He felt himself drift. He was no longer dreaming but he knew he wasn't going to wake up. Lucid dreaming, the phase came to him. That was what Father had used to describe the sensation he had once come to him and asked about. Father said eventually he would be able to control it if he practiced acknowledging he did it when it happened. He had looked up the definition of it afterwards anyways and, personally, he didn't think it fit. He had little control of this even though he tried.

He peeped open his eyes and could see small, blurred lights dancing in his vision somewhere beyond his position. He opened his eyes fully and a rush of dark greens filled his senses. He scanned the area. He was encircled by broad tree trunks covered by thick moss that grew up and reached towards a starless blackness that almost burned to look at with gnarled, twisting limbs. No distinguishable light came from above or beyond the forms around him but the forms seemed to be swimming with a slow flaming green and blue fire superimposed over everything, running through them. The flames crawled up and down their forms, causing a slow shifting play of shadows and soft glows. Their movement was like a slow dance despite that no wind was present. Why was he here? He had been in the library. He looked down to where he was standing and found the green flames on the ground around his feet flaring where he stood. He stepped back, startled, but the flames continue to flare where he stepped and would quickly die down to a dim afterglow just as quickly as he stepped away again.

Rustle.

He swerved around to face the source of the noise fully, the heatless flames forgotten. Minutes seemed to pass but nothing moved but the slowly swirling trails of flames around him.

Scraaaatchhhhhhhhhh.

This time it was above him. He stumbled back, landing hard on his seat (but there never seem to be physical pain when this happened). A dark form clambered up the side of a tall tree. A large but slim form, a dog-like creature with an elongated neck. Its body was like a watery shadow running up the tree's trunk encased by a coat of blue flames that it wore like fur. It stopped on a high branch. As it shifting form settled he could see a green orb embedded in the middle of its form, the shadows and blue fire of its body securely wrapped around it.

He tried to inhale to calm himself but the air was too heavy. He knew that form. Why was it not sleeping in the old o-?

A set of blue embers darted to him. Stunned, frozen in place, he let himself stare into the smoldering coals. They narrowed sharply and he felt himself fall through the ground.

His eyes flew open. Carefully, he released the breath he had been holding. He laid there, fully awake now but not moving as he urged himself to understand what was happening around him.

This had to stop. These wanderings were getting scarier. Before they were fun to explore but now . . . and the . . . dog thing.

Senses alert, Antauri investigated his environment. Soft, unfocused white blurred his vision. His pod? He searched his memories for where he was, what was happening. Last he knew he was in the library after-

Scuttles. Bonsh.

What? His heart jumped into his throat. Another swell of adrenaline pumped hard through his body.

He shifted and pushed himself up from his position on his back. Quietly as possible, he scooted up to the end of the pod, looking just over the edge through the transparent lid down to what he could see of the floor.

Shuffle. Shuffle.

He flinched in fear but stopped himself and forced himself to listen. It was a strange shuffling. It was not like the familiar sound of Father's padded feet softly shuffling across the floor, making his last round before he himself finally went to bed. It wasn't the Captain's bulky boots or bare feet. It was not like feet - like many, small feet. His breath caught in his throat. Something was wrong.

He flung open the lid to his pod and scanned the room again, his range improved but found he still could not see a good portion of the room as the pillar the pods encircled was situated in the middle of the room. The memory of earlier in the evening when Mandarin's receiver had blinked suddenly surfaced. Usually it was Father calling him (then he would disappear for a while.) Antauri wasn't a newborn anymore. He knew occasionally dangerous creatures managed to enter the Haven. Father usually took care of any intruders. (He shivered slightly at the memory when he had been too curious and had sneaked in a peek). Mandarin, as of recently, had been directly helping Father protect the Haven. Antauri knew - suspected, he corrected himself, that Mandarin was helping Father with other errands as well. What kind of errand, he didn't know.

Shuffle.

It was getting louder. If there had been an intruder the alarms system would have gone off and alerted Mandarin and the Captain. Mandarin would not be sleeping. He glanced over at Mandarin's pod. An outline of his older brother's form was clearly sleeping within though most of the details were blurred and colors dulled by the dark and tainted the same color as the pod's lid. Antauri gripped the edge of the pod and leaned over trying to get a better look at his surroundings. He focused on his hearing, even pausing in his own breath, trying to find where it was coming from but he could not seem to tell, just that it was somewhere below him in the nesting shadows.

