You're Not in This Alone

I was lying on my back on a raft in the river with Ebony lying on top of me. Despite her consistent disapproving looks, Lance and Miranda mirrored our positions. I stroked Ebony’s arm every time she looked at them and mumbled something soothing to her. I really didn’t have a problem with Lance and Miranda. It was just Ebony’s maternal instincts.

“We’re supposed to be having fun,” I’d reminded her in a low voice one time, stroking her side. “Ease up.”

She’d grunted, but I could tell that from then on she tried not to be bothered by their closeness.

Nadia and Sarah were still amusing themselves by jumping off the boat, and their squeals and delighted laughter pierced the silence around us and made it bearable. I’d missed the sound of playing children.

Ethan was swimming around with his life jacket on. Maybe he’d teach himself how to swim.

The four of us on the rafts didn’t have to worry about drifting away. Every time we got too far, Nadia teleported us back without even looking at us. Se we didn’t really have to worry about anything. All we had to do was soak up the sun and be as close as possible to the people we loved. For a little while, all our problems were forgotten.

After a while, I could feel Ebony’s muscles loosening bit by bit on top of me. Eventually she even closed her eyes and gave up on Lance and Miranda altogether.

I didn’t let my mind wander to other things. I only allowed myself to think about the wet droplets of water, the warmth of the sun and Ebony’s body, the sound of splashing children, and our new, fresh, clean smell.

All too soon the sun slid farther down the horizon, and Ebony whispered to me, “We’re supposed to go back and eat dinner now.”

I broke the news to everyone disappointedly. “Sorry, guys, we’ve got to go make dinner now.”

Sarah groaned, but all of us got in the boat, wrapped towels around ourselves, and waited for Nadia and Ethan to take us back to shore.

We made way more dinner than we needed that night, but I think Ebony wanted to make extra for the not-so-unexpected guests we would be receiving towards the end of dinner. I think she felt like we needed to feed them.

Everyone was in high spirits while we all pitched in to make our salads, rice, and many various kinds of meat. It was almost like they had forgotten our troubles. Even Ebony seemed light and more gracefully fluent in her movements than usual without sadness slowing her down. I wondered if some of them had forgotten we would be having company.

However, though, in the middle of dinner, Ebony set down her fork neatly and said in a dreamy voice, “I feel them now. They’re flying quickly. They’ll be here in seventeen minutes.”

I nodded. I had expected they would be fast. “When they get here, don’t crowd them,” I ordered. “They won’t like it. Pretend like you don’t know what they are. Let them take a good look at us first.”

“Can I tell them we know they’re coming and that we mean no harm to them?” Lance asked. “They’ve heard my voice in their heads before. That’s what made them come here in the first place.”

I hesitated, but Ebony answered quickly. “Yes. Do that.” I didn’t argue.

Even though he only had to speak in the two newcomers’ heads, he spoke out loud to all of us so that we could hear what he was saying. “Welcome, friends. Don’t be afraid of us. We know you’re different – just like us – because we have a boy – the oldest one – who had dreams about the future. He saw how you would come today. We know you’re near because we have a girl – the oldest girl – who knows things like that. Obviously I can talk in people’s minds. Don’t feel rushed. Feel free to spy on us and show yourselves when you trust us.”

I nodded my approval. He had explained a great deal in a fairly brief speech.

We continued to eat, waiting impatiently.

They came exactly when Ebony said they would. Everyone was shooting frequent glances at the sky, so we noticed when they perched on a tree far from the deck we were eating on. It was so far away that we could only make out the shapes of the eagle and the bat, but there was no doubt it was them. Bats normally didn’t fly in broad daylight.

After the original chattering excitement, Ebony started a serious conversation about our plans for the next day. She knew the bat and eagle were listening and that we needed to prove to them we were harmless.

“What should we do tomorrow?” Ebony asked everyone, but I think she was mostly talking to me.

I frowned a little. There were plenty of problems we needed to solve, but probably the most immediate one was our food problem. Everything that needed to be frozen was quickly going bad. We’d tried to keep it all in closed freezers, but they would warm up eventually without the power on.

“We need to figure out a way to freeze our meat and the rest of our food,” I said. “Hopefully we can get a generator to work. Having power would be useful in a lot of ways. We can’t cook everything on a grill.”

Lance nodded. Before anyone else could speak, the tree everyone had been eyeing every few seconds rustled, and the eagle and the bat flew away.

“Why are they leaving?” Nadia asked quietly.

“They’ll be back,” Ebony assured us just as softly.

“They’re in the shape of people now,” Sarah stated, breaking the dead silence. “I hear them talking. They’re saying… they believe us. The girl is telling the boy she is glad they’re not alone. She called him Leo.” Turning a little red, she continued, “They kissed. They’re walking towards us now.”

So they were a couple. It didn’t surprise me. It seemed couples were common when it came to survivors.

A few minutes later they emerged from the forest behind our supply house, the one we were eating at. They walked slowly, and they were tall. Taller than Ebony and I. As they got closer, I saw that the girl had pale skin, dirty-blonde hair, and hazel eyes. The boy’s light brown hair matched his skin and eyes almost perfectly, making him look strange and simple. They wore grave expressions, as if they were expecting the worst.

Nadia waved to them; the girl waved back. They walked onto the deck and stopped, standing a distance away from the table we all sat around.

“Hello,” the girl said, her voice strong and unafraid. “I’m Shelby. This is my husband Leo.” I acknowledged the string wrapped around the ring finger on her left hand. “One of you had been talking to us and told us to come here.”

“That was me,” Lance said. It took a painfully long time for introductions. We each declared our names, our relationships to other people, our age, and our special ability. We learned that Shelby and Leo were nineteen and had been married for a little over a year. The most interesting piece of information was that Leo could change into any animal that was a mammal, and Shelby could change into any kind of bird, fish, or reptile. They didn’t demonstrate their power. None of us did.

By the time our introductions were finished, it was getting dark. “I can help you with the generator tomorrow,” Leo told us. “I know a lot about mechanics. I was going to school to be an engineer.”

“That’s perfect,” Miranda said.

Ebony was smiling. I could see that she was feeling better already. “Here, have some food,” she offered. “Then you’re welcome to pick a house to live in. Gerard, Sarah, and I are in the one next door, and Miranda, Lance, Nadia, and Ethan are in the brown one down the street.”

Shelby and Leo only ate the salad and rice, staying away from the meat. I guessed they didn’t eat meat, which made sense, considering that they turned into animals. Great. We had picky eaters on our hands. They thanked us and chose their own house out of the way, and then we all headed back to our houses for dinner.