Welcome to 'Asherina: They Walk Among Us,' Gary's captivating short story collection exploring what happens when a seemingly abandoned child with extraordinary abilities chooses her own family.
When Raul and Selena discover little Asherina hiding beneath coats in their car after leaving the adoption agency, they think they've found a runaway - until they notice her impossibly large blue eyes, telepathic abilities, and the unsettling fact that she navigates their home as if she's lived the ...
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A beautiful child adopts a family—but what kind of child is she?
The third visit to the adoption agency felt no less emotional than the first two. Raul and Selena had agreed—after months of conversation, hesitation, and soul-searching—that adopting an older child was the right thing to do. And yet, the rows of laminated profiles, the binders of faces, and the soft-spoken social workers carrying too many tragedies in their eyes had left both of them subtly shaken.
Older children came with histories—some brave, some heartbreaking, some unknowable. And with every interview, the couple felt the weight of invisible futures: the trauma that lingered like smoke, the inherited wounds no one could predict, the possibility that love might not be enough. Selena worried about the scars left by abandonment; Raul worried about the mysteries of heredity. But together, they held onto the shared conviction that a child—whoever that child might be—deserved a family.
As they stepped out into the parking lot, Selena placed her hand on Raul’s arm. "Raul… you know, I still feel it," she whispered. She paused, making sure he was listening. "That sense of calling. One of those kids is reaching for us. I can almost hear it."
Raul gave her a soft smile. "I feel something too," he admitted. "Though maybe you’ve said it so often I’m starting to believe it by osmosis." He unlocked the car, still speaking gently. "But I do think this is good for us. For you. For me. For our life. Once we take this leap, everything changes. Our lives will orbit around someone else entirely—and that someone might shape us more deeply than anything we've experienced before."
Selena smiled at him—warm, tender, hopeful. Raul climbed into the driver’s seat, fumbling with the keys as he always did, performing his familiar ritual of checking mirrors and windows before starting the engine.
Then his expression changed. The color drained from his face.
He froze. Then jerked the door open so suddenly that Selena flinched.
"Get out of the car. Now," he hissed. "We’re not alone."
Selena reacted instantly. She threw her door open just in time to dodge a taxi barreling past. She barely kept her footing on the pavement.
"Raul! What the hell—? I almost got killed!"
Raul’s voice trembled. "Our overcoats—we tossed them in the back seat before going inside. When I checked the mirror… one of them moved." He swallowed hard. "There’s someone back there. Under the coats. I’m calling the police—except my phone is in the car."
Selena straightened, brushing hair out of her face. "I’ll check it."
"Selena, don’t!" Raul barked—but she was already peering through the back window.
A moment later she said calmly, "Raul… come here. Now."
He approached cautiously. Selena pointed.
From beneath the coat, a tiny hand protruded—pale, delicate, impossibly small.
Selena opened the door with gentle precision, lifting layers of fabric to reveal a child curled tightly beneath them. A little girl—five or six, maybe—quiet, trembling, and astonishingly beautiful.
Raul exhaled sharply. "How… how did she get in here? I’m sure I locked the car. We need to get her back inside—the agency must be searching for her—"
"No," Selena interrupted. "They were locking the doors as we left. And she’s freezing. We’re taking her home and calling from there."
"Selena, that could be—"
"Kidnapping? Raul, if anyone was kidnapped, it was us," she said, lifting the child into her arms. "Drive. I’ll sit in back with her."
The child did not speak—not a word. But when Selena asked, “What’s your name, honey?” the little girl simply smiled with a radiance that seemed older than her years, her enormous blue eyes reflecting the interior lights like polished glass.
By the time they reached home, she had curled into Selena’s side as naturally as if she had always lived there. Raul felt it immediately—the invisible thread forming between them. It frightened him a little. This little child had bonded with Selena in about the time it took for the light to travel from her eyes to Selena's.
Inside, Selena wrapped the girl in a blanket and carried her toward the bathroom. "Get the number for child services," she instructed. "They’ll probably let her stay the night. She must’ve been wearing these clothes for days." I'm going to get her cleaned up and get some fresh clothes on her. It's a good thing I have nieces. I have a bunch of stuff that should fit her."
Raul nodded and retreated to his office. Raul dumped his stuff in his office and started searching the Internet for the number for child services. He didn't think it was enough of an emergency to call 911. He had just found the number when—
A scream.
"Raul! Hang up the phone! Get in here—now!"
Raul ran down the hall where Selena was standing by the bathroom door. She is holding a blond wig. "She was wearing a wig, Raul. A Wig!" Selena stammered, obviously upset, pale, and shaking.
"OK. So? She's bald. That's not a big deal. Why are you so upset? Maybe she's in chemotherapy. Maybe she's a cancer child?" Raul said giving Selena a hug to calm her down.
"No. Look at her." Selena pointed inside.
There, standing timidly by the tub, was the little girl—her proportions subtly wrong. Her head slightly too large. Her neck too thin for it. Her eyes impossibly, luminously blue. Her fingers long and delicate. Her developing chest incongruous for someone who appeared six at most.
"No. No. That's not it." Selena said with a look of fear, and concern. "Look at her head, Raul. Look at her skinny little neck. Look at her huge blue eyes. Look at her long thin fingers. She can't be more then 6 or 7 years old and look, she's ... she's ... developing. Raul! Look! Tell me that this is a human child."
Raul gave her a look and said "Of course she's human. She's certainly not a puppy. So she's a little different. Maybe it has something to do with the cancer. The main thing I'm noticing right now is that she's absolutely gorgeous, even if she is a little different. Calm down, Selena, get her dressed, and I'll make the call. We will get to the bottom of this."
No! No call. Not to the Police anyway. Call Greg and Susan. I think they need to meet her." Selena insisted, as she continued to prepare a bath and get some fresh clothes ready. Even with the high anxiety exhibited by Selena the child was calm and at ease, smiling while allowing Selena to care for her.
"Greg? Susan? Are you crazy? They already believe they have been on a flying saucer and that they talk to aliens. They are good friends, Selena, but they are both nuts. And this little girl is just going to send them off into la-la land." Raul cautioned.
I think Asherina needs to see them." Selena said softly.
Asherina? She told you her name? That's pretty." Raul said.
"No. She didn't tell me her name. Her mouth never moved, except to smile. She showed me a picture of her name inside my head. Raul, she's a telepath. She showed me telepathically that her name is Asherina, and that we can stop looking for a child, for she has chosen us." Selena explained, with tears streaming down her face.
Raul froze. "Telepathy."
Selena nodded, tears welling. "She chose us, Raul. She told me she chose us."
The apartment felt unusually quiet—a charged quiet, as though the air itself held its breath. Selena and little Asherina sat at the kitchen counter sharing slices of fruit, the girl moving with the casual expertise of someone who had performed these tasks a hundred times before.
“Raul,” Selena said when he stepped back into the room, “you’re not going to believe this. "This is weird, Raul." Selena said, now more excited than afraid. "I didn't have a clue what to feed her, but she seemed to just know were everything was in the kitchen. She went straight to the utensils drawer, got a knife, got two plates from the cupboard, opened the fridge and got some fruit and bottled water, and proceeded to slice up a fruit plate, for both of us. She acts a lot older than she looks. Isn't that strange?" It’s as if she’s lived here all her life.”
Raul stared as the child placed another perfect wedge of peach onto a plate. “Yes,” he finally said, “that is strange. And I’ve had a few strange calls myself.”
Selena stiffened. “You called the police.”
“Yes,” Raul admitted, lifting a hand before she could erupt. “But I gave them a story. I told them we saw a child running into the shadows when we left the agency. They checked the orphanage—every child accounted for. Nobody’s missing. So… wherever she came from… it wasn’t from there. I don't know where she came from. I mean, I don't know where on Earth she came from.”
"This is difficult enough without you making fun of me. Who knows what other powers Asherina may have? Maybe you should be nice to us." Selena said with a smile.
"I knew it. I just knew it. I knew if we got a girl that you guys would gang up on me." Raul complained.
Both girls smiled.
Selena exhaled shakily. “I swear, Raul, if anyone tries to take her, the government will probably drag her away to some lab and perform every nightmare experiment imaginable.”
He touched her shoulder gently. “Selena, I said I lied to them. She’s safe. For now.”
