CHAPTER 1
Alexa Turner
Silver clouds billowed and pushed outward in one section of the night sky, and I bit my lower lip while staring through binoculars at the massive ship breaching Earth’s atmosphere.
Slow and silent, it crept across New Mexico’s white-sand desert, casting dark shadows over rocks, cacti, and wildflowers.
The round object rotated clockwise as bright blue lights blinked in the opposite direction across its black hull.
In my wildest dreams, I never thought of witnessing something like this, and I didn’t believe the president when an emergency broadcast statement interrupted a session with one of my students earlier today.
Since the inhabitants of Earth received a warning that a ship would enter our atmosphere, it seemed as if the world had stopped turning. People were afraid, hunkering in their homes, and all my students canceled their upcoming music lessons.
But excitement thrummed in my veins for Earth’s visitors. I wanted to see them, view their ship, and hear what they had to say.
The binoculars lowered when the ship appeared to change course, and I pressed against the rocks when I realized it was coming toward my position.
I should be afraid, run into the safety of my home, or lower my face, but my smile spread as the UFO coasted nearer.
Small pebbles vibrated on the ship’s approach, scurrying across the ground as the desert sand shifted.
With my head tilted up and resting against the rock, I kept perfectly still while it floated above me, blue lights blinking in a steady rhythm, and the rotation almost hypnotic. Sharp angles and extensions ran the length of its hull, along with many antenna-like rods.
Disappointment settled in my spirit when it continued over my home and headed north. With my knees pulled to my chest, I watched it depart, wishing I were on it and knew their secrets.
My thoughts drifted to the story my grandmother told me before she passed away, a fantastical story I never believed until now.
“Your mother said she met a man in the desert, and she talked about him so much that eventually I investigated. She didn’t know I’d followed her.
The man had gray skin, white hair, and was taller than any man I’d ever seen before.
I forbade your mother from meeting with him again, but she disobeyed, was always sneaking off, said I didn’t understand, became quiet and distanced from me.
She still dated your father, so I thought her behavior was normal for a girl of eighteen until I found her nightgown smeared in desert sand and blood…
and until she was pregnant. Your mother swore the baby belonged to her boyfriend, the man you know as your father, but I’m certain she lied to protect you.
I think she loved that strange man, but he left, and your mother acted as if it never happened.
You belong to the stars, Alexa. Never forget it because they will come back for you one day. ”
I stared at the ship until I couldn’t see it anymore, with Grandma’s story in my thoughts.
I’d even asked my mother about it before her death, but she laughed it off as if it were a joke.
Considering an alien was involved, I suppose I could understand her resilient attitude toward the truth.
People would either have made fun of her or taken her child.
With a chuckle, I pushed off the ground and wiped sand off my jeans, still not fully believing her story or understanding my reaction.
“Something funny, Alexa?”
“You shouldn’t be out here, Grandpa,” I teased. “Did you see it?”
He glanced at the sky. “Well, before the world loses its mind, I’d like to show you something.”
“It’s a little late for exploration.”
He grinned and nodded toward the house. “Come with me.”
“What’s so important that it can’t wait until tomorrow?”
“An alien species arriving hurried things along.”
“What things?”
My grandfather continued past the house toward an outcropping of rocks before stopping. “This thing,” he said, gesturing toward a crack I’d never noticed in the daylight.
“What is it?”
“The entrance to the mine. By day it’s just another rock, but the stars and moon reveal an entrance to a gemstone mine. I found it when you were young.”
“Why are you showing me this now? I knew it was here somewhere, and that’s enough for me.”
“My time is short, and you need to know,” he said, withdrawing a flashlight from his back pocket. “Follow me.”
“Need to know what?” I grumbled, turning sideways and sliding inside the narrow entrance.
He grabbed my hand before dragging me along a corridor that opened into a massive cavern. A hole at the top revealed the night sky, and a beam of moonlight provided enough illumination to see the breathtaking size.
“Don’t be afraid, Alexa.”
“What?” I questioned just as turquoise lights glowed on the walls and floors.
“When you were a child, you ran away from us one day, and we found you here. The turquoise responded to you then, just as it does now. Look at your hands, Alexa.”
I lifted one hand, walking farther into the cavern until I stood in the center, staring at the turquoise light or orbs that seemed to move through my veins. “What is this?”
“We didn’t know then, and I don’t know now, but I think it has something to do with Earth’s visitors because the lights on their ships are the same color.”
“Are you saying Grandma’s story is true?”
“We don’t know why it reacts to you or what it means. Do you feel anything?”
“Energy,” I murmured, my face lifting to the turquoise in the walls. The gemstones brightened and pulsed faster until they matched the rhythm of my heart. “Look at that, Grandpa.”
Great veins began spreading over the walls until the cave lit up bright blue.
“We need to leave, Alexa, before someone sees this.”
Luminescent light outlined my body, and I marveled at the aura contracting around me. “I don’t want to leave.”
“Until we know what it means, you must,” my grandfather wheezed before breaking into a coughing fit.
The worried expression on his face, the cough, the sweat beading on his brow, and the way he leaned against the cavern wall brought clarity and broke whatever spell the stones had woven around me. The second I reached for him, the light dimmed.
“Grandpa,” I shouted, grabbing his hand.
“Tired, Alexa. I need to rest.”
“Let’s go. I’ll help you.”
He tried to smile between coughs before I led him from the cave.
“Don’t let anyone near it, Alexa. They can’t know. They can’t see.”
I nodded, helping him into the house and into his recliner. “Our secret. I promise.”