by Mia Mitns
I struggled to hit, scratch, kick, whatever I could, to get away from the man. He blocked my attacks and secured my limbs under his all while keeping cover over my mouth. Jolting my body to the side, I made an attempt to free myself from him again, but he was too strong.
“Marli. Marli, it’s okay,” he said.
“Mmmm!” I yelled.
“It’s me, Lalo.”
It wasn’t Lalo. His voice was higher pitched. He had a British accent. The only similar trait was his physical build and he wore Lalo’s new clothes. I struggled some more. This dude was sick. Why was he wearing Lalo’s clothes?
Lalo had to be smarter than this guy. I was sure Lalo had previously left my house or snuck out when this guy broke in. I wasn’t going to find him dead or get the message that they had kidnapped him. Please let my thoughts be true.
“I’m going to take my hand off your mouth,” the man said. “Don’t scream.”
I glared directly into his eyes and stopped moving.
“Good, because—”
“Help!!” I yelled as soon as he took his hand off. I envisioned Kallen hearing my cries as he drove past my house to his. Please hear me Kallen!
The man covered my mouth again.
“I don’t intend to hurt you,” the man said. “I had to show you. I remembered how to do it this morning. I was thinking about who you could have seen in your dream. That didn’t help. I didn’t remember anyone. What did help was thinking about them wearing disguises. What if they were already a part of your life? Kallen is tall. He is hiding something. What if it was him? Then my hand started to tingle. I looked down to inspect it and my hand had transitioned to a darker shade. Something soft, but unexpected brushed against my neck. It was hair. I rushed to the mirror and all of my skin was the same few shades darker. The same color as Kallen’s. In addition, the soft hair I felt was only a small section of the long, dark that hair grew, mimicking his.
“I panicked,” the man continued. “How could I reverse this? Did this mean Kallen was the culprit? Did I have some sort of sensibilities that I didn’t know of? ‘Turn back,’ I thought, and I transitioned back into the Lalo you know. All morning, I’ve played with looking like different people. I can modify most of my features except for changing into a female or changing my body structure.
“When you got home, you took your time. You were outside for a few minutes longer than normal after the engine turned off. I was in the bathroom and thought you could be someone else. Then you tried to open the door, and it didn’t open. A few tries later it did. Then you didn’t call out my name. I decided to stay like this. In case you were someone else.”
The man removed his hand from my face, and I stared deeper into his eyes, but I couldn’t see anyone resembling Lalo. I pretended to relax. I wasn’t going to fight.
The man loosened his grip on me.
“Can we stand?” I asked with a voice that I didn’t recognize. It was more faint than normal. He nodded and helped me to my feet. He smiled. I ran.
I caught him off guard and had a hand on the doorknob. Before I could twist it, the man had ripped my hand away, wrapped me in his arms, and pulled me to the couch. My right leg was wild, fighting to kick, knee, or sweep a leg out from under him as he sat me down. Again, it was useless. He sat next to me and kept my arms pinned down. I stopped kicking my legs. There was no point.
He laughed. “At least I won’t have to teach you to fight,” he said. “So, now you will be cordial with me?”
I didn’t give him the satisfaction of an answer.
“When we were on the floor, you studied my eyes,” he said. “You can’t tell it is me by doing that. Remember we have a connection. You have to feel. Try to feel what I’m thinking.”
I took a few moments to decide if his words were a trap. My earlier thoughts about who he represented were a lot less harmful than the truth. I had wished he was from the FBI or CIA, but he was another alien. One that knew I had the ability to connect. He might have been who the tall guy sent to find me. Maybe Marcus alerted him to my existence.
He frowned. “Marcus? Who’s Marcus?”
I remained silent.
The man relaxed his eyes and started stroking my cheek. That time I didn’t feel more comfortable and safe. I was losing control.
“I thought we were fighting,” he said. “Don’t let me take your power away.”
“I’m not,” I said, batting my eyelashes, resisting falling asleep.
“There she is,” he said. “Fight me. Block me out.”
He converted his attack into a teaching lesson?
“Marli,” he said.
“Huh,” I said. I had no control over my will to answer.
“You’re letting me win,” he said. His voice deepened. “You’re never going to find Lalo’s body.”
I gasped and shot my eyes open. An evil smile lifted a corner of his lips. I started thinking of colors and shapes. Red. A red square. It became a blanket. I covered myself with it.
The power he wielded slowed, but it preserved its control over me. I imagined chains, locks, safes. I put myself behind and in them.
“I can still see you,” he said. “All I have to do is break the chain.” His power surged. “Open the lock.” My head rolled back. “And—”
“No,” I whispered.
Darkness came over me. But it wasn’t a bad thing. I got stronger. I opened my eyes. That was it! By imagining darkness I could hide in it.
“Good,” he said. “Now I can’t see you.”
I squirmed, aspiring to sit up in the couch. He stopped rubbing my skin and let my arms and legs go free.
“What do you want?” I said. “Who are you?”
“I told you, I’m Lalo,” he said. “And I want you to be able to see who I am in these conditions. You will be the sole person who can tell. That will give you power. And make you a target. You don’t have to touch me to see who I am now, but I want to show you how to see me by touch first. Feel my hand.”
