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 Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2017 11:48 am
 Sigrin got the alert on xeir way home from Haunted Hallows. Xie’d spent the evening at a fancy haunted house in the affluent part of town where xeir very deep voice had been in demand for setting the tone for a creepy evening. Xie had spent the evening singing, wailing, and moaning—generally not a good thing for a professional singer to do, but Sigrin didn’t have another gig until the day after tomorrow, and xie had some potion stocked up that could help restore xeir voice before then. It wasn’t a totally ideal situation—the potion gave xem a nasty headache—but it was better than cancelling a gig. It wasn’t as good as letting your voice recover naturally, but hey, a headache was worth the money from both gigs combined.
On the way home, as xie always did, xie listened to the radio and sang along with the songs. Xie was most of the way home when the music stopped abruptly and a shrill tone emitted from xeir radio.
“EMERGENCY ALERT,” a voice said on the radio. “PROCEED IMMEDIATELY TO THE NEAREST EMERGENCY SHELTER. DO NOT BRING YOUR PERSONAL BELONGINGS. EMERGENCY ALERT.”
Jurvik. Sigrin checked the time on xeir carriage’s clock. At this hour, xeir friend—and his children—would likely be at home. Sigrin was only about a half a mile from them. They’d never make it to the city’s emergency shelter in time…
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Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2017 11:49 am
 Jurvik had had a long but satisfying evening. With Nkiruka getting tired and Xenophon ready to go home, Jurvik had brought them both back home. It was time for bed. Jurvik smiled as he put his two newest rats into a cage. He’d integrate them with his other rats in their much larger cage over the next few days—until then, rats were social creatures, and he didn’t want to disturb their social order with a couple of strangers! Jurvik petted them both. He was particularly taken with a patchwork rat, one that he had named Cumin. She was just too pretty! He hoped the other rats liked her. Certainly he did!
Haunted Hallows was a time for pets—well, any festival, really, was a time for pets. There was a time when Xeno came back from events with his arms full of new pets. This time, it was Nkiruka. She’d come home with three new pets, and almost as soon as she’d gotten home, she’d been complaining that she heard a sound under the house. The sound had turned out to be a gryftoo, so now Nkiruka had gone from having no pets to having four pets all in the same night. Jurvik sighed. Oh, right. Five. There was that creepy wisp in her room that she had asked him to remove, then changed her mind. Ah, fatherhood. It wasn’t all visits to the pumpkin patch and Santa Claws.
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Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2017 11:50 am
 Xenophon was ready to sleep after an eventful evening. He’d gotten to trick-or-treat with his friends this evening—well, his friend, Talya, and her friend Evelyn, and Evelyn’s younger brother. Sadly, Lillian had been unable to complete their set, but honestly, Xeno had had fun anyway. He’d gotten to know Talya and Evelyn better, and having friends was always a good thing. He hadn’t been able to trick-or-treat with Ruka, though, which was much more disappointing than not making four new friends in a single evening. He’d been looking forward to spending time with Ruka ever since he’d first met her a couple months ago. He loved her—how could he not? She grew on you really quickly, even if your first experience with her wasn’t ideal.
But she didn’t like strange adults—who could blame her, after all she’d been through? She could barely stand members of Dad’s band (everyone was hoping that she’d warm up to them eventually), so why would anyone expect her to be able to spend an evening with Mesektet and Guereda? Heck, why had he expected it? How had he not foreseen that he’d have to choose between friends and family?
Ugh. Either way, the day was over, they were home, the candy had been stored out of reach of their animals, and Xeno was brushing his teeth. He couldn’t wait to get to bed!
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Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2017 11:51 am
 Nkiruka was kneeling on the floor, watching the shadows under her bed. There was a gryftoo under there, blacker than the blackest midnight. Their name was Shadowcaster, she’d decided, since they were so dark that she could barely see an outline even in good light. Shadowcaster’s eyes, however, were round and white. Ruka wondered if they were blind, or whether Shadow was like her—a mutant, able to see in spite of a strange pair of eyes.
This time of year was a year for mutants and freaks; there were a lot of them around, no matter where you went. Ruka’s eyes didn’t even get her a second glance at the Academy. She wasn’t sure how she felt about that—weren’t her eyes interesting? They were special, surely. Then again, she didn’t like people staring at her, either.
“Come on, Shadow, please come out,” Ruka crooned. “I don’t think you’ll like it under my bed. Come on, I’ve got plenty of nice space on the top of my bed. Why don’t you come see?”
