“Shelves?” Hero crossed his fingers and tried to maintain his demeanor even though he was rapidly reaching panic levels inside. “You weren’t out, were you?” Hero wondered if this was a test.

“What? Me? No. I was up top,” he replied quickly, hoping to diffuse the tension in the room. Also, technically, it wasn’t a total lie. He was up on top of the bookshelf. There was another tense moment before Casper nodded.

“Good. You should always be careful going out. Did you make sure no humans were nearby? You know the rules - do not be seen by the humans. It’s dangerous and would put everyone here in danger.”

Hero felt the all too familiar pang of guilt at his father’s words. Thankfully, his mother interjected before Hero was questioned further.

“Now, Casper. Don’t scare him. He knows the Borrower rules,” said his mother soothingly. “And we have guests.”

“You’re right,” muttered his father, who immediately looked back at Hero, which took the teen off guard. “What were you doing looking at the shelves anyway?” Hero scrambled mentally for an answer.

“I was… um… trying to figure out if there was a safer way to get down since there are a lot of… um… building supplies. It would be hard to borrow anything there since the baseboard isn’t loose,” replied Hero. Again, it wasn’t a total lie. Sam did have a lot of great building supplies like popsicle sticks and glue that they could use to widen some of the old staircases. His father seemed content with the answer, but Hero couldn’t help but notice the curious look in the oldest stranger’s eyes. It was there for only a moment, but Hero still felt uneasy around these three new strangers.

He was about to go and sit down when one of the strangers, the one who looked like the youngest of the three, stepped up to Hero. He looked a little older than himself, but there was an adventurous gleam in his eyes that enticed the young hero.

“Shelves? Quick descent? Then you and I need to talk,” said the new boy. “Nice to meet you Hero, I’m Rey. I’m also something of an inventor. Modern day MacGyver.”

Hero wasn’t sure what a MacGyver was, but the confidence coming off of Rey was reassuring and enticing.

“Really?” asked Hero.

“You two can talk later. Come on and get it while it’s hot,” said his mother, setting down their lunch onto the table. They all sat down, Rey making sure he grabbed a seat next to Hero, as they all began to eat and talk amongst themselves. For the most part, Hero listened to their father and the oldest talk about where they were from.

It wasn’t until his father mentioned about the best time to go out borrowing as well as their strict family rule about following the Borrower rules to the letter that Rey piped up, injecting himself into the conversation.

“To the letter? What do you mean?” asked Rey. The tension was almost tangible with Rey’s sudden question.

“Well, young man,” said Hero’s father. Hero already knew where the conversation was going. Blah blah blah, don’t talk to people. Dangerous and bad and everything else in the world. He listened as his mother chimed in as well, saying with pride that no Rafter had ever been seen by a human before.

It made Hero feel nauseous. If only they would give humans a chance. They weren’t bad. He didn’t like keeping his secret from his family, but he knew there was no way to let them see his point of view without getting into a massive fight.

“Really?” asked Rey, sounding disbelieving of the proud statement of his mother. This caught Hero’s attention as well as the extreme focus of everyone else in the room.

“Of course,” said Atlas, Hero’s oldest brother. “Besides, there would be tremendous panic if someone were seen. Can you imagine everyone in the building trying to leave all at once to escape before the floorboards went up?”

“That’s right. I can’t recall any time when this many of us lived together and were undetected,” agreed Hero’s father. Again, another pang of guilt hit Hero in the gut. “Needless to say, if you think you were seen or that something is off about one of the human’s behavior, just let us know. Since we were the first family here, we take personal responsibility for everyone’s safety.”

Hero watched as the eldest nodded in agreement, but noticed how Rey was a little more quiet after this statement. Everyone stood up so they could clear the table and go about their day when the eldest spoke up.

“Um… if you don’t mind, could I have a word with you? Possibly in someplace private?” asked the eldest. Hero noticed Rey and his brother tense slightly. He wondered why as their parents and the oldest left the room to go to the back bedroom.

“So, Dorian, what kind of things do you like to do?” asked Tiron, striking up a conversation with the other Borrower.

“Um… well… I like playing games if we can get our hands on them. There’s a maze puzzle with one of those little metal balls that I can do with my eyes closed,” said Dorian.

“Neat! I have a couple of those too. Humans lose them so easily under dressers. We really should set up a room on one of the unused floors for games,” said Tiron.

“That would be awesome. You have that many?”

“Yeah, my friends and I do,” said Tiron. “What else do you like?”

“Um… well… I… never mind,” said Dorian, shying away from the question.

“Naw! Come on man!” said Tiron. “What is it?”

“Well, I like music. I like listening and, sometimes, I like singing,” muttered Dorian.

“Music? No way! Me too! Are you any good at singing?” asked Tiron. Dorian, seemingly warming up to the thought, nodded.

“I mean, I don’t think I’m bad,” he replied, slightly embarrassed.

“Well, I have some people you need to meet. We all get together and try to figure out songs and music and stuff. We don’t have anything to play, so we just use our voices,” said Tiron.

“Really?” asked Dorian, obviously getting excited.

The two brothers started talking about music stuff, which seemed like the perfect opportunity for Hero to ask Rey about his inventions.

