Chapter 3

“Hurry up, Aurora,” Harmony yelled into the house from the back porch of her house. “We’re going to be late for the movie.”

It took several more minutes before Aurora finally exited the house, looking extremely satisfied. She had spent all day Saturday working with Serentiy on something in the craft room that was “top secret”. They had banned Harmony from coming near the craft room until they were finished. Her nieces, who normally jumped at the chance to see a movie in the theater, had fought tooth and nail to stay home when she had told them she had purchased tickets to the Saturday night show. They had ultimately convinced her to exchange the tickets for Sunday so that they could continue working on their secret project.

“So, are you going to show me what you two have been working on when we get back?” Harmony asked as they got into her Honda.

“No,” Aurora said at the same time that Serenity said, “Definitely not.”

Harmony blinked, taken aback. “You’re going to leave me dying of curiosity?” Harmony asked in a hurt tone.

She watched the two girls exchange glances in her rearview mirror before Serenity answered.

“Let’s just say that it will be fairy cool,” Serenity stared at her expectantly.

“Huh,” Harmony said flatly as she stared back at her with a raised eyebrow.

“Did you see what I did there?” Serenity asked, grinning.

“She made a pun,” Aurora informed her, also grinning. “Because it sounds like very cool.”

“Ooooh,” Harmony said, her eyes going wide. “You were being punny.”

“You ruin the pun if we have to explain it,” Serenity told her tartly.

“I’m fairy certain that it didn’t need any help from me,” Harmony replied with a wink. “You just keep working on those puns and they’ll be fairy funny in no time.”

“Mine was better,” Serentiy muttered disdainfully.

“It was,” Aurora agreed, patting her sister’s hand reassuringly.

The drive to town was ten minutes from their house. Trees lined both sides of the road, making it feel like they were driving through a tunnel. There were a few of the giant redwoods along the road, but nowhere near as many as there were around their house. Her grandma Dotty had left the will of the two-story home in Harmony’s name, much to several of her cousins’ chagrin. Harmony had moved her Grandma Dotty into her apartment for the last four years of her grandmother’s life, refusing to allow her aunts, uncles and cousins to move her to a nursing home. She had never understood how people could dump their own parents off with a bunch of strangers to take care of in their twilight years. After all the years her grandmother had spent raising her children, it seemed like a slap in the face not to reciprocate.

Her mother had also spent a lot of time helping her care for Grandma Dotty, even though she was dealing with her own illness. After her grandmother’s death and the revelation of her will, her cousins had accused her of scamming the family for her own profit. Several of them had demanded that she sell the large house and divide the money up equally. It made her physically ill to watch her own family turn into vultures as they tried to swoop in and claim anything worth more than a few dollars. The will had been very clear, however. The house and everything in it went to Harmony, including the car and the remainder of her grandmother’s savings.

“Deer!” Auror and Serenity shrieked in unison, snapping Harmony out of her morose thoughts. She slammed on the breaks, barely dodging a fawn that had jumped out in front of her. Harmony felt her heart hammering with adrenaline as she watched the fawn suddenly realize that its suicide attempt had failed. It bounded out of the road and joined its mother.

“Stupid stupid stupid deer!” Harmony growled in exasperation. “Haven’t humans been driving cars long enough for natural selection to have taken care of all of the stupid deer yet?”

“You’re in the middle of the road,” Serenity informed her as she craned her head to make sure no cars were coming from the sharp turn in front of them. “Natural selection is going to take care of us if we don’t move.”

Harmony pushed on the accelerator, but nothing happened. Great, the car stalled.

She pushed the start button, but nothing happened. “I didn’t even hit the stupid thing, why is the car being so lame?”

“What if someone comes around the turn?” Serentiy asked nervously.

Harmony put the hazard lights on and tried to put the car in neutral, but since everything was electrical and the car wouldn’t start, nothing happened.

“I’m going to go around the turn and flag the next car down,” Harmony turned in her seat to inform them.

Aurora and Serentiy’s eyes suddenly grew wide with terror. Harmony jerked her head back to the front to see a logging truck come hurtling around the turn at 65 mph. Time seemed to slow down as she saw their inevitable doom. Even if the logging truck braked and swerved, it would still hit them.

