Ziggy's Corner: And the 26th Chapter! Not much action, but some mystery's are solved, and a new player (at least his name at any rate) comes to the fore front. On with the show!
Her cell phone rang as she left the store and Carmelita picked it up and looked at it. Please let it be Sly. The name came up and she smiled, flicking the on button as she huddled in a little corner. "Hey there Ringtail, have you called to tell me that you're turning yourself in, finally?" She smiled as he laughed.
"Sorry, officer, but I have business in Australia, so I don't have time to go into the police station."
Her face screwed up. "So you won't be home this week?"
Sly sighed and shook his head, inching down his chair as he road in the plane. "Sorry babe, we nearly got those chips back in the States, but Morgan gave us the slip." He didn't want to tell her too much, he didn't want to worry her. "But we heard that she was heading back to Australia, so that's where we'll be going." He could tell that her Latina flare was rising, and he smiled, "So, what are you wearing?"
She narrowed her eyes and bit her lips. She wanted him home, she wanted to fell his strong arms wrapped around her waist, to feel his gently lips pressed against hers. A moment later, she smiled, "You really want to know?" she asked seductively, her body swaying back and forth of its own accord as she tried to look sexy.
"Go ahead," Sly said with a chuckle of his own. A few minutes later he was flushed with a red face, eyes the size of dinner plates, and he could feel his chest pound as his heart picked up. His hands were quivering, and he had to just smile as Bentley and Murray were just looking at him and shaking their heads. He glared at the turtle, As if Rose Marie doesn't talk to you like this. Then he had to mentally laugh, she probably didn't, she was too prim and proper.
Carmelita continued her sensuous details of what she was wearing, doing, and what she'd do to him once he came home. Mentally she dared him to hang up, knowing he couldn't. It was kind of fun to 'torment' him a little bit like this. Her own body was flushed with blood as she talked, thankful her parents were not present. "You be sure to hurry home, Ringtail," she cooed. "Or I'll have to hunt you down, and do things that can't even be mentioned on a cell phone." She was getting a second message, a mail picture, and she clicked it when she saw it was from Bentley's account. Carmelita nearly wet her pants laughing so hard as a picture of a beat red raccoon in blue clothes was biting down on his knuckles to calm himself down. "Am I getting to you, handsome?" she teased.
It took a long time for Sly to find his voice, but as he did, he chuckled and admitted that it was possible that she'd had gotten him a little flustered. "Well I don't want to be too mean. Click on your phone a few hours from now, and I'll have some very nice pictures for you." She waited till she heard him gasp, and squealed with girlish giggling. "You won't believe how tall Christian is getting," she added.
"I'll call you later, he promised, and then hung up. Carmelita was alone yet again, and would have been before her phone rang again, and she went to pick it up, seeing her father's name.
"Carmmie!" a perky voice called out. The inspector turned to look at Ruta bounding toward her, a large smile, a medium patch of hair covering her left eye. She was an arctic fox, her fur white though it sometimes turned to a light shade of brown when it turned warm. Her eyes were a mixture of both brown and a little blue. "I never thought I'd find you."
"Super girl had a hard time finding someone?" Carmelita asked with a bright smile. Ruta frowned and sighed, putting her hands on her hips.
"I said I'm more like Wonder Woman, and so what? I'm only mortal." She was dressed conservatively, wearing long stylish pants, a cute white tee shirt with some kind of boy band on it. She smiled. "Anyway we've been sent orders by the new commissioner of Interpol," Ruta continued. "Commissioner Victor Arcan has ordered all agents to go to Vienna for a world conference."
Carmelita frowned, ignoring her father's call, obvious he had been trying to contact her to tell her the same. "What for?"
"Guess he just wants to met the troops," Ruta said, and then squeaked as she looked over at a store, and saw it was having a major sale. "Oh my gosh! Look at those shoes!"
"You have all the shoes a girl could ever want," Carmelita protested.
