Two Sides of the Same Coin

Chapter 12: Truth

"WHAT?!" the girls shouted in astonishment.

"You don't need to shout. I know it's hard to believe, but I saw him do it with my own two eyes."

"Have you told Mom and Dad about this?" Alexa asked seriously.

"No. Honestly, I'm afraid of the answer they'll give. I mean, if I'm the prince of another planet, why haven't they told me about it?"

"Maybe they don't know about it," Chloe suggested.

"That's pretty unlikely. If they didn't know, how would they have found me? Why did they take me in in the first place?"

With those questions bearing down on us, we entered the school building. We stayed silent the whole time before the bell. During my classes, I couldn't concentrate because I kept wondering about my true origins. Finally, after what seemed like days, school was over.

The walk home was quiet too. I guess nobody really knew what to say. It's understandable though. It's not every day that you learn that your boyfriend or your brother-figure was from another planet. Before I knew it, I was home.

"What's wrong, Alex? You look upset," Dad asked from his usual spot on the couch.

"Dad, there's something I need to ask you."

"Go ahead, son."

"Am I from another planet?"

From the way Dad's face darkened, I figured Neil wasn't lying.

"I was afraid this day would come. You might want to sit down for this, you two," Dad sighed before continuing. "Soon after your mother and I were married, we saw what we thought was a shooting star one night. Since it landed close to our house, we decided to go check it out. When we got to the area where the star supposedly landed, we found what looked like some sort of time capsule. Unsure what to do, we walked over to it and discovered a baby inside the strange device. We didn't see anyone around so we decided to take the baby in. Soon after, we discovered that the baby had the ability to shapeshift, which both surprised and scared us. However, since nobody ever came to look for you, we decided to raise you as our own, Alex. I'm sorry we never told you. We were afraid you wouldn't believe us."

"It's ok, Dad. It's just crazy to think that I'm not actually human like I thought I was. According to this shapeshifter I met yesterday, I'm the prince of some planet. I wasn't sure what to believe after that so I decided I would ask you and Mom about it."

"Are you saying you actually met someone from your home planet?" Dad asked incredulously.

"Yeah. Hold on. I'll pull him up on the Internet. He's been causing all sorts of chaos with his powers."

"This doesn't sound good. There's one last thing I should mention, Alex."

"What's wrong, Dad?"

"In the capsule with you was a letter. When we first read it, we didn't understand what it said. Soon after though, the letters changed into English and told us something ominous. Apparently, your planet was overtaken by criminals so the king sent you away from the planet so you wouldn't get killed. If what you said was true, that man you met yesterday is probably after your head."