A Critical Debriefing

(The Katya Chronicles)

Shoved from the mouth of hell, I plunged straight into the void.

And promptly got hung up in Tulip Tree Allée.

There was no choice of a return, no Hawaiian do-over.

The hounds had caught my scent.

I sensed that I’d lost more than my youth.

As I swung above the rubble of my ravaged life.

There was nothing but empty air.

Nothing but time to process the years of his lies and betrayal.

My fury bled across the periphery.

My brainwashed, take-no-prisoners training was complete.

But decades of captivity and sleepwalking

Conditioned me to doubt

Everyone and everything.

I wondered, could I survive this ruin?

Unlike a phoenix rising from the ashes

I was not Denaris, the mother of Dragons.

This was not A Game of Thrones.

This was my life, and …Gina, I must save Gina.

I am Katya M. Cartouche, a feline and time traveler.

And I swear to reclaim our reality

Or fashion a new one.

The Dogs of Winter howl beneath me.

Where is Tiki, and the Time Machine?

It is twilight, past the time to cut me loose,

Gamble my neck on the chopping block again.

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