by Lena Lee
“Sit down.” Rex managed to sit up, his green eyes drilling into me. “Please.” His command had an instant effect on me and my resolve to throw them out vanished.
I slowly sat back down in my chair as Rex’s very fit body stood up. Oh man he was attractive. He needed to put his clothes back on before I lost my mind. I wasn’t above drooling over a nice body.
He must have read my thoughts because that’s exactly what he did. I bit my lip as he pulled back on his tattered shirt and pulled on his ripped pants.
“Is this your home?” Rex moved away from the bed, slightly wobbly. He walked around the room, stopping briefly in the corner near the door before turning quickly towards me. “Tell me this is not your home.” He had a look in his eyes like someone had just punched him in the gut.
I held my hands up in mock surrender. “Listen, I don’t know who you guys are but first you chase me down and now you’re insulting me? Just because I don’t have a million dollars or whatever crazy amount it costs to buy a place in paradise, doesn’t mean I’m any less worthy of respect than you.” I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at the three of them. “I would rather live here anyways. Anyone on the inside of those four walls are murderers in my eyes.”
The three men stared at me before Alex cleared his throat. “He did not mean it that way. I think we are all just shocked at the moment. You shouldn't have had to live here and endure such… hardships.”
I shrugged. “I was loved… I am loved. Life is way too short to dwell on the hardships too much.” I chuckled then. “We like to joke that at least we will only have to use a bucket for thirty or so years, always a bright side.”
Kyra liked to joke about our inevitable, and fast approaching deaths frequently. It was too depressing thinking of it any other way. At one point in time, people lived until they were almost one hundred. Even if that was possible, life was too rough to even consider a life that long.
I'd be happy to make it to thirty
“What do you mean by that?” Rex furrowed his brows and plopped back on the bed, seeming to have lost whatever strength he had after his perusal of the room.
Not that it had taken him any longer than a minute. There wasn’t much to look at. He seemed very uncomfortable as if he was holding a lot back.
“Most of us here die in our thirties… the oldest I have heard was forty-five. My parents died when they were in their mid-thirties of an illness than swept through here from the dust. I was twelve. Other times people just wander off saying they have to find somewhere else. I can’t blame them, I have considered it myself.”
“How often do you get sick?” Wyatt stood then and started pacing. It was unexpected considering what I had seen from him so far. He was suddenly serious. “Who else do you know that can make themselves invisible?”
I thought for a moment. Come to think of it… I hadn’t ever really been sick. There had been several times where I felt like I was burning alive with a fever, but never had I been laid up in bed or sidelined longer than a day for an injury.
I shrugged in response. The invisible thing I didn’t even want to think about.
“That’s rather peculiar isn’t it?” Wyatt stopped and gave me a pointed look. “And trust me, we do not have special boots that make us jump that high.”
I needed air and quick. “Excuse me.”
Once outside I paced in front of the door. The three didn’t follow me but I heard conversation, and not of the quiet variety. Nothing made sense anymore. I had been ignoring a lot of things lately, including my ability to somehow become invisible.
It’s not like I could ask the elders about it. If they knew, who knows what they would do to me or how they would use me.
Before I could stop myself, I took off running down the alley. I needed Kyra.
Chapter 3
Kyra had not been happy with my loud and crazy wake-up call. It had to be only a few hours before sunrise now. Not exactly a nice time to be woken up by a freak out.
“So you're telling me you were chased by aliens, almost died outside the fence, watched them do some voodoo tricks, and now you think you’re an alien?” Kyra stood with her hands on her hips with a serious expression. “What have you been smoking and where can I get some?”
A smile tugged at the corner of my mouth. I could always count on my best friend to lighten the mood. We had been friends for as long as I could remember. Our parents had been close back when they were all alive so we were practically sisters. Hell, her name even rhymed with mine.
I sighed. “I wish it were something I smoked… I mean is it even possible Kyra? We have pretty limited resources here to check if aliens exist. What if they do?” I made my hand go invisible and waved it in front of her face. “This. Isn’t. Normal.”
“Here’s how I see it. We are fairly stupid here in what we know about this world and judging from your description of Felix, they have a lot more information and technologies. Is it possible that you just haven’t seen it yet? From what I’ve read, aliens are just myth. Maybe they realized how gullible you are and are toying with you.” Kyra grabbed a hairband from her table and piled her dark hair into a bun at the back of her head. “Your ability to be invisible might just be… an adaptation. Chameleons can change color based on their environment. It’s not too far of a stretch to assume that with our situation that eventually one of us would have some kind of… change to survive.”
“They mentioned my lack of illness and well… they are right. I never have gotten sick.” I was pacing again. I was searching my brain for anything abnormal. “There are other things, small things, that I haven’t even mentioned to you.”
Kyra narrowed her slate eyes at me. “Like what? A patch of green on your butt? Tentacles?”
“Gross. Just… you know when we lay on the roof and stare at the sky? I feel a tug in my chest, like I am being pulled towards something. I also swear I smelled smoke the last time I got mad.” The tug had felt like my body wanted to float up to the stars and I hadn’t even had any alcohol on that occasion.
