Misato blanched.
Someone on the bus just fired a gun.
Was Caroline okay?
She wanted to run in there and grab Caroline and run. But what would happen to her students? Worse yet, would the attackers shoot her before she could do anything?
She told herself to take a deep breath. The only thing she could do was use her power in whatever way was possible. So she exhaled, held her breath for ten seconds, took another breath, and closed her eyes, oblivious to Misato's panicked cries.
"Oh God, oh God, oh God! Oh, Derek, what're we going to do?"
"Calm down, Vicki. We aren't going to do anything. You and Misato can either stay right here or move back behind the police tape where you'll be safer, which I would prefer." He glanced at Misato and saw that her eyes were closed. Had she frozen in place from the shock?
Derek wanted to comfort her, but that was for later. He doubted the attackers were likely to listen to Detective Thorpe and surrender, and the shot just proved him correct. It was time to take action. But first, he had to make sure that Vicki and Misato stayed out of harm's way.
"Wait a minute," Vicki said. "You want me and Misato to move back? That's not going to help Caroline! And what about you?"
"I'm going to see if there's anything I can do to help the detective. I've taken hostile environment training. You haven't."
"So what? We're worried about Caroline! We can—"
"You'll only add to the risks. Stay."
The cold blue fire in his eyes glowed.
"Oh, all right. But Derek, I—"
He was gone before she could utter another word, leaving her gritting her teeth.
"If only we could get Caroline on her phone. Hey, Misato?"
Misato's eyes were closed tightly, head bowed low, hands folded tightly together as if in some kind of Buddhist prayer as if the world depended on it. Vicki reached out to put an arm around her and pulled back at the last minute. An aura seemed to envelop the younger woman, and it didn't seem right to touch her at that moment. She supposed there wasn't much more they could do but pray for Caroline's safety.
Derek knew it would hurt if he got shot. But he wasn't an average man, and no standard bullet could affect him, though a silver bullet was undoubtedly another story.
It was improbable that a couple of attackers hijacking a bus would have come prepared to kill a werewolf, so he moved quickly to catch up with Detective Thorpe.
"I'm fully trained," he said when she glared at him. "Let me go and neutralize the attackers."
"You want to do WHAT? Are you out of your mind? They're armed. Derek, I know you're trying to help, but the special weapons and tactics team should be here any minute. Leave it to them."
"Maggie, I helped you out with that bank robbery, and those robbers were armed. Remember?"
"That was then, and this is now, and I'm trying to negotiate with those bastards. They haven't made a single demand yet, and we still haven't the faintest clue what they want, why they're doing this. So get out of my face and let me do my job. Beat it."
"You don't have to get nasty about it."
Derek knew the discussion was over. He smiled at Thorpe's underling Carla Wilkinson, not noticing that she was blushing sweetly, and took a few steps back. Okay, so much for the direct approach. But he was now closer to the bus, which was all that mattered. He was both fast enough and close enough to get in there before anyone could stop him.
Her attention focused on the bus again, Thorpe addressed the hijackers through the loudspeaker.
"Sir? Are you okay? You can tell us if someone on the bus is hurt. We'll take them off your hands so you won't have to worry about them."
Silence.
"Listen, it's cold, and it's getting dark. You must be tired."
Dark enough in a few minutes for me to dash in there without you noticing, Derek mused.
"Can we bring you some coffee? Hot chocolate? Just to make things a little more comfortable for you. Oh, and I also had someone pick up a couple of sandwiches—I hope you like pastrami and cheese, and egg salad if you don't like to eat meat. We can bring these refreshments to you right now."
More silence.
"Sir?"
The door at the front opened a crack.
"One person! Female," a masked man shouted.
Now we're getting somewhere, Thorpe muttered under her breath.
"Okay, sir. I'll take you your food and drinks."
"No! Not you. The one behind you. Leave your gun and come unarmed."
The hijackers had designated Carla. Carla had yet to make detective, had a babyface, and was a little on the plump side and gave people an impression of a cop who wasn't very threatening—certainly less dangerous than her boss, fearless Maggie Thorpe.
"Her. I'm watching."
"All right, sir. Of course."
Thorpe turned to Wilkinson and checked that she was wearing her bulletproof vest.
"You know what to do. I trained you. Be pleasant, friendly, non-threatening."
"That's my specialty."
