– Chapter Fifteen –
The flight back to Switzerland was silent and miserable, broken only by the sounds of crying. The three clones had managed to leave the hospital before being questioned by the police, and were now huddled together as they consoled each other.
They hadn't contacted Katja yet, too emotionally distraught and drained to think clearly. Aila kept a close hold on the briefcase containing the samples, resting her head against it with her eyes closed.
Aryanna was dead. They hadn't been able to save her, and while the doctor had only known the Italian clone for one day, she felt the loss as much as the others did. She was sad they couldn't have stayed and given their fallen sister a proper burial, but she understood it couldn't be helped. It was too dangerous to stick around and talk to the police, for fear of being found by DYAD, or handed over to Scotland Yard.
The doctor heard a choked sob and couldn't tell if it'd come from Rat or Leigh. She glanced over to see them sitting quietly together, for once comforting one another rather than fighting endlessly over every little thing.
Aila knew both of them had become attached to Aryanna, and were taking this failure hard. The doctor sighed and clutched the briefcase tightly to her chest. An erratic tear fell from her eyes as she wondered if there was more she could have done to save Aryanna.
"We shouldn't have left her," Leigh whispered for the tenth time in the space of fifteen minutes. "Alessi…we shouldn't have left her…"
It was almost unbearable to think of Alessi alone in the hospital after finding out such devastating news, however much Rat and Aila insisted she must have friends and family who would arrive to support her.
"It's not right though," Leigh said shakily. She wanted to say more. She wanted to express the guilt, the anger; everything, but a few words were all she could manage.
When they arrived back at the library, the three of them remained silent. Katja came rushing to greet them along with the dogs, all three of them excited and happy to see them for a brief second before their enthusiasm was extinguished.
Katja stayed still and simply observed the others as they dropped their belongings and moved numbly around the room. None of them talked. They barely even greeted her, and somehow Katja knew she didn't need to ask what had happened.
That didn't prevent the shock from hitting her at full force though. For the first time since leaving Germany to travel with the clones, Katja felt genuine fear, stronger than ever before. She opened her mouth to tell the others it was all or nothing. Helena had to be stopped at any cost…but words failed her.
Rat looked at Katja, but she couldn't bring herself to speak and silently made her way up to the third floor of the library instead. She walked into a mostly empty room and sat on her bed, which really was nothing more than two mattresses stacked on top of each other. The hacker sighed and lay down, not even bothering to turn any lights on, or open the windows. She found solace in the dark.
She released a slow, shuttering breath as she felt he emotions welling up again. She allowed herself to cry for what felt like the hundredth time since they'd left Italy. Rat silently chastised herself for not doing something to actually help the situation.
After what felt like hours, the hacker stood and retrieved her laptop from her bag. She booted it up, flinching away from the sudden bright light from the screen before her eyes adjusted.
She silently looked through files on Maggie, Lucas, and the Proletheans, hoping to find something useful to give them a direction to go in. DYAD wasn't going to help, but the clones still had a chance to find the killer themselves.
Rat's Skype flashed orange. She saw Beth trying to contact her. The hacker didn't particularly feel like conversing with the detective at the minute though, and chose to ignore the window as she turned her attention back to the files.
There wasn't much to go on in DYAD's database, so she expanded her search onto the vast depths of the internet, looking for news articles about the Proletheans. If they were a prominent group, somebody had to be talking about them somewhere in the world.
Rat wasn't the only one doing research.
Leigh's obsessive habits had taken a new direction. The clones had been home a few days since Aryanna's death, and none of them had said much since. The silence in the house was becoming too much, and Leigh felt as though she had to do something.
The hairdresser spent most of her time on a laptop; either Katja's or Rat's whenever she could get her hands on them, and stayed hidden away in a corner for the most part when she was 'working'. Leigh had begun searching for news articles, videos, and all kinds of reports from both Italy and England, and what she had discovered was causing her worry.
