Chapter 13 #2
“Holy shit, Grandpa Eric!” Susie exclaims, looking at Lila. “Dude, your grandpa is smoking hot.”
Lila’s skin tone turns a little green like she might vomit, but Eric preens like a damn peacock as he lets the glamour fade away.
“How about we drop all the forcefields so everyone can be involved in the conversation,” Eric suggests and begins deactivating them all.
“Wait.” A blond dude with shimmery skin like a cyborg steps out of one of the cells and stops Eric from deactivating the last cell. “Not that one. Leave it for now.”
I wander down to the cell and peer into it with Eric, but it’s dark, and we can’t see beyond the first couple of feet. Shrugging, we return to the others.
It’s noisy and confusing as the seven captives hug and reacquaint themselves with each other.
Eric, Lila, and I stay out of the way while this happens, letting the group have their moment.
Lila watches with a small, genuine smile on her face as both Susie and Mark are embraced and kissed by four of the five aliens.
She nudges me, and I lean down so she can whisper in my ear.
“I think Susie and Mark must have given their consent, and from the looks of it, it was enthusiastic.” She giggles but looks pleased with the situation, and I allow the breath I’d been holding to ease out.
All of them look really happy together, and I’m thrilled for my cousin.
He deserves all the love he can get. Not everyone finds their intimate, but this much love more than makes up for it.
“Okay, shall we get the introductions out of the way? I want this all to be done by the time the agent regains consciousness again.” Eric steps up, obviously impatient to get out of here.
“Aura, it’s a pleasure to see you.” Eric holds out a hand to the Morpheian.
They are wearing a male glamour at the moment, which I’m assuming is for the agent’s sensibilities.
I also know, like me, they don’t like to show their true form to just anyone.
Aura beams and pushes Eric’s hand out of the way before embracing him, kissing him on both cheeks.
“Eric, you sexy man, you are a sight for sore eyes,” Aura gushes, and Eric’s cheeks tinge pink with embarrassment, which is a completely different reaction from when Susie said something similar.
“Thank you for coming to our rescue. I’m afraid we’ve been set up.
” They drop their arms and let go of a blushing Eric.
“Yes, we had assumed as much. You can share it all with us when we get back to the ship, but it’s Susie and Mark we need to worry about now.
What did Agent Smith mean when he informed us that they are both aliens?
” The color in his cheeks returns to normal, and his brows pinch together as he tries to figure out the truth.
“Let me introduce you to my family first. I think you know Xane, but this is Crimson and Savannah, and Ricky is our new friend. This is Eric Adams, one of the proprietors of the Galaxy Circus, Xavier Colest, heir to the warlock empire, and…” They trail off when they get to the female still plastered to my side.
“This is Lila, my intimate,” I tell them all, beaming with pride, and Aura’s eyebrows jump.
“Well, congratulations, my friend, that is amazing news.”
“And what he’s also forgetting to tell you is that she is our granddaughter and heir to the Galaxy Circus.” I didn’t think Aura’s eyebrows could get any higher, but they manage to outdo themselves.
“Well, Saturn’s rings, that is simply wonderful news. I know you’ve been searching for her for a long time.” Aura pulls Lila out of my arms and hauls her into theirs, hugging her tightly. “Welcome, child! We are so excited to finally meet you.”
Lila graciously hugs Aura back when Susie gives her a quick nod of reassurance. Everyone else exchanges polite hellos before Eric huffs, his foot tapping with impatience again. I know he must be desperate to leave and make the journey to Celestia.
“Can we get to the story now?” he grumbles, and Aura rolls their eyes and blows out a raspberry at him.
“Fine, so both Susie and Mark were scanned by a Jelliad who informed us of their extraterrestrial origins. Mark is a Celestian who was kidnapped as a baby and hidden on Earth. Without the Celestian maturing ceremony, he never gained his powers or wings and has been passing as a human.”
You could have heard a pin drop in the room as Eric, Lila, and I take in this information.
