by Magan Vernon
"What? That Gemma is a bitch?" He leaned back against the vinyl seat. "Yeah I think she took one too many B vitamins and I just really started to notice."
"So does that mean you two aren't getting back together?" I asked, more out of curiosity than anything.
He ran his fingers through his hair. He didn't have much. It always reminded me of baby chick fuzz. I wondered if it actually felt like a baby chick, too. "I don't know. I sure hope not. All those mean things she said to you and to everyone else is just plain evil."
"Tell me about it."
"You know, it's really weird. Up until this year I just went along with everything Gemma wanted, like I was riding on her coattails, and now I kind of just want to be my own person and not just be known as the rugby star's boyfriend."
I nodded. I knew exactly what he meant. He wanted his own identity. I'd suffered for years being labeled by people like Gemma. Now, for the first time, it was as if I was getting my own identity. Yet I couldn't help the lingering feeling in the back of my mind that if I stayed with Ace I could lose my own identity and would just be Ace's human wife forever.
"But I'm probably boring you to death. You would probably rather talk about books or something. I'm guessing your boyfriend is some Ivy Leaguer who wears a beret and speaks French or something."
This time I actually did spit my pop out into my hand. Quickly I wiped it on my jeans before Brody could see it. "You think Ace wears a beret?"
"Yeah, aren't you into those types, like that guy you dated our sophomore year?" he asked.
I rolled my eyes. "Oh yeah, Brett Salinger."
"Yeah, that guy. He thought he was God's gift to Starbucks or something."
I laughed. "Yeah, that was a long time ago. Definitely not my type anymore."
"Are you still bringing this Ace guy to Fall Ball on Saturday?"
I shrugged, playing with the pop top on my can. "I hope he is still coming. We haven't exactly been getting along that great lately."
"What's going on with that?" His voice seemed genuinely concerned as he propped his elbows up on the table and leaned in.
I finally let myself go and relaxed, sinking into my seat. "Just stupid stuff. Like that I'm always spending time with my friend Simone, and ignoring him and stuff."
"Does he think you are going to run off with a girl or something?"
I raised an eyebrow. "You do know I'm really not a lesbian, right?"
"Oh, I know."
"Here is your pizza, guys." Lynn slapped the pizza and a few plates on the table and took off back to the kitchen before we could even say thanks.
"Isn't she friendly?" I grabbed a slice of pizza and placed it on my plate. I loved Anna's pizza because it had thick crust, little sauce, and tons of cheese piled on each little square.
"Somehow I'm always surrounded by her type," Brody mumbled.
"Yeah…" I nodded, taking a big bite of pizza.
"So, do you still keep up with that blog you used to always talk about in trigonometry last year?" Brody piped up, obviously trying to change the subject.
I almost choked on my pizza, but swallowed the last bit of cheese. "You know about my blog?"
"Yeah, doesn't everyone? I only read it a few times, but from what I read it was pretty good. Especially that time you wrote a post on how gym class is just another form of the Roman gladiator games."
I snorted. I didn't know anyone else that actually read my blog besides people from the internet. "Yeah, I haven't been able to keep up with that too much lately."
"Oh, that sucks. I was hoping for some more witty Bianchi humor. I guess I can just settle for the real thing instead of reading it online." He flashed a genuine smile and I could feel the heat rising to my cheeks. A boy that liked me for my writing was always intriguing.
***
After we ate, Brody walked me out to my car, his hands in the front pockets of his faded Levi's as he sauntered over to my rust bucket.
"Well, thanks for the pizza." I fumbled through my messenger bag, trying to find my keys.
"Alex?"
I looked up and gasped. Brody was almost on top of me with his toes pressed to mine. I fumbled backward and leaned against my car door.
"Oh, sorry didn't mean to scare you." He placed his hands on my forearms. They were rough and warm like an old baseball glove. Nothing like Ace's smooth touch.
"Oh, it's fine...guess I'd better get going."I turned toward my door.
"Wait!" As soon as I turned back toward Brody he cupped my face in his hands and pulled my lips into his. His kiss was different than Ace's. His lips were warm against mine and his tongue just danced at the edge. It wasn't a bad kiss, but it wasn't from my boyfriend and when the taste of Brody's chew got to my mouth I definitely needed to get rid of him. Smoking grossed me out, but chewing tobacco was way worse.
I pushed him away as fast as I could, still trying to compose myself. "What the hell do you think you're doing? I have a boyfriend!" I kept my hand out to keep the distance between us.
"I don't know, Alex. I just can't stop thinking about you. I've been having all these dreams about us together and it's all been getting to me."
"Whoa, back up!" I held my finger up. "Did you say dreams?"
"Yeah, you know like when you sleep at night and a movie plays in your head?"
I shook my head. "I know what a dream is."
And I bet I knew the species that was behind both of our dreams.
Chapter 19
After I was finally able to get away from Brody, I dialed Ace.
"Hello?"
"Ace, we need to meet now."
"I thought you didn't want to talk to me?"