She knew the police in Italy wanted to talk to her and the others about what had happened, but it still caused her great anxiety to read stories online about 'missing witnesses' who needed to be tracked down and questioned. Hospital staff had obviously seen their faces when they came in with Aryanna, so it was only a matter of time before word spread that the four women were identical…Leigh didn't want to think about what would be said or what would happen should this news reach England.
How long would it be before DYAD found out? It was all becoming far too confusing. Even the most recent reports of the murder of Aila's monitor, Josh, were still causing concern…DYAD was one thing, but what would happen if regular, ordinary people began linking all of these cases together? Even the other murders of clones around the country?
"Is that even possible?" Leigh asked herself out loud one evening. "Would DYAD let it get that far, or will they do whatever it takes to cover this up?"
"Who are you talking to?" Katja asked, creeping up behind her.
Leigh froze. "Nobody," she said quickly. "I'm just…thinking."
"Zat is your trouble. You zink too much," Katja told her. She sat down next to Leigh and placed a hand on the laptop. "I am going to need zis back. Vee ought to be thinking about going to Janika sooner rather than later."
"Yeah…yeah…it's just…poor Aryanna," Leigh breathed, hugging her knees. "I can't get my head around it."
"Ja," Katja nodded, frowning. "Vat happened vas not your fault zough."
Leigh glared at the floor. "We should have been able to do something…"
"Like vat?" Katja asked gently, unfazed by Leigh's rising temper. "You varned her. Vat more could be done? She chose to stay out in the open even knowing the dangers."
"I know, but..." Leigh trailed off, shaking her head. She clenched her hands into fists as she hugged her knees tighter.
"Vat happened could not be prevented. Zee only zing vee can do now ez remember her and carry on until zee killer ez caught, ja?"
"I guess," Leigh sighed pathetically. "Even though these guys are almost impossible to trace. I can't even find any news articles about them! Helena's like a friggin' ghost! She can move from country to country without a trace, and I have NO idea how to get ahead of her!"
"Vee vill get ahead by making sure Janika and Danielle are safe, ja?" Katja said, taking the laptop back from Leigh. "I vill call crazy bat lady and vee vill go get her samples. Zat ez first step."
A week later, the clones prepared to leave for Austria. Aila's phone rang while they were packing. She blinked in confusion when she saw it wasn't Janika. Aila didn't recognise the number, but she answered anyway and held the phone up to her ear. "Hello?"
"Ciao. This is Alessi speaking. Is this Aila?"
"Oh! Yeah, sorry," Aila said, immediately more relaxed.
Even though she knew Alessi was a former monitor, she didn't think the CSI would become a danger to them after losing Aryanna just days before. The doctor bit her lip, wanting to ask how the older woman was holding up, but she felt the question would be tactless after suffering such a devastating loss.
"Thought you guys would wanna know...DYAD have been here. They've shut down all investigation into Ar-" the Italian woman choked on the name a bit before clearing her throat. "I-into the murder."
Aila's blood ran cold at that. "They seriously did that?! They're not bothered about catching the killer at all?!" she seethed, clenching a fist slightly. She couldn't help feeling angry that the Italian clone died to save them only to be swept under the rug with the rest of DYAD's dirty secrets.
"Apparently not," Alessi said, sounding tired and defeated. "I did get hold of something interesting though, before we got shut down. Got an email I can forward it to?"
"Yeah," Aila said. She told the older woman her email address. By now, the other clones had wandered out to see who Aila was talking to. Aila glanced at them before walking over to Katja's laptop to boot it up.
"These photographs were taken from the sniper's nest on the opposite building. My hands are tied, but hopefully they'll give you guys some kind of idea about what's going on."
"Yeah," Aila agreed. "Cheers Alessi...I'll make sure to call you if we ever nail the bitch responsible for this."
"Thank you," Alessi told her sincerely before ending the call.
"What's going on?" Leigh asked when Aila put the phone down.
"That was Alessi," Aila told them. "DYAD's shut down the investigation into Aryanna's murder."
"Bastards!" Rat hissed, clenching her fists tightly.
"Yeah," Aila muttered, angry about it as well. "She sent us some photographs she got before they got shut down though. She said they were from Helena's sniper's nest, and that they might give us some kinda clue about what's going on..."
