by Magan Vernon
"You are breathtaking." I saw Ace's reflection in the mirror, his eyes wide and staring at me. His gaze trailed from the long, cathedral train, up each faux button and finally to my face. I'd never seen him smile that wide and I felt tiny butterflies flapping all through my stomach.
"Where is Svyeta?" Riley looked in every direction. "We should ask her a price for this and see if we can put a hold on it for three years or something."
I expected the saleswoman to be hounding me every second to buy something, but she was nowhere in sight. Odd. I turned away from the mirror and looked around.
"Svyeta is indisposed right now, but I'm sure I can help," a high voice called from behind the counter, and then I saw her walk out, the very Caltian woman who tried to kill me before, Simone.
Chapter 33
Simone looked just like she did in my nightmares, except she traded in the dyed red hair to go back to her natural, Caltian black. It was tied up in intricate knots on her head, and she wore a flowing black robe.
"Alex, Machiavelli, it has been so long!" she said, putting her hand over her heart.
"Is this a friend of yours?" Lucy raised her eyebrows.
"Ah, the lesbian roommate. The key to all of our plans." Simone's thin lips formed a tight smile.
"Uh, what the hell is going on? Are we being punked?" Riley asked, looking from me to Ace. I just stood there, staring, with my hands balled into tiny fists. What was I going to do?
"No you definitely aren't being punked, Riley, but you must feel like it," another voice came from behind a door near the counter. This time it carried a Boston accent and out stepped Gavin.
Gavin looked just like he did the summer before when I met him: same side-swept bangs, tight jeans, and smug smile like he owned the world. What was he doing here?
"Oh, yes, Gavin. I was just beginning to inform them of our plans," Simone said with a cackle.
Their plans?
Simone walked slowly, each stepped methodical, until she was at Riley's shoulder. "Circe was stupid enough to let me go, thinking I wouldn't have resources on Earth. I met Gavin in one of the many Circe alum chat rooms."
Ace cursed under his breath. "I knew I should have gotten rid of those."
"Anyway," Gavin said. "We both had similar views on humans and aliens dating and figured out we were a better force if we worked together." Gavin went over and stood at Riley's other side.
So that was why he wanted to add both of us as friends on Facebook. And obviously Simone was the new girl he had met. Ace should have taken my request more seriously. As mad as I was about that, I had to focus on the situation at hand and figure out how to stop them from whatever they were planning to do.
"But it would take more than just the two of us. We knew of your roommate's attraction to girls and all we had to do was get her and Riley in the right place, and then we'd have an inside track to you," Simone said, placing her hand on Riley's right ear and pulling it sharply.
"OW!" Riley shrieked, quickly putting her hand to her ear.
"Some sleep creeping did help for both of them and this little implant," Simone said, holding up a small computer chip.
"Now the only thing we need to do is give Riley back her memory, so she can remember how much she hates you and your alien maggot," Gavin spat. "Then we can destroy you both and Riley can take the fall. It's perfect."
"Whoa, can someone tell me what the hell is going on?" Lucy asked, thrusting herself between Simone and Riley. "Aliens? Maggots? Circe? This all sounds ridiculous. If this is some sort of hidden camera show, it sure as hell isn't funny."
"Ugh, this human is already getting on my nerves," Simone said. With a flick of her wrist Lucy was pulled off the ground by an invisible force and thrown against the glass of the three-way mirror. It broke under her weight with a small pool of blood gathering on her back. She slid down the mirror leaving a long streak.
"LUCY!" Riley screamed, jolting forward, but was stopped by Simone's grip on her back.
"Let her go, Simone. This doesn't concern any of them. Leave the humans alone." Ace stepped to my side.
Simone clutched her free hand to her heart. "Oh, look, what a sweet couple!" She rolled her eyes. "Just what I want to see, the human maggot in a dress and my future king."
"Disgusting, isn't it?" Gavin added.
Ace shook his head, taking another step forward. "Simone, you don't need to do this. What is this fighting going to do for you? You know I love Alex."
"What will this do for me?" She arched a thin eyebrow. "Once the human is gone, then you will finally come to your senses and we can rule Calta together. You need me. You know they will never let a male rule, but once we get rid of the humans and your sisters it will be all of us!"
"My sisters? What have you done with Tullia and Arête?" Ace crouched down, a low growl escaping his lips.
Simone tipped her head back, laughing like a witch before looking back at Ace. "Nothing…yet."
Ace launched himself at Simone, but was stopped by her hand, shoving him backward and tumbling over a cream-colored couch.
"Ace!" I yelled, trying to run to him, but tripped over the giant train of the dress.
Gavin and Simone both laughed behind me.
I stood back up, holding the dress up so only my bare feet showed. "This is ridiculous Simone! You know that Ace will never be with you, so why bother?"
Simone narrowed her eyes and walked toward me with Riley still shaking in her clutches. "Once I stop this silly engagement arrangement you two have, there will be no reason that Ace needs to stay with you. We will go back to Calta and be married."
"That's not possible, Simone," Ace said weakly, crawling up from the fallen couch. "I'm already married."
