G/T Side Blog

That was the main difference between her various lodgings throughout the years and here. The interior of the walls and the experiences within them remained relatively the same - constant noise, shaking floors, never-ending dust, the mundane day-to-day occurrences that happened when living in proximity to Beans. The exterior was where it vastly differed.

The main thing, obviously, was the Bean. There was only one of them, and he knew that she was there and he didn’t care. In fact, he regularly wanted to see her. He offered his food and he watched his step and he talked to her like she was the same as him.

It was hard to balance her needs, though. Adelaide found solace in the solitude of the walls, the familiar, dark, enclosed space she could call her own. And she was more than happy to have Ian back, but she knew he wanted her out of the walls more than she was comfortable with. She was sure she’d get there eventually. She just needed time. Because while he was both thrilled to have her around and considerably careful around her, it was still daunting to have a Bean know where she was at all times and for him to expect to see her often. It was particularly hard to accept food from him.

And the worst part was that they both knew they retreaded old ground. Long ago, they faced the exact same hurdles. To have to relearn the same lessons and get used to the same habits was annoying at best.

Determined to get over it as quickly as possible, Adelaide decided to try spending a full day out of the walls. To prove to both of them that she wasn’t scared and nothing had changed. She’d take care of the dust later.

Ian typed on his laptop when she emerged onto his desk. Adelaide was hidden from his line of sight behind the open computer. Not only could she hear the keys clacking, but she could feel the vibration of it underneath her feet. It went against every instinct she had to reveal herself, but wasn’t that why she was here?

Massive fingertips appeared high above her head. They gripped the top edge of the laptop and slammed it closed with a loud snap, the high wall protecting Adelaide from her surroundings suddenly just gone, and the open air left her exposed. She jumped, not expecting the choice to be made for her. Unpredictable, those Beans.

Ian seemed shocked too, though far less startled. “How long were you, um, there?”

“Not long,” Adelaide squeaked.

“Right… Hungry?”

She nodded, but with a far off look in her eye.

He stood up, and Adelaide barely had time to register his sheer height before something large and solid slammed into the ground not inches to her left. The impact shook the table so hard that there was no hope of keeping her balance, and the accompanying gust of wind didn’t help. Even her hair swayed in the breeze.

Slowly tracing the line up from his fingers to his hand to his arm to his shoulder to the rest of him, it was clear what happened. Ian had tripped. Did he avoid landing on her on purpose, or was it sheer luck that he instinctively caught himself in a spot where she wasn’t? Unfortunately, she imagined it was the latter, but either way, that one moment of inattention could have ended Adelaide’s life.

For the most part, she was used to the Bean, or as used to him as she could be. His movements were always calculated when she was around, and sometimes even when she wasn’t. Though she would never actually do so, she knew she could walk around on the ground by his feet and he would never step on her. So even though she was nervous, she knew she was in safe hands.

But accidents happen, as evidenced by the events that just unfolded. Ian tripped. He caught himself. A normal thing to happen to anyone. But the speed with which he did so, the sheer amount of weight that unloaded onto one hand. If he shifted a couple inches to the right, he wouldn’t have been able to correct in time, and Adelaide certainly wouldn’t have been able to escape in time. It would have been over right then and there. Ian was proof that a Bean could be as careful as they wanted, but the fact remained that they were still incredibly dangerous.

Then, just as quickly as the hand fell, it disappeared high above her head. That terrifying moment that stretched out for eternity to Adelaide was so brief to Ian. He didn’t even register the impact it had.

Already a couple paces away, Ian called over his shoulder. “I was thinking, perhaps-” He stopped in his tracks when he saw that Adelaide was frozen. He backed up and stopped right in front of the desk. She looked like a statue. “Um. You…good?”

Adelaide didn’t answer.

Ian rested his hands on the desk on either side of her and frowned. “You good?”

Adelaide was boxed in. His hands blocked her path on either side and the rest of his body hung over her like an awning, casting her in an immense shadow. She purposefully unfocused her eyes so as not to engage with the world around her. There was a sense that, if she moved, it would set off a chain reaction that would lead to her getting squashed.

It wasn’t him that she was scared of. In fact, she knew without a doubt that she was not scared of Ian. But there was this weird thing about the body. It remembers. It always remembered. And it always responded, even if her brain assured it otherwise. That’s when she noticed herself shaking, and no matter what she told herself, it wouldn’t stop.

Adelaide also couldn’t seem to find her voice at that moment, but she knew that if she didn’t say anything, he’d keep asking if she was ‘good’. His overpowering voice bounced around in her skull, each word making her heart beat a little faster. She would be good if he would just stop asking.

“Della? You good?”

God, she wished he’d stop asking.

“Hello, Earth to Della.”

Pull yourself together, she thought. With one final shove, Adelaide crammed all that emotion into a tiny box and slammed the lid closed. Her head perked up. “Yep, I’m good.”

Ian shot her a suspicious eye but didn’t comment. “Good,” he said, and continued on his way.

As he did so, his right hand flew by her like an airplane, the breeze ruffling her hair. It was so close, Adelaide thought for sure it would knock her over, and she couldn’t help but flinch away. Did she really say she’d spend the whole day out of the walls?

***

Adelaide woke up to a bright light far above her head. The sun? No, that couldn’t be right. A Bean light fixture was more likely. That meant…

Adelaide bolted upright. She was on a shirt on a nightstand in a bedroom. It was an easy guess as to whose bedroom it was. But she knew for certain that she didn’t fall asleep here. Last she remembered, she was fighting desperately to keep her drooping eyes open while Ian worked on…work. It wasn’t that his work wasn’t interesting, it was just that…it wasn’t interesting. The only thing that kept her from dozing off immediately was the blinding white screen of his computer. As it was, she had to pace around the desk every few minutes to defend against the drowsiness. Alas, sleep claimed her in the end.

That was troubling for a number of reasons. Adelaide fell asleep out in the open - something she hadn’t been stupid enough to do in a long, long time. Her only comfort was that her sense of trust with Ian hadn’t been ruined forever by time. If her body was relaxed enough around him to fall asleep, to put her in such a defenseless, vulnerable position, then that had to count for something.

More troubling was the fact that he moved her. Again, she trusted him enough to move her around safely, and that trust proved founded by the fact that she woke up unscathed. It was her overall lack of agency in the situation that scared her. Or maybe angered her. Those feelings were still very hard to distinguish from one another.

The thought of her unconscious body being manhandled made her itchy. Fingers so big and so strong that just one could accidentally maim her held her very life within them and she didn’t even know. And Ian made that decision for her, didn’t bother for her consent. She had some choice words for him.

Eventually, Adelaide hauled herself onto Ian’s desk, winded not just from climbing, but from the state she worked herself into. She was good at working herself into states.

“Good morning,” Ian said. A warm drink rested nearby, and Adelaide felt the heat wafting off of it. She rolled her shoulders to work out the kinks that seemed to form nowadays wherever she climbed a particularly tall piece of furniture.

“Why didn’t you wake me up?”

“Yeah, cause that would have gone over, um, so well.” Ian figured that, regardless of his actions, he was going to get a mouthful. The immediate threat of getting chewed out because he invaded her space to wake her up felt worse than the ‘tomorrow morning’ threat of getting chewed out because he moved her to a more comfortable place so she could sleep peacefully. It was now, regrettably, tomorrow morning.

Ian rubbed his face in hopes of finding more energy before the impending argument, then abruptly decided to continue speaking before she could start. “Figured you could - you could use the rest. And,” he turned his gaze toward her, “we both know this has happened uh, oodles and oodles of times, so you don’t have to - to pretend to be mad.”

“That was a long time ago.”

“Hey, uh, if you’ve done it before, you’ve-”

“It’s different than before.”

“Yeah, and, um, I’m trying to fix that.”

“It doesn’t need to be fixed, Ian. You’re trying to pretend everything is normal, but it’s not now, and it’s not going to be any time soon. I’m sorry. I know it’s frustrating that we’re going in circles cause I can’t seem to get a grip, but you shouldn’t touch me, especially when I’m unconscious, and you need to be more careful - yesterday you almost - and why didn’t you come back for me?!”

Ian was speechless.

Adelaide knew immediately that she screwed up. She fumbled for words, ruining any attempt to come off detached. “I mean - I, I mean it’s fine. It’s no big deal. I’m just, uh…I’m curious, why…how…why you didn’t…what happened.”

Ian lifted his hands and blinked. “Of course I came back. Hell, I never left. Della, I looked everywhere.”

“I was right there,” Adelaide said quietly. She knew she was in dangerous territory if she pursued the topic further, but she had to know what happened. “Why didn’t you find me?”

“I don’t know.”

“I only walked through that field for a day, but when I came out, your car wasn’t even there.” Her voice cracked.

“Della, I was there for, uh, over a month. Car and all.”

“That doesn’t make any sense.”

“No, it - it doesn’t.” It did make sense, actually. Ian suspected for a while now that Adelaide probably found her way to a different motel. At the time, the field looked so vast, so uncrossable for such a small person. But given a whole day and a strong sense of determination…

He didn’t tell Adelaide. How could he? It was only a matter of time before she came to the same conclusion anyway, and he didn’t want to admit to his idiotic oversight aloud. Why didn’t he think to check another motel earlier? Why this? Why that? Why, why, why, why. And he knew that if he revealed this information to Adelaide, she’d only blame herself, and that would put a damper on any hint of progress they’d made so far. In the grand scheme of things, they didn’t have much time left. No sense in wasting it.

“Well, anyway,” Adelaide sniffed, wiping her eyes. That was the only hint Ian received that she was crying. From up above, her eyes were too small to properly see any sign of emotional distress. “I have stuff to do.”

“Alright, well…don’t be a stranger.”

Adelaide nodded, then ran off into the walls.

***

She couldn’t believe this place was starting to feel like a proper home. The furniture was there, the supplies were decently stocked, all she needed was some decoration. If only she knew how to decorate.

Adelaide was quite proud of herself. It was always a drag to set up a new place, and she kind of wanted to brag to someone about her achievement. She knew she had an eager audience of one on the other side of the walls, and it was as good as any.

Cautiously, Adelaide peeked through the various entrances until she spotted Ian. It didn’t take long to make her way over to him.

“I finished setting up the walls,” she announced.

Ian didn’t jump, per se, but it was clear she startled him. Adelaide decided to ignore the insignificant feeling that followed.

“That’s good,” Ian said with an inflection that in no way revealed his feelings about the subject. He probably didn’t have any, which was fair. It wasn’t like he ever saw the inside of the walls, and there would be no way for Adelaide to show him.

“I didn’t scare you - scare you back into the walls, did I?”

“No.”

“Are you, um, telling the truth?”

“Yeah. Like you said, it’s the same as before.” Against her better judgement, Adelaide waltzed up to Ian’s hand and leaned against it to show how calm, cool, and collected she was. “And scary is the last word I’d use to describe you.”

The faint smirk on Ian’s face was the only warning she got before his hand flipped over and she tumbled into his palm. She had no time to find her bearings as he tilted her upright and onto her feet, but as with everything giants did, it was a little too strong, so she now found herself stumbling forward.

When she was stable enough, Ian retreated, but even that faint tug on the air threatened to pull her back again. Hmph.

Either oblivious to Adelaide’s predicament or fully ignoring it, Ian got up. “I’m uh, headed out. Don’t do - don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” Despite his nonchalance, he lingered in the doorway. It would only offend Adelaide to ask if she’d be okay, but there was a sense that, if he left her alone for too long, she’d disappear again.

“Okay,” Adelaide said finally, after a long minute of silence. The gears were turning in Ian’s head, and she wanted to know what he was thinking. He was definitely stalling, but she had no idea why. Ah, well.

Ian disappeared, only for him to peek his head back in a moment later. He cleared his throat. “Oh, and, um, Della…I ah, I appreciate it…Good to have you back.”

Adelaide smiled, understanding perfectly.

***

Later that night, Ian was fast asleep. Adelaide watched from a distance, feeling creepy and invasive. It wasn’t him that she spied on, rather, she was assessing the overall safety of the room. Actually, she came to ask him something, but when she reached the top of the nightstand, he was conked out with a book face down on his chest. And she didn’t want to leave just yet.

Adelaide would spend the night in the walls. That much was guaranteed. But she climbed all the way up here, so it wouldn’t necessarily hurt to rest there for a little bit. Rest. Not sleep. Especially not after that whole fiasco earlier.

Adelaide tucked her bag underneath her head and draped her jacket across her body. She listened to the rushing wind (and faint snoring) and watched the sea of blankets rise and fall through droopy eyes. She was out in no time.

When she woke up, Adelaide was in the same spot she fell asleep, meaning her protests actually made it through Ian’s thick skull. And, oddly enough, she couldn’t be bothered by the fact that she fell asleep by a Bean, way out in the open. If her body implicitly trusted him, maybe she should listen to it. That was how she always operated - on gut instinct - but for the instinct to tell her she was safe - that was a completely foreign feeling.

Despite the constant adjustments and few recent hiccups, Adelaide supposed she really was safe. As always, she’d have to stay on guard and keep her senses about her, but she was finally, truly home. A permanent place to call her own and share with the person she thought she lost so long ago. To share with her best friend. And with that pleasant notion in mind, she relaxed into herself and observed the world through half-lidded eyes.

Yeah, she thought, and her lips tugged upward. Home.

Prev

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She could feel Ian’s eyes on her back as he chatted with the man, whose name she learned was Ramsey, but she could hardly be bothered by it. It didn’t escape her notice how protective he was over her, how he didn’t want to let her out of his sight, and she guessed it was warranted. It was a lot easier for him to lose her than it was for her to lose him. But she also had absolutely zero plans of going anywhere, so he could relax. And keep his hands to himself.

Adelaide regretted nothing. She was beyond thrilled to be reunited, that gaping hole in heart now filled to the brim, but she couldn’t help the anxiety that crept over her at the thought of spending the rest of her life with a human. It was the blinding speed with which he moved and the executive decisions he made for the both of them and the sudden, strong attachment to her. As with most things Beans did, it was too…fast.

It left her with guilt, among other things. Adelaide dreamed about seeing him again for so long, about falling into hands that immediately made her feel comfortable and protected, but she just didn’t feel that in his hands. She felt awkward and sweaty and more than a little on edge. She could tell it bothered Ian, and it was absolutely eating her alive.

While she thought about what to say to Ian, Adelaide wandered around, studying the various instruments implemented in the desk. In another life, maybe she would have understood them, been able to press the buttons with just a finger instead of her whole body. She desperately wanted to press them now for the sole purpose of exerting energy, so she ambled around until she could find one that seemed unimportant, or even better, one that was off.

A massive wall of muscle and flesh slammed in front of her, shaking the desk. The quake didn’t knock her over, but then the massive wall of muscle and flesh slid toward her, cupping the air around her body and corralling her toward the Beans. Adelaide couldn’t go around, and she simply couldn’t keep up with the sheer speed. The hand made contact, Adelaide’s right foot hooked behind her left ankle, and she fell face first onto the ground.

She laid for a moment, face down, splayed out on her stomach in front of the Beans. Brute forcing the embarrassment away, she slowly raised her head.

There’s no need to explode. There’s no need to explode. There’s no need to explode.

“Ian,” she said slowly, quietly. “I was just walking.”

“Yeah, uh, no.”

Adelaide grit her teeth. “Why?” There’s no need to explode.

“Afraid I can’t - afraid I can’t let you out of my sight. Uh…too dangerous.”

She exploded.

“In case you forgot, Ian Malcolm, I survived on my own for nearly thirty long, hard years. I put up with shit you couldn’t even imagine, so don’t tell me it’s ‘too dangerous’. I don’t need some Bean getting all grabby because he thinks it’s ‘too dangerous’ to walk even a foot out of his reach.”

Before it escalated further, Ramsey excused himself. “I’m gonna, um…leave.” He scrambled out of the chair to be literally anywhere else.

Ian smacked his lips. “Yes, Della, I am painfully - painfully aware that you were gone for nearly thirty years.”

Adelaide faltered. “I didn’t mean it like that-”

“Of course I didn’t forget. It’s uh, it’s my fault-”

“No-”

“It was my fault, and I simply, um, refuse to let it happen again. When we get home - listen, when we get home, I’ll - I’ll leave you alone, I’ll uh…But while we’re out here, I’m doing everything in my power to keep you…safe.”

“I don’t want to be left alone!” Adelaide shouted. Tears pricked her eyes. “I missed you! Every day! But I need you to back off a little. It’s going to take getting used to again, and I know what’s best for me.”

“But uh, I know these people and I know this place. I know what’s best for us.”

“And I know I don’t like being manhandled all the time!”

“Hands off. Scout’s honor. But please, I implore you to just - just - just listen.”

Adelaide finally felt like she could take a breath. She let her head drop, her neck strained from having to look up. “God, I missed you,” she mumbled. She didn’t realize how much she missed arguing with somebody. It felt good to scream, particularly at a Bean, particularly one that wouldn’t retaliate with violence and intimidation. She rested her hand on his finger as a peace offering, and the rough skin against hers made her feel...nothing. No itching, no burning, no urge to yank her hand away. She felt nothing. It was nice.

Ian looked to the ceiling, then smiled warmly at her. “Missed you too, Della.”

“Okay,” Ellie’s staticky voice projected from the radio. She and Claire were ready to go.

Ian turned his full attention to them and the camera that projected their location. “We’ve got you. It’s right down that aisle. It’s right down that aisle where you are. You can sprint right for it.”

“Okay, so it’ll be a yellow button on a grid of six,” Ramsey explained, having returned at the sound of static.

“There’s a green button,” Ian said into the radio. “Do you see a green button?” Adelaide looked up at Ramsey, who shared her confused frown.

“He said it’s the yellow button, just tell them it’s the yellow button,” Adelaide said.

Ian ignored her. “It’s not that green button. It’s four - four from the bottom. Above the-”

“Woah, woah woah. Fourth one up?” Ellie clarified.

“Just tell them it’s the yellow button!” Adelaide repeated.

“Third one down or fourth one up, same thing.”

“Ian, be specific!” Ellie said.

“Tell her it’s the yellow button!”

“I don’t know I could possibly be more specific other than to say that the one you want is marked with…”

“E1,” Ramsey supplied.

“E1,” Ian finished.

The lights dimmed around them and there was a sudden, distinct lack of ambient sound. Ian and Ramsey typed things and pressed buttons, typical Bean work, until an automated voice cut through the silence. “Primary system compromised. Aerial deterrent system active.”

“Victory! Victory!” Ian shouted.

Adelaide jumped, but she already had a smile on her face. The slight overreaction was warranted, given the circumstances, and it was infectious. The little victories should be celebrated, and who better to celebrate them with? Even Ramsey cracked a smile.

All that was left to do was wait for the others to return and monitor the system for any changes or disruptions. One by one, everyone found their way back to the control room, and with each new addition, Adelaide found herself more vigilant, head on a swivel.

By the time everyone was accounted for, one extra person snuck their way into the room. He emerged from the shadows, and the reaction was instantaneous. It wasn’t his presence that alerted them, but rather the movement of Owen’s gun in his general direction.

“Please, you have to listen to me,” Wu pleaded.

His mere existence in their small space was enough to drive Adelaide’s instincts haywire, and though, in examining her feelings further, she might have found a distinct lack of fear, she wasn’t really one to examine her feelings anyway and, moreover, wasn’t one to ignore instinct. All previous instructions of remaining hands off flew out the window. Adelaide backtracked toward Ian and dove behind his resting hand. Ian was the one Bean in here who would protect her. He was the one Bean who understood.

Ian took the hint, slowly covering her. “No no no. No no no no no,” he said. “Him? Not him. Not him. It’s always him. Every sing-”

“I mean her no harm,” Wu assured him.

Ian scoffed, his fingers curling in more and more by the second. He could almost feel her trembling. It wasn’t hard to remember what Wu did to her way back when, and he had a hard time keeping the tension out of his hand. “You can imagine why - why I find that hard to, um, believe.”

Adelaide peaked between the gaps in Ian’s fingers, aware of this tension. He at least had the sense not to enclose her completely. Wu looked even worse than he did in the lab. Disheveled. Desperate. Pathetic. In all honesty, Adelaide only felt pity when she looked at him. That was a man at rock bottom, and she could hardly be intimidated by that.

Carefully, she pushed through one of the gaps, aware of all the sets of eyes on her. “He’s not lying,” she decided aloud. “He had plenty of opportunities in the lab, but he didn’t. It’s okay.” It wasn’t that Wu didn’t care about her anymore, she now realized. He didn’t care about anything anymore, save for fixing his mistakes and moving on.

In all regards, Ian looked to be appeased, but then he suddenly frowned. “What do you mean ‘plenty of opportunities’?” He turned to Wu. “What does she mean ‘plenty of opportunities’?”

Adelaide stammered, reminded of just how intense Ian could be. She averted her gaze, trying to think, but it landed on something very curious.

Ian noticed her demeanor shift toward something that resembled confusion and he followed her line of sight. “Is that a dinosaur on your shoulder?” he asked Owen, who did have a baby velociraptor strapped to his back. Its eyes were closed and it rested its head on the man’s shoulder.

“Yeah. Why?”

Ellie intentionally brought the focus back to Wu. “You created an ecological disaster,” she pointed out, still distrusting of him.