The doctor opened up her email and found the files Alessi had sent her. There were several photographs. Aila opened the first one and froze as her blood ran cold again.
Displayed in the photo was a Barbie doll with short, orange hair, burned up in places. The doll's most defining feature was a makeshift silk scarf wrapped around its neck and shoulders. Between the hair, the outfit, and the scarf, it looked just like Leigh.
The doll was sitting on what looked like a bible which had been marked in various places with black ink. The word 'TRUTH' was written across the page.
Leigh took one look at the photograph and gasped in horror. The hairdresser jumped from chair and backed away from the computer, nearly tripping over herself in her haste to get away, making everybody watch her with wide eyes.
"Jesus shitting Christ; get rid of it!" Leigh shrieked over her shoulder. She bolted to the window and stared out, almost pressing herself up against it out of panic. While Rat and Katja frowned at Leigh in confusion, Aila turned her attention back to the disturbing photo.
A subtle frown grew on the doctor's face. A memory came back to her. "There was a doll before," she murmured just loud enough for Katja to hear.
"Vat?"
"A doll," Aila said again. She whipped around to watch Katja. "When...when Leigh and I left Scotland – just before, rather-"
"Shit," Leigh breathed from the window.
It occurred to her the doll she'd thrown from Aila's car that night was supposed to represent the doctor, just as this new one resembled Leigh. Leigh failed to hold back a strangled sob and slumped to her knees.
Aila seemed to have realised this as well. She made her way over to the window to lightly put her hand on Leigh's shoulder. "It wasn't your fault. You couldn't have known."
"Someone gonna fill us in on what's going on?" Rat asked as she looked at the two. Katja sat down in front of the laptop and scrolled through the photos of the doll and the bible.
"Just before Helena opened fire on me - literally like two seconds before I was almost shot - I found a doll just like that in my bedroom, covered in blood," Aila explained. "There wasn't a bible with mine, but I think the doll was meant to be me...it's like Helena makes these dolls of whoever her next target is for some bizarre reason."
Leigh shook her head, still sobbing. "Aryanna wasn't meant to die...i-it was supposed to be me...she...s-she just got in the way..." she whimpered, closing her eyes tightly.
Rat's eyes softened slightly, though she had no idea what to say to make Leigh feel better. Aila was right. Leigh couldn't have known that Helena picked her next, though Rat understood they needed to be more careful than ever now. Who was to say Helena wasn't still tracking Leigh? What if this unknowingly led the Proletheans to the the rest of the clones, or even Janika?
Katja looked over to Leigh. "Vee must be careful ven meeting Janika," she said quietly.
Leigh nodded. She turned from the window and stood up, but shrunk back again to see the laptop screen. Katja was still examining the pictures of the doll. "Will you delete those fucking pictures, please!" Leigh wailed now, causing Katja to look around in alarm. "Or at least get them off screen – God-"
The hairdresser excused herself and fled the room before anyone could respond.
Leigh remained in another room by herself for the majority of the day, until she decided she was hungry enough to venture out in search of food. Despite her shock and low mood, she'd managed to sleep for a few hours after calming herself down.
Katja was the only one about. She was sitting in front of her laptop, though she didn't seem to be paying attention. Leigh kept her gaze on the German as she approached. Katja had her knees tucked up to her chest, and she was staring into space.
"Hey," Leigh greeted her.
Katja glanced in Leigh's direction. "Hallo," she grunted. "Better now?"
Leigh shrugged. She wandered towards the kitchen area, but then stopped, instead backtracking towards Katja. "I shouldn't have snapped like that earlier. Sorry."
"Aila said the doll bothered you before also," Katja stated bluntly. "Not just your doll, I mean. Hers too."
"Dolls weird me out," Leigh told her. "A lot."
"And you are gutted about Aryanna," Katja added.
"Yeah. We all are," Leigh murmured.
"Ja." Katja beckoned Leigh to join her on the sofa.
Leigh quietly sat down, feeling and looking tense. "They just...it's an irrational fear, I guess. I know how daft it is. I've found them weird since I was small. I never liked playing with them or being around them."
