The Half-Giant's Guide to Seeing the Future

The Day I Went Missing-In-Action

Dylan caught me up on all of the goings on around the ranch while we worked. Geoff and Nath helped him patch up one more section of barbed wire fence and the sun was high in the sky by the time they finished.

Nath and Geoff were dripping in sweat from the heat. When we got back to the house, Elise ordered them to go straight to the showers. Jilly handed me and Dylan sandwiches, and we all sat down to lunch together.

It was strange to be back after so long. Elise poured a pitcher of lemonade and bustled around my grandmother's kitchen. I hoped she was at least getting time to work on her studies while the family was on the ranch.

I ignored another message on my wrist screen as a batch of cookies came out of the oven. There was no chance I was missing Elise's caramel and chocolate chunk cookies.

"You aren't going to get that?" Dylan sipped on a mug of coffee.

"Told you," I said. "It's not important."

Dylan shook his head and sighed. I could see his own wrist unit connecting him with the giant world. I didn't think that the halfants had reached out to him yet that I was missing, but hopefully, I would get back before that happened.

"So, how are the flying lessons going with that hotty?" Jilly asked.

Dylan spewed his coffee all over the table. Jilly grinned as Elise came to Dylan's rescue with a dish towel.

"I flew here, didn't I?" I smiled.

While flying wasn't as natural to me as fighting, I'd gotten the hang of it. Moreno was a good teacher and he said with practice I could even start learning arial swerves and dives soon.

"You didn't answer my question," Jilly said.

"Moreno is fine," I said. "He's in a little trouble right now, but that seems to be the norm."

"Oooh," Jilly grinned. "What did he do?"

I laughed. "He just ran off. He was having a bad day."

Jilly looked like she wanted to know more, but Elise gave her daughter a warning look. Jilly just sighed and turned back to her sandwich.

"A bad day," Dylan sighed. "He's full of those, Terri. That guy is real trouble. He's messed up in the head."

I didn't know why I felt the urge to defend Moreno. He had real pain in his life, and as far as I could tell, he was managing better than anyone gave him credit for. Not to mention, he was a rockstar hybrid brother and parent to his sister.

"Sure, he has Daddy issues, but he's not a monster," I said. "And he's spent a lot of time training me."

Dylan poured himself a new cup of coffee. "Tell me you aren't like crushing on the guy or something."

I bit my lip. When Moreno was close I could feel my heart racing. He was smart and he was a lot softer than anyone gave him credit for. He wanted to protect his sister and it made him stubborn. Still I liked the lengths he went to to protect his family.

"Not sure you want the answer to that, Dylan," Jilly said. "After all, she's spent an awful lot of time with him."

"Jillian Oakeley, you stay out of your sister's personal life," Elise said. "I know life on the ranch isn't the dramafest you're accustomed to from high school, but you need to have better respect for your family. Terri has enough going on."

I frowned. Usually, Elise stayed clear of talking about Jilly's fit in our family. She said she wanted to be legally adopted by my father, but that process was taking a lot longer than anyone expected. Jilly called herself an Oakeley, but she wasn't one in the eyes of the law. Just in our hearts.