"Spill it, Frannie," I said as I washed my hands.
The girl had a lot of explaining to do as far as I was concerned. Pretty much everyone I knew had explaining to do, but I figured I might actually get the answers I was looking for out of her.
"What on earth do you mean?" she asked, giving me her innocent puppy dog eyes. I hated anyone who could pull off the look because I couldn't.
"Don't even try it, Frannie. Let's start with what exactly you are. After that, I'm sure I'll have enough questions to keep us in here for at least an hour," I said, folding my arms across my chest.
"I'm sure the guys would get hungry and come in and break things up, but for the sake of keeping that throbbing blood vessel in your neck from breaking free, I'm what's known as a Cat Sidhe."
I got the feeling I was going to have to pull teeth to get details out of her, which was a little different than how things normally worked between us. Usually, Frannie wouldn't shut up, and since I had no idea what a Cat Sidhe was, she had more enlightening to do.
"And what exactly does that mean?"
"Mainly this," she said as she transformed in to a black cat with one single white circle on her chest.
She was bigger than a house cat, but not as big as a say a tiger. I guessed her height to be about two feet and her length to be about three or four feet. Her fur, though black, was kind of a blue-black that reflected pretty colors in the light. She quickly changed back, so we could continue our talk.
"You get to keep your clothes during your changes? Nate losses his when he shifts." I was all for learning how to change into a phoenix, even if Nate didn't want me too, but part of me worried about the nakedness that came when I changed back to human.
"Well, the guy catches on fire, what do you expect?" she laughed. "Actually, retaining clothes is because I'm Faie, not just a shapeshifter. The transforming is kind of magic for anyone who changes form, but mine is Faie magic, so I have more control."
"Can others gain control of the magic or is that specifically limited to Faie?" If it was something I could learn, I'd be all for it.
"I haven't heard of anyone else being able to control their magic with as much precision as the Faie, but you never know."
I got the feeling the topic of supernatural beings was a little boring to Frannie. She hadn't started sighing, but I predicted one was near.
"I guess the whole cat thing makes it not weird to be engaged to a panther, if Kyle was right with his guess."
"Yup, Gary is all cat. It's really fun to make him purr," she said, making a little purring noise. I really didn't want to think of what she did to make him make that sound.
"I think you just went to the point of too much information. Let's move on to another question. Why didn't you ever tell me you knew I was different?" I asked. "We've been friends for years now."
"At first you never asked me about what I was, so I just figured you didn't want to talk about how we're different. All uniques can tell when another person is unique, but they can't always tell what flavor they are. I had no idea what you were for sure; you could've been a wolf. I'm not sure if you know this, but kitty cats and puppy dogs don't tend to get along."
"After hearing all the different species just living in this city, I guess I can understand how you'd be hesitant to find out if I'd feel like ripping your head off. So, are you one of the people who knew me in my former life? Now that I ask, I'm guessing you didn't, because you just said you didn't know what I was and you've never acted like you've seen a ghost."
?"I did not. I met Nate after me and Gary started dating, and Gary had known him for a couple years," she replied. "He didn't know who you were either. He'd heard you existed from Nate, but he didn't know you by looks or anything."
"How old are you really? I've heard I'm practically older than dirt, or something like that. I don't understand all the resurrection stuff."
"Yeah, well, most phoenixes are older than the rest of us. I'm four hundred years old, so compared to you I'm just a baby."
"Good. For your next birthday I'll be getting you a diamond adorned pacifier. You mentioned uniques being able to tell when they meet another one. I don't think I have that ability. I mean, if I thought about it, I should've known Nate was different because he shocks me every time we touch, but I haven't had any tingles in the back of my mind for any of the other people I've met."
"I don't have any explanation for you on that subject. Rick is usually around you and because he's your protector his ability to see other species is really strong. I don't know of your past to know if it's something you used to be able to do, or if you've never been able to feel others," she said.
"I think there are a lot of questions I need to ask my protector and mate. It may just be something he needs to teach me to do, like when we first started talking telepathically. All I know for sure is, I'm a little tired of being a mushroom."
Speaking of mushrooms, I needed to start some rice and I noticed a jar of mushrooms that I thought I'd add to it. I got the water boiling and went about making the rice. Not surprisingly, Frannie stayed at her post and didn't offer to help. I was glad she didn't, because I only had one assistant in the kitchen and he was in the other room.
"So are you all questioned out?" Frannie asked after a few minutes of silence.
"I don't know. There are all sorts of things I think I should be asking, but I don't want to sound like an idiot. The easiest answer to my problem would be to ask if you know of any books I can read that talk about all the different things that are out there. I want to be prepared if I ever run into something new."
