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It was a good thing that the patio door was already open, because Kai couldn't have stopped in time otherwise. She skidded on wet grass, the sprinkler hitting her full in the face as it swung about, and, eyeing the distance to the fence, decided up the tree was a better option for team safety.
A moment later Sharon ran out the same door, dashed haphazardly across the grass, and squeaked as Kai grabbed her from in the tree. By the time both of them were sitting on branches several feet up, the dogs had gathered around the trunk.
"Why didn't you go for the fence?" Sharon whispered. "You could have made it easily!"
"But I didn't think you'd get there in time," Kai pointed out, in an equally low voice, "and I didn't want to leave you behind."
"You should have gone and found Jack and Nip, Kai."
"But you could have been bitten, and none of us knows the Corporeal Song of Healing."
Sharon eyed the dogs milling about beneath them. The dogs were large, with heavy jaws and thick collars. "Well, one of you ought to learn it. You remember in Milwaukee when we spent five hours trying to track down that one Seraph of Flowers who was supposed to know, and he'd gone out on a walk and you were dribbling blood the whole time, and--"
"Yes, I remember. Maybe Nip can do it. Jack does't have the patience to learn Songs, especially not in a series of three-day lessons."
The two of them sat there for a few more minutes.
"Maybe they'll get bored and go away," Kai said, in a tone of great empathy if that was the case.
"They're guard dogs, not Ofanim. I don't think they're going anywhere."
Kai snapped a bit of branch off, and threw it out into the yard.
The dogs didn't move.
"Okay, scratch that plan."
"We had a plan?"
"To outward appearances, nothing more than a stick, but in actuality, a cunning plan!"
"And the plan is?"
"Wait for Jack to come and rescue us?"
"Right." Sharon flicked bits of bark down at the dogs. "And he's going to save us how? Because if it was just a matter of taking the dogs out, you could manage that."
Kai looked affronted. "They're doing their jobs. It would be wrong to hurt them."
"Yes, well. What do you expect Jack to do?"
"I don't know. Something clever. He's a Windy, clever plans are their stock in trade."
"I thought chaos was--"
"Chaos, clever plans, either way." Kai swung up higher in the tree, until she could make out the sliver of moon through the branches. "Oh, hey. Phone!" She pulled out the cell phone. "Hello?"
Sharon moved into a more comfortable position to listen.
"Sitting in a tree with Sharon." A pause. "Because of the dogs beneath. They'd get aggressive if we tried to get down." A longer pause. "No, this one was Sharon's idea, though Jack helped in the execution of it. Not a bad plan, especially for someone new to this sort of thing, but we ran into a few--well, yes. The dogs." Sharon grinned, and waggled her fingers at the dogs below. "I suppose I should. Catch you later."
"Mannie?" she asked, as Kai climbed lower again.
"Yeah. He worries too much."
"Mm. Far too much worry. Gets concerned just because you're stuck in a tree with a half dozen vicious dogs beneath you--"
"They don't look all that vicious. Kinda cute."
"Aside from wanting to rip us to shreds."
"On a purely professional level. I'm sure they're friendly dogs when introduced properly." Kai twitched, and pulled the phone out again. "I have to talk to one of the Sparkies about that zap on the silent setting--Hello? Oh, Jack, yeah, we're stuck up a tree." Sharon couldn't make out what was being said on the other side. "Dogs, that's what we failed to notice, they're--Well, yes, I did think you could take care of them. Friend of Man, man's best friend, you have a sort of personal connection, right?" Even in the dark, she could see the way Kai was grinning. "If you're going to be that way about it--great. See you in a few."
"Jack's coming to save us?"
"Acquiring a few pounds of hamburger, and then, yes, coming to save us."
Sharon leaned back about the trunk. "And what if the dogs don't want hamburger?"
"I'm sure he'll work out--"
"A clever plan."
"Right."