Rosalie had left early in the morning to head into town to get some shopping done. Since she was unable to find suitable parts to get repairs done to Lura's ship, she had spent the morning buying whatever she saw that she thought might work. She had bought some materials from a hardware store, an electronics store, and she'd even stopped by a pawn shop to see what she could find. When all was said and done, she returned home in the afternoon with four shopping bags full of stuff.

  When Rosalie returned to an empty house she didn't think much of it. She assumed that Lura had taken Will and Cosmo out to look through the wreckage again. If anything, Rosalie was a bit envious, but she had alien tech in her own backyard she could tinker with, so those feelings of envy were short-lived.

  Rosalie rustled through her shopping bags, grabbing the materials she thought would work best for the ship repairs. Too eager to get to work, she filled her arms with as much as she could carry, stuffed some items under her armpits, and even was holding something in her mouth as she went outside. Her excitement had gotten the best of her, so she didn't even think to empty one of her shopping bags to put the assortment of items she 2anted to use first into a bag to easily carry.

  When Rosalie exited the house she was met with the sight of Will, Cosmo, and Lura stumbling towards the house. Cosmo was covered in wounds, and was only walking thanks to the support of Lura. Rosalie dropped everything in her arms, and rushed over to the group to help them inside.

  With little words spoken, Rosalie took charge and began patching up Cosmo. The once large wounds had shrunk along with Cosmo's body, and what was left wasn't unmanageable to take care of. With just the contents of a first aid kit, Rosalie cleaned up Cosmo's wounds and bandaged him up. Lura and Will watched from behind Rosalie as she worked.

  Practically the instant Rosalie was finished treating Cosmo, he and Will fell asleep on the couch. Rosalie looked over them and her usual smile which had been drowned about by her worries returned to her face. She put the first aid kit on the table and made her way for the door, beckoning Lura to come with her.

  Lura was also exhausted from the day, and would have liked to have been napping on that third empty couch cushion next to Cosmo and Will, but she didn't have the luxury. She knew she would have to answer to Rosalie, and she was willing to accept any scolding or beating Rosalie wanted to give her. Simply being chased away would be the lightest punishment in Lura's eyes seeing how she got her son in such a dangerous situation.

  Rosalie picked up the items she had dropped on the ground earlier. Lura was stiff, and didn't help until Rosalie waved her over. With the items collected Rosalie led Lura to the back of the house where they had spent a lot of time together these past few days.

  The silence had made Lura quite uncomfortable, and that silence wasn't broken until Rosalie began fiddling with Lura's ship.

  “So, what happened while I was out shopping?” Rosalie asked.

  The answer Lura provided was long and thorough. She explained everything she had seen during the fight, Respyn, the frog monster, Cosmo and the other monsters' growth and their battle. She even made sure to explain her mindset during this event, and how this led to her making decisions that put Will and Cosmo in danger.

  Rosalie listened intently, as she tried swapping out parts in Lura's ship, which had become muscle memory at this point. During the entire explanation, Rosalie's expression didn't change. She had a calm gentle smile on her face the entire time, which made Lura uneasy. It was a different expression from Rosalie's usual bright and excited smile she had had since meeting real aliens, and it was different from what Lura would have expected from a mother whose son was nearly killed.

  Seeing Lura's worried expression, Rosalie knew she needed to speak up. Rosalie had inadvertently raised a child who was never much of a trouble maker. Having Will come home injured was something she had expected to happen eventually, but she didn't expect it to be a child sized red lizard to be the one coming home injured. Rosalie wasn't particularly angry, especially when nobody was sure what to expect with an alien criminal and his vicious monster on the loose. She was worried though, which is why she had been working on Lura's ship during the explanation. Getting help from Lura's people had become even more of a priority now then it was when Rosalie was just eager to meet them.

  Looking towards Lura, Rosalie said “Everyone came back. Cosmo was banged up, but he should be fine. Instead of worrying over something that is in the past, we need to get your radio working to call for help. Right?”

  Taken aback by Rosalie's kindness, Lura couldn't speak. She just nodded her head as a sense of relief washed over her. Lura looked towards the ground as she reevaluated her actions from today.

  As Lura looked at the ground She felt two hands grab her shoulders. When she looked up she saw Rosalie with a sparkle in her eye looking back at her.

  “Now, tell me more about Cosmo and the other monster! What did they look like when they grew? How big were they? How did they move?” Rosalie rattled off more questions than Lura could keep up with.

  Lura let out a sigh, and began answering every question Rosalie asked. With all the help the Grays had been providing her, Lura figured the least she could do was indulge them when they came inquiring about her planet. Rosalie asked questions until sunset, and Lura answered them all as best she could. Working on the ship as they conversed the hours whizzed by.

  The next morning, to everyone's surprise, Cosmo was up and moving like nothing had happened. All signs of injuries were gone, no scratches, no bruises, no scars. With Cosmo's full recovery, Will and him got back to watching their favorite show. Now though, Will and Cosmo were much more focused on watching and replicating attacks from it. Instead of using it as pure entertainment, they were using it as a guide in how to fight.

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  Lura and Rosalie were in the kitchen, as Rosalie showed her some of the results of her research. Rosalie handed Lura a glass microscope slide with some white powder on it.

  “When we carried you back home the other day, I took the opportunity to grab some samples off your person to study.” Rosalie explained.

  “Excuse me?” Lura said, interrupting Rosalie.