"Everyone!" He knocked his metal fist against Gibson's pod. "Wake up!"

The shuffling stopped.

"What!" Mandarin yelled but he just managed to subdue it enough to keep it from waking everyone in the Haven up.

"Tell Nova to go to sleep," Gibson meekly cried from within his pod. He didn't stir again.

Antauri slid open Gibson's pod and shook him. "We should go bunk with the Captain."

"What? Why?" Gibson complained.

Antauri shot Mandarin a look.

Mandarin sighed. "Fine."

Gibson's head shot up. "What?"

"Now." Mandarin did a look-over of the room. He continued to ignore Gibson's confused look.

Getting nowhere with Mandarin, Gibson lugged himself over the edge of his pod and banged on Nova's pod. She didn't stir. "Fine! Don't make it easy." Tired fingers fiddled with the hatch but managed to release the lid. "Come on." He climbed over the gap between their pods and took a seat on the edge of hers. He braced a foot against the opposite edge and pulled her weight into a seated position. Her eyes opened slightly in response but she didn't fully wake up. Mandarin and Antauri jumped down and helped Gibson ease her to the floor. She managed to stand erect but she teetered and clearly was not fully there. Gibson quickly climbed up and snatched her rabbit that had been left in the pod.

"Come on," Antauri took a couple steps to the door, waiting for the others to start following. Gibson took Nova's hand and led the teetering monkey forward.

In the hall, Mandarin took point. Gibson was between him and Antauri with Antauri lagging behind. Gibson was fully awake by now but he was conscious of the heavy weight of his tired body. He looked up at Mandarin who was unnecessarily close to them, always just within arm's length. He squeezed Nova's hand tighter. Maybe something was happening. He tilted his head behind him just enough to see Antauri. He, himself, was looking behind them, his eyes glowing a strange, deeper green in the dim light.

Mandarin opened the door to the guest room wide open, the resultant shaft of thin light falling on the limp form of the Captain sprawled out on a bed. He laid on his stomach sideways in the bed, the covers in place, snoring into a thin, summer comforter. Mandarin quickly walked up to the man and flicked his forehead. His snoring abruptly stopped.

The mess of normally kempt hair shifted and the Captain awoke to the eldest child's frown. A confused look plastered itself on his face. His eyes fell on the others. "Fine," and with that, buried his head into the comforter again.

Gibson quickly scaled the side of the bed, gripping onto the comforter and pulling himself up. He twisted back around and pulled Nova up. She settled against the Captain's side, pulling her rabbit between them and effectively squashed its features into disproportionate shapes. Almost immediately she was asleep, completely not bothered by the Captain's newest fit of snoring. (If she was ever awake at all.)

Gibson curled up around her. He was soon drifting off . . . but then he noticed something.

He craned his neck to look at the door over the gentle rise and fall of the Captain's back to find Mandarin and Antauri slipping out. They froze when they noticed him.

"We are going to check on something," Mandarin whispered.

"Can I help?"

"Stay here. We are just checking that the security is functioning properly."

"Aw, but-"

Mandarin swallowed a sigh and sharply turned to Gibson. "You will stay here and be here when we get back or I'll tape you to the ceiling where no one can find you and leave you there for a whole day. Without anything between you and the. Very. Sticky. Tape."

Gibson shot him a glare but reluctantly dipped his head back down. He was too old for Mandarin to treat him this way!

Outside the hall, Mandarin scanned the area as Antauri closed the door as quietly as possible.

"Did you miss one or something?"

Mandarin hide his expression from Antauri. Instead he checked the hall for movement, facing away from him. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"I heard shuffling. As if many, small feet were scuttling across the floor and it was not one of the cleaner bots." He gathered himself again. "Ever met something like that before in the swamps?"

Mandarin glanced at him, narrowing his eyes. There were creatures outside the Haven, he secretly admitted, giant bugs were included but they were not smart enough to get pass the surveillance and Father's security measures. He paused, thinking. "It could be dangerous for you without your weapons activated yet."

"So there is an issue."

What Antauri had described sounded like a bug. A rare smile spread across his face. "Hopefully nothing a giant boot would not fix."