I touched it only to yank my hand away. The touch made a slightly transparent image of Lalo flash by.
“It doesn’t mean you’re him,” I said.
“Since you doubt me try something else.”
I shook his hand and saw nothing. I wrapped my palm around his hand and received an overwhelming sensation of happiness. Putting my hand on his cheek gave me the same sensation. Then I mimicked him by stroking his face and saw nothing, experienced nothing.
“Are you at least getting sleepy?” I said.
“You’re not one of us Marli,” he said. “And I don’t think all Masqysava have that power.”
I was beginning to think this was Lalo.
“Can you switch back now?” I asked.
My question amused him. “So you really think I’m Lalo now? You still haven’t checked without touch. Try it.”
I began in the same manner I previously did when I tried to block him but instead imagined opposite things—a key, a code, the light. None of it worked.
“Think of how you can connect with me,” he said. “Or how you can invade my privacy?”
I saw myself close to Lalo, holding both of his hands, feeling exhilarated. He leaned into me and I heard him say, “I should have saved this exercise for later. She is going to find out everything I’m thinking. Then I’ll have to block her. She’ll find out the real reason—oh. She’s listening.”
“The real reason for what?” I said.
“Great job!” he said. “Now I can change back.”
“No, what were you talking about?” I asked.
Lalo transformed in front of my eyes. His skin got darker, the blue hue left his eyes, his hair lightened and loosely curled in a few places.
“I didn’t know aliens could shift,” I said.
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” he said. “That I am one of the few if not the only one. A unique quality makes me dangerous and a threat. I don’t want anyone sneaking up on me, trying to kill or trap me. That’s why we hav
e to find out more about those rocks, which, by the way, look exactly the same as the rock that made up my meteorite ship. So who did they come from? And what Kallen is hiding? You know he’s been gone all day. I’ve been watching his house.”
“I know and I can’t contact him,” I said. “But first two things, no three. One, don’t ever do that to me again—that shifting stuff—unless you have to. Two, I think I can examine your meteorite and the one from the crime site at our lab. And three, I agree about Kallen. I’m worried about him. The last thing he told me was to be alert because things are going to start happening.”
“Okay,” Lalo said.
Lalo’s eyes shifted to the TV then to me. His eyes shot back to the TV. “Marli, check this out.” Lalo found the remote and took the TV off mute.
“There has been an accident in Greele today,” a reporter said. The videographer scanned the town. People were everywhere, on the ground, moaning. “People are missing and many are injured. No one witnessed what occurred. Paramedics were called to the scene after a random 911 call that couldn’t be tracked. This is the only place people have been found. The rest of the town is deserted. The police chief of Naplesee has a message.”
The camera showed the chief. “If you are in nearby towns, stay in your homes or at your workplace. Do not try to go anywhere. If you are alone, we advise you call someone and stay on the line with them. We are not sure if a large group of people attacked. We are sweeping the nearby towns. This is a dangerous situation. Please don’t leave until you have been told you can do so. If you have any information or have seen anything strange, please call the hotline number. We ask you not to call 911 unless your life is in immediate danger.”
The reporter was on the screen again. “Once again, if you didn’t hear the message, stay in your homes. Follow the directions on the screen. Police from nearby towns are gathering clues. Many police from major cities are coming to help find out what happened.”
A weight pulled my stomach down. What if Kallen was there in Greele? What if he found the people—the spies—and they took him?
“This is tragic,” Lalo said. “Not—” I whipped my head to see Lalo staring at the people being brought to the ambulances on stretchers. Some looked like they had been drugged. Others looked like some sort of animal or human viciously attacked.
“Oh my,” I said. “What if this is why you’re here? To join in with the invasion.”
“This looks like an invasion to you?” he said.
“If I didn’t know about you, I would think it was a terrorist attack,” I said. “But with Kallen being alert, Ashley telling me she can predict things, the animals and insects running away, you falling from the sky, and me having these visions—. I-I forgot to tell you Lalo. I had a ‘dream’ again. Only it wasn’t a dream. I passed out. But the tall guys, they were looking for you. They wanted to find a connector to present them to you.”
“Hmm,” Lalo said. “And you said you met a Marcus.”
“Do you know him?” I asked.
“It’s a familiar name. The name of a Masqysava who I never felt comfortable around. I remember him admiring me for some reason. We were the same age. There was something alarming about him. The way he was so angry when he wasn’t chosen as one of the top, regional leaders. He was, however, chosen to lead a team. That day I wished I was put on any team but his.”
“So were you put on his team?”
“I don’t remember.”
“Lalo, what were these teams for?” I asked.
“To learn how to get along together and to get to know each other. To train, learn to fight, in case we had to go to war.”
“Everyone had to go?” I asked.
He nodded. “With the exception of the highest born and those with special talents, everyone was assigned. The few who refused were never seen again.”
I knew already, but this information was a spear of truth travelling through my soul. They were being trained to exterminate us. Who knew if Lalo was lying to me about who he was? About if he could remember. What if everything was clear? What if he needed me to connect with him to give him access into our government? What if the past week I had been protecting our enemy?
