Gadrien’s dreams that night were filled with a silent tumble of images.

When he first realized he was dreaming, he found himself standing in the main corridor of Hellena’s school, which was completely empty save for a man with no face. The man was tall - a few inches taller than Gadrien, at the least - and dressed in brown and black clothing that looked like it was from another time period. His coffee-colored, limp hair hung down to neatly frame his face, with the exception of a stubborn cowlick that stuck up off to the right.

In place of a face, the man had a smudge in its place, as if he were on a TV show that had blurred it for witness protection. A similarly smudged darkness outlined the man’s form against the backdrop of the school. The more Gade focus on the man, the more the man’s form obscured. Yet, he didn’t feel like a frightening figure.

The man stepped aside, motioning to the door behind him. Gadrien stepped forward and opened it, only to then find himself on the side of the road - a few streets down from the one his family lived on. A power transformer above him sparked and Gadrien looked up to see a black spider the size of a golden retriever. Just sitting on the transformer. The case of which had been cracked open, the spider playing with the wires inside. It watched him with bright green eyes.

It felt like something wanted his attention on the spider. Like someone was holding his head, forcing him to look at it, urging without any words that this was important.

Words, feelings, information came to the front of his thoughts: See. Remember. Warning.

⭐⭐⭐

Dihalo-Kasdeja House, Noeden | October 5, 08:07

Very briefly, the thought had crossed Warren’s mind that this had to have been the most use the satphone had seen since their children were born. And just like those years ago, their children were the subject of the call Warren was once again trying to make.

He leaned back in his office chair, his skin amalgamating to the same soft leather he sat on as he dug his nails into the armrests.

Where a mix of excitement had been the basis for the last call, now a heavy anger sat in Warren’s chest. Warren had come very close to kicking Mikaal out after seeing Hellena’s picture. If Mikaal wasn’t what he was - and who he was - he very well might have.

Warren looked down the hallway to make sure Mikaal was gone. Satisfied that their house guest had gone downstairs, he let out a deep, deep breath.

“Don’t let him do that to you,” Warren told both of his children, but specifically Gadrien. “Get out of his grip and fight back if you must, but get away at all costs.”

Gadrien grit his sharp teeth, glowering through loose chocolate curls that now hung down into his face. “Really, where was that advice when I got my ass beat by assholes already on this planet?!”

“Gade,” he had warned his son.

“No, I want to know why it’s okay for me to punch someone now. And not when, I don’t know, I needed to before!”

And truth be told, Warren couldn’t fault Gade for that logic. Gadrien had been through a lot for an Earth teenager. Warren wasn’t blind to his son’s anger and building resentment towards keeping the family’s extraterrestrial secret. His wings coming in meant that maybe it was time to drop the charade and be more open about the Old World - especially since Mikaal’s arrival meant soon it would be coming to them, prepared or not.

Warren finally twisted the wires of the brick-like satphone and dialed the number he knew by heart.

Eric answered again, softly chuckling. “Dear, did you miss me already?”

<<Your body’s hunt is over. Mikaal is here.>> Warren heard Eric lose his voice in his throat over the phone. <<Mikaal R’chasaye? This information is known to you, correct?>>

“Now, I can explain-”

“EXPLAIN!?” Warren hissed into the phone. <<I do not desire explanations at this time! I desire your body to return and assist my body in this matter!>>

<<His body was not known to us!>> Eric tried to reason. <<We only had intelligence that it was a crashed eraphem fighter bearing the markings of the ark Er Malca. The description of the piloting body was not confirmed!>>

<<You will find his body here,>> Warren told his husband. “I’m taking the kids to Harper’s.”

Eric didn’t respond for a full two minutes. Static started to build on the line; a sure sign that Eric had his tail between his legs. “Does she-” static buzzed between his words “-know you’re coming?”

“She will,” Warren huffed.

“I’ll c-” static “-give me two hours, my love, ple-” static “-arrange for transport-” static “-Logan out of Boston-” static “-headquarters. That’s better than-” static, a shorter burst this time “-Harper’s... isn’t it?”

Warren’s brow furrowed. Eric could affect electrical fields, but never this badly. “Eric? Hello? You’re breaking up.”

As soon as he said those words, the house went dark with a downward hum.

⭐⭐⭐

Gadrien woke with a start, his body bouncing a little on his mattress from the jolt. Wearily, he swatted at the lamp beside his bed, fishing for the chain to turn it on, only to find that no light came.

He tiredly ran his hands down his face. “Of course the power’s out.”