“You are crazy.” Kyra grabbed a loaf of bread and handed me half. “All that running and thinking has led you to a hunger induced stupor. Or maybe that stench you’re sporting.” She ripped a piece of bread with her teeth and eyed the back of my pants.
“Let’s go, you standing here giving me shit isn’t helping,” I said as I walked out her door. “Thanks for the bread.”
“What are friends for.” She smirked and shut her door, following me down the alley back to my hovel. “Now, you didn’t say, but are these aliens attractive?”
I simply nodded as we got to my door. We were on short supply of attractive men, those that were available were broken in some way, but wasn’t everyone here broken?
We entered and Kyra spun around in a circle. “Well?” She stopped and put her hands on her hips. “Damn it Mira, you better share these drugs you’re on. You woke me up from a good dream too.”
Rex, Alex, and Wyatt had stopped their conversation and stared from me back to Kyra. I was surprised they hadn’t noticed I had left. Evidently, they had a lot to discuss.
“What are you talking about?” I asked, shutting the door.
“The aliens? Where are they? Did they leave?” She looked around the room again before leveling a concerned look at me. “Do you need to get laid? I thought Theo was quenching that thirst.”
“She can’t see or hear us, we are spelled. We were just discussing the fact that you can become invisible on demand which is not a trait we have seen from our people.” Wyatt spoke, he circled around Kyra assessing her. “Who is she? She seems a bit... lost.”
“Who is Theo?” Rex casually asked but I could sense something else in his voice. Before I could reply that it wasn’t any of his business, Kyra continued with her assault on my sanity.
“Maybe it is time to visit the healer… we are under a lot of stress. Maybe a few herbs might help?” She started holding up fingers as she listed off the stress I was un
der. “Constantly wondering when we will die, your invisibility, sneaking around all badass, hot aliens only you can see, enforcement exam, lying to Theo about just how you get into the city. Maybe it is messing with your brain.”
“Go ahead and just lay all my business out there on the table. I’m fine. They are right here, you just can’t see or hear them. Wyatt is right in front of you.”
Kyra swatted around in front of her, slicing right through his body. Her eyes went wide. “It feels weird right here.” She continued to poke and swat at the air in front of her. She looked like an idiot as her hands sliced right through his body as if he were made from fog. “It makes my hand tingle. Does it hurt them? They can’t hurt me can they?” She abruptly folded her arms across her chest and backed up a step.
All three men were chuckling. Wyatt ruffled her hair and she let out a shriek before attaching herself to my side. They must be able to interact with her but not the other way around. Come to think of it, I was similar, able to manipulate my environment when I was invisible. I wasn’t sure if someone could walk right through me, I tended to avoid people when invisible.
“Sweet baby Jesus, you aren’t on drugs… aliens… there are aliens Mira. ALIENS.” She linked her arm through mine and took a deep breath. “I’m fine. I swear.”
“Your name is Mira? In Scintilla it’s Isabella.” Rex crossed the room and stood in front of me. I looked up at him. “Mira is even more beautiful.”
What was with this guy laying it on hot and heavy? It made my heart rate suddenly increase.
I backed away, feeling as if something had broken inside my chest. I wasn’t going crazy in my assumptions. My entire life seemed to flash before my eyes, as if my brain was trying to weigh what it had experienced to what this man just revealed.
“My full name is actually Mirabella.” I looked down and examined my hands. “Can we just cut to the point. I’m an alien?”
“I really wish I could hear the other half of this conversation.” Kyra looked concerned and frustrated. She drew me closer, putting her arm around me. “I don’t like seeing you look like your whole world just shattered.”
Kyra could read me well, maybe a little too well. It didn’t leave me much space to ever have secrets. She had ferreted out my indiscretions with Theo almost immediately. She said I had a “just had sex” face.
“We do not mean to cause you any pain… unfortunately your friend will not be able to see or hear us while we are here. We weren’t sure what we’d find in our search, so we are spelled with invisibility to anyone but our own kind until we are back on our planet.” Rex frowned as he considered something in his head. “I am assuming you are going to want to bring your friend. Our atmospheres are essentially the same besides slightly more gravity on Scintilla. She should be fine.”
“You are assuming we are leaving with you? I don’t even know you.” I looked Rex straight in the eyes. He flinched slightly at my words but didn’t move his eyes from mine. I wanted to take a step closer to him but willed myself to stay firmly planted in my spot. “We are perfectly content here. On Earth.”
“Are you really?” Alex glanced in the direction of my restroom in the corner and scrunched up his face in disgust. I might just continue calling him Stick.
Kyra’s words slightly overlapped Alex’s. “I am not content. I vote we leave.”
I elbowed her and she grunted. She was the more serious risk taker out of the two of us, although we both had death wishes at times and took the other along for the wild ride. We had been nicknamed Double D by the younger crowd, short for Dynamic Duo.
“May I take your hands? I would like to show you why we are here, it is time you know.” Wyatt approached me and reached for my hands.
I hesitated but let him take them, this day was already shaping up to be a weird one, might as well hold hands with an attractive alien.
