Rufus caught his bowl before it slid off the island. "I'll fry you, you little shi..." He spun ready to zap Georgie into the next millennium. The room was empty.
Lucy entered from her room, pulling her hair up onto a bun. "Hi Rufus. Have you seen Twiskers?"
Rufus stared a little too long, then blushed. "I thought Georgie was here."
Lucy looked left, then right. She smiled. "Apparently he isn't."
Rudy swallowed. "I thought he was moving things again. Anyway, Twiskers came through earlier. He headed into Ethan's room."
"Weird." She shook her head. A ribbon of silky hair slipped out brushing her cheek. Rufus quickly looked away. "I've found him in the top bunk a couple of times now."
"That is weird." Rufus agreed. The top bunk in Ethan's room had remained empty. The group had spent hours speculating on its missing occupant.
A few minutes later Lucy reappeared with Twiskers snuggled in her arms.
"That's exactly where he was. I'm going to put him back in my room. See you at workout in five."
Ethan watched Anne watching Rudy. He punched the bag...hard. Since their return from Chinatown Rudy had been absent. He offered no explanation and it angered Ethan to watch Anne mooning for his return. Finally, this morning Rudy and Kate had made an appearance. Rudy spent the day working with Georgie. Anne's eyes never left him.
The punch Ethan threw at the bag had his entire body behind it. He took off his gloves and headed for the track.
It was after breakfast the next morning when Rudy and Kate told Lucy, Anne and Ethan they must prepare to leave.
"Dress warmly." Rudy suggested. "We will be traveling to Sweden, inside the arctic circle. An earthquake struck outside of the Kiruna Iron mine. One of the tunnels has collapsed. There are 13 men trapped underground. The rescue team is at least 10 hours from reaching them. Some of the miners injuries are catastrophic. Many won't make it without our help."
The rooms was filled with questions. It was Kate who silenced them. "One of the miner's is Karl Nilsson. He will one day in the future have a daughter, Willa, who will become one of the most powerful women in the world. She will, single handedly through the strength of her personality and political actions, avoid a war between Europe and Russia. Unfortunately Mr. Nilsson is one of the seriously injured. It is imperative that we keep Karl Nilsson alive."
Rudy explained. "Anne, I will need you to find the trapped miners. Any injuries will need to be treated by Lucy at the location. Ethan, you will translate. We will be leaving in less than an hour."
Kate found the Hive super quiet with only Georgie and Rufus left behind. She was grateful that the two of them kept their distance and even suspended their usual squabbling. Of course, it didn't hurt that after their last stunt Rudy had threatened them both with all sorts of punishments, ranging from physical violence to the removal of all the snacks in the Hive.
She needed the quiet to concentrate, to be ready when Rudy signaled.
Anne watched as Rudy paced restlessly in the dark tunnel. His normally calm demeanor was gone. Even in the dim light of her head lamp she could see his ears and tail were up, his fur was standing on end.
Ethan moved to her side. His head and shoulders were hunched to duck the jagged rock edges. The cold air in the tunnel made his breath come out in puffs of white. "Are you okay?"
Anne shrugged. "There is something wrong with Rudy."
Ethan didn't want to be 'that guy', so he asked with as little rancor as possible. "Can't you envision what the problem is?"
Anne turned to face Ethan. The poor lighting couldn't hide her distress. "That's what I wanted to talk to Rudy about before we left, but I could never get him alone. " Ethan nodded, his interest perked up.
"It started while you were in Chinatown with Lucy's family. My visions started to go in and out.. or worse. It felt like somebody was interfering. Like now, I've got nothing."
Ethan laid his hand on her upper arm. "We'll figure it out, together."
Kate was sorting books in the study area when the outside door opened. At first she was confused. The person standing there did not belong. Why would a member of the pod she and Rudy lived in show up here uninvited?
"Bradley?" He began to walk toward her. Bradley Jones was a Precognitive.
Her mind jumped around. Maybe Mr. Christie had sent him. Maybe he had seen something. Her stomach clenched "Is something wrong?"
Still, he said nothing, just kept moving in her direction. There was something wrong with his expression. His clothing looked wet.
He had made it across the room, stopped and was facing her when the alarm started blaring. Kate had only heard those sirens once. Years ago the Hive had been breached making the alarm go off. It meant full on panic mode.
Her confusion lasted only a moment before Bradley pulled back his fist, swung and delivered a crushing blow to Kate's left cheek. She was unconscious when she hit the floor.
Anne started to shiver. Her vision blurred, then cleared. She was no longer in rugged tunnel in Sweden. The pod she was looking at was similar to theirs, except there was none of Rufus' clothes thrown on the furniture. The basket of Twiskers toys was missing. And there was blood everywhere! It painted the walls red. It stained the furniture. Anne began to cry.