Gen Three- Chapter Twenty Eight

Reality sunk in more after the police left. Gilly hadn't been able to stand listening to the report, so that made it mom, dad, and me hearing of the travesty while Blaze did his best to console my sister. I heard and understood every word the police said, yet at the same time I hardly listened. As soon as they offered to show us the pictures of Mirage and Tappy and I said yes, I was gone. They hadn't been strangled or tied up with rope. No, the killer had taken it to a new level. Mirage's head had been cut off and sewn on Tappy's body. Tappy's head had been cut off and sewn on Mirage's body. Then their paws had been stitched together as if holding hands. According to the report, they'd been left quite far in the woods. It took all that time and a lucky, or perhaps unlucky, pair of hikers to find them. It made the police wonder if the killer was the same as the cats usually ended up being found in much more populated areas, but the killer could also have wanted more space between the crime and time of discovery. The city had grown so alert about the situation that the murders had become more and more sparse over the past several months. The majority of the stray cats had been rounded up, and everyone watched their owned pets.

     "Dia, I'm so sorry."

The tears must have come rolling down. I thought I just sat there. Motionless and heartbroken I thought I sat, but I didn't feel the wetness cascading from my eyes until dad knelt before me and gently wiped it away with his thumbs. Then he gathered me a tight embrace as mom scooted over to wrap my back and hold my hand. 

     "I just hope this is the last time. If something from this helps them find the killer, I could accept that." I mumbled hopelessly.

     "They have to be catching the person soon." mom encouraged.

I nodded miserably, even though the whole city had been saying that for months. 

Gen Three- Chapter Twenty

I closed the door to Canary's room in a hurry. We'd lied and said Ember felt a little unwell to have some privacy.

     "You're dating my teacher's son?" I asked in dumbfounded disbelief, "You're pregnant with Divi's grandchild?"

     "That's a yes to both questions, but don't forget that I knew Tam waaaay before Mr. Divine ever became your teacher. Never in a million, trillion years would I have predicted you and Gilly would end up in his class. Hell, I honestly never imagined getting the chance to meet Tam in the flesh. Our relationship was so casual before we moved here. I thought the two of us would find our feelings fizzling out eventually. Then we did move here..."

     "No wonder you said it would be awkward to know who your boyfriend is."

     "I can't believe it just came out like that. I had no idea they would be coming to the party. It's making me incredibly nervous what with Tam being right in dad's sight. I feel like if I go down there dad'll just somehow read my mind and put it all together. It's my first time meeting Tam's parents too. At least they're in the dark about this so far."

     "Yeah, about that..."

Gen Three- Chapter Nineteen

Gilly and I contemplated going up on the balcony to watch some television, but we couldn't bring ourselves to do it. The noise steadily growing from the kitchen would reach us anyway, and it's not like we would pay attention to what would be playing in the first place. Our room filled with an eerie calm as my sister and I listened to the muffled ranting, mostly belonging to dad, while trying to discern the words being said even as we wished the whole thing would stop.

     "At least Merl isn't here," Gilly sighed after a few minutes, "Poor thing can't handle conflict like this."

     "Yeah." I nodded, scratching Mirage as she nuzzled against my arm.

Merlot was at Uncle Prism's house hanging out with Crescent again.

     "What do you think she did?" my sister finally went with that question.

     "I don't know. I'm guessing whatever she was doing before, but I don't understand how she could have been doing it. Not with her being so heavily grounded and with officers watching us."

     "Maybe that's why dad's so mad...because she snuck out while we might be in danger."

     "Could be."

I recalled the pictures and videos taken of dad when he'd been recovering from the weeks those company people had him. He'd looked so battered and bruised. Him being terrified of something like that happening to Ember did fit logically with his rage.

Gen Three- Chapter Seventeen

They'd all told me to give up. Well, they hadn't said it that exact way. Dad and grandpa had done their best to get to our house from their airport before we had to leave for school, but with delays and traffic and complications with their taxi my siblings and I would simply have to wait until we got back from school to see them instead. I'd pouted and fussed and gotten ready regardless, but not once had my eyes stopped watching the window. The clock on the wall showed we had two minutes before we left. All my wishing power thrust towards seeing a car coming towards our house. When I glanced out the window several seconds later, my eyes stung with merry tears as familiar red faces could be seen sitting in the back seat of a bright yellow car pulling up alongside the road.

     "Dad!"

The door was slammed open as I burst outside without any regards for who was around or the commotion I was making. All I cared about was them being there, and the instant dad saw me barreling towards him he just smiled and hunkered down to prep for my impact.

Gen Three- Chapter Fourteen

I expected Zenith Peak to be fancy given that it was a private school in one of the most affluent places in the world, but Zenith Peak went far past fancy. Mom and Aunt Taffy didn't just pull up to a nice building and drop us off. They pulled up to a parking lot in front of an expensive looking road gate where Canary and Crescent had to get out because all typical students took shuttles to their respective buildings. Zenith Peak, apparently, was a series of buildings much like a college campus settled up against the hills. The actual college campus was a bit further down the way. Aunt Taffy drove us up to the gate, some guards double checked the permission she had to drive us new students to the buildings directly, and off we were in this crazy other world. The high school was the closest, so Ember got taken inside first. Then came the elementary, and Merlot was off. The middle school was the farthest away, and Gilly and I hopped out of the car with wide eyes.

     "This feels so..." I began slowly.

     "Excessive?" Gilly finished for me.

     "Yeah."

     "Perhaps a little." Aunt Taffy laughed as she ushered us inside.