The rest of the week went by without incident. Sean hoped Taylor would take it upon himself to call him, but didn’t get his hopes up. By Monday, Sean knew the Hanson family was on their way to another city, or perhaps home. Despite what he had told Kaera, he was worried about the possible repercussions of what he had done. He still trusted Taylor completely, but he wasn’t sure about Walker or Diana. Whether they followed Kaera’s advice or not, eventually they’d discover how much better Zac was doing. From there, everything was in the Hanson’s hands.

Weeks passed, and summer ended. The situation with the Err’neth was getting worse. Sean put off returning to school in order to devote all his time to stemming the tide of incoming troops. Kaera stayed angry with him, and Sean became lonelier than ever.

Weeks passed for the Hanson family as well. After New York, the family flew down to Brazil for more promo concerts and interviews, and from there to Argentina. Now they were in a plane once again, heading to New York for an appearance on TRL. Zac had no more episodes, and since they were far from any of the experts they had seen before about his condition, Walker and Diana decided to leave well enough alone. Walker never mentioned what had happened that night in the hotel room to Diana, but Zac and Isaac both wondered what had happened to Sean after they had seem him last.

Taylor told his brothers Sean’s story, as well as what Kaera had supposedly done for Zac. Neither seemed to quick to believe any of it, but they also couldn’t come up with any better explanations for what had happened. Zac didn’t remember much after Kaera came to their table, but Isaac did, especially how Sean had somehow managed to travel a few dozen city blocks in an instant.

“I don’t know how he did it,” Isaac shook his head as they discussed it for what must have been the hundredth time, “but magic? Invaders from other planets? It’s ridiculous. It can’t be true.”

Taylor sighed. He was beginning to have his doubts too, and that made him feel like he was betraying Sean’s trust somehow. “You think I don’t know how it sounds?” Taylor asked his older brother. “But you weren’t there when he told me. His voice, the pain in his eyes. I could see it was true. He lived through all that. There’s no way he could have faked that.”

“So, he’s a good actor, then. Good for him. But you buy that all that crap, you’re as nuts as he is.” Isaac shook his head again. He was starting to worry about Taylor. It wasn’t like him to buy a story like that.

“Well, Zac says he feels better than he has in months. How do you explain that?” Taylor countered.

“I don’t know, Tay. I’m not a doctor. What do I know about it? But mom and dad said the doctors told them there’s no way he’d get any better. Just worse. Maybe he feels better, but that doesn’t mean he’s cured.” Isaac saw the pain in Taylor’s face, and immediately regretted what he had said. “Look Tay,” his voice softened, “I don’t want this for Zac any more than you do. I’d give anything to make this go away. If I could make it so I had it instead of him, I’d do it in a second&ldots; But I can’t make it go away. No one can. We just have to accept that.”

“Why?” Taylor demanded. “Why do we have to accept that? Why do we have to listen to the doctors if all they’re telling us is there’s nothing they can do? Why should we just give up?”

Isaac was silent for a few minutes, not sure of how to answer Taylor. “Because some day Zac’s going to need us, I mean really need us, and if we can’t be strong from him then, then why bother being his brother at all?”

Taylor didn’t respond. On one hand, he knew that what Isaac had said was true. But deep down inside, he still believed that Kaera had really done something to help Zac, and until he knew for sure, he wasn’t going to give up hope.

As the plane got closer to New York, Taylor’s thoughts drifted to Sean, and he found himself wondering what the mysterious young man was up to. He still had his number, and on more than one occasion, had been tempted to use it. Mercury Records paid for all the hotel bills, so it wasn’t as if his father would have seen the phone bill, but the one time he had actually picked up the phone to dial, he realized he had no idea what he was going to say if Sean picked up.

Still, he missed Sean. Before everything had gotten so complicated, Taylor had felt like they might become friends. In the few days they’d spent together, they had made a real connection. He was pretty sure Sean had felt it too. After all, Sean had never told anyone else about what the Salatern had done to him. Taylor knew, sitting in that room while Kaera was with Zac, that Sean needed to reach out to him as much as he’d needed to reach out to Sean in that gallery, when he’d told Sean everything he’d been afraid to tell his family.

