Until Midnight (Alienated) Read online

Kendrick scratched the back of his neck, then splayed both hands in a gesture of helplessness. “Ambassador, there’s nothing to negotiate. The world’s leaders have voted unanimously—they’ll agree to an alliance on your terms.”

  In other words, We’re at your mercy. Aelyx didn’t want to take pleasure in the supplication of humanity, but a smooth negotiation process meant he could return home to Cara. He couldn’t deny feeling a rush of excitement at the news.

  Stepha considered the director-general’s words, then slowly stood from the table and collected his com-sphere. “Before we can proceed, I must confer with The Way.”

  Kendrick stood, too, nodding in assent as Stepha made his way to the master suite in sluggish, labored strides. Aelyx considered offering the director-general a cup of coffee, but the man’s dewy forehead and labored breathing said he was anxious enough without the aid of a caffeinated beverage.

  “Can I get you some water?” he asked instead.

  “No, thanks.” Kendrick used his phone to point toward the foyer. “I need to make a few calls myself. Think I’ll step outside for a minute.”

  “I’ll walk you to the door,” Aelyx offered, since Syrine had chosen to remain seated and ignore the man.

  The two strode to the front entrance, and when Aelyx opened the door, a pair of familiar faces greeted him—Colonel Rutter, head of the L’eihr security detail, and David, who waved a friendly hello. Kendrick scooted past the soldiers, and Aelyx stepped aside to let them in.

  Colonel Rutter nodded his gray head and greeted Aelyx with a curt, “’Mornin’.” He removed his camouflage winter hat, and David did the same, revealing a crop of shorn blond hair. Rutter glanced around the open living area, acknowledging Syrine with a dip of his head. “Is the ambassador here?” he asked. “I need to talk to all three of you.”

  “He’s in a conference, but you’re free to wait.” Aelyx led the way to the living room and gestured for his guests to sit on the sofa. He noticed that while Rutter wasted no time in making himself comfortable, David remained standing, one arm folded against his lower back, brown eyes scanning the room to take in every detail. Aelyx had never met a human youth so dedicated to duty.

  “How’s the shoulder?” Aelyx asked him.

  “What?” David asked with a smile, pointing to his upper arm. “This mosquito bite? I’ll be fine once the stitches come out. It takes more than a .22 to bring me down. Your shooter didn’t know squat about guns, otherwise he’d have used a .45 to double-tap it. That’s how a real man gets the job done.”

  Syrine made a disgusted noise and launched up from her dining room chair. She stomped over to David and jabbed her finger toward his nose. “You deserve the extinction you’ve brought upon yourselves. Look at what happened to Eron. ‘Real men’ tortured him for hours before they allowed him to die.” She raked her gaze over David’s uniform, glaring at the pistol holstered to his waist. “Violence is what feeds you. Your kind isn’t worth saving.”

  Aelyx caught Syrine’s gaze and chided her. David risked his life for me. If he were extinct, I would be dead. Not all of them are dangerous or—

  She squeezed her eyes shut, refusing to hear him.

  “I’m sorry about your friend,” David said quietly. “It wasn’t right, what happened to him. We’re trying really hard to find the guys who did it.”

  A single tear rolled down Syrine’s cheek. She scrubbed it away with her fist and kept her gaze trained on the carpet. “Thank you for protecting Aelyx,” she whispered. Then she turned and padded quickly to her bedroom.

  Aelyx and David shared an awkward glance while Colonel Rutter buried his face in the newspaper.

  “Well,” David said. “Now I feel like an asshole.”

  The colonel muttered, “She’s not gonna like what we came here to tell her.”

  “Which is…?” Aelyx asked.

  Colonel Rutter tossed his newspaper onto the coffee table. “I’m assigning Private Sharpe as your personal bodyguard.” He pointed in the direction of Syrine’s bedroom. “For both of you. I’d like him to move in, maybe sleep in the guest room. That way you’ll have around-the-clock protection with another half dozen guards patrolling the outside hallway.”

  “Surprise,” David said with a smile. “I’m your new best friend.”

  The casual term didn’t sit well with Aelyx. His best friend was Eron, whose ruined body lay in a cold storage unit as he awaited his final journey home. But Aelyx forced himself to return the smile. “I’ll talk to Syrine. Don’t worry; she’ll get used to you.”

