Fortified

by J. F. Jenkins

  She had to suppress a laugh at his formality. He was close to her age, after all, yet he only communicated with an air of prestige. Probably to make sure they all knew to respect him as an authority, or something equally as ridiculous. He was an alien, which in and of itself was enough to earn him the respect he deserved. When it was just the two of them, he didn’t feel like her alien boss. He was her friend. Shouldn’t that have helped him relax, even a little bit, around her? Then again, the last time we chatted as just friends, I accidentally kissed him. Which was stupid. I can’t believe I let myself get caught up in all of my emotions so easily. At least he understands even if things are a little weird between us.

  Cadence had been quiet for too long. He was staring at her with large puppy-like eyes. Which made him look absolutely adorable and didn’t help things much. The guy was gorgeous. She continually forgot he was an alien because he was so human in appearance, and when he wasn’t an alien, he seemed to grow in attractiveness.

  Ugh, stop standing there with your mouth open and say something! “Next hour I am an aide for one of my teachers. If I ask nicely, she might let me go do it in the library. There’s usually no one there. I’m sure we could find a place to talk.”

  “Thank you,” he said, his smile growing bright. “I’ll go wait there.”

  He disappeared into thin air before she could say anything else. Cadence made her way back to class. The minutes dragged on as she waited for the bell to ring. Ten minutes should not have felt like an hour. When class dismissed, she gave JD a solid shove to wake him back up. Lucky for her, their teacher was standing on the other side of his desk waiting to have a chat with him about his sleeping habits. Bad for JD, good for Cadence. It allowed her to make a clean break from the room. If she talked to him too much, she knew she’d let her meeting with Alan slip out on accident and then he’d demand to come along.

  Keeping secrets from JD was hard. He had a way of wanting to make her spill everything inside of her. She knew she could trust him and he made it so easy. When he wanted to, he could be an amazing listener and whatever she told him he never shared it. He was one of the few people who knew everything about her life growing up and about what happened to her father. More proof that he made a better friend than a boyfriend since he only seemed to listen when they weren’t dating. She still hadn’t mentioned her oops kiss with Alan to him and it bore into her soul. I give him a hard time for not being honest with me, yet I can’t be completely honest with him. Doesn’t seem right. The timing was all wrong. JD was too hung up on her. Nothing was going to come of the moment anyway, so did anyone else need to know? JD will freak out if he found out now. No, it can stay a secret until we can all look back and laugh. Or forever. That would work too. Accidents happen. I don’t need to hear about every single mistake he’s ever made, that’s for sure.

  At the beginning of next period, she checked in with Mrs. Peterson, the teacher she worked for, and got permission to take the stack of packets she was supposed to put together down to the library. She even told the truth for why she had to go: her friend needed her. As long as Cadence returned ten minutes before the period ended with her work done, that’s all that mattered.

  Alan waited for her near the main entrance. He was browsing popular book titles on display, his hands in his pants pockets. Every so often he moved out of the way of an oncoming student. His interest seemed deeply focused on the back synopsis of “A Tale of Two Cities.” Moments like those showed Cadence how much he cared for her culture and her planet. He wanted to learn and she respected that. Some of his comrades were not interested in learning a thing.

  She coughed quietly into her shoulder. Alan gazed over at her with his steely blue eyes and a soft smile formed on his lips. Cadence quickly averted her gaze away from his and got a key to one of the private workrooms, subtly tilting her head for him to follow. Once there, she spread her work out on a table, getting organized while she waited for him to start talking.

  “I got stuff to do, but I’m listening,” she assured him. “What’s going on?”

  He watched her awfully close. Stapling paper together must have been fascinating for some reason, because he didn’t take his eyes off of her. “I’ve been tasked with finding the leak on my ship.”

  “This is your chance to show your boss what you can really do,” she said. “Isn’t that a good thing? Or do you think he’s trying to set you up for failure again? What does Jaes think? I’m sure he’s got a good read on your boss’s motivations by now.” Jaes gave off the impression of being in the know about a lot of things when it came to the ship; then again, he was like her and had the gift of knowledge as one of his powers.

  “Sir Oriol is not trying to ruin me. In fact, he stopped doing that not too long ago. After we got the Ilotus, he’s been a lot more…civil. Granted, he won’t acknowledge my work to the rest of the ship, but he’s at least wanting my help and not giving me silly jobs for the sake of keeping me busy.” Alan rubbed at his forehead. “At my last visit, however, Sir Oriol seemed rather vulnerable, and it concerns me that he would let such an emotion come out in my presence. Dare I say it, he was desperate, and I’m not sure what to think. I haven’t talked to Jaes about it because he might be part of the problem, so getting his insight is out of the question for the time being.”

  Cadence paused mid-staple and gazed at him with wide eyes. “There’s no way Jaes is the leak. I don’t believe it. He’s too devoted to the cause.” And there’s too much goodness, innocence even, inside of him.

  “I’ve asked Jaes, and he told me no. You know he cannot tell a lie. It’s one of his abilities. But my superior has raised some interesting thoughts on the matter. One of them being that Jaes might sympathize with the leak and is helping them gain information. I’m sure over time he’s learned how to work around his gift to keep from saying things he’s not supposed to.”