The logging truck suddenly shifted sideways, as if a giant hand had pushed it. It swerved all over the shoulder as it flew past them. Every time the swerving trailer came swinging toward the car it was as if it hit an invisible barrier and bounced back. As the end of the logs on the trailer passed them, the driver finally slammed on his brakes. Smoke filled the air as burning rubber squealed deafeningly across the road. Miraculously, the truck came to a stop without jack-knifing or losing any logs.

“You sure are good at finding trouble,” a familiar musical voice spoke so faintly that she wasn’t sure if she imagined it.

Harmony jerked in surprise when there was a loud clunking sound, and then the car popped into neutral. Harmony snapped out of her daze as the car started rolling backward. She quickly turned the steering wheel until she rolled onto the shoulder of the road.

A man with a long black beard and wearing overalls was walking toward her from where his semi-truck was now parked on the opposite shoulder a thousand feet down the road. His face was beet red and his expression livid.

Harmony slowly opened her door and exited the vehicle, her hands shaking violently. She stared at the long black lines in the road made by the semi-truck’s tires, still smoking with burnt rubber.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing parking in the middle of the damn highway?” the man bellowed at her when he was within arms reach. His breath stank of onions and beef jerky.

“I swerved to dodge a deer, and my car stalled,” Harmony answered, her voice quavering. “I couldn’t get it to start again, and it wouldn’t go into neutral without starting.”

The man glared at her, taking deep breaths as he tried to get his own emotions under control. “It’s a damn miracle you survived. A freak gust of wind nearly tipped me over and pushed me to the shoulder right before I hit you.” He looked at her car, now on the shoulder. “I thought you said it wouldn’t start?”

“It won’t,” Harmony told him, still trembling. “It just suddenly lurched back a second ago and started rolling backward.“

“It just magically rolled backward,” the man asked her, squinting suspiciously. “You a little funny in the head or something?”

“You saw it happen too, right?” Harmony asked her shell-shocked nieces through the window.

They both nodded vigorously.

“See, I’m not crazy,” Harmony told the man defensively, though without much conviction.

“Here’s a suggestion from me,” the man said with a frown. “In the future if you see a deer, you hit that sucker. Swerving into the opposite lane is a whole lot worse than smashing into a deer.”

The man stared at her for a moment longer, then, without another word, turned and walked back to his truck.

Harmony slowly got back into her car, trying to calm her frazzled nerves. She took a deep breath and pressed the start button. The car turned on.

“Okay, shall we see if we can get the rest of the way without incident?” Harmony asked her nieces with false cheerfulness.

They nodded vigorously again, and she pulled back onto the road, this time keeping her eyes peeled for deer.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

She had never given much truck to guardian angels, considering it was religious mumbo jumbo, but she was having difficulty explaining how they were still alive. What were the odds that a giant gust of wind would blow the truck off course from plowing into them at the last second? Then there was the time it was swerving toward them as it passed on the shoulder and appearing to hit a barrier of some sort before it could hit them.

Get a grip, coincidences happen all the time. I just need to count myself fortunate that this one happened in my favor.

By the time they finally arrived at the theater their nerves had calmed, and they began their normal banter again. As they walked past the front of the car, Harmony stopped as something caught her eye. Right on the front of the hood of her car there were two small impressions that looked like handprints, as if someone really strong had pushed the car.

Aurora and Serenity followed her gaze, then gasped as realization dawned.

“Those are handprints!” Serenity said excitedly. “I’ll bet it was Rhapsody who saved us!”

“I’m sure we just got bumped by the semi-truck when it was flying past us,” Harmony disagreed weakly.

They both turned to stare at her skeptically, then pointedly looked back at the hand-shaped imprints.

“Weird coincidences happen all of the time,” Harmony said defensively. “People sell grilled cheese sandwiches on eBay when it looks like a mythical historical figure. This is the same kind of thing. Now come on, or we are going to be late.”

Her nieces shared a look that clearly said she was in denial before following her.

XXXXX

After watching the matinée at the theater, Harmony was browbeat into stopping at a pet store. Her nieces insisted they just wanted some supplies and not an actual pet.

“Have you ever wondered about the vagaries of our language?” Harmony asked them as they walked down the cat aisle.

“What are you talking about?” Serenity asked in confusion.

