Borrowed Space - Part I: The Ordinary Day
Hey... Once again, it's been literal years since I posted any writing on here, but this is a project that's been simmering away in my mind for a while, and I finally decided I was ready to start sharing it!
For context, I'm still procrastinating on finishing the next chapter of Borrowed Courage by (you guessed it!) writing another spin-off from the main story.
This one's set two years prior to Borrowed Courage and is the backstory of the family of borrowers Kaleb's friend Marcus takes in to live in their home. My motive for writing it was to take a deep dive into the borrower "registration" and "rehoming" process that is less explored in the main storyline since Kaleb and his family are unregistered borrowers. When I was doing the world-building for my borrower universe, I wanted to create a scenario somewhere in between borrowers being treated as pests/vermin and them being fully integrated into human society, because let's face it, I'm a sucker for the angst. Hopefully it feels at least somewhat realistic!
I'm planning for this story to have six or seven parts in total and have written to about halfway, so here's to hoping I can finish it someday soon!
In the meantime, I hope you enjoy reading! ^_^
It started out as any other ordinary day.
Ebony woke up to the familiar sensation of human footsteps rumbling about upstairs, causing her furniture to tremble slightly. Blinking the sleep out of her eyes, she stretched out her stiff limbs, kicking back her duvet as she did so. The chill autumn air immediately began to gnaw at her exposed skin. Resisting the urge to bury herself back under her cocoon of blankets, she sat up in bed, glancing across at the clock—or repurposed pocket watch—on the wall opposite her, more out of habit than anything. It told her the same thing it always did after a late-night borrowing trip: she’d slept in. Big time.
Like a true teenager. She imagined her dad saying.
If she concentrated, Ebony could hear the rest of her family already awake and chatting amongst themselves in the main room down the hall. The sound was accompanied by the faint clinking of cutlery on plates, meaning she’d woken up just in time for lunch. Her stomach grumbled faintly at the reminder. Okay, fine. I’m getting there. With a sigh, she heaved herself out of bed, quickly changing into a fresh set of clothes: navy blue trousers patched at the knees, a tank top, her mother’s handmade crochet cardigan, and a pair of cloth shoes. Tossing her pyjamas in the general direction of her bed, Ebony pushed aside the cloth flap that served as her bedroom door and stepped out into the hallway, or “wall-way”, as her family tended to joke.
The Reed family had lived within the walls of the Murphy house for as long as she could remember; Murphy being the surname of Susan and her husband Bill, the humans who lived there. Neither human was aware that a family of five-inch-tall borrowers was taking up residence in their home, and it had remained that way for almost thirteen years. Ebony, at seventeen, could barely recall where she and her parents had lived beforehand. She, along with her two younger brothers, had been raised within these walls, and as far as she was concerned, the Murphy house was her home.
Covering a yawn with the back of her hand, Ebony started down the hallway, dust motes billowing up around her as she went; a borrower’s greatest nemesis, second only to humans. When you chose to take up residence in the walls, it was to be expected. Before she went to greet the rest of her family in the main room, she stopped by the bathroom, glimpsing at her reflection in the mirror above the makeshift vanity that had once belonged to an eyeshadow palette. “Sheesh, you look like death.” The borrower muttered to herself as she scooped up a globule of water from the filled bucket below the vanity and washed her face, waking herself up a bit. Then, she ran a brush through her unruly black hair and quickly styled it back into a single fishnet braid down the nape of her neck, tying the end with a scrap piece of red cloth. “Much better.” She said.
Just as she expected, her family were seated around the dining table as she entered the main room, halfway through their midday meal. Ebony’s mother, Cinder, immediately gestured for her to join them, her eyes full of pride.
“Someone slept well this morning.” She commented as the eldest Reed sibling sank into her seat opposite her two younger brothers. “You earned it, though. We’ve all been enjoying what you borrowed last night.”
Ebony smiled to herself, noting the borrowings in question in the centre of the table; two grapes that might as well have been watermelons at their size, and a portion of croissant that she’d fished out of a packet Susan had left on the kitchen counter. True to her mother’s word, the pastry was decidedly smaller than it had been when she’d borrowed it, and one of the grapes had been cut into wedges and shared between her parents and brothers, but there was still more than enough left for her to eat her fill, and then some.
