Таня Хафф - Long Hot Summoning

“And I’ll be pleased about that in a minute,” Claire muttered, glaring down at the tar stuck to her heels.

“I told you those were stupid shoes to wear Otherside.”

“No, you didn’t.”

“Didn’t I? I meant to.”

“I was after thinking that the whole rubber tree/hat stand thing kept these light.” Stepping over Austin, who’d sprawled out on his side in the shade, Dean set both packs on the black metal bench to one side of the door. “What’s in here?”

“A serious lackage of rubber trees and hat stands.” Wondering why Claire seemed to be cat hair free, Diana crossed to her pack and lifted it. “It’s against the Rules to access the possibilities once we’ve crossed over, so stuff like that won’t work. Which means we have…” She swung it up onto her shoulders. “…a few clothes, some preset odds and ends—possibilities having been used to create them but no longer necessary, so hopefully they’ll still work….”

“Hopefully?” Dean interrupted with a searching glance at Claire.

“Hopefully,” Diana repeated when it became obvious that Claire had nothing reassuring to say. “But mostly we’re carrying food and water because it’s dangerous to eat or drink on the Otherside.”

“Why?”

“Are you kidding? They put sauces on everything so it’s all high-cholesterol-let’s-slap-the-calories-right-onto-the-hips time.”

“The food changes you,” Claire interjected, shooting Diana a stop messing with his head look. She laced her fingers through Dean’s and smiled up at him. “Different foods do different things, and all of it ties you to the Otherside, making it harder to get home. You’ve heard of Persephone and the pomegranates?”

Dark brows dipped down under the upper edge of his glasses. “Early eighties girl band? Had one hit ‘You’re Not Seeing My Depression’?”

Diana snorted. “It was, ‘You’re Not Seeing My Repression.’ Although, given the hair, I totally admit they had reason to be depressed.”

“How do either of you know what was going on in the early eighties?”

“MuchMusic Classic Videos,” Sam told her, sitting down by Austin and wrapping his tail around his toes. “There’s, like, two hours of them every Saturday afternoon.”

Claire looked from the younger cat to the older.

“Don’t look at me,” Austin sniffed disdainfully. “If we’re not out saving the world, I’m usually napping Saturday afternoons. And speaking of saving the world, I’d just like to point out that we still haven’t reached the air-conditioning. Not that I’m complaining or anything. Much.”

Hearing impending volume and duration in that final pause, Claire released Dean’s hand and reached for her backpack only to find Dean there before her. She turned so he could lift it up onto her shoulders and shivered as he kissed the back of her neck, murmuring, “Be careful.” against damp skin.

“I’m always careful.”

“What about Sharbot Lake?”

“That wasn’t careless, that was just unexpectedly deep.” She turned again, facing him now. “Will you be okay?”

He lifted her chin with a finger. “Without you? Probably not.”

“Enough with the clichés, already.” Thumbs through her pack straps, Diana paced to the edge of the concrete and back making gagging noises. “I’ve just figured out why Keeper and Bystanders together are such a bad idea. You’re boring. And sappy enough to cause insulin shock.”

Dean ignored her, his eyes remaining locked on Claire’s face. “I’ll be waiting here.”

“We’ll be a couple days; remember?”

“But only on the Otherside.” When Claire shook her head, he frowned. “Time runs differently there. You can come out just after you went in. Right?”

“Probably not. Time might run faster or slower in pockets, but in order for the segue to work, they’ll have to make time run concurrent on both sides.” Hands flat on his chest, she studied his expression. “You knew that, right?”

“And how would I be knowing that if you didn’t tell me?”

“I didn’t tell you?”

“No.” He sighed and pulled her closer. “You’ll actually be a couple of days on this side as well?”

“Maybe more. I’ve set my watch so that we’ll know.”

“Okay, now we’ve got that settled,” Diana prodded, “just say good-bye already, suck a little face, and let’s go before the Otherside comes to us.”

Dean stared down into Claire’s face for a long moment before his mouth finally curved into a worried smile. “Got my heart?”

She laid a hand lightly against her chest. “Right here. Got mine.”

He mirrored the motion. “Safe and sound.”

“And did I mention, barf! Hey! I said suck a little face. You do know she’s already had her tonsils out, don’t you? So if you’re in there looking for them, you’re out of luck.”

Claire pulled out of Dean’s embrace, turned on one heel, smacked Diana lightly on the back of the head, and walked toward the doors—all in one smooth motion. “Someday, as unlikely as it seems, you’re going to find someone able to overlook certain personality flaws and I’m going to be there to do the color commentary.”

“As if,” Diana snorted, waving to Dean and falling into step beside her sister.

“I thought the color commentary was my job?” Sam asked Austin as they followed the Keepers through the doors.

Austin sighed. “There’s usually enough to go around.”

Once through the inner doors, Keepers and cats both disappeared. Standing with one hand spread out on the outer door, Dean could see his own reflection and little else. It was just a trick of the light, at least that’s what he told himself as he walked back to the edge of the concrete and stared out at the heat-silvered sky and the minivans keeping a silent vigil. He felt fidgety, restless—what his grandfather, an outport minister back in Newfoundland, would have called flicy. Hands shoved deep into his pockets, he turned and stared at the mall.

The vertical concrete slabs were almost the same shade as the sky.

Even without knowing what was going on inside, something about the building made his skin crawl. He would have said it was because it looked like a prison except there were two prisons within Kingston’s old city limits and both of them were more attractive.

Claire figured they’d be in there for a minimum of two days.

“When do I start worrying?”

“When another Keeper shows up with the Summons,” Diana snorted.

“Don’t worry,” Claire told him, shooting her sister a quelling glance. “I’ll always come back to you.”

Austin rolled his eyes and horked up a hairball.

Not an entirely comforting memory, Dean realized walking back to the bench and sitting down.

* * *

“Oh, my God. They’ve muzaked Alien Ant Farm. It’s the second sign of the Apocalypse.”

“What was the first?” Claire wondered, shifting her pack straps.

“Orange polyester bellbottoms. On sale.”

“How much?”

“You’re not serious.” A quick glance over at her sister and Diana winced. “You are serious. One of us has to be adopted.”

“I tried adopting you out for most of your childhood. No one would take you.”

With the cats hard on their heels, they stepped out into the main concourse and paused. Four senior citizens sat soaking up the air-conditioning on a bench close by the escalator. There was no one else in sight.

Diana pushed damp and rapidly cooling hair up off her forehead. “So much for that hiding in the crowd theory; there were more people in here last night.”

“All right, we’re a little early for the crowds. But as far as the Otherside is concerned, we’re still just shoppers with a perfectly valid reason to be in here. Nothing for them to worry about.”