ourselves hiding for years. I worried, every night the lights went out, I was afraid. I was terrified my dad would find us and that would be the end of it. I've never been a brave, independent, courageous person. Sometimes, I wish I could say I was, but I wasn't. Your father showed me how to be brave. And, as the years went by, my confidence grew. I thought, just maybe, my dad had given up. Something in the back of my mind always told me he hadn't."
Suddenly the exhaustion and fatigue vanished and a fire from deep within lit up Alison's electric blue eyes. Jack always knew he had inherited his mother's eyes, now he knew she had her father's eyes.
Alison looked her son straight in the eye, seriously. "Hatred blinds you. Never hate, Jack. Hate what is bad, but don't ever hate people, especially when you have only false stories and lies to base your distrust on."
Jack took the wise words of his mother to heart. He couldn't resent her for not having told him about his grandfather sooner. She honestly believed the trouble was all behind them.
"Goodnight, sweetie," Alison said, yawning gently.
"Goodnight, mom" Jack replied, softly, as he headed up the stairs. Before going to bed for a well-earned rest, he stopped by his little sister's room. Rosie was fast asleep, dreaming calmly.
Now he truly regretted having left without a word.
"I'm not going anywhere," he said in a low voice as he ran his fingers through his little sister's chin-length hair.
A day later, under the bright noon sun, Jack relayed what he had learnt from Rust with his team as they relaxed on the sand, the waves crashing at their feet.
"This is going to be so cool!" Bella squealed with pure delight.
"You do realize this means Sara and Janie are going to be living in Crashton, right?" Ty pointed out.
Bella shrugged. "This is Gamma Accident country. They'll figure out the food chain soon enough."
"Crashton is going to be overrun by heroes," Ethan thought aloud. "This is gonna be fun."
"The school won't be built until summer vacation is over," Jack reminded his friends.
Caleb shrugged. "Like that's going to bother us. That's kinda fast, though."
"They have super builders, of course it's fast," Bella said. She closed her eyes and titled her head back to drink in the sun's rays. "Summer couldn't get any better," she sighed, contently.
They spent the rest of the day, laughing and playing in the surf. Eventually, Dean Lightbody and Lacey Smallwood joined them.
As the day wore on, they spotted Rosie wandering the boardwalk. Jack picked her up and swung her onto his shoulders as he always did, ruffling her hair as she laughed.
Their journey had really only just begun, Jack reflected as he and his friends (old and new) watched the first stars blink to life in the coastal sky.
There were still bridges that needed crossing, mountains that needed climbing, friends to be made and sights to see.
You could only try. Giving up would leave you hollow and holding grudges would only make you bitter.
Jack saw what those situations did to people. Rust gave up, and became an empty shell of who he used to be. Wepaynar held a grudge and hatred grew until it was too intense to contain.
Jack couldn't tell what lay ahead, and he couldn't pretend to know.
He forgot about worrying and focussed on right there and then, with his friends, the ocean, and a long, relaxing summer stretching ahead...
Jack, Bella, Ethan, Ty and Caleb will return in Gamma Accidents #2: Creatures from the Deep
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