  Without acknowledging Lura's interjection, Rosalie continued, “This white powder was taken off your clothes. You had the same white powder on you yesterday when you came back. When you described this thief you were chasing after, you said he had white powder covering his skin.”

  “Okay, so this powder came off of him, but I'm not sure why it's important.” Lura said.

  “It's important because of this.” Rosalie said, picking up a magnet nearby. It was a small fridge magnet, only strong enough to stick a piece of paper to the fridge. As Rosalie brought the magnet closer to the powder, it began to move. Then, when the magnet was only a few inches over the powder, the white powder flew off the slide onto the magnet.

  “This stuff is magnetic, but it isn't just metallic and sticks to magnets. The powder itself is magnetic. Now look at this.”

  For this next demonstration, Rosalie pulled out a compass. “Will always keeps this compass on his backpack he brings with him when he goes to the hill to look at his telescope. It was out here in the kitchen and I noticed it reacting as I moved around with the powder.”

  Rosalie had the white powder placed on the table to the south. The needle on the compass was facing the complete opposite direction from the power. After taking a few steps closer to the powder, the compass began to move. The needle slowly turned towards the white powder Lura had placed south.

  “Now this is what happens when you get near just a tiny bit of this stuff. If his body is covered in this white powder like you said, then if he is nearby this should point towards him. I don't know how close you will need to be to get the compass to react, but it could be useful in finding him.” Rasalie explained.

  “So this could lead me right to him?” Lura said. She was surprised by this. Such a simple device was now going to be able to help Lura find the thief she was after.

  “Thank you, Rosalie.”

  “Don't thank me yet, that was only the first thing I have for you.” Rosalie said, winning from ear to ear.

  Rosalie led Lura over to a kitchen chair and sat her down. Then, Rosalie walked over to a kitchen cabinet and pulled out a skinny but long rectangular box.

  “Next, we have to deal with him being able to easily avoid your attacks.” Rosalie said.

  “What can you do about that? It's frustrating to say, but he simply outclasses me.” Lura said dejectedly.

  “You think he outclassed you, but that's not what I think. From the way you described your fight, it sounds less to me like he is reading your moves, and more like he is reading your mind. That's where this comes in.” Rosalie said, pulling aluminum foil out from the box in her hands.

  “How is this going to help?” Lura asked?

  “Such a silly question. This is going to prevent him from reading your thoughts.” Rosalie said.

  For the next several minutes, Rosalie constructed a tinfoil hat for Lura. Making sure to leave no openings, she made sleeves in the hat to go over Lura's antenna. After looking everything over and making sure it was easy to get on and off Lura's head with her antennae, Rosalie stepped back, grabbed a mirror, and handed it to Lura.

  Lura looked at herself in the mirror and was unsure what to think. It was just sheets of metal formed around her head. There was no anti-mind reading technology inside, or anything else to make her confident this would work.

  “Are you sure this can stop someone from reading your thoughts?” Lura asked, unconvinced.

  “Of course. This has been a well known way to block mind reading for a long time. Will and I even wore them when we first met as a precaution, remember?” Rosalie asked.

  “If you say so…” Lura said, giving in instead of pushing the matter anymore.

  With a possible way to track Respyn discovered, and a sure fire way to keep everybody's minds from being read, everyone continued their day. Will and Cosmo practiced fighting in the front yard. Rosalie and Lura worked on the spaceship in the backyard. The day passed by quickly as everyone worked in their own way.

  As the evening began to settle in, Rosalie and Lura were getting ready to call it quits for the day. They packed up the parts, and Lura was sent to bring them inside while Rosalie worked for a few more minutes.

  Making her way around the front, Lura didn't see Will and Cosmo outside anymore. As she entered the house, Lura saw Will and Cosmo once again fully entranced in their show. Lura had been a bit awkward around Will and Cosmo since Cosmo's transformation, so since she had already worked everything out with Rosalie, Lura wanted to clear things up with Will and Cosmo.

  “Will, Cosmo, can I talk to you for a minute?” Lura called out to them.

  Will and Cosmo turned their attention away from the TV and approached Lura. “What's up?” Will asked.

  Lura took a deep breath and began talking. “I made a lot of mistakes when we ran into the thief I'm chasing and the creature he has. I put you both in danger, and Cosmo I pushed into becoming that monster. I'm sure you are mad at me, and I'm okay with that. I just wanted you both to know I'm really sorry.”

  Lura got what she wanted to say out in the open, looked down,, and once again prepared for the worse. Maybe it was her strict upbringing, or maybe her time in the military, but Lura had gotten used to expecting the worst when she made mistakes. She lifted her head back up to face her judgment.

  Will and Cosmo were silent while Lura spoke, and Will didn't speak until Lura had looked back up at them.

  “It's okay, we're not mad at you,” Will said. “Right, Cosmo?”

  “Right.” Cosmo answered.

  “Besides, that fight showed us how weak we are. So now we know what we need to get better at for the next fight.” Will explained.

  “Thank you.” Lura said, once again feeling relief. Her focusing so much on Will and Cosmo forgiving her that she managed to miss something important they had said. While Lura and Rosalie were working on the spaceship to call for backup so Lura didn't need to fight Respyn again, Will and Cosmo were training with the sole purpose of a rematch.

  Rosalie entered the house, seeing everyone getting along. She put away the parts she had carried in and began working on dinner.