Zane-Ashburn looked around at all the kids, attempting to figure out what was going on inside their heads. He started with Mira. She looked scared and confused. Milly's arm was around her small sister, trying to comfort her. Zane-Ashburn didn't believe that it would be that hard of a decision for them. He figured they would leave.
Over the past couple weeks, he had learned everyone's life story. Milieta and Mira's parents didn't really have a good relationship with them. Yes, they fed the girls and made sure they were healthy, but they were never there for them emotionally. Both worked all the time with crazy hours, being in the medical field and all. It's not like they didn't care. But there wasn't that connection. He wondered if they would leave. Or if they would stay with all that is familiar. They've never moved from the house they grew up in so he could understand the fear.
He moved on to Pheonix, Tuscon, and Arizona. They mostly looked excited and on board, a couple unintelligible whispers fleeting between their lips. Like Milieta and Mira, they had never been outside the city. Their parents moved when they were very young to fit the unexpected triplets, but they don't remember anything but the city in which they lived. Zane-Ashburn would say the triplets had a good relationship with their Mom. Their dad had been drafted a long time ago into the military. They haven't heard from him since. Zane-Ashburn had his suspicions as to what had happened. Tuscon -who had always been the thinker of the trio- looked a little torn by his thoughts. Zane Ashburn caught the word "mom" in the whispers and figured that Tuscon was thinking about leaving his mom behind. He felt sorry for him, but he hoped he stayed with the group. Wait, what? He thought. He was surprised at how attached he had gotten to this group. Maybe its because it the first time he had people who wanted to be around him. And he wanted to be around them it was so strange.
He turned his attention to his siblings. Anabelle had a sad glint in her eye, but it was intensely drowned out by the exciting shine of the adventure ahead. She had always been one for adventures, constantly following Gill on his treks through the forest that they both knew very well. Speaking of Gill, he looked...unusually worried. Why was he so worried? He smiled in the face of danger and comforted others when they were scared. Zane-Ashburn supposed Gill would voice his opinions sooner or later.
Zane-Ashburn caught Margarie's eye and shivered. She was so hard to read but she stared at him and smiled like he was an open book with big, bold font. It was unsettling, to say the least. Of all the kids, he knew the least about Margarie. He assumed that her family was a bunch a psychos, but he knew he was probably wrong. Or was he? He didn't like her or the smile she gave him but without her, the group wouldn't be as fun. He didn't want to admit it and he would never tell a single soul. She was so creepy.
Gill spoke again after silence followed his last question. "I, for one, think we shouldn't go."
Everyone gasped. Even Margarie. "Really? The great and all-powerful Gilbert is running away from an adventure?" said Pheonix, standing up.
"No, I'm just saying that they are total strangers, and I don't think they can be trusted," Gill said in defense.
Milly laughed "We were total strangers when we met you, but you trusted us instantly," she said, referring to herself and Mira.
"Yeah...well... you guys are around my age. But they are older than us and can take advantage of us. I don't wanna end up in some creepy guy's basement."
"No, they can't," Arizona said, dragging Nix to sit back down. "They tried to sneak up on us today and you turned us into tigers. You can just turn us into something if they do anything bad. And were not gonna end up in a basement."
"No, I can't. You saw what happened when you stepped outside the circle. You changed back. It doesn't work anywhere else."
Connie finally scoffed and spoke. "Yes, then I suppose that tag is someone else's doing? You can go outside the circle and these people can help you make your power stronger."
"But what if I don't want to make it stronger. What if I just want to stay here and have everything stay the same?"
"Well," Margarie, who had been previously quiet, said. "I'm going and it won't stay the same with any one of us gone. So, I suggest you go." She stood up and promptly walked off. "See you tomorrow," she said and disappeared into the forest and setting sun.
"I agree with Margarie." Connie said as he stood up. "You should go with us. It will be a chance to explore the outside world. We've never been out of the town. Hopefully, we'll see you tomorrow." He walked in the opposite direction of Margarie toward his house and his siblings followed him.
Milly, Mia, Gill, Anabelle, and Zane-Ashburn sat in silence. After a long pause of awkwardness, Milly and Mia stood up.
"Well, we need to start going home. It's getting dark," Milly said.
Thay started walking off and Zane-Ashburn stopped them. "Will you guys come tomorrow?"
Milly looked down at her feet. "I don't know. We'll talk about it tonight."
Zane-Ashburn nodded and watched as they too faded into the forest. He turned to Gill. "We should go too."
Gill didn't respond.
"Gilly-fish!" Anabelle said, shaking his shoulder.
Gill's eyes were glazed over, and Anabelle looked at her eldest brother, worried. Zane-Ashburn knelt next to Gill and examined his face, thoroughly confused. His face was pale, his normally sharp blue eyes were dulled. He checked Gill's pulse. "He's still breathing. But it's like he's asleep."
"What happened?" Anabelle asked, holding Gill up.
"I'm not sure. Lay him down," Zane-Ashburn said.
Anabelle gently lay her brother on the floor and sat cross-legged, looking worriedly at him. Zane-Ashburn conducted a thorough investigation, but nothing was out of the ordinary. Physically at least.
After a good 6 minutes, Gill started rapidly blinking and coughing. He struggled to say something. Zane-Ashburn leaned close to him to hear what he was saying.
"Power..... So.... much power. So... strong."
Zane-Ashburn pulled Gill up into a sitting position and attempted a conversation. "What do you mean?"
"So...tired...home.."
"Okay. We'll take you home," he said and maneuvered to put Gill on his back. He struggled as he wasn't very strong, but he succeeded. "c'mon, Ana," he said walking out of the ring. Anabelle followed and they started the walk home.
When they got back, Mother was asleep. She often let them stay out as long as they were back before midnight. It was dark in the house and there was no sound. Zane-Ashburn gently set Gill on his bed and went to grab water for him. By the time he got back from the kitchen, Gill was sitting upright and looked generally conscious. "Hey. Do you have any idea what happened?"
Gill looked around and struggled with words.
"I... I just remember Lukas and goose guy and," he shivered, "I just felt so drained."
Zane-Ashburn nodded. "We'll figure it out more in the morning. For now, sleep. And we'll talk about leaving too." He forced his brother to lay down and put the blankets over him. He walked over to Anabelle who was curled p and half asleep. He picked her up and tucked her into her bed then got into his own. He didn't fall asleep though. His mind turned trying to figure out what had happened to Gill and whether they should leave or not. It was yet another night of no sleep.