From the table, Asherina watched them with quiet curiosity, her large blue eyes reflecting every detail.
By the time Greg and Susan arrived—friends with a notorious interest in extraterrestrials—the evening had settled into a tense mixture of fear, fascination, and resigned acceptance.
“Really, Raul?” Greg teased lightly. “You’ve always mocked our sightings. What’s changed?” His tone was playful, but his eyes searched the room, alert.
"Well, Greg." Raul replied. "I'm not sure I've been fair to your story, to dismiss it out of hand like I have. The world is full of strange events that cannot be explained, so I've developed an interest. Tell me about your friends, from space. I want to know more. What do they look like? Where do they come from? Are they still here, on Earth, right now?" "Have you had a sighting, Raul?" Susan wanted to know. "I appreciate your sudden interest in our experience, but it begs the question - what have you experienced? Were you abducted? Have you seen an ET?"
Susan sat forward. “All right. But we told you before—you didn’t want to listen.”
"As we explained before, when you chose not to listen, Greg and I both have had sightings, near our house, on the road, when vacationing. It was like we were being watched, or followed. For some reason these entities had an interest in where we were and what we were doing. But since nobody else saw what we saw we began to wonder if we were just making it up. So we decided to meditate, and maybe send a message to these visitors, and maybe find out what their interest in us actually was, and whether it was dangerous."
"For years nothing happened," Greg continued "But we would still catch an occasional glimpse of what appeared to be a UFO. Then I started having dreams with various ET type characters. Their form would be different from dream to dream, but they all had a similar message. In my dreams I could see myself on their craft, looking down on the Earth from high in the atmosphere. Susan began to have similar dreams but with the same message. The ET's had come with a message of transformation, a message telling us that we must transform our character, expand and elevate our consciousness, before we destroy our planet in our ignorance."
"There are hundreds of books and websites now with the same message." Susan explained. "We were going to write books and stuff but there are already so many out there with the same message that we didn't see the point. So we still meditate, and learn as much as we can about transformation, and preach to anyone who will listen about how important it is for us to change, as a species, or die. That is the only choice - change - or die."
"So? You haven't actually seen and ET, in the flesh, up close and personal? You haven't actually touched one, held their hand, given them a hug?" Selena asked.
"No." Susan explained. "It's just been in our mind space. I see. You think we are just imagining it. That it isn't actually real, not happening at all. Those are questions we have asked ourselves. For us though, even though it's in our mind, telepathy or whatever, it is quite real to us, and I believe their message is quite real and critically important to the human species."
"I'm not questioning the reality of your experience, mental or otherwise." Selena said. "I'm just interested if these creatures actually have a physical presence here, one you can touch and feel. I need to know that. I seriously need to know that."
"Selena? What are you not telling me?" Susan asked. "I see the concern in your face, and the tears in your eyes. Have you had contact with an ET? Did they do something to you? Were you hurt?"
"We're not sure." Raul replied. "That is why we are looking for answers. We were not abducted and experimented on like you hear about in the movies. Selena thinks, though, that possibly we were adopted."
"Adopted?" Greg and Susan asked in unison.
Selena swallowed. “We may have something your studies never prepared you for.”
"Let me explain." Selena said. "We were just leaving the agency, you know, another interview prior to our adopting a child. That is when we noticed that we had a stow away in our back seat. At first we were afraid thinking we were about to get car jacked. Then we noticed it was a child, a little girl.
So we brought her home and we were going to call the authorities because she was obviously a run-away, or an abandoned child. That is when we noticed the differences.
She had beautiful blond hair, but it was a wig. Her head is a little too large for a child her age, her eyes are larger than normal and a color of blue I've never seen before. Her ears and mouth are smaller than normal, her neck is like really skinny when you think about the big head it is supporting, and her fingers and toes are longer and thinner than you would imagine. She appears to be no older then 6 or so but she's already got boobs.
She is strong though, very strong for her slight little frame. So now we are thinking she has some physical abnormality, a disease, cancer maybe. Oh and she doesn't talk.
But when I asked her what her name was she showed me that it is Asherina, and that she has chosen us. She said that without speaking. She put those thoughts right into my brain without moving her lips. That is when I decided that she must not be from this place, this planet, or this dimension. I think she's an ET."
"Are you kidding me?" Susan asked. "So where is this child? I have to meet her?"
"Follow me and I will introduce her." Selena said while directing her guests down the hall to Asherina's room. "She is in her room - and I mean 'her' room. I was getting it all ready for our new child and I had it all decorated, but not gender specific since I didn't know if we were getting a girl or a boy.
When I showed her the room the first thing she did is rearrange it they way she wanted it. She tried on all the clothes I have here for my nieces and put the ones she liked in the closet and folded the ones she didn't like and put them in a bag for me to remove. It's definitely a girls room now. She just moved right in like she belongs here."
Inside the room, little Asherina was stacking the last of her neatly folded clothes in the closet. She turned at the visitors’ entrance, studying them with solemn curiosity.
"Oh my goodness! What an absolutely adorable little girl. Hello Asherina. My name is Susan. I'm so very happy to meet you." Susan said introducing herself. "This is my husband Greg. He is happy to meet you too." Asherina stood quietly, studying her new visitors, then suddenly flashed a smile and ran up and gave Susan a big warm hug. "
I guess that is her way of saying she's happy to meet you too." Raul said.
"You know, dressed up in a wig and normal clothes it's hard to see the differences in her appearances. Her eyes are huge for such a little girl, but not so much that it looks weird. She's actually quite lovely. With some sun glasses you would never know." Greg said.
"So do you think we just let our imaginations run away with ourselves, and she is just a little human girl with big eyes?" Raul asked. "Either way, we need to decide what to do with her. If she is a run away or an abandoned child then we certainly have to deal with the authorities and if possible get the courts to let us keep her.
If she is not from this planet then we have even more questions. What about medical care, what does she eat, what vaccinations does she get, where do we send her to school? We don't even know where to start." We can’t tell anyone she’s an alien.”
Selena spoke softly, “Alien or not, she’s ours. I feel it. Like she’s been calling to me for months.”
"Oh I hope you can keep her. I've totally fallen in love with her, ET or not." Susan said beaming a smile at Asherina. "But you do have a lot of questions to get answered, and I don't know exactly where to start either - Oh how about Raphael? He might know about this stuff."
"Yes. I just had the same thought." Greg said.
"So did I." Selena said. "And I don't even know a Raphael. Asherina? Did you put that thought in our heads little lady?" Asherina just smiled.
"Who is that Raphael person?." Raul asked. "Raphael is a medium, of sorts. He claims, like us, to have had contact with ET's through meditation and seance. But he also claims to have had physical contact as well. He is part of the local UFO research committee. I'll contact him tomorrow and see if we can set up a meeting." Greg said.
"In the mean time you guys have a good night. I get nothing but good vibes from this child so even if she is ET I don't think you are in any danger. I wouldn't contact the authorities just yet. Let's see what we can find out before we do that."
Selena helped get Asherina dressed for bed and then tucked her in. She left the light on but showed her how to turn it off. Her nieces insisted that the light be left on because they would get scared in the dark. It didn't really matter. Not long after getting into bed Raul and Selena noticed a little stow away snuggled up between them. Selena thought to herself that this is just part of being a parent, so she might as well get used to it.
"Oatmeal, bananas, and peaches. This is what we're having for breakfast. By the time I got up Asherina already had it made." Selena explained as Raul stumbled into the kitchen.
"Wow. This is so .. so .. domestic. Somehow it seems so normal ... like it's the way it's supposed to be. Do you think our little empathic friend is placing that thought in our heads, or am I actually feeling it." Raul mused.
"I think, my dear husband, that you have fallen in love with another woman." Selena said with a grin. "As for me, I'm keeping my feelings in check until we find out if we can keep her. I don't want to bond so tightly that if she leaves it will rip my guts out. Anyway, after breakfast, Asherina and I are going shopping for a few things."
"OK, but don't be gone too long. Greg called and said that he spoke with Raphael last night and he is coming over by 11. He said it's important that we meet with Raphael as soon as possible."
"That sounds a little ominous. I hope we don't get any bad news. But we should be back in plenty of time. We're just going to pick up a few basics."
