“Then what do you want us to do?” I asked. It was a serious question.
She turned to Bruce. “Take the kids and get back. If anything happens, run. I’ll check the house.”
“Absolutely not!” he said in a voice that make everyone jump. “You are not doing that.”
Robert ran to his father’s side. “What’s wrong, Dad?” he said in a scared voice.
“Nothing,” he said gently. “Your mother and I just had a little disagreement. It’s fine.”
“No,” said Sheila. “It’s not fine. I can’t walk away from that house, Bruce. I can’t.” Tears were running down her face.
Joe and Mandy walked over to us. Danielle had managed to keep Betsy’s attention somehow, and Mike, Samantha and Anthony were trying to help.
“What’s wrong?” asked Mandy.
“I think there could be kids in the house,” said Sheila firmly. “I want to look.”
“Did you tell them?” Mandy asked me.
“Yes,” I said. “You were right. But it didn’t change her mind.”
“I won’t risk my Joe getting shot again,” said Mandy to Sheila in her best dominant voice. “We don’t know what would happen if he got shot in the head. Or if they had better guns.”
Her Joe? I thought to myself. That escalated quickly.
The phrasing of this seemed to throw both Joe and Sheila off, for different reasons. It was Sheila who recovered first.
“I can’t leave that house without looking” she said pleadingly. “I’d never be able to live with myself.”
Something had occurred to me while the others were talking.
“There may be a way,” I said. “Everybody just hold your horses.”
PRIVATE MESSAGE / TO DANIELLE BRAID: If you were in Catgirl form do you think you could hear if there was anybody in that house?
Danielle stopped in mid-sentence and looked at me strangely. She left Betsy with Mike and Samantha and joined our group. She did look like she was trying to walk and text.
PRIVATE MESSAGE / FROM DANIELLE BRAID: Maybe? I’d have to be right next to it. Why?
Everyone was looking at me standing there staring at nothing and not saying a word.
“I’m thinking,” I said. “Give me a minute.”
Looking around, I realized there were no windows on the side of the house facing the old truck.
PRIVATE MESSAGE / TO DANIELLE BRAID: What if you went behind that truck, I changed you, and you put your ear up against the wall?
PRIVATE MESSAGE / FROM DANIELLE BRAID: How do you come up with these things? I could do that I guess. I don’t know if I’ll hear anything.
PRIVATE MESSAGE / TO DANIELLE BRAID: Are you willing to try? Sheila seems really insistent. She may run up to the door if we don’t think of something.
Danielle looked at me, lips pursed. Then she gave a tiny nod.
PRIVATE MESSAGE / FROM DANIELLE BRAID: I’ll try.
PRIVATE MESSAGE / TO DANIELLE BRAID: That’s my brave kitty.
I smiled at her and she managed a little smile back. It was adorable.
PARTY CHAT / JAMES: Danielle’s going to use her Magical Catgirl form to try to hear if anybody’s in the house. The new people don’t need to know about it. So everybody play along please.
The people in our group all looked at me, more or less simultaneously, but nobody said anything.
“Okay, I have a plan,” I said to Sheila. “Danielle has a Skill that lets her hear really well. Danielle, what if you snuck over and put your head against the wall? Could you hear people in the house?”
“Yes,” she said.
I looked at Sheila and Bruce. “You two take the kids and get down the driveway. Anthony, you go with them. Yell if you see anything. We’ll stay up here. When Danielle’s in position, we’ll make a racket and see if anybody in the house makes a sound.”
Sheila looked unconvinced and I said, “This is it. This is what we can risk. Danielle will hear them if they’re in there.”
“All right,” she said with relief. “Just… we have to try.” She walked over and gave Danielle a hug. “Thank you. I… I just can’t. Not without trying. Please be careful.”
“It’s okay,” said Danielle. “I’ll be fine. I have James. He’s my hero.” She said this last in a star-struck little girl voice. Part of me wanted to smack her.
Part of me thought that if I could live up to that voice, I’d be a better man.
Damn Charisma.
As soon as the little group was down the drive, I walked over to the truck with Danielle. It was fairly close to the house but out of sight of the front door, so it didn’t seem very risky.
Now that she was where the four down the driveway couldn’t possibly see her, I said “Ready?”
“Yes,” she said, shivering. “Go ahead.”
I bend over and whispered in her ear. “Here, kitty kitty.”
This time I was watching, but I still didn’t see the ears grow. They were just… there. Adorable. I kissed the tip of one and Danielle shivered and drew in a quick breath.
“All right, pretty kitty,” I said, and she smiled, the tip of one fang barely visible. “Go over by the house. Once you’re there I’m going to throw a few things at the door.”
“Right,” she said in a voice like whispering wind. She flowed, moving from the truck to the wall, staying low and barely making a sound.
I walked back over to the others, who were where Joe was when he’d hailed the house. “She’s ready,” I said. “I’m going to throw things at the door. If anybody’s in there hopefully they’ll make a noise.”
“Want me to do it?” asked Joe.
“No, I don’t want things thrown through the door,” I said with a grin. He looked offended for a second but then smiled.
“You’re right. When you want something done wrong, get the Mage to do it.”
“Ha ha,” I said, looking around. The yard was, as Sheila had noticed, very neat. I had to walk down the drive a bit to find a few rocks. I got back in position and tossed one.
Thud.
The rock barely made it to the door. It hit it about four inches from the ground and fell to the porch.
“Okay, maybe a little more zing,” I said with a touch of embarrassment.
“That was lame,” said Joe, laughing. “Just as I expected.” Despite his amusement his eyes were glued to the house, watching for a reaction.
I drew back and threw. Not a fastball, exactly, but several steps up from my tentative first toss.
Bang!
The rock hit the door with a much louder sound. I could see where it had scuffed the paint. This time it bounced clear off the porch.
“That should have gotten some attention,” I said after several seconds. Just before I shouted to Danielle to see if she’d heard anything, I remembered I didn’t have to shout.
PRIVATE MESSAGE / TO DANIELLE BRAID: Anything?
The response was nearly instantaneous.