Christopher's Song (Indefinite Hiatus)

Chapter 7

"Your father wasn't from here," Jennifer said, holding up a hand to forestall the questions in her sons' eyes. "When I say not from here, I don't mean he was from Europe; I mean he wasn't from Earth," she continued bluntly, not knowing how to ease into the subject. "He was from some other land. I don't really know how else to explain it. He's not an alien or anything, not from another planet. From what I gathered, he was from another plane of existence. Your father came here through some kind of portal, constructed to connect our two worlds. He was sent here to trade for certain minerals that were lacking on the other side. That's how he referred to it: the other side."

Jennifer paused for a moment, searching her sons' faces for a sign they understood why she'd kept this from them for so long, why she hadn't been willing to tell them how different they really were. "He always seemed like just a normal guy to me. I mean, he was the sweetest, coolest guy in the whole world, but he never appeared to be anything but human. When he told me about his ancestry after we married and I was expecting, it was because some of the others he called halflings started to disappear. He said he wanted me to be prepared in case something happened to him, and in the event you boys started to show signs of having unusual abilities and he wasn't here to tell you where they came from. He evidently had some kind of unusual power, but he never used it here that I knew. He said he didn't want to give himself away, that maybe they would forget he existed. He never did tell me exactly what his 'power' was or what it could do or who they were. He only told me that he could somehow influence the world around him. The day he died, he told me, 'If anything happens to me, look beyond the obvious. They will make it appear that I've suffered an accidental death. But there will be more, Jennifer, with them there is always more.'"

"So are we in some kind of danger?" Ethan asked.

"I don't think so," Jennifer responded. "I mean, Christopher didn't say anything about you guys specifically being in danger. He just said he wanted to protect us, but he didn't say from what."

"Why did he stop using his powers?" Daniel questioned. "And did he tell you not to let us use any that might appear?"

"He just wanted to be normal, I think," Jennifer said. "I mean, sure he said he hoped they would forget he existed and that maybe not using his power would assist in that, but he never said anything about cautioning you boys against using any powers you might have. That's why when you told me you could talk to each other "without mouths", I didn't try to stop you. Even if I had tried to stop you, I don't know how I could have kept you from your silent communication. I don't even usually know when you're doing it, and it's human nature for kids to do things their parents warn against," she said with a smile.

"That's why we've never met anyone on Dad's side of the family." Ethan said, always concerned with practical matters.

"You couldn't meet them," Jennifer admitted. "Since Chris' family wasn't around, it just seemed easier to tell you he was an orphan than to try to explain this. Then you would have asked about this other world, and potential powers, and I didn't want to open that can of worms."

"So that's it?" Daniel persisted. "That's all you know? He didn't demonstrate his power so you would know what to look for? He didn't tell you if he knew where the portal was? He didn't leave a way for us to find his family?"

"Not that I can find," Jennifer said. "He told me that he had prepared a surprise for the day of your majority, but he didn't tell me where he put it. I searched everywhere, but to no avail. He also told me that no matter what, you would always have the song – the one you were humming this morning. He insisted that you would remember him singing to you in the womb, but until I heard you humming it, I had forgotten all about it."

"So that's why you went all weird on us this morning," Ethan said.

"Yeah," Jennifer admitted. "It brought back all the fears I repressed after Chris died. When you turned eighteen, I sort of expected his ghost to appear or something, since he didn't tell me where he left your surprise. Then when the day ended with a drunken debacle, I almost felt relieved. You had made it through the day without anything 'otherworldly' occurring. Then I heard you humming Christopher's Song and I freaked out a little. You were born at 11 p.m., and I suddenly realized your day of majority wasn't really over, and Chris told me you would always have the song, and I thought maybe I needed to clue you in, but I didn't want to, and . . ." she trailed off, leaving her run-on sentence incomplete and hanging in mid-air.