The gryftoo made an unhappy sound and backed away further under the bed. Ruka sighed. “Please, Shadowcaster. I just want to meet you.”
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Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2017 11:52 am
Sigrin pulled up in front of Jurvik’s house and went straight to the front door. Xie didn’t have much time. If there really was an emergency, the shelter would probably be closing soon. The last thing xie wanted to do was get caught outside. There was no bad weather, no natural disasters—if there had been, they would have said over the radio. Instead, all they gave out was a generic emergency warning. That meant that something unprecedented was up, and Sig didn’t like unprecedented. Unprecedented meant that there were no procedures in place, which meant that no one knew what they were doing or how to protect people from the danger.
There’s safety in numbers. That was all xie could think to do. Find groups of people—find the people xie cared about—and get out of here to someplace where they might have a small chance of surviving. That meant getting Jurvik and his children out of here. The band was the closest thing xie had to a family, and xie wanted to protect it.
Xie took a deep breath and rang the doorbell. It was late—xie had no idea if Jurvik would open the door this late.
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Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2017 11:53 am
Jurvik had been on his way to kiss Ruka good night when he heard the doorbell ring. He frowned. At this time of night, who would be ringing the doorbell?
Was it a trick-or-treater? Why would it be a trick-or-treater? Sure, it was Haunted Hallows, but it was also a little late for small children to be running around in search of free candy. That meant that it was probably teenagers running amok and making trouble for everyone. Jurvik was tempted to let them just stand there on the stoop. Yes. That’s exactly what he was going to do! He turned off the hall light and went to Ruka’s room.
It wasn’t that Jurvik didn’t like teenagers trick-or-treating—his own son was getting to the age where a lot of parents told him that he couldn’t trick-or-treat anymore, and yet Jurvik let Xeno go out every year. No, what Jurvik objected to was teenagers waiting until nine or ten o’clock in the evening to go door-to-door. If teenagers wanted to trick-or-treat, they’d better do it when everyone else did it, and they’d better bring a small child with them as an excuse!
It seemed that these teenagers were very persistent. The doorbell rang again and was followed immediately by frantic knocking. “Jurvik, open the door, now!” Jurvik rushed to the front door and opened it. It was Sigrin—and xie was upset. Why?
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Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2017 11:54 am
Xeno had been about to spit out his toothpaste when the doorbell rang. He looked over in the direction of that part of the house and frowned. What the—? Why would someone be ringing their doorbell at this time of night?
He spat out his toothpaste and rinsed his mouth, his toothbrush, and his sink with water. Maybe it was a bunch of older kids come to trick-or-treat? In which case, they were out of luck—Jurvik hadn’t planned on them being home in time for trick-or-treaters, so he hadn’t bought any candy for them to give out. Why would he? Xeno sighed and went back to his room. It was time for bed, or at least for curling up in bed and reading a good book. Didn’t people realize that?
Apparently not. The doorbell turned into a flurry of knocks and repeated peels of the doorbell. Xeno frowned. That wasn’t right. That wasn’t right at all. He put on his slippers and headed out to the hall to see what all of the fuss was all about. He arrived in time to hear Sigrin’s voice. Now Xeno was full-on worried. Sigrin never came late at night, and xie never rose xeir voice like that (except on stage). Stage persona aside, Sigrin was generally a quiet individual, given over more to speaking in a normal tone of voice rather than screaming like this. Xeno shivered. Something was wrong. Very wrong. What could it be?
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Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2017 11:55 am
Apparently Shadowcaster just didn’t want to come out. Nkiruka frowned and stood up. Nothing she could do now but brush her teeth and go to bed. She sighed and headed towards the bathroom. From the sounds of it, Xeno was finishing up brushing his teeth. That never took as long as Ruka thought it would. Xeno might have big teeth, especially those fangs that were so big they had to stick outside of his mouth, but he was super good at brushing them. He could brush them quite quickly, which always left Ruka scrambling to go over to brush her teeth before it was time for Dad to tuck her in for the night.
Before she got there, though, she heard a someone ringing the doorbell at the front door. Ugh. Why was someone knocking right now? Trick-or-treating was over! No one had any candy left, and even if they did, most people would have eaten it all already. Some people just had no sense of timing. Ruka rolled her eyes and slipped past her brother to the bathroom. She had just put toothpaste on her toothbrush when the doorbell became a flurry of knockings, doorbell ringing, and someone shouting. Ruka frowned and tried to place that deep voice. It sounded familiar…
Oh yeah! Sigrin! Sigrin was one of Dad’s friends from the Academy, back when he’d been her age. Xie was…odd. Xie sort of freaked Ruka out when they first met, actually. Most people with an hourglass figure had high-pitched voices, but not Sigrin—xie had a super deep voice, like it came from xeir stomach instead of xeir chest. It was weird. In spite of that, Xie was okay—for a grown-up. Ruka didn’t trust any grown-up except Dad (especially not her teachers!), but her family was confident she’d open up to Sigrin eventually.