“And I can fix it,” Wu said. “Charlotte Lockwood changed every cell in Maisie’s body. If I can understand how Charlotte rewrote Maisie’s DNA, I can spread change from one locust to the entire swarm before it’s too late.”

“It’s okay,” Maisie assured her parents. She eyed Adelaide, who stood awkwardly on the desk by her friend. If Adelaide was willing to trust Wu, then she could too. “It’s okay. It’s what she would have wanted.”

The radio crackled, and the garbled voice of Kayla made its way through. “I have air. Meet me at the center.”

It was time to leave.

Ian reached for Adelaide, who jerked away from him in surprise. He pulled his hands back and they hovered over her, waiting until he told them what to do. It took a second for him to remember. Adelaide could only watch with anticipation, silently willing him to do the right thing. He did.

Ian lowered his right hand and set it next to her as an offer. She didn’t have time to think about it, so she hopped right on and clung to a finger for dear life as he lifted her to his shoulder. She was also pleased to note that he didn’t just dump her there, but rather let her hop off on her own. It was all coming back to them, albeit very slowly.

Adelaide didn’t have a second to relax because, as soon as she was clear of his hand, Ian stood up and took off.

They emerged in a circular courtyard. The propellers of the helicopter beat loudly, awaiting takeoff. And though she shouldn’t have been surprised by this point, it still caught Adelaide off-guard when an enormous dinosaur with an even more enormous neck stomped by. She remembered this kind to be harmless despite its size, but what followed it was quite the opposite. As always, its appearance was preceded by a distinctive roar, and then the Tyrannosaur marched into their valley.

Its focus temporarily zeroed in on the group of Beans, but before anyone could make a move, a more worthy opponent made itself known. It too trampled into the courtyard, right behind them, the one that had attacked earlier. Giganotosaurus, Alan called it. It seemed to provide a more enticing kill to the T-Rex, and the two dinosaurs closed in, encircling one another with the Beans caught right in the middle.

“This isn’t about us,” Alan said.

Almost in response, the T-Rex roared, and everyone was startled off in different directions. The dinosaurs lunged at each other, the bigger one catching the T-Rex’s neck in its jaws and throwing it to the ground. The resulting tremor that shook the ground was larger than any Adelaide had ever felt, nearly knocking the Beans themselves off their feet. It was as if the Earth itself was shifted out of place by the quake.

Since she couldn’t do anything but watch, that’s what she did. The battle between goliaths was otherworldly. They simply did not exist on the same level. They were quarrelling gods, the humans not even a blip on their radar. Each time one fell to the ground, Adelaide was sure the Earth would split open from the impact. She was sure that they wouldn’t get back up. But somehow they kept going, past blows that seemed unsurvivable, until they didn’t. The T-Rex laid there, unmoving. It was dead.

At this point, most of the Beans had made it to the helicopter, including Ian. Adelaide wasn’t sure how to feel. She was glad the Tyrannosaur was no longer an issue, but she felt sad in the way she always felt sad when something of little importance to her died. In a sort of shallow way that would fade within the next hour. That also meant the Giganotosaurus only had one focus, and it was the humans. And if it could kill a T-Rex, they didn’t stand a chance.

A bright flash of light pulled her attention, and Adelaide watched a flare soar into the night sky, shot by Kayla from the helicopter. More important than her own attention, it pulled the dinosaur’s as well. Its eyes trained on the moving light even as it disappeared, and then its gaze fell onto yet another dinosaur that had wandered in.

This one was tall. It stood on its hind legs, its eyes were a milky white, and it had long arms with even longer claws on the tip of its fingers, each one nearly the length of a whole human. This gave those who had yet to reach safety a chance to make a mad dash for the helicopter. Owen, Claire, and Maisie launched themselves into the vehicle and everyone else climbed in behind them.

“Everybody hold on to somebody,” Kayla said, and the helicopter took off.

At the reminder, Ian collected Adelaide gently from his shoulder. She forgave him for the intrusion, since they once again narrowly escaped dinosaurs with their lives. Her heart pounded and her head spun and Adelaide really needed something to keep her grounded. She imagined Ian felt the same.

Additionally, they were to spend the foreseeable future in a tight, enclosed area with a ton of Beans. There was nowhere for Adelaide to hide, nowhere for her to escape prying eyes and pointless conversation. Ian’s cupped hand provided at least a perceived barrier, and there was nobody she trusted more to keep her safe.

Ian sat on the floor, since there was no remaining room on the seats. Owen sat directly across from them, Alan directly behind him, and Wu to his left. Adelaide knew Wu didn’t care about her anymore, but it was hard to shake the uncomfortable feeling of being watched, and even harder to shake the memory of what he did. She didn’t want to turn her back from him for one second. She was also pretty sure she wasn’t in the clear with Owen yet.

It was a relatively silent trip. What was there to say, anyway?

Though, as time dragged on and Adelaide calmed down, she started to get antsy from the confined space. She shoved at Ian’s fingers to make them open wider, and he obliged. He even let her climb to his shoulder, knowing that there was nowhere for her to go and therefore no way for her to get lost. Still, he kept his awareness open. So did Adelaide. Adelaide a little more so, which caused her to jump at every small movement from any of the Beans.

“You’re jumpy,” Owen observed aloud, his voice cutting through the air like a knife. This of course drew everyone’s attention, which of course made Adelaide hunker down closer to Ian’s neck.

Ian shot Owen a warning look, which Adelaide could not see. All she saw was Owen back off, not interested enough to engage further and face Malcolm’s wrath.

“I think I have every reason to be,” Adelaide said, if only to get the last word in.

“Fair enough.”

The silence they fell into was only slightly less comfortable than the one before.

***

“No, at every level, complete systemic corruption in the executive ranks,” Ramsey said to…somebody.

Adelaide was stuck in Ian’s pocket and had been since they landed. Having spent so long in such a cramped space, everyone practically exploded out of the helicopter the second it touched ground. Adelaide was nearly knocked off Ian’s shoulder from the rush of Beans, and she decided it was in her own best interest to take cover. She also didn’t know who was on the other side of the plane doors. Apparently important people who wanted ‘statements’ from everyone.

“Systemic corruption,” Ian repeated. “You get that? Write that down.”

Adelaide shifted around irritably. There were a number of instances in which she recalled being in this pocket for much, much longer, but that was years ago. She was no longer used to it and it was hot and uncomfortable and stiff and Ian was taking forever to say the same god damn stuff again and again, each time with bigger, smarter words.

Yes, we get that it’s systemic corruption. He said that already.

Another plane awaited them, and Adelaide chanced a peek out. At the sight of a Bean falling in line with Ian, she jumped, but then recognized it as Alan. Before he could open his mouth, Ellie zoomed past him. She jogged backwards, eyeing all three of them. “We are going to catch up.” It wasn’t a suggestion. It was a promise. She turned around and continued ahead to chat with Claire.

With the new notion of catching up, the air was tense between Ian and Alan. Adelaide, on the other hand, didn’t completely hate the idea. Weird.

Alan interrupted her thoughts. “I’m almost afraid to ask how this all came about.”

Adelaide didn’t even know where to begin and, furthermore, didn’t even know if she wanted to share. Wu was sorry. It was all in the past. Was there any point? She let out a long burst of air. “Ah…um, Wu. He needed me for some important research, and I suppose he thought it better to…‘take’...instead of ask. I got lost in the chaos, and-”

“The locusts, I mean,” Alan clarified.

Adelaide turned red. “Oh.”

Ian smoothly took over. “And you wouldn’t believe me if I - if I told you. Say, Dr. Sattler…You two finally, uh…” He vaguely waved his hands around.

It was Alan’s turn to pick a shade of red. After a pause, he said, “Sorry, you were saying something about being ‘taken’?”

“No, actually, I kind of want to hear about you and Ellie,” Adelaide goaded, glad the embarrassment shifted onto someone else for a change.

“You know,” Alan pushed on, “I could’ve used your help a while back. I came across another one of your, um…kind…in the Sonoran Desert on a dig.”

Unfortunately, this piqued Adelaide’s interest enough to at least temporarily drop the subject. The lives of other borrowers across the continent, particularly those that lived outdoors, fascinated her. “What? Really? When? What happened?”

Alan smiled at the memory. “I scared the living daylights out of them, I think.” He finally glanced at Adelaide, who stiffened in response. So impossibly small. Barely even visible in Malcolm’s pocket.

“What did you do?” she asked offensively, the bluster in her voice more than making up for the prey-like behavior her body exhibited.

“Uncovered them from underneath a rock. Took them to their home. Or somewhere close to home. But it took a while for them to come around. Could’ve gone much quicker if you were there, I’d imagine.”

“Without a doubt,” Adelaide confirmed. She had a dozen more questions but figured she’d save them for another time - one in which she had actual words to put to those questions. For now, she wanted to get back to the important stuff. “So, about Ellie…”

Flustered and exasperated, Alan stalked ahead of them toward the plane. Ian exhaled a laugh. Adelaide too.

***

As they ascended once again, she reflected upon their circumstances. This was not the first time they narrowly escaped death by dinosaur in a helicopter, but it sure did feel like the last, like it was truly the end of a long, long journey. Adelaide was going home for the final time, but she couldn’t keep away the nerves that pecked at the back of her brain.

She was nervous because, in all honesty, she had no idea what home looked like. She had no idea where it was, who was there. An unlimited amount of uncontrollable variables all fought for her attention, so she had to remind herself again and again that there was no need to fret over what she couldn’t control, and moreover, the fight was over. It was all over.

Adelaide settled against Ian’s neck, watching the world pass them by through a dark window, and an overwhelming sense of warmth and calm washed over her.

The Beans rested and regrouped, and Adelaide saw her opportunity. She got as much of a running start as she could and leapt toward the opening. Her feet slipped each time she placed them down, and she rolled gently back into the bottom. She tried again. On the third time, her fingers just barely caught the lip of the pocket.

Before she lost her grip, she brought her other arm around and hauled herself up in a painfully slow manner. With one last grunt of effort, she lodged the edge of the fabric into her armpits and swung her arms over the edge.

It was him.

His hair was shockingly silver and his skin sported plenty more wrinkles than the last time she saw him, but remarkably, he was dressed the exact same.

“Oh my god,” Adelaide whispered. She couldn’t bring herself to believe it. Ian still hadn’t noticed her, preoccupied with checking on everyone and introducing himself to Maisie, so she took the opportunity to study him. Her eyes bounced around, picking apart every single detail of his face, his body, his voice, trying to find some sign that it wasn’t the real Ian Malcolm. It couldn’t be. After searching for so long, after all of her painstaking efforts to reach him, they just happened to cross paths? No way.

Adelaide felt herself slowly slip back down, and her arms started to burn from the effort of holding herself up. She scrambled upward again, and this time, Ellie noticed.

“Yeah, let’s go, let’s – Oh, you probably want to see Adelaide,” she realized. As she spoke, she casually fished Adelaide out of the pocket. The borrower would probably forgive her for the intrusion if it meant returning to Ian.

It was suddenly a sea of fingers for Adelaide. Just as before, she was about to be revealed whether she wanted to or not. This time, Ellie was unaware of her apprehension. This time, she didn’t know what she would do once the Bean’s hands opened up and presented her to her long lost friend. She wasn’t ready. She couldn’t do this. She wriggled around, trying to find an escape, but there were simply too many fingers, each of them bigger and stronger than her, in her way.

Ellie could practically see the jolt that shot up Ian’s spine. “What did you just - what did you just say?” he asked carefully.

“I said you probably-”

But in that moment, Ian’s eyes landed on the small being held between Ellie’s hands. One rested over top of the other, concealing what was inside, but Ian heard her loud and clear. Ellie held her hand out and removed the top one, revealing a tiny person, one who was obviously just fighting for her life to escape those hands. For once, Ian was utterly speechless. As if possessed, his own hands floated toward her.

Adelaide braced herself, awaiting the inevitable. She still wasn’t ready for him to see her, and she certainly wasn’t ready for him to pick her up. The seconds felt like minutes, and she found herself wishing he would get it over with already. But when nothing came, she cracked open her eyes. And jumped out of her skin.

Ian’s hands hovered around her, almost touching but not quite. If she shifted just a smidge in any direction, she’d bump into him, and she could feel the energy pulsating off his skin. Somehow, this was worse than being picked up. Instead, the mere threat of being enclosed in those fingers loomed over her. Though she wasn’t physically in his hands, her fate was.

Ian was too scared to touch her for fear that his touch might make her disappear. He was too scared to say anything for fear that his voice might speak her out of existence. It was as if she was made of glass.

Even though she couldn’t see his face, Adelaide silently willed Ian to move. At that moment, she knew they were strangers. They didn’t know each other anymore. She didn’t want him to hold her anymore than she wanted Alan to hold her anymore than she wanted any Bean to hold her. Not to mention, the slight tremble in his hands was amplified at this size, and she simply didn’t feel comfortable being in hands that unsteady.

Ellie, a little impatient and very confused by the interaction unfolding before her, gently enclosed Ian’s left hand in her own right one, guiding it toward and underneath Adelaide in an effort to get the borrower out of her hands. Adelaide clumsily fell into Ian’s palm, and Ellie felt safe to pull away.

Adelaide yelped. Her eyes locked onto Ian’s, trying to glean any sort of intention he had for her, but it was hard to read him while he stared her down. His hand was very stiff and held out at an awkward length from his body like she was a terrifying, poisonous creature. Adelaide, too, remained stiff and ready to bolt. Her skin itched from where it made contact with his.

“Oh my god,” Ian breathed finally. “I don’t believe this. Look at you.”

Vertigo nearly overtook Adelaide as the hand underneath her skyrocketed toward Ian’s face. There was nothing to cling onto, and he moved so fast that she almost flew off completely. Now extremely close and directly under his gaze, her anxiety grew. She felt like she was being sized up, but before she could even comprehend what was happening, she was whipped around again and pressed firmly into something solid and black.

The instantaneous thump of a heartbeat told her she was pushed into his chest. His hand was firm and unyielding behind her, giving her no room to wiggle out of his grip, try as she might. She may as well have been a bug, the way she was pinned completely.

Adelaide understood that it was a hug. She was well aware that it was the closest approximation to a hug he could get, and that’s what most people did when they missed each other, but she wasn’t most people, and she wanted out. Now.

Ian zoned out and stared off into the distance, trying to wrap his mind around their circumstances but also focusing on every minute movement Adelaide made as she tried to escape him. He knew that was what she was doing, that she was probably scared out of her mind, if not very pissed off, but he couldn’t bear to let go just yet.

“Della,” he said, cementing her presence into reality.

At that, Adelaide fell completely limp. She hadn’t heard that name in ages and, like a magical spell, it took all the fight out of her. It reminded her of a time when she was safe, when she was protected, no matter what. It reminded her of all the time she’d lost. Her face felt wet, and she belatedly realized that those were tears leaking out her eyes.

Ian’s hammering heartbeat matched her own, indicating that he was just as nervous as she was. Then, his voice rumbled around her, too loud for her little ears. “How did you find her?”

“She was with Maisie,” Ellie said.

“How did you find her?”

“She was in my house,” Maisie said.

Adelaide's chest tickled uncomfortably at the notion that Ian would ask them over her, but she was suddenly yanked away from him when it was her turn to answer a question. Ian’s mouth opened, but no words fell out. He stared at her, trying to absorb this newfound information and apply it to what he wanted to say next.

Adelaide couldn’t take the scrutiny anymore, feeling more like an object than a person at that point. “Ian…,” she said, with no real plan of how to follow up. There were a million things she wanted to say. “You look old.”

He smiled. “You don’t.”

Adelaide exhaled a laugh and, not knowing what to do with her hands, punched his palm. The surface was spongy but unyielding. “Of course you’d find your way to this place.”

“I could say the same about you.”

Alan interrupted. “We need to get out of this valley.”

Nobody really expected what happened next, and nobody knew what to do about it either. Adelaide rounded on Alan. “No, hang on a second. Why didn’t you tell me he was here?”

Alan was too tongue-tied to respond, so Ellie did for him. “Did you not…come here with him?”

“Ellie, I was searching for him for years-”

“Wait, what-”

“-and you didn’t think to mention-”

“So this is your friend, then?” Maisie asked.

Adelaide, having been abruptly pulled out of her tirade, took a calming breath. “Yeah.” She glanced up at Ian, who was already looking at her. “Yeah, my friend.”

At this, Ian’s fingers curled in a little. "So you were talking about me?" he smirked. Refusing to show any sign of fear, Adelaide rested her hand on the tip of his middle finger.

“I’m sorry, Adelaide. We didn’t know,” Alan said placatingly. “Can we leave now?”

This brought everyone's (treacherous) surroundings back to their attention. Point made, they raced toward the car. They climbed in, Ian in the driver’s seat, and he immediately took off.

Adelaide was more than a little confused by the way he continued to hold her to his chest. She knew Beans were completely capable of driving with one hand, though, for everyone’s sake, it was preferable they used two. And beyond confusion, she was jittery.

Perhaps he just forgot. That wasn’t the most comforting thought, especially after having reunited so soon, but she guessed the stress of the dinosaur…no, the locust…no…the whatever situation was enough to keep anyone distracted. So she took it upon herself to climb to his shoulder.

Her fingers sunk into the black fabric with a familiar ease. She only made it a couple inches before Ian cupped his hand around her further, trying to keep her in place.

Adelaide didn’t let go of the fabric, but she did instinctively duck her head. “Why-” Her voice came out scratchy and quiet. She cleared her throat and tried again. “I can sit on your shoulder.”

“No can do, Della.”

“Wh - Huh?”

“Bumpy roads, dangers afoot. Can’t have you - can’t have you flying off.” Putting Adelaide on his shoulder was putting her out of sight. She could fall off or get lost or simply disappear. Ian wasn’t taking any chances. He needed to see her or feel her at all times.

“I won’t fly off.” Adelaide didn’t know what was worse - that Ian forgot she was there or that he deliberately kept her there despite knowing it made her extremely anxious. “I know how to balance.”

“I can put you in, uh, in my pocket instead.” He already made a motion to do so until Adelaide screamed at him to stop. “Okay, alright, it’s alright,” he soothed.

Adelaide pushed her feet against his hand, trying to budge it even an inch. “At least give me room to breathe, my god.”

The fingers opened slightly wider, and it appeared that was all she was going to get. Though she would never admit it out loud, the rough terrain was jarring, and she did feel very secure in there. It was just a little too secure.

Through her limited sightlines, Adelaide saw the sky light on fire. That was the only way to describe it. It was as though the stars themselves plummeted toward Earth, thousands of balls of light illuminating the sky.

“Oh my God,” Ellie said. “He’s burning the evidence.”

One of the stars crash landed onto the hood of the car, but they weren’t stars at all. They were bugs. Giant, burning locusts. Even from outside, the smell was putrid, and the melting exoskeleton was a gruesome sight.

In response, the car veered hard to the right and slammed to a stop. And then it tilted.

“Ian…,” Adelaide trailed off.

“I - I know this may seem precarious, but…No we’re - we’re teetering.”

Adelaide took deep breath after deep breath. She wiped the sweat off her brow. Why did she ever get mixed up with giants?

“Shouldn’t we all…lean to the left or something?” Maisie suggested.

Though she couldn’t feel a difference in their position, Adelaide assumed they did as such.

“We’re fine,” Ian said. “See this? This is fine?” Not only did his voice sound vastly unsure, but the tension in his hand betrayed him. That, Adelaide was familiar with. Ian always tried his best to remain outwardly optimistic about dangerous situations for the benefit of those around him, sometimes in jest, sometimes not. And even though it had been a long, long time, Adelaide knew his tells. He was lying. And he was scared.

And then they tipped over the edge of a cliff.

It was an odd sensation. Adelaide could feel the world rotating around her, she could feel her senses of up and down repeatedly and randomly switch, but with how hard Ian pressed her to his chest, with all of her senses obscured, it was significantly diluted.

The more urgent concern, beyond falling to their maybe-deaths, was her ribs. She could almost hear them creaking and groaning, begging to just snap. In Ian’s panic, he had her pinned entirely, rendering her unable to move a muscle, unable to even protest, all her breath taken away. If he pushed a little harder, she was done for.

It wouldn’t matter, though. With one final, resounding slam, the car landed on its roof, and all of its occupants hung upside-down. Whether it was the impact or the shock, Adelaide slipped from Ian’s grasp. Almost in slow motion, she scrambled to maintain a hold on any of his fingers, but it was all too soon before she landed on the roof far below.

It wasn’t too bad, honestly. It wasn’t any worse than being stuck in Ian’s grasp, but her head did spin and her back did crack in a way it probably wasn’t supposed to. Before she could even gather herself, Ian scooped her up again, unbuckled himself, and crawled through the smashed driver’s window.

The world finally opened up, and Adelaide saw three new people before her in addition to Ellie, Alan, and Masie. She recognized two of them, and that wasn’t a good thing, at least for her. It was wonderful for Maisie, actually. But Adelaide specifically remembered pissing one of them off.

Though she was quite over the endless time in the hands of Beans, she found that she was grateful to have a hiding place. She took Ian’s thick pointer finger between both her hands and pulled it over her head.

