𝗦𝗣𝗔𝗖𝗘 𝗕𝗢𝗬 | 𝑒𝑧𝑟𝑎 𝑏𝑟𝑖𝑑𝑔𝑒𝑟

xii. kidnappy time

꧁꧂

Ezra grabbed me by the wrist, pulling me down to duck behind the wall of my gazebo. I was still confused, and now disoriented because I had been harshly and suddenly yanked away.

I blinked, watching as Ezra worriedly peered over the wall. "What do you mean, 'not exactly'?"

He pursed his lips, and I could see apprehension in his eyes. "Well... y'know the Galactic Empire, right?"

"Wait, the what? No??"

Ezra mumbled something under his breath in frustration. "Why are you Earthers so oblivious?"

"Info now, jabs later."

"Whatever- so, the Empire is pretty much what the name says. They're tyrannical, they're evil, they've absolutely destroyed the universe," Angrily, Ezra began to explain himself through gritted teeth. "They've taken so much from so many innocent people throughout the universe, and the guy in that ship? He's one of their most dangerous. The Grand Inquisitor. And he's after me and my crew."

Given how Ezra's ears and face were red with anger, and the way he spoke about these people, he definitely had a vendetta against them. I couldn't help but shrink into a little ball, pulling my knees up to my chest. I really couldn't understand how, for millions of years, humanity had no idea about a huge intergalactic war going on right in our neighborhood. Really? Not a single person knew? I suddenly felt small. Vulnerable. Like an easy target. Like Earth was an easy target. If that ship really held an imperial, and a high-ranking one at that, now that war might be on our doorstep.

And the people I'd taken into my home, under the same roof as my baby sisters, were the catalyst that brought them here.

"They're what?" Was all I could get out at first. "And you failed to tell me that literal space nazis might follow you to my home? Why? What kind of excuse could you and the rest of them possibly have?"

"Look, I'm sorry. None of us intended on keeping things from you, Kanan just thought since no one seemed to come after us in the weeks we were here, that maybe we'd shaken them off? And because of that, he figured we didn't need to say anything and scare you if nothing was gonna happen. He thought you were too young."

I let out a huff. "Too young to get a heads up about another evil alien that could endanger my whole family? Sure. When we get back, me and Kanan are gonna have words. Loud ones."

"I get that. Mind if I hide while you do that?"

"Yes. You kept this from me too! You weren't innocent in all this either." I jabbed at his chest with my pointer finger. "We'll worry about that later. Right now, we have to clean up the mess you people made."

Peering over the gazebo's wall, I studied the ship. It was oddly shaped. It looked like one of those round hard candies with the wrapper tied off and fanning out on opposite sides. The ship was small compared to the crew's ship, with a spherical cockpit and two octagonal plates on either side. It was little, but it was menacing. I knew there was something, or someone, evil inside it just by looking at it. And after what Ezra said a moment ago about the Grand Inquisitor, the sight of that ship made me feel sick.

A hatch on the top of the spacecraft popped open, and I jumped slightly in surprise, eyes wide as I watched a tall, lanky, cloaked figure climb out and land on the grass below. He was facing the gazebo, facing us. The first thing I noticed was his skin. It was whiter than white, like a ghost or a sheet of paper. He was definitely an alien. Yet another strange race that landed on my planet this month. He didn't appear to have any hair, and I couldn't see his features well as he was a good distance from me.