Leroy was inside his head again, and concerningly so this time. Sure, he was quiet and strange and pensive no matter which way you turned him, but Cecelia knew her brother like the back of her hand, and this was not the normal him. She’d known it the second he got into the car after school; despite his smiling, he was thinking about something. Hell, he didn’t even speak on the ride back home, which was more than a little abnormal for a boy who usually liked launching into discussions about what he learned that day and offered to help Cecelia with her homework. He’d seen something, and she knew it.

Pulling on her jacket and stepping out the front door into the evening light, Cecelia checked the batteries of her flashlight and turned her eyes towards the dusk-laden trees. There was something about evening forests in autumn that gave her pause for a moment, staring up at the rapidly fading sunlight between the towering pines before continuing on her way. She took the route to the gas station a little bit more slowly today, trying to give herself more time to take in the beauty and think.

What if he’s not okay? She found herself wondering, zipping up the gray fabric over her shoulders and throwing up the hood over her head. His anxiety gets really bad. Is it flaring up again? Does Dad notice?

The idea of Leroy being anxious made Cecelia anxious. Though she rarely admitted it aloud, as per the sibling code, the idea of her brother being harmed in any way filled her with a special kind of fear. When nobody else had their backs, they’d had each other, and words couldn’t describe the lengths she’d go to for him. He was everything.

If she ever lost him, whether to the confines of his mind or to the world around them, Cecelia knew it would kill her.

So what the heck is going on with him? What’s his problem?

With fear flared a sense of frustration, a desperation to understand that Cecelia was unable to fulfill. Hurt pulsated under it, a slight sting at the idea that her brother – her best friend – might hide something important from her. Logically, she understood that siblings didn’t tell each other every little thing, but if something was troubling him, why didn’t he come to her for support? She was there for him. Didn’t he know that?

Cecelia needed a snack, and she needed advice.

Pushing open the door to the gas station, the temperature of which felt like the inside of a walk-in freezer, the brunette stalked among the shelves for a moment, carefully surveying her options. Sweet? Savory? Both? No, no, she only had the money for one item today. The same 10 she’d gotten as change last time, actually. That, or the six dollars she had on the debit card she barely ever used. She’d have to do some actual math this time.

Sour Patch Kids? Those stupid peppermint patties whose brand name read like “Yonk” instead of “York?” No, there had to be something better. Something at least a little yummier. Swedish Fish?

Yes.

Swedish Fish it was, then. With nimble hands, she picked up the last box from the shelf and made her way to the front counter. Sure as the sunrise, there was Eric, who seemed to her today just the person she was looking for.

“Hey kid,” Eric greeted her warmly, looking up from the magazine he was reading. One of those crazy tabloids, and one that he seemed a little relieved to be distracted from. “That all for today?”

“Yeah, just the fish,” Cecelia replied, placing the box on the counter and sliding over the still-crisp 10, which Eric regarded with a small smile. “That and maybe a little advice.”

The barcode scanner beeped softly in the background as Eric took her money and her item. “Advice?”

“Mhm. My brother’s acting weird. Like, weirder than usual.”

Eric paused, setting down the box in front of her again while he punched in the numbers and rummaged around for the needed amount of change. “Weird how? You’re gonna have to specify.”

Cecelia bit her lip at that. She had to keep this concise – couldn’t waste Eric’s time if she wanted to be polite – but how did she explain the contrast between Leroy’s usual demeanor and whatever was going on now? It felt so… specific. So difficult to describe. “Uhh… quieter than usual? I mean, he’s usually pretty quiet because he thinks a lot, but today he’s just been so quiet that it’s like his brain has been kidnapped to another dimension or something. I’m worried about him.”

The big man offered her a sympathetic look. “Sorry to hear that. Do you think maybe he just needs some space to think?” he asked, handing her her change and thoughtfully rubbing his chin. “I don’t really have any siblings, so I don’t think I’ll be very helpful, sorry.”

“It’s okay. Thanks for trying anyways,” Cecelia replied, smiling and waving as she turned to leave. She appreciated Eric humoring her, even if he barely knew her. He seemed nice.

Is there anyone else I can ask?

Her dad? No. School friends? Probably not, since Tessa and Violet hadn’t even exchanged contact information with her. Maybe…

She changed course on a whim, turning to take the path towards that little creek she’d been at yesterday, rushing back home and scampering around the side of the house to the hill in her backyard. Maybe, just maybe, Ryder and Avery would have some advice for her, provided they were there.

C’mon, be there… Please be there…

It was nothing but foolish to expect that they would be, and Cecelia knew it the moment she crested the hill and made her way to the spot she’d met them not long ago. Luck was not on her side today, it seemed, and she felt more than a little stupid for thinking that it was actually going to yield anything if she came here.

Maybe she should just turn around and go home. Give up and hope Leroy would be fine – that whatever was up with him would go as quickly as it had come. He was 15. He could take care of himself.

But he shouldn’t have to.

