Lily had motioned for them to start walking towards the bus stop while she made her call. But her hesitation to actually initiate it made it obvious to Lyra she was struggling with what to say. And having just turned down several of her own mother's calls, she could relate. How could you possibly discuss something of this caliber over the phone? Something so sensitive and personal indirectly? Lyra believed you couldn't.

But then, they would already know about it, wouldn't they? They knew, and they'd kept it a secret. Lily had just stumbled across it by complete chance. They would not be happy about the news. She had assured them they would take Lyra and Lemy in, at least for the moment. But would they really? Did their disgust for their children extend to their grandchildren? Lyra didn't want to think that, but you couldn't trust your judgement of a person just by what you saw or past experiences you had with them.

That lesson was very clear in her mind right now.

But she went along with this anyway. Partly because that, in only a short amount of time, she really felt like she'd connected with her aunt. But most of all, the fact is she didn't have a long-term plan. She didn't even have a plan to last the day. After the sun went down, they'd need a place to stay and beds to sleep in. Even when they walked out, she'd done so knowing full well they would have to come back. She'd banked the whole stunt on that knowledge that he would let them.

The authorities were always an option, but Lyra didn't want to do that. If she went to the authorities, she knew her mom and…uncle…would likely be arrested. And once that web unraveled, the whole thing would. Her cousins' lives would be unraveled. Lyra didn't want to do that to them. She didn't want to put her mom and Lincoln through that either. She wasn't happy, she didn't wish that on them. Not now.

Really, she just wanted to think. That's all she asked right now. Somewhere to think. Her grandparents could hopefully provide that. Hopefully. She was fearful of what would happen if they refused; she couldn't stand two emotional shocks in one day.

"I'll just explain it when we get there." Lily brushed off her previous pledge.

"Okay." Lyra acknowledged, her voice coming off as awkwardly meek. Lemy looked between the two girls, but said nothing. Lyra was really concerned what his thoughts on all of this were, but she couldn't talk to him about it now. Soon, though. She knew that it was important she talk to him soon.

Once they were on the bus Lily indicated, tucked away in the back away from other passengers, Lyra's worries started to dig at her heart more and more with every bit of distance that grew between her and Lincoln's abode. She had to ask her aunt about it. She just had too.

"Lemy, you have your music player, right?" She turned to him.

"Yeah." By the look in his eyes, he just remembered it himself.

"Why don't you listen to it for a while?" She suggested. He nodded, fished the player and headphones out of his bag, and put them on. Lyra waited till she was sure he was listening to music, then she turned around to her cousin.

"What happened in there?" She asked. Lily's tight frown deepened at the question. "Sorry, I understand if you don't want to talk about it." Lyra added.

"I just asked him if they'd stopped doing…that…If he said they had, I think I would've stayed there longer." Her aunt admitted. "But he didn't." She shuddered. "So I got freaked out and had to leave." Lyra shuddered too. To sin in the past was one thing, but to keep doing that sin for years and years?

He denied being coerced. Lyra wasn't sure if that was true, but he'd been so insistent on it, she couldn't dismiss it as impossible. She was no expert on this horrible subject. But it could've been consensual back then, and it could still be now.

She was forced to think about a subject she really didn't want to. But the more she thought about it, the less concerned she became. "No…we've never seen him before, and we're almost always with our mom. I don't think they've seen each other in a long time." Lyra knew she couldn't account for her mother's behavior and actions while her and Lemy were at a family member's, but something told her that her mom and…other parent…weren't close like that, at least not now.

"What about the others, though?" Lily asked. Lyra thought about that, and she did grimace. Aunt Lynn and Aunt Lucy. There'd been a couple of times Lincoln had slipped away with either of those two to where they could do illicit things out of sight. Had they? Even Aunt Luan, even though Lyra hadn't noticed an instant it was possible?

They could really still be doing it.

They could've even done it in the same bed her and Lemy had been sleeping in this whole visit. Suddenly Lyra felt really ill, and for a moment she was sure she was actually going to vomit. And that reaction told her aunt all she needed to know.