Katja nodded. "I had many vhen I vas small, but zey vere more for collection. I never played vith zem much. I didn't vant to damage zem."
"I blame Leekie..." Leigh muttered, hugging her knees to her chest. "As part of the experiment, he had this room at DYAD for me and Rachel to stay in overnight as kids. It was massive and full of all sorts of toys and dolls, but the dolls...man...I swear to God they were possessed or something. They always seemed to change location randomly, and their eyes and heads moved by themselves...thinking about it now, I wouldn't be surprised if they had cameras or some shit in their eyes, but as a kid, they just proper scared me. Leekie and Rachel always told me I was being daft, but..." she trailed off and shuddered.
Katja nodded in understanding. "Zat sounds creepy," she agreed. "Vhy did zey vant you both in zis room? Vat vas zee point?"
"I have no idea, honestly," Leigh muttered, absently tugging at her hair. "We only went there a few times a year until we were around nine or ten...I think they wanted to see how we interacted together or something, but it was weird. They used to just watch us from behind this huge window...thing. We couldn't see them, but they could see us...Rachel used to make tents and things to hide from them, but I'm pretty sure they could still see us anyway. Proper freaked me out every time. I became paranoid of dolls and things because of that. Used to have really horrific nightmares about the dolls coming alive and trying to kill me or something. For a long time, I refused to sleep anywhere if there was a doll around. I'd try to stay awake all night, even though that failed a lot of the time."
Katja frowned, lightly putting an arm around Leigh in comfort. The hairdresser sighed and returned the hug. She attempted to pull her thoughts away from the playroom.
"I shouldn't go to Austria," she muttered after a moment. "I don't want to lead Helena to Janika."
"You already have your ticket for tomorrow afternoon," Katja pointed out.
"Yeah but..." Leigh trained off.
"Vat, are you just going to be staying inside here all zee time now?" Katja asked, her voice gentle, but firm. "You have come zis far. Are you going to let zis Helena stop you now and make you hide away forever? Leigh, she could target any of us, wherever ve go. It is not just you. You are not responsible."
Leigh nodded. Katja's explanation made sense. Even if she stayed behind, the rest of them could still potentially lead Helena to Janika, and maybe even Danielle later on. In any case, the thought of being left behind was daunting. Leigh would rather travel and be productive than sit in the library to let her thoughts consume her.
However tired they were at having to travel so much, Aila and Leigh, along with Katja, ventured back to Austria the following day to meet up with Janika. Rat opted to stay behind this time. She told them she would busy herself with learning as much as she could about the Proletheans. She wanted to keep in touch with Beth to find out the latest on the clone situation in the US as well, and to update the detective on their own situation too.
Leigh had been reluctant to go, for more reasons than one. For starters, she didn't like the idea of leaving Rat alone. With everything going on, she would have preferred the clones to stay in twos, at least. When the hairdresser hinted at this though, nobody seemed to pay much mind. Apparently, they felt certain Rat's hideout was as safe as could be.
Another reason was that she wasn't sure she had the energy to deal with Janika. The Austrian had left quite an impression on them all, and Leigh could only groan inwardly at the thought of having to put up with the strange woman's antics once they arrived. She did not voice any of this out loud, though. It would be very selfish to complain about anything after the sacrifice Aryanna made.
"One thing's for sure," she told Aila and Katja as the eccentric house came into view in the distance. "I don't think we should leave without Janika this time. Not after Aryanna. We should at least convince her to go into hiding…right?"
"And have her give up on living her life?" Katja asked.
"We did," Aila said, shivering a bit at the cold air.
"Ja, but this vas our choice," Katja reminded her.
Aila stared. She hadn't exactly had a choice at all. Everything had happened far too quickly for her to decide she wanted to stay…running had been her only option.
"I just don't want anyone else to get hurt," Leigh mumbled.
"I know," Aila said. "We can suggest it, but in the end it's her choice…unless something happens and she has to run."
