Welcome back to a Night's Tale!

Last time, we saw the children grow up – Cara was born, and grew up somewhat more girly than her older sister. Spiral starting dating Mercury's best friend, Shelby, which irritated Merc. Then the aliens decided to take some revenge on the family for disrupting their research, and abducted the kids for research.

Sound familiar? If not, I suggest going back and reading the previous chapters, there's not that many.

Onto the current chapter!

Merc was the most worried out of all the Night children abducted by the aliens. He tried everything to calm his nerves – his mind continued to wander to the subject of Shelby and Spiral.

Even now, he still didn't like it.

Somehow, his brain would always work its way back to the worry – the worry of what was going to happen to them.

Stella seemed a lot calmer and more relaxed than Mercury was. But inside her head, her thoughts were wild. She didn't like the cold atmosphere of the aliens...

But she, too, was more interested in life back home. Stella wanted there to be someone waiting for her when they returned. Spiral was so lucky to have Shelby.

Spiral, not being able to read the minds of his siblings, had no idea they were thinking about him. He briefly considered Shelby, before deciding there was nothing useful he could do.

So he decided to nap.

Cara was trying to think practically, but it wasn't working. She was the youngest, and had no desire to spend her teen years locked in a room with people she was related to.

The Night children were quite often unaware of the alien attention they received While they had inklings of thoughts that they might be observed, none of them had noticed it so far.

The alien was pleased with how well the humans were adapting to their environment. So far, not one of them had acted out about being locked up. Sensible children.

Cara may not have reacted to her imprisonment, but her thoughts were constantly noted down in a blank book she had found on the shelf.

It was the one place Cara would confess how worried she truly was.

Stella seemed to be the only one doing anything practical.“Spiral, I think we should hold low profiles while here. You know, not act out on purpose,” Stella said.

“Why am I the only one getting this speech?” Spiral inquired, smirking.

“I know what you're like,” Stella chuckled, “you're likely to meddle, I think. So look at it this way, if we behave, we might get out early for good behaviour.”

Spiral laughed, cheerfully, “Stel, this isn't prison, this is an alien base craft thing!”

For the most part, Spiral agreed. But this didn't stop him being mischievous every now and then.

“Class,” the lead alien, Drone, called to his students, “we're going to continue our studies on humans. Today, we've got a human and a half-breed to examine.”

“I guess that's our cue, right?” Spiral joked. Cara stared at him with a steady gaze.

“Just behave yourself,” she told him, quietly.

“Like that's any fun,” Spiral responded, before speaking up, “Drone? May I speak to your class?”

“Go ahead, half-breed Spiral,” Drone smiled, in what he hoped was a warm fashion – he had seen the humans trading similar smiles and noted they seemed to find comfort in them.

“Spiral,” Cara hissed, “what are you doing?”

“Teaching this lot about humans, right?” Spiral grinned, and walked to the front.

“What's the first difference you can note about my culture compared to yours?” Spiral called out, pausing for answer that was never offered, so he continued regardless.

“See, no one on my planet calls anyone by their function, we have names...we have different appearances...” Spiral smiled at the aliens, who were sporting confused looks, “We are all unique.”

“I don't understand,” confessed one of the aliens. Their partner smiled slightly, picking it up as a human trait.

“Basically, the half-breed...sorry, Spiral...says we can never blend with his society due to our lack of individuality...if I follow his words correctly...” The partner alien frowned, and looked to Spiral for conformation.

“Right!” Spiral agreed, enthusiastically, “but I don't know how to teach individuality to a class of clones, so I will go about it the only way I see fit...”

With one quick movement, Spiral collected a microphone from the desk in the corner of the room. It was only used for larger seminars, to make voices heard in the back of the hall. But Spiral had another reason for it.

“Here goes nothing,” Spiral whispered to himself, and began to sing a song...

“You're so hot, teasing me,So you're blue

But I can't take a chanceOn a chick like you,

It's something I couldn't do”

The aliens were confused. What were they supposed to do? But eventually, they got caught up the rhythm of Spiral's song.

