Invaded (Alienated, #2)(53)

He took the probe from her and gripped it with about ten tons of force. “Stay for moment,” he instructed. “I must find Jaxen.”

Oh, no. She’d managed to dodge Jaxen since their trip to the colony. A gab session with L’eihr’s resident brainwasher was the last thing she needed today. “I told you everything I know. Can I go back to the nursery?”

“Stay,” Satan repeated, then jogged away without another word.

Damn.

Jaxen wouldn’t be fooled by her innocent act. He’d know she brought the probe back to her room to study it. She should’ve just taken the device out the back door and released it into the wild.

It didn’t take long for him to find her.

Jaxen pinned Cara with an amused look. “You brought it here because you thought it was pretty? If you’re so taken with pretty things, I can direct you to the wildflower conservatory.”

There was no point in trying to deny what she’d done, but her instincts warned her to plead partial ignorance. If it weren’t for Aelyx, she’d never have guessed the orb was a data-gathering machine. “Look,” she whispered, “you and I both know that’s no meteorite. So why don’t you tell me what it is.”

“Sure.” Jaxen’s patronizing tone didn’t fill her with confidence. “But not here. Let’s talk in my chambers.”

Alone with Jaxen inside his bedroom? No thanks. Cara matched his lie with one of her own. “Actually, I’m late for my shift at the preschool. They need me to help run the water diffusion experiment.”

“Oh?” he said with an arched brow. “I thought the headmaster relieved you of your duties today.”

Double damn.

“Well, technically I don’t have to be there, but I wanted—”

“Excellent. Right this way, then.”

He turned and strode inside the Aegis, and with an inward groan, Cara followed him to his room on the second floor. She kept scanning the halls for Elle, hoping to form an exit strategy, but with classes in session, the dormitory was empty. Her last hope was to find Aisly inside the room. But when Jaxen pressed one palm to his keypad, the door hissed open and revealed a vacant bedroom much like hers, only with the cots laid side-by-side instead of bunk-style.

He swept a hand toward the left cot, indicating for her to sit. The door closed with an extra-loud hiss, as if sealing her fate as well as the exit. She settled at the end of the bed, as far from the pillow as possible. It seemed too intimate near the spot where Jaxen rested his head at night.

To her relief, Jaxen remained standing. He gave her as much space as the small chamber would allow, folding his arms and leaning against the side wall when he began. “You’re a smart girl, Cah-ra.”

That was debatable based on her decision-making skills today. But whatever. She’d take it.

“I’m confident you can piece together the purpose of that sphere for yourself,” Jaxen said. For the briefest of moments, she thought she saw a flicker of fear behind his gaze. “Did you understand anything it said to you?”

She wished she had, especially after seeing his reaction. “No. Not even close.”

“Good.” His shoulders sank an inch as he relaxed. “That’s probably for the best.”

Cara wondered if this was going to turn into one of those Scooby-Doo endings, where the bad guy loses his mask and confesses everything. Only in this version, the “meddling kids” would wind up with their memories erased. She decided to go for it. She might as well learn as much as she could and hope to retain it later by blocking her thoughts.

“Why?” she asked. “Because it would’ve transmitted my responses back to whoever sent it? And who is that, by the way?”

Jaxen ignored both her questions and posed one of his own. “Why are the governments of Earth concealing the full extent of the water crises from its citizens?”

Cara puckered her brow because he already knew the answer. “If people found out our water would be unfit for drinking, they’d start hoarding it. Prices would skyrocket. Looting and riots would break out, maybe even wars for the rights to clean rivers and natural springs. Humans don’t have the best track record when it comes to rational behavior.”

“Precisely.” He moved from the wall and took a seat on the opposite cot. “Sometimes for the greater good, a governing body must keep its citizens ignorant of danger.”

If Jaxen was trying to compare Earth’s impending apocalypse to the probes raining down on L’eihr, he’d missed two major points. “L’eihrs are nothing like humans and your world isn’t dying. Big difference.”

She expected him to argue, but he studied her in silence, taking the time to unclasp and resecure his long hair at the base of his neck. Then, in an abrupt move, he darted from his cot to occupy the seat beside her. The mattress shook with his added weight, tipping her nearer to him until their thighs touched. She wanted to scoot away, but she was already at the end of his bed.

“I’ve always liked you, Cah-ra,” he said. “You’ve intrigued me since the day we met.”

“Um.” She leaned away as much as she could. “I didn’t mean to.”

He took her hand and pressed a thumb over the vein in her wrist, then swirled his fingertips lightly over her sensitive skin. Cara realized what he was doing. This was the L’eihr version of a kiss, in which they measured each other’s pulse in an effort to make it rush beneath their lover’s touch.