Page 43 of Locked
NowIwas the giddy one. "So you guys can come visit?"
"One at a time, but yeah." Kinden looked really proud of himself. And rightfully so. I was really proud of him too.
"I couldkissyou," I exclaimed.
"You could. Tuesday, even."
"That soon?"
"Yeah… it's my day off and I mean… I can bring something for dinner… there's this great sushi place down the street from where I live… I could bring Basil some sashimi or something?" He shrugged. "If you want, I could spend the day?"
"And the night?" I prodded.
"If you want," he said with a laugh. "It's totally cool if you're not ready for that yet… I know you and Rifyr kind of did some stuff on webcam already, and if you wanted to start with that, I wouldn't be remiss…"
"Well, I mean… if we can do the do in real life, I choose that over webcam any day," I said shyly.
Kinden chuckled. "Well,I mean. I agree, obviously."
"Obviously," I repeated, grinning widely. The smile fell from my face a moment later when I glanced at Basil, sleeping on the sofa across from me.
"What's wrong?" Kinden asked, picking up on the mood shift immediately.
"Basil…" I said slowly. "I still don't know what to do about Basil. Mother's coming for a visit in two days and she's going to expect him to be… sick, you know? And then, she's going to expect him to die. And then she's going to want to see a body and…"
"Hey, I've been thinking about that," he said. "And I think I might have a solution, especially if you're cool with me coming over on Tuesday."
"I think we've established that I'mmorethan cool with it," I laughed.
"Okay, well… what ifItake Basil with me on Tuesday. And I bring you… a chicken?"
I frowned. "I'm not following you. Mother knows the difference between a chicken and a cat."
He laughed. "I figured. But hear me out… I leave you the chicken. It's already dead, I'll bring it from the grocery store. You cremate the chicken and present the box of ashes to your guardian?"
"OH!"
"I figure the timing is perfect, since she's coming to visit you on Monday. She won't be back for two weeks. Just have Basil stay out of the way and tell her he's sleeping. Be a little worried, but otherwise, just continue on the visit as usual. Then, on Wednesday morning, you can burn up the chicken, email her to tell her he's dead and when she comes to visit two weeks later, you'll have the ashes because you can't keep a dead cat in the tower for two weeks."
"You are a genius!" I said, bouncing in my seat. "You are the smartest, most capable mage in the entire world, Kinden!"
"You should probably write up a blog post talking about Baz being sick, though…" he said. "Just to make it look legit, you know?"
I nodded, inhaling and exhaling loudly. "Okay. I should probably go do that, right? Just to get it out there."
"Yeah, probably. I'll talk to you later on, though?" Kinden asked, eyebrows raised.
"Definitely," I replied.
"Good. It's gonna be okay, Zelle, alright? You and Baz aren't alone anymore."
That feeling that I'd felt with Rifyr bubbled up in my chest again. But once again, I left it alone. It wasn't something you expressed over video chat.
I clicked the button to schedule my post for later that night and ran my hand over Basil's back.
My heart was beating rapidly in my chest at the mere thought that anything could happen to him.
I told myself over and over that he was fine. I just needed Mother to think he wasn't. I hated lying to my readers, but it was all I could do at the moment. Kinden was right, if I didn't comment on his well-being, she'd get suspicious and if she got suspicious, things tended to go pear-shaped rather quickly.
