Wait a second. Three? Where did the green-haired alien boy go? My eyes dart around the clearing, but he’s nowhere. Maybe he ran off while the others were distracted.

The aliens move closer to the edge of the meadow where Jace is about to appear. They are silent, the one gesturing before stopping the others with a raised hand when they move forward. As if they’re waiting in ambush. Why would they be doing that?

Jace does an exaggerated trip into the meadow, catching himself and then straightening to greet the aliens. “Hello,” he says.

The alien that stopped the others from moving into the woods steps forward. “Hello, human,” he says. “What are you doing in these woods?”

“Hunting,” says Jace, holding up a rabbit. “Gotta eat something.”

The alien looks at the rabbit with distaste, much the same look he gives my brother. “Are there any other humans in the area?”

“No,” says Jace. He’s too busy making eye contact with the speaking alien to notice the glance that passes between the other two.

“Wonderful,” says the alien. He smiles, but it doesn’t reach his eyes. Raising a hand, he motions the others closer. They fan out on either side of the third, forming a semi-circle with Jace in the center.

Jace narrows his eyes. “What’s going on here, alien?”

The alien says nothing, but the smile drops from his face as Jace takes a step backward. “Stay.”

“I’m not a dog,” says Jace.

The alien ignores his comment. “Do you have any weapons?”

Jace turns his head, looking at the other two aliens and takes another step backwards. “Yeah,” he says. “I’ve got this!” Jace swings the rabbit forward by its ears, sending it straight into the alien’s face and takes off into the woods before the other two have time to grab him. I let out the breath I didn’t even know I had been holding. Jace knows these woods almost better than I do. The aliens don’t stand a chance of catching him.

After a moment of hesitation, the three aliens take off into the woods— a lot quicker than I expected them to. Jace led them off so I could get away, so why am I still sitting here staring into the clearing? I shake my head and climb out of the tree. My knees bend at the impact of jumping the last few feet and, when I straighten up again, the younger alien is standing in front of me. Why did he sneak off and why isn’t he with his buddies?

This close I can see his eyes more clearly. Black pupils ringed with a sliver of gold and blending into an emerald green on the outer edges, much like his hair. I’ve never seen anything like it. Now those eyes I could never mistake for human.

It takes a moment before I realize I’m gaping at him and move to back away. My foot hits a rock and I stumble, barely catching myself before I fall. I wince, but he hasn’t made a move to pursue me so I dash farther into the woods. In only three steps, I crash against a hard chest and bounce backward, this time landing on my butt on a cushion of pine needles.

Looking up, I’m face to face with the alien. Damn. He moves fast. I don’t have time to think anything else before he springs forward and grabs my wrist, pulling me to my feet. He takes a step away once I am standing and glares at me.

“Where are you going?” he asks.

I say the first thing that comes to my mind. “Away from you.” He almost laughs. I don’t know why he would find that so funny. It’s the truth. I narrow my eyes and return his glare, putting my hands on my hips. “What do you think you’re doing in my meadow?”

“Your meadow?” He raises an eyebrow.

“Yes. Now take your friends and leave.” The less he says, the more my hands sweat. I hope he can’t tell how nervous I actually am.

This time he chuckles. He mutters the word ‘friends’ under his breath and shakes his head to himself. “They are no friends of mine, little girl.”

Any fear I felt is replaced by a fast striking anger. “I’m not a little girl.” I move to turn around and walk away, but he grabs my arm again and I freeze in place. His fingers dig into my bicep and ice cold fear seems to spring from his grip, slowly working its way through my body. I have to remember to breathe. In. Out. In. Out.

The blood leaves my face and my head spins. My eyes involuntarily widen and as I work on controlling my breath and swallowing the lump climbing up my throat. The alien cocks his head to the side with a curious look on his face. Then his eyes widen and in another second, I hear it too. There’s someone coming this way, a group of someones by the sound of it. The alien puts one finger to his lips, moves his hand to my shoulder, and shoves me down to the ground.

We have just enough time to slide down behind a bush when the three older aliens crash through the brush only feet from our location. The last one is dragging a struggling Jace by one arm, the other arm hanging limp at his side. Jace stumbles into a tree with his shoulder and cries out in pain. I try to catch his eye to let him know I’m there, but he just trips along behind the alien, not even pausing to look around.

When they reach the clearing, the lead alien faces Jace and shoves him hard. Jace stumbles back a step and then falls to his knees.

“Now let’s try this again, human,” he says, leering down at my brother. “Do you think you can cooperate this time?”

“I don’t have much of a choice now do I?”

The alien backhands Jace across the side of his face. “I don’t tolerate disrespect from vermin.”

Jace’s head rocks to the side and it’s as if someone has taken all the air from my lungs. I inch toward the clearing.

The alien tilts his head and narrows his eyes down at Jace. “What…?”

Jace doesn’t get up, but the alien pulls him to his feet by his shirt and tosses him to the other two aliens. “It seems we may have already found what we are looking for. Take him.”

“No!” I can’t stop it. The shout comes echoing out of my mouth and into the clearing. The aliens tense, instantly on alert.

Jace looks almost directly at me. “Jax, run!”

I scramble backwards on my hands then spring to my feet and take off into the woods with tears running down my face. I don’t hear the aliens pursuing me, not that I would. After my experience with the younger alien, I know that if they want to catch me they will. I keep running anyway. The world slows down around me and my feet drag. My brain barely registers the surge of—something— behind me before I’m knocked forward into the dirt and blackness overtakes my vision.

THREE

My eyelids stick to each other, but I pry them open anyway. Two green orbs float over my head. “Pretty,” I murmur before my eyes shoot open and I scramble backwards away from the alien boy standing over me.

I back up until the top of my head connects with a tree— ouch— and I use the tree trunk to pull myself up. On my way up, I reach into my boot and pull my knife from its sheath, waving it in front of me while the forest keeps spinning around me. “Get away from me!” He holds his hands up in a position that I guess is supposed to put me at ease. It doesn’t work. If anything, his movement causes my heart rate to increase and my breaths to come faster. “Stop it.”

“I am not doing anything,” he snaps. “Put the knife down. I just saved your life you know.” He takes a step forward. Wrong move.

I fly at him, swinging my knife in an upward arc, aiming for his chest, his stomach, anything. He moves away quickly enough to avoid what should have been a fatal strike, but when he puts his left arm up to block my blade, it cuts through his forearm and he winces in pain. I’m a flurry of movement, striking here and there, just hoping to land one hit. The alien stops trying to block my swipes and starts trying to fight me instead. Unarmed he’s really no match for me.

Then again, maybe he is. He manages to grab my wrist during one of my more reckless movements and he twists it until I drop the knife. He pulls me toward him until my chest is against his and holds me tightly against him. There are words coming out of his mouth, but they just don’t register.