John woke up the next morning to Bernie Kosar barking downstairs. He sat up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. Next to him, Marina started to wake up as well.
He grinned. There was one of the Garde right next to him. She definitely knew how to stay hidden. She had proven that when even Henri hadn't given any clue to who he was.
He pulled on a T-shirt and jeans, then walked downstairs. Immediately, Bernie Kosar ran over and started wagging his tail. "Hey there, buddy," John laughed, petting his head and scratching his dog's ears. "How's it going?"
"John Smith?"
John straightened, hearing an unfamiliar voice. A police officer stood in the kitchen talking to Henri. Neither of them looked very happy. "No, that's the dog," John joked lightly, then nodded. "Yeah, that's me."
"Rumor has it that at the fall carnival the other night, you were at the scene of when three men disappeared without a trace."
John raised an eyebrow, then heard creaking on the stairs. Marina walked down, dressed in black jeans, a purple blouse, and a black jacket that had the NCIS logo on it, then stopped short when she saw the police officer. "Sheriff James?"
"You're Mark's dad?" John asked right after she said that.
Sheriff James frowned. "You're that girl that barged right into the fight on the school yard the other day, aren't you?"
Marina lifted the right side of her jacket up, revealing the NCIS badge that she now wore with ease. "Special Agent Nightshade."
Sheriff James waved his hand absently. "This matter doesn't concern you."
"Really?" Marina asked, standing by John and folding her arms. "John's a friend, and I was there last night as well. I can say fully that we were with two others and had nothing to do with those men."
"I didn't say anything about men while you were down here," Sheriff James countered.
"I've been trained to hear everything," Marina retorted. "And I was at the top of the staircase when you said it."
"Then who were you with?"
John knew this one. "Sam Goode and Sarah Hart," he replied instantly.
"So, great and all of that," Henri suddenly announced, putting on a forced smile and leading the sheriff out. "Just let us know if you need anything else."
Marina had her cell phone out and was looking through something as she walked over to the coffee pot. John remained standing, but he also paid attention to Bernie Kosar. Henri came back, looking at both John and Marina. "I hope you weren't lying about Sam and Sarah."
"I wasn't," Marina replied, taking a sip of coffee. "We were with them the entire time. When we heard what was going on, we bolted."
Henri nodded. "Good."
John started looking at his phone, too. He saw that there were furious texts from Sarah, asking why they had run off and if they were all right. However, there was one that made him freeze.
"I saw what u and Marina did 2 them. Meet me @ my house 2day in the afternoon."
He checked who it came from, and he pinched the bridge of his nose. Marina's eyes lifted from her phone, and she flashed the screen at him. It was the same message. "Sam," they said at the same time.
"What?" Henri asked, frowning.
"Needs help with homework and apparently asked for a study time at his house," Marina replied, scratching her head. "Sarah's going, too."
John knew what Henri's next words were, and he mouthed them behind a drink of water when Henri said them: "Be careful."
Marina nodded, setting down her mug and grabbing her backpack. "Don't worry, I'll make sure he doesn't get into trouble."
Henri laughed, and John stuck his tongue out at Marina, following her out the door.
Once outside, Marina turned to John. "How in Mogadore's name did he see us?" she hissed.
"I don't know," John replied as they ran down the path, keeping pace with her. "I just hope he didn't call Sheriff James on us."
***
Sarah sat on her porch, shuffling through her notes for English. She heard a car pull up, but she didn't bother looking up. She looked through her phone, saw an answering text from John: "We're fine. We left after Marina took care of the one guy."
Sarah smiled, glad the two of them were safe. She then heard a familiar voice. "Miss Hart."
Slowly, Sarah's smile began to disappear. She looked up to see Sheriff James in front of her. "I heard that you were with Mr. Smith, Mr. Goode, and Miss Nightshade last night."
"I was," Sarah replied cautiously. "Why?"
"Miss Hart, John Smith and Marina Nightshade are not who you think they are."
***
Marina checked her phone, then looked up at the house in front of them. "This is it."
Shouting was heard from inside, and John winced. "Doesn't exactly sound like a fun place."
The door banged open, and both Lorics blinked when they stood face to face with Sam's stepfather. "So are you the two my son's been telling me about that were coming over?" he asked.
Marina raised an eyebrow. "Got a problem with that, sir?"
Sam appeared behind his stepfather, looking as nervous as heck. His stepfather growled, then pointed away from the house. "In the garage, and only for a few minutes," he spat. "Go on!"
John looked ready to flip him off, so Marina grabbed his arm and dragged him off after Sam, who was running to the garage.
She slid to a halt when she entered and saw that Sam was pointing a rifle right at them. "Whoa, whoa, whoa!" she gasped, letting go of John's arm and putting a hand on her holster. "What the hell, Sam?"
"What you did, Marina," Sam sputtered, trying to look confident and failing miserably, "stopping a knife in midair and hurling it with that much strength and electrocuting him . . . that's not normal. And John . . . flashlights, really?"
"Sam," John started, holding his hands up. "Put the gun down."
"You fire that, I can fire back," Marina added, slowly inching her gun out of its holster.
"I've got photo evidence," Sam burst out, and Marina almost dropped her gun in shock and horror. "I'll share them, and no one will trust you guys!"
John moved so fast, Marina couldn't see him for a few seconds. Sam was wringing his hand out, and John tossed the rifle to Marina. She caught it, setting it down behind her. John held his hand out, eyebrows raised pointedly. "Give me the phone."