  He’d just begun to lead David to the guest suite when his com-sphere buzzed to life in the signature frequency that told him Cara was calling. In that moment, the outside world ceased to exist. Aelyx rushed to his bedroom and locked the door behind him. He knelt beside his expansive king-size bed and spoke his passkey, then rested the sphere atop his comforter.

  That first glimpse of her face warmed his blood and made his heart swell. She sat cross-legged atop her cot in the Aegis, her fiery orange hair gathered in a low braid, her blue eyes bright with excitement to see him. If he leaned in close, he could barely detect the adorable freckles that dotted her nose.

  Sacred Mother, he missed her so fiercely he ached.

  “Elire.” Or beautiful warrior, as he’d nicknamed her. An automatic smile spread over his lips. “How did you know I needed you today?” He hadn’t even realized it himself.

  She shrugged, then winced and rubbed her arm. “We’re on the same frequency, I guess.” Then she rotated her shoulder, clearly in pain.

  Aelyx tried to check her for injury. “What’s wrong? Are you hurt?”

  “You could say that. I feel like I’ve been stuffed in a pillowcase and trampled by elephants.” When he waited for her to go on, she rolled her head to the side in a tentative stretch. “I started your sadistic alien PE classes this week. I barfed twice today on the novice course, and that was an improvement over yesterday. Maybe by next week I’ll upgrade to dry heaving.”

  Aelyx tried not to laugh. He supposed the calisthenics routine would seem rigorous to a human unaccustomed to high-intensity interval training. “Ask Elle to grind some h’esha root for your tea,” he said. “And soak in a hot jetted bath. It’ll help diffuse the lactic acid in your muscles.”

  “Maybe you missed the part about me being trampled by elephants.”

  “Well, I know something that’ll make you feel better.” Aelyx stopped himself and glanced at Cara’s hologram, making sure she was alone. “Is anyone with you?”

  “No, Elle’s still at supper.”

  He lowered his voice and told her the newest development in the alliance negotiations. “Stepha’s talking with The Way now. With any luck, I could be home before you graduate to vomiting on the intermediate course.”

  “Really?” Her face lit up. “Fingers cross—” The hiss of her door interrupted her, and Cara’s gaze darted to the front of her room. She lowered her auburn brows and shouted, “Get out! Go on! You’d better hope I never catch you!”

  What was that all about?

  When she returned her attention to him, she huffed an angry sigh. “That was Vero. The little monster’s been sneaking in here to pee on my pillow. He hates me.”

  Vero. Aelyx released a sigh of his own. He missed his house pet, a fiercely loyal animal, though certainly not without quirks. “Vero’s breed is territorial,” Aelyx explained. “Once he identifies you as part of the pack, he’ll stop marking your bedding.” But in order for that to happen, the clones in the Aegis would need to accept Cara as one of their own. “Better tell the house caretaker to change the settings on your touchpad so Vero can’t get inside.”

  Cara nodded, but she didn’t recover her earlier cheer. She slouched and traced imaginary patterns on her blanket. “I can tell the clones don’t want me here. Most of them won’t look at me, and the others make this sign when I walk by.” In demonstration, she touched her thumb and pinkie together. “What does it mean?”

  �
�Uh…” He didn’t want to give her the literal translation—fornicate with a h’ava beast and kill yourself with fire. “It’s our version of the middle finger.”

  “That’s what I was afraid of.”

  “Give it time,” he said. “You’re unfamiliar to the clones and they don’t understand you yet.”

  “I know.” She stared at her hands and shrugged. “My Sh’ovah is in a few days. Maybe that’ll help. I hear they’re supposed to think of me as a sister after that.”

  Aelyx paused as a pang of guilt settled low in his belly. For a L’eihr, nothing was more sacred than Sh’ovah. Younglings looked forward to that day for well over a decade, until the Elders deemed them worthy. He should be there with Cara to celebrate her union with the Sacred Mother, not here, stuck on Earth, squabbling with politicians. “I’m sorry to miss it. Who’s your sponsor?”

  “Elle.”

