CHAPTER FOURTEEN

THE STORIES SPREAD

"LIE, hold still!" Carter gritted his teeth and changed his grip from her leash to her collar in an effort to better restrain her antics.

She grinned in response, her tongue running over her lips and chin, seeking the last drops of blood like a toddler not wanting to waste dripped ice cream.

With a low sigh, Carter continued to wipe at her face with the wet towel. She turned her head back and forth to escape his attempts to clean the remains of her dinner of uncooked meat off her chin and cheeks.

"What are you doing to her?" An offended baritone rolled from the door over the kitchen floor.

Carter sighed again and looked over to see who was going to bother him now. He didn't recognize the tall, ebon haired, clean cut boy next door in a gold and blue costume with a full length shining gold cape fluttering heroically off his properly broad shoulders. The anger and righteous offense burning in the guy's brown eyes were very familiar...so were the new comer's companions: Peregrine and Sunflower.

The gold covered hero's hands were curled into tight fists as he leaned forward, preparing to advance. Peregrine grabbed one shoulder while Sunflower grabbed the other arm, tugging back.

"Dude, stay away from them." Peregrine spared a sidelong glare at Carter before moving between them, facing the gold clad hero.

"What! Why? He's got her on a leash!"

Sunflower tugged on the hero's arm. "It's safer that way, Gold Star, she's a monster."

"A monster?" Gold Star's disbelief was obvious. "I don't know what he told you-"

Peregrine cut in. "Sunflower's right, that's no girl. She's a monster that would happily kill everyone here." He pointed to the healing welt on his face. "This is what she did to me just because I disagreed with the jerk."

That was not the way Carter remembered it but the truth didn't matter as long as they convinced this new guy...Gold Star… to leave him and LIE alone.

Gold Star was no longer trying to push past Peregrine but he wasn't ready to leave yet. "Then what are they doing here? Why would they have something so dangerous roaming free? Is she used for training, to make the tests more realistic?"

Peregrine shrugged, "No...Fortress brought them in. Nobody knows why."

"Or at least no one's saying." Sunflower spared a suspicious glance over her shoulder and lowered her voice. "I hope at least the teachers know why."

Carter considered letting her know that her stage whisper could be heard clearly even across the kitchen but decided it wasn't worth the bother. Instead, he turned back to his attempt to clean LIE's face only to find her chewing on a corner of the towel. Huffing a soft, "Give that back," He pulled it away from her and wiped at a stubborn spot on her cheek.

Gold Star's answer was low. "Still...Shouldn't someone say something?"

Peregrine's voice progressively softened which hopefully meant he was headed back out the door, "Yeah, but who's going to speak against Fortress' personal project?"

Oh, if only Master Yin had been here. Carter chuckled to himself at the thought of what that teacher would have had to say about the overheard conversation. She'd have probably pointed out...again...that the best person to answer their questions was right here. Not that he would answer. Carter frowned. No, the best person for them to ask was Fortress but…

"Carter," Speak of the devil. Fortress strode into the kitchen, face etched in tension, "Do you have your mask in your pack?"

Carter tilted his head, confused but curious. "Yeah, why?"

"Get it on and come with me, I've got a mission for you."

Standing, Carter grabbed his pack with one hand, slinging it over his shoulder while trying to toss the towel into the nearby hamper. Unfortunately, LIE had taken advantage of his distraction and was chewing on it, trying to suck the blood out of it. With a shrug of surrender, Carter pulled his mask from his pack, slung it over his shoulder and commanded LIE to heel as he slid his mask over his face.

Fortress was already in the hall by the time Carter and LIE caught up with him so Carter could ask, "what's up?"

Fortress' stride lengthened and sped up as soon as Carter came even. His face was set and his eyes dark with worry. "I need you to find a missing child."

They didn't slow down until they were climbing into one of the small hoverships in the school hangar. Carter immediately directed LIE into a seat but struggled to get her safely strapped in so they could be on their way. She kept shifting and fidgeting, probably picking up on his nerves. Still, her inability to remain still interfered with him buckling her in which put him more on edge which made her more fidgety in an annoying circle causing Carter to curse under his breath. Reminding himself that she wasn't resisting on purpose and snapping at her would not help, Carter forced himself to close his eyes and take a deep breath, then release it slowly with a repeated, 'calm, calm' mantra. He really should have paid more attention when his mother had talked about her yoga classes but it still worked well enough that his voice was even as he instructed, "LIE, stay still."

Her head tilted at a suspicious angle but she finally let him tighten the safety straps down. In significantly less time, Carter had himself strapped into his own seat and the pilot was directing the small craft out of the school's hanger and into the air.

As soon as the whine of the engines quieted to a cruising background noise, Carter leaned forward and demanded, "So, what's the story on the missing kid?"

Fortress' frown creased his usually smiling mouth into deep grooves. "The police called it in from the mall. They've searched the building and can't find a trace. They brought in a K9 unit but the dog can't pick up the girl's scent."

Carter nodded. "That's a lot of different scents to pick one out of."

"Exactly and the mother doesn't have anything of the girl's to help the dog zero in on her specific scent to begin with." Fortress' hands clenched and unclenched repeatedly.

Carter looked over at LIE. "And you can't talk to a dog to explain trying to get it off the mother." He saw Fortress nod out as he turned his attention back to the hero. "But, according to the lab, LIE's got better senses than a dog and higher intelligence. So, you're hoping that I can explain to LIE to try to get the kid's scent of the mom's hand or a car seat or whatever and then find her."

Fortress nodded again.

They didn't speak the rest of the trip but Carter's fingers beat a fast staccato beat over his pockets and Fortress tapped his foot, hands continuing to try to grip an opponent that wasn't there.