"True, but you don't," Ruta laughed. "I mean how many boots can a girl have? What, you in the military or something?"
Carmelita rose an eyebrow and cocked her head. "Oh is that so?" She poked her friend in her ribs, and smiled as Ruta squealed again, pulling away. "What's so funny?" Carmelita asked, inching toward her and dancing three of her fingers around Ruta's midsection, "I don't think I said anything funny, so why laugh?"
Ruta's sparkly eyes grew wide and she edged away from her friend, her back leaning against a stone wall, her breath getting faster as Carmelita hunched down, her fingers wiggling around like worms ready to find a sensitive spot. "You wouldn't dare," Ruta gasped.
"Come on, how long has it been since we've had a tickle fight?" Carmelita giggled.
Ruta was more ticklish than Carmelita, but she had something that Carmelita didn't have going for her. She had a stronger constitution, and when push came to shove, was harder to break and cry uncle. She smiled and hunched herself, rushing forward and grabbing her friend's leg, tossing her gently to the ground. A few seconds later, she had a boot off, and smiled as she placed a slender finger on the middle of Carmelita's right foot. Her friend gasped.
"Don't," Carmelita gasped. Her eyes were a little pleading, but there was no real fear in them, as there had been with Dr. Goren.
Ruta smirked, "You going to let me buy you some decent shoes?" She was small, and frail looking, but she was incredibly strong. She waited for a reply and then moved her hand to her best friend's toes. "This little piggy," she began, smiling as Carmelita started chuckling and collapsing to the ground.
"Pleeheheheeeeehhehees," she giggled.
Ruta moved to the second and then the third toe, "This little piggy wiggled in the cool air, this little piggy crawled into the pen to get away from Ruta, this little piggy made Carmmie squeal with laughter…," she was having fun, Carmelita's face was turning bright red, and it hadn't even been a minute yet. She paused, partly to let her friend get some breathe, after all she wasn't sadistic, just having some fun, and to build suspense. "You do know what this piggy said, right Carmie," she said in a sing song voice.
"STOOHAHAHAHAAAAAHAOOOPP!" Carmelita screamed. Ruta smiled and shook her head.
"Nope, it said, 'Cochi Cochi Coo!'," Ruta said happily as she wiggled her fingers one at a time over the middle part of her friend's foot, dancing them around like little ballerina's or ice skaters. Carmelita laughed and rolled around, kicking her foot to free it from her friend's play. "Going to let me buy you some shoes, or do I have to get the other foot?" Ruta asked with a giggle.
Unfortunately she forgot the most important thing in a fight, especially a tickle fight. Never take your eyes off your opponent. Carmelita lurched forward still laughing and grasped her friend's sides, squeezing them as she brought Ruta on top of her. "Cochi Coo to you too, girl," she laughed.
Ruta screamed and wiggled over, trying to free herself from her friend's playful grip, her eyes turning watery as she laughed, Carmilta's fingers exploring her sides and ribs. "Maybe I should go for your underarms," Carmelita teased.
"No, no hohohohoho!" Ruta squealed, finally managing to pry herself free from Carmelita. "Okay, okay it's a tie," she said gasping for air.
"It usually is," Carmelita chuckled, rubbing her bare foot, and then placing her boot back over it.
"Okay, I get it, no new shoes," Ruta said with a laugh, still rubbing her sides. "So what do you say I buy you a late lunch, or early dinner?"
"Well, I suppose so, but when are we supposed to go to this meeting?" Carmelita asked, glaring at passersby as they stared at the two young women. What never seen two friends in a playful tickle fight? her scowled forced them to walk away and she continued to talk to her friend.
"The what?"
"The meeting the new commissioner said he wanted all of us to go to?" The sky was turning a nice shade of dark blue, it was nearing four o'clock, and the clouds too were changing from white to a little pink. "The one you told me about?"
