A few days after the hurricane they named "Beth", things were slowly getting back to normal; Dr Jamie was even able to salvage the missing entries on the laptop from the strange, unexplained power surge.... Yup; things returning to normal... until Aug 12th came.
The day started normal enough with an average breakfast of fresh fruit from the orchard, eggs from the chickens, milk from the cows and fresh loaf of bread made from the first harvest of wheat (and a bread maker they liberated from a Wal-mart).
Griz and Jazz spent the morning replanting some more of the farm field while Patrick and Sarah had gone down to Bermareda Circle to do some long delayed clean up work; Kathryn and Raea took a walk through the orchard so she could put down some more Earth Pony magic and check on the few trees that had been knocked over in the storm.
Lunch consisted of sandwiches made with peanut butter and jam. Griz made hers with strips of smoked fish instead. They had all finally gotten used to the smell of cooked fish and so it no longer made them ill.
Later in the afternoon, Patrick and Kathryn were refilling the Coast Guard boats with diesel when the radio of the ship crackled to life. They had been using the emergency broadcast signal since they acquired the boats but so far, nothing had come. Then all of a sudden, that signal came to life and then a very young voice speaks. “Hello? Is anyone there? Please help me!” When we say young, we mean really young; far younger than Margaret.... maybe closer to young David’s age.
Kathryn had managed to shut off the diesel pump while Patrick bolted for the radio. He managed to get the microphone off the hook, onto the floor and wedge it against a floorboard so he could depress the speak button. “Hello there! My name is Patrick. Are you ok?” he asked without the pirate voice.
“I don’t know! Everything is wrong! Please help me!” she said, fear clear in her voice. Having turned off the pump with a flip of a switch, Kathryn trotted over to the radio and nodded to Patrick. He let go of the radio and she took over.
“Sweetie, my name is Kathy. I need you to calm down, ok? Take some deep breaths; tell me your name, how old you are, and about yourself, ok?” she asked calmly.
They heard some snuffling and hiccup before her deep breathing. It was a few moments before she was calm enough to answer. “My name is Annie and I’m 7. I’m on a boat tied to a dock. I was here with my parents but when I woke, they were gone and I’m different.”
“Okay Annie, you’re doing great. When did you wake up? Can you look outside and see a sign or some landmark at the docks?” Kathryn asked, watching as Patrick nodded and grabbed a local map.
The pause on the radio was agonizing but she eventually came back. “I woke up last night when the stars were still out. ‘Marathon Marina & Boatyard’; it was on a piece of paper taped to the window. Does that help?” she asked. Patrick kicked the map aside and grabbed the GPS instead, using his lanyard stylus to type it in. After a few moments, he made eye contact with Kathryn and nodded. They were both relieved to hear that she had only recently arrived, having missed Beth entirely.
“Yes sweetie, that was fantastic! We have your location and we will come to you, ok?” They listened to some more snuffling before she spoke again. “Okay, Kathy. Are you really coming?” she asked hopefully. Kathryn watched in awe as Patrick showed her the GPS’s directions. It was gonna be a full day, round trip.
“If that’s what you want, Annie, I’ll be one of us who comes to you,” Kathryn answered. “Are you a horse too?” Annie asked. “Yes, sweetie, I’m a pony too. I am almost white with two-blued hair and tail. What do you look like?” Kathryn replied. “I am light pink with really thick white & pink hair.... and I’m a mermaid pony. Are you a mermaid too?” Annie asked.
Silence reigned in the cabin as Patrick and Kathryn shared looks. Another merpony? And a child, no less! We have to go get her and bring her back.
“Hello? Kathy? Are... are you still there?” asked the scared little voice. Kathryn grabbed the microphone and replied, “Yes Annie, I’m still here sweetie. I am coming to get you and I’ll be bringing a pony friend and a dog friend. Is that ok? It’s going to take us about two and a half hours for us to get to you and we’ll leave here in half hour.... so we will see you in three hours, ok?”
“Okay Kathy. You’ll tell me everything when you get here right?” Annie asked. “I’m going to bring the radio with us so we can talk along the way.” Kathryn nodded towards the other boat and Patrick picked up on her intention; she was borrowing the other boat’s radio.
“Okay Annie. I have to leave the radio and go get ready to drive down to you. I will call you back when we leave, ok?” Kathryn asked. “Uh huh.... I’m going to go swimming and eat more of the seaweed. It was really good and I’m hungry,” the little girl replied. “That’s a great idea, Annie. Just stay nearby the boat so you can hear us,” Kathryn said, relieved that she had already learned to swim and knew enough to eat the aquatic plants.
***
Hurrying back to U1, Kathryn managed to grab Raea from the RV and hollered for Jazz to go get Sarah while she ran to her truck. Griz came out of U1 while Sarah & Jazz came running from the convention center. Kathryn quickly filled them in on what Patrick and she had learned of poor Annie. Sarah wanted to go with them but Kathryn negated her. “Annie already knows me and Patrick; she knows to expect us. It will be about five hours, round trip but give us another two or three for scavenging along the way.”
