Aspen and Tora took turns showering and then headed to the kitchen for breakfast. Oscar and Skye were sitting together at the table, engaged in a heated debate about pacifiers.
“She doesn’t need a binky,” Oscar insisted.
“But she likes the binky. It makes her feel calm.”
He shook his head. “It’ll warp her teeth and keep her from talking.”
“I had a binky when I was a baby, and I can talk just fine.”
“What if they’re made from something toxic?” he asked.
“They’re made from medical-grade silicone.” Skye held up the packaging. “Says right here on the box.”
As Aspen got closer, she saw Hope nestled against Oscar’s chest in one of those baby carriers. Like a backpack worn in reverse, two straps fit snugly over his broad shoulders with a pouch in front for precious cargo. Hope’s head was up, her eyes wide open. She appeared to be listening to their conversation. The pacifier in question bobbled up and down as she sucked away contentedly.
Aspen reached out to smooth the infant’s white-blond hair, which seemed to have quadrupled in quantity since yesterday. She also looked much larger than Aspen remembered.
Tora came up alongside them and gasped. “What have you been feeding her?” she asked, her keen doctor’s eye noticing the increase in size right away.
“Just the formula your nurses brought over.” Oscar stood, unhooked the pouch, and carefully withdrew the infant. “She’s growing faster than a normal baby,” he said, handing her over to Tora for inspection.
“She’s almost doubled in size.” Tora sat in Oscar’s chair and set the baby in her lap. “And she’s holding her head up on her own. I’ve never seen head control like this in an infant so young.” Tora locked eyes with Aspen. “She weighed just six pounds, five ounces yesterday. Infants typically lose weight in the first few days after birth. I can’t say for sure without a scale, but I’m guessing she’s at least twelve pounds today. Developmentally, she’s more like a three-month-old than a newborn.”
Hope reached her chubby arms out to Aspen, silently asking to be picked up. She obliged and turned to Oscar. “Wake the others. We need to have a meeting.”
Oscar hurried off to round up the other Shrouds. With Hope in her arms, Aspen paced the kitchen, deep in thought. Her vision was unsettling, to say the least. She wasn’t looking forward to delivering this news.
“Everyone’s awake,” Oscar announced as he stepped back into the kitchen. “They’re on their way.” He stationed himself at the coffeemaker, ready to take orders with a variety of flavored coffees from which to choose. Tora was busily stacking assorted bagels on a huge platter while Skye worked the toaster as their unlikely group filed into the kitchen and took their places in the food line.
Aspen watched the process in wonder. Everyone was silent as the assembly line unfolded. They all worked together seamlessly. Would they work this well together if their lives were on the line in a battle against the SEA? She sure hoped so.
Within minutes, everyone was seated at the table, passing around containers of cream cheese and commenting on Hope’s overnight growth. Oscar, Tora, and Skye sat nearby. They left the seat at the head of the table for her.
Excited chatter abated as she approached with a giant mug of cinnamon-bun flavored coffee. Oscar had left it on the counter for her. The mug read: I Like Big Cups and I Cannot Lie. She stood at the head of the table and took a sip, trying to figure out how to break the news without inciting panic. “The SEA knows we’re here. They’re coming for us.”
Everyone froze and stared at her.
“That’s the bad news.” Aspen took another sip and calmly set the mug on the table. “The good news is they’re still trying to figure out how to destroy this place.”
“Your definition of good news is seriously warped,” Liam said, his blue hair drooping lazily over one eye.
“Yeah. What he said.” Hank returned his bagel to the plate without taking a bite and looked at her like she’d lost her mind.
“Let’s hear her out.” Mrs. B adjusted her glasses. “I know that look. She has a plan up her sleeve.”
“Is immediate evacuation and running for our lives included somewhere in that plan?” Tony asked, already on his second bagel.
“It can be, if that’s what you want,” she said without explaining further.
“Our chances on the surface might be better,” Tony went on, talking around a mouthful of food. “If you haven’t noticed, we’re kind of trapped down here.”
“Not kind of,” Hank corrected him. “We are.”
