Brave (New Earth Saga)

Ch. 27

"Put. My. Daughter. Down. RIGHT NOW!" Joe snapped in a low rumble that even sent shivers down my spine.

I knew based on how big and commanding Joe's presence could be, even to other Giants that he could come off as intimidating. Hearing him speak in this tone as he filled up the entire doorway to the living room made me confirm that Joe truly never used this tone of voice towards me. No, it was just like back in Principal Howard's office. Joe reserved this tone of voice for when he spoke about me.

I felt Trent's entire body tense as he held me. Next, Trent looked from Joe, to me, suddenly jerking as if I was a hot-potato he needed to get rid of, and quick. In a not so graceful gesture, Trent placed me onto the coffee table in front of the couch we'd been sat on. The moment my feet touched the table, I felt the alarmingly strong vibrations of Joe moving to the table. Once there, Joe's hand zipped in front of me, palm-up. His movement was so fast that I couldn't help but jerk backwards. My head turned round, looking back at Trent, who looked like he was going to pass out. I turned back to Joe's familiar hand, and decided to hop on, to hopefully relieve some tension and explain ourselves.

Once sat in Joe's palm, He brought me toward his chest where he d#mn near cradled me protectively.

"When she says 'Stop' or-or says you're being 'too much' you must listen! You could really hurt her! Do you understand me?" Joe scolded Trent, in a tone that didn't leave room for rebuttal or debate.

I wished I could see Trent's response but I was too busy facing Joe's dress shirt. Next, Joe lifted me higher so we could meet face to face and he questioned me in a panicked yet much gentler tone.

"Are you okay? D-did he hurt you?"

At Joe's question I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. This was ridiculous. Clearly Trent and I were just being young and having one normal moment of fun. Of course nothing with Trent and I could ever just be perceived as normal because no one would just give us that.

"Joe, bring it down brother. Trent would never hurt her," Thomas spoke as he calmly entered the living room.

"You don't know that!" Joe snapped.

"I think I do know what my son is and is not capable of,"

"Dad, it's just a misunderstanding," Trent spoke up trying to alleviate the growing tension between Joe and Thomas.

"The misunderstanding seems to lie with you kid,"

"Do not speak to my son that way,"

"Your son needs to learn to listen to my daughter,"

"Joe! That's ENOUGH!" I yelled. Of course me yelling wasn't nearly as intimidating as the three male giants stood around me "having words" with one another, but it certainly did the trick of grabbing their attention. "We were just joking around. Nothing happened," I spoke in a dry tone.

"But you told him to stop, and he-"

"I was just joking... probably hard to tell with how small I am to you all... but we were just for one moment being normal,"

Joe lifted me higher once again so we were talking face to face. His face looked crestfallen from my words.

"Morgan, this has nothing to do with size,"

"Yes it does Joe... doesn't it always."

"No, I-I would feel this same way-"

"No you wouldn't," I quipped- cutting Joe off before he could pretend he'd of had this same reaction if I was a giant.

Before we could continue, a shout came from the back of the house.

"Thomas! Trent!! I- I can't find River!" Blue yelled clearly panicked.

The first response the three male giants stood around me had made my stomach drop. Instead of rushing to the back of the house where Blue clearly still was, the three male giants instinctually snapped their focus down to the ground in a panic. If that didn't just put into perspective how minuscule and insignificant a human could be to a giant, then I don't know what would. The reality was, one of these three giants literally could have already crushed Little River, and they may not have even noticed.

Once we'd all carefully made our way to River's giant sized room (Joe was still holding me at this point) we found Blue frantically looking around the bedroom.

"Blue, calm honey, she couldn't have gone far."

"I- I just put her down, and I showered. After my shower I went to double check she'd fallen asleep and she was gone!"

Thomas shook his head in understanding, and then knelt down on the ground.

"River? Please come out now," Thomas coaxed.

"Please tell me she's not freaking playing hide & seek again!" Trent mumbled, clearly exasperated by the thought.

"River, this isn't funny, come out!"

The giants continued to panic and search, with even Joe joining the search party. Finally I had an idea hit me. I suggested to everyone that they place me on River's bed and let me "retrace" her steps. I don't know that every human would be as skilled at scaling the side of a giant sized piece of furniture, but years of living with Joe made me the perfect candidate for the task.

All too easily I was able to make it from River's bed to the ground. Once on the ground, I took a moment to take in my surroundings from this vantage point. I am almost always on a raised surface when communicating with giants, as are most humans. It's pretty universal that the ground isn't an ideal place for a human standing next to giant feet. I gulped back my discomfort as I continued to retrace River's journey.

I finally found a small hole behind a giant sized dresser. A whole that almost seemed "man-made" for it was a perfectly shaped circle. After announcing that I was going to travel further into said hole, I made my way into the tiny tunnel that was even a rather tight squeeze for me. The tunnel continued until it reached another opening. When I saw where this opening led to, my heart sank. It opened up to the outside, to what appeared to be the backyard.

After returning to River's room to explain to the other giants that she may be outside, we all found ourselves outside, light beams in hand, working together to search for River. We searched and searched but sweet little River was nowhere to be found.

Eventually the police were called and Joe and I returned home, where I'm certain we joined the Reed family in a sleepless night. For the remainder of the weekend the only interactions I had with Joe were to join him in worrying about River.

Law officials say the first 48 hours that someone goes missing are the most critical. If a missing person is not found within those first 48 hours, the chances of the missing person being found alive decrease immensely. Today was Sunday, which meant that tonight would equal 48 hours since River was last seen.

I'd been texting back and forth with Trent, who'd been out with his father searching for River along with the police. When I'd asked Joe if we could join, Joe urged me to let the professionals investigate. Joe had even sent both a human and a giant private investigator team to investigate the suspiciously shaped human sized hole I'd found in River's room.

I basically felt helpless while in my room trying to clean one handed, as my hand was still in a cast. My room wasn't even dirty, but I just needed the distraction. Finally, a whole new distraction came in the form of the ring of our doorbell. I heard Joe rumble over to our door. I remained dead still to try and hear who was at the door, but from here, I couldn't hear anyone. Then I felt Joe rumble towards my door until I finally heard his giant knock.

"Come in!"

"Hey Boss, you've got a friend here to see you."

Standing to the side of Joe was the last person I expected to see at my house. They'd never even been here before. The only people from school who'd' been here were Aaron and Trent. For once looking timid and insecure was probably the most confident person I'd ever met. I didn't know why she was here, but it was in fact Jade.