Page 48 of Emerge

"And what look is that?" I turned toward the door again.

"Like you think I'm full of shit." I heard the sadness in her voice as I opened the door. "It's happening soon, Riley. I'll understand if you want to stay out of it, but they're your family. It's the only family we have left."

"You're wrong, mom. I have a new family now." I left before I could take back my words.

* * *

"Man,those kids are crazy out there." Blake sat next to me on the couch in his Black Panther costume, taking the mask off and running his hand over his face. "You're really quiet."

"Well, when you've got three superheroes that look like they could be the actual superheroes, that's going to happen." I patted his cheek.

Blake snorted. "How do you figure Morgan is a superhero?" Before I could answer him, we heard Morgan yelling about rum. He was channeling Captain Jack Sparrow while dressed as Captain Morgan.

"He's a pirate. Pirates are awesome. I could do without the comments about pillaging my booty, though." A smile found its way onto my face, despite how torn up I was inside.

"Can you blame him?" Blake wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me closer. "You know, this shark costume is really sexy on you."

I got quiet again and he put a finger under my chin. "What's wrong?"

My mind drifted back to the conversation I had with my mom. I told Ivy and Aiden not to mention her visit and, so far, they'd kept their mouths closed, despite the concerned looks they kept giving me.

I didn't know what to do. On one hand, my mom did have a point about the sirens being my family, but I had learned over the past few months that family doesn't have to be blood related.

"I need to tell you-"

"Hey, have you guys seen Livvy?" Jax came from out front where he had been posing for pictures as Aquaman.

"She asked to use the bathroom about ten minutes ago." I pulled away from Blake and went upstairs and quickly looked for her, but she wasn't there. "She's not here."

"Fuck." Jax picked his cell phone up from the coffee table. "She wanted to go to a party because she's seen them on TV."

"How would she even get there?" Morgan had come in from outside and took off his pirate hat. "Maybe she wanted in on the candy and left with a group to trick-or-treat."

"She's not an idiot, Mo." Blake swiped a few times on his phone. "How would she even know where any of the parties are? The nearest one is across the highway."

I sat down heavily on the couch and all eyes turned to me. "My mom stopped by and said Dylan was going to make his move soon."

"When did this happen?" Blake looked confused. I should have told them sooner, but figured I had time. When she said soon, I didn’t think she meant in a few hours.

"A few hours ago." I cringed.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Jax brought his phone to his ear and went into the kitchen.

He had been worried about Olivia all week; we all had. The doctor they had taken her to said her DNA was different from the blood transfusion to the extent that she wasn't completely a triton any longer. Cognitively, she was fine, but Jax worried what the changes meant, especially since she hadn't shifted all week.

Aiden came in from the porch and plopped down in a chair. "There's a storm rolling in. A few giant raindrops have already hit the ground. Parents are rushing their kids back to their cars."

Ivy set down the giant bowl of candy and shut the front door. "What's going on?"

"We need to go. Now." Jax grabbed his keys and wallet. "Riley, why don't you three go to Aiden's house."

"Why Aiden's house?" I jumped up, along with Morgan and Blake. "I'm coming with you."

Jax blocked my exit out the door and looked over my shoulder at Ivy. "Tie her down if you have to. You need to go to Aiden's house because you never go there. It's unexpected."

"Bossy." Aiden had no clue what was going on. "There's a reason no one comes to my house. My parents are..." He didn't need to tell us about how his parents were. They weren't very flexible in their ways. They probably wouldn't appreciate Aiden bringing us over either.

"What's happening? Why can't I go?" I followed them out the door and was hit with a gust of wind and pelted with giant drops of rain. "Jax!"

He turned and looked at me over the hood of his car. "It's not safe, Riley. Go to Aiden's, please."

The SUV started and I watched as the red taillights faded as they drove away.

---