by Sarah Carter
Ashe slowly nods his head. “That they do.”
“Lexi says she doesn’t know why she has her powers,” Connor says.
“She really doesn’t,” Ashe replies. “It’s a mystery that died with her mother.”
Looking at Lexi, Connor says, “I say fairy.”
“I say you’re crazy,” Lexi says. “Is iced coffee all right? We have some of that.”
“That would be great,” he answers.
Lexi goes to fridge and grabs one. “Here.”
Connor takes it. “Thanks.”
“So, what are we doing today?” Lana asks.
“I thought go swimming,” Lexi replies. “The bonus of the indoor pool. It doesn’t matter how cold it is outside.”
“Yeah, it’s still nice but not warm enough for swimming,” Connor agrees.
Lana hops down from the stool. “All right, let’s go swimming.”
“Eating chicken, woman,” Ashe mumbles, between bites.
“Do your parents not feed you?” Lexi asks.
“Not your dad’s cooking,” Ashe replies.
Rolling her eyes, Lexi says, “Finish eating, then.”
Suddenly, Lexi’s cell phone rings. She looks at it. “Unknown number. Telemarketer.”
“Answer it; let’s screw with them,” Lana cheers.
“Oh god,” Lexi groans. She answers it, “Hello?” There is dead silence. “Hello?” Still dead silence. “I have no idea.”
An eerie voice comes through and says, “We know about you.”
Lexi’s heart drops. “Excuse me?”
“We know about you and are watching you,” the voice says again.
“Who is this?” Lexi gasps.
“Be careful. We are watching you.” Then the phone goes silent.
She pulls the phone away from her ear and stares at it. “Oh my gosh.”
“What? Were they trying to sell you a vacuum cleaner?” Ashe laughs.
“No, they said they knew. They knew about me. I have to be careful because they are watching.”
“Weird,” Lana says. “Have You-Know-Who trace the call.”
Lexi looks back in her phone log. “There's nothing there.”
“What do you mean?” Lana asks, walking over to her.
She shows her the phone. “Look, there’s nothing in the call log.”
“That’s impossible. Call security.”
Pressing a button, the phone connects her to the main ship. “Yes, Mistress Blakely.”
“Who just called my cell phone?”
“No one, miss. We have no calls in the log.”
“That’s impossible. My phone just rang, and I talked to someone. I have witnesses.”
There is a pause. “Did they hear the conversation?”
“Just my side,” Lexi says. “But my phone rang, and someone was on the other end.”
“What did they say?” Security asks her.
That makes her hesitate. “I couldn’t quite understand them. It was just creepy.”
“Miss, it was probably just a prank call,” the guard member says. “I wouldn’t worry too much about it.”
“How could something like this get past you?” Lexi snaps. She knows she can’t say more than that. “Wouldn’t this be a red flag?”
“Miss, I’m telling you. There was no call to your phone.”
Getting kind of mad, Lexi asks, “Are you calling me a liar?”
The guard member stammers. “Of course not, not at all. I just have no record of the phone call.”
“Whatever,” Lexi mumbles. “Thank you anyway.”
“We will look into it, Mistress.”
“Thanks.” She hangs up the phone and grows frustrated. “They have no evidence of a phone call.”
Connor raises his eyebrow. “Who were you talking to?”
“Our security,” Lexi whispers. “It doesn’t matter. I guess I’m hallucinating.”
“Well, then we all are,” Lana says. “We all heard your phone ring.”
“There was someone in the woods last night, too,” she states. “I saw them, but then security went out there and they disappeared.”
Ashe goes and looks out the window towards the woods. “Where?”
“Right over there,” Lexi says, pointing to the trees.
“Have you gone and looked?”
“No,” Lexi replies.
He smiles and swings his arm. “It’s time for an adventure. Let’s go investigate.”
“You are so weird sometimes,” Lexi laughs.
Putting his hand to his chest, Ashe declares, “I pride myself on my weirdness.”
