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  "No! No!" he yelled and burst through the crowd in the galley, not stopping until he was in front of Nary. Turning to face the threat, he barked again. "No, Patella! Down! Down! Scapula, down! Down!" When that didn't work, he mind-messaged, Winnie, call your wolves! Now!

  Nary was out of the corner. She was in human form if you consider flashing red eyes and a coiled, four limbed crouch as a normal humanoid appearance. Beside her was Marie, a long sharp blade in each hand. Patella and Scapula had seen the strangers in the living room, had immediately split, and had gone separate ways. Patella was coming from the left, low to the ground; Scapula was an identical twin on the other side of the room. A pincer movement against an age-old enemy. Both focused on the human form crouching in front of them. It was like no human they had ever seen before. It wakened long dormant instincts.

  Nary coughed again and the sound of a hostile panther filled the room.

  "Your beasts will die," Marie said in the silence that followed. "They are no match for her."

  Theo moved to block the attack lines to Nary even further. He energized his sling and pointed his left forefinger at Scapula and his right forefinger at Patella. Out of each finger a shimmering gravity force pulsated, ready to be released. "Down, Patella! Down, Scapula! Nary, don't hurt them!" With his height, his commanding posture, and his dominating voice, Theo showed a side of himself that nobody had ever seen before. Marie and Nary both saw the new Theo and then looked at each other. Ogun, the protector. God of weapons.

  Patella went into a down and put her head between her paws. Scapula was younger, less likely to obey.

  Winnie came out of nowhere at sling speed and knocked Scapula to the ground. Then she gave her THE LOOK! Scapula whined and rolled over onto her back.

  Mac and Melissa came in from the deck at that point. "Not the greeting we were expecting," Melissa understated.

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  Chapter 3

  After a few minutes of babble, Yolanda took control of introductions. The wolves were behaving themselves in a far corner of the galley. Winnie was trying to explain to them why they should tolerate a panther on the ship. The almost-a-panther body was back in the dark corner, lying on a pad. With her black skin and black clothes, she'd be virtually invisible if it weren't for the red eyes watching everybody very, very carefully. Theo was still in a protective position, but he had deactivated his sling. Marie had put the two blades away and was standing in conversation with Yolanda who was pointing at people and saying their names. When Yolanda finished, she added an apology for the less than friendly greeting. "We're all upset with Lucas disappearing," she started to explain.

  "Shango," Marie interrupted.

  Yolanda raised an eyebrow at Theo and he took over the conversation.

  "Everybody, this is Marie and her daughter Nary. They were imprisoned on a slave island in the St. Lawrence Rivulet. I believe most of you knew that Lucas and I were helping them. Marie and Nary call us by different names. Lucas is Shango and I am Theogun. We don't mind the names. In helping them to escape from their island prison, we learned that Marie is a voodoo queen and Nary is a voodoo princess. Both have extraordinary powers. For example, you almost saw a human panther in action. Marie talks about events that she has seen that have not happened yet. When Lucas and I were flying invisibly, both were able to detect us by the smell our slings left behind us. Marie was able to smell the Wilizy/Asia when it was high in the air."

  Those revelations produced a buzz in the group. Jock took the opportunity to activate his sling, slip invisibly along the side of a wall, and hover near Nary's corner. Both Marie and Nary looked up at him as he approached. Nary's red eyes flashed open. "Go away," Marie said. "You are not safe there." Jock did, satisfied that they had the powers that they claimed. A military mind always assesses risks in uncertain environments.

  "I took Nary inside my sling, flew up to the ship, and then gave Marie an aerial tour of their island." I've established that they can't hear our mind messages.

  But sending any more mind messages in front of our guests would be rude, Yolanda added.

  (In all the years that I knew her, Yolanda was always about doing the right thing. And being neat and tidy about it. If she were in a situation where it was necessary to slit somebody's throat, I expect that she would do it calmly and efficiently. Then she'd pull out a hanky, spit a couple of times into it, and say, "You have blood around your neck. Here, let me get that for you." We'll go back to Theo now.)

