I let out a jubilant shout and leap across the ditch, then into the line of corn. My demon is intent on stalking his prey as I follow the glimpses of swaying hips weaving between tall plants a dozen feet in front of me.
I’m starting to get concerned, wondering how far we’re going and if she actually has a destination in mind, when I step into what hasgotto be a crop circle.
“Oh, hell yeah,” I say.
I raise one hand to shade my eyes as I dart my gaze around, taking in the cylindrical shape of smashed greenery and displaced dirt. We’re surrounded on all sides by tall, happy corn waving in the breeze, and then there’s this crop-circle-alien-crash-site business stretching out in front of me. Lor is already picking her way across the ground up earth, inspecting the dirt as she goes.
“Are we hunting aliens?” I call over to Lor, excitement clear in my voice as I spring after her.
Lor freezes, then straightens and turns back to me.
“What?”
“Aliens!” I say, raising my voice so she can hear over the wind swishing through the corn.
Lor stares at me for a moment, then shakes her head as she crouches back down. It looks more like a ‘you’re ridiculous’ head shake than a ‘no’ head shake, though.
I shrug.
Whatever, she can keep her secrets. I’d let her have all the glory if we do find evidence of aliens, I’m just happy to be along for the ride. I start scanning the ground, choosing a spot away from her so we can cover more of it together, but I don’t see any footprints other than my own. There’s no burn marks from a landing craft or lasers or anything, but then if they had technology to land here, I guess they’d be beyond leaving signs that obvious.
A glimmer catches my eye and I swoop down to check it out, but it’s just a sparkly rock. It’s pretty though, so I pocket it, then continue my slow search, eyes scanning back and forth as I carefully step around the alien landing zone.
I jump when my mom’s ringtone belts from my pocket, and flit my eyes to Lor as I pull it out. She glances up at me in confusion, but goes back to shoveling dirt into her sack without comment.
Hmm, are we not looking for aliens? Or did she find a clue in the dirt?
“Hey, Mom,” I say, answering the video call.
“Foras Astaroth Cromwell.”
“Wait, what? I didn’t do anything!”
“It has been far too long since you’ve called your mother,” she scolds.
“I’m pretty sure I called you two days ago.”
“Oh,” she says, then looks off screen when I hear my dad in the background confirming that we did, in fact, talk two days ago. “Right, well. Hello, darling!”
“Hi, Mom.” I roll my eyes, but grin regardless.
“What on earth are you doing in a cornfield, dear?”
“Oh! We’re alien hunting!”
My dad’s face pops into the screen next to hers and I spin around, showing them the landing site and Lor a dozen strides behind me.
“Either that or we’re researching crop circles. I haven’t quite figured it out yet.”
“Well that sounds wonderful,” my mom says. “And who is this we? The lovely lady I see back there?”
“That’s Lor,” I say, turning to her. “Hey, Lor!”
She looks up and I hold my phone higher, pointing to it with the other hand for good measure.
“It’s my parents, wave!”
She squints at me, then raises her hand to shield her eyes. I consider that good enough, and my parents seem to as well, calling hello to her even though she can’t hear them so far away. Corn stalks are surprisingly loud when it’s breezy.
