Admittedly the whole calamity would have been a great deal more exciting if I knew how to read. In fact, from all five of us assembled at the screen, only one of us knows how to discern any kind of meaning from 'the written word'. This would be problematic, but we spend most of our time in the woods or in other natural areas and there happen to be no signposts on trees. Between Alex, Mary, and Angel, who probably know what they're doing, I'd say we're pretty well covered.

(Then again, I did just mention Angel and Mary, so let's just hope Alex is sticking around.)

Alex's finger swings around the phone, his forehead perspiring ever so slightly, and I resist the urge to ask him how he's enjoying the workout. In fact, any kind of joke would be good right now, because Red is losing it and Kali is... ah, good old Kali. Kali's always pissed. I get the feeling they think I'm not taking this seriously, but then again, I've always been good at misinterpreting Kali and Red's mutual icy death silence. Poor Damien is shaking like a leaf in the corner. Since he doesn't have Mary's arm to hide under, the top of his head is fully exposed to the air for the first time in what I can only assume is several weeks.

"So, on a scale from 'wrong Damien' to 'end of the world', how dead are we?" I ask.

"Wrong Damien?" asks Red.

Alex grins, slamming a hand to his face. "Of course. People can have the same name sometimes, so maybe I can't even find anything on him because he's not even ours."

Mary peels herself off the ground and busts her way into the circle past my skimpy boyfriend, slamming a hand against his side, safely returning her elbow on top of Damien's head. "Uh, yeah, but it looks like our Damien, too! It's the same guy. They even mention he does the music thing."

I turn to a flustered Damien, faking shock with my hands on my hips in a gesture worthy of the great queen of overreaction herself, Angel, I gasp, "Damien, is this where you sneak off to at night?"

"No!" Damien says, holding his hands up to protect himself. "I mean, I- I mean, I-I-I wouldn't, and it's... not in our state. He's from somewhere e-else."

"We believe you! Please, calm down." I say, sucking in a breath. "Which state are we in again?"

Red opens his mouth to speak and then begins messing with his glasses. "Well."

"Does anyone really care? As long as we're not dealing with the border again..." Kali says, with an extensive eyeroll.

"Yeah, because we're this country's monstrosities." I chip in.

"The point is that he's not here." Alex says with a wave of his free hand. "Does it get more specific than the state?"

"I can't read either." Damien says, his voice down to a low whine. "Mary just said..."

"Mary said what, now?" asks Red.

"There's a city." Alex says, looking at the paper again. "We could find it. Figure out what the man knows."

"We don't have a map." Red says, looking to me and then to Kali in quick succession.

"We had a map." I shrug.

Red folds his hands, pointing them forwards. "We do not currently have a map. Someone jumped into the river with it and now we know that paper markings smudge when you put them under water."

"In Mimsy's defense, that was counterintuitive." I offer.

"Who's in Mimsy's defense?" asks Kali, cracking a smile.
"Me." I press my hands to my chest.

"Us," Red clarifies. "Everyone is in everyone's defense, because we're all family here." Red is optimistic like this. Enforcing group unity (oh man, I feel like vomiting a rainbow just saying that) is one of the few times he's ever optimistic, given that his self-appointed job is to be in a perpetual state of panic.

"We don't need a map," Alex says, clicking open his phone and typing in a few short letters. "We have everything we need right here."

I squint into the screen. "Alright. So, we're looking for... a large blue dot?"

"That's our location." Alex says. "The red dot is the location we're looking for. It's only thirty-five hours by car. That's... huh. Two months?"

"Let's go, then." Mary pipes up from the corner. By now, even Angel's group, Gillian, and even Mimsy are standing in our circle. The latter wipes a trickle of blood from her face, looking abashed. Mary stares them all down. "What. Are all of you just going to stand around here forever? Remember when we started? When there was a point?"

"The point was getting away." Red states, sternly watching Mary.

"Well guess what? We're away, we can't join human society, we have no idea what we are, and everyone is--" Mary's arms raise but Gillian has her shoulder just as quickly. Damien and Gillian stand on her sides, either holding her back or showing solidarity. It's hard to tell either way, and Red knows this, because his eyes are flicking around like crazy now, watching the whole group. He looks like a cornered animal as he takes a step back.

