Chapter 1
I LOOK AT LIZZY. She’s right, I almost got killed and Dad is missing, what can I do but listen? I need answers, even if it doesn’t make sense.
“Billy Roe—your dad is not missing. But they will use him to get to you.” Her tone is even, her eyes never blinking.
“I can’t believe I’m going to say this: can you please not read my mind? I got it, you have weird abilities. This, this is not easy … what you’re telling me. Okay?” She nods. “Good,” I say and slowly kneel back down. “I’m listening.”
She begins, “We are—
“Aliens.” The answer falls out of my mouth and the weight of denial leaves with it.
“Yes. That’s right. Now you understand.”
“So … you’re Martians?”
She looks at me oddly, almost a laugh bubbling up, “Meaning from Mars? No, Keegan. We have visited there. On our way here. You see, I knew you would find the photo of the face on Mars. You needed to see it to believe.”
“Why?” I feel the word dangle like a worm in front of a weak baby bird needing to be fed.
“Keegan, let me explain. We don’t consider ourselves aliens. More like simple organisms waiting to evolve to a higher form. One capable of surviving on your planet. We have survived in the universe for millions of years. We are a race, like your people, also in need of resources.”
“But you’re not like my people. People are from Earth.” A tight knot turns in my stomach.
“Yes, I suppose you’re right. Our lifeforms migrated great distances, exploring many possibilities looking for what we need. But nothing came close to what is here on Earth. It was chosen. The face you saw is like a beacon for us. And when the face above us is ready, you won’t want to be here when that happens.”
Could this still be just a dream? I put my head in my hands and rub my eyes. I have to accept that it isn’t. “The town, the hospital, school, our home … it’s real, right?”
“Keegan, you have to pay attention, you can’t pretend this isn’t happening. It is real but not what you first thought.”
“But you, I thought you and I …”
She touches my arm and I jerk it away.
“Yes, there is something there. We … I have never encountered it. I am still evolving and so I don’t know where the change will take me. But this thing between you and I -- John Bruce identified the change but he never told Simon. He was afraid Simon would use it for his own purposes.”
“What are you talking about, change?”
“Keegan, you have given me a gift somehow. From it, I’m able to see what lies ahead. A future. You are in it and are very important.”
“Stop, Lizzy. Can you stop? Please? I can’t …” My eyes leave hers, confusion overwhelming me. I’m a dartboard where the darts don’t stick.
I finally look around. It’s the oddest basement, as if someone carved it out with a big ice cream scoop. “What is this place? Why are we talking here? Why not the field or in Sedona or somewhere far away?”
“Because there is nowhere we can go where they can’t find us. They see almost everything, Keegan. Don’t forget that. But here, even in Sedonia Falls, I can, how shall I say it? Alter what they see. I can use the sand to help me protect you.”
“Who are they? Is it your father, John and Simon James? You’re father wasn’t really in an accident was he?”
She pauses and her body gets heavier somehow. “John is not my father. He’s my other. My shared one.”
“He’s your what? Your shared one? You mean like boyfriend? So Victor was never --”
“It is different for us, Keegan. John is a part of me in a way. Victor is not. But John has been removed.” Removed? Does she mean killed? She makes the sound of a wounded animal.
“I’m sorry. I’m not used to having my thoughts read. Lizzy, he’s so much older than you.”
She looks down. “I guess that’s what you see.”
Then something occurs to me, “Did you bring me here, Lizzy? Your people? Why?”
She lifts her head to me, “Keegan, you don’t understand how long we’ve been searching, dormant in a primitive state, looking for a way to change and return from the Maker. So many of us waiting.”
“The Maker?” The words drag in my throat.
She continues, not hearing me, her voice electric, “You have no idea how long we’ve been hoping to find a planet like this. Too long. John has an understanding of your planet unlike the rest of us. He believes we can live peacefully amongst your people. He has a plan. Still, we are not ready yet. These bodies fight us every moment. It is unnatural how we are now. Unlike your bodies, which have earned the right to be here.”
“Our bodies? How many?” I try to add it up. “John … Simon … Victor … Is Richard one of you? That new kid in school? The kids at school? And on the bus?”
“Yes. All of them.”
“And, the red sand under Richard’s skin?”
“Our true selves.”
My heart skips just a beat. “What? But isn’t the skin yours?”
“Keegan, please understand how long we’ve been looking for a home, trying to discover a means to survive. Nothing worked. Then we came upon it, Simon James showed us how. A way to survive longer than an hour. Or a day. But only a temporary way until our real selves could adapt. The sand. The sand is a conduit for us. It allows the connection to humans. It binds us to this planet, allows us to live within it. It is our life force when we are not with the Maker.”
I can feel my heart pounding through my head. “Whose skin is it?” A knot pushes up in my chest.
Lizzy looks sympathetic. She struggles, “In the beginning, we took only from your dead. Human skin. It was the only way. To survive. But, again, that did not sustain us long. It was better when ...,” she trails off.
Horrific thoughts break into my head. I want to rush to them and flee from them at the same time. My stomach churns as I ask, “They were alive? What about the human who owned the skin, what happened to them? Was it painful?--”
“We did not have a concept of pain before we began.” Lizzy looks up toward the stairs. Her body seems to get tense. “Keegan, please, I had no understanding of any of it until I met you. I’m sorry. But please listen, I’m trying to tell you that you’re in danger. Your people are in danger. Lifeforms on this planet are all in danger. This is important, so pay attention. We had two plans. The first plan was to mix with your people. Combine, I guess you would call it. We would blend right in and your people would never have had to suffer or even know that we were here. It was our first choice. John believed, he still believes in the plan. When you left, which is my fault, they thought they had lost you. To Simon James it meant John was wrong, and he was right. So they removed John, and Simon began to implement his plan. But then you confused them by coming back. I cannot see where, but Simon must be with the Maker. Preparing. I’m not sure what will happen.” Again she doesn’t blink.
Anger cuts like glass wanting to get out of my chest. “Was Sandra supposed to combine with me?”
“Yes, she was selected. She was a perfect match for you. And, Simon James thought you would like her.”
I have to laugh. “Hardly, I like … you.”
“Yes, John understood it first that you preferred me and that I ...” She resists telling me something. “It was John’s idea that I help keep you interested in staying. He knew you were important. I had to do whatever it took to make sure his plan worked. Pretend to be Victor’s girlfriend. Leave when they told me to because -- I know it’s wrong now -- because your child would have been the first true offspring from the union of our two races. The second generation of genetic selection.”
Second generation? I vaguely remember biology and this seems wrong. “Wait. I don’t get it. You mean, first generation.”
“No. I believe second generation. But, Keegan, you haven’t asked the right question yet.” Her eyes narrow just a bit, yet still not blinking.
How is that possible? I try to remember if she ever blinked.
“Oh yeah, what’s that?” I say. As if anything could top living in an alien village, falling for an alien girl, and being told about the master plan for the entire planet.
“Why we have brought you here. Why we created all this for you. It is not random, Keegan.” She waits. Maybe for me to get what she’s talking about but I don’t.
Then the truth arrives. A piece of something rusty frees itself way down deep in my gut. It grows and fills me up with a whole body sickness. How do I know it? Is Lizzy putting this in my head? Or maybe it’s a realization that I could never have seen until now. It’s from years of living with this truth that was just below everything.
In my head, I can hear her saying it. “Trouble with a capital T.” Like Sandra. Slowly it comes to my mouth, “Because … of Mom.”