Nikki's teeth as she turned to her sister.
`Whatever!' Mason snapped. The mood hardened. Renee glared at Mason. `Nikki's agreed, so let's get on with it.'
Ruth stomped on his foot but failed to make an impression. He didn't flinch. `Mason, you said you would try.'
`I am.' He waved a hand at Renee, `but she's obviously not going to do it, which suits me fine. She's a brat who thinks she's above us.'
`A brat!' Renee slapped her hand over her sister's. `Better a brat than a freak.'
Ruth squashed the smile threatening to form. Mason was helping, in his own way.
`Okay, we've been sucked back in time. Seen ourselves dying again, met Gaia and now made up with the freaky sisters,' Wilson muttered loud enough for all to hear.
Ruth closed her eyes for a second, her own temper itching at the distrust around her.
`Oh,' Nikki gasped.
Ruth saw a warm, soft fire flick across Gaia and onto their hands.
`Nice,' Wilson said.
Ruth watched it touch her, then Mason.
`What's it supposed to—' Nikki buckled at the knees and Renee caught her. `Holy shit!'
Ruth tensed as the fire surged, making every part of her tingle. Then it was gone.
`Cool. Really weird, but cool.' Wilson looked at his hand.
Mason did the same.
Ruth swallowed. She felt hot, very hot. `Is it me or is it, um, hot?'
Mason put his arm around her again. `Welcome to my world.'
`Mum, Dad!'
Gaia now stood encased in a blue energy.
`This is what she wants us to see.' Ruth watched, colours and scents washing over her. The sisters glowed from the glare off Gaia. The ground hummed underfoot and Gaia turned to look down at the family, the other version of them, frozen in time.
`This is going to hurt.' Mason's grip tightened. She felt Wilson's hand on her shoulder.
Gaia knelt. `Be strong and follow your instincts and heart, my child.' She drove her glowing arms deep into the dying family.
`She's part of us.'
Ruth watched the torrents of energy poured from Gaia. Into Mason, with his chest torn open. Into Wilson, who'd been shot in the back trying to rescue them. Into her own cowering body. She knew then how they had survived. Not through a miracle, but by Gaia's life energy flowing into them.
Renee screamed as the ground heaved. Nikki staggered and fell. Lightning streaked above them and shattered the air.
The world around them began to shift and break apart. Mason held her, but it was the fear on Renee's face that made her act.
`Help them!' Ruth tried to push Mason's arms off, but the pressure was too much. The ground began to melt away. `Mason, help them!'
He tensed. She pushed again and then he was gone, moving unhindered through the chaos, his shape visible through the swirling debris.
`Let him help!' she yelled as he offered his hands to the sisters. `Please, trust me. Let him help.'
The world began to fold in and cold raced towards her. The sisters were not connected, as her family was, to Gaia.
`Dad, it's coming.'
A wave of icy darkness bore down on them. Ruth froze.
Mason glanced back, his face overshadowed by another. Something darker than Butcher, something thriving on the chaos, the thing she knew Gaia had warned her about: what he could become.
Nikki lunged for his hand. Ruth trembled as the shadow vanished from him. The last image in her mind as the cold darkness crashed down was Mason grabbing Renee.
CHAPTER 6
Wilson stirred, tongue thick in his mouth. Light seeped in through his eyelids. A shape stood nearby. Wilson let his mother go and stood up. They were back in the clearing. Mason stood over the sisters lying on the forest floor.
`Dad?' Wilson's breath caught in his throat. His father's face was hard, creased in a frown. `You okay?'
Mason looked at him, black-eyed. `Not sure,' he muttered.
`Your face… When it's like that, is that him? Butcher?'
Mason's eyes returned to normal and his face softened. `Did it look like me?' Mason touched his own face.
`No.' Wilson stood up, careful of his mother's legs. `It's kind of alien. Hard. I don't like it.'
`Sorry,' Mason smiled, but did not move, and Wilson could feel something was wrong. He'd always been able to sense his father's mood, even before—
`The freaky sisters, are they a problem?'
`Maybe.' Mason shrugged and shuffled back. `I can't tell any more. I always could see danger but now...'
Wilson watched his father frown again, without the anger.
`Is it like that? You can sense things from the Unnaturals? Like danger?'
`Yes, mostly.' Mason rubbed his nose hard with a finger.
Wilson wanted to smile at seeing his father's old habits reassert themselves.
`Mum seems to like them.' He spoke quietly as Ruth stirred. `Back there with Gaia, Mum was in control. She had a power. Are we really going to be friends with them?' He couldn't quite believe what had happened.
`I wasn't involved in whatever passed between your mother and Gaia.' Mason looked from Ruth to the sisters. `But I trust her, Wilson. We have to. There are some things I can't see that she can.'
`Clear as mud.' Wilson shrugged. `But I'm not hanging around for round two when they wake up. Sally's here and I need to be with her. Since they aren't a problem, I'll go.' He caught sight of his pistol and picked it up. `I don't want Sally to worry or think I'm too clingy with you back. She thinks it's sweet I came to check up on you.'
`Yeah, sweet,' Mason drawled. `Go take good care of her, Wil. We'll be right. Enjoy your time here. If anything serious pops up it won't be hard to find you.'
`That's nice. So if I see you, it means the shit has hit the fan?' He waited as his father opened and closed his mouth, struggling. `Look, how about me and Sal drop by on our way out for dinner? We can say hi and have a conversation like normal people.'
`Good plan.' Mason smiled at him. `It would be nice to meet Sally again.'
`There you go, Dad, normal conversation.' He grinned back and winked as he began to leave. `Try to stay out of trouble, will you?'
`I'm supposed to say that to you.'
Wilson
