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When that conversation was over, I asked Malcolm, “I’m assuming you made this table?”

He nodded. “Every table in the place, the beds, all the chairs outside, most of the ones inside, and the swing. We bring a hundred and twenty gallons of gas in every year, and at the end of the year, if we have any left over, I fill everything that takes gas and then fire up the lumber mill and use what’s left until we run out. We have the snowmobile, a small motorcycle with dirt bike tires, chainsaws, and the like that use gas. Some years we run out a few weeks before the new arrives, some years we still have twenty or even thirty gallons left, and I build something new.”

“Next time we have plenty left, we’ll be adding a lean-to room on the barn for more storage,” Ethel said. “We lost a lot of space in the barn when we put the cistern in, and I don’t regret having water all year so we don’t have to melt snow every morning to cook with and to drink, but we need to replace the storage we lost.”

“We’ve always kept a little heat in the barn for the chickens,” Malcolm explained. “The wood stove is in the center of the barn with a cage around it so they can’t get so close they burn themselves. They’re good down to about twenty degrees as long as there’s no draft and they have warm-ish water to drink, but if we want eggs then this breed needs it above forty degrees. I havea thermostat alarm that lets me know if the temp gets below forty-two.”

“And a camera on the wood stove, so we can keep an eye on it from in here. The chickens need light, too, before they’ll lay,” Ethel said. “We give them a three-month break during the dead of winter, without artificial light, since we don’t get enough light to fully charge our system then. We’re mostly back to oil lamps and the fireplace ourselves, and use our limited electricity for the other systems that need them.”

“So,” Will said, “you work your asses off during the short summer, and then have to survive the long winters?”

Malcolm shrugged. “Plenty to do in the winter, too, but yeah, the summer is mostly about making sure everything’s in place to survive the winter. It’s when all our deliveries arrive, when we grow our vegetables, and handle maintenance so we aren’t repairing shit in the winter.”

“We sold our home in Florida for more than we ever dreamed,” Ethel said, “so we had a lot of money to start, but over the years, even being frugal, it was drawing down more and more. Thankfully now, with internet access, we’re making far more than enough so we can live here as long as our health holds out, and the videos we make of adding to our home more than pay for the cost of the supplies.”

“And we’ve had some decent offers on the homestead when we aren’t even for sale,” Malcolm said, “So when it’s time to leave, we’ll have enough to set up in a city with decent medical facilities.”

“I love Alaska,” Ethel said, “but I’m thinking Florida or Texas when we move again. I wouldn’t mind the heat and a beach.”

Malcolm rolled his eyes. “While I was thinking somewhere in West Virginia, maybe on a mountain.”

“If you have enough money, maybe Florida in the winter and the mountains in the summer,” I said.

Chapter 31

Davy

I’m glad I went to Alaska to meet my grandparents, but I’m not sure what I got out of it. I mean, I like them both. I can see more of myself in Ethel’s mannerisms, but I can see bits and pieces of me in both of them. The way Malcolm stands, the way Ethel talks with her hands. It’s odd, I guess, how much our genes map these things out.

We were there three nights. Will slept on the sofa the first night, Micca the second, and I tried to insist it was only fair for me to sleep out there the third night, but Will’s tone of voice told me to drop it, and he slept out there the last night. We didn’t have sex the whole time, though I gave Will a couple of blow jobs a day. Or rather, Will fucked my face a couple of times a day. Micca wasn’t interested in doing anything in the close quarters.

It was a bit of a relief when the helicopter came for us late on our fourth day, not because I wanted to get away from them, but because it was a lot to process, and I needed some time to figure out how I felt.

There was anger that these wonderful people would’ve raised me with love and affection, but who would I have been if I’d grown up on the edge of nowhere? My life has been hell getting to where I am, but I like who I am now so it’s hard to wish life had happened any other way.

But there was still this hugewhat ifrunning through my mind.

Panda, Mira, and Ranger picked us up in a different helicopter than the one that brought us, and we found out that Panda and Mira had camped near enough they could make sure no one came to bother us, but far enough away Malcolm and Ethel wouldn’t pick them up on any of their security devices around the property.

“No one knew I was here,” Will told them, and I agreed. It seemed like overkill.

“This is more about watching to make sure no one tried to enforce the rules around Micca,” Ranger told us.

My stomach somersaulted a little because I hadn’t even considered what might happen if someone supernaturally powerful came after us while we were alone with my grandparents.

Mira touched my leg. “You were fine. You’re still fine. We have you.”

“Something’s happened.” Micca said it as a statement, not a question, and Ranger met her gaze for several seconds and then looked back in front of us, since he was flying the ’copter.

“Long story short,” Panda told Will, “none of this will be charged to you. Aaron and Nathan take care of their people, and this is about making sure Micca is safe. She had to be bitten and turned because an op went sideways. She deserves a life outside of work, and that means being honest with the people she loves.”

Ranger sighed. “We’re headed to Fairbanks, or rather just outside of Fairbanks, where Kendra is hosting some…” Another sigh. “Nathan is through fucking around. Hopefully, his resolution solves this once and for all.”

Panda and Ranger were in the cockpit, and there were benches facing each other where we were. Mira and I were flying backwards, facing Micca and Will who were flying forwards. Never have I wanted Will’s arms to comfort me than in thatmoment, but I also wanted to hug Micca and tell her it would be okay — even though I wasn’t at all certain it was going to be.

“I suck at empathy,” Mira said, “but even I can tell he needs to be sitting between the two of you.” She turned to look out the front of the ’copter, looked down at the dials, and looked back to us.

She unbuckled, stepped to the other bench, fished around on the bench seat between Will and Micca, and then turned to me with her arm outstretched. “Unbuckle and grab my hand.”