I doubted I'd be allowed to go anywhere without my two, make that three with Vinnie, shadows, but knowing what was out there was probably a good idea. Just knowing about the people I'd heard lived in Eek would've been a good place to start.
"That's kind of funny actually. Your eldest son has written a couple books. He's been studying uniques for a few hundred years now. I'm pretty sure if you ask Nate, he could get you a copy of whatever you want," she replied.
"You don't live with the guy. Asking for anything is pretty much a pain. He read a note I wrote during my last life cycle and he's worried about me learning too much, too quickly and only feeds me bits and pieces if I have something to start with. I'm lucky he let me come here where there's the possibility to meet part of my past."
"You have to see it from his point of view. After he originally found you a zillion years ago, he only missed you the few months every thousand years when you resurrected. All added up, you might have missed each other a few years.
"Then all of a sudden you were gone for not just the usual months, but half a century. The man couldn't deal with life and went phoenix for decades. Now he's going to do everything in his power to make sure you never leave him like that again," she explained.
"I know all of that, but it doesn't mean he can run my life how he wants," I said to her out loud. To Nate personally, I mentally added, "I know you're listening, is it sinking into that thick skull of yours?"
"My little butterfly, you're so funny sometimes. I hear what you're saying and you have to admit I've been better lately. When we're alone tonight, I'll fill you in on some of the things you're so upset for us keeping from you."
"I'll admit to nothing of the sort," I thought back to him. "Let everyone know dinner is just about ready."
It'd been a while since I'd abandoned the rice while it cooked to lean against the counter and continue talking to Frannie. I turned to shake the pan a little, seeing that most of the water had disappeared.
"Did you have a nice conversation with Nate?" Frannie asked.
"Do I look funny when I do the whole telepathic thing?"
"No, I wouldn't exactly call it funny, at least not on your face. It kind of looks like you want to stab something. I think we all know you with knives is a scary thought."
"Really? What does it look like when I'm talking to Rick?" I agreed with her assessment of me and my knives, and it made sense to
me that I'd have that particular look when dealing with Nate.
She chuckled. "I think that depends on the subject matter being discussed. Sometimes you look happy, others I'm afraid to let you near any red buttons that may launch nuclear devices."
"That sounds like accurate descriptions for how I usually feel. I imagine the nuclear look is any time we're discussing Nate. I think Nate should just be thankful I stopped planning his demise a while ago."
"The only reason you stopped is because you had so many ways to kill the man all planned out that your brain couldn't hold anymore until you actually started using them. If he ever pisses you off enough, he should consider himself lucky to be immortal. Or maybe not, with some of the more painful things you've thought about."
I'd shared some general ideas with Frannie, but they were the versions meant for human ears. If she knew some of the better plans I'd come up with for Nate's death, she wouldn't feel safe being in the room with me.
I checked on the chicken. It looked cooked through, so I grabbed a mess of plates from the cupboard and started plating everything. We each took a couple plates and headed toward the rearranged sitting area. After handing the plates out, I went back to the kitchen and retrieved the last one for myself.
"Okay, what does everyone want to drink?" I asked. "Looks like there's water, milk and lemonade." I wondered what kind of grocery store they had. If we stayed too long, I was definitely going to need to stock up on some things.
I took their orders and started my way back to the kitchen. "Do you need any help carrying all that?" Nate asked.
"No, you guys go ahead and start eating. I'll grab a tray and carry everything back in at once."
In the kitchen, I didn't really find a tray, but I did find a rectangular cookie sheet with sides, so I made do. I filled the glasses, carried them back out and passed them around before sitting to enjoy my dinner. ?
After getting a few bites of chicken, we heard a knock at the door. Nate got up to answer it and escorted a solemn-looking Kyle into the house. I was guessing whatever news he planned on delivering wasn't going to be good.
"Come on in, Kyle. What can we do for you?" Nate asked.
"Sorry to interrupt your dinner, but we found one of the missing people and she's in pretty bad shape. We've tried everything we can think of for her, and wondered if you wouldn't mind coming and taking a look," he said grimly. For someone who was supposed to be immortal to be in bad shape, I imagined the scene wasn't going to be pleasant.
"It isn't Elizabeth is it?" I asked. It'd be horrible to come all the way and find out she was severely hurt. Of course, finding one of the missing hurt, didn't give me happy thoughts about a reunion with Elizabeth.
"No, it's Miranda," he answered, not giving any more details.
"Okay, give us a second to grab our coats and we'll follow you to her," Nate said as we all stood up to quickly get ready.
CHAPTER 6
The sleeping fox catches no poultry