“It’s a good idea. We should go look,” Lana says. “What harm is looking to see if we find anything?”
“We aren’t, if security didn’t,” Lexi replies, “But let’s go.”
Connor says, “This is kind of weird, guys.”
“Magical powers didn’t get you, but this will?” Ashe laughs.
“True,” Connor replies. “Maybe it’s the evil fairy queen.”
“You won’t let this fairy thing drop, will you?” Ashe says, looking at him.
He waves his hand at Lexi. “She has magical powers.”
“You know what, yes, I bet I’m a fairy,” Lexi cheers. “Let’s run with that.”
“See,” Connor retorts, looking at Ashe.
Ashe smiles. “Yes, fairy, you figured it out.”
“Come on, let’s go look,” Lana groans.
They make their way out to the tree line. “It was right here,” Lexi says, pointing to a spot. They all turn around in a circle.
“There’s nothing unusual,” Lana declares.
“Wait, what is that?” Connor says, pointing to a tree.
“What’s what?” Ashe asks.
Connor walks over and points to the tree trunk. “That.”
They all step up closer. There is a small carving in the tree. It’s a circle inside of a triangle with a dot in the center. “What is that?” Lana whispers, leaning in for a closer look.
Lexi runs her fingers over it. “It looks fresh.”
“Someone carved that into the tree,” Ashe gasps. “How weird.”
“Secret fairy language,” Connor says.
Ashe rolls his eyes to the heavens. “I don’t know what it is, but it’s weird.”
Taking out her phone, Lexi snaps a picture. She sends it to security, asking them what it means. “That is so weird,” she exhales.
“It’s fresh,” Lana states. “You can tell by the wood.”
“So, whoever was here last night did it,” Ashe says. “Why, though?”
“Security didn’t find anyone,” Lexi replies. “It was so weird. They stepped back, and then poof, they were gone.”
Her phone vibrates, and she looks down at the message. “Security says they have nothing. There is no real significance to that symbol.”
“Something is obviously going on,” Ashe says. “It may be time to get your father involved.”
“If Dad gets involved, that means he has to find out about Connor,” Lexi groans. “There’s no way to talk about one without the other.”
“Not true,” Ashe says. “You can just leave part of it out.”
Dropping her hands, Lexi snaps, “Ashe, I’ve been with Connor when most of this stuff happened. Dad’s going to want to go in and zap his brain.”
“WHAT!?” Connor yells.
“Oh shit,” Lexi exhales.
Connor takes a step back and says, “Who’s going to do what to my brain?”
“Nothing,” Lexi answers.
“Bull crap,” Connor yells. “What are you talking about?”
Lexi groans. “Oh, this is so bad.”
“Tell me, Lexi. What did you mean?”
Everyone stands there, staring at him. “Might as well tell him,” Ashe says. “You very well may have to go in and erase his memories now. You might as well take it all the way.”
Knowing he has a point, Lexi sighs. “I’m not a fa
iry. The secret society isn’t anything mythological.”
“What is it?” Connor asks.
“Don’t freak,” Lexi says. Connor nods. “We aren’t fairies. We are aliens.”
He stares at her for a second and then busts out laughing. “Yeah, okay, aliens. Okay, Lexi.”
“You might believe fairies but not aliens,” she replies.
“Like, from another planet aliens,” Connor laughs some more.
“Yes,” Lexi answers. “We are called Neturu.”
Connor continues to laugh, but everyone stays serious and stares at him. He slowly stops. “Oh god, you’re being serious.”
“Yes,” Lexi says. “I’m being dead serious. We have been on this planet for a little under 300 years.”
“What planet are you from?” Connor gasps.
“Jiub,” Lana says. “It’s on the other side of the Galaxy.”
He stares at them, looking very much in shock. “Are you here to take over the planet?”
“If that was our plan, I think you would have known about it over 300 years. No, we live peacefully amongst your people,” Ashe states.
“Holy crap,” Connor exhales. “You’re really telling me the truth.”
