Angus Tutter struggled to free himself from the straps of his baby carrier. He yelled and bawled and kicked, tears mixing with salty sea spray. Angus was generally a noisy baby, but today there was good reason for him to cry; his mother was in deep trouble.
“Keep him away from music?” Benjamin shouted over the sound of wind and crashing waters. “That doesn’t make any sense; you don’t make any sense. Seriously, I need you to slow down and walk me through this mess.”
“I can't,” Tianna adjusted course deeper into the open sea. “I’ve already broken some conditions and don’t dare make it worse. Please, Ben, just do as I ask.”
“Unbelievable!” Benjamin's eyes scanned the enormous pleasure craft's bridge. “And this boat, it’s even got a helicopter pad! Is something illegal going on? Come on, Ti; I won’t tell anyone, I swear.”
“This is my boat,” his sister admonished, “and you have no idea how hard I worked for it. But right now, what matters is Angus.”
Benjamin looked at the infant, who blinked, drawing attention to his eyes. The left was bright blue, with an intense and calculating stare, while the right eye was deep brown, warm, curious, and calm.
Angus hooted and waved tiny fists in the air, demanding attention.
“Why is he fussing so much? I think the little dude wants something. Maybe he’s hungry?” Benjamin leaned in, and Angus recoiled slightly at the intrusion of his uncle’s enormous head. “Hey, little buddy, you looking for some chow?”
Angus smiled uncertainly as Benjamin made a funny face.
“Poor kiddo is starving,” Benjamin ducked into the galley. When he returned with a jar of strained carrots, Tianna, horrified, yanked it from his hands and pitched it into the ocean.
“Never feed him carrots!” she cried.
“Oh, so no music AND no carrots,” muttered Benjamin, rolling his eyes. “If you think I could ever care for a baby, you're nuts. I’m twenty-three! Twelve hours a day hauling fish, and I can barely even afford rent.”
Tianna settled in the captain's chair, pulling the baby carrier into her lap. Angus gazed at his mother’s face and cooed in a sing-song voice. She patted the seat beside her and leaned forward to kill the engine. “I think we’re far enough offshore where they probably can’t find us. C’mon.”
Benjamin grunted unhappily and settled into the seat beside his sister, the vinyl creaking under his weight. It was apparent to anyone that he and Tianna were not biological siblings. Benjamin took after their parents, particularly their father. He was a massive young man with the body of a linebacker, light-skinned and freckled with a great mane of wild red hair. On the other hand, Tianna had a petite gymnast’s build and regal, refined features. Her deep brown complexion spoke of origins far closer to the equator.
“This is unreal,” frowned Benjamin. “You just randomly reappear in a limousine with a yacht and a baby! Where’s the private jet, Ti?”
“Halifax,” said Tianna without blinking. “Look, I know I've been a crappy sister. But please listen. Like I said, I’m in over my head.”
A solid thump reverberated through the deck from below. Abruptly, the sky greyed, and the waves frothed with a rising wind. Deep tones carried across the water, so low as to be almost beneath human hearing.
“They’ve found me…., oh no, no, no,” Tianna froze, tears welling in her eyes.
“Yeah, yeah,” Benjamin drawled sarcastically, “they have found you. Let me guess, the secret society you stole this boat from, or even better, maybe it’s aliens, and they’re coming to take you back to Jupiter.”
The resonating notes played louder, the boat rocked harder, and Angus howled.
Benjamin shook his head and stood. “Tianna let’s get back to reality; the foghorn is sounding, a storm is rolling in, my shift starts soon, and I’m starving. Even those carrots looked pretty good.”
Tianna followed her brother into the galley shouting, “That’s not a foghorn or any kind of normal storm!” She thrust the baby carrier at Benjamin, then turned to haul a bulging red backpack from a cupboard and drag it across the floor to her brother. “This will take care of you both. It’s five million dollars in cash and cheques, perfectly legal, not stolen, and keys to vehicles and other useful things. And about doorways, always knock three times in case it’s a puh….” Tianna choked on her words. “Darn it! Can’t I at least tell him about the pppp…” She grimaced, unable to finish her sentence.
A deafening crack of lightning tore the sky open, and rain sheeted down.
