Chapter 10: Bear With Me

August led the odd assembly to their living room, where he sat on the couch next to Glow and Puddle. Cecily pulled over a chair from the kitchen table to sit in, and Bright remained standing. Come to think of it, normal couches and chairs might be uncomfortable for him, August realized, trying to imagine Bright’s large wings fitting behind him in a chair. He felt bad for a moment, then Bright caught him staring and gave him a scowl that reminded August that jerks who made scathing comments about people they’d just met didn’t deserve sympathy or seating.

“How are you, Bright?” Puddle asked pleasantly after they were all situated and staring awkwardly at each other.

“I have never wanted to gouge out my own eyes and ears more, but other than that I suppose I am the same as usual,” Bright whispered, folding his arms as he continued to glare at everyone and everything around him. Glow cracked up laughing and Puddle seemed unfazed, so August assumed they must have interacted before.

“In any case, I didn’t come here to punish myself by spending time with you people,” Bright continued, reaching into the pocket of his gray tunic and pulling out a folded piece of paper. “This is from Amy. Read it when Puddle is gone, then I’ll be back tomorrow for your reply, assuming I can stomach another trip over here.”

“I swear he hires a writer for these,” August muttered as he watched Bright drop the paper on the floor, turn on his heel, and walk toward the door. The front door slammed shut and the remaining four of them settled into an uncomfortable silence as they considered the folded paper on the ground.

“Glow, why don’t you go play for a few minutes?” Puddle asked his daughter. “We need to talk about boring things for a little while.”

Glow narrowed her eyes. “How boring?” she asked.

Puddle thought. “What is the least fun thing you can think of?”

Glow’s eyes flicked over to Cecily for a few seconds, then she shrugged with an unconvincing “I don’t know.” Cecily’s mouth dropped open in a genuinely offended expression, but Puddle kept talking before she could respond.

“Well, we’ll be doing some very un-fun things, so we’ll call you when it’s interesting again.”

Glow seemed to think very hard about her options, then eventually nodded. “Okay!” she said, teleporting out of sight. A few seconds later August heard the sound of her bouncing on his bed again.

Once his daughter was gone, Puddle let out a sigh. “So, you’ve met Amy,” he said. “I’m honestly surprised it didn’t happen sooner, especially with how much time you’ve spent around me.”

“What happened between you two?” August asked. “She made it sound like you used to be friends.”

Puddle nodded. “We were, and she was a good friend for Glow as well. But Amy wasn’t able to accept certain things about this world, and she kept trying to change them. After a while it seemed like she gave up, but now it looks like she’s trying to change things again.”

“Starting with you,” Cecily pointed out. “Why is she targeting you?”

Puddle smiled a bit sadly. “She mistakenly thinks I’m important. I don’t make things the way they are, but I do my best to protect them.”

“She thinks you’re in charge somehow,” August told him. “You’re not?”

Puddle let out a short laugh. “No, I wouldn’t say that.”

“Then why is Glow the only kid allowed on this side of the river?” Cecily challenged.

“That, I’m afraid, is something I cannot tell you. Suffice it to say, it is safer for Glow to stay on this side, separate from other children. Bringing her over today was risky, but I was worried about you and I figured if we were quick about it, she wouldn’t… get into any trouble.” Puddle sighed. “Of course, I didn’t know Amy would be there. She’s a bit unpredictable, even more so now that she’s using those strange creations of hers.” Puddle leaned forward in his seat on the couch, folding his hands together. “Speaking of that, how are the two of you doing? I imagine it’s been a lot to process, finding another person from Earth and then learning all of these things right away.”

August and Cecily quickly looked at each other. They hadn’t told Puddle they were from Earth, but evidently he had figured it out. August doubted it was worth lying about at this point, so he turned back to Puddle. “How did you know we’re from Earth?”

The big man smiled. “Having previously met another person from there, it was rather obvious to me: the way you dress and talk is similar, as well as your ignorance about this world. I would appreciate it if you didn’t mention it to Glow, though. The less she knows about other worlds, the better.”