The Err’neth were becoming more and more agressive in their attacks, and as Sean sat wondering how long he would be able to keep what was going on from the city, and the world, a knock sounded from the door.

“Come in.” Sean called, glancing up from his desk. A young soldier entered the office hesitantly and stood at rigid attention.

“At ease, soldier.” Sean told the man. “What is it?”

The other man shifted slightly, obviously not at ease at all, despite Sean’s response. This was what Sean didn’t like: respect that tinged on fear. It left a taste in Sean’s mouth that reminded him all too much of Kerchek’s followers.

“I’m uh.. I’m a Scout, uh, Sir.” The man trembling slightly. “I mean, uh, I’m Scout Breneth, Sir. I was told to report this directly to you, Sir.”

“Relax, Breneth. I’m on your side, remember?” Sean smiled warmly, and Breneth smiled cautiously back. “Now, what is it you have to report?”

“Well, Sir, I do a solitary patrol down by the Battery. There’s a lot of Err’neth activity down there, so mostly I just sneak around from hiding place to hiding place and try to gather what information I can. Mostly it’s just counting soldiers, and reporting on movements, but today I overheard a conversation, and my Commander told me I should come to you about it.” Sean nodded at the man to continue. “I was hiding in an alley. It’s pretty narrow and gives me a pretty good view of the streets, and since it’s kind of far into their neighborhood, the ‘Neth don’t really pay much attention to it. Well, there were a few soldiers walking by, just low ranking grunts, I’d guess, but one of them was bragging about how he’d gotten out of trouble with one of the generals by IDing three humans that were fighting with us. He said he saw them in the coffeeshop with you, Sir, and then on television somewhere.” Sean froze at man’s words. One of the Err’neth must have gotten a look at the Hanson boys before he shrouded the table.

“Is that all you heard, Breneth?” Sean asked, trying to remain calm. If the boys were dragged into this, or worse, hurt, he’d never forgive himself. He knew he shouldn’t have brought them to that coffee shop for dinner.

“Well, Sir, that’s the thing. The ‘Neth said that right after he talked to one of the generals, they called a meeting of the general staff. He didn’t seem to think it was a coincidence. He was sure they were planning some kind of kidnapping or assassination or something. I know I’m just a scout, but I hear a lot down there, Sir, and they don’t call the general staff together all that often. It sounds to me like that ‘Neth was right.”

Sean nodded. “It sounds like that to me too, Breneth. Thank you.” Sean’s mind raced as the scout left the room. He couldn’t let the boys suffer for his bad judgment. He had to help them, but he couldn’t turn to the Salatern. They had enough problems dealing with the Err’neth, Sean couldn’t ask them to go out on a limb to help the Hansons again. He’d already pushed things too far when he had Kaera heal Zac, and he had no right to ask for help again.

Sean stepped quickly out of his office and across the hall to the room where Kaera’s mother sat in state. Bowing quickly, Sean approached the aging

“Sir?” Breneth asked hesitantly.

“Oh, I’m sorry Breneth. That’s all. Thank you very much.”

“Uh, well, Sir, if you don’t mind me asking before I leave.... These humans, they’re the ones from the coffee shop a few weeks ago? When Jeren was wounded?”

“That’s right.”

“They’re uh.. they’re friends of yours?” Breneth asked timidly. Sean worried where this was going. Not to mention that question was a lot more complex than it sounded.

“Yes, they are.” Sean replied. In some sense, they were his friends, and Sean really had no idea how they felt about him right now.

“Well, Sir, begging your pardon, but if the Err’neth are going to go after them, I’d like to be the first to volunteer to help.”

Sean blinked in surprise. That certainly wasn’t the response he expected from the Salatern. They guarded their own identity more fiercly than Sean guarded his, and had expected them to resent Sean for bringing strangers into a situation they desperately wanted to keep secret.

“I can’t ask you to do that Breneth. The Err’neth think they’re allies, but they’re not. They’re just friends of mine. The Salatern don’t owe them anything, and I don’t want you, or any of your people risking your lives for them.”

