Entwined
Chapter 37: The Snipe
A soft hand passed over the delicate Queen Anne's Lace flowers that had always bloomed around her ancestral home before gently turning the handle of her cellar door. Down the old stone steps the woman descended, gray overcoat swishing intently in her wake. She flicked a switch as she came to the bottom, smiling as the slightly yellow lights cast a golden sheen over her fading auburn hair.
Turquiose eyes darted around, checking over the emergency supplies amassed before them. Nodding to herself, the wrinkled woman began the careful ascent to the ground floor of her home.
It won't be much longer. I hope you are ready, my dear.
oOo
Donnie typed furiously on his keyboard, intent on following any lead he could find that might help them figure out what the Foot were up to. A shifting and a quiet giggle caught his attention. Glancing over curiously, he smiled a little to himself as he noticed Rissy still asleep. She had worn herself out earlier in the day by crying on Reni's shoulder, there had been some unpleasant event at their job and she needed to vent to the other female over it. Another quiet giggle made Donnie genuinely smile. So Ris laughs in her sleep.
oOo
Reni twirled the hyacinth Rissy had left for her thoughtfully. Her friend had confided many things in her today. The fiasco at work with Kaylee and her subsequent anger had been the tip of the iceberg. Dhe had been sure in her belief that something big was coming, something that would involve all of them for years to come.
"Penny for your thoughts."
Reni started. She hadn't heard Leo come and sit beside her. She did, however, notice the way he scowled at the bloom in her hand before covering it with his own.
"I didn't hear you come up."
Cobalt eyes looked out over the lake almost guiltily. "I'm sorry if I scared you."
Raven hair twirled in a chilly breeze as Reni turned ever so slightly to face the leader in blue. "You're forgiven, my love, but I must ask a question of you."
A smile wormed its way on to Leo's face. "Of course. What is on your mind?"
"Do you and your brothers eat turkey?"
Leo blinked. "Not normally, but I guess we could. We can eat everything a human could, and Mikey can eat several things a human cannot. Why do you ask?"
"Hmm, we were all talking the other afternoon about Thanksgiving."
Cobalt eyes lit in understanding. "You wanted to know if we would be celebrating."
Reni nodded. "I would like to. It's been a long time since I have. Since any of us have, really. Rissy sometimes goes to see her grandmother who lives an hour away, but that's about it. Kaylee's family is all on the west coast, and Rae said he parents died when she was young and she was raised as a ward of tbe state. We're an odd little family of misfits, but we're a family nonetheless."
Leo nodded thoughtfully, turning the idea over in his mind. "I don't see what it would hurt."
oOo
Raph waded into the dark lake water, sticks clicking rhythmically. On the shore, Kaylee and Rae watched and waited.
"Are you sure about this, Princess?"
"I'm sure, just keep clicking those sticks together and the snipe will swim right up to you and you can catch it. Only the most courageous men hunt the snipe. It's ok if you're scared and want to come back to shore."
Raph grunted. No way I'M backing out and being called a sissy.
But the water was dark, almost ominous, and Raphael's imagination could only picture this 'snipe' creature wrapping around one of his legs and taking him away to its lair. Away from Princess. A sudden dark shape in the water made him yell sharply, something was in the water with him! A swift touch on his leg made him shudder and jab a stick at the thing in the water. The stick was grabbed, and Raph was pulled under. He broke free and surfaced to the sound of the girls on shore howling with laughter. Taken aback, he saw Mikey surface not far from him still holding his snipe sticks and grinning.
"What's up, bro?"
"MIKEY! Oh, you are so gonna get it!"