Prologue

  Emily sat back in her chair, arms stretched above her head as she let out an audible yawn. The lights in her small office were dimmed, the blinds shut to minimize any unnecessary luminescence. Today had been long and arduous; she had vaccinated eighteen animals and had to put down two dogs during her shift. The patients were always easy. It was the owners who caused her headaches. Emily looked at the pile of paperwork on her desk, knowing it would have to be taken care of tomorrow. She sighed. Having worked ten years as a veterinarian, she thought this job would get easier, but she had done her best to avoid a calloused or uncaring nature. She saw each animal coming into her care as though they were her own. She gave those animals the best treatment she could. She helped owners make the best decisions possible for their pets.

  As Emily looked up at the clock, it was five minutes until eight in the evening. Finally, her shift would be over. Tonight was going to be a night filled with mindless television, a tub of ice cream and some much needed beauty sleep. Seemingly denying the veterinarian of her daydreams, the faint sound of the phone rang out at the receptionist’s desk. Arnold’s loud, deep voice echoed through the hallway, letting Emily vaguely make out the word ‘transfer’ through his conversation. She closed her eyes and gave a silent prayer. Though Emily hoped she didn’t hear what she almost certainly had, her hopes crumbled as the phone on her desk started to ring. Begrudgingly, she sat up, eyes remaining closed as she reached for the phone. Slowly grabbing it, she paused for a moment before holding it to her ear.

  “Arnold, you know my shift is ending, right?”

  Arnold cleared his throat, “yeah, sorry…but someone by the name of ‘John’ is saying that they wanted to speak with you specifically about something.”

  Emily looked up at the clock again. It was two minutes until her shift was over… she was still on call. She took another deep breath, composed herself, and prepared a more customer facing tone to her voice before she responded, “...patch him through then.”

  Emily shook the mouse sitting on her desk, which brought the monitor to life in turn. Only a moment after, her phone clicked, and the caller connected.

  “Emily Roberts? Is that you?” Said a man on the other end.

  He spoke quickly and sounded anxious. Already, Emily’s mind had jumped to the thought of an emergency–something not terribly uncommon in her field, but it was strange he had asked for her by name.

  “Yes, that’s me, do you need help? I’m about to finish my shift but my replacement should be in…” she was cut off as he interrupted.

  “Emily, it’s me, John Evans. We went to high school together. I-I found this number and I didn’t know who else I should call…I need your help and you’re the closest person I can trust. Can you come to my house? I’m a forty minute drive away from you and I just…”

  He paused. He was speaking quickly, his voice was shaking and he was clearly upset.

  “...I need your help.”

  Emily was at a loss for words.

  John Evans…

  The vet tried her best to remember him. Sure, he’d said they went to high school together, but that part of her life was over seven years ago.

  Why is he calling me…

  She typed John’s name into the computer to see if there was any affiliation between him and the clinic where she worked.

  “John, right…I think I remember you?” She asked, not entirely sure if she did recall him. “You’re putting me in kind of a weird spot here. Why are you calling me? What is it I can do? Can you come down here instead? We’re not really supposed to go on-call without an appointment…” Her eyes glanced towards the clock on her computer, scowling in mild frustration, “...and now that my shift is over, I should be walking out the door.”

  At this point, Emily had finished searching for John in the database. Nothing had come up; he wasn't a past client.

  John cleared his throat. “Emily please, I’m not asking as a customer, I'm asking as a friend. I need your help and I don’t have anyone else I can ask. This is…” He paused, stammering for a moment before continuing, “this isn’t something I can talk about over the phone…but please, as a friend, I’m asking you for your help. I promise you’ll understand.”

  Emily put her elbow to the desk, hand on her forehead. Her thumb and middle finger massaged her temples as she tried to process everything. She closed her eyes as she thought about what he was asking her to do. John had always been a straightforward, honest person, if mostly quiet. Emily was trying to remember any other details about him, but she was drawing a blank. She couldn’t remember much, but she knew John wouldn’t be calling her like this if he didn’t have a good reason, whatever that reason may be.

  “Okay just…” She sighed, frustrated at herself for the destruction of her plan to relax tonight, “...just give me your address and I’ll be there soon. Is there anything I should bring with me for…whatever–?” She finished weakly, half-exhausted, half-annoyed.

  John responded immediately, cutting off the last of her question, “yes, yes, uh… take whatever you’d usually bring to figure out what’s wrong with an animal…and please get here as soon as you can!”

