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  “Hand him over,” I said.

  “It’s not that simple. I’m not concerned about him,” she motioned toward Micah. “We’ve developed the technology to keep their distractions and manipulations out of our heads. But you might be a problem.”

  Movement caught my eye, and I glanced quickly over Agent Warner’s shoulder. A rack of clothing rustled, and the barrel of a gun was sticking out. Had her backup arrived? I glared, angry with myself. We were in a store with a freaking wall full of guns, and it hadn’t occurred to any of us to arm ourselves. Not that it would have done much good when she had Cody as a human shield.

  “Here’s how we are going to handle this. The two of you will come closer. I’m going to shoot you with tranquilizers. They’re fast-acting, still in the experimental stages, but they should do the job. Then Cody will be free to go.”

  “No!” Cody shoved her and she stumbled back.

  Agent Warner didn’t waste any time. She fired off the tranquilizers, and there was a sharp pang in my shoulder. Her right hand man tried to grab hold of Cody, but as the son of a “crazy man,” he was pretty good at squirming away from a bully. The man grabbed on the edge of Cody’s jacket, but Cody broke free just as Auggie jumped out from behind the rack of clothing. He stuck the barrel of a shotgun into the man’s back before he could reach for the gun at his waist.

  The backroom doors thumped behind me as I staggered. Cody caught hold of me on one side, Micah the other.

  Austin and Angelica, both armed, joined our ranks. “Don’t move,” Austin shouted. “These things are loaded.”

  I cringed as Agent Warner called his bluff. Not seeming to care about the gun at her subordinate’s back, she dropped the trank gun and grabbed the one at her hip, pointing it at Austin.

  I pulled away from Micah and Cody, stumbling forward. My head was clouding, but I reached out my hands, focusing my energy and anger at Agent Warner. The pain coursed through my head, but it helped me push through the grogginess. Agent Warner’s body flew backwards, into the stand holding the huge stuffed carcass of the grizzly bear. Blood gushed from her nose as her face hit the floor, but she scrambled for her gun, undeterred.

  I fell, my head pulsing and my body and brain filling with fuzz. At the sound of footsteps, I jerked my head up to see Micah running toward Agent Warner. He was too late. She fired, and he fell back.

  I growled, reaching my hands out and summoning up every last ounce of strength and sense I had left. The huge grizzly tottered forward. He fell over onto Agent Warner, a glint in his eye as if he’d been waiting for this moment of revenge on humankind ever since they’d placed him on that humiliating perch.

  I turned to Micah, crawling toward his blurry form. I had to know if he was alive. Before I could reach him, the fog overtook me, and I dropped my head on the floor.

  Chapter 26

  My eyes opened. There was deep blue sky above me. All around me, bright yellow mustard weed, lit by the setting sun, rose up as if trying to reach it.

  “She’s awake!” Cody lunged forward.

  Kaela pulled him back. “Careful.”

  He put his hand on my head and fuzzed it gently. “You’re going to be okay now,” he whispered. I wasn’t sure if he was telling me or himself.

  Images flashed through my head. The fear in Cody’s face, guns, a giant grizzly. It was all pretty muddled. But I remembered that Agent Warner had threatened Cody. She’d threatened Micah and my friends. It hadn’t gone well for her.

  “He’s awake, too,” Auggie said gruffly.

  I turned my head, glimpsing most of Micah’s pale face and platinum blond hair through the weeds. He looked at me, and his lips turned up, but I expected that was all he could do. He looked fragile and weak. He looked close to death.

  I tried to sit up and get to him, but when I moved a sharp pain tore through my stomach. I reached down, expecting to feel blood. It was dry. Micah’s hand reached out to touch me.

  “Don’t move, Lexi,” Angelica said, her brow creased.

  “I feel like I’m dying,” I said, my voice weak. I looked up at all the faces that stared down at me. Micah’s fingers brushed my shoulder and I looked at him again. We were dying.

  “Um, remember when we saw E.T. as kids?” Austin asked, his voice gentle. “Micah lost consciousness right after you did. He had barely enough time to scramble the brains of those two government-issued idiots.”