Ian felt a soft tickle on his finger and, upon glancing down, saw Adelaide attempt to move it around. It was an honest attempt, but her hands weren’t nearly big enough to encircle his finger. He followed through for her, of course, curious. It looked like she was trying to cover herself, and following her gaze he noticed her eyes locked onto the supposed parents of this girl.

If Adelaide thought these Beans were anything to be scared of though, she was in for a rude awakening. The ground shook. The foliage rustled. A deep growl emanated from the trees. Then the dinosaur emerged into their clearing, and it was huge.

“Giganotosaurus,” Alan announced for the group’s benefit. “Biggest carnivore the world has ever seen,” he announced to the group’s detriment.

If there was one thing Adelaide learned about dinosaurs over the years, it was that size didn’t matter. A T-Rex could kill her. A raptor could kill her. Even those annoying compys could kill her. She supposed it was the same with Beans. But for some reason, the bigger the being, the more it inspired fear in her tiny, little heart. And right now, she was petrified.

Everyone snuck around the side of the car for shelter, gearing up to make a break for it. Looking up at Ian, it was clear he had a different plan, and if he was still the same Ian, she knew what that plan was, and it already pissed her off.

“Do not. Do you hear me? Do not hand me off to someone else.”

Ian looked down at her and smirked. “After just getting you back? What do you take me for?”

Everyone took off running, but not Ian. He crawled back into the overturned car. It was like their own little sanctuary. With a slightly dampened sound and most of their surroundings blocked out, they could almost pretend nothing was wrong, even as the muffled screams, all indistinguishable from one another, echoed across the valley.

“Plan?” Adelaide asked, wiggling around uncomfortably in the confines of Ian’s hand.

“Distraction,” Ian said.

Adelaide huffed. She just could not get comfortable, and of course he didn’t have a plan. Her eyes landed on one of the flaming bugs that had fallen to the ground. “Oh!” she shouted, excited. “Oh! The bug! Distract it with the bug!”

Ian understood, and was instantly on his feet. He easily found a large stick and pierced the thing, its guts spilling with a loud squelch. Heart pounding, he slowly hoisted it into the air and waved it back and forth. “Come on,” he muttered. Whether or not the dinosaur heard, it turned its head and approached. Step. After step. After step. “Oh, yeah. Come here.”

The second its mouth was open, Ian launched the burning locust into it. The dinosaur roared in pain, its mouth exploding in flames, and Ian sprinted toward an elevated observation tower that everyone else took refuge in. In his desperate, frantic climb up the ladder, his feet slipped, and with only one hand available, he fell. Both he and Adelaide screamed, but they slammed to a sudden halt. They looked up. Alan had caught them.

“Jesus Christ Ian, use both hands!” Adelaide screamed. She already didn’t want to be in his hands, and she certainly didn’t want his possessiveness to be the reason they died.

Without another word, Ian dropped her in his pocket. She yelped, but he was already climbing again, and gravity kept her firmly cemented in the bottom. In her frazzled state, she didn’t think to specify where he should put her, but she didn’t think she should have to.

“Ian!!!” she growled, knowing it was useless over the commotion.

And even then, he wouldn’t take his hands off her! He kept her pressed against him, so there was no chance in hell she’d be able to muscle her way out.

Ian came to a stop, but the commotion around them didn’t cease. Adelaide told herself she needed to see out, to make sense of all the breaking glass and crackling electricity and screaming and roaring, for her own safety, but weighing that need against the chore of putting up a fight, she wasn’t so sure she cared enough. Of course she wanted to know what was going on, but at the end of the day, she wasn’t in control of their fate either way. It just wasn’t worth the effort anymore.

She’d wrestle her way out once everything stilled, which she was sure would happen. There was no way they could die now. Not even fate was that cruel. So she would bide her time, and that time seemed to be approaching. The roars became quieter as the massive animal’s footsteps quaked the ground less and less, and soon the only tremor Adelaide felt was Ian’s pounding heart behind her.

She received her cue when Ian spoke into what she guessed was a phone. “Hello? Hello, anyone?......Can’t get a hold of anybody since everything is, uh, on fire.” He hung up.

Adelaide didn’t even have to try that hard. Ian must have felt it, because as soon as she started to gather herself, he reached in and fished her out, giving her virtually no time to prepare herself for the whiplash of being surrounded then yanked into the light.

“How’s it going? Hanging - hanging in there?” he asked.

Adelaide pushed the curled, looming fingers out of her personal space. “Y - yeah.” It was still hard to believe he was real.

“Good.” Satisfied, Ian pulled her close to his chest again. Adelaide nearly fell over, taken by surprise from the sudden movement. Her eyes widened and she had to stabilize herself. If she was going to go back with Ian, which she fully intended to do, she’d have to get used to this kind of stuff again. It had been so long, she wasn’t so sure she could. After recalibrating, she tuned back into the conversation.

“You, uh,” Ellie said. “You were at Jurassic World.” She gestured toward Maisie’s dad. Owen, if Adelaide recalled correctly. The man she needed to avoid.

It was unfortunate that Ian called over everybody’s attention. “Jurassic World?” he said. “Not a fan.”

This was the second time Adelaide heard about Jurassic World. She still didn’t know anything about it, but she knew all she needed to from Alan and Ian’s attitudes. It sounded like a disaster, just like the first one. Beans. They never learned.

And God, of course Ian had to open his stupid mouth to share his stupid opinion that nobody asked for. All eyes fell on him, and then about half of those eyes shifted downward, landing on his chest, or rather, what propped up against it with a teeny, tiny hand. One pair of those eyes narrowed.

“It’s that…thing! What’s it doing here?” Owen asked around, his focus mainly switching between Ian and Maisie. He wasn’t angry yet. Intense - maybe, cautious - for sure, but whatever was said next could easily tip him over the edge.

“I’m - I’m sorry. Thing?” Ian repeated. Now that was anger.

“Yeah, that thing was talking to my kid, and I’d like to know why it followed her here.” That was also anger.

Claire - Maisie's mom - turned toward him. "Huh?"

Ian marched toward Owen. “You watch your goddamn mouth,” he hissed, pointing his free hand at Owen’s chest. Adelaide watched with wide eyes, unable to bring herself to intervene. She never particularly loved being stuck between two quarreling giants, but at least one was on her side and would likely kill a man for her at this point.

Owen immediately backed away, hands up in surrender, clearly unaware of how serious the situation was to Malcolm. At the same time, to ensure tensions didn't escalate, Claire stepped between them, hands out. "Hey, easy!"

The sudden appearance of a pale, slender hand in her face made Adelaide recoil, and she stumbled back into Ian's chest. "Don't!" she yelled, sure Claire was going to grab her.

“She watched over me,” Maisie interrupted loudly. Everyone stilled. “It was my fault. I brought her here. She made sure I didn’t do anything dumb.”

Adelaide would hardly say she ‘watched over’ Maisie. In fact, quite the opposite, but she wasn’t going to argue differently in front of a crowd, especially in front of Owen. She shot Maisie an appreciative look. It was anyone’s guess if Maisie could actually see it.

Claire's face softened. Owen looked her up and down. Adelaide braced for impact. “Thank you,” he said.

“Okay, so we good to find a way out of here?” one of the women said. Kayla. She seemed impatient yet competent, and Adelaide immediately trusted her to get them out of this.

“Yep,” Owen said, finally pulling his attention away from Malcolm’s weird pet.

“There’s a helicopter out in the main complex,” Kayla explained. “We turn the ADS back on, we go home.” She parked herself next to Ian as she spoke and sent a brief, confused glance Adelaide’s way.

Not my monkeys, not my circus, she thought.

“Okay, it looks like all the systems run through to the control room, which is on the third floor,” Claire continued. “The outposts are all connected underground.”

That settled it. They were all going underground. Adelaide didn’t have any strong feelings about it either way, but she did want to have a private word with Ian. All these thoughts swirled in her head, and she still hadn’t fully processed their reunion, and she didn’t think she would until they had a chance to sit down and talk about it.

Oof. Adelaide wanted to talk about it. That didn’t feel right. Adelaide never liked ‘talking about it’. Hell, she hardly tolerated it. But she supposed that, after decades of being deprived of the opportunity, she wouldn’t mind ‘talking about it.’

As they descended the ladder, Adelaide was pulled back to reality when she noticed Ian climbing with one hand, since she currently occupied the other. “Ian. Two hands,” she reminded, not wanting to repeat the earlier incident. And before he could put her in his pocket again, she quickly clarified. “NOT your pocket. I can sit on your shoulder.”

“Nahh,” Ian said. “Look, we’re - we’re already here.” He planted both feet firmly on the ground. They were done climbing. No need to put her anywhere else. She was good right there, in his opinion.

Adelaide flexed her stiff, achy fingers in irritation. As the group settled into their trek through the tunnels, she discovered that not only did she dislike sitting in Ian’s hand, she despised how it put her so low compared to everyone else. She loathed how pathetic and tiny and useless it made her look. How could she project any sense of control when she was cradled in Ian’s hand?

Ian fell in line next to Owen. Adelaide didn’t miss the enormous gun in the latter man’s hands. She made sure to keep an eye on it. “So, you worked in the raptor pen, huh?” Ian asked leadingly.

“Yeah,” Owen said, keeping his eyes firmly ahead.

“Wow, and what - what happens? Do you just tell them what to do and they, uh…they comply, or…”

“Well, it’s a human - animal bond based on mutual respect.”

Ian didn’t buy it. “Mhm.”

Adelaide wasn’t entirely paying attention. Without taking her eyes off the gun, she attempted to climb up to Ian’s shoulder. She’d find her way there one way or another, regardless if Ian wanted her there.

Each time she made it out of his palm though, he just scooped her back up. It was so easy, too, he hardly had to divert any thought toward it. Scoop underneath her, pull her away from his body, reset.

And each time, Adelaide got more and more frustrated. It was a major blow to her dignity, especially in front of Owen, and it left her with no sense of autonomy.

“So her, she’s…,” Owen trailed off, indicating her with a slight shift of his gun, and Adelaide jumped. She pried her eyes off the gun to meet his, but he was looking at Ian.

“She’s - she’s what?” Ian goaded. When Owen fumbled, he continued. “A friend? Perhaps? A mystery? You might want to ask her, she might be better suited to answer any um, any questions.”

“Okay,” Owen conceded. “What were you doing in my house?”

Adelaide twitched under the scrutiny, but she wouldn’t let this man intimidate her. “Don’t think you’re special. It was shelter. That’s all.”

Before he could ask any clarifying questions, of which Adelaide was sure he had plenty, they emerged into what she could only guess was the control room. It didn’t look particularly different from the other room. Same scramble of buttons and levers and computers. Whatever.

Outside the large glass window, chaos continued to rain. The insects no longer decorated the sky, but had instead fallen to the ground, coating the landscape in flames. The air turned a rusty, sick shade of orange and the smoke was so dense that the mountains in the distance were hardly visible. It looked like a deserted wasteland.

Ian flopped down at the big desk and immediately popped a couple almonds in his mouth. “Oh, this is very bad. So we can, uh, turn on the - the thing and then we all get out of here?”

Claire sat down in the seat next to him, already typing out commands and pressing buttons. “Let’s see…”

Adelaide flinched when an almond appeared in front of her, roughly the size of her calf. Confused, she pulled her attention away from Claire, glanced up at Ian, then back down at the nut. It was an offer.

Reluctantly, she took it into her hands. It would take her a long time just to get through the singular piece, while Ian shoveled them into his mouth handfuls at a time. She winced every time she heard the crunching above her and tried to ignore the accompanying microscopic crumbs that rained down in front of her. Maybe if she worked on her own, it would distract her.

“What’s error 99?” Claire blurted.

A new man entered the room. Adelaide recognized him from earlier, when she, Alan, Ellie, and Maisie escaped through the subway car. “We need more power,” he explained. He approached the desk and only hesitated briefly when he spotted Adelaide. He passed off the shock remarkably well, as if he was well-practiced. “We can redistribute what we have if we just shut down the primary system.”

Ellie and Claire volunteered for the task. Owen, Maisie, and Alan decided to go save their baby dinosaur or whatever. This left Adelaide alone with Ian and this new man, which basically meant Adelaide was alone with Ian. Finally.

Unaware of the tiny person listening in on them, the conversation continued above her.

“What are you doing here?” Ellie asked.

“I’m Maisie Lockwood.”

“Hey…We don’t, uh……we’re not - we don’t work for Biosyn.”

“I can tell.”

Adelaide’s only hindrance beforehand was the knowledge that the hazmat-suit wearing Beans were hostile or dangerous, but with the confidence that they were at least relatively safe, her efforts to get out of Maisie’s hand doubled. 

At last, Maisie finally seemed to notice the relentless squirming against her stomach. She glanced down briefly and flexed her fingers to combat the weird feeling.

While it was only a small, instinctive motion for her, Adelaide froze when the fingers contracted ever so slightly around her. Was that Maisie telling her to cut it out? Did the girl even notice she did that? Regardless, Adelaide stayed completely still, not wanting to trigger another, stronger twitch.

“What’s in your hands?” Ellie asked.

Time slowed to a complete stop. Maisie didn’t know what to do. Adelaide didn’t know what to do. There wasn’t much Adelaide could do, besides mentally will Maisie to make the correct choice, though even she didn’t know what that looked like.

Maisie vowed to protect Adelaide. It was her fault they were in this situation to begin with, and she felt responsible for the tiny life she held in her hands. After their short talk where they related over being looked down on, she didn’t want to just assume Adelaide was incapable of taking care of herself, but she also couldn’t see how she could survive on her own in a situation like this. In any case, it was clear that, one way or another, Adelaide was going to be revealed, and she knew that now was the safest time for that to happen. Maisie presently had control over the situation, and she couldn’t guarantee that it would stay that way for long.

Slowly, Maisie tilted her hand horizontally so that Adelaide spilled out into her palm. She kept her eyes trained on Dr. Sattler and Dr. Grant, anticipating a quick, hostile reaction.

Adelaide wanted to be let out. She needed to breathe, but also needed to see if what Maisie said was true, that Ellie Sattler and Alan Grant were right there in front of them. But her lack of control over the whole situation was daunting. Those were Beans she hadn’t seen in almost thirty years, and though she established a delicate sense of trust with them a long time ago, she wasn’t sure if that trust still existed today. They needed to be treated as strangers, and so, even as Adelaide rolled out onto Maisie’s palm, her defenses instantly went up. There was no time to take it back. Adelaide was being revealed whether she wanted to or not.

She peered up at the two giants from her very low vantage point. Her breath hitched when she saw how they towered over her with mirrored expressions of shock plastered across their faces. Beyond that, it was anyone’s guess what they were thinking. Adelaide widened her stance and held her knife in front of her, its blade shaking slightly. She realized it only did so because she herself was shaking.

If Maisie didn’t identify them aloud, Adelaide wasn’t so sure she’d have recognized them. But equipped with that knowledge, she knew it to be true. Ellie’s blonde hair. Alan’s piercing blue eyes. It was them.

Alan leaned down for a closer look, and Adelaide flung herself backwards, bracing against Maisie’s stomach, trying to get her heart rate under control.

Alan stopped, awkwardly stuck between a stand and a crouch. He turned his gaze up to Maisie. “How did you-”

“It’s me. Adelaide,” Adelaide said as loud as she could. Silence stretched out between them as everyone took it in.

“Oh my gosh,” Ellie breathed. She slowly knelt down, putting herself at eye level with the tiny person. As she did so, Alan stood back up, his back already protesting.

Adelaide stayed pressed as far back as possible. Ellie’s face took up all of her vision, and her eyes desperately flicked around to avoid eye contact.

“We didn’t think you’d be here,” Ellie said, briefly turning back to gauge Alan’s reaction.

“Yeah…me either,” Adelaide said. She didn’t mean for it to be a dig at Maisie, but as soon as the words left her mouth, she knew it came out that way.

“We gotta get out of here,” Ellie decided. There’d be plenty of time to catch up later.

“Yeah, we should go,” Maisie agreed.

They ran off, ditching the suits along the way. Adelaide began to climb Maisie’s coat back to her shoulder so that she could at least be out of a hand, but also to gain as much height as she could. At this size, every inch helped.

“Oh. Here you go,” Maisie said when she noticed the small weight leave her hands. Without much thought, she scooped Adelaide up and set her back on her shoulder.

Adelaide held her hands out to stabilize herself, recalibrating from the abrupt change in her surroundings and altitude. A gripe was on the tip of her tongue, but she forced herself to take a deep breath. She’s just being helpful. She’s just being helpful, she repeated to herself.

They hurried along, right up until they couldn’t go any further. Some sort of transportation pod sat in front of them, and the Beans said something about a code, blah blah blah. Then they heard footsteps.

Maisie ducked behind a stack of crates so fast that Adelaide was sent into the air. She crashed back on Maisie’s shoulder, and the girl offered a hand to keep her steady. Adelaide pushed it away, though it took a moment for Maisie to realize the intent, and she belatedly pulled her hand away for her. The feeling of tiny hands pushing on her own tickled, and once again she flexed her fingers to get rid of the sensation.

“Do you have the sample?” a male voice asked. “The DNA sample. Biosyn’s responsible for the locust epidemic. Dodgson’s covering it up. You were right. I - I’m here to help you. Do you have it?” A pause. “Good. This pod will take you straight to the airfield. You gotta go.”

Adelaide understood nearly none of those words, but she knew the important thing - they had a way out of there.

Maisie understood the urgency and cautiously stood up, her senses on high alert for anything fishy. But the man that stood in front of them was just that…a man. He had dark skin and neat facial hair. His clothes were simple but classy, giving him a very composed demeanor. He blinked as he regarded both Maisie and Adelaide. Whatever he thought, he didn’t voice it aloud, but he was definitely taken aback by at least one of them, probably both of them. “Go,” he repeated, and they all stepped into the tram.

As soon as the door closed, Adelaide took a long, deep breath. First she wiggled her fingers and toes. They ached. Then her hands and feet. Then her arms, legs, and head, hoping to ease some of the tension that festered during that interaction. If it wasn’t easy at this point in her life, meeting new Beans would never get any easier.

One by one, each Bean plopped into a chair. Maisie sat across from Ellie, who sat next to Alan. Adelaide took it upon herself to climb down Maisie’s sleeve toward the empty seat next to her.

“Here-,” Maisie began, reaching for her with her free arm.

“I got it!” Adelaide snapped, sick of being manhandled all day. The train fell into an uncomfortable silence as she finished her descent. As soon as her feet touched the plush seat, she breathed a sigh of relief. Her own two feet underneath her again. Thank God.

“How are you? Are you alright?” Alan tried.

“Not really,” Maisie said, and at the same time, Adelaide said, “No.”

Alan looked to Ellie for assistance.

“Hey,” she said. “I, uh…I knew your mom.”

Maisie’s eyes lit up ever so slightly. “You did?”

Adelaide tried to listen as Ellie told story after story about Maisie’s mom, but she suddenly became very preoccupied with maintaining her footing in the moving vehicle. It rocked back and forth as it barreled on, and turns came pretty much out of nowhere. And there was absolutely nothing to hold on to.

A particularly sharp curve sent her flying right off the edge of the seat. Before she even had time to cry out, a hand cupped underneath her. It was big. Each finger was huge. Adelaide scrambled to a seat, chest heaving, and she looked up into Alan Grant’s eyes. They both wore a slightly panicked expression, both well aware that Adelaide could have just died.

“Put me down,” Adelaide said. Alan knew better than to argue and did as he was told.

Adelaide stumbled forward as his hand went vertical and gave her an infinitesimal shove. Her arms pinwheeled, and she willed herself not to fall. He probably didn’t even notice what he did. She grumbled to herself, muttering something about Beans not knowing their own strength.

Adelaide set her sights on the crevice between the back of the chair and the seat itself. That would probably be the most stable place to hang out until they reached their destination. But not two steps into her journey, another bump launched her into the air. She felt her feet leave the seat, she felt the weightlessness in her body, and her body compensated by flailing as she hurtled toward the ground. Yet again, she landed in Alan’s palm. This time, she closed her eyes, refusing to look at him. She knew the embarrassment showed on her face clear as day, her cheeks probably the color of a tomato.

“Okay, you can put me down now,” she said impatiently.

“I’m not sure I should,” he said slowly.

Adelaide let out a frustrated noise and took matters into her own hands. She shakily got to her feet and ran forward, using his thick fingers as a launch pad, but as she placed her last step onto the tip of his middle finger, he tilted his hands back, forcing her knees to buckle. She fell forward, and he caught her in his other hand.

“Adelaide…,” he pleaded, annoyed that she wouldn’t sit still. He couldn’t say he remembered a ton about her, but the memories he did have were loaded with exasperation and impatience. She was stubborn, that was for sure.

“I can stand on my own, thanks,” she said through gritted teeth, aggravated by the cycle of falling from one hand to another as he tried to keep her in one place. His hands were huge compared to Maisie’s, and rougher, too.

“I uh, I don’t want to hold you any more than you want to be held…if I’m being honest.” Alan was also aggravated by the cycle of shifting her from one hand to another as she tried to escape.

All the while, Maisie and Ellie continued their conversation about Charlotte Lockwood, paying Alan and Adelaide’s shenanigans no mind. They’d be fine.

