Something cracked. I turned to see what it was. That mask split in half and fell off. I would've fallen if Phoenix wasn't holding onto me...

It was Zane! I knew it! I couldn't believe my big brother was really in front of me...

I slipped out of Phoenix's arms and ran over.

Z shook his head. He looked sorta out of it. "Oh, hey, Bri..."

He was sweaty, but I didn't think it was just cuz he was just fighting with Duke. He sorta just looked sick...

I threw my arms around him and started crying again.

"I missed you, too, Bri." He ruffled my hair. "I love you."

"You alright?" Duke asked.

I let go of him.

"Yeah... This is nothing..." When he went to stand, Zane fell to one knee. He was holding his leg.

"Zane..." I said.

He was gritting his teeth but smiled for me. "I'll be alright. Why are you here, Bri?"

When I went to open my mouth, no sound wanted to come out.

Of course, Zane knew just by looking at me. He held one of his hands out.

M-O-M. D-A-D.

His eyes got big. "Wait. What? What about Mom and Dad?"

"This is probably gonna be hard for you to believe, but your parents are here." Duke glanced in Alain's direction. "We're here to find them and an old friend of his."

"Go find our parents then." He squeezed my hand. "I'll catch up. They'll be so happy to see you, Bri."

I was able to hold Bubble for the first time in so long. I didn't want to not be able to see him.

Tiana looked at all of us. "This might not be ideal, but it might be best for us to split up. Ali can go look for Savannah, and Phoenix can go with him. I'd like to stay here. Duke and Marshall can decide which of them would like to go with Lie. Then Recah can do whatever she thinks is best."

I went up to Recah and grabbed her. I didn't know why, but I really wanted her to go with me.

"Well, I guess I'm taking Lie to find her parents," she said.

Marsh ran his fingers through my hair. "Is there one of us that you want us to go with you?"

I really just wanted Recah to go with me by ourselves. I didn't really want them to go this time. To say so, I just leaned into Recah.

"Okay." I was pretty sure he was looking at his sister. "Text or call us if you guys need anything."

"I will," she said.

I smiled. We were gonna find my parents soon.

She grabbed my hand. "Come on, sweetie. Let's go find your parents."

***

We walked for a bit until I felt my parents close by. That was when my legs got stiff. My heart was racing. I couldn't move anymore.

"Hey." Recah gave me a hug. "What's wrong?"

I looked in her eyes. "I'm scared, and my legs don't wanna listen to me anymore..."

"I could carry you for a little bit if you want?"

I shook my head. I didn't want her to do that. Could she really do that for long? I didn't think I was that much smaller than her.

"Is there anything else I can do to help you then?"

I got behind her and put my arms around her.

Recah laughed. "Yes, sweetie, you can be my shadow. Let's go see your parents. I'm sure they'll be so happy to see you and your brother again."

"Okay..."

I didn't know if I spaced out or what, but it felt like I blinked before we got to what I thought was their house.

Recah knocked on the door for me.

When I poked my head out from behind her, the door creaked open and Mom was standing the doorway.

Her eyes got big. "Is that really you, Bri?"

I jumped. I was surprised I didn't knock her down when I did that. "I missed you, Mommy!"

"Hi, sweetie." Mom looked at Recah. "Would you like to come inside with us?"

"Thank you for inviting me in, miss..."

A little girl came out from what I expected to be a kitchen. "Who's at the door, Mommy?"

My eyes got big. Mommy? Wait a minute... This little girl looked a lot like the one I dreamt about a week or two ago...

"We'll talk about it in a little bit, sweetie." Mom smiled. "Go get your daddy, Abi."

Her little eyes lit up. "Okay!"

"That's right, Bri." Mom put her arms around me. "That's your little sister."

My jaw dropped. It'd been a long time since I'd seen Mom and Dad. Still, why didn't I know I had a little sister?

Mom said, "I didn't know."

Before she could explain what that meant, Abi came back with Dad.

Dad picked me up. "I can't believe you're really here, sweetie. We missed you so much..."

I was crying again. I could barely talk. "Missed you, too."

After Dad put me down, we all went into the kitchen.