Leigh frowned, realising then that even though Aila had gone along with everything that happened and somehow managed to stay positive for the most part, being forced from her home and made to leave her life behind really hadn't been her choice at all.
"Aila…" Leigh said, but the doctor shook her head, holding up a hand to stop her.
"It's alright, really," she said quickly. "I don't regret what happened. I'm still alive because of it, right?"
Leigh nodded and said nothing more as they approached Janika's house. The place was still as creepy as it had been the first time.
Just as the clones reached the door, the sounds of yelling could be heard from inside, followed by crashes. A small cat came flying out of the window, followed by a very angry Janika holding a broom.
"AND STAY OUT, YA SODDIN' FLEABAG!" the Austrian clone screeched, waving the broom around.
"Who wants to go in first?" Aila asked after a moment or two of stunned silence. She looked to Leigh, who hesitated, and then to Katja, who simply shrugged and marched on towards the house, bold as ever.
"Janika, vee are here," Katja called as she rapidly knocked on the door. "Stop killing kitties and let us in."
All was quiet for a moment or two apart from the muffled sounds of shuffling feet and opening doors inside the house. Then, the front door swung open, and there stood Janika, wide-eyed, holding a very scared and wriggling creature in one fist, and a broom in the other.
Everyone stared at her.
"I am not killing kitties," she corrected Katja after a very short staring contest. "But if it comes near my batty again, I'll knock its bleedin' head off with me broom, I will!"
"Your bat looks scared," Katja pointed out. She gestured to Janika's hand where the animal was still squirming and fidgeting. Janika's expression softened as she put the broom down and tried to soothe the animal with gentle pets and comforting murmurs. "Perhaps you should try closing your vindows."
Janika's eyes became even wider, if possible. She stared at Katja as if she had said the most ridiculous thing in the world. "I can't do that! I need to let the flies in so it's easier to catch 'em!"
"What the fuck are we doing here again?" Leigh murmured, feeling defeated already. "Aila…I wanna go home."
"Oh shush," Aila reprimanded her gently. She hurried over to join Katja. "Janika, can we come in? We need to update you on a few things."
Janika turned and walked back into her house, talking quietly to her bat as she did, though she left the door open behind her. Katja walked into the brightly decorated house calmly, looking around. Nothing much had changed since the last time they were there, though some of the decorations were scattered from Janika's most recent fight with the cat.
The blue-haired clone flopped down on her sofa, still petting and cooing and nuzzling her bat. "Ssshh Luca, mummy's here," she said, seemingly oblivious to the world around her.
Katja watched them for a moment. "Vhy do you have bat? I zought zat owning bats vas illegal in most places," she inquired.
"It is," Janika confirmed with a bob of her head."'Cept when the little fells can't fend for themselves. See this wing here?" She gently stretched out the bat's wings, and the other clones could see one was noticeably deformed. "Was born with that, he was! Can't fly, an' if he can't fly, he can't eat. Gotta look after the little fella so he don't starve!" she said with a firm nod.
"I see," Katja nodded, watching as the Austrian clone put Luca back in his cage. She turned her attention back to the three clones with a sudden clap of her hands. "So! What can I do ya for? Say ya got somethin' ta tell me?"
Katja and Aila nodded and began telling the Austrian clone everything they'd found out in the last few weeks, as well as reluctantly telling her about Aryanna's heroic death and how the killer may very well come to Austria next.
Janika frowned, taking it all in as she seemed to lose her natural erratic behaviour. "So this killer person's really comin' after me then? I ain't gonna see it comin' or have time to run off 'less I do it now? Ain't got nowhere to go though! Luca an' Sel…they're all I got. And me business too! I ain't just gonna up and leave…" she said, half mumbling to herself.
"You don't have to," Aila said. "It's entirely your choice. Today we're just here about the blood, hair, and paperwork we discussed. Take time to think about it and decide for yourself what you want to do."
"You could come into hiding with us," Leigh said with a shrug. The words escaped her mouth before she could stop herself. Truthfully, she thought living with someone as eccentric as Janika would be an entirely exasperating experience, but the hairdresser felt uneasy at the idea of leaving her behind.
