Unfamiliar Faces [Book Two]

Chapter Twenty-Nine | Calm Before the Storm

                  

A slap of thunder shook the entirety of the small home. My eyes were locked with a pair of bright blue ones. Lady Louise still lay in the same position I had found her on the kitchen floor, though at some point one of her long-fingered hands had found one of my tiny, black paws and was gripping it tightly.

            "Rosetta..." she whispered. I could just barely make it out through the heavy downpour of rain that was pounding against the house.

            Keeping her eyes met with mine, she let go of my paw and began to bring them to her chest.

            I knew what she wanted. Information about her daughter. If she was in the hospital. If she was safe. But how was I supposed to answer that? I was just a fox, after all.

            The Lady seemed to remember this halfway through her attempt, as her hands went back to resting against the floor and her eyes closed. She looked like she would go back to sleep. Nothing else she could do in her condition. Powerless to do anything with a body that couldn't keep up.

            I could understand. Is that why it was bothering me so much, seeing her like that?

            "She's safe."

            She couldn't hear me or understand me, but 'saying' it out-loud would hopefully make me feel—

            "She is?"

            Lady Louise's eyes were open and back to staring right at me, and I was back to staring at her. Almost at the same time, we pulled ourselves off from lying on the floor—her kneeling and me on my feet.

"My daughter must be safe, if she's letting you speak to me now," the Lady said, breaking the silence and giving me a soft smile. "It is nice to hear your voice again, Flametail."

Flametail...

Horrible names aside, I could barely wrap my mind around what wonderful new thing was happening. I could talk to the Lady now? Did that mean I could talk to anyone? Did my stuck-up Master really loosen her leash, just a little?

"Guess I'm finally making a good impression," I thought, still a bit wary about this whole thing. Could I really communicate with her like I had been with Horny and my Master?

"Horny..." Lady Louise said with a small laugh. Though, it sounded more like a humorous cough.

            Guess it was pretty similar. Before I could think of a way to explain the other horrible name, she reached out and gently patted the top of my head. "I knew you wou—"

            A heavy knocking, loud enough to rival the crashing of thunder outside, on the front door broke through our little moment. The Lady's hand shot to her chest as the hairs on my neck bristled—a sensation I was still trying to get used to.

            Lady Louise's other hand reached for the discarded shotgun that was lying not far behind her, but stopped when her fingers touched it.

            "Horny," she said again.

The front door slammed open and, all at once, the crashing thunder, howling wind, and pounding sounds of the rain amplified and spilled into the house. Rugs were pulled up from the ground, books fell from their shelves. Lady Louise reached out and plucked me from the air before I even knew I had left the floor.

"Hornroot!" she screamed into the raging storm. I could only hear her because I was pressed up right against her.

A tall figure stood in the doorway, with a smaller figure draped over one of its arms. As soon as it took a step into the room, it flung the smaller person into the house before spinning around and pushing the door closed with no small amount of force. Though the noise died down considerably when it was shut, the way the storm continued to build and shake the house made me believe this whole place would be pulled up from its very foundations.