Page 163 of Galaxy Circus Act One

Lila graciously hugs Aura back when Susie gives her a quick nod of reassurance. Everyone else exchanges polite hellos before Eric huffs, his foot tapping with impatience again. I know he must be desperate to leave and make the journey to Celestia.

“Can we get to the story now?” he grumbles, and Aura rolls their eyes and blows out a raspberry at him.

“Fine, so both Susie and Mark were scanned by a Jelliad who informed us of their extraterrestrial origins. Mark is a Celestian who was kidnapped as a baby and hidden on Earth. Without the Celestian maturing ceremony, he never gained his powers or wings and has been passing as a human.”

You could have heard a pin drop in the room as Eric, Lila, and I take in this information. The three of us stare at the man in question, who squirms uncomfortably under our inquisitive gazes. Savannah reaches out and grabs his hand. When they meet, hers glows, sending him reassuring vibes, and he relaxes.

“Holy fuck!” Lila whispers. “Out of all the people in the world, the lost alien ends up with my roommate.”

“Well, actually, we think that may be why.” Xane, who has been silent up until now, steps forward. “It seems that livingwith Lila may have activated a dormant Skarrian gene inside of Susie. Most humans have lost all signs of ever being from anywhere else but Earth, but occasionally, a mutated gene will appear. Nothing usually comes of this, but we think living with Lila, who is Skarrian, somehow triggered that gene. Then, when she was visiting with you, she must have come into contact with Skarrian water. She is probably only a couple of bottles away from activating any latent powers.”

Now we all swing our attention to Susie. “Did you drink the unlabeled blue bottles of water in my fridge at the hotel?” Lila asks her friend, cocking her head to the side quizzically.

“Yeah, they were freaking delicious. I meant to ask the hotel where they got them from, but I forgot. I assumed the no label thing was a funky marketing ploy.” Susie’s chocolate brown curls bob as she answers. The sweats she’s wearing are practically swallowing her, and she has bare feet, but she doesn’t look like she’s been treated badly.

“Well, that answers that question. Those were bottles of Skarrian water. I’ve been basically mainlining them in the hopes they will activate my powers.”

The room sinks into silence again as Eric and I digest the information we just heard. Suddenly, Eric claps his hands, breaking the silence and causing Ricky, who I think is a cyborg, to jump. Aura quickly snuggles him into their side in reassurance. “Okay then. Overlooking the fact that you had a Jelliad on the premises—I am not even going to ask—it seems that Susie and Mark are indeed our responsibility.” He turns to the two in question, his eyes softening with sympathy. “I’m sorry, but you can’t return to your everyday, Earthling lives. You are both on Agent Smith’s radar now. You have damaging knowledge, and even if you weren’t an alien, I doubt he would let you go. I’m afraid you are going to have to come with us.”

Susie sidles up to Mark’s other side and grabs hold of the hand Savannah is not holding.

“We are fine with that. Knowing what we know now, we couldn’t return to our old lives and be happy. If we have access to a phone and the internet, both of us will resign from our positions with the hospital,” Mark says, not upset about it at all, but Xane, Eric, and I exchange a loaded glance.

You tell them. I don’t want them to be upset with me,Xane begs me quietly in my head, and it’s all I can do to stop myself from smiling at seeing my cousin smitten with these two. To ease his concern, I slightly nod my head in confirmation.

“I’m afraid it would be better if we faked your deaths—a car accident on the way back from Vegas, and due to the older nature of the car, neither of you survived your injuries. We can teleport back to your home and retrieve any belongings you wish to keep.”

“But what about money? How are we going to be able to live without access to our money or jobs or anything?” Susie sounds distraught, her voice going an octave higher on each word, and Eric jumps in.

“We can find positions for both of you with the circus. It is not a problem.”

“We also have ways of bequeathing everything to a relative, and later, you appear as that relative to claim your inheritance next time we return to Earth,” I assure them both.

“Okay, well, that sounds reasonable, and thank you. We had planned to try and find out about my birth family anyway, and this is a big help,” Mark says solemnly.

A small smile appears on Eric’s lips. “It just so happens our next stop is Celestia. We canceled the rest of the tour, and we will be leaving immediately after we can retrieve your belongings. My brother is not well, and the Celestian healers may be the only ones who can save him.”

The group reacts favorably to this just as Agent Smith groans on the floor. I let my mist surround me again.

“Right, let’s take care of this then.” I wave a hand, wiping his last memories, and help him to his feet before straightening him out. I make him think he has a migraine coming on and that he just wants to be done with this alien crap.

“Well, what was the verdict?” he demands, looking at me.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Lila

“Susie and Mark are one hundred percent human,” Xavier announces to Agent Smith, who smirks triumphantly at Aura.

Aura looks at Xavier like he stabbed them in the heart.

“But unfortunately, they now know the truth about aliens and can no longer be trusted to return to their previous lives. We will be taking them with us to protect the secret.”

Agent Smith’s smirk quickly drops. “What? No. That’s not how this works,” he argues, shaking his head. “They will return to their previous lives, and we will monitor them to make sure they don’t reveal any secrets.” I see the moment Xavier’s cousin gets sick of Agent Smith. He waves a discrete finger, and Agent Smith’s eyes glaze over before he continues. “On second thought, maybe it is best you monitor them. Less work for us.”

“Okay, great, now let’s take a look at this last alien, the one you claim is Aaz’axian.” Eric still sounds skeptical, but the smug grin returns to Smith’s face. God, I hate this dude. My fangs acheto bury themselves into his neck and rip his throat out. They click down into place, and I slap a hand over my mouth.

Whoa! My eyes widen, and I look at Xavier with panic. He takes one look at me and freezes the room, much like he did when Saxon was feral, and allows his mist to fade away once more.