"WHAT?" Simone threw Riley down to the ground where she curled up in the fetal position at Simone's feet.
"What are they talking about?" Gavin asked, frantically looking between me and Simone.
I held up my hands, hoping she wouldn't get too close. "He's right. We eloped, in the Caltian sense."
"This can't be happening. This can't be happening!" Simone put her hand to her head.
"Hey, wait." Gavin removed Simone's hand and caught her waist with his other hand. "Look, we can still stop this. They may already be married, but if there is no Alex, then there is no marriage."
Simone looked at Gavin and then over at me. A sly smile crossed her lips. "You're right. If I can't have Machiavelli, then no one can."
Gavin grinned like a cheesy villain. "Good, now give Riley back her memory and let's launch her forward."
I jumped on Simone's back and pulled at her knots of hair. "You will do no such thing!"
She shrieked. "Get the human off me!"
I pulled as hard as I could. "Ace, call Circe for back-up!"
Ace pulled out his phone, but Simone moved her hand forward and the phone shot out of his hands and shattered against the back wall. Then Simone shook me off and to the ground as if I were nothing more than a piece of lint.
The dress got caught and tangled in my legs, and I struggled trying to get up. Ace rushed to my side and ripped the fabric completely off, so it looked like I had some retro mini-dress when he stood me up.
"This is ridiculous, Simone. Can we just stop all of this?" Ace asked, pulling me close.
"If only it were that simple," Gavin said, shaking his head. "If only you two weren't so unnatural, we wouldn't have to do this."
Simone picked up Riley and put her hands on either side of her face. Riley's body convulsed underneath her hands and then her eyes popped open like a dolls.
"What the hell?" Riley's voice came out in a scratchy whisper.
Simone moved her hands from her face and smiled at the battered girl. "Hello, Riley."
"Who are you? What the hell is going on?"
Gavin looked over Simone's shoulder. "Quick, Riley, what is the main plant life on Ranga?"
"Gavin, shut up, you know the answer to that is quioete root. Don't be an idiot."
Gavin grinned. "Glad to have you here, Riley. Now I'm sure you remember this lovely couple." He motioned toward me and Ace. "And how much you hated them. How they took away your memory, your life in Philly, and the awesome internship that could have been on your applications for grad school."
"They did all this?" Riley asked, tilting her head.
"Yes, they did, my dear," Simone said, placing a small, blue revolver in Riley's hand that she removed from her knotted head. "And you can destroy them just as easily as they destroyed you."
"Stop, Riley, you don't have to do this!" I yelled.
Riley gulped. "You did destroy my life. You took my memory, my friends, and…" Riley looked in the direction of the three-way mirror where Lucy still lay unconscious. "My Lucy…"
"We didn't do that, Riley. You made the choice to not like us," I yelled.
But she didn't look at me, just stared at Lucy.
"Am I going to have to do this myself?" Gavin grabbed the revolver from Riley's hand and pointed it straight at me. "Laters, Alex. It was fun knowing you."
The gun clicked and the world moved in slow motion. A brilliant blue blast of light shot from the gun and went straight for my open mouth. Before the beam could make contact with me a brown streak swept in front of me. It was too fast for me to know what hit me, just like the brown streak in the accident. I was knocked off balance and fell onto Ace and we tumbled on the couch. A rumble, like an earthquake, shook around us and dozens of mannequins and dresses fell on top of us.
I cold hand pressed against mine and pulled me out of the rubble. I found myself face to face with Riley. The brown streak.
Chapter 34
"Are you okay?" Riley looked at me, blinking rapidly.
I nodded. "Yeah, you saved me, why?"
Ace crawled out from under the mound of dresses and stood beside me.
Riley looked at him and sighed before looking back at me. "Because you all are my friends. When Simone gave me back my memory, I did see all the reasons we didn't get along last summer, but that isn't the same now. You and Ace, me and Lucy, we are the same. People don't agree with our relationships, but we will always fight to keep them."
I heard a cough and sputter near the other end of the sofa. I grabbed Ace and Riley's hands, and we turned toward the sound. Gavin pulled a limp Simone out from underneath a pile of lace.
"No, this can't be happening. Simone, wake up!" he yelled.
He stared down at her, his words like a cry while he ran his fingers through her hair. It looked like I wasn't the only one in love with an alien in the room.
Simone’s eyelids fluttered, her body coming to life in Gavin’s arms. Her black eyes finally opened and she looked at him in the same loving way he looked at her. Oh bother.
“Can someone tell me what the heck is going on?”
I turned toward the three-way mirror where Lucy leaned against it, holding onto the back of her head.
“Lucy!” Riley ran to her and knelt down. “Are you okay?”
“I don’t know. I cut my back up on the glass, and I may have a concussion because I swore I heard you all talking about Caltians and Circe and that you knew Alex before she was my roommate?” Lucy blinked, and then scanned the room until her eyes landed on me.
“I think I can explain all that,” Gavin said, standing up with his arm around Simone.
I looked at Ace who was staring at Gavin and Simone as if they were some sort of a science experiment.
“I interned with Alex and Riley last summer at Circe, which as you’ve figured out is sort of a way point for aliens coming to this planet,” Gavin said.
