the divulgence

[instar]

Bella assembles everyone (in the garage, out of politeness to Ax, who is standing in grass clippings that Andi took from two houses down for him) after she has organized her notes on Yeerking.

"I have tentatively concluded that the benefits of telling Renée outweigh the risks. We already use her house as a base of operations, and not having to work around her would be much easier, especially now that we have three people who don't officially exist to hide. She exists - and her official existence is an adult; she can drive us places and so on. She can excuse me and Andi from school, if Charlie morphs her he can be out in public as long as they coordinate and not have to pretend he's not our parent, she can make sure we have enough food in the house - and I guess for Ax we experiment with commercially available forms of hay, there aren't going to be grass clippings in Phoenix so readily available - to sustain extra people. She's flighty but not terrible with secrets. I do think we might want to avoid teaching her specialized vocabulary like 'Yeerk' or 'Escafil' or whatever, because that seems like the easier slip for her to make, but I think we should tell her what's going on. Charlie will be able to convince her that we can't just turn over the issue to the authorities."

Comments

[palmofyourhand]

"That'll be fun," Ethan says dryly.

[instar]

"Tremendous fun. I just wanted you all to know and to see if anybody had last-minute objections, that's all."

[palmofyourhand]

"Not me," he shrugs.

[instar]

"Okay then."

Bella gets ahold of Renée on the phone the following morning. She has an intensely difficult conversation, part of which she actually spends crying; she hands the phone to Andi at Renée's request at one point; she takes it back; Renée promises to be in Forks before midnight, she's going to drive straight there, her friends will catch a train home, they'll understand.

[aeskhyne]

"...Do you want a hug?" says Trouble.

[instar]

"Hm? I'm fine."

[aeskhyne]

"You sure?"

[instar]

"I'll be able to tell her the truth when she gets here, which will be soon. Besides, I wouldn't have been nearly as convincing a half-orphan if there hadn't been any crying, even on the phone."

[aeskhyne]

"Okay. I just know, if I'd had to cry like that, I'd want a hug after."

[instar]

Bella shifts in her seat.

"I might hug Andi. I mean - no offense. It takes more processing to be comforted by some things than others."

[aeskhyne]

He shrugs. "Wasn't offering for me. It's okay."

[instar]

She relaxes, a little. "Thanks."

[aeskhyne]

Trouble smiles.

[instar]

She goes and hugs Andi. She talks to Ax about Andalites and morphing and Yeerks and computer science and other kinds of aliens -

She gets Andi to draw a caricature of a Na.

She takes it to Trouble.

"Is this the kind of alien your mom believes in?"

[aeskhyne]

"...Uh..." says Trouble. "I mean, maybe? I mean, she never drew me a picture."

[instar]

"It's a Na. They're metamorphosed from a bigger roach kind of alien. They sometimes abduct people - and Earthlings aren't unheard of as targets."

[aeskhyne]

"Wow," says Trouble. "I did nnnot expect that."

[instar]

"Reggie's Yeerk probably figures that if all she's seen is a few Na she doesn't know enough to be a problem - if she even really saw Na and it's not something else going on."

[aeskhyne]

"Probably," he says. "If Reggie's Yeerk even knows that. It doesn't come up much these days."

[instar]

"Do you feel inclined to see if she can be extracted?"

[aeskhyne]

"...Maybe," he says. "I don't know. I mean, on the one hand, I could get her away from Reggie; on the other hand, I'd have to go near Reggie."

[instar]

"Someone else could do it, if we knew how," Bella points out.

[aeskhyne]

"Do what, though? If I'm the one who shows up, she might actually trust me."

[instar]

"I'm not sure," shrugs Bella. "If nothing else, we could keep an eye out for Reggie and you could time it for when he's not home."

[aeskhyne]

"There is that. Or I could kill him," Trouble says thoughtfully.