Shifting Fate (The Neturu Chronicles Book 4)

by Sarah Carter

  He grins and his eyes widen. “No.”

  “Ugh, whatever, go get them.”

  “Be right back!” Brayden yells.

  Her father crosses his arms. “You have Twinkies in your room?”

  “Are you really surprised?” Lexi snorts.

  With a shake of his head, her father replies, “No.”

  “So, Connor, are you a junior, too?” Uncle Jackson asks.

  “Yeah, we have some classes together,” Connor answers, shoving his hands in his back pockets.

  “I met my wife when I was a junior,” Uncle Jackson chimes.

  Aunt Kayla gives him a look. “Yeah, and here we are twenty-one years later.” She pats her tummy.

  “You wanted another kid,” he retorts.

  She frowns. “Yeah, I think we are done after this.”

  “That’s what you say now,” Uncle Jackson teases.

  “Do you know what you are having?” Connor asks.

  “Another girl,” Uncle Jackson laughs. “I wanted at least one boy. Nope.”

  Lexi laughs. “Please, whatever Uncle Jackson. They are both such daddy’s girls.”

  “I know,” Aunt Kayla groans. “I’d like to be someone’s favorite for once.”

  “Aunt Claire is my favorite,” Jessica yells, she starts punching the air.

  Lexi’s mom pats her on the head. “Take it down a few notches. You’re not supposed to get into fist fights.”

  “I’m gonna be in the guard,” Jessica cheers. She punches Lexi’s mom.

  Taking in a quick breath, Lexi’s mom laughs. “They don’t get into fist fights in the Coast Guard.” Jessica makes a face. “Why don’t all the kids go play in the playroom?”

  Annabelle yells, “Yeah, come on!”

  “We should go check on the twins and make sure they are sleeping,” Lexi’s dad sighs. “With all this commotion.”

  “I want to see them,” Aunt Kayla says.

  “You can’t pick them up,” Lexi’s mom teases.

  Aunt Kayla points at her. “Claire.”

  “Kayla,” Lexi’s mom mocks back.

  “Don’t be mean. I’m pregnant. Hormones. I will snap you like a twig.”

  Lexi’s mom chides, “You’d have to catch me first, good luck.” They both glare and then laugh. “Come on. They probably need to be changed.”

  “I can help with that,” Aunt Kayla cheers. “I am like a champion in that department.”

  “Good, if there’s poop you get it.” Aunt Kayla rolls her eyes. “Let’s go.” They leave.

  Connor turns to Lexi. “I should really go.”

  “Okay, I will walk you out,” Lexi replies.

  “No, I got it,” Connor laughs. “See you later. Want a ride in the morning?”

  “She has a car,” Lexi’s father draws out.

  With his eyes widening, Connor says, “I know.”

  “Dad, don’t be a jerk,” Lexi scolds. “Yes, that would be nice, Connor.”

  “All right, see you later,” he half laughs and then walks out.

  Lexi turns on her dad. “Dude, that wasn’t cool.”

  “Oh, whatever,” her dad snorts. “You’re spending a lot of time with the boy.”

  “Dad, he’s just a friend,” Lexi groans. “You are the one who wanted me to make friends.”

  “That is true, Damien,” Uncle Jackson adds on. “That was the whole point of sending her to school, but be careful, dear.”

  With a shake of her head, Lexi replies, “It’s not even that big of a deal. You guys both dated human girls. Remember?”

  Her dad grimaces. “Not really dated.”

  “Oh god, barf,” Lexi gags. “The things I never need to know about.”

  “You’re sixteen, almost seventeen,” her dad teases.

  She jerks back. “I don’t care how old I am. I never want to think about that! You and mom had sex three times for all I care about. Each time you conceived. That’s it.”

  “Oh god, Lexi,” Uncle Jackson laughs.

  “Don’t you start, too,” Lexi screams. “I’m going to my room. By the way, I’m going to see Uncle Mason this weekend.”

  Her dad raises an eyebrow. “Why?”

  “Cause we want to go snowboarding,” Lexi says. “Can we take a plane so Connor can go?”

  “No!”

  “Not a ship, Dad, a plane,” Lexi groans. “Seriously, why do we even have planes?”