Selena watched in amazement as Asherina worked her way through the department store. Always cautious, never making eye contact, carefully concealing any details, Asherina was an exercise in stealth. Slipping silently between the racks and tables she was virtually invisible, always looking the other way as customers walked by. Even those who saw her would soon forget as there were no clues or details to hang a memory on. Selena is convinced that Asherina has been operating in stealth mode probably for her whole life.
What mysteries does this little one have hidden in that pretty head of hers? Selena ponders all these things as they head for home, and a meeting that hopefully will reveal the answers to the many questions forming in Selena's mind.
Back at the apartment Asherina carefully put away her new things and arranged her bathroom supplies nice and neat. Selena remembers herself at that age always being yelled at for leaving things a mess.
The doorbell rang with a soft chime that carried strangely through the apartment, as though the air itself leaned in to listen. Raul took a calming breath and opened the door to find Greg standing beside two unfamiliar men.
“Evening,” Greg said, already stepping inside. “This is Raphael—and this is his colleague, Mr. Roberts.”
Raphael appeared unassuming, dressed in comfortable clothes, a man who carried the casual confidence of someone who had seen many strange things and had stopped being surprised by any of them. Mr. Roberts, however, was another matter entirely.
He wore a dark suit, a hat pulled low, and sunglasses—indoors, at night. His posture was impeccable, his movements precise, and his presence strangely difficult to read. He could have been thirty or sixty. He could have been anyone—or anything.
Selena entered the room with a tray of fruit and water. “Thank you both for coming,” she said. “We’ve been… overwhelmed.”
“Understandable,” Raphael replied. "First let me introduce myself. I'm Raphael. I was very excited when Greg called me last night. This is a very rare encounter - very rare. It's an honor to be part of this. I wish I could record it on film, but as we get into it, you will see why that would not be appropriate. My friend Mr Roberts will explain the situation in more detail."
He gestured toward Mr. Roberts. “My friend here will explain. He has… firsthand knowledge.”
"It's good to meet you, Raphael, Mr Roberts." Selena begins the meeting. "I hope you have brought some answers. As you know, Greg and I have been planning to adopt a child, and for reasons we do not fully understand, Asherina stowed away in our car and has moved into our home, apparently wanting to be that child. I don't even know where to begin with my questions. This whole episode has left my mind totally boggled."
"Let me help you understand." Mr Roberts began, removing his sunglasses to reveal large sky blue eyes. "
Oh My God!" Selena exclaims, her hand held over her mouth. "You're like Asherina! Are you a relative? Are you her father?"
"The answer to that question is both yes, and no, and sort of." Mr Roberts explains. Yelling across the apartment he shouts " Asherina! Get your skinny little butt in here girl! This meeting is about you, so get in here and participate."
Asherina shuffles quietly into the living room and sits cross legged on the carpet, her eyes pointed down. "How are you doing, Asherina?" Mr Roberts asks. Asherina looks at Mr Roberts as if to answer. "That's rude, Asherina. You know how to talk. When you are around these kind people please speak out loud so we can all hear what you have to say."
"But ... but ... words feel so funny in my mouth." Asherina responded in a tiny shy voice. "
“You’ll adapt. You’ve chosen humans—so you must honor their ways as well.”
“Yes, sir, I will.” she murmured.
Raul cleared his throat. “You said ‘chosen humans.’ What does that mean? And… are you saying you’re not human? You are saying that you are extra terrestrial?”
Mr. Roberts clasped his hands behind his back. “We are similar to you in many ways—but we are not entirely the same species. We share genetic roots, some ancient, some engineered. Like you, our lineage is a mixture of terrestrial and non-terrestrial origin.”
He paced slowly, his tone measured.
“We have lived alongside your kind for thousands of years—quietly, discreetly, in the shadows, to avoid provoking fear or violence. Your species is… gifted, passionate, inventive. But also volatile, and prone to destroying what it does not understand.”
Greg nodded vigorously. “We told them! We always said—”
Mr. Roberts lifted a hand gently. “Yes, Greg. Your intuition was not misguided.”
He continued.
“You’ve noticed it in your own offspring—the so-called Indigo and Crystal children. And so have we. Our young are changing. Faster. Deeper. Their consciousness expanding in ways we have not seen before. The boundaries between your kind and ours are thinning.”
His eyes softened as he glanced at the girl. “That is why she was drawn to you. Why she bonded with you.”
Selena leaned forward. “She said she chose us. Is that… literal?”
"Chose us humans?" Raul asked. "So you're saying that you are not human? You are saying that you are extra terrestrial? What do you mean by chosen?"
Mr Roberts smiled and with a chuckle explains. "Asherina and I are of the same species, and that species is not the same as yours. We are nevertheless quite similar. Both our species are a mixture of terrestrial and non-terrestrial origin. We have been coexisting with you on this planet for many millenia, always careful to stay in the shadows so not to cause fear, or to attract the violence that your species is so famous for. This arrangement has worked well, for the most part, until recently. You have already noticed it with your own children, that the new ones, well, they are different. You call them Indigo's, and Crystal children, and a few other designations. Our children have suffered the same sort of transformation as well. They are different, more unsettled, more inquisitive, more impulsive, and less cautious than their parents. The result is that the difference between our species is fading, especially in the area of consciousness. That is why Asherina was drawn to you, and has bonded with you, through an adoption."
"Adoption? I know what we 'humans' call adoption. Adults choose a child to bring home and raise as their own. Asherina has chosen us? That is backwards from how we usually do it." Selena explained.
Mr Roberts continued. "In our culture children are not raised exclusively by their birth parents and immediate family. Children are raised by any and all adults, and a child may live in many households during their growing up years. After a number of years in a household a child will feel drawn to other adults and will leave their present household and bond with new parents. This may happen a dozen times or more before the child becomes an adult. Asherina is a precocious child and against our advice has chosen humans for her new parents. We were counseling her on the difficulties of such a bonding when she ran away and stowed away in your car. In our society an adult does not have the option to refuse the bonding of a child. It is a sacred trust and a high honor. In your case, however, you may choose. My purpose here today is to assist you, and Asherina, in making that choice."
"So the choice is mine? Well then, it's settled. Asherina will stay." Selena said with a smile.
"Honey. Uh. With all due respect, Sweetie, my head is spinning with all this information, and I'm not sure I can even believe all of it." Raul said. "There are a million questions that need to be answered before we can even consider this arrangement. I'm not sure, even if we want to do this, if it's even possible. For example, where is she going to go to school? What about medical care? What about the questions we're going to get regarding our new child? Is this even legal? What about the authorities? Is she going to be taken from us by Homeland Security and held in a prison camp somewhere? It just goes on and on. I don't know where to even begin."
"Are there others?" Raphael asked. "Are there other bondings between your children and human parents?" "
There have been other such bondings." Mr Roberts explained. "This is the first one in over 500 years. Some of them were beautiful. Some of them were tragic. That is why we are approaching this with much caution. In the past such bondings were in small communities with highly evolved humans who were much like us. The world today is very different. In this time with the density of the human population and the many forms of rapid communication there is much risk, especially of uncontrolled, and unpredictable, disclosure."
"Then we will be careful." Selena said. "Raising a child is always filled with risk, especially in an adoption. The possibility that the relationship will become tragic is something we were already prepared for when we chose to adopt an older child. Asherina is a wonderful child. I can't imagine a child I am more ready to take a risk with than Asherina. Isn't that right? My daughter."
"Yes mother." Asherina said with a big grin.
"Mr Roberts?" Raul asked. "Do you find it true in your species, that the females gang up on you so that you seldom get to make a choice that is not already made for you?"
"There are certain laws of nature that are universal, in your species and mine." Mr Roberts responded with a laugh.
"This is so totally fascinating." Greg said. "Mr Roberts. Are there other ET species on our planet. Or are you the only one? What about the Grey's with the enormous heads are really huge black eyes?"
"There are many." Mr Roberts explained. "Most, however, are visitors. There are a few that are similar enough to you in appearance that we can blend in, for the most part, and share your planet. You have passed many of what you call extra terrestrials on the street, in your shopping areas, and in your work places, and you never knew. Be careful with the term extra terrestrial. Most of the species that you encounter are both terrestrial and extra terrestrial. There are many that have grey, or chalky white skin. But these are not the Grey's you are referring to. Those Grey's are human."