I headed down Cunningham and off toward Westfield. The farther I got into the country the more the houses started to disappear and I was surrounded by cornfields and the absence of any sort of streetlights.
"Look, this is really important and we need to talk in person."
"Okay, is your mom asleep? Do you want me to come to your house?"
"No." I turned on my brights, at least those still worked, and lit up the entire street. "I'm already passed my neighborhood. This needs to be private. Meet me at the corner of Kennedy Hill and Westfield in five minutes."
"Will do."
I hung up the phone and threw it in the seat next to me. Kennedy Hill was rumored to be haunted by a girl who was hit by a car on prom night while she was waiting for her date to pick her up. It was one of the darkest roads and usually wasn't too busy unless was Halloween.
I pulled over on the corner and waited for Ace to beam in.
Tap. Tap tap.
I jumped up and sat back down once I saw Ace framed in my window and unlocked the door.
"What was that about? You look like you've seen a ghost."
He slid his long body into my car with ease, shutting the door and closing us in.
"This is way scarier than a ghost."
"Scary like this car?" He reached his hand up to the fallen ceiling and pushed in the thumbtack I had holding up the cloth protecting me from the inside metal.
"Leave my car out of this. I'm serious!" I pulled his hand down and he just stared at me. His eyes were endless pools of darkness and for the first time I saw how empty they'd become.
"I've missed hearing you yell at me with your wit and sarcasm." His voice was barely above a whisper.
His hands stayed locked onto mine and I felt his warmth pulsate through my hands and up through my arms. I couldn't help it. I suddenly needed him more than I had in weeks. I pushed our intertwined hands down and pulled him to me until I crushed my lips against his.
At first he just stayed still, and then he fully reciprocated. His mouth hungry against mine and a muffled moan escaped my lips.
But after a few seconds he pulled away, staring at me, his eyes intense and only lit by the small light of the moon. "Have you been smoking? You taste like an ashtray."
"What? No, oh wait..." I shook the thoughts of pouncing Ace out of my hea
d and thought back to the subject at hand.
"I'm waiting," Ace added.
"Brody kissed me."
"What?" Ace let go of my hand so quickly I thought I got heat rash. "You brought me here in the middle of the cornfields to tell me that you are cheating on me?"
"No, no, that's not it at all." I leaned closer, but Ace just backed farther against the door. "He told me he kissed me because he has been having dreams about me."
"And?" He clenched his hands into tight fists. "You want me to kill him in his sleep, so that no one will notice?"
"Don't you see? Brody is not a guy that would be influenced by having dreams about me. There is definitely Caltian sleep creeping behind this."
Ace straightened up. "Do you really think so?" His hands were still clenched at his side and I wasn't sure if he really thought that was the case, but it was the only thing that made sense to me.
I nodded. "I'm almost positive. I've been having dreams too and I hadn't had any since your mom sleep creeped on me at Circe."
"What kind of dreams?"
I didn't want to tell him, but it was now or never. "Dreams about Columbia and a senior year with Brody's group of friends."
Ace nodded. "That explains why you've been acting the way you are, but it could just be your own feelings as well."
I shook my head. "I think it is definitely sleep creep. But the question is, how do we stop it?"
He shrugged. "I don't know." He leaned back over, running his fingers along my sides until they reached my cheeks. "But I hope this is someone sleep creeping and not the way you really feel about me."
"Well, when the queen sleep creeped, it gave me nightmares that I would die and the only way they stopped was when I was close to you."
"So, you think that whoever is doing this is trying to keep us apart by planting different dreams in your sleep so you will stay away?"
I shrugged. "It makes sense. Someone doesn't want us to be together."
"Now who would want that?" I said it out loud, but I was pretty sure I knew the answer. Ace's mother. The queen.
Chapter 20
The next day I spent most of my time thinking about how I could figure out who was behind the sleep creeping and what I needed to do to stop her. I didn't want to call my dad and explain the whole thing, so I called another confidante at Circe.
"Hey, bright eyes."
"Hey, Malcolm." I probably shouldn't have been talking on my phone while pulling out of the school parking lot, but I only had so much time between school and work.
"What's going on?"
"Well, I need you to help me with something. Something alien."
He laughed. "I could have guessed that's why you were calling. For a girl who loves aliens so much you are kind of clueless."
"Har, Har, Malcolm."
He stopped laughing and let out a deep breath. "Alright, I'm sorry. What do you need to know?"
"I think a Caltian is using sleep creep on me and some other people in my school to get me to break up with Ace."
"Now why would someone want to do that?"
I took the long way to work, which really there was only one way to get from school to Cuppa Java. So, I basically just backtracked and cut through neighborhoods.
"Well, it's not like everyone was real happy with a human and alien relationship, especially not the queen of Calta."
"So you think the queen is behind this?" he asked.
"Who else would do it?"
"Here is the thing," Malcolm started. "You do know a lot of humans and aliens still aren't comfortable with your relationship, and female Caltians are usually ten times more powerful than the males."
"What does that mean?"
"It means that every female Caltian is not only stronger and smarter than her male counterparts but every female can sleep creep. Not just the queen."
