I was almost as scared of what the townspeople would do, as I was of the cave bear in Mammoth. 'Cept this time my pants stayed clean.

Freck and I exchanged frightened glances. Her mouth fell open. Goin' up against lairbeasts without understandin' 'em is like tryin' ta stop a bullet with a fly swatt'a. I could imagine them all armed up with shotguns, pitchforks, and rifles preparin' to hunt 'em down. Instead of game they what if sumpin' from their worst nightmares attacks outta nowheres. Would they keep it tagether or be too frightened ta move. It wouldn't take many death screams before whoever was left, went hightailin' it back to town with the ghouls in hot pursuit. Burns, like Freck predicted, would be sittin' ducks.

I was sick ta my stomach. My head was woozy, and b'fore I knew it, I was lyin' on the trampled grass in the middle of the crowd. Someone yelled, "He fainted!" Everythin' was spinnin' like I'd been on the Tilt-A-Whirl ride at the carnival.

Freck mind-spoke to me, "Are ya okay?"

"Where are you?" I answered back. "Everythin's dark."

"That's 'cuz yer eyes are closed."

Oh yeah. I opened my eyes a slit and saw her kneelin' on the grass b'side me. She was wavin' a piece of paper ov'ah my face. Folks'd moved back in a circle ta give me room. Daddy broke through the crowd, and knelt on one knee. He asked the same question, "Wishes are ya okay?"

I could feel my face burnin' hot. All those people lookin' at me lyin' on the ground like a wimp. I felt like Popeye b'fore eatin' spinach. They musta been thinkin', "What a twerp." Maybe they warn't, but I felt they might as well've.

"Daddy, I'm okay. I must'a slipped on sumpin' and fell down."  I tried to get up. The world was still spinnin'. Ta my increased shame I fell right back down on my hinder.

"Oops!" I said. "Must still be slippery, " I kind of laughed it off. Did I really think anyone was goin' ta buy that trumped up story? I hoped they would. Daddy reached down and helped me ta stand. I leaned 'gainst him until the worst of the dizzy feelin' passed.

"Are you okay to walk?" Daddy asked.

"Sho nuff." The sympathetic crowd opened a pathway to the dinnin' tables. Freck left ta get a glass of water, as me and Daddy took seats at a picnic table.

He mind-spoke ta me, "What really happened?"

"I got scared and fainted." It is easier to speak the truth mind-to-mind than to say it out loud, 'specially since no one else can overhear.

"Was it what the mayor said about goin' aft'ah lairbeasts?"

"Yes. Daddy they don't know what they are doin'! They's goin' ta get everyone kil't!"

Freck was back with water in a paper cup for me. I gulped it down. "Would ya like another?" She asked. She looked pretty concerned, even though I know she was feelin' the same way about what the mayor said.

"Thanks Freck, I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" She asked mind-to-mind. "Ya look kinda out of it."

Daddy telepathed, "I think he just got a shock he couldn't handle. He's right though, a bunch of cocksure, foolhardy guys, goin' inta the woods with shotguns and rifles is extremely stupid. Since it was the mayor who put it out there, ya can be darned sure that some will take it as a call to arms. Even those without experience will hop in the bandwagon."

"We cain't let that happen, can we?"

"No Freck, we cain't" said Daddy. "The question is, how do we stop it?"

Gee musta been listenin' in. He said, "For all of the reasons you already know, this is going to have to be handled carefully. Getting a lynch party all steamed up is not difficult. Getting them to simmer down and see to reason is nearly impossible. I think we need to convene a mind-mesh with the Keepers. All our collected wisdom is required to deal with this turn of events.

We walked back home while Gee was makin' arrangements for the council meetin'.

◽️◽️◽️

I was surprised to see Momma waitin' for us when we came through the door. Her presence took a big load off. Mothers always know exactly how to make a kid feel bett'ah. She sat on the sofa and patted a place beside her. I had to look at her twice. If I didn't know she was my momma, I would've thought it was an angel sittin' there. There was a glow surrounding her from her feet clear up over her long blonde, nearly-white hair. I mind-spoke, "Momma, yer glowin'."

She responded, "I know what you see, and it is my aura."

"Aura?"

"Yes Wishes, everything has an aura. It is because we are made from energy. If you look closely you will see colors too."

I did, and she was right. The aura around her was mostly light blue. There were some other colors mixed in too. It was kinda like eyes. Freck's eyes are green, but not all the way green. There are touches of brown, gray, and even orange in them. I looked over at Freck and saw her aura too. Her's was mostly green colored with spots of orange. Daddy's was mostly yellow-orange-and red.

"Why am I seeing this? Is it because I fainted?"

Momma said, "It is not an accident that you now see auras. It is part of your progression. If I am not mistaken Freck has been seeing them also, but has not mentioned it, because she was afraid we would think her crazy."

"How did ya know Mizzus Arthur?" Freck asked.

"Oh—I have seen you looking intently at things, like one does when aural sight awakens."

There was a knock on the door. Daddy answered it and let in Beau Motley (Freck's daddy), and Mizzus Anderton. Gee meant it when he said we all needed to discuss the problem. The room got brighter as Gee, alongside Grandma Chrys, suddenly appeared. I reached out to touch Gee, but my hand passed right through. What the heck?

"Sorry Wishes if we startled you. The High Keeper thought it best that we come. But you can see we are not there in body. What you see are our astral projections. Our physical selves are still in the Palace."

"Gee, I'm kinda bowled ov'ah with all this new stuff. What's next? Flyin'?"

