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  “Yes, it’s wonderful the way she accepted us, isn’t it?” Deep raised an eyebrow at her.

  “It’s amazing.” L forced a smile. “In fact, I’m going to go tell the girls all about it right now.” She was almost out the door when Deep caught her by the arm.

  “Wait a minute,” he rumbled. “You can’t just leave us like this. We should celebrate.” He pulled her closer and buried his face in her hair. “If you know what I mean…”

  L went rigid in his arms. “Later,” she said, trying to push him away. “We can celebrate later.”

  “What’s your hurry?” Deep pulled back from her, a frown on his face. “Did you use some kind of scent spray back at your grandmother’s house? You smell…different.”

  L’s heart started hammering in her chest. Her scent was what had given her away the first time, when she’d been sent to exchange places with her original. She couldn’t let herself be caught out again! “Um…” she said frantically. “Yes—a scent spray. I mean, a perfume. I used some new perfume. Sorry if you don’t like it.”

  “It smells familiar—almost like something Lauren wears,” Lock said, coming up behind her.

  L’s heart really began to pound. They were smelling her original’s scent! She had to get out of here—had to leave now before they found out her secret.

  “Lauren loaned it to me,” she improvised rapidly. “Look, boys, I really have to go now. But I’ll see you back at the suite later—okay?”

  Deep was still frowning but at least he had released his hold on her. “Sure, all right. But don’t be too late.”

  “It’s my turn to cook dinner and I’m planning something special,” Lock added. “to celebrate.”

  “Yummy, I can’t wait,” L gabbled, slipping out from between them and almost running through the shuttle door. “I’ll see you later.”

  “Goodbye, little Kat.”

  “Goodbye, my lady.”

  The masculine voices faded behind her as she walked briskly down the long row of parked shuttles and headed for the exit.

  It wasn’t until she finally made her escape from the echoing docking bay and lost herself in the hustle and bustle of the busy ship that she allowed herself to breathe a sigh of relief. They really weren’t following her—she had pulled off the deception and was now inside the Mother Ship with no one the wiser.

  Once she was certain she was alone, she ducked behind a support pillar and shifted quickly to another form. Then, remembering her promise to Draven, she turned on the small listening/recording device he’d given her and affixed the sparkling crystal stud to her earlobe. Let him watch as she wreaked his destruction on the hapless, unsuspecting Kindred—L didn’t mind that. But when she went to seek her own personal vengeance she intended to shut the device back off. There were some things that ought to be kept private.

  She plunged back into the fast moving crowd and headed for the center of the ship.

  It was time to get to the sacred grove.

  * * * * *

  “Did Kat seem like she was acting funny to you?” Deep asked his twin as they left the shuttle.

  “A little.” Lock frowned. “And I can’t say I care for that new perfume she was wearing. She doesn’t smell like herself at all.”

  Deep laughed. “I have to agree but you can be the one to tell her that, Brother. I’m not touching it with a ten mile pole.”

  “A ten foot pole,” Lock corrected absently. “The Earth saying is, ‘I’m not touching that with a ten foot pole.’ A mile is a considerably larger unit of measurement.”

  Deep shrugged. “Either way, I’m not touching it. I—”

  “Hello? Hello? Is this thing on? Can anyone hear me?”

  Deep jumped as the strange voice invaded his head. “What in the seven hells?” he growled. Who would dare bespeak him in such a familiar fashion? It went past rude and straight into downright insulting.

  “Who is this?” he thought back fiercely. “And what do you want?”

  “Deep, honey, is that you? I’m so sorry, I barely know how to work this thinky-think contraption. Kat was trying to show me but I still don’t have the hang of it.”

  “Grandma?” he said aloud, raising his eyebrows. “That’s all right, the think-me does take some getting used to. But…may I ask why you’re bespeaking me?”

  “I’m calling to tell you that you might be in danger, honey. Something isn’t right.”

  “What?” Deep looked at Lock who was frowning and making ‘what the hell is going on?’ gestures in the air. “What are you talking about?”

  “What I’m talking about is that whoever you got up there with you, it’s not Kat.” Grandma’s mental voice sounded grim.

  “What? How can that be?” Deep demanded. “If we don’t have Kat, who do we have? And where’s the real Kat? Where is our bride?”

  “Don’t get upset, the real Kat is here with me. I found her upstairs babbling about a syringe full of green poison. She was trying to crawl down the stairs to warn me—would’ve fallen if I hadn’t chosen that exact moment to go to the bathroom.”

  “Goddess!” Deep ran a hand through his hair in agitation. “Are you certain she’s all right?”

  “I called 911 and they sent out a crew to check her. She’s already doing better than when I found her but we’re on the way to the hospital anyway. Kat wouldn’t relax until I called you. She would have done it herself but she’s got an awful headache—says she can’t stand to concentrate hard enough to use this thinky-thought thing yet.”

  “Of course, I understand.” Deep nodded although he knew she couldn’t see him. “We’ll be back to check on her as soon as we find out what’s going on.”

  “Just you be careful!” Grandma warned. “Kat says this person or thing, whatever it is, attacked her. Says it looked just like her—like Kat, I mean.”

  Deep felt a cold finger of dread skate down his spine. “So we have to assume that she—or it—could look like Kat or possibly anyone else.”

  “Exactly. So be careful! And Kat says to tell you she loves you—both of you.”

  “We love her too. We’ll be back with her as soon as we can. Bespeak me again if anything changes,” Deep said.

  “I will. Oh, we’re at Tampa General now. Have to go.”

  The connection was severed abruptly, leaving him with an ache right behind his eyes. But Deep wasn’t worried about his headache. He looked at Lock. “How much of that did you get?”

  “Only a little—something to do with Kat. Is she all right?”

  “She’s going to be fine,” Deep said, hoping it was true. “But she’s not here—she’s still back on Earth with her grandmother.”

  Lock’s face went pale. “Then who or what have we just brought aboard the Mother Ship?”

  Deep shook his head. “I don’t know. But we’ve got to find her and stop her before it’s too late!”

  * * * * *

  It was already too late.

  L had finished hiding the small silver device in the branches of one of the holy green and purple trees and was already leaving the sacred grove when she heard the alert sounding. A picture of Kat flashed on the massive viewscreen, which was normally camouflaged by the clouds in the “sky” of the park-like area that surrounded the grove. A stern, disembodied voice asked that all Kindred and their brides be on the lookout for her.

  L, of course, had long since assumed another form. She walked quietly out of the area and boarded a tram that would take her back to the outermost edge of the ship. She intended to be right by an exit before she detonated the device. Then she would wait. If the effects were lethal, she would leave, knowing her revenge was assured. But if they turned out to be less than completely deadly, she had decided to stay aboard and take matters into her own hands. There was no chance she’d ever get aboard the Kindred Mother Ship again—she had to see this to the end while she could.

  After reaching the edge of the ship, L found a small corridor behind the docking bay that appeared to be deserte