"What the hell?" Micheal called out over the speaker.
"Is that a...a…" Courtney stammered over the speaker.
"That is bigger than normal right?" Grace asked.
"Yeah." I replied, as I watched the elephant as it walked over the overpass.
I wondered if the overpass would be able to handle the weight of the giant elephant. I knew it was built to handle semi trucks and their heavy loads, but could that compare to a thirty feet tall elephant?
The elephant made it across the overpass with no trouble then stopped at the beginning of the bridge over the Salt River. The elephant glanced down at the river for a few moments. Then backed away from the bridge and walked down the slope into the Salt River. I wasn't sure what had attracted the elephant, this part of the salt river didn't have much water in it. There was some water, but most was stopped at the damn further to the east.
With the elephant out of immediate sight the cars in front of us started to slowly move again. It was really slow as a lot of people were still trying to see where the immense elephant had gone. I was amongst them and caught sight of the elephant picking at the vegetation that had grown around the bit of water that flowed from the damn. Then we were past the bridge and the elephant was out of sight.
Before I could look to Delilah for an explanation my phone rang. I looked at it to see that my mother was calling back.
I frowned but answered the phone immediately. "Mom?" I asked as I answered the phone.
"Hey sorry sweety, I forgot to tell you, tomorrow is going to be a really bad day, so it would be best if you don't go out much." she told me.
"What? Wait, are you saying you can see the future?" I asked.
My mother was silent for a moment. "Not exactly Daryl. It isn't something I can explain easily, and I won't do it over the phone." she told me.
"Wait!" Delilah said anxiously, flying over to me. "How many?" she asked, getting really close to my face as she asked.
"Is that your little friend?" my mother asked.
"Yes." I replied while nodding despite the fact she couldn't see me. "She wants to know how many." I repeated just in case my mother wasn't able to hear her clearly. Hearing me Delilah shifted then sat on the same shoulder my phone was on then leaned against my phone. I turned the phone in my grip so she could try and listen in on the conversation.
"Hmmm, I didn't really look for that, it would be good to know, wouldn't it." she said as if talking to herself. Then she was quiet for a moment as we finally passed over the 202 overpass. While she was silent I looked over at Karen. She had set her phone down and was watching me intently. I couldn't resist the urge and leaned in to her planting a quick kiss on her lips then sat back a bit.
Karen smiled at me then leaned into my shoulder as she looked back at her phone.
"Call again." I told her.
"I tried, it just goes straight to voicemail." Karen replied.
"Tell Karen they are fine, a bit scared, but your dad left his phone at the hotel and your mother's was dropped and broke as she ran away from a twisted. You don't have to worry though, her father should awaken tonight." My mother informed me.
"You really are a sage!" Delilah cheered excitedly.
"No little one, I am far from being a sage, but I have the gift." My mother replied.
I was a bit curious why my mother had so much time when she had said she was busy earlier, but decided it was best not to ask. I loved her dearly but as Micheal had said, my mother was a bit off sometimes.
"Oh! I found it." my mother exclaimed excitedly they went silent for a while. "Daryl I will talk to your grandmother and see if we can pull you and your girls out." she told me her voice turning very serious.
Grandmother? Since when did I have a grandmother? "What is it mom?" I asked instead.
"Please tell us." Delilah begged.
"Today is the second day, there have already been four openings, there are eight strands, and four spirits." my mother replied. "Remember Daryl tomorrow is going to be really bad, stay inside as much as possible!"
"Wait!" Delilah called anxiously fearful my mother would hang up. "How can there be four? There are never more than two!"
"Hmmm, true, but that doesn't change anything. There are still four spirits, two strands per spirit. Maybe we should change the label to something else, convergence doesn't seem to cut it." my mother said then seemed to trail off towards the end.
There was a shout in the background on my mother's side of the phone. "Oh, I have to go. Love you sweety, take care, and remember what I said!" she told me then she was gone.
"My mother said your parents are fine." I told Karen quickly.
I could feel Karen relax once she heard that. "Is she sure?" she asked.
