Chapter 15
The kits’ eyes opened on day ten, tiny dark beads that tracked movement as Emmy approached their enclosures. By the end of March, they were venturing out of their nest boxes on wobbly legs, and Emmy spent hours watching them on the monitors, documenting every milestone.
April brought warmer weather and longer days, which meant Zander went down around six-thirty in the morning and didn’t rise until after four in the afternoon.
His productive hours shrank, and yet he still carved out some time nearly every evening to spend with her and Spence, and even more on weekends when he could manage it.
However, as the end of the school year approached, Emmy had fewer evenings she could spend with them for more than meals and quick conversation. She felt guilty about it, but Zander was adamant that she put her schoolwork first during this final sprint to the end.
Most of her distance learning assignments wrapped up by the third week of April, leaving her with only exam prep.
She studied in the suite’s living area when Spence wasn’t sleeping, and in the public area on their floor when he was.
She particularly enjoyed studying at the outdoor table when the temperature climbed above fifty, and the sun felt like a gift on her bare arms. The rabbits required daily monitoring, but the staff handled most care, so she could focus on coursework while keeping an eye on the hutch cameras.
The Gen1 kits grew rapidly. By mid-April they were fully mobile — hopping around their enclosures, eating pellets and hay, their adult fur patterns starting to emerge.
Three showed the distinctive cottontail coloring with white undersides and rust-colored napes.
Five had domestic rabbit markings in various combinations of brown and white.
She was pleased there were enough of both, she could breed them with like-marked and unlike-marked rabbits she purchased.
Emmy took detailed measurements weekly, collected fur samples and other cells for genetic analysis, and meticulously documented their behavior patterns. Every data point confirmed what the initial sequencing had shown: viable hybrids with the synthetic promoter sequences intact.
She checked in with Professor Chen weekly to discuss progress, and his excitement was barely contained. “This is unprecedented, Emmy. I’m already fielding questions from colleagues who’ve heard rumors.”
“We still need to see if they can breed,” she cautioned, but her own excitement was hard to suppress.
Meals with the flock became her anchor. Rhea’s bright laughter, terrible jokes, and an endless stream of commentary about coterie gossip.
Felix was almost always in good spirits, and yet, she could feel the difference in him, separated from the man he loved.
Toby and Maren were constants at their table, and Emmy realized she’d built something here she’d never had before — friends she actually trusted.
Not just people to party with, but something akin to a chosen family.
One Wednesday in late April, Rhea bounced into the kitchen waving her phone. “Guys! This weekend is supposed to be amazing — first really nice weekend weather of the year. We should do the Whittier glacier cruise. Who’s in?”
Emmy looked up from her oatmeal. “Isn’t that usually sold out?”
“Not in April.” Rhea showed them the website. “See? The five-hour cruise has spots. It’s only like two hundred bucks each, and I guess this time of year they’re working out the kinks, getting ready for the slew of tourists in May. So, less people on the boats, and—”
“I’m in,” Toby said.
“Me too,” Maren added.
Felix hesitated. “Is it cold on the boat?”
“There’s a heated indoor area with windows,” Rhea assured him. “We can stay inside most of the time.”
Emmy had a lot going on, but … glaciers, wildlife, and maybe whales? “Count me in.”
She telepathed Spence to let him know what they were planning to see if he could come, but a couple of minutes later, he telepathed back, “I’ll work it out so the flock members can be gone during the day, but I can’t get away.
The grand opening for the new restaurant is Friday night, and I’ll need to be present during the day Saturday to oversee activity while Zander is stuck belowground. ”
Zander had been so busy getting this new business off the ground — finding just the right location, acquiring it, working with a designer, dealing with the contractors, subcontractors, and vendors.
Also, hiring just the right people, developing the menu, working with a marketing team.
She’d had no idea what it took to open a new restaurant.
“Okay. Thank you for helping with their schedules, so we can go. I’ll miss you.”
“It’ll be good for you to spend the day with friends.”
Saturday dawned clear and cold, thirty-eight degrees according to Emmy’s phone, but the sun blazed in a cloudless sky. She dressed in layers: thermal underwear, jeans, a thick fleece, her warmest jacket, and a funky knit hat. She remembered the Tram, and stuck her sunglasses on top of her head.