"Come into hiding?" Janika repeated as she stared. "No; like I said, I got a business to keep running."
"But it'd only be temporary until Helena's caught," Leigh tried to reason, but Janika shook her head stubbornly.
"And how long do ya think that's gonna take, honestly? Just think how long you lot have been on the run already. You still ain't found nothing on her; you have no clue where she is, and you couldn't stop her from killin' Aryanna," she shot, rolling her eyes.
"Yeah, all the more reason to get the hell out of this place!" Leigh raised her voice now. She felt a little stung by Janika's words.
"It's not your choice, Leigh," Katja reminded her. Aila nodded in agreement, though she seemed torn about the entire situation.
"Fine," Leigh grumbled. She made her way to leave the house, needing a few minutes to herself. Then, under her breath so nobody heard her, she added, "stay and get your brains blown out then."
Leigh left the house while Aila took Janika's samples and simply hovered about on the front lawn for a while. Trying to distract herself from her renewed guilt over Aryanna, Leigh spent a few minutes looking around at the unusual objects and decorations surrounding the building, genuinely intrigued by them.
Something white caught her attention out the corner of her eye. It was small, and it was inching its way back up to the house. Leigh turned to view the creature properly and smirked a bit to see it was the cat Janika had been battling with.
Upon closer inspection, it was apparent the cat had black and ginger patches on its white body and head, and it was very small indeed. Leigh thought it must be a very young cat; possibly not full grown yet.
The cat stopped underneath the window sill and simply stared up as if deciding to jump onto the ledge or not. It waved its tail in agitation and didn't appear to notice Leigh carefully approaching it from behind to get a better look.
The cat suddenly looked over at Leigh with wide eyes, freezing as it stared at her. Its eyes were a beautiful shade of light blue, and Leigh wondered if that was its real eye colour or if its eyes simply hadn't turned yet.
Leigh stopped moving and stood completely still as the cat looked at her, before letting out a small meow and darting off into the tall grass. Leigh frowned and sighed, moving to sit on the steps in front of the front door.
She looked up at the clouds, retreating into her own thoughts again. She figured she should probably apologise for going off on Janika like that, but she just didn't want to see anyone else get killed by Helena. Janika was right though. They had no way of telling how long this would be going on for. Was she really going to expect the other clones to give up their lives for what could easily be months, or even years?
"This sucks," she muttered, absently playing with a shoelace that had come loose.
Suddenly, she heard a sound, and glanced up to see the cat watching her intently from the tall grass. Its eyes were fixed on the shoelace, and Leigh grinned, trying to tempt the animal closer by moving the lace back and forth in the dirt.
As it played, Leigh could see the cat was not only small, but rather skinny. It looked as though it hadn't eaten properly for a while, so Leigh wondered if it was a stray. Had it had much contact with humans? It didn't seem particularly scared…
The cat struck out suddenly, patting the dirt on the ground as it aimed for the lace, but repeatedly missed. As it became more confident and began purring, Leigh dared to attempt stroking the cat's head. It paused for a second and then pulled away, as if unsure, but continued to play. Soon enough, Leigh let go of the lace and watched the cat play with it by itself.
And then a loud shrieking sound filled the air behind Leigh, and the small cat scampered. Its fur stood on end and its tail became bushy as Janika raced out of the house and chased it up the path, leaving a stunned Leigh sitting there alone.
"THAT'S RIGHT, YOU BETTER RUN!" Janika bellowed. Aila and Katja appeared at the door of the house, and Leigh stood up quickly.
"Hey, she wasn't doing any harm!" she told Janika sternly.
"I don't want that fleabag on my property!" Janika insisted. "I swear I'll-"
"She's just hungry!" Leigh interrupted. She rushed up the path to try and find the small feline. "Look how skinny she is! I don't think she means to stalk your bat; I just think she's a bit desperate-"
"Not my problem though, is it?" Janika shrieked madly. "It better stay away!"
