with babies.”
“Neither was I until recently. You’ll get it,” she tells me, and I don’t have much time to learn because the small baby, who is so much lighter than she looks, is in my arms and snuggled to my chest. Raine picks up the polar bears’ carrier and walks towards the last helicopter to be ready on the runway where Alex and Mason are packing up the final boxes of people’s things. Many of our people decided to take cars across the UK and into the highlands of Scotland, towards where we showed them is easy to cross, including my mum who said they needed a leader and packed her things, leaving before I could tell her to come with us. The stubborn woman is not easy to argue with. We plan to go and get them from our planned meeting area in a week.
Twenty of us are left to go in the last of ten helicopters lined up around the Empire, all of us ready to take off dead on two o’clock, and they will follow us to the island. The island where we had to leave Ana with her crazy-ass parents and hope for the best. Alex, Phoebe and Skye are sitting on the seats in the helicopter, and Raine is in the back part, strapped in with one of the babies with the rest of our people that have gone ahead. I’m driving this bad boy with Hugh’s help, whenever he decides to get his ass here.
“Didn’t have you down as a guy who likes children,” Alex says, lifting one of the bags into the helicopter, and Phoebe takes it, pushing it under her seat. “Thanks, kid.” Phoebe shrugs. Alex and I look between each other, and he nods his head away from them, indicating we go talk.
“Stay here. I mean it,” Alex warns the girls, and Skye sticks her tongue out at him, making him smile before he hides it. I rock the baby as she gets a little grumpy, walking away a good distance before we stop. I place the little girl on my shoulder, patting her back.
“I never thought much of having my own, but they are cute,” I finally answer his question. “Can you do the final check? I can’t right now.”
“Yeah, you got it, man,” Alex says and whistles low. Ki-Ki cracks several branches as she appears out of the bushes near the clearing.
“Did you get a chance to talk to Phoebe?”
“Yeah, and she went silent super quick. I don’t know what she is feeling, and Ana is likely the only one who can get through to her. Look, we some time until take off, make sure those two don’t go anywhere. Mason and Hugh will be back in a minute,” he explains to me. “Stay safe and take off if anything goes wrong.”
“Good luck,” I pat his shoulder, and Alex walks up to Ki-Ki. Not giving a shit about the many people looking out of the helicopter windows, he uses his powers to change her into a black wolf, who looks like Shadow, reminding me of Ana. He jumps on Ki-Ki’s back, and they both run off into the trees to do their run. Sensing Silver nearby, I turn in her direction as she gracefully jumps off a nearby rock. Huffing, she eyes the little girl on my chest with confusion.
“Babies are cute, not scary, Silver. Come here, girl,” I say, placing my hand on her head. I push my power into her, turning her into a silver hawk with a whoosh of purple energy. She spreads her wings and runs a few steps around me before taking off into the sky, getting ready to follow us. Thankfully, our animals can travel through the human world and make their way to us, no matter how far, no matter if they can shift or not. Even the bears will swim through the sea to get to their owners and make sure humans don’t see them. Our animals are nothing like normal animals in the world; they are far more intelligent, possibly more than we could ever be. Rubbing the baby’s back, I head back to the helicopter, just as I feel a sense of dread smack right into my chest. I run to the helicopter, knowing there is only one reason I would feel this way: Silver is telling me something dangerous is coming. The baby cries in my arms, and I try to comfort her as I climb onto the