Invaded (Alienated, #2)(39)

Aisly studied him for a moment, then abruptly asked, “Did you poison her?”

“What?” he cried, hand flying to his chest. “Me? Why would I do that?”

She shrugged. “To avenge your sister.”

“I had nothing to do with it,” Troy told Aisly. “I wouldn’t poison anyone, especially in a place like this.” His last words were charged with contempt.

Aisly picked up on it, defensively folding her arms. “A place like what, exactly?”

“A place where the punishment could get me whipped or killed.”

Aisly peered at them both as if trying to see inside their heads.

“I. Didn’t. Do it,” Troy forced out through gritted teeth.

“He’s telling the truth,” Cara said. “Troy didn’t touch her food. Besides, it’s possible the toxin got into her system some other way.”

Aisly didn’t appear convinced, but she told Cara to wait for Jaxen at the courtyard landing pad while she stayed behind to resolve the incident with the headmaster. “I’ll meet you there shortly,” she added before striding toward the administrative offices.

“What a bitch,” Troy muttered under his breath after Aisly had moved out of earshot. “Wherever it is they’re taking you, I’m going, too. I didn’t get an invite, but I don’t care.”

“Fine by me.”

On their way toward the front doors, Vero crossed Cara’s path and gave her the animal equivalent of the evil eye. Aaaeee-oooo, Vero howled, pumping his tiny raccoonish paw in the air. Indecipherable as it was, Cara knew his impassioned rant reflected the sentiment of nearly everyone on the planet.

“Yeah,” she said, striding out the front door. “I hate you, too.”


Cara squinted against the sun’s glittering reflection as she jetted over the sea at speeds so fast she could barely lean forward in her seat. As it turned out, her big surprise was a visit to the colony, a sneak peek of sorts to help her explain the lifestyle to prospective humans who might settle there.

To her left, Jaxen piloted the small four-person shuttle, while Troy and Aisly sat together in the back. Judging by the charged silence filling the rear of the craft, neither was thrilled with the seating arrangements, but Jaxen had insisted Cara take the copilot position because it offered the best view.

And, boy, was he right.

“Look there,” Jaxen said, slowing down and pointing out Cara’s window. “A pod of maru.”

She pressed her fingertips to the glass and gazed at a family of shimmery white whale-like creatures slicing through the water by using their oversize flippers as wings. She thought she spotted a baby among them, but the shuttle sped past in a flash, and they were gone.

“Wow.” She tried to turn in her seat to face Troy, but velocity held her still. “I wish you could see this,” she called to him. “It’s amazing.”

He answered with a grunt.

“I could slow down,” Jaxen offered, “but I don’t want to lose daylight. It’ll be nearly dusk when we arrive at the colony.”

“What’s the time difference between the colony and the main continent?” Cara asked.

“About six hours.” Jaxen pointed out her window again. “There’s Allahn, one of our ancient societies.”

“Oh!” This was Cara’s favorite part of their journey. She loved catching glimpses of the L’eihrs’ ancient ruins.

She turned her gaze to the island, trying to form a mental snapshot of its crumbling temple. The sandy stonework reminded her of a cross between the Parthenon and the pyramids of Giza. She’d learned in humanities class that the ancients had occupied these islands before discovering the continent. Here, they’d battled over trade routes and fertile fishing waters, even invading one another to impound slaves, much as humans had done. Jaxen explained that without weather controls in place, storms would have eroded the structures several millennia ago.

“And their greatest foes,” Jaxen said as the shuttle approached a larger island, “the Ellohi. They were a terrifying force. If they perceived a threat, however slight, they launched a preemptive attack. Very proactive.”

“I’ve read about them.” If Cara’s memory served, the Ellohi were relentless warriors who’d sought to dominate the sea, Roman Empire–style. “According to your legends, they’re the ones who were supposedly abducted by aliens and scattered across the universe, right?”

“Yes, if you believe that.”

She slanted a glance at him. “I don’t.”

“That’s right,” he said with a smile. “You’re a fan of Larish’s theory—that our ancients were abducted from Earth and transplanted here.”

“It’s the only thing that makes sense,” she told him. “First of all, our people have to be related, because the odds of two genetically identical species existing in this universe are zero.”

“Agreed,” he said.

“Okay. So now that we’ve established that, why would anyone think ancient L’eihrs brought blue eyes to Earth when brown-eyed humans existed for thousands of years before that mutation? Where do they think brown-eyed humans came from? And as for L’eihr mono-ethnicity, I assumed it was because your people had been around longer, but really, I think it had to do with your ancestors being abducted from a single nation.”