Tobi

The trio walked into the motel room. There were two beds adjacent to each other and a flatscreen TV set on a dresser placed at the front of the room.

Instinctively, Zoe looked behind the bathroom's shower curtain, under both beds, and in the closet. "You hear stories about murderers hiding in hotel rooms waiting for people," She said while looking behind the thick curtains covering the window.

"Yea?" Colson said, "Well, how about you stay up and make sure no one comes into this room and kills us, alright?"

Zoe picked up the clock on the bed stand and set it for 3AM, "Is this a good time to wake up?"

"I'm not even tired," Ivy said, pacing around the room, looking for the remote for the TV. Finally found it and plopped down in bed next to Zoe switching it on.

Later that night, Colson and Zoe were fast asleep; Ivy sat on the edge of the bed. Since Zoe was a very light sleeper, she couldn't have the television on either. Standing, then walking over to the other bed, looking down, she inquired if Colson was awake. He mumbled something about trains, tugged at his bedsheets, then rolled over into the dream world. Not wanting to bother Zoe, as she knew from experience, Zoe liked her unconsciousness undisturbed.

"Well, I'll be back in time," Ivy glanced at the clock. It read "1:55AM." Leaving the room, she walked down the stairs, through the empty lobby, and out the motel's front door. She took a left and walked down the street.

Ambulance sirens whirred in the distance. The hum of distant traffic, the occasional honk, and the squealing of tires. A synth bass vibrated the concrete as a lone car cruised past Ivy; the driver looked her up and down and sped off down a narrow alley. The black horizon glowed orange from the city lights, blotting out the stars in the sky.

A quarter-mile down the road and the empty city seemed to come alive. The lights were bright, and the music was loud. Chatter from the long lines that stood in front of clubs drowned out the white noise of the city. A large group of girls wearing very little walked by; some gave Ivy queer looks as she stared, but most didn't give her a second thought. Walking across a street, the crosswalk painted to resemble a rainbow. She followed the street signs that would lead her to the beach.

Ivy spotted something that piqued her interest while walking onto the sidewalk next to the beachfront. Running, she weaved between a bike parade, where everyone's bikes had bright neon lights attached. They cast multicolored shadows on the ground, causing a kaleidoscope effect.

Making it past the gaggle of bicycles, her boots caused the sand to fly behind her as she ran onto the beach, quickly ducking under a tennis net and hopping over driftwood. The pier, its massive support beams slimy and covered in black barnacles from the high tide. A warm breeze came in from the ocean; the foamy white waves crumbled as they rose up the shore. There was another sound too…

Ivy squatted down, extending her arms, so her palms saw the wooden planks high above her, the back of her hands touching the warm wet sand. She whistled two notes. It turned to look at her, its yellow eyes glowing in the shadows of the pier. She whistled again, inviting it over, avoiding eye contact to seem more open to the fluffy creature.

"Here, Charcat, come here," she cooed. It slowly shuffled out of the shadows into the dull light between the wooden slats on the pier above. Its fluffy orange-spotted fur rubbed against her arm. It was clearly a baby, as it couldn't have been more than a year old, evident by its size and fur patterns. It had sly cat-like features but the body of a bear cub. The species were known to be over six feet tall when fully grown, and if not domesticated early, they would be very aggressive.

"Hmm, your mom should be close by. I hope you weren't in some kinda accident," Ivy said, looking around the beach; it was too dark to tell, but since the animals weren't known for their stealth, she figured it would be easy to find.

Mother Charcats will adopt orphaned Charcats and treat them as one of their own. The females can be identified based on a variety of things: height, as they are shorter than the males. Claw length—their claws are longer, and fur length, as they tend to have a shaggy look to them compared to the male's fur, which is short and sleek.

Delicately picking it up into her arms, it clawed and bit at her; despite its playful intent, the claws still dug deep into Ivy's biceps, making her wince. Even as cubs, they weigh a significant amount, around eighty pounds on average. Eventually, the baby wriggled out of her arms and plopped onto the ground, landing on its butt. Standing on its hind legs, it tried to let out a roar, but it came out like a light "mew" sound. It sauntered after Ivy as she walked down the beach.

