Emmet leaned in towards the campfire, trying to stay warm. If he had known this morning he was going to be chasing down Space Caterpillars, he might have brought a jacket.

"The trick is keeping a steady pace," Mr. Balinski was saying. "Nagra can move quick, but they get slowed down every time they open a new rift."

On an ordinary day, Emmet would have smiled politely and then averted his eyes, but it wasn't an ordinary day and Emmet had too many questions. Besides, Mr. Balinski didn't seem to mind his stutter.

"So these th-th-things," Emmet said, "they-they chew holes th-through the universe?"

"Well, it's a bit more complicated than that, but yes, more or less."

"And-and you resc-rescue them?"

"Yes. You see, they're not really violent creatures. They usually only chew holes between their own breeding grounds, but every now and again, one gets lost and starts gnawing into different parts of reality. All we do is capture them and bring them to a safe zone."

Emmet shook his head in disbelief.

"How did-how did y-y-you get involved sir?" he asked.

Mr. Balinski shrugged. "My dad used to do it. He started bringing me and Ian along when we were pretty young.  Mom came too sometimes, but she never loved it like he did."

"Y-your dad d-doesn't do it anymore?"

"No. He passed away a few years ago."

"I'm s-s-sorry," Emmet offered.

"It was a long time ago," Mr. Balinski sighed. "Hey, try to get some sleep. It'll be an early day tomorrow."

Emmet pulled his arms into his sleeves and rolled up as close to the fire as he felt was safe. He felt the weight of a blanket fall over him, but before he could thank his teacher, his eyelids drifted shut and he was out.

***

Vanessa scanned the darkened woods before her. Something had woken her.

To her left, Emmet lay close enough to the fire that the occasional ember fell harmlessly past his cheek. She heard a crunching in the undergrowth across from her and then something whistled past her ear and hit the tree.

"Brock!" she shouted as she dropped to the ground, hurriedly grabbing her pack from its place nearby.

Shadowy shapes leapt from the trees and landed all around the makeshift camp. Another dart whistled past her as she scurried on her belly towards Emmet.

His eyes popped open when she placed a hand on his elbow. He opened his mouth, but she put a finger across her own lips and pointed toward the tree line. He nodded and together they crawled towards the woods.

Once under cover of the trees, Vanessa helped Emmet to his feet, slung the backpack over her shoulder and ran deeper into the woods.

***

Something pricked his skin right below the knee. No time to worry about it now. Reaching for his kit, Ian grabbed the item he kept sealed in the front zipper pocket. He twisted the top and lobbed it into the fire before darting into the woods. He hoped everyone else had done like they were supposed to.

***

A hollow boom sounded behind them as Brock, Shane and Lloyd took cover in a small dip in the forest floor. Debris and soot drifted down towards them, covering them in grey ash.

"Geez, what did he use?" Shane muttered.

Ignoring him, Brock stumbled to his feet.

"Ian?" He called out. "Ian!"

"Quiet, you idiot," Ian said,  staggering out from behind a bush. "There could be more out there."

And with that, he collapsed.

***

"What-what-what w-w-was that?" Emmet demanded.

"Ian calls it Plan B," Vanessa replied.

"W-what was pl-plan A?"

"Not being attacked."

"G-good plan. We sh-should have stuck with-with that one."

Vanessa smiled. "Jokes. Good. First time I did this I was so scared I could barely put two sentences together." She winced. "Sorry, I didn't mean--"

"It-it's okay," Emmet said.

The walked beside each other quietly for a while before Vanessa said, "So, what do you think of Hackensack High?"

Emmet shrugged. "It's lllllike any other school, I g-g-guess."

"Mr. B-balinski is n-nice, though," Emmet added.

"You mean Brock? Yeah, he's okay. How do you know him anyway?"

"He-he t-teaches Geography."

Vanessa stopped and stared at him. "What? At Hackensack?"

"Y-y-yes," Emmet replied. "You-you didn't know?"

"No. I did not," she said. "Let's go find that little weasel."

***

Brock stopped to re-position his brother across his back. Again.

"Sure you don't want me to take him for a bit?" Lloyd offered.

"I'm good," Brock grunted. "Just see if you can make any sense of that thing."

Lloyd titled Ian's phone in his hand.

"I think we're about a mile out now. Maybe."

"Shane, any sign of Vanessa?"

"No, not ye-agh!" Shane broke off as Vanessa and Emmet pushed through the low hanging branches of what looked somewhat like a pine tree. If pine trees were yellow with squishy needles.

"Geez, heart attack much? Maybe whistle next time," Shane said, putting a hand to his chest.

Vanessa walked right past him and pointed her finger at Brock.

"You're teaching at my school?"

Brock, still bent in a half stoop so Ian wouldn't slide off, stared at her for a moment, then at the alien wood around them.

"Really? Now?" he demanded.

"Yes, now." She replied.

"Can we at least do this while walking?" he asked.

He waited until she started moving before he fell in beside her.

"Why is it such a big deal?"

"Because it's weird, okay. You're Brock. You can't be Mr. Balinski. It's just--" she searched for a word.

"Weird," Brock guessed.

Vanessa shrugged.

"Well, I'm not your teacher," he said. "Besides, I've been there two weeks and I haven't even seen you yet."

"That's because I don't really go to class, Brock."

He frowned. "Why not? School's not something you should take lightly, Vanessa."

She raised a brow at him. "Really? We're going to do this?"

Brock rolled his eyes. "Okay, fine. Forget I mentioned it."

They walked in silence, trailing behind the other three.

"It's a nice school," Brock said finally, breaking the silence. "They offered me a permanent position."

"Are you going to take it?"

Brock sighed. "Kind of a moot point if we don't make it back by Monday."

"You guys are so stupid," Ian mumbled from Brock's back.

"Oh, hey, look who's up," Brock said, carefully lowering Ian to the ground.

Ian put a hand across his face. "Ow. My head."

"Hey, guys! Wait up," Brock called ahead, before turning back to his brother. "Are you okay?"

Ian swatted Brock's hand away. "I'm fine. Just a bit sluggish."

Brock smiled. "You were always a bit sluggish."

"Haha," Ian said weakly. "Where's my murder scope?"

"Right here," Lloyd said, passing it to him.

Ian took it and slid his fingers around the touch screen, adjusting the orientation.

"Have you guys been going north?" he asked.

"Yeah," Lloyd said.

Ian nodded and pointed his thumb over his shoulder. "It's that way. You geniuses walked right past it."