When she entered the store, Kumiko felt a faint tingle on her skin. She glanced at Jane and Kimiko, but they gave no sign that they'd felt anything. Perhaps it was just nerves on her part.
"OK kids, while we're here, lets stock up on fresh things. Just grab what fruits and veggies look good. We don't want to keep Ian and the kitties waiting any longer than we have to."
Kimiko was a bit more subdued than usual. No bouncing. She merely weaved her way through the other shoppers like they were standing still. Kumiko followed at a much more sedate pace. As long as she had Kimiko in her sight, things should be OK.
Suddenly Kumiko found herself in a half-crouch and scanning the nearby isles. Something.... something.... Then she had it. She'd felt like this once before. It was when Master Oh had opened the curtain to the other plane. Only this time it felt inside-out. Perhaps that doesn't make much sense, but she couldn't describe it any other way. What she did know for certain was that it meant that something was coming through from the other side.
There! She had it. On the surface it looked just like any other shopper. Rather nondescript and wearing jeans, a t-shirt, and a backwards baseball cap. She looked deeper and saw the shadow inside. It was as black as the inside of a room with no windows on a moonless night.
The thing was scanning the area, just like the one that had first attacked them almost three months ago. Then it fixed its attention on Kimiko. It started to move toward her, but hadn't moved even a single stride when...
--------------------
Grgur moved itself into "No-Time" and shouted for the Observer. This couldn't be happening! Not after what Kali had done. It made no sense. The Aztith should have been disintegrated as soon as it materialized. What the hell was going on?
The Observer appeared with a sheaf of papers in his hands. "This better be important Grgur, I was right in the middle of a meeting when you called."
Grgur just pointed to the frozen image in front of him.
"What? It can't be! How?" The Observer's papers scattered themselves on the floor as he dropped them and focused entirely on the impossibility in front of him. He reached out with his senses and felt for Kali's energy field. It wasn't there! Had it failed somehow, perhaps collapsed?
All right, orderly, rational, analyze. The watchwords of his species. It was about time he applied them rather than just standing around complaining that what was obviously true was impossible.
He pulled his mind back in preparation for checking the energy flows beneath the earth. As he did so, he felt the same tingle as Kumiko had. However, unlike her, he knew exactly what it was. It was Kali's shield. So... It was still there. But if that was the case, then why...?
"Ah-ha! So that's it!"
Grgur turned to its boss. "What's 'it' boss?"
The Observer chuckled. Not that the situation was really all the funny, but the expression on Grgur's face was priceless.
"Simple my friend. Kali was just a tad sloppy. Her shield was applied to everything inside the dome she started with, but 'applied to' is the operative phrase. She coated everything with the energies she summoned. There's no energy field inside of anything."
Grgur almost thwacked itself on the forehead, but, as usual, stopped itself just in time. The resulting headache if its "hand" had made contact would have lasted for hours. "Ah, I see. That makes perfect sense. It seems that SHE was either a tad careless, or just didn't see any need to work inside the structures in the area. She probably thought that the Aztith wouldn't think of materalizing inside and...."
The Observer was favoring Grgur with the kind of look you give to someone who steps into a fast-flowing stream rather than taking the bridge across it.
Grgur winced and then did hit itself on the head, gently. It deserved it. Kali careless? The universe would implode before that happened.
"OK Boss. That was beyond stupid of me. But then, why? Why would she leave interiors unprotected. By Fagaraz' 40 teeth! What about their home?"
Even the usually unflappable Observer flinched when Grgur said that. Both of them shifted their mental focus to the Knight's place. They were both surprised and chagrined. They should have known. Every single surface within the house and outbuildings was coated with the energy field. Any non-corporeal manifesting there would be dust before it even started to solidify.
This time it was the Observer who thwapped himself on the head. "Duh. Of course. She did it when she was inside 'visiting' with them. So why nowhere else? I don't get it."
Grgur's brain was, finally, firing on all cylinders. "Oh of course! Why didn't I see it before?"
<
"It's training! SHE set things up so Kumiko could practice in a somewhat controlled environment. It's not going to take that one long to figure it out either. In spite of the so-called 'genius level IQs' that Jane and Ian have, Kumiko is by far the most clever of the bunch."
This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
The Observer nodded, pleased at what Grgur had done. It had, tactfully, explained what he should have already figured out for himself, and it had shown that even as a mere 'watcher' it was thinking. He was going to have to put a commendation in Grgur's file. A small one to be sure, but they added up over the centuries. Fortunately he had noticed something that Grgur had not, so he could save face.
"OK. Good. There's one other thing that you, perhaps, should have noticed. While it is possible for the Aztith, and any other hostile species for that matter, to project inside a building, it is highly unlikely that more than one at a time could do so, though several could if they arrived sequentially. The general energy flux from Kali's protection would severely limit that.
"Now that we know what's happening over there, let's get out of 'No-Time' and get back to watching. I expect that this will be interesting. Brief, but interesting."
Grgur hit itself again, very very hard. This time mentally. It should have been more thorough and finished analyzing the energies, rather than just blurting out the first thing it had noticed.
"Right Boss. Here we go."
It released the 'No-Time' field and the two of them turned their attention back to Kumiko.