"If I was a mother, Charcat, where would I be?" Ivy thought aloud as she walked with a childish gait down the coastline. Her new friend was more preoccupied with her bouncing shoelaces as it had a fixation with trying to murder them, continuously pouncing on them every few seconds. "If we can't find 'er, you might have to come back to Crater with me."

After walking a mile down the beach, a black metal glint caught her eye. Curious, she walked over to the big blue fence attached to a white metal sign with a stencil drawing of a man lifting weights.

Hopping over a blue fence and onto a foam floor. It was a small outside weight-lifting gym. Empty except for a lone boy who eyed her and the animal with a wary look. He was sitting on the end of a padded bench in the middle of exercising, two dumbbells in each hand. Fifteen years old, tall and muscular, with dark skin. He wore grey sweatpants and a workout shirt with a local high school logo.

Ivy smiled and waved at him; he nodded back at her and continued his exercise.

A warm breeze came in with the tide; the waves slapping against the beach was a light background noise compared to the buzz of the crowd as they marveled at the multicolored bikes that sent neon shadows across the beach.

She walked to the barbell weight rack, studying each bar; she finally found the heaviest one; it was a little under 200 lbs. She picked it up with ease, twirling it around for a few seconds, before turning to the boy who she caught giving her a side-eyed look.

"Say, have you seen a mother Charcat around?"

The boy thought for a minute, "Hmm, maybe? I saw some big animal running around over there," he pointed down the beach, "maybe about forty-five minutes ago. Why? Is that thing lost?" he asked, nodding at the animal that had attached itself to Ivy's boot, trying to bite through the thick leather.

Ivy pointed over her shoulder towards the pier, "Yea, I saw the guy under there, looked sad and lost. Well," she said, looking at the animal who was still trying to sink its teeth into her toes, "hmm, I think I'll call you… Tuck-Tuck." She patted it on its head, feeling two small lumps where horns would eventually grow.

The boy snorted a laugh, "Tuck-Tuck the bear-cat?"

"I dunno, first thing that came to mind," she said with a shrug.

"I like it," he said. 'I should probably go with her; a girl that young shouldn't be walking around at night all alone. Most people probably wouldn't mess with her when she has an animal like that following her, but still….' he thought as he rose to his feet, placing the weights back on the rack. "Here, I'll show you where I saw it going."

"Alright, cool!" Ivy said with a grin.

"Do you know anything about a farming town or village around here called Cassius?" Ivy said as they started walking down the beach.

He thought for a minute, "Cassius...Cassius. Cassius the farming village? In Las Angeles? Nah, I don't think so. Why do you ask?"

"I'm supposed to be there in say...a few hours; I just didn't know anything about it. I thought you would since you live here."

"Are you a farmer?"

"No."

"Oh, well, I've never heard of it. By the way, what's your name?"

Ivy introduced herself; the boy said his name was 'Tobi.'

They walked in silence for a bit, and suddenly Ivy looked around quickly, leaning in with a serious expression, her wide eyes staring into his—unblinking, "You wanna know a secret?"

Tobi gave her a suspicious look, "Uhh...sure?"

"I'm actually on a secret mission. I'm like a detective, going to investigate a place."

"Riiiight," he said, glancing around awkwardly, instantly regretting his decision to walk with her. "That's why you wanted to know about the farm?"

"Mhm," Ivy nodded, "I was told not to tell anyone, so you can't say anything, alright?"

"So then, why'd you tell me?" Tobi laughed.

"I dunno." Ivy's lips parted in a foolish yet endearing smile, "you're gonna think I'm crazy..."

"I already do, but go on."

"It's a mission from Crater."

Tobi thought for a moment, "isn't that some mountain cult?"

Ivy told him about Crater and why she was asking about it. The whole time the boy listened intently, not saying a word. When Ivy finished the story, he stopped walking and thought about it for a bit. After what seemed like an eternity, he spoke.

