I snort. “A lot more fun for you maybe.” I settle my back against the tree. “Every time they try to pull me into the fold, I’m worried one of those sheep girls is going to ambush me and force me into a dress so I can be Promised to the first guy willing to take me.”

“Well, it might improve your temper.”

I punch him in the arm.

Jace leans against the tree next to me. “There’s nothing wrong with being sociable Jax. It can’t be just us forever.”

“I’m happy with just us.” I cross my arms over my chest. “Plus, it’s not about me being sociable. It’s about conforming and being some perfect little obedient robot. Oh, and Dane’s desire to marry me off. The only way I’ll ever be Promised is if they lobotomize me. I am not one of those girls.”

“Lobotomize?” Jace raises his eyebrows. “You’ve got to be reasonable here. I’m sure one of the guys would be more than happy to take you on, bad attitude and all. I mean, look at me, I’m gorgeous and you’re my slightly less attractive twin.” He grins when I nudge him with my shoulder. “What about Flint? He’s nice enough.”

“Oh yes, I’m sure Dane would be willing to part with his precious son.” I roll my eyes. “Besides, it’s not going to happen.”

“It’s not up to him.” He won’t meet my eyes. “Flint is my friend and he makes his own choices. He likes you. He’d take good care of you. It wouldn’t be that awful right?”

It’s my turn to blush. “Whatever. I don’t want to talk about it anymore.” Tomorrow. That’s when I’ll tell him about my plan. We can’t stay in Bridgelake much longer.

I close my eyes and let the sun warm my skin, enjoying the quiet companionship. Jace’s hand finds mine and I drift off to sleep.

TWO

The distant screech of a hawk and a tremble in the ground startle me awake. The sun is much lower in the sky and I must have slept for a few hours. I blink a few times to clear my eyes and stretch my arms over my head. Jace is still fast asleep beside me, softly snoring. I poke him with my finger, but he only hunches his shoulders and slumps further down. That boy can sleep through almost anything.

My mouth drops open and my breath catches in my throat when a silver ship comes into view over the crest of the trees. Obviously E’rikon, but what the hell are they doing way out here? For that matter, what are they doing outside of their city? I don’t know much about the aliens, but I do know they don’t belong out here. I scramble for my jeans and pull them on, slam my feet into my boots and run into the woods the ship has just passed over.

I’m running so fast I almost run right into the meadow where the ship has landed. I stumble over my feet stopping myself and shimmy up a tree. I should turn around, wake Jace and get out of there, but ever since the aliens showed up, I’ve always wanted to see one up close.

There are a lot of rumors flying around about them, most probably untrue, but everyone agrees that they look remarkably like us and that, even though when they first showed up about ten years ago a few groups tried to engage them, they aren’t looking for a fight. They pretty much ignore us actually. Thank goodness, because although there don’t appear to be that many aliens, there aren’t many of us left either.

The war was bad enough, with fighting on every continent, but it was the biological weapons that did it. Each country had vaccines and cures for their own, but no one ever stopped to think about what would happen if the bugs mutated, combined, or whatever it was that happened to create something that killed over ninety percent of the world’s population.

It’s been thirty years since the Collapse and I’m almost glad that I’m too young to know what it was like before. Sounds to me like people were stupid and selfish. Not much different than now, but on a much larger scale.

Of course, now has its own dangers. Like breeders, traveling bands of men who will pay a good price for a woman— or girl— of child bearing years. For some reason the plague was especially virulent in females and we’re a valuable commodity now, along with any children we’re able to bear. That’s the one good thing about Dane, he sends his soldiers out to keep them out of this area. Though, he’s got his own breeding program with his whole Promising thing, so I guess he’s just the lesser of two evils.

Hopefully, these particular aliens aren’t here to become a third evil.

My stomach churns as three male aliens exit the ship. They do look remarkably human-like in their proportions and their stature. All three are older, maybe around fifty if they were human, with various shades of wildly colored hair, at least by human standards. My hair is pretty bright too, but nothing like this.

One has close cut silver hair with a slight gold tinge. And I’m not talking about a blond gone gray. His hair has the metallic shine of metal. The other two have slightly more normal looking hair, one with a bluish tint to his brown locks and the other with a more yellow hue. If it weren’t for the hair and the fact that I’d seen them disembark from an E’rikon ship, I could have easily mistaken them for human.

Their clothes, form fitting pants and some kind of fancy, high collared jacket covered in gold markings, are a boring gray. Knee high boots in the same shade cover their feet and they all wear a silver cuff on their right wrists. A uniform of some sort?

I’m about to climb down, fade into the trees, and head back, my curiosity sated, when a fourth alien leaps down from the ship. He’s young, maybe close to my age, with angular lines making up his clean shaven face. He’s wearing darker clothing than the others and his jacket is plain. The pressed charcoal fabric hugs his frame, broad in the shoulders and tapering at the waist. He stands straight with his shoulders back, as if at attention, and scans the forest around him. The only thing even slightly mussed about him is his hair. It stands up in short curled tufts scattered over his head and framing his face, the shine of gold standing out among the bright green tips. He is beautiful.

The tallest alien, the one with the gold and silver hair, pushes the green-haired youth forward. I can’t make out their words, but the steady set of green hair’s shoulders isn’t enough to hide his shaking hands. His steps are steady and the other three follow behind him almost as if they’re stalking prey. The boy stops and the tall one pushes him again, but this time he doesn’t move forward. Instead he turns and faces the group behind him.

They appear to be arguing, one of them gesturing toward the ship and then throwing his hands up in the air. I lean out over the branch, hoping to hear their conversation and the branch I’m sitting on cracks. I scramble back toward the trunk and push my face into the rough bark, closing my eyes. They didn’t hear. They didn’t hear. I crack my eyes open and the three aliens have stilled and are looking into the woods— in my direction.

I gulp down the acid in my throat. The only weapon I have is a small knife in my boot. I could throw it, but that would only take out one… maybe. As far as I know, they aren’t very susceptible to human weapons. Any information I have at all is, at best, third or fourth hand, and that’s all from observation, not interaction. But they’ve never attacked us, never really had anything to do with us. These aliens aren’t a threat to me, right? I should climb down, calmly approach them and let them know I’m not a threat either. But something keeps me in that tree, gripping the trunk with white knuckles.

A whistle comes from the woods to the right of me and the sound of someone crashing through the underbrush reaches my ears. I see a form approaching the meadow. It’s Jace. I open my mouth to call out to him, to warn him but he looks directly at me and shakes his head, putting one finger over his mouth. He knows I’m there and he’s trying to draw their attention. Of the two of us, Jace is the more diplomatic one and in a normal interaction he could probably talk his way out of almost anything. But something about these three… I don’t know.