Page 59 of The Final Storm
“That’s what Milo says,” Lewis explains. “First, you-”
I raise my hand. “Not to burst your bubble boys, but being back on a ship means we probably won’t be using your trapping skills that often, so I don’t think I need the detailed play-by-play.”
Lori has the makeshift crib almost set up in the room’s corner, and Luke heads back to their new home to check on Tank.
“We know,” Beau whines. He slumps over, placing his chin in his hands, and frowns.
I run my fingers through his messy blonde hair. “It doesn’t mean forever.”
“Nothing is forever anymore,” Lewis says.
“I’m forever,” I say. “Our family is forever.”
The boys nod, and Lori smiles over at us, placing her hands on her hips and admiring her work.
“We’ll just miss our friends is all,” Beau explains.
“Here I was thinking you were miserable over there with Gemma. Being forced to wake up with the sun and never see a worm again.”
They giggle and rock side-to-side on the bed.
“And your friends are here. Sam and Caleb brought them back to the boat. We’ll find our way around again and see if there’s a school.”
“Not all our friends,” Lewis frowns.
I tap him on the bottom of the chin. “What do you mean? Who isn’t here?”
“Milo,” they say in unison.
I lift my face to Lori and meet her eyes. “What an idiot,” she shrugs.
“Milo says he has to keep watch. He’s being-” Beau shakes his little arms around. “-all crazy. When we gonna get him?”
“I’ll let you handle this,” Lori says. “I’ll get my things out and move them down the hall to my tornado of a family.”
“I need to talk to you before you go,” I call after her.
“Okay,” she says, passing through the door between rooms, and dragging the crib behind her.
“Let’s talk to Sam, okay?” I beam down at the boys. They both nod in unison, hair falling over their green eyes. “Say, can we talk about something else? Not that animal capture isn’t great.”
“Milo’s the one who showed us how to catch rabbits,” Lewis pipes up. “You know, there’s always a whole big ton of rabbits. Milo says it’s because rabbits are always making rabbit babies and-”
“Right, okay,” I interrupt. “That’s important, and when we’re on land again, we’ll need to know that stuff. But we need to put our heads together and talk about some future stuff. Know what I mean?”
“Oh, what we see?” Lewis asks and taps his forehead. “We had a new one.”
I nod and straighten my back. Beau comes to one side and rests his head on my lap, signaling Lewis to tell me. He clasps his little hands together and lengthens his neck. “We need to get that little boat and head back with daddy. So when we gonna get him?”
“Get him? Can you back up?” I ask. I’m not in a hurry for them to grow up, but detailing visions with young boys has its struggles. They’ve explained more about trapping small rodents instead of their premonitions.
“The storm’s coming!” Lewis urges. “We gotta go.”
I press my hands together, lifting them to his line of sight, and widen my eyes. “Back up and tell me the vision. How does it start?”
Lewis looks at Beau, who shrugs in my lap. “This one’s weird.” He rocks side-to-side on the mattress while he explains. “We get Milo. Then you throw us over the boat.”
“Good thing we can swim,” Beau mumbles into my leg.