Alan was about two seconds away from pocketing the tiny being when all the lights shut off and the train came to an abrupt halt. The door slid open, and even Adelaide knew that this was not the intended destination. The world beyond was a dark, damp cave. Even her eyes, accustomed to the dark, couldn’t see very far, but she could hear every noise echo throughout the vast cavern.

Alan and Ellie calmly exited, Adelaide just along for the ride. She righted herself in his palm, trying to ignore just how thick each finger surrounding her was. “These must be the old amber mines. We’re inside the mountain,” Alan concluded.

Ellie turned to Maisie, who seemed stuck in the doorway. “You ready?”

“I’m good,” Maisie said shortly.

“Look, uh…I know how you feel,” Alan tried. “It’s, uh…scary. It is. But trust me. Moving forward is better than staying still and Dr. Sattler here is a good person in a tight spot. This is a tight spot. So. You coming?”

Maisie stayed rooted to her spot.

Adelaide figured that she should at least give it a good attempt. “C’mon. I’m three inches tall. If I can do it, you can do it, yeah?” She was rewarded with a small smile from Maisie. And then, to seal the deal, she offered, “Here. We’ll go together.” She looked at Alan to see if he understood, but he didn’t even return her glance before he eagerly handed her off to Maisie. He wanted nothing to do with her, and that was fine by Adelaide. She didn’t want to be traveling with any of these humans, but it was clear Maisie needed her the most.

“Alright,” Maisie decided, absentmindedly collecting Adelaide from Alan. “Do you want to sit on my shoulder?”

“Sure.”

They wandered through the caves, and Adelaide felt a faint breeze on her neck. There had to be a way out nearby. Alan and Ellie lit a torch to illuminate the path ahead, and she could not only see much better, but the sheer amount of heat it emitted was nearly enough to put Adelaide at a comfortable temperature. Almost.

To pass the time, Alan wondered aloud about the age and makeup of the mines, while Ellie voiced every fear that passed through her head. “Just breathe,” she said. “Nobody panic. Just watch out for bats.”

“Who said anything about bats?” Alan scoffed, while Maisie declared she hated bats. Adelaide scooched closer to the girl's neck, just in case. She didn’t particularly want a bat to snatch her up and fly away with her.

Ellie course corrected. “Well, there’s probably no bats. No falling rocks. Just the possibility of toxic gas, dehydration, hypothermia. Just possibilities, nothing for certain.” She sighed. “Oh, I should’ve left you where you were. Why did I bring you into this? You were happy in your element!”

Alan correctly assumed she was talking to him. “What? Ellie. I wasn’t happy.”

“Do you guys have kids?” Maisie interrupted. Adelaide nearly fell off her shoulder. She had her own questions regarding Ellie and Alan, but she wanted to wait until they were out of danger, or more likely, never voice them. Maisie’s blunt question made her laugh.

“Uh…no,” Ellie stammered. “I - I do. Two.”

“But not with him?” Maisie clarified.

Ellie and Alan made sure to emphasize that they were just old friends. 

Hm. Adelaide’s memory was pretty fuzzy, but she remembered those two getting along a little too well during their time at Jurassic Park. She thought for sure that they would…But then again, what did she know? It was becoming more and more clear that a lifetime had passed in the time since she last saw them. The same way she had a whole life behind her now, so did they, and quite literally anything could have happened between then and now. But the way that they looked at each other…

“You could’ve fooled me,” Adelaide blurted. She shifted uncomfortably when everyone turned their attention toward her.

Ellie jumped on the opportunity to change the subject. “Adelaide, what about you? How did you get here?”

Adelaide wasn’t able to catch Maisie’s eye from where she sat, which was probably a good thing. “Uh, I came with Maisie…… Honestly, it’s a long story. But no, I don’t have any kids either. And certainly not with him,” she pointed to Alan. Adelaide didn’t feel like recounting the details for a second time this evening. It was her turn to change the subject. “Um, I do have a question though…when - how did dinosaurs end up…here?”

“Also a long story,” Alan chimed in. “You ever hear of Jurassic World?”

“Jurassic…Park? Yeah, I was there.”

“No. Jurassic World.”

Adelaide shook her head, then remembered he wouldn’t be able to see her very well, and that was if he was even looking. “No.”

“Consider yourself lucky.”

Lucky was the last thing Adelaide considered herself, though she supposed she was still alive in her 50s. Being a borrower, especially one that moved around so much, that was an achievement all on its own. Beyond that, she’d have said she was dealt a pretty shitty hand.

They happened upon a manmade, rusty ladder. Alan traded his torch over to Ellie and jiggled the ladder, testing to see if it would break. When it seemed solid enough, he began to climb.

As the torch moved around, Adelaide felt a drift of heat pass her by. She relished it for the few brief seconds it was there, but she quickly began to shiver again.

“Ellie,” she called, before she even knew what she was doing. She indicated the torch. “Can I-?”

“Oh, yeah,” Ellie said, and she reached to scoop Adelaide up. Adelaide tensed, but impact never came. Her hand waited nearby for Adelaide to climb on herself. She breathed a long sigh of relief, grateful that one person didn’t just snatch her up the second the opportunity presented itself. That alone warranted a ton of trust, but there was still a slight hesitation in the way Adelaide climbed on, always on edge around new giants.

Ellie cupped her hand to her chest, close enough to the torch that Adelaide should be plenty warm but far enough that a stary spark wouldn’t land on her. In the best way, Adelaide nearly melted into a puddle. She probably could have fallen asleep if she really tried.

That was, if Alan didn’t let out a sharp scream, startling them all. He fell off the ladder onto his back, and Ellie and Maisie rushed over to check on him. Not long after, the unmistakable shriek of a dinosaur echoed from the ledge above. And then one appeared on their far right. And then another. And then another.

They were small, relatively speaking, maybe the size of an average dog. It was lizard-like in appearance, with its scaly skin and the way it crawled low to the ground on all fours, and its teeth were nothing to be messed with. A tall, bright red frill decorated its back.

The dinosaurs closed in, roaring and screeching at them. The Beans armed themselves with what they could - Ellie violently swinging the torch back and forth, Alan with what looked to be a bone, and Maisie a large rock. No, not a large rock. A skull of some kind. There was no time to ponder who or what it belonged to.

The dinosaurs were undisturbed by the commotion and everyone collectively decided to retreat. They took off, and the last thing Adelaide saw was a blurry streak of green and red. By now, Adelaide was easily able to recognize when she was dropped in a pocket. The claustrophobic feeling of fabric enveloping her body, the sudden lack of sight, the inability to right herself, the massive, pounding heart hidden behind her.

Adelaide understood why it happened. She understood most Bean actions, actually, from a logical standpoint. But logic was no match for the overwhelming panic of being trapped. Whatever pocket Ellie had dropped her into, it was not stable. The silky material of her blouse prevented Adelaide from weaving her cramping fingers into the fabric, and the shallowness of the pocket itself threatened to spill her out onto the cave floor far, far below for a dinosaur to either eat her or step on her. Each step Ellie took sent her sliding around as if her surroundings were coated in oil. She couldn’t hear anything over the screaming and shouting and Ellie’s strong heartbeat and the blood rushing in her own ears.

The sickening motion didn’t stop, per se, but it significantly slowed down. Even then, she couldn’t pull herself to the lip of the pocket. She heard banging and the distinct whine of straining metal. Wherever they were, they were stuck, and from the sound of it, the dinosaurs were approaching fast.

Adelaide wished she could do anything. She actually wished she was back home, having nothing to do with this. It was nice to see familiar faces, but not nice enough to make up for anything that was currently happening. Just once, Adelaide wished she could avoid dinosaurs. They seemed to follow her wherever she went, as if it was her curse to bear.

But given that she wasn’t at home and she was in immediate danger, she wished she could do something about it. Let it be known, if danger was around, Adelaide was sure to be in someone’s pocket while they figured it out and got everyone to safety. She couldn’t even pull herself out of said pocket unless Ellie stopped moving, and it would still be difficult. So useless.

A vehicle engine revved in the near distance and squelching mud signaled the approach of another Bean. Adelaide hoped it was that helpful man who got them onto the train. He looked like he knew what he was doing.

“Oh my God! Ian!” Ellie cried. “Please!”

“Ian, over here!” Alan echoed.

All time stopped. Her ears rang. Ian, they said.

The words barely escaped Adelaide’s lips. “...what.”

Maisie’s face filled the opening. “You should be warm in there,” she whispered, and then Adelaide was shrouded in darkness as Maisie let the pocket flap close.

“Okay. Where are you going?” the female Bean said, now agitated.

“You can’t keep me here. You’re not my mother.” Maisie’s voice was much louder. Adelaide had to cover her ears.

Should she have…called for help? Would enlisting the female Bean be of any use at all, or would it have just gotten her into deeper trouble? Adelaide suspected the latter, and even if she tried, she knew her voice wouldn’t carry. Hell, Maisie probably wouldn’t have been able to hear her. But she couldn’t do nothing.

Panic welled in her throat as she realized the true helplessness of the situation. Maisie was an unknown Bean taking her far away from any sense of shelter or safety. Her life was literally in the hands of a pissed off teenager. And she had no idea where they were going.

Adelaide desperately clawed to the lip of the pocket, but when the freezing air met her face, she couldn’t bear it. She simply fell back inside.

She could feel Maisie’s heart beating and she could feel the wind from outside. She uselessly shivered at the bottom of the pocket, unable to do anything but hold herself tight and wait for Maisie to do something.

God, if she knew this would happen, she never would have introduced herself. Adelaide didn’t know herself for her kind heart. What was the matter with her?

Hopefully it would all blow over, Maisie would come to her senses, and they’d turn around. And then Adelaide would never leave the walls again. That was, if Maisie let her get back in the walls. It wasn’t like she had to. It wasn’t like Adelaide could make her. Maisie knew the kind of power she held now - she could stuff the tiny being away in a pocket, and it couldn’t fight back. Power like that was hard to give up.

Adelaide rolled forward as Maisie came to a sudden halt. The sound of an engine made itself apparent, a sharp shriek of some creature, then Maisie’s deafening voice came again. “Who are you?”

Oh god.

Whatever dangers Maisie’s parents warned her of, whatever predators were out there, whoever was after her. They had found her. And Adelaide didn’t like the girl’s odds.

She was abruptly jerked to the side, and she suspected Maisie was not moving of her own accord. This was confirmed when she screamed, “Get your hands off me! Hey!”

For the first time in a long time, Adelaide felt truly useless. This child was getting kidnapped, was probably scared out of her mind, and the fact that her only accompaniment was a 3-inch tall person could not have been comforting. What help was Adelaide, anyway? She couldn’t even alert the girl’s parents. She couldn’t save anyone. She was just as stuck as Maisie, perhaps more so. A borrower was meant to witness life, not to participate in it. The world was just too big to make any kind of dent, and it was never more apparent than in situations like this.

Maisie’s struggles died out, but she did not stop talking. She asked questions, demanded to be let go, called them certain names Adelaide had never heard before but was certain were deeply offensive. Until a male voice spoke. “Shut your mouth, girl.”

Obviously Adelaide couldn’t see, but whatever the man did must have struck fear into Maisie, because she shut right up. The girl’s heartbeat went a mile a minute, and she couldn’t stop fidgeting. The rushing sound of wind was very apparent, and Adelaide unfortunately knew that that was the sound of Maisie’s breath entering and leaving her lungs. It was always an odd sensation, but more importantly, it meant the girl was panicking. Adelaide wished she could do anything, but even the fabric behind her was too thick for Maisie to feel anything.

“I’m sorry,” Maisie whispered under her breath, and pressure roughly pushed Adelaide into the wall behind her. Maisie had laid her hand overtop her. Whether it was to comfort herself or comfort the borrower in her pocket, Adelaide wasn’t sure.

“What did you say?” the male asked.

“Nothing.”

“Right.”

Adelaide kicked at the intruding hand. Maisie didn’t know what she was doing. She didn’t know how fragile Adelaide’s bones were. Not only could she easily crush her without a thought, but she would give away Adelaide’s position, and therefore her existence, if she wasn’t careful.

But maybe it was for the best that Adelaide was stashed away. She didn’t know if she would be able to forgive Maisie, and definitely not audibly, any time soon. What was she supposed to say to an ‘I’m sorry’? ‘It’s okay’? It wasn’t okay. It would never be okay. It was probably ideal that Adelaide did not have the opportunity to respond in that moment.

Her mind raced with the possibilities of where they were headed. She was sure Maisie’s did too. Adelaide very suddenly wished she had paid more attention to anything that went on in the house. The fact that she actively worked to not remember any of the Beans’ names was discouraging. If she didn’t even know that, there was hardly a chance she’d put together a legitimate reason these people were after a child. But she never should have ended up in a situation like this in the first place.

Maisie’s parents barely let her leave the house, so they knew the reason, but Maisie herself seemed to downplay the situation. That was about all the information Adelaide had. Though, one thing the girl said kept playing in her head.

“Sometimes I don’t feel so human either, to be quite honest.”

Adelaide took that as some kind of teenage rambling. But maybe it was literal. Was Maisie…not human? And if not, what was she? What made her so valuable to these people that they needed to take her away? Though, sometimes Adelaide wondered that about herself.

In her honest opinion, she wasn’t that interesting. She was small. That was about it. But these scientists found that little fact so fascinating that they went out of their way to break into someone’s home and kidnap her.

Adelaide decided that Beans didn’t have to have a reason in the end. Sometimes they were just bad people. She’d seen enough evil in her lifetime to know that that was true. And how were they supposed to reason with evil? Especially when that evil disguised itself as necessary?

Whatever vehicle they were in screeched to a halt, yanking Adelaide out of her thoughts. They were here. Wherever here was.

“I’m not getting into that thing,” Maisie said defiantly, though her wavering voice betrayed her.

The man shoved Maisie’s shoulder, and she stumbled forward. There wasn’t any getting out of this, though they had to at least try.

From what Adelaide could tell, it was another vehicle, but it could have been any of them for all she knew. Obscured in a pocket, all her senses were muffled, so it was hard to know exactly how they were moving. She could only tell that they were.

***

By the midpoint of their trip, Adelaide knew it was a plane. The turbulence, the noise pollution, the sheer amount of time it was taking - it wasn’t hard to figure out. The nail in the coffin was when Maisie told her directly.

“I have to go to the bathroom,” she announced to the world.

“Hold it.” A woman’s voice.

“It’s been five hours.”

Silence.

“I’m not afraid to pee on your seats.”

“...You have two minutes.”

As soon as the door slammed closed, light assaulted Adelaide’s eyes.

“Are you okay?” Maisie asked.

No. Adelaide wasn’t okay. She was hungry and cold and scared and thoroughly pissed off. She wanted to tell Maisie off, really drive home how reckless of a decision it was to bolt off, how dangerous it was for both of them. But when she finally blinked the spots out of her vision, she was met only with concern in the girl’s soft brown eyes. Of course Maisie didn’t mean for any of this to happen. How was she supposed to know?

“Yeah,” Adelaide conceded. Maisie breathed a sigh of relief, and then there was a long, awkward pause until Adelaide remembered what she was supposed to say. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah.”

So they were both good at lying, it seemed.

“Do you know anything about where we are?” Adelaide asked. Not that there was much she could do with the information.

Maisie exasperatedly threw her hands in the air, then slammed them against her sides. “They won’t tell me anything. All I know is we’ve been flying for hours.”

“Why…did this happen?” It was hard to talk to Maisie from inside the pocket. It was clear she was only holding half of the girl’s attention at most and when she did, it was difficult to maintain eye contact. Adelaide couldn’t say she felt particularly bug-like in recent memory, but her insignificance was beginning to weigh on her. Though she hated to admit it, she missed her Bean sometimes. She did not, however, miss this feeling.

“Because I’m valuable, or whatever.”

“I gathered that. Why?”

“Why does it matter?” Maisie’s voice rose, and Adelaide flinched. Maisie noticed and backed off a hair. “I’m not exactly my own person. My mum-”

Loud pounding on the door made them both jump. “Time’s up!” the woman called.

Maisie didn’t even give her one last passing glance as she let the pocket close back up. Adelaide was swallowed by darkness and was relegated to her uncomfortable confines once again.

I’m not my own person. What the hell was that supposed to mean? She supposed she had quite a while to figure it out.

***

She did not figure it out. Their plane made a rough landing at their destination multiple hours later, and Maisie was quickly ushered into another car where her efforts to resist were futile and her demands to know where they were going were only met with a measly, “Almost there.”

Adelaide didn’t miss the shrieks of some poor dinosaur being hauled away as well. It seemed these people didn’t limit themselves to smuggling people. Unless Maisie was part dinosaur, and they specialized in smuggling dinosaurs…Adelaide was losing it.

Adelaide lost track of the voices after a while, what with Maisie being passed from person to person. Nobody had answers, or nobody wanted to give answers.

At the very least, Adelaide just wanted to see out. She had no clue as to what their environment looked like - just that it was populated with people, maybe dinosaurs, and the air was some degree warmer than when they departed. They were definitely inside at this point, but that was all she had to work with.

The hours upon hours of travel definitely eased some of that emotional uncertainty, though. It was hard to stay in a constant state of fear for hours on end. Except for Maisie. Outwardly, the girl masked it well, but her pounding heart never ceased. Not for a moment.

“I’m really sorry it had to happen this way,” a male said, and for the first time, Adelaide paid attention. As best she could, she sat upright in the pocket, listening intently. Something about that voice was deeply familiar.

“Yup, that’s what kidnappers say,” Maisie replied, and Adelaide snorted.

“Claire should never have hidden you away. You’re way too important, Maisie.”

Oh no.

Adelaide’s heart dropped into her stomach. It was the word ‘important’. It was the way he said it. It was the same way he said it to her a million years ago. It was almost laughable that this man still tormented people to this day. He was still making wildly unethical decisions, presumably in the name of ‘science’ and ‘discovery’, and his actions resulted in lifelong repercussions for Adelaide, both physical and mental. Her life was forever changed in a horrible way, and now, she realized the entire devastating ordeal was just another Tuesday for him. Now, she felt wildly unimportant and incredibly small.

She would not let him do the same to Maisie.

Adelaide hauled herself to the top of the pocket with renewed energy. Before she was even at the top, she said fiercely, “Do not talk to her.”

Henry Wu’s eyes lit up in recognition, but his eyebrows knit together. His face was worn, his hair long and unkempt. His baggy sweater hung awkwardly around his frame. “You,” he breathed.

“Me.”

It was now or never. Adelaide made the final push over the edge and rolled onto the table in an effort to break the fall.

“You…know each other?” Maisie asked.

“Unfortunately.” Adelaide kept her back to Maisie, her subconscious no longer treating the girl as a threat. She just spent a whole day in her pocket. If Maisie was going to hurt her, she would have already. Instead, she kept her eyes on the real danger. “Your hair is ugly.”

“I apologize for how our last interaction went, um…”

He didn’t even remember her name. “Adelaide,” she supplied.

“Adelaide,” he finished. “I realize now more than ever that actions have consequences, but I’d like to amend things. That’s where you come in, Maisie.”

Adelaide couldn’t believe it. Now that she wasn’t useful, she was simply cast aside. The small thing was no longer interesting when it wasn’t beneficial to his current pet project. It deserved a measly apology, but he had to ruin somebody else’s life now. A certain nagging feeling wouldn’t leave Adelaide alone. It was the feeling that she was just another useless step in the process, that all her suffering was for nothing. In the end, it was all pointless. Those feelings manifested in a joke. “What am I, chopped liver?”

“I have an empty cage over there, if you’d like to volunteer,” Wu said, and he turned his palm up in invitation. The threat was not serious, but the implication to stop talking was.

Maisie reacted before Adelaide could. She cupped her hand around Adelaide’s front and pulled her closer to her body. Adelaide’s little legs tried to keep up with the sheer speed, but she ended up falling on her ass. She sat for a minute, trying to process what just happened.​ The threat of a cage, even if it was just a joke, was a stark reminder of how quickly their situation could change, and it shook her to her core.

Loud growls pulled everyone out of the tense moment. Adelaide couldn’t see what it was, but Maisie could. “You took her, too,” she said.

“We needed her to help us understand you,” Wu explained.

Maisie stood and walked over to a cage. Inside, sat a small, blue Velociraptor. “Hey, Beta. You okay?” she said.

Wu continued. “Beta and Blue are genetically identical, and that’s what they have in common with you and-”

“Charlotte,” Maisie finished. “My mother. She died a long time ago. It broke my grandpa’s heart. So he made me.”

"Made you?” Adelaide piped up.

“No, Maisie. Actually, he didn’t. Charlotte made you. Just like Blue, Charlotte was able to have a child all by herself. She created you with her own DNA. She changed your DNA to eradicate an inherited genetic disorder. Your DNA could change the world. I just can’t replicate her work. If I could just study you-”

“No-” Adelaide interrupted.

Wu talked over her. “-and Beta, whose DNA was never changed. I could fix a terrible mistake that I’ve made.”

“You don’t get to do that. You’ve missed your chance. Sorry,” Adelaide said without remorse. She turned to Maisie. “You can’t trust this man. He - he-” She didn’t know how much to tell. To leave anything out would be unconvincing, but to elaborate would risk opening old wounds.

