Another Sister (Under the Dome fanfic)

Chapter 10

Reegan's POV

I woke to the feeling of the hard ground against my back. Barn sleepovers; would not recommend. I sat up, stretching and popping as many joints as possible along the way. I glanced around the room; Angie was sleeping on her side to my right, and the lovebirds were across from us. The string of twine was still tied around each of their wrists. Norrie's solution to Joe's sleepwalking problem.

"No sleepwalking. Good boy." I heard a groggy Norrie say

I turned my attention to the mini-dome where I saw the egg wasn't alone. There was a caterpillar inside the dome. "Nor?" We made eye contact over the transparent structure

"I see it." She tried to sit up only to drag Joe up with her

"What the hell?"

"Sorry," she apologized, "Joe, look what's inside the mini-dome."

He stared wide-eyed at the object, only finding it in him to give a light, "Whoa."

"Will you guys shut up?" Angie grumbled beside me

"Uh, Ange?" I nudged her lightly, "The egg has a visitor."

This got her attention, and she was up within a few seconds. Her expression mirrored Joe's, "That wasn't there last night."

"It could have been under the dirt." I offered

"Trapped in there like the big dome trapped us," Norrie added in a low tone

"Where ever it came from, it was no accident. Look at those black and yellow stripes." Joe gestured to our new friend

"Yeah, and?" Angie shrugged

"It's the caterpillar of a monarch butterfly," I answered

"'The monarch will be crowned''" Norrie recited, "Julia heard that when she touched this thing in the woods."

"Maybe she'll know what it means," I say lightly, already prepared for the response I'd get

"We agreed not to tell her we have it." Angie reminded me

"I know, but we're  in the market for another hand and she's the only other person who knows about this damn thing."

"Reegan..." she sighed

"She may be on to something." Joe piped in, "Maybe Julia's the fifth hand the mini-dome needs to do whatever it's gonna do."

"Like turn off the dome," Norrie added

"But Julia hasn't had any seizures."

"Not that we know of." She gave me a look, "Yeah, okay."

"You think it will do it again?" Joe cast a glance back to the mini-dome, "If we all touch it?"

"Let's try it."

The four of us kneeled before the mini-dome and laid our hands against the smooth surface. Within minutes the fifth handprint reappeared between Angie and me. Joe sighed, "We still need to find whoever the fifth hand belongs to."

"Someone with seizures." Norrie surmised, "We should find others who've had them."

Joe's stomach grumbling broke the brief moment of silence that followed, "Breakfast first?' He scratched the back of his head

Norrie, Angie, and I laughed, "Sure," Angie smiled, "First, we've got to hide this thing."

"How?" Joe asked, "We have no idea what this thing is. We can't just-" I picked up a blanket from the ground and threw it over the mini-dome, "-throw a blanket over it." His voice petered off