PROLOGUE
“Luna and Adryn. Report to the medical bay.”
My whole body stills, eyes go wide, as I stare at Luna. I’ve only managed to wash my face and put my dress on this morning and we already are getting called to the medical bay. What could the headmistress want with us?
In the last twenty-four hours, everything has changed. A spaceship docked on our space station yesterday, scaring us all. Luna and I, along with several other girls, caught glimpses of the enormous aliens who boarded our home.
Invaded our home.
They are armed, dangerous, and massive.
Men.
I’ve never seen a man in my life. I’ve been on this ship for twenty years, since I was a baby, alone with all the other girls. Several girls saw men in real life back on Earth, but the majority of us haven’t.
Luna told me these aliens are supposed to take us off our failing space station and save us. But what are they going to do with us afterward? Are they going to take care of us, or are we going to be slaves? I haven’t heard anyone ask those kinds of questions yet… or verbalize them at least. A lot of the othergirls seem excited that they are going to be saving us. And we desperately need saving with our supplies dwindling every single day.
“Do you think we’ve been chosen?” I manage to ask Luna.
She clasps my hand in hers. “Maybe.”
I take in a shaky breath as we clutch each other and hesitantly walk down the hallway, pushing through the door to the medical bay. I gasp as I spot two huge men standing guard inside the room, their eyes narrowing on us as we walk in. Their clothing is all black, and I thought they were tall before, but seeing them up close… I was wrong.
They have to be almost eight feet tall, though I’ve never been good at judging people’s height, and they’re muscular. They make the room feel smaller, significantly smaller, like it’s closing in around us with each passing second.
Neither of them speaks as we stop in the room, our eyes trained on them. Weapons. Why would they need weapons hanging off their shoulder and waists?
“Girls,” Headmistress Helena says, giving us a forced smile.
The first thing I notice is the device attached to her ear. What is that?
Dread fills my stomach as she looks at us, not saying anything for a couple of seconds. This isn’t going to be good. Whatever she is about to tell us, I can tell she doesn’t want to say it.
“You’ve been selected,” she says stiffly. “You’ll be traveling to Venkoria immediately. Be polite. Be good examples of the human race.”
I grip Luna’s hand tighter, my palms sweating at the news we just received. We have been selected… selected for what? What are they going to do to us?
The door opens on the other side of the room as another huge alien man enters. He’s different, though, wearing blue pants anda shirt. He isn’t armed like the other two. Who is he? The man looks at us and pats the exam table, but neither one of us moves.
Suddenly, he strides toward us, grabbing Luna around the waist and yanking her away from me. He sets her on the table, and I watch in horror as he guides her onto her back as one of the guards steps forward and grips her bicep.
I take a step toward Luna, the overwhelming feeling of needing to help her in any way taking over my body, but I don’t get far. The other guard is fast, wrapping his arm around my waist and holding me still. Before I can say anything, the blue-clothed man holds up a syringe, pushing on Luna’s bicep and pressing the needle into her.
Screaming, I thrash in the man’s arms as Luna goes limp on the table.
“What did you do to her?” I yell, still trying to get out of his grim.
The man says something in a language I can’t understand, panic flows through me as the guard takes away Luna’s body through the door the blue-clothed man came from.
“Where are you taking her?” I scream, struggling as the man hauls me off the ground. “Headmistress Helena! Please! Don’t let them kill me! Don’t let them take me and Luna!”
But Headmistress Helena isn’t in the room anymore. Where did she go? Why did she leave?
The blue-clothed man says something, and before I know it, the guard has me on the table. He lies me on my back, as the other man comes toward me with the syringe. I struggle, hitting the guard's arm, but it’s futile against their strength men. I scream in pain as the needle goes into my arm, and before I know it, everything is black.
ONE
I moan as my head thumps in pain. My whole body feels heavy as I lie on something cold and hard, making me even more cold than I already am. Why am I so chilly? Am I dying?
