My big brother stood there like he had much more on his mind than if he wanted some ice cream or not. After a moment of hesitation, he shook his head. Then ran a hand across the top of his head and the closely cropped hair there. He did that when he was nervous about something. His bright blue eyes looking distant as if he was seeing something other than what was right in front of him.

  “How long has she been that way?”

  Emmaline walked over to the bar stool at the kitchen island, plopped down, pulled off the lid and started digging in. She knew he was talking about Mom.

  “Since that ship showed up,” Em replied around a mouthful of ice cream.

  “Did she say anything to you about it, or anything else?” Michael sounded irritated, like it was her fault things were going sideways or something.

  Emmaline shrugged. “Nope. She’s just been crying like someone died or something.”

  My brother stormed over, yanked the spoon right from Emmaline’s hand, then walked around to the sink and threw it in.

  Anger raced through Emmaline as she sat up straight on her bar stool and cried with an indignant, “Hey!”

  But Michael didn’t seem to care. He just went and yanked open the refrigerator. He then pulled out a Tupperware container with last night’s spaghetti. He tossed it onto the counter and then slid it over to her.

  Emmaline looked at the container with disgust. Leftovers? Ewww! Not in a million years! Not even if it were the last thing to eat on Earth. She folded her arms across her chest and glared at her brother. “You aren’t the boss of me.”

  The jackass actually had the nerve to point a finger at her and started speaking in his I’m-an-adult-now voice. Technically, at twenty-five Michael was an adult, but that didn’t mean Emmaline had to like it, or that she was the only real kid left in the house. “And you could be a little less of a jerk. Some crazy things are going on, but that doesn’t mean you forget about who you are and what you are supposed to do. You could also be a little more sensitive to whatever Mom is going through. People don’t cry like that for no reason, Em.”

  It was like he had hit her with a brick house, crushing Emmaline, crushing the breath right out of her. “I know.” She got out, but just barely.

  Why did he have to say that? Why did he have to tell her what she already knew? Why did it feel like things would never be alright again, no matter what Dad had said? She had tried to be brave, especially for her mom’s sake. She had tried to push all the fear and frustration away, but now it all came slamming down on top of her all at once, and it made her feel as if she had been shattered to pieces. And she started to do the one thing she told herself she wouldn’t––she started to cry.

  It was unlike any kind of crying she had ever done. It was like it was coming from a deeper part of herself, like her very soul was weeping. And she couldn’t stop; she didn’t want to stop. It was all just too much, and she just couldn’t go on anymore.

  She felt arms wrap around her and hold her close, and that just opened the floodgates to her tears even wider. She felt her whole body shake as she poured out her resentment at Mom for not being the adult Emmaline needed her to be. She let out all her fear of the massive unknown that had plopped itself down in their lives. She let it all out, and she didn’t even care that she was crying anymore.

  Emmaline didn’t know how long she cried, but Michael didn’t let her go the whole time. He was like a rock in a stormy sea that she could cling to, and she was thankful for it. Eventually, Em’s tears dried up, and she felt steady enough to pull away. Michael let her go, but then he carefully wiped Emmaline’s tears from her face. He smiled down at her. It was like basking in the light of the sun after a cloudy day. It filled up Emmaline’s heart, and she smiled back.

  Her brother then did something that surprised her. He walked back around the island, opened the silverware drawer, and pulled out two spoons. He came back around brandishing one of them for Emmaline to take.

  She couldn’t help the big grin as she took the spoon, but instead of digging into the ice cream, she motioned for Michael to go first. He accepted the gesture and used his spoon to dig deep down into the carton. Michael ended up scooping out a monstrously large bite and ate it with a goofy grin.

  And so the two of them sat there eating their way to the bottom of the mint chocolate chip carton. Michael even let Em scrap the bottom when they got to the end!

  When the ice cream was finally gone, Emmaline could see the heaviness settle on her brother again. He turned to Em with that look of his when he was mulling over a very adult problem. But again he surprised her when he held out a hand in invitation.

  “Shall we?” he asked.

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “We shall,” Emmaline replied, not even caring where they went, just as long as they did it together.

  The two of them then turned toward the living room and the sound of the television still going there. They walked in and Emmaline came to an abrupt stop when she saw what was on the screen.

  “Oh wow, would you look at that!”

  That massive alien ship was still hovering over the lake, but there was now a second ship. It was microscopic compared to the big mothership. But it was clear that it was made similarly to the larger one. It had the same coloring and markings, though the smaller ship was round rather than rectangular.

  “It has the same markings as the bigger ship,” Emmaline said as they both stared at the video footage.

  Water poured off the smaller ship as it slowly rose from the surface of the lake up to the larger ship. A misty green light surrounded the smaller ship, pulling it up into the air. It was also hard to miss the patches of dark green that had grown all over the small ship’s hull.

