“I’m going to call Mrs. Carmichael, so you make sure Megan eats some of those donuts,” Lori said.
We were back by the SUV now, still with no people around, and thank goodness for that. Some of the ash had blown onto the vehicle, making it look gross, creepy, and in desperate need of a fresh washing. Lori started to walk around to the other side of it before her head popped back around. “Oh, and make sure she doesn’t fill up on just junk. We don’t have a lot right now, but we have some sandwich stuff in a cooler behind the second row of seats. Make her one of those.”
“Yes, yes, mother,” I said, setting Megan down. I was worried that she might’ve been too heavy for me to carry back. She didn’t weigh much at all though. Carrying her was even a little fun. Not sure if her light weight was because of some malnutrition or just her age, I tried to figure out how old she was. “When’s your birthday, Megan?”
“March twenty-seventh! I’m turning seven.” She was standing on her toes trying to peer inside the window. Satisfied with knowing her age, I realized that she didn’t have a jacket on and nearly panicked. I opened the door for her so she could scramble inside and finally warm up. I made sure she set all of her belongings down and I turned on the seat warmer before walking around to the other side to join her, where I saw Lori impatiently tapping her foot on the ground, probably still waiting for Mrs. Carmichael to answer.
“Your birthday’s almost here. Is there anything that you want?” I felt a pang of sadness knowing she lost her mom and dad so soon before her birthday. It was already February, and I was sure her parents had something nice planned. I wanted to make sure she could have some semblance of a normal birthday, if that was even possible. I knew Shelly, Lori, and Mrs. Carmichael would more than likely be willing to help out. I was snapped out of my own thoughts by the sound of her rumbling tummy. “And when’s the last time you ate?”
Megan looked up to the ceiling and stuck two fingers up before pushing them closer to me. “This many, I think. Two days? My teacher says I’m not good at counting yet.” She looked dejected and embarrassed. “But I’m getting better!”
I didn’t care as much about her counting as much as I did her diet. Two days without eating for a kid probably felt like an eternity. I reached into the third row of seats to grab the donuts, and I also saw the cooler. I told Megan to pick two while I made her a sandwich, and we could ask Lori about her having another one later. We had two cool bottles of water next to the sandwich ingredients as well. Megan was more than happy to take those.
“Whoa, easy there, kiddo,” I said, watching Megan hungrily shovel a donut in her mouth with only three bites. “It’s not going anywhere. If you choke or get sick, she’s gonna kick my butt.” I pointed outside to Lori. Her free hand was making all sorts of annoyed gestures. Calling her frustrated would have been an understatement.
Megan giggled through a mouthful of sweets. “Daddy says the same thing about Mommy. He always gives me a piece of candy after dinner.” Her face fell when she mentioned her parents. She sniffled, managing to keep it together. She only rubbed her eyes this time.
“You know...I lost my parents too,” I told her. I didn’t want to try and make it about me. I just wanted her to know she had someone who understood. I always felt better when I knew I wasn’t alone in something. Megan looked back at me with sad eyes as big as dinner plates. I nodded my head in confirmation. “It happened when I was twelve. It still hurts today, but I’ve met a lot of great people that help make it better. All three of us are here for you, Megan.”
“Even him?” she asked, pointing toward Alex. He was leaning against the passenger side door, looking gruff. “He’s scary.”
“He looks scary, but he’s a nice guy,” I said, but Megan still didn’t look convinced. I held out a hooked pinky toward her. “Pinky promise.”
She did her end of the pinky promise and went back to eating her goodies. I finished making up her sandwich by running down which condiments she did and didn’t like. All the while, her mental state was in the forefront of my mind. Losing both parents like that and nearly being killed the same way would certainly leave some trauma. Kids could be obnoxiously good at seeming more mature and well-adjusted than they should, so I had no idea when it would start to show. The little girl happily munching away on junk food didn’t look like she was in a bad state of mind. Looks were often deceiving.
Lori climbed into the front seat of the car as Megan ate the gourmet sandwich I painstakingly prepared. I could tell Lori was stressed and doing her absolute best to put up a happy front. She got the same basic information from Megan that I did, like her birthday, but got other things like her favorite color, kind of animal, and toys. When she saw Megan finish up the sandwich, she peered over the seat with a big smile. “Megs, you should ask Alex if he wants to play. He’s super-duper strong. I bet he’d be able to fly you around like an airplane.”
Megan seemed excited and nervous, glancing at the gruff guy outside the car. Lori promised her that it’d be fine, and he’d love the chance to play with her. When I reminded her of our pinky promise, she left the vehicle to approach Alex. We both watched to make sure he was being a good sport about it, which he was, so she seemed to be in good hands. He was all smiles and eager to toss a small human in the air. He was using his Anomaly for it and Megan was laughing her head off, which settled me down a bit.
“Okay, we have two options,” Lori began. “Well, three. Or two and a half. It’s a bit of a mess.”
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
“Let’s start from the beginning,” I said, trying to prevent a tangent before it began. “What’d Mrs. Carmichael say?”
“That the bracelet was probably right about Megan having an Anomaly. In a pretty damn scary method of tracking, she used the position of this vehicle, the direction we walked, and a satellite image of the nearest road to get the house number. Once she had the house number, finding the info for the occupants was easy enough for her. Right now, the entire family is considered missing. No grandparents, aunts, uncles, or anyone else that could take her in. She is, in the truest sense of the word, an orphan.”
