Alienated

Chapter Sixteen

“ ‘Oh, the weather outside is frightful,’” Mom’s soft voice sang slightly off-key, accompanied by the sizzle and pop of hot oil, ‘“but the fire is so delightful.’”

Cara smiled and glanced at Aelyx, leaning in to whis­per, “Mom lives for Christmas carols. She won’t stop until February. Enjoy.” With the exception of classical instrumen­tal, Aelyx despised human music.

He pressed his lips close to her ear and made her shiver. “If that wretched noise makes Eileen happy, I’ll find a way to tolerate it.”

" ‘And since we’ve no place to go,’” Mom crooned while flipping a chicken thigh in the frying pan, " ‘let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.’”

Cara held a slippery, wet carrot in one hand and a peeler in the other. While she carved away the dirty orange exterior, she thought about Christmas, specifically what to buy for Aelyx.

She wanted to give him a special reminder of Earth to take back to L’eihr in the spring, a small memento to keep in his room at the Aegis. Her chest ached when she imagined life without him. Sure, things would go back to normal within the community, maybe they’d be able to gro­cery shop in Midtown instead of driving an hour away and coming home with melted ice cream, but she’d miss him. Terribly.

She continued peeling the carrot, but her thoughts were still with Aelyx. Given how much he hated Earth, he’d prob­ably never come back to visit, and she couldn’t travel beyond the stratosphere until next fall. With a sigh, she turned to watch him.

Aelyx stood at the other end of the kitchen counter dicing a potato with the skill and ease of a master chef. Unbeliev­able. She studied the misshapen chunks of vegetables on her cutting board.

“I’m starting to feel inadequate,” she said. “You slaughter me at chess—”

“But it took eighteen moves last time. That’s an improve­ment.” His knife never slowed as he spoke.

“You finished your physics project in ten minutes,” she continued. “You just beat my high score in Total Zombie Massacre, and you even outperform me in my own kitchen.” A one-armed monkey could outperform her in the kitchen, but that was beside the point. She washed another carrot and then returned to her spot at the counter. “One of these days, I’ll find your kryptonite and win at something besides Puppy Love.”

“Actually, I beat your high score last night. Canine num­ber fifteen enjoyed having his ears scratched, so the game awarded bonus points for that. But don’t sell yourself short,” he said with a smile in his voice. “You throw a mean right hook.”

Cara laughed and the peeler slipped in her wet grasp, slic­ing the side of her index finger. She sucked a loud gasp.

In a flash, Aelyx was there. He pulled her to the sink, turned on the faucet, and held her hand beneath a stream of cool water. The sight of blood and the throb of her finger should have bothered her, but she was far too distracted by the warmth of Aelyx’s body pressed against her from behind. His hot breath tickled the skin on the side of her neck, and she unconsciously closed her eyes. The urge to lean into him and rest the back of her head on his shoulder, to mold her whole body to his, was almost uncontrollable.

Mom’s voice broke the spell, jerking Cara out of her haze. “You okay?” She inspected the cut. “It’s not deep.” She wad­ded a clean paper towel against the wound. “Here, hold this over it for a minute, and you two find something to do until dinner’s ready.”

“Come on.” Aelyx took her arm, leading her out the back door. “I wanted to show you something anyway.”

It was a perfect late-autumn evening, with the low sun glowing gently behind the dormant trees, softening the angles of their naked branches. A light chill brushed Cara’s cheeks, refreshing but not too frigid, and the sweet scent of wood smoke drifted on the breeze. Aelyx scanned the surrounding acreage using some kind of gadget that detected warm­blooded life-forms. Aside from a few squirrels, nothing was lurking out there, so he took her injured hand while towing her into the woods.

“Let’s see.” Gingerly, he lifted the paper towel. “No more bleeding. I think you’ll live.” He tucked the makeshift ban­dage in his pocket but kept her hand. “Maybe you should pay attention when you’re wielding sharp objects.”

“Hey, it’s your fault. You made me laugh.”

Turning her palm upward, he began tracing the lines with his thumb as they walked. His liquid-silver eyes blazed beneath dark lashes. “How can I make it up to you?”

Cara’s heart fluttered. She cleared her throat and said, “Teach me your chess strategy.” But that wasn’t the first thought that came to mind. Not even close.

“I don’t know.” He stroked her palm in circles. “It might take twenty moves to defeat you then.”

The heat radiating from Aelyx’s touch was making her dizzy, so she reclaimed her hand and turned her gaze to the forest floor. “So, uh, are you getting tired of all my blog ques­tions yet?”

“I think I can stand a few more.”

“Good, because people want to know how L’eihrs evolved. I guess it’s a preview of where humans are heading, right?”

He helped her over a patch of mud. “Yes and no. You have to remember most of our advances are due to selective breeding. For example, our brains grew larger over time, but because only those with extrasensory abilities were selected to reproduce, all L’eihrs can use Silent Speech.”

“That’s your name for telepathy?”

“Right.” He tapped an index finger against her temple. “Your brains will grow, but unless you stop procreating for love, your abilities won’t change.”

“What else?”

“We no longer have an appendix, but that’s also a result of organized breeding, not evolution. Let me think . . .” He paused for a moment. “Oh, if I focus, I can regulate my body temperature by several degrees.”