“I believed that she was the key to this…cloning business,” Wu finished for her. “For a while, she was. The research was so new, so exciting, at least to me. But I had no idea the true scope of the matter. Adelaide was but a small piece of that puzzle.” He swallowed. “I hurt her. Bad. And for that, I deeply apologize. I had no right to keep you against your will.”

“So is Maisie free to go then?” Adelaide challenged.

Wu pursed his lips.

“What kind of mistake?” Maisie asked.

Wu wordlessly turned to another desk, and the other two followed his line of sight. Inside a small cage sat a dead insect, maybe a foot and a half long, with pins sticking out of it. It was a gross green color and looked similar to the various grasshoppers Adelaide had seen in her travels. She was glad it was dead. It was bigger than any bug she’d ever seen. Wu was responsible for this?

Suddenly, another man entered the room and called Wu away. Reluctantly, Wu followed. On her part, Adelaide dove behind the nearest object to hide.

Muffled, unintelligible, angry voices made their way into the room. Adelaide stayed silent until her hiding place was lifted into the air. She yelped and turned toward the source. Maisie, with a mildly amused look on her face. “You good?”

Adelaide nodded.

“You want to get out of here?”

Adelaide nodded.

Maisie snatched Adelaide off the desk.

“Maisie! Stop - oof!” Adelaide landed on her stomach on Maisie’s shoulder, forcing the air from her lungs. She tried to right herself as Maisie moved around, searching for something. “You gotta stop grabbing me,” she said breathlessly.

“Sorry,” Maisie said distractedly. “I won’t hurt you though.”

“That’s not-” Adelaide sighed, dragging her hand down her face. “Thank you.”

Maisie found what she was looking for in a sleek, white bracelet. She held it up to the Velociraptor cage, which opened the lock. The door popped open, and the baby immediately exploded out at them. Maisie jumped back, nearly throwing Adelaide clean off her shoulder. But the dinosaur wasn’t targeting them - it just wanted out. As soon as Maisie had her feet under her, she took off, too, toward a ladder.

Both girls heard Wu rush into the room and call after them, but Maisie was already halfway down the ladder. Adelaide caught one last glimpse of the raptor as it leapt onto a table and smashed all available glass.

A deafening alarm blared around them, and it was likely that it echoed throughout the whole facility. “Asset containment breach. Please remain at your stations. Asset containment breach. Please remain at your stations.”

The situation was all too familiar. Adelaide hoped this one ended well.

Maisie slowed to a brisk walk, and she wandered aimlessly but quickly through random corridors. Neither of them had any idea where they were going. All they knew was that they needed to get away.

“What did he do to you?” Maisie asked.

Adelaide hardly registered the question. “Huh?”

“He said he hurt you.”

“Yup.” She didn’t particularly feel like divulging any of her trauma at present. She’d already have to deal with the open wound just seeing Wu’s face carved into her, and she didn’t want to drive the knife deeper.

After a couple moments of silence, Maisie pushed. “So like, should I be worried, or…”

“I don’t know. I definitely wouldn’t trust him. He…he experimented on me for days, to put it lightly, but I imagine it would be much harder to keep you contained. Luckily, Ia - a friend got me out.”

“Where is this friend?”

Oof. “Uh…,” Adelaide sighed. “We got separated. Wu sent some men after us, and I haven’t seen him in…a while.”

“Oh…Well, maybe after this is all over, we can help you look for him.”

“Yeah, maybe…” Did Adelaide want to let herself hope? Did she even want to see Ian again? Her initial thought was, Duh. Of course. But that was a man she hadn’t seen in over two decades. She wasn’t the same as she was back then, which meant he probably wasn’t either. Did she want to preserve this perfect image of him she had stored in her head, or meet this new person that would potentially taint her perception of him permanently? Did he ever think about her? Did he remember her? Did she want to find out? If he didn’t, it might destroy her completely. And who was to say they’d even be successful in their search? Adelaide found herself angry with Maisie for even bringing up the possibility.

They emerged in a stark white hallway with dark, tile flooring and orange trim. It looked like just about every other hallway they’d passed through so far. This one was different in the sense that they immediately heard screaming.

“Should we follow it?” Maisie suggested.

Adelaide wanted to offer guidance and inspire confidence. They both needed it in such a confusing mess of a situation. Screaming surely meant danger, and the goal right now was to get as far away from danger as possible. Unfortunately, what spilled out of her mouth was a measly, “Uhh, probably not.”

Maisie followed the sound anyway, and Adelaide wondered why she even asked if she was just going to ignore her.

After rounding a corner, they happened upon two adult Beans in white hazmat suits. That was the only detail Adelaide could collect before her vision was completely obstructed. Maisie rolled her shoulder forward, sending Adelaide hurtling off of it, but she safely caught the borrower in her cupped hand. Taking no chances, she held Adelaide close to her stomach. It wasn’t hard to see that people made Adelaide nervous and, after hearing what Dr. Wu did to her, she understood why. Maisie internally vowed to keep her away from any more people.

Adelaide immediately struggled against the hand, instincts kicking into overdrive. She felt suffocated in the small space, her own rapid breaths raising the temperature by a few degrees all on their own.

Beans always did this. They always held her too tight when they wanted to protect her, not realizing that they could easily hurt her just as bad as any perceived external threat. There had to be a better way to conceal her than to trap her in a cramped prison of human flesh.

And just as Beans always did that, she always fought back, no matter how useless it truly was. She pushed and kicked and tried to stretch her body as far as it would go, willing the girl to open her hand just a little, all while knowing that her efforts would register as barely a tickle if she was lucky.

Not only could Adelaide hear Maisie’s voice loud and clear from her spot against the girl’s stomach, but she could feel it vibrate throughout her whole body. She flinched away from it as best she could, covering her ears, but the words made it through effortlessly. “You’re Dr. Ellie Sattler and Alan Grant.”

And, as always, Adelaide wished she got stuck in a more conspicuous location. She constantly waited for a Bean to notice something out of place or missing, to notice a small, strange shadow ducking into the walls.

But it had been two years, and still no incident. Knock on wood.

Knock on wood was a silly Bean tradition she picked up on a billion years ago, and the habit never fell off. It was supposed to ward off jinxes. She never bothered to draw a correlation, so she didn’t actually know if it worked. She did it anyway. Force of habit.

It was late at night, and Adelaide helped herself to a burnt…something. Just a small chunk off of each piece, nothing anyone would miss.

Suddenly, her whole world was engulfed in a bright, white light. Her pupils dilated and objects became clearer, sharper. Which meant she was clearer and sharper, too. Adelaide absently wondered if she died and it was the bright, white light of heaven.

When she turned to face the source, she couldn’t see anything. She had to squint and even then her eyes watered. But she didn’t need her vision in order to know what was behind the light. Dread overcame Adelaide.

“You’re real,” the girl exhaled, shock evident in her voice. And when the light clicked off, she could see it in her face, too.

Adelaide stopped dead in her tracks. She saw the girl’s breath in the cold. She saw her own breath in the cold. The girl’s eyes were brown.

This can’t be happening again. This cannot be happening again. This can’t-

Food in hand, Adelaide sprinted toward the wall. She wasn’t about to give up her treat, but she needed to get out of there. Hoping to take advantage of the girl’s momentary surprise, she pumped her legs as fast as they would go. As she crossed the threshold, she heard the girl say, “Wait, come back!”

Adelaide paused for breath as soon as she made it back to safety. She rested her hands on her knees as she leaned against the inside of the wall, wheezing, eyes closed.

So much for knocking on wood. It was a stupid tradition, anyway.

She thought about her first night in the house. Looking back, it was clear she had hypothermia, or was at the very least on the verge of hypothermia. Her senses were dangerously unclear, and she couldn’t believe she waltzed around the open house knowing the giants were right there. In her daze, Adelaide couldn’t be sure if she hallucinated it or not, but she was almost positive the girl saw her that day. The image of those eyes were burned into her skull. But after two whole years of nothing - no indication the girl saw or heard anything out of the ordinary - Adelaide decided she must have imagined it.

Trying to stir up some kind of plan to get out of her current predicament, Adelaide repeatedly banged her head on the wall. What to do…

There was no way Adelaide would survive a move, especially not that far, and especially not during the winter. And even if circumstances were perfect, even in optimal weather with optimal transportation, she wasn’t so sure she had another move in her. Her knees ached. Her feet swelled if she stood on them too long. Most importantly, her heart just wasn’t in it.

It seemed as though her decision was made for her. She had to stay. But she wouldn’t go down without a big fight. An ending to end all endings. There’d be fireworks and gunshots and acrobatics like no human or borrower had ever seen before. That was, if the girl tried to get at her. Weirdly enough, she did not.

Night after night, Adelaide found the girl asleep on the couch, or pretending to be asleep on the couch, buried under countless mismatched blankets. She had snacks, drinks, and usually a flashlight tucked into her chest as if it were a stuffed animal. The couch was oriented directly at the kitchen so that she could presumably catch Adelaide red-handed.

Obviously, Adelaide always waited for the girl to fall asleep before she started borrowing. A lifetime of observing humans gave her keen insight as to whether someone was actually asleep or merely faking it. The body relaxed in a way that simply wasn’t possible during wakefulness. The breathing became very slow, very deep, very heavy.

On one particular night, Adelaide stopped on the counter to really look at the girl. She had a hard rule that prevented her from forming any attachment to any human. She couldn’t afford any level of affection, lest it all get ripped away. Again. That was why Adelaide purposefully ignored Bean conversations, tried her best not to learn their names. But there were some things that couldn’t slip by unnoticed.

The poor girl was lonely. That much was clear. Not once in her two years here did Adelaide see any guests, let alone guests who could be the girl’s friend.

Additionally, her parents never let her go anywhere because she was special, though Adelaide couldn’t quite figure out why. She didn’t really want to figure out why. There were also people who were after the girl, probably because she was special.

The more important observation was that this girl, besides staking out on the couch for nights on end, did not go after her. She didn’t try to carve into the walls, she didn’t even tell her parents about her cool find, at least as far as Adelaide could tell.

That overwhelming sense of loneliness was something Adelaide could relate to. She’d mostly gotten used to it over time, since that was how it had to be. The life of a borrower wasn’t supposed to be social and outgoing. They were quiet, they were sneaky, and they were almost always alone. That didn’t mean it didn’t hurt from time to time.

So, Adelaide popped a squat on the edge of the counter, crossing her legs over each other, and she waited for the girl to wake. The only thing she could do in the meantime was assure herself that this was not a dumb, risky idea.

After nearly half an hour, Adelaide’s legs started to fall asleep. Just as she shifted, the girl’s eyes slowly blinked open. Mountains of blankets were pushed to the side as she stretched, and Adelaide froze mid-position change.

When the girl’s brown eyes focused on the tiny being on her kitchen counter, she shot up to a seat. Adelaide flinched back at the alarming change in speed. Beans could be so relaxed one second and dangerously alert the next. All of this was enough for Adelaide to rethink her plan, suddenly very aware that she was completely alone with a giant, adolescent girl that could snatch her up and stash her away in the blink of an eye.

The girl flicked on the flashlight.

Adelaide chided herself for not expecting that. It was so easy to forget that Beans couldn’t see well in the dark, and combined with the fact that Adelaide was hardly taller than a paperclip, the girl would need the aid just to see her.

Still, it caught Adelaide off guard and she winced as she threw her hand over her eyes. “Turn that off!” she cried.

Maisie turned it off, speechless. It could talk.

Though Adelaide looked decently relaxed, she was tense as ever, ready to spring away at a moment's notice. She made sure to have a wall entrance nearby and to never take her eyes off the threat.

There was a thick silence in the room. What could they even say?

Eventually, the girl whispered a question. “What are you?”

Adelaide hesitated. “Adelaide. What are you?”

At that, the girl gave her a shy smile. “I’m Maisie.” This seemed to embolden her to speak further. “How did you get here?”

“Oh, that’s a long story.”

“Are you a spy?”

“Yeah.”

At this, Maisie’s face morphed into a mask of horror. “W - what?”

Adelaide quickly backtracked. “N, no, I’m not a…I was joking. Look at me.” She gestured at her whole three inches.

Maisie exhaled a small laugh.

Adelaide pushed onto the real reason she was here. “Listen…you can’t tell your parents about me, alright?”

“That’s kind of creepy.”

“Look, I could go the rest of my life without talking to you ever again.”

Maisie’s face fell and, once again, Adelaide had to course correct. God, she was so bad at this. “What I mean is, you all aren’t supposed to see me. The more of you that do, the easier it is for my life to get much worse. Even if you’re well-meaning.”

“Then why did you come out here?”

“Food.”

Maisie brightened and jumped up from her spot on the couch. She rushed into the kitchen, headed toward the cabinets. “Oh, what would you like?”

Adelaide leapt what felt like five feet backwards, her hands held up defensively, prepared for Maisie to grab her. “N - Nothing,” she said, hating the way she stuttered. She needed to regain control of the situation, though there was little to be found. ‘Control’ was something that didn’t come in the borrower toolbox. “I’m alright…Thanks.”

“But-”

“Could you sit back down, please?” Adelaide squeaked out, having a hard time looking all the way up to meet the girl’s eyes. Her hands shook as they stayed in their defensive position.

Maisie furrowed her brow, but she thought it best to leave that one alone. The little thing - Adelaide - looked so scared. The thought of literally anyone being scared of her was downright laughable. She slowly sat back down on the couch. “I meant, why are you out here, talking to me, if you shouldn’t?”

Adelaide finally felt like she could relax her shoulders. “Because I know you’ll never stop looking if I don’t. And then there’s a chance you’ll recruit your parents, I get shoved in a cage, blah blah blah…It’s just how all you humans are.”

“Are you not human?”

“Debatable.”

“Sometimes I don’t feel so human either, to be quite honest.” Now it was Maisie who had a hard time making eye contact.

Now that one was puzzling, but not a thread Adelaide had the time nor the patience to tug on. “I think you need to go to bed,” she decided. Her heart still pounded, and she wanted to put an end to the conversation as soon as possible. Rest would probably do them both some good.

“I’m not tired-”

“And now that you’ve found me, stop sleeping out here. It’s not good for you.”

“Will I see you again?” Maisie asked, unable to keep the hope out of her voice.

Adelaide’s heart sank, her mind immediately pulled back to another time.

“I’ll be seeing you around?” he asked.

The choice was all too familiar, the paths clear before her. A ‘no’ was risky. She would have to stand by it, no matter what, but it might provoke Maisie into trying to find her later when she decided she didn’t actually like that answer.

A ‘yes’ was a promise, one that Adelaide didn’t know if she could keep. A ‘yes’ meant attachment.

“Yeah…maybe…But don’t count on it,” she said. And with that, she disappeared into the walls to leave Maisie alone with her thoughts.

Adelaide couldn’t say she felt good about the circumstances, but she felt firmly better than before, which must have meant she made the right choice. Probably. She supposed she’d have to wait and see.

***

Sawdust rained from the supports as a loud knock echoed through the inside of the walls. Adelaide had to do something about that sawdust. Every time the door slammed, more of it got kicked up, and at this point she assumed her air supply was equal parts oxygen and sawdust. She also had to do something about that knock. That was a knock from a Bean.

Adelaide listened intently for any other sign that Maisie was looking for her. At least she hoped it was Maisie. It happened again, and she jumped. Okay, that was it.

Adelaide stomped toward the source of the noise, griping to herself the whole way. She checked the kitchen first, but found no Beans. Eventually, the knocking became so loud that she could feel it reverberate throughout her body. This had to be the spot.

Adelaide used her shoulder to burst through a weak point in the wall. There were plenty around here. She found herself in Maisie’s room. Maisie stood there, awaiting her arrival. Adelaide squeezed her eyes shut, mentally preparing herself to scold a giant.

“Don’t DO that! Do you know just how terrifying, not to mention dangerous that-” Adelaide’s protest ground to a halt when she opened her eyes. Maisie was upset. Her jaw was set tight and there was a rage in her eyes, and it was all pointed directly at Adelaide.

Adelaide backed up, hands in the air. Maisie was a teenager, and from what Adelaide knew about teenagers, they lashed out when they were upset. She could not afford to have it taken out on her small, frail body. “Woah-”

“Can you believe them?!” Maisie interrupted. Adelaide flinched from the volume, but the girl didn’t seem to notice. “‘Because you can’t’. He’s not my dad! He can’t- ugh!” Maisie grabbed a foam ball from her nightstand and chucked it against the wall. It bounced off and fell to the floor, and Maisie flopped onto the bed face down.

Adelaide’s breath caught in her throat. She watched the way the girl’s hand closed quickly and completely around the ball that couldn’t have been much bigger than her. She saw the unrelenting grip, felt the power in that throw.

But more than anything now, Adelaide was just confused. Her eyes were wide and her eyebrows knit together as she slowly approached the edge of the shelf she was on. Around her, little trinkets decorated the otherwise dust-coated wood. Some of them were larger than her. Probably heavier, too.

“He…what?”

Maisie looked up from her misery at Adelaide, really focusing on her for the first time. “It’s like they think I can’t do anything. I’m not a child. I’ve been past the bridge before. I know how to handle myself.”

“I’m sure you do.”

“Do they expect to just keep me here forever?”

“...Am I supposed to answer that?”

Maisie let her face fall back into her pillow again and she screamed. Adelaide twitched on instinct. Clearly, the girl didn’t need her. She just wanted to vent to someone, and Adelaide was the only person in the vicinity. “Okay, well if you don’t need anything, I’m gonna-”

“Have you ever been out there?” Maisie asked.

“Yeah.”

“So you can tell them that nothing bad is going to happen.”

“No, I actually won’t be going anywhere near them. And…it is, at least in my experience, pretty bad.”

“Well yeah, cause you’re like two inches tall.”

Adelaide pretended like that didn’t just destroy her dignity. “Three, thanks.”

“And I wasn’t even doing anything! I just rode my bike to the store. That’s it! I just want to talk to someone.”

“Maisie, I get it. I get what it’s like to have everyone doubt you and belittle you just because of who you are. It sucks to know that, no matter how much you prove yourself, people will always believe they know better. It just comes with being a kid. It comes with being small. It’s the lot we were dealt in life…But hey, at least you’ll grow out of yours.”

Maisie gave her a small smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes.

Adelaide continued. “The world beyond is overrated anyway. I thought I wanted to see it, but it’s just as cruel and unforgiving as they say.”

Maisie groaned. “You’re not helping.”

The door to the room burst open, slamming into the wall, the hinges creaking. Both of them jumped out of their skin.

The male Bean stood in the doorway. He was tall and imposing, definitely over six feet. Adelaide was speechless. He came in so fast, pushed that door so violently, she couldn’t even begin to wrap her mind around it. There were no thoughts in her head. Only fear.

“Her nest is nearby. I’m going to look for it. Stay inside-” he began, but he noticed the way Maisie’s gaze distractedly flickered between him and her bookshelf. He followed her line of sight, and his eyes landed on…a small, shaking person. Like really small.

He rounded on it, taking no chances in the heat of the moment. “What is this?” he asked, having lost none of the intensity he entered the room with. He plucked the little thing up by the back of its jacket and beelined for the front door.

Adelaide gasped, choking on the air. Her body swung around and her arms instinctively reached above her, searching for something solid to stabilize herself, but all she found was thick, leathery skin and a smooth fingernail. “No-” she began, but the words died in her throat. 

Maisie said something that sounded vaguely like, ‘Let her go’, but Adelaide couldn’t be sure with the piercing ringing in her ears.

Cold air hit her face, and she realized he was going to take her outside. He was going to throw her outside and let her die. Like some animal. Adelaide scrambled for purchase on something. Anything. Even if it meant staying within a Bean’s grasp, it was better than freezing to death in the wild. If she survived the fall. That was the only thing keeping her from driving her knife deep into the man’s finger.

The two Beans argued above her while she struggled. Then, a door slam. Then, warmth. Then, stillness. Then, he brought her closer to his face, eyes squinted as if that would help him understand.

“Owen, she’s harmless,” Maisie begged.

Adelaide knew she was supposed to be insulted, but she also knew not to say anything. He was so big. He was so big. And oh god, he was going to kill her.

“Stay away from my daughter,” the man decided, pointing a finger at her. Adelaide cowered, turning her head away, convinced he was going to poke her square in the chest. The man finally obeyed Maisie’s pleas and dropped her back on the shelf. Adelaide collapsed into a pile.

As soon as she felt the ground underneath her, she scrambled backwards, tripping over her feet along the way. “Yep, right away,” she breathed, trying to convey that she meant no more harm while also getting the hell out of there. Her back bumped into the wall and she frantically felt for the opening, not daring for a second to take her eyes off him. At the last second, Adelaide’s fingers found the hole in the wall, and she pulled herself inside.

“No, Adelaide, come back!” Maisie called after her.

Adelaide listened to the conversation play out from inside the walls. Frankly, she was still paralyzed with fear, and her knees felt like jelly. One step and she would surely fall over.

“Where’d she go?” the man, Owen, asked, still trying to process the existence of tiny people.

“In the walls! You scared her!”

Nonono Maisie, don’t say that. Not that he didn’t just see her disappear into them, but the girl’s declaration established a pattern, a sense that Adelaide frequented the walls, which could not have eased Owen’s mistrust in the slightest.

“The wa - I scared her?” he said incredulously. “You don’t know what that is. It could- I don’t have time for this. Don’t talk to it. Don’t let it anywhere near you. Stay put.”