I quickly repeated back what my mother said about her parents.
"Does that mean another gate will open tonight?" Megan asked.
I paused then looked to Delilah who was still sitting on my shoulder. "Does it?" I asked.
"Maybe." Delilah said. "Most awakenings happen shortly after a gate opens, but it isn't unheard of for them to accumulate enough mana between openings to awaken later. What worries me more is the fact that today is the second day, I thought it would be the third."
"Why?" I asked.
"Well you awakened because of an opening and have experienced a second. From what I understand you awakened in the morning right?" she asked.
I nodded.
Then either there were more openings during the time you were awakening, or two during the early morning before the one that awakened you. When the week starts over we will have to deal with three openings that day." she told us. "If there were a few openings close together it would explain why you didn't see twisted sooner."
"Well we can get back to this later. We are here." Megan said as the car slowed then she turned into a parking lot.
I looked up to see the sign for Red Line Grill. I looked around a bit nervously, but nothing seemed abnormal despite having driven by a thirty feet tall elephant. "Is there a chance we are going to run into more giant sized animals?" I asked.
"Probably, it is the most common mutation." Delilah asked.
"Where did it even come from?" Grace asked.
"The Phoenix Zoo is less than a mile that way." Megan said pointing to the northeast. "I think that is the only zoo that has elephants."
"Anything else we should worry about?" Grace asked worriedly as Megan stopped the car.
"There are a lot of other animals in the zoo, but if more animals are going to get supersized I would be more worried about the native animals like rattlesnakes." I replied honestly.
Grace turned to look at me with her eyes wide. "Seriously?" she asked.
I shrugged. "Sure, I always hear about people who aren't being careful getting bitten when they try to go hiking." I told her.
"I would be more afraid of the butterflies." Karen commented. "Those things drink blood."
"What? Ew, but that is only the one place, wouldn't bees or hornets be worse?" Megan asked.
"Scorpions." I added.
Both girls shivered while Grace looked terrified.
"You alright?" I asked her.
Grace swallowed, "I don't like bugs." she told us getting a couple laughs from Megan and Karen.
"You laugh, but with the mana flooding into the world it wouldn't be odd if every animal you mentioned ends up mutating." Delilah said. "Swarms of large insects are something feared in every world I have been too."
We were all silent for a moment then Megan pushed her door open. "Come on, let's go check on Heather's sister and get out of here." Megan suggested.
We all followed her and climbed out of the car. "Girls, probably should hide yourselves for now." I told Delilah and Enya.
"Sure." Delilah said while Enya nodded.
A moment later we had joined Micheal and them while Chewy had hoped into the back of Micheal's truck to wait for us.
Together we headed for the door. Thankfully we didn't find a giant mess like when Micheal and I went to Little Mike's. Instead the restaurant was operating just like it usually did. It was like nothing odd was happening at all. As it was the summer break business wasn't as good as it had been just a month ago, but there were still a few people sitting at the tables and at the bar watching sports on the television while they ate, drank, or waited.
"How many?" the hostess, a pretty girl with short brown hair asked us.
Micheal glanced back at the group counting all of us.
"Is Samantha in?" Heather asked before Micheal could reply.
The hostess nodded then looked around the restaurant before pointing at a girl in the back section speaking to a guest in a booth.
While I had heard of Heather's older sister, I had never met her before. So I was a bit surprised by the sight of the short woman with long black hair that the hostess indicated was Samantha.
"Seven and a baby." Micheal told the hostess. "It would be best if we can sit in Samantha's area."
The hostess shrugged then grabbed some menus before gesturing for us to follow her. She led us to a pair of tables that were pushed together so that it could seat four on each side then placed the menus down in front of the chairs. "I will let Samantha know you are here." she said then left while we were choosing our seats.
Before I knew it I was seated on one side with Megan and Karen on either side of me while Grace sat on the other side of Karen. Micheal sat across from me sandwiched between Heather and Courtney while Bryan's car seat was set on the chair beside Heather.
"So do we believe what your mom said?" Micheal asked.