Fiery Edge of Steel (A NOON ONYX NOVEL) (49 page)

“What the heck is a solar plexus?”

“The pit of your stomach,” Rafe said. “Ever had the wind knocked out of you?”

Many, many times . . .
In fact, after this most recent time, I was still trying to catch my breath. Rafe nodded. “Then you’ve been hit in the solar plexus. Anyway, this cat, he broke his solar plexus and died.”

“Died? From getting the wind knocked out of him?”

Rafe shrugged. “Cats,” he said, like that explained everything.

“Is that the end of his story?” I asked.

Rafe shook his head. “He came back to life.”

“No one comes back to life in Halja, Rafe.”

“Some people don’t,” he said sadly. “But you will, Noon.” And then he put his hands in his pockets and started whistling, like he didn’t have a care in the world.

I followed his lead. Two could play at that game.