by Tasha Black
“It was nothing,” Vi said modestly.
“It was not nothing,” the woman said. “My nephew works for the newspaper, and he’s writing a piece all about it. Can he call you for a quote?”
“Wow, sure,” Vi said.
The lady took out her phone and Vi typed in her number.
“Thank you again,” the woman said. “That whole experience was terrifying. I thought I’d never see Fluffernutter again. Though I must say,” she looked around as if someone might be listening, then continued in a low voice, “he doesn’t do his you-know-what in the you-know-where anymore, so that’s one upside.”
Vi nodded and they said their goodbyes.
“Where was her dog pooping?” Jana whispered to Vi as they headed outside, barely restraining a giggle at the thought.
“I have no idea,” Vi said. “But he’s not doing it anymore, so that’s good.”
“So weird,” Jana said, shaking her head. “Who kidnaps someone else’s dogs and then pays to train them?”
“It’s quite a mystery,” Vi agreed. “But not as interesting as the other mystery right under my nose.”
“What’s that?” Jana asked.
“Why were you and Fletcher looking so bright-eyed this morning?” Vi asked.
Jana laughed.
“What?” Vi asked.
“I was just thinking earlier that I love how you always ask about me first,” Jana said, “rather than asking about guys.”
“No offense to guys,” Vi said drily. “But you’re way more interesting.”
“I wonder what Hannibal would say to that?” Jana teased.
“He doesn’t count,” Vi said with a slightly dreamy expression.
“Well, I like Fletcher,” Jana said. “A lot. But I’m not rushing into anything. And he’s being super cool about it.”
“That’s all I needed to know,” Vi said.
And true to her word, she buttoned her lip and the two of them enjoyed a quiet walk home under the hazy fall sky.
13
Jana
Jana watched as Vi flipped through the pages of the towing company’s schedule book.
“There’s an appointment from the night the cars disappeared for B. Posey,” Vi said. “Something about that name sounds familiar. But I don’t know anyone named Posey in town.”
“There was the Posey who married one of the original aliens,” Jana suggested.
“I don’t really see her being wrapped up in this,” Vi said, shaking her head. “Besides, Posey is her first name.”
“True,” Jana said.
“What’s the B for?” Vi wondered aloud. “Barbara, Bobby… Beauregard?”
“Beats me,” Jana admitted.
“I just need to meditate for a little while,” Vi said. “I’m going to play some DancyPants 3, and try to think.”
Jana winced. Whenever Vi used the dancing video game of her own invention to concentrate, it was hard for anyone in earshot to concentrate on anything else.
“Don’t worry,” Vi said. “I have a mission for you and Fletcher. Can you return a sound board to Bobby Meyer for me?”
“Isn’t that one of the skateboard kids?” Jana asked suspiciously.
“Yeah, probably,” Vi said. “He’s got some garage band going, and he asked me to take a look at their soundboard. It just needed a little tuning up.”
Vi pointed at a control panel-looking item in the corner of her room.
“Sure,” Jana said. “Where does he live?”
“Over on the two hundred block of Elm,” Vi said. “Green house, small front porch with a swing. By this time of day you’ll be able to hear them practicing from the next street over. You won’t be able to miss it.”
“Okay,” Jana said, grabbing the board. It was heavy but not awkward. “Good luck with the…”
But Vi was already wearing her headphones and attaching the sensors to her legs.
Jana shook her head and carried the sound board out of the room to find Fletcher.
Ten minutes later, they were driving down the two hundred block of Elm with the windows down.
It was a gorgeous day and just being close to Fletcher was intoxicating.
Jana tried not to overthink it, and just let herself enjoy the moment.
“There’s a green house,” Fletcher said.
There was no music, but Jana figured maybe the band wasn’t practicing today after all. Vi didn’t know everything.
They parked and knocked on the door.
A lady with a pretty purple head scarf answered. “Can I help you?” she asked.
“Hi there, Violet Locke sent us over with a sound board for Bobby,” Jana said. “Does he live here?”
“Oh yes,” the woman replied, eyeing Fletcher in that way that almost every woman did. Jana didn’t blame her. “I’m his mom. I’m so sorry, dear, but he’s not home right now.”
“Vi thought he would be having practice now,” Jana explained. “We can bring it in and set it up wherever he normally practices, if you want.”
“Oh, hadn’t you heard?” the lady asked. “The boys won that contest for the new practice space.”
“They did?” Jana asked. That was an oddly specific contest.
“Oh yes,” the lady replied. “The mayor came by with the keys and the prettiest little plaque. The boys were so excited.”
“Where is the space?” Jana asked.
“Oh, it’s about ten minutes out into farm country, but it’s very nice,” Mrs. Meyer said. “The boys are practicing there now.”
“If you can share the address, we’ll drop off the sound board,” Jana offered.
“You don’t need to do that,” Mrs. Meyer said.
“It would be our pleasure,” Jana told her.
She typed the address into her phone as Mrs. Meyer recited it, then they waved their goodbyes and were on their way.