Another deafening slam of the door signaled his departure, but Adelaide only relaxed infinitesimally. She was busted. She had to get out of there right now, but she had absolutely nowhere to go. Die to the cold, or die at the hands of a Bean.

“Adelaide!” a muffled voice rang out.

Adelaide sighed, ignoring the girl’s calls. Or at least, she tried to. After ten minutes of constant pleas for her to come out, Adelaide finally reemerged on the shelf, barely peeking out. “It’s best to stay away, alright?”

Before she could disappear again, Maisie said, “So you’re just going to side with them?”

Adelaide knew it was bait. And so, even though she desperately wanted to fight back, she said what she knew was needed in the situation. “Your dad is right-”

“He’s not my dad.”

“Well, he’s still right. You should stay inside… It was nice knowing you, Maisie.”

“I thought you said you knew what it was like, but it turns out you’re just like them.”

The comparison stung, but Adelaide gritted her teeth and pushed on. If she had to be the bad guy to keep everyone safe, then she’d be the bad guy. “Yeah, I am. So what?”

Maisie’s nostrils flared and her eyes flicked back and forth. Adelaide could hear her grinding her teeth.

And then, Maisie’s hand shot out, coiling around Adelaide and securing her in an unforgiving fist. Adelaide kicked her feet as she was lifted off the ground and away from any semblance of safety. “Put me down!” she commanded, trying to sound as firm as possible but knowing her voice was so, so quiet in comparison.

Any rule Adelaide set regarding touch was violated at that moment. It didn’t matter that she promised herself nobody could touch her. Giants did what they wanted. Every point of contact between Maisie’s skin and hers itched and burned.

No matter how many times she was unwillingly snatched up by Beans throughout her life, no matter how many times her efforts were proven to be futile, there was something about instinct that was hard to override. And so, Adelaide fought against the Bean, knowing it was all in vain. She pushed at the massive index finger wrapped around her chest, knowing she couldn’t budge it. Her legs tried to find purchase on anything, knowing the ground was far, far below.

“Well, I’m not allowed to leave without an adult, and you’re an adult, so…” Maisie said as she ripped open the back door and stepped out into the cold.

Standing took quite a bit of effort. Each time she tried, her vision went sideways. Finally, after countless attempts, she was able to walk. Though small, it was a boost to her ego. She was Adelaide. She was unstoppable.

The walls were damp, but beyond that, they were set up like any regular old walls. Searching for a home base was tempting, but at that point, Adelaide wasn’t sure how long she’d gone without water. Her throat told her it had been too long. And so, the kitchen was the goal. Or a pipe. Either would be fine. But the easy access pipes were usually near the kitchen anyway.

Adelaide fell into a routine like she always did when she went somewhere new, which mostly consisted of creating a mental map of her surroundings as she ventured onward - noting accessible spots, weak spots, dead ends, pipes, electrical equipment, etc. She kept her wits about her as best she could and tried to keep a general sense of cardinal directions.

The pipes were easy enough to locate and easy enough to tap into, especially with the little contraption she cobbled together. The lever on the end made applying pressure to the soft PVC a breeze, and she could just leave the whole thing on there until she was ready for water. Which happened to be right now.

Water directly from the pipes always had a sort of odd, metallic taste to it, but Adelaide simply couldn’t be bothered. She was so thirsty. And now, with that need satisfied, her stomach alerted her of her next one.

Again, locating the kitchen was easy enough. She first happened upon the counter, and while she needed to check out the cupboards too, the smell of a fresh baked treat allured her.

Adelaide easily pushed through a knot in the wood, (she noticed those knots everywhere, which may as well have been a blessing from the gods themselves) and located the source of the smell. Cookies.

If they were fresh though, that meant the Beans were probably nearby. It was a good thing Adelaide had never once been reckless in her life…

Without dwelling on it, she darted out to the plate in the middle of the counter. She didn’t dare stop to borrow. Not only did she not have the time, but too much taken from untouched food would have raised all kinds of alarms for the Beans. So, Adelaide indulged only a little. She took off a small chunk, then turned to go.

Before she could scurry off though, something caught her eye. A phone. And not those cell phones every Bean had nowadays, but a real, physical phone that she could absolutely get her hands on.

***

After a few days of constant worrying, Adelaide knew she had to use the phone. Luckily, she knew how to use one and knew the correct phone number forwards and backwards. She could recite it in her sleep. The tricky part was timing.

Beans were supposed to check out by 11. Most of them did. Then the maids came and cleaned, which didn’t take super long. New Beans were allowed to check in around 3, but some came earlier, some came later.

At the end of the day, it was about luck. Adelaide chose a room on the far end that wasn’t used as often, but today it appeared to be in use. Something she overheard about ‘summer break’ and ‘business booming’ or whatever.

The Beans checked out at 10:30. The maids came right away, finished in record time. It was now or never.

Adelaide scaled the nightstand faster than anything she’d done in her whole life. She sprinted over to the phone and threw her whole body weight into it. It didn’t budge.

This phone wasn’t like Ian’s. It sat horizontally in its receiver and was therefore harder to knock off balance.

Steeling herself, she rolled up her sleeves, rubbed her palms on her pants, and planted both hands on the phone. She shoved with all her might, digging her heels into the floor, and still the phone did not budge.

This could not be how it ended. She timed it just right, made it all that way, only to be stopped by the weight of a stupid phone. Adelaide growled in frustration, but kept trying. She couldn’t stop trying.

That was until the sound of Beans came from outside. She huffed as she prepared her hook. This wasn’t over.

***

Her second chance didn’t come until days later, which only gave that small feeling of dread time to grow, like an infection taking hold of her mind.

So there she was, on top of the phone, ready to get the damn thing off its receiver if it was the last thing she ever did.

A faraway sound stopped her, and not one from outside.

Adelaide froze, opening her ears further.

The source of the scuffling soon made itself apparent in the form of a borrower. A middle-aged man with messy hair and bright blue eyes. He blinked at her. She blinked right back.

“What are you doing?” the man said.

There wasn’t really any harm in revealing her intentions to this borrower, that was, if she left right away as intended. But as time ticked on and the days passed, Adelaide wasn’t so confident that was the case anymore. Ian was nowhere to be found, and she currently had no way to find him. If she was stuck there, at least for the foreseeable future, it wouldn’t do at all to scare away any and all potential allies. But if she could convince the man to help her out…

“Making a phone call.”

“To who?”

“...A friend. Will you help me?”

The borrower glanced nervously at the door. “Uh…”

While the man processed that information, Adelaide turned to the task at hand. He would either help her or he wouldn’t, and she didn’t have all day for him to make that decision.

Without really knowing why he was doing what he was doing, the man walked up beside the strange new borrower and put all his weight onto the phone.

“So,” he huffed, “are you the one we see go outside every day?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay…why?”

Adelaide paused her efforts, short of breath. “I like the fresh air. Any more questions?”

“Geez, um, no, I guess.”

After a couple moments, the man suggested he try pulling the cord while she push from the front end.

The phone briefly slid toward the man, but was simply too heavy, and it slid nicely back into its receiver.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t think we’re budging that thing. Do you have any other way to get a hold of your friend?”

“Nope,” Adelaide said, refusing to give up, even when the man stopped.

“Well…good luck. And I’m sure it goes without saying, but watch out for Beans.”

***

Adelaide was desperate. That was the only explanation, because otherwise she would not have pulled a stunt that stupid.

Adelaide was desperate, and the Bean looked kind enough. He and his partner had just checked into the motel with minimal luggage. They were happy and relaxed.

Adelaide was desperate, and so she barged out of the hole in the wall, hardly thinking. If there was someone strong enough to pick up a phone, it was a Bean. Adelaide was desperate, and she fully intended to ask a Bean for help.

A borrower she only slightly recognized stumbled out after her, grabbing her arms. Before she could shout, another borrower covered her mouth and helped the first drag her back into the walls kicking and screaming.

She couldn’t blame them. She just put the whole motel at risk. Adelaide was desperate, so it hurt to realize that she could never do that again.

***

Moving was scary, and it certainly wasn’t the easy choice. But all the borrowers at that god forsaken motel knew her little secret, and after the first set of threats came, Adelaide knew she had no other choice.

This new motel was quite literally a replica of the last. Sure, decorations were slightly different, but Adelaide was coming to learn that they all virtually functioned the same way, all had relatively the same layout.

What was unique about this particular motel was the style of the phone. It sat vertically in the receiver, which meant Adelaide was more than capable of knocking it over. She didn’t even set up shop in the walls before she found herself atop the desk.

The brief thought passed through her mind that, if Ian was in the clutches of InGen, they might have his phone, and she might give them her location. That was something she unfortunately did not have time to worry about.

The phone clattered to the ground and Adelaide promptly stomped on all the numbers. The green phone icon lit up. This was it. It rang endlessly.

This is the voicemail of Dr. Ian Malcolm. Please leave your name and number, and I will return your call shortly.

A loud beep made Adelaide jump. She didn’t expect to get his voicemail. What was she even supposed to say? “Um…uh….Hey, hey Ian. It’s me. It’s Adelaide. I’m here. Well, I’m not at the same - at least I don’t think I’m at the same…but I’m here! Are you coming back? I- Shit… Shit! Ian, I can’t-”

Adelaide fumbled, trying to stomp on the red ‘hang up’ button. A Bean was entering the room, and she had absolutely no time to get into the walls. Abandoning the phone, she flew down her thread in a controlled fall. She collided with the ground but kept moving, kept sprinting, toward any cover. The bed! Underneath the bed.

Her only mistake was that she turned around. Of course she had to look. She looked right up and into the piercing eyes of a Human Bean. They saw her.

“Wait!” the person cried.

Adelaide stumbled at the sheer volume, but she kept pumping her legs. She didn’t let them stop until she was well under the bed, and even then she couldn’t sit still. It was only a matter of time before they reached their grubby hands under there and took her away.

There had to be a weak spot on the wall somewhere. Adelaide pressed her body into random spots, willing the plaster to give. A bright light suddenly engulfed her, and at the same time, she fell through the wall.

Chest heaving, she pushed herself to her feet and took off, far away from the hole she just created.

Well, she couldn’t stay here. The Bean saw her. Like saw her, saw her, to the point where they used a light underneath the bed to locate her. Maybe she could relax for a couple days on the other side of the motel, but it was best that she got out of there altogether. Before pest control showed up or something.

Should she…look for other borrowers? Just to warn them?

Hi, I’m new, but I was spotted by a Bean right away. Just a heads up. By the way. We’re probably all in danger. By the way.

It was the right thing to do, but god did it sound agonizing. As a compromise, she decided that anyone she ran into along the way would get a warning, but she wouldn’t go out of her way. Yeah…yeah, that sounded good.

***

“Um…uh….Hey, hey Ian. It’s me. It’s Adelaide. I’m here. Well, I’m not at the same - at least I don’t think I’m at the same…but I’m here! Are you coming back? I- Shit… Shit! Ian, I can’t-”

Ian almost didn’t listen to the message. He almost instinctively deleted it, assuming it was another scam caller. He nearly dropped the phone when he heard her voice.

It had been over a year. He long accepted Adelaide to be gone. But that was undoubtedly her voice. How could it be her voice?!

The sounds of humans in the background was what worried him most. The banging, the indistinct mumbling, the abrupt end of the call. Adelaide was alive. Or at least, she was when she started the call. He left a vague, short note for Sarah and immediately hopped in his car, headed toward the source of the call.

And when he got there…nothing. No signs of borrowers, no response when he called out for her. Ian simply couldn’t waste another thirty-eight days looking again, and he certainly knew his heart couldn’t take it if he came up empty.

But a week or so wouldn’t hurt…

***

This is the voicemail of Dr. Ian Malcolm. Please leave your name and number, and I will return your call shortly.

“Hey Ian, I went…north. I think. There’s a big tree on the side of the road with a swing on it. And there’s a fire hydrant across the street. I hope you’re doing okay…”

***

Ian smashed his phone against the wall. Two voicemails from her, and he was still completely useless.

He played them endlessly, looping them over and over to see if there was something he missed. But he checked every nook and cranny of both motels he received a call from, and others in the vicinity, yet nothing. Then, the calls ran dry. Two years of silence.

All he had left were those stupid messages. One day, Ian couldn’t stand it anymore. Something about her voice, the particular way it rang in his head, sent him over the edge, and he threw the phone as hard as he could at the wall. It smashed into a few jagged pieces.

***

This is the voicemail of Dr. Ian Malcolm. Please leave your name and number, and I will return your call shortly.

“Hey Ian, I know it’s been a while. The last message I left, the Bean noticed the phone charges and got all mad and everything. I didn’t even know phone calls cost money. That’s so dumb. What if somebody has an emergency?- Anyway, I’ve had to move a lot. I’m still moving north. This place is a Sleep Inn……Oh, nothing… No, just using the phone to call a friend. No, I’m-”

***

This is the voicemail of Dr. Ian Malcolm. Please leave your name and number, and I will return your call shortly.

“Ian, I don’t even know if you’re getting these. Should I stop? Or maybe you are getting them and you just don’t care. Wouldn’t that…wouldn’t that be something?” Adelaide sniffed. “Hey, Ian, if you care, pick up the phone……Yeah, okay. Whatever. Still moving north. Landmarkers: road, more road, and more road, as far as the eye can see.”

***

This is the voicemail of Dr. Ian Malcolm. Please leave your name and number, and I will return your call shortly.

“Um, I’m still in California. I saw a sign that said ‘five guys’ if that helps. Call me. I miss you.”

***

The number you are trying to reach has been disconnected or is no longer in service. Please hang up, or check the number and try again.

Adelaide stopped dead in her tracks, unable to believe what happened. She hung up and tried again.

The number you are trying to reach has been disconnected or is no longer in service. Please hang up, or check the number and try again.

Not once did Adelaide ever need to check the phone number. She knew it. She knew she knew it. But to be safe, she dug it out from the bottom of her bag. Carefully, she made sure each number she pressed into the phone was accurate, then waited with baited breath as the phone rang once, twice…

The number you are trying to reach has been disconnected or is no lon-

Adelaide stomped on the red button and collapsed to a seat. She rubbed her wet eyes, trying to control her breathing.

Did she ever expect to get a hold of Ian? It was hard to say. But now it was confirmed, it was certain, that Adelaide’s one lifeline, her one chance, her one friend, was gone. She was on her own today, and she would be on her own every day thereafter.

***

“Hello?”

Adelaide fumbled over her words. She’d called here and there over the years, always receiving the same error message. It wasn’t like her to just give up, even if her attempts became fewer and far between.

But this time, she got an answer. And she had no idea what to do with it.

“I - Ian?” she finally managed.

In his impatience with the lack of communication from the other end, he accidentally talked over her. “What? Hello?”

That was not Ian. Panicked, Adelaide hung up.

It was still Ian’s number. But that was not Ian. Somebody had his phone.

***

A few days later, Adelaide knew she had to get to the bottom of the situation, or she’d be left wondering about it forever. Ian hadn’t found her yet, despite multiple voicemails. Who was to say this guy could find her? She left out the detail that Ian might not be okay, because that simply wasn’t an option in her mind. Ian was indestructible. To ease her anxiety, Adelaide repeated the words to herself: Phone people are not real. Phone people cannot hurt you. 

The phone rang, and the same voice answered. “Hello?”

Adelaide gulped. “Is Ian Malcolm there?”

“No.”

“Can you tell me where he is?”

“Sorry, you have the wrong number.”

Adelaide could feel the conversation ending. “Wait!” she cried, but it was too late. The man hung up.

That certainly would not be the end of her search. A multiple years long mission to find her friend would not be stamped out by some random asshole who had Ian’s phone number.

Adelaide tried again. He didn’t answer. She tried again.

This time, the man’s voice was angry. “Look, I don’t know what to tell you. I don’t know an Ian Miller-”

“-Malcolm-”

“-so stop calling this number.”

Adelaide growled in frustration, kicking the phone and stubbing her toe in the process. She dialed the number again, but received an error. The man blocked her.

She yelled even louder this time, not caring who would hear. She kicked the receiver over and over, and it only aggravated her more that it didn’t move an inch. She couldn’t even put a dent in the damn thing. Adelaide was simply too small.

***

Adelaide thought about using the phone. She hadn’t touched one in almost two decades. What was the point, if Ian wasn’t on the other end? It would only serve to disappoint her, like it did time and time and time again.

But why not, just for old time’s sake? She’d have to be much more careful, as this was a personal device, but who would suspect a tiny person was making calls from their phone?

The sound of the front door signaled an approaching Bean, and Adelaide got out of there as fast as she could, the cookie piece tucked under her arm.

Whoever that was, she ought to thank them for snapping her out of it. Some kind of nostalgia plagued her mind, because no sane borrower would try something like that knowing there was no chance of success. What a stupid, risky move.

No, Adelaide was content. She hardly thought about Ian anymore, and there was no use digging up old wounds. Plus, she had a warm, fresh sugar cookie in her hands. Who could ask for anything better? If this wasn’t the dream life, she didn’t know what was.

Adelaide really thought she picked the right hotel this time.

That’s right, hotel. She was living large. No pests, excellent food, fun trinkets to borrow off rich patrons. And she deserved it.

It took her so long to find this place. Motel after motel after hotel after school after motel. She tried a million different places, but something inevitably went wrong and she was forced to move.

The first time was absolutely her fault, and she was willing to admit it. The motel itself wasn’t too shabby, but it was the site where she was left behind. There was always some weird emotional, negative connotation with the place that she couldn’t shake, and one day, she stupidly confided in another borrower.

When the guy (whose name she couldn’t recall) asked why she went outside every day, she was hesitant to divulge her secrets. But they grew close over time and he kept pestering her and he seemed understanding…he was not. As soon as he recognized that Adelaide used to associate herself with Beans, it was over. She didn’t know him very long, but she would never forget the betrayal, the pure disgust in his eyes.

His partner was a nice guy, though. Pete, if she remembered correctly. Pete was the nicer of the two, and she overheard him defending her even when The Asshole explained her Bean situation. But Adelaide never interacted with another borrower in those walls again. Word must have spread, and they all avoided her like the plague.

After a year or so, long after she stopped going outside, a borrower went missing, and she started receiving threats. That was it. She knew better than to stick around. And she knew better than to bring up her Bean ever again. It was for the best, anyway. Every time she thought about him, it hurt.

And so, Adelaide moved on. But something was wrong with her luck. Perhaps she wasted all of the good luck early on and was cursed to find bad living situations for the rest of time. One thing or another drove her out of her home, to the point where she was very familiar with the outdoors, and could imagine she’d traveled across the whole country. 

Though, somewhere along the line, dinosaurs were added to the equation, so she almost believed she ended up in a whole different country somehow. (The California license plates on the majority of the cars proved otherwise.) Dinosaurs were on the mainland. At first, it was just an overheard, maybe misheard, Bean conversation. But then there was another one. And another one. And then Adelaide saw one in the wild for the first time. And it kept on happening. She wondered what Ian thought about that. She wondered how it even happened, and why now, after years of existence?

There was the time the motel she stayed in was sold in some Bean transaction and shortly became abandoned. It didn’t take long for the borrowers within to find new accommodations.

There was the time a motel was overrun with rats. One or two, maybe even three rats - Adelaide could fight off. It wasn’t ever fun, but she could do it. When they practically owned the place, it was simply uninhabitable.

There was the time she picked a school, not knowing it was a school. She didn’t last a week there. It all seemed good on paper, but food was harder to come by than she thought and kids were more likely to believe the tiny person they just saw was in fact a tiny person.

But sometimes adults believed it too. There was the time a Bean spotted her and reported her to the owner of the place. Luckily, she was the only borrower living there at the time, and luckily the owner thought the human was crazy. Unluckily, they subsequently sprayed for bugs.

Nearly thirty years later, Adelaide found the perfect place to settle down, and it was great timing, because she was absolutely over it. She didn’t have another move left in her. Her body ached all the time, her morale was low. She couldn’t keep it up much longer.

There were other borrowers in the hotel. She would have been surprised if there weren’t. The place was perfect.

They were all relatively nice, helping her get settled in and checking on her from time to time, but she kept her distance. Of course the borrowers were nice. There was an unspoken pact, seemingly across the board, that borrowers help other borrowers. But it wasn’t fair to drag more of them into her messed up situation, and it was for everyone’s benefit that she kept her mouth shut.

That was why the knock on Adelaide’s door caught her so off guard. Tentatively, she cracked the door open, but it was just Theo, a little girl who lived a couple rooms down. She was very sweet and brought treats over occasionally, and Adelaide would send something else right back to her family in return. She usually let the girl hang around for a while, though there was very little to do and Adelaide didn’t consider herself an interesting or talkative person, so Theo frequently got bored and left within the hour.

Today was clearly different. The girl had a panicked look in her eyes and her chest heaved from running.

“Slow down,” Adelaide said, pulling her into the small home and closing the door.

Theo shook her head and gulped. “No time. Pest control.”

Adelaide paused. “What?”

Theo took her hands, but Adelaide yanked them away. “Pest control! We have to leave! Mom sent me over and-”

“Okay, I got it. Go back home. Be with your mom. I’ll be alright.”

“But-”

“Theo, go. I’ll be right behind you guys.”