“What’s option B?” Beckett took a bite of his bagel with strawberry cream cheese and came away with a pink-tipped moustache.
Aspen bit into her own bagel and chewed in thought. “We evacuate everyone in chamber two and get them someplace safe as soon as possible.”
“Where?” Hank pressed. “No place is safe.”
Tora interjected, “There’s an underground network of humans offering refuge to our people. Michael and the others are making the arrangements right now.”
“What about us?” Liam asked, looking more than a little worried.
“The rest of us stay.” Aspen popped the last bagel bite into her mouth nonchalantly.
Olga scooted closer to Oscar. “And do what exactly?”
“We wait.”
“For a slow and painful death at the hands of the SEA?” Hank asked, removing his ball cap to scratch the top of his head.
“We stay here as long as possible and wait for the newborns to mature. I have a feeling they’ll be strong enough to help us by the time the soldiers arrive.”
They all looked at the infant inside Oscar’s pouch with skepticism.
Derby, the quietest member of Oscar’s pack, spoke up. His sparkling blue eyes and big dimples made him a hot commodity with the ladies, who were all out of luck because Aspen knew he batted for the other team. “But they’re just babies,” he said, voicing what everyone else at the table was probably thinking. “We should be the ones protecting them.”
“She’s stronger than she looks.” Oscar stood and nodded across the table at Skye.
Skye took a few steps back as Oscar unclipped the pouch and held the baby aloft. “Go ahead, Hope. Show them what you can do,” he said, tossing her in the air.
In a flash of skilled and magical shapeshifting, a white dove burst forth in place of the baby. Flapping small but powerful wings, she circled their table at great speed before perching gracefully on Oscar’s shoulder. It took a moment for Aspen to realize there was now a translucent bubble around them. It was barely discernible but definitely there.
She reached out to run her fingers over the smooth surface. It was unlike anything she had ever touched before—warm and dry but cool and moist all at once. A steady vibration made her fingertips tingle.
She watched as Skye withdrew several serrated knives from the wooden block on the counter and chucked them, hard, against the bubble’s outer surface. One after another, the knives bounced off and skidded violently across the kitchen floor, slamming against the rock wall on the opposite side of the room.
“From what we can tell, it’s impenetrable,” Oscar explained. “But keep watching. It gets better.”
Skye spoke from the other side, “Hope, can you put a shield around this?” She held up a spoon. “And me, too,” she added.
In the blink of an eye, Hope dove from Oscar’s shoulder, circled both Skye and the spoon, and promptly returned to her perch. Oscar reached up as she hopped onto his finger. Safely in his hands, she shifted into the beautiful blue-eyed, blond-haired baby once again.
Aspen watched, intrigued, as Skye handed the spoon to Oscar and then passed through the bubble to join them inside.
“There are seven others like her?” Hank asked in disbelief.
“Yes.” Aspen shifted her gaze from the baby to Hank. “But I believe she’s the most powerful.”
Tony leaned back and crossed his arms. “Even if the newborns help us, what’s the point of staying here?”
Aspen nodded. “I get it. You’ve all been taught to run from humans pretty much since the day you were born—always looking over your shoulder, keeping one eye open, ready to bolt at the first sign of danger. Those instincts have kept each of you alive until now. But for the first time in over a century, Myriads are back. This changes everything. We have options now. We can afford to think outside the box.” She looked over at Tora, who returned her gaze with a mixture of confidence and curiosity.
“Tora’s father spent his life dreaming about this place,” she went on. “He worked hard and sacrificed everything to build this sanctuary. He thought the day would come when humans would wage war on our people, and he wanted to do something to protect us. I never had the chance to meet him—he was murdered by a human two years ago—but I’m pretty sure he’d want us to start fighting back now that we have Myriads on our side. And I’d bet anything he’d want us to take our stand here, in the sanctuary he built for us. This place, his dream—it’s worth protecting. The SEA has their headquarters.” Aspen intended to find out where. “This will be ours. Who’s in?”
With tears in her eyes, Tora was the first to stand.
Skye stood from her chair and slipped her hand inside Tora’s. “Bet our headquarters are way cooler than theirs.”
