"Sudden explosion leaves vacationers baffled."

A screen popped open, showing the plume of smoke rising from the sea, the beach crowded with creatures of many varieties trying to get a peek, even some humans.

"No injuries were reported, but investigations are still underway. We brought in a local expert."

A new window sprang into being, revealing a smiling seal. "Heya. That was a big one, wasn't it." He spread his hands out in a wide sudden motion to imitate the explosion. "If there had been somecreature near that thing, they'd been blown right up." His smile faded into a frown. "Coulda been, maybe they're all blown up. That's why we're checking to be sure."

A voice came from off panel, "Should the vacationers be worried?"

"Wha? No!" The again-joyful seal waved it away. "We're on the case. Our home is your home, so relax and let us take care of this little mess." He laughed, perhaps a bit forced. "The sand is warm and the drinks are cool. Enjoy the day!"

The window with the seal closed away. "Some say their nation's reliance on tourism casts doubts on their words."

Another window sprang up with a dour human. "We've seen this too many times on Earth, to say nothing of our new home. It's a classic distraction by the local authorities. You can bet they're scrambling in a panic, hoping that this is a one time situation. But do they know? How can they? They have no idea what this is to begin with."

Swift double look. Where Cozy had gone off to 'powder her nose', Mike had emerged. Her boyfriend had no reason to be there, and emerging from a girl's restroom? "Mike?!"

"Huh?" Mike looked at her funny. "What?"

She stormed over to him, grabbing him roughly at the arm. "What are you doing in there?" She hiked her free thumb at the restroom even as she dragged him away, lest any others see their shame. "Have you lost your mind?"

Mike swatted at her hand. "Let go of..." But he trailed off. "Oh, sorry."

"You better be." She glared at him. "Now tell me what you were doing in there, quietly."

"I was looking for you." He smiled awkwardly.

That got him a flick across the forehead. "So you went to the bathroom? Call me!"

"Oh, right, duh... I got... It's been a day."

"Yeah..." Her anger abated a little. "It has. I'm following this crazy lady, trying to find those Secret Service people. I'm not sure she's even taking us the right way."

Cozy grinned internally. She had not changed shapes. In her eyes, she was still Cozy Glow, which she was. But Swift Swim was treating her like she was her boyfriend. Had she pushed her powers in a new direction? She liked it. She could compete with Chrysalis, and not be as dumb about it. She wanted to laugh wildly, but cackling around your target was maybe not the best idea.

"Why are you smiling like that?"

Oops! She had smiled a bit too widely. "Just glad I found you. If that lady's not going the right way, why are we following her?"

Swift frowned, tapping with a rubber-clad hoof. "You bring up a good point. Let's head back." She pointed, only for her arm to fall, to rise again in a new direction, only to fall again. "Which way is the beach? And if you say any direction I will slug you. I want our beach with our family."

"I was hoping you'd remember," Cozy lied with a less manic smile. "It's alright, I have some money."

Swift blinked, shaking Cozy with the hand that still held firmly. "You don't usually have much money, if any. What happened?"

"They gave it to me." 'He' shrugged. "Said if you were hungry when I found you, to get you something to eat."

"Thanks, mom!" She released Cozy to clap her hands together with a big ole smile of her own. "She knows me too well. All this walking built up a real appetite. Let's get something to eat." The thought of getting back, forgotten in favor of dinner. "Crazy lady can be crazy by herself." She waved off Cozy, who she didn't know was standing next to her.

Cozy led Swift towards a little cozy place she could see. She kept half an eye on Swift, looking for the usual signs. Swift didn't seem to be glossing over. She was entirely convinced that Cozy was her boyfriend, but she wasn't becoming mind-whammied at all. Something Cozy would have to keep working at? Or was that a real limit? Grogar did not provide a user manual for being a monster, alas. Cozy let out a little chuckle at the thought. If being a monster was that, maybe monsters weren't given their proper due.

"Fish!" Perhaps it was the hippogriff in her, though even humans could enjoy fish quite a bit. Either way, Swift was eager to partake of the local sea food. She had her order done in a flash, turning to look at Cozy expectantly. "Your turn, Mike."

Cozy noticed the otter behind the serving bar went wide-eyed a moment before his brows fell back into a neutral one of welcome he had started with. She had an idea of what it might be and came up on the bar. "What do you suggest for me?"

A subtle thing, that. If the otter saw a pony, even a bipedal one, some of those dishes were more likely to be suggested. If they went for a fish, they'd probably explain why that fish specifically. Ponies were not as avid at sea food, and they had salads. But if he saw a human... "Why not get what your lady friend got? Very good good." The otter bobbed his head quickly. "Favorite."

Cozy restrained her grin. A new facet of her abilities, coming into focus. "Sure, and a drink for both of us."

Swift slapped herself on the forehead. "Drink! Right. Thanks, Mike. I'd lose my head if you weren't around to pick it up for me."

