Chapter 181: A God’s Offer

The call ended with her whimper and a desperate voice telling Rachel the cat-girl was at her wit’s end. It wasn’t like she owed Zoe anything or knew her that well beyond the adventure they’d gone on. At the same time, she did count as an acquaintance, and the girl had helped her in the initial change that had laid the foundation for everything she’d done. So, maybe there were some feelings stirring within her to offer what help she could.

Still, she hardly knew anyone in Miami herself, other than her Jamaican trainer, but someone else had massive connections around the seaside city. Flipping to the messenger app, she forwarded Zoe’s number to Maria, reading the message in her mind.

Hey, Maria, when you get off your flight, give me a call. I’ve got someone in Miami who’s going through a rough time and may have a loan shark on her tail. She needs immediate help. You know a lot about the social care stuff and have connections in the city, right? Could you give me a call to see what we can do?

The funeral for Scarlet’s dad is tomorrow, so we’ll be flying back. I can meet up with her, but it’s not like I have much I can do. Do you have any advice for me? If not, I can ask my mom since she does a lot of community stuff, just not in Miami. Let me know.

Knowing the cat-girl was probably biting her tail and a total wreck, she gave her a call. A few rings passed before she answered.

"Rachel! I, umm, this is you, right? Yikes. I don’t have the wrong number, do I?"

"Hehe. You’ve reached Julia Forbes," she said with a fake Southern accent. "What can I do fer ya?"

"Ugh. Sorry... Wrong number," the cat groaned.

"Zoe, I’m playing with you. It’s Rachel," she laughed, practically seeing the girl’s cat ears fly up across states.

"Oh! Oh, uh, yeah, you... got my message?"

Leaning left and right on the bench, Rachel suppressed a yawn. "Yeah—and I can’t talk long, but I get you’re in a bad spot. I messaged someone I know who might be able to help; unfortunately, they’re on a flight back from Miami. She should touch down in an hour or so, and I’ll be traveling back for several hours tomorrow. Are you okay?"

Relief came from the college girl’s voice. "Thanks, Rachel... I feel so useless and stupid. I can’t believe I borrowed money from this guy, but I thought I could pay it back when my parents called, or this issue with my card got fixed. Now he’s following me everywhere—it’s creepy—and telling me I can work it off at this weird cat-girl café?"

A frown touched Rachel’s eyes as she glanced at a few teenage girls who came into the locker room before they swiftly moved out of sight under her gaze. "That seems rather targeted."

"Right? It’s like, I get there are cat girls now, but hiring only cat girls in the first month of everyone changing? Yeah, it’s super shady, and the class friend who told me about him is now blocking me. I’m a little scared—and not just because, heh, I’m a frightened Domestic Cat, I swear!"

"No, I agree, it’s weird. I’ll send my contact your number in case she wants to get the details directly from you. You’re in a public place?"

"Mhm," Zoe mumbled, lowering her voice. "It’s the café I frequented near the school, but they’re going to close in the next few hours, and the place the college temporarily gave me is four blocks away... ugh, and I only have another week before I have to find my own place. I really don’t know what to do."

"Hey, hey," Rachel softly reassured, sitting straighter and separating herself from the emotional point of the conversation. "I’ll do what I can, alright? I’ll give you a call later."

"Okay... And thank you, Rachel. I know this is more stress you probably don’t need. Thank you..."

"We’ll get through it," Rachel said, bringing them both into it to further give the girl strength before hanging up.

Flipping to the unicorn’s number, she forwarded Maria the information with the strange details Zoe had given her. Knowing the unicorn, she figured the woman would want to confirm everything herself and go to the source rather than waste time talking to her about things Rachel had no clue about.

Reaching up to scratch the base of her left ear, she sighed. Life really was a mess of events for her. There was always another crisis to handle. Strangely, however, she wasn’t finding herself that put off by the prospect of being the person whom people saw as reliable.

She got up and forced her tired, semi-rested muscles to do a few rounds of basketball. It was a little bit of a jab in the gut to learn Alexa’s zero-muscle ass had been chosen before her, but considering her performance jogging and her brother being on the team that selected his wife, she could let it slide. Plus, she got on Barbara’s team, which meant she had the opportunity to guard Anthony and confront his smug face.

The last match ended with her on her back, eyes closed with a towel over her face, Anthony snickering nearby as everyone else started playing PIG.

"You keep telling me you want to do a Quest, but you’re laid out in a game of basketball, Ears."

Rachel grunted in response, peeling back the cool towel to level a glare at him. "It’s not like I only have an Average Stamina Stat, or have you forgotten that you put points into it, Mr. High Stamina— Uh, forget that," she growled. "And I haven’t got a lick of Lunar Energy in me. So why don’t you just bite my tail, because I still finished three matches against you at my lowest."

"Correction," he chimed, "lost three matches to me, Ms. Refined Endurance. What did you boast about again— Below Average to Above Average, right?"

Using her ears to sweep off the towel now that her face was cooled, Rachel forced her aching muscles to lift her onto the stands to join him. "What’s up with you wanting to talk with my mom and me together?" she pivoted, following Nia’s clumsy dribbles as Scarlet let the happy bunny win.

Anthony leaned against his knees, his tone becoming more serious. "Because, as you told me I probably would, I’ve gotten some god looking to give me a Blessed Feat."