Pierre was next. He graciously bowed to Aspen. “Count me in as well, my friend.”
“This is a no-brainer,” Mrs. B said, also standing. “I’ve been dying to stick my rhino horn up the government’s ass.”
“Hope I’m there to see that.” Laughing, Tony got to his feet and set a hand on Mrs. B’s shoulder. “It’s time I put my teeth and claws to good use.”
Hank stood beside Tony and removed his ball cap. “Can’t let you guys have all the fun without me.”
“You got room for a cheetah?” Liam tucked his blue hair behind one ear and stood. “Speed is kinda my thing.”
Beckett stood, playfully bumping shoulders with his son. “This old wolf can’t run as fast as a cheetah, but I’ve got me a mean bite.”
Johnston stood beside Beckett. “Happy to donate my bite pressure to the cause.”
Having already met his word quota for the day, Derby stood and simply nodded.
The other five wolf pack members followed suit—Rivera, Barnes, Delacruz, Kennedy, and Malenko. Like Oscar, all of them were cops. They’d been like Aspen’s uncles growing up, always dropping by for a meal or a ball game on TV.
Miller stood and stared long and hard at everyone around the table. As Oscar’s second-in-command, Aspen knew he was the serious one, always the slowest to smile and the last to laugh. He was also the soul of the pack. “I think I speak for all my pack members when I say it would be an honor to fight alongside each of you.”
Olga stood beside Miller. “I will fight for all of you like family.” She winked at Aspen.
Oscar was the last to stand. He puffed his chest out proudly. His usual air of authority was somewhat compromised by the baby strapped to his chest in a fashionably patterned pink-and-green pouch. “A new pack is born today. We run together, fight together, lay our lives down for each other, and leave no one behind. Our loyalty to the pack knows no bounds.” He made a point of looking into each Shroud’s eyes. “From this moment on, we’re family.”
“Works for me. But do we have to call ourselves a pack?” Still hungry, Aspen took a seat and emptied half the tub smothering her second bagel in strawberry cream cheese.
“Hey, leave some for me,” Skye said, plucking the knife from Aspen’s hand. “How about a flock? That has a nice ring to it.”
“Or a pride,” Tora said, joining in the fun. “That makes us sound fierce.”
“I rather like herd,” Mrs. B chimed in.
“We need a politically correct term that’s inclusive of all species,” Beckett pointed out.
Liam sat beside his dad. “Let’s just give ourselves a kick-ass superhero name.”
Skye glanced up from her bagel. “Like The Avengers?”
“Exactly. But something original.” Liam swept the blue hair from his eyes. “How about The Ferals?”
“Has potential.”
“Simple and to the point.”
“Makes us sound like wild animals.”
“Shall we put it to a vote?” Oscar raised his hand. “All in favor of The Ferals?”
Hope’s head popped up from the pouch on Oscar’s chest as she defiantly spat out her binky with an audible pop. Her angelic baby face did not look happy.
“Our youngest member has cast the first vote,” Oscar said, catching the binky before it hit the floor.
Hope’s eyes took on a golden hue as she gazed up at him.
“Alpha Genesis,” Oscar announced with a shrug. “Just came to me. Those in favor?’”
Everyone grew quiet as they met one another’s gaze around the table. One by one, they all raised a hand.
“It’s official,” Oscar said, grinning. “Welcome, everyone…to Alpha Genesis.”
“Can we have T-shirts made with little logos?” Hank asked.
“I’ve never been in a superhero group before,” Mrs. B admitted. “Wait. Does my knitting group count?”
Aspen finished her bagel and sipped her coffee, watching everyone as the banter continued. She was acutely aware they had all just made an oath to one another. Family, for better or worse.
Until now, it had always been just her and Oscar. Their family had grown overnight. Something told her these Shrouds were destined all along to be here with her and the newborns.
It was clear in her vision that the SEA’s arrival was imminent. All they needed was more time—time for the newborns to grow, time for her to finish her training and gain a better understanding of her own abilities. She shuddered to imagine what would happen if SEA soldiers found them before they were ready. The Shrouds sitting around this table already meant so much to her. There was no way in hell she was going to let anything happen to them.