"And above all, be very careful. Assess the attackers; try to see what's going on. But if you can't, then don't push it. But stall. We have to buy time, get them to relax, and tell us their demands."
"Yessir, ma'am."
Wilkinson took a paper tray that had just been delivered and began walking toward the bus.
All eyes were on Wilkinson, and Derek seized the moment to slip around the back of the bus.
Meanwhile, Caroline sat in the back of the bus and peeked out the window. She held her breath as she watched the nervous-looking policewoman approach the bus. Both hijackers stood at the front, one standing behind the partially open door and the other with his gun pointed at the passengers. Some of her students and her assistant teacher sat in their seats and wept. Caroline whispered to the kids who were near enough to hear her to hang in there. She told them everything would be okay and hoped to God that she was right.
If only she had her phone.
She had never felt this insecure without her phone on her person and prayed that the brief descriptions of the hijackers she had written had reached Misato, and through her, law enforcement. But a standoff between the hijackers and the police had to be better than being alone with these menacing young men. Help has arrived, so stay calm, she told herself.
Misato's eyes were still closed when she thought she heard a sound.
There it was again.
It was a voice. One that sounded vaguely familiar.
It was slowly getting louder and more distinct, and she was about to open her eyes when it said,
'Don't open your eyes unless you want everyone here to see me. You have to acknowledge me first.'
'All right, I acknowledge you,' Misato said in her head. 'Can I open my eyes now?'
'Only after you say a proper hello to me instead of standing there looking like a stunned idiot. I'm Matsu, your great-great-grandma.'
'My…great-great-grandmother?' She racked her brain, trying to recall the names of the women who had come before her. Her grandmother's name was Sachi, and her great-great-grandmother—Matsu. She remembered now.
'Yes, Great-great-grandmother Matsu. Um, hello. I'm, uh, glad to meet you, I think.'
'You don't look all that happy to see me.'
'Well, this is a surprise, and it isn't the perfect time to see a deceased relative. There's a dangerous incident going on here, and I don't want to sound rude, but it would be great if we could meet some other time.'
'But, that's precisely why I've come here, sweetie. Even for us super-empowered spirits, it isn't easy to come and visit, you know. Oh, and you can open your eyes now.'
'Thanks. Oh!'
An elderly woman in a bright pink kimono was sitting on a rock in front of her.
"You can't let other people see you!"
'Take it easy, kiddo, they can't. You're the only one who can see me, so we're cool. You're the one who has to keep it down, girl.'
Vicki glanced this way. "What was that? Did you say something, Misato?"
"Oh, um, no. I mean, yes, I was just—just mumbling to myself."
Her boss gave her a strained smile. "I know you've been praying, and I've followed suit. It's frustrating not being able to do anything to help Caroline, but I've been repeating to myself the words, 'stay calm.' That's what she always told us to do before we had a big event like a test or a quiz."
"Calm. Right."
Misato went back inside her head to speak with her great-great-grandmother.
'Okay, I understand that you've come all the way here to see me, and I thank you for that. It's good to see you, Great-great-grandmother Matsu. I—'
'You can call me Matsu, sweetie. I've been watching you, you know. I think it's great that you worked up the courage to leave our hometown and come here to a new country to try new things. When I was your age, it wasn't that easy to do something like that. But anyway, I can see I'm starting to irritate you. So, as I was starting to say, I'm here to help.'
'How? Why?'
'I'll answer the second part of your question first. Times have changed since my day, and I envy the freedom you have to spread your wings. And if you don't mind, I'd love it if you wouldn't mind allowing me to be a tiny little part of your life to experience that freedom.'
Misato wasn't sure what her great-great-grandmother meant by that, but she had said she'd come to help. What was she planning to do?
'What about the first part of my question?'
'Easy. You want your good friend Caroline and her kids freed from that bus, and you want those hijackers caught. Isn't that right?'
Uh-oh.
She tried to put it gently.
'Yes, but Great-great-grandmother, I don't think—'
'Matsu.'
'Okay, uh, Matsu, I don't think we want to do anything to make people…suspect something…that they can't understand through their five senses.'
'Don't you feel sorry for them, using just their five senses?'
'Matsu, wait—'
'Harrungh!'
Great-great-grandmother Matsu had a bit of a one-track mind.
It happened when Wilkinson was handing the hijacker a pack of marshmallows for the hot chocolate. When Derek was slipping around the back of the bus.
Both hijackers collapsed as if they had suddenly had a stroke.