  “Good.” At least it wasn’t that fasher Jaxen. “She’ll take her duties seriously.”

  Cara’s door hissed open again, and Elle’s voice called, “Come on. It’s our turn to sanitize the kitchen.”

  Aelyx missed a lot of things about home, but cleanup detail wasn’t one of them. “You’d better hurry,” he told her. “If you’re late, they’ll add an extra day.”

  Cara didn’t need further convincing. After a wave and a quick “Love you,” she disconnected and disappeared from view.

  Aelyx remained kneeling for several seconds, as if to hold on to the warmth of her smile. Only when he heard the echo of voices from the hallway did he relinquish Cara’s ghost and rejoin the others.

  Stepha had finished conferring with The Way, and he rested opposite Director-General Kendrick on a plush leather armchair while Colonel Rutter and David sat beside each other on the sofa. Tension clung to the air like mist, each man silent but speaking volumes through his rigid posture. Aelyx dragged a dining room chair near the coffee table and took his seat, then used Silent Speech to ask the ambassador what he’d learned.

  Did they approve the alliance? he asked Stepha. Can we return home?

  When Stepha replied, a hint of confusion colored his thoughts. No. Human deference isn’t enough. The Way wants the general population on Earth to support the union between our worlds.

  But why? Aelyx asked. That doesn’t make sense. The purpose behind the alliance was to recruit human colonists and integrate on L’eihr, infusing fresh DNA into the populace. Already, thousands of healthy young humans had submitted applications, eager to begin life anew on the colony. It was just a matter of screening them for mental wellness and superior IQ, then finding willing matches among the clones. What did it matter whether or not the rest of Earth’s population approved?

  It is not our place to question The Way, Stepha told him. Only to follow—

  Follow The Way to glorify Mother L’eihr, Aelyx finished. I understand. Though he didn’t understand at all.

  “On the first day of spring,” Stepha announced to the group, “as a symbol of rebirth, The Way will join Earth’s leaders here in an alliance ceremony. Our scientists will then provide you with the solution to neutralize the algae blooms burgeoning in your oceans.” He pulled in a deep breath and clarified, “But this is contingent on your control of human violence. Any further attempts on our lives will terminate all relations between us. Your people must support the partnership between our worlds in order for us to move forward.”

  So not only was Aelyx trapped here for another three months, but he had to avoid acts of violence, too? It was impossible. Human extremists didn’t support the alliance—they believed L’eihrs had poisoned the water supply in an effort to enslave humanity. Not only were they wrong, but they didn’t know about the algae blooms, nor that the problem was spreading. The only way to win them over was to tell the truth about their dying planet, which he’d been expressly forbidden from doing.

  The director-general rubbed his jaw. “Sounds like we have some serious public relations work ahead of us.”

  “That was the purpose of the student exchange,” Colonel Rutter said. “It was going fine until…” He trailed off, and all eyes shifted to Aelyx.

  Until the L’eihr students were caught tampering with the crops and one of them was murdered for it. Coincidentally, Syrine chose that moment to emerge from her bedroom and join them.

  Aelyx addressed the group. “What can we do to help?”

  “How about a multicity PR tour?” the director-general suggested. “We can identify the hot spots of extremist activity and send the L’eihrs there to do good deeds on camera, then broadcast it nationwide.”

  “I guess it’s worth a shot.” Colonel Rutter nodded in consideration. “With a constant security detail, of course.”

  “Of course,” the director-general agreed. “We’ll treat this like a presidential reelection campaign—nobody without security clearance will get anywhere near the L’eihrs. We’ll even screen the participants in each photo op to make sure no one poses a threat. A few months of kissing babies and shaking hands should be all we need to turn the public’s opinion in our favor.”

  Syrine drew back, curling her upper lip in disgust. “Kissing?” she screeched. “With humans? That’s a—”

  The ambassador caught her eye and instantly silenced her with a stern private message. Aelyx didn’t need Silent Speech to understand what was transpiring between the two of them. Stepha’s narrowed gaze and Syrine’s darkening cheeks said it all.

  After a few moments, she forced a grin that wouldn’t fool a blind man. “A wonderful idea. I will gladly participate.”

