On a warm April afternoon, a loud knock sounded at the front door. I set down an overflowing laundry basket and pulled the door open.
The short woman with cropped gray hair looked familiar. “I’m Rhonda,” she said. “I live across the street.” Right. In the three years since we had moved in, she had never introduced herself.
Entering the sprawling bullpen at Inter-Consolidated Global, I noticed a sprig of colorful balloons sprouting from my cubicle. Clearly someone else knew what today was.
Tina Vallejo, the cute, freckled brunette who issued my ID badge last May, taped up the last of the glistening neon streamers over my workstation. “Happy birthday, Doug!”
I knew two things about Boston. Running was its heartbeat and ducks were always welcome. Momma had told me of that magical place when I was a duckling. As a grown hen, I shared the tale with my two daughters, Roxi and Sara, and our decision to move was unanimous.
Ten days after departing Rochester, we were gliding over Boston Public Garden.
“I’ve been told that you have some very special… abilities,” Madeline Collins said, her eyes darting about the room as she tried not to squirm. She was used to finer homes, but this house was one notch above a trailer park.
“I suppose you could say that,” Val Owens replied, taking a sip
I admit I screamed the words: “If there ever was a time to speak up when the minister says that bit about why this couple shouldn’t be joined together in holy matrimony, it was to tell him you’d turn into a rat on our honeymoon!”
“I thought that was just for the people
My consciousness slowly absorbed the sounds and images around me. I’d been summoned. I floated above the scene, an incorporeal presence. Until a creator conjured me into a physical form, I remained an observer of the world around me.
“Hurry, Jinny, we have to finish before we go to school!”
“I just opened the
“If you’re watching this, then I’m sure you have a lot of questions I’m not there to answer.” In holographic form, Jerry Haas looked almost apologetic—almost.
“Yeah, Dad, you could say that,” Houston said. Despite all the high-tech equipment in the cavernous secret room, his attention was riveted on the contents
“And what can I do for you, Tilli?” Dr. Miranda asked.
The gnome youth sat across the desk from her, a wisp of a girl with pink hair and delicate features. While she still had her gnomish dewdrop-shaped eyes and purple skin, she was currently the height of a human teenager
“We here at Sphinx Industries pride ourselves on ensuring that your property and information are secure…”
The pleasant voice of the promotional video drones on for the forty-seventh time—slight exaggeration—since I got here two hours ago. Long enough so that everyone has forgotten I’m here. I’m the kind of person people forget
I eyed Tira as she stumbled across our living room. Dressed in a sparkly pink thigh-length dress, zebra print high heels, and bunny ears, I almost didn’t recognize my usually reserved roommate.
Tira yawned and tossed her purse toward the futon. It bounced off the cushion and dropped to the floor.
“Isolde, listen to me!” My older brother’s grip on my arm tightens as he pulls me toward the staircase. “The lifeboats are our only chance. This ship is sinking, and we both know it’s not because of a blasted iceberg!”
I halt, making him turn. “Alaric, the passengers… They’re going to die because of us.”
Helios gripped his resume. After an hour of waiting, the paper was somewhere between crumpled and wilting.
He attempted to smooth it out on his lap. It didn’t help. Maybe the Boss wouldn’t notice…
He glanced over the details listed under Education and Activities. Graduated from Celestial Gasses Academy—middle of the class.
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