  "I thought that it would be a good idea if I brought them to the ship after the rescue so that they'd be safe here. They can't continue to live on that slave island."

  "Shango and Theogun are going to take me to where I used to live," Marie added. "I have many slaves to rescue and more bosses to kill."

  That certainly got their attention.

  "Where did you used to live?" Yolanda asked.

  "A place called Safe Haven Ranch #2," Marie answered.

  "Hoo, boy oh boy oh boy!" Wanda exclaimed.

  # # # # # # # #

  "Why don't we all relax a little?" Yolanda was trying to make this into a normal social gathering. Voodoo royalty, a snarly panther, and chastened wolves. Yup. Just a normal social gathering. Marie was the first to act on Yolanda's suggestion. She sat down on her pad next to Nary and extended her hand to touch her. Nary swatted the hand away and pulled on Theo's pant leg instead.

  "Nary has not been her usual self," Marie explained. "She knew that she'd have to leave the island, but that's been her home all of her life. She didn't want to leave. In addition, her panther had to kill one of the bosses who had come to the island to kill us. Nary is used to being with the panther when it hunts, but this was her first human kill. That upset her. She and her beast have never been in a place where there are so many people. The beast is still angry and Nary is a little scared. Theogun, the beast will calm down if you stroke Nary's hair." Marie made room for Theo to sit next to Nary and patted the deck with her hand. And with that, Marie invited Theogun, the protector, into their lives. He wasn't a timid grass eater after all.

  Seeing how Marie and Nary had made themselves comfortable, Yolanda motioned everybody else onto the deck too. Wolf and Hank offered Doc and Granny comfortable chairs only to receive firm shakes of their heads. In a few minutes, the Wilizy were all in a giant circle. Nary bundled herself into a blanket and curled up with her upper body across Theo's outstretched legs. He found the rhythm of stroking her hair that she needed and her red eyes changed to black and soon closed.

  Yolanda turned to Theo. "Perhaps you could tell us why Nary has never seen so many people before and how she got that beautiful name."

  So Theo did. And as he described in detail, and in compassion, what their lives must have been like, Marie relaxed. And every Wilizy hearing the story wondered how they could have survived like that for fourteen odd years.

  # # # # # # # #

  It was a subdued group of warriors that the three male time-travellers found in the ship's living room when they rushed in from the deck.

  "It took us some time to get into the building. It's all locked down tight because of the holidays," Wolf explained their late arrival.

  Granny spoke quickly before anybody could mention time-travel. "Wolf, we have visitors and we haven't finished meeting with them. Perhaps the three of you could talk outside with your dad and tell him what you found? He can tell you what's happening here. Meanwhile, I want to ask Marie some questions."

  The three men just stood there, baffled. They had been expecting an onslaught of questions about Lucas.

  "Well, what are you waiting for?" Granny asked and finger-shooed the three time-travellers out of the ship and motioned Hank to join them. Granny looked around and saw the other men. "This is now a Raging Gardeners meeting, guys. Get some fresh air."

  When the women were alone, Granny continued. "Marie, I hope you don't mind a personal question, but would you tell us how old you are?"


  "I don't know," she said. "I was brought to the ranch when I was 13. I was a slave for a very long time. I had stopped being a woman long before they caught me poisoning Big Daddy's food and sent me to the island prison as punishment. I don't know how long I was there because I don't know how often the new prisoners would come. Nary has been a woman for a few years now. Other than that, I don't know how old she is."

  "You were a slave?"

  "Yes. In our Safe Haven ranch, anybody who wasn't pure black was a slave or a boss. Some of our youngsters were taken away from us each year. We never saw the girls again. Some boys were brought back, but they'd be bosses and would whip the slaves if they were ever told to. Every year, Big Momma would bring new young girls to the ranch. They would work in the Big House and would become mothers. Big Daddy would take care of that. Their babies would be put into the slave nursery and later, the youngsters would work in the fields with their moms. Too soon, both the boys and the girls would disappear and new white slave girls would arrive, work in the Big House, and become mothers."

