Page 24 of Plaidypus
“That’s my sister’s way of saying she doesn’t care what you think about it. As far as she’s concerned, the argument is over, she is the victor, and there’s no point in discussing it further.”
I almost choked on my food, but I swallowed without escorting myself to an early grave through general incompetency. “Not really. I just want to finish eating and go to bed.”
Mina clapped her hands. “And that’s our cue to be good guests and clean the kitchen so our kind hostess can go to bed without worrying. We can also take a general inventory and see what we need to help you move while you nap. I’m sure Matthieu can help with that.”
My brother could; he’d go insane within two hours, but he could handle the work. I nodded. “Thank you. I tried not to make too much of a mess of the kitchen—”
Mina clapped her hands together harder, and I recognized the sound as an order to shush before she decided to shush me. As I didn’t want to find out how a sex demoness shushed someone, I clicked my teeth together. “It is the sacred right of the chef to make a mess of the kitchen, so don’t you worry your pretty head about a thing.”
Pretty? Had the succubus hit her head? More than a little confused, I decided there was only one thing left for me to do: retreat. I scarfed down the rest of my plate, took the dishes to the kitchen, and bolted for the relative safety of my bedroom.
SEVEN
I had a morning wolf problem.
Sleep helped.
With winter right around the corner, my tendency to hibernate came out, and without an alarm clock shrieking some dire warning at me, I refused to budge. Without Matthieu’s intervention, I may have stayed in bed forever.
His knock at my door earned him abrbrbrbrbrbrfrom my platypus, who wanted to resume dozing. The wolf, upon observing my tendency to remain comatose in the winter and my platypus’s reluctance to waken, settled with a sigh. The sigh would be a problem one day.
I had a morning wolf problem and no inclination to appease her perky ways.
She would need to go back to bed and bother me at a later time, preferably when spring started.
“Leonard is making breakfast, and he is preparing a cup of hot cocoa for you. It’s Godiva. With milk. The ladies went out to the grocery store to get ingredients. They discovered the freezer has more moose meat in it, and they’ve taken everything out so we can cook it for dinner tonight. The truck’s ready, and the CDC will have the right vehicle here in a few days. The plan for a car is not panning out.”
My brother’s insistence he communicate with me did a good job of forcing me awake. I contemplated the ways I could make my brother pay for tearing me out of my happy and warm state of sleep.
“Why no car?” I mumbled.
“It appears the weather doesn’t approve of our departure. A blizzard will be hitting later today. I’ve already primed the generator, and everyone is prepared to be snowed in. The ladies fed well yesterday, so they’re good for a few days if we’re snowed in, especially with the demons and Leonard around to keep them topped up. It turns out the demons can also donate blood—or send in for help from someone who can teleport if we’re stuck for long. Leonard called the CDC after you went to bed this morning, and they sent over a few bales for Icy. Icy likes her bales. It seems the hay is much preferable to dirt, and she’s taken to keeping close to her bales. Leonard had the idea to set up a tarp covering for her so she can access them without battling the snow and wind. We set her up against the house near the porch so you can check on her. She seems to think being under the tarp is a good idea, so she should be fine during the blizzard—not that I’m sure what some snow can do to a zombie moose named Icy.”
“Hey, Icy is smarter than we thought. Cool.” As my brother had already disturbed my peace, I yawned and began the morning routine of stretching and preparing to leave bed. “Firewood?”
“We already took care of it. We brought enough in for at least five days. If the CDC provides a decent truck, we’ll be out of here within three.”
“Hell, unless we’re getting several meters, we’ll be out of here the next day unless it’s going to hit Toronto. And then? It depends on if they need to call the army.”
We snickered over the last truly major storm, which had ground Toronto to a halt and required military equipment and their rival, Montreal, to help them become functional again. In reality, Toronto got snow every year, but they didn’t receive the kind of snow capable of burying houses often.
When they did, their equipment couldn’t handle it, requiring outside assistance to get unburied and restore general functionality to the city. Everybody helped during the bad blows, but we would forever poke fun at Toronto over the time it had needed the help of the army and Montreal to free itself from the snowy clutches of winter.
Matthieu cleared his throat. “Leonard is making you hot cocoa. With milk. You need to get up and accept his offering. He even came up with the idea all on his own.”
“Go matchmake yourself with Mina,” I countered. While I protested, I oozed out of bed, landed on the floor with a thump, and eyed my dresser. “Throw me some clothes. I’m too tired.”
“There should be limits to your unwillingness to get out of bed. You’ve been down and out for almost a full day. You were so down and out that I brought Leonard in here with his fancy scanner to make certain you weren’t dying on me. We’ve had enough dying in this family for a few years.”
Good grief. “Can I make a guess what the scanner said?”
“Will it wake you up?”
“It might wake my brain up. Until the brain wakes up, your request for me to be coherent is denied.”
“Okay. Guess what the scanner said.”
“Some vampire of a brother stole all my blood, and my lycanthropy virus took a nap and took me out with her when she went. And the platypus just likes naps, so was all in on the virus’s decision to nap. The wolf, for the record, is a morning wolf, and she’s gonna hate me within a few weeks.”
