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Odelia and Chase had arrived home, and I could immediately see that she had a big announcement to make. She had this excited look on her face she always gets when she has something interesting to share.

“Hey, you guys,” she said, crouching down and tickling my chin. “How was your day?”

“Oh, just fine,” I said, deciding not to tell her about Harriet and Gran’s sudden immersion in the world of Soul Science. I had a feeling Gran would tell her all about it herself, and so would Harriet.

“Where are Harriet and Brutus?” she asked, glancing around. “There’s something important I need to tell you.”

“Harriet is spreading the word about her new cult,” said Dooley, who is rarely as reticent as me, “and Brutus is probably still hiding in the bushes.”

Odelia raised an inquisitive eyebrow.“Pray tell me all about it, Dooley.”

And so Dooley told her all about it. Apart from a few mh-mhs and uh-huhs Odelia was suspiciously quiet, and only when Dooley had finished telling his tale, with some minor additions by yours truly, did she say,“Wow. So this Master Sharif takes care of cat recruitment while Master Omar does the humans?”

“That seems to be the division of labor at Soul Science GHQ,” I agreed.

She nodded.“I was actually going to ask you guys to join me tonight at the Soul Science meeting, but Gran seems to have beaten me to it.”

“She tricked us,” I said. “She asked us a lot of questions, filming the whole thing on her phone, and then said Master Omar would be over the moon when he saw our responses, claiming he can talk to cats, too.”

Odelia frowned at this.“I very much doubt that. I’ve never met anyone who can talk to cats, apart from the women in our family.”

“Well, Gran seems to believe him, and she told us to be there tonight to find out more.”

“So now we’ve been invited to Soul Science three times,” said Dooley. “First by Harriet, then Gran, and now you. So who’s going to get the credit and join the inner circle?”

“Inner circle?” asked Odelia. This clearly was news to her.

“Gran said that if she earned enough recruitment credits Master Omar would admit her into his inner circle, but if she has to share the credit, she might not make it,” said Dooley.

“Oh, boy,” said Odelia, and glanced up at Chase, who’d made himself a cup of tea and now handed a second cup to Odelia.

She got up from her crouch and gratefully took a sip.“Apparently Master Omar has an inner circle and Gran wants to be admitted.”

“Don’t tell me. You want to get in on it, too,” said Chase with a grin.

“Of course I want in!” she said. “I can’t write an article about Soul Science without knowing all there is to know about the cult.”

“Maybe you can pump your grandmother for information once she’s a member of this inner circle?” Chase suggested.

“Doubtful. Gran would never divulge any information if she suspects I’m going to use it for an article.”

“Well, I guess there’s only one thing to do,” said Chase.

“What’s that?”

“Recruit as many new members as possible yourself, earn plenty of credits, and become a part of this inner circle.”

“Are you going to join Soul Science, Chase?” asked Dooley.

After Odelia had graciously provided the necessary translation, he said,“I guess so. Anything for my baby.”

“You have a baby?” asked Dooley, surprised.

“Odelia is Chase’s baby,” I said. “It’s an endearment,” I added when he continued to be mystified. I directed my attention to Chase. “So isn’t Master Omar going to frown on a cop joining his operation? He might think you’re a police spy infiltrating his cult.”

“I hadn’t thought about that,” said Odelia, and conveyed my words to her boyfriend.

“I’ll just have to convince him otherwise,” said Chase. “And if I bring him a dozen new recruits, he’ll see that my intentions are as pure as the driven snow.”

“A cop and a reporter joining up,” I said. “He’s going to need a lot of convincing.”

“And that’s where you guys come in,” said Odelia. “If it’s true that Master Omar can talk to his cat, you’ll have to convince Master Sharif that we’re not spies, so he can convince Omar. And then all will be well.”

“Most families visit the cinema on their night out,” I said. “But we visit Soul Science. Now all we need is for Tex and Marge to join and this will truly be a family affair.”

And as if summoned by my words, just then Tex and Marge came walking in from the backyard. They both looked grave—or at least Tex did.

“There’s something we need to tell you guys,” said Marge.

“Oh, nice!” said Dooley. “Another family meeting.”

“Don’t tell me you’ve decided to join Soul Science,” said Chase, preempting Marge’s next words.

She stared at the cop.“How did you know?”

“It’s like a virus,” said Chase. “These things tend to spread.”

“Gran has also joined up,” said Odelia. “And Chase and I are also going.”