Book 2 - Chapter 28 - The Family Situation

After a few days of obsessively checking the squirrels, in an attempt to prevent Helen from carrying out her plans, all I had was a bad case of paranoia, and a splitting headache. As I lay face down on the couch, a pillow covering my head, I felt a small hand on my back.

“Whatchu doing Teddy? I’ve never seen you sit still for so long,” Issi asked. I hadn’t even heard her approach me, the sneaky little ninja.

“Dying,” I replied, deadpanned.

“Don’t die!” The little girl cried, climbing onto my back.

“She’s just being dramatic Issi,” Jane said from the other side of the couch. A moment later, I felt Issi’s weight leave my back. “Although, I admit, she doesn’t look too well.”

I slowly pushed myself upright, and looked over the back of the couch, where Jane was holding Isabelle. The light hurt my eyes, so I pulled my trademark hoodie lower. “I’ve just been busy lately, I’m a little tired.”

“It’s more than that. You’re ALWAYS busy, but the last few days it feels like you’ve been pushing yourself more than usual. Is there something going on?” Jane asked.

I slumped down on the couch, refusing to look her in the face. “Nope.”

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Jane replied almost immediately. She carefully lowered Issi down on one of the kitchen chairs before turning back towards me. “Is it about those Guiding Light goons?”

“Not at all,” I said, slinking further down onto the couch.

“That’s a yes,” Isabelle giggled, “you’re terrible at lying. Even I can tell when you’re not telling the truth.” 

I shot an evil look at the pair, which only elicited more giggles from Issi, and a serious look from Jane. “Ok, fine, I AM dealing with the guiding light, but it’s nothing to be concerned with.”

“Evelyn, I know you’re trying to protect us from something,” Jane said with a sigh, ”but wouldn’t it be safer just to tell everyone about it? If you lie about it, and hide the truth, it may put the kids in danger.”

I sighed, and laid my head against the back of the couch. “Fine, call everyone down. I’ll get food for everyone, and explain the situation,” I said quietly.

Jane nodded, her eyes flickered for a moment, then I heard doors open, elsewhere in the residence. “Nyx, meals and drinks for everyone, except me please. I don’t think I can stomach it with this headache.”

Done. I could also get you some medicine to alleviate the headache, but I know you’re against drugs. Probably wouldn’t be a good idea either, the pain is a sign of you overstressing your brain cells. I recommend trusting the surveillance system you put into place a little bit more, and stop overtaxing yourself. After the meeting I’d also suggest a small dose of nanos. That’ll help with the pain, and prevent long term effects.

“Fine, sure. We’ll talk about it later,” I mumbled. Jane glanced in my direction, but didn’t say anything. It hadn’t taken long for everyone to accept the fact that I occasionally talked to myself sometimes.

After the food appeared on the table, eliciting a squeal of delight from Issi, the rest of the family wandered down and took their places around the table. While Eddie and Issi dug in, the rest turned my way, expectantly.

“So… Here’s the story,” I started, a little hesitantly, “As some of you may know I’ve been tracking down the Guiding Light to make sure they don’t start trouble.” I paused for a moment. “Well, I found them. The problem is a samurai has attached herself to the organization, and I MAY have antagonized her a little.”

There was an overwhelming silence in the room. Eddie and Issi even stopped eating to look at me. “That definitely sounds like you,” Alan said with a sigh. “I’m sure you had a good reason for doing what you did. I doubt you’d piss off someone powerful without a good reason.”

“You’re right, I did,” I replied, sitting up and looking at everyone for the first time. “I’m not going to go into details about what was said, just know that at the end of our meeting the two of us came to an agreement. I’m going to protect the north half of the city, and she’s going to… manage the south side. I won’t interfere with her, she doesn’t interfere with me.”

Jennifer narrowed her eyes, “So, if that’s the case, and you came to an agreement, why are you warning us now.”

“Beside the fact that Jane forced you,” Isabelle chirped up, a smile on her face.

I shot the little girl a quick glance, which just caused her to burst into giggles again, before continuing. “I don’t plan on upholding my side of the bargain, and since I don’t know her that well, I’m concerned that she may not uphold hers,” I told my captive audience. 

Jane, Alan and Jennifer frowned, the other two didn’t seem to quite seem to understand what that meant, which was probably for the best. “I spent the last few days trying to keep track of the situation, and I’m fairly confident she’ll be unable to penetrate the shelter if things escalate, but I don’t want to take any chances,” I said tiredly.

“What about when we need to leave?” Eddie asked, between bites of some sort of casserole. 

This time everyone turned and looked in his direction. Guess I wasn’t the only one that thought he wasn’t paying attention before. “First of all, I don’t think you’ve left here since we moved in, which makes things easier,” I said. “As for those people that actually step outside, I assigned not only your regular fox escorts, but a backup squad of rabbits to shadow you, just in case something comes up. There’s also several squads of bears on stand-by, which will swoop in at a moment’s notice to protect you.”

“You’re legitimately concerned that this woman might try something, aren’t you?” Jane asked, softly.

“Yes, and no. I don’t think she has a reason to start a fight with me, but I also think that she’s calculating enough to try and capture one of you if she thought it would give her leverage over me. She is not a nice person,” I declared, looking over the group at the table. “I thought I could handle the situation by increasing the local protection, and surveillance, without worrying you all, but now that you’re aware I’d like to ask you all to stay home as much as possible. At least, until all this blows over.” 

I waited for everyone to nod before continuing, “Sharron has already agreed to help, so if you NEED to go out for some reason, I want to make sure that one of us goes with.”

“For how long?” Alan asked.

“Until the situation is resolved,” I replied sharply. “This woman isn’t a joke, and even if you don’t like the extra protection, it’s for your own good.” I took a deep breath to calm down, “I’m producing a shit ton of troops, so the situation WILL be solved, it’s just a matter of time.”

Alan sat back, and pouted. I didn’t know WHY he was so pissy, I didn’t think he left the shelter that often anyway. “Does anyone else have any questions,” I asked.

Isabelle sat up straight, her hand shooting into the air. “Yes, Issi?” 

“You have bunnies? Can I hug one?” the little girl asked.

I sighed, resting my forehead against the back of the couch. I could feel the tension, which had previously been building, bleed out of the room a little. “Yes, you can hug one. Only if you finish your meal, and your homework,” I said. 

“Kay,” the little girl replied, before going back to her meal.

“Anyone else have a question?” I asked, lifting my head to look at the table again. No one said anything, so I pointed at the table. “No? Then eat up before it gets cold.

As everyone turned to eat, I lay back on the couch. My head was still killing me, but I felt a little better discussing the situation with the family. Since no one was leaving without my knowledge, I could maybe rely a little more on the squirrel’s reports, rather than manual monitoring.

I sighed, and placed the pillow back over top of my head to block out the light. Guess the only thing left to do was take care of myself. “Nyx, I’ll take those nanos now,” I mumbled.