  John hastily gave out his address as Emily typed it into the computer. Once she had the directions, she took a breath and attempted to clarify once again.

  “So what animal is…”

  Emily didn’t get to finish her sentence as John hung up the phone, leaving the vet with a dial tone in her ear.

  She set the phone back down and looked up at the clock. Her shift had ended five minutes ago. She should have been halfway home by now, ready for a quiet night of well-deserved rest and relaxation. Instead, she looked at her computer, scanning the entire route: forty-five minutes, and way out in the middle of nowhere. Emily laid her head on the desk, taking a few long, deep breaths as she tried to compose herself. The strange phone call, the fact she was considering going out alone at night, meeting a near stranger in the woods…the more Emily thought about it, the more nervous she got.

  Reluctantly standing up from her desk, Emily picked up a big, black duffel bag–her “Emergency Kit”. It was designed to have utility for every situation, and it had served its purpose many times when she had been called to help animal control or with immediate emergencies. Still, the person with said emergency would usually at least tell her what the problem was beforehand.

  The door slowly swung shut behind the vet as she left her office, making her way down the hall and past Arnold's desk. As she rounded the corner, the receptionist looked down at the duffel bag, then back up to her with a confused look on his face.

  “Your shift is over, we can send Drew out if it's an emergency.”

  “This is for a friend, personal mission I guess.” Pausing for a moment, she asked, “hey, can you still track me on your phone?”

  Thankful she’d remembered, Emily watched Arnold as he pulled out his phone, opened up the map and held it out. Sure enough, Emily’s icon was there with a GPS location marked on it.

  “Perfect.” Emily responded as she hoisted the duffel bag up onto her shoulder. “If you don’t see me tomorrow, find me.”

  Arnold raised an eyebrow.

  “Don’t give me that look. I’m making sure you can find me, just in case. See you tomorrow.”

  Despite her coworker’s intention to ask her exactly what was going on, Emily simply turned around and headed through the front door before he was given any chance. The cold winter air hit her in an instant as her body shuddered. As she pushed forward through the frigid temperatures, Emily continued across the parking lot. Snow crunched underneath her feet from the recent storm. She felt Arnold’s disapproving look as the veterinarian reached her vehicle, but her determination was enough to convince her not to look back at him. She got into her car, started it up, and slowly left the parking lot.

  ***

  Emily squinted at the house numbers as she traveled along the road. The sun had long since disappeared, and with night vision as poor as hers, Emily knew she’d have to be careful not to pass her destination. The entire drive, despite having felt like hours, merely gave her more time to mull her situation over again and again. By now, she was feeling like a pushover for agreeing to this house call, especially since she still had no idea what she was about to see.

  “...should’ve just said ‘no’...would have been in bed eating ice cream by now…” She muttered to herself.

  With no side streets or road signs for the past half a mile, Emily was officially in the middle of nowhere. The mountain road was cracked and crumbled all over from the weather changes and years of erosion. Even with a slower speed, her car was taking a beating from all the potholes and bumps. Finally, mercifully, a house number came into view on her right. It led to a dirt road, one seemingly more fit for a tractor than a car.

  Does John live on a farm or something?

  Usually farmers were self-sufficient with their animals. It would be far too expensive to call a vet to make a house call all the way out here for every problem a farm had. Emily turned onto the dirt path, keeping her car’s pace slow the moment she saw the state of the snowy dirt in front of her. This road–if it could be called that–looked as if it had barely been used. The weather had taken quite a toll over the years as well. She looked back down at her phone for a split second. Only one bar flickered on the bright screen, but it would still be enough for a phone call…or, if things got worse, enough to update her GPS location for Arnold. As the thought crossed her mind, her heart started beating faster.

  This is so stupid. Nothing about this situation is safe, and I’m just walking right into it.

  Despite her mind continuing to protest this idea, Emily continued down the road. Skepticism aside, she was never one to turn down an adventure. Admittedly, it was the most interesting thing to happen to her all year. She brought the car to a stop the moment she spotted a figure standing down the road. Flipping on her high beams, the vet saw the silhouette of a large man about fifty yards away. He was walking towards her at a brisk pace. If she planned on backing out of this mission, now would be the last chance she’d get.

  Emily rolled down the window of her car, leaned out the window and yelled, “John?!”

