Dragonfly Vs Monarch

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“What?” Katrina asked, cocking her head sideways. “What did he do?”

“Like this.” Rachel pressed her elbows to her waist and pulled them up.

“Wait a minute.” Katrina stood and performed the same motion. She found her elbows touched the waistband of her jeans, and when she lifted, she pulled up her jeans. “Like he was pulling his pants up with his elbows?”

“Yeah, like this.” Rachel did it again. “And he did it all the time. Danced around and then pulled his pants up.”

“Strange.”

“I don’t want to talk about that stuff anymore.”

“Me either,” Katrina said. “Let’s go start dinner for Rig, Autumn, and Pug. I bet they’re hungry.”

“Okay.” Rachel ran for the kitchen.

* * * * *

On Wednesday night, after Katrina put Rachel to bed, she, Pug, Autumn and Rigger sat at the dining room table.

Katrina asked Pug if he could run the video he shot in Central Park.

“Sure. It’ll just take me a minute to set it up.”

“Pug does videos?” Autumn asked.

“A guy has been tailing Rigger, and Pug caught him on his phone camera when Rigger took Wolf for a walk in Central Park.”

“Why is someone following you, Rigger?” Autumn asked.

“I have no idea. At first Pug and I thought he was in cahoots with Kat.” Rigger took Katrina’s hand. “But then we discovered she didn’t know him.”

“Why would you think that?” Autumn asked.

“They thought I was someone I wasn’t,” Katrina said.

“You were someone you wasn’t,” Rigger said, with a grin.

“No, I’ve always been me. But I’m not sure about you.”

“Okay, you two. Now I’m totally confused,” Autumn said.

“Ready to roll tape,” Pug said.

All four of them watched the video of the guy following Rigger and Wolf.

“My God,” Autumn said. “That is one ugly man.”

“My comment exactly,” Katrina said.

They watched for a moment, then Katrina said, “It’s him.”

“Who?” Pug asked.

“The guy who helped kill Rachel’s parents.”

“How do you know?” Rigger asked.

“Did you notice how he keeps pulling his pants up with his elbows?” Katrina asked.

“Is that what he’s doing?” Autumn asked.

“Yeah. It’s like some sort of nervous habit,” Katrina said.

“Weird,” Pug said. “But does that make him the killer?”

“Rachel told me he did that all the time while the woman cut up her mother and father. She said he danced around and kept pulling his pants up with his elbows. She even showed me how he did it.” Katrina nodded to the computer screen. “Exactly the way he’s doing it. If we can find him, we’ll find the woman, too.”

“So that’s why Rachel screamed the other night when she saw him on the video,” Rigger said. “She recognized him.”

“But why is he following you, Rigger?” Autumn asked.

“I have no idea.”

* * * * *

Rachel sat beside Autumn during dinner.

“Where’s your big airplane?” Rachel asked.

“Down at the airport.”

“Did you go up in the sky today?”

“Nope. The Wingnuts are working on the landing gear, so I won’t be able to fly for a day or two.” Autumn took her phone from a pocket and lay it on the table between their two plates. “You want to see something?”

Rachel nodded.

Autumn keyed in Donovan’s cellphone number. “Watch the screen.”

Rachel leaned toward Autumn to see the screen.

Autumn entered the code to start the Dragonfly, and the screen came to life.

“What is that?” Rachel asked as she squinted at the display on the phone.

“Hang on a sec.” Autumn rotated the phone to lift Donovan off the table in the upstairs room. Watching the screen, she maneuvered him toward the door. “Hmm…somebody…” she glanced at Pug, “closed the door.”

“Uh-oh.” Pug scooted back his chair and hurried for the stairs. A moment later, Rachel and Autumn saw the door open and the grinning Pugsley appear on the screen.

“Hey,” Rachel said. “It’s Pug on your phone.”

“Yep, that’s our ole buddy Pug.” Autumn flew the Dragonfly past Pug and out into the hallway.

“And that’s the hall upstairs,” Rachel said.

Rigger glanced at Katrina and gave her a wink.

“What do you see now?” Autumn asked.

“The top of the stairs.” Rachel slipped from her chair and ran for the stairs. The others followed, with Autumn still working the controls.

At the bottom of the stairs, Rachel stared up at the strange creature hovering above. “Is that a bug?”

“Uh-huh,” Autumn said. “But he’s a smart little bug. Wave to him.”

Rachel waved, and Autumn used her phone to rock the Dragonfly back and forth.

Rachel motioned for him to come down, and Donovan fluttered down the stairway.

“Hold your hands out,” Pug said from the top of the stairs.

Rachel held her hands together, out in front of her, and Donovan floated down to rest in them.

Autumn cut the power.

“He’s so cute.” Rachel looked over the little creature. “How did you catch him?”

They laughed.

“Rigger made him,” Katrina said.

Rachel glanced at Rigger, her eyes wide. “Really?”

“Well,” Rigger said, “I had a lot of help from Miss Autumn and Pug.”

Rachel blew a puff of air at the Dragonfly. “I wish I knew how to make him fly.”

Autumn glanced at Rigger. He lifted a shoulder.

“I think you have to whisper the magic words,” Pug said as he came down the steps.

“What magic words?” Rachel asked.

Pug leaned close and whispered something in Rachel’s ear.

“Huh?”

He whispered again.

Rachel giggled. “Okay, we’ll see.” She lifted her hands a little higher and said, “Hokey pokey, cinnamon and pie. Here comes a bear, you better fly.”

Autumn keyed in the start code, and Rachel gasped when Donovan’s wings began to flutter. He lifted off and rose to the ceiling, where he flew in a circle.

“Wow!” Rachel cried as she turned to keep her eyes on the Dragonfly. “He really is magic.”

Autumn helped Rachel use the phone controls to fly Donovan around the living room.