"I'm not sure I want to talk to any of them, then…" Lily said sadly. "I waited for years." She sounded close to tears. "It was supposed to be a happy moment!" She turned away to look at the window. Lyra was holding herself together better out of cold shock and lingering stunned confusion. Guiltily, she thought her aunt had it easy; she had a home and parents to go home to that would definitely take her. What did they have? Nothing.

Lily didn't want to talk anymore, and sitting there in the back of the bus, close to the loud engine and with Lemy distracted, Lyra started having her first clear thoughts on a plan of action. She recollected everything that they had on their person and in their lives.

A few days worth of clothes. Less than 100 dollars she had on her, although she could count Lemy's money too if she really wanted. A phone with another few weeks of service registered for it. But the only other person they had right now was Lily. Lincoln and their mom were out by choice, and he'd confessed that her other aunts she knew were all complicit in this horrible truth, so they were out too.

Except for Lori, Lyra was suddenly realizing. She was not in on the rest of her sibling's debauchery. In fact, now that Lyra thought about some of her aunt's comments and actions, maybe the blond women knew and even sneered at it? But Lyra couldn't be sure, and she wasn't sure if she was bold enough to reveal the truth her aunt would inevitably demand if Lyra contacted her for help. Aunt Lori was to be a consideration for the future then, only if this didn't pan out.

But her grandparents…Even if they did, what could she say? What would they ask? What would happen afterwards. Would it bring down a cascade of events not dissimilar to if she just contacted the authorities? With that in mind, Lyra was having second thoughts. But it was too late to turn back now; the bus had already entered the suburbs.

Her mom had left town to avoid her parents. But Lincoln stayed here. So had her other aunts. It sounded like a foolish move. Or was there a reason for it, one even sympathetic? Whenever-or if-Lyra found the courage to speak to them again, she'd ask.

Lily ushered them off at a stop, and Lyra and Lemy picked up their bags to follow. She was aware of the weird looks they were getting from the other passengers and the people at the stop waiting to embark. What were they thinking? What did they see? Could they sense her unease? Lyra had never felt this self-conscious before.

But once they got away from the bus stop, there were no prying eyes; this stretch of suburbia was empty. "It's only a few blocks away." Lily explained. Lyra knew what the house looked like, but she didn't know its space relatively. "The house has a lot of bedrooms, so you can both get your own room. It used to be two people to a room before everyone moved out. Now it's just me. Oh, and my niece is visiting-"

Lily suddenly stopped short, and Lyra and her brother stopped a few steps later. The young woman seemed to have been struck with a sudden realization.

"Are you okay?" Lyra asked, concerned. Lemy lifted one of his headphone ears up.

"My niece, Loan…" Lily said slowly. "You asked for her number on the bus, didn't you? You already know her." That didn't come out as a question. Lily must've been so preoccupied thinking of seeing her brother again, that sailed over her head.

"Our mom sent us to visit her and her mom sometimes." Lyra admitted, not understanding. "Is something wrong?"

"Just…" Lily sighed. "I don't talk to Lori that often. But I know where she is, and she tries to talk to us when she has time. She knew about you guys, but she didn't tell us." Loan had mentioned occasional contact with her grandparents. Lyra understood Lily's emotion: Lori had lied to her. Or had she?

"My mom didn't want to be found." Lyra reminded her. She felt dirty for holding back that Loan had seen Lincoln too, and that her mom had forbidden her to mention it. Considering everything, Lori definitely had to know something. But she'd enforced silence. She was another actor in this truth, but some uncertainty kept Lyra from labeling her in the same camp she'd put her mom and Lincoln in for the time being.

"Let's just go." Lily decided after rubbing her head in frustration. "I just really want to lie down for a while and think." Lyra had reached a common understanding with her aunt. So they kept walking, Lily at a much brisker pace like she was trying to let off energy. Lyra followed behind, although she had to put in the effort. It was still the early afternoon, but she was exhausted.

