“I’ll let Keller and Sara know, then I’ll arrange a meeting with Cody as per regulations.”

“My parents,” Lydia cut in, “any plan on how to-” she paused, finding the right word, “facilitate this?”

“Short of my story, genetics are the only proof I have.” Terrance lifted his hands in defeat.

“What if- well-” she thought hard.

‘They always accepted us, regardless of what anyone said or suggested.’ Willow helped. Lydia found herself nodding. ‘They only ever did right by us.’ She concluded.

Lydia looked up, clarity sparkling in her amber eyes, “They can handle the truth.” Her voice was firm and authoritative, she felt something stroking her mind and she looked at Terrance in question. He tapped his temple as he looked at her.

“No fair,” Darryl grumbled, leaning back into the corner of the couch arms crossing over his chest in a dramatic pout, Lydia put a hand on his knee, he briefly placed his over hers, but would not look at her.

She turned back to her eldest brother and waded to the edge of her mind she felt the stroking at, mentally trying to clear some of the tar away. She felt a calm current, very different than the constant buzzing in her head and reached for it.

‘Willow needs to know something before we make this decision,’ Terrance’s voice was a whisper of a sound, but it still came clearly.

‘She can’t come this far,’ Lydia reasoned.

Terrance got up and walked across the room, leaning his forehead against hers, his eyes were nearly identical to her own, though she jealously noticed that he had better lash coverage. She felt his calm mind against hers and stretched towards it. He was suddenly inside her mind once he touched his fingers against her neck. He was much larger than Darryl’s visiting specter and she was worried the tar would be in the way, but as he reached towards it, it rolled away from him as if pushed back by an opposing magnetic pole. Lydia watched it curiously as he followed her. Willow came to her edge and curled at his feet.

‘Willow, there’s contract that must be made to tell those without a spirit about us. If any harm ever comes to any spirit in direct result of your telling them, the same harm will be reflected unto you. If there’s any doubt, any reason not to proceed, however small, you must take this into account. Blind trust, or a need to rid yourself of guilt are not safe reasons. Usually, I would not remotely entertain the thought of telling an outsider about us. However, this entire situation is a first of its kind.’ Terrance’s specter held up a hand to show he was still thinking and not finished. With a sharp sigh he admitted, ‘I didn’t trust you and Darryl before, I realize that blindly following what is the common or obvious path hasn’t worked. So as an apology I’ll let Willow decide this time.’

Her response was almost inaudible, but immediate, ‘I understand.’

‘This contract automatically engages and the strength and extent of it is why telling them is taboo, there’s no way to undo this once done. If they tell anyone, even accidentally, you’re directly responsible if they cause harm as well, through the chain to the end of the listeners belief. Most often the consequences result in mental anguish enough that you two will lose the ability to shift places. After enough time, that will lead to the death of whomever cannot escape. Either one of you could very well die.’ The tone he took sent vibrations through the space and both girls looked around in shock. After Lydia and Willow made eye contact, Willow’s shadowy figure moved its head in a sincere nod. Terrance retreated, breaking contact and vanishing.

He puffed out his cheeks dramatically and sighed. “Let’s invite them for dinner.”

Darryl bolted upright, legs and arms flailing to keep his balance as he twisted to face Terrance. “You’re kidding! We’re telling them?” His voice was shrill.

“No,” Terrance expounded. “Lydia and Willow must do it. We will simply support her.”

“But the curse!” Darryl pleaded eyes dark and wide.

“My parents would never let me suffer, don’t worry,” she soothed him, reaching out and tussling his hair. Physical touch really was comfortable now, it was a strange alternative to running but welcomed.

‘I want to run,’ Willow mentioned. And when Terrance responded, Lydia realized she had unwittingly said Willow’s thought aloud.

“Nobody is at the back fields; I can chaperone the two of you there.”

Darryl let out a yip of excitement and scrambled upstairs, coming back with a bag of tennis balls before Lydia had both shoes on.

“You’re kidding!” Lydia gave the mesh bag a look.

Darryl’s ears flushed pink and he hid it behind his narrow hips. Terrance let out a bellowing laugh and snatched them. “Don’t be embarrassed, you worked hard to build up Lapu’s speed and stamina with these.”