-----------------------------
Kumiko raised her hands and held them in front of her chest as if there was a softball in them. Then she started to turn her hands in opposite directions. The thing, whatever it was, staggered and almost lost its balance. Then it began to turn toward her. Very fluidly at first, but then its movement became more and more choppy. It had turned almost entirely toward her when it lifted a foot and began to lean toward her.
Kumiko continued concentrating and persisted with the twisting motion of her hands. It was getting more and more difficult to move them. Each time she managed to rotate her hands a bit further, the creature's body jerked and twisted.
She persisted, focusing every bit of her willpower on her efforts. Sweat was running in rivulets down her forehead and neck as she intensified her struggle. Then, suddenly, the resistance to her efforts ceased, and her hands completed the twisting motion and fell to her sides. She was almost completely winded. This was a LOT harder than it was during practice.
The former object of her attentions was now just a film of dust on the floor of the supermarket, its clothes included. It seems that ordinary humans either couldn't see the other-planar beings, or they had been 'encouraged' not to. It was, however, quite clear that they could all see HER. A couple of children were pointing at her while their parents were dragging them away and telling them, "Don't look at her. Just walk away, slowly."
Then, unexpectedly, there was a hand on her shoulder. She spun around in a full-on combat crouch and beheld -- Jane, who was looking at her with a great deal of curiosity.
Jane slowly stretched out her hand and felt Kumiko's forehead. It was unusually warm and noticeably damp.
"Whatever it is, we'll talk about it when we get home. I gave you some slack when we were about to leave the house, but you WILL explain all this to me later. Capiche?"
In her entire life, nobody had refused Jane when she used that tone and had that particular look on her face. Kumiko was no more resistant than anyone else, so what could she do but say:
"Of course Jane onee-san. Perhaps someone other than myself should be made aware of the peculiar circumstance we now find ourselves in."
Once again Jane marveled at Kumiko's way of putting things. If had been her Mama, Karla would have answered with "sure" and then gone about her business.
They finished up their shopping, went home, and got all the equipment situated in the bathrooms. Fortunately the screened in area that was the cat's playroom already had plenty of space for the new arrivals without the current residents being crowded should they all be in there at the same time.
After that, Jane explained their strategy for dealing with Karla when she got home. A bit of constructive pampering would be conducive to a good mood, but not enough that Karla was immediately suspicious.
Of course she would become suspicious. It was in her nature. Anything different from the usual got her antennae waggling. Hopefully though, by then she'd be relaxed enough not to be upset.
As it usually happens in real life, what Jane planned and what occurred were quite different things.
Karla arrived and was met by Jane, who handed her a big mug of her favorite coffee blend. Somewhat unusual, but not completely.
Karla had a few gulps, nodded her thanks, and headed to the bathroom for a shower. She was, again, slightly surprised to see her favorite bathrobe laid out for her, but, it wasn't a rarity either.
Given how tired she was, she just took her shower, wrapped herself in the robe and went to the living room to see how the kids were and to hear about what had happened while she was gone.
No sooner had she sat down than Tigger was by her side and demanding attention. That was exactly as usual. What wasn't usual, and upset Jane's plans completely, was what happened next.
Mrrrrr came into the room -- nothing inherently surprising about that -- and jumped onto the couch on the other side of Karla from Tigger -- also an entirely normal action. What did surprise Karla was that Mrrrrr had a kitten in her mouth and then proceeded to drop it in Karla's lap.
The surprises continued when Kataryna appeared, also with a kitten, which was also dropped in Karla's lap. The final surprise was when a lovely calico Karla had never seen before followed the others into the room and dropped off a third kitten. Then said calico butted her head into Karla's arm, demanding petting.
Karla was so shocked that she went into automatic mode and started petting the newcomer.
Jane's plan had been shattered into little pieces.
Of course it was Kimiko who spoke first. "The mama cat's name is Isis, Kaa-chan. We haven't named the others yet."
Karla lifted her slightly glazed face and looked in Kimiko's general direction. "Isis. I see. Isis was the favored goddess throughout the Mediterranean back in Roman times. She was considered to be an excellent mother. This one is well named."
She went back to petting Isis, who had let it be known that she hadn't liked it when the petting had stopped temporarily while Karla was talking to Kimiko. She was going to fit right in and...
"Wait a minute! What the heck is going on here? Where did these cats come from?"
Jane had just completed a hasty restructuring of her plan, so she spoke next, "They were dumped this morning, just like usual. However, unlike usual, the children pointed out that we are now a family of five. They made it clear that they felt left out, seeing as the two of us monopolize the cats at night. They 'suggested' that it would be a good idea to keep these so as to provide them some feline companionship.
"I've already made it quite clear as to whose responsibility they will be. The proper equipment is already distributed in their bathrooms. They are also quite aware of the consequences should they not fulfull their responsibilities."
Jane's plan was back on track, and even though they were in on it, the kids still flinched a bit when Jane focused on them. They all nodded vigorously then turned to Karla with pleading looks.
Karla sat there a bit longer and just stared at the kittens in her lap. Then her petting switched from Isis to the kittens. "Let's see. The tiny girl will be Munchkin. The boys will be...hmmmm.... Elf - because he has rather long ears, and Buster Brown."
"But Mama, he's orange, not brown."
"I don't care. He's Buster Brown. It's OK if you call him 'Buster' though." Karla waved magnanimously.
Jane gave the kids a "go along with her, she's letting us keep them isn't she" look. All three nodded and then came forward to distribute kitty lovings.