“Yes,” he replies. “If you breathe a word of this to anyone, they will take you and erase your memories.”
Looking panicked, Connor says, “You guys can do that!?”
“You’d be surprised how advanced we are,” Ashe says. “Yes, manipulating human minds isn’t that difficult. Neturu is harder.”
“Whoa,” Connor stammers, stepping back. “This is crazy.”
“But fairies wasn’t,” Lexi laughs.
“I wasn’t being serious,” Connor snaps. “This is so weird. Are you guys all like this?”
Lana shakes her head. “I’m half something else. Ashe is full Neturu.”
“What are you? Part human?” Connor asks.
“No,” Lexi replies. “We are part Kenga. They were the other higher species on our planet.”
“So, that explains the purple hair and powers.”
Lexi nods. “Yup.”
“That’s the last thing I would have guessed,” Connor states, shaking his head. “Aliens. Can anyone else do anything?”
“No,” Lexi says quickly.
“Oh come on,” Ashe exclaims. “You are telling him everything else.”
She looks at him. “Dude!”
“Well, it’s true. You’re not holding anything else back.”
Connor looks from Ashe to Lexi. “What?”
Sighing heavily, Lexi says, “The Neturu are shape shifters.”
“They are what?” Connor stutters.
“They shapeshift,” Lexi says. “Into animals.”
“Can you!?”
Lexi shakes her head. “No.”
“I can,” Ashe says.
“Let me see!” Connor exclaims.
“Some other time when we’re not getting filmed,” Ashe replies.
Spinning in a circle, Connor says, “We’re being filmed.”
“Well,” Lexi whispers. “You know how we have all the security, and I said I was super important.”
“Yeah.”
“I’m sort of royalty,” Lexi declares. “My grandfather is the ruler to our species. My father is next in line. We don’t call each other kings or anything, but I’m sort of a princess.”
His eyebrow raises. “Seriously?”
“Yeah, that’s why we have so much security,” Lexi replies.
“Whoa, that’s crazy,” Connor says. “This is all too much.”
“We are being dead serious. If you say anything to anyone, bad things will happen,” Lexi sternly states.
Connor crosses his arms and looks at her. “Again, who would believe me?”
“What do you mean?”
“Do you think for an instant that anyone is going to believe that you are an alien with magical powers? Like, I think they would throw me into the loony bin before that would happen.” He thrusts out his hands. “Think about it.”
She nods. “That’s true.”
“No one would believe me, and I’m definitely not telling anyone, especially if you can really zap my brain. Who knows what else you can do to me? I assume there’s probably some probing going on.”
Lexi laughs. “We are way more advanced than probing. We scan. No probes. Everything is by scanning.”
“Well, you probably have some wicked torture ideas,” Connor states. “Aliens. Who knows what kind of freaks you are?”
“Yes, we have torture facilities,” Lexi snorts, rolling her eyes.
“So, you really don’t have to worry about me saying anything,” Connor promises. “Nothing will ever leave these lips. Anyway, if we ever break up, then you can go erase my memory.”
Grimacing, Lexi says, “Pretty sure I don’t want to have that conversation with my father. He would be so pissed off, like head exploding pissed off.”
“There would be a mushroom cloud,” Ashe laughs. “BOOM!”
“Well, I won’t say anything,” Connor states again. “Your secret is safe with me.”
Lana looks back at the tree. “Okay, so now that we can talk about it. This isn’t a Neturu symbol.”
“Not even close,” Ashe agrees. “But who would know about Lexi?”
“Someone has been following me,” Lexi declares. “I know that. The guy taking pictures. The person in the woods. I feel like I’m being watched. The phone call. Something is up.”
“You said all of your people know about you, right?” Connor asks.
She nods. “Yeah, I’m the princess. Hard to hide the purple haired child. Also, everyone found out about my mother and the engineered kids.”
“Engineered?” Connor gasps.
“That’s what we are,” Ashe says. “We were engineered.”
“Some of us were normal, and others were not,” Lana adds in.
He points to them. “Wait, can you do anything?”