"I got your back." Cozy put an arm around Swift, which she didn't object to. Mindwashed, no, but almost as good?

Mobile drew a hiss of a breath. "Why did I let her go off like that?"

Her conflict brought Paul's attention. "Something wrong?"

Mobile waved a talon at the street. "I let my daughter and my husband wander off with a stranger and where are they? I don't know, and neither does anycreature else! My little girl's missing and it's all my fault." She grasped her head with the hand away from Tim. "They went off with that upright pony that saw your guards."

Paul sat up. "Right, her." He frowned with obvious consideration. "That's not good."

"You think!" shrilly cried Mobile, only to darken in her cheeks. "I'm sorry, you did not deserve that. This is my faut, all mine..."

"I'll find them!" Mike looked ready to charge off in search of his girlfriend, only to be grabbed before he got one step away.

Head Stream caught him by the shoulder. "Hold it up, little man. 10 points for wanting to protect your little lady friend, but if you go missing too, what state will Mobile be in?"

Mike shrank sheepishly. "We'll go find her."

"That's more like it." Head Stream released him as she turned towards the other. "We have a missing kid and a missing husband. You did try calling him, right?"

Mobile dug out her phone. "Over and over!" She waved the screen that showed her many attempted calls that had not been picked up. "Did the phone run out of battery? Did he lose it? Is it broken?!"

Paul stood up. "When you called, did it ring over and over, or just go straight to voice mail?"

"What does that matter?" The distraught mother fidgeted in place. "It rang and rang. Does that help?"

"It does." Paul turned to his new guards. "It means the phone is not turned off, or broken. It's on. Which means it's either lost, or he's just not answering it. Sirs, the situation is getting more complicated. I refuse to accept that the vanishing of my guards and them--" He extended a few fingers at the upset Mobile. "--are entirely unrelated. We have one thing that connect them."

Mike clapped his hands with an angry frown. "The creepy lady!"

The head seal nodded at Paul. "We will call the local guard. You, however, cannot leave our sight. We promised we'd keep an eye on you."

The other seals nodded in firm agreement. "We'd get in big trouble if anything happened to you, sir."

"Big big trouble!" added the third. "We don't want that. We'll keep you safe, so stay here, please."

Paul was under house arrest, he realized. He would be going nowhere until he went home, or until a new security detail arrived to take him off the seals' hands. But it was his fault, he figured. Whatever force was in motion, it seemed to be trying to get at him, and the families he had befriended just got in the way at the wrong time.

"This isn't you." Head patted Paul on the shoulder. "This is an 'us' problem." she waggled a finger at the two families. "And we can handle our own affairs. You stay with the nice seals. We don't need another creature going missing."

Paul was not president anymore. Hiding behind a desk was not what he wanted to do. Even if that given desk had a fur pelt. "We should all stay together. Is that alright?" He looked to his new guards. "If we all go?"

The seals shared a look, a shrug from t he left, a nod from the right. The one in charge nodded. "Alright. If we all go, then we can keep an eye on you. So long as you're safe, we're doing our job."

Mobile quirked a little smile. "You really don't have to." She sniffed, trying to regather herself. "We barely met."

"What are friends for?" Paul straightened his clothes. "Besides, for being barely friends, you know more about me than most ever will."

Mike perked at that. "Oh yeah, because you're--" And he got Paul's palm slapped over his mouth, silencing him.

"That," agreed Paul, drawing the hand back. "Which we will not be talking about."

The seal leader looked ready to move, but also curious by half. "What are we not talking about?"

Head threw up her hands in a great shrug. "I guess we'll never know. Let's find a missing husband and daughter, hm?"

Paul moved to depart the little dugout they had been using. Closer to the adults who were not seals, he spoke quietly, "I can't say this is, or is not, but this could be--"

Mobile grasped his arm firmly. "You are being shadowed by the Secret Service. I don't know much about them, but what I do know tells me them being here is a big deal. Them going missing is an even bigger deal. Don't give me more reason to panic."

Head Stream brushed Mobile away from the former-president. "Easy, girl. We're on the case. We'll find them."

"Queen Novo watch over them," let out Mobile in a miserable tone.

Mike hopped up the last step. "It isn't up to her. No queens or kings. Just us, right here. Let's get them."

Head ruffled the hair of the energetic human youth. "I like that attitude, kid." She dug out her phone. "Hubby said the kids were having a blast. Glad someone is. They're staying here at the beach, probably safest really. I'll let him know where I'm headed." She began rapidly clicking at her phone to hammer out her own reply text. "I'm not going to vanish on anyone, especially not today."

Noises of agreement rose. "Speaking of that." The seal leader dug out his own phone, cruder than the others. "Gonna call in." And he informed his bosses where he was going. "I'm with him! I swear! It was his idea. Yeah... not out of my sight... alright."

Author's Note

The families mobilize to locate their missing members. Swift has no idea anything odd is going on. Cozy's enjoying her new position in life, oh the manipulation she can manage! The typos she can get other creatures to write for her.

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