by Erin Raegan
I looked back down. That they could just find habitable planets all over the universe was shocking. We couldn’t even see outside our own galaxy. Not really. We were so young compared to these aliens. Oren was right—babies, our entire race.
“Sal won’t tell you, but he’s afraid of flying,” I mumbled. “You’ll have to drag him onto your ship.”
Oren grinned, and I stared at him. He had fangs. But I’d never seen him smile as a human. He had been too negative for that.
“And you?” Oren asked.
I shrugged. “I’m not looking forward to it.”
Oren hesitantly sat down beside me. “Understandable. But there is nothing to fear. We’ve traveled the stars for millennia.”
My eyebrows shot up. “That’s a long time.”
It was Oren’s turn to shrug.
“He’s waiting for me, isn’t he?”
Oren nodded, watching me guardedly. “I want to say, Theo, it was not he who brought the humans to your door.”
“It was you,” I said. I remembered. He’d gotten caught.
“I am deeply regretful.”
I shrugged again. “It’s not your fault.”
“It is. And I have lived with that for a very long time.”
“Well, you’re off the hook.” I stood, shaking the tension from my shoulders. “You didn’t like how close he got to me.”
I felt his narrowed eyes on me as I walked across the room to my suitcase.
“You warned him away, didn’t you? And he didn’t listen. You were right then, so don’t feel bad. He should have listened to you.”
“Theo—”
“I’m ready, let’s go,” I cut him off, walking to the door.
I didn’t want to reminisce anymore. It was too painful.
Oren may have gotten caught, but Kil had dragged them down here. Now that I knew he was their leader, it was clear that it had been his decision to control us. To break into our minds and take what he wanted. No one could claim that fault but Kil.
Bets and Sal were outside, huddled against the wind as a small spaceship was being loaded in the center of the campground. It was grey and long, and it looked just like the one Kil had put me on almost two years ago.
“You okay?” I asked Sal. He looked a little green and had a wet washcloth against his forehead.
Bets snickered, patting his shoulder. “He’ll be fine.”
Iris was cursing and chasing a furry alien as he dragged boxes toward the waiting ship.
“She’s not happy,” I noted.
“They don’t want to leave their home,” Jeremy suddenly mumbled from my side. “I can’t say I’m feeling any different.”
I looked at him. “You ever think about Abby or anyone else back home?”
He looked at me. “All the damn time.”
“Me too,” I looked away from the pain in his eyes.
“I want to go back,” he said quietly. “We need to go back to see.”
I stepped closer to him, feeling Oren so close to us. “They won’t take us.”
“No,” he said low. “They won’t. But he will.”
I shook my head. “No, he won’t.”
“He will if you ask.”
I shot him a dark look.
“You need to try,” Jeremy said. “Abby could still be there. We have friends and family there. If we can get them out, we need to try.”
“They could all be dead,” I said, wincing.
Jeremy shook his head at me. “You can try.”
Then he walked away, and I looked down in shame. Abby could be alive. She wouldn’t have accepted all of us just disappearing. She would have looked for answers. And Abby wasn’t helpless. She could take care of herself. She could have found a way to survive. But if I opened that can of worms, I didn’t know if I could shut it.
If we could find Abby, what was stopping me from looking for my mom? Or Frank? Or the rest of the town? It would be dangerous. There were so many parts of the world that were already falling apart, and then there were the Vitat.
And then what if we couldn’t find them? What if they were dead?
But even then, there was a bigger problem.
I would have to ask him. I would have to actually speak to him. For real. And I wasn’t ready.
Kil wouldn’t give in easily, no matter what Jeremy thought. He would demand something of me in return. But I didn’t have anything to give him. Not anymore.
“Hey, careful with that!” Wes shouted, chasing Careem. “That’s a very valuable sculpture!”
Iris snorted. “Oh, get over yourself, Wes. It’s an action figure.”
“So?” he shot back. “This is the stuff we should be preserving! It’s a priceless piece of our history.”
“It’s a toy, not the Mona Lisa.” She laughed. “You’re so uptight.”