Ruta stared at her friend and then shook herself out of her stupor. "Oh, that," she said with a giggle. "Its supposed to happen in a week from today." They continued to walk and talk, when all of the sudden Ruta squealed and grabbed her friend, "Oh look at that!"
"Another clothing store?" Carmelita asked with a sigh.
Ruta shook her head. "No, no, there's a new music store there! Oh, and look! It has Disney sheet music! Organ music, but its basically the same, I can read it for my piano!"
"You actually need more music?" Carmelita asked, giggling at the thought of the younger woman's collection of sheet music from all over the world… so much sheet music she had to rent a shed to put all of it in. "And what will your cat, Kasper think of this?"
"Kasper loves my playing, and he loves Disney music too!" she said enthusiastically. She jumped again, "Oh, Beethoven! That tears it, grandfather will love that!" Carmelita sighed as her friend grasped her arm, and pulled her into the store before sharing a meal with her, an hour in a half later; Ruta's arms so loaded with sheet music, a few music videos, and at least twenty Cds that she could barely see where she was going. And the funny thing was, right before going to the diner, Ruta discovered a shop selling different kinds of animation for her younger cousins, especially a DVD of something called Avatar the Last Airbender.
Carmelita just sighed and watched her friend spend her money for those she loved the most, and then enjoyed a wonderful piece of steak. Sorry Sly, you're going to wait for that phone photo I promised you.
Half way round the world, another two childhood friends were meeting. Morgan, disappointed about the Calico meeting, had gone back home, to an old acquaintance. Well not old really, though she was older than Morgan, but only by a couple of years. Gwendolyn Crane looked at her friend, her black head feathers twitching a little as she looked at her. "I'll make this blunt," she said in a proper, thick Australian accent, "I have no interest in joining you with a criminal spree again."
Morgan looked at the bird and smiled, for a good while she had been the 'Bentley' to Morgan's 'Sly'. "I wouldn't think of it," the numbat said. "I just wanted to ask if you knew anything about certain disks."
Gwendolyn looked at her friend again, "You do realize that I'm a history, not a technician," she said. After parting ways, Gwendolyn turned to a love of history, especially of World War II, but there were bit's and pieces of history from all over the place that she had a great knowledge of.
"I'm talking about ancient Egypt," Morgan continued.
"All right, either one of two things happened here," Gwendolyn sighed. "Either you are an alien whose abducted the real Morgan, and are now trying convince me of such, or your drinking heavily again, because you are not making sense."
Morgan carefully explained the situation, watching the tall bird frown and tap her chin. When she was finished her race was as red as a cherry and her eyes were watering. "That's as much as I can tell you, Gwen," she said, gasping for air.
"So these chips are harbingers to a bigger threat to the world?" Her friend nodded. "Was there anything of use you could tell me of the thug who attacked you?" a shake of the head promoted her to sigh. "Boy, when you give a mystery you really give a mystery!"
The crane stood up and walked to her bookshelf, running her fingers through the names as she searched. She shook her head. "Egypt, why does that sound so familiar?"
"Come across something?" Morgan asked, walking up to her.
"Well…," she hesitated, "I had a book from ancient Egypt that talked of a certain cult, but…," another pause. "But I can't seem to find it now." She frowned, it wasn't like her to misplace a book, especially as fascinating as this one had been. "The cult worshipped a god, or a demon if you will, named Tsirael, shaped like an owl."
"An owl?" Morgan frowned. "Like Clockwerk?"
"Possible, but I don't think … wait!" she squealed, picking up a book and practically leaping up and down like a cheerleader. "Here, I don't know why it was put here, but I've found it!" She turned the pages rapidly and found the chapter about the demon owl. She frowned and shook her head, "There's no where that it says there would be disks of some kind about him."
"What about the cult? Egypt isn't in power anymore, could it be possible there would be a prophesy from some other group?" Morgan suggested.
They tore through her large brown oak bookcase, researching for hours, just as they had when they were teenage girls, looking for information, or doing their homework. Sleep made the work that much more frustrating, but a cheerful Gwendolyn quickly brought in two cans of "rush" drink to help them.
