Surface R: Reunion

Part 01.3

::THOMAS::

Trey's been acting weird. Has he always been busy up here? Must be. On the surface though, I guess that makes sense. Things are always serious. And there's always some kind of danger lurking about.

It's frightening, but at the same time, it's a thrill. It makes me feel more alive than I have since we were moved below the ground in the first place. And that's hardly a time I can remember very well. So this all seems new. I ignore the people staring at me and watch Nina playing with the children with this other girl. I think her name was Lexie? She's the sister of Trey's man crush.

I have to admit, while I didn't lie about not being against it, it's certainly something I didn't expect. But I guess that means I can go after Lindsay without worrying about the bro-code.

Wait, what? I shake my head. Now wasn't the time for those thoughts.

Everyone's fascinated with Nina, the kids are reaching out to touch the plastic suit, tugging her arms. I sit behind her, and for some reason, none of them approached me. Though I see a few staring with wide eyes. It's unnerving. Sean, of course, is having none of it, sulking over by the wall. Glaring at anyone who comes near and does so much as stare for five seconds. What did he do, I have to wonder, that made Trey single him out earlier.

Trying to escape? I smile slightly at the thought, Sure, first step: Escape. Second step: Come running back for safety.

"Lexie!" The door behind us bursts suddenly. "Trey told me to come here and—oh..."

When I looked up automatically, my gaze is met by a pair of very familiar blue eyes—Oh my god...

"Kytes?"

He's still got one hand on the doorway, and the look on his face is priceless.

"T-Tommy? Brother?" He stammers, in a little squeak of a voice, which I can hardly place as the one that came from my shrimpy little brother. "How... but.. you... what?"

He's tall now! And he has a muscle tone, almost like Trey's.

I stand up, speechless, and can't help being pleased to realize that I'm still taller than he is, if only by a few inches now. His hair is still blond, raggedly cut, like Cody's and Trey's. His skin's lighter than that of the other two, but it's tan, darker than mine or Nina's. And on the top of his head is Uncle's old fisherman bucket's hat that I gave him before I let Trey and the guards take him from me—

"Kytes," I say again, finding it hard to keep emotion from my voice. I hadn't even realized, until now, exactly how much I missed him. Taking the few steps forward that close the distance between us, I grabbed him in a fierce hug. "Kytes!"

My brother... My baby brother... No longer a baby, after all this time. And I'm sure he's gotten more reliable, I bet he no longer needs me to check under his bed for monsters. I bet he could fight that monster. I embraced him tighter. A lifetime would never be enough to make up for our lost time.

But strike me down with Lightning if I don't try.

"Tommy!" Kytes lets out a strangled, half-choking sob and clutches me back so tightly that I find it hard to breathe. "I thought you—I... I thought I'd never see you again!"

"Well, you thought wrong," I give him a half grin, teasingly pulling the front part of the hat down and over his eyes. "we're here to stay. At least, that's the plan."

"You..." Kytes grunted, fixing his hat. "Wait, we?" He repeats.

Then, his gaze travels past me. I noticed Nina had stood up when I greeted Kytes, and is watching us silently, the expression on her face a mixture of anticipation, anxiety, and a number of things I can't identify.