  “Holy shit! Do you know what this means?” Emmaline said as she started to truly realize the implications of what they were seeing. She knew because they’d spent a whole week in her biology class this year talking about algae, where it grew and how important it was to oxygen production for the planet, but the real reason she paid any attention was because the of the substitute teacher and his most dreamy smile. Sigh. Mr. McDurmick was going to be her husband someday, she just knew it.

  Michael threw her a disapproving look. “Really, Em?”

  Emmaline came back to the present to remember that Michael was––once again––scolding for her use of bad language. Yeah, like he didn’t use to cuss like a sailor when he was a teenager. Emmaline might have been young back then, but she remembered, and he definitely had no room to talk!

  Instead of arguing the fact, Em went to the sofa, sat down, and changed the subject back to what was really important. “How long do you think it was down there?”

  Michael went over to the recliner and sat down as well. He did that nervous thing with his hand running over his short-cropped hair again. He was eyeing the large patches of algae on the smaller ship too.

  “Looks like it’s been down there a while,” he said.

  Well duh! That wasn’t very helpful.

  “Yeah, but how long?” Emmaline asked again, hoping for a better answer. Michael was a science nerd after all. He should know these things far better than her one-week class education, which, let’s face it, she was more into the smile and Mr. McDurmick’s perfect hair, teeth, and chin than the algae. Oh, and muscles, don’t forget the nice swell of muscles underneath his sweater vest. Mr. McDurmick obviously liked to work out.

  Michael threw her an irritated look. “How the hell should I know? A while. As much as that’s covering that ship, it would have to be more than a few months, maybe even a few years.”

  “More like twenty.”

  Emmaline swung her head over to see Mom had come back downstairs. She had combed her hair, so she looked a little better, but she was holding her middle like maybe in that act she could keep herself together.

  Michael stood up, but hesitated. “Mom?”

  Her head swiveled to look at Michael. The two of them just stood there for a long moment, not saying a word, and Em got the distinct impression there was a whole conversation going on in the silence that stretched out between them. In Michael, Em could see the fire of accusation in his eyes, but for what Emmaline couldn’t imagine. And in Mom, it was like the woman was drowning in a sea of guilt.

  Finally, Mom broke the silence. “I’m so sorry, Michael. We tried to keep this away from you, but I’m afraid that all we did wasn’t enough. I’m so sorry.” Her words broke, and she started crying again.

  Michael crossed the room and took her in a big hug. All Emmaline could do was sit there on the sofa. She didn’t know what to do or say. It seemed to be her theme for the day. Then she noticed Dad. He was standing in the space between the kitchen and living room. Emmaline couldn’t dismiss the haunted look on his face.

  After a moment, he moved into the living room and took Mom from Michael. He wrapped an arm around her, and spoke. “It’s okay, Cassie. It’s going to be okay,” he comforted her.

  “No, it’s not.” She sobbed. “It’s never going to be all right. We were delusional to think we could escape it, escape them.”

  “But we did, at least for a little while, and what a great little while it’s been. No matter what, we will always have that. And it will be okay again. You will see.”

  Mom must have taken that to mean something because she looked up at Dad with expectation. She had stopped crying and was now wiping away her tears. “You were able to make contact then?”

  Dad nodded. “Yes, one of Rainus’s men is on board.”

  “What did he say?”

  “The King says it’s time for him to return.”

  “But-”

  Dad held up a hand to interrupt her. “Cassie, believe me, I know. We knew we had to be prepared for this eventuality, but still, I’m not ready to just hand him over. So let me take care of this, please.”

  Mom nodded, but she didn’t seem to like whatever Dad had said.

  He looked over at Emmaline. “Take your mother to her room. She needs to rest, and I want you to stay in there with her. Michael and I need to have a talk.”

  What? Seriously? Didn’t she get to know what was happening too? Why just Michael? It was not fair! And what the hell had that little conversation between Mom and Dad been all about? Who was this Rainus guy? And who were they referring to when they talked about handing someone over?

  Anger coursed through Emmaline, and she opened her mouth the protest, and then Dad shot her the look. It was the one Emmaline knew all too well––the do-what-I-say look, or else. Even though every part of her wanted to scream in protest, she knew better than to cross Dad when he was like this.

  She felt a little deflated at being out-parented, but Em was determined to make sure everyone knew she was not okay with this unfairness, so she stomped her way across the room. Emmaline took Mom’s arm. The woman didn’t protest as Em led her up the stairs. She was partway up when Emmaline turned to send one last parting glare at her father and brother.

  That’s when she saw Dad give Michael a look that chilled her to the bone. It was a look of shame and utter defeat, something she never thought she would ever see from a strong and confident man like her dad. It sent Emmaline’s heart to thundering in her chest as she turned back to her task and didn’t dare look back as she led her mother up the rest of the way to the master bedroom.