The Battle (3 page)

“Baby steps,” John said before realizing that was probably another confusing metaphor.

Just then, a young woman entered the room.

“Emily?”

Emily jumped up.

“Well, here I go! Wish me luck.”

“Good luck, Emily—give Isabelle a hug for us,” Max called after her as she followed the woman down a long hall.

When they got to the end, the woman opened a door and held her arm out, gesturing for Emily to go inside.

When she did, she could see that Stacey was there sitting on a couch. Isabelle was right next to her—close—and holding her hand.

“Isabelle!” Emily called to her sister. “I'm so happy to see you!”

She ran over and embraced her tightly.

“Oh, Emily, I missed you so much.”

They hugged and laughed and talked for about an hour.

Emily had forgotten Stacey was even in the room until she said something.

“I'm so happy you are together again,” Stacey said reaching for Isabelle's hand.

“Oh, Stacey, I want to thank you for being here, too,” Emily said. “But where are my . . . my Earth parents?”

“Emily!” Isabelle said with a laugh. “This is our mom. Stacey is our mom!”

•••••

“Max?”

This time it was a young man.

“Max, follow me please.”

Without responding, Max dutifully got up and followed him down the same hall.

“Third door on the right, buddy,” the man said.

Max walked to the room and went inside.

“My real name is Reginald,” Canary said. “But if you ever call me that, I'll whoop your butt.”

Max laughed.

“What are you doing here, man?”

“I'm your brother, Max.”

•••••

As Tim stared out the window, he felt a light tickle on his arm. A tiny black bug with little wings had landed there. He jumped up from his chair so quickly that it toppled over on its side as he swatted the grotesque creature off.

“It's okay, Tim,” John said. “It's just a pesky fly—quite harmless.”

“Yuck,” Tim said with disgust. “Well, I guess my parents forgot me.”

“No, Tim, they didn't,” John said.

I'm your father. I really hope you are not disappointed.

“Wait, you're my dad?” Tim said standing up.

“How did you know that? I didn't even say anything!” John said with amazement.

“I heard you, you said you were my father and you hoped I wasn't disappointed.”

“Tim, you didn't hear me—you read my mind. I thought that—I didn't say it.”

“I have been hearing a lot of things lately,” Tim said.

“Well?” said John.

“Well what?”

“Are you disappointed?”

“No, I'm . . . I'm actually really happy it's you.”

Then Tim reached out, and they hugged each other for a very long time.

Together the three friends sat in silence. They were lost in their own thoughts.

Rain fell softly against the window outside the comfortable room where they had gathered after each meeting a member of their “real” families. Other than the gentle hum of the building's ventilation system, the room was hushed.

Max finally broke the quiet as he got up from the overstuffed chair where he had been sitting and walked to the window.

“Well, I never would have guessed in a million years that the stranger we ran from—the one we thought was out to kidnap us—would turn out to be my brother.”

“I can't say I saw that one coming either,” Tim said with a laugh. “But you have to admit, he's pretty cool.”

“So is your dad,” Max said as he turned to walk back to the chair. “That sounds
so
weird—
your dad
.”

“Isabelle looked so happy. I was so relieved to see her safe, and Stacey seems really nice—but I can't bring myself to call her
my mom
,” Emily said without taking her eyes off the floor. “I really miss my mom and dad on Briny Deep.”

“It's okay, Emily,” Tim said holding out his hand which Emily quickly took. “I feel the same way. It's just so—
weird.
”

Max leaned forward and put his hand atop both of his friends.

“Yeah, it's definitely going to take a long time to get used to this,” he said with a smile. “But we'll always have each other, and we'll make it through together.”

Just then, the door opened and Luke came in to join them.

“Hey, are you all doing okay?”

“
Okay
might be a stretch,” Max answered with a wink. “I'd say we are pretty far from okay, but we'll get there.”

“I understand,” Luke said as he took a seat next to Emily. “Even though my dad hasn't changed, he's not really the same person I thought he was. I mean, he's like some sort of secret agent.”

“How is everything going with your brother —and your mom?” Emily asked.

“It's really good. I mean, at first I couldn't believe it—even after I saw them for the first time, but now it's just—
normal
.

Luke got up and walked back to the door.

“You'll all get to your normal place, too. It won't always feel so strange . . . but . . .”

“But . . . what?” Tim said as he stood and walked over to Luke.

“It just might get a little stranger before it gets normal. Today you are going to visit your homes—meet some other family members,” Luke's voice trailed off as he opened the door and took a peek outside.

“However, first—I have some old friends I thought you might want to see.”

Luke opened the door wide, and in walked Anthony and Eva. Isabelle tailed behind laughing and skipping along.

They all hugged each other for what seemed like forever—and then began sharing stories about everything that had happened.

Turns out Eva and Anthony had been here the whole time, just staying in another building across the courtyard.

After a while, John came into the room and called Tim over.

“Good to see your friends again?” he asked.

“Yes, really good,” Tim replied.

“I want to invite you all downstairs—we have something we need to talk to you about,” John said as he motioned to the door.

They all followed him out and down the hall to another room Tim hadn't seen before. It was another large meeting room—but it was filled with people in uniforms.

Probably military, Tim thought.

They all took a seat and then John started to speak.

“We have observed something extremely remarkable in each of you,” he began. “You each seem to possess a special power here on Earth.”

The kids all looked at each other puzzled.

“I thought it was just me who was hearing things,” Tim said.

“No, Tim, each of you has a separate gift—Max is showing unbelievable strength, Emily can see very far distances, and her sister, Isabelle, is able to hear things from very far away.”

