Iron Wolf

Chapter 15~ Emotional Egging

Melody's POV

"Are you satisfied now?" I asked as the three of us walked down the street.

"The sandwich was fair, the spring was a little rusty, the rest of the materials, I'll make do. By the way, when you said your sister had a watch, I was kinda hoping for something a little more than that," Dad replied, pushing his sleeve up to show the Dora watch he was now wearing.

"So, not happy?" I asked.

"She's six! Anyway, it's limited edition. When can we talk about New York?" Harley asked. I knew he wasn't going to get any answers, but I kind of wanted to know too. What had happened?

"Maybe never, relax about it."

"What about The Avengers, can you talk about them?"

"Yeah, dad, do tell," I said and Dad glared at me. So there was no way he was saying anything now. I could always invite myself inside his mind, but we had a rule against mind-reading for my own gain. But I was worried. Things had been different since I'd returned from my last visit with my mother.

"I don't know, later. Hey kid, give me a little space," Dad said and I sighed. It was looking like I'd have to break our rule. I was fairly confident the punishment would be worth it. We stopped walking and I could see the remains of the local explosion site that we had come to investigate. All around us I could feel the death and desperation. I shivered, trying o shake it off. I hated the feeling.

"What's the official story here? What happened?" Dad asked Harley.

"I guess this guy named Chad Davis, used to live roundabouts, won a bunch of medals in the army. One day, folks said he went crazy and made, you know, a bomb. Then he blew himself up right here," Harley replied, getting into his storytelling.

"Six people died, right?" I asked.

"Yeah," Harley replied.

"Including Chad Davis?" Dad questioned and I knew where he was going with this. There weren't enough shadows for all who had died. Something else had happened.

"Yeah."

"Yeah. That doesn't make sense," Dad said as we took a seat on the sidewalk. "Think about it. Six dead, only five shadows."

"Yeah, people said these shadows are like the mark of souls gone to Heaven. Except the bomb guy, he went to Hell on account of he didn't get a shadow. That's why there's only five," Harley told us. And while I could understand why children would believe that, any adult who understood any tiny piece of science should know that was not the case and something else had happened here, even if they couldn't figure out what. This should be a local mystery that all the residents were trying to solve.

"Do you buy that?" Dad asked, his eyes meeting mine. He must have had the same thoughts I had.

"That's what everyone says. You know what this crater reminds me of?" Harley asked.

"No idea. I'm not...I don't care," Dad answered and I scoffed. For someone so smart, it always surprised me that Dad had a one-track mind.

"That giant wormhole, in um...in New York. Does it remind you?"

"Wormhole? What wormhole?" I asked.

"That's manipulative. I don't want to talk about it. And don't worry about it, Melody. It's over and done," Dad said and I felt my body tense up. Dad almost never called me by my actual name.

"Are they coming back? The aliens?" Harley asked, not sensing the tension. Or maybe he did and he just didn't care. How could I know, since I wasn't allowed to be a mind reader?

"One's sitting right next to you, Kiddo," I told him and his eyes widened.

"Maybe. Can you stop? Remember when I told you, that I have an anxiety issue?" Dad said, and that's when I noticed Dad's increased heart rate. He was having an anxiety attack. I needed... I needed to get him home. Home, in California, thousands of miles away. Or home, in New York, also thousands of miles away. What if we never made it home? What if we never fixed this? What if we were stuck here forever?

"Does this subject make you...make you edgy?" The boy asked.

"Yeah, a little bit. Can I just catch my breath for a second? Is she ok?" Dad asked, pointing to me. I hadn't moved, my eyes wide and my breath becoming shallow. I was locked in place and there was pressure over my chest.

"Are there bad guys in Rose Hills? Do you...do you need a plastic bag to breathe into? Do you have medication?" Harley kept going, triggering both mine and Dad's anxiety attacks.

"Nope," Dad answered.

"Do you need to be on it?"

"Probably," Dad replied, and he had a point.

"Do you have PTSD?"

"I don't think so. But she does. Seriously, is she ok?"

"Are you...are you going completely mental? I can stop, do you want me to stop? Do you want me to stop?" Harley asked, being a little dick now.

"Remember when I said to stop doing that? I swear to God, you're going to freak me out! Ah man, you did it, didn't you? You happy now?"

"What did I say?" Harley asked ad Dad started running off and Harley ran after him. "Hey, wait up! Wait, wait. What the hell was that?"

Tony held his face in his hands for a moment and then threw some snow at Harley.

"Your fault, you spazzed me out. Okay, back to business. Where were we? The guy who died...relatives? Mom? Mrs. Davis, where is she?"

"Where she always is."

"See, now you're being helpful. Hey, where is Tails?"

"Who?"

"Tails. My daughter. Melody," Dad said.

"I don't know. I thought she was right behind us."

"Tails? Where are you, sweetie?" Dad called and if I wasn't stuck in my own panic, I would have snorted at his incompetence. But as it were, that just scared me even more. Eventually, his eyes met mine and he knew. He jogged back to me and grabbed my hands.

"Breath, Tails. Breath. It's ok, sweetheart."

"Is she ok?" Harley asked.

"She'll be fine. She's the strongest person I know. NOw come on sweetie. Long deep breaths, ok?"

"Ok," I said, my voice shaky. Eventually, my breathing got under control.

"Better?" Dad asked and I nodded. "Great. Now let's finish this and go home," Dad smiled softly.