  Shaking his head, Alan decided to sit instead of stand. The movement made him seem much more broken rather than the strong, stoic persona he usually presented. He folded his hands in front of him. “I don’t think this is true. He’s told me how he’s witnessed conversations in the cargo hold of our ship between the leak and their contact on Earth. How he tried to catch them in the act and failed. At the same time, my boss does raise an interesting point. The night Sprout was taken for rehabilitation she was able to escape quickly and without being seen. Few people can teleport. It’s not a common ability.”

  “Must feel nice to know he’s positive it’s not you,” she said, grasping for some kind of silver lining to lighten his spirits.

  He scoffed quietly. “He knows because he already tested and observed me for long periods of time to make sure I was trustworthy. I was the first person he suspected. That’s hardly something to be proud of. My dilemma isn’t about how I’m going to find the leak. I know I will. I refuse to fail at this mission. The future of the war depends on us keeping our actions secret from the enemy.”

  “You don’t know how to approach Jaes about the subject.” Her gaze softened with sadness as she put the pieces together. “He’s your friend and your roommate. Insulting him could create a huge wedge between you two.”

  “Yes, and all we have is one another. Our families are back on Altura, and we both have the same bad luck with making friends.” He chuckled. “If I ask him, I’ll get a straight and honest answer. When I asked him if he was the leak, he seemed so...crushed. I’d prefer to find a better way of figuring it out. But I need to know if I can trust him because if I can have his help, then the task will be significantly easier. So obviously, the sooner, the better.”

  Cadence put together a few packets, thinking his predicament over. “The way I see it is you have two options. Ask him what he thinks about the leak having help on the ship and see what he says, or you can test him. Tell him something the leak would need to know and follow him. Can you be invisible to him like you can to all of us?”

  “No, it doesn’t work on my shipmates,” he mumbled. “I
know I should just talk to him about all of this. It’s the right way to do things.”

  “If he’s your friend, he’ll understand, especially if he’s innocent. Only someone who has something to hide would get mad,” she said, feeling a little like a hypocrite. After all, wasn’t she doing the exact same thing to JD? Only she did have something to hide. Hesitantly, she reached out and touched his forearm with her hand. “Well, mad enough to end a friendship. Given the nature of your work, I’m sure he’d realize you’re only asking because your boss wants you to be certain.”

  He took in a deep breath then exhaled slowly. “The same thoughts came across my mind as well. I wanted your reassurance anyway. It helps me feel stronger when I know you’re supporting my decisions.”

  “We’re a team, it’s what we do.” She had to will herself not to blush. It was by far the best compliment she’d ever received. I can’t read too much into it.

  His next words didn’t help with that much. “We are, but I’m talking specifically and only about you.” Alan lowered his gaze to his hands, or more specifically, her hand still resting on his arm. “I’m not sure why I feel so calm when we’re together. It’s good to be around someone who understands, that’s probably why. The others can’t see past my being from another planet. I like how you see me as the same. We are, you know. The same, I mean. Genetically speaking, there aren’t any differences in our basic DNA composition. We’re the exact same species with minor evolutionary changes. My home is just farther away.”

  She nodded, letting him know she’d absorbed every word and tried to not think about the implications of such a statement. We’re the same. That means we could be together, have kids, the works. Not like I want any of those things now, of course. But a future isn’t some kind of crazy impossibility. She cleared her throat. “The others will come around once it stops feeling so surreal that there is other life beyond our planet.”

  “I know, but thank you for making this transition easier on me. When I can just be me, Earth starts to feel like home. Like I never left. Having even a few moments where I can enjoy such a sensation helps.”

  She wasn’t sure how to respond. Going out of state for a few days made her homesick, she couldn’t imagine going to a whole other planet.

  Alan pulled his arm away from her grasp, gently. She noticed the absence of his warmth right away all the same—the absence of him. “Please don’t think less of me for needing your validation.”

  “Never,” she whispered. “It’s good to have every so often.”

  “Yes, I should leave you to your work.”

  “It’s not hard,” she mumbled. “So if you wanted to stay and keep me company until I have to go back, you can.”

  He cracked a tiny smile. “For a few more minutes.”

  “Right, duh, you probably have way more important things to do.” Cadence shook her head and focused her gaze on the packet she was putting together, silently praying he didn’t think too much of her idiocy.

  “I still have a little time to spare,” he insisted.

  When she noticed how hard her heart was beating, she realized that was the something missing when she was with JD. Perhaps my lip-lock with Alan wasn't as much of an accident as I thought. No, I can’t get involved with him. It’ll only end badly. Once all of this is over with, he’s going to be on the first ship back to Altura, and I’m never going to see him again. He makes for a convenient rebound crush. But for the rest of the day, she entertained the thought anyway.

  Chapter Three

  Angela settled into her usual spot on the couch in the “War Room” of the Apartment while the rest of the group mingled about before their meeting began.