“There's that look, in your eye,And I read in your face

That your feelings are driving you wild,

But girl, you're only a child.”

“Well I can dance with you, honey,If you think it's funny,

Does your mother know that you're out?And I can chat with you, baby,

Flirt a little maybeDoes your mother know that you're out?”

“Take it easy, take it easy,Better slow down, girl,

That's no way to go,Does your mother know

Take it easy, take it easyBetter cool it, girl,

Take it nice and slow,Does your mother know”

“I can see what you want,But you seem pretty young

To be searching for that kind of fun,So maybe I'm not the one

Now you're so cute,I like your style,

And I know what you meanWhen you give me a flash

Of that smile

But girl you're only a child,”

“Well I could dance with you, honey,If you think it's funny,

Does your mother know that you're out?And I could chat with you, baby,

Flirt a little maybe,Does your mother know that you're out?”

Drone began to get out of his seat and head towards Spiral, who promptly dropped the microphone, and backed towards the door, still singing.

“Take it easy, take it easyBetter slow down, girl,

That's no way to go,Does your mother know

Take it easy, take it easy,Better cool it, girl,

Take it nice and slow,Does your mother know”

Cara ran into the holding room, taking Stella by surprise. She seemed worried and upset, so Stella quietly put the book she had been reading away – the aliens had good choice in literature, it seemed.

Drone locked the door behind Cara, and Stella had to question – where was Spiral?

“Spiral started an alien student rebellion!” Cara blurted out, causing Stella's purple eyes to widen.

“A rebellion?”

“A youth culture, whatever,” Cara replied, breathlessly, “they put him in solitary!”

“I told him to behave,” Stella said, sourly.

“Who cares,” Merc said, from his bed on the far side of the room, “it'll give him time to think about things.”

Cara glared at her oldest brother, who just shrugged, and continued, “If he started a rebellion, he has to pay the price for it, no?”

“Merc's right, Cara,” Stella agreed, smiling up at her younger sister, “we did warn Spiral not to get himself into any trouble.”

“But...but...” Cara's lip wobbled, like it did when she was little and wanted to cry.

“He'll be fine, Cara,”

“I want out now,” Cara replied, decidedly, “I want to go home. I want to be able to act like a real teenager, instead of a science experiment.”

“We'll work something out,” Stella offered, “but not right now. We're going to be closely watched for more signs of rebellion.”

Cara sighed, and headed over to the bookcase, her thoughts centred on Spiral and escape.

Spiral tapped on the glass door of solitary confinement, but found himself ignored. Humming the theme tune to the Great Escape, he began to look around.

Home was nowhere in sight.

“Ah well, could be worse,” he decided, cheerfully, sitting down, “at the least the view is good.”

But optimism couldn't hold Spiral's mind, as his thoughts turned to Shelby and whether she was worried about him or not.

As time wore on, Cara grew even more anxious.

“Why start a rebellion?” Cara demanded in a furious whisper, “Why?”

“Cara, chill, he'll be fine,” Stella stated, hoping there was truth in her words.

“Hey guys,” Spiral called, entering as if it was his cue. He was escorted by no drone, yet the door had been locked.

Stella and Cara looked up at him questioningly.

“How did you get in here?” Stella asked, as Cara wandered off to write in her journal, “The door was locked!”

“Apparently, alien technology runs through fingerprints and stuff...you know, it detects if you have alien DNA or whatever,” Spiral gestured, coolly, “I'm part alien, I can open some of the doors.”

“And that's how you got out of solitary early, right?”

“Bingo,” Spiral grinned.

“Could we use this to get out?” Stella questioned, her voice filled with hope. Spiral nodded, smiling.

“I think so,” he responded, “I know where the main control room is...we could use it to direct ourselves home...”

Stella grinned.