“I felt inspired by, what do the humans call it, a continental breakfast?” Ebony said, wasting no time reaching across the table to serve herself a sliver of grape and flaky croissant. She closed her eyes for a moment after her first bite, savouring the fruit and pastry combination with a satisfied smile. It had been a while since the family had gotten their hands on food this fresh. “I wish Susan had left out strawberries instead of grapes, though. It probably would’ve been more authentic that way.”
“Continental or whatever, it’s the best thing I’ve eaten in ages. Thanks, Eb!” Her twelve-year-old brother, Bran, grinned across at her from the opposite end of the table in admiration.
Next to him, Forrest, the youngest of the Reed family, shot her a gap-toothed smile of his own. “Yeah, thanks, Ebby! You always borrow the yummiest food.”
Her parents liked to joke that their three children were like peas in a pod, all with the same pale green eyes, dark hair, and sharp features. Cinder herself was the only Reed borrower with brown eyes, though she and Kent shared the same dark hair and pale complexion, which was a given, really, considering how rarely any of them got to go out in the sunlight.
“Hey, not always.” Ebony smirked, swallowing another mouthful of croissant. “Remember when I brought back one of the olives that got left out on their cheeseboard overnight?” At that reminder, both brothers’ faces twisted into disgust.
“Ugh, don’t remind me!” Bran exclaimed, sticking his tongue out dramatically and gagging. “I couldn’t get the taste out of my mouth for days!”
“You three just haven’t developed a refined palette yet.” Their father, Kent, said from the head of the table, glancing across at his wife with a knowing smile. “Don’t worry, it’ll come with time, and then you’ll all be daydreaming about olives and camembert cheese and red wine…” His voice trailed off wistfully, and Cinder stifled a snort, reaching over to slap him lightly on the back of his hand.
“Yeahhh, I’m still not buying that,” Ebony said, arms folded at her parents’ mirth. “If I’m almost an adult and still not pro-olives, then I don’t think that’s gonna miraculously change overnight.”
“Hey, you never know.” Kent chuckled. “Give it a few years, and you’ll be counting down the days till Susan and Bill leave another cheeseboard out.”
“Well, I do know, and I can tell you right now that it’s not happening.” She said stubbornly, taking another bite out of her grape as a similar thought occurred to her. “Same goes for sultanas; I dunno what possessed the humans to leave perfectly good grapes out to shrivel up and go all sour, but it was a stupid idea.”
Their banter continued back and forth for a few more minutes before Cinder cleared her throat. “We have been quite lucky with the borrowings lately, though, haven’t we?” She said, gesturing to the generous spread of food on the table. “And the veggie garden, too.” She turned to Kent. “I was going to make soup tonight with those cherry tomatoes you found, dear.”
“That sounds lovely.” Her husband smiled across at her. “And it sure has helped having Ebony join me out on runs. You’re turning out to be a fine borrower, you know.”
At his praise, Ebony felt her cheeks heat up. It was rare for their father to give out compliments, so when he did, she knew not to take it lightly. She stared down at her plate of food and fidgeted with her hands under the table to try and hide the swell of pride bubbling in her chest. “Well, it helps to have a good teacher.”
“Don’t forget about me, Dad.” Bran leaned forward in his chair eagerly. “You’re gonna let me help out soon, too, right? You promised.”
“Oh, I haven’t forgotten,” Kent reassured him with a chuckle. Ever since he’d first taken Ebony out borrowing, Bran’s hopeful expression and eyes full of wonder had been getting harder and harder to ignore. It reminded him of the look he’d once given his own parents when they’d agreed to take him on his first borrowing run all those years ago. “Tell you what, I’m gonna go borrowing this afternoon while Susan has her afternoon nap to try and score us some crackers or bread to have with your mother’s soup, but I’ll be back to check on how your climbing is going before dinner. Deal?”
“O-Okay!” Bran was out of his chair in an instant, hands planted resolutely on the table as he faced their Dad. “I’ll start practising now, then. Thanks, Dad!”
“Hey, no fair!” Forrest complained. “Why can’t I go borrowing, too?”
“You’re still too young for that, mouse pup.” Their mother said gently, standing up to start clearing the table. “But I could really use a hand with the dusting today, if you’re up for it.”
Forrest pouted, sitting back in his seat with his arms crossed. “Fine.” He said glumly. “It’s still not fair, though. Why do Ebby and Bran get to do all the fun things all the time, while I’m stuck cleaning?”