"So, 'Crater,' it's a secret society?"

Ivy clicked her tongue in thought, "Uhh, I don't think so. My friend, Colson told me that it's not exactly top secret, but they 'keep it lowkey.'"

"So, it's like: if you know, you know?"

"Pretty much."

They kept walking. Eventually, Ivy got bored and started doing cartwheels along the ocean's edge; Barb, the Charcat, tried mimicking her as it followed behind them.

"So then, why are you out here now? It's kind of odd for someone like you to be wandering around outside at midnight. Shouldn't you be preparing for your secret mission?" He asked with a slight hint of sarcasm.

"The hotel was pretty boring, and I couldn't sleep, so I wanted to walk around and...Say, is it not weird for you to be out here?"

"Not at all. I gotta work hard to be the starting QB varsity team captain this season!" He said proudly, puffing out his chest. "I'm gonna get a full-ride scholarship and get rich!" A big grin crossed his face when he said those last words.

"I don't know what any of that means."

"Have you never heard of highschool football? Well, anyways, let me tell ya something, Ivy. If you make a lot of money, you can do whatever you want! You can go anywhere, get anything…hell, some people'd say that it'd make you a better person. And you can take that to the bank."

"A lot of that stuff, I can do through Crater."

"Well, I'm not there, am I?"

They continued walking down the beach; since the tide had long since washed away the footprints of the mother Charcat that Tobi had seen, most in their situation would claim their efforts futile. But they kept walking until the beach's path turned them back into the city. Being fastidious in her search, Ivy checked every interstice, alley, and backyard they passed.

"Ivy, I'm going to be real with you," Tobi started, "we probably aren't going to find her. Since the bear-cat or Charcat is pretty young, the chances of survival, especially out here, are slim. It will have no mother and thus will be aggressive towards humans if it grows older and will be put down."

"Really?" She sounded almost heartbroken.

"I'm just being honest. Not much we can do."

Ivy was silent for a moment, staring at the sky as she walked; the heavy moon, full and yellow, hung in the sky. Finally stopping and crouching down to pet Tuck-Tuck, it rolled onto its back, grabbing at her fingers, making its "mew" sounds.

Her cheeks looked wet, the flashing green and blue neon light of a sign reflecting in her watery eyes, "I can't just leave it on its own. I was wanting to bring it back with me, but I just didn't want it to feel abandoned, ya know?"

Tobi stood there awkwardly, not sure what to say; he thought, 'She's right, I don't want to... wait-' He cleared his throat, "We can keep searching for a bit more, but if we don't find its mother, I can take it."

Ivy's eyes lit up with her bright smile, "you'd do that?"

"Well, my sister has been obsessed with these things forever, always bugging my mom to buy her one. She's a responsible pet owner and can take care of it until it outgrows us, and we can let it free somewhere."

"Yeah, that'd be cool! But wait," her smile faded, "what if your parents say no?"

"Ah, don't worry 'bout it," said Tobi, a sly smile on his face, "my mom can't resist a bear-cat as cute as this thing!" He looked down at Tuck, still on its back, the moon reflecting in its large yellow eyes. "As long as it doesn't destroy anything, she'll probably love it."

Ivy looked into a store window; it looked like someone had thrown water balloons filled with bright-colored paint all over the walls and floors. A large decal of "Frozen Yogurt" was over the counter. On the wall, "2:57AM" read the giant clock with the cartoon face.

"Oh, jeez!" She said, looking around frantically. "I'm going to be late!" She located a street sign, turning to Tobi, who gave her a confused look. "Keep good care of Tuck-Tuck for me! See ya around!" She turned and sprinted off down the street.

She ran for a few blocks, then turned a corner leaving Tobi's sight. 'Wow,' was all he could think. He looked down at Tuck; it stood on its hind legs, its eyes shifting from the direction Ivy ran to Tobi. Even though it was an animal, Tobi could clearly see confusion written on its face.

"Well, Tuck-Tuck, let's go home, little dude." Both Tuck and Tobi walked into the city, disappearing under the starless sky.