Page 166 of Galaxy Circus Act One

“He became intoxicated and showed his alien form in public and caused a riot. You know that goes against the terms of residency, and then when we arrested him, we found he is unregistered anyway.”

“Yes, I was wondering about that. We have no records of ever transporting an Aaz’axian, so he must have made his own way to Earth. We need to determine how and breach any holes there might be in the process.” Eric seems a little flustered. That, combined with learning that Aura had unregistered aliens in their house as well, indicates that there are other ways onto Earth, and that is not a good thing.

“See that it doesn’t happen again, and when you find out, I would like a report please.” Smith grinds his teeth before spinning and heading out of the cell block. “I’ll leave you to organize the prisoner. Miss Adams can accompany me, and I can have all that paperwork scanned and turned into electronic documents for you to take.”

Xavier and Eric both go to argue, but I hold up my hand. “It’s fine. The quicker we can get out of here, the better, and I’m not completely defenseless anymore.” I flash them my fangs, and they both back down, much to my delight.

“We will see you on the platform. Fifteen minutes, Lila. If I have to wait longer than that, I will be coming to find you,” Xavier says loud enough for Smith to hear. He doesn’t stop, but he does stumble slightly, which makes me grin. I nod and hurry after him, so ready to be done with this.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Lila

Smith’s shoes clicking against the floor are the only sounds as we make our way through the corridors. I slow as we reach the door that caused me to react before. Again, I feel a strange thump inside my chest and a great need to know what is on the other side. Involuntarily, my hand raises to the palm pad, but a hand slaps down on my wrist, encircling it and stopping my forward momentum.

“What do you think you are doing?” Smith demands, looking between me and the door, a hint of worry in his eyes.

Frowning, I shake off the sensation and shrug. “I’m not sure. Sorry. I guess I was turned around, I thought it was through that door,” I lie my pants off, and he seems to buy it.

“Come along. I gave the paperwork to my assistant earlier, and she should have it all ready to go now. The sooner I can get you aliens off my turf, the better.” He mumbles that last bit. I guess he doesn’t know or probably doesn’t care about advanced hearing.

“You don’t seem to like your job very much. Why do it then?” I ask him, and he turns back to glare at me.

“Because someone needs to keep the scum sucking invaders in line.” He reaches a door we haven’t been through yet and pushes through, not waiting for my response. I mean, I don’t really have one, and his attitude makes it obvious that he hates us.

Through the door is an office with a few cubicles with people working at them. A lady stands up in one. When we get close, I can see she is basically the female version of Smith—all button-down black suit with a hard look in her eyes.

“Here are the contracts, all scanned in.” She passes a thumb drive to Smith.

“Does it haveeverythingon it?” he asks, emphasizing everything. Wow, because that’s not subtle at all. I’ll have to warn Eric to search it for viruses or spyware or whatever.

“Yes, sir. Everything you asked for is on it,” she says in a clipped tone before turning her back to us and returning to her seat.

“Great, there you go. You should probably hurry. You don’t want to keep your family waiting, and the Aaz’axian needs to be transferred into a cell as soon as possible. He likes to fight the control collar.” Smith’s smarmy grin returns. “Just head back out the door and to the right, you can’t miss it.” Just like that, he turns his back on me and leaves via another door.

“Well, okay then, great to see you. Can’t wait to do this again. Not!” I call after him. I head back the way I came. I go to turn left, but my eyes drift back to the door that causes me to feel so strangely. Could I even get through the biosecurity lock? I doubt it, and although I gained some extras from bonding with Saxon, none of that includes powers to override something like that.

“Lila!” Grandpa Eric’s voice sounds impatient, and when I turn in his direction, he’s waving me forward. “Hurry up, I wantto return to the ship. Susie and Mark still need to get their things before we can leave Earth, and the sooner we get to Celestia for John, the better.”

I leave the mysterious door. I’m sure it’s nothing anyway. I mean, it’s not like they are hiding aliens, since they are all in plain sight here.

I’m the last one to make it onto the platform. The Aaz’axian appears to be immobilized by a spell of Xavier’s making, so he is floating and unable to move. He also looks to be unconscious, which probably isn’t a bad thing. He didn’t look happy to see us, and who knows how long he’s been in Agent Smith’s clutches and what kind of treatment he has seen. I guess we can get to the bottom of all of that when we get home.

“Is this safe?” Susie asks, looking super terrified as she holds Mark’s hand. He doesn’t look much better, and Aura inserts themselves between the two of them, draping an arm over each of their shoulders.

“As safe as sitting on the sofa at home.” They press a kiss to each of their cheeks as I reach through Xavier’s mist and grab his hand just before we all dissolve into tiny little particles.

When we land back at the ship, Cas, Link, and Saxon are waiting for us. Crimson sees Saxon and smartly salutes him. He acknowledges her with a quick nod, and she relaxes again. Eric claps his hands.

“Right. Xavier and Saxon, you take our new guest to the cells. Until we can get his side of the story, I’m not prepared to have him roaming around, so he can keep Natalia company until we can at least begin our journey to Celestia. Lila, please show the others to the empty suite that is on our level.”

“There’s an extra one? I thought it was just you and me and the captains up there?” I ask my grandpa, and his eyes dim slightly.

“It was the one we had set aside for you, and it has been sitting empty for years. It has enough rooms for everyone to have their own, but you moved into your parents’ suite.”

“Oh!”

Xavier rubs a mist shrouded hand over my back in support, knowing my mood just dropped.