Haven's Army

Chapter 3

That night, we were all exhausted. The paler of us had faces, necks, and arms bright red with sunburn. We were all, as Daniel called it, hanging out on the patio in the chairs. The night was cool. The city lights were spread out behind the trees, creating a beautiful pattern.

"So, why this house, again?" Kathryn asked, scratching the half-asleep Gigger behind his floppy ears.

Daniel shrugged. "We had to live elsewhere for a while but since Amy is a legal adult, we can live alone now. It's been hard but we get by. We've just...had a hard time leaving a place with so many memories."

Kathryn nodded in understanding. I looked over as Andrew jokingly tried to put his arm around Katie. She slapped his hand away and I smiled, laughing inwardly.

I next looked to Kathryn who was sitting right next to me. I sat up straighter, to which she, too, sat up.

"Stand up a moment," I said. We stood and I measured. "Since when have you been taller than me?" I asked.

She shrugged. "I could just be getting taller."

"Andrew stand up," I said. He stood. I shook my head. "No I swear he's shorter now."

He frowned. "You didn't grow?" I shrugged.

Rachel stood. "That couldn't be possible. She's still smaller than me and she's a little younger. You've gotten shorter."

"As if that's fair!"

Everyone had stopped to watch now.

Peter stood. "I shouldn't be taller than Andrew but I am."

"How come I'm the short one?" Andrew complained.

"Give it up you guys," Nathan said. "You're making a big deal out of nothing. I'm sure there's a slight age gap in which the Founder had a growth spurt."

"Yeah don't worry about it," Dennis said.

I shrugged and sat down but I began to notice every little change that was happening to each person.

• • • • • • • • • •

"Charlotte, come on a run with me," Rachel ordered the next morning. "You need it."

"Gee, thanks," I said sarcastically, a phrase I had picked up quickly from Daniel.

"I don't mean it in that way," she said. "I mean that we haven't trained in a while and soon we're going to slack off."

When we got outside, Rachel immediately began to speak.

"I wanted to speak to you, Victory to Victory. You've noticed as well," she said. "Dennis covered you last night so we didn't dwell on it but we are changing. You're catching up to me in height. Kathryn's taller than you and Peter taller than her. Julia and Andrew are getting smaller. We aren't identical anymore."

"You think so?" I asked. She nodded. "What do you think is causing it?" I questioned.

"I don't know," she replied honestly. "But it's not only height difference. Our features are changing. For instance, you don't have to look at Andrew's prosthetic arm to tell between him and Peter anymore. We're changing."

"You're very observational," I commented.

She scoffed. "I know Dennis knows. He's trying not to worry everyone by any more change but it needs to be told."

I agreed.

• • • • • • • • • •

I was reading a book when Kathryn popped into the room.