The power went out for various reasons in the small town of Noeden - water in the old power lines; a tree had fallen; and, in the fall months, tourists were known to crash into the poles in their attempts to photograph the changing leaves. Though it was late in the season for tourists, Gade bet that was the reason. It hadn’t rained recently, after all.

Gade opened the drawer of his bedside table and fished out a flashlight, flicking on the switch and flooding his rainy-morning dim room with the light.

He stepped out into the hallway. Hell opened the door to her room, briefly shining her own flashlight into her brother’s eyes and stifling a laugh as he winced before shining it somewhere else.

In the dark, Warren could be heard climbing up the stairs from the basement. "Gade! Hell! What are you two doing up there that blew the fuses?" he called up to them.

"Nothing!" Gade called back.

"It wasn't us!" Hell added. Her features scrunched before she turned back to Gade. “Blew the fuses...?”

Gade only shrugged.

The siblings walked to the edge of the staircase, shining their flashlights into the darkness of the living room below. Mikaal was lounging silently on the couch, his presence made more eerie by the fact that the darkness didn't seem to bother him. The icy alien prince only moved his head when Warren shut the basement door and stepped into their collective view.

Their father moved the curtain just enough to be able to peek at the trees outside.  “It’s not the wind,” he mumbled aloud in thought.

Mikaal shifted into a sitting position, frowning with a somber innocence. "There are no generators?” he scoffed in his monotone.

“Do you think it’s related to the internet and cell service outage?” Hell asked. “I haven’t gotten a signal since yesterday.”

“Not like Harper’s place has any reception,” Gade muttered, jumping back as Hell flashed her light in his face again. “Stop it!”

“All of you stop it,” Warren told them. His wings tensed, his feathers perking stiffly, and he froze in place, a look of realization coming over his features. He turned to Mikaal. “Do you feel it, too?”

The blonde’s eyes flicked between Warren, Gadrien, and Hellena. For a split second confusion flashed across his face. “Did… did you not?”

Warren let out a deep, guttural sigh. He pointed up the stairs at his children. “Grab your bags. We’re leaving for Harper’s. Now.”

⭐⭐⭐

The frozen ground under his feet crunched as Warren handled the keys to the car and went out first; Hellena, Gadrien, and Mikaal stayed inside while he checked over the car to make sure it was safe.

Mikaal glanced out of the window, scanning the skies above them with his eyes as if he expected something to drop down on him.

“Do you know if it’s other Algeniana?” Hellena asked the blonde.

Her father had been vague when answering questions about who they were running from, which wasn’t unexpected. But she had learned that Mikaal, for all his disregard for both Hellena and her brother, was an easier target to weasel answers from. He had no understanding of whatever reason their parents kept alien business from them, and so he let things slip in his insults.

“No, the eyes feel different,” he replied, looking back to her with a dismissive glance. “The enemy is close enough to tell that much. You lack wings, and the other one has the wings of a child, so you could not imagine the difference.”

“What is with you and wing sizes,” Gadrien cocked an eyebrow. “Is it like an alien dick thing?”

Hell’s eyes narrowed and she shook her head, black curls bouncing. Those were the first words the alien had replied to any of her questions with, but it confirmed what she knew would happen: Mikaal insulted her, yet also gave her information.

Then something donned on her: "Crap, I forgot my laptop charger in my room.”

With a sigh, Gade set his own bag down at their feet. “I’ll get it,” he said. “You stay here with Mr. Size Matters.”

Flashlight in hand, he wandered through the darkened house and up the stairs to his sister’s room. From there he knelt beside her bedside table, placing the light beside him on the carpet, reaching under her now bare bed to pat objects with his fingertips in search of the wire plugged into the outlet underneath. Finally landing on what he sought, he plucked it out of the wall and coiled the charging cord, sticking it in his coat pocket as he rose back to his feet. 

As he bent to grab the flashlight again, an arm reached out wrapped around his neck, a large hand soon followed over his mouth as Gadrien gave a muffled shout at his strangler.

He clawed at the thick arm that held him in a headlock, but his nails seemed ineffective on the skin - it was like he was trying to scratch hardened scales. Gadrien struggled as he felt his neck squeezed - he flapped his wings in an effort to knock off his attacker, but it only succeeded in blowing them both back against the wall of his tiny room.

The impact was enough to loosen the hold, and the split-second of release was all Gadrien needed to squirm out of the assailant's grasp.

He was about to run out the door - if the faint glint of metal hadn’t caught his eye first.