The three of us stare at the man in question, who squirms uncomfortably under our inquisitive gazes.
Savannah reaches out and grabs his hand.
When they meet, hers glows, sending him reassuring vibes, and he relaxes.
“Holy fuck!” Lila whispers. “Out of all the people in the world, the lost alien ends up with my roommate.”
“Well, actually, we think that may be why.” Xane, who has been silent up until now, steps forward.
“It seems that living with Lila may have activated a dormant Skarrian gene inside of Susie. Most humans have lost all signs of ever being from anywhere else but Earth, but occasionally, a mutated gene will appear. Nothing usually comes of this, but we think living with Lila, who is Skarrian, somehow triggered that gene. Then, when she was visiting with you, she must have come into contact with Skarrian water. She is probably only a couple of bottles away from activating any latent powers.”
Now we all swing our attention to Susie. “Did you drink the unlabeled blue bottles of water in my fridge at the hotel?” Lila asks her friend, cocking her head to the side quizzically.
“Yeah, they were freaking delicious. I meant to ask the hotel where they got them from, but I forgot. I assumed the no label thing was a funky marketing ploy.” Susie’s chocolate brown curls bob as she answers.
The sweats she’s wearing are practically swallowing her, and she has bare feet, but she doesn’t look like she’s been treated badly.
“Well, that answers that question. Those were bottles of Skarrian water. I’ve been basically mainlining them in the hopes they will activate my powers.”
The room sinks into silence again as Eric and I digest the information we just heard.
Suddenly, Eric claps his hands, breaking the silence and causing Ricky, who I think is a cyborg, to jump.
Aura quickly snuggles him into their side in reassurance.
“Okay then. Overlooking the fact that you had a Jelliad on the premises—I am not even going to ask—it seems that Susie and Mark are indeed our responsibility.” He turns to the two in question, his eyes softening with sympathy.
“I’m sorry, but you can’t return to your everyday, Earthling lives.
You are both on Agent Smith’s radar now.
You have damaging knowledge, and even if you weren’t an alien, I doubt he would let you go.
I’m afraid you are going to have to come with us. ”
Susie sidles up to Mark’s other side and grabs hold of the hand Savannah is not holding.
“We are fine with that. Knowing what we know now, we couldn’t return to our old lives and be happy. If we have access to a phone and the internet, both of us will resign from our positions with the hospital,” Mark says, not upset about it at all, but Xane, Eric, and I exchange a loaded glance.
You tell them. I don’t want them to be upset with me, Xane begs me quietly in my head, and it’s all I can do to stop myself from smiling at seeing my cousin smitten with these two. To ease his concern, I slightly nod my head in confirmation.
“I’m afraid it would be better if we faked your deaths—a car accident on the way back from Vegas, and due to the older nature of the car, neither of you survived your injuries. We can teleport back to your home and retrieve any belongings you wish to keep.”
“But what about money? How are we going to be able to live without access to our money or jobs or anything?” Susie sounds distraught, her voice going an octave higher on each word, and Eric jumps in.
“We can find positions for both of you with the circus. It is not a problem.”
“We also have ways of bequeathing everything to a relative, and later, you appear as that relative to claim your inheritance next time we return to Earth,” I assure them both.
“Okay, well, that sounds reasonable, and thank you. We had planned to try and find out about my birth family anyway, and this is a big help,” Mark says solemnly.
A small smile appears on Eric’s lips. “It just so happens our next stop is Celestia. We canceled the rest of the tour, and we will be leaving immediately after we can retrieve your belongings. My brother is not well, and the Celestian healers may be the only ones who can save him.”
The group reacts favorably to this just as Agent Smith groans on the floor. I let my mist surround me again.
“Right, let’s take care of this then.” I wave a hand, wiping his last memories, and help him to his feet before straightening him out. I make him think he has a migraine coming on and that he just wants to be done with this alien crap.
“Well, what was the verdict?” he demands, looking at me.