Carrying Lance was more than a chore. It was a challenge. I couldn't go at least twelve steps without him talking, and yes, I counted.

"Are we there yet?" Lance asked impatiently.

"Almost," I said, seeing the lights from my neighborhood. "But would you mind explaining to me how you feel from the sky, seeing as you're going to talk anyway?"

"Well if you insist," Lance said Lance. "As sensors, we have access to what's known as the sensory world. It's a world that exists within this one."

He was starting to say things that sounded interesting, so I slowed down my pace a little so that he had more time to speak.

"The sensory world is a strange place that only sensors can really see or even visit," Lance went on, "It's also here where invaders make their attacks. They come in the shapes and forms of various creatures. Everyday people like yourself have probably never seen these creatures, but you've certainly felt their effects. Plagues, storms, mass extinction. These were all brought upon by invaders."

I was hardly walking by the time he had finished. Everything Lance said sounded so fantastical that I was somewhat willing to let go of my disbelief, just because I'd always wanted something like that to be real. Who wouldn't want to believe that there's more to the world that they live?

"Sensors have always been at battle with these invaders since the early days of man," said Lance. He was purposely making his voice sound deeper for some reason. "Our role in the material world has been forgotten over the years, but we still do our best to maintain order in this world."

As informative as this all was, something still stuck out in my head. "You're not making any of this up, are you?" I asked all of a sudden. "Because you'd be a damn good storyteller if you did."

Lance turned his head backwards and looked into my eyes. He had this deadpan expression on his face that was hard not to laugh at. "Believe me," he said, "I'm the worst kind of storyteller you could imagine. You can either choose to believe me or not."

"I'm really not sure what the best option would be."

"Personally, I'm more in favor of you taking me to your place so I can heal."

I sniffed at him. "Are you always this smart-mouthed around people you first meet?"

"Nope," said Lance. "Usually just with people who probe me with interrogative questions after first meeting me."

It was hard not to ask him questions after watching him fall from the sky and live. I wasn't really in the mood to drag the banter on any longer and continued to drag him to my home. Seeing my house in the horizon was a very welcoming and relieving sight. There was something about seeing your place after being gone in an area as remote as the woods.

I quietly opened the door, walked in, and threw Lance on the couch in the nearest room I could walk to.

"You have no idea how grateful I feel for pillows," said Lance. He grabbed one of the pillows on the couch and stuffed his face into it.

"Could you not do that?" I asked, curling my lips in disgust. The dirt on his face was rubbing off on the pillow and it was disgusting.

Lance looked at the dirtied pillow and silently turned it around before putting it back down.

"You know that this isn't going to be easy to explain to my parents?" I said. It was true. Bringing a boy home was already suspicious enough. They wouldn't believe the whole sensor thing either.

"Who said they were going to meet me?" asked Lance. "I only needed your place to rest. I didn't see I'd be staying for dinner."

"I doubt you'll heal that fast."

Lance responded with a knowing Grin that really irritated me for some reason.

"What's with that face?" I asked.

"It's my 'I know something and you don't' face", said Lance.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. People like him got on my nerves easily, but I knew getting anymore annoyed would only wake up my parents.

"What is it that you know?" I asked, suppressing the growing annoyance I felt.

"Someone's coming to get me," said Lance.

The way he said that made it sound like someone was going to kill him. I could have sworn that I heard my heartbeat echoing in my head when he said that.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

Lance pulled out a phone from his pocket. I was surprised it still worked after the fall he'd taken. "See this?" he said.

I leaned forward to get a better look. The time on his phone was ten past midnight. I didn't want to be reminded of how late it was.

"I was supposed to be back at midnight," said Lance. "And now a sensor will be sent to pick me up."

"Wait. What?" I stammered. "How do they know where to find you?"

Lance gave me that grin again.

"Don't do this to me now," I said with the angriest stare I could make. It must have worked because I saw Lance swallow before speaking again.

"There are different kinds of sensors," said Lance. "Each one is gifted with the ability to utilize a specific sense. The gift of sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch, are the main five. I personally have the gift of touch."

Lance pulled off one of the gloves on his hand. His hands were normal at first, but then I saw that they kept changing texture. One moment they looked like they were made of granite, and the next moment they were covered in grass. I looked back at Lance with my jaw wide open.

Lance put his gloves back on. "I keep these so that I don't do anything accidentally," he said. "I'm…uh…kind of an amateur."

I nodded with my mouth still open. Amateur or not, what I was seeing made no sense with everything that I knew. But there it was right before me. I couldn't believe it. My eyes widened even more as something went off in my head.

"This sounds a lot like what I can do with my eyes."

Lance smiled at me and rose up from the couch.

"I was hoping you'd tell me more about that," he said. "You ready to explain?"

I nodded. I told him about what I could see and how I'd often view my surroundings in an alternate world. He listened to every word while saying nothing, only nodding once in a while so that I knew he was still paying attention. By the time I finished, Lance had a big smile on his face.

"You have the gift of sight," he said.

"The gift of sight," I repeated to myself. All my life I'd been wondering what it meant, and here was the answer. It felt good saying that out loud. So good that I think I said it multiple times.