“Holy fudge knuckles!” Benjamin exclaimed, “Tianna, this lighting is getting close! We have to go back right now! And how much did you say is in that bag?”
“Keep him off the internet,” babbled Tianna, clearly panicking, “They’re pretty good at tracking people digitally, and of course, there’s all that music he could download.” Her gaze bore into Benjamin with a look so grim that, for the first time, he began to take her seriously.
A tangy scent of hot electronics filled the air as the deep tones pitch-shifted slightly higher. The boat’s heaving abruptly stilled.
Tianna reclaimed Angus from her bewildered brother. She wiped her baby’s tears, buried her face in his hair, and whispered a lullaby or poem. Angus fell silent. He looked into his mother’s eyes, tilted his head to the right, and nodded, then lifted a tiny hand to her cheek and tapped, one finger at a time.
Tianna kissed her baby’s forehead and settled him back in the infant carrier.
She turned to Benjamin and hugged him fiercely, rubbing salty tears and snot into his shirt. “I know we’ve never had a chance to be close, but I do love you, Big Brother. My life is complicated, and I’ve kept so much from you and Mom and Dad, but please tell them I love them too, so much. I’ll explain everything one day, I promise.”
Outside, colored flashes flickered. The siblings peered through a porthole to see intertwining ropes of light weaving themselves together above the helicopter pad. In the center of the rainbow whirlpool, a hole irised open.
“Start the engines!” cried Benjamin, scrambling to the bridge, “We need to get out of here.”
“BLAAAAAAAT” A blast of sound rippled the air, and their stomachs dropped. Benjamin dashed out to look over the railing and was dumbfounded to see their yacht floating 20 feet above the waves. His body froze in shock, knuckles white with terror as he gripped the wet steel railing; they would be going nowhere.
Behind him, Tianna ran back to the cupboard and pulled out an unremarkable woolen blanket. She slid Angus under the table, gently draped the damp-smelling cloth over the baby carrier and emerged from the galley. Giving her brother a gentle shake to get his attention, Tianna held her palms up in a ‘stop’ gesture and mouthed the word 'Goodbye.’ She turned and hunched into driving rain to stand beneath the brilliant gyrating lights.
A flash of lightning cracked, and the deep sounds resolved into pounding beats as a transparent shaft telescoped from above. The hulking figure descending through the column posed casually; a mega-star stepping into the spotlight. It was clad in scales that shimmered with an oily sheen and bore fleshy blue wings that rose from its shoulders. The creature lashed its barbed tail in an elegant gesture, then leaned forward and smiled with a grin of knives.
Everything about the creature was inhuman except for two small details; it wore a blingy gold watch and slick black sunglasses. A very odd thing to wear as the storm had turned the sky almost as dark as night.
“Tianna Tutter, my dearest,” it purred in a raspy growl, “You are in breach of contract. You’ve run long enough. Get the child and come along.”
To Benjamin's dismay, Tianna stalked right up to the beast. “Angus is hidden far away,” she lied, “You'll never find him. I will cooperate, though, Mendax, so long as you don’t hurt my brother or anyone else in my family.”
The demonic creature sniffed at the air, then clicked its tongue in a rhythmic pattern, head cocked as if listening for a reply.
“Oh, sweet girlie, I will find the boy; count on it. In the meantime, you’ll do. As for that clown,” he gestured with a claw at Benjamin, “He’ll need a bit of a memory adjustment.”
Mendax stepped toward Benjamin, still clutching the railing, frozen in terror. “Hmmm... how about you remember your sister’s terrible fall overboard? Or even better, her abduction by aliens! Such an improbable but heartbreaking story.”
“No Mendax!” cried Tianna. “He has nothing to do with this!”
“Nevertheless, you know the rules. His type can never find out about us. Don’t worry; this won’t hurt a bit, big fella.”
***
Benjamin woke muzzy-headed and confused in a pool of salt water that smelled of fish, his face warmed by the sun sparkling off a calm sea. His mind spun with the impossible scene of Tianna being sucked into the sky by a beam of light and disappearing into a flying saucer. With a jolt, he remembered Angus and staggered, dripping into the galley. Benjamin pulled back the wool blanket to meet friendly eyes gazing up from beneath the table. Angus was doing something unusual. The silent baby’s tiny fingers twitched in the air, typing an endless story on an invisible keyboard.