Delaney usually had Saturday off, but she drove them to Whittier, the hour-long trip taking them through the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel — the longest highway tunnel in North America, shared with trains on a schedule. Emmy had researched it the night before and found the engineering fascinating.
The boat was larger than she’d expected, a sleek catamaran with a fully enclosed, heated main cabin featuring wraparound windows. They claimed a table near the front and settled in as the engines rumbled to life.
“Hot chocolate?” a crew member offered, and they all accepted gratefully.
The boat pulled away from the dock, and Emmy’s breath caught when the landscape opened up at the end of the bay they started in.
Mountains rose on all sides, their peaks still heavy with snow despite the spring sunshine.
The water was a deep, dark blue-green, and chunks of ice floated past like sculptures.
“First glacier in about five minutes,” the captain announced over the speakers. “Portage Glacier on the left.”
They stayed inside at first, warm behind the glass, watching the scenery unfold.
“Holy shit,” Rhea breathed as the first glacier came into view.
It was massive — a river of ice flowing down between mountain peaks, its face a wall of blue-white. Emmy found herself pressing closer to the window, fascinated by the raw power of it.
They ventured outside briefly to take photos, but the wind was bitter, so they retreated back to the warmth after ten minutes.
“Look!” Maren pointed. “Sea otters!”
A group of them floated on their backs near the boat, paws held up, completely unbothered by the humans watching. Emmy laughed as one cracked open a shellfish on its chest.
“Are those harbor seals?” Felix asked, pointing to dark heads bobbing in the water.
The crew confirmed it, and Emmy added them to her mental catalog. Seals, otters, glaciers, mountains.
The crew explained the difference between Alpine, Valley, and Tidewater glaciers, and pointed out more wildlife when it appeared.
They moved from glacier to glacier — each unique. Some were dirty with rock and sediment, others pristine blue. Some calved spectacularly, others sat quiet and ancient. The captain narrated, explaining the geology, the retreat rates, the wildlife patterns.
Emmy had seen mountains from the plane, had flown over glaciers as a dragon, and had seen some during their last cruise, but she was once again awed by seeing them from the water — the sheer scale, and the way the ice glowed blue in the sunlight.
“That’s Surprise Glacier,” a guide said as they approached a particularly dramatic face. “And if we’re lucky…”
A humpback whale breached in the distance, its massive body arcing out of the water before crashing back with a spray visible even from their position.
The entire cabin erupted in excited chatter.
Emmy pressed her forehead to the glass, watching as the whale surfaced again, its blow visible in the cold air.
She wanted to spread her wings and fly — to see it up close, to show the whale how big she is, too — but that was never going to happen in this realm, so close to humans who have no clue about the supernatural.
And this was fine, spending time with her friends, watching by their side, sharing in their wonder.
They ate sandwiches from the galley, drank more hot chocolate, and ventured outside periodically when the sun hit just right and the wind died down.
Rhea took at least three hundred photos, and Toby tried to identify every bird they passed with a bird-watching app on his phone.
Felix looked better than he had in weeks — color in his cheeks with a genuine smile on his face.
And Delaney actually relaxed about an hour in, apparently determining there were no active threats, so she could enjoy the wildlife and scenery some, too.
The five hours passed both slowly and too quickly. By the time they returned to Whittier, Emmy’s cheeks ached from smiling, and her phone’s gallery was full of glaciers, wildlife, and candid shots of her friends laughing.
Her best shot was quite possibly of a black bear on the shore. She’d also managed to grab a short video of him catching a salmon.
“Best Wednesday decision ever,” Rhea declared as they piled back into the SUV.
Emmy leaned her head against the window on the drive home, watching the mountains slide past, and was completely at peace. This life — her research, her friends, and her two men waiting at home — was exactly what she’d needed, without knowing she needed it.
Her phone buzzed, and she smiled when she saw the text from Spence.
“How was it?”
She smiled and typed back: “Amazing. Two whales, a couple of bears, otters, mountain goats, sea lions, sea otters, harbor seals, and so many glaciers. Tell you all about it tonight.”
“Can’t wait.”