Sam shook his head, moving back. Marina saw him put one hand behind his back, and while his attention was on John, she inched after him. "No. Not unless you tell me the truth!"
"Sam," John sighed, and Marina lashed out, grabbing Sam's arm and holding it up. He winced, and Marina wrenched the phone from his grasp.
Marina flipped through the camera roll, then smirked when she saw they were all of school and Bernie Kosar. She snorted, tossing it back to Sam, who caught it. "Knock yourself out with the photos."
Sam sighed. "I thought aliens were real, after what happened to my dad. I always kept thinking that one day he'd come back and take me away from this shit hole. You've seen what my stepdad is like."
Marina looked over at John, sitting down on the table in the garage. She shrugged her shoulders. "On three?" she suggested, swinging her legs.
John nodded, getting the point. "If that's what you think is best."
Sam looked back and forth between them, eyes widening slowly. "Wait, what - "
"One," Marina started, looking John right in the eye.
"Two," he replied, leaning down for his pant leg.
"Don't do anything crazy!" Sam yelped.
"Three," both Lorics said at the same time, and they both pulled their left pant leg up, showing Sam the circular scars branded there, one on top of the other.
Sam's jaw dropped, looking over their legs, comparing them. "They're all the same."
"We're not normal people, Sam," John told him. "All of the aliens? Yeah. They're real."
"We hail from a planet called Lorien," Marina picked up. "We're two of the six still left alive from when our archenemies invaded."
"There were nine of us that survived," John added, leaning on a table and gripping the edges, closing his eyes as if the memory pained him. "Nine of us, all that were left of our race except for our guardians, our Cêpans."
Marina pulled up the world map on her iPhone and held it out on top of the car's hood, revealing everything else. "Number One was killed in Malaysia. Number Two was murdered in England. Number Three died in Kenya." She nodded to John. "John is Number Four. I am Number Seven."
"I'm supposed to be next to die," John summed up. "There was a charm that protected everyone else so we had to die in order. Now that Marina and I are together, it's broken. Anyone can die next."
Sam's jaw dropped in shock. "I knew it!" he finally crowed, doing a mini dance. "I just knew it!"
"Sam, you can't tell anyone," John demanded, grabbing his arm before he could leave. "You got that, right?"
"Those guys who were at the carnival? They were hunting me and John," Marina explained. "They're the ones who destroyed our race. You can't tell anyone. Promise it!"
"Sam!" his stepfather bellowed from outside. "Get your ass out here now!"
Sam turned to leave, but John tightened his grip. "Sam?" he prompted.
Sam looked back, and he nodded, looking determined. "I promise," he swore, then ran out the door to his stepfather.
Marina sighed, stepping up to John as he leaned against the table, looking much more serious than a boy - man, she corrected herself, believing that was the appropriate term now that this was happening - of his age. "Did we do the right thing?" she asked quietly.
"It was for the right cause," John replied, voice even.
Marina threaded her fingers through his and gave his hand a squeeze. "We'll get through this, Four. We will."
"And we'll find the others," John agreed, looking down at her and smiling.
Of course, just as they were leaning into each other, both of their phones rang at the same moment.
John growled low in his throat, pulling his out of his pocket and answering just as Marina flushed red and tried to find hers. "It's me." His eyes widened at something that was said, then replied, "I'm on my way."
"What is it?" Marina asked as she found her phone and looked at the Caller ID: Gibbs.
"Henri sounded pretty frightened for a Cêpan," John replied, hanging up and grabbing his backpack. "Keep your phone on you?"
Marina snorted, waving hers. "Gibbs would have my head if I did anything but."
John chuckled as he ran down the path. She clicked on the answer button, then started towards the town. "Yeah, Gibbs?" she asked.
"Get down here to the OPD station," he told her. "Savannah and I need to tell you something about Malcolm Goode."
Marina threw a sharp look over her shoulder towards the house she just left, then took off at a run. "I'm on my way right now."
She hung up and put on a burst of speed that only Lorics had, and she didn't even notice that on one of the streets, the curtains of a bedroom on the top floor of a house had been pulled back.
Sarah saw Marina's every move.
***
John unlocked the door. "Henri?" he called. "I'm back!"
There was no reply. Frowning, he locked the door behind him. There was a pitter patter of feet, and Bernie Kosar ran up, wagging his tail. "Hey there, bud," he whispered, patting the dog's head. "Where's Henri, huh?"
He came into the kitchen to see a laptop sitting open with a note next to it. Frowning, he checked the laptop. "'They Walk Among Us,'" he read aloud, snorting. He clicked on the video that was on the page. "What do they th - "
He stopped short as he watched the video. He saw himself at the beach where he got the scar from Number Three. "Shit," he muttered.
He turned to the note. "Can only be erased at the source," he read. "I'll be back soon." He snorted. "How long ago did you leave?"
He went to his room, checking his cell phone. It had been about ten minutes when it rang. He picked it up, seeing the Caller ID. "Henri?" he asked into it. He frowned, getting no response. "Henri?" he tried again.
"Come to us and you can get your guardian back."
John swallowed, hearing the unfamiliar voice. "Who are you? What have you done with Henri?"
The man rattled off an address, then added, "Be here by dark if you want to see him alive."
John stared at his phone in shock after the man hung up. It had all been a trap to get Henri. The Mogs had him where they wanted him.
So he needed help.
He did a conference dial and waited for the two people to pick up. Once they did, he didn't waste any time. "Sam, Marina, I need your guys' help."