“Hey, we were in your shoes too, once,” Ebony patted her little brother on the knee before getting up to help her Mom with the plates. “And you get to do plenty of fun things. I don’t remember getting to go out on trips to the garden when I was your age.”
“Yeah!” Bran chimed in. “Or building obstacle courses in the walls…”
Ebony half-listened to her siblings’ interactions with a wistful grin, reminiscing about how she’d been at that age. Just like Bran, she’d been twelve when her Dad had first broached the idea of learning to borrow, and it had taken until her fifteenth birthday before she’d been trusted to go on borrowing missions on her own. Sometimes, the oldest Reed sibling would forget what life was like before that, constantly filled with curiosity about the vast, formidable human world that was only ever a few layers of plaster and drywall away.
“So what are your plans for the day, honey?” She was broken out of her musings by her mom, who was looking at her expectantly from the kitchen.
“Huh?” Ebony blurted, her brain frantically playing catch-up. She gathered up the rest of the plates from the table and brought them over to the kitchen sink, which Cinder was filling with water and a sliver of soap. “I hadn’t thought that far ahead yet. I should probably check my gear, make sure it’s in good condition for when I go out again.”
Kent smiled approvingly from back at the table, making her feel sheepish all over again. “That’s my girl.”
And just like that, the ordinary day continued.
Hours later, Ebony found herself in the storeroom, which doubled up as her dad’s workstation, polishing her knife. She’d fashioned it a few months ago from a sharpener blade about the size of her forearm and part of a toothpick that acted as a handle. Her mom had not approved of the weapon at first, but when she’d started bringing back live game from her borrowing trips, like crickets and the odd mouse, that disapproval had shifted to admiration.
“Hey, do you know where Dad’s at?” Bran poked his head through the door, looking somewhat deflated. “He said he’d be back before dinner to look at my climbing, but Mom’s almost finished making the soup.”
“He’s not back yet?” Ebony frowned, glancing up at the face of the Mickey Mouse wristwatch pinned lengthways to the wall above her dad’s desk. It was already five o’clock in the evening, definitely unlike their dad to be gone for so long. “He went out borrowing at two, while Susan had her afternoon nap.” She muttered, remembering his plan from that morning. “She should be up by now, so he must be back in the walls somewhere.”
Bran nodded in agreement. “That’s what I thought, too, but… I haven’t seen him. You don’t think…” His voice trailed off as he swallowed thickly. “You don’t think something’s happened to him, do you?”
Sensing the poorly concealed fear in her brother’s voice, Ebony sighed, putting down her tools and standing up, brushing off her navy pants as she did so. She gave Bran a reassuring pat on the shoulder, forcing herself to keep her cool as she replied. “You know how Dad is. Bet he’s gotten himself tangled up in his line again or something. I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about. I’ll go track him down.”
She really hoped her predictions were true. It was either that or assume the worst had happened. Ebony pursed her lips. She knew better than to entertain those thoughts; not yet, at least, when there was no proof to the contrary. Right now, what she needed to do was focus on locating their dad, and getting swallowed up by her own fear wasn’t going to help with that.
Still… she couldn’t seem to shake the fact that she had a bad feeling about this.
“Are you two going out to get your father?” As if on cue, Cinder called out from the kitchen area, where she was stirring the bubbling pot of tomato soup atop their makeshift stove. “Tell him dinner’s just about ready.”
“Yep. Will do.” Ebony replied, pushing her thoughts aside and making quick work of tugging on her borrowing boots. After a moment’s hesitation, she grabbed her knife, sheathing it in its usual spot on her belt. Just in case. She told herself, praying she wouldn’t actually need it. Not wanting to waste another second, she slipped past the threshold of her family’s home into the passageway of the walls. To any human, the musty, dust-filled chamber would have been nearly impossible to see in, but as a borrower, Ebony’s eyes were well-adjusted to the dark. She traversed the interior of the walls with ease, staying quiet and alert, keeping her footfalls as soft as possible as she listened out for any sign of her dad.
That is, until her brother’s shrill cry echoed through the tunnel from the support beam below her, almost making the borrower teen leap out of her skin in surprise.
That idiot! She cursed to herself, placing a hand over her suddenly pounding heart. What is he thinking?!
“Ebony!” Bran yelled out again as he heaved himself up a length of string tied to the vertical support beam a few metres away from where she’d stopped to wait for him. As soon as their eyes met, he sprinted over, skidding to a halt in front of her, his slim chest heaving with panicked breaths. He looked like he’d seen a ghost; an expression she didn’t like one bit.