Glancing between her house and the path that led upstream, Cecelia made her decision in that impulsive, split-second way that she often did. She had maybe an hour before dinnertime, and her phone was on her, so her family could easily contact her if needed. Quickly, she pulled it out and texted the group chat her father and brother were in with her. Just a simple “Going for a walk by the stream, be back for dinner at the latest.”

Off she went.

---

What was worry melted slightly into curiosity as Cecelia adventured along the trickling waters. Sharp eyes and keen attention revealed to her everything from water striders to newts, and the path was lined with verdant foliage that made her feel like she’d crawled into the Cretaceous period. Fifteen minutes in, her pockets bore redwood pinecones and a few interesting rocks.

Freedom. She’d never known it back in that cramped townhome, but this was what freedom felt like.

She could get used to this.

But first, there was another thing that needed investigating.

“I didn’t realize the giants were actually getting this close to the town,” a male voice sounded softly through the trees, tone pensive. “They’re supposed to be skittish, aren’t they?”

A woman this time. “They are. I don’t know what one was doing this close to a settlement. It’s a big one, too.”

“Yeah. Definitely not a confused juvenile this time. Looks like it was distressed, too. Check out the antler marks on that tree.”

“What could possibly be bad enough to scare a giant out of its range?”

Cecelia crept around one of the trees, peeking into a little clearing that she was certain held the people who were speaking. Sure enough, there they were, a tall individual with a triangle head and what looked like some kind of fluffy lizard-woman.

“Something big,” the man – who was dressed in what looked like a warm pastel pink sweater of some kind – said. “I’m gonna be honest, I’m not sure I even want to know.”

The lizard lady sighed, shaking her head. Unlike her companion, she was dressed in a rather spiffy looking suit like she’d fallen out of a spy movie of some kind. “I’m not paid anywhere near enough for this. I was supposed to be on break today, anyways.”

The man kneeled in front of a massive footprint in the earth, shaped like a massive cloven hoof. “We’ll have to report this to the higher ups…” he muttered, sounding less than enthused about the prospect. “Then again, maybe we should gather more information first. Think the gods know anything?”

“Probably not. Besides, even if they did, you know how secretive they are. Not like we can just walk up to them and ask.”

“Hey now, I’ve got connections!” the pink-sweatered man said, standing up again and crossing his arms. His triangle head turned to his companion, single blue eye flashing in the low light. His stance was one of playful, mock offense. “I’ll email Georgio tonight and see if he can ask his boss if she knows anything. I’m sure he’ll be happy to help.”

“There really is no winning with you, is there, Isosceles?”

Isosceles laughed. “That depends on your definition of winning,” he teased in reply, turning around to gaze out through the trees. His eye, a hypnotic shade of electric blue, scanned through the foliage like a security camera. “Tell you what. Let’s wrap up here and go get a coffee, then we can worry about next steps later.”

The lizard woman sighed, wrinkling her gray, scaly snout and pushing her mane of fur back from the horns that adorned her head. “It’s fine, we can keep working.”

“Amanda,” Isosceles said firmly, but didn’t look at her. His careful stare swept closer and closer to the tree that Cecelia had been frozen behind, rooted to the spot as she listened. “You look ready to collapse at any moment. I’m not letting you overwork yourself like that again.”

And then rich, cinnamon brown met with the shocking shade of blue that seemed to glow like a single headlight in the rapidly darkening forest. Something in the stranger’s eye swirled, like angelic galaxies Cecelia was never supposed to have access to. It softened when it met hers, almost pitying, then alarmed when it realized it had been spotted. With all the elegance of a dancer, Isosceles snapped his gaze away before the world could truly fall inwards.

“Are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” the triangle-man answered quickly. “Just… Uh… I just made eye contact with the wildlife again, that’s all.”

Amanda raised an eyebrow, obviously not buying Isosceles’ answer. “What kind of animal this time?”

“Squirrel,” his singular eye darted back in her direction, gaze knowing and yet pleading. “Poor thing will have a migraine for hours afterwards, hopefully it has something to stave off the pain.”

Amanda snorted. “Isosceles, it’s a squirrel.”

“Hey now, I’m just saying!”

With a sweep of her tail, the gray-scaled lizard turned and began to walk off through the trees. “C’mon, let’s get coffee, just like you said,” she called over her shoulder, not really pausing for an answer or to make sure her teammate was following. Isosceles seemed to sigh.

“Be right there, just… Gimme a second.”

His eye softened in its glow as it turned back to where Cecelia sat, still frozen and now experiencing what had to be the worst possible headache of her lifetime. In spite of herself, she wrinkled her nose rather impolitely at him. A silent “Screw you.”

“Run home, kid. You’re gonna want two ibuprofens and a nap for that.”

Then, just as gracefully as he spoke, he left, and Cecelia was left bewildered and alone beneath the trees, thinking some very choice words in her frustration. World spinning, she forced herself to stand in spite of the searing, aching pain in her cranium and began to turn in the direction of home.

Maybe there was such a thing as too much adventure.

She was gonna have a lot of explaining to do later when her family inevitably asked what was up with her… but first, time to go get some painkillers and take a nap for the next million years. Rescuing Leroy from the confines of his own brain was a problem for future Cecelia now.

Live in the moment.