"Human?" Greg asked with a shocked look. "How can they be human?"
It's simple. Tragically simple." Mr Roberts explained. "They are what you get when you extract an embryo from its mother when it is only a few weeks old, and then grow it at an accelerated rate in a growth chamber. What you get is a very large embryo, one with limited consciousness, large deformed eyes, and a totally suggestible mind. It's the perfect drone. Basically an organic robot. You humans learned how to make those. Maybe you had help from some ET's, I'm not sure. But you make those yourself in secret facilities. This is something that you should stop doing. These are your children, and you are using them to create a monstrosity."
"Wow. I didn't know." Greg said, staring at the floor.
"Mr Roberts?" Selena asked. "Aren't we getting a little off subject? This meeting is not about little grey robots. Speaking of school. How should we prepare for Asherina's education? Is she ready to start first grade? She appears to be about that age."
"Our species matures both physically and emotionally at a different rate than human children." Mr Roberts explained. "Although she appears to be about 6 years old, she is in fact 20 years old. It takes about 40 Earth years for one of our children to mature. Asherina's emotional maturity would be equivalent to a human child of about 12 to 14 years old. A typical bonding lasts two to six years. As you can see she is already started puberty. If your bonding with Asherina lasts for six years she will be well into puberty. That is a difficult time for our daughters, as it is for your human daughters. The physical and emotional transformations can become so intense that it is difficult to maintain an integrated consciousness. Their psyche becomes easily fragmented. Are you prepared for that possibility?"
"If she is like a human girl, it's not difficult to maintain an integrated consciousness. It's totally and completely impossible to maintain and integrated consciousness." Selena said with a laugh. "And yes. I would consider it an honor to work through those difficult years with Asherina. The only problem will be finding her a suitable boyfriend when the time comes."
"That will not be a problem, mother." Asherina responded. "I will find and date a human boy."
"What?" They all said in unison.
"Let me explain." Mr Roberts continued. "Our adolescents in recent years have created many new and radical ideas that we adults do not consider to be wise. One of those is the radical idea that the young adults of your species, and the young adults of our species, should interbreed, creating a new species of hybrids. We are genetically similar enough for that to work. Genetics, however, is not the problem. We do not feel that either of our species is prepared for the unintended consequences of such a union of our two species. Our council of elders has yet to decide if such unions will be permitted."
"And I have not decided if I will let the council make that decision for me." Asherina responded.
Selena looks at Asherina with a serious face. "Whoa, slow down little girl. Listen to your new mother, Asherina. I can feel you pushing your thoughts into my thoughts, attempting to create an ally for your cause. That is going to stop right now! You will respect my space, my thoughts, and not try to impose your thoughts on mine. That I will not put up with. Is that understood?"
"Yes, ma'am. I will not do that again. I'm sorry." Asherina replied.
Wow. I've never seen you in mommy mode before. You suddenly transformed into my mother in law." Raul Joked.
"You'd better get used to it, Raul. "Selena continued, with a chuckle. "Asherina. It will be many years before you need to worry about making babies, hybrids or otherwise. When that time comes I will help you with that decision, and you will respect my input. Until that time, this subject will be closed. We have many more important things to discuss than the politics of mixed marriages. Lets move the conversation back to school. Do you want to be home schooled? Or would you rather attend classes with other students?"
"I want to go to school with other students. I want to integrate." Asherina replied.
"That really complicates things." Raul interjected. "Shot records? Birth certificates? Medical records? Her appearance is of a first grader. If her grade level is commensurate with her maturity then she should be in fifth or sixth grade. That will create a lot of questions that we will not be able to answer."
"The documentation can be arranged." Raphael answered. "And there are private schools that ask fewer questions than public schools, especially the parochial schools that do not use public funding. I think it can be worked out where she can be accepted at an institution where there would not be too many questions."
"Good. We will find you a school were you can integrate. But not right now." Selena stood and addressed the group. "I appreciate you coming over for this meeting, and we need to have many more as we work through all the details of this wonderful opportunity that Asherina has brought into our lives. But for the next few weeks, I'm going to spend my time getting to know my new daughter and getting her settled into her new household. There will be plenty of time to work through the details as time goes by. Those few of us that know of this arrangement is all that need to know. Please respect our privacy in that regard. Since it is clear that Asherina is going to be here with us for quite some time, then we have some more shopping to do. Are you ready to hit the shopping mall?"
"Yes, mother. I'm ready." Asherina replied with the biggest grin ever.
Twelve years had passed since the night a silent little girl with luminous eyes stowed herself in the back seat of Raul and Selena’s car. The child who once hid under overcoats now walked confidently among humans under the name Ashlee—an identity that concealed Asherina’s origins well enough to keep her safe. And for the past year, she had been secretly studying someone.
His name was Dany.
It's been a year that Dany has been coming to the diner. Every day after work he comes in and sits at a booth by a window so he can people watch a little before going home. He is especially fond of the rainy days as the people hurry down the sidewalk carrying their umbrellas unfolded, or a newspaper held over their head. He thinks sometimes that he should start a fashion blog discussing the wild and crazy outfits the young women are wearing. For the most part though he just sits and thinks and eats and then walks home to his little apartment around the corner.
Some nights he scribbled ideas on napkins. Other nights he simply stared through the glass, letting life swirl around him while he sat very still. He wasn’t lonely so much as exhausted by life—emotionally threadbare.
The staff knew him, though most didn’t bother to speak beyond taking his order. Except for one waitress.
Tonight, she approached with his second glass of water.
“Hello, Mr. Diner Dany,” she said with a teasing smile. “Ready for your entrée?”
He blinked. “Diner Dany? Why are you calling me that?”
She tilted her head. “Everyone calls you that. You’ve been coming here forever, apparently.” Then she looked startled. “Oh—sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you. I can just call you Mr. Dany if you prefer.”
He laughed under his breath. “Just Dany is fine. I don’t feel like a ‘Mr.’ to anyone. How old are you anyway? You look… well, far too young for this job.”
“Looks are deceiving,” she said with a mischievous flick of her hair. “I’m the same age as you—thirty-two. I just age slowly. It’s… in my DNA.”
“You know my age?” He narrowed his eyes. “Did you Google me? Are you hitting on me?”
“Yes,” she said, entirely unashamed. “On both counts.” She leaned closer. “You look like someone I’d like to get to know.”
Before he could answer, the cook waved from the kitchen. “Oh—your entrée’s ready. Wait here.”
She returned with his food, cheeks slightly flushed. He looked up at her name tag.
“So… Ashlee?”
“Everyone here calls me that,” she said lightly. “But my real name is Asherina.” She giggled nervously. “And yes, I will get in trouble if I keep chatting. So before that happens—I’m asking you out.”
His fork froze halfway to his mouth.
“There’s a coffee shop across the street. I get off in an hour. Will you meet me there? Unless I’ve already scared you away. People say I’m too… forward.”
“You are forward,” he admitted. “But… in a delightful way.” He swallowed. “I’ll meet you. But I should warn you—I'm not a great date. My last relationship ended badly. Very badly. I’m… not in good shape emotionally. I'm emotionally damaged. I'm afraid you will be disappointed.”
She smiled softly. “Then no talking about the ex. We’ll start fresh.” Then she paused, frowning thoughtfully. “Did you know your name, Dany, comes from the Catalan language from Catalonia? It means ‘damage.’ You’re literally named after trauma.” You're name is a curse. We will have to get you a new one. And yes, I googled that too."”
“You Googled that too?”
She winked. “Of course.”
When Dany arrived at the coffee shop, he found her waiting with an outfit entirely different from her diner uniform. Stylish. Bold. Artful.
“Wow,” he said. “Did you run home and change?”
“Yes.” Her smile glowed. “Double wow to you as well.”
She explained that she was studying fashion design at the university, already holding a degree in psychology but following her true passion instead. “My mom encouraged it,” she said softly. “Shopping together was our thing.”
"Well, fashion is a good choice for you. You seem to know what you're doing. And with your face, you're uncommonly gorgeous you know, you should consider modeling you own line of clothing." Dany says with a smile, and then a frown. "I hope I didn't offend you by saying you're gorgeous. So many women these days don't want to be complemented on their appearance. They want to be appreciated for their mind. I never know what the rules are with dating these days."