“Um… Rey?” asked Hero. The older teen looked over to Hero. There was something in his eyes that seemed, for lack of a better word, guarded and frustrated. Was it a bad idea asking him about it now? Only one way to find out. “What… um… kind of inventions have you made?”

Rey’s face relaxed and a smile took tension’s place of tension.

“I have a lot of them,” said Rey. “There’s this one that helps mark trails that you’ve been on before. It’s really simple and you usually just need a little chalk or pastel crayon things. I also have one that helps reel in a line. It has a lever on it and you can pull in a lot of line all at once. I’m working on it so it can run on a battery, but it’s a bit slow at the moment. I also have one that holds your place on a line if you have to climb up a far distance. Best thing about that one is that you can use it for a slow descent and then hold yourself on the line.”

“Except that one doesn’t work,” chimed in Dorian teasingly. Rey wrinkled his nose at his brother before looking back to Hero, who was absolutely entranced with all of these ideas.

“I have a couple of bugs with it for the moment, but I’ll get it going soon. I probably just need to get some stronger paperclips and maybe some hot glue or something on each side to help pinch the line,” said Rey.

“Hot glue?” asked Atlas as he finished cleaning up the foil and washing it in the basin. “How are you going to get hot glue? What’s the difference between that and normal glue?”

“Well, hot glue uses this special device to melt down these long glue strips. It makes a lot of cool designs if you just let it melt,” replied Rey.

“Okay, I still don’t see a major difference though,” muttered Atlas as he leaned against the back of one of the chairs.

“Well, there is a difference. One is more like a rubber and the other one tears unless you’re using it for paper. It doesn’t do well on paperclips. Believe me,” said Rey.

“Spend a lot of time observing humans? Or have you had a chance to use this weird hot glue thing?” asked Atlas.

“I’ve had a chance to… use it a couple times. She… the human… left it plugged into the wall, so I just darted out and got a little to experiment with,” said Rey.

“You just ran out and got some while the human was still there?” asked Atlas.

“No, she was out of the room; and, she didn’t notice,” countered Rey. Atlas seemed a little uneasy as he folded his hands.

“Seems like an unnecessary risk to me,” he muttered. Hero thought his brother might say something like that. It’s exactly what everyone said to him on the rare occasion Hero talked about humans. What he heard next, though, surprised him in a pleasant way.

“I don’t think it was unnecessary. Humans take risks all of the time to experiment. It’s how they have so many cool inventions and contraptions. It’s where I get all of my ideas, either from observing or things they’re watching,” said Rey. Hero couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Someone else who admired humans for their work?

“You can’t be serious,” chimed in Cali from the couch nearby. “Humans leave so much behind. They’re wasteful and clumsy at best.”

“They use everything they can for their size. There are bits and pieces that even we can’t use sometimes. You can’t ignore all of the things that they’ve accomplished just because you’re afraid,” argued Rey. There was a tense silence that followed Rey’s comment. “I’m just saying that we can learn a lot from humans. They have a lot of ideas and invent things too.”

Right at this point, the oldest of the three stepped out of the back bedroom, heard Rey’s statement, and stepped up to the table to grasp Rey’s shoulders in his hands.

“Hey, what’s going on?” asked the oldest. Atlas gave the two of them suspicious glances, something Hero noted specifically, before Atlas spoke.

“Rey here was just saying that we could learn things by observing humans. Says some of his inventions came from things he’s seen in apartments or things the humans watch,” said Atlas. Upon hearing this, the oldest started to chuckle.

“Rey, you come up with some of the craziest ideas,” he said. Rey looked like he wanted to say something, but closed his mouth and looked away instead.

“I’ll say,” muttered Cali. She stood, stretched, and started to walk toward her room. “Atlas, I’m going out again. I forgot to grab a block of gum.”

“Do you really need it?” asked Atlas. The look in Hero’s oldest sister’s eyes said it all. “Alright. Do you want some company? Better in pairs.”

“Wouldn’t have it any other way. It was nice to meet you three. Mom! Dad! We’ll be back in a bit,” said Cali. She and Atlas grabbed their borrowing gear when Hero watched his parents emerge from their bedroom.

“Actually, hold on for a minute. We have something important to talk about,” said their father.

“It won’t take long,” reassured their mother. “It was lovely meeting you. Don’t be strangers and if you need anything, help or otherwise, you just let us know.”

“Yes ma’am. Thank you,” said the eldest.

“Dorian, we’ll have to get together sometime soon. I’ll introduce you to them. If you’re half as good as you say, you’ll be the star of the show,” said Tiron.

“Looking forward to it. Three days?” asked Dorian.

“Three days,” confirmed Tiron. They bumped fists as the three Borrowers headed toward the door. Rey gave Hero a half-hearted wave, something obviously bothering him, before he muttered something under his breath to the oldest of the three.

The moment they left, their parents turned toward their children, a solemn and worried look knitting their brows.

“Mom? Dad? What’s wrong?” asked Atlas. Cali and Tiron both looked to their parents curiously. Personally, Hero’s curiosity was stretched to its limits. There was something different about these three. Something also told him they were about to find out what it was from their parents.

Their parents both gave a nervous sigh as they looked at one another. They looked nervous, scared even, before looking back to their children.

“You all need to stay away from those three.”