"Is what, Mary?" asks Angel.

"We can take a vote on this." Red says. "Alex, set a timer."

"Aye aye, captain." Alex's finger swings around the screen again (such tact, such elegance... how does he do it, really) and he tells the rest of the group, "Ten minutes."

None of us know how long that is, but this is one of the happy little compromises you learn to just accept. Red grabs my arm and brings me to the corner of the park, which is thankfully still empty. This whole town is lacking in population, to be frank, and the beaten metal equipment and small yet eerily cavernous, empty houses with huge shutters all make it feel like we're walking amongst the dead.

Kali and Elle trail behind, and Red holds his hand up. "Excuse me, but can you two give us a minute?"

"Going to make out in the bushes?" asks Kali.

"You know it," I respond, flicking my fingers in her general direction, which elicits a smirk.

Elle's expression sharpens.

"We are not," Red calls. "That is absolutely not what we're doing. Dylan and I are going to have a productive administrative chat and then we'll confer with you before getting back to the group, if... ten minutes allows." His face twists a little. His grip on my arm is tight and a little clammy. His hands are usually cold, but his face is always warm. Red's body temperature is just as much of an uncoordinated mess as he is. Focus, Dylan.

Me? Focused? With a man touching my arm. Ha.

Before I know it we're sitting down behind some trees, in a particularly overgrown part of the park. Needles dust the ground and ivy bursts out of all the trees, keeping them all in an intimate stranglehold. "This is a terrible idea." Red says.

"Why?" I ask.

He fixes me with the big sad eyes and I rethink my choice of redundant question.

"We've pulled ourselves out of worse scrapes. What, do you think this... person is going to have security measures specifically to capture us?"

"What if they do?" he whispers, then puts his free hand up into his hair like he's going to pull half of it out. "Oh, we're so dead."

"We're not going to die." I promise.

"I can't lose you guys." He's stuck in a loop again. I can see him spiralling out of his own mind. It's always slight, but there's usually a trembling hand, or that way his eyes start looking around for an escape, or how he starts messing with the area around his coat collar, blunt fingernails itching for his neck...

I cut in, "What, not even... Elle or someone?"

Red's eyes immediately narrow back to disappointed slits. "That's not funny."

"She's a fucking creep, okay?" I say, half-snarling, half inwardly smiling. He's looking at me again. Good. "And don't tell her I said that."

"They'd be really upset at you if they knew you weren't always excited about dealing with them." he says.

"And they'd be upset if they know you didn't trust them."

"They know I don't trust them." Red gets to his feet. "You know what I'm going to say, and I'm going to say it first. Can I count on your support, here?"

I look to the side, thinking of mutinies. Red, you and your contradictory goals are going to kill me. "You can always count on me."

He smiles. There's nothing else for us to say, which is the worst part, because he won't even let me make out with him behind the trees. The Most-Likely-To-Kill-You-In-Your-Sleep squad, sans Mary, is waiting for us, hands by their sides but not touching. Kali looks more pissed than usual. Elle looks dead inside. I think the world could be ending and she'd still have those river-glass blank eyes.

"We've come to a consensus without you," Kali announces. "We're ditching."

"What?" Red asks.

"Kali," I say. "I think if you told her not to jump off a bridge she'd do it to spite you."

"We can shapeshift. Jumping off a bridge poses no legitimate threat to us." Elle says, pursing her lips.

Kali rolls her eyes. "Half of the time I'm tempted just to jump off a bridge so I don't have to be around any of you. If I have to hear another fight between you and Mary..."

"She listens to you. This is absolutely your fault for not stepping in." Red argues.

"Not all of us want to suffocate--oh wait, I meant care for the younger kids." she snaps back.

"She's going to k-- something could-- if we don't get a handle on her, she could put all of us in danger." Red says, fists shaking. "We're enabling her if we go with this. We're enabling everyone's little rebellion. It's risky, the most it will do is get us all put under watch again, and I don't know why you and Dylan are so ready to brush it off when we're in this much danger."

"Nothing's happened yet," whispers Kali, a devious glint in her eye. "What do you have to be afraid of, Red?"

Red's breath catches in his throat.