She laughed with genuine delight. "I'm not offended at all. Human dating rules are silly anyway, and by the way, my mind is gorgeous too. Lets let our beautiful minds get to know each other. Every day after work you come to the diner. What is your work?"”
He found himself laughing for the first time in months.
"Work? I roll blunts all day." Dany says with a laugh at the confused look on Asherina's face. "I work at the dispensary. I'm a cannabis consultant. In my late teens and twenties I got heavy into drugs. I went to rehab and got clean and found that cannabis oils and cannabis wax are therapeutic in keeping the cravings at bay. I started making my own and studied everything I could find about the plant, it's extracts, and the therapeutic properties of the species. I'm not your typical pot head. I've made a business out of it."
Her expression was priceless—wide-eyed confusion. He laughed again.
"Oh. I see. I don't do drugs of any kind, not even plant based ones. I'm on a strict diet. I tried a pot gummy one time just for fun and my friends found me two hours later following around the little animals in the park. They had to take me home and my Mom got all irritated because I couldn't stop laughing. So I don't do that any more."
"A gummy can be dangerous if you haven't done pot before. I formulated a low dose gummy for the dispensary for those trying them for the first time. But the ass holes that work there think it's funny to give a newbie a high powered one, especially if you're a girl. I would never do that, I have too much respect for the product, and the customers."
Her eyes softened. "You are a man of high standards." Asherina says. "I was hoping you would be. Other than cannabis what are you interested in?"
He sighed. “Is this a date or an interview?”
“What’s the difference?” she said with a bright giggle.
But when the laughter faded, his expression darkened.
"Ok. Point taken. I used to have lots of interests, but now not so much. I'm numb. I know you don't want to talk about my ex, but if you really want to know me there are a few things I should say. My ex is what some people call a malignant narcissist. She played with my head, my feelings, my emotions to the point where I'm just dead inside. I go to work and just go through the motions doing what I know how to do, but all the passion in my work and my life is just gone. I'm sorry if I ruined your date, but I have to be honest. Your pheromones are intense, I should be attracted as hell, but I just don't feel it. I'm sorry.
Her smile faltered—but only for a moment.
"Don't be sorry. I know what a narcissist is. I studied that at the university and I know the tremendous damage they can do. You're lucky that your experience was as an adult. Imagine if your parents were that way. I've worked with the victims of narcissistic parents and the damage they do to their kids is awful. But don't worry, even though I'm a licensed psychologist I'm not going to try to fix you. You have to do that yourself, but I can help. Just like with drugs addiction or a physical injury recovery can take a while and some of the effects will last a life time. Just like cannabis is your therapeutic helper for drug addiction I'll be your therapeutic helper for your damaged soul, if you let me that is."
He closed his eyes. “This is too much. Too personal for a first date. I need to go home. Dany says with a frown.”
"Damn it!" Asherina says. "I knew I was going to fuck this up. Human interactions are difficult for me. Dany, please. I really really like you for reasons I can't explain just yet. Can we try again, tomorrow, maybe? Please. I'll slow down. I'll go slow."
"You're scaring me." Dany says. "But Ok. You seem like a nice girl. Lets try again tomorrow."
"Ok. I get off at 7. Meet me at the park, by the bridge. It's pretty there at night." Asherina says tearfully under her tinted glasses.
The following night, Dany found her standing alone on the bridge, hands clasped anxiously.
“Oh my God—you’re here,” she breathed. “You didn’t come to the diner and I panicked.”
“I was home,” he admitted. “Freaking out.”
“Why?”
"When you left last night you were crying." Dany says with tears in his eyes. "I made you cry. It ripped my heart out that I made you cry. In just that brief time in the coffee shop I met someone that I cared about so much that it hurt me that I hurt you. What did you do to me? Why am I falling for you, falling so hard and so fast? Is this healthy? I dreamed about you last night. You were on my mind all day long, I could hardly work from the distraction. All I want to do right now is hug you."
Her own eyes filled with tears. “Then hug me.”
He did.
And the moment their bodies touched—everything dissolved. The edges between them faded. For a heartbeat, they felt like one being.
"Shit! Just as I thought. When we hugged I couldn't tell where I ended and you began. It's like we were just one person. Girl ... I'm in love with you and it's scaring the shit out of me." Dany says looking into her eyes. "There is something I have to ask you, and you're going to think I'm crazy, but I have to know."
"What's that? You can ask me anything." Asherina says.
"Why are you always wearing dark tinted glasses? It's night time. Take them off." Dany says.
"Uhhh. My eyes are very sensitive to the light. Did you notice how white I am? I'm an albino. I didn't want to tell you because then you might not like me." Asherina says starting to cry.
“Take them off,” he repeated. “Please. Take them off, now, or I'm leaving.”
Asherina slowly removes her glasses, tears flowing down her face. "Ok, there off. Now what?"
Her eyes glowed softly in the dim light—blue beyond blue. Not human.
"Now you tell me the truth. Who are you? What are you? Those are not albino eyes. Those eyes are not even human. You're telepathic aren't you. You put these feelings into my mind to seduce me, didn't you. The love I feel for you is fake isn't it? You're ET? You're a hybrid? What the fuck are you and what do you want with me?"
Asherina sinks to the ground, sobbing uncontrollably. "I just can't stop fucking things up. I'm sorry. I'm sorry." As she gets up to run away Dany grabs her and hugs her again. He gets a tissue to dry her tears.
He dropped beside her, pulling her into his arms.
"I can't let you go. If you wanted me, you got me. Please tell me what is going on though, or I'm going to go crazy." Dany says with tears in his eyes too.
"Ok. I'll tell you, but please don't hate me. My people were brought here, to Earth, many years ago. We were genetically modified to live in this environment. We don't know who brought us here, they just left us here to fend for ourselves. You were brought here too, about two hundred thousand years ago. You were modified too and then left to fend for yourselves. This happened dozens of times but we are two of the species that survived. Most didn't survive. You survived on the surface and we survived mostly underground. Our DNA is 99.9% the same so we are both Human, but we don't call ourselves that. So we are not ET, not anymore. We are hybrid, but so are you."
“And the telepathy?”
"Yes, I'm telepathic, but I didn't make you love me. That is a mortal sin to our people and I would never do that. It's psychic rape. I'm drawn to you just like you're drawn to me and I don't know why. It's driving me crazy too. When we hugged, when we felt like we were one, then it was like everything in the world was wonderful. I know you felt that too. So I don't know whats going on, I just know that I need to be with you, and that is why I was so forward, I couldn't help myself. I know you feel it too."
He swallowed. "If we are different species, can we mate? Will that work? Can we get married and have kids?”
"Yes, our DNA is closer than Neanderthal, and you guys were mating with them. Many of my generation have taken Human spouses, although the older generations frown on that. The older ones want to preserve our DNA as pure, but my generation and I think it is wiser to blend our species, so we don't have to live in the shadows anymore. Our children can become one species just like your races are becoming one race. I always thought I would find a human husband but I never expected what is happening now. When I first saw you in the diner my heart skipped a beat our two. It's like I knew you already, like we were soul mates or something. I couldn't stop thinking about you, dreaming about you. So whatever is happening is happening to both of us, and I'm not doing it. It must be coming from a higher spiritual place."
Dany looks at Asherina with an adoration he didn't think he possessed. "So we are either both suffering from the same mental disease or we have a Love made in heaven. Good or bad, I can't let you go. This is a lot to take in. I'm not ready to jump in bed with you and make that blended species just yet, but I do want to move forward, slowly. The heart is a delicate organ and mine has been broken too many times, so be patient with me. It's getting chilly out here so let me hold you and we will watch the stars for awhile."
"So what's with the black eye shadow, and the bright lipstick?" Dany asks.
"Do you hate it?" Asherina asks. "I grew up underground. There isn't sunlight down there. So my lips are like transparent so I use a lot of lipstick to hide them. My eye's are larger too. So I use a lot of eye shadow to hide their size. So in public I just look like a girl who wears too much makeup and nobody notices anything else. If you hate it I'll change it."
"I love it. I love everything about you." Dany says.
And under the city lights, they held each other—two beings from two worlds, trying to make sense of a love that felt impossible yet inevitable.
Twelve years of living among humans had transformed Asherina in ways even her own people hadn’t anticipated. She was outspoken now, expressive, occasionally reckless—and hopelessly in love with Dany.
