“You need an escort,” Aisha said. “Someone to keep you in line. You guys have been antsy, and I have a bad feeling.”

“I’ll walk them down there,” Rachel said. “I need to feed my animals.”

“Bring them back here after?”

Rachel grunted in the affirmative.

“I’m not sure I like that terminology,” Roman said. “That you’ll walk us. Collars and leashes for the Heartbroken?”

“Only if you make me,” Rachel said. “But I’ll get you treats.”

“Can’t argue with that,” Roman said.

“Parian?” Aisha asked. “Can you keep an eye on the kids inside? They were harassing the Tenders, and if they wake up Tattletale from her nap, there’ll be hell to pay.”

“Yes. Of course.”

“Thanks babe. Any word from Foil?” Aisha asked.

Parian shook her head. “We talked briefly when we crossed paths. She said she wants space. That’s it.”

“Okay. Good luck.”

Parian slipped back indoors.

Leaving Aisha alone with Brian.

It was so hard to talk. Again, that issue their parents had left with them. They were so bad at communicating. Their mom had ignored them, their dad had communicated by dragging them to gyms and telling them to turn their aggressions toward punching bags, with tears being deemed weakness. Anything else was their own shit to deal with.

“Aunt Rachel, huh?” he asked, breaking the awkward silence.

“Yup.”

“She seems… I thought after a few years of living out in the middle of nowhere on a foreign Earth, she’d cut off contact from humanity entirely.”

“Her little settlement grew,” Aisha said. “When it gets to be too much, she goes for a trip somewhere, spends a while with a few select dogs, and trusts her team to look after the dogs she leaves behind at the camp.”

“I can’t get over the ‘Aunt Rachel’ part.”

“It started as a joke and then became serious.”

“Were you a part of that joke?” he asked.

She smiled, and she shook her head. “Can’t take credit for it.”

“And that was Romeo. He’s a teenager now.”

“Yup. Roman now. Little bastard did something very familiar, recently. Put his life on the line to save someone’s life, in the middle of a class-S threat.”

“Like his brother.”

“I could’ve killed him if I hadn’t been so proud of him. The jackass. Makes my heart hurt, even now. The kicker? That girl was his sister. Juliette.”

“They put each other in the emergency room, I think.”

“Yep. They still flirt with the idea of murdering each other, but I think toying with the idea of murder is better than actual attempted murder.”

“Can’t separate ’em? Send one somewhere else?”