  It was less of a question and more of a test to see if she should make herself scarce. Prepared for the worst, she put the car in reverse, turning her upper half to look backwards in an attempt to see exactly how easy an escape could be. As she turned back around, she got a clearer view of the person’s features. This man was definitely John. A flood of memories suddenly rushed back to her: sitting next to him in math class, studying together with a group of other students, brief conversations together at their graduation. Emily hadn’t really considered him a “friend”, more like an “acquaintance”...so why did he call her, of all people?

  John approached the car on the passenger side and stood back enough to let Emily roll down the window a little. It wasn’t enough for him to be able to reach inside of her vehicle, but it would be enough for them to talk. John’s chest rose and fell as he attempted to catch his breath.

  “Hey,” Emily said, giving him a chance to regain some composure, “I’ll be honest. You’re really freaking me out right now, and if you don’t start explaining soon, I’m getting out of here.” Even she could only handle so much.

  As she spoke, however, the vet got a good look at him while he stood outside the locked door. He had large bags under his eyes as if he hadn’t slept in days, and his face was a sickly pale hue. It was a look Emily had seen many times from countless pet owners. It was a look of desperation–of lost hope. It was the same look clients would give her as they placed their dying dog down on her exam table after it was hit by a car.

  His eyes said the same thing as his lips: “Please…”.

  In that moment, every thought of John being any sort of threat vanished. Emily unlocked the car’s door to let him inside her vehicle. He plopped gently into the seat and looked over at her, his breaths finally stabilized.

  “John…what happened?” Emily gingerly asked while putting the car back into drive, continuing a bit faster now down the path.

  “She’s dying. I don’t know what happened…I’ve been trying, but nothing works.” He paused for a brief moment. “I feed her, I give her whatever food I can find…nothing.” His hands shook as he continued, voice cracked and dry, “I don’t know what else to do…and I don’t want to lose her.”

  “She?” Emily asked.

  It wasn’t uncommon for owners to be attached to their animals–they were members of the family, after all–but something about the way John described it… “John, if someone is in trouble, you should have called a doctor. You know that I’m a vet, right? I can call–”

  “No!” He exclaimed, making Emily jump a bit in her seat. “I mean…I’m sorry. She’s not a person. She’s an animal I found two weeks ago, up in the mountains. I’m trying my best, but I can’t show her to anyone I don’t trust.” He gave a light sigh, attempting to calm himself. “I can trust you, though. You’re the only vet I could find that I personally knew. I remembered you said you wanted to work with animals. Just…you’ll understand when you see her.”

  Although Emily could feel him looking at her, she had to keep focused on driving along the dirt path. Now about half a mile away from the road, the trees started decreasing in number. The warm, gentle glow of a farmhouse’s lights came into vision, soon followed by the building itself.

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  “John, I’m trying to work with you here…” Emily said softly, “...but you’re sounding a little crazy. You found a random animal out in the woods and then brought it back to your house? What is it, anyway?”

  “I have no idea.” He said.

  Not the answer she wanted to hear, but as Emily took a quick glance over to the passenger seat, Emily saw his hand tightly clenching the grab bar above his head, his grip nearly as pale as his face. She decided it best not to press any further on the subject. It was pretty clear John wasn’t able to think coherently right now. The car slowly rolled to a stop as they pulled up to the farmhouse. Before it had even stopped, John had practically thrown himself out of the car.

  It wasn’t often Emily made any calls to a farm, but the smell was both familiar and unmistakable. By the time she had pulled her keys out of the ignition and grabbed her emergency kit from the back seat, he was looking back at her expectantly while standing on the front porch. The vet approached as John leaned forward to open the door.

  “Wait.” She stopped him, walking up the stairs.

  Annoyed, but still willing to listen, he did so.

  “Don’t go in yet. You said this animal is sick, right?”

  John nodded as Emily unzipped one of the outside pockets of the duffle bag and pulled out two pairs of rubber gloves and face masks. Wordlessly, she handed John one pair of each of the objects before she put her own equipment onto her face and hands.

  “Before we go in, this animal isn’t dangerous, right?” She asked.

  John shook his head, then opened the door and walked inside. It seemed he was still the quiet type. The house seemed to be a typical farm house, and a particularly rustic one. It definitely fit John’s personality to own a secluded property and cozy, if solitary, home. Despite the dull glow from the outside, the house was well lit. The floor was cluttered with various instruments: newspapers, pots, pans, and a half-empty bottle of water, all of which surrounded the couch towards the back of the living room. On the couch itself was a blanket with a lump underneath it.

  That must be it.

