It took the two of them a long time, much longer than the walk from the shore to the house usually took, but then again, the wind and rain were beating furiously against them, rain drops so heavy that it was nearly impossible to keep their eyes open or see through the torrent. This was not even to mention the fact that they each held part of a jacket that made up the stretcher on which the mysterious girl still lay unconscious.

Jen walked on the side that would reach the house first, and Lia followed, lost in thought. The girl's head was near to Lia, her feet by Jen. Lia watched her silently as she and Jen walked toward the distant light of the house, the lights distorted to a shimmery haze due to the rain.

There's something really off about this girl...  Lia thought to herself as they trudged on. She had that dreadful wound, and all the scratches and cuts, but then the wound vanished.... or seemed to... Lia thought. She glanced over at the motionless girl between them. She noticed that all the other cuts and bruises remained, except for that one large one which had vanished earlier.

And her legs... it seems as if they're deformed in someway, but at the same time, it doesn't look deformed... and... wait, if she was that injured how would she get out onto that rock anyway... and why be out there alone injured, and in the middle of a storm... Lia's thoughts swirled in a whirling, confusing mess. She was so caught up in her thoughts, that she almost didn't notice that they had reached the house, and only came back to reality a second before she would have tripped on the entry steps.

"Watch your step Lia." Jen spoke softly, but it still called Lia back to Earth just in time for her to step over the step, as opposed to completely sprawling on the floor, dropping the girl in the process, which would have happened had she stayed lost in her thoughts.

"Jen, is that you?" Luke, Jen's newlywed husband called from the living room, before walking through the door way that led to the back entryway.

"I didn't hear you go out. The guys just left. What were you doing out in this wea-" he broke off, stopping dead in his tracks, his eyes widening to at least four times their normal size as he took in the sight of Jen and Lia, carrying the unfamiliar unconscious girl between them. "What the-?!" He said, opening his mouth and closing it, like a fish out of water as he stared at them, trying to formulate some kind of reaction that he could express verbally, but instead, he just pointed and the girl and exclaimed, "what the heck is that!!"

"It's a girl. Lia found her." Jen said, as calmly as if she was explaining to a kindergartener that one plus one is two.

"Yeah, I can see that. But what is she doing here and why is she.... not wearing anything?" Luke asked.

"She's hurt or lost or something. I think probably both. I found her on a rock near the shore, and she seemed really upset and frightened. Then I called Jen, and she came out to help me. She blacked out and fell into the water, and we couldn't just leave her, especially in this storm. We brought her here to get her dry and warm, and to try to help her so she will have some place to go besides the beach in a storm." Lia said, as she and Jen maneuvered themselves and the girl between them into the spacious living room.

Although Luke and Jen were not filthy rich, they certainly weren't poor, and they were quite well off, and their living room reflected just that.

On one wall, a large flat screen TV took up more than half of the area, and around it were framed photos of Luke and Jen's wedding, their families, places they went on trips, and many pictures of underwater landscapes. Luke was a diving instructor some of the time, and he had an underwater camera that had amazing quality both underwater and above. There were photographs of a murky kelp forest, the light in the water making everything appear a murky greenish gray, there was a photograph of a coral reef, colorful fish with many patterns, colors, shapes, and sizes drifting around the rocky coral structure while colorful anemones speckled the rocks, and crabs walked along the floor. There were many photos like this around the house, but especially on that wall. On the wall by the door they had just come through, a large mural of a white sailboat silhouetted against a red and orange and pink sunset sky as dolphins leaped out of the dark blue and bright orange and pink water, that reflected the sun's last rays of the day, near the bow of the boat. At the stern of the boat, a white wake stretched out through the water.

The wall opposite the television had a very long sofa which turned at both ends to form a sort of "C" shape. Around the room were a variety of comfy chairs and some rocking chairs that moved in a gliding motion. In front of the sofa was a large glass topped coffee table, upon which a few potted succulents stood, their bright green leaves dropping over the edge of the pot and falling towards the table, snaking across the surface.

The last wall was completely overtaken with a pair of French doors, their large windows showing the occasional flashes of lightening, and magnifying the sound of the rain.

Jen and Lia slowly lowered the girl onto the sofa, and looked at her for a moment before considering what to do next.

"I'll make a hot drink and some food for her to warm her up when she's awake again. She must be very cold and hungry and frightened." Jen said, turning to go into the kitchen, and soon, the clanging of pots and pans being moved as well as the sound of running water and cupboards being opened and closed could be heard.

"I'm going to stay with her in case she wakes up, but we need to get her dry and warm. Luke, can you bring me a towel warm from the drier? And then can you get some of my warmer clothes and my bedspread and bring them here?" Lia asked.  When Luke did not answer, his eyes still fixed on the girl and a look of shock and confusion (though mostly confusion), Lia waved her hand in front of his face for a minute. "Luuuke!" She said.

"Yeah I- what? Oh, stuff... yeah I'll get stuff..." he said, sounding completely out of it. He started walking towards the door, not watching where he was going, and nearly tripping over several end tables and chairs as he still watched the girl. As he reached the door, he walked straight into the doorframe, and the force of the wall colliding with him seemed to snap him back to reality. He walked through the door, and away to get the needed items.

Lia knelt, and sat back on her heels, watching the girl. Her eyes were closed, a small crease between her eyebrows always present. Her chest rose and fell slowly. She seemed so small. Now that Lia could see her closely and with the light of the room, she noticed that she was at least half a foot taller than the girl, if not more. Her body was small, but muscular. Her arms and legs were thick, but didn't appear to be fatty or flabby, although she wasn't extremely thin either.

Jen walked back into the room with two steaming mugs, and set them down beside Lia on the coffee table.

"Hot chocolate, with those tiny marshmallows you like. This girl wasn't the only one out in the cold rain for a while. Drink up." Jen said, gently pushing a mug towards her.
"I'm almost done making some other food for her, you can have some too if you'd like. I have to finish it, but when I'm done, and you've finished your cocoa, you should change into some dry clothes yourself. You don't want to catch a cold." Jen said, and Lia noticed that she had already changed into dry clothes.

A second later, Luke walked back into the room with a towel and bedspread, both warm from the dryer. He handed them to Lia, and set a fuzzy sweatshirt and sweatpants on the table. Both had the logo of Lia's college on them, and she nodded appreciatively as she began to carefully dry the girl while inspecting the cuts on her body. None of them seemed to be too severe, but there seemed to be a pattern to them. Something familiar. Where have I seen that before... Lia thought, as she finished drying the girl's body and wrapped her long hair up into a towel to dry. She then very carefully pulled her sweatpants onto the girl's legs, noting again as she did so that something was a little weird about the shape of her legs, some kind of deformity, she thought.

As she pulled the sweatpants on, Jen came in with a tray, upon which bowls of steaming soup and a plate of crackers sat.

Lia pulled the warm blanket over the girl, and moved back a bit, to stand beside Luke and Jen.

"Have some food while we wait." Jen said, and Lia and Luke complied.

"Now we wait." Lia whispered to herself.