“You mean every one of us has something?” Eva asked.

“Yes, Eva. We have not determined what you, Luke, and Anthony can do—but we will be testing you tomorrow, and we'll find out.”

“How cool!” Anthony shouted.

“Okay, everyone, that's it for now—just wanted to make you aware that we will be conducting more tests on all of you. We are not sure whether these extraordinary powers are only effective here on Earth—or perhaps they are now a permanent part of your chemistry.”

Isabelle raised her hand.

“Yes, Isabelle?”

“Will the tests hurt?” she asked.

“No, of course not, sweetheart.”

“Oh, thank goodness!” she called out.

Laughter filled the room.

As everyone started to leave, John faced Tim and put his hands on his shoulders.

“Are you ready to meet your mother?”

“My mother?” he asked. “Yes . . . I think so.”

The drive to his old house took less than an hour. As they drove down the wooded road, Tim could see it just ahead.

It was yellow—the same house from his dreams.

“I remember,” he said softly. “I ran here, trying to get home. But someone was chasing me. I was too slow.”

“No, Tim, you were just a little boy. You tried—but you didn't have a chance to outrun a grown man.”

John pulled the car up a small hill, past rows of flowers and into the small driveway.

A woman was standing in the doorway. She quickly burst out the door as the car came to a full stop.

“Oh, Matthew!” she cried out.

Tim slowly opened the car door and got out.

He didn't recognize her at all, yet as he moved a little closer, there was something familiar about her.

She ran to him and embraced him tightly. He hugged her back as tears began to fill his eyes.

“Mom?”

“Yes, it's me, Matthew—oh how I've missed you.”

“Mary, he's called Tim now,” John said softly as he wrapped his arms around them both.

“Tim?—I don't care what your name is now,” she said letting go for just a moment and looking him in the eyes. “You are my son, and I won't ever lose you again.”

They spent several hours inside talking—his mother showed him all the things he use to have as a boy. It appeared she had not thrown one thing of his away despite how many years had passed.

Tim was most surprised by his old room. The room of a toddler, his room had remained the same all this time later. A drawing he must have made in school still hung proudly on the wall. Toy airplanes, which must have been a favorite of his when he was younger, were everywhere, and his clothes still hung in the closet.

She never gave up hope, he thought.

When the time came to head back to the facility, Tim's mother gave him another long hug.

“Soon, you will be coming home for good, understand?”

“Yes . . . Mom, I'll be home again soon.”

As Tim and John drove away, they took another little road out. John slowed the car as they began to approach a school.

“Tim, that was your school,” he said pointing to the small tidy building.

“Can I please go look?” Tim asked.

“Yes, of course.”

He pulled the car into the parking area, and Tim quickly got out and walked over to the building. He passed the front entrance and went to the fenced area out back. It was a playground.

He knew this place.

“I had a teacher here I loved, I remember her!”

“And I remember you, Matthew.”

Tim spun around to see an older woman standing there, wait . . . it was Mrs. Wol . . . ? What was her name—he knew it.

“Ms. Wolpert!” he called out.

“Yes, it's me. Oh, Matthew—oh, I'm sorry. Your dad just told me you go by Tim now. Oh, Tim, I'm so sorry this happened to you . . . I should have been watching you.”

“No,” he said. “Please don't be sorry—you were my favorite teacher.”

Then they hugged—a good, long hug.

After taking a tour of his old school and talking a bit longer, they said their good-byes.

On the drive back, Tim was puzzled.

“Why do I remember her, but not you or Mary . . . I mean Mom?”

“They must have wiped your memories of us completely away, or at least tried very hard to,” he said with a frown. “They didn't realize you had developed a strong bond with someone else—Ms. Wolpert. That must be why you dreamed so often of the schoolhouse and running from it—deep down you remembered something, or someone, here.”

As they reached the grounds of the facility, Tim hugged John good night and made his way up to his room.

He immediately got into his pajamas and slipped under the covers of his bed—exhausted.

He didn't know much of what the future held at this point, but he was
sure
of one thing—he would never dream of the yellow house again. He didn't have to. He had found it.

Ms. Duvall sat by the window and peered out onto the street. People walked by very fast these days, and she rarely saw a child outside.

Things in Briny Deep were changing very fast.

With all these missing kids, no one was above suspicion anymore—except perhaps
her
. After all, how could an old woman who couldn't walk be of any harm to anyone?

That last thought actually made her laugh out loud.

Truth be told, she did have to be very careful. Her colleague, Mr. Kull, was under a certain degree of scrutiny, although like her, his age made him less of a target as well.

Her work here had been very useful to the agents back on Earth. By using the tunnels, she was able to slip unnoticed back and forth throughout town. She had focused her surveillance on several people who had recently begun to meet secretly—or so they thought—twice each week at an old abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of town. They disguised themselves with hooded coats so she had yet to identify any of them—except Nina's parents. It was them who had led her to the group in the first place. She had been watching Nina's home since the kids had made their escape, and it had finally paid off one night.

Leaving her disguise as an old woman behind and using specialized listening devices, she had determined the group was either responsible for, or aware of, kidnapping the children from Earth. But someone else who wasn't present at these clandestine meetings—someone with much more authority—seemed to be the one really calling the shots.

She had heard his name—or at least a nickname. He was called Trident, which was strange considering the trident was a three-pronged spear used on Earth many years ago for fishing, and also the weapon of choice for many of Earth's mythical Greek gods including the Greek god of the ocean, Poseidon.

She had her suspicions of who he really was. She thought he might be the regional commander of Briny Deep. If that was true, his real name was Edward Gorgon, and he was very powerful.