“Go away,” he growled, chasing Careem.
“You go away,” she growled back. “Stop harassing Careem. He’s just doing what he’s told.”
“You’re so frickin’ weird, sis. The dude looks like a walking lizard.”
She huffed. “Lizards do walk.”
“A giant walking lizard then!”
Bets snickered. “Those two will not do well on a spaceship.”
“Neither will I,” Sal moaned.
She cooed and rubbed his back.
“Time’s up,” Oren called. “Transport is here.”
Sal gagged as a larger ship sailed over the campground and landed somewhere on the other side of the trees. We gathered together in the clearing and counted everyone off.
“Anyone seen Paul or Landon?” Tibert asked.
We shook our heads. They hadn’t come out of their cabins since Jareth and Careem arrived.
Tibert sighed. “May, go check.”
Dropping her bag at our feet, she nodded then hurried off. We were silent as we waited. All of us only willing to leave together, no matter how impatiently Oren shifted on his feet.
“No!” one of them screamed. “We’re not going!”
Tibert groaned and walked toward their cabin, cursing.
“They won’t leave,” Jeremy said, shaking his head. “They’re too afraid.”
“They’ll die here,” Oren pointed out.
Jeremy shrugged. “They don’t care.” He shared a look with Holden. I narrowed my eyes on them both and they looked away from me.
“Humans,” Lahn muttered miserably, walking toward the cabin. “I’ll get them.”
We watched as Lahn kicked open their door and barged inside. One minute later, he had two lanky men by the scruff of their necks and was easily dragging them kicking and screaming from the cabin.
“Calm yourselves. I am saving your lives.”
Tibert grinned as Lahn marched them toward the ship. “Let’s go!”
We walked to the woods. Me on lead feet. Each step felt weighed down, as though I was going to sink right into the earth. Sal seemed far worse than me. He leaned against Oren and Bets as we walked, gagging and spitting the closer we got.
When we cleared the trees, we saw the ship sitting on the wet ground. It looked like a military ship, cannons on each side and weird-looking guns mounted to the front. Jeremy whistled long and impressed.
But I was looking at Killian. He stood at a lowered ramp, waiting with his arms crossed. The gold on his neck and arms and hands winked in the light as brightly as the beads in his hair.
Holden dropped back beside me. “Ask him. You need to ask him.”
Guilt was driving him to search for Abby. I couldn’t blame him. They might not have had anything meaningful in a way that I could understand, but that didn’t mean he didn’t love her in his own way.
“I’ll try,” I promised. But not yet. I needed a minute to catch my breath.
He nodded reluctantly and backed away, making room for Kil to come closer.
“Theo,” Kil rumbled, his eyes soaking in my every feature.
Noah stepped between us and I ran like the coward I wa
s, chasing Iris and Wes up the ramp. Wes was gaping at everything, running his hands all over the walls and compartments. There were several benches along the sides of the ship. A ladder went to an upper level and a lower level. Iris stepped close and looked down into the dark chamber. Careem gently pulled her back.
“I’m not gonna fall,” she told him, leaning back with a smile.
“Have a seat,” Kil called to us. “We’ll be taking off shortly.”
I walked to the nearest bench and sat, holding my small suitcase in my lap. Oren took it from me and stored it inside a door that opened with a soft hiss as soon as he got close to it.
Sal dropped into the seat beside me and moaned. “I don’t know about this, Boots.”
“It’ll be okay.” I rubbed his shoulder.
“Sweet pea, you might want to move down from him. Don’t want him to hurl on you,” Bets cautioned and sat beside him.
I smiled and slid down, closer to Iris.
“No!” Landon screamed as Lahn held him onto a bench with his clawed foot. Lahn also had a squirming Paul’s head clamped under his arm.
“Need help?” Kayd asked, snickering.
Lahn glared at him and tossed him Paul. Then he turned and sat on Landon. Landon wailed a terrified yet muffled sound beneath Lahn’s wings, and if Dahk could roll their eyes, I knew Lahn would have. Kayd growled and set Paul on the bench before sitting on him as well. Oren looked at them with high brows.