  “Then we’re agreed,” said the director-general. “I’ll have my staff make the necessary arrangements and book your first appearance. We’ll want to get the ball rolling right away, so go ahead and pack a suitcase.”

  “Cool,” David said with the only genuine smile in the room. “We’re going on tour!”

  “We?” Syrine turned to Aelyx for clarification.

  David is our personal bodyguard, Aelyx told her. He’ll be living with us for the rest of our stay on Earth.

  Bleeding Mother. Syrine didn’t bother disguising her distaste for the young man. Why couldn’t The Way simply give us a dozen lashes with the iphet instead?

  “How exciting,” she said aloud, then faced their new bodyguard. “I can hardly wait.”

  Chapter Four

  FRIDAY, JANUARY 16

  What the FAQ?!

  It’s Sh’ovah Day, and what better way to celebrate my impending L’eihr citizenship than to feed your inquiring minds? Without further ado, here are the most frequently asked questions this week:

  Sarah in San Marcos asks: Are there really no sweets on L’eihr? Can we send you a Hershey’s care package?

  Thanks, Sarah, that’s so SWEET of you. Hardy-har-har. To answer your question: yes and no. Natural sugars don’t exist here, and my nutrition counselor won’t let me have candy from the transport. He claims I’m an addict and that my body is going through detox. Maybe he’s right. You don’t want to know what I’d do for some Pixy Stix.

  Tori in Midtown (my paranoid BFF) asks: Why aren’t you posting any pics? I want to see for myself that you’re okay. How do we know you’re the one who’s writing all this stuff?

  Step away from the National Enquirer, my friend. I’m not preggers with an alien baby or being held here against my will. The L’eihrs have requested that I don’t share photos or video of their home without prior approval. And how do you know this is me? I’ll prove it: in seventh grade, you burped really loudly in Social Studies, and I took the blame so you wouldn’t be embarrassed in front of Jared Lee. You’re welcome for that, by the way. Also, lay off the onions.

  Dixie in Columbus asks: How do you get news on L’eihr? Do you watch television?

  Great question! Nope, there are no TV shows or movies here. News is delivered to our com-spheres, and we’re expected to listen to the updates immediately. Think of a com-sphere as the ultimate iPhone. It emits a frequency only I can hear
, and if I ignore my sphere, it’ll keep pestering me until I answer it.

  Okay, guys, that’s it for now. I need to get ready for my Sh’ovah. Just think: the next time I post to this blog, I’ll be an official L’eihr citizen! Isn’t that awesome?

  Posted by Cara Sweeney

  “Psh,” Cara whispered. Getting naked in front of aliens wasn’t her idea of awesome, but whatever.

  She closed her laptop and crept to the door as quietly as possible to avoid waking Elle, who snored softly from the top bunk. Eron had been right when he’d called the sound “endearing.” Elle slept on her tummy with both hands tucked beneath her chest, snuffling like a child. It was such a cute contrast to the businesslike way she directed Cara from class to class during the daytime.

  Cara slipped into the hall and tiptoed to the community bathroom, pleased to find it vacant. Privacy was a rare delicacy in the Aegis, and she needed a few moments to herself today.

  She snatched a microfiber towel from the shelf and blotted her face. Her impending Sh’ovah had her perspiring like a linebacker, but whether on Earth or in another galaxy, high school was a battlefield. Cara never let anyone see her sweat.

  After wiping down the back of her neck and the crooks of her elbows, she balled up her towel and chucked it into the waterless purifying chute, where ultrasonic waves and infrared technology would decontaminate it.

  Cara fingered the lapel of her stiff white ceremonial robe. A quick glance over one shoulder showed she was still alone, but she knew from experience the bathroom wouldn’t remain vacant once the sun rose in a few minutes. So without wasting another second of rare solitude, she dropped her robe to the floor and regarded her naked body in the reflective wall opposite the showers.

  Right away, she noticed a slight roundness to her lower abdomen—that troublesome spot no amount of crunches would flatten. She sucked it in, and from there, her gaze moved from ankles to thighs, noting the smooth, polished effect she’d achieved last night from scrubbing her skin with a mixture of oil and salt procured from the kitchen. Her ivory complexion glowed, and with any luck, it would reflect the high-noon sunlight and blind all her guests.