But then, there it was in the distance. The massive tree she remembered seeing from the car clued her in. "That's it." Lily pointed ahead for them. "The one with the tree in the yard, see?" Lyra decided not to mention she already knew that. As they walked that last stretch, her nerves that had steadied before frayed again. Her dry hands become clammy once more. Ironically, she held no more of that excitement she'd had at the prospect of meeting them now. There was no big mystery to probe.

The house seemed bigger up close this time. The van she'd seen in the driveway last time wasn't there now. The truck was though. The three stopped before the steps up onto the porch, Lily leading. She turned around to face the two of them. She looked as nervous as Lyra felt.

"It's just my mom here right now." She told them. "I'll go talk to her. You guys just wait here. I'll try and make it quick." She went up the steps and stopped at the front door. "It'll be fine, I promise." She turned back towards them for a second before opening the door and going in. It closed behind her.

Left with nothing to do but wait, Lyra set their bags down on the pathway and sat down on the steps. Lemy sat down next to her. Lyra stood back up and sat down behind Lemy on the step above him, setting it up so he was sitting between her legs. He craned his neck to look at her, and she lifted the headphones off his head before wrapping her arms around him and hugging him against her.

"How are you doing?" She asked. She was proud. She was grateful. As hard as this was, he hadn't made it difficult. He'd listened and kept up with her. He looked back over his shoulder at her, then turned around faced back to the street. After a few moments, he made a grunting noise and tried to shrug even though she was still holding on to him. "Just wait a little while along, okay? We'll be able to talk soon." She hoped, anyway. Lemy put his headphones back on, but he was content to stay where he was in the loose embrace of his sister.

They sat, and they waited. Whatever would happen, would happen. If they could stay here, they would. If not…then they'd go back. That option was still there, Lyra knew it was. She was glad it was. But it wasn't going to be her first.

After what seemed like ages, the front door started to creak open behind them. Lyra stood up and turned around. Someone had cracked it just enough to peer outside. Who, Lyra couldn't see. Lemy got up too and stood behind his sister, looking around her.

The door opened the rest of the way, and a woman stepped out onto the porch. She was wearing a checkered button up shirt and some plain slacks. A pair of reading glasses were perched on her nose. Her hair was short and a pure gray color.

"Oh my goodness…" She breathed softly, holding a hand to her chest. Lyra took a hesitant step onto the porch. She recognized this woman, and not just because she didn't look too different from that picture ten years ago. There was an underlying sense of familiarity that just told Lyra she knew this woman.

Her grandmother.

Emotions swelled in both of them as they stood across from each other. Like so many other times today, Lyra wasn't sure where to begin talking, because there was so much to discuss. But her grandmother brushed past all that, approaching to wrap her in a hug. It was comforting, absent of all malice Lyra had feared.

"You've grown so much." She said. Lyra was too overwhelmed to respond. "And you must be Lemy." She was looking over Lyra's shoulder. The woman was looking at the grandson she'd never met; Luna had skipped town before he was born. Lyra felt this was a time to step in.

"Lemy, this is our grandmother. You remember those pictures we saw, right?" She got behind him to try and encourage him to greet the woman. She was smiling down at him, but Lyra could feel how tense he was.

Behind the woman, Lyra noticed Lily come out of the house. The other woman seemed worked up-her face was colored and her hair a little frazzled, leaving Lyra wondering what conversation had taken place indoors. Her grandmother didn't even look remotely worked up.

Lemy didn't get a hug. But she did invite them both to come inside. Lily held the door open for them. Leading her brother in, Lyra's footsteps were a little uneven, held back by slight disbelief. No interrogation. No further conversation. This woman hadn't seen her in a decade and she hadn't seen Lemy ever, but she invited them into their home after only a few words. Lyra was grateful, but she felt like a burden at the same time.

"Thank you." Lyra said abruptly, her desire not manifesting itself in reality properly. She got a little embarrassed. "For letting us come in." She clarified. She hesitated. So much to say… "It's a long story…" Lyra tried to start, but her grandmother cut her off.