“Don’t touch that,” I heard growled from up front.
“What does that do?” Wes asked excitedly.
Iris and I leaned forward to see Wes punching buttons all over a control panel at the front of the ship. A big burly hand clamped down on his. Wes smiled sheepishly, his free hand reaching for another button. Looking at Wes on the surface you wouldn’t see anything but a big man with a wild beard, but Wes was like an excited kid in a candy store.
“Remove. The. Human,” a dark voice bellowed.
“Leo,” Oren said to me and nodded toward the front.
Bets gasped and jumped from her seat. “Leo!”
Long blond hair peeked around the pilot seat, then a feline face with gruff fur around a wide mouth. Leo scowled at Bets, but his eyes were twinkling.
That alien looked not one thing like the Leo we knew. But his eyes were undeniable.
“Leo!” Bets shouted again and ran to the front of the ship.
Sal groaned as she pushed him out of her way.
“Leovin gets that kind of greeting? What am I, a snarling neyvit?”
I looked toward the voice that had spoken. Kil grinned from the back of the ship, watching Bets hug Leo’s massive bulk. Kil seemed to feel my gaze and looked my way. I quickly looked away, flushing.
“Leo didn’t alter her mind,” Noah said dryly as he sat between Sal and me.
“No, just raided her food stores every morn and eve,” Oren drawled back.
“Leo did the dishes,” Sal mumbled as he hyperventilated into a paper bag Noah had shoved at him.
“I did the dishes,” Kil muttered sullenly.
“Once,” Oren said dryly.
“I also stacked boxes,” Kil said proudly.
I squeezed my eyes shut and thought of adorable baby monkeys. Anything to not think of that day. I couldn’t let my thoughts run wild around Kil.
Kil shuddered watching me. “Ugly creatures.”
I shot him a dirty look, and he winked.
Iris chuckled. “This is fascinating. You said you knew them, but not knew them.”
“I’ll tell you later,” I said quietly.
She nodded and sighed heavily. “Wes, sit down.”
“What does this do?” He pulled a lever and red lights flickered to life, along with a blaring noise.
We slapped our hands over our ears, but I heard Tibert barking his son’s name over the shrill noise. Leo patted Bets’s head like a pet’s and walked around her. He pushed the lever back up and grabbed Wes by the back of his shirt before dragging him to the bench beside his father. Wes scowled and sat down.
Tibert slapped Wes upside the back of his head.
Hands distracted me from Wes and I looked up as Kil bent to strap a belt across my lap and shoulders. Noah’s gaze burned into both of our faces. I watched Kil’s smooth dark thumb skim across my stomach a little too slowly as he strapped me in, but I couldn’t make myself look at his face.
He sighed and stepped away. “The trip is a short one, but with the weather, it will be rough.”
Sal moaned pathetically, and I watched him nervously. I knew he didn’t fly well, but I had no idea he was this sick over it. Then again, this wasn’t an airplane. It was a spaceship.
“Sit,” Leo told Bets, strapping her in beside Sal.
“He speaks!” she crowed.
Leo winked at her and walked back to the front of the ship.
“He learned after we left,” Oren said as he walked to the front. “We all did.”
“Not all of you.” Noah looked at Jareth.
“No,” Oren said, “I meant Leo and myself. Those of ours that chose to have learned.”
“Why not him?” Tibert asked.
Oren shrugged. “Jareth doesn’t do anything he’s told.”
Jareth grinned sharply.
“He catches on quickly though,” Oren added. “Now that our lord has found his little human, more will feel compelled to learn. That is, if she doesn’t accept the translation implant.”
I’m not his, I wanted to say. But really, what was the point anymore? I had no say in what happened anymore. I was officially trapped.
“You’re not shooting that thing into her brain,” Noah snapped at him.
Oren held up his hands and backed away. “It is harmless.”
“You can’t know that.”