  He crosses his arms. “I’m a little worried how much time you want to spend with this boy.”

  “It’s fine,” Lexi sighs. “Can we take a plane?”

  “No,” her dad scolds. “He’s not going to Alaska with you. Your cousins are way too small. I’m afraid of your brothers saying something.”

  She brushes him away with her hand. “Please, kids say crazy things. It’s no big deal.”

  “No, absolutely not,” her dad states. “You can go with Ashe and Lana.”

  Her plan falls into place. “Can we at least get ships to take us then?”

  “Of course,” her dad says. “I will have your mom call your Uncle and Aunt and make sure it’s okay.”

  “It’s fine,” Lexi groans. “I talked to Uncle Mason today.”

  “Yes, that’s all fine and great,” her dad replies. “I’m still going to have your mom call him.”

  “Whatever,” Lexi groans. “I’m going to go read. It was nice to see you, Uncle Jackson.”

  He comes over and gives her a hug. “You be careful. Don’t go around breaking hearts.”

  Giving him a look, Lexi says, “I’m not even worried about that.”

  “You will meet someone someday, I promise,” he says.

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah, blah, blah, blah,” Lexi sighs. “I’m going to my room.”

  “See you later,” her dad replies. “Don’t stay up too late reading.”

  “I won’t.” She gives him a kiss on the cheek. “Night.”

  “Night.”

  With that she heads to her room. When she gets there, she closes the door. Her plan worked. Her father will never suspect that Connor will be up there. Hopefully, her mom doesn’t pry too much. She throws Connor’s backpack on the ground. Taking out his math book, she sighs, “I hope he appreciates this.”

  *****

  “So, have they called?” Connor asks, as they pull out onto the street from her driveway.

  “No, but they must have known I was home,” Lexi replies. “They couldn’t possibly be that stupid to call then.”

  “Is there a number in there?” Connor inquires.

  She shrugs and reaches into her jacket pocket. “Let’s see.” She opens the phone book. There’s one number. “Yeah, a single number.”

  “Call it and tell them you will be at your Uncle Mason’s Friday night. I’m going to tell my stepdad I’m going on a school trip. He won’t give a shit or even check.”

  “Let me call them.” Lexi laughs as she presses send. “This phone is so archaic.”

  “That was once popular,” Connor teases.

  They laugh. The phone starts to ring. Someone picks up. “Lexi?”

  “Who is this?”

  “Jenkins,” he replies. “Are you all right?”

  “Yeah, I just wanted to let you know, we will be at my Uncle Mason’s on Friday. You need to get Connor there.”

  Jenkins replies, “Tell him to meet us at the house we were at Friday after school; we will fly them there. We plan to do this Saturday night.”

  “That’s a good idea,” Lexi replies. “I’ll need to be back for school. My parents would never let that fly.”

  “It shouldn't take very long,” Jenkins says. “Or at least, I hope it doesn’t. It’s a quick dash and grab.”

  “With Uncle Mason and me, it should go rather smoothly,” Lexi states. “We are a fierce force.”

  There’s a sigh and then, “But, we aren’t sure what the stone is going to do.”

  “We can still fight,” Lexi replies. “The stone doesn’t stop that.”


  “True,” Jenkins agrees. “Okay, we will need to contact you tomorrow, once we have all the plans in place. We will be monitoring you, so that we know when to call.”

  She frowns. “You need to watch me? I’m not going to tell anyone.”

  “We know that,” Jenkins says. “We trust you. We also want to watch you for your safety. Juan knows about you.”

  “That’s true,” Lexi whispers. A little worry creeps into her heart. “Wait,” she gasps. “Have you guys been taking pictures of me?”

  “When?” he asks. “We haven’t taken pictures in a while.”

  “Last week,” she answers. “At the school. There was a kid with a camera. I chased him outside, and he disappeared into thin air. I can sense people. When we got outside, I couldn’t sense him at all.”

  Jenkins mutters, “That wasn’t us. That concerns me.”

  “So, it was this other group.”

  “No,” Jenkins replies. “That group has no teenagers. They are all adults. Also, we don’t have your transporting technology. I wouldn’t know how they disappeared.”