Elle's gaze moves slightly to Kali.

My mind is racing for a good joke. I want to spear the tension in the air with a knife. There's nothing to say, so I'm biting my tongue like I want to eat the thing (note to self: tongue tastes awful), and at last Alex yells from the corner, "We're done."

"Thank goodness," I say. "I thought we were going to have to stand here until the world ended."

All three of them nod but don't say anything. I don't think that was even a joke. I resist the urge to slam my head against the large metal playground bars.

We end up in something akin to a circle, surprisingly consistent, which makes its formality all the more intimidating. "So." Angel says, looking to Red. "We do this how, exactly?"

"Quickly, hopefully." Red says, folding his arms. His coattail falls against my side. I'm still biting my tongue, on and off, but I'm also trying to fake a smile, so there's that. All in all: awkward. Awful. This moment alone has been longer than the rest of the day and the rest of the day was child wrangling and woods running, which are two of the longest activities there are. Red continues, "I'm letting you decide this as a group because I know I can't stop you alone. We've only ever survived as a group because we're just that--more than one of us, more than any of us. That's also why I think we shouldn't let anyone's singular interest drag us back across the country to a place where we could potentially get caught, even killed, or worse. This life isn't ideal. It never will be. I'm only saying there are better ways to find a meaning or purpose than charging headlong into danger, and if we're really that bored, I'm sure we could find better means of organization than... this."

I tap my hands together, respectively, but the noise is hollow as it rings across the circle.

"You bet I'm bored," Mary says. She takes a step towards the center of a circle, drags Damien along, and practically announces, "I'm bored and I've wanted answers forever. I'd rather be dead than not doing anything forever, anyways. I don't even think we can die. We're just going to sit around and go from city to city until someone realizes we're dangerous and then they'll take us out back with one of those really long knives with the tiny edges on it... edgeknives. That sounds painful."

"That's a saw, M-Mary," Damien says. "Can we get back in the circle now?"

"Whatever. I like edgeknife more. Anyways, I'm going to go anyways and Red's right! None of you can stop me." Mary smirks. "Do whatever you want."

"I'm interested," Gillian says, raising her pale eyes, "but Red's right about you jerking our chain around, Mary. Count me against."

"I don't want to leave the area." Angel huffs. "Girls?"

"I don't... can I be neutral?" Adaline asks.

"Yeah, but that kind of kills the whole point." Trace says. She shoots a glance at Angel, lips pursed.

"Let's stay here, Trace." Adaline suggests, looking to Angel and then to Red.

"Sure," Trace sighs.

"I'm for leaving," Alex shrugs. "Bored. A little. We don't even have to go to this guy, but I guess I'm a little interested."

"There's nothing here for us," Elle says. "Let's go."

Kali's eyes narrow. "Leaving, definitely. I think we've been deprived of answers long enough. Aren't any of you interested as to why we exist? What about potential solutions to some of our... issues? In fact, is anyone else remotely curious as to why all of us but Red have other powers besides shapeshifting?"

All the moisture in the air turns to ice.

Five-five.

Mimsy raises her hand.

"Does Mimsy count?" asks Mary.

Undaunted, Mimsy continues, "I'm looking for someone." Her voice is soft, a little shrill, and sounds kind of like the cry of a young animal. Her eyes, which are nearly pale as her skin or her white hair, dart about the group. "I need to go to them."

"Six-five," Kali says, looking around the circle. Her eyes finally fall on me. "What, Dylan's going last? This really is a weird night."

I suck in a breath. I want to tell them we shouldn't be standing back to back to back like this in a park, with what a menagerie we make... all these dissonant shades and colors, a group of people who in normal circumstances would have no business being together. I know enough to tell you we are all at the wrong ages to be travelling alone, especially in such a pack, and the animals we prefer are no better. The contrast is in my skin, in my heart, in my bones, and I wouldn't change it for the world, but right now? I can feel it ripping us apart. The air itself seems like it's unravelling. Red has my side, the discontent has my attention--even those who chose to stay look nervous. Addie's trembling again, her lip curled. The others are silent, and Mimsy's haunted eyes fix mine. I squeeze Red's hand as hard as I can.

"So, do you want to tie it up?" asks Kali.

No, I don't.