"Lily already told me. You don't have to tell me right now until you figure it out." Lyra stopped herself, then nodded gratefully. She wanted to get her thoughts in order before she discussed them with anyone else. "Lily, show them upstairs."

"Okay." She sounded out of breath. "Come on." The stairs were directly in front of the front door. As they climbed, Lyra looked over the railing at the living room. It was clean and orderly. Her grandmother was still standing there, smiling.

"You come down whenever you're ready." She told her. Lyra nodded. She still wanted to talk to the woman. About a lot of things. At the top of the stairs was a long hallway stretching both directions, and a lot of doors.

"That's the bathroom at the end of the hall." Lily pointed to the ajar door at the left end. "This is the room Loan is staying in." She pointed to the door to their immediate left. She leaned over and waved. Lyra took a step forward and peered in.

It was a small bedroom with its own closet, and two beds. One of the beds had no covers on it, but had been stacked with bags and other junk. And on the other bed was Loan, engrossed in her phone as always. She looked up, saw Lyra, and furrowed her brow.

"What are you guys going here?"

"They're staying here too, for a while." Lily explained. Lyra's stomach lurched for a moment when she wondered if Loan would reveal she'd been staying with Lincoln too. But the other teen just shrugged and went back to what she was doing. Loan really didn't care for the events unfolding in the family. Envy was a sin, but a sin Lyra would admit to having right now.

"And this," Lily sounded a little prouder, "Is my room." She motioned to the door directly across the hall. She did a little skip over to it and opened it for them both to see. One bed against the far corner, a desk with a laptop on it, a tv, what looked like video recording equipment, and other things. "It used to be your mom's room." Lily revealed to them, causing them both to lean back in surprise. "I moved in here though once it was empty. It's closer to the bathroom and my old room has this weird chemical smell in it. I have the whole floor to myself, but this is my own personal space!"

"She walks around naked!" Loan called into the hallway. Lily's whole face went pink. Lyra screwed up her face. Lemy imitated her.

"That's not true!" Their aunt protested. "It was just in my underwear." Lemy looked disgusted. "I can be really relaxed since no one comes up here. But I won't while you guys are here! I swear!" She insisted.

"Right…thanks." Lyra answered awkwardly.

"Uh…pick a room!" Lily changed the subject. "Have whichever one you guys want. They're all free… The one to the right of the stairs is my old one." She warned them. "And the one at the other end of the hall is just a closet. Lincoln used to stay in there." Lyra thought her uncle had already mentioned that at some point. "So I guess there's only two rooms." She realized. "One for each of you."

"Who stayed in them?" Lyra asked.

"Lynn and Lucy had that one." Lily pointed to the one right next to hers. "Lola and Lana stayed in the other."

"We'll take that one." Lyra said immediately. She didn't want to stay in a room where anything sinful might have happened. Lily had just admitted to staying in Luna's old room. Did she not realize now what might have happened there? Lyra didn't want to spell it out for her.

Their faces were assaulted by dust stepping in. No one had been in here for a while, but it wasn't that bad. There were two beds. One was simple, and the other looked like a four-poster, something really fancy.

"I'll go get some bedding for you guys." Lily disappeared back downstairs. Lemy had gone to throw his stuff on the simpler bed. Lyra tentatively set hers down on the four-poster and sat down on the side. They had a room. They had a roof over their heads. Somewhere to finally untangle the horrid mess of events that had happened. And with an ease that still surprised her. She'd have to thank her grandmother again when she saw her.

Lemy was sitting right across from her, just looking and not saying anything. Lyra had been wrong on occasion about what her brother was thinking, but she felt pretty sure now. He was waiting on her. And now she finally had a chance to explain things. She got up and crossed the room to sit beside him. He looked up at her as she put an arm around his shoulder.

Lily came back up then, haphazardly carrying folded sheets, covers, and a pair of pillows, and dumped them on the bed. "Whew." She breathed. "Here you guys go" She looked around. "Are you actually staying together in the same room?"