  Group meetings had been few and far apart, lately. Normally, Angela wouldn’t mind. Meetings meant there was work to be done. If they had nothing to do, that hypothetically meant the war was winding down, right? The problem was, she knew that wasn’t the case. Last she’d checked the other tribes were getting ready to start expanding their teams by tapping more Earth teens for super powers. The goal was to grow their teams to the point where the Alturan presence on Earth couldn’t be kept a secret any longer, and then begin the real fight. Alan had once told her the war had already decimated another planet in a far off solar system.

  To have the war end in the span of a year was a pipe dream. She knew better. It wasn’t going to be so simple. Even more so if there was any hope to having the repercussions of the Alturans’ visit be minimal.

  That meant she was being left in the dark. During the last mission, Alan purposefully left her and JD at home. Since the mission, she’d heard nothing.

  Why don’t they trust me all of a sudden?

  It bugged her. She was devoted to the cause, and she didn’t get devoted to much. The red tribe’s main goal was to push their enemies off of Earth, leaving it as untouched as possible. She believed in that goal more strongly than anything in her entire life and Alan wasn’t using her to achieve it. Whatever was going on, the rest of the team was in the know. Cadence kept glancing at her in ways she must have thought were subtle. Every time Alan looked her way he pressed his lips together for a second, and Orlando avoided her all of the time. They used to do everything together. He was the closest friend she’d ever had. Almost more. Almost, except for the evil ex-girlfriend factor. And Tait, aka Sprout, was definitely evil, and that was saying a lot coming from Angela. They’d been best friends up until Tait tied her down and let The Doctor force his super power inducing injection into her.

  Any guy who knew all of that about Tait and still chose to date her was either stupid or that deeply in love. Orlando didn’t come across as stupid, but Angela had a hard time believing it was love. Not with the way he looked at her. Every moment they were together felt special—to Angela, at least. Maybe she was misinterpreting him completely. He was difficult to figure out as it was. Just when she thought she’d gotten a handle on how he communicated, he threw another wrench in her way. She was positive he was doing it on purpose, too. Orlando liked to watch people squirm.

  Their gazes briefly met from across the table before Orlando averted his to the miniature figurines in front of him. He brushed paint across one as the rest of the group settled in around the table. For the time being, they all met inside of a comic book shop. The place was almost always void of business, so outsiders never bothered them. They pretended to play a game while they talked. Some kind of dorky role-playing game with action figures for the boys to goof off with. It was about space warfare even, so it worked for a nice cover until they could get their old headquarters back.

  “Your BFF Dallas have a move-out date?” Angela asked, eager to know when they’d be able to return to The Apartment, which was attached to Orlando’s mansion.

  Orlando didn’t look up at her. He continued to focus on his painting. “This weekend. Can’t wait. It’s been a pain trying to get him food without my parents asking me a million questions. If I take anything from the pantry outside of my designated snack time, they treat me like I’m smuggling illegal drugs into the country. I tried to go to the grocery store instead and got a lecture about how I shouldn’t buy things I don’t need and if I do it again they’re freezing my account. It’s a nightmare. For one, I don’t need a designated snack time. Hello? I’m eighteen. I’m pretty sure I know how to eat properly. And two, I’m also a teenager. I’m pretty sure I was given the gift of a bottomless pit of a stomach so I can comfort eat through all of the drama of high school. It’s not like I’m going to over stuff my poor, poor, tummy.”

  She let him rant. He tended to need to get things off of his chest a lot.

  “Comfort eat?” JD asked. “Please tell me you’re joking.”

  “There is nothing funny about comfort eating,” Angela stated. “Don’t think I don’t notice when you order from Ho Ting. You always do it when you’re stressed out.”

  “And it’s a whole lot better for you than meth.” Orlando waved a hand in front of his face. “But I was being facetious
. Point is, they shouldn’t care so much. The food is getting eaten. Shouldn’t that be all that matters?”

  JD nodded. “Surprised they haven’t put diapers on you yet with the way you describe them.”

  “They should just start over with another kid if that’s the way they feel,” Orlando mumbled. His blue eyes narrowed as he painted.

  Angela wasn’t sure what to say then. His home life was far from ideal. Normally, his parents were never home. Ever since they came back from wherever it was they’d gone, they decided to rule the family with an iron fist and Orlando suffered from it the most. If they were trying to make up for lost time, they were going about it in the worst way possible.

  “Do you think we can go back to The Apartment without them asking all of those questions too?” JD asked quietly.

  Shrugging, Orlando looked at him. Of course he would. It was only Angela he seemed to want to avoid. “I don’t have to feed you all every time you come over. Even if I did, you don’t eat enough to satisfy a small army. Dallas intakes about ten thousand calories a day.” He shook his head. “I wish I was kidding. We sat down and calculated it last weekend.”

  “Yikes. Being a reanimated corpse must take a lot energy,” JD said.

  “I don’t know what it is. He’s been playing catch up fast with puberty. Guy has grown about five inches. He has more facial hair than I do and that is really upsetting, not to mention unfair.” Orlando let out a huff, gazed at Angela again, and then down once more. “But it’s still good to have him back.”