  "Were they always blondes?"

  "No. I was a blonde when I was young, but most of the girls had brown or black hair."

  "And I'm sorry to ask, but..., Big Daddy and you?"

  "No. An old woman helped me to escape that."

  "How?"

  Marie stood up and lifted her shift to her throat. "He never became interested," she said.

  # # # # # # # #

  Momaka was below deck with Marie. During a break, the directors had had a quick meeting to decide if they should reveal their time-travel capabilities to their visitors or not. They agreed that they might as well because Marie would find out anyway. They asked Momaka to talk with Marie because her powers were similar to Marie's. Momaka was standing now with Marie in Dreamer's bedroom. Nary was still sitting on the deck with Theo. Every Wilizy woman had had an idle thought or two about the fact that Nary skin was touching Theo skin.

  "We are a large family of adults and children with special skills and powers," Momaka started. "We use those skills and powers to bring evil people to justice. If that doesn't work, we take justice to them. Some of us have been searching for Safe Haven. Others were working on other projects. It is very important for our future as a family that our secrets remain secret. You know some of them already. Our ability to fly, for example. If you remain in our midst, you will learn them all. We are willing to help you travel to Safe Haven Ranch #2, and even help you bring justice to the slave owners if you want our assistance. In return, we'd ask that you not reveal our secrets to anybody."

  "You'd fly us there in your ship?"

  "If that is what you want."

  "That's what was foretold."

  "You can see details like that in the future."

  "Only if it involves my curses."

  "We have a member of the family who can see into the future too."

  "Do her curses always come true?"

  "Yes, but she doesn't see everything that's going to happen in the future."

  Marie nodded. "This meeting was not foretold."

  # # # # # # # #

  "One of the secrets you'll learn is very important to us. We all have the ability to visit the past and see what has happened. Three of our people did that today and were able to discover what had happened to our Lucas, your Shango. He is alive, but barely. We have a small amount of time to rescue him. We cannot help you with Safe Haven ranches right now."

  "Shango needs to come with me when I go home. Theogun too. That's why I called them."

  "That will be another reason why we need to rescue Shango. Would you like to join us in our meeting upstairs?"

  "But keep everything a secret from anybody not on the ship?"

  "Yes."

  "Nary and I will do that. But perhaps you would do us a favour?"

  "Perhaps we might."

  "You say that you can go back in time?"

  "Yes. But we don't change the past. We only look."

  "Could you take Nary and me back to New Orleans in the 1800s."

  "We could do that."

  "Are you the boss of the family? Is that why you're here?"

  "No. We don't have bosses the way you think of bosses. Each of us adults does what we do best to help the family on its projects. Sometimes that means taking charge; sometimes it doesn't."

  "Why did they send you?" Marie asked, curiosity getting the better of her.

  "Because like you, I have a companion."

  Marie did a circuit around Momaka, sniffing her up and down. "I do not smell your companion," she said.

  "It may not be a smell that you would recognize."

  "Show me?"

  "This cabin is too small. My companion hates being confined. He would cause a lot of damage if I let him loose in here."

  # # # # # # # #

  Wolf opened the next part of the meeting by giving them an overview of what he, William, and TG had been able to accomplish. "We were not able to get into the courthouse by following Lucas inside. A man in a blue uniform barred the entrance. We had to go further back in time, come in with a crowd, go up to the top floor, and leave a window in one of the turrets unlocked. From now on, any Wilizy wanting to enter the courthouse will be able to go through that window."

  "We went back to the time when Lucas came into the building, followed him into the courtroom, and began recording. Some very nasty people tricked him into coming into the courthouse and then put him on trial. We saw and heard everything. After they found him guilty at the trial, they took Lucas into the basement. We couldn't follow without being noticed and we weren't able to reach the basement after they left. We know only that Lucas is imprisoned in a cell down there. William has an idea for a de-locking tool that will give us access to that basement. He'll make that tool tonight."