Selena often joked that her adoptive daughter had inherited every impulsive trait from every galaxy. But now, faced with Ash’s newfound romantic certainty, Selena was deeply uneasy.
“I know, honey,” Selena said gently. “You’re in love. I get it. Love at first sight.” She pointed a spoon at Ash for emphasis. “But that’s hormones talking. Real love—lasting love—takes time and work. Right, Raul?”
“Yes dear, that's absolutely right.” Raul replied dutifully from behind his newspaper.
“See?” Selena said triumphantly. “Your father agrees.”
"Yes, of course he agrees. If he wants supper." Asherina says. "Just kidding Dad. I know it's fast, and that worries me too, but I'm going to do this. We're going to see the elders tomorrow."
Selena froze. “Your both going? Is that wise? You know how they are about the secret places. I'm afraid you're going to piss them off even before you get to ask for their approval.You’ll annoy them before you even say a word.”
Ash crossed her arms. “If they don’t approve, then we’ll marry the human way. Courthouse. Done.”
"Oh dear. Asherina I thought you were done with this rebellious phase. What if they banish you. Then you will lose your whole family down there. Don't you want to have a real wedding? One down there with your family and one up here with us?" Selena asks.
"I don't care, Mom. I'm tired of talking about it. I've got hybrid babies to make and I can do that without getting married." Asherina says stomping out of the kitchen into the living room. Selena follows.
"Ash you stop this bull shit right now!" Selena says with a stern voice. "I know how you get when you're in one of your moods. You do stupid shit and then regret it later. At least talk to your family, talk to Mr Roberts. Spend some time letting them get accustomed to the idea of you getting married. Mixed marriages are difficult, religious differences, ethnic differences, and you two are not even the same species. You need their help, their resources. You know you can't go to a Human gynecologist. Who's going to deliver your baby. Are you just going to give birth in the bath tub? Think it through girl. Don't be an idiot."
"Girls! Lets stop this arguing." Raul says. "We all know what the problem is. She's overdosing on hormones. Here, sweetie, take my credit card. Get a room at the hotel for a week. You're already in a committed relationship. The wedding is just a formality. Start your life with the love of your life, and do so with my blessings."
"Raul! What the fuck?" Selena asks. "So you think a little sex will solve the problem?"
"It worked for us, didn't it?" Raul says with a grin.
Asherina grabs the credit card and heads for the door. "Come on Dany. Lets get out of here before Mom changes my Dads mind."
Later that night, they met with Mr. Roberts at a hiking trail known only to locals. Moonlight filtered through the branches as the path narrowed.
"Is this it? A rock outcropping along a hiking path? That's the doorway to your city? That isn't very secret is it?" Dany asks.
"It's worked for over 600 years" Mr Roberts explains. "Remember that we are telepathic. If a Human gets too curious we can make them uncurious. In all that time though only a few Humans got curious."
He brushed aside a curtain of vines. The group enters through an opening in the rock face hidden by vegetation. Inside is a large elevator. Dany's ears pop as they descend rapidly a thousand feet. The elevator door opens into a large cavern. Dany is stunned at the site. "Oh My God. This is fantastic. It's all lit up like sunlight. There are hanging gardens everywhere, and a river runs through it. Where do you get the electricity for all these lights? There must be a million little Hobbit houses down here.
“Welcome to my childhood,” Ash said softly.
Before him stretched a cavern the size of a small country. Artificial sunlight illuminated a vast subterranean valley of terraced gardens, water channels, and dwellings built into the stone like glowing beehives.
A river wound through the middle, its shimmering light casting ripples across the cavern ceiling.
“Oh my God,” Dany whispered. “This is… beautiful. “You have electricity down here,” Dany murmured. “But how? There must be millions of lights. Are you the Hobbit people?”
"No, we're not Hobbits. But where do you think Tolkien got the idea?" Mr Roberts says with a laugh. "You're not the first Human to visit one of our cities. We make the electricity with what you call zero point energy. We discovered this technology long before you Humans arrived. You would have discovered it, in fact you did, 100 millennia ago if you weren't so busy killing each other. We used to live on the surface like you do but when all your wars started we moved underground. You wiped out the Neanderthal and several other human species so we had to hide underground. We couldn’t risk being next."
Ash squeezed Dany’s hand. “Our children will change that,” she said softly. “In a dozen generations, our species will be one people. No more hiding.”
"Oh what a childish philosophy." Mr Roberts says. "You will have to learn the hard way how difficult that transformation will be. Xenophobia exists not only in Human culture but in ours as well. The terms hybrid and half breed will once again be the pejoratives they were in the past. But there is no stopping this new generation. Soon they will be the elders and make the rules. Hopefully they will have matured by then."
They made their way toward a circular chamber carved into the stone, where robed elders sat in quiet meditation. When the newcomers entered, the elders’ eyes opened—blue, luminous, ancient.
"I take it this is going to be a tough sell, our getting married and making hybrid children." Dany says.
"No. I've already spoken to them." Mr Roberts says. "They are wise and mature. They understand the inevitability of what this young generation is trying to accomplish and will support you in that effort. You will get your marriage license and a grand celebration if you choose. Expect an 'I Told You So' in about 20 or 30 years as your children suffer the difficulties of this merging you are seeking. With so may hybrids on the surface our secret places will eventually be exposed and it could be the end of us all. We all pray that God is on your side in this endeavor."
One elder stepped forward. “You seek marriage with a surface dweller?” Her voice echoed with layers—age upon age.
Ash held Dany’s hand tightly. “Yes.”
“And you, human,” the elder asked. “Do you understand the weight of what you enter? Your children will belong to two worlds. Or to neither.”
Dany inhaled deeply. “I love her. I want whatever future she brings.”
The elders considered this quietly.
“Very well,” the lead elder said. “The path ahead will be difficult. But this merging is inevitable. You will have our blessing. And you may choose a traditional ceremony, a human ceremony—or both.”
Ash practically glowed. Dany exhaled in relief.
"Asherina? If what he says is true we could be causing the genocide of your people. Are you sure you want to do this?" Dany asks.
"Our secret places will be discovered eventually no matter what." Asherina says. "If there are a billion or so hybrids already merged in the top world then we have a chance to avoid genocide. We will already have become one people."
"And so the debate goes." Mr Roberts says. "Ok, lets get you guys married and you can create this future for all of us, hopefully without bloodshed."
"While we are down here I need to see the doctor." Asherina says. "I think we already have a little hybrid on the way."
Mr Roberts frowns. "Asherina! You can never wait for anything. Patience in not your virtue. I'll make the appointment. Have you told your Human mother?
"Oh God No! I'm not ready for that lecture. But my Human Dad said we could. So we did. A lot."
As they left the underground city, Dany turned to Ash. “Wait. Something he said earlier—‘consequences.’ What did he mean?”
Ash hesitated. “There’s something you need to know. Something top secret. About the sun.”
Dany frowned. “The sun?”
Ash took a breath. “Our sun is unstable. It twists magnetic fields until they snap. When that happens, the sun shuts down briefly and goes dark. Then—because of the pressure—it explodes outward. A micro-nova.”
Dany stared. “You’re saying the sun… explodes?”
“Yes. It blows off the entire corona, the sun's atmosphere. Not enough to destroy the star. But enough to scorch every surface of every planet. Only life underground—or in oceans—survives.”
Dany felt the floor tilt beneath him. “Why are we still here then? Why isn’t humanity extinct?”
"You're here because of us. We have about 10 thousand cities around the world but we also have many empty ones prepared for such an event. The last time the Sun went Nova we moved as many of the surface people as we could underground where they waited for the surface to repair itself. Some of your indigenous populations still remember that. So you wanted to know when is the big reveal? If we have to move large numbers of the top side people underground, along with a lot of the surface animals, that will necessitate the big reveal, and it will probably be well before the 10 to 20 generations of our hybrids."
"Ok. Why does that have to be top secret? When the Sun starts to go dark can't you just guide the surface people underground?" Dany Asks.
"There are a number of problems." Asherina explains. "One big problems is that there are orders of magnitude more surface dwellers now than before. There isn't room for all of them. Just imagine if they were all fighting for limited space underground."