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Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2017 11:57 am
Thank the Nine, he’d finally opened the door. Without preamble, Sigrin swept past him. Xie was grateful that xie had changed out of xeir Haunted Hallows costume—wearing that much makeup would have been a little inconvenient, and honestly, Sigrin was more comfortable right now in xeir sweater and kitten-heel boots than in a skimpy dress and stilettos. It also made things less awkward for talking to children. The first thing Sigrin saw through the door was Jurvik, not yet dressed in his pajamas, and Xenophon, who was not only wearing pajamas, but slippers as well. Ruka was nowhere to be seen—she was probably in her room or somewhere.
Sigrin turned to Jurvik. “We need to go, now,” xie said. “There’s been an emergency declared. Everyone is to go to the nearest shelter. I know where that is, I can take you there faster than any of you can ride your bikes.” She looked back at Xenophon. Pajamas, huh? Yeah, that wouldn’t do. “We should grab a jacket or a sweater, some shoes, and get going. I don’t know how much time we’ll have before they close up the shelter, but it’ll probably be soon. I don’t think it will be open for very long.”
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Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2017 11:57 am
Well…that wasn’t good.
Jurvik stared at Sigrin. Seriously? Was this actually happening? And why hadn’t he known about it? Why hadn’t he received a text message on his phone?
What, his phone that was in his room, recharging, after he returned home this evening to discover that it was out of battery?
…Well, that would certainly explain it.
Jurvik turned to Xeno and waved him back to his room. “Xeno, get on your shoes and grab a jacket. Leave everything else behind. Get your sister to grab her jacket and shoes, too. We’re leaving in three minutes.” Jurvik gestured Sigrin to follow him as he rushed to the hall closet. It was pre-emptive to have ordered the kids to grab jackets—they were all stored in the hall closet, not in their rooms. Oh well. He grabbed his jacket, then grabbed the kids’. “Did they say what kind of emergency it was?” he asked Sigrin.
Xie shook xeir head. “Nope. Just to get to the shelter and to not grab any personal possessions.”
Jurvik snorted. “They don’t know parents very well, do they? I’m not going anywhere without a jacket, it’s freezing out there.” Inside his head, he was even more worried. They had no idea what was coming for them, then.
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Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2017 11:58 am
At Jurvik’s urging, Xeno rushed back to his room via the bathroom. He poked his head inside to see that Nkiruka was waiting for him. She’d probably heard the knock and waited here to find out what it was—she wouldn’t go to the door when an adult was there, even one of Dad’s bandmates. That made sense, really. “We need to leave, now,” he said. “Just get your shoes on and go to the front hall, then we’ll be leaving. Don’t bother bringing anything, we’re just supposed to go.” With that, he turned and went back to his room. He’d just told his sister to go without doing anything—okay, technically without bringing anything, but it all amounted to the same thing—and yet, here was doing something different: shutting his window. He opened his window once a night, except in winter, to let his bats go outside for the evening. They liked to spend the night hunting outside—during the fall and spring, Xeno left the window closed, then opened it again in the morning to let them in again. He’d left the window open while he brushed his teeth. Now all four of his bats were gone—that was understandable. Xeno closed the window, then latched it for good measure. With that taken care of, he put on a pair of socks and his boots, then made his way back to the front door, ready to pick up his jacket from the hall closet.
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Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2017 12:01 pm
Okay, so they were leaving now—and they weren’t supposed to bring anything?
Ruka bit her lip. They could be gone for—Nine knew how long. How was she supposed to get along without everything? How could she leave her pets behind her—her brand new pets, and her brand new toys, and all of her candy?
I can’t leave my pets behind, they’ll hurt the other pets! Ruka was the only member of the family who owned carnivorous pets. What if Punk ate Dad’s rats, or Ampz attacked Xeno’s goats?
She’d just have to bring her pets with her, that was all. Ruka put on her socks and shoes, grabbed her stuffed rabbit, licorice, and headed to the front door. “I need help grabbing my animals,” she said to her dad.
He sighed. “Ruka, we can’t take our animals,” he said gently.
