Page 28 of Butterfly Effects

“Why were they abducted, or why do we want them back?”

“Yes.”

“They were abducted because my cousin Sarah is a member of the species you call the ‘heartless ones.’ A descendant of their exiles. My family adopted her as a child.” I didn’t know how the mind-mind flowers would translate the concept of “cuckoos.” Not knowing which of my words were actually being transmitted to the people around me was surprisingly frustrating. This was an aspect of the universal translator that Star Trek never bothered to address. “She managed to complete the full cycle of instars to become a queen by their standards, and I guess that attracted their attention. She’s not theirs, and we want her back. They also took another of my cousins, Arthur. He’s…” How was I supposed to explain Arthur? “He’s like me. Part-human, part-Kairos. He’s also part-Lilu.” More Lilu than anything else, since his father was fully Lilu, while his mother was a mixture of Kairos and human. I was starting to feel like my family tree needed a pie chart.

“I don’t know why the heartless ones took him,” I concluded, choosing a simple white lie over the complicated truth. “They just appeared, grabbed him, and vanished again. His sister’s incredibly upset about it, and the rest of us want him back.”

“So you crossed dimensions to retrieve them?”

I shrugged. “We had the capability, and it seemed like the least we could do. Are we prisoners here?”

She blinked. “No. The Kairos do not keep prisoners. You’re free to go whenever the timing allows.”

“Meaning…?”

“Meaning you might try to walk away and find yourselves lost in the green, or pursued back here by the flesh-stripper beetles, or forced to flee from a detachment of the heartless ones. They would reclaim us if they were allowed. They patrol this area often, looking for signs of our encampments.”

“So we’re in more danger because we’re with you?”

“We would never have found you if you weren’t in danger without us.”

I turned to Thomas, ready to throw my hands up and demand to know what we were supposed to do with these people. I don’t like being talked in circles.

Catching my frustration, he turned toward the Eldest Living. “We need to get our people back, and then we’ll go,” he said. “Is there anything you can do to help us?”

“We maintain what peace we have by never interfering in the matters of the heartless ones,” said the Eldest Living. “We remain below their notice, and they leave us to our own devices.”

Sam frowned. “But you just said…”

I grabbed his hand. “No, Sam, it’s fine. Let’s let the Eldest Living get her rest, and we’ll just go on our way. I’m sure Alice is looking for us by now.”

“Why are you calling her ‘Alice’ and not ‘Grandma’?” asked Sam.

“In the field, names are easier,” I said. I turned toward the door, hoping he and Thomas would follow, hoping Thomas had managed to catch the same contradiction I had.

The Eldest Living didn’t call us back, only sat in her nest of soft fabrics and watched as we walked away.

The scouting party was still outside, bidents at the ready. They straightened as we emerged, attention fixing on the three of us. I offered their leader an easy smile.

“Hey, sport,” I said. “The Eldest says we’re free to go. Hope that’s cool by you.”

He frowned, looking momentarily confused. “Honor to the Eldest,” he said, after a moment’s consideration. “You have offered us no offense. We merely wanted to be sure you presented no danger to our people as a whole. May the timing guide you.”

“Right back at you,” I said genially, and kept on walking, Thomas and Sam close behind. No one moved to stop us.

“Keep moving,” I said, voice much lower, and angled for the trees.

We almost made it before someone shouted behind us.

“Run,” I suggested.

We ran.

Eight

SARAH

“Biology makes a lot of choices for us. That’s inevitable. You were always going to be a biped, you were always going to have your mother’s thumbs and your father’s funny eyebrows. But everything else is up to you. Figure it out.”