Amy mentioned that Puddle didn’t like her to talk about Earth, August remembered. Why is that? He considered asking Puddle, but thought about himself as a five-year-old and how difficult it would have been to comprehend the existence of alternate worlds. It was mind-boggling enough as a twenty-year-old.

“So what are you planning on doing about the whole Amy situation?” Cecily asked Puddle. “She seems kinda bent on destroying you.”

“I don’t know,” he admitted, but didn’t look particularly worried about it. “I’ll keep protecting myself and Glow, and hopefully after a while she’ll stop trying. I just hope this doesn’t have any lasting effects on our world.” Puddle stopped abruptly and furrowed his thick white eyebrows. “I don’t hear Glow anymore.” He quickly stood up and strode to August’s room. August followed, and when they arrived they found Glow fast asleep on top of the covers of August’s bed. She was laying on her arm and her cheek was smushed against it, with a strand of dark hair fluttering in front of her face with each exhale. She looked more peaceful than August had ever seen her, and the air around her almost seemed to shimmer.

Puddle looked more concerned than delighted with the adorable scene before them. “We need to go home now,” he announced, carefully scooping up the sleeping child and cradling her as he walked toward the door.

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“Is everything okay?” August asked.

“Yes, everything is fine, but Glow can’t sleep here. I’ll try to come check in with you tomorrow, but until then, just be careful.” With a final nod to the twins, Puddle carried Glow out the front door and toward their home.

“Well, I don’t know what I expected from that interaction but it still managed to disappoint me,” Cecily sighed, walking back to the living room and picking up the paper Bright had dropped on the floor. “Let’s see if Amy is any more convincing.” She squinted at the paper, which was an off-white color and had unintelligible equations scribbled on the other side of it. “Holy crap, her handwriting is atrocious.”

“Let me see, I’ve spent years decoding yours,” August said, snatching the note from Cecily’s grasp. Amy’s handwriting really was bad, and the note looked like it had been written in a rush, which made sense considering how soon Bright had brought it to them.

“‘Dear August and Cesily’–heh, she spelled your name wrong,” August read aloud. “‘Sorry about earlier. I know the robot thing was a little intense for our first day knowing each other, but I hope it didn’t scare you off. I really would like to be friends, and I think it would be helpful for us Earthlings to stick together. I know you’re trying to get home, but when that doesn’t work out for you, I hope you’ll consider working with me. We can run this place together and make it so much better than it is now! Anyway, let me know what you think! Amy.

“‘P.S. You left your food at my place, I’m having Bright bring it. I’m writing this down to keep him accountable so he doesn’t just throw it away, but I can’t guarantee he didn’t do anything to it.

“‘P.P.S. Bartholomew says hi ;)’”

“What a stupid letter,” Cecily immediately stated, then sighed. “But at least it’s stupid in an awkward Earth way and not a zany magic way.” She forlornly kicked the silver locket on the ground and it popped open, releasing the raccoon. It promptly began snarling and running toward August before a swearing Cecily closed the necklace and stuck it in her pocket. “Case in point.”

August put the note down on the kitchen table and ran a hand down his face. “I don’t want to deal with this right now. I don’t know about you, Silly, but I’m exhausted and I’m starting to get hungry again but I’m too suspicious to eat our bread after that P.S. Can we talk in the morning?”

“Sure thing,” Cecily answered, letting out a yawn that gave away her own fatigue. “It’s not like any of us are going anywhere.”

When August woke up the next morning, it took several minutes to convince himself that the events of the previous day had been real and not some fevered dream. Cecily was still asleep on the couch, so he tried to be quiet as he looked through the kitchen cupboards. Each week they traded off who got to sleep in the bed and who was on the couch, but this week was already feeling so long, August felt like they should have swapped by now.

The kitchen did not yield much by way of breakfast other than some purple apples that the twins had picked a few days before. Hunger and suspicion warred in August’s stomach as he investigated the loaf of bread Bright had returned to them, then eventually hunger won as he tore off a bit of the end of the loaf and tasted it. Nothing was noticeably wrong about the appearance or taste, and he didn’t feel anything happening to him, so he figured he was in the clear. Maybe Bright’s hatred is limited to verbal abuse, he thought with relief as he ate some more. We are going to need to get more food soon, though. Maybe I should revisit the idea of getting jobs. Now that he knew about the other side of the river, the idea of finding someone who would trade food for some labor seemed increasingly likely. Maybe Seed could use a hand… No, Amy goes there too often.