“I travel through time,” Ashe says.
“You what!?” Connor gasps.
“I time travel,” Ashe repeats. “I can jump forwards and backwards in time.”
Connor turns to Lana. “Can you do that?
“I am sort of an empath,” Lana says.
“What do you mean?” Connor replies.
“I feel emotions,” Lana answers. “I can also control them.” He looks really confused. “Right now, you are a little nervous, but excited.”
“Well, that’s obvious,” Connor laughs.
“But, you suddenly feel sad,” Lana whispers. Connor’s face falls. “But now you are happy,” He smiles. “Now, you are scared.” Panic sweeps across Connor’s face. “Now, you are back to normal.”
Shaking his head, Connor goes, “That is the creepiest thing ever. Promise me, you will never do that again.”
“I don’t do it often,” Lana says. “Only when needed. I wouldn’t want someone toying with my emotions. Literally.”
“So, you were engineered to do all these things,” Connor states.
Lexi nods. “Yes. I have the most abilities.”
“She outdoes us all,” Ashe says. “Don’t mess with Lexi.”
“I’ve learned that,” Connor says.
“I’ve seen her mad. You don’t want her mad,” Ashe declares, shaking his head.
Connor smiles and looks at him. “What did she do?”
“So, one time...”
“Ashe,” Lexi groans.
“No, this story is great. So, it was in this house. She told you the pool was in the basement right?” Connor nods. Ashe sticks out his hands and grins. “So one day, I was like ten, and she was roughly around eight. I was teasing her. Man, I was giving her so much crap. So, she turned to me, gave me the finger, reached down and made the floor disappear. I fell through and landed in the pool.”
Lexi grimaces. “I may have gotten into trouble for that one.”
“I still like how you made your door disappear
when you were a kid so you didn’t have to go to your room.”
“Genius,” Connor laughs.
“What can I say,” Lexi replies. “I was sort of a hell child. How my parents didn’t age twenty years I have no idea.”
Ashe shakes his head. “I think it was because they were so young. They could keep up with you.”
“I try to be good now,” Lexi states. “They will have it easy with my siblings.”
“Coming from the girl that just outed our alien race to a human,” Lana points out.
She frowns. “I know.”
“Listen, I can’t be the only one who knows,” Connor says. “Seriously, three hundred years, and no human has ever known. Let’s be realistic. Do you really think they went through and erased every single person’s memory? I doubt it.”
“That’s true,” Ashe agrees. “Somewhere along the line. Someone had to have known.”
“And like you said, you can always go and erase my memories,” Connor declares.
“He has a point.”
Lexi nods. “Okay, just don’t say anything.”
“I won’t,” Connor promises.
“Let’s get back to the people that are obviously watching you,” Lana says. “This symbol must mean something.”
“But what?” Lexi replies. “It’s not Neturu.”
“Human?” Connor offers.
They turn to him. “Humans don’t know about us.”
“What if someone did,” Connor offers. “What if someone knows?”
“Wouldn’t the whole world know then?” Lexi counters. “If humans really found out there was a superior alien race on Earth, wouldn’t they tell people?”
He shrugs in return. “I don’t know, but who else would it be. Unless it's Notoro.”
“Neturu,” Lexi laughs and corrects.
“Whatever,” Connor scoffs. “Call yourselves something that isn’t so difficult to say.”
“Alien race. Alien language,” Ashe states.
Connor rolls his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, yeah. If it’s not the Neturu, then it has to be humans.”
Lexi looks back at the tree. “But who would know and why would they not tell anyone? How would they know about me?”
“Why would they approach you and not anyone else?” Lana asks. “I mean, go after the scariest one of them all.”
“You did use your powers openly the other night,” Connor points out.
Shaking her head, Lexi says, “But it wasn’t anything you could really tell from a distance. It wasn’t telekinesis. Anyway, someone would have to have known about me before that. They don’t see that and be like, why yes, she is an alien. And again, I didn’t sense anyone else around us.”