Leigh glared at the Austrian woman sharply, but before she could say anything, Aila stepped between the two and looked at Leigh. "We're done with everything here. Janika's decided to stay put for now, so we should head back to the airport," she told her, silently hoping Leigh would let it go. It had been a hard week, and the last thing anyone needed was another pointless argument.
Leigh's sharp glare shifted from Janika to Aila, though the doctor simply stared back at her evenly. Leigh muttered something crossly and whipped around, shoving her hands in her pockets as she left, not waiting for Aila and Katja to finish talking to Janika.
As she rounded the corner to walk back down the hill, she noticed the cat peeking out from under a bush, mewing pathetically as she stared up at Leigh with wide eyes. Leigh noticed what looked like the remains of a much larger cat under the bush as well. She felt a stab through her heart to see the body.
"Aw…that was your mummy? Poor thing…" she said, feeling herself becoming emotional over the cat's predicament. Kneeling down to pet the young cat again, she sighed. "Guess we've both lost people we cared about, huh?"
The cat just gave another pitiful mew as she looked up at Leigh.
"Alright, if we catch the nine-thirty flight, we should be back at Rat's place by midnight. Not really ideal since she said the streets aren't safe at night, but what choice do we have?" Aila mused, looking at flight times on her phone as the clones made their way down the hill towards the bus stop.
"Ja, vee must be careful," Katja nodded. "Or get hotel till morning."
Aila nodded, glancing over at Leigh. The hairdresser was walking awkwardly, holding her bag close to her chest. "What do you think, Leigh?"
No response.
Aila raised an eyebrow. "Leigh? OI, Space-Cadet!"
Leigh seemed to realise she was being spoken to then, and her eyes widened in surprise. "WHAT? I didn't do anything!" she said, having no idea what was being discussed.
Aila raised an eyebrow. "I never said you did," she said, baffled.
"Vhat did you do?" Katja asked flatly, staring at Leigh.
"Nothing!" Leigh insisted, though the look on her face said otherwise.
A new sound came screeching through the air, and Aila's eyebrows shot up. "Did your bag just…meow?" she trailed off, before her hand came into contact with her forehead sharply with a loud groan. "PLEASE tell me I'm just hearing things and your bag DIDN'T just meow…"
"It did," Katja confirmed with a nod of her head. The German woman walked over and seized the bag from Leigh, ignoring her protests. She unzipped the bag, and suddenly, a furry white head popped out, looking around wildly.
"LEIGH!" Aila groaned in exasperation, still face-palming.
A pause followed. Leigh stared at the other clones with a straight face, looking completely unashamed. "I didn't intend to come to Austria and kidnap a cat," she offered, shrugging. "I couldn't just leave her with Janika! She would have killed the poor thing! Look how skinny she is! I was gonna tell you guys when we got to the bus stop, honest! We have enough time; let's just drop her off at a shelter on the way to the airport. When do we have to be at the airport, exactly?"
Aila checked her phone again. "We have to be at the airport no later than two hours from now to get checked in and everything," she told Leigh, before glancing at Katja. "I assume most websites for this sort of thing will be in German. Do you mind?"
"On it," Katja answered as she took out her own phone and looked through websites to locate a shelter.
"Cheers, guys," Leigh told them. She petted the kitten as she squirmed around in the bag.
"Found one," Katja said after a minute. "It is twenty minutes from here by bus, and then forty from there to airport by taxi. If vee hurry, vee vill have more than enough time to drop off kitty."
Leigh smiled with relief and nodded. "Great! Let's go."
The journey to the shelter was largely made in silence. When they arrived, Katja explained the situation to the staff member in German, and they agreed to take the kitten and put her up for adoption after checking her over.
Aila glanced at Leigh as they left the shelter and smiled. The English clone seemed rather pleased with herself after completing her good deed for the day.
When she sensed she was being watched, Leigh glanced over and raised an eyebrow at Aila. "What?" she asked.
Aila smirked slightly. "Nothing really, it's just...nice to see ya smiling again." After losing Aryanna the week before, it was a relief to know that even with the threats surrounding them all, life did indeed go on.
Leigh grinned. "Come on. Let's get to the airport before we're late."