CHAPTER TEN

Secrets Revealed

It took about an hour for her parents to show up in their car. She had bid Stetson good night and watched him walk back over the hill towards his parent's farm. Ah, she thought, if only he'd been a centaur too, or I a human again. And she blushed, even now, as she remembered leering at his butt as he walked away. Thoughts of him and her played in her fantasies for a few minutes before she pulled the plug on it. Ahh, she sighed, I bet he's probably already got a girlfriend. Lucky girl

Now, she watched her parents get out of the car with a mixture of trepidation and joy at seeing them again. It seemed like forever since she'd last had an opportunity to do this, and she was eager.

"Mom!" She laughed, rushing forward.

The older woman jumped at the shout and the charge, bracing herself seconds before Sylvie swept her up in a gigantic bear hug. Her father watched from the safety of the other side of the car.

"Huh. It's...good to...see you too, sweetie." Her mother gasped, returning the hug.

"Come on mom! We've got so much to talk about." Sylvie said with a grin, swinging her easily onto her back without letting go. This ability to twist her upper body like an owl was convenient, she reflected.

Her mom sat like a sack of potatoes, holding tight to her body to keep from falling off as Sylvie started to walk around the car.

Her father watched her come with a frown on his face. "Sylvie, honey, what's wrong?" he asked. She noticed the gun in a holster on his hip. "Why are you out here? And why are you acting strange?" his voice trailed off as she laughed.

"Oh dad, I can't really explain it." She laughed at his befuddlement while behind her back her mom fidgeted, making her body shift. "I came out here because…well, because I was feeling down and maybe a little lost." She admitted. "But Stetson was a big help in getting my head on the right track."

"Stetson, who's Stetson?" her dad asked, immediately coming on point, frowning. Her mom leaned forward a little to hear better.

"He's Ben's handyman." Sylvie explained. "He caught me destroying the stump that Taryn and I…well, we were trying to help that night." She hitched a little but continued past the sudden pain. Strangely, though, there wasn't much guilt to go along with it this time. "And he brought me back up here and we got to talking for a bit…did you know he's helping Ben out by running this place nearly single-handed while also helping his mom out on her farm down the road?"

"No, I didn't know that." Her dad blinked, caught at the change of topic.

"He's pretty amazing." Sylvie sighed.

"Well, I think I would like to meet this young man." Her mom said unexpectedly in her ear.

"Sure! I'd like to see him again anyway, thank him for the help." Sylvie nodded eagerly. That would be great, she figured. She could picture…well, better not picture it, she scolded herself. He might not feel the same way about her after all.

She turned to her father. "I'll walk home with mom, if you want to follow. That should be safe enough, besides I got my rifle."

"Okay." Her father looked unconvinced, and shared a look over her shoulder, but he dropped into the driver side of the car and started the engine.

Sylvie flicked on her flashlight and turned to the exit, her mom sliding back and forth uncomfortably on her back despite her best efforts not to jostle or bruise her passenger.

#

The dark road stretched out in front of them as she came around the gate and started walking to town. Behind her the car followed slowly, the headlights casting her shadow right in front of her.

"So...what did you want to talk to me about?" her mom asked as Sylvie walked peacefully along the road.

"Lots of things, mom." Sylvie said with a laugh. "There's so much that we used to do that we just don't anymore."

"I know sweetie, and I'm sorry. It's just that--"

"I know mom. The case load is immense, but you've got to take some breaks every now and then as well." Sylvie told her. "I know about being worked hard," she said quietly. "You can do it but it wears you down."

"Honey, you aren't…" her mom began reassuringly.

"Of course not." Sylvie interrupted firmly. "That ship has sailed. I was talking about you. You're working harder than I did in the ring, and I'm your lash. Please, put me down, mom." She said quietly. She continued walking, unsure what to say. Taryn was far better with words then her, dammit! Why couldn't she be here to help her with this?

It isn't her place, she told herself. This is between you and your mom right now. You've never backed down from a fight before, whether on the field or in the ring, so centaur up and do it!

"Sylvie, I don't know what to say." Her mom's voice sounded stifled, like she'd caught a cold. Her face leaned against her back and Sylvie found it wet! Sylvie gaped openly--was her mom crying?!

"I guess I got so caught up in trying to put all the bad people away that I didn't realize I was moving away from you." She slowly choked.

"Mom," Sylvie stopped and twisted her body to face her, eliciting a gasp of surprise from the older Mathison. "You are amazing, inspirational to me if you're home or not. You wanted to protect me, and I love you for that. But every now and then I just want to be with you, doing mom and daughter things. Course," she added with a grin, "can't really do the mani-pedi things now…the stylist would have a fit with my hooves."

