Two plus six plus five equals family

Chapter 10

Kara stirred in Lena's arms, frowning when she heard something. If she'd fallen asleep she might have missed it, but so far she hadn't been able to.

Lena blinked her eyes open. "What is it?" she asked in a whisper, noticing Kara seemed restless.

"I think I heard a window opening," Kara answered, listening in, sure it wasn't upstairs. Her eyes widened when she heard the sound of quick footsteps sprinting through sand, combined with ragged breaths. "Oh Rao, the children," she whispered, gasping.

Lena sat up and got out of bed, immediately wanting to check up on the children. The part about the window didn't sound promising and gave her the ability to sketch a picture of what might have been happening.

Kara was out of the door in a split second, still wearing her pajamas, when she heard the sound of a splash in the water, followed by a lot more splashes. She reached the ocean fast, shocked to see Lyra spluttering in the water, unable to swim.

Lyra screamed while she flailed her arms, getting water into her mouth in between screams, which grew gurgled.

Kara jumped into the water and wrapped her arms around her daughter. She knew being touched wasn't ideal for Lyra, but she had to get her out of the water, so she had no other choice. "It's okay, baby, mommy got you," she said, swimming towards the shore, unsure how her daughter would feel about flying. "You're safe," she whispered, kissing the top of Lyra's head.

Lena was running towards the ocean, biting back tears as she saw Kara dragging one of their children out of the water. She should have locked the windows, should have made sure their children wouldn't be able to open them. It was foolish she hadn't even considered one of them might try to run away, especially not towards the water.

Lyra coughed up water and cried as she shivered. She flung her arms around Kara and clung to her.

"You're going to be okay," Kara whispered whilst rubbing Lyra's back. "Mommy's got you, you're safe," she said, gently rocking her daughter in her arms.

"Hey, sweetie," Lena whispered, her voice cracking slightly. "What were you doing outside?" she asked Lyra. "We were really worried about you."

Lyra tightened her grip on Kara and hid her face in her neck. "Running away," she answered, muffled. "'M sorry," she whispered, holding onto Kara impossibly tighter, as if she was her anchor.

"I'm going to get you back home and get you some warm clothes," Kara said, standing up with Lyra. "Mama and I would miss you terribly if you'd run away."

"I'll make you some hot chocolate," Lena said to Lyra, reaching out to rub her back.

Together they walked back inside, where Lizzie and Jamie stood outside of their bedroom.

Lizzie rubbed her eyes and stumbled forward, wrapping her arms around Lena's legs. "I love," she whispered, yawning.

Lena bent down and hoisted Lizzie up. "Mama loves you, too," she said, hugging her youngest daughter.

Kara went to the bathroom with Lyra to get her out of her soaked pajama. She could hear Lena telling Jamie everything was okay and that she should go back to bed. She also heard how Lizzie whined when Lena tried to get her back in bed.

Lyra's eyes were red from crying. "I was scared," she whispered, squeezing her eyes shut as Kara took her top off.

"Do you want to tell me what scared you, sweetheart?" Kara asked silently, grabbing a towel.

"Madam's people were meanies, but one of them was kind to us," Lyra answered while she began to cry all over again. "He was giving us extra food and said he was our friend. We liked him, but then he hurt us and I'm scared you and Lena are going to hurt us because you're nice like he was. If we like you, you'll hurt us."