by Darby Cupid
“Well done, Eddie,” Jordan says. “You’ve scared her half to death.”
“Crystal?” Dylan is still at my side, trying to catch my eye. He places a hand on my knee and squeezes gently.
I force myself to look at him and find his brow creased with concern. “Are you going to eat me?” I ask.
His face freezes as he stares at me, open mouthed, before glancing at the rest of the group. “No, Crystal. We’re not going to eat you.”
As soon as the words leave his lips, he starts to laugh. My cheeks burn as I realise, I’ve completely misread the situation. I try to join in with the laughter, but it comes out hollow.
Jordan leans forward. “We have lots of stories about aliens coming to this planet, and in lots of them, scientists can’t wait to cut them up. It’s just made up, though.”
“Eddie does have a point,” Dylan says with a grimace. “I doubt anyone would believe you’re from another planet. I still can’t believe it myself.”
“So, what do we do then?” I ask. “I don’t want to go back to the hospital.”
The thought of going back to that metal bed with the papery sheets, the bright lights and noisy corridors is enough to make me take my chances on the run. If they want to take me back there, they’d better be ready for a fight.
“You can stay with me.”
My head snaps up to look at Sera, sat quietly playing with her long hair.
“Would you care to explain, Sera?” Eddie asks. “We’re all waiting.”
Flicking her hair behind her shoulder, she lets out an exaggerated sigh as though the answer is obvious. “She can stay with me. My parents are at their chalet in France for the next three weeks, like they do every school holiday.”
I frown. Her tone and demeanour seem all too familiar. How many times had I given my parents the cold shoulder after they’d announced yet another royal tour I wasn’t allowed to join because I ‘needed an education’? My heart constricts with a twinge of shame as I realise why they insisted I join them on the last journey. My pleas and guilting tactics had finally paid off. And now they’re gone.
“Right,” Dylan claps his hands together to gain everyone’s attention. “How do we explain this to Mrs. Millen? She’s not going to be okay with this. No one is.”
Linda claps her own hands together, excitement lighting up her face. “That’s easy! We fake her memories!”
I raise my eyebrows, confused as to how this is going to help me evade the hospital. “You’re going to have to explain a little more, Linda.”
“We get one of you guys to call Mum and pretend to be Crystal’s father. We could say her memory came back when we were in town. Turns out she’s visiting family here for the summer holidays and got lost, fell and banged her head!”
I look around at the group, who are all nodding with the same quietly impressed expression on their faces.
“It might just work,” Dylan admits. “Why would she lie? There’s no need to be suspicious, and Crystal was cleared medically.”
“Of course, it will work!” Linda grins. “If they need someone to physically sign paperwork, we can figure that out later. Besides, what are they going to do? They have no information on her – she’s an alien. How would they find her? The real question is: who should call? It can’t be Eddie, obviously. So, who’s got the ‘manlier’ voice? Dylan or Jordan?”
She sits down and folds her arms, grinning ear to ear as she looks between the two boys, clearly anticipating some sort of argument.
“I think Jordan should do it,” Dylan shrugs. “I’m pretty sure Mrs. Millen would recognise my voice too. She’s known me since I was five.”
“Ugh, you guys are no fun,” Linda huffs. “Right, Jordan. Let’s practise what you’re going to say.”
As the gang begin to coach Jordan on what to say and how to say it, I find my eyes resting on Sera. She joins in intermittently but seems quite content not competing with so many loud voices and personalities. I don’t really know much about her yet, but I suppose that will change very soon if I’m going to be staying with her tonight. Tomorrow, I’m going to figure out a way to get home.
CHAPTER NINE
Crystal
I’m running. Running so fast, my lungs burn in my chest, as I follow a billowing red flame. Only it’s not a flame. It’s the deep red robes of a Dyja guard. We turn a corner and I’m blinded by a bright blue light. The red flame is gone and sadness consumes me. I turn and run. I can’t see. I have to get to the evacuation deck. I have to get to my parents.
