He hadn’t meant to scare the child, but it wasn’t his fault that she was eavesdropping. He watched her run off, twin pigtails bouncing. He could already hear her, in his mind’s ear, telling her mommy about the mean man that was telling scary stories at the football game.

“I don’t care about any of that.” Mrs. Heath’s shrill voice turned him back to her, “It will be quite incredible once we gut it. Frankly, I’m surprised you’re not doing it yourself.”

Newen sighed, “That’s not my specialty Mrs. Heath.”

Mrs. Heath dabbed the sweat from her forehead, “Please, call me Larissa.”

Newen wiped sweat from his own forehead. It was hot and muggy. But that wasn’t why he was sweating.

“As I said, Mrs. Heath, the house has been host to a myriad of terrible events, of which the story that terrified the little girl…”

Mrs. Heath interrupted, “You mean Page?”

Newen nodded.

“Don’t mind her.” Mrs. Heath continued, “She’s always eavesdropping.”

Newen cleared his throat, “Be that as it may, the story she overheard is only the tip of the iceberg. I could spend the entire day recounting the terrible events that have happened there.”

“Yes, yes. I understand.”

Her tone said that she didn’t. It was the same voice Newen’s mother had taken on when he was a child and told her some imaginary thing. It was, in fact, the same tone Page’s mom’s voice had taken on when she consoled Page about the scary man and his scary story.

“But I don’t care. My husband,” Her face puckered like she had eaten a sour pickle when she mentioned him, “and I stand to make a lot of money. And, I believe that haunted houses are quite en vogue right now. In fact, we could turn it into an Air BnB and make a killing.” She cackled, “No pun intended.”

Newen shook his head in disbelief at her avarice. But he had tried to warn her. He put on his best smile and moved in for the kill. No pun intended.

“Then it’s settled. I’ll send over the contract in the morning.”

She smiled, “I’ll wire over the money in the afternoon.”

“Mrs. Heath, it’s been a pleasure.” Newen smiled.

She frowned at his use of her last name. “Yes, it has. Now I must get out of this dreadful heat. If you’ll excuse me.”

Newen inclined his head as he watched her sway off. A moment later he got up himself and strolled to his car as he pictured what would happen tomorrow. Mrs. Heath would sign the paperwork and then wire over the money. Then, as if they were drawn there, Mrs. Heath and her husband would go to visit the house. And then they would disappear. And there would be no record of the sale, or of the money, or of anything really. Except that Newen would have their money. And they would be gone.

---

As she searched, her movements were frantic. The ship’s alarms were blaring. The same phrases were ringing out, over and over.

“Fuel levels low. Oxygen levels low.”

Geraldine–oh how she hated the name her mother had given her, 20,000 siblings and she got Geraldine–looked at her scanners. An hour ago her ship had dropped out of the skip lane early and now she was lost.

Well not exactly lost. The ship knew right where it was, in the Epsilon Quadrant of Galaxy 1323. That did her no good though. She was light years from the galaxy that she had been shooting for and Galaxy 1323 was completely unexplored.

A quick look at the monitors told her everything she needed to know. Even if she entered into hibernation she had less than 2 hours of oxygen.

She poured all of the ship’s power into the sensors, expanding their range to their limits. She shot her tongue into her food bag, pulling a couple of insects into her mouth. The one thing she still had plenty of was food.

Thirty minutes later Geraldine had accepted the inevitable. She had broadcast a farewell message to her mate, Xerxes, telling him how sorry she was that she would never return. She remembered the pained look on his face when he had seen her off. The venom glands behind his eyes had been weeping.

After sending the message, and wiping her own glands, Geraldine gorged herself on the rare larvae she had brought to celebrate. Now sated, she sighed, it had been a good life, though rather shorter than she had planned.

A siren sounded. Probably going to tell me that oxygen levels are dangerously low.

“Habitable planet detected. Classification 3-m-h. ”

Geraldine’s eyes snapped to her scanners. A 3-m-h was ideal, almost identical to her home planet. She keyed in the coordinates, set the autopilot and then entered hibernation sleep.

As she faded off into hibernation sleep more warnings played over the loudspeakers, but she was too far gone to hear them.

“Signs of advanced intelligence on all major land masses. Advanced technology present…”

—

Geraldine woke to crushing pain. Both her left legs, front and back, were pinned and she couldn’t move them. She looked around frantically, trying to get her bearings. It was always disorienting upon waking from hibernation sleep.

Her ship was in complete disarray and the visor screen was visibly cracked. Hopefully the computer was right about the breathable atmosphere.

All the ship’s systems were down.

After a few minutes of moving she was able to unpin her limbs. She positioned herself with her back to the visor and kicked at it with her powerful hind legs. After a couple kicks the screen broke free from its mountings and fell out.

She sniffed at the air experimentally and then flicked out her tongue a couple times. The air seemed safe.

She crawled from the wreckage and was bombarded by a fierce heat. It seemed she had landed in the middle of a desert. The land was barren and parched with little growth.

She looked up at the sky to the sun. It was almost directly overhead. She needed to find shelter soon or she would overheat and die. She climbed back into the wreckage and pulled out her survival kit. She took a sip of water and checked her rations. She had enough food and water to survive for a couple days. That should be enough time for her to find water and maybe something that wouldn’t kill her if she ate it.

She moved away from the wreckage of her ship directly east according to her compass. It seemed that this planet had magnetic poles not unlike those on her home planet.

She had been moving at a brisk pace for less than ten minutes when the ground started to tremble.