Lucy stared at him wide eyed. “You mean to tell me that you all interned for some sort of an alien operations center and kept this from me?”
Riley shook her head, squeezing Lucy’s hand. “No, no. I didn’t keep it from you. I sort of, well I wasn’t a very good person back then, and since I tried to fight Ace and Alex’s relationship I had my memory wiped. Obviously, the tall crazy-haired lady somehow gave it back to me.”
“Watch it, human,” Simone snapped.
Gavin squeezed Simone’s shoulder. “Calm down; she didn’t mean it.”
“And what is this all about, anyway?” I asked pointing at Gavin’s arm.
Simone looked at me; her eyes looked like that of a sad puppy. “I thought I was against human and aliens being together. I didn’t think I was falling for him.” She looked up at Gavin. “I was wrong.”
"Then why do all of this in the first place?" I asked.
Simone sighed, shaking her head. "I guess I didn't want to admit it to myself what was happening between me and Gavin. I thought if I had Ace, all those feelings would just go away."
Gavin interjected, "The plan was to keep Riley under watch with sleep creep and then turn her on Alex. That way Circe wouldn’t figure anything out if we kept Riley out of the loop. Then something strange happened. The more we talked, the more I realized how it wasn't as weird as I thought for an alien and a human to be together."
Ace took my hand in his, squeezing it gently while Lucy and Riley got up and stepped toward us. The battered bride and her two bloody bridesmaids.
“Does this mean this fight is over, Simone? Can we just live in peace?” Ace asked.
Simone swallowed and then gave a small nod. “I think we can try. It may not be perfect and I don’t know how any of our relationships will be accepted, but I’m sure we can try.”
Riley kissed Lucy’s hand. “I now understand the scrutiny one goes through with a relationship that doesn’t follow the norms of society. Sometimes you just have to learn to live with it.”
Simone looked at Ace. “And will you be telling the queen of your elopement?”
Ace smiled. “If you tell her about your new relationship.”
Epilogue
Three years to do the day I started at Northern Arizona, Ace and I were married. Well married in the human sense, at least. Thank God for summer classes to graduate early because I thought the day would never come.
As the sun set over the mountain peaks as I walked down the aisle in a lace gown that wasn't torn to shreds in a battle, and didn't make me look like a beached whale. Every white flower was in place, with blue accents because a girl couldn't go without a little bit of the colors of the night sky to represent an alien and human wedding.
The human guests had no idea that they were sitting next to aliens, not even my mom who met my dad’s new fiancée, Nerses. Ace and I were trailblazers, the first of our kind to have a human wedding between a Caltian and a human. The aliens of Calta still weren’t thrilled about the elopement, and I refused to make a video of the next time we got married. No need to have an alien sex tape floating around.
But at the end of the aisle, behind all the different aliens sitting in pews, stood my alien, looking incredibly uncomfortable in a tuxedo. To his side stood Monte, Malcolm, Justin and Gavin. On the other side were my bridesmaids, an eclectic mix of an alien, two lesbians, and Jen. I couldn’t have gotten as far as I did without the help of Lucy, Simone, and Riley, so I figured they deserved it. I even let them help pick out their own, navy blue bridesmaid dresses. They were tea-length and strapless, and I even let the girls wear flats because you never know when an alien battle could start and you would need to throw off your heels.
I once read somewhere that it takes a village to raise a child. You could say I was raised by the alien community, and without them by my side I wouldn’t be staring into the dark eyes of my alien husband and knowing that through all the intergalactic battles, I was exactly where I was supposed to be.
Lucy used to always ask me, “So how do you marry an alien? Or how to you date an alien? Even once asking, how to break up with an alien?” And every time I would give her the same answer. “Patience, a sense of understanding, and learning to get along with all of his female ex-girlfriends and relatives.”
All thos
e years after first meeting Ace and now I was finally married to him in both the human and alien sense. My mom got to help plan the human wedding, complete with cake tastings and dress shopping. Everything came together perfectly, even the Martian string quartet and Neptunian preacher. None of the humans suspected anything.
Dancing under the stars to a Frank Sinatra tune, I finally got to breath and have my first dance with my husband.
"Was it everything you hoped this day would be, Princess?"
I looked into his dark eyes. The eyes that I first saw the day he saved me from a rogue alien attacking me and the ones I now got to see every morning. "I think it was more perfect than any Caltian sunset."
About the Author
Magan is a self-proclaimed geek-to-glam poster child who channels her inner geek by writing science fiction for teens. Even though she slept with a nightlight until middle school for fear of alien attacks. She now lives with her husband, daughter, and dog in central Illinois where she still sleeps with a nightlight…just in case.
You can find her online at www.MaganVernon.com.
Other Works by Magan Vernon
My Alien Romance Series:
How to Date an Alien
How to Break up with an Alien
How to Marry an Alien
New Adult Titles:
My Paper Heart
The Only Exception
Anthologies:
In His Eyes Anthology
A sample of LM Preston's
Bandits
Chapter 1
Daniel rolled over and punched his pillow. “Ugh! I give up,” he muttered.