Hey, guys! Welcome back to TWP! I'd just like to announce that earlier updates are coming back. I had to do something for the church, so updates were pretty late at night, but that's about all I have to say on the subject.

Writing children isn't as easy as I thought. I'm likely overthinking, as usual, but I feel like I'm making Jesse and Missy sound too young for their ages. It's fun having them try out big words like 'perhaps' and 'complicated',

Crisper: *snickers* Constipated.

-But, I feel like I'm doing too much to their sentence structure, having them speak the way a three-year-old would or something like that. I'm gonna try to fix it in this chapter, but as always, I'm open to critique and suggestions, so if you have pointers or something to say about this, please PM me or write a review. Your help and advice will be much appreciated. Cheers!

Let's hit those reviews!

Emily The Avenger: Still, Compass isn't the worst he's been called. In another story I wrote, "Shake a Leg, Radar", one guy called him Rayanna.

ItzJaiden: The stars have aligned! (pleasedon'texpectthemtoalignanytimesoongoodbye)

Alrighty, then! Let's get started. In our last chapter, the Smith-kids have found themselves in a sticky situation.

CUE THE SMITH KIDS FALLING TO THEIR DEATHS!

Crisper: 0_0 (hits it instead)

The wind whistled around them, freezing and beating their faces. Missy couldn't recall a story with her parents falling into a huge nothingness, and she wondered how this was going to end. She looked at her brother whose wide eyes were trained on the nothingness below them. He slowly faced her.

"Missy, is there anything down there?"

She looked down below, then back to her brother. "I can't tell!"

Jesse glared at her. He fought against the strong gusts to fold his flailing arms. "I am very disappointed in you." He shouted over the wind.

"What?!"

"You said we'd be home before dinner, but now look what happened." He gestured as if he was showing her a pile of mega-blocks on the playroom floor.

"Well, it's not my fault we're falling, Jesse! I didn't know this was gonna happen! That portal's probably broken, or something." She looked into the sky, raising a brow when she only saw pinkish clouds. When she looked back down, she choked out a gasp when she figured out what was so unsettling about this. "Jesse, I think we're going to hit the ground!" Jesse looked down and saw the white, sandy rims of the land below. His scream pierced Missy's ears. He doggy-paddled to her and snatched her into an awkward headlock of a last hug. Missy squeezed him the best she could. She didn't dare look down, but she could feel the ground getting closer. She was certain this would be worse than falling off the slide onto the mulch at the park.

Their screams climaxed when they speared the surface of the water instead of smashing into the sandy shore or worse. They bobbed to the surface, still clutching each other tightly with wide-eyed faces. They both glanced at each other.

Missy pretended to be focused on the water. "Are you still disappointed in me?" Missy asked.

Jesse slit his eyes. "Kind of."

"Oh, my goodness, they're just children!" A shrill voice from the shore caught their attention. They looked and saw a small crowd of residents gathered there. Someone jumped into the water and started swimming towards them. A few womanly cries went up from among the chorus of mumbles.

"You think we should swim over there?" Missy asked. Jesse nodded. They began a fazed, cold swim to shore. Being surrounded by so many people would've felt like a normal day for them in Beacontown, but the strangers seemed more ill and terrified than awed and inspired by Jesse and Missy. Nevertheless, the children smiled and waved. It was all part of the routine.

"Hi, I'm Jesse. This is Missy, my sister."

Missy smiled. "We're Jesse and Petra's kids."

A zealous man thrusted his way through the crowd, nearly stumbling into the two kids. "Are you two children alright?" Missy tried to answer. "I'm going to go get a doctor!"

"A doctor?" A woman shouted, accidentally cutting Jesse off. "Clearly, we need the Founder! It's not every day children fall from the sky."

"Excuse me, but—"

"She's right. The Founder knows about sheep. She might know about this, too."

Missy scowled at them. Did they ever shut up? "Excuse me!" She bellowed, stamping with one foot. Her high, loud voice silenced the whole crowd. She put on a happy face when they finally heeded. "My brother Jesse and I need to ask you a question: Do you all know about a guy named Aiden?" The worried faces morphed into disgusted ones right before her and her brother's eyes. Something about the silence suddenly made her feel uncomfortable.

Jesse stepped in front of Missy, surveying the faces around them. "Um… you know, he was with the Blaze Rods? We're here because we need to meet him. We want to talk with him."

"I told you! I told you these kids needed a doctor!" The man seemed crazed as he erratically pointed at the children. His face barely softened when he looked back at them. "You poor children must've hurt yourselves very badly. Only a looney would want to visit Aiden, wherever he lives these days." Jesse yelped when he lunged for their shoulders and began pushing them to the back of the crowd.

"Hey! Let go of us!" He nor his sister could break free of his strong grip. "Where are you taking us?!"

"I'm taking you two to get the help you so desperately need." Missy sent Jesse a confused look.

"But we don't need any help. We're fine on our own." Missy explained, still trying to break free.

"Yes, you do. I'm taking you children to the doctor, then the orphanage."

Jesse felt his lunch rising in his stomach. Missy stopped struggling. "The orphanage?!" They shouted in unison.

"But we have parents—"

"—And they're waiting for us at home—"

"—And we're adopted!"

Missy sent Jesse a shocked look. "We are?"

"Actually, I don't know." He whispered.

"Oh, don't you kids worry. They'll take good care of you at the orphanage. You'll be fed, you'll have a place to sleep, and you can play with the other kids… assuming they like you, but don't worry about that."

Jesse glared at him. He'd read enough books to see through his pretty lies, and he was sure Missy had too. If this man really thought they were going with him, he was the one who needed help.

"You let go of my sister, now!" Jesse struggled around to send his foot flying into the man's shin. When he doubled over, he grabbed his sister and ran as fast as he could.

Deadlines approaching fast! Please leave a review, not just about the dialogue, but also about the story itself. I wanna hear what you have to say about this! Interacting with the base is super fun! Follow and favorite so you don't miss updates. Thanks for reading, and I'll see you tomorrow. CLOSE IT, CRISPER!

Crisper: (closes it)