Shit.

Adelaide was so used to her cushy life. She had to have been here for nearly five years now. But as with all good things in her life, her luck turned sour and it was about to be ripped away from her. Like every other place she lived. Like her Bean. Like Ollie-

This hotel didn’t have pests, which was a major draw. But she supposed that a hotel without bugs or rodents or whatever would spray at the first sign of bugs or rodents or whatever. She absently wondered if the reported pest was actually a borrower that some idiotic Bean mistook for a bug, like the time it happened to her. If so, it made her feel a lot less stupid for her own mistake.

The only upside to moving around so much was that Adelaide had very little to take with her. She didn’t have to worry about leaving anything important behind, she didn’t have to worry about missing something. Nearly everything she owned could fit in her bag, and that which couldn’t was disposable.

Not even bothering to give the place ‘one last look’, she bolted toward the door. It was fun while it lasted, but she was never a sentimental person, even less so nowadays.

Pandemonium filled the passageways as borrowers scrambled this way and that, finding their loved ones and booking it for the nearest exit.

Some woman grabbed Adelaide by the arm and dragged her along. Startled, Adelaide wrenched her arm free but continued to follow in her footsteps. She understood that the woman was trying to get her moving, to help her along, but she had it under control, and if one more person touched her today, she would combust. Nobody was allowed to touch her. That was a rule she set up for herself after her first big move, and the itchy, burning sensation that others’ skin gave her only got worse with time.

The exit was ahead. It was where everyone was headed, and she could see the light pouring into the hole, the door no longer existent after being roughly shoved open so many times in a row.

The problem with a mass evacuation in a building with such a large borrower population was that it made them incredibly easy to spot. That was why, upon leaving, the borrowers scattered in different directions. Families stuck together, but beyond that, it was every man for themselves. If they were lucky, they’d regroup together later. If not, so be it.

Adelaide caught Theo and her parents running off in the corner of her eye. She probably should have said a proper goodbye instead of ushering Theo out the door, but it was important to get the girl back to her family. Though they were likely the closest thing Adelaide had to friends in the hotel, she knew they’d forget about her soon, and with any luck, she’d forget about them. It was best to stay unattached.

On her part, Adelaide set her sights on something most borrowers wouldn’t dream of going near: A car. Well, something like a car. It looked more like a box on wheels. A trailer, she thought it was called.

Getting into a moving vehicle with no idea where it was headed was already a bad idea. Even worse that there had to be Beans in it, which effectively meant whatever borrower climbed in was trapped with the Beans. If something went south, there was no escape. They were sitting ducks.

But Adelaide had experience hitching a ride in cars. She had to admit it wasn’t ideal, but because she spent time in them before she lost her Bean, she could fake confidence in navigating them. At least she had a general idea of how they operated and how Beans used them.

Plus, Adelaide had no preference in direction. She would go wherever the wind took her. As soon as this car-trailer-thing pulled off by another big, inhabited building, she would say her farewell.

The tricky part was getting into it. Climbing the thread was the easy part, avoiding the Beans was the hard part. The door was propped slightly open while a tall, male Bean stood next to it, leaning against the trailer itself. He busied himself studying a map. Perfect.

It was almost too easy getting inside. And, even better, it was a mess.

The trailer had a tiny interior, reminding her of the trailer back on Isla Sorna, maybe even smaller. Though, it was much less scientific and much more homey. It overflowed with stuff, and the first thing Adelaide did was find herself a hiding spot.

Good thing, too. The moment she took cover underneath a bench seat, three Beans came stomping inside. The man from outside was one. There was also a woman and a young girl. Three Beans wasn’t so bad. It wasn’t good, but it wasn’t bad.

The worst part, as always, was waiting. Adelaide had no idea where these people were headed, so it could have been a couple hours before they reached their destination, or a week. And those two extremes affected her plans dramatically.

For now, Adelaide let herself rest. She said a silent goodbye to Hotel Whatever-It-Was-Called and the borrowers who inhabited it. She hoped they made it out alright. She hoped they could go back after the dust (or poison) settled. If not, she hoped they found somewhere even better to live. She hoped the same for herself.

The Beans talked about various things that she hardly paid attention to. Her grasp on consciousness faded rapidly as the adrenaline deteriorated and exhaustion took its place. She made sure the corner she was tucked into was nice and secure before letting herself fall asleep.

Hopefully, when she woke up, they’d be at their new destination and she could start her new life. Eleventh time’s the charm.

***

Whatever the ‘charm’ was, the eleventh time was not it. In fact, these were probably her worst accommodations yet.

Adelaide awoke to the lack of sound. The engine was turned off, so the air was cold, and she couldn’t hear the Beans nearby.

Cautiously, she rolled over and pushed herself to her feet. There were two options. One was to wait by the door and leave when the coast was clear. The second was to figure out where she was.

Option one was her favorite - it was quick and easy and relatively painless - so that’s what she did, but after waiting for nearly an hour, Adelaide had to resort to option two. It seemed as though the Beans weren’t coming back any time soon.

Adelaide pulled out her hook and retreated to a cluttered corner. She stretched her stiff fingers in a halfhearted attempt to warm them up before she started her climb. The counter she threw the hook on top of was covered to the point where its surface wasn’t visible, and her ascent would be blocked by an old, fabric chair that looked like it hadn’t been used in fifty years.

She shakily pulled herself onto the counter, or at least, onto the papers stacked on the counter. After a brief climb up a mountain of what could only be described as ‘stuff’, she found herself gazing out the window.

Adelaide’s jaw dropped.

The Beans were all outside, doing their own thing, carrying wood or whatever. That wasn’t the problem. The problem was what they carried the wood toward.

A near complete cabin rose before them, made entirely of wood and surrounded by nothing but trees. Each detail Adelaide picked out was worse than the last.

The fact that the house wasn’t complete yet was the immediate red flag. The Beans looked to be working on it, and she couldn’t say she knew much about construction, but it certainly wasn’t livable.

The gorgeous autumnal landscape was pleasant to look at. Some trees shed their leaves in varying shades of green, brown, and orange, while others held onto their firs. The sun casted a warm glow on everything, but Adelaide knew better. All of those signs pointed toward winter, which meant snow, which meant cold. A mostly-complete house would not protect anyone from the cold, even Beans.

The less immediate but still plenty concerning issue was that it was a house. It wasn’t attached to anything and, though her view was admittedly limited, there didn’t seem to be another one for miles. Adelaide swore that no matter how many times she moved, she would never live in a single home. The risks were too great.

People always noticed when their stuff went missing. The difference was that in a hotel/motel/whatever, they believed it to be a lost cause. In their own home, they had all the time in the world to search, and they would.

Discovery seemed inevitable in a house, and there was a good ending and a bad ending to discovery. Bad meant capture. Bad meant she would be kept as a pet or killed or sold or something. Good meant the Beans were friendly. Good meant the Beans would let her go. She wasn’t sure which was worse. It was easy to form attachments to good Beans, and in Adelaide’s experience, attachment only led to pain.

At this age, maybe it was just better if they found her and killed her. She was tired.

But as much as Adelaide wanted to give up, there was a fighting instinct hardwired into all borrowers that refused to let them quit. She would fight for her life until she simply couldn’t anymore. Right now, that meant getting out of here.

The Beans were likely to sleep in the trailer while they built the house, which told Adelaide this was where she needed to stay. One day, they would drive into town or something, and that’s where she would disembark. Easy.

Adelaide sighed, rubbing her face. She’d never borrowed in a trailer before, but it couldn’t be much different. Her needs stayed the same. It was just a matter of finding the things that fed her needs. Water. Food. Apparently a ton of fabric, since she’d be spending a lot of time in the cold. For now, she took it as a challenge. Borrowing got boring after a while, so maybe this would spice it up. It had to. Otherwise, she’d go crazy.

***

It certainly was a challenge.

The Beans were either inside the trailer and it was warm enough to move her limbs, or the Beans were not in the trailer and the only thing she had control over was the speed of her chattering teeth.

Not once did the Beans ‘go into town’. At least, not with the trailer. An old truck parked nearby, and Adelaide debated moving her home base into it. Sometimes the Beans drove that truck away for a whole week, so there was a chance it could take her toward more habitable accommodations. In the end, she knew it was not worth the risk.

***

A particularly cold day had Adelaide shivering underneath the male human’s flannel jacket. It hadn’t been abandoned for that long and it wasn’t well hidden, but she simply couldn’t feel her purple limbs anymore. It was by far the warmest thing in the vicinity, and if Adelaide didn’t take shelter soon, she’d have died. There reached a point where capture was the infinitely less scary option, and she guessed she had reached that point.

The door to the trailer burst open. Somebody said something about moving stuff. Adelaide barely heard it, and what she did hear, she was completely unable to comprehend over the sound of her mind screaming ‘coldcoldcoldcoldcold’. Her eyelids felt heavy. She wasn’t even sure if she had toes anymore.

After what felt like hours of slamming and quaking, she was lifted into the air. Or rather, the flannel was. She was just along for the ride.

Panic was the correct response. Panic. It was not a good situation to be in. She should have panicked. So why couldn’t she?

Adelaide floated as if in a dream, feeling a calm weightlessness take over. She was vaguely aware of a new sense of heat, but it was all forgotten when she suddenly hurtled through the air at the speed of light. Like a meteor crashing to Earth, her flannel vessel made impact with something hard, and she immediately blacked out.

***

An indeterminate amount of time passed before her eyes crusted open. Her head pounded and she couldn’t see anything. She finally had some feeling in her extremities, but unfortunately that feeling was pain. It all ached. Her bones may as well have shattered - she wouldn’t have known the difference.

Muffled voices occasionally made their way to her ears. She was still wrapped up in the man’s flannel, but they were inside. She flexed her fingers again. Still numb. Still cold.

The first thing to do was find her way out of the fabric maze. Adelaide knew from experience that there was no methodical way to do so. She’d have to kick and claw until she found light.

It was an arduous, painful process. She had to take breaks every minute or so, her body frequently threatening unconsciousness if she pushed it too hard. The endless sea of fabric seemed to stretch on forever, and she had no way to know if she was digging herself further in.

Something told her to use caution around the Beans. There was a nonzero chance they saw the shifting clothing, but Adelaide simply didn’t have it in her to care.

Miraculously, light broke through. A new drive kicked in, and for a brief moment, Adelaide was able to ignore the pain. She doubled her efforts and was rewarded with her first breath of fresh air.

But that wasn’t even the hard part. She now had to get down.

From what she gathered, the Bean had tossed his jacket onto a chair. A casual, careless gesture that Adelaide herself made all the time. A casual, careless gesture that could have cost her her life. And he had no idea.

The ground was dangerously far below. Adelaide didn’t know if she would survive the fall. The longer she stared, the further the ground became. She had better jump soon, or the ground would get too far away and she would not make it, and given there was no other option, she dragged herself to the edge and…

Her hook.

The relentless fog in her mind clouded her thoughts, or at least her rational ones, and she couldn’t believe she didn’t think of her hook. She used that thing every day! To think she was about to throw herself off a mountain when her hook was right there. The fog was no longer inconvenient. It was scary.

She easily stuck the pointy end into the fabric and flexed her fingers one last time, vaguely aware of the Beans in the background. Halfway down the string, a cramp in her fingers made her gasp. She was forced to let go and, not seconds later, she crashed onto the hardwood floor.

The ringing in her ears combined with the rhythmic pounding of blood throughout her entire body created a headache-inducing symphony in her skull. Her head lolled to the side, then to the other side. Everything was triple, including the Beans off in the distance.

When she stopped seeing multiples of everything, the blurry background came into focus.

The cabin was made of wood! There were holes everywhere! And more importantly, holes leading into the walls. They were laughably close, too. It was laughably easy. All she had to do was get there.

Still only half-conscious, Adelaide dug her nails into the wooden floor and pulled with all her might, dragging her useless body along millimeters at a time. And then she did it again. And again. And again.

Her ribs were probably broken. Her fingers kept cramping, and when the cramps subsided, they ached. Each movement elicited a cough, and when she stopped to rest (which was every twenty seconds or so), her breath came in gross wheezes.

The hole was so close. Dark and inviting. Hidden from prying eyes. She could see it so clearly. Which was why, when it disappeared, Adelaide had to recalibrate. The tricks her mind played on her increased and rapidly became indistinguishable from real life.

To her right, another hole existed. She could only hope this one was real. It had to be.

It was. Mere inches away from the entrance, Adelaide collapsed, catching her breath. She leaned against the wall, her spine crying out in protest, her lungs on fire. The world beyond was a blurry haze, and for a brief moment, Adelaide was convinced she made direct eye contact with the Bean girl. Her eyes were brown. Hm.

With one last push, Adelaide dragged herself inside the walls.

It was then that Adelaide realized she was not craning her neck to draw these conclusions. All it took to see Ian’s slack-jawed expression was a slight upward tilt of her head, barely even noticeable. Either she grew, or the whole world just shrank.

They stared at each other for so long it bordered on comical.

Finally, Ian pushed himself away from leaning on the counter and took a couple steps toward her. Adelaide lifted her legs up and scooched backwards, banging her head on the cupboard above and jumping when a series of metal objects clattered to the ground. She had knocked them over in her frantic attempt to keep the distance between herself and Ian. She had accidentally knocked over pots and pans. Massive, immovable pots and pans. She looked back at Ian with panicked eyes.

“Della?” he said cautiously.

“What happened?!”

“You’re…uh……big.”

“Why - how?”

“I…,” he shook his head and blew air from his cheeks. “I could not tell you.”

It was a lot to take in for Ian as well. There were things he came to accept he would never be able to learn about her just by nature of her size, unless of course Adelaide let him use a magnifying glass, but they both knew that would never happen.

Now, he could see every fine detail. He could see that her eyes were hazel. He could see that her well-worn clothes hung awkwardly on her body, the stitching bulky and crooked. He could see a slight splash of freckles across her cheeks and faint scar on her eyebrow and the permanent rashes on her elbows. It was all fascinating, but frankly it was all too much.

He imagined it was probably worse for her, so he offered her a hand to pull her off the counter. 

Once she was on her feet, Adelaide was suddenly overcome with nausea. She was way too high up. Ian tried to pull away, but her hand remained locked in his.

Adelaide marveled at the way their hands fit together. Hers was still smaller, but the notion that her fingers could wrap around the back of his hand and vice versa, all while their palms met in the middle, was unbelievable. The thin skin, the bones and muscles underneath - it was all so moveable.

Ian cleared his throat, breaking her out of her trance. Standing this close, she still had to look way up at him, her eyes only landed somewhere around his chest, but her feet were on the floor and her eyes were nearly at the height of his chest.

“Hm. Well. You’re still short,” he said.

Feeling the tension break, Adelaide laughed and playfully shoved his chest. “Whatever.”

Ian winced, rubbing the site of impact. “And strong.”

By then, Adelaide’s attention was already elsewhere. She bent down to pick up all the kitchenware she knocked over. She placed a hand on either side of a pot and lifted it with ease, watching intently. Not five minutes ago, that pot could have been a swimming pool for her. Now…

One by one, she placed each item back where it belonged with the same reverence as the last.

Ian frowned. There were a ton of interesting facets of human life, and so many of them just opened themselves to Adelaide. None of them involved picking things up off the floor. Still, he couldn’t help the amused grin that grew on his face because of course, out of all the remarkable wonders of the world, Adelaide would find that interesting.

Once everything was in place, Adelaide knew what she wanted to do next. She raced over to the end of the kitchen, paying Ian no mind, and flicked on the lightswitch with her pointer finger. The room skewed a bit warmer, having already been illuminated by the sun outside, but she stared at the overhead fixture nonetheless. It was aglow. She turned back to the lightswitch and flicked it off. She turned back to the light. It was off. The brightness of the room was under her control, making her feel immensely powerful. She did this a couple more times, until Ian grabbed her hand in his. “I think that’s enough with the - with the lights.”

Her eyes landed on the fridge next. An inaccessible oasis full of riches beyond even the strongest borrower’s dreams. Did she dare…? Adelaide slowly wrapped her hand around the sleek, white handle and gave it a sharp tug. It was heavier than she thought, the suction of the door holding strong, but it was no match for her own newfound strength. A blast of cold air hit her face and she smiled. All the food she could ever want was at her fingertips. Her eyes zeroed in on a bowl of grapes.

They were so tiny. She picked one off the bundle and rolled it between her fingers. It suddenly gave under the pressure, exploding in her hand and dripping juice onto the floor.

“Woah,” Adelaide muttered under her breath. She put it in her mouth and munched on it while she regarded the rest of the fridge’s contents, but her attention kept returning to the grapes. An uneasy feeling snuck up on her and landed in her chest. “I was stuck in there.”

“Pardon?” Ian came up behind her.

“I was stuck in there. Before. But it’s so…I was stuck in there?!”

Ian placed his hands on Adelaide’s shoulders and she jumped. “Yeah, and I saved you from there.”

Adelaide shut the refrigerator faster than anything she’d ever done in her whole life. She had just grown around five feet and somehow, she felt smaller than ever. The spaces in between those grapes were barely visible. She could reach a finger in there maybe. And her whole body was stuck in there.

“I want to open some doors,” she decided aloud, then took off to find one.

“You want to open…you want to open doors?” Ian repeated, making sure he heard that correctly. As he followed her, he was able to confirm so. Even before he sauntered into the room, he heard the rhythmic slam of a door closing over and over again.

“You may very well have limited, precious time at this, uh, stature, and this is how you - how you choose to spend it?”

“Shut up, you wouldn’t get it,” Adelaide said, unflinching in her pursuit to open and close every single door in the house.

“I suppose not.”

Without thinking much about it, she placed her hand on the knob of the front door. Just as she saw Ian do countless times, she twisted her wrist and pulled. The door opened. The breeze hit her face. And suddenly, Adelaide faced the outside world.

Her legs wouldn’t move. The terrifying realization that she now had the whole universe within her reach only resulted in paralysis. There were too many options and she simply couldn’t think of one.

“Would you like to go outside?” Ian asked.

“No. Yes……No. I don’t know.”

“Well, let’s close the door while we - while we think about it.”

Ian laid his hand on the door to push it closed, but Adelaide stopped him. “No, let me do it!”

Ian chuckled but let her do as she demanded. Before she could race off to find some other mundane thing to marvel at, he grabbed her face in his hands. “Hey. Hey. Are you…don’t you think we should, um, figure this…out?”

Adelaide pried his hands away. “What’s to figure out? Like you said, time is precious. I want to do as many Bean things as possible.”

“Right,” Ian sighed, and in that moment he resigned himself to trailing behind her for the rest of the day while she explored the house from her new perspective.

***

“I can’t sleep in the walls…”

“This is true.”

Those were the only words exchanged about it, but as always, Adelaide’s feelings on the matter ran deeper.

It wasn’t as though she was a stranger to sleeping in odd places. On more than one occasion she fell asleep in someone’s pocket. But to stare at the walls and know her home was so close yet so inaccessible was disheartening. Even if she tried, she wouldn’t be able to fit more than a couple fingers in the entrance, and that thought alone kept her from trying. Not to mention, her bed would have just appeared as a couple fabric scraps in a dinky tin that could fit in the palm of her hand.

It was all so small now. Where she previously had vivid nightmares about having to dodge it, she could now use real silverware to eat food. She could prop up a book in her lap and turn the pages with ease. Every single thing that was once imposing and dangerous was now unimpressive. To know that she was downright terrified of some of those things - a jar, a boot, a pair of scissors - only served to make her feel extremely pathetic. That was how Ian saw the world every day. How could he not think of her as pathetic? She was pathetic.

This, combined with the inability to go home, upset Adelaide more than she would’ve liked, and those thoughts only raced harder as she tossed and turned on the couch. Even the couch felt weird, beyond its usual hard, uncomfortable nature. The fabric was too soft, the cushions gave too much under her weight.

Maybe TV would distract her from imagining her old self next to everything, sizing objects up to see how tall she would have been next to them and realizing just how tiny that actually was. But to change the channel would have required an immense amount of effort that she frankly didn’t have the energy to-

The remote was right there. She could just grab it. And press the buttons. All she had to do was extend her arm a little. Even as she did so, the action was confusing and foreign. She squinted from the sudden burst of light when the TV flicked on.

Some show she obviously didn’t recognize was on, and it immediately started to grate on her nerves. Some invisible audience kept laughing at bad jokes every ten seconds and each time it drove Adelaide closer and closer to snapping the remote. The anticipation of it made it even worse, too, knowing it was coming. Then she remembered she could change the channel.

Adelaide cycled through nonsensical TV program after nonsensical TV program. Sports, police, cowboys, more police, more shows with the invisible audience. She eventually settled on one about space with aliens and spaceships and such. It still didn’t hold her interest, but it didn’t irk her, and that was more than enough. If she was lucky, maybe it would even put her to sleep.

There was a sort of freedom that excited her though, about picking the channel. That was her TV show that she chose to watch all on her own, and that kind of privilege only came with the ability to operate the remote.

On all accounts, Adelaide considered herself her own person. She had her own thoughts and opinions and feelings and she was not afraid to voice them to Ian. But she couldn’t help wondering how many of her thoughts and opinions and feelings on certain matters were heavily influenced by him. The sheer amount of choices Adelaide made for herself today showed her just how many she regularly wasn’t making, and she didn’t even realize it.