“No way!”

“Way,” he said with a grin. “Honestly, though, it’s easier to put on a sweater. There are a couple others that come to mind, like increased lung capacity and greater endurance.”

“This is so cool. I can’t believe I didn’t ask you sooner.” She slid a glance at him and bit her lip before adding, “I wouldn’t mind hearing about your weapons, either.” She’d wanted to broach the subject for weeks, but she didn’t know how. Nobody, not even the highest-ranking military officials, knew about them. She looked up and met his gaze. “Off the record?”

It took a lot to render Aelyx speechless, but this did the trick. He didn’t seem offended, more like contemplative, unsure of how much to reveal. They continued in silence, and when they reached a small stream, Aelyx pointed to a cluster of trees and ignored her question. “Look around. I want you to remember this place.”

“Why?” Glancing at the barren forest, she noted a few distinct markers: a boulder shaped like a kidney, an old deer blind nailed to the massive oak on her left, and a rotting fallen cedar damming the stream, pooling the water into an algae-coated, mucky pond.

He pointed to the charred remains of a tree, cleaved in half by lightning. “If anything happens and we get separated, I want you to meet me right there.”

“What do you mean if anything happens?”

He lowered his head to deliver a solemn look. “One of these days, things could get violent. Your military will prob­ably protect us both, but I’ve picked this spot as a rendezvous point.”

“Okay, but why here?”

A smile curved his lips. “Because this is where the ambas­sador parked my getaway car.”

Before she had a chance to ask what he was talking about, Aelyx took her hand and led her to the split tree. He reached down, scooped a handful of dirt and debris into his fist, then pointed high above their heads with his other hand. “Watch this.” With a mighty heave, he threw the dirt into the air, where it did something scientifically impossible: struck an invisible barrier and bounced back, showering them in peb­bles and dust.

She brushed off her sweater and face. “What was that?”

Aelyx pulled the key fob gadget from his back pocket, the same one he’d used to break into the boxing gym. Holding it above his head, he shouted, “Elire,” and two quick beeps pierced the air. Then, like something out of a science fiction flick, a sleek, silvery spacecraft morphed into view, suspended above them like a massive, solidified water droplet. “Cloaking device,” Aelyx explained. “Hides it from view.”

“Nice getaway car.” She grinned at him. “Let’s go for a ride!”

Aelyx shook his head, shouting Cara’s nickname again, and they watched the craft disappear. “My shuttle is like the credit card your father gave you last week. Only for life-threatening emergencies. Syrine and Eron have one, too. Just in case.”

“Seriously? You’re gonna show me that and not take me up for a spin?”

“Yes.” Chuckling, he wrapped an arm around her shoul­der. “If you’d ever experienced a dozen lashes with the iphet, you’d understand.”

“Oh. Sorry.” Once again, she’d forgotten that L’eihrs didn’t hand out detention for breaking the rules. And since free speech as she knew it in America didn’t seem to exist on L’eihr, his leaders might’ve forbidden him from discussing weapons. L’eihrs didn’t screw around, and she didn’t want him whipped with that electric thing. “I didn’t think about that when I asked about your weapons.”

“Would you really like to know?” he asked hesitantly. “I’ll tell you if you promise to keep it off the blog.”

“You sure? I don’t want you to do anything you’ll regret.”

“I trust you.”

“Okay, then.”

He took a deep breath and began. “Our weapons were once like yours—crude projectiles designed to damage the body. But over thousands of years, the weapons evolved as we did. They were designed to be more efficient and humane, and eventually one was created that killed without harming the body or the environment around the body.”

“How?”

“We call it iphal, which means ‘end.’ It delivers a concen­trated pulse of energy that disrupts the heart’s rhythm. The victim dies instantly, without pain and with no destruction to the tissue. There are iphals used for individuals—during an execution, for example. And there are larger ones used to neutralize a more comprehensive force, like an opposing battalion.”

“Whoa,” she heard herself whisper. “You can take out whole squadrons with a burst of energy?” She hadn’t expected anything that frightening. No wonder the L’eihrs kept it a secret.

Aelyx seemed to sense her panic. “L’eihrs don’t attack without provocation. We really aren’t an aggressive people.”

Sure, but humans would go ballistic if they learned L’eihrs could end their lives with a simple heart-zapper. She couldn’t tell anyone, not even Mom or Dad.

Suddenly her mind shifted gears and she remembered Aelyx’s mysterious late-night trips into the woods. Everything clicked. “This is where you’ve been going—to check on your getaway car!”

His brows lowered in confusion at the abrupt change in their conversation.

“The times you snuck out of the house,” she explained. “You’ve been coming here.”

“Oh.” Slowly, understanding dawned across his face, followed by something that looked a lot like guilt. He hesitated long enough to tell her a lie would follow. “Yes, I had to make sure the cloaking device hadn’t . . . uh . . . disengaged.”

“You weren’t coming here?”

At that, his chin lifted. “I just told you I was.” Then he turned and stalked back the way they’d come.

Cara knew a guy on the defensive when she saw one. Eric used to do the same thing—deflect and get angry with her when he’d done something wrong. So what had Aelyx done wrong? And more importantly, how would his people punish him if they found out?