Brandi joined her boyfriend and raked a disdainful gaze over Cara. “Not anymore. She’s been up the alien’s ass since he got here.”
Cara couldn’t draw enough air to say, You’re one to talk, but it must’ve shown on her face because Brandi made a disgusted noise and sneered, “I was never into him. As if I’d let an alien touch me.”
Eric muttered, “Her mom’s head of intelligence for our chapter.”
It seemed so trivial now, but Cara remembered the day she’d caught Brandi trying to shove a note in her locker. She really was behind the threats—she’d probably followed her and pushed Ashley down the stairs, too. And for what? To gain her mom’s approval and to date the homecoming king?
Marcus hocked a loogie and spat it at Cara’s feet. He pointed his rifle at her. “Where’s the L’eihr?”
Cara shook her head against the ground and wheezed, “The army took him.”
“I think she’s lying,” Brandi said. “Or she’d be with them, too.
Marcus slid his hand along the rifle stock. “I’ll get it out of her.”
“No.” Eric scrambled in front of her and did something far worse than kicking Cara in the chest. He pointed to Aelyx in the treetop. “He’s up there!”
When Marcus tipped back his head and spotted the left half of Aelyx’s body disappearing into thin air, he didn’t stop to question the validity of what he’d seen. Instead, he tucked the rifle stock into his armpit, raised the weapon, and squinted one eye to take aim.
Cara didn’t hesitate, either. She curled her hand around Eric’s fallen bat and pushed onto all fours. She gritted her teeth, ignoring the flames lapping at her ribs, and swung with all her strength at the side of Marcus’s knee. His leg cracked and he collapsed, skewing his shot as he pulled the trigger.
Gunfire pierced her eardrums, followed by Marcus’s screams of agony. Dropping the bat, Cara crumpled into a heap and began dry heaving. How was it possible to suffer this much without passing out? She curled into the fetal position and darted one last glance into the trees—seeing nothing. Aelyx had made it into the cloaked shuttle.
“You idiot!” Brandi raised her club to strike Cara, but Eric shoved her aside and bent low to snatch his bat off the ground. He should have gone for the rifle. By the time he realized his mistake, Brandi had beat him to it. She raised the barrel in line with Eric’s belt buckle while he dropped the bat and held both palms forward.
“She dumped you for an alien,” Brandi told him. “And you’re still defending her?”
Eric backed away. “Jus—”
Before he got a word out, the air around them warmed to the temperature of a scorching July afternoon and vibrated so thickly Cara’s teeth rattled. Brandi scrunched her forehead, darting narrowed glances in every direction, while Cara and Eric exchanged a knowing look. She wished she hadn’t told him about the ship, but there was nothing she could do about that now.
Cara’s left eye had begun to swell shut, so she used the right one to scan the clearing for a spot wide enough for Aelyx to land the shuttle. There was only one place—right on top of the stream ten yards behind Marcus’s now-limp body. Oh, sure, he could pass out.
“What’s that?” Brandi demanded, hands trembling as she cocked the rifle and pointed it at Cara’s face. “What’s the L’eihr doing to us?”
Cara floundered for a lie—something so clever it would send Brandi running—but apparently, the simple act of remaining conscious had drained all her brainpower.
“Make him stop!” Brandi screamed, half hysterical. If she shuddered any harder, she’d pull the trigger whether she meant to or not.
Shaking her head, Cara held up one hand in surrender. “I don’t—”
“I’m gonna count to three,” Brandi cried, “and if it doesn’t stop, I’ll kill you. I swear to God!”
“Whoa, whoa, calm down.” Eric approached Brandi, but she stepped back and pointed the rifle at him in warning before turning it on Cara.
“One!”
“It’s just the ship!” Cara said.
“She’s right,” Eric echoed. “You can’t see it ’cause it’s cloaked.”
“Two!”
“Jesus Christ, Brandi, I’m telling the truth!”
“You gotta chill out.” Eric inched toward Brandi like she was a wounded animal. “You don’t wanna shoot her.”
“Three!”
Clenching her eyes shut, Cara curled into a ball and wrapped both arms around her head as if she could block the bullet with her sweater. Her life didn’t flash before her eyes like she’d expected. Instead, her heart pounded painfully against her cracked ribs and her whole body flashed cold, despite the sultry air. She heard Aelyx call her name and then a shot, and she flinched, waiting to feel the bullet’s impact.
But it never came. After several seconds, it occurred to her she hadn’t been hit. Tentatively, she peeked out from under one arm.
Eric had Brandi pinned to a tree, but he struggled to hold her as a bright spot of blood blossomed out from a hole in his shirtsleeve.
Aelyx dashed into view, kneeling on the ground and gently brushing back her hair. “Can you move?” he asked.
She pushed him aside, whispering, “Eric’s shot.”
“The bullet just grazed him,” Aelyx said in a rush. “We have to go. Hold on to me.”
The slightest movement brought searing pain, but she wrapped her arms around Aelyx’s neck and held her breath while he carried her past the scuffle to the spacecraft and set her gingerly atop the passenger seat. While he strapped her in with the greatest of care, she peered out the open door at Eric, who’d managed to wrestle the rifle away from Brandi. Clearly outnumbered, Brandi turned tail and bolted, leaving her injured boyfriend behind.
Aelyx climbed over Cara and into the pilot’s seat. Placing the pads of his fingers lightly against a steely panel that reminded her of a dashboard, he whispered something in L’eihr and the doors began to hiss closed.
She watched Eric nod good-bye. With half a smile and watery eyes, he mouthed something she couldn’t quite interpret, and for just one second, she saw a flash of her old friend.
And then she was gone.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Cara gasped when a pair of cool metal shears brushed the skin on her abdomen, causing the L’eihr medic who wielded them to pause and offer a questioning glance.
“Sorry,” Cara said, “it’s just cold.”
The medic, a soft-spoken girl with the longest eyelashes Cara had ever seen, continued cutting away Cara’s sweater, sending a tiny pearl button clinking to the examination table. When the last remaining wool scraps had fallen, Cara’s chest broke out in goose bumps. The air—or, rather, the lack thereof—sixty miles above Earth was brutally frigid, despite the heated ventilation.
Cara picked up the button and rolled it between her thumb and index finger while glancing around the immaculate gray-walled exam room. A variety of foreign instruments hung on the walls, and she tried to guess their purposes. Tilting her head, she leaned to the side to inspect a polished metallic rod. Aside from delivering a good bludgeoning, she couldn’t imagine how it was useful.
“Please be still,” the girl said in a thick accent similar to French-Polynesian. “This will be uncomfortable, but traveling at light speed will widen the fissures in your ribs if we don’t mend them first.”
“We’ll reach light speed?” That surprised Cara, since they weren’t going directly to L’eihr. Aelyx’s leaders were bringing Troy and meeting them halfway for an emergency hearing.
The girl smiled, but her eyes were vacant. “Yes, now hold still.”