“That may be true about us not owing them anything, Sir, but we do owe you something. We owe you a lot. You’ve saved the lives of every one of us, or at least a loved one of every one of us. I can’t think of anyone who doesn’t have friends and family now that they wouldn’t if you weren’t here. We’re an honorable people, Sir. The Err’neth took our home, they destroyed our way of life. They killed off our people, our leaders, our scholars and atrists. We don’t have much left, but we do have our honor. With all due respect, if you don’t want to give official orders for us to help them, you don’t have to. But you can’t stand there, with us owing so much to you, and order us to sit back and not help them. We still have our honor, and we won’t toss it aside over this.”

Sean gave Breneth a long, hard look, weighing his words carefully. Finally, Sean gave a short nod. “Ask Sam to come see me, then change into some street clothes.”

Breneth saluted Sean sharply, then spun on one heel and quickly left the room. Several minutes later, a teenage girl bounced into Sean’s office sporting a mischievous grin.

“Samantha.” Sean hugged the fifteen year old girl he’d come to think of as a little sister. “I need a favor.”

“Their plane lands at JFK in three hours. It was on time as of ten minutes ago, and I checked the arrival lineup. The weather’s good, and there’s nothing backed up, so my guess is they’ll be coming out of the gate in three hours, twenty minutes.” Samantha smiled slyly at Sean.

Sean chuckled to himself. “News travels fast around here. That all?”

Samantha shook her head. “They have reservations at the Plaza, but they’re going to stay at the Waldorf Astoria under a different name. TRL has them booked for tomorrow, and it’s been publicized, which means the ‘Neth know about it, and a few thousand girls do too. Couple of meetings with executive types, then back to JFK in three days, heading to Tulsa.

Sean shook his head in disbelief. “Where did you get all that? Wait... Don’t tell me. I probably don’t want to know.”

Samantha grinned and shrugged. “Probably not. Now, can I ask you a favor?”

Sean glanced at the young girl. She was up to something, as usual. Sean hoped it wasn’t anything too big. She usually got what she wanted from him anyway, so if it was something small, he could give in quickly.

“I want to go with you.” Samantha stated simply.

“Go where?” Sean asked, bewildered.

“To the airport. I wanna meet them. You are going to meet them, right? The ‘Neth probably know when they’re coming in too, you know.”

“Samantha, I’m only taking a few people with me, and we’re not going to meet them, just follow them. This isn’t a autograph opportunity.”

“You’re just going to follow them? Why? If the ‘Neth see you with them, there’s no way they’ll try anything. Why not just go up to them as soon as they get off the plane? Breneth’s going, right? So you take me, and him, and Tallia and Ket. They’re old enough to be your parents. We’ll look like a family meeting friends at the airport.”

Samantha obviously didn’t know the whole story, but why would she? Only Kaera knew how they left the hotel room that night, and given how Kaera felt towards Sean at the moment, she wasn’t talking about it.

‘Trust me Samantha, the Hansons seeing me at the airport will only make things worse. The best thing is to keep an eye on the from a distance. With any luck, the Err’neth will notice us and back off.”

Samantha could sense from Sean’s tone that there was more to the situation than met the eye, but she persisted.

“Well, that may be true,” Samantha conceded. “But my idea’s still good. The ‘Neth are gonna spot us one way or another, but if we go in like I said, we just look like dumb tourists to everyone else.”

Sean considered her point. She was right about a family being able to blend into the airport easier than four or five stony faced soldiers. Plus, if for some reason the Hansons didn’t get off that plane, she’d be the one to figure out where they were.

Finally, Sean sighed in defeat. He hated bringing her somewhere he knew could be dangerous, but the truth was, at fifteen she could take care of herself as well as any adult Salatern. “Okay, you’ve got fifteen minutes.”

Samantha wrapper her arms around Sean’s neck and kissed his cheek. “I knew you’d come to your senses.” Samantha scampered out of the room and Sean went off in search of the “mom and dad” of the little family they’d be playing, Tallia and Ket.