt. Her breast bone showed in the middle, burnt skin and muscle around it. Her face was a ruin, missing one eye. Her hair was immaculate and every hair was in place as if nothing was wrong,
"Come, Emma, let's watch the Sun rise together." Harriet held out a hand to her granddaughter.
The air filled with a scream, a shriek of terror at the edge of death. Before long, Kate realized the sound was coming from her own throat.
-End of Chapter 11