Carl swallowed audibly. “She just kept screaming and screaming that I was going to take you away from her and she kept shoving her thumbs deeper and deeper into my neck.”

Nikodemus was having trouble catching his breath upon hearing this news. His grip tightened on the fence because he felt dizzy—like he was going to fall. His vision swam; his hands were sweaty. “Why didn’t you tell me about this?”

Carl sniffled. “Mom told me not to. Dad too. We didn’t want you to worry about it.”

Nikodemus wrapped an arm around his brother’s shoulder. “I’m so sorry that happened to you.”

Carl leaned his cheek on his brother’s shoulder for a moment, and then sighed. He tossed a cactus ear inside the fence and one of the camels slowly began tramping toward it. Carl whispered, “I don’t think she likes me at all, sometimes… she claims that I’m not actually her son and that I’m actually a monster.”

Nikodemus had never heard her say anything like that. He was stunned at all of these new revelations from his brother. Their mother had never been anything but angelic towards Nikodemus… why was she so bothered by Carl?

“She never says that in front of me…” Nikodemus murmured.

“Yeah, she always makes sure we’re alone when she does stuff like that. That’s why I was so ecstatic when she actually wanted to play Go Fish with me today…” Carl sighed heavily. “She turned mean again when you showed up, though.”

Silence resumed. Nikodemus didn’t know how to take this new information. He felt like he had stumbled upon a current of dark secrets and was getting swept away by them.

“Anyway, Nicky. How have you been feeling so far today?” Carl asked. “I know you’ve been feeling strange since we bumped into that sphere.”

Nikodemus looked up at the gray sky, wishing it would rain. Although rain made him sad and moody, it was also great to have it since it meant more water; it also tended to cool things down a bit which was nice. “Oh, I feel pretty lousy. I feel like… like I’m watching myself from outside my body sometimes. Like my soul is detached. My brain feels like it’s too big for my body lately, and I swear…” Nikodemus stopped what he was saying, as if uttering what he was about to utter would somehow… taint his tongue. “I swear I can sometimes see things happen before they happen. Not only that, but I can somehow understand how to put things together that I haven’t even seen before. I helped dad make a pretty spiffy gun the other day.”

Carl groaned. “I’m sooo jealous of you…” he said, pursing his lips. “You have all these special talents and I don’t have anything like that. No wonder mom likes you so much more than she likes me.”

For the first time in his life, Nikodemus suddenly understood that, in some ways, he was lucky. He resented his small height and his lack of physical strength, and he resented his large brain, too, because it felt like it was always racing and mercilessly coming up with new inventions—like he couldn’t even control it. He had never considered the fact that he was, indeed, special for being so smart.

“I’m jealous of you, too. You get to help dad out on the farm so much more than me.” Nikodemus admitted while they were being honest.

Carl smirked. “Well. At least I have something that you don’t.”

Nikodemus chuckled. “Yeah. I suppose so.”

***

The next day, Nikodemus awoke with the single purpose of seeking out Ellia to make sure that she was ready for a surprise attack. He dressed quickly, showered, picked out new clothes, and then bumped into Hilargi as she was running frantically through the halls. Nikodemus called after her, “Hilargi, wait! How’s progress on the turret?”

“It’s almost done! I’m hurrying!” She replied, not bothering to stop. A few seconds later, Yair followed after her, carrying heavy sheets of metal.

Good. Ellia must have told her. Elizabeth and Annie were following him around, as usual, so he asked them, “Do you know where Ellia went to?”

“She’s in a war council meeting.” Annie answered.

Nikodemus nodded. “Is she preparing for a surprise attack, just in case?”

“Yes. How did you know?” Elizabeth queried.

Nikodemus sighed a sigh of relief. “Oh, intuition. Is everyone preparing?”

“Yes. We have double the amount of guards posted outside—Ellia ordered us to do so last night—and we still have them out today. Hilargi was working late into the night to fine-tune her new guns, too, so they’re ready to go.” Annie said.

Nikodemus nodded. “Good, good…. Is there anything for me to help with?”

“Yes. While we’re all preparing, we need you to handle the chores. Wash sheets, cook, clean. We’ll help, too.” Elizabeth answered.

Nikodemus saluted cheerfully. “Can do!”