“See you next time, Jaida,” said the Borrower with a smug grin. He knew Susie couldn’t hear him, but telling off the cat somehow felt right. The light, sandy-brown haired boy was all too familiar with the habits of the cat that had chased and injured his brother and him all those years ago. Rey watched as the door closed behind Susie, leaving him the room all to himself.

He knew it was a risk going into the feline infested apartment, but he and his family needed the thread and fabric. Besides, it was sweltering hot in the ceiling tiles and the other empty apartment units. This unit, on the other hand, was refreshing and cool.

There was part of him that wondered why the other units weren’t filled, but, then again, he didn’t fully understand humans even after spending years with one – Ashlynn. It had been a while since he thought about her and that old apartment. The sound of the radio brought him back to the present and his current borrowing outing.

He gathered up what was needed of thread, cloth, and a few fragments of ribbon before heading back into the walls. After tossing everything in and securing the electrical cover back to the wall, he pulled himself back into the safety of the walls. Rey had just about gathered everything up when his insides growled. He clutched his sides and waited for his hunger to quiet down. He knew he should’ve brought something.

With a sigh, he knew he needed to make one more stop. He still had to get some food supplies since their store was running low, but that would be an extreme challenge with Grandma Susie and Jaida walking around the unit. He decided to go check out some of the nearby apartments even though they were vacant. If he remembered correctly, there were a few mousetraps with fresh food which, he hoped, would be untouched.

Rey made his way through the walls, eyes falling on the old lines that he and Dorian used to use to navigate from apartment to apartment. It had been years since he’d accidentally been turned around in the walls they made their home.

The teenage blond Borrower knew far too well that mousetraps were dangers contraptions. Far too often did he remember what happened when he and Dorian first encountered a snappable trap and the damage it inflicted on their older brother, Soren. He was just a child then. The boy was older now and better understood the ways of the human world. The Borrower boy would be careful. After all, he had done this a lot recently.

Slowly but surely, Rey jogged through the walls to the old apartment unit he used to frequent in the open with his brothers. The dim light in the walls kept him privy to a few places where the wood and walls were crumbling. It was a shame the place wasn’t doing so well, but a Borrower with limited building supplies could only do so much. This was a human issue and one he hoped would be fixed sooner rather than later.

Rey finally reached the line and climbed up it. Instinctively, he listened for any sounds of humans. Nothing. He pushed open the electrical cover and peered out, the evening sun creating golden streams of light which flooded his vision. He paused to let his eyes adjust before stepping out on the counter. Sure enough, a fresh trap had been set.

The blue-eyed Borrower couldn’t help but look out across the empty apartment, mind tracing the outlines of memories from the place. He remembered the tile on the floor where Soren and Dorian were waiting after Rey’s unfortunate misstep into a glue trap. He could recall every detail of that dreaded day when he encountered Ashlynn for the first time – a human who he now missed.

He looked at the counters and signed. The breadbox used to be over in the corner and there was always a pot on the stove, even if it wasn’t being used for cooking at the time. The sink across the way was where they had random swim lessons if they weren’t using the bathtub. In all honesty, the sink was less scary than the bathtub even if the climb out was steeper.

Rey shook his head loose from all of these thoughts. The Borrower could talk to Soren and Dorian later about the good times in Ashlynn’s apartment. Now, he needed to focus on bringing something to eat back home. He walked up to the mousetrap when something caught his ear. Was that a creak of a floorboard? He couldn’t see the door, but could’ve sworn there wasn’t a line of sun that cast a shadow like that before.

Just get what you came for. You’re just seeing things. If a human were moving in, they’d have all of their things with them. They wouldn’t just come into an empty apartment for no reason, right?

Rey pulled out the clip to a pen, knelt, and aimed for the trip pin on the trap. One breath to concentrate. One breath to steady. One breath to aim. With a forceful Borrower toss, Rey chucked the cap clip as hard as he could. The bar tripped and slipped out of place, sending the menacing wire piece slamming down into the wood board it was affixed to. There was an ear shattering snap, making Rey shudder involuntarily, and then silence. Rey jogged forward to the piece of flung food.

Perfect! This is nice and fresh too. Rey thought cheerily to himself. Just as he knelt to pick up the morsel, he heard something that made his blood run cold. Every hair stood on end as he heard undeniable footsteps and the voice they belonged to.

“Hello?”

What… no. It can’t be. Was there a human here the whole time? I just gave away my position.

More footsteps. “Hello?”

I need to run!

Rey, in his haste, abandoned the food he sacrificed his safety for and sprinted across the stove, leaping over the ledge, and grasped the edge of the electrical cover when he heard a desperate call to him.

“Wait!” The sound of thunderous, clicking footsteps was the only thing that overrode the sound of Rey’s heart in his ears. He slipped into the wall, hands shaking slightly as he grabbed the line. There were no more close footsteps – not that it helped his nerves – and light didn’t flood into the walls from the electrical cover being pried from its place. Both good signs. Just as he grabbed the line and began sliding down, he heard the human continue to speak.

For whatever reason, the voice sounded familiar. Why did it sound familiar? Rey stopped just a quarter of the way down the line and listened as the human not only called out for him not to go, but that she knew about Borrowers. This earth shattering confession only unnerved the teen more as he clung to the line, but he couldn’t shake the fact that the voice sounded familiar.

The voice was partially muffled, but he picked up on what she was saying.

“I’m looking for someone. It’s really important. Maybe you know him. His name is Soren. We’re friends, even though it’s been a while since we’ve spoken. Could you pass along a message? Tell him Ashlynn needs to talk to him.

Rey latched onto the words, finally recognizing the voice that carried them. Was it Ashlynn? Was it really Ashlynn? There was a part of him that worried that it wasn’t her and it was instead some kind of illusion, a trick of the mind. There was another part, a significantly larger part, that needed to know and, at the same time, had little doubt that this was indeed the Ashlynn he knew.

Rey hoisted himself back up the string and onto the ledge, cautiously peering out and catching a glimpse of a woman turning and walking slowly away. One look was all it took for Rey to recognize the human he knew. He hurriedly stepped out onto the counter, leaving the cover of the walls behind him, before calling out.

“Ashlynn?” The woman stopped and turned slowly. Rey stood completely breathless as those blue-grey stormy eyes turned on him, latching onto his form.

“Rey?”

There was a flicker of confusion before a disbelieving smile spread across her face. Each recognized the other in an instant and it was like years hadn’t passed.