“Great,” Merc rolled his eyes, unimpressed, “the troublemaker figures out how to mess up electronics using his DNA, and we're trusting him to get us out of here?!”

“Well, you can stay here if you like,” Spiral turned to face his brother, “or you can get sent to solitary with us, and we'll all go from there.”

“No one gets left behind,” Stella decided, in an authoritative voice, “why do we need to go to solitary?”

“I only know my way to the control room from there...I got a little lost on my way back,” Spiral admitted, truthfully.

“Then tell us the plan, and we'll get to it.”

It wasn't long until the Night children figured out how to put their plan into action. They just had to wait for the moment.

“Right, so this cubes will monitor your vital statistics, which I will give to the students for study later,” Drone explained, a simplified version of the machines, “and no funny business.”

“I'm serious,” Drone stated, after Spiral and Stella had smiled at his warning, “you will ALL end up in solitary. Even the innocent two,”

With his point made, Drone left, hoping his threats had been enough to keep the human and half-breed in line.

In no time at all, Spiral had jumped down and was heading for the exit. They had agreed Stella needed to stay behind, or the entire operation would look like a conspiracy to the aliens.

“Good luck,” Stella smiled, “See you in solitary.”

“I can't wait to get out of here,” Stella announced, pulling a face, as she sat down to wait.

“Alright,” Spiral echoed over the microphone. He had decided the best room for causing trouble in was the lecture theatre, “testing...testing...can anyone hear me?”

“What are the odds of this working?” Cara asked, breathlessly. Merc attempted to shrug.

“Haven't a clue,” he smiled a little. This was fun, “worth a try, though.”

Spiral opted for the song he knew Drone would recognise, the song he had started a rebellion with...one that would irritate Drone's memories of last time.

“I can dance with you, honey,If you think it's funny,

Does your mother know that you're out?And I chat with you, baby,

Flirt a little maybeDoes your mother know that you're out?”

“WHAT IN THE NAME OF THE GALAXY IS HAPPENING IN HERE?!” Drone demanded, entering the theatre.

“We were bored,” Spiral said, simply, still talking into the microphone, “We're having fun!”

“SOLITARY. FOR EVERYONE. EVEN THE OTHER HUMAN.”

Spiral had trouble trying to disguise the smile on his face.

Cara hated solitary the minute Drone had locked them all there. The unsettling silence would have driven her mad, she wasn't sure how Spiral had coped with it alone.

Even when Mercury had opened the door for her, Cara still felt uneasy, and dashed through the archway into the corridor as quickly as possible.

“Merc!” Cara gasped, as she pulled him into a hug, “What if this doesn't work? What if we have to spend more time in solitary?!”

“Calm down, Cara, it'll be fine,” Merc said, quietly.

“I hated it in there, and I wasn't even there for long-”

“It doesn't matter now, you're out...”

“We're all going to be okay, Cara,” Merc said, peacefully.

“I hope you're right,” Cara sighed, “I just want to go home.”

Behind the glass door of her cell, Stella watched Mercury comforting Cara. If she had alien DNA, she would have unlocked the door herself and helped out.

Instead, Stella had nothing to do but watch Merc be a good older brother, and wait patiently for her release.

Pretty soon, everyone was out of their cells, and reunited in the corridor, through a series of hugs.

“Alright, follow me!” Spiral called, in a hushed voice.

Quietly walking through the corridors, a thought had been pulling at Stella's mind, “Spiral, do you actually know where we are going?”

“Relax, Stella,” Cara smiled, “I trust Spiral.”

Spiral turned around, “You trust me?”

“Yeah, I do,”

“Yay, someone trusts me!” Spiral celebrated, before grabbing Cara's head, “NOOGIE!”

“Ouch! Spiral!”

“Still trust me?”

“Let go!”

“We're so far away from home,” Stella said, quietly, as Spiral and Cara argued in whispers. Merc glanced over at his sister.

“We'll be home soon,” he offered, in a murmur.

