Chapter 4, Part 3

“Are you sure we’re not making a mistake?” Sam asked Cassie. The others had gone to bed, leaving the living room for the four guests. Caleb sprawled on the other couch and Abigail was curled up next to Cassie on the foldout. Both of the young ones were sound asleep. Sam was on a makeshift pallet made from castoff couch cushions.

“Trusting Braxton and the others?” Cassie said.

“Yeah. They seem nice and Abigail says they’re telling the truth, but what happens when they get us to whatever secret base we’re going to?” Sam asked.

“I know. But we don’t really have a choice if we want Mariah back.”

“Do we even know if they can get her back?”

“The doctor knows who took her, so that’s a head start at least, right? It’s more than we’d have on our own.”

“True. I”m just worried for us, Cas. It sounds like they’re military and I’d say we could all be useful to the military in some form, especially Abby.”

“Y’all maybe. Who’d want a girl with wings who can’t even fly?” Casssie scoffed lightly. Sam grunted, in agreement or not.

“Think he’s telling the truth about your parents?”

Cassie’s breath snagged in a sigh. “I don’t know. It’s been two years since they left. Maybe that other guy Amelli did have something to do with it. But either way, we have to go with Braxton to get any sort of answers. Maybe they know why we’re different.”

“Or maybe they just want to use us as data points.”

They lapsed into silence, Cassie forced to consider the alternative they had been trying to avoid for years. She really didn’t want to end up as a lab rat. She didn’t even want to learn how to fly. She just wanted to live whatever normal life she could have.

“Hey, Sam?” she whispered.

“Hm?” he grunted sleepily.

“Abby’s really scared right now and Caleb is just happy he’s found his brother…”

“I know. Keep it between us until we figure it out.”

“Yeah.”

~~~

Caleb and Abigail both woke up with wing in their face.

“Cassie!” Caleb grumbled, gently prodding the wing tip. Cassie lifted her face out of her pillow.

“What?”

“We’re trapped.”

Cassie flushed slightly when she realized her wings had taken over most of the living room. Abigail ran a finger down the feathers that hovered above her.

“Don’t do that, Abby! It tickles!” Cassie hastily retracted her golden curse and sat up, rubbing sleep from her eyes. Sam pulled his blankets off his head.

“You guys, ok?”

“Yeah. The couch wasn’t very comfortable,” Caleb complained.

“Try the floor, buddy.”

“At least you guys got a change of clothes,” Cassie remarked. The boys had been able to borrow clothes from Josh and Luke, but no such luck for her and Abby. Cassie had slept in her clothes, her jeans spattered with blood and road. She knew she looked and smelled terrible.

“Yeah, sorry,” Sam sat up. Judging from the fire, he’d done a pretty thorough job. What they had last night, was all they had left in the world.

“At least we’re all ok,” Caleb stoutly said.

“Mariah said she wanted to go shopping again anyway,” Abby giggled, quickly frowning as she remembered that the girl was missing. Cassie draped her arm around Abigail.

“Well, we’ll just have to tell her that I had to take you all shopping. I’m sure we’ll get some good stories out of that!” she cheerfully remarked, bringing smiles to everyone’s faces. Cassie hated clothes shopping with a raging passion.

“Oh, good, you’re awake,” Luke stuck his head out of the second room. “Doc said I had time to make pancakes before we left. Any takers?”

“Um, is that a real question?” Caleb bounced up. “Need help?”

“Can I do the eggs?” Abigail piped up.

“Sure you can,” Luke grinned. His two volunteers made ready to dash into the kitchen but a quick “Hey!” from Cassie halted them. She pointed at the makeshift beds and they hastily folded the blankets and stacked them on a chair before bounding away. Cassie flopped back on the bed, grateful that she had this Sunday off. Another thought struck her.

“Sam, what are we going to tell work?”

“Besides I burned down our apartment because some maniac thinks we’re dangerous and we’re on our way to some top secret military base?”

Cassie glanced up to where he was folding his blankets.

“Yeah.”

“I don’t know. We’ll need to see if we can get our paychecks before we leave town and get whatever we have out of the bank.”

“The usual? I hate leaving town,” Cassie grumbled. This would be the third time they’d relocated.

“We’ll figure it out.”

“I know. We always do.”

---

Happy Saturday, people! Hope you enjoyed today’s post. I’m waving Hi! from my booth at the Lubbock, TX, Hub City Comic Con!

Just an announcement that there will not be a post next week. I will be up in Denver for my brother’s wedding and studying for my first exam of the semester. Party.

Also, some brainstorming help is needed – if you were one of the first settlers on a new planetary colony, what would your job be?

Help me spread the word about CoTW! A like gets Cassie and Co. new clothes. A share gives them pancakes shaped like the Enterprise.