It had been years, but it was undeniable. Ashlynn was standing in the home they once shared. Rey could see the flicker of confusion as Ashlynn slowly recognized him.

“Rey?” she asked hesitantly as a smile spread across her face. The inviting brightness in her stormy blue-grey eyes returned and, suddenly, Rey’s excitement got the better of him. It had been so long since he had seen their human companion and finally, after all this time, she came back.

“Ashlynn!” he cheered as he ran freely across the counter, leapt over the stove, and charged directly at Ashlynn. Ashlynn knew what was coming. She had seen the Borrower boy, now teen, do this before. Instinctually, she stepped forward and raised her right hand, laying it to the side, as Rey ran forward and crashed into her palm.

“Rey,” she said, voice barely above a whisper, as her throat continued to constrict. She had missed this.

His impossibly small arms wrapped around the base of her index finger, one above and one in between her fingers, as he hugged her with all of his might. Ashlynn had almost forgotten what it was like holding their miniscule forms. It was like the brush of a feather against her palm that held a weight of its own.

Ashlynn carefully curled her fingers around Rey’s Borrower form and simultaneously with great caution rotated her hand to lift him fully into her palm. Her hand, now cradling Rey, glided over to hold the teenage Borrower to her chest.

“I missed you,” said Rey, voice evidently also tremoring with emotion as he continued to clutch onto Ashlynn’s finger.

“I missed you too. I’m so sorry I’ve been away for so long,” said Ashlynn. She closed her eyes, remembering for a moment the fear he once held for her and the apprehension of being held. How easy it was now for him to approach her, his devoted trust unwavering even through the years of absence.

Ashlynn hadn’t realized that tears gathered in the corners of her eyes until she felt Rey squirming around to face her. Ashlynn wiped her eyes with her free hand as she pulled her hand away from her chest while rotating her hand, palm up, and uncurled her fingers to reveal the Borrower inside.

Rey had rolled around to sit cross-legged almost in the center of her palm and was gazing up at her. His heart was hammering in his chest and he hadn’t felt this happy to see someone from the past in a very long time. He couldn’t believe it. Ashlynn was here – she was back!

A million questions whirled around his head, leaving his mouth open and an unending smile on his face. Finally, he found his voice after running his fingers through his hair a couple of times to snap him out of his stupor.

“Gosh, Ashlynn. It’s been years! Where have you been? What’s new? What brings you back? How are you? You look good. Wow, I need to get a hold of myself. I’m freaking out,” asked Rey in rapid succession. Ashlynn couldn’t help but laugh at her handheld companion.

“No, you’re fine. I think you spoke for both of us,” she chuckled as she turned slowly and propped herself against the counter. “I’ve been good. Nothing too crazy happening, which is always a good thing. I have a new apartment and I’ve been working as a realtor.”

“Realtor?” asked Rey, cocking his head to the side, reminding Ashlynn of a confused puppy. She had forgotten how animated Rey was when he talked.

“Yeah,” said Ashlynn. “It’s basically me going into peoples’ houses to sell them to other people.” Rey felt his jaw slacken.

“What? You can just go into houses as you please. Ha! You said you couldn’t just get into other peoples’ homes years ago. Look at you! You’re a Borrower after all,” smiled Rey. Ashlynn rolled her eyes and shook her head, unable to pull the smile from her face.

“Sure, if that’s what you want to call me. I’d be the tallest Borrower who ever lived. Speaking of which, when did you get so tall? Here. Stand up. I’ll hold still. I want to see how tall you’ve gotten,” said Ashlynn.

Rey, feeling his cheeks warm, looked away bashfully as he steadied himself and stood at his fullest height, which still only came around four inches or so. To show off, he even managed a little flex of his muscles.

“I’ve gotten a lot taller since you saw me last,” said Rey. “Tall and strong.”

“And still no match for the fingers of death,” teased Ashlynn. Rey couldn’t move fast enough as Ashlynn flexed her hand and bumped him from behind with her index finger. He staggered forward a couple of steps before he flashed a grin at her.