“Don’t do that to me Marli,” Lalo said. “Don’t be scared of me now.”
“How can I not be?” I asked.
No wonder Kallen was viciously seeking him.
“Marli, we are going to find the people or aliens who did this. We will figure out these clues. And we will stop them. I may be alien to this place, but I won’t let them take over this planet. They’re not going to hurt you.”
“What about everyone else?” I swallowed sadness.
“If I have to build an army to take the attackers out of the picture, I will,” Lalo said. He hugged me. “The first thing we need to do is find Kallen.”
Chapter 11
Later that evening, I got a call from Dr. Stevenson saying that work has been cancelled for at least the next four days. He would call and let us know Monday night if our ban changed. He also added that everyone in our group was safe. The few members who lived alone had all joined each other at Ashley’s house. He invited me to join them, but I said I would be alright. My friend from out of town was visiting me. He had military experience.
The thing was I had already spoken to Ashley and Ren. Ren called us on three-way. They asked me to come stay with them. But if I did, I wouldn’t be able to help Lalo figure out what he was supposed to do. Or I would have had to introduce Lalo. I told them about Lalo the same way I did with Dr. Stevenson. Briefly, we discussed what happened in Greele. Ren concluded that it was terrorists. Ashley kept mentioning aliens, so the conversation switched to Kallen.
None of us had been able to get in contact with him. Worried that the worst happened, we came up with a plan. I was to observe his house and see if he showed up while the others kept calling. In the morning, we would search for Kallen if he never showed. I planned to bring Lalo in case we somehow ran into the bad aliens.
Still on the phone, Dr. Stevenson again said to stay safe. He let me know that along with more police coming into town so was a special branch of the armed forces and FBI. I asked him if he had seen Kallen. He took a couple of seconds to answer, which alarmed me.
“Uh, no. No. I haven’t seen him, but I did speak with him. He’s fine. It was less than an hour ago.”
“Where is he?” I asked.
“Uh Claireview,” he said.
I had known Dr. Stevenson for about a month, and I never heard him be so unsure. He had a role in Kallen’s disappearance too?
“Isn’t that past Greele?” I said. “He would have come back through there to get home.”
“Yes,” Dr. Stevenson said.
“So he’s stuck?” I said.
A car drove down the road to Kallen’s and my house the instant I released my last word. The car slowed down to stop. I advanced toward the window. Lalo beat me there and slid a small piece of the blind up.
“Kallen,” he whispered.
“You know. I’ll let you go now,” Dr. Stevenson said. “If I hear from him again, I’ll get you on the phone too.”
“Thank you,” I said.
“I know the two of you have become close friends.”
“Yes, he has helped me a lot.”
Dr. Stevenson and I said our goodbyes. Then I watched Kallen close his front door and assumed he flicked on the light.
“Something is watching us,” Lalo said, “from Kallen’s house.”
“What?” I said.
“To the right,” Lalo said. “The kitchen area.”
How did he know that was Kallen’s kitchen area?
My eyes shot to the window. There was someone there, peeking around the curtains.
“I hope it’s the woman from the truck,” I said. “The one that wore a rose scented perfume. You think they can see us?”
“Don’t think so. But they are watching.”
Whoever was behind the curtains closed them
. I faced Lalo.
“What if it’s one of these spies he was worried about?” I said. “What if they came to hurt him!?”
“Get behind me,” Lalo said. “We’re going over there. They won’t see us.”
“But how do we get in?” I asked.
“I know a window.”
“How do you—”
“I told you. I didn’t trust him. Come on we can talk later.”
Lalo made me grab the back of his shirt then he became invisible, or so he said. I could still see and hold onto him. We jetted outside of my house and jogged across the field to Kallen’s.
I was relieved not to hear a struggle inside. But what if the being or person there killed him already? My stomach was in knots again.
The window Lalo chose was on the first floor in Kallen’s deserted dining room area. It was on the opposite side of the house from the kitchen. The probability that they would come into that room was low.
Somehow Lalo opened the window without making a noise. He had me let go of his shirt to climb in. Then he helped me in and closed the window.
At first, we heard Kallen roaming. Well, I hoped it was him. The wooden floors creaked as if a taller, more solid built person patrolled them. They turned the TV on, to the news. To see we crept across the front of the house, towards the kitchen. I saw Kallen’s head of hair that rose above the chair he was sitting in. We made it into the foyer when a woman started talking.
“You know Kallen, watching that isn’t going to make things any better,” she said.
Relief escaped me when I heard the woman say Kallen’s name. He was alright.
Lalo wrapped my arms tight around his waist. “In case we need to jump,” I heard in my head. For whatever reason I wasn’t startled, even though that was the first time I heard Lalo in my head. I became glad he scared me that afternoon and made me practice connecting with him. It was working.
The open floor plan allowed us to see Kallen get out of his chair in the family room and go into the kitchen from the foyer. We didn’t move.
We can’t get closer? We are invisible, right?
Maybe Lalo worried that they might be able to sense us.
“Kallen,” the woman said. “Talk to me.”