Andie paced impatiently in her room. It had been half an hour since breakfast, and even longer since Grandpa Finn casually dropped his bombshell. For every second of that wait, questions had been bubbling throughout Andie’s mind - without a single answer.
“Hey, Sprout! Sorry I took so long, Connor was…” Finnegan burst into the room, his signature smile wilting ever-so-slightly when he saw the look on Andie’s face. “Oof. You alright, Kiddo…? I knew you probably wouldn’t take this well, but you’ve always been the type to roll with the punches. I expected you to be angry, if anything.” He sat down on Andie’s bed, and gestured for her to do the same. “…Did something happen? Dyllan’s condition didn’t get any worse, did it?”
“No. Dyllan is… getting better.” Andie sat next to her grandpa, starting to lean against him like she used to… but hesitating. “It’s Maddie that’s the problem.”
“Maddie? I don’t recall you mentioning her before… is she a new friend?”
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
“I don’t really want to talk about it right now.” Andie silently stared at the floor for what felt like hours. “…Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Well…” Finnegan let out a sigh, heavy with guilt. “It’s not like I wanted to keep secrets from my family, but there are good reasons why I couldn’t tell you - even though you were a dreamwalker. The only reason I’m telling you now is because your clever young friend Cedric saw right through me and convinced me that even if my reasons were good… they weren’t good enough.” He paused. “…For some of my secrets at least, the rest you’ll find out in time. Cedric said that you’d understand if I used issue… seventy-three of… Team Spectacular as an example.”
“Oh. Yeah…” Andie’s eyes widened with shock, then narrowed with focus as she clenched her hands into fists. “That does explain a lot… but I’m going to need some time to process this. I mean, first I find out my grandpa is a dreamwalker, now I learn that one of my family members has been replaced with an alien spy…”
Finnegan blinked three times. “…what?”
“You, know, like in issue seventy - ” Realization dawned on Andie’s face, followed by an amused grin. “Oh. You meant issue thirty-seven, didn’t you?”