I finally reach a maintenance access point and force it open, lowering myself into the tiny cavity. It’s so dark. I push along until I reach a grating, which I kick and kick until my feet are raw. When it finally releases, I don’t hear it hit the ground. Too many people drown my senses with their noise. Hundreds? No. Thousands of panicked people all fighting to get to escape pods.
More red flames find me and I’m floating towards a white flower, still amongst the chaos. The white flower wraps her arms around me. My mother. Her long blonde curls are streaked with blood and ash. Is it her blood?
We hold each other and watch helplessly as the crowd pushes past my father. He tries and fails to hold the heaving mass back. To keep them calm.
His last words reach me telepathically, echoing in my head like the rumbles of distant thunder. There’s a small single-person maintenance pod at the far end of the dock. It’s my only chance.
“Crystal. Wake up!”
I sit up, gasping for air. “My ship! My family!”
Sera reaches out and squeezes my hand. “You were having a nightmare. You’re safe now. It’s morning.”
The sweat covering my face and body is cold and I shiver; my body an empty echoing cavern. “It wasn’t a nightmare, though.” I draw my knees to my chest and bury my face. “It was real. Everyone’s gone. Why would someone do that? We’ve never hurt anyone.”
I’m not really asking, and I know Sera doesn’t have the answers. What makes it worse, is I can still remember the feeling of my mother’s arms around me. It might have been a nightmare, but it was like having her back. If only for a terrifying few minutes.
“Why don’t you have a shower?” Sera suggests, handing me a large fluffy sheet of green material. “It’ll make you feel better, I promise.”
She’s right. As the warm water cascades over me, I’m reborn. Earth showers feel different than the water rooms at home. Here, the water plummets down on you as though you’re standing in the rain or under a waterfall. On Starlatten, the water surrounds you from all angles, not unenjoyable but efficient at its core.
I removed the dressing from my forehead before stepping in the shower and as I allow the water to cleanse me, I focus on my amulet, warm against my skin. Almost right away, the stinging and the dull aching on the side of my face evaporates. I have no idea how good my healing skills are. It’s a skill I haven’t tried since I failed miserably four years ago.
Millions of questions fly around my mind, each fighting for pride of place at the forefront of my thoughts. I think back over my last day aboard the Galastasia. Father receiving a mysterious private telepathic message during breakfast. The Dyja running along the corridor as I walked to my lessons. There were signs. Signs I hadn’t wanted to see.
Zarbilian: a small, colonised planet in our solar system. They’d refused to sign the agreements all the advanced inhabited planets in our section had agreed upon, which is why they were top of the agenda at the emergency summit on Ankaria.
I lift my face to the warm stream of water, pushing back my soaked curls and inhaling the sweet and spicy aromas of the cleaning products Sera has given me.
Attacking a royal ship and assassinating the royal family is a pretty big move for a tiny planet. How did they get the resources to coordinate such a large attack? What’s their goal? My eyes fly open and I step out of the hot spray. What’s happening to Starlatten right now? Have they attacked there too? My heart hammers in my chest as panic prickl
es my skin.
Switching off the water, I wrap myself in the soft green sheet, filled with renewed purpose. I need to find a way to contact home. Now.
Sera has left me an assortment of clothes. I’ve learnt that the short tunic is called a ‘top’ and the leg material is called ‘jeans’. I select the items that look the comfiest.
As I dress, I look around the room I’ve been designated. Pink and gold adorn the walls in an ornate, yet simple, pattern. Detailed drawings of flowers hang in pretty golden frames. The bed is made of a dark wood with towering posts in each corner. It’s very lovely. In all honesty, the whole house is lovely. I have little to no knowledge of Earth dwellings, but it’s clear that Sera’s parents are significantly wealthier than Eddie and Linda’s.
Sera appears at the door, giving me a shy smile. “How are you feeling?”
“Much better.” I smile. “You were right about the shower.”
“A good hot shower makes everything clearer.” She steps into the room, her delicate features creasing into a frown. “Your face. The bruise and cut have gone. How did you do that? Make up?”
