The next week was relatively uneventful as Hero made his way down the stairs and checked on his newest friend while maintaining his visits with Maggie and Sam. He stopped in and learned from Maggie that she was going to see someone special to help her speak. Hero liked the way the little girl conversed and let her know at every chance that he thought she was sweet and kind. This comment always put a smile on her face, and Hero cherished that bashful little grin.

As much as he cherished Maggie’s smile, Hero hadn’t been by to see Sam in a few days. The human boy was out of bed last time he checked, but that was a few days ago. He made up his mind.

Hero stretched as big as he could underneath his blankets and stared up at the floorboards that constructed his ceiling and switched on his little side light which was in the corner of the room. The Christmas light clicked on with its familiar glow, casting a shine onto Hero’s various borrowings and equipment which hung neatly on the wall.

He rolled under the covers to stare at the hooks and lines. It had been a while since he inspected his things, but that would take up a lot of time after his chores and he wanted to make sure Sam was doing okay.

It’ll be fine. I didn’t see anything wrong with the lines these past few times. One more day can’t hurt. Tomorrow I’ll rig all new line and sharpen my hooks. First things first – chores.

Hero pushed himself out of his bed, slipped on his home shoes, and went out to breakfast with his family. His parents had heard of some interesting habits from one of the residents and decided to go check it out. Atlas was going to see the two new girls who moved in while Cali and Tiron planned to take stock of everything they had in their supply room. Some of the items were there for who knew how long and it needed to be cleared out.

Hero’s chores consisted of wiping down their counters, table, and the two spills on the floor from breakfast. He cleared out the water bins, refilled them, and put them back in their place before retreating to his room. Now, it was time to go.

Hero retrieved his bag, hooks, lines, and his pin. For fun, he elected to bring his homemade rubber band slingshot to show to Sam, hoping the human would be impressed with his ingenuity. All of his essential in tow, Hero slipped out and into the walls and started his journey through the walls.

The Borrower had to admit that there was a bit of excitement going to see the human boy. There were other Borrowers his age, but many of them were still learning how to go out on their own for the first time or had parents who were still unsure of the humans in the apartments. Those things compiled with the fact that Hero was fascinated and not as terrified of the humans as the others left for a lot of conversation gaps with others his age.

Somehow, that didn’t happen when he was talking with Sam or even Maggie for that matter even though she was young. Was it their differences that kept them engaged? Or was it because Hero wasn’t supposed to talk to humans and that was nerve racking and exciting?

Whatever the case, Hero was nearly there. The young Borrower balanced between the beams and climbed along the wires over the gaps in the wall joists until he reached his familiar place above the bookshelf by the trim on the ceiling.

Hero waited by the edge and listened for movement in the room. He wanted to at least keep up good practices as a Borrower even if he had been seen and wasn’t as scared as the others. The sounds of some game Sam was most likely playing were muffled through the wooden trim and there were no sounds of adult footsteps. All good signs.

Hero pressed his hand against the wooden slat and peered through it, ensuring the entrance to the walls wasn’t completely compromised.

All clear.

The little aspiring hero opened the wooden panel and slipped out onto the top of the bookshelf before closing the doorway behind him. Crouching low, he crept to the side to look down into the room. Sure enough, there was Sam nestled on his bed playing his game. The human boy looked a lot better than when Hero came and visited him before. With no other humans around, Hero stood up and gave a wave to grab Sam’s attention.

The motion caught Sam’s eye after a minute or so and instantly a smile spread across the boy’s face. He turned off his game with a quick flick of his finger and sat up straighter on the bed, eyes on Hero the whole time.

“Hey Hero. I was wondering when you were going to come back,” said Sam, keeping his voice a little lower, most likely to keep his parents from hearing him talk to a miniature person. His tone suggested Sam was already excited to see the small hero. The Borrower boy smiled in kind and began unlatching his grappling hook from his belt.

“Hello Sam. Sorry I’ve been away for so long,” replied Hero, feeling his cheeks getting a little warm with embarrassment. He didn’t mean to stay away for so long. “I’ve been busy; but, I’m here now and can stay for a little bit longer if you want to hang out.”

“Yeah dude! What do you wanna do?” asked Sam, slowly but surely inching closer to the middle of the bed where he sat when he and Hero first met.

“Um… well. I don’t really care what we do. I did bring something I wanted to show you, if you want,” replied Hero, dropping the string over the edge and securing the hook in the wood of the bookshelf.