Something as plain as picking what to watch - what other TV was out there that she didn’t know about because Ian simply didn’t feel it was good or even worthwhile? What food Adelaide ate, where she traveled, who she met…How much control did Ian have over her life and, more importantly, her perception of the world? It wasn’t that she didn’t trust him to make those choices, but the more she thought about it, the more her whole personhood threatened to crumble beneath her.

At that moment, Adelaide decided she wanted to go outside tomorrow. In the meantime, she was starving.

She pushed the blanket to the floor and wandered into the kitchen. She could reach everything.

Her go-to meal awaited her in the cupboard, and it was only when her hand closed around the package of crackers did she realize she could eat anything. Hell, she could make a whole meal.

And that’s how she found herself banging around pots and pans while she munched on an apple, searching for all the stuff she needed to make a meal. Adelaide absently thought about how she was never able to get her sensitive teeth through the thick skin of most fruit, always opting to carve into it with her knife instead. Though it still required a little effort, now her teeth easily sank into the apple, causing the sweet juice to dribble down her chin.

She wiped it away and focused on the task at hand. Adelaide didn't know how to make anything, but spaghetti seemed simple enough. The noodles had to be boiled, so she knew she needed a pot and hot water and the noodles themselves. And sauce. And she remembered liking cheese on it too.

Adelaide filled the pot with water and noodles and set it on the stove and stopped. Now what? She knew to turn one of the knobs, but which one, and how far? After testing a burner by feeling it warm up under her palms, she finally got the water to boil. Was she supposed to put the sauce in the water? Or wait until after? She was pretty sure she had to wait until after.

An indeterminate amount of time passed before Adelaide arbitrarily decided the noodles were done cooking. She dumped as much water as she could into the sink, watching a couple noodles go with it. She wasn’t sure how to help that.

They were then dumped onto a plate, the rest of the hot water spilling over the edges. Then sauce, then cheese. Adelaide smirked. She was pretty good at this.

***

Ian groggily wandered into the kitchen. As he rounded the corner, his eyes fell on the person running around and his heart stopped.

Oh, yeah. He forgot that Adelaide was a regular person now and In His House. Weird.

He opened his awareness to everything else. The smell of something burning. The scattered dishes everywhere, some dirty, some clean.

“I made breakfast,” Adelaide announced.

“No, no. You made a mess is - is what you made.”

Adelaide whipped around. Hurt flashed briefly across her face, then her eyes hardened and her body relaxed. “I’ll clean it up, don’t worry.” She began to scrape the charred remains of what looked like a couple eggs onto a plate. Most of it was hardened onto the pan. What did come off was brown and crusty, flakes spraying off in every direction.

Ian knew she would at least try to clean up after herself, but he had his reservations. It was unlikely she even knew how and, knowing Adelaide, there was a slim chance she would ask for help. Either way, he imagined he’d do most of the cleanup.

He watched her hold the fork like a spear and stab into the food. He watched her take a bite. “Is it any good?” he asked.

“Of course it is,” she said a little too quickly. Her face poorly masked her disgust. “It just needs…salt.”

Adelaide grabbed the salt shaker. In the brief second it sat upright in her grasp, she remembered that it was, or at least used to be, the exact same size as her. Was that how it felt to hold her? Was that how easy it was to move her around?

And then the second was over and she poured a mountain of salt on her something-that-resembled-eggs. She took another bite. “Mmmm,” she hummed in mock satisfaction.

Ian grabbed a fork and tried some. It was awful. “No, you’re right, it’s delicious,” he said, his level of sincerity debatable. Regardless, he threw the fork in the sink.

“I have to teach today,” he said.

“Can I come?” Adelaide felt that was the perfect opportunity to go outside. See the world. Maybe see real people. A way in, so to speak.

“I think that’s a, um, a horrible idea.” 

Ian was still deeply curious about why Adelaide suddenly grew and he was disturbed by her lack of care. He didn’t understand why she didn’t want to understand the why. The why was always important. It was also just odd to have someone in his home, especially someone with a sense of familiarity about the place. And in the back of his mind, the idea of how they’d move forward danced around. A lot of if’s. A lot of variables. A lot of questions.

If this was permanent, Adelaide would have to get used to the world. If there was a way to show it to her, this might have been it. She could sit in on classes, she wouldn’t have to talk much, and she’d get plenty of opportunities to just observe. And he’d be there the whole time in case something went wrong, which was likely. Despite it all, Ian was a bit excited to be given that responsibility.

It was hard to keep the smile off his face, and that was Adelaide’s in. She saw the cracks form before she even laid into her argument. That’s how she knew she had it in the bag.

***

Adelaide stood in the doorway, Ian a couple steps ahead of her, exasperated. “I’m going to be late. Come on. Unless…unless you want to, uh, stay?”

“No, I’m coming.” She almost floated forward, wiggling her toes in her boots. The ground beneath her feet was so smooth, so…walkable.

Ian pushed back past her to close the door. Adelaide didn’t even think to close it. When had she ever had the need to close a door? He marched back out and left Adelaide no choice but to follow. They climbed into the car, and Adelaide had to watch Ian intently as he buckled his seat belt. She repeated the motion and was proud to say that it was a success on the first try. This human stuff was easy.

***

This human stuff was not so easy.

They arrived on ‘campus’ and, for all she was worth, Adelaide could not take her eyes off the first person that walked by. Or the second. Or the third. She vaguely recalled something about staring and being rude, but it was amazing to see Bean after Bean stroll on by, all on her level, and it was even more amazing that they paid her no mind.

Only when someone caught her staring did she finally tear her eyes away. They gave her an odd look, to which she was a little embarrassed. She also couldn’t help the occasional twitch when someone passed too close, the odd flinch when someone’s eyes lingered too long.

“People are going to think - they’re gonna think I abuse you or something. Cut it out,” Ian said, and, when he studied her closer, “And uh, walk normal.”

“How do normal people walk?” Adelaide protested. Did Beans walk differently than borrowers? Why did Ian never point it out? Did he never notice because he couldn’t see her that well? How were Beans supposed to walk? She wasn't sure what she was doing wrong, though her limbs did feel awkward and heavy, and her body on the whole felt like it took up way too much space. The more she thought about it, the worse it became, until she seemed to have forgotten how to walk entirely.

Ian tried to hide his confused but amused smile. “Just like that.”

They arrived at…a building, and Adelaide raced ahead to open the door. When she smugly turned around, the person trailing behind her was not Ian. The woman walked through the door and mumbled a ‘thank you’.

Adelaide flinched when she spoke, then remembered a response was warranted. By the time she had that realization, the woman was halfway down the hallway, so Adelaide chased after her. She grabbed the woman’s shoulders and spun her around. “You’re welcome!”

Despite the self-congratulatory but genuine and friendly smile on Adelaide’s face, the woman regarded her with shock, confusion, and maybe a bit of fear. She rolled her shoulder to get Adelaide to let go then continued on her way, picking up the pace.

Ian slowly followed up, wincing. Adelaide was so awkward, it was almost unbearable. He still wasn’t sure if this was a sound idea, but that was what made it so thrilling.

***

Adelaide was instructed to sit in the back of each classroom and be quiet. This raised alarms in her head, so of course she fought Ian on it, because how dare he tell her to shut up and do nothing. But in all honesty, there was nothing to do or say.

After everything Adelaide had been through her whole life, math and chaos sounded like the least interesting things in the world. She was bored. Even the desk she sat at was infinitely more intriguing than Ian’s lecture, and so was everything else in the room that seemed to be catered exactly to her size.

Lectures and classes passed by in a haze, all blending into one another. Adelaide wasn’t sure how much time had passed before her stomach started to grumble. She realized she desperately wanted something to eat, but the bigger revelation was that she could go get something to eat, all by herself. Maybe she would try one of those vending machine things.

The grumbling got worse and worse until it was painful, until Adelaide recognized that it was not the normal pangs brought on by hunger. Those pangs were the exact same ones she felt the day before...

Adelaide abruptly stood up, her chair scraping against the tile floor and undoubtedly drawing everyone’s attention directly to her. She was too preoccupied with getting out of there to notice, and she scrambled out of the room as fast as she could. The door slammed behind her, but she was already sprinting down the hallway. She had to find somewhere safe. She had to get somewhere where she could-

A flash of white, and the world was different. It was normal.

Adelaide didn’t have time to process her feelings on the matter because she was in the middle of an expansive Bean hallway with absolutely no cover overhead. Even to get from one side to the other would have taken Adelaide a minute or two, where previously, she could’ve easily cleared it in a couple steps.

What was worse - she didn’t have her bag. It wasn’t on her person when she grew, so it remained its normal size. Finding it on the counter, so small and indistinguishable, and knowing that if she tried to retrieve the contents inside she’d break them, made her stomach churn. Adelaide gave it to Ian for safekeeping because she knew she would have either lost it or destroyed it. Ian had more experience being gentle than she did. But that meant she had absolutely no tools at her disposal. She had nothing to defend herself with. Adelaide had a sinking feeling, knowing that she was on her own.

The lights were suddenly a lot brighter, the sounds and smells around her amplified, most of which came from nearby Beans. The ground hummed with energy every time a massive foot struck the surface. Panic set in.

Adelaide's ears rang and her vision tunneled. She pumped her legs harder, looking for anything that could serve as a temporary hiding place. The world moved too fast for her to stop and analyze the pros and cons - if it looked concealed, it was good enough for her. But the hallway was endless.

The ever-present hum of the floor became more defined, turning into a faint rumble, which only grew less and less faint by the second. If Adelaide wasn’t mistaken, that indicated only one thing. A Bean was approaching. Without turning around, there was no way to tell whether it saw her and, furthermore, there was no way to tell whether it was friendly. Whatever the case, the threat of being stepped on, of being crushed into dust, remained the same. Still she pushed her legs harder.

The tiles rushed dizzyingly beneath her feet. They alternated in color - tan, brown, tan, brown - and she tried not to trip over the uneven grooves between them. Was that a piece of gum the size of her head? Gross. It didn’t matter. She couldn’t afford to get distracted.

A shoe collided with the floor directly behind her, as evidenced by the near-deafening sound and the way her whole body momentarily lost its sense of gravity. Though Adelaide was in the air for less than a second, it was enough to throw off her rhythm, so she stumbled as she came back down. That loss of speed was all it took. The next step that Bean took was headed directly for her, she was sure of it. She ran for all she was worth, and it made her sad to know it was all in vain.

Adelaide smashed into a wall that had not previously been there. Her face lit on fire from the impact, every part of it burning in pain. This had happened enough times for her to know that she ran directly into someone’s hand, and it wasn’t a reach to say she knew what would happen next.

Sure enough, Adelaide was instantly immobilized and her vision disappeared as the hand coiled around her and yanked her into the air. It was taking her somewhere, which meant she needed to get away. Now.

Adelaide kicked and screamed and kicked and screamed. She most likely wouldn’t have screamed if she was thinking straight, but her hope was that doing so would startle the Bean into dropping her or, maybe, it would alert a kinder Bean nearby that she was getting kidnapped. Though, she honestly didn’t know the extent to which the thick skin cushioning her on every side muffled her cries. Probably a lot.

If only she had stayed in the classroom. She would have been in the same predicament, but with a million more hiding places. Sure, someone may have seen her essentially disappear, but that meant Ian would have as well, and he would have known what that meant and he would have known what to do. Not that Adelaide needed him to protect her. She did kinda want him to, though.

The effort to escape only became harder with time. Whoever trapped her must have felt her wriggling around and squeezed just a little tighter to compensate. Not enough to crush her, but enough to tell her to sit still. The implication that they could go further hung in the air.

Additionally, Adelaide felt a tooth, or at least part of one, rattling around in her mouth, and with it came the taste of blood. It must have fallen out when she crashed into the hand. Her nose was also likely broken and her head spun endlessly.

A door slammed closed nearby, and Adelaide would have jumped if she had the room. There was no indication as to where she was. She couldn’t hear anything beyond the blood rushing in ears, couldn’t see anything. So far the Bean had said nothing. They suddenly unfurled their hand, and Adelaide spilled out into the center of the palm, sweaty and disoriented. Panting, she looked up to see who had her very life in their hands.

Jesus fucking Christ.

***

Ian debated following Adelaide out of the room, but if what he suspected was true, then she was going to get herself in more trouble than she could handle. He excused himself and chased after her.

His theory was practically confirmed when there was no sign of her in the long hallway. Ian let his eyes fall to the ground and, sure enough, a small speck was doing its best to make it to the other end. Adelaide was likely running as fast as she physically could, which made Ian feel a little remorseful as it took only a casual ten steps to catch up to her. He also knew that she had no idea who he was or what his intentions were, but he needed to get her out of there lest she draw anyone’s attention, so he skipped the formalities and wasted no time snatching her off the ground. He could feel her fight him and could even hear faint yelling, but he didn’t notice when his hand reflexively tightened to keep her in place.

It was irrelevant at the moment but still interesting to note that it had been exactly 24 hours since Adelaide grew. Hmm.

The nearest place Ian could find was the restroom. As soon as he was sure it was clear, he opened his hand and let her collapse into the divot at the center. The stress instantly evaporated when he saw she was fine, and even more so when she recognized it was him. She was going to give him a heart attack one of these days.

“What the hell!?” Adelaide shouted, panting in between each word. She punched the surface of his hand, even if it was a bit childish, but it was the only impactful way to show her frustration. “You scared the shit out of me!”

“Are you okay?”

Adelaide spit out her tooth fragment and held it up to him. The context clues were enough for him to know what it was, but she wondered if he could actually see it. After a moment of silence, she added, “Also, I think my nose is broken.”

Adelaide glanced around. She really was small again. It physically felt good, it felt like she had returned to normalcy, but the timing was inconvenient and the environment around her was overwhelming. Mere minutes ago, she stood eye to eye with Beans. Now those eyes were the size of her head, and a pair of them held her under their watchful gaze. Now she sat comfortably (or uncomfortably) in the palm of one of those Beans. Before, the fixtures in the bathroom were usable as intended. Now they were scalable buildings. Now the door was immovable.

Ian’s lips flattened into a thin line. “Sorry.”

Adelaide hardly heard the apology. Just the sound of his voice brought her outrage right back to front and center again. “You know not to grab!”

“You wouldn’t stop running-!”

“Maybe if you said something-”

“There wasn't time-”

“And you didn’t have to squeeze so tight-”

“Right, and let you fall-”

“I wouldn’t fall-”

“You were panicked, of course you would have-”

“It felt like I ran into a brick wall-”

“I said I was sorry-”

“And that’s supposed to make it all better-”

Ian lightly placed his finger against Adelaide’s mouth, intending to get her to stop talking, but it really covered her whole face. They were talking over each other completely at that point, wasting their breath on an argument that could be had later.

Adelaide sputtered and tried to push away the intruding finger.

“I’m uh, I’m sorry for hurting you. I’m not sorry for getting you out of there. We’ll look at your nose - we’ll look at it - at it later. I have to get back.” Ian finally pulled his finger away.

“I can look at my own nose,” Adelaide muttered. Then, louder, “Can’t we just go home?” She had seemingly run out of all available energy for the rest of the day. Maybe the rest of the week. She was exhausted and in an immense amount of pain.

“Can’t, Della. Sorry.” With the knowledge that he hurt her and could easily hurt her again in mind, Ian placed Adelaide in his pocket as gently as he could.

Adelaide clenched her jaw to prevent another outburst, but this only made the pain in her face flare up. She went from an unstoppable force to being confined in a pocket, all in a matter of minutes. She flopped down and let out the most world-weary sigh, hoping for the day to pass by as quickly as possible.

It didn’t, of course. Adelaide only became more restless and antsy as time dragged on. Even with Ian’s voice enveloping her at a near deafening level, she couldn’t bring herself to listen to it. It was boring and she was mad at him. Every time she tried to make herself more comfortable, a slight push from outside told her to sit still.

In between endless classes and meetings, Adelaide had to say something. “I cannot take this much longer,” she moaned, dragging herself to the lip of the pocket.

Ian lightly tapped her head twice, ushering her back in. There were people everywhere. “That’s what you get, um, that’s what you get for wanting to tag along.”

Miffed, Adelaide pulled herself up again. She didn’t care if there were people around. It was her choice if she wanted to be seen, not his. “How was I supposed to know this would happen?”

Ian gave her a sad look. He understood, or at least thought he did. There was no way for either of them to predict this, and it was far more unfortunate for her than it was for him. He couldn’t imagine there was much to stimulate her mind in there. “It’ll be over lickety-split. No time - no time at all. Alright?” When she didn’t respond, he nudged her side. “Alright?” When she didn’t respond, he nudged her side again. “Alright?”

“Alright,” Adelaide conceded, batting his finger away but feeling herself smile a little. Despite her sour mood, she knew he was only looking out for her, and she didn’t know what she would have done if he didn’t show up. She just had to endure a little while longer.

***

Adelaide was grateful to be back where she belonged, on the counter, 3 inches tall.

Doing human things was exciting, and a small part of her had to admit she could get used to the luxuries of living life at that size. Everything came so easily. But what would she even do as a human? Get a job? Yeah, right.

Her hiding spaces as a human would be limited too. Adelaide didn’t love being away from home and she missed her belongings and she missed climbing and she missed the freedom to retreat from the world if she got overwhelmed.

And her body just felt so big and awkward and clumsy. Her limbs were too long, her spatial awareness was off, and it felt like she took up a disproportionate amount of space. It was as if none of her body parts wanted to cooperate with one another. Though running from Ian was terrifying, she did feel lighter on her feet, like she had complete control over her body again.

But now she studied the familiar household objects with a different lens. The TV remote, the salt shaker - she saw them how Beans saw them. They were small, and they were bigger than her.

Ian must have sensed something was wrong. “You look, uh…constipated.”

Adelaide couldn’t muster the energy to send a joke back, but she framed her next sentence as lightheartedly as possible. “I know how you see me now.” She wasn’t even sad about it, per se. If anything, she was dumbfounded, in disbelief that Ian would still value her opinions, call her a friend, when she was so insignificant.

Ian exhaled for an extended amount of time. “Apologies, you’re going to have to elaborate.”

“I’m so small. I’m like…nothing. I held that salt in my hand. I know how easy it is to lift me up and carry me around. I just don’t know how you can see me as anything other than…” A doll. A pest. A thorn in his side. Something he could toss aside. Certainly not a whole person.

“We’ve uh, talked about this. You may not be exactly human, but-”

“But I haven’t seen it from your perspective before.”

“This changes things?”

“I never realized how tiny I looked. And how expansive your world is. I’m so…insignificant compared to it all.”

“You’re saying all small things are, um, insignificant, then?” He waited for a response but didn’t get one. “Because that is just objectively false. Bees, parasites, uh, technology is getting smaller by the day, our very DNA isn’t even visible but is a necessity for life. Nothing is ever insignificant, Della. The smallest things often have - they often have the greatest impact. A butterfly can flap its wings in Peking, and in Central Park you-”

“You get rain instead of sunshine. I know. Somehow your math theory doesn’t make me feel any better, though.”

“What do you want me to say?”

“That I’m right and you’ve always thought about me that way.”

Ian rested his hand on the counter. Adelaide was glad it gave her eyes something to focus on. She couldn’t hold Ian’s intense gaze for longer than a couple seconds, too nervous for his answer.

“You’re uh, you’re right. I have always thought about you that way.”

That caught Adelaide’s attention.

“That’s what you wanted,” Ian shrugged.

“I want you to be honest.”

“Well now we’re just going in circles.”

Adelaide was frustrated by Ian’s evasiveness and, for the life of her, she couldn’t figure out what he thought of her assertion. Was he lying to protect her? If so, she didn’t want to be pitied. She could handle the truth as far as he was concerned. And if he was telling the truth, then he was an irritatingly better person than her.

“Thanks for seeing me as a person, I suppose,” Adelaide mumbled, nearly inaudible by the end of her sentence. She lazily kicked her shoe at the ground.

“What was that?” Ian leaned closer.

“I’d give you a hug, but I’m no longer big enough, so…” Adelaide was joking, but she felt a weird hitch in her heart. It wasn’t so much the hug itself, probably...maybe, but the missed opportunity. How many other things did she forget to do because of her distracting excitement over doors?

“Ohhh, that shouldn’t be a problem,” Ian drawled. He snatched Adelaide off the counter and held her to his chest. Never enough pressure to hurt her, but definitely enough to keep her in place. He laughed when he felt her squirm around, trying to get out of the makeshift hug.

Adelaide felt that laugh vibrate in her bones. She should’ve just kept her mouth shut. In some ways, that just proved her point. To him, she was just a doll that he could whisk away whenever he wanted. But underneath all the teasing was something more.

Being a giant showed Adelaide just how strong, loud, and fast Beans could be. She therefore understood even better how much Ian restrained himself on a daily basis, keeping his movements (relatively) slow, his grip (relatively) gentle, and his voice (relatively) quiet. He made adjustments for her that could only be interpreted as signs of care and respect.

So even though he crossed her boundaries from time to time, it wasn’t because he thought less of her. With that in mind, Adelaide forced herself to relax, feeling Ian’s heartbeat through the coarse fabric of his shirt and letting him take her wherever.