  “Can you do that?” I remembered Micah telling me his mind manipulation powers could confuse someone, but were mostly only good for altering emotions.

  “I think”—he gasped for breath—“you aren’t the only one whose abilities are enhanced now.”

  “Yeah, he did that with a gunshot to the abdomen and losing consciousness. He was almost as awesome as you.” Austin smiled weakly.

  “Now if he can just learn to act like a gentleman, he might even get my blessing,” Kaela said.

  I slowly reached my hand up to Micah’s, gripping it tightly.

  “As far as we could tell, you were the only one hit with the dart,” Austin said. “But you were both out cold. Then after we got you here you were crying out in pain, holding your stomach. We remembered the telepathy, and that allergy thing. You two are connected in some weird way aren’t you?”

  I nodded.

  “Come on, you guys, I told you we need to get them to a hospital. This is stupid!” Kaela shouted.

  Angelica crouched down near me. “We didn’t know what to do. We were hoping we could bring someone here to help. Him, being ... what he is, we thought he shouldn’t go to a hospital.”

  I shook my head. No way. What if they found out what he was? I wasn’t too keen on the idea of going myself, and risking getting caught again.

  “We didn’t even have time to figure out how bad things were,” Angelica continued. “We didn’t realize that you two were synched ’til we got out here in the middle of nowhere. Lexi, I think we have to take the chance. You two are going to die out here.”

  “No. Micah. Your ship.”

  “We don’t have time to get you to a ship,” Austin said, his voice firm. “The hospital’s only a few minutes away. We can get you there. And the upside? No aliens.”

  “We’re dying now,” I whispered. “They are the only ones who can fix us. Micah, take us there.”

  His jaw clenched as he looked up at the sky, then his eyes locked on mine. I could see the struggle without hearing his words in my head. But we both knew it. It was the only way.

  He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and tapped the screen a few times. Then we were in shade. Above us was a patch of sky that didn’t quite match the rest.

  “Just me and him,” I whispered. “You guys have to keep Cody safe, and get my mom.”

  Auggie looked up at the sky. “I’d sure love a shot at one of them.” The disappointment on his face almost made me feel bad.

  “Me too,” Angelica said. “They took my aunt. I’m not going to just sit around here anymore when I can do something.”

  “We’re not doing this again,” I whispered. “We’ll see what we can find out about her. You’ll do more good here, reaching out to people who need help. Find a way to get this tracker out. Keep my friends and family safe.”

  Micah had said there was no way to remove the tracker. I believed him. But I hoped Angelica didn’t.

  “Besides,” I said, “it will be less suspicious with just the two of us.”

  “Fine.” Angelica wiped her eyes.

  Kaela smoothed my hair away from my face.

  I barely had time to whisper goodbye before I felt myself rising into the air. Still gripping Micah’s hand tightly, I wondered if we would survive the trip up, let alone make it back to Earth again.

  Chapter 27

  I looked at Micah’s grey face. The bright lights of the ship made him look worse than he had on the ground in the sunset light. The look in his eyes told me I didn’t look any better.

  “It’s going to be all right,” he said.
“We just have to make it to an examination room.”

  I didn’t even have the energy to ask how we were going to do that.

  “Micah!” Miriam ran through the door, falling down beside us. “What happened?” She glanced at me, as if the answer had just come to her. “Never mind.”

  Then she disappeared. I looked at Micah, searching for an answer. Would she come back? Was she going to turn us in?

  “She will help us,” he whispered.

  Seconds later, Miriam was back with what I could only describe as hover boards. She lowered one board to the ground, and carefully scooted Micah onto it. I yelped in pain, but Micah didn’t flinch, although it was his pain I’d felt. Then she lowered the second. Micah’s eyes were on me, wet with regret I knew was for me. I bit my lower lip to keep myself from crying out again.

  Restraining devices wrapped gently around us, and the boards raised slightly off the ground. Miriam walked out the doors, and our boards followed after her. The ride was smooth enough to be relatively painless. A door swooshed open and we were in a room I remembered too well. The smell, and the sight of the examination table, were more than I could handle. I swallowed and squeezed my eyes shut. Throwing up might be enough to kill me right now.