“Sure,” said Sam excitedly before giving Hero a curious look. “You need help little dude?” Hero glanced down and then back at Sam. The little Borrower had to admit it was a long way down and it tired him out if he had to climb too many times in one day; however, the alternative still made him the slightest bit uneasy.

Even though he trusted Sam and even though the human was true to his word about not telling anyone, the thought of stepping onto the boy’s hands gripped his insides in an instinctual hesitation. Sam was gentle, sure; but Hero still felt more comfortable climbing – at least for now.

“That’s okay, I’ve got it. Besides, it’s good for me.” With that, Hero began descending the line, securing his footing and gripping the line tight in his hands. Step after step, hand over hand, Hero slowly made his way down the line.

He was just above halfway when he noticed something – something that must’ve happened recently. His heart began to pound harder in his chest. His hands suddenly felt clammy. In a fraction of a second, Hero noticed something too late.

There was a fray in the line – and it was unraveling fast.

The thread continued twisting by his hands under his weight. Hero couldn’t climb the distance fast enough to get above the line and he couldn’t make it to the ground at this rate; but he had to try. Hero, knowing the rope burn would hurt, began to slide down the line.

He wasn’t fast enough.

In that breathless moment, Hero glanced up in time as the line finished unraveling. The Borrower’s heart stopped, a scream constricted in his throat as the air from his lungs was left behind. His rapid descent down the line already put him in a free fall, and now he was plummeting toward the ledge and the bed below him.

Hero closed his eyes and braced himself for impact. He wished he could remember his brothers’ advice when falling far distances, but his mind was drawing a blank. He was going to hit hard and nothing was going to stop it. There were several breathless seconds while he fell.

The impact was sudden and knocked the wind right out from his lungs. He gasped and naturally curled in on himself and wrapped his arms around his head as it made contact, expecting a sharp pain in his back or legs. Somewhere. Anywhere. There was nothing.

In fact, Hero could have sworn there was a give to the impact, which was much sooner than Hero anticipated – and softer than he expected.

Hero opened his eyes expecting to see the bedspread surrounding him, and instead felt his body give an involuntary shudder. Just above his head were two thumbs nearly the length of his whole body. There were eight other fingers in the process of curling up and cupping him at his feet. Hero was suddenly acutely aware of his own pulse and the pulse of the hands he was in.

Sam had caught Hero, broken his fall – saved him. The only thing that dampened the moment was now he was in a human’s hands and – regardless of how much he trusted that human – it was his first time.

Sam tilted his head back as far as he could to catch an upside-down view of Sam’s face while the Borrower laid on his back, which had a look of sheer panic and awe at the same time as he held Hero. The Borrower spun around, propping himself up primarily onto Sam’s right hand as his head swirled with everything that just transpired. The small humanoid’s mind was reeling and making his vision dizzy. It was Sam’s words that let him hang on and pulled him back.

“You okay?” asked Sam quietly. Hero could feel the boy’s hands trembling now and a thought occurred to the Borrower. He’s just as nervous as I am in all of this. He’s scared – just like me. I can’t let him be scared. Heroes need to reassure. They can’t be afraid. I… can’t be afraid.

Hero took a few calming breaths, trying to ignore the way in shook in his chest, and let a nervous smile spread over his face. He leaned back so he was now kneeling on his knees sitting up as straight as he could.

“Yeah… I’m okay,” he replied slowly, still fighting against every swirling thought in his brain from the miniature bouts of nausea fluttering below his diaphragm. “Thank you for catching me. I… well… are you okay?” Sam, obviously still trying to remain calm to not aggravate his breathing, barely gave a nod in response. The human boy gave an anxious cough to clear his throat.

“Yeah. Great. Never better. You’re… so…” Sam’s thought fell short as his fingers curled in on the little Borrower, this thumb bending to brush Hero’s left arm. Every hair on Hero’s body stood on end as the appendage made contact. He hoped that his heart would stop pounding so hard; but when Sam’s thumb brushed his shoulder, the Borrower couldn’t help but think how gentle Sam was being with him.

For nearly thirty seconds, Sam held Hero aloft inspecting him with the natural curiosity humans possessed for Borrowers that Hero had heard so much about. Hero was finally starting to calm down his breathing and the blood rushing in his ears finally stopped roaring while he continued to watch Sam’s eyes.

The Borrower boy was about to ask if Sam could put him down when they both heart a noise – a nerve jolting noise.

Sam’s mother had just come into Sam’s room.