The road out to the countryside was becoming very familiar, but it was fun to drive her own car after lumbering around in Vi’s ice cream truck.
“Do you think Vi will find a clue in the schedule book?” Fletcher asked.
“One of the names sounded familiar to her,” Jana said. “But she couldn’t place it.”
“I’m sure she’ll figure it out,” Fletcher said.
“Yeah, Vi is amazing,” Jana agreed. “Best detective ever.”
“I don’t know,” Fletcher said. “You were very daring last night.”
She felt the blood rush to her cheeks, even though she knew he was talking about their adventure and not what he’d done to her in bed.
He touched her cheek very, very gently.
Suddenly, her chest was full of butterflies.
The driving directions on her phone dinged, and they parked in front of a small structure.
“I guess this is it,” Jana said.
They got out of the car and unloaded the soundboard from the trunk.
Something didn’t seem right. At first Jana couldn’t figure it out, but after a moment, it seemed obvious.
“I don’t hear anything,” she said.
“Maybe they ended their practice early,” Fletcher said.
Jana marched over to the door and knocked.
Nothing happened.
She pushed the button for the doorbell.
No sound issued.
“Oh well,” she said.
As she turned to leave, the door opened and a wave of sound blasted out, loud enough to vibrate her teeth.
“Hey,” the kid in the doorway said. “You brought our sound board.”
She recognized him from around town, although she had never formally met him before.
The music stopped and the other kids piled into the doorway to grab the board from Fletcher.
“I’m Bobby,” the first boy said.
“Vi says hi,” Jana said. “And your new place is amazing. I couldn’t hear a thing from outside.”
“Yeah,” Bobby replied. “It’s totally soundproofed. That button you pushed isn’t
really a doorbell. It turns on a light to tell us someone is outside. It’s because we make so much noise that we wouldn’t hear the bell.”
Well, he had a point.
“So you won this space in a contest?” Jana asked.
“Yeah, the contest Ricky entered us in,” Bobby said.
“Not me, I think Pablo entered us,” another kid, presumably Ricky, said.
“Nah, it wasn’t me,” a third boy said.
“Well, anyway, it’s totally boss,” Bobby said. “That’s what they used to say back in your day, right?”
“Uh, sure,” Jana said, trying to hide her smile. “You guys have a great practice, and congratulations.”
They all waved and yelled, and Jana and Fletcher headed back to the car.
“Doesn’t it seem weird that they won that building in a contest?” Jana asked.
“Maybe,” Fletcher said.
But Jana knew it was probably outside of his limited sphere of knowledge.
“More importantly, why do none of them remember entering it?” Jana asked.
Fletcher just shook his head.
“Oh well,” Jana said. “I guess I should just be happy for them. They seem like nice kids. When they’re not zooming around town almost knocking people over with their skateboards.”
14
Fletcher
Fletcher watched the sunlight glitter in Jana’s dark hair as they drove through the farmland, past the spread-out houses, and back into Stargazer village.
“Holy crap,” Jana said suddenly, pulling the car into an empty spot a couple of blocks from home.
She leapt out of the car so swiftly he barely had time to follow.
He jogged after her and realized she was joining Vi, who stood with a gathering crowd of people who were all looking up at a giant mural on the brick wall of an apartment building.
“It’s incredible,” Vi said to Jana.
Fletcher looked up at the mural and almost did a double take.
He’d passed by the wall just yesterday, when the bricks had still featured the long-faded, peeling image of an astronaut floating in space. Local kids had added speech bubbles for the astronaut with spray paint over the years. Most of what the astronaut had to say was quite raucous. There were also what Jana called “tags” symbolizing various people or groups.
Now the surface was smooth and fresh as new silk, and the image was something wholly different. Something no one from earth should have been able to paint.
It was a view from his home world.
Aerie.
The bottom half of the wall was covered in ink-black crags and cliffs. The sky above was a familiar, electric-blue and dotted with a sea of stars.
In place of the astronaut was a man so physically perfect he could only be lab-grown. He was surrounded by a veil of mist, as if he were in the process of migrating into his new form.
The painting was so exquisite, so real, it almost seemed to Fletcher as if the stars were winking and the mist swirling around the masculine figure who so resembled his brothers.
Just trying to take it all in brought a tear to his eye.
“Who did this?” Vi was asking the other people thronged around the building.
But no one seemed to know.
In the lower left corner where a signature might have been, there was only a delicate white butterfly.
“I’ll bet there’s a Comic Con in Philly this weekend,” Jana said knowingly.
“What?” Vi asked. “I mean, there is, but how did you know that?”
“Because I know who painted this,” Jana replied with a smug smile.
Vi stared at her, clearly impressed.
“Wow,” Jana said. “Is this what it feels like for you all the time, Vi?”
Vi laughed and rolled her eyes.
“You feel like taking a road trip into the city?” Jana asked Fletcher.
“Sure,” he said.