  Emily wasn’t too thrilled about a sick animal, whatever it was, being kept on a couch rather than a cage. Still, she approached reluctantly and placed the emergency kit on the ground. Curiously and carefully, Emily reached for the blanket, but was stopped by John grabbing her hand. She looked over at him, noting his nervous expression.

  “You can’t tell anyone about this, okay?”

  Something in his eyes quickly convinced her as she nodded. It was important to him…whatever it was. Slowly, he let Emily’s hand go, and she pulled the blanket off. Initially, all she saw was a blob of black fur, but as she pulled more of the cover free from its form, the more she realized it was much longer than she expected. The vet pulled out a pen light from her kit, getting a closer look. The animal's fur was a very dark brown, rather than black, and the shape seemed to resemble an otter. However, it was far too large to be an otter, and beyond the size difference, its fur was the wrong color and the shape of its frame was too thin. The creature rested on its back, the weight pressing the cushions down…far more than expected, given its size. Emily looked over the creature’s face. Its eyes were closed as its chest rose and fell, breathing gently through its black, dog-like nose. The shape of its ears looked rather canine as well, not unlike a husky.

  “...so where did you say you found this thing?” She finally asked, her eyes still taking in any details.

  John pulled up a chair next to Emily. His gaze never left the scene.

  “About two weeks ago, during that big snowstorm. I’d been camping and was making my way about to the house when I found her out in the snow.”

  “Was she conscious? Moving at all?” She asked, “or has she been like this since you found her?”

  Emily pressed her hand into the creature’s chest. It felt dense, yet the fur’s texture was also soft, even through her gloves.

  John gave a small sigh. “She wasn’t moving when I found her, but after I brought her here, she started to wake up. After that, she’d been eating a lot of stuff around here, but after a few days, she just kept getting worse.”

  Emily paused for a moment, looking up at him. “So you’re saying this thing was moving around here freely…a wild animal, and you had no idea what it was…and you called me two weeks later?”

  Rather than answer immediately, he reached over, grabbing the creature’s paw and holding it up for Emily to see: three large fingers and one thumb. “I was afraid of what people would do if they found out.”

  His other hand reached out, thumb pressing into one of the creature’s digits and spreading it apart. They were two independent digits, appearing to be a single one in a relaxed state. The odd sight got Emily’s attention, her eyes widening. She tried the same motion with the creature’s other digits. It had six fingers total, with no discernible change to the thumb when checked.

  “Six fingers, one thumb…” Emily repeated, mostly to herself. “I’ve never heard or seen anything like this animal.”

  “We can figure that out later.” John responded, tucking the creature’s paw back up against its side, “right now I need you to figure out what’s wrong with her.”

  The professional in her resurfaced quickly. “Right! Sorry, this…is a lot to take in. Right.” She took a deep breath. “I’m not sure what I can do here, but let’s see…hmm…”

  Emily looked through her bag, trying to figure out where to even begin her exam. Well, she had to start somewhere. With the small flashlight still in hand, Emily brought it up to the creature’s face, turning the device’s switch to the ‘on’ position. As gently as she could manage, she used her thumb to carefully push its eyelid open. They were abnormally large eyes, taking up far more of its face than she’d expected. Thankfully, the sclera was white, as expected.

  The creature’s iris took up the majority of its eye, with a pronounced bulge along the lens. She shined the light directly into its eye for a moment, the massive pupil dilating. Emily stared at it for a brief moment, noticing the pupil reflecting the light back…but rather than one color, it seemed to shine an array of colors back at her. It reminded her of burnt metal reflecting multiple colors along its surface. Unlike metal, however, the colors weren’t fixed in place. The pupil suddenly shrank down, forming a smaller hole in which Emily could only see black. With more room to examine the iris, the vet could see the hazel hue of the creature’s eye.

  Whatever it was, between the breathing and reaction to light, it was definitely still alive. She gently released the eyelid, letting it slide shut. Emily went back into her bag, putting her light away and rummaging around until she pulled out a mercury thermometer. With her free hand, she pulled the creature’s lips back, opening its jaw while keeping her fingers out of harm’s way. Its mouth seemed mostly normal: a few sharp, white teeth jutting out from the black gums, as well as a dark grey tongue. Emily placed the thermometer between the outer edge of its teeth and cheek, closing the creature’s mouth around the device.

  Turning to John, she gave him her honest opinion. “I’m not really sure what I can do for you here. I don’t really know what I’m looking for, so there’s no way I could know what’s wrong. I mean…look at it,” She gestured to the sleeping animal, “I’ve never seen anything like this before. I wouldn’t even know the diet it needs.”