My fingers reach up and touch the healed skin. I must have done a better job than anticipated. I have no idea what makeup is. “I used my amulet to speed the healing a little,” I admit.
“Wow,” Sera replies, her eyes widening. “That’s incredible.”
“Thank you again for letting me stay.” I gesture to the room in an attempt to steer the conversation back to familiar ground. “You have a really beautiful home.”
“It’s okay I guess,” she sniffs.
Without warning, Jordan comes bounding up the stairs. “Whoa! This place is huge!” He stands, mouth agape, staring at the high ceilings and poking the artwork.
Sera gives me an apologetic smile. “Everyone’s here by the way.”
Jordan leans over the bannister and yells for everyone to come upstairs.
“Just don’t break anything, okay?” Sera shrinks into a corner as everyone bounds up the wall and into the room.
“What? You have a four-poster bed?” Linda exclaims, throwing herself down and spreading her arms.
“Wait.” I frown. “None of you have ever been here before?”
Linda sits up. “Nope! Sera’s parents don’t like us coming around, in case we wreck the place.”
“I can see their point of view,” I muse, watching Jordan as he inspects a delicate golden figurine. “There are many valuable items here.”
“Yeah, okay, Grandma,” Linda scoffs, falling backwards on the bed again.
Dylan catches my eye from where he’s leaning against the doorframe. “I guess you’re not the typical rebellious teenager then?”
Blood warms my cheeks as everyone turns to look at me. “Well,” I confess. “You can’t really be rebellious when you’re a princess. I have guards with me most of the time. Between classes and royal duties, there isn’t much time left for socialising.”
“That’s sad.” Eddie frowns.
“It must be hard,” Dylan offers. “We don’t really know much about you, do we?”
“Let’s fix that!” Linda rubs her hands together and bounces up off the bed. “No time like the present. We’ll tell you about Earth and our lives and you can tell us about yours.”
My eyes seek out Sera, who’s standing in a corner inspecting the ends of her hair. After a moment, she seems to sense everyone watching her and she looks up with an exaggerated eye roll.
“Fine, but let’s go into one of the living rooms rather than being cramped in this tiny room.”
As we begin to file down the stairs, I lean toward Linda. “This is ‘tiny'?” I whisper.
Linda grins and wiggles her eyebrows at me. “Makes you wonder how big her room is, doesn’t it?”
CHAPTER TEN
Dylan
I breathe in but anxiety constricts my chest. Everyone is full of energy, but I’ve already been up for hours and as my stomach rumbles, I flinch. From where I’m sitting, on the edge of the sofa, I glance around to see if anyone noticed, but they’re preoccupied. Sera has set us up in a room she refers to as ‘her’ lounge.
There’s a large television on one wall, three large sofas and framed posters of what look like old fashioned French adverts on the walls. Linda and Eddie are bickering over who gets to sit in the oversized revolving sofa seat, Sera is flicking through the channels on the TV and Jordan’s produced a notebook and pen from somewhere and is scribbling away in it.
Only one person isn’t moving. Crystal is sitting in the middle of the larger sofa, watching with interest as the channels flick past on the TV, twisting her long curls around her fingers.
“Sera! Just put the news on or something!” The disjointed sound of flicking channels causes something inside my brain to snap and my voice is louder than I intend. “It’s not like we’re going to actually watch something, right? Do we even need it on?”
Everyone’s eyes turn to me and I force myself to meet their stares. Sera shrugs and puts a news channel on, the volume low.
“Right!” Jordan says. “I have a list.”
“A list?” I raise my eyebrows and glance between Jordan, who looks very pleased with himself, and Crystal, who looks mildly terrified. “A list is a bit much. What if we ask one question each?”
“One question? One?” Jordan repeats. “We have a literal alien in the room and we only get to ask one question?”
“Don’t call her that, man.” The words tumble out of my mouth before I have time to think. Perhaps it’s the combination of hunger and sleep deprivation, but the tidal wave of protectiveness towards Crystal catches me totally off guard. “Look, one question is enough. For now, anyway. Okay?”
