This is not a drill.

Who: Charlotte.
When: About 9:30.
Where: Her house.

Charlotte had spent the evening curled up in her room, more specifically in her own little world with a notebook. She'd made the calls she needed to, and sent a few e-mails, and now she was writing up ideas. She had completely lost track of time, pausing only to flick her bedside light on when the sun set. When the phone rang - the house phone, not her cell phone, it startled her enough to leave a scratch across her notebook with her pen.

She waited a moment to see if her mom would answer it, and then remembered that she'd never heard her mom get back. Late nights in Harvey were not unheard of, one of the mares had been sick the past few days. Charlotte put her things aside and went to answer the phone.

"Hello?"

"Charlotte, put your mother on." It was Valen, and he had a no-nonsense tone to his voice.

"She's not back from Harvey yet." Charlotte answered, shouldering the handset and heading towards the stairs. She ought to turn some lights on for when her mom did get back.

"Fuck," Valen hissed. That surprised Charlotte enough for her to pause where she stood in the middle of the stairs.

"...What's going on?" Charlotte asked. Lately, she and Valen hadn't really been speaking. Ever since she'd declared hatred when Lullaby died, Valen had been holding out for an apology that Charlotte just couldn't force herself to deliver - no matter how much her mother tried to get it out of her.

"There's not enough time to explain." Valen said. "I need to get a hold of your mother and tell her to stay in Harvey for the night. Listen to me very carefully, girl: lock the windows, lock the doors, and stay in the basement tonight. Do you understand me?"

Charlotte suddenly felt like an icy hand had reached inside her chest and gripped her heart. She felt a little sick, and dizzy - like she had fallen off a step. "What's going on?" she asked again.

"Do you understand me?" he repeated. And Charlotte did. As much as she couldn't stand Valen, she knew the feeling was mutual. He'd try to protect her for her mother's sake if something happened, and something had happened.

"I understand." she heard herself say, numbly.

"I need to get a hold of your mother. Do as I say." Click.

For a long moment Charlotte just stood there, taking the phone off of her shoulder to stare at it. What had just happened? What was going on out there? She didn't know, but she was afraid of it, without having to be told details. When she finally sprang to action, she felt like she was trying to do everything at once. She locked everything, doors and windows, and barricaded the doggy-door. Then she double-checked everything. While arguing with herself that she didn't need to triple-check everything, she realized that all of the animals were following her from room to room, looking antsy and troubled. It was for their sake that she forced herself to pull herself together.

"It's okay." she told them. "I don't know what's going on, and Mom isn't going to come home tonight, but... but... it's okay, and we're going to take care of each other." Anna nudged her hand with her nose, and Charlotte forced herself to take a calming breath. She made a stop in her room to grab her cellphone, then lead all the animals into the basement. There was a finished rec room down there, so at least she'd be comfortable. More importantly, there was a TV. She plunked down in front of that, and started rapidly flicking channels to try to find information on the news. As soon as she heard anything, she had people to call.