She quietly hugs her back.

She hugs her back.

At last, she pulled back and looked at them, a spark of anger warring with the relief in her eyes. "Where have you been?" she demanded with a little shake. "We've had the police looking for you, detectives, the whole town. No one could find any trace of you, and I've been worried sick. Where have you been for three months?"

Isiea highly doubts anybody was spending that time trying to find her. But she doesnt say that.

" we were gone for 3 months? "

"Yes.Every night for the past three months, Luke's taken his truck down the back roads, looking for you. Sometimes he doesn't come home until morning." Mom gave them a stern look, the one they got right before they were grounded. "You wait right here until I get him, and then, young ladies, you can tell us where you've been while we've been going crazy. Ethan, honey, let's put you to bed."

She nodded, then looked at Isiea and mouthed, 'what are we going to tell them?'

,, We were visiting aunt Izz, but we got turned around in a massive way. You know how big that forest is around her house. ,, Isiea decides.

Well it...was something.

"And you didn't bother to tell me first? Or even call?" A noise on the stairs caught Mom's attention.

The changeling stood there, his eyes narrowed, his lips peeled back in a snarl. He wore Ethan's bunny pajamas, and his small fists were clenched in rage. The real Ethan whimpered and pressed into Mom's side, hiding his face. Mom gasped, her hand going to her mouth, as the changeling hissed at them. It shrieked, stamping a foot into the ground. "Stupid, stupid girls! Why'd you have to bring him back? I hate you! I hate you! I--"

Smoke erupted from its feet, and the changeling wailed. Twisting in on itself, it disappeared into the smoke, shouting curses as it grew smaller and smaller, and finally vanished altogether.