> Lani was brought from blissful sleep when she heard someone pounding on
> doors. That was followed by muffled voices. She had always been a light
> sleeper, and sighed as she got out of bed. She realized that she still had
> her suit on, though it was wrinkled from being slept in. Lani quickly
slipped
> into her shoes and padded quietly into the hall. Why did these things
always
> have to happen in the middle of the night? She wondered as she went
> downstairs. She saw Derek Rayne standing in the foyer with four others she
> hadn't met yet. "What's going on?" she asked no one in particular. It had
to
> be important, since her new boss was getting ready to leave at this time
in
> the morning.
All the noise had awaked Kat too and as she padded out of her room to see
what was up, she noticed a stranger walking ahead of her. Kat followed this
woman, wondering if she was the one causing the uproar. When she reached the
foyer, just after Lani, the little girl said, "yeah, what's going on?" She
rubbed her eyes and looked around at everyone.
Derek glanced back at both of them. "Kat go back to bed," he said as he
opened the door, "Alex can explain it," he told Lani as he started out the
door.
Kat, who was already a little grummpy due to being awakened, folded her
small arms across her chest and glared at Derek's back, who did he think he
was anyway, her mother? Kat wanted to know what all this was about just as
much as everyone else.
Kat and Derek