"Still don't like coffee?" Morgan asked with a smile.
"I don't mind it," Gwendolyn said with a shake of her head, "but I better really be tired if I'm going to use it." She took a sip of the drink that was supposed to give you "wings", and paged through another book, squeaking as her finger pointed toward an entrée. "Tsirael, general of Hell, master of chaos and disaster, throned demon of the fourth level of hell," she read. "Apparently he could give Lucifer himself a run for ambition, he thought he would be able not only to overthrow God, but the devil too."
"Nice fellow," Morgan barked sarcastically.
"Seven thousand years after his fall from grace, it was said he would rise like a phoenix, and bring the world down in flames," she frowned, "appearing first in Germany, where his agent would eradicate God's chosen people, and then some sixty years later, where his followers would open the gates, and release him from bondage, using the blood of a chosen one, on the blue moon of the month of December, the birth of the savior."
"Sounds like this guy is a real peach," Morgan said.
"There's something about a key, releasing the general of his armies, or the major general, but there isn't much more I can read from this." Gwendolyn shivered. "This is demented."
"How much credence do you give it?" Morgan asked, finishing her drink, her friend shrugged.
"When I was little I would tell you there's no such thing as the supernatural, just as my college professor of a father had drilled into me, but I've seen to much just traveling with you to know to chuckle at things I can't explain and call them rubbish."
Morgan shivered, "I think I liked it better dealing with a deranged shark." Those chips were the key, I lost them, and God knows what I might have unleashed because of it. Hopefully the scorpion found the other chip, and that way I'll know that whoever is pulling these strings, won't be able to bring down hell on the earth.
"I don't see how blaming yourself will do anyone any good, Morgan," Gwendolyn said, her bright white feathers shuffling around her body. She pushed her glasses up her nose and blinked. "How many years have we known each other? Yes, I could tell you were blaming yourself."
"I shouldn't have been fooling around," Morgan said.
"From what you told me, you weren't," Gwendolyn said.
"But I could have asked where the priest was," she insisted, "instead of giving into frustration. I could have left the chips there with the Aborigines, and…,"
"And they would have been wiped out because whoever wants those chips would have found out where they were no matter what. You did what you thought was right."
Morgan turned her thoughts to her brother Nathan, who had trained her in the family thieving ways up until he was killed in a gang shoot out. Have I let you down too, brother? "I have to find Sly, he might know what to do."
"Might as well buy two airplane tickets then," Gwendolyn sighed.
"I thought you didn't want to get involved," Morgan said with a smile.
"With thievery, no," the crane said. "But I don't happen to have a problem with stopping some nut job trying to destroy the world." She smiled, and ran a feathered hand over her board, "Besides, I'd love to see some of the world's best surfing spots."
"You always said Australia has the best," the numbat giggled.
"Just because its true, that doesn't mean we shouldn't humor our less lucky fellow nations, now does it?"
They laughed through the rest of the day, and made their plans, hoping they could get Sly's attention by heading for Rome, again one of Gwendolyn's idea, she didn't want a fight in her home, and she also had wanted to try some of the Italian food, straight from Italy. She called the college, told them she was taking a Christmas break early, which since she was one of the best professors they had she could do, and off they went.
"Oh come on, give us a break!" Bentley cried as soon as they walked off the airplane. His eyes were focused on two woman, boarding another plane, heading toward Europe. Besides him a very tired, yet grinning Sly shook his head.
Yep, we're yo-yos. That's all there is too it.
Okay the 26th chapter is DONE! I hope everyone liked it! I'm typing this as I am in bed at 11:13 at night, so if it seems a tiny bit odd, it may be because I'm a little bit rummy. Haven't been sleeping well these last two to three weeks. Oh well, next time I submit, it will be chapters 27-32 (I hope), and then the grand finale, chapters 33-40! Until then, keep on reading!