“Bran!” Ebony hissed on instinct, immediately grabbing his shoulders to scold him. “Keep your voice down. They’ll hear you!”
Bran shook his head frantically, locking eyes with his sister’s like a lifeline. “Never mind that! We need to get Mom and Forrest, now!”
Ebony’s chest suddenly felt hollow, and her hands tightened around his trembling shoulders. There were only a handful of reasons Bran would be reacting this way, and she didn’t want to think about any of them. But she had to. The borrower teen bit the inside of her cheek, trying to ground herself with the pain. She had to be strong for her younger brother. “S-Slow down,” Ebony said, forcing herself to stay focused. “What’s going on?”
“It's Dad… he’s been seen.”
Eight years ago, it had been a borrower’s worst nightmare. Being seen meant exposing their kind to the humans they spent their lives hiding from, and for good reason. Humans were the gigantic, powerful beings who, for lack of a better term, owned the world. Since she was a young child, Ebony, like any other borrower, had grown up hearing stories passed down over the generations, of the cruel, barbaric nature of humans, and the many disturbing ways they mistreated creatures smaller than their own. It was enough to plant the seed of fear in her kind, to keep them hiding in the shadows, living alongside but never known to the giants whose homes they shared.
But then they were discovered, and borrower-kind was made public to the human world. Ebony had only been nine at the time, but she remembered that day as clearly as any other borrower who had access to a TV. From what her family had pieced together over the years, between snippets from the news channels and conversations overheard between Susan and Bill from outside the walls, the discovery of borrowers had caused mass hysteria among the humans. Suddenly, their kind were being rounded up left, right and centre by their previously unaware human landlords, and, left with nowhere else to go, the humans came up with their own solution to the borrower homelessness crisis; something they’d come to know as refugee camps.
Now, being seen carried a different kind of weight, one that Ebony and her family had, by some stroke of luck, managed to avoid for the last eight years. They were, according to the “law”, or whatever the humans deemed it, unregistered borrowers. If Susan and Bill didn’t want them living under their roof, sharing their resources, then they were legally allowed to do with them whatever they saw fit. It was something her parents had explained to her back when she was thirteen or fourteen, but, if Ebony was being honest, it had never felt that relevant, because in her mind, it didn’t really change the gravity of what being seen meant.
“What?” Ebony choked out, still not wanting to believe what her brother was saying. She could feel her heartbeat already starting to pound in her ears, pumping adrenaline through her body, priming her to hide, to run away. Her own hands began to tremble as she searched Bran’s eyes, clinging to some desperate notion that they’d somehow tricked him. “You’re… you’re sure?”
Bran nodded shakily. “I-I’m sorry…. I went to check the other side of the house, near the kitchen, a-and… she… Susan… oh, god…” Bran’s voice cracked, and he lunged forward to bury his head in his sister’s chest, hands scrunching up her shirt. Ebony caught herself before she stumbled backwards from his weight. Bran hadn’t clung to her like this since he was a kid, although given their current situation, it was to be expected. She raised one hand to rub slow, gentle circles along his back, feeling numb as she took in her brother’s next words. “She’s got him, Ebony. In… in a jar, and she was on the phone with… with…” Bran looked up at her pleadingly. “What do we do?”
What do we do? The words repeated themselves like a broken record in her head. What was she supposed to do? Ebony’s parents had run her through their plans, time and time again, of course. She was the oldest; she had to know what to do if one of her family members was captured by humans. It was her responsibility to get the rest of them out safely. But she couldn’t—wouldn’t—bring herself to think like that just yet. That would make it too real.
That would, in all likelihood, mean abandoning her dad.
“Okay,” Ebony said, cutting off that train of thought for now. “Okay.” She repeated, as though it would anchor her to the present. “You go get Mom and Forrest. I’ll run back and keep an eye on Susan. I’ll meet you at the peephole to the kitchen. I assume that’s where you saw…” Her throat clammed up, preventing her from finishing her sentence.
Thankfully, Bran understood. “Y-Yes. On the kitchen bench.” He said, stepping back so he could meet her eyes again. His own green eyes were red-rimmed and gleaming with fresh tears, and he was trying his hardest to keep from trembling where he stood. “You don’t think she’s calling an… exterminator, do you?” He whispered.
