There was no time to waste. We began to pack furiously. As they did so, Liz asked me, "Why don't we just go to the authorities and explain to them what's going on?"

"Because I have a strong suspicion that we won't get helped by the authorities. I think the authorities are being bribed. And from my Sueñalo Far Sight, I can see that there never was a Vicky look alike in the Dimmsdale Asylum."

"Oh." And that was that. I hid Vicky in a suitcase by shrinking her to about a foot high and hiding her in one of the bags marked "fragile."

After everything was packed, we packed ourselves and our stuff in the hover-cars and left the house, placing it in the "Lockdown" mode.

---

We left the state and went to the Hartman Universe equivalent of my hometown. It wasn't the same name; it was called Owl City, for some reason. Besides that fact that the equivalent of my family and Liz's family didn't exist here, everything was the same. For six months, we lay low. I taught Liz how to use her new powers. She matched, if not surpassed me in abilities. I was a bit jealous but mostly proud. Many of us got jobs, even Timmy, who didn't have to be at Fairy World because he had amassed enough vacation time anticipating for an event such as this.

Liz and I, along with our job at the local Virtual Reality Gaming store babysat the Turner twins and Kate Fenton. They were a blast to baby-sit, and we learned much about the 23rd Century. Halfway through the six months, Liz and I began to notice that Tommy would tease Kate by pulling on her hair, chasing her around the yard of the small house and other such acts through which we figured out that Tommy had a crush on Kate.

One night after we had put the three kids to bed, Liz and I sat down, tired. Usually after a night babysitting we would turn on the HoloTV and watch The Adventures of the Crimson Chin Jr. but that night we stayed up and waited for the parents to come home from work. When they did, we sat them down. They asked if it was anything serious. I replied that I didn't think so.

Liz began, "Timmy, Trixie, Danny and Sam, we have reason to believe that Tommy has a crush on Kate."

Silence. Then Timmy said, "Is this all? Are you sure about this?"

We nodded. I said, "Tommy has been teasing Kate by pulling hair, chasing her. Need I go on?"

Sam asked, "Why are you telling us about this?"

Liz and I looked at each other. We suspected that they might ask us about this, and we still were unsure how to answer.

I took a stab at answering. "Well, you see…uh…we don't want to be the ones to explain to your kids about…uh…"

"…how love works." I mentally wiped my brow. That was a narrow escape. Thanks.

No problem.

They seemed to consider this. After a while, the Turners decided that sometime that weekend, they would talk to Tommy. We went to bed after that.

---

The rest of the time there passed uneventfully. The "Crush Incident" was the only thing out of the ordinary thing that happened during those months. It was what happened after those six months that set things in motion again.

---

It started on a Friday. Liz and I had just put the Turner and Fenton children to bed. We sat down, angry and frustrated. They had been exceptionally uncooperative that day (we had had a day off that day). After being stern with them one too many times, we had sent them to their rooms for a half-hour. They were so sulky that they never came back down. Liz and I decided to leave them there. At around nine, we went up to check on them. They were, surprisingly, all asleep. We tucked them all in and turned out their lights.

While we were sitting downstairs, Liz asked herself if we had been too harsh on them.

"I don't think so. They broke a couple of plates, for crying out loud. If you weren't here, I probably would have yelled at them."

"Yeah, but I still feel guilty. Let's apologize to them tomorrow."

I agreed at that. We waited for the parents to come home, reported on what had happened that day as we usually did and went to bed.

The next morning started out the same way it had been starting out for the past half-year. Each morning, one of us went downstairs to cook breakfast. We each took turns. Today was my turn. I crept downstairs and began to cook. That morning I made toast, scrambled eggs, orange juice and pancakes. I also sat the large table for everyone.

Pretty soon, they came downstairs. First came the fairies disguised as humans. Then the Timmy and Trixie came down, followed a couple minutes later by Danny and Sam.

As we ate, Timmy asked, "Where are the kids? They're usually the ones downstairs first."

"Still sulking up in their rooms, I guess," Sam replied.

"Well, they're going to be late for school. Hey, kids! C'mon down! Breakfast is getting cold!"

At those words, the ground began to sway back and forth. We hid under the table, assuming it to be an earthquake. It lasted only a couple of seconds. We then realized that we would have been warned by Nightwing, the house AI, if an earthquake were on the way.

"Nightwing, self diagnostic."

"All systems normal, Morbius."

Right after that, a bright red light began to emanate from the walls. It soon became too bright to look at. We covered our eyes, half-expecting the walls to melt. Soon, however, the light dissipated. We opened our eyes, and noticed that someone was missing.

"Betania?" I called out. We began to look around. First on the ground level and then outside. Liz and I looked upstairs.

There we made a shocking discovery. We ran downstairs and gathered everyone to the living room.

Once they were there, Liz began to blubber and cry. I explained what we had discovered. Shocked, they ran upstairs to se if what we had discovered was true. They came back down, the ladies crying and the men trying to comfort them.

No matter what the husband's did, the wives just kept screaming at the top of their lungs, "OUR KIDS ARE GONE!"

Sorry for taking so long to update. I've been too busy w/ homework and w/ writing my Christian sci-fi story, and I've had semi-writers block, so this chapter may not be up to snuff. Enjoy!

morbiusgreen