Chapter 32:

Daphne groaned and cast the remote aside. There was nothing on TV, except a slow news day, soaps, preschool programming, soaps, weather, and soaps.

As much as Daphne had fallen in love with the house months ago, one could only take it in small doses, especially when it no one else was home. She had tried to take up a hobby. First she tried knitting, but aside from it being so stereotypical of a pregnant woman, all she felt she was doing was tangling the yarn. She tried crossword puzzles, but honestly, they all contained pop culture trivia that dated back twenty or thirty years before Daphne was even born. Once she thought about gardening, but then smacked herself: It was November. Oh, well. In a couple weeks her imprisonment would be over. She and Freddie would have a kid. All would be well.

The truth was, the most likely reason why Daphne had so little patience for her attempted hobbies was that all was not well. Try as she might to distract herself, every now and then the image of Daphne's father would flash back into her mind. They honestly didn't expect him to live more than another week or two. Would there be some way of waking him up to see Janice if he survived until she was born? Sometimes Daphne would visit him, would talk to him, but she never knew, nor did any of the doctors know, whether he could actually hear her. Maybe if Mr. Blake could just hear his granddaughter cry, to know that she was alive and well in this world, that would heal something, if not his cancer.

Daphne stood up. She needed to get away from this house, gone stale with everything she had thought and dreaded since her accident. She put on her coat and gloves and stepped outside.

She had no idea where she was going, or even how far she was going. All she knew was that she had to get away. It was strange how a cold day with completely gray skies and leafless trees could be freedom as opposed to the comfortable indoors, but strangely Daphne did feel her spirits lift just a tiny bit. Here, at least, were distractions. She looked up at the cloudy sky and wondered if it would snow anytime soon. She remembered when she and her friends were in middle school, how whenever they called a snow day from school it meant one thing: Snowball fights. She remembered how it was almost always herself and Fred against Shaggy and Velma. Then one day Shaggy, after losing seven games out of ten, had asked to switch it to boys versus girls. Needless to say, he was disappointed when the girls won more dramatically than any victory had been in any other game.

Here it was. The cycle again. Just when the distraction seemed to be really working, and she would start to feel good again, she would be reminded why she wasn't feeling good in the first place. Then she would have to find something else to take her mind off of everything.

Maybe she could listen. To something-- birds, maybe? She was pretty sure that this acute hearing had improved even more since the accident, and Fred seemed to be noticing. No matter where he was in the house, Daphne could easily hear his footsteps, and if he swore anywhere indoors, Daphne would jokingly reprimand him: "Is that any example to set for our daughter?"

She tuned in. It seemed she could use this ability at will now, almost. She would listen for birds.

She heard voices.

"Must a second attempt be made so soon?"

"It must. We must before they get back on their feet."

"Won't they have increased security?"

"They will have taken precautions to protect themselves. But the truth is that we destroyed much of their defensive technology. They can't save the Orb if we strike immediately. The Veqs will be victorious. Now it is but a matter of time..."

Daphne's heart froze. She had no idea what distance she was hearing the words over, but however far away they were, she had to warn the CCC. She raced home and picked up the phone.

The line was dead.

Were the Veqs expecting her to call the center, somehow? Or was it just the weather? It was snowing now, but not enough to knock out a phone line. Maybe it was snowing harder between here and the CCC.

Daphne had to drive. She knew there was one thing to do, and that was to arrive before the Veqs.

She raced there. She broke the speed limit undoubtably; when the lives of an entire planet were on the line it was necessary.

She drove, closer and closer to the beast which had only just missed claiming her last time...