A Little Rhine Must Fall Read Free Page A

cell, cuddled up in a straight-jacket, with nothing to worry about.
    :That handsome cat over there: she was simpering.
    “Otis?” He looked at me with wide yellow eyes and blinked.
    Bastet stopped licking her paw and meowed at Otis. He flipped his tail around a couple of times and twitched his whiskers.
    :If we had known that you co-habited with such a gorgeous beast we would have visited sooner!:
    I shook my head to clear it. If I wasn’t insane, I had only a few more minutes of privacy before Mark came back out. I needed to find out what was going on. Fast.
    “Why are you here, Bastet?”
    She purred. :We’re going to live with you for a while:
    “No. You’re not.”
    :Yes. We are:
    This was getting ridiculous. “Why? Why do you want to live with me? Don’t you think I have enough trouble with a vampire next door and a skunk-ape living around the corner. Not to mention having to lie about what I am!?”
    :Annabeth is living in this neighborhood?:
    Figures she would be keeping tabs on me. While dealing with Pravus, we’d run into a skunk-ape named Annabeth and her son, Harry, and had gotten them membership into the Were group of the USB. Annabeth had been living in a rundown trailer outside of podunkville, hiding from a crazy cryptozoologist named Floyd. Floyd had found her, but, with my help, was now working with her to fleece the hopeful Cryptid believers of their hard earned cash. He was still crazy, but at least he now understood the importance of only presenting unverifiable evidence to various Cryptid newsletters and collectors. I also suspected that he might have a little crush on Annabeth, which made him even more protective of her.
    Originally, she and Harry had been staying with Cecily, but vampires and skunk apes don’t mix well, and Annabeth moved out as soon as she found a house to rent. I wished that she had picked a different neighborhood, but I hadn’t been consulted. The last home-owner’s association newsletter had an article warning about a large animal being spotted in the community park at night and to keep small pets indoors. I didn’t want to know about it and I wasn’t going to ask.
    All of this was way off the point, though. Right now I needed to know why Bastet was here and why she wanted to stay.
    “Are you in some sort of trouble?” I asked, suddenly concerned. Whatever trouble would send an Egyptian goddess on the run was not the sort of trouble I wanted showing up on my doorstep.
    She yawned, a big pink yawn with lots of sharp white teeth. :Trouble?:
    I glared at her and jumped back a bit when Otis hissed at me. “Whoa, buddy! No need to get so protective! She won’t answer my question!”
    :We need a place to stay for a while. Are you so lacking in hospitality that you would deny us?:
    I just opened my mouth to tell her what I thought of the idea when Mark came back in the room. I clamped my lips shut and gave him a sick smile. “Down already?”
    “Yup,” there was a loud crash and some giggles from the girls’ room. “Down and fast asleep.” He picked up his beer and sank down on the couch between me and Bastet. “What do you think of this little lady?”
    :We like your husband. He is far nicer than you:
    “Ha!” I said.
    “Ha, what?” Mark started rubbing my neck. “Shall we keep her? Where did she come from?”
    :You can stop rubbing that ungrateful female and scratch us instead: Bastet rubbed her face on his knee.
    “Stay away from my husband,” I warned her grimly.
    Mark laughed, “Jealous of a cat, sweetie? I still think you’re the most beautiful maiden in the land.” He gave me a kiss, but stopped rubbing my neck and started petting Bastet.
    :He likes us better:
    “No, he doesn’t.”
    “What?” Mark was puzzled.
    This was getting confusing. I couldn’t carry on two conversations like this without sounding insane. I would just ignore Bastet and focus on Mark until he went to bed. Then I would pin her down and rub her fur the wrong way until she