"Another problem we had last time is the timing. It isn't that accurate. We moved in many surface populations but it was 20 years before the Sun exploded. They stopped believing us and moved back to the surface. Your archaeologist are puzzled why some populations survived past cataclysms and others disappeared all together. That is why. Many left the underground and were cooked on the surface.
"So if there isn't enough room underground for everyone, who decides who get to live and who will perish?" Dany asks. "This is all very dark information. I think I'm going to be sick."
"We all make a list. You are on my list, obviously, as are my adopted parents and their immediate family. Since we are married you get to make a list too." Asherina explains.
Dany ran a hand through his hair. “So… when is the next one?”
Ash grimaced. “Could be next week. Could be two hundred years.” She shrugged helplessly. “It’s like watching popcorn and predicting when a kernel will pop.”
“And who decides who gets saved?” Dany asked, voice hollow. “You can’t save eight billion people underground.”
“That’s the darkest part,” she said softly. “We make lists. You’re on mine. My adoptive parents and their family are on mine. Because you are my husband, you get to make a list too.”
"Well, I'm going with 200 years or not pop at all." Dany says with a serious frown. "I'm sorry, sweetie, but I can't deal with this kind of information. There is no way I can make a list. I can't decide who lives and who dies. If this happens in our lifetime I would rather just stay on the surface, and whatever happens is what happens. Hopefully the stories I hear about the mother ships is true and they will beam us up."
Tears slid down Ash’s cheeks. “I understand,” she whispered. “Only monsters want to play God. But if it happens while we’re alive—I’m dragging your stubborn ass underground. I’m not letting you die.”
“This is too dark for me. Forget about the sun. Let's get married.” Dany said chainging the subject.
“Why is this dress so tight? We had it fitted when we ordered it.” Selena asked the morning of the surface wedding, tugging at the gown’s seams. She froze. “Ash… are you showing?”
Ash stared at her hands. “Maybe. Just a little.”
“Damn it, girl! You can’t be ‘a little’ pregnant!” Selena cried. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
"Mom. I'm sorry. I thought you would be mad at me." Asherina say, tearing up a little.
Selena pulled her into a fierce hug. “I’m not mad. I’m overwhelmed! I just wasn't expecting this so soon. We could have had the dress resized. We just planned two weddings in two different worlds, and now we need baby showers in two different worlds too. I'm just frustrated. It's so much so fast." Selena says hugging Asherina and comforting her.
"I'm sorry Mom. Will you help me pick out names?" Asherina asks.
"Of course, sweetheart. But you gotta make plans for the baby, financially. You can't stay in Dany's tiny apartment. You're gonna need more money. You have a practitioners license. You gotta use that instead of that stupid waitress job." Selena goes on and on with her worries.
"I know Mom. I know all this stuff. I'll get it handled. I promise. I've got this. Stop freaking out." Asherina lectures her Mom.
Their surface wedding was held in a small garden park illuminated by strings of warm bulbs and surrounded by close friends, both human and underground. Ash wore a dress that shimmered like moonlight—handmade, of course. She had adjusted it that morning to accommodate the faint swell of her abdomen.
Dany stood at the altar in a tailored suit borrowed from Raul (“because you’re family now, son”). When Ash appeared at the aisle’s beginning, Dany felt time collapse. Every pain he had ever carried, every loneliness, every wound softened into something bright and new.
Selena wiped her eyes. “There she goes,” she whispered to Raul. “My miracle girl.”
Raul sniffed loudly. “I’m allergic to weddings.”
Mr. Roberts attended in his usual mysterious attire, though he removed his sunglasses for the ceremony—an act that startled several human guests who later convinced themselves it was a trick of the light.
The vows were simple. Honest. Human. And something more than human.
When Dany kissed Ash, the sky overhead seemed to shimmer faintly—not with magic, but with the weight of two worlds shifting their trajectories.
Their second wedding, held deep in the subterranean city, was older, quieter, and woven with rituals Dany couldn’t begin to comprehend. Here, marriage wasn’t just a union—it was a merging of destinies, a contract of lineage.
The elders placed their hands on Ash’s and Dany’s shoulders, speaking words that resonated in the mind more than the ears.
“This joining,” the lead elder intoned, “is a thread woven between two histories. May its strength outlast the storms to come.”
Ash squeezed Dany's hand. “That’s elder-speak for ‘good luck, kids.’”
Mr. Roberts muttered from the side, “And for the love of sanity, wait before having any more children—” He paused and glanced at Ash’s slightly rounded belly. “Never mind. Too late.”
Ash smiled with smug pride. “You’re welcome.”
"Just look at her, Ash. She's so gorgeous. Look. We made a miracle." Dany says staring at the baby in the cradle.
Their daughter was born in the underground city—small, perfect, beautiful. Her eyes were dark and tiny, unmistakably human in appearance, allowing her to blend seamlessly into the surface world.
"She has my Dads eyes." Dany says. "His family is from Mexico. I keep thinking of his experience living in a border town near the Mexican border. My grand father is from Mexico and my grand Mother is from Ireland. Both of them were immigrants to the US. They experienced first had the problems when two worlds collide. This little baby will experience that times 10. I'm scared for her."
“There are thousands of families like us,” Ash reassured him. “She won’t be alone.”
"How do you know of these thousands of other families. Do you communicate on the dark web or something." Dany Asks.
"No. We are experts in hiding in plain sight. Remember?" Asherina says. "Look here, this readers group on social media. See all these ebooks for sale? We publish our stories as fiction, short stories about little Hobbit people living underground. The government thinks they are just silly stories. We share our experiences, what works, what doesn't. The characters are real and the stories are mostly real. People think they’re cute little ebooks. But they’re us."
"See this book right here." Asherina says pointing at the screen. "I wrote that. It's our story, so far. We have to make up some stuff to make it look like fiction, magic and stuff like that. There are a few true believers out there who think it's all real and some of them wander through the woods looking for our door. We just direct them to a different door that leads to an empty cavern."
"So when is the big reveal. When are you guys going to come out. When is the blending going to be complete." Dany asks.
She grew serious. "I guess it would take 10 to 20 generations if everything stays the same. Nothing stays the same, though. If the next solar event comes soon… sooner than anyone expects… the reveal might be forced. We’ll need to rescue as many surface people as possible.”
Dany sighed. “That’s too dark for today. Let’s just enjoy this miracle we made.”
“Agreed,” Ash whispered, kissing their baby’s head. “And when you’re ready… we can make another. But can we wait at least three years between babies?”
“Three years?!” he gasped. “That's a long time between ... you know.”
Asherina laughs. “Oh stop it. Haven’t you heard of protection? I don't expect you to be a priest.”
And for the moment, they forgot the danger above, and the future, and the merging of worlds—because love, in all its complexity, was enough.
Life settled into something resembling normal—though “normal” had become a flexible word in their household. For Ash, motherhood softened some of her edges, but it sharpened others. She was fiercely protective, endlessly curious, and always three steps ahead of anyone who tried to restrict her autonomy.
Dany, on the other hand, found himself torn between awe and anxiety. He adored his daughter—this tiny miracle of two worlds—but every time he held her, the future loomed like a storm cloud. Would she be hunted? Hidden? Celebrated? Feared?
Selena, who had seen Ash at every stage of her accelerated adolescence, balanced grace with exasperation.
“Ash,” she said one morning, holding the baby while Ash rummaged through a stack of fashion sketches, “you need to understand something. You're not just raising a child—you’re raising a bridge. A living one. And bridges get walked on.”
Ash paused mid-scribble, her pencil hovering. “I know, Mom. That's why I’m designing a life sturdy enough for her to walk across.”
Selena softened. “You always did see the world in blueprints.”
Raul peeked in from the hallway. “And in shopping trips,” he added cheerfully.
Ash rolled her eyes. “Dad, don’t make me telepathically hide your car keys again.”
Raul froze. “You wouldn’t.”
She grinned. “Try me.”
The room dissolved into laughter—the kind families fall into when they know the world hasn’t broken them yet.
Later that evening, Ash and Dany lay in bed with their daughter sleeping peacefully in her bassinet. A soft glow from the night-light painted gentle halos across the ceiling.
“Do you ever think about the elders’ warning?” Dany whispered.
“Which part?” Ash asked. “The species blending? The political fallout? The generational trauma?” She paused. “Oh—do you mean the part where the sun might explode and cook the planet?”