"Okay. You can stop now," said Lance after hearing me repeat it for who knows how many times.

"I just can't believe it," I said. "I never thought I would figure out what it mean."

"Well now you do," said Lance. "Speaking of, how would you feel about attending one of our meetings?"

I looked at Lance questionably. "You have meetings?" I asked.

"Our chapter does," said Lance, "just like any other. We meet once a week to discuss various things."

"Where do you meet?" I asked. I had this idea in my head of a forbidden fortress somewhere deep in the forbidden parts of the countries. Wolves would infest the fortress grounds and the sensors would all meet in an elaborate room adorned with ancient artifacts.

"We meet at the coffee shop down by Clover Street," said Lance.

The smile on my face fell almost instantly.

"W-What?" Even I could hear the disappointment as it fell from my mouth.

"We have to live too," said Lance. "You know how much it costs to rent out places? The coffee shop works much better."

The coffee shop was a dinky old place that people would stop by during work breaks. I think I'd been there a total of four times, and they were all when my parents took me to their work place for the day.

"I get it," I said, probably making my disappointment very blatant. "It's just…really? A coffee shop?"

"Would you rather meet at a used car dealership?" Lance asked sarcastically.

I shrugged my shoulders and let it go. Coffee shop or not, there was sure to be a lot of new information for me to learn.

I was going to say something else when a sound made all my thoughts disappear. I turned around and saw myself looking directly in the face of a boy around Lance's age.

"W-W-Who are you?" I shouted. The boy had matted brown hair that almost covered his eyes. It contrasted with the nice looking clothes he had on at that moment.

Lance laughed at me.

"It's not funny!" I shot back.

"Yes it is," said Lance, "but what's important right now is that you know who this is."

Lance walked over to the boy. The boy was much taller than Lance and he was also very thin. He looked like he would break if squeezed too hard.

"This is Chris," said Lance. "He's got the gift of hearing."

"Oh…" I said. I noticed Chris's legs shaking and I suddenly understood why. My loud shouting probably startled him if he had sensitive hearing.

"As you probably guessed sensors like him are very sensitive to sound," said Lance, "so good job on that first impression."

"How was I supposed to know his ears were sensitive?" I asked.

"Now, now," said Chris with his hands up. He had a very soothing voice that dragged on every word spoken "Let's all be civil."

I noticed that Chris's ears would wiggle every other second. For some reason I found that very funny and tried my best not to laugh whenever it happened. Thankfully, Chris didn't seem to notice.

"I have arrived to take back Lance," said Chris. "He was late for his return."

"Ugh. I know," Lance shrugged. "Why else would you be here?"

"That is a very good question," said Chris. "I suppose it could have been because of an invasion alert around here, or perhaps I—"

"It was a rhetorical question," Lance snapped.

"It's um…nice meeting you," I said. I'm not the best at meeting new people, especially when they show up unannounced. The best I could do was hold out my hand for Chris to shake. He nodded at me and shook my hand.

"It is a pleasure to meet you," he said kindly.

"You as well," I said.

"I see you are a sensor of the sight," said Chris. He was still shaking my hand as he spoke. It was making me feel weird. "Are you affiliated with a particular chapter, by any chance?"

"Nope," said Lance. "I just found her today. She was outside singing with the toads."

I shot him a very dirty look.

"I see," said Chris. I could see his eyes scanning every inch of my face. It was very unpleasant to look at, especially with his hand still shaking mine.

"What are you doing?" I asked, letting go of his hand to end the eternal handshake.

"I was merely searching for signs," said Chris.

"Signs of what?"

"Every sensor that's affiliated with a chapter has one of these," said Lance. He held up his hand and revealed a marking on the back of it that looked like a boulder. "These are marks that are given to us during the initiation phase. You'll get one too if you join up with us."

"How do I do that?" I asked.

"You would need to come with us," said Chris. "We meet for coffee every week. Our group is quite easy to spot."

"We're the ones who usually end up taking one quarter of the room," Lance added.

I smiled at Chris, but felt a little uncertainty hiding inside my optimism. I had just met these guys and everything they said sounded too outlandish. Then again, everything Lance said about my eyes had made sense. Nobody could lie that well. I just didn't know what decision to make right at that moment.

"I understand your concerns," said Chris softly.

I rose my eyebrows at what he said.

"He can hear the thoughts in your head," said Lance. "It's part of his gift of sound. You get used to it after a while."

I immediately stopped thinking of anything and focused all my attention at what was in front of me.

"Meet us in one week at the shop," said Chris. "We usually arrive by five in the afternoon."

"Or later," said Lance. "This guy takes too much time getting dressed."

"That tends to happen when one puts care into their appearance," said Chris with a hint of irritation. "Goodbye for now, Christina. Hopefully we shall meet again."

They both took two steps forward before disappearing in the blink of an eye. I was so shocked by their sudden disappearance that I actually searched the entire room numerous times just to make sure they were actually gone. They were indeed gone. I sat back on the couch once I confirmed it for myself and thought about it all. So much went on that night that I couldn't forget about. Nobody would understand me if I told them. All these questions were in my head and there was only one way to answer them. I would go to the coffee shop and find out more about sensors. I needed to.