“Agility too!” Sara called from the office near the stairs, she had a hefty pair of headphones looped on her neck, a chord trailing mid-air behind her as she reached the end of the length. “Perfect!” She clapped for emphasis when she saw everyone putting on shoes. “If you guys are leaving, I can get more than just editing done today!” she followed her chord back into the room, shutting the door.

“She does audio narration work,” the oldest said to get her attention when Lydia didn’t immediately follow him outside. “Things like voiceovers and mystery novels.” She threw on her second shoe quickly and hopped in the large diesel truck. To reach the field, it was a short 3-mile backroad drive winding through some woods and passing a small lake.

“So there’s the stump I hollowed out,” Darryl gestured to a far section of the field, referring to the spot he earlier instructed Lydia about delivering the balls. She peered at it before being startled when Terrance walked up with his arm bent to gently tap a tennis racket on his shoulder. Darryl started removing his clothes and paused comically, his shirt above his head and one shoe kicked into the small shed nearby, the other dangling off the end of the toes of his uplifted foot. “This would probably be a little too much for you, huh?” Lydia’s owl eyes confirmed his thought as he finished kicking the shoe and slung the shirt. “I’ll start over there Terrance!” He called as he took off running towards the stump. The tall grass came thigh high so he ran a little awkwardly through the dense lawn, his knees lifting higher than his waist.

Terrance had a pleasant smile as he watched Darryl. “Usually, he strips here and doesn’t shift until he is ready to catch the first ball.” Terrance’s smile grew when Lydia snorted in amusement. When Darryl was crouched near the Stump and waved his shorts in the air Terrance let a ball fly off the racket with an echoing *POP*. Lydia was glad she was watching closely. As the ball drew near, Darryl sprung up from his crouch, his arms reaching forward and grasping the wood. He pulled his long legs up behind him as a frog would and leapt from the natural platform, body extending fully as he shifted. Canine teeth captured the flying green ball and his body stretched and twisted midair, making a circular flip Lydia had seen police dogs do in sample training videos.

“Show-off” Terrance murmured as he lobbed another ball, this time a distance away. Lapu tore off after it. After the bag was emptied Terrance asked Lydia if she wanted to run or if Willow did as he filled a water bowl from the shed.

“I will, for now at least,” Lydia said, running towards the stump with the mesh bag to collect the balls. She returned them to Terrance before jogging back to the field. “What if Lapu catches the balls and I return them to the stump, and we try and see if we can get through the bag faster that way?” Lydia called so both could hear her. The two fumbled a bit at first, once actually crashing into each other, but by the end they were both laying belly up under the sun, panting hard. Lapu drank from the clean bowl so he didn’t need to shift and Lydia sheepishly asked if Willow could play too. Lapu trotted over and when she was ready he put his head against hers and she heard Darryl’s voice in her head calling Willow out.

Willow was able to follow the spider thread connection the two of them had and made it to the point of shifting. Slow as before, she did it almost completely on her own. Excitement trumped exhaustion and the two spirits tore out, sprinting around the perimeter of the broad lawn. Terrance answered some emails and took a few phone calls while they played. There was a moment when Willow stilled, seeing Terrance talking to someone in the distance, but the figure left soon after and was forgotten.

~

Sara and the kids made dinner; the guests arrived at an impeccably precise time causing Lydia to wonder if her dad parked around the corner to bide his time for a perfect entrance.

Robin and Alton came in, exchanged greetings, and gave warm hugs to their daughter as she reported that she did indeed take her medication at noon. Though, she promised Willow as she was fighting the nausea from restarting the medication, ‘We will be off it as soon as we safely can.’

“We appreciate what you did for our daughter yesterday,” Alton began after hugs were given and everyone was seated with food.

Lydia bowed her head to hide embarrassment and Terrance cut in, “Yesterday was full of surprises for all of us, but it was no hassle at all, Darryl so rarely makes friends-” Terrance suddenly jumped, his words cutting off suddenly, head whipping to his brother. When everyone’s eyes followed, Darryl was blatantly skootching upright into his seat. It was obvious someone got their shin kicked under the table in retribution. The chuckles around the table eliciting mutual understanding.

“Sounds like they are cut from the same cloth,” Robin announced with a smirk at her daughter.

“Actually,” Lydia jumped in, her nerves wanting to jump the hurdle immediately rather than put it off. “I kinda want to talk to you about that.” Her parents looked at her sincerely. “I need one thousand percent confidentiality and trust about what I need to tell you.” The body language of her parents only showed worry and concern, not anger nor offence. She leaned sideways along the table and took their hands. “I mean it,” she briefly covered her heart, “absolute confidentiality,”

Thoughts and responses flitted across both of their faces, they looked at each other for a moment before nodding.