“Yeah,” he said quietly. “That part.”
Ash exhaled, her breath slowing. “I do. But thinking about it doesn’t protect us. What protects us is preparation. Connection. Love. Community. Everything my people learned through centuries of hiding.”
Dany stared at the ceiling. “I still don’t know how to make a list.”
Ash rolled toward him and placed a hand on his cheek. “You don’t have to. If the worst comes, I’ll decide. You’ll just follow me into the elevator like a stubborn puppy. You won’t have a choice.”
He smiled weakly. “You say that like it’s romantic.”
“It is romantic,” she said firmly. “It’s survival. And I’m not losing you.”
He pulled her close, burying his face in her hair. “Then promise me we’ll raise her without fear.”
Ash kissed him softly. “Fear is inevitable. But we’ll raise her with courage—courage to walk above and below, courage to love who she chooses, courage to build the future we weren’t given.”
“Sounds like a plan,” he said.
Their daughter grew fast—faster than most humans, slower than Ash’s people. She crawled with curiosity, toddled with determination, and observed everything with a quiet wisdom neither parent could explain.
Her eyes stayed dark, her skin sun-kissed like Dany’s lineage, her smile radiant like Ash’s.
She belonged everywhere and nowhere. And yet, her laughter made both worlds feel complete.
One afternoon, as Ash rocked her to sleep, the baby’s eyes fluttered open just long enough for Ash to feel a faint whisper brush against her mind.
A thought. Barely formed. Barely conscious. But unmistakably telepathic.
Mommy.
Ash froze, tears filling her eyes. “Oh sweetheart… you are going to change everything.”
Ash often said that stories were the safest way for truths to enter the world. So she wrote—fantasies disguised as fiction, little ebooks about hidden cities and hobbit-sized people with glowing eyes and ancient wisdom.
Readers loved them. Some believed every word. Some wandered forests searching for hidden doors. Some laughed it off as charming nonsense.
But those who read closely felt something whisper beneath the lines, a sense that maybe—just maybe—strange miracles walked unnoticed among them.
Dany sometimes asked her, “When will the world know the truth?”
Ash always answered the same way:
She held their daughter, now babbling and giggling, and whispered:
“One day, little one, you will walk in the sun without hiding. One day, both our worlds will see you and not flinch. One day, the truth will not need fiction at all.”
She smiled softly. “Until then… we write.”
The chapel had emptied into a hush of footsteps and murmured condolences, but Ella’s attention had anchored itself on the small, blonde figure seated at the back. The girl slipped out before the service ended, silent as a falling leaf.
“Did you see that little blonde girl?” Ella asked as they stepped outside into the cool afternoon. “She left early. I’ve seen her before, but today she was watching us.”
Helena nodded, her empathic senses prickling in quiet alarm. “Yeah. But this time… this time she felt focused. Like she was targeting us.”
Ella crossed her arms, eyes trained on the dark treeline beyond the parking lot. “She’s telepathic. I could feel her probing at me. Maybe she’s one of those lizard people in a skinsuit.”
Helena snorted. “Let’s hope not.”
“I saw her disappear into the woods.” Ella gestured toward the trail. “Come on. Let’s go find her.”
The deeper they walked, the stronger Ella felt the presence—like a hum beneath the surface of reality. Helena, however, sensed only a faint, carefully controlled signal.
“She’s good,” Helena murmured. “She’s tuning me out completely.”
“Should we get our guns?” Ella shrugged. “No. Might scare her. I want to know who she is.”
They turned a bend in the trail and froze.
“There,” Ella whispered. “By the tree.”
Ella straightened, voice firm. “All right, little girl. We’re here. What do you want?”
The stranger stepped forward, serene and unoffended. “I’m not a little girl,” she said calmly. “I’m twice your age. I have a husband and a three-month-old daughter. I was trying to see if you were the one the prophecies spoke of.”
Helena probed gently and gasped. “She’s blocked me—completely—but not out of malice. You’re… not human, are you?”
“I’m as human as you are—almost,” the stranger answered. “But we don’t call ourselves that. My name is Asherina.”
Ella’s instincts clicked, pieces falling into place. “Well, Asherina, what do you want with us?”
“I have a question,” she said. “Are you planning to dig tunnels into the mountains soon? Because if you are… you’re going to need my help.”
Before Ella could respond, Asherina gave a small, mischievous smile. “Let’s talk somewhere safe. My place is just around the corner.”
Ella and Helena followed her down a narrow, barely visible footpath until they reached what appeared to be a solid stone wall. Moments later, the stone shimmered—no longer solid—and resolved into a door.
Helena blinked. “I swear that wasn’t there a second ago.”
“It wasn’t,” Asherina replied. “Please, come in.”
The elevator ride dropped them thousands of feet in seconds, ears popping as the world widened beneath them.
Ella stepped out into a cavern so vast it resembled an underground sky. Thousands of round houses dotted the landscape like hobbit dwellings, with hanging gardens suspended from natural arches. A crystal river shimmered through the center of the city. Birds flew overhead—birds with no sky to escape into.
“Are you the hobbit people?” Ella whispered, overwhelmed.
Asherina laughed like silver chimes. “No. But Tolkien borrowed heavily from us. This way—this one is my home.”
The interior was warm, carved from living stone but decorated like a modern cottage. A man with warm brown eyes turned from the stove, smiling.
“Dany,” Asherina said proudly, “these are Ella and Helena—the ones foretold as the tunnel diggers.”
“So nice to meet you,” Dany said. “Ash has been searching the whole planet for you, and you were just up the trail.”
A tiny baby in a woven cradle stirred. “Chessa,” Asherina introduced, “our daughter. A hybrid of both worlds.”
Helena’s face melted. “Oh my God, she’s beautiful. May I hold her?”
Ella elbowed her lightly. “Careful. Holding babies make you fertile.”
Dany set plates on the table. “Dinner’s ready—lamb. Unless you prefer something plant-based?”
Ella grinned. “Oh, we’re carnivores. Lamb is perfect.”
“So,” Ella asked, “why a mixed marriage? Aren’t there enough young men down here?”
“We have plenty,” Asherina replied, expression shifting. “But I was raised topside for much of my adolescence. My adoptive parents were human. And besides… there’s a bigger plan. Chessa is part of that.”
“A plan?” Helena asked.
Asherina nodded. “My generation believes our two species must merge. Your people were violent—so violent you wiped out every other human species on the surface. So we hid underground. For half a million years, we’ve lived in fear of discovery.”
She folded her hands. “But if we can create enough hybrid children in the next fifty years… perhaps we’ll stop fearing each other. Perhaps we’ll become one people.”
Helena raised her hand excitedly. “Can I meet some of your eligible bachelors?”
Ella laughed. “Helena, focus. We have a world to save.”
Asherina leaned forward, voice lowering. “We’ve been building tunnels and caverns for millennia—not just to hide from you, but from the sun.”
Ella straightened. “The sun?”
“The sun is not stable,” Asherina said. “Sometimes it shuts down temporarily, then explodes outward, blowing off its entire corona. Enough to melt rock on the moon. Enough to cook everything on Earth.”
Helena went pale. “That matches our own data… and the visions.”
“And the tunnels you plan to build,” Asherina continued, “will save lives—not just from war, but from the solar event that will follow. Maybe days later. Maybe decades. But it’s coming.”
Helena suddenly smiled, something clicking into place. “Ella, think about it. In every vision of our future, there was a blonde girl. We lost Aileen… but maybe she wasn’t the blonde we were meant to find.”
Ella turned to Asherina. “We already have one alien hybrid on our team, so why not another? Asherina—would you like to join Navy Intelligence? Become an agent? Learn combat?”
Dany nearly dropped a spoon. “Hold on—Ash, you’re not just going to run off and leave me topside, are you?”
Asherina grinned wickedly. “I was thinking… maybe we all move topside. New houses for families. We keep our home here, too. I can help Ella and Helena. Ask Commander Beaker and see what he says.”
Ella waved dismissively. “I don’t care what he says. If you want in—you’re in.”
Helena extended her hand. “A handshake and a hug, and you’re part of the crew.”
Asherina shook her hand—and pulled her into a warm embrace, her voice soft but certain.
“Then let the work begin.”
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