Origin (Book 2)

Chapter 21

Flying was much like looking at a road on a GPS, as I later found. The flying part, though, was difficult. I felt like I was stretching a muscle I had forgotten I had, and was now paying for never using it. While Wren was flying steadily and easily, I was sweating and getting slower by the second.

It surprised me that he knew how to get to his house from where we were. He lived somewhere in Michigan, and I had never been here before.

Eventually, he noticed me lagging behind and told me that we were nearly there, and that I could rest when we landed. I was too busy trying not to fall to reply.

When we got there, he landed in the middle of the street, as if it was normal to drop out of the sky. I at least landed in his backyard and took off my suit before I walked to the front door.

"Should I say outside, or come in?" I asked him. This was his house as his territory. Bad guy or not, I respected his privacy.

"You can come in," he said. "But try not to mention anything to my wife or my kids. They'll never let me leave the house again."

"Can do," I said.

He knocked on the door. "Elizabeth, it's me! I left my key, I think!"

Less than a second later, the door was thrown open and a middle-aged young woman wrapped her arms around Wren.

"I missed you," she said. I could hear her voice about to break. Oh gosh, she was going to cry.

"I missed you, too, honey," Wren said lovingly.

I tried to walk away so that I wouldn't intrude on their moment. I didn't get a step.

"And who are you?"

I swung my fist behind me, but the person moved to the left. "Whoa, calm down," he said.

I looked at him, dumbfounded. "Adam?" I asked.

"That's the name. Do I know you?" he asked me.

"I...I don't know," I said.

"Come inside." Wren's wife finally addressed me. "I'm sure you have a lot to tell."

I looked at Wren for his approval. He nodded his head, giving me the go-ahead to make up something believable.

"I do," I said.

"Great. I'm sure you can explain to me why my husband was missing for the last three days," she said, glaring at him. She must have gotten over seeing him again quickly.

I walked into the house last, checking the empty street for anything suspicious before going inside. Usually, I would feel comfortable anywhere, but now I couldn't even sit down on the couch to rest.

As if he was reading my mind, Wren said, "It's, okay, Jay, you can sit."

Elizabeth sat in a rocking chair, and Wren sat on the couch with me. We were about to get interrogated. Wow.

When my butt touched the soft material, my eyes drooped instantly. Flying was taxing on my body, and although it didn't seem to require any of the energy I had stored from earlier this morning, I was still wasted.

"Well?" Elizabeth said.

I hadn't realized they were looking at me. Adam must've gone up to his room.

Several pictures of the family were hanging on the walls, where I could see Adam growing up. That didn't make half as much sense as anything else I knew about this dimension, but I would try to keep up.

There was a fire going in the fireplace northwest to me, and the stairs next to that exposed a window at the top looking out over the backyard. There was another one behind me. If someone was coming, I would be the first one to know.