That struck him funny. "No Wishes, what is next is mind-meshing."

"Gee, I didn't know we could do that."

"Actually you are not able to initiate it—yet. The Grand Keeper and I will serve as your conduits. That way we all participate. Because there is no time to waste, the Grand Keeper and the council decided on an emergency mind-mesh. Sometimes it is called a conclave. This is historic. You are the first humans asked to participate."

Grandma Chrys said, "I apologize for the haste, but everyone may not be fully informed of the purpose of this conclave, so I will review the facts. Since, what Topsiders are calling the Great Crash, the home of lairbeasts are unusually quiet. There is speculation that they may have died by collapse of their dens. Now we know that at least three survived. Those three, and maybe others, shifted into life forms allowing the to escape. Perhaps they became earthworms. We just do not know. All we know for certain is that recently three mole like burrows were spotted by Wishes and witnessed by Al and Freck. They immediately knew this was not normal rodent activity. The tunneling was done at unnaturally high speeds.

"By the time Gee was notified, our solvers observed the escape. They immediately dispatched floaters. Gee and Renna boarded another floater to Burns. Waiting at the Arthur home was Wishes, Freck, Emma, Beau, and Al. Upon Gee's arrival, he explained the emergency procedures we would implement to contain the threat. Everything was going to plan, until the mayor of Burns suggested they hunt down the lairbeasts and kill them. Do I need to tell anyone what a disaster that would be?

"Only those who have enough Cigam ability will participate. A mind-mesh to those unprepared will damage psyches. To prevent ill effects, Renna, Freck, and Wishes will participate. The rest of you can act as their guardians. If they have not returned within twenty four hours must revive them and make sure their physical requirements are met. At which point they may return to the conclave if needed."

There was a murmur of agreement. Momma 'splained the revival procedure. Then taught Freck and me how ta b'gin the process. The first step was initiatin' a peaceful, serene state o' mind. I felt an unusual ticklin'/tinglin' sensation inside my head. It felt purty good. Natural. Was I dreamin'? If I waren't dreamin' where was I? There was nothin' ta see in this place. Actually, there warn't even a place. I felt as if I was free of my body—just pure energy. I sensed m'self gently floatin', driftin', and bobbin'. There were low sounds of people talkin' but I couldn't make out the words. It was just soft purrin'.

"Wishes?" It was my momma's voice.

"Huh?"

"Are you ready to join us?"

"I thought I was Momma."

Momma clarified it for me, "The first mind-merge is disorienting. It is such a wonderful feeling to be united as one that overwhelm is normal.On the physical plane you are always alone. You can be in the middle of a great crowd, but you are still just yourself among many other separate, individual people, each with their own thoughts, beliefs, and motives. In a mind-mesh we come together as one. Our boundaries are erased. We are in syncopation."

"Wow."

"Do you hear the soft vibrations, Wishes?"

"I do, but I cain't make nothin' of 'em."

"Just like in meditation just let go and float downward. When you reach your center the purring sound will open in your ears like flowers in the sun."

I did as she said. When I arrived I saw a borderless meadow of flowers. The fragrance reminded me of orange blossoms, but not as strong. Approximately in the middle was a long towerin' stalk with an enormous bud. One-by-one the white petals uncurled and opened ta the sun. I understood that each of us, Keepers, humans, and Gee, were all petals attached to a transparent seed pod resemblin' an eye. The purrin' I heard before, was actually hummin'. Every petal was vibratin' and sendin' vibrations inta the giant crystal eye. Words were unnecessary. Speech was unnecessary. Everythin' was understood. Inside the eye a plan began to form. We, and I say we only to refer to the individual petals, in fact there was no sense of separation at all. The petals were attached to the seed pod. The seed pod was attached to the stalk. From the stalk there were leaves and roots. All the same. It's hard ta 'splain 'cuz there ain't nothin' on earth like it. We was one consciousness workin' on the same problem at once. It's a perfect example of the "whole bein' greater than the sum of the parts", like I was taught in school.

◽️◽️◽️

I hadn't been asleep, but coming out of the mind-mesh was like wakin' up. Our living room looked different. It was the light, I decided. Everyone's auras had grown. Before they were six inches out or so, but now they overlapped each other. It was like we were in the middle of a rainbow. Maybe I was just makin' it up, but I had a funny feelin' that our conclave experience slopped onta the others.

If Freck was thinkin' what I was thinkin', she was bowled over. I would have to ask her, but right now no one was talkin'—not at all. Gee and Grandma Chrys' astro selves was gone 'cuz the conclave was over.  Our guardians was all still there. It's awfully strange ta be in a room with five other people without someone sayin' sumpthin'.

That mind-mesh was so incredible I couldn't speak for fear of losin' the feelin'. Lookin' 'round at our assigned guardians, their faces all showed the same amazement we was experiencin'. My daddy's arms was folded over his chest. His aura burned so intense it might've exploded. Mizzus Anderton's tears was runnin' in a steady stream her green aura was pulsatin'. Freck's daddy with his hot orange-red aura was starin' at his hands like he couldn't believe they was real. Momma had her head tilted back like she was lookin' up but her eyes was closed. Tears was twinklin' down her cheeks. When Freck looked at me all I could see was her eyes. They say eyes is the wind'a ta the soul. If'n it's true we was linked soul-ta-soul.

We must'a stayed that way for about an hour before Momma wiped her eyes and broke the silence. "Well . . ."

That single word summed it up for all of us. There was nothin' more to say.  I could feel the first seed of the growinn' in me already.