Ebony shook her head quickly. “No. That’s illegal… I think.” She said, grimacing at how uncertain she sounded and at how little she could do to try to reassure her brother. In all truthfulness, not even her parents were completely sure if killing unregistered borrowers was against the law now. Ebony hoped so, for all of their sakes. “Just… go get the others, okay? Then we’ll figure out what to do.”
With that, her twelve-year-old brother darted back in the direction of their home, vanishing into the darkness, and leaving Ebony alone to uphold her end of the plan. Not wanting to give herself time to think, she took off in the opposite direction, down the rope Bran had come up from, and across the expanse of the living room wall, towards where she knew was the kitchen area. For a few precious minutes, the only sounds that could be heard were her heartbeat in her ears and her short, panicked breathing, her adrenaline finally given an outlet as she sprinted across the dust-covered support beams. It almost felt quiet enough to make Ebony hope that Bran had been hallucinating, that soon enough, she’d bump into her dad, who’d somehow, inconceivably, gotten himself lost on his way home and was just now making it back.
The closer she got to her destination, though, the harder it was to ignore the truth. Before long, the borrower teen could feel as well as hear their resident human, Susan, in the kitchen, the impatient tapping of her slippered foot sending the slightest of tremors through the lower section of the wall Ebony was traversing. She couldn’t hear her dad’s voice, but as soon as she finally reached her destination, the peephole by the pantry that gave her a perfect view of the entire kitchen outside the walls, she didn’t need to.
Time stood still. Ebony felt her knees shake, the breath sucked out of her like she’d been punched in the gut.
No, no, no, no, no… She wanted to say, but her lips wouldn’t form the words. This can’t be happening.
Tears threatened to cloud her vision as she took in the sight beyond the walls, the final threads of hope she’d been clinging to slipping away. True to her brother’s word, their dad had been captured, his palms planted up against the glass jar he was being held in atop the kitchen bench. Susan loomed overhead, although she wasn’t even sparing her captive so much as a glance, seemingly preoccupied by whatever she was looking at on her phone. Like it was any other Tuesday for her. Ebony felt sick to the stomach. Out in the open like that, her dad looked so small, so helpless, so vulnerable—words she would never have dreamed to associate him with before now. His pleas went ignored by the giant human above him, who continued tapping away at her device with a look of growing irritation on her face.
“C’mon, answer me, you lazy oaf!” Susan muttered, and Ebony realised with another jolt of fear that she was probably trying to get in touch with her husband, Bill. Soon, both of them would know about their home’s secret residents who had remained undisturbed and inconspicuous for almost thirteen years. She had no idea what the older woman’s reaction had been to finding her dad, but judging by the sealed mason jar and the look of desperation on his face, it hadn’t been good. What if she really has called the exterminators? Ebony’s mind couldn’t help but wander as she stared with bated breath. Maybe they’re already on their way, and she’s trying to contact Bill to let him know it’s taken care of… that we’re taken care of.
Her racing thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of three sets of legs running towards her. She felt her shoulders drop a fraction in relief. Bran had succeeded in rallying the rest of the family.
“Ebony!” Her mom cried as soon as she was close enough to call out without risking being heard by the human standing mere metres away. She grasped both her daughter’s shaking hands, rubbing circles over the backs of Ebony’s knuckles with her own trembling thumbs. “Bran told me what happened.” She said, pausing to catch her breath. “We came as fast as we could. Where…”
Wordlessly, Ebony tilted her head in the direction of the peephole before shuffling out of the way. She watched as the rest of her family crowded around the tiny sliver of light, barely the size of a screw hole, taking in the scene already burned into her memory.
After a moment, her mom took a step back, steadying herself against the wall with one hand. She clutched Forrest’s protectively in the other. “It’s going to be alright.” She said, looking up at her two oldest children. “We just need to stay calm and stick together. As a family.”
“A-Alright?” Ebony couldn’t believe her ears. “Are you serious? Look at him, Mom. In what world is this going to be alright? He’s a sitting duck out there!”
She regretted those words as soon as they came out, because from their mom’s side, Forrest hiccuped in fear. He looked frantically between them, searching for answers neither of them had. “W-What do you mean, Ebby? I thought… Mom said Susan is a nice human. T-That she’ll let Dad go.” And a sob escaped his trembling lips, and he buried his face into Cinder’s side. “Y-You said!”
