Friskie had finally been able to communicate with Kat by jumping high into the night sky. Up around 30,000 feet she told us, that way if there were mountains in the way, hopefully she would be able to send that communication over them. It was dangerous, even though she is a ghost, which is why she had talked with Jennifer and I about adopting Steffie so she could have parents that would love her and care for her. But, it could still take Kat a couple of days to arrive with water for us, perhaps even longer.

That news dampened the excitement that everyone had when Friskie returned with the help of Sky and Jennifer. We have used most of our water already, but we will try to ration it to last another two days. That could be hard though. Right then the cats became excited when Storm returned with something. Meowr!= “Me have water, human people welcome to share, get first helping!” All the girls realized what Storm was talking about. All, except for Misty, and she came running to the cats.

Meowy= “Here human Misty, eat insides of lizard, lots of water and vitamins.” Misty looked down at the cut open lizard and her eyes got real big. Meow, meow.= “Oooo, human Misty changing different pretty colors.” The cats all watched, going “ooooo and aaahhh”. Poor Misty, suddenly she put her hand over her mouth and ran behind the cave. Valeria went after her to help and they returned after a few minutes. Unfortunately the cats were still eating their lizard and Misty had to run away again with Valeria following her and sighing.

When they returned I told Misty not to throw up like that, it would just make her more thirsty. She just groaned and went to lie down. “What all noise about?” asked Steffie as she came outside to join us. “It’s okay Steffie,” said Friskie, “Auntie Misty isn’t feeling well.” Misty came back out right then. “It’s too lonely in there by myself,” she said, so she sat down beside Jennifer. “Can I cuddle with you daddy?” Steffie asked me. “You sure can,” I said, and she jumped onto my lap.

Misty’s eyes got big again when Steffie called me daddy, something that Jennifer noticed. “Steve said she can call him daddy while we’re stuck out here,” Jennifer whispered to Misty, “so that hopefully it will help her to remain calm.” “Awww, that is so nice of Steve,” Misty whispered to Jennifer, “he is so thoughtful, caring, loving, helpful, kind, giving…” “Don’t overdo it Misty,” whispered Jennifer. “Oh, right,” Misty whispered, “it might go to his head.” Jennifer sighed.

The night went by slowly and the next day seemed to be hotter than ever. Once the temperature got too severe, we all went to bed, except for the ghosts. They still went, two at a time, to look for water, and the others were on guard duty. We didn’t really expect any problems, however, our ‘friend’ Mr. Flynn just might try something. Like dropping some explosives on us, or using a machine gun to attack us. He could do these things with drones with his men staying a safe distance away from us.

Kat was able to tell Friskie that Mr. Flynn was behind all of this which doesn’t surprise me. He is obviously very annoyed and angry with us for what we did to his organization in Australia on our last case. Although that was really his fault, not ours, if he had left us alone we would not even have known he was there. Oh well, can’t do much about that now. Poor Steffe, she slept a lot during the night even though Friskie, and the girls too, tried to keep her awake by playing with her so she would sleep during the day with the rest of us.

So, she is awake now and so am I. We got into a tickle fight which amazingly didn’t wake up the other girls. I guess they are just too tired. Steffie is also very thirsty, but she has to ration like the rest of us. Finally she settled down and fell asleep so I just walked around our cave, which is actually quite large. It is now close to evening and I am looking forward to that cooling night air again. I stayed inside the cave all day, I wasn’t feeling well, but didn’t want to tell anyone or they would start to worry.

I feel like I’m dried out completely. I can’t see clearly either. My thoughts continually wander and I can’t control them. I feel so weak. I have been lying down most of the time, telling everyone I want to conserve energy and thereby use less water.

Meanwhile, back with Kat and the others. “Cristy,” said Kat. “Yes Kat?” she replied. “I want you and the other computer girls to find Mr. Flynn for us,” said Kat, “spread yourselves out so you can work around the clock, we must find him.” “I was thinking,” added Hannah, “maybe our friend Koffman knows something about this Mr. Flynn.” “That’s a good thought,” said Kat, “is Mandar still there?” “Yes he is,” said Hannah.

“Ask him to tell you how to deal with Koffman,” said Kat, “and take whoever you want with you, plus the men that are with you, and move quickly.” “Already going out the door Kat,” said Hannah. Mac, John, Clarence, Alfred and Oskar were still at the chateau, so they went with Hannah. She also took Monika, Astrid, Sapphire, Sigrid, Tracy, Nicole, Roxette, Melanie, Melissa and Crystal. They were pulling into the parking lot of Koffman’s nightclub about an hour after it opened…

To Be Continued. ©2026 Steve McLeod.