“I will.”
“Also, if you get the chance, try to find out what other kinds of weaponry these battle lords brought with them,” Mattox added. “We’re suspecting they’ve deliberately over-prepared for what was intended to be a peaceful mission.”
“Okay. That shouldn’t be too difficult.”
“How so?” Atty questioned, earning a giggle from her sister.
“Every man who comes into the shop likes to brag about what he already has. He even compares it to what he sees on display. It’s not until Utah takes him outside to demonstrate the weaponry that they get as excited as kids about owning one of the pieces. Don’t worry, Yulen. I’ll try to find out what I can, and I’ll tell Warren what I discover, if anything. He can relay the information to you and Atty directly, and that way, no one will suspect me.”
Yulen pointed a finger at her. “Good strategy. Thanks for thinking of it.”
“Anything else?”
“No. That’s it,” Atty informed her. “Care for something to drink?”
Getting to her feet, she went over to give her big sister a quick hug and a kiss. “Not tonight. I hate to run, but I need to go. Warren and the kids’ll be back home soon. I’ll begin binding my ears starting tomorrow. No one will think it strange, since I already sometimes do it to keep the hair out of my face with I’m working.”
She also placed a kiss on Yulen’s cheek, then gave her nephew a hug and a kiss. “Talk to you later! Goodnight!” With a wave of her hand, she left the lodge. Mattox closed the door behind her.
“What happens if she doesn’t hear anything suspicious?” Atty queried.
“I hope she doesn’t,” Yulen admitted. “I hate having to second guess everybody who comes to the compound, but after what we’ve been through in the past, I’d rather be proactive and wrong, than inactive and right.”
Atty noticed their son hadn’t moved away from the door. Sensing he needed to talk to them privately, she smiled. “Is there something you want to get off your mind?”
“Yeah.” Coming farther into the living area, he stopped in front of her chair. “Is it me, or does this convention feel a bit different from the others?”
“Explain different,” his father requested.
“It feels…off. I can’t explain it any other way. It’s like something’s about to happen, but I can’t figure out what, or how, or where. Or by whom, or why.” Mattox grimaced. “It’s bugging the shit out of me. Mom, don’t you feel it?” He looked to her as if silently asking for her to agree with him.
Atty sat up straighter. “Every time we have crowds of newcomers and strangers coming into this compound, I get those same sensations. I think it’s our Mutah senses keeping us on our toes. Keeping us alert to any danger, even though none may pan out.” She smiled lovingly at him. “It’s our defensive, self-preservation side coming to the forefront.”
“No.” He shook his head. “No. Not this time. I know what you’re talking about. I know those feelings all too well. But this one is different. It’s not a foreboding, or even a foretelling. To be perfectly honest, I don’t think it has anything to do with the Normals.”
“Are you thinking we may be facing a problem with the Mutah?” Yulen questioned.
Again, Mattox vehemently shook his head. “No. It’s more like…”
“Like what, son?”
Raising a finger, Mattox probed deep within himself as he searched for an example. For something he could relate this feeling to. A past incident his parents could understand.
“It’s like that time years ago when the rats came.”
Atty’s face paled. “You mean the time we became sick with the milk plague?”
“That was years ago,” Yulen stated. “You were a child, and Misty was a baby.”
“Yeah. So? I still remember how it felt. How I could sense those things crawling underneath our homes and infecting the hay the cows ate, so that it also infected their milk.Thatkind of danger.”
“What you’re telling us is that you believe we might be facing a natural disaster, rather than a human one?” Atty surmised.
“Yeah. And the reason we’re not honing in on it so well this time is because of all these people converging on the compound. All these strangers who are automatically putting us on guard. I think that’s interfering with us being able to suspect something bigger and more dangerous coming our way.”
“He’s got a point,” Yulen stated. “We’re so busy trying to take care of what we think we see, we may be missing the bigger picture altogether.”
“Sort of like not seeing the forest for the trees?” Atty opined.