  “Well, he did,” Lexi declares. “Poof, right into thin air.”

  “Are you sure he wasn’t Neturu?” Jenkins asks.

  Lexi shakes her head. “No, I don’t think so. I never got close enough to sense him.”

  “It wasn’t us.”

  “Could they have recruited a teenager?” Lexi inquires.

  Jenkins sighs. “I’m not sure. Jose wasn’t about recruiting new people. I think he wants to keep most of the glory for himself.”

  “What is he thinking?” Lexi snorts. “Humans aren’t going to look up to him. Some government is going to kidnap him. They won’t let him go or give him loads of money.”

  “Yes, I know. This is what we tried to explain to him numerous times,” he says. “We wish he understood the chaos that will occur. I think he thinks that he is going to get some status from this. That he will be able to sell the information.”

  Laughing, Lexi says, “Ummm, that’s not how the world works. The US government will grab him.”

  “He does have some Neturu weaponry,” Jenkins replies.

  “Uh, a bullet is a bullet,” Lexi counters. “And a sniper can get you from a ways away. If there aren’t that many people in his group, who is going to protect him?”

  “I understand this,” Jenkins says. “He doesn’t.”

  She rubs her forehead in frustration. “We are just going to have to stop him. That’s the only option we have. But we need to try and not kill.”

  “We will try not to,” Jenkins replies. “But, we also have to be safe, so there is that.”

  “Still, I don’t want death on my hands,” Lexi sighs. “Okay. Just try? We can erase memories.”

  “Yes, but they will shoot at us with real bullets,” he points out.

  Nodding, Lexi says, “I’m going to get those suits. I think there are only ten, so I will grab them all. Dad will never suspect me, but I will have to bring them to you. So, when should we do that? Tomorrow?”

  “That will work,” Jenkins replies. “Those suits will help.”

  “We just need to hide them,” Lexi replies. “I figure you guys would know how to do that.”

  “Yes,” he says. “I know where we can put them.”

  With another nod, Lexi states, “That sounds good.”

  “After you have those suits, go somewhere safe, and give us a call. We will meet up with you.”

  “Alright,” Lexi replies. “You sure you can trust the people around you?”

  “I am personally going to hide them. No one else will know where they are going to be.”

  Lexi frowns. “I should know where they are; otherwise, this could be a ploy to get our technology.”

  “That’s true, and fair. I will let you know where I am going to put them,” Jenkins replies. “I would keep it to yourself because you don’t know this Connor very well.”

  She turns and looks at Connor, he raises an eyebrow. “What?”

  “I think we are safe,” Lexi laughs.

  “Lexi, please, be smart. I trusted Juan. In this situation, we have to be careful what we do.”

  “Fine, I will keep it to myself,” Lexi replies.

  Jenkins says, “If Connor proves himself, we would gladly include him in our group.”

  “Really?” Lexi gasps.

  “Yes, but don’t tell him, so we can figure out if we can trust him,” Jenkins instructs. “He, for sure, has to prove himself to us. I hate to sound like I am repeating myself, but we have to be careful.”

  Lexi says, “I get it. I want to be able to do that, too.”

  “All right, you are about to get to school,” Jenkins replies. “Be safe. We will monitor everything.”

  “Okay. I will call you tomorrow after I get the suits.”

  “Please, be careful, and don’t get caught,” he states.

  “I will,” she agrees.

  Connor turns to her. “We are almost to school.”

  She nods. “I have to go. I will talk to you later.”

  “Yes, we will start planning and talk to you more tomorrow.”

  “Okay, bye.”

  “Bye.”

  Lexi snaps the phone shut. “Okay, we sort of have a plan. We are going to talk tomorrow.”

  “How are you going to get the suits?” Connor asks.

  Shrugging, Lexi answers, “I haven’t thought that hard far ahead. I’m going to have to put some thought into it. I can’t get caught.”

  “No, that would be bad,” Connor states. “They would want to know why you were taking them.”

  “I will come up with something,” she replies. “I’m going to keep the plan to myself. The fewer people know, the better.”

  “I can’t know,” Connor gasps. “Why?”