“It’ll probably be a while before most of the dead are actually confirmed dead instead of missing, won’t it?” I asked. I looked past Lori and to the ash pit. I got the same feeling from it as I did from the graveyard where Mom and Dad were buried. It was the kind of heavy feeling in your chest when you realize you’re staring at a massive amount of death. “Megan said that she heard her parents scream on the phone and it went dead while they were in the city, so I think they’re gone.”
“Yeah, I think so too,” Lori agreed. “That brings us to our issue. In the eyes of the authorities, Megan is dead. With all the chaos going on, no one is going to hunt for her specifically at this point. There’s just too much going on.
“Since she has an Anomaly, Mrs. Carmichael said we can bring her to Luna. Even if Megan didn’t have one, I have no doubt that she would be welcomed there, but that’s what I want to discuss with you. We have to be very careful with this, Ethan. She’s not even seven yet, so if we brought her with us, that’s essentially kidnapping. Maybe it isn’t really breaking a law, but there’s a case to be made for reporting this to the authorities and having them take care of it.”
“You don’t really want to do that, do you?” I asked, having a feeling that neither of us really did. If I didn’t have Shelly, that would have been my fate, and who’s to say I wouldn’t have ended up in an abusive home or worse? “You think we should take her to Luna.”
“I do.” Lori nodded and rested her head on the steering wheel. She turned over to watch Alex and Megan playing with each other, the little girl still filled with glee. “But is that a choice that we can really make? I mean, there’s no way she can fully understand it. It takes well-adjusted adults some time to adjust. She didn’t mention anything about her power though. Maybe it would be best to have her with us if she hasn’t awoken it yet. Given what she went through, it’d be surprising if she hasn’t had her Anomaly pop up. Still, it’s not impossible, and it could be very bad if she’s with unsuspecting people.”
“For what it’s worth, I think we should too,” I added in, not bothering touching on her power. That wasn’t something I could even process. “If nothing else, her power could be dangerous, right? If we just handed her off to the police and she ends up living in a...less than ideal home, what if she ends up like McLeod? I think she should be put in a place where she’d be surrounded by love and support.”
“You know, I feel like I’m talking to another girl when I’m with you,” Lori said, laughing.
“What? Why?” I frowned in confusion. I knew I didn’t exactly give off huge amounts of masculine energy, but I didn’t think I was particularly feminine either.
“You’re just kind of family-oriented in a way that I’ve only seen in other girls. It’s not a bad thing, I swear. I know you’ve been in a similar spot that Megan’s in now, so I really appreciate your input.” Lori started up the SUV and I quickly gave up trying to understand what she meant. Maybe I’d ask Shelly when I got back, but that was a pretty low priority. “I guess we should do our best to explain everything to Megan.”
Lori stretched as far as she could to reach the passenger side window. She watched the two play for a bit before tapping on the glass and waving them over. Alex had worked up a bit of a sweat from it, so he kept his window down when he got in. Megan was having giggle fits when she climbed in next to me. She threw me a toothy grin and two thumbs up from her play session. I gave her a high five and matched her expression.
“Have fun?” I asked.
“Yeah!” Megan was bouncing in her seat, but when Lori started up the SUV, she buckled herself in. “You’re right, he is super-duper strong.”
Lori let Alex get his own chuckle out. She seemed really happy that Alex could adapt so well to the little girl. “Megs, there’s something we have to talk to you about. All three of us have...well, I guess you could call them superpowers. Sort of. Did your mom and dad talk to you about the people that have been showing up in other cities?”
“A little bit,” Megan said, finally settling down. “They said there are some bad ones, but there was one good one on TV that saved people. Daddy wouldn’t let me see.”
“Right. One of the brave people who tried to save others was one of my closest friends, actually.”
“Really!? You know a superhero?” Megan could barely contain herself. She was practically bouncing in the seat.
Lori had a warm smile on her face in the reflection of the mirror. “Yeah, he really was a hero. He died helping others get away.” Megan’s demeanor got sad, so Lori got back to the matter at hand. “We have this cool bracelet that’s helping us look for something to stop the bad guys. It went off because you have a power like we do. That’s how Alex was able to throw you so high.”
“I have one? What is it?” If she didn’t know what her own power was, it likely hadn’t awakened. It must’ve been like mine not awakening when I saw my parents die.
“We’re not sure yet, but we can help you figure that out.” Lori stopped to take a deep breath. “There’s no fun way to talk about this, Megs. We can bring you to the police so they can try to find you a new home, or you can come with us. Most of us have powers and we all live together in a big building. There’s a bunch of fun stuff to do.
“Ethan and I talked about it, and we thought it was only fair that you get to make the decision. Ethan can attest to it, but life is going to be harder for you than it should be. We don’t want to force you to go somewhere you don’t want to go.”
Megan looked down at her shoes and thought it over. I would have been overwhelmed with this kind of choice in her position. If someone had asked me that at twelve, I would have had no idea what to do. Being half that age with that decision would have sent me spiraling. There were a lot of families at Luna, though. There was more than enough room, and even if no family would be able to take her in, Shelly would in a heartbeat. Even with all the positives, it was a nearly-impossible choice for such a young kid.
“I miss Mommy and Daddy, but I like you guys. You gave me donuts and I want to be heroes like all of you.” Megan looked up to Lori with her eyes moist. “Can I stay with you?”
“Yes, absolutely. You’re going to have so many new friends who are excited to see you when we get there.” Lori checked behind us and there were still no cars, so she slowly reversed and got us going again. “But how about we get you a nice bath and a good night of sleep tonight?”