  I peered through my eyelashes as Miriam hurried over to a human-sized capsule. She pressed a button and it opened.

  “She’ll put you in there,” he explained. “Much of the healing will be done without effort on her part. You will live. We have healed worse.”

  My eyes burned as I looked at Micah. “What about you?”

  “I will be fine. There is another chamber on the ship.”

  “Wrong,” Miriam said. “I mean, you are both going to live.” Her voice was firm, as if failure wasn’t an option. “But this is the only capsule on the ship in working order. Micah, you will go first.”

  “She will go first.”

  “I am required to make certain your safety is assured first and foremost.”

  “She will go first. It is an order.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” I said. “If one of us dies, we both do. You are the one with the hole in your abdomen,” I said. “It makes sense for you to go. Then I’ll be healed too.”

  “Also, you’re too weak to try to fight me right now,” Miriam said.

  Micah clenched his jaw. “Rest,” he said, reaching over to touch my cheek. “This will be over soon.”

  With Micah looking so close to death, I didn’t argue. I didn’t say that the government probably had my name as well as my family’s, and that being a test subject was a done deal for me, and Cody too, since he was doubtless in the Slimes’ system as well. It all felt pretty hopeless. Still, being alive was the first step to getting out of this mess, if it were possible. I nodded my head and watched, gritting my teeth from the pain, as Miriam helped Micah into the chamber.

  I lay still, watching Miriam, who carefully monitored the machine. I wondered what was going on inside of me. Did I have the same injuries inside as Micah, or did I just feel his pain? Either way, I knew it was true. I would die if he did.

  The thought hit me with full force now that I was lying here in this sterile, quiet room. When my dad had abandoned us, it crushed us all. I didn’t want Mom and Cody to suffer any more loss. I tried to imagine how Kaela and Austin would explain things to my mom. They’d have to tell her the truth. Mom had to know that Cody was in danger.

  I gasped as pain ripped through my stomach again. Something was happening.

  Miriam glanced over. “Don’t worry. Repairs on Micah’s injuries have begun.”

  “Ah,” I groaned. “So it hurts because it’s working.”

  “You could say that,” she said.

  I gripped the edge of my hover board.

  “I’m sorry,” Miriam said. “An injury this severe will take a while to heal.”

  The pain seemed to last forever. I closed my eyes, imagining I was safe in my living room, which led me to thinking about how I could help Cody after this was all over if I made it back. Miriam walked in and out a couple of times. She looked at me curiously every once in a while, as if she wanted to ask questions, but she didn’t. I didn’t ask her anything, either. It was like neither of us were sure how much the other one knew, so we both played it safe. Not that we’d ever spoken much.

  Finally the pain ebbed away. I relaxed, dropping my arms off the sides of the board.

  Miriam smiled. “It was a success. You will both be all right. Micah will now be scanned again to make sure there were no complications or anything. Then there will be a rest period.”

  “Can we—”

  “Can you what?”

  “Never mind.”

  It would be best if we could skip the whole rest period part of the process. It felt like we’d already been here for hours. Micah and I had to get out of here and figure out what to do next. Cody was okay for now, while my friends were watching him, but I didn’t know about my mom. If there were any more government agents on our tail, they might be willing to use her for leverage, just like Agent Warner had used Cody. But I kept quiet. Miriam didn’t need to know I was in a hurry.

  I shifted on my board, tingling with the effort not to fidget. Finally I felt like I couldn’t lay there another minute, so slowly, I stretched my body and sat up.

  “Be careful,” she said. “You may still experience weakness. I’ll go find you some food while the scan is underway.”

  Alien food? I’d get a chance to experience Micah’s fascination with food from another planet. Of course, he’d said it wasn’t very good, so I didn’t expect to feel the same sense of pleasure Micah did in the cafeteria on a daily basis.

  As Miriam left I stood up and walked to the capsule. I wished I could see Micah’s face, to let him know he was going to be okay, and that I was okay. I wished I could touch him.