Turning back, her dad said, “So long as remaining silent doesn’t bring harm, you have our word.” They both pressed their hand to their hearts as she had.

Taking a deep breath, Lydia’s next words came out in a tumbling rush, “Terrance dropped me off at the hospital as a baby.” Their eyes flew over to him, suddenly recognizing and taking in similarities in appearance, before they could ask, he clarified.

“I am her elder brother, my father is a misogynist, drove my mother to suicide, I was only 14 at the time, and thought then, and believe now, that it was the best option for her.”

Sara rubbed her palm across his shoulders in support and the Fosters found themselves nodding. Robin spoke up gently, “That was very big of you Terrance, you have our respect and appreciation.”

“So, it looks like you won’t be announcing a boyfriend,” Her dad said, a lopsided smile on his face as he got elbowed by his wife.

“Not an appropriate time Alton,” she hissed.

“No, I just squeezed into your family a little more permanently,” Darryl responded back, a huge grin splayed across his face.

“But,” Lydia cut in, shoving her shoulder against him in jest. “That’s not the secret,” she said, making eye contact again while choosing her words carefully, but quickly. “I don’t actually suffer from DID, at least not in its truest sense.” Lydia rusheed to fill in the silence, “Willow is real, but she’s not human. Apparently, I descend from a group of humans called Spiritdancers, and we,” she gestured at the group around the table, “all have a spirit within us, and can shift places with them. It is something learned, which is why I couldn’t do it before, and why I am so at home running and being outside in nature.”

“Honey-” Robin waited until Lydia acknowledged the interjection. “I would love to believe you, but this goes against rationality. I am not sure-”

“I have irrefutable proof, that’s the secret, if I show you this you can’t breathe a word.” Lydia was trembling now. As much as she loved and trusted her parents, she knew how strangely the human mind can behave when given something difficult to process.

Standing up, suddenly Lydia broke into a fierce blush, eyes wide she looked over at Terrance. He looked confused as he started to get up himself. Everyone had forgotten their meal after the first few bites, but it was all food that reheated well or could be enjoyed cold, Sara was either lucky or insightful. “The clothes,” Lydia said. It took Terrance only a moment to realize her concern since stripping was completely natural in his life.

“Can you do it on your own?” he asked.

“Here,” Sara interjected, she disappeared, beckoning Lydia to come with her. The two reappeared and she was wrapped in a large sheet. Her parents abruptly stood up, highly concerned, but Lydia smiled at them. “This part’s a bit embarrassing, but I promise it’s all innocent,” Her mother cocked a concerned eyebrow but said nothing, just placing a steadying hand on her husband’s elbow as he took a step forward.

“Where?” Lydia asked and Terrance gestured to the floor at her feet, crouching also.

“Here’s fine, I’ll get you started, if you can’t do it than I’ll join you, even if your parents kill me,” he winked at them, but they didn’t appreciate the joke. Like yesterday they leaned foreheads together, their breathing and heartbeats began to meld, and Terrance and Oak together breathed Willow’s name.

Sara discretely lifted the sheet from her to maintain as much modesty as she could when the static started to charge the room. Terrance let out a groan and sat back when his clothes interrupted the progress. Lydia supported her shape, the static growing tangible, but the shift wouldn’t come. No one noticed Darryl shed his shirt and shorts. As he rounded the kitchen island in a crouch, just before coming out from behind it and into her parents’ view, he began his shift. Both Darryl and Lapu called for Willow, she made eye contact and slowly shifted with him.

Suddenly, there were two four legged creatures giving themselves a shake in the kitchen.

Robin let out a strangled gasp and Alton gummed at the air, speechless. Lapu was running circles and sat suddenly when Terrance barked the command.

Willow slowly crept up to the Fosters and twisted her head submissively as she nuzzled at the dangling hands.

“Lydia?” Robin asked.

“She’s inside, Willow is out for now,” Sara clarified. “Though she can hear you, they both always can.”

Robin looked up and around, then stopped, eyes on Lapu, “You are that Pups Lydia was always running with?” it came out as a question, but she didn’t need the happy *yip* to confirm.

“Let me sit down,” Robin said, pawing at the air behind her, looking for her seat.