"We always do." Lemy spoke up, and Lyra nodded.

"Okay…" Lily nodded, but her tone made it clear she thought there was something weird about that. Lyra blushed a little. She wanted to dispel whatever thoughts her aunt had, but right now, with some peace and stability finally, she wanted to talk to her brother.

"Listen, I need to explain things to Lemy." Lyra told her. "It's…a lot."

"Yeah, I guess it is…" Lily realized the gravity of the situation her niece was in. She started backing out of the room. "I wanna talk too, when you have time." Lily told her. "I'll be in my room, okay?"

"I will." Lyra nodded. The door closed. It was just her and Lemy now. She turned back to her brother. He stared back at her.

It was time to explain things to him. She took a deep breath.

"I know you're confused," She started, "But just tell me what's bothering you the most and I'll try to answer."

He looked away from her, around the room. Thinking.

"So…Uncle Lincoln was our dad?" He looked back at her.

"Yes." Lyra answered with a shaky voice, well aware of the horrible places this conversation could lead.

"I thought he was our uncle?"

"He is." Lyra assured. "He's…both." Just saying it made her feel disgusted. "But it's not supposed to be like that." She added quickly. The worst place this discussion could go was about where babies came from, but hopefully he wouldn't think too deeply into it. "It's illegal."

"Is that why you freaked out and we had to leave?"

"Yes." Lyra nodded, feeling a little more confident by the ease of his first questions. "It's not a good idea for us to stay there." She almost tacked on 'because he's a criminal', but stopped herself; it would make her feel guilty.

Lemy pondered that for a couple of seconds.

"So just like when mom gets in trouble? Yeah, I get it." He finally nodded, trying to shrug her arm off him like the conversation was over.

"Are you sure?" She asked, a little surprised. This had been a big day, but he was handling it so well and after a few words. "You're not worried about anything? You don't have any questions?" Wasn't he going to ask anything about Lincoln? Has strongly as he felt on the idea of fathers, she expected him to at least ask about it more.

"I never worry about anything." He tried to sound dismissive. "Besides, you're here." He truly was innocent; he didn't see the big deal in it. And he was depending on her. His words reassured her as much as they weighed down on her. But looked like something did occur to him after he said that. "Mom is still coming to pick us up, right?" He asked. His sister swallowed nervously, then answered.

"Yes, mom will be here to pick us up early now." Lyra said that with absolute certainly. Those repeated attempts to call were a pretty clear indication she knew what had happened. If she couldn't reach them indirectly, she'd come to do it directly. Even at damage to her career.

And when it was face to face, Lyra would hear her. She'd hear either of them, if they had to valor to actually come here. They both would deserve it, but her mother deserved a lot besides that too, in spite of everything.

"When?" Hopefulness in Lemy's voice made Lyra's stomach lurch a little. His opinion of her hadn't been impacted at all. She wondered if he'd even made the connection their mom had done something illegal too. But she realized it was for the best. It was part of his innocence.

"A few days." Lyra wasn't honestly sure where her mother was at the moment, only where she was heading. "We're just going to stay here until then."

"Then I'm fine." He told her. She hugged him against her again. "Are you okay? Are you worried?"

"No, I'm fine too." She told him. She let go of him. "Here, let me make the bed." It was better than sitting on a barren mattress. The four-poster was the bigger one, so obviously they'd be using that. She was still surprised at how short that exchange had been. She was sure there were other matters on his mind, but it was just like any other time-when Lemy was ready to talk, he'd talk.

Lemy's curiosity was sated for now. She didn't have to feel guilty about lying to him; she'd told him what he wanted to hear. She just had to keep him from overhearing anyone else discussing it. It was one item off an extremely long to-do list that she couldn't ignore.

She should go talk to Lily next, she decided. She wanted to find out some information before she went to talk to her grandmother.

Lyra was feeling optimistic for the first time that day, but only because she didn't know Lemy still had a lot of questions he intended to ask their mom himself when he saw her, just like her.