I was trying to wrap my head around the situation and getting a headache from the implosion of alien knowledge. "So you think another Caltian female is sleep creeping? Why would they do that?"
"Didn't Nerses make that pact that the queen can't touch you?"
"Yeah, so?"
"Well." Malcolm smacked his lips. "Then someone else might be doing her dirty work."
***
When I walked into work Simone was all too eager to see me.
"So how did the date go with Brody?" She ran over to me once I got behind the counter.
"I told you it wasn't a date, and it was really awkward."
"Why, what happened?" She stared at me.
"He kissed me."
Simone gasped, covering her mouth. "Shut up! No he did not!"
"Yeah and then told me that he was having dreams about me and all this other weird stuff." I tied my apron on and pulled my hair up into a ponytail.
"So, what are you going to do about it?"
"What?" I put my hands down and stuffed them into the front pockets of my apron, pulling out a straw wrapper and throwing it in the garbage to my left."I'm going to do nothing. I already talked to Ace about how weird it was and now I'm just going to hope Brody gets over whatever puppy love has gotten a hold of him." Or whatever Caltian lady was influencing him.
"So, that's it? The guy has been nothing but nice to you, tells you he likes you, and you go back to your long distance boyfriend?" She stepped in front of me.
I tried to dodge around her, but couldn't move. For being so tiny, Simone was stealthy and could always block me. She was like a tiny linebacker. "Yeah, I told you, I talked to Ace and things are good now."
"But didn't you say he was jealous of our friendship? How can you be with a guy that is jealous of who you hang out with?"
My headache came back with a full vengeance. Why did Simone always have to ask me questions that made me think too hard?
"Look." She sighed, just as we saw a lady getting out of her car and walking toward the door. "I'm not telling you what to do, but I'm just saying to maybe think about things. That's all."
Simone had me thinking. Maybe it really wasn't sleep creeping; maybe it was just another sign pointing out that I needed to break up with Ace. Without him I wouldn't have to worry about sleep creeping aliens or when I wanted to hang out with my friends. But if someone was trying to keep us apart, then that might even be a bigger problem. And now I had a whole new list of reasons to add to my pounding headache.
Chapter 21
A full day of working around coffee did not help my headache, but what made it worse was the lingering feeling of the unknown nagged at me. I didn't know if it was a Caltian woman I should be fearing or my own commitment to Ace.
"You know, I can get in a lot of trouble for this?" Malcolm said.
I called him as soon as I got home and knew he had what I needed.
"Come on, I really want to learn more about Caltian culture," I begged. I had my phone up to my ear and a talk radio podcast on my IPod, so hopefully no one would hear our conversation. My mom was pretty wrapped up in her new novel, so I was sure she wasn't listening, and I was hoping I could just pull it off as research for English class.
"Caltian culture my ass." Malcolm laughed. "If all you wanted was more information on Calta you would have asked Ace."
"Pllllleeeeassse, just help me out this one time."
"Don't you think I've helped you out enough these past few months?"
I sighed. Malcolm was right. He was the one that helped me when I needed to find Ace and even helped me pilot a ship. That was why I knew he would still help me; he was always a sucker for helping the underdog.
"But you are still going to help me now, right?"
He groaned. "Alright, you got me. I'll email you a couple PDFs, but I warn you, these are Circe files, so read them quick because they will disappear from your computer within an hour of opening them."
"Why would they do that?"
"Do you really think we want classified alien info out there for the world to see? Come on Alex, you had to do something in alien security."
&nbs
p; "Well..."
"Wait." He laughed. "You were working with Ace in security, so I don't even want to know what you were doing instead of working."
"A lady never tells."
"Okay. Whatever you say. I'll get these files sent over now. Happy reading."
I hung up the phone. Just as I set it down Malcolm's email popped up in my inbox. There wasn't a subject and the PDF was just titled One. I opened the file and a big warning came up.
This file is property of the United States government. Any unlawful use or possession of this property will result in serious consequences.
Figured I'd take my chances. I had nothing else to lose.
A green Circe logo popped up on the screen and a message scrolled underneath it, reading, This message will self destruct in one hour. The logo then minimized to the top of the screen where a countdown clock ticked. I scanned through the PDF. No way I'd be able to read 100 pages in an hour; hopefully I'd be able to scan through it and find something, anything to help me figure out if someone was using sleep creep against me and my friends.
I clicked the Ctrl and F keys. A search box came up and I typed in sleep creep. The document scrolled up and down repeatedly until a highlighted passage came up and another string of highlighted passages showed up minimized along the side of the document.
I clicked on the first one and quickly read through it.
Blah, blah, powerful Caltian women, blah, blah manipulating dreams. Then after a few pages I finally found the answer I had been looking for.
The ability to sleep creep is usually only reserved for female members of royal families as bestowed upon them by their royal blood. Through the years it has expanded to every member of the female Caltian race and passed down through the generations. But the royals are the only ones who can control more than one being at a time.
Bingo, I knew the queen had to be behind this. Now I just somehow had to prove it.
