Page 24 of I Dated the Lost Song

She ran after him, but he got outside, his harmonics pulsed, and he disappeared. Damn. He was in the sub-dimension.

* * * *

“Cadence? Cadence. Whereare you?”

She looked up from her comfy pose on the huge dog that lived in the space. She stroked the thick fur and sighed. “I am over here.”

She sat up and got to her feet.

The huge puppy stood up next to her.

Raek surged around the hedge and froze. “Cadence, how long have you been here?”

“Three days. Can you show me how to get out of here?”

He took a few steps toward her, and the dog growled. “Maximus. It’s me, Raek.”

The puppy paused and whined, putting himself between Cadence and Raek.

She patted his backside. “I need to go. You can’t keep killing bunnies for me. Three is my limit.”

Raek looked around the dog, and the dog moved so that no eye contact could be made. Cadence laughed. “Fluffy, move. I need a bath, a shower, and a change of clothing. Thank you for the food and water, Fluffs, but I need to be in the world where my pack is.”

Raek said, “You made friends?”

“Yes. He was very helpful once I got to the centre of the maze. He got me to fresh water and found food for me.”

“How did you prepare it?”

“His teeth, my fingers. I might have picked up a parasite. I need to see Dr. Im-bar. Fluffy, let me pass.”

The puppy hung his head.

She looked at Raek. “Can he come out with us?”

“He’s extinct. He will live out his life and die out there. In here, he can live forever, with the other packs.”

She stroked the huge expanse of the canine jaw. “If you come out, you age and die. If you stay in here, you have to wait for us to come back. What do you want?”

He whined and put his head on her shoulder.

Raek blinked. “You want to bring him out?”

“Yes. If things go bad, we can put him in here or make a play date or something.”

“And if he gets loose?”

She turned to Maximus. “Are you going to get loose and make me hunt you down?”

He rubbed his head against her.

She turned to Raek and smiled. “He doesn’t mind my harmony.”

Raek looked at her, and his smile got wistful. “Bring him. Im-bar will be excited. She hasn’t seen him in years. Our food bill is about to go up.”

He held his hand out to her, and she slowly took it. The thrumming between them picked up, and he opened a gate for them. She kept her hand in Maximus’s fur, and they walked out and back to the manor.

Her legs wobbled, and Raek lifted her, carrying her to his sister and saying, “Three days and three raw rabbits.”

---