“Oh, mouse pup, c’mere.” She soothed, immediately drawing her youngest into a hug. “It’s okay, you’re okay…”
While their mother tried her best to calm Forrest down, Ebony shifted her attention back to the scene outside. She and Bran both stiffened at the sound of Susan’s phone ringing from the kitchen, and Bran reflexively grabbed Ebony’s arm in shock.
“You don’t think that’s—” He trailed off, unable to finish the thought, but Ebony understood.
“No, it’s probably Bill. She was trying to get a hold of him before—”
She broke off, eyes widening, as Susan answered the call and stepped out of the kitchen into the next room, leaving their dad stranded on the bench, alone and unsupervised. Ebony felt her heart pick up again, a fresh surge of adrenaline coursing through her. Her hand quivered over the handle of her knife.
“This is our chance.” She whispered, surprising herself with the amount of resolve in her voice. She met Bran’s panicked eyes. “While she’s distracted—we’ve gotta get him out of there!”
“Ebony, wait!” Without warning, her mom’s hand clamped around her wrist, causing her to stagger backwards before she could start off down the passageway.
Ebony whirled around to face her, face a mix of fear and determination. “Wait? You want me to wait while Dad’s stuck out there with a human?”
“And what are you gonna do?” Cinder hissed back, her expression hardening. “Susan might’ve left, but she’s not gonna be on the phone for long. What good will it do to go out there now? I know you want to help your father, but if you try anything stupid, you’ll just end up trapped in that jar with him. You know that.”
She grit her teeth. Of course she knew that. Ebony pounded the wall beside her in frustration. “So what, we’re just going to sit here cowering while Dad gets killed by those… those beans?” She spat out the last word like the curse it felt like. “That’s your plan?”
“They’re not going to kill him.” Her mom argued, though to Ebony, it sounded like she was trying to convince herself as well as her children of that fact.
“Oh yeah, and how do you know that?” She snapped.
Cinder’s voice softened. “Things are different now. The other humans Susan would’ve called before, when Bran said she was on the phone, they’re going to assess the situation, and decide whether we need to be… relocated.”
“Relocated?” Ebony felt herself go pale. “They can’t just do that! This has been our home since Bran and Forrest were born. Bill and Susan didn’t even know we existed until now. They can’t just decide we have to leave!”
“Yes… they can.” Her mom said. Slowly, she rose to her feet from where she had knelt down to comfort Forrest, turning to address the three of them. “Listen, kids. Your father and I knew this might happen someday, ever since our kind was first discovered. We’ve talked about how things are now, what happens when a borrower gets seen.”
“You don’t mean…” Bran stammered, but Ebony cut him off.
“You want us to register?” She exclaimed in horror. “Let them take us willingly and get sent to the refugee camps?”
“I don’t want them to do anything,” Cinder said sternly. “But if we want this family to stay together, we might not have a choice.”
“That’s bullshit!” Ebony snapped, knowing to keep her voice low enough so as not to alert the human outside to their location in the walls. She gestured frantically to the peephole and the kitchen beyond where their dad was being held. “All we have to do is go out there right now, rescue him, and all relocate together, on our own terms.”
“Yeah, Mom!” Bran said. “It’s not too late.”
Except it was. Just as the words had left his mouth, there was a thundering knock on the front door, which made the four of them jump. The borrower family fell silent, holding their breath as Susan re-entered the kitchen for a moment to check her captive was still there, before rushing off to answer the door. Kent Reed was once again left stranded in full view, his hands still pressed against his glass prison as though his strength alone was enough to smash through it. The sight made Ebony shiver. She couldn’t imagine what he must be feeling, so exposed like that, completely at the mercy of Susan and… whoever she was greeting outside.
They didn’t have to wait long to find out. Moments later, their resident human re-entered the kitchen, followed by an unfamiliar man. Ebony found herself taking an unconscious step back as his shadow eclipsed the peephole, blocking out the light. She gulped. The man had to be at least six feet tall, possibly the largest human Ebony had ever seen. He was wearing a khaki green polo shirt embroidered with a logo she couldn’t make out, black slacks and slick leather shoes. He carried a solid plastic case that looked like a fancy cat carrier in one hand, like one would hold a briefcase. Ebony swallowed the lump in her throat, peering out the hole in the wall with the rest of her family as he turned to face her father in the jar, partially blocking him from sight.
“He’s got a c-cage, Mom,” Bran whispered, gesturing frantically to the man’s broad back. “What’s he gonna do with Dad?”
“Just…” Cinder started, just as terrified as the rest of them. “Let’s just see what he says.”
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