Ruka shook her head. “Dad, if I don’t bring my animals, my animals will eat your animals. It would be a disaster.” Besides, how could she leave them behind?!
Dad was having none of it, though. “We’ll close the door so that your animals don’t get out,” he said.
Dad was just not getting it, was he? “What if my animals starve, Dad? What if we don’t get back soon? My animals could die. They’re my first pets, and I only just got them tonight, I don’t want them to die, Dad!”
For the first time ever, Dad looked really mad. Or even just mildly mad—Dad didn’t do mad. Ruka flinched at the expression on his face. He was going to hit her. She’d gone to far. She’d been wondering for a while how hard Dad could be pushed, and now she knew. She put her hands over her head to shield her head from the blow.
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Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2017 12:02 pm
It was moments like this that Sigrin remembered that xie didn’t have a place in situations like this. This wasn’t xeir family, and it wasn’t xeir fight. It was the Piper family’s fight, and while the Piper family felt like family to xem, it didn’t mean that xie really had any say in a fight like this. A fight certainly looked like what this would turn out to be. Xenophon was standing there with his coat half on, while Jurvik held out a coat for Nkiruka. Xeir old friend’s face was frustrated—not an expression xie was used to seeing on his face. He was normally mellow and level-headed, not…well, not given to frustration.
Nkiruka seemed so determined. She really wanted to bring her pets with her. Sigrin did not envy Jurvik the task of convincing the little girl that this was not going to be possible. And it wouldn’t be—they didn’t have time to gather however many pets there were, and they wouldn’t be able to corral them in a hectic environment like an emergency shelter.
They also didn’t have time to sit here arguing about it. Sigrin gestured to Xenophon. “Let’s get to the carriage,” xie murmured. Anything to get away from whatever was about to happen.
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Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2017 12:03 pm
Nkiruka was being stubborn—frustratingly so. She just didn’t get it—they had to leave, they had to get out of here, before whatever disaster they were facing struck, before whatever the emergency shelter closed. They still had to drive there, and traffic would probably be terrible if everyone was going to be driving there. People panicking tended to have bad road manners—there could be accidents and delays. Stopping to pick up jackets had been forbidden, let alone gathering all of your pets! Xenophon had never given him this trouble!
But then Nkiruka flinched and covered her head with her arms, and Jurvik remembered that Nkiruka wasn’t Xenophon—she never had been, and she never would be. She was a different person. They were both Hallowed orphans, but their experiences at their orphanages, while both terrible, had been terrible in different ways. It used to be when Nkiruka pulled this stuff, they’d beat her, Jurvik reminded himself. Gently, he pulled her arms away from her head. It was difficult—she resisted, and with good reason—but after what seemed like an eternity, he was able to get her arms down. He pulled Licorice out of her hands and put her jacket on her, then handed Licorice back to her. “I’ll close the door to my room,” he said gently. “Your pets and Xeno’s will have free range of the house, the pet door, and the water dishes, and my pets will be safe. Don’t worry about Xeno’s goats, Ruka,” he added. “They can hold their own against your pets.” He kissed her forehead, then pushed her gently in the direction of the door. “I’ll meet you at the carriage,” he said. “I’m going to lock up.”
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Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2017 12:05 pm
Xeno was glad to get out of the awkward bubble himself. Nkiruka was being insistent, and Dad was being obstinate. Nothing was going to get done in this circumstance—and nothing was going to happen that Xenophon wouldn’t like, except possibly an outburst of tears from Ruka. He followed Sigrin to the carriage, reflecting as he did that he wasn’t sure whose side he was on.
On the one hand, Ruka was like him, an orphan. She’d never had pets before—heck, until recently she’d never had a toy that she could call her own. Xeno had been in that position once, not that long ago. He’d been a very small child back then—or at least, what he now considered a very small child. Having his first stuffed animal, Ambrosia, had been an electrifying experience. He hadn’t been at all surprised that Ruka had brought Licorice with her despite only be told to grab her jacket. He also wasn’t all that surprised that she wanted to bring her animals with her. He would have felt the same in her situation, even at her age (although she’d been adopted much older than he had—she was eight, while he had been six).
On the other hand, they didn’t have a lot of time, and animals might be turned away at the door. In which case, they’d either have to release the animals back into the wild (in which case Ruka would lose her animals), they’d have to be left in a cold carriage (in which case they might freeze to death) or even, and he hated this idea, but he had to consider it, they might even get shot at the door if the situation was bad enough.
Xeno shivered. Oh, Nine—was it that bad?
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