Her mom gave a watery laugh. "Yeah, they might hang up their files than face us."

Sylvie started moving again, before her dad could get out of the car and ask them what was wrong. Even while walking, though, she kept most of her attention on the conversation, especially in trying to get her mom to laugh again.

"Yeah, I'm thinking we could go out on the town and bust down the doors to all the salons. 'I want this hoof in deep red while the back left on in light blue please. Maybe a few stickers on them too.'"

Her mom laughed helplessly. "Yes, and don't forget the hot wraps!" she gasped out.

"Of course we can't forget that!" Sylvie cried in mock shock. "Why, I'd never give that salon my business again if they forgot that!"

The two dissolved into a fit of giggles that lasted for a long while. By now, her hooves had struck pavement and Sylvie knew it wouldn't be long before they made it back to the house.

Still, now that they were talking again, Sylvie found herself wishing the night didn't have to end. The conversation flowed between them like a cataract, never staying in one place very long before racing to another topic. Sylvie learned a great deal about the difficulties of some cases her mom found herself facing, and was impressed with the dogged determination her mom displayed, especially against the lawyers that some of the outside chapters of gangs had brought to the table. She never imagined that gang members could afford such high-powered attorneys.

In her turn, Sylvie's mother found herself shocked at all the adventures her daughter had been in since she'd been home. The lessons were a surprise, but far more was the huge rolls of cash that Sylvie pulled out of her pockets and handed her. They were very heavy, and she couldn't believe how much her daughter said was in there. She wanted to go through them herself, as soon as she got home, to determine exactly how much her daughter had gotten.

And all of this for a lesson! She felt stunned. She remembered what Greg had said of the day they'd gone to the range, but she'd dismissed it as wild praise. Now she had to rethink her previous stance.

The discussion turned then to Wolfe and Agent Bengal. Sylvie could tell her mom had gotten angry by the way her knees clenched around her barrel, but Sylvie laid a hand on hers and she relaxed.

"We will have to be careful of Mr. Bengal." Her mom said seriously. "Have the meeting between you too set up in a court or police station, somewhere where you have friends and he doesn't. I'll be there, of course, but I'll need an actual representative for you…perhaps Anna? She's got the experience, or Dave. He's pretty good, handled the Corston case decently that one time."

"Actually, I think it'll just be you." Sylvie said quietly. "I don't think there will be much help that I can be for Agent Bengal in his search, Taryn has already told him her story, at her house before I knocked down her door. When he interviews me, it will probably be just for that. So…maybe we can just do it in your office?"

"That might work." Her mother's voice turned thoughtful. "I'll have Ben there and your father. We'll have to communicate with Agent Bengal and tell him where to meet us."

"All right." Sylvie shrugged. The interview was something she could endure, and Taryn had said it hadn't been bad,

That leaves…what? How do I prepare for something that I know will be bad, but I also know I can't fight?

#

She puzzled about it as she walked up the drive, the car following her up to the garage and parking, the lights turning off. Her mom slid off her back with a groan, landing shakily on the pavement. Sylvie steadied her tenderly as they made their way back into the house, her father bringing up the rear.

Inside the living room (which, like at Taryn's house, had been moved downstairs), the family sat down in their various seats. Sylvie had a couch like Taryn's, though done up in sports. The old her would have loved it, she thought wistfully, but the new her sort of wished for cowboys or rifles, something cool. Oh, well.

Sylvie wondered how she should bring up the gun again, when her father cleared his throat."

"Sylvie, I know you've been curious to learn about that old pistol of mine, and why I had it, and my rather cryptic remarks that day."

Sylvie froze, her heart beating faster. She nodded.

Her parents looked at each other, then her mom disappeared into the backroom for a few minutes before returning with an old plastic box not much bigger than a shoebox. Setting it down on the table, they pulled out a few newspaper clippings and a pair of badges!

"Honey, a long time ago, when I had just finished school, I went on a trip to see the world. I hated it here, found it dull and boring and wanted to get out and see some action and the more dangerous the better." Her father began.

"Well, I started bouncing from school to school, while traveling to see all the states. It was during this time that I took an introductory class into police work and hostage negotiation hosted by this company that specialized in it. I decided to enlist, as it were, because it sounded fun. It was in the very first class I met your mom."

"Wait, I thought you guys met in college." Sylvie blurted out, surprised.

"Well, it was on a college campus, if that helps." Her father laughed. "But I never told you what class. We hit it off right away, and soon we were the top two students, in everything from negotiation to use of force."

"We accepted an internship at the company, and in two months we were offered a position after a case where the negotiator we were assigned to was killed."