In the end, Sarah agreed to stay behind and prepare a new bed in both Kathryn’s RV and in Sarah’s own ship for Annie to choose from when they got back.
Jazz filled a medium-sized food cooler with some more peanut butter and jam sandwiches, juice boxes, granola bars, bottles of water and freshly picked apples from the orchard; placing the whole thing into the back seat of Kathryn’s truck.
The said truck had already been re-rigged with the handicap handles so Kathryn hollered at Patrick to ditch his wheels into the back and drive. Everyone was shocked to hear that... until Kathryn explained that she wanted to talk to Annie as they went and doing that while driving was not a safe idea, despite there being no traffic. “What can I say? Old habits die hard,” she said, sticking her tongue out playfully.
***
And sure enough, about three (and a bit) hours after Annie’s first radio call and some beautiful scenery driving over ocean bridges, Patrick and Kathryn were pulling into the marina’s parking lot. Patrick depressed the truck’s horn a bit to let Annie know that they had arrived.
And sure enough, a little pink merpony filly started waving frantically from one of the nearby yachts. As Kathryn, Patrick (strapping on his wheels) and Raea disembarked the truck, Annie (wearing only a huge white ribbon in her mane) tossed a duffle bag over onto the dock and Kathryn watched as that was quickly followed by a skate board. The two adults watched in awe as Annie leaped from the yacht onto a mattress left on the dock; she lifted the duffle bag onto one end of the skate board and she placed her tail on the other, pulling a string tight with her teeth; she started walking towards the two bigger ponies; it was plainly clear that she was an earth-merpony... no wings or horn.
Raea saw her and bounded up to her, sniffling her mane and licking the child’s face. Annie kept squealing and giggling in delight, until Kathryn called the dog back.
“Hello there Annie; I’m Kathy and this is Patrick.” The two adults watched as the child’s eyes turned to pinpricks at her surprise at seeing Patrick being just like her. Kathryn sat down on her haunches and activated her magic, allowing herself to transform. “My guess is that you’re not able to turn back and forth like me?” Kathryn asked. Annie looked back at her tail for a moment but shook her head.
“Arrrr lass! Don’ ye worry about that thar! I be not able to either ‘n another like us back home ‘n she can’t neither,” Patrick said, finally using his pirate persona to cheer the girl up. She looked him over some more, seeing the pirate-y cutie mark and giggled some more. “Patrick is right... Sarah is a mermaid pony like you who can’t change. I’m special ,” Kathryn said in a silly voice, smugly in Patrick’s direction as she transformed back. These made Annie laugh some more before settling down.
“What about my parents? Won’t they be looking for me?” she asked nervously glancing back at the yacht. But Kathryn had come prepared. Surprising Annie again, Kathryn pulled out a piece of paper out of her mane and showed it to Annie.
To Whom This May Concern,
My name is Kathryn Mason and I am an adult. If you’re reading this, it means that you’ve come back to a very different world and into a very different body. Before you panic, Annie is with me. She returned to the world earlier than you and she contacted me. I was able to come and bring her back to my current home. She is safe.
Once you figure how to walk, please follow the directions on the map below and you’ll find us; or at the very least others who can get in touch with us and they can help you too. ~Kathryn
Kathryn carefully placed the paper on the ground and showed Annie how to use a pen in her mouth; Annie quickly added a note into the space Kathryn left.
My name is Annie. My birthday is March 16th. I am seven years old in 2015. Kathy is kinda like me... a mermaid pony and she says that there are more at her home. She can take care of me. But please come find us, Mommy and Daddy. I miss you.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Having already gathered all that she wanted to keep, Annie was ready to climb into the big red truck and drive back to Kathy & Patrick's home. Patrick had used his wings to fly and lifted Annie into the back seat, Raea clambering in after her barely waiting for Patrick to move.
Kathryn climbed into the driver's seat and started up the engine. "Nah hold up thar missy! Who said ye'd be drivin' th' ship? I be th' cap'n o' this rescue mission!" Patrick said as he settled his wheels in the back and climbed into the front seat. "Sorry to burst your bubble Captain but this is MY truck and pony rescue is MY special talent," Kathryn responded with a sticking out of her tongue. Annie giggled from the back seat at Patrick's voice and the silly-sullen look he gave Kathryn for usurping him.
The long drive back turned even longer when Kathryn decided to stop in at nearly every Walmart, Toys R' Us and police station to either scavenge or leave notes & maps. They also stopped in at a Fabricland so Kathryn could grab the huge rolls of towel material in a variety of colors. Despite her excitement, Annie had fallen asleep on Raea, covered in a damp towel, around the time they were an hour out from Campus City.
By the time they did arrive at Campus City, it was very nearly midnight so it was decided that Annie would sleep in the ankle-deep splash pool of the aquatic center with Kathryn (in her merpony form) and they'd give her the tour in the morning. They used one roll of the towel material to make pillows & blankets for them to use and Annie remained asleep as Griz carried her from the truck to the pool.