“Hey! Not fair!” called Rey as he whipped around and grabbed at Ashlynn’s fingertips and began shoving to get them away. Ashlynn was surprised at the pushback the teenage Borrower gave, but played dirty and snuck her thumb behind his leg, tripping him. She closed her fingers over Rey, all in fun, and rotated her wrist so he was hanging upside down and facing the ground, completely pinned by her grasp.

“Give up yet?” she asked to the struggling Borrower.

“Oooff! Never!” cried Rey in defiance. Ashlynn loosened her already lax grip and watched, amazed, as Rey managed to grab a hold of her fingertip and slip out from her palm. He dangled from her slightly bent finger for several seconds until she rotated her wrist and was once again cupping him.

“Okay, okay. Sorry. You’re right; that wasn’t fair,” acknowledged Ashlynn. “I just can’t get over how grown up you look now.” She reached forward with her free hand gave him the gentlest tap on the top of his head with her index finger. She carefully ruffled his mess of blonde hair on the top of his head.

“Hey!” said Rey bashfully. “I haven’t changed that much. I mean, I’m almost as tall as Soren now; and I’m gaining on Dorian so that has to count for something.”

Ashlynn felt her heart skip a beat as she heard the names of the other Borrowers.

“Dorian and Soren are here too? I mean, how are they? Are they around?” asked Ashlynn eagerly. Rey smiled and nodded enthusiastically.

“Yeah, we’re all doing well and we’re still here in the same place in the rafters. The place finally looks really nice. We even had a few other families come and stay… for a time.”

At this, Rey got quiet for a moment. It was a silence that Ashlynn had known from Rey a few times in the past – and it usually was when he wanted to say something but wasn’t sure how. She was right. In an instant, Rey thought of a hundred things that Ashlynn needed to know, but wasn’t sure how to say. How could he tell something that wasn’t his to share?

“Everything okay?” Ashlynn prompted gently, fingers naturally curling in on the tiny person sitting in her hand.

“Huh?” Rey seemed to snap out of his stupor as he looked up to Ashlynn. “What? Yeah. Oh yeah, everything is okay.”

“You sure? You got quiet. Is the new family not… good? I mean, have they been mean or rude to you?” asked Ashlynn, feeling her instinctual protectiveness over the Borrowers surge once again.

Rey, hearing Ashlynn’s tone shift subtly, immediately shook his head and waved it away with his hands.

“No. I mean yes. Everything is fine. It’s just there’s a lot to catch you up on; that’s all,” said Rey. Ashlynn, still slightly bristled, decided not to press the issue at the moment. Afterall, there was stuff she needed to talk to them about – all of them.

“Yeah? Well, there are some things that I need to talk to you guys about too. I know this technically breaks the rules and stuff, but I need to know if there are any other Borrower families in this house or this area,” said Ashlynn. Rey thought for a moment, now picking up something in Ashlynn’s tone.

“No, not that I know of. We’ve been the only family for a while since the old lady and her cat are the only ones left. We’ve seen a lot of humans moving out and not a whole lot moving back in. Makes for bad borrowings. Why?” Rey watched as Ashlynn’s brow furrowed and then bit her lip while nodding slowly.

“Because something really bad is coming,” replied Ashlynn.

“Bad? Like, a storm?” asked Rey. Ashlynn shook her head.

“No, not like that. I’d rather explain it once just in case you or Dorian or… Soren… have any questions,” said Ashlynn. “The overall gist is that you have to move – immediately.”

“Move!” said Rey, jaw dropping and heart sinking in his chest. A hollow feeling hit him in the gut. “Seriously? Move? Now? It’s the summer months. You know what that means? Creepy crawlies and bugs and predators. Why on earth do we have to move?”

Ashlynn felt like her mouth was filled with cotton. She hated seeing the distress on Rey’s tiny features. She wanted nothing more than to tell him that he was going to be safe – to keep him safe. Still, it was their choice.

“Look, I need you to spread the word to Soren and Dorian and anyone else here that I need to talk to you and that you need to prepare to move as soon as possible,” urged Ashlynn, taking a breath to calm her pounding heart.