Sylvie felt stunned clear down to her toes, never in her wildest imaginings had she expected this, and she had a hard time picking her jaw up as she listened.

"Well, for a couple of years we went from case to case, bringing resolution however we could. Soon we started to go anywhere in the world, following jobs as we became more and more requested."

He paused and a shadow fell across his face. "We discovered you mom was pregnant and we gave serious thought about retiring together from that line of work and finding some other to take on. But before we could turn in our papers, there came word into the office that a man had taken his daughter's school hostage."

"We got there and took over from the police negotiator, who hadn't been able to get much out of him, not even why he was doing this. Your mother started to talk to him, trying to get him to engage her in dialogue while I got a lowdown from the officer on the scene what we were facing. It wasn't good; he'd taken hostage over thirty children under the age of ten, plus a couple of older kids who'd been caught up when he arrived."

"I heard a gunshot ring out and turned, thinking he'd taken a shot a cop that's pushed the boundaries a little too closely. It turned out to be your mother."

Sylvie gasped, turning to her mom. She nodded and pulled up the bottom of her shirt and pointed to an extremely faint scar.

"I had plastic surgery later." She explained.

Her father cleared his throat and continued; "With your mom on the ground, the cops had returned fire immediately, but there came a steady series of shots, and I rushed inside. The guy had started killing the hostages, and managed to get almost a quarter of them before I shot him dead."

Her parents went quiet for a while, lost in thought. At last her father sighed. "We went to the hospital, but it was too late, we lost the baby boy that Anne was carrying."

Sylvie found herself crying, realizing she'd might have had a brother if only…

"We got your mom fixed up and went out a couple of times again. I think it was more to prove to ourselves that we could still do it, still help protect people, but it wasn't the same. We turned in our papers and came back here, thinking we would put that part of our life behind us for good."

"But then I got kidnapped." Sylvie said quietly.

"Yes, and we did everything we could, calling in old contacts and everything to try and get you back, but none of our old friends were able to help us."

"Then Josh found us on the web and Mom came down to find us." Sylvie finished quietly.

"Right." Her dad nodded. "I was supposed to go with you but the Riot started the same day Taryn's mom got kidnapped, and the same day we were going to arrange matters. I ended up staying here and help Ben keep the town from imploding completely, leaving Anne to follow Mary down."

"Suddenly a lot makes sense now." Sylvie said quietly. "How mom could break us out, how she could sneak into Nightshade's camp when I thought it would be impossible, the planning and logistics of our rescue…wow." She looked at her mom admiringly. "That stuff was all amazing! Both of you guys."

Her parents smiled at her.

"Well," her mom said at last. "We better start figuring out how best to deal with the meeting."

They spent the rest of the night laying out their plans for dealing with Agent Bengal and his people. Sylvie found her attention starting to wander while her mother spoke of statues and laws that protected Sylvie's rights in the court and while testifying.

"My biggest worry is that he'll demand blood samples and tests." Her father rumbled softly. "They are going to claim it for medical reasons, saying National Security, or something. Can we fight that?"

"I think so." Her mom said slowly. "I'll have to check my books on previous case files, but I think we can use the girl's ages to keep that from happening. Besides, Doctor McMillan already checked them out thoroughly, including a blood sample. They have to have those samples on record, which makes further tests not as important."

"Still, if they might find a way to change the girls back," Greg began thoughtfully, but shook his head. "But who knows how long they'd want to keep the girls in labs for tests. They're only seventeen, for chrissake. They shouldn't be in that kind of situation."

Sylvie froze, wondering if she'd misheard. Find a way to change them back to human? Was that even possible?

Nightshade, or the vision, said that to do so would bring disaster, but what if it lied? If we were turned back, would the attack even happen at all? Would Taryn still die? And Taryn! Josh, Megan and Cindy! Do I have the right to say no for them? What if they want to be human again?

But they are so shy, no one wanted to be the subject of tests and ridicule when we talked on the way home. They wouldn't want to put up with the tests, but what if they had a way to turn them back? Would they leap at it?

Sylvie's head buzzed as her thoughts whirled around her in a whirlwind of speculation, hope and fear. It just didn't seem possible that they could be turned back after so long, but stranger things had happened, she remembered. Perhaps it would be possible.

Yet she couldn't say anything just yet. They had to survive the interview first, and that would be…?

"Mom, when would be a good time to do this?" Sylvie asked. Her tail switched nervously.

"Well, that depends on when my office can get a hold of Agent Bengal." She looked at him with an encouraging smile. "Don't worry, it will take a couple of days, I think. Perhaps Friday?"

That would be three days. "Sounds perfect mom." Sylvie said bravely.