“But we've spent most of our teen years with aliens,” Stella sighed and turned round, “Let's just go home.”

Spiral sat down at the main computer, and began tapping buttons. With a frustrated sigh, he tried to manoeuvre the ship, again and again.

He kicked the desk, cursing himself for not playing video games as a kid.

“When the time's right, those double doors will open,” Stella told Cara, matter-of-factly, “and we'll be thrown to the pavement outside our house, as if we had been abducted.”

Cara frowned, “Won't that hurt?”

“Dad survived it twice,” Stella shrugged.

Mercury watched Spiral growing angry with the computer, and reflected. He had been the child obsessed with games, even choosing to play the computer when Shelby came over.

“Spiral, let me have a go,” Merc requested. Spiral reluctantly moved from the seat, making space for Merc to attempt to steer.

“Trust me, Spiral,” Merc grinned, “I've played enough video games to steer this thing.”

And with that, the Nights were on their way home.

Night had just fallen when the four teens landed, a little less than gracefully.

Stella had perhaps fallen with the most amount of grace, whereas the others had just face-planted the ground. But all in all, they were okay.

“Dude, we did it!” Spiral grinned, and pulled Merc in for a handshake, and a hug.

Merc just smiled, his anger at Spiral fading away.

It wasn't long before Meadow and Jack heard the commotion and came outside.

“My babies are home!” Jack said, stunned, and held his arms out for a hug. Meadow sniffed.

“I think you mean our babies,” she grinned, and went to talk to her daughters, happiness joining them all.

“Of course I meant our babies, darling,” Jack smiled, hugging Spiral, “They're home!”

Meadow laughed, “I can see that, honey. Unless we're dreaming again.”

“No, we're really here,” Cara said, quietly, with a smile.

Shelby was walking away from the house after calling to see if the kids were back, when she spotted the commotion on the front lawn.

“Mercury? Stella? Cara?” Shelby's eyes widened, “Spiral!”

The couple wasted no time, and instead of swapping exclamations about how they were home, or so happy to see each other, they merely filled the time with kisses.

“Don't forget to breathe, you two,” Jack chuckled, and wandered over to his own partner.

“Meadow, my beautiful wife,” Jack grinned, “I'm so happy.”

“I can tell,” Meadow teased, lightly.

“Should we tell them we've decided on an heir?”

“It can wait until morning,” Meadow said, firmly. Jack didn't argue, instead, he dipped his wife for a kiss.

The next morning came quicker than expected, and it was the day Mercury was due to leave for university.

“Before Merc goes, we wanted to know if you all wanted to find out who the heir is,” Jack asked, “what do you think?”

“I do,” Stella instantly answered. Merc and Cara nodded in agreement.

“Me too,” Spiral smiled.

“Alright then,” Jack said, “but first, a little speech on heirship...”

“Being heir is not just a title,” Jack began, “it makes you the head of the family, the symbol of a generation. It's hard work, it's responsibility, but it can also be an insane amount of fun,”

Here, Jack paused, and glanced at his wife, “especially if you choose the right partner-in-crime.”

Meadow smiled.

“I also want to emphasise that we don't have favourites, and that you're all perfect for the job,” Meadow stated, raising her arms, “it's incredibly hard to choose between you all.”

Jack nodded at his wife's comments, and continued.

“If you don't want the role, we understand,” Jack explained, “but for heir, we've chosen Spiral.”

“I swear they just gave us a speech on getting married,” Spiral joked, “Sure, I'll do, if the others are happy for me to.”

“I'm cool with it,” Stella said, instantly, smiling warmly.

“Same,” Merc nodded. Cara never expected heirship, anyway, and joined Stella in the smiling.

“Then it's decided,” Jack announced, “Let's party!”

And with that, Jack's time in charge of the family came to an end, and a new era was about to begin...

And this is where I leave you!

Join me and the Nights next time for mascots, cheerleaders, streakers, toga parties, more plot, drama professors, Greek houses and more from generation two!

Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it!