Jordan holds my stare defiantly for a moment before shrugging and returning to his notepad, muttering under his breath. I’m almost afraid to look at Crystal, but I guess it’s weirder if I don’t, so I glance her way. She smiles gratefully and I smile back.
As a warm tingle spreads through my stomach and up my spine, I force myself to look away. What is wrong with me? She’s from another planet for Pete’s sake. Her entire family has been massacred. This is not the time for a pointless crush.
Linda and Eddie are still bickering over by the round chair like five-year-olds and I’m grateful for the distraction.
“Linda! Eddie!” I bark. “The chair is big enough for the both of you. Share or sit somewhere else!” I swear it’s my Dad’s voice that comes out of my mouth.
“Are you ready, Crystal?” Jordan is practically falling off his seat, he’s leaning forward so far.
“Yes,” Crystal says, taking a deep breath. “I’m ready. Ask away and I’ll try my best to answer.”
“Great.” He taps the pad with his pen. “How do you know English?”
“What’s ‘English’?” she asks.
Jordan opens his mouth, his eyebrows raised. “English is the language we’re speaking. There are hundreds of languages on our planet, but this is the one we speak in this country.”
“I’m pretty sure my amulet translates for me.” Crystal reaches inside the neck of her t-shirt and pulls out the purple necklace the girls noticed when we found her in the field. “When I was in the hospital, I couldn’t understand the doctor until I put my amulet back on. It has many abilities and I haven’t learnt about them all yet. This one has been a very useful surprise.”
“So, it’s translating for you right now?” Linda gasps.
Eddie nods his head approvingly. “That’s pretty cool.”
“What would happen if you took it off?” Jordan asks.
I watch as Crystal turns pale. Her hand clasps around her amulet.
“You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do,” I reassure her. “Don’t take it off.”
“No,” she says. “It’s okay. It’s just not something we do. The only time in my whole life I can remember not wearing it, is in the hospital.”
As she’s talking, she reaches around her neck and lif
ts the chain up over her head, untangling her curls as they get caught up in the delicate copper coloured metal. She places the necklace on the seat beside her and looks around at us, clearly nervous.
When she speaks, it’s the most bizarre sound I’ve ever heard. It’s fast and sharp and – well – alien. As Crystal takes in our horror-stricken faces, her smile fades and colour paints her cheeks.
“Put it back on,” I say, then mime the action as I realise she can’t understand me.
Her hands sweep up the necklace, placing it back over her head. “Can you understand me now?”
“Yeah.” Eddie shudders. “Let’s not do that again.”
Crystal frowns. “Was it that bad? What did I sound like?”
“It was so weird.” Linda dissolves into giggles. “You sounded like an alien!”
“It wasn’t that bad.” I try to reassure her. “You just sounded fast and squeaky. What did we sound like?”
“You sounded very odd. Round and slurry.”
Jordan taps his pen against his chin before resuming his scribbling. “Interesting.”
“Can I ask the next question?” Linda asks, raising her hand in the air.
Crystal nods. “Of course.”
“How do you get an amulet? Does your planet make them?”
“Ooh! Yes!” Sera chips in. “Do you have different coloured ones for different outfits?”
Jordan waggles his pen at them. “That’s more than one question.”
“So… may I answer, or not?” Crystal asks, a small smile on her lips.
“Go ahead,” he shrugs, muttering something about rules being pointless.
Crystal turns in her seat to face the girls. “We have our amulets from birth. And just the one. It’s our history. The story of our founders is a legend passed down through generations.”
“So, who gives you the amulet? Who are the founders?” Linda asks, her eyes wide.
Jordan opens his mouth and Linda silences him with a glare.
“Well,” Crystal leans forward, her eyes bright. “Thousands of orbits ago, our founders, Elaini and Jetzia fled their war-torn planet of Azrala and found Starlatten; completely uninhabited. Which is really rare.