Invaded (Alienated, #2)(54)

“But your inquisitive nature,” he murmured, “is a danger to you in this case.”

As respectfully as she could, Cara pushed away his hand, making sure he knew her spiked pulse had nothing to do with attraction. “This makes me uncomfortable.” She scooted a few inches to the right until half her bottom hung off the mattress. “I have a l’ihan.”

Clear disappointment dragged down the corners of his mouth. “As do I.”

This was news to Cara. “Who is she?”

“In some ways, my perfect match.” He sighed, then added, “And yet…”

Before he could finish, the bedroom door hissed open and his sister strode inside, stopping short when she noticed them together on the edge of his cot. Aisly didn’t speak, but her expectant glance said, What is she doing here?

“Cah-ra discovered the emissary probe that crashed nearby,” Jaxen explained. He left Cara’s side and joined Aisly, where they engaged in a few beats of silent conversation.

Aisly didn’t seem alarmed, probably because she assumed her brother would pluck the memories from Cara’s head. The girl pulled a mirror from her bureau drawer, along with a small bottle filled with clear liquid.

If Jaxen wouldn’t reveal any details about the probe, maybe his sister would. “What can you tell me about the aliens who sent it?” Cara asked.

Aisly didn’t respond. She flipped open the lid to her bottle, then tipped back her head and squeezed two drops into each of her eyes.

Cara had never seen clones do that. “Is something wrong with your eyes?” she asked.

“No.” Aisly blinked a few times and blotted her cheeks with a handkerchief. Maybe it was Cara’s imagination, but Aisly’s irises seemed a darker shade of silver now. “Simple allergies.” Aisly glanced at her brother. “You’ll soon forget.”

In other words, destroy this memory, too. Cara didn’t know for certain, but she doubted the clones suffered from allergies, not after all those years of meticulous breeding. So what drug was inside that bottle?

Jaxen sighed again and motioned for Cara to stand. He seemed wearier of the mental cleansing than Aisley was. Must be rough screwing with so many heads.

This was it—time to summon her focal image. While she crossed the room and stood before Jaxen, Cara imagined herself in the gym at Midtown High, surrounded by red dodgeballs. She fell so deeply into her fantasy that she could smell the pungent reek of sweat and hear the squeak of sneakers against the waxed wood floor. She scooped an imaginary ball into her hands and repeatedly bounced it, listening to the echo reverberate off the gym walls. When Jaxen took her face between his palms and peered into her eyes, Cara pictured him standing defenseless on the half-court line. A wicked grin curved her mouth. She was going to nail him, right in the beanbags.

The pretend ball felt tight beneath her fingers, overinflated for maximum impact. She drew back, tensed all the right muscles, then threw the ball with a mighty heave, making sure to follow through and hit her target. The ball flew from her grasp and connected with Jaxen’s dangly bits with a satisfying thwack, and he doubled over before sinking to his knees.

Take that, you mind-warping *.

Cara had focused so intently on blocking her thoughts that she didn’t notice when Jaxen pulled away. A loud throat-clearing snapped her to attention, and she found herself staring at the wall.

Uh-oh.

She’d missed his entire message. What had he tried pushing inside her head—to forget the probe and Aisly’s eyedrops or to forget their entire encounter?

“I’m a little confused,” Cara said, rubbing her temples and glancing back and forth between the siblings. “I came in here to ask you something, but now I can’t remember what it was.”

Aisly smiled sweetly. “You must be tired from waking up so early to take your brother to the spaceport.”

“Do you need me to escort you back to your room?” Jaxen asked.

“No, I’ll be fine.” Cara shook her head and laughed dryly. “Guess I need a nap. Sorry to bother you.”

“Any time,” Jaxen told her.

She held up two fingers in a L’eihr good-bye and returned to her room, but not for a nap. She spent the rest of the afternoon talking to Aelyx about what had happened while intermittently huffing his shirt. After what she’d endured, she needed the comfort.


That night as Cara and Elle lay beneath their covers, Cara whispered, “Hey, can I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

“Do L’eihrs get allergies?”

“Allergies?” Elle asked.

“Yeah, you know, reactions to pollen and mold. Itchy, watery eyes, cough, runny nose. Things like that.”

“No,” Elle said, confirming Cara’s suspicions. “Anyone with a hypersensitive immune system would have been barred from reproducing thousands of years ago.”

“You’re a medic,” Cara said. “What reason would someone have to use eyedrops?”

“They wouldn’t.” Elle sounded confused, which made two of them.

“That’s what I thought.”

The hiss of their door opening interrupted their conversation, and Cara pushed onto her elbows, heart thumping as she scanned the darkness for the intruder.

Ah-woo, came a low whine.

Cara pressed a relieved hand to her chest. It was only Vero. “Our keypad’s messed up again,” she told Elle, then pointed a warning finger at Vero. “If you pee on my pillow, I’ll choke you with your own tail.”