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Zorah sighed. The toys began appearing a few days after the strange interaction by the rocks. The set of blocks came first. Left under a tree without any fuss, preamble, or explanation. A steady stream of trinkets and small handcrafted amusements followed. Every few days, another one or two would appear, and the kids would squeal with delight at the unexpected discovery. Pixie had begun to anticipate it, questioning Zorah relentlessly as to whether she thought the "toy fairy" would have visited the night before or not. Zorah kept her mouth shut and let the kids speculate about the identity of the mysterious "fairy." She knew who left the gifts.
Jake.
The toys offered the only evidence he still existed. It had been over two weeks since their perplexing interaction by the rocks, and she'd not felt so much as a single twinge of his presence. True to his word, he'd ceased watching her and somehow melted into the background of Morris Hill. At mealtimes, across the fields, whenever a group of Alphas congregated, she scanned their faces for his crooked nose and loose curls, only to come up empty time and time again. It was like he had one conversation with her and then vanished. In the evenings, she talked and flirted with Riddick, Matteo, Heck, and whoever else, but her mind strayed back to Jake's scintillating, invisible touch. Now that she knew what it was, now that it was gone, shemissedit. Its presence had become an absence.
Except for the toys. The toys he left for the children, but really,really, they were for her. To provide distraction and amusement or inspiration for new games and new activities. To make her days just a little bit easier. Sure, the other Alphas could've done the same thing. Hell, the pups' father, Lars, could've done the same thing. But, in the daily hustle of rebuilding, they hadn't.
Jake had.
"Come on, Pix, sit down, and I'll tell you a story about mermaids."
Tentative interest erased the sulk from Pixie's face, and she plopped down with a soggy squish of her wet pants. "What's a mermaid?"
Giddy voices and rustling bodies came from the woods to Zorah's left. Annoyance shot through her as she glared into the trees, twisting again to check on Ginny. If someone woke that baby up before she got in a good nap, Zorah'd wring their necks, no matter who they were.
It didn't take long for the mystery to solve itself as a giggling Nico and Ty emerged, hauling a hunk of rusted metal between them. Nico, the twelve-year-old older brother of her charges, and Ty, the fourteen-year-old son of Xavi and Marie, weren't technically under her care. With the adults busy during the day, the two largely occupied themselves, getting into as much mischief as possible.
Zorah scooped up a soggy Jace and hauled Pixie to her feet by the hand before stomping over to where the two boys were dragging a rusted-out canoe.
"Can you two keep it down, please? Ginny is napping over here." She tossed her head toward the baby, ignoring Ty's smirking eye roll.
Nico had the good sense to at least appear chagrined when he mumbled, "Sorry."
"What's that?" Pixie asked.
Ty straightened and wiped his sweaty brow. Zorah had no idea where the two boys found the canoe, but it appeared they’d hauled it quite some distance to the lake. "It's a canoe. We're going to take it out on the lake."
Pixie jumped up and down. "I wanna go! Can I take my boat on the boat?"
"No." Zorah tightened her brow, noting the bottom of the canoe was more rust than metal. "And I'm not sure you two should either. This thing doesn't look watertight. Did one of the Alphas say you could use it?"
Ty lifted his head, defiant. "We found it. It's ours."
Zorah cut a glance to Nico. She couldn't speak to Ty's parents, but she knew what Nico's mom, Grace, would say about taking questionable watercraft out on the lake.
"Your mom wouldn't like this," she warned. "What if something happens? You can't swim."
"I can." Ty puffed out his chest with all the bravado of a fourteen-year-old Alpha. "Nothing will happen, we'll stay in the shallows."
Zorah ignored him and focused on the younger boy. "Nico..."
He looked to the older boy, and the two shared some silent communication. Then, he straightened his scrawny shoulders, lengthened his spine, and adopted his friend's defiance. "You're not the boss of me."
Ty guffawed with approval, louder than Zorah thought necessary, no doubt to needle her further.
"Shut up," she hissed. "You'll wake the baby."
"C'mon." Ty lifted his end of the canoe, scraping it on the rocks and sand near the water. "Let's go."
Little ones in tow, Zorah paced their progress. A few more yards, and they'd have the damn thing in the water. Maybe it would sink on contact. Who knew where they'd found it, but she'd lived long enough in the AfterEnd to develop a healthy wariness for anything left over from the modern world, especially things obviously decrepit and in disrepair. River Bend existed, unsurprisingly, beside a river, and she'd seen enough boats, rafts, and other watercraft in her life to be suspicious of this one, especially as no life vests or other emergency supplies were on hand. It wasn't unusual to hear of buildings outright collapsing, bridges caving in, or any number of freak accidents that occurred as they reestablished a new world on top of an old one.
"I know I'm not the boss of you two, but that thing doesn't look safe." Zorah took a deep breath and released it, trying to think quickly as the boys advanced toward the water. "Listen, why don't you leave it here and go ask one of your parents if it's safe to take out on the water? Or find one of the Alphas to help you test it? You don't even have life jackets."
"Dad's in the lower fields, and I don't know where Mom is," Nico said through exertional grunts. "They're busy."
"It'll take too long to go all the way back and then get someone to come out here, and no one wants to stop what they're doing anyway," Ty added.
With a final grating shove over the rocky shoreline, Ty launched the canoe into the water.