“I—”
“Leave it, Oren,” Killian rumbled as he marched to the front of the ship. The ship roared to life as he sat beside Leo. “Hold onto your pants, humans. I suspect many of you have never left your little planet.”
“Correct,” Tibert muttered, looking a little green himself.
Kil grinned over his shoulder. “In that case, do not expel yourselves in my ship. It’s a favorite of mine.”
The ship lifted into the air, jarring all of us.
“Too late.” Sal moaned and retched into the bag.
All of us groaned and shifted away as the smell of his puke permeated the air.
First Trip to Space
Theo
“Out, out, out!” Iris shouted, gagging.
“Out!” Paul and Landon yelled with her.
I held my shirt over my mouth as we danced around the door of the ship. Wes had his entire shirtfront pressed against his face, gasping for air.
Oren fumbled with the lever, cursing and gagging himself.
“Oren!” Kil roared. “Get it open!”
“It’s stuck!” he shouted back.
Bets moaned in despair. “I’m going next!”
“No!” Iris, Wes, and I shouted to her together.
Leo leaned away from Bets, grimacing as she gagged.
“If you puke, I’m puking. Again,” Holden shouted.
“Don’t you dare!” Iris snapped through a fit of giggles.
Uncle Sal heaved, making horrible sounds behind us. We’d left him and Tibert all alone on the benches. I didn’t know how either of them had anything left in their stomachs after barfing so many times. Sal at least had made it into the bag. Most of the time.
But Tibert! God, he had projectile vomited across the ship.
Between Sal and Tibert, Noah was completely soaked. He glared at all of us, seething. I chuckled, inching away from him.
“Don’t,” he said low. “I swear to God I will hug you.”
That only made me laugh harder.
“The first hug from her brother in decades and you’re covered in vomit. Honestly, Noah,” Bets admonished.
Oren barked a laugh, slapping the lever. The door beeped and desce
nded. The top lowering first. Wes and Iris climbed against it, their bodies flat on the door as it lowered into a ramp. Both of them were gasping for air.
“Don’t you leave me, you brats!” Tibert shouted, his voice muffled by the bag Oren had thrown at him far too late.
Once the ramp was lowered, all of us pushed and shoved to get down. I had to walk over Iris’s prone body as she closed her eyes in bliss, gulping deep breaths.
“You’re just going to leave Sal?” Noah asked Bets.
She snorted. “I’ve cleaned up after that man enough throughout our marriage. I don’t do puke anymore.”
“Right.” Noah nodded. He looked down at his shirt and sighed before walking back up the ramp.
Bets looked at me in surprise, but all I could offer was a shrug. I had no idea what had gotten into him. Noah was more of an enigma to me now than he’d ever been.
Hushed whispers drew our attention. We looked over to see we had a very large, very alien crowd. Iris slowly stood when Wes nearly tripped over her as he backed away.
“They’re just curious,” Kil said from behind me, startling me. He looked down at me. “They won’t bother you.”
I nodded, looking over the crowd. “Don’t you already have humans here?”
Kil snorted. “No, the Dahk and Xixin have been handling the transports. They are a calmer presence to the humans.”
“So why are we here?” I asked, looking at all the alien faces.
“Theo,” Kil called my attention to him. “Do you really need to ask me that?”
I swallowed thickly, looking away from his penetrating gaze. “Guess not.”
Looking at him. This alien man, was hard. He looked nothing like my Killian at all, but at the same time I knew him to be Killian. He may be wearing a different skin, but underneath that alien exterior was the same man. Knowing and seeing were two very different things though.
“Come on, I’ve had quarters prepared for you.”
I nodded, following him into the massive ship. We looked to be inside some kind of ship hangar. Dozens and dozens of ships like the one we’d flown in were lined up around us. Aliens of all shapes and sizes were working on them and around them.
We walked to a door that was nearly as tall and wide as a house. The doors hissed as they slid open, and all of our eyes were drawn to the bright, wide hallways. Everything was grey, but the lights pulsed with different colors. Metal at our feet and sides, the walls and floor melded together seamlessly.
