Pietro thought that the best part of this job was to see Scott get beat up. He was helpless, and he couldn't move. It was worth spending hours in the sun, just to get to see this.

"Now, now, boys."he said. "You must be a little harsher, you see. I have orders directly from the patron that this,"he pointed to Scott. "Must learn a very important lesson. He must learn to respect his superiors, and that goes for everybody here."he added. "This is just an example. If anyone here dares defy my authority, they will end up in the same conditions. Or possibly worse. Is it understood?"

Everyone nodded.

"Good."

Ma.Xiomara ran to the library.

"This is just great, this is just great!"she said, breathlessly. "Just what we needed. Listen, Kitty is starting to ask questions, and well, if she finds out where Scott really is, well, it's going to be a big mess. You know what will happen. You see, we told her he went on a little trip to visit his brother, but she doesn't seem to believe us, well, she does, but and then, there's that Jean! She's always trying to get someone to crack. Ma.Eugenia will probably not be able to put up with it anymore. Well, it might be a good idea, then we could blame Jean, and then...but that's not the point! The point is we have to find and explanation fast, and we've thought it over. Sissy said it was perfect. No one will suspect anything. And it will be tonight, right now."

Lance looked at her. She was right in the fact that it wouldn't do any good that Kitty should know what he, himself, asked be done to Scott. Even though, it seemed perfectly just to him, taking into account all the humiliations, he knew it would seem otherwise to Kitty.

"What does she know?"

"That she hasn't seen Scott in quite a while. That after the argument, everybody agreed that he go on a trip. Then there was comment of Maru's, which, even though, we agree with, well, anyway, what we should do is this. We should just let him go tonight. He won't say anything, though, Sissy will simply put these ideas, you know, about the trip into his head, and he'll just appear here tomorrow morning. We just have to get the luggage ready. He should arrive really, really early in the morning."

"What about the scars, the cuts?"

"Don't worry, Sissy will take care of that, too. You just have to pretend nothing's happened. Nothing out of the ordinary, anyway."

"What about everybody else."

"There's really only one option left. We will simply have to tell everyone that they better pretend things went by like I said, and that everyone knew and agreed that he went to visit his brother. Or Summers will simply have to suffer the consequences. He will regret he was ever born! And it will all be their fault!"

Lance smiled.

"I like the way you think, Sis. No one could've come up with a better solution than you and you cat."

"Of course not. You just have to tell Pietro that Summers will be released this evening, by us."

"Right."

Pietro was furious that Lance had changed his mind.

"But that wouldn't be right. You see, he still talks back to me, and I think a little more beatings should do it."

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because I said so. And if you don't like it, you're fired!"

"No, no, no. I was just surprised, that's all. I mean, you changed your mind all of a sudden."

"I will change my mind as often as I please. Now get out of my sight."

Pietro left, gritting his teeth. It was bad enough what he had to put up with every single day, now to have Lance speaking to him like that. It should be me telling him what to do, he thought furiously, not the other way around. And to have to stop beating that stupid Summers up. That was the only thing worth watching, instead of watching a bunch of slowpokes working in the fields.

"Okay,"Sissy was communicating, as she looked down at the eight babies. "I have to go get something done. I shouldn't be long."

"No, Sissy, don't go."begged Ana Patricia.

"Stay, Sissy."Ana Petra told her.

"It would be better that I get this done. It would be much worse if I didn't."

Sissy jumped off the shelf, and walked away.

"Bye, Sissy."

Sissy spend her days looking at the cribs, sometimes communicating with the octuplets, just as she did with the dectuplets. If ever the octuplets needed anything, even though they had healthy lungs, Sissy would save them the bother of crying. She would probably go get someone to come and attend them.

Normally Sissy loathed children. Guillermo and Rebecca were always trying to get her to play with them, and they always bothered her. The octuplets, however, Sissy was delighted to see that they, just like their aunts weren't normally like other people. Like the dectuplets, the octuplets didn't like to be separated. You couldn't take one out of the room without her and the other seven starting to cry. Sissy knew that just like their aunts, the octuplets weren't really human. Sissy didn't like humans too much.

