So many lies.
Mrs. C was still looking at me. What…? Right. Mist. Not rain.
“I don’t mind. The mist is nice. Soothing.” Truth was, I was grateful for the rain and the low, gray clouds that completely hid any trace of blue sky. They made me feel hidden. Safe. I didn’t want to see the stars at night and wonder if an alien was hunting for us. Watching us from space. Tracking us from his ship.
The clouds were a boon. An advantage. At least that’s how I felt. We were going to hide up here in the Pacific Northwest like a couple of Twilight vampires. I was coming in mid-year on a long-term substitute teaching contract, covering for a teacher who wanted to take additional maternity leave. November in the Pacific Northwest was rainy.
I hoped the skies didn’t clear until June.
“I’ve always loved it here.” Mrs. C was in her sixties, weighed about ninety pounds soaking wet, and the top of her head barely reached my shoulder. Sure, I was taller than most. Curvier than most. I had some junk in the trunk and decent musculature left over from my days of high school sports and sporadic gym memberships I’d maintained over the ten years since I graduated from high school. I was not small, but standing next to Mrs. C made me feel like a giant.
I sighed and dropped the blinds back into place so I wouldn’t have to look at the cold, gray, dreary colors of my life. Brody was the only bright spot in an otherwise lonely, depressing reality. I’d missed my sister terribly when she left. But a few months later, I got a message that she was pregnant, and an invitation to visit her on Everis. God, I was so excited that day, couldn’t wait to see her, visit another world, go on an adventure. Kim had always been the daring one, the wild child, the younger sibling who counted on me to have her back.
Transporting to another planet felt like having my body ripped apart—one cell at a time—then being shoved back together before finally snapping into place like a rubber band. But she’d been there, waiting for me, with her new husband. And god help me, Elite Hunter Rojak was hot. Big. Gorgeous. Protective. And totally, completely, one hundred and ten percent in love with my sister. I liked him instantly.
Brody looked just like him, except for his hair. He had my sister’s golden curls and her dimples. He was endearing and I loved him with everything in me. Which brought me back to the why of being here. Very nasty people—alien people, not human—wanted to kill him. I suspected they were the same people who murdered my sister and her mate.
Oh, the alien authorities said Kim’s and Rojak’s deaths were an accident. I called bullshit. Fucking aliens weren’t to be trusted. Liars. I’d met Brody’s extended family when I visited right after he was born. The family was small. Rojak’s parents gone. No siblings. Just an older male cousin, Pridon, and his family, which included a subdued, mouse of a wife, and three sons too old to be cute, but too young to hate or blame for their father’s manners. I’d caught Rojak’s asshole cousin staring so many times I stopped going places in the family compound without a guard.
Creepy. That’s what he was. Pushing fifty with beady dark eyes and a fake smile. The men—the cousin’s security team—gave me equally bad vibes. Pridon, Kim had explained, had not qualified as an Elite Hunter, his genetics and innate talents not strong enough. Apparently, he was bitter, jealous, and envious of Rojak’s success and wealth.
Pridon was a snake and so were his men. Every goddamn one of them. Apparently, there had been one decent man—alien—in that family, and my sister married him. Mated him. Whatever. Semantics. Their son was under my protection now. The Everian Council could go fuck off and die before I’d allow Brody to go back to Everis and have an accident like his parents. At least on Earth, no one knew who he was, and no one wanted him dead. Here, he could grow up and have a normal life, at least until he was old enough to defend himself. I had no doubt his father’s Elite Hunter blood was in that little body, just waiting for him to get a little bigger. Older. Faster. One day, that sweet little boy I loved would be a noble on another world. An Elite Hunter. And he would avenge his parents. All I had to do was keep him alive until then.
“Ms. James? Are you all right?” Mrs. Cojciechowski ‘s question made me realize I was standing still as a statue staring at dusty window blinds. James was my father’s name, first, not last. I liked to think using it as our new surname made him mine and Brody’s guardian angel.
“Oh yes. Sorry. Just lost in thought.” I pasted a bright smile on my face and spun around, clapping my hands together. Maybe acting excited would help me feel excited. “I brought a box of decorations.” I was ready. I had all the cute little posters, the ABC graphics, the inspirational quotes and typical teacher’s décor. I was ready to make the classroom walls, and the rows of small desks, as cheerful and colorful as possible. “I’ll get started decorating, if that’s all right.”
“Yes. The students return Monday.” Mrs. C nodded her approval as I asked Brody if he wanted to help. He abandoned his blocks, his shining curls bouncing around sad brown eyes that had seen too much.
“Is Brody’s registration complete?“ I asked. “I don’t want him to miss anything.”
“Absolutely. Mrs. Radu is expecting him in class bright and early Monday morning.” Mrs. C clapped her hands together in front of her. Unlike me, I didn’t think she was faking her enthusiasm. “You’ll like her. She’s new, as well. From Europe. Interesting accent. You two can learn the ropes together. Two new teachers. The kids are going to be so excited. Isn’t that wonderful?”
Totally.
Mrs. C left us alone and my shoulders sagged in relief, the fake smile fading instantly. I didn’t care about Mrs. Radu or where she was from. I only cared about the fact that Brody would be three doors down and across the hall, all day, every day, where I could keep an eye on him. Grab him if we needed to leave in a hurry.
Like in Dallas. And Atlanta before that. After the second close call, I’d gone on the hunt for the kind of people who could give us new identities. Make us disappear. Running from alien assassins made human criminals significantly less scary.
I dropped to one knee and helped Brody pull out our treasure of selected decorations and spread them out over several children’s desks.
“Are we going to stay here?” he asked.
“Yes.” I reached out and cupped his sweet, soft cheek. “Yes, love. We are. This is going to be our home now.”
“And the bad people won’t find us?” Brody whispered.
“I don’t think they can.” I was going to cry. I pulled him into my arms and held him close, wondered which one of us was shaking. “I love you. I love you so much. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
“Promise the bad people won’t find us again?”
I opened my mouth to give him the promise he wanted, but I couldn’t make myself lie to him. Instead, I reached for a small, silly poster of a baby dragon reading a book. “This one’s your favorite. Want to help me find the perfect place to hang it up?”
He nodded. Didn’t press me. He knew the truth. We both knew.
Nowhere was safe.
3