I felt a warm sensation spreading from where our hands connected. The sensation felt like when your foot falls asleep and just starts to wake up again. Not pleasant, but also not painful. It traveled up my arms and to my brain. I gasped as my eyes were forced shut against my will and I was sucked into a scene. I was a baby again, or at least it felt that way. Newborn.
I looked up at two faces gazing down at me but couldn’t quite make out their features. I knew they were my parents in my heart. The air felt happy and I basked in the feeling of their love. I was home and safe.
The scene shifted to night and I felt a few warm raindrops drop onto my face. The feeling of home was gone and there was fear in its place. I cried out then, and a wooden door opened a few moments later, dim light washing over me. Two faces peered down with surprise. They spoke then.
“Sam… who would do such a thing?” The woman reached down and scooped me up from the ground, bringing me to her chest. “There’s a note.”
It had been folded between the blanket I was swaddled in. It had crinkled when she brought me to her chest, drawing her attention to it. She handed it to the man, keeping her focus on me. My tiny fingers clutched her finger.
He read the note in silence and looked at the woman, a look of confusion on his face. “It says they can no longer care for her. We can barely keep ourselves fed Sophia…”
He looked down at me and then he took me from the woman’s arms. He cradled me as if his arms were meant to hold me just as they were in that moment. The confusion in his eyes left as a look of hope took its place.
“She is too wonderful… an answered prayer from above. Mirabella… we should name her Mirabella.”
The intrusive feeling taking hold of me quickly left and with it my strength to stand. I landed on my knees, intaking as much oxygen as possible. My chest hurt, drowning out the dull ache the floor caused my knees. No one reacted, besides Kyra, who started to kneel down before I quickly crawled the short distance to my trunk.
I flung the heavy wooden lid open, throwing clothes and books out as I went. Near the bottom I found what I was looking for. I never paid it much attention, not being a believer in God myself, but my parents had been believers despite the life they had been dealt.
I held the tattered burgundy book in my hand. I ran my fingers over the faded gold embossed lettering before taking a deep breath and opening it. It let out a faint crackling sound as the cover was open for the first time in a long time.
If they were going to keep the note anywhere, it would have been here, where they knew I wouldn’t look. It was something I was sure they wouldn’t part with. They were too sentimental.
I placed the book in my lap and slowly started leafing through the thin pages of scripture. I sat there for a long time, no one in the room saying a word.
I started to feel the slight bulge in between the pages the closer I got, but took my time, trying to calm my increased heartbeat. It was with my parents’ favorite verse, Jeremiah 29:11.
I held it in shaky hands and tried to control my breathing. I felt someone sit next to me. I looked over at my best friend, no one else was in the room. I guess watching a girl falling apart wasn’t on the brothers’ to do list.
“Do you want me to stay?” Kyra put her hand on my forearm.
Of course I wanted her to stay, I needed someone to pick me back up off the floor when I melted into a blubbering puddle of emotions. I nodded and slowly unfolded the note written in flowing cursive. I wasn’t the best at reading cursive, luckily it was short.
Please care for our beloved one. We are no longer able to care for her but trust you can provide her with what we cannot. Her date of birth is April 7. We have not named her but trust you to provide her with a fitting name.
I stared at it for several moments before I refolded the note and placed it back in the book. I deserved more than four simple sentences. Kyra took my hand and we sat in silence for what seemed like hours but in reality, was only a few minutes.
Anger started to rise inside of me as the shock and sadness faded. Would they have ever told me they weren’t my biological parents?
/> I rose and walked to the door, flinging it open to find the brothers huddled outside. “Tell me everything.”
Chapter 4
Rex, Wyatt, and Alex filed back in the room, sitting on the smaller bed, across from us. Rex appeared to be completely healed now, the color back on his cheeks. My heart should have been racing but I was in a state of shock. I felt numb, like my entire life had been ripped out of me and thrown away.
Several long moments passed before Rex spoke. “You were taken when you two days old, in the middle of the night. Your father was also missing and still is.” He paused while I pretended to process that nugget of information before nodding for him to continue.
The possibility of my own father baby napping me would have to wait until later. Much later.
“It was a great loss to our people. Your mother grieved quietly but had to return to her duty as queen of one of our five lands.”
I stared incredulously at the three faces in front of me. This must be some kind of joke. I’d much prefer Princess as a nickname, not a title. It sounded like some twisted fairy tale. “Why would someone want to kidnap me and leave me… here?” I gestured around the room.
What kind of person, or alien for that matter, sits around and plots the kidnapping of a baby?
Damn, I hoped it wasn't my actual father, that would be worse than being thrown to the beasts.
“Possibly to try to weaken the throne, we don’t really know. I still remember the day they announced you were born, everyone rejoiced. There were also rumors for a while that your father kidnapped you, but it is doubtful. We aided in your search for about a year before Queen Sienna called off the search for both you and King Sebastian.”
I took in a sharp breath. They aided in my search, they didn’t look older than mid-twenties. Because that wasn't weird at all. Nope, not one bit.
“When we arrived here, I had no clue that you would be my…” He stopped speaking and looked to his brothers as if asking them a silent question.
