It had been a few days since Cypher’s postcard. Life went back to beingmonotonous. Grayson was still a little terror but he was starting, and i mean like1%, starting to sleep better. That one percent made all the difference. I sighedand finished doing the last load of laundry, mainly Dev’s doctor scrubs, and wentto do the dishes. Dev was back for lunch and was eating in the other room.Grayson was napping which was a blessing. I walked out grab the first dishesfrom the other table when I heard a faint twinkling sound. Puzzled, I walkedtoward the source of the sound and found it came from the sink. I rainbow hadappeared over the water and it seemed to be… ringing? I thought for a momentthen it talked. would you like to answer this Iris message? A feminine voice said.Sure. I say and it dings. Hello? A familiar voice said. I looked at him shocked andsmiled. DEVIN! I yell. WHAT?! He yells back. GET YOUR BUTT OVER HERE! ITSCYPHER! I yell excitedly. He runs over and trips on a chair and hits his head onthe wall. I roll my eyes as he rubs his head and walks over. Cypher?! He asks.Hi! He says. He sounded like he was on a phone call but I could see him. GreekFaceTime. I grab a chair. What are you doing?! How are you?! I ask him. Im fine,we’re in Kentucky. He says. Wait Kentucky? Florida to Kentucky? Dev says voicingmy thoughts. He grabs a chair and sits down as well. A million questions racedback and forth through my head so fast I couldnt tell which one to ask first.Um yeah. Snuck into the fort, met Fear- I had only one question at that point.Im sorry, met Fear?! I ask him, worry running through me. Yeah, he sucks. I toldhim off then found everyone, and now we’re here. Knole went bonkers andbombed a monster base. He explains as if it was no big deal. I looked over toDev but he had this grin on his face and I wanted to smack him so bad. It wasso tempting. Good thing your alive to say you lived past fear. Dev says. The urgeto smack him was like a child having a piece of candy put in front of them andtold to wait. Cypher shrugged. Boys. I thought and resisted rolling my eyes. Inoticed something was missing. Or someone. Where’s Evelyn and Knole? I ask. Hehesitates. Talking… he says and it seems like he’s hiding something. I wanted toask him but I decided it would be best to barrage him with questions later. Uhhuh… have you had any… black outs? I ask. Nope! He says with a big proudsmile. I sigh in relief. At least he’s not in pain. I think. Where’s Grayson? He asks.I had forgotten about Grayson in the rush of things. I worried we had wakenhim up with our yelling but he didnt make any noise so I assumed he was still Asleep. Sleeping. Took forever to get him to though, but he is now.Dev says and shakes his head. I smile and nudge him. Been boringwithout me? Cypher asks with a lazy grin. Yeah, but we’ve keptourselves busy. Dev says. Well for you. I think. Aye yo. He says with adevious smile. Cypher shut up. You dont need to talk everytime we saysomething. Devon has been working and I’ve been taking care ofGrayson. I tell him. That kid has some MAD ADHD. I think. I eye him.He smirks even more and Dev shakes his head. You need to stop beingyou. Dev says. How? He asks in a baby voice. I roll my eyes. I see hisface grow hazier. It must not last forever. I think. Stop being asuspicious kid. I love you and Evelyn ok? I tell him. Same here. Devchimes in. I know… I love you guys to. He says. Me and Dev smile. Hesmiled too. The water really started to disappear and somethingcrossed his face. Mom, Dad; Evelyn and Knole-. It cut out. I startedpanicking. What if their hurt? Dev put a hand on my shoulder. I bettheir fine. He says as if reading my mind. I guess. I mumble and hegets up and leaves. I think about the conversation for a second,trying to process everything. One detail struck me. I smiled. Dev wascarrying his bag to go back to work and he stopped. Why the grin?He asks. I just realized that Cypher just called us Mom and Dad. Itell him and he smiles too. Well, its about time. He says and leaves. Ilaugh but it dies out. Wow. He had never called us that. The mom sideof me felt all warm and fuzzy but a doubt lurked in my head. Theyweren’t really mine, even though I had basically been a mom to themfor the past 3 years. But somehow I felt like I was taking that formAstraea. My mood soured but I tried to linger on the warm andfuzzy. I was able to hang on and I sighed. At least their ok. I think.I hear the cry of Grayson waking up and groan. I walk to his roomwon’t my head full of milllions of things.