Cecily groaned and opened her eyes. “You’re still up early?” she asked incredulously. “After all that?”

“It’s a habit.” August offered her the loaf of bread. “Also I’m pretty sure Bright didn’t poison this.”

Still laying down, Cecily took the loaf and hugged it to her like an edible teddy bear. “So, what’s the plan today?” she asked, ducking her head to take a bite.

“It sounded like both Bright and Puddle were planning on coming back to check in with us at some point,” August recalled.

Cecily swallowed. “Right, so I vote we get out of here before that happens.”

“We can’t just avoid them, Silly,” August said. “They know where we live.”

“Yeah, but we can avoid them for today! I just don’t want to answer their questions or have to think about any of that complicated stuff today. All I want to do is look for more ways to go home.”

August couldn’t deny that avoidance sounded really good at the moment. “Okay, then, we can go to the market first and each do some networking to find food and potential ways home. If we don’t get any leads there, we can go explore past the river, maybe in a different area that Amy is less likely to visit.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Cecily yawned. “Let’s meet some weirdos to get away from the other weirdos.”

August was relieved to not run into anyone else on the way to the market, but disappointed at how few vendors were present that morning. There was no consistency to who was at the market or how many people, and today seemed to be a particularly scarce day.

“Huh, I guess everyone slept in today,” Cecily observed, looking around. “That’s unfortunate timing.”

“Look, Silly, vegetables!” August pointed at a booth. “I don’t remember the last time I had a vegetable. Let’s get some.” He dragged her over to the table, where a man had piles of only slightly miscolored carrots, cucumbers, and heads of lettuce. “Could we get some of these?”

“Sure, for a Favor,” the man answered, holding out his hand. August hesitated, but he didn’t have anything else to pay with and the thought of having a real vegetable overpowered his hesitation to make promises he couldn’t keep. He shook the man’s hand, and the vendor put a few handfuls of vegetables in a cloth bag and handed them over.

“What… what favor did you want?” August asked, confused by the lack of follow-up.

“Oh, that was it,” the man said. “I just needed one.”

“Umm…”

“Come on,” Cecily pulled August away. “Don’t talk him into making you do a favor now, just take the win. We’ll probably never see him again so you won’t actually have to do it.”

“I guess,” August agreed reluctantly, but something still felt off about the exchange. As Cecily continued pulling him away, he stopped. “Oh! I forgot to ask him about getting a job.”

“We can circle back if we don’t find anything better. For now, let’s keep going.” As Cecily talked, August noticed the glint of a silver chain around her neck.

“You’re still wearing the locket? Why?”

Cecily pulled the locket out from under her shirt. “I was going to try to trade it while we’re here. Maybe there’s a raccoon aficionado somewhere, or someone who won’t ask too many questions about what it does.”

“Why didn’t you say that before I had to give that man a phony favor?”

“It’s a magical necklace, August! I’m not going to blow it on carrots! This could pay for something valuable, like a way home.”

As they continued walking across the market, August and Cecily both froze.

“Do you hear that?” August asked, noticing a loud shaking coming from the trees behind them.

“Do you smell that?” Cecily asked, gripping his arm. “It smells like pasta sauce!”

Now that she mentioned it, August could pick up the distinctive scent of marinara, but he was more concerned with the increasingly loud noises that seemed to be approaching the market. Cecily dragged him away from the noise and toward the smell until they stopped in front of a table housing several plates of lasagna. Behind the table was a tall young woman with light blue hair in a pixie cut and eyes the same color.

“You!” Cecily yelled, pointing a finger at the girl, who looked puzzled for a moment, then blushed vividly.

“Who–” August started to ask, then the rustling that had been approaching the market finally arrived and was replaced with a terrifying roar. August turned to see two enormous creatures that resembled bears but were ten feet tall and covered with scales instead of fur. And they were charging straight for August.