Growlkitty: The Girl With Claws

Prologue

Ollie stood outside the meeting room, running his hands through his curly brown hair. This was it. He'd been waiting for this moment for years. Then why was he so nervous? His palms were sweaty and his knees trembled slightly. Come on, Ollie, you can do this, he told himself. He didn't go through four years of training to back out now. Finally, taking a deep breath, he knocked on the door. 

"Come in," A voice called from inside. Ollie grasped the door handle, steeled himself, and pushed the door open. Instead of the busy meeting room he had expected, there were only two people sitting around the rectangular table. 

"Hello again, Ollie," The one he spoke to earlier, Frank, said to him. Ollie gave a little wave and then realized that was probably really unprofessional.

"So you're our new intern, huh?" The other person spoke, "I'm Argus, technically your boss. Come take a seat." Ollie tried his hardest not to notice how good-looking his new boss was. Instead, he focused on the task at hand: walking to the table without tripping or somehow making a fool of himself. 

Finally, he made it and sat down across from Argus, next to Frank. The two of them went right back into the conversation they were previously having.

"So who else is on the list? There has to be someone else!" Frank stated.

Argus scanned over the notepad in front of him. On it was a list of names, with several names crossed out. There were only a few left. "She's really our only option at this point. Sure, we have the other three, but I still feel like we need at least one more." 

"Don't you think it's too soon? Too risky? What about Ella?" Said Frank, his displeasure with this idea quite obvious.

"You remember what happened with Ella last time. She threatened to sue every last one of us after that mistake. Knowing Ella, I think it'd be best if we avoid contacting her for a while. Growlkitty's our only choice, and I don't think it's any safer than you do, Frank." Argus replied.

"What's wrong with Growlkitty?" Ollie asked, quite confused.

"Nothing's wrong with her, per say, it's just that, she's kind of wanted by the government. We have to be careful or else they'll find her." Frank told the intern.

"And being the government, probably kill her," Argus muttered.

"Why would they kill her? She's just another teen, right?" Ollie questioned, looking back and forth between the two of them. It seemed as if neither of the two wanted to answer him. Finally, Frank gave a pointed look to Argus, who spoke up.

"It's a long story, but I'll just tell you this, she's a tiger shifter, and she may have done some things in her past that wasn't exactly, hm, how do I say it... legal?" Argus responded, wringing his hands a bit. 

"What's that supposed to mean? Is she dangerous to be around?" The intern looked at the two of them nervously.

"No... Not really. Just stay out of her way and don't threaten her, and you'll be fine." Argus said.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Frank looked at Argus.

"Good enough. I can't think of anything else to do. But it needed to be done eventually, so I guess now will have to do. I mean, two birds one stone, right?" Argus replied.

"Ok then, if that's what you want to do. I'm not stopping you." Frank shook his head.

"Alright then. I guess it's decided. Ollie, will you be okay making the phone calls to the teens to let them know when their flights are?" Argus turned to face him.

"Yeah, I, uh, I think I can do that. Right now?" Ollie stammered. 

"No, tomorrow morning. If you don't mind picking them up from the airport, that would be great too. Frank, are you going to pick up Jack, or go with Ollie to get the rest of the kids?" Argus asked.

"Oh! I forgot about Jack! I guess I'll be picking him up. It'd probably better if you go with Ollie to get Growlkitty, that could go pretty poorly without you." Frank replied.

"So wait, how many teenagers are there?" Ollie asked.

"Four. Rex, Kate, Jack and Growlkitty. But you'll only need to get three of them, Jack is my son, so I'll be driving him here tomorrow." Frank told him.

Ollie had to know, "Is Growlkitty her actual name? Or just, like, a nickname?" 

Argus glanced around, then spoke in a hushed tone, "No, her name is Lexi. But because the government could have cameras here, we use Growlkitty as a nickname."

"So, what time will they need to be here?" Argus turned to Frank.

"If they're all here by, I don't know, 5:00 PM tomorrow, that would be good. It would leave us plenty of time for the evening meeting. And enough time to get the portals up and running before they need to be used," Frank replied.

Ollie blinked at the word 'portals'. He had heard of them before, but certainly didn't expect to be around them so soon. Plus, all the malfunctions... They definitely made him at least a little nervous.

Frank must have seen the look on his face, "Never worked with portals before, huh? Well, don't worry, Argus here is kind of an expert at them." 

"I'll show you tomorrow. As long as you're careful, there's nothing to worry about." Argus stated.

"Are they really that safe?" Ollie asked. He didn't want to seem like he was doubting his new boss, but a student at his training center died in a portal malfunction a few years back.

"The newer models are very safe. Plus, it's the only way to get Rex here on time." Argus responded, seemingly unbothered by Ollie's lack of confidence. 

Frank nodded, "We've never had a problem with them before. And, like I said, Argus is really good with them. So, anyone want pizza for dinner?" Without waiting for a reply, he added, "I'll go order it."

Frank left the room with Argus trailing after him, leaving the Ollie sitting there. So this is Lorh, he thought to himself. He still wasn't sure whether or not this internship was the best idea...

Hello and thank you for reading! If you have read this book before, please know that I will be editing the beginning chapters quite a bit, so it may be worth it to re-read them! Please comment and vote if you like my story, I love feedback and it makes me more likely to update sooner! Thanks, and have a clawsome day!