Mom got down on one knee before she talked to Abi. "Remember how Daddy and I said that you have a big brother and sister that we haven't seen in a really long time?"

She nodded.

Mom gestured to me. "This is your big sister. Her name is Natalie, but we always called her Lie or Bri."

"Love you...!" Abi gave me a hug. She looked at me like she got to meet me in my dream or something.

I patted her head since she caught me off-guard.

"Go play in your room for a bit," Dad said.

Abi looked back at me before she dragged her feet and left the room. Mom poked her head out of the doorway to make sure Abi listened, probably.

"How did you find this place?" Dad asked.

"A friend of ours came here looking for something, so we found this place cuz of that," Recah said.

I finally found my voice again. I spit these words out in one breath, I thought. "You'll never believe what happened!"

Mom put her hands on my shoulders. "You need to slow down. We don't know what you just said."

"I found Zane!"

Dad dropped the bowl he'd been holding. "Your brother?"

That was when Recah's phone started ringing. "I'll be right back. Our friends are probably close by."

Recah practically ran out of the house.

"How did you find Zane?" Mom asked.

"On accident."

I didn't wanna tell her the rest of the story when he wasn't there to explain parts of it, so that seemed like the best thing to tell her.

"Do they wanna meet up?" Dad picked up the bowl he dropped.

"They probably do." My cheeks got hot. "We had to split up, so we could do what we needed to do."

"Maybe your friend didn't go far." Dad put the bowl down. "Let's go see."

We all went out front. From where I was, I couldn't see any of the others yet, but I didn't think they were far. Recah was acting like they were close when she ran to get them.

That was when they all came into view. Alain and Phoenix didn't seem to be with them, though. Tiana was gone, too, so she must've gone to find her brothers.

Marsh had carried Zane probably cuz he got hurt before. He set Zane down when he got close to us.

Mom and Dad's eyes got big.

"What happened?" Dad asked.

"Don't worry about it." Zane smiled. He looked better than when I saw him earlier, but he still didn't look great. "I'm fine."

I didn't know who Zane thought he was fooling, but I decided to not say anything. If he was like Duke and the others like I thought, he probably didn't remember much of what happened before he recognized me.

"Oh, sweetheart..." Mom put her arms around him. "I missed you so much. We don't have to get that taken care of right now."

Zane sorta just leaned into Mom. I wouldn't have been surprised if that let him break down.

Duke whispered, "So, what are we gonna do now? Go find the others?"

"I don't think so," Recah whispered back. "The others will probably find us first, anyway."

"We should've tried to call her before I called you." Marsh pulled his phone out. "I'll be right back. They might be done now."

***

It seemed like it was just like that when Marsh came back with the others. Somebody new was with them. I had a feeling she was the person Alain came here for.

"Are we good now?" Alain asked. He gave off a hot flash, so I knew he wasn't very comfortable.

Marsh, Duke, Recah, and Tiana all looked at each other.

Marsh looked at my parents. "What would you say if I told you that we could give you the opportunity to go home to Engrada?"

"It's not a question for us." Mom and Dad looked at each other. "We made the best of things, but we never wanted to raise a child here. We would be crazy not to take this opportunity."

"I guess that settles that." Duke put his hands on his hips. "Where we gonna go, though?"

Alain looked at the girl who had red hair like me. "I'd like to head back to Earth." He glanced at Zane. "You guys are welcomed to spend the night with us before you go back. We have more than enough room."

Mom and Dad looked at us.

"He's not kidding," Duke said. "His house is huge."

Dad smiled. "That'd be great."

"I have no idea what happened to our house," Mom said. "Anyway, I need to get Abi first."

We would go home after that. That was such a relief!

Duke and Marsh went through the gate first. Recah went next with Tiana and Phoenix. Alain's friend took the plunge after them.

That left just me, my family, and Alain.

Dad didn't think twice before picking Zane up. It wasn't hard to tell Alain wouldn't look at us funny for it.

That surprised Zane but he relaxed into Dad. He was warm. That might have been the safest he'd felt in years...

Dad carried Zane through the gate.

Abi and I held Mom's hands and followed them through.

***

Aw... Lie's family is back together again! Thoughts? Theories? Predictions?

~Shino out!