Chapter 14

Lincoln did what he could to make himself presentable. He washed himself in his makeshift shower that he cobbled together in the bathroom, made sure he had a relatively clean set of clothes, and scrubbed his teeth with a pinch of salt on a piece of gauze wrapped around his finger. The gash on his cheek from his earlier fight with the voodoo-themed gangsters had long since healed without even a scar. Content with his appearance in the bathroom mirror, he made his way across town to the Casagrandes' place. The last thing he wanted was for his usual route through the sewers to ruin his relative cleanliness, so he traveled on the surface, the hood of his cut-up hoodie pulled low to hide the worst of his extraterrestrial features.

He arrived at the building after a few minutes of walking. He suddenly froze in the middle of the sidewalk with the realization that he didn't know which door was the true entrance. He frantically examined the building from top to bottom until his keen eyes spotted Ronnie in one of the windows on the second floor, dancing like no one was watching with her eyes closed and purple headphones covering her ears. His gaze drifted downward and rested on the red-painted metal fire escape.

...

In the tense time spent waiting for Lincoln to arrive, Ronnie desperately needed to settle her nerves. In her case, the best way to do that was to groove along to her favorite music. Having finished unpacking weeks prior, the Hispanic teen knew exactly where her hand-me-down portable music player and stash of CDs was.

Her private dance routine was interrupted by someone knocking on her bedroom window, which startled her so much that she tripped on her own feet and fell over. Pausing her music and pulling off her headphones, she stood up and discovered Lincoln perched on the fire escape in a Spider-Man crouch. She scowled and opened the window, allowing her friend to crawl inside.

"Dang it, Linc! You know I don't like it when you wreck my groove!" she complained.

"Sorry, but I had to get your attention," Lincoln apologized, gazing around the room. His gaze settled on the CD case on Ronnie's nightstand, and his nose wrinkled. "Ugh, you still listen to that sissy boy band?" he asked in distaste.

"Hey! Twelve is Midnight is the best K-Pop band of our generation!" Ronnie shot back. "What were you doing outside my window, anyway?"

"I, uh, didn't know which door was the actual front door that led to the apartments. I saw you dancing the night away and thought you would be able to help me," Lincoln explained.

"Isn't it obvious? It's the door directly facing the street," Ronnie replied.

"Yeah, I haven't been around your neighborhood much recently, so I forgot," Lincoln said, sheepishly scratching the back of his neck.

"Eh, no biggie," Ronnie assured him. "I'll meet you down there and let you in. Abuelo and Abuela insist on keeping the doors locked, so you'd need a key card to get in on your own."

"Considering the type of people I keep encountering, I don't blame them."

Moments later, Lincoln was once again firmly on the ground, standing in front of the main entrance. True to her word, Ronnie came down before long and opened the door for him. She led him up the stairs to her grandparents' apartment, where her whole family (minus her own parents) was gathered for dinner. The hybrid boy still had his hood up, wanting to ease Ronnie's extended family into his situation.

"Okay, just...be cool. Everything's gonna be fine. Probably," Ronnie said to herself as well as to Lincoln. The two friends looked at each other, gave a curt nod, and Ronnie opened the door and ushered Lincoln inside.

The sight that greeted him was truthfully very similar to the controlled chaos of his own household in Royal Woods. Two boys, a parrot, and a large dog were all chasing each other around the room. Bobby and a young man with short copper-colored hair were dressed up and posing with a teenage girl slightly older than Ronnie for an older woman snapping pictures. And a tall, thin, bespectacled man was busy helping an aging couple in the kitchen, one of whom Lincoln recognized immediately.

Ronnie coughed into her fist, and everyone froze in place to stare at her.

"Everyone, I'm sure you've heard from Abuela that I was bringing a friend for dinner," she began. "I'd like you all to meet Lincoln Loud, my best friend from Royal Woods!" With that, Lincoln took a deep breath and lowered his hood. Everyone stayed silent for several moments. Then...

"LINCOLN!" Bobby screamed and ran forward. When he reached Lincoln, he made the best attempt he could to hug the hybrid teen's waist, which due to their height difference ended up being closer to Lincoln's knees. "I missed you so much!" Bobby sobbed, pressing his face into Lincoln's leg.