  TG took over. "We are certain that Lucas is alive. We have about 100 hours to rescue him. I'm going to show you a recording of the trial. What you'll see will be hard to watch. It may be best if Winnie and Reese didn't see it."

  Both refused to leave.

  Nobody spoke when the tape ended. Mac stepped up to the front.

  "We have two operations to run. One will be The Rescue and I will serve as battle commander. The second will be The Justice and Melissa will serve as strategist. There are too many of us for everybody to be involved in Lucas' rescue. We need to move fast and that means that we can't have a lot of discussions. We need quick decisions and faster actions."

  "One rescue strategy comes quickly to mind. Find a way to get into that basement and stop Mavis from giving him a new dose of poison every day. If we can do that for one day, the poison will leave his body. Then, we have to find a way to break him out of the courthouse. Ideally, we'll be able to do that without creating a huge mystery. But if that's the only way we can rescue him, that's what we'll do. I'd like the following people to serve on the Rescue Team: Doc, Granny, and Winnie for medical help; TG, William, and Wolf for time traveling and drone surveillance; Theo because you know Lucas the best; Hank and Yolanda as Strike Force #1. Winnie's wolves can stay so long as they behave themselves. The rest of you can work with Melissa on the Justice Team but that will come later."

  # # # # # # # #

  Warriors were saying their goodbyes as the members who wouldn't be involved in the rescue plan prepared to leave the ship. Yolanda noticed that Marie and Nary were sitting on the deck and watching. She gave herself a mental slap to the head and approached them. "We were hoping that the two of you would be able to help us with Lucas' rescue."

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  Chapter 4

  Thursday afternoon, December 26. The Rescue Team was preparing to scout the interior of the courthouse building, and if possible, sneak into the basement to see Lucas and how he was imprisoned. Doc had his medical kit; Hank also had a kit of tools that they might need. Burglars might call them break-in tools.

  But before the break-in, they first had to figure out how they were going to leave
the ship. Marie wanted Nary to get into a sling with one of the women; Nary had another idea. As they were clustered around preparing to leave as a group, Nary hid behind Theo, clutching onto his arm. She'd swat at anybody who came close. Occasionally that swat came perilously close to being a claw. Marie went to her packs of possessions, brought out two blankets, and started to wrap Nary in them.

  Granny and Yolanda gently took Marie aside. "Taking blankets could be dangerous," Granny said. "If the blankets came undone, they might set of alarms. We understand that you want to prevent Theo from having physical contact with Nary, but he's not a threat to her."

  "Nary doesn't know anything about sex."

  "Why don't the three of us keep an eye on them instead of wrapping Nary in blankets?" Yolanda suggested. "None of us want them tempted by sex."

  So that's why Nary got to travel in Theo's sling like she wanted. Marie joined Mac in her sling. Initial entry into the building was easy, but Mac had the group stay in the turret room where they had entered. She, Theo, Wolf, and William activated some sensors and went looking for security cameras in the building. As they were descending by stairs to the main floor, Mac asked William if he could fit Marie with her own sling. "Tomorrow morning would be good," she urged.

  The scouts returned to the turret room thirty minutes later. So long as they used the elevator to move from the turret room to the basement, they'd be safe from detection. They didn't know about the security in the basement because they had been unable to get down there. The elevator had a button for the basement, but it wasn't working. The staircase into the basement ended in front of a locked door. Still, Mac was optimistic.

  They decided to try the elevator first. Hank unscrewed the button panel and found that the wires to the basement button had been unfastened. That made for a quick fix. When they reached the basement level, Mac pushed the button to keep the doors closed while TG slipped a sensor under the doors and scanned the hallway for security cameras. "There's nothing down here to worry about," he said. Mac let the doors open, but held up a hand to stop everyone from getting out.

  "One more check," she said and flew face down to the end of the corridor and back scanning the floor closely.