Chapter 14

"Here, kitty-kitty," Holly called softly, not really wanting to attract the attention of a saber-toothed tiger.

"Meeaooowww," Haley crooned, mostly to tease her twin.

The pair had been walking for nearly an hour, meandering in a generally westerly direction. They were traveling upwind, so as to be less likely ambushed by some predatory critter that might smell them approaching. Having spent several years living at Frank and Tanya's Jurassic Lodge, the twins had some experience with dinosaurs. They'd allowed themselves to be chomped a few times, mostly to help the Phoenix trainees get used to the idea of dying and being reborn.

But from what Tanya had told them earlier that afternoon, that saber-tooth had literally torn her into itty-bitty pieces; a lot different than being chomped into gruesomely large pieces and swallowed relatively whole ... and neither of the twins really wanted to experience that.

"Ya know," Haley gave in first, "I'm all for going back to the settlement and finding me a nice, horny guy to spend the night with."

"Amen to that, sister," Holly wholeheartedly agreed. "Should we let the others know we're leaving?"

Haley stood, looking back and not seeing anyone. "Nobody seems to give a rat's ass about where we are, so..."

"I'd say no, too," Holly agreed, uncomfortable feelings welling up concerning the abandonment of Murielle and Miranda a few weeks earlier. "The hell with them."

"With them all," Haley echoed.

"Let's not stop at the settlement," Holly suggested. "If there's a wormhole open..."

"We could go all the way back to New Eden and forget this fucking place."

"It's not like we're doing any good here..."

The girls stood, facing each other. Taking their hands and forming a two-girl circle, they vanished.

"What do you mean, 'She's not coming with us?' You don't expect her to stay here, do you?" Frank asked, rounding on his queen like she had just been caught stealing the crown jewels.

"Just what I said," Alana replied. "Tabatha's not coming with us. She said she wants to 'explore' this culture."

"Ha, ha. She's got the hots for that furry cave man, I bet," Sheryye smirked.

"Don't be stupid," Tanya argued. "Tabatha's smarter than to fall for a friggin' Neanderthal ... Isn't she?" These last words were directed at her queen.

"Apparently not," Alana shrugged. "Seems he can give her something that she hasn't had in a while."

"Yeah," Vanessa grinned wickedly. "Claws!"

"That'd do it for me," Daphne chimed in. "Give me a good scratching and I'll be forever yours." She and the other girls laughed, nodding with agreement.

"You girls saying we don't treat you rough enough?" Jeff asked, already knowing the answer. "What are we going to tell her husband when we go back without her?"

"I don't plan on explaining anything," Alana replied, surprising the others with her sudden irresponsible demeanor. "Unless he asks, of course. Then I'll simply tell him she's doing research on the lifestyle of the Neanderthal."

"And if he wants to join her?" Frank asked, already knowing a city boy like Jake Hedron would be unlikely to volunteer to spend time in a cave, studying cavemen.

"The wormhole to the settlement is open to anyone who wants to use it," Alana replied. "I won't forbid him to come join his wife; I just won't suggest it."

"This won't be the first time she's taken off to another time period," Tanya said with a quiet, sad tone in her voice. "She's spent entire lifetimes away from us."

"But she always comes back," Frank replied, reaching out to hug his wife to his bare chest. "She's never lost to us forever."

'But she's not Katie anymore... ' the thought passed silently from Tanya to Frank. Frank gazed down into his beautiful wife's eyes, watching as she blinked back her tears, missing, even after all this time and the return of Katie in the form of Tabatha, her youngest daughter. 'Each time she comes back, she's changed... '

"She'll always belong to us," he whispered, his promise that she would return bolstering his conviction. "No matter who she is, we'll always recognize each other."

"So we should just go back, then?" Sy asked, uncertain what his beloved intended.

"As soon as we've found where the twins have wandered and collect them," Alana replied, looking at Sheryye, Vanessa and Tanya. "They went with you, didn't they?"

Vanessa shrugged; "Sher and me wanted to do Tanya, so the other two went off to play with each other, I imagine. One of them said something about finding a tiger..." Her voice wavered as the others looked at her. "Hey! It wasn't my idea – I would've let them come; the more girls to play with, the more ... you know ... fun." She looked helplessly at the others as they stared at her, feeling more and more guilty that she'd done something terribly wrong. The problem was, she couldn't imagine what it might be.

"I didn't do anything!" she exclaimed, proclaiming her innocence in the disappearance of the twin Phoenix girls. "I'm not responsible for Phoenix girls more advanced than me! They're the ones who're supposed to be watching over us!"

"It's alright," Alana told her, smiling to try and resolve Vanessa's upset. "We know you didn't lose them on purpose."

"So where did they go, then?" Frank asked Alana. "Can you locate them?"

Alana shook her head; "No. I can't feel them at all. When I call out, I get the impression they're at the settlement. I think they returned without us."

"Why would they leave without telling us?" Daphne asked, hurt that her two compatriots would abandon them.

"Who knows?" Jake replied. "Lisa's 'Six Pack' lived in their own little world. I'm sorry to say that some of my darling daughter's attitudes rubbed off on them, and the whole lot became somewhat anti-social. They're not mean or evil, but they just ... don't seem to like being around others."

"That's ridiculous!" Alana exclaimed. "Tia and Tara go back in time and collect Phoenix candidates quite often. In fact, they always return looking very happy that they've visited Earth during its most crowded, oppressive time."