  I paced around the room, coming near enough to the door that it slid open. Curiosity overtook me as I stared out into the ship. I wanted to look around, do something to distract myself. If Miriam was the only other person on the ship, it wouldn’t be too dangerous. But I remembered Teavers’ unexpected visit the last time I was on board, and a shiver went through me.

  Then I heard a voice.

  Chapter 28

  Whoever it was, she sounded confused and vulnerable, like someone whose mind had been manipulated.

  I followed the sound down the hall until I was sure I’d found the right door. If I stepped in front of it, it would open. I stood back, trying to peek into a window in the door without opening it. There was a girl sitting on the edge of an examination table with her head down. I couldn’t see anything else, so I crept forward a step.

  The door opened and I inhaled sharply. I glance around, just in case, and sighed with relief when I saw she was alone in there.

  The girl lifted her head and looked at me.

  I gasped, stumbling backwards.

  “Cheyenne?” I crept back into the room and the door slid shut behind me.

  “Oh, hi, Lexi. Where’s your gown? They really like you to wear a gown, even though they’re ugly.”

  I stared at her, unable to find my words. I’d never seen Cheyenne so chill before. “Oh.” I looked down at myself. “I’ll be sure to get one.”

  With the spacey look in Cheyenne’s blue eyes and the calm in her face, she might have been on a beach somewhere. It must have been what I looked like the first time I’d come here. The thought made my chest constrict. I didn’t care for Mean Cheyenne, but this wasn’t Cheyenne at all, and it was even harder to look at.

  “Is this your first time here?” I asked.

  “Yes. It’s nice.”

  “Yeah. It’s real nice.”

  “I’m not sure what they want with me.” She cocked her head, her dazed blue eyes making me more uncomfortable by the minute. “Why did they let you in? Don’t you have to have a special invitation?”

  And there she was. It was almost nice to know Cheyenne was still in there somewhere.

>   I took a step back. They said this thing was usually catch and release, anyway. Surely she’d be fine.

  “She said I passed the test,” Cheyenne said. “Did you?”

  My stomach dropped. Cheyenne was not going to be okay. She was compatible, maybe even a Lifer. Besides, it was kind of my fault she was here. She’d taken Ethan’s place on my order. I would have helped him, and I had to help her.

  I lifted her wrist. There was no scar. So there was no tracker. That was good news for Cheyenne. I could get her out of here before her monitor and the tracking fluid were inserted. But even if I did, she’d already been chosen. They’d just pick her up again. I was going to have to talk to Micah about this when he was done with his scan.

  What was I going to do with her in the meantime, though? I couldn’t bring her to the examination room. Miriam wouldn’t take kindly to me running off with her test subject.

  “Cheyenne, I need you to just stay here. I’ll come back for you. Don’t worry.”

  “I’m not worried. This is a privilege. She said so.” She grinned, sitting up straighter. “I’m special.”

  “That you are.” I couldn’t help smiling as I backed out of the room.

  I headed toward the examination room to see if Micah was finished with his scan. Before I reached the door someone grabbed my arm. I pulled away, jerking my head to see Miriam beside me.

  “You aren’t supposed to wander the ship alone.”

  “I’m sorry,” I said, following her back into the room. “I was worried that Micah should be done by now, but I couldn’t find you. Is there something wrong?”

  Her eyes squinted as she stared at the control panel. “No. It won’t be long.”

  Miriam handed me a container of white paste. I lifted it to my nose and sniffed.

  “Ugh. I’m supposed to eat this? No wonder Micah likes Earth food so much.”

  She lifted her chin. “That will supply all the nutrients your body needs. It’s better for you than any food on Earth.”

  “Right. The superiority thing. I know.” I dipped my finger in. I wasn’t going to pass on the only alien meal I’d hopefully ever be offered. It had a slightly gritty texture. I could taste whatever had given it that unpleasant smell, but it wasn’t as strongly flavored as I’d expected. Overall it was rather blah, which according to Micah, was kind of how the Slimes did things.