Earthquake. Well at least I’m out in the open where nothing can fall on me.

Just then she looked up as a shadow engulfed her. In moments something crashed down around her. She rammed into the sides of it, hoping to break or dislodge it but it held solid. It was clear but surrounded her completely. She was trapped!

—

“Hey Billy, check this out. I found a frog…and it’s wearing clothes!” Tommy was dancing around the upside down Mason Jar on the ground.

Billy walked over to where his younger brother was dancing and squatted down on the ground to get a better look.

“It’s not a frog Tommy, out here in the desert it’s a toad. But there’s no way it’s wearing…”

Billy’s voice faded off as his eyes grew wider. Under the jar was a good sized toad, wearing what looked like a space suit and carrying a little backpack.

---

Garret leaned forward on the couch and turned up the TV, even though he knew Sally hated it when her super hearing picked up the TV on the other side of the house.

The lead news story was just coming on.

“We’re going live to Lisa Flores-Yao live at the ‘Save Us From Saving’ benefit concert in Daytona Beach. Lisa, what can you tell us about what’s going on down there in Florida.”

The scene switches to a beautiful blonde with blue eyes. She is standing next to a bearded guy in a stocking cap and thick, horn-rimmed glasses.

“Thanks Dave.” She says. “It’s total chaos here at the ‘Save Us From Saving’ benefit concert. Officials are trying to get a handle on the situation and get people evacuated in an orderly fashion but its total pandemonium. I’m here with Kick Spade, lead singer for Pygmy Dip And The Jetpack Witch and organizer of the ‘Save Us From Saving’ benefit concert. Kick,” she turned to the bearded man, “can you tell us what happened?”

“It was them!” Kick shouts. He has a wild almost hunted look in his eyes.

“Them who?” Lisa asks.

“The superheroes! It was them. I know it was! They’re afraid of us!”

“Okay. Kick. Calm down and tell us what happened.”

“We were out there doing the sound check, me and the guys in the band. So anyways, we were just out there, setting stuff up, messing around and then the stage caught on fire, and then the grass in the field was burning and then the shops and stands, everything just went up at the same time. I know it was them, the superheroes. They must have started the fires!” Kick shouted at the last.

“Did you see anyone?” The reporter asked.

“No. But do you think that matters? They’re superheroes so they can like fly, and turn invisible and whatever. I know it was them, they’re afraid of us an what we have to say!” Kick shouts into the microphone and then runs off.

“So there you have it Dave.” Lisa says, looking directly into the camera. “I can tell you that the fires are mostly under control and it seems like things are calming down. There’s a press conference scheduled in 15 minutes where authorities have promised to get us more information. Until then back to you Dave.”

The newscast flipped back to the newsroom but Garret wasn’t paying attention.

He whispered under his breath. “Sally.”

Before the words were completely out of his mouth Sally, his wife of 20 years in September, was standing behind him.

“What is it?” She asked in her no-nonsense voice. She knew that he only called her by her name when something was wrong.

“Is Garret home?” he asked quietly.

“No he’s out with some of his friends, why?”

Garret answered with another question. “Which friends?”

“Sally, Jake, and Jarrett, maybe a couple others. Why?”

Garret looked up at his wife. All superheroes. He grimaced.

“I think we have a problem…” and he proceeded to tell her what he saw on the news.

The horse came back alone. Slay stood staring at it’s empty saddle as it trotted towards him. When the horse, Slay’s sister had named it Diamond, reached him he pulled a bit of carrot from his pocket and let Diamond eat it from his hand.

He then reached up and grabbed the loose reins.

It’s done.

Sarah had left early the day before. She had been wearing a white button shirt and tan pants tucked into her bright red calf high boots. Her long black hair had been pulled back into a long braid that ran all the way down her back.

She had looked down at Slay with her haunting, purple eyes. He had always loved them.

“It’s time.” She said.

“How do you know? Couldn’t you be wrong?”

“No. It’s time. I know it is. Can’t you feel it?” Slay could hear the awe and excitement and fear in her voice.

Slay wanted to shake his head and tell her no, he couldn’t feel it. He wanted to scream at her to stay, to give up this crazy mission, but he couldn’t.

Because he could feel it. He knew as soon as he woke up that she was going to leave. It was like the world was waiting, holding its breath.

Slay played his last, desperate card.

“Isn’t there someone else?”

Sarah just stared at him.

“Anyone?”

Still she stared.

Slay felt anger and rage boil up inside him. How could she, his twin sister just leave him?

He almost shouted at her then. He wanted to tell her “Fine, go. Get out of here! I don’t need you!”

But he didn’t. Instead he stood there. Hands clenched into fists with a solitary tear running down his cheek.

Sarah reached down and brushed her hand against his cheek. As she pulled her hand away sunlight sparkled in the tear that she had caught. She carefully placed the tear right below the corner of her left eye. It would stay there, now, forever.

“I know it’s hard Slay but there’s no other way. They need a Keeper and I am the strongest one left.”

Something happened that Slay couldn’t sense but that pulled Sarah’s head away from Slay and to the west. She stared off into the distance for a moment then turned back to Slay.

“I have to go now. I’m sorry Slay. I love you.”

She reached her hand out and Slay took it in his own. As always he marveled at how slim and delicate her hand was in comparison to his rough, course hands.

“I love you too.” He said, nearly choking on the words. Tears now flowed down both their cheeks.

Sarah dropped his hand and turned Diamond to the west. She set off at a quick trot.
Slay stood there, rooted, long after she had disappeared over the horizon.