  John sighed, sitting back in his chair and looking at the ceiling sadly for a few moments. “I just…thought you’d maybe be able to help.” He paused. “I’m sorry for bringing you out here. I didn’t know what else to do.”

  He stood up and walked into the kitchen, leaving Emily alone with her most recent patient. As she looked back down, she noticed the creature sniffing weakly at the air. With a quick glance toward the thermometer, Emily pulled the device back out to see it at one hundred and six degrees. It was a normal temperature for smaller animals; probably nothing to worry about. Whatever the problem was, it didn’t seem to be getting better. She draped the blanket back over it, leaving only its face out in the open for air.

  John was busy boiling a pot of water as Emily walked into the kitchen. She took a seat at the empty wooden chair, hands clasped together as she rested her elbows on the table. It was hard not to look at him with guilt. She felt as if she’d let him down.

  “So…” She trailed off.

  John knew she wanted to know more. He stared at the pot, watching the steam rising from the water. His gaze never faltered as he broke the silence.

  “Do you remember the explosion two weeks ago?”

  Emily nodded. “My neighbor’s window got blown out from the sound.” She winced. “It was a mess. Snow got all over his living room. I thought it was lightning at first, but it turned out half of Denver heard it. The news is saying it was a small comet. I remember something like that happening in Russia when I was a kid. Too bad it was during a blizzard. That must have been quite a sight to see.”

  John nodded. “I was camping up near Sheep Nose.”

  “During a blizzard?” She asked. “Isn’t that dangerous?”

  John shrugged, “I love how quiet it is in the woods when it’s snowing. It’s something I’ve always loved about the winter.”

  Emily nodded, not fully understanding. She was the type to always stay inside when the weather took a turn for the worse.

  “I heard a loud crash. It sounded like some trees had fallen down. It scared me half to death, but I left the tent and headed in the direction of the noise.”

  John picked up the pot, now fully boiling. He poured two cups of water before he looked back at Emily. She was sitting patiently, listening to every word.

  “When I got up near the rocks I found, you know…” John leaned his head in the direction of the living room. “...she was laying face down in the snow.”

  The tired man sat down at the table, passing Emily a cup of tea and watching her expression intently, unsure of how she would react. The vet looked down at the tea, eyes lost in the gentle swirl of the water. Some of the pieces were coming together. Whatever that creature was, it was foreign to her. Still, with the explosion occurring during the blizzard, it would make it hard to see or hear what direction the object had fallen. The only person who could locate the impact was the person closest to it–the person sitting across from her. Emily looked up to see John, who was waiting for her response.

  She cleared her throat. After hearing the story, and reasoning he’d have no reason to lie for this long, she had to ask. “So what happened after you found her? You said she wasn’t awake earlier…and she didn’t talk or make any noises?”

  John shook his head. “Not at first. The storm was getting worse and I didn’t know what to do besides getting her somewhere warm. I picked her up and carried her back here. It was about five miles, but it sure felt like a lot more. She probably weighs about sixty pounds.”

  Emily blinked as John took a drink from his cup. Bizarre, but it did explain why the creature seemed to sink into the couch cushions more than expected.

  “Based on how big she is, she shouldn’t be more than about thirty.”

  It wasn’t accusatory, merely an observation. John nodded to show he understood.

  “She’s a lot heavier than she looks. I knew the moment I picked her up that there was something strange about her.” He paused, letting Emily take a sip as he debated how to continue, “I wasn’t sure what to do after I got home. She was so weak and the phones were out. The only reason I had electricity was because of my generator. I laid her in front of the fireplace and took her clothing off since it was soaked…”

  “She had clothes?” Emily asked, interrupting him. “Can I see them?”

  John blinked, then pointed up to the nearby doorway where they were hung. Hoping to get any more info on her patient, Emily grabbed them and brought them back to the table. They were a matching pair, both articles white with black trim. The shirt had a long opening on the front, and the pants were oddly shaped as well. Although the material was smooth and woven, it felt almost plastic to the touch. Inspecting the shirt further, the trimming had small, hexagonal patterns in the stitching and a prominent white patch on the shoulder. Aside from the fact the pants needed to accommodate for a tail, they didn’t look too alien.

  Still looking at the cloth, she gently asked John again, just to be certain: “Why didn’t you tell anyone about this?”