  She looks at him. “Because, I still have to keep some of the alien stuff a secret. You know about us, but there’s certain stuff even Lana and Ashe don’t know about.”

  “Good point.”

  “I will get them,” Lexi says. “Tonight. So, I won’t be able to do anything.”

  “Wouldn’t you want to have an alibi?” Connor asks. “If they think you are off with me.”

  “I may be seen on one of the ships,” Lexi sighs. “I mean, that’s a good idea, but what if I’m seen?”

  Connor shrugs, “Just say I pissed you off and you were going to do something to vent.”

  “We have training facilities on the ship,” Lexi says. “That’s a good idea.”

  “See, I do serve a purpose. You need to keep me around,” Connor laughs.

  Eyeing him up, Lexi replies, “Maybe,” and then smiles.

  “So, tell your parents you are going out with Derrick and me. If they think you are with more than one person, then they won’t think it’s you.”

  “The ship is two hours away,” Lexi replies. “Each ship has ten suits on it.”

  He raises an eyebrow. “Why are there only ten?”

  That makes Lexi press her lips together. “I can’t tell you. It’s top secret.” She can’t tell him about the red squadron. The average Neturu doesn’t even know about them. “It’s for something important. That’s all you need to know.”

  “It just seems weird,” Connor snorts. “If they are so protective, why not have them for everyone?”

  “We don’t want the technology to get out,” Lexi replies. “It’s also very expensive to produce these suits.”

  Scowling, Connor says, “It still doesn’t make sense to me.”

  “I can’t explain it to you,” Lexi states. “It’s top secret. If you are going to press about stuff, I won’t include you at all. My other siblings won’t know about it, but my parents are honest with me because I would know anyway.”

  “Sorry,” Connor replies. “This is just all new and exciting for me.”

  “I understand. I just have to keep some stuff to myself.”

  He puts his hand out. “Listen, I’m just glad that you will hav
e something that will keep you somewhat safe.”

  “Yeah, it will,” Lexi says. “They can stop all of our weaponry, so a bullet is nothing. It’s also really thin, so we can move easily. It will still hurt some if you get hit, but it won’t pierce the material.”

  With a smile, Connor goes, “Uh oh, you’re telling me stuff. Uh oh, what are you going to do now?”

  Laughing, Lexi says, “Shut up. You guys have Kevlar. It’s just high tech Kevlar.”

  “I was only teasing,” Connor replies.

  “So, I will tell my parents that I’m going out with you and Derrick. Then I will jump to the ship.”

  “After you grab them, where are we going?”

  She lowers down to a whisper, “We have to take them to Jenkins.”

  “Sounds good.”

  Lexi shakes her head. “I hope this works.”

  “Okay, we are at school,” he whispers, as they pull in. “Let's keep it down.”

  “No secret alien talk,” Lexi giggles.

  Connor looks at her. “We could make up weird alien stuff. If that other group is listening, we could feed them false information.”

  “Like we started probing people,” she teases.

  “Yes, exactly that,” Connor laughs.

  They pull into the parking lot and see Maddie. She waves. When they get out of the car, Maddie walks over. “Hey guys!”

  “Good morning,” Connor chimes.

  “It’s a great morning!” Maddie cheers.

  He raises an eyebrow. “You seem awfully excited.”

  Maddie tones down her smile. “No, it’s just a great day. I’m happy.”

  “What are you so happy about?” Connor inquires, looking dumbfounded.

  “Can’t I be happy?” Maddie retorts, with attitude. She brushes her hair behind her shoulder. “I’m just happy.”

  “Good,” Connor says. “Let’s go in.” He steps in front of Maddie and Lexi and walks to the school.

  Lexi grabs Maddie’s arm and smiles. Maddie grins back. They both giggle and follow Connor. The school is bustling when they walk in. Connor turns around. “All right, I have to go to my locker.”

  “I have to go to mine, too,” Maddie says. She turns to Lexi. “Do you want to come with?”

  “Yes!” Lexi exclaims.

  Getting a weird look on his face, Connor raises his eyebrow. “You two are odd ducks.”

  “You’re the one dating me,” Lexi whispers, as she leans in. “And she’s your relative. So, what does that say about you?”