“But why? What’s going on? They’re going to ask me,” said Rey.

She needed to tell him why, even if it hurt. “This entire area is getting demolished by Monday. They’re building new houses for humans, but they’re going to completely destroy the area before that happens. You all are in danger if you stay.”

Rey felt his heart sink. What was once a heartfelt reunion was now filled with a hopeless dread. He felt his entire body shiver nervously as he absorbed the information.

“Destroyed? Demolished? This whole area? By Monday? How many days away is that?” echoed Rey.

“Yeah,” muttered Ashlynn. “And it’s less than three days at this point.”

“Three… but… wh… but… what are we…” Rey couldn’t help but feel his mind racing. What were they going to do? Rey let himself go limp and lean backwards onto Ashlynn’s hand which was soft and curved perfectly with his body. His mind was reeling, speeding faster and faster with all of the things they needed to do. He closed his eyes to keep from watching the ceiling spin.

Supply gathering was the least of their worries. What about all of their belongings? Protection gear. Tents and survival material? There was no way they were going to get it done in time. He remembered the first time his family had to move – immigrating from one massive set of buildings to the next.

Rey remembered being cold and hungry for days. He remembered the fear of the unknown and what little they brought with them. He remembered the stress it put on Soren, taking care of him, his brother Dorian, and their father – Brady. Rey vowed after they settled that he would never try and move again, even if he was seen. It was too risky – too deadly – for Borrowers to be out in the human world.

“Rey? Rey, stay with me. I have a proposition, but I don’t know what you’ll think of it,” said Ashlynn.

“Oh? What do you have in mind?” asked Rey. “Except a miracle. There’s no way we can get everything taken care of on our own in time.”

“Come with me,” said Ashlynn calmly. Rey opened his eyes and looked up into Ashlynn’s stormy blue-grey eyes.

“What?” asked Rey.

“Come with me. I can bring you and anything you want back to my apartment. You can make a new life for yourself there. Okay, yeah, I know how it sounds and that Borrowers aren’t supposed to…”

“You’d really take us with you?!” asked Rey, suddenly invigorated and hopeful. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt; but are you being serious?” Ashlynn couldn’t help but smile as she nodded, bringing up her other hand under the one holding Rey to steady them and keep them from shaking.

“Of course! I want you guys to be safe and, honestly, I’ve missed you all so much. Plus, and I don’t know entirely, but I think there might be a few Borrowers living in my apartment complex. You wouldn’t be starting from scratch,” said Ashlynn.

Rey couldn’t believe what he was hearing. This was better than he could have ever imagined! Getting to live with Ashlynn again and meeting new Borrowers with the added bonus of not having to move all on their own was a dream come true.

“I mean, you don’t need to ask for my vote. Let’s do this!” cheered Rey.

“Hold on there little big man,” chuckled Ashlynn. “I need to ask Dorian and Soren what they think. I mean, do you think they’ll agree? Do you think they’d be, I don’t know, willing?”

“Absolutely! I’ll go and get them right now. I mean… you’re not leaving right this second, are you?” asked Rey.

“No, I’m here until you tell me to leave,” she replied. Rey felt a thousand weights lift off of his chest.

“Well, put me down so I can go rally the fam,” said Rey, heart fluttering with excitement. Ashlynn obliged and carefully lowered her hand back down to the counter. “Just stay right here and I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

“Will do,” said Ashlynn. Rey started to head off back across the counter to the hole in the wall when he stopped and spun around.

“Ashlynn,” said Rey before he ran back into the walls. Ashlynn kept her hand still as she watched Rey run back and throw himself onto her palm, arms reaching as far as they could in an effort to hug her. “I’m so glad you’re back.”

“I’m glad too little big man,” smiled Ashlynn. “I’ll see you soon.” Rey beamed up at Ashlynn before vanishing back into the walls. Ashlynn watched as Rey slipped behind the electrical cover and into the wall. The moment he left, Ashlynn couldn’t help but wonder what it was that Rey was having a hard time saying. Of all the things she thought, however, what Rey wanted to tell her was something she never would have guessed.