“Why do we call domestic animals pets?” Harmony asked musingly. “Pet is what we do to them, not what they are. How many people get a pet gold fish and actually pet it? The name just doesn’t fit the scenario.”

“Going to the pet store rolls off the tongue a lot easier than going to the domestic animal store,” Serenity pointed out. “Is this what you spend your time thinking about?”

“They could have come up with a specific name for pets that wasn’t a verb and a noun,” Harmony insisted. “We could have called them sniffers or something.”

“That’s an awful name,” Aurora said distastefully.

“And it’s still based on a verb,” Serenity declared smugly.

“Well, come up with a better one,” Harmony retorted defensively.

“Pets,” Serenity replied in sync with Aurora.

Harmony glared at the two of them. “What are we looking for, anyway?”

Serenity made a show of searching the aisle before pointing at a cat bed. “There it is. We want this cat bed.”

Harmony scowled down at it, her mind racing. “Did you two find a stray cat?”

“Nope,” Serenity denied as Aurora shook her head.

“What do you want a cat bed for then?” Harmony asked in puzzlement. “You’re both too big for a cat bed.”

“It’s a secret,” Serenity replied firmly.

“Top secret,” Aurora added, her eyes sparkling with intrigue.

Harmony stared at them silently for a few seconds. If they had found an animal to take in, she wanted to make sure it was safe and that they took care of it properly. Seeing how engaged they had been the last two days was a good sign that they were adapting to the death of their mother. She didn’t want to ruin a chance for them to find purpose and hopefully, happiness.

“Okay, fine,” Harmony gave in with a sigh. “Anything else? No? Let’s get out of here then. The smell of the reptile cages is making me see green.”

XXXXX

Harmony sat in her study in a lounge chair with her laptop trying to get past her writer’s block. She absently tapped the arm of the chair as she tried to focus on her current fictional adventure story, but her thoughts seemed to be playing ping pong in her head with the recent events. Her study usually had a calming effect on her nerves and gave her the mental comfort she needed to write her novels for hours on end. Not today. She kept having flashbacks to the semi-truck nearly extinguishing her nieces’ lives. She had barely had custody of her nieces for a little more than a week and Aurora had almost died twice and Serenity once. At his rate, how would they survive the rest of their childhood in her care? It had already taken two miracles to save them; she wasn’t sure how many more the universe was going to hand out.

She was distracted by an odd sound. It sounded like a mixture of a cat and a puppy. The sound started with a meow but ended in a whine. She creased her brows as she tried to match the sound with anything in her internal catalog of zoological sounds. Nope. Nothing.

She stood up, intent on finding the source of the strange noise. Looking out the study window she saw her nieces casting around a makeshift fishing pole with a string on one end and some feathers tied to the end of the string. The long grass around them broke apart as a ball of bright green fur darted across and snatched it up in what looked like tiny hands. It was difficult to make out any details due to the creature being almost completely covered in long fur. She would have guessed it was a cat that someone had dyed green except its odd shape. It was an almost perfectly spherical shape and about the size of a soccer ball. There were two long cat-like ears poking out of the fur, right above a small face that was more reminiscent of a lamb than a cat. The oddly dexterous hands were barely visible through the length of the fur.

The creature held up the feathers it had captured and made more of those strange sounds that were a mix of a meow and a dog whine.

“Nice job, Juno!” Aurora exclaimed enthusiastically. She knelt and stroked its fluffy form affectionately.

Harmony squeezed her eyes shut tightly. She reopened them and peered at the creature. Nope, it still doesn’t look like anything I’ve ever heard of. This explains what they wanted the cat bed for, I guess.

She pulled her phone out to take a picture of the ball of fur, but as soon as she pointed the camera its way, the creature made a nervous chittering sound and quickly disappeared into the long grass. Aurora and Serenity looked around warily as the creature raced off into the trees. Harmony stepped away from the window before they noticed her.

“Hey Siri, what kind of creature is the size and shape of a soccer ball, is extremely furry, and has opposable digits?” Harmony asked her phone doubtfully.

“The creature you're describing sounds like a fictional or mythical animal rather than a real one. However, it could be imagined as a fantasy creature, resembling a small, round, extremely furry mammal, possibly with a resemblance to a fictional creature from stories or games like "Furby" or similar. In reality, no such animal exists, but it's a fun idea for a creative concept!” Siri replied.

