Attention guest readers: using obscene language in the reviews will result in the review's prompt deletion. That's the second time I've had to ask all of you not to cuss in the reviews!

PhantomLordHelix: Dude, were you not paying attention? I literally just said that in the author's note of the last chapter!


Chapter 2

The strange boy we had found on our porch had been dead to the world for two solid hours but was finally starting to shift and mumble in his sleep, so I knew the worst of the drugs were starting to wear off. I was getting thirsty, so I walked into the kitchen to get a drink and found Lincoln standing at the counter, making one of his famous peanut butter and jelly sandwiches that Lisa liked so much.

"Hungry already, bro?" I asked.

"Oh, it's not for me. It's for him," Lincoln replied, using his butter knife to point to the living room. "I figured he'd be pretty hungry when he wakes up."

I smiled and ruffled his hair, saying, "Sometimes you're too nice for your own good, you know that?"

"You're a fine one to talk, Miss Let's-bring-a-total-stranger-out-of-the-cold." he shot back with a chuckle.

"Alright, touché." We both heard the front door open and Mom screaming her head off.

"KIDS! WHO LET THE STRANGER IN?!" Lincoln and I looked at each other. Mom had taken a sack lunch with her, so she shouldn't have been home for at least five or six more hours. We went back to the living room to make sure she wouldn't hurt the boy or throw him back out.

"Mom, what are you doing home so soon?" Lincoln asked.

"It was a slow day at the office, so they let us leave early," Mom said with a stern face. "Now, who is this boy on our couch?"

"It's all Luna's fault, Mom! I found that stupid hobo sleeping under the porch swing, and she insisted on bringing him inside!" Lola accused from the stairs. Not gonna lie, that really hurt.

"Luna, is this true?" Mom asked.

"Yeah, but-"

"Do you know how irresponsible that was?" she interrupted me.

"But Mom, he's just a kid! Leni's age at the oldest!" I objected.

"Even someone that young could seriously hurt any of you given the opportunity," Mom continued. We all froze upon hearing the subject of our discussion let out a groan.

"Ooh, my head. That's the last time I let a hippie give me free brownies," he said, sitting up and rubbing his temples. I suddenly felt a pang of sympathy, as I had recently fallen for the "free brownies" gimmick myself (I know what you're probably thinking, but how was I supposed to know they were POT brownies?). After a moment, the boy realized that he was indoors, on a couch, and surrounded by people, my other sisters having come downstairs to investigate the yelling. He tried to bolt for the front door, but tripped on one of Lily's baby toys and faceplanted on the carpet.

Without hesitation, I rushed to his side and helped him roll onto his back, the impact having seemingly made his headache worse.

"Whoa, dude, are you okay?" I asked. My breath caught in my throat when I looked into his eyes; while bloodshot from the effects of the accidentally ingested pot, they were the brightest shade of blue I'd ever seen, even among my own family. He gasped, shoved me away, and scrambled backwards until he bumped into the wall.

"D-don't hurt me! I-I'll do whatever you want, but please don't hurt me!" he whimpered. He was so clearly frightened that even Mom's hard gaze softened somewhat. It was Lincoln who answered him first.

"Chill, man, we're not gonna hurt you. In fact, I thought you might be hungry when you woke up, so I made you something to eat."

"Oh, was that what the sandwich on the counter was for?" Lana asked, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.

"Lana!" Lincoln groaned and facepalmed, as the tomboy twin had quite obviously eaten the sandwich.

"In any case, we found you knocked out on our porch and just wanted to help," I concluded for Lincoln. The boy's nerves began to settle somewhat, and he allowed me to take him by the hand and escort him back to the couch. "My name is Luna. What's yours?" I asked.

"It's...Jay. Yeah, call me Jay." I knew he was lying of course, but if he didn't want to tell us his real name, I wasn't gonna make him.

"Well, Jay, would you like something to eat?" I offered. His stomach grumbled loudly, and he grimaced like it hurt. "I'll take that as a yes."

"Way ahead of you, Luna!" Lola said, walking out of the kitchen with a plate piled high with steaming green mush. I could tell exactly what the dish was based purely on the princess twin's impish smirk and the smell permeating the room.

"Dude! You're seriously giving him Dad's green bean casserole?!" I gagged. The stuff was so incredibly nasty that not even Lana would eat it (and that was saying something)!

"What? It's not like he deserves anything better!" Lola snapped, handing the plate to Jay along with a spoon.

"Eh, I've eaten worse," Jay said with a shrug and dug in, wolfing it down like he hadn't eaten in days (which, come to think about it, was probably true). While he was eating, my mom and sibs introduced themselves. He finished eating and leaned back with a sigh of satisfaction. "Man, that really hit the spot," he said with a wide smile. I noticed two miniscule details: one, his teeth were pearly white despite his lack of hygiene everywhere else, and two, his canines were unusually long and sharp. "Well, thanks for the food, but I think it's time for me to get out of your hair." He stood up without any difficulty, and we all said goodbye.

After he closed the front door behind him, Lola rudely said, "And good riddance!" I heard a faint whirring and looked at Lisa, who had a drone the size of a peapod hovering in the air.

"What's that for, Lis?" I asked.

"I wish to find out precisely where our new friend has made his primary dwelling. This drone will track him and send the video feed straight to my laptop," she replied.

"Good call, dudette. I'm curious, too."

While everyone went about their own business, Lisa and I watched on her computer as Jay walked to the scrapyard that was a few blocks away and crawl through a hole in the chain-link fence surrounding it. He wove around and sometimes over piles of junk until he came to a small clearing. In the middle of that clearing sat an abandoned school bus with stained blankets covering the windows. A hole had been punched through the roof, and a squat metal chimney stuck out of it. The drone followed him inside, where the only furniture was an old potbelly stove with glowing embers inside it, a three-legged stool in front of a coffee table that had seen better days, and a nest of blankets and what looked like animal pelts that probably served as his bed. Jay must've still been exhausted, because the first thing he did was flop into the nest and start snoring. Lisa steered the drone closer, and a small pair of mechanical arms appeared in front of the camera.

"Uh, Lisa, what are you doing?" I asked as I watched the arms pluck a strand of his hair.

"You saw as well as I that he lied when he told us his name. I am going to conduct a DNA test to find out who he really is, and how he managed to survive so long in temperatures that would give any other person a debilitating illness," she replied.

That night, I lay awake wondering who Jay really was and if I'd ever see him again. Little did I know that I would be seeing him again very soon...


"Jay" will have his real name revealed in the next chapter. You can probably guess who he is. On that note, have a happy Thaksgiving!