The octuplets didn't like to be attended by Juanita, Lupe, or any of the other people that came in. They preferred their aunts, their mother, their father, even Kurt, or Rogue. Just like with the dectuplets, Rogue couldn't hurt the octuplets. She could touch them and cuddle them, without hurting them. For this reason, she now spend most of her time with them, she didn't even mind that Sissy was there, becoming what Francisca referred to as, their official nurse. They disliked having to nurse from the wet nurses, and preferred their mother, but sometimes, there was no other way out of it, as their mother couldn't nurse all of them at once.

"Fine, we have to hurry."Ma.Xochilt was saying. "Luckily, it's Saturday, so we don't have to watch Mujer de Madera today. It doesn't come on."

"Don't worry, this shouldn't take long."Sissy assured them. "Before you know it, it will be over with."

They nodded.

"So, then, let's go."

They teleported to the bodega where Scott was.

"It's too dark to see in here."

Suddenly, the place was flooded with light. Sissy, and all the dectuplets had lit their eyes. The light escaped, bright, from their very eyes. The whole place looked as if the sun were shining in it, with clouds drifting in sections, where the Sissy and the girls blinked their eyes.

"It's this way."

Scott hung, coughing, and at the sudden light, looked up. In front of him, were the ten girls, and one of their shoulders, their cats. He squinted, for the light from their eyes was very bright. Suddenly, the chains released him, and he was on the floor.

"Come on. Don't think we've come to rescue you, because if it were up to us, you would die in here."Ma.Xamila spat at him.

"Too true. However, the circumstances have forced us to come and release you, but no one can know you've been here, and you've been treated badly. You've been on vacation, with your brother, Summers. Surely he couldn't have beat you up so badly."

"Alex?"

"Shut up. Sissy."

Sissy hopped off Ma.Xulia's shoulder. In an instant, Scott was in the same room in which he had slept in ever since he came to Piedras Grandes, without any trace of the beatings, or any memory of what had happened.

The next morning, everyone was surprised to see him at the breakfast table.

"Where were you?"Jean asked him.

"Don't you remember, Jean? I was visiting Alex in Hawaii."

Jean smiled.

"Right. But we thought something had happened to you."

Scott shrugged.

"What could possibly happen to me?"

"Of course nothing happened to him."Ma.Xochilt commented.

"Nope,"Jesus said. "I just thought he'd been kidnapped by aliens."

"Don't be stupid, Chuy, aliens don't exist."

"What are you talking about? They do exist. There's proof."

"Well, I wanna see it. I wanna see the aliens for myself. Why don't they reveal themselves?"

"It's not time yet."

"When will it be time?"

"They will know when."

"Yeah, right."

In the octuplets' room, Sissy was telling the octuplets everything about last night.

"Wow. Can we ever learn to do that, Sissy?"

"Of course. You must also remember never to go near that man, and never to let him come near you. You must do everything you can to repel him."

"You know, Sissy."Ana Petra began. "Rogue likes him. She told us so."

"Really? I never noticed that."Sissy answered thoughtfully.

"Well, we did."

"I see."

Sissy began to walk around the room, towards a window, climbed up on the window sill, and looked outside.

"We want to see Rogue happy."Ana Paz told Sissy.

"We like her a lot."

"Yes, you do."Sissy told them. "To tell you the truth. Your aunts do, too. I don't know if they ever noticed Rogue's liking Scott. This might come in handy. They have, after all, always thought highly of Rogue, and liked her very much."

"We do, too."

Sissy looked thoughtful.

"Maybe we could work it out between those two."

"We do want to."Ana Penthea said, enthusiastically.

"Your aunts will be delighted with the news. You know, I think if all of us work together, the eight of you, your ten aunts, and me, we just be able to even find a way of helping Rogue control her powers."Sissy was almost jumping with enthusiasm. "Oh, of course, Arthur will probably have to help us, too."she added.

"Yay."the octuplets said, and they began to smile and giggle.

"What are my eight Anas so happy about?"Lance asked, walking into the room. "Let's hope that this time, things won't end up in a mess like the last time Chachi was here."

He picked Ana Primavera up, smiling at her.

"Daddy, Sissy is going to help us."she was saying, but he obviously couldn't hear her. Sissy and their aunts were the only ones that could hear them, understand and reply.