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“Uhh, how?” Shane scrunches his nose in confusion.
I set him on his feet, still holding his hand, and put my wings away. “I’m not supposed to let people see those. Can you keep it a secret that I’ve got wings?”
“Okay. Why?”
“Well, if everyone knew people like me existed, they’d all start doing crazy things expecting us to rush in and save them all the time. There aren’t very many of us and we can’t be everywhere. It’s so people don’t get hurt.”
“Oh.” He looks down as we start walking, shrugs, then smiles up at me. “I guess that makes sense. Are you an angel?”
“Kinda. You could say I only play one on weekends.”
He laughs. “But it’s Tuesday.”
Technically, it’s Wednesday since it’s after midnight, but I let that slide. “Making an exception for you and your dad.”
He smiles.
We landed close enough to the cabin that the sound of his laughter is apparently audible inside. Carson comes running out the door. The anxiety melts out of him visibly once he sees the boy with me, safe.
“Dad!” yells Shane. He lets go of my hand and sprints into his father’s arms.
It’s nottooemotional. Happy, yes, but no one cries. To their perspective, they’d only been separated for a few hours. Carson gives me a look, mouths ‘please wait’ and carries the boy inside. Shane waves goodbye, grinning at me until he’s out of sight.
I wait around for a few minutes. Eventually, Carson returns. He seems much more relaxed now.
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” I smile. “Looked like you wanted to ask me something.”
“I do. What didtheydo to my boy?”
Oof. I cringe. He keeps asking this question. Can’t really blame him for being freaked out. “Can’t say for sure. Probably something along the same lines as we do to random wildlife, except they didn’t give him an ear tag or a radio collar.”
“Not funny.”
“I’m serious. The truth is somewhere between weighing him and taking a couple x-rays to exploratory surgery.” I explain how he’d been groggy and out of it when I found him, likely due to whatever the aliens used to keep their abductees unconscious. I still don’t know if it was a technological device or a drug. “He didn’t complain of any pain or discomfort. He was with you two when they grabbed you, so it’s equally possible they just kept him in stasis and did nothing but release him back into the wilds after they decided you and Gemma would be, um, staying.”
“Gah…” He kicks at the ground. “Not even sure what to say to that. How’s a person supposed to cope with a thing like what just happened?”
“My father used to say it does no one any good to sit there getting all worked up about whatmighthave happened. Just keep on worrying about whatishappening.”
“Hmm. Your dad sounds like a philosopher.”
“Not really.” I frown. “He said that to me while trying to convince me a girl had no need for college.”
“Oh.” He winces. “Sorry.”
“Hey, it’s okay. Taken out of context, it makes sense. If I were you, I’d just keep going on with life like the aliens never happened.” I shift my jaw side to side. “In fact, I plan to do exactly that. What happens in the woods of Idyllwildstaysin the woods of Idyllwild.”
“Yeah. I’m going to need to explain to my boss where I’ve been for a week.”
“Could always blame a mudslide or something. Got trapped out here with no cell coverage. Or the old ‘went hiking and got lost’ routine.”
Carson laughs. “Yeah. I’ll work something out. Pretty sure all of us showing up in town together is going to end up on the news somehow or another. Probably going to start rumors about the woods around here being cursed or some such nonsense like that.”
“Safe bet.” I glance off to the side. “Well, let me get going. Got kids waiting on me at home.”
“All right. Thanks again… Sam, is it?”
