Moving through Life

Pt 11 | Conversational Traps

Slate couldn't believe what he had just witnessed. Shay had just come out of the wall, willingly climbed into the clutches of that human, Todd, talked with him, and then let him carry her out of the room! The middle brother had half a mind to reveal himself from his spot on the shelf, but decided not to do that. Instead, he stayed tucked away and waited for the human to return to bed and turn off the light.

Slate hadn't been able to sleep. His sister was back, seen, and quite possibly revealed more than she intended - something that he now had confirmed - and the fear of being uprooted and caught in the middle of the night unsettled him to no end. So, he and Beau both agreed to keep a subtle lookout. With the human now asleep, Slate had a decision to make.

He knew what Shay told him; that wasn't up for debate. Seeing it happen, however, was an entirely different experience. Slate hadn't heard everything that his sister said, but he could easily pick up the human's words. Humans were clumsy and loud even when they were trying to be quiet. From what he heard, Todd sounded concerned for Shay, something that was extremely confusing to him, but he was also firm when he insisted she go home.

Slate imagined that if a human were interested in keeping a Borrower that they wouldn't allow them to leave or at the very least convince them to stay. Maybe it was a trick? Maybe he wanted to lure her into a false sense of security? It would be the quickest way to get to the family.

Still, Todd was careful with his little sister and she didn't seem to be in distress. Dozens of scenarios crossed his mind, but each seemed further and further from the truth. The scary thing was that Slate was interested and was on the verge of believing that his sister may actually be right about this human. His watch continued and he had to decide now whether he was going to tell Beau about his theories and the encounter between Todd and Shay or if he was going to keep it to himself and watch how everything unfolded.

It was dangerous to keep information to himself, but Beau would undoubtedly have a negative reaction to hearing Shay snuck out to talk to Todd. He could bring it up to his sister directly, but that too would probably not be great. She wouldn't like being "spied" on and would insist on meeting Todd. Just the thought of talking to a human made Slate shiver.

Then again, maybe it wasn't such a bad idea.

Shay had done it.

She just did it and everything turned out fine. At the very least, it would reveal Todd's intentions. If Beau or Icon were to keep watch while he went out and talked to Todd while Shay was at home doing something, perhaps they could get to the bottom of this mystery. It was a terrifying thought, but also thrilling. It was a steep ledge on either side. On one hand, Todd could be everything Shay said and they'd have to accept Shay's friendship, if it could be called that, with a human, but they would still have to reveal themselves and talk to him. On the other hand, Todd could easily catch whoever approached him and the siblings would have little to no way of stopping something bad from happening.

Both cases weren't ideal, but at the very least they would get answers.

Slate made up his mind. He would bring in Icon and Beau into the fold and set this trap for the human.

~~~~~*^*^*^*^~~~~~

Unfortunately, Slate's prediction was correct. Beau was two seconds away from confronting Shay about the entire encounter and Icon nearly tried to sprint off to tell their parents. He barely managed to convince them to listen and spent the next hour persuading them that his plan was going to work or, at the very least, prove whether Todd was as good as Shay claimed him to be.

They drew string strips to determine who would actually go and talk to Todd while the other two watched. Beau hated the idea, but the younger two agreed it was only fair since Slate and Beau both volunteered and felt entitled to the position, Beau for being the oldest and Slate because he came up with the idea.