Skylar pulled themselves into a tight little ball, no tentacles, and their eye inside their body instead of outside. The world was dark, and loud. Ground shaking underneath the house and items crashing from shelves just barely overshadowed the screeches and screams coming from outside Skylar’s window.
One the very tip of Skylar’s beak protruded from their body, the tiny air holes sucking air in and out rapidly. As the floor dropped out from under them, Skylar’s body became sticky so they hung suspended from the wall.
“Skylar!” Even the panicked shout from Jatydid could barely be heard over the qwortarquake. “Skylar!” The young Qwortarian didn’t risk moving, being able to see where the ground had sunken away and gasping at the sight of the deep black hole below.
“It’s going to be okay Skylar.” A pair of tentacles waved below their widened eye. “Just pop yourself off the wall there, and I’ll catch you.”
Skylar tried to rock forward, their insides shifted, but their outer membrane stayed firmly stuck to the wall. Since the eye was still inside the body, they were unable to cry tears, but a vibrato whistle from Skylar pierced the air.
“Don’t panic.” Jatydid called out.
“Jatydid, how are they doing?” Leama called
“Well, they learned how to secrete…” Jatydid spoke slowly. “And now they are stuck to the wall.”
“Do I need to get the paddle?”
“No, no,” Jatydid stretched another pair of tentacles out. “I can pry Skylar off.” Carefully, using the suction cups for added grip, Jatydid got enough leverage to pry their child off the wall and pull them to the more sturdy part of the house. “See there kiddo, everything is fine.”
It took Skylar a couple weeks to master secreting the sticky substance on command, though after that one, it didn’t take nearly as long to figure out the various other secretions Qwortarians used.
Word count: 315