  “I was going to…” He muttered quietly, putting his free hand to his forehead and trying to recall what he’d done. “So much was happening all at once. I was exhausted, didn’t know what to do, couldn’t contact anyone…couldn’t leave the house. I just sat in the living room with her all night, just watching her.”

  With the last few hours John experienced during the blizzard, Emily could hardly blame him. An unknown creature and no way to get any assistance…maybe keeping an eye on her was the best thing he could have done. The vet placed the clothing back down on the table.

  “...but she woke up.” She finished, reaffirming his earlier statement.

  For the first time since Emily had seen him, John smiled. “She woke up.” He repeated. “It was around noon by the time she was awake, walking around and touching everything. She looked excited to see everything she could find. I just sat there on the couch…heck, she didn’t even seem to notice me at first.”

  While Emily leaned back in her seat, she peered out into the living room. The creature was still fast asleep, unmoved from her spot. Unsure what to ask, she went with the first thing on her mind.

  “Did she speak?”

  Though she felt foolish for asking, to her surprise, John nodded. “She made sounds, but it didn’t sound like any sort of language. Not at first, anyway. Every time she saw certain things, she would make the same sounds…sort of like a toddler, I guess.”

  Emily finished the last of her tea as he responded, thinking it over. “That might explain why she wasn’t panicking. If she didn’t know better, then everything would be new and exciting to her.” Her gaze fell to the clothing once more. “So this is our first alien contact? From a child?” It hardly seemed logical. “Are you sure she was the only one?”

  “As far as I can tell, yeah.” He responded. “I went back a few days later, once the storm had passed. I searched everywhere but I couldn’t find anything. I think she crashed here alone”.

  Emily nodded, motioning for him to continue.

  “Once I got back from searching, she had found her way into the fridge. She was eating a ton, but I didn’t stop her. I probably should have, but I had no clue what I was doing, much less how much she’s supposed to eat in a day. Something in there probably got her sick, but there was no way to know what she needs to eat to stay healthy…”

  “Why didn’t you find help after the phone lines and roads were back up?” Emily asked.

  “I was going to…at first, anyway. By the time I had phone access again, I started having second thoughts. Every time I closed my eyes, I imagined a bunch of scientists doing experiments on her. I didn’t want her spending the rest of her life in a lab. Whatever she came here for, it’s not that life.” He sighed, finishing his own drink. “So I waited it out. A few days ago, she started slowing down, spending more time sleeping, and looking exhausted when she was awake. I decided I needed help, but I didn’t know who to call. I just remembered you saying you were going to school to be a vet, so I looked you up and called you…and that’s where we are.” He looked down at the table. “I should have gotten in contact with someone sooner, but I didn’t know it would get this bad…”

  Giving a sympathetic look, Emily reached across the table, putting a hand on his shoulder. Before she could console him, however, there was a loud crash from the living room–unmistakably, the sound of shattering glass. Both of them shot up out of their seats, rushing into the living room. The creature was holding Emily’s thermometer–now broken–and sucking at it as if it were a straw. Emily quickly pulled the glass away from the creature’s hand. Both of the creature’s arms lifted up as well, and for the first time, Emily saw the alien open her eyes, looking intently at the glass. Too weak to do anything else, it continued to hold its hands out, silently pleading for the thermometer. Emily’s gaze quickly inspected the tool, completely empty and little more than a glass tube.

  “Emily!”She looked to see John going through the duffel bag, searching around as fast as he could.

  “Do you have that stuff? The, uh…that stuff they give to dogs when they eat something they shouldn’t?!” He was speaking faster by the second, pulling everything he could from the bag.

  The vet placed her hand on the duffel bag, still looking at the alien for a moment. She seemed to drift back off to sleep. Emily looked at John one again, holding up the glass tube.

  “I think this explains why she’s so heavy.”

  He stopped, still frantic, but trying to take in Emily’s words. “What?”

  Despite his uncertainty, Emily nodded. “I think we found the missing part of her diet.” She reaffirmed, looking up at the clock. “Nearly midnight. It’s getting late. With how much she was going after this, even as tired as she was, there must be a reason.” Emily gave a small smile. “Even as a child, she knows what she needs better than we do.”

  Letting out a deep sigh of nerves and a bit of relief, John slowly nodded. The two packed up all of the tools from Emily’s emergency kit, setting the broken thermometer carefully on top of the bag.

  “I’ll stay the night and keep an eye on her, just in case…” Emily offered, giving a small smile, “...but I think she’ll be okay.”