Chapter Text
Mindy was preparing dinner when she heard the scratching at the door.
At that sound, she stopped everything and went to answer it. Please let it be him. Please let my baby be home safe.
Before she opened the door, she scolded herself for worrying. Her son had never been gone this long before — over a month now — and if he were any ordinary five-year-old she should be frantic, but Jack was no ordinary five-year-old. He might be injured, lost, or otherwise incapacitated (Mindy was worried about those things) but she could breathe a little easier knowing that he couldn’t die.
Not like you, Paulo, she’d thought before, with regret. Why hadn’t she thought to ask her sister for help before his accident? Why couldn’t the Devil’s own sister-in-law protect her family?
She opened the door with the conviction that she wouldn’t make such a mistake again.
It was, in fact, her son waiting for her. Their home — a burrow in the ground, like many in the animal district of Safe Haven — may have had a sturdy door, but it also had several “windows” that were really just holes that let light in, some of which were large enough for a child of Jack’s size to crawl through. Jack could have snuck in that way, but he did not, because he was too polite for that.
Also, considering what he’d brought home with him, Mindy couldn’t imagine him sneaking anywhere.
As jackals, Mindy and Jack fit in fine with the other inhabitants of this district. Jack had a little trouble making friends with children his age, and this part of Safe Haven didn’t have the same convenience as the main city, but they were still part of a strong community, and that was important too.
Every time Jack had run away from home before today, he would normally bring back a non-sentient animal with him, each time asking his mother to let him keep it as a pet. Each time she’d said no, Jack said his goodbye, and they moved on until the next time he decided to leave home and not come back for days on end.
But this one… Mindy had an instinctive feeling that it was sentient. Just looking at it told her that her day had just become infinitely more complicated.
She couldn’t see most of the creature. It was hiding behind Jack (unsuccessfully), but peeked out at her with brilliantly green eyes. Mindy could also see what appeared to be antennae and orange scales.
“Mama?” Jack spoke, pulling her attention back to him. He was standing at his full height, on his back legs, and the creature behind him was hugging him around the middle with — were those lizard claws? “I’m home.”
“So you are!” Too excited to be worried about whatever he’d brought with him, Mindy picked up her son in a tight hug and gave him a barrage of kisses. The creature behind Jack released him as Mindy took him into her arms, and now she could see it clearly.
Safe Haven was a city that attracted some peculiar creatures, but Mindy had never seen one like this before.
It looked like it could mostly be classified as a tangerine-colored lizard. The tips of its antennae were purple, as were its claws, and its cat-like paws that served for feet. The green head of a serpent functioned as its tail.
It was staring at Mindy intently. She thought she could hear it humming to itself.
Now was the moment for confusion and concern. What did my son just bring home?
“Jack,” Mindy said, making an effort to keep her voice sweet in front of him, “what is this?”
Before Jack could answer, the creature hummed a sharp note and reached up with its claws, bouncing up and down on its feet. It behaved, Mindy reflected, like a little kid wanting to be picked up.
Instead of doing that, Mindy turned and set Jack down inside the house, away from the orange creature.
“Mama, let him in,” Jack pleaded, taking her hand. “His name is Zillion and he’s my best friend!”
“Oh… okay.” Mindy still had some concerns. Jack’s new friend looked like he’d been living in the woods with him. Jack’s fur was always ruffled and dirty (Mindy tried to emphasize good hygiene in her household, but thanks to Jack’s chronic misfortune, she was on the verge of admitting to herself that keeping him entirely clean of wear-and-tear was a losing battle) but Zillion’s scales also had smudges of dirt and angry red scratches that were just starting to heal.
Nonetheless, Jack had never called anyone his best friend before. So maybe she could put her doubts aside, at least, for now.
Mindy crouched down to be at his height. “It’s nice to meet you, dear,” she said. “If you don’t mind my asking, what species are you?”
Zillion stared at her for a few moments more, then glanced at Jack. “Qué dijo ella?” He asked.
“Mom, he doesn’t speak any English,” Jack said patiently. “I don’t know what language it is.”
“It sounds like Spanish,” Mindy reflected. Jack wouldn’t be very familiar with other languages since just about everyone spoke English in their little community, but Mindy had picked up bits and pieces of other tongues from her sister. Enough to identify a few, at least. “Can you tell what he says?” She had trouble imagining them becoming friends so quickly with a language barrier.
“I’m not sure,” Jack admitted. “We made our own way to talk to each other. He didn’t really want to come back here with me at first, but I convinced him. Can he stay over with us?”
“Oh, I don’t know…” Mindy didn’t want to disappoint him, but this was happening fast. And her question about Zillion’s species was still going unanswered.
Suddenly, a crumbling sound came from overhead, and a piece of the ceiling broke away above Jack. Thanks to his bad luck, this happened to him often, and while it wasn’t ever fatal, it did give him pretty bad headaches.
But it didn’t this time. Before Mindy could react, before she could even process what was happening and have the time to remind herself: Hold it together — this isn’t like Paulo — you’re not going to lose him, Zillion pushed past her and dragged Jack out of the way while he was frozen from surprise. The stone out of the roof hit the ground harmlessly.
That was new. Mindy had never seen someone try to protect Jack from his bad luck before. She’d tried when Jack was littler, and thankfully too young to remember. During that time, it seemed that every time she saved him from some catastrophe, something new and worse would hit him from a different direction. She imagined it felt like holding back a tidal wave.
She hadn’t explained to Jack why all this was happening to him. Not yet, anyway. She would, once she figured out how to tell someone she made them immortal and cursed them with misfortune at the same time.
“He can stay,” Mindy said, closing the door. “If he wants. But where’s his home? I imagine his parents will want to know where he is.”
“I don’t think he has either of those things, Mom,” Jack said, twisting around in Zillion’s embrace to hug him back. “A home… or parents. He’s been with me almost this whole last month, and it didn’t seem like he has somewhere or someone to go back to.”
Oh. Mindy looked at the child that was back to holding onto her son. If nothing else, that tipped the scales for her. She might have had worries about Jack being so close to whatever species his new friend was, but she couldn’t leave a child that age to fend for themselves.
“I’ll see if I can find anyone in his family,” she said, “but until then he can stay with us. Why don’t you show him around?”
Jack’s face lit up. “Really?” He didn’t wait for her to answer, though, releasing his friend and taking his hand to lead him away. “Come on, Zill! I’ll show you my nest!”
Mindy sighed internally as she watched them run off. She wouldn’t have been able to sleep at night if she’d turned Zillion away, but still… she couldn’t help but worry about how this arrangement would turn out.