“We’ll go home and grab some snacks,” Jana said. “Vi, there was something weird about Bobby’s band rehearsal. It’s probably nothing, but did you know they won some kind of contest and now they have a practice space out in the farmland?”
“Really?” Vi asked, stopping in her tracks.
“Yeah,” Jana said. “Weird, right?”
“I’ll look into it while you two head to Philly,” Vi assured her.
Fletcher looked between the two women and felt glad his mate had such a good friend in her life.
He was beginning to understand that his close relationship with his brothers was something precious and unusual in this world of fiercely independent beings.
“Everything okay?” Jana asked, turning to him with a concerned expression on her lovely face.
“Everything is great,” he told her.
And everything was.
15
Jana
Jana and Fletcher weaved through the big displays and colorful booths of the Philly Comic Con.
Jana wondered what this all must look like in Fletcher’s eyes. There were hundreds of depictions of aliens here - from Dr. Who to little green men and everything in between. There were guys dressed up in muscle suits meant to look like the men from Aerie, and women in jumpers from every space show imaginable, not to mention the rest of the comic-book superheroes and villains, and the writers and artists who made it all up in the first place in the booths lining the aisles.
They were on their way to meet one of those artists, whose debut movie, based on her comic, was a critical and box office success.
At last, they rounded the corner past the Star Wars display and reached the center aisle.
Jana stopped in her tracks.
Yep, Beatrix was a success alright. The line to see her was literally out the door.
“So I used to know Bea,” Jana told Fletcher. “And she’s married to one of your brothers, Buck.”
“He arrived before me on this planet,” Fletcher said. “But perhaps he will recognize me anyway.”
“Yeah, I’m sure you guys would know each other anywhere,” Jana said. The men were so huge, and so attractive, it would be impossible for one of them not to recognize the other. But she guessed it might be a little more difficult when the last time you met, you were both made of gas and starlight.
“What do you mean you used to know Bea?” Fletcher asked.
“We went to the same summer arts camp one year,” Jana said. “She was in graphic arts, and I was in theatre.”
“Miss,” a security guard said softly, “she’ll see you now.”
“Oh, we’re at the back of the line,” Jana said, wondering how Bea would have recognized her.
“She saw her brother-in-law was here, and wanted to say hello personally,” the guard said. “You can go on ahead.”
The women dressed like astronauts in line in front of them sighed, but the guard led them right up to the table.
“Hi,” Bea said, extending her hand.
“Hey there, I’m Jana and this is Fletcher,” Jana said, shaking Bea’s hand.
“Jana Watson?” Bea asked.
“Yes, oh my gosh, you remember me?” Jana asked in wonder.
“Own it, Jana,” Bea cried. “And look at you - you’re owning it!”
Jana beamed, suddenly forgetting why she was even there.
“So do you guys want to get together in a couple of days when the Con is over?” Bea asked. “Have a family dinner?”
“We would love that,” Jana said.
“Here, write down your number,” Bea said, handing her a Sharpie and a headshot. “I know, it’s weird, but it’s the only paper I have.”
Jana laughed and wrote her number.
“There you go,” she said. “There’s something I really need to ask you, if you have one more minute?”
“Of course,” Bea said.
“You did that gorgeous mural in Stargazer last night, didn’t you?” Jana asked.
“That’s an anonymous piece,” Bea said with a wink. “But it sure looks like one
of mine, doesn’t it?”
“There’s something strange going on in Stargazer,” Jana said. “And I have a feeling the person who hired you may be able to help us understand what it is.”
“Interesting,” Bea said. “I wish I could help, but it was actually an anonymous request. The person gave a very generous donation to the foundation for art in schools that I volunteer with. I couldn’t say no. I figured it was just someone wanting to make the town a prettier place.”
“Wow,” Jana said. “Did they tell you what they wanted it to be?”
“No,” Bea said. “They said they wanted a depiction for Stargazer’s friends from far away - something to make them feel welcome and at home. I knew they meant the men from Aerie, of course. I thought the cliffs would remind them of home, and of course the celebration of each brother migrating into human form, so they would know how lucky we feel to have them here with us, and how grateful we are that they let go of one way of life so that we could share another together.”
Suddenly tears were prickling Jana’s eyes, though she wasn’t sure why.
Fletcher placed his hand on the small of her back and she felt oddly comforted and somehow even more heartbroken all at once.
“Thank you, Bea,” she said. “We’ll go now, but call if you want to get together.”
“Of course,” Bea said. “See you guys.”
Jana headed back into the crowd.
Fletcher grabbed her hand and held it tightly as they wove their way out of the pretend alien world and back to the very real one.
16
Fletcher
Fletcher walked into his apartment to find his brothers had moved the coffee table to the side of the room.
The two of them were on their hands and knees on the living room rug, carefully putting posters into frames.
“Hello, brother,” Hannibal said happily. “We liked the mural so much that we decided our apartment should have decorations as well.”
Fletcher glanced at the posters. Each of them celebrated an eighties movie they had seen back on Aerie in preparation for migration into human forms.