"Heh. I missed you too, little buddy," Lincoln said with a smile and ruffled Bobby's hair. Moments later, Lincoln staggered backwards when a small black shoe bounced off of his forehead. "OW! What the heck?!" he complained, rubbing the sore spot.

"GET OUT! OUT! YOU HAVE NO PLACE IN THIS HOUSEHOLD, EL DIABLO!" Rosa screamed, her other shoe in one hand and a bundle of burning sage in the other.

"Abuela, don't! Lincoln's not the Devil! He's just a regular guy who just happens to look different!" Ronnie defended, standing protectively between Lincoln and her grandmother.

"It's true, Mamá," added Maria, who had just arrived along with Arturo, both still dressed in their hospital scrubs. "This the boy I've been telling you about. The one who saved Arturo's life. I'd be a widow right now if it wasn't for him!" Arturo nodded to confirm the truth of his wife's words. This, combined with the doe-eyed expression Bobby was giving her as he clung to Lincoln's leg, managed to reassure Rosa, but only slightly.

"Alright, fine," she sighed, extinguishing the sage and putting the shoe back on her foot. "But he can only stay for dinner, nothing else!"

"I guess that's fair. I have my own place now, anyway," Lincoln said with a dismissive shrug. Everyone sat around the table while Rosa put the finishing touches on that night's meal, Carne Asada. Tender beef skirt steak served with rice and tortillas, with Rosa's famous tamales on the side; the mere scent of which had Lincoln practically drooling.

"Hey, you're Lily's brother, aren't you?" asked the copper-haired man, who looked to be college-aged. Having been caught off-guard by the question, Lincoln simply nodded. The man smiled and extended his hand for Lincoln to shake. "I thought so. I'm Carlitos Casagrande, Lily's boyfriend. She talks about you a lot." Following Carlitos' example, the other family members introduced themselves one at a time.

First were Carlos and Frida, who finally recognized Lincoln from family pictures that Lily showed them. They expressed how happy they were to finally meet him in person, as well as how delightful Lily was as their student and paid intern, respectively.

Next was Carlota, the younger sister of Carlitos and only daughter of Carlos and Frida. She was a pear-shaped girl with wide hips, a pale green dress with a white collar, and long, silky black hair in a ponytail. The seventeen-year-old was self-employed, earning money through an online fashion and makeup blog.

After Carlota came her younger brother, Carlos Junior, or CJ for short. He had black hair that was wiry but neatly combed, eyes that were puffy and squinted, and a severe overbite. He wore a yellow polo shirt with a black clip-on bowtie and black jeans. He was twelve, but acted quite a bit younger due to a near-crippling case of Downs Syndrome.

Last but not least was the youngest Casagrande child, six-year-old Carl. His black hair was gelled into an Elvis Presley pompadour, and he wore a scarlet hoodie over blue jeans and black sneakers. He did his best to act slick and suave, as evidenced by his sly yet gap-toothed smile.

Rosa's husband, Hector, would have introduced himself as well if he hadn't fallen asleep at the table.

Before long, the food was served, and Lincoln started drooling for real at the sight of it. Ronnie was sitting right next to him and had to elbow his side to make him wipe his mouth.

"I'm sorry if anything here is not...palatable for you, Lincoln," Rosa said disdainfully, clearly still annoyed by his presence in her home. Lincoln either didn't notice or didn't care.

"Are you kidding?! I've eaten nothing but stray cats and day-old donuts for weeks! Compared to that, this is a smorgasbord!" he said with a grin, eagerly rubbing his hands together.

"Oh, so that's where all the cats have been going!" Carlos realized out loud. "Good thing, too. They were starting to get very problematic!"

They continued to talk as they ate, and as he grew more comfortable around Ronnie's family, Lincoln found himself telling the story of his extraterrestrial origins, which had at least Carlos, Frida, and CJ enraptured.

"Do you have any superpowers?" CJ asked at one point.

"Only a few that I know of," Lincoln replied. "I haven't really had a chance to cut loose and explore my abilities yet. I have super strength and rapid healing for sure. And if I concentrate hard enough, I can switch my vision to the infrared spectrum." That last part made Ronnie frown.

"You've had heat vision this whole time, and you never told me?!" she demanded accusingly.

"You never asked, and I don't do it very often because I always get a headache when I do," Lincoln explained.

Through it all, Rosa just sat in silence and fumed.

For her, this was going to be a long night...