“Seriously?” Harmony sighed in exasperation. “So much for AI knowing everything.”

Harmony frowned as she weighed her options. She could confront the two of them and demand to know where the creature had come from and why it was here. That might backfire though, considering they had explicitly told her it was their secret. Whatever it was, it didn’t seem dangerous. Maybe Rhapsody would know what it was and if it was dangerous. Of course, she would have to get a chance to ask Rhapsody without her nieces overhearing, or they would know that she had discovered their secret. Kids needed their secrets, and she didn’t want to spoil their fun. She was pretty sure that only primates had opposable thumbs, so maybe it was some species of monkey? Bright green monkey…yeah, why not.

XXXXX

Harmony awoke to shrill screams coming from the other end of the house. She jumped out of bed and bolted down the hall toward Aurora and Serentiy’s room. The screaming just kept going on and on, terrified screams on the ragged edge.

Heart pounding, Harmony burst through the bedroom door and found Serentiy trying to shake Aurora awake. Aurora was curled into the fetal position and screaming until she ran out of breath, pausing only long enough to fill her lungs full of air again.

Harmony rushed over and tried to pull Aurora upright, but the small girl just squeezed into a tighter ball. Serenity was in tears as she helplessly tried to shake her sister awake, calling her name and telling her she was safe.

Not knowing what else to do, she curled herself around Aurora and began humming one of the melodies she would sing to them when they were babies, hoping to provide a cocoon of warmth and security. After almost a minute, Aurora finally subsided into terrified moans and whimpers.

Harmony felt a flash of white-hot rage as a tear slid down her cheek. She wished she could have been stronger when her nieces needed her the most. The night of her sisters murder was burned like a brand into her memories. She remembered her sister texting her to come over and take the kids after a fight with her husband had escalated. When she had arrived ten minutes later she had heard Aurora and Serenity screaming inside. She had immediately called the police and run into the house. She had run through the front room and into the bedroom at the back of the house. She had found David, their father, holding Aurora by the hair with a knife to her throat. His wife, Harmony’s sister, was laying on the ground in a puddle of blood. There were stab wounds all over her body and her throat was slit.

Aurora had a slice across her bicep from where David had slashed her. Serenity was kicking his leg over and over and screaming for him to let her sister go.

“It’s not like I haven’t already crossed the line,” David said in a dead voice. “I can do whatever I want now.”

“Put. Her. Down,” Harmony had told David through gritted teeth.

When he had seen her, he dropped Aurora and leered at her. “I’ve had my eye on you since the day your sister showed me your picture. I’ve got nothing left to lose, so I can finally do whatever I want.”

He had rushed at her, but when his foot hit the puddle of blood on the hardwood floors he had slipped and crashed head first into the doorframe. As he groggily rose to his feet, the police burst through the front door and started shouting.

“Back here!” Harmony had screamed through rage and tears.

The police had tazed him immediately. While they were cuffing him, Harmony rushed back and tried to pick Aurora up and get her out of the room, but the small girl had started screaming in fear and tried to get away from her. With Serenity’s help, she had finally gotten Aurora to calm down enough to wrap a shirt around her arm where David had slashed her.

It had seemed like hours before the EMT arrived, though she knew it had only been about five minutes. She and Serenity had gone in the ambulance with Aurora to the hospital, numb with shock at the loss of their mother. David had always had a temper, and it wasn’t the first time Harmony had needed to fetch the kids and keep them at her apartment for the night. Harmony had used every ounce of persuasion she possessed to try and get her sister to divorce David in the past, but he had cowed her years ago and she had given up the fight.

Aurora and Serenity had been getting mental health help since that fateful day, but Aurora still had night terrors at least once every week or two.

Harmony pushed her tears back, knowing she needed to be strong for her nieces. They just needed to take it one day at a time until those traumatic memories were overwritten with better experiences.

An odd sound, somewhere between a cat and a puppy, startled her out of her thoughts. The strange green creature had jumped up onto the bed and pushed itself into Aurora’s face, it’s tongue licking her tears.

Aurora took a long shuddering breath and finally woke up from her waking nightmare. She looked at the ball of fur with a smile and took another shuddering breath.

“I love you too, Juno,” Aurora told the furball in a doting voice.