Chapter 1
Trinh
An insistent chime coerces me awake. Lifting one side of my sleep mask, I look around my room, confusion clouding my thoughts. I groan when I see my tablet is singing its persistent song from my nightstand. Reaching over, I almost knock it to the ground. Finally sliding the device into my lap, I see that Maya has sent me a message. My stomach climbs its way up my throat in sudden fear. There is no good reason why anyone would be messaging me in the middle of the night. My hand trembles as I click on the notification.
Trinh, you need to come to the rear lounge. Something is going on that you need to see. I will explain everything once you get here. Don’t worry, Momma Hen, I’m not hurt or anything.
What in the world?
Sliding my sleep mask to the top of my head, I toss off my duvet. As I grab a change of clothes, the ding of my tablet pulls me back. Snatching up the device, I see a new message, this one from Laney.
Hey girl, meet me in the rear lounge. I’m safe, the baby’s safe, but I need to tell you something. Nothing to panic about, but we need to talk.
If my friends are trying to keep me from panicking, they suck at it. Dropping the jeans clutched in my now-numb fingers, I turn to race out of my dorm. On my way, I note that the doors to my new roommate’s bedrooms are still closed and dark. Whatever is going on, they don’t know about it.
Jogging through the gleaming corridors, I grab my boobs to keep them from bouncing everywhere. I’m sure I look weird running through the halls, clasping my chest, but I’m too worried to get dressed properly. I like to give the girls their freedom while I sleep. If I had known my friends would wake me in the middle of the night with an emergency, I might have put on a sports bra before bed. Oh well. The aliens diving out of my way as I run down the halls will just have to learn to deal with my free tatas. Not that they should complain. They should be thanking me.
More people than I would have expected are up and wandering the halls at this time of night. I’ve never been up this late before, though, so maybe this is normal.
I know my friends told me not to panic, but worry is burbling its way up my throat like acid. I’m trying to bolster my defenses with inane mental chatter, but terrible thoughts keep worming their way into my mind. What if something is wrong with Laney’s pregnancy? What if someone is hurt? Different scenarios, each one worse than the last, flick through my mind. Why did they feel the need to send me such cryptic messages? Just tell me what the hell is going on.
Turning a corner, I see the lounge up ahead. My steps slow when I see it is full of people. Weird. Mostly Cerastean men fill the room, but I spot a few bride volunteers here and there. The plain uniforms create a sea of black and gray occasionally interspersed with a bright spot of color from a woman’s clothing. I feel a tiny amount of relief that the brides are also in their pajamas. I picture the Cerasteans sleeping each night in their uniforms like robotic pod-people waiting to be activated. I’ve begun to believe that Cerasteans arrive from the womb already in their uniforms, complete with utility belt. They don’t seem to have even a basic grasp of fashion or casual wear. It’s a shame since they all have such great physiques. It’s a crime against fashion.
Weaving through the mass of bodies around me, I try to locate my friends. The size of all the Cerastean men around me makes it impossible to see around their hulking forms. I haven’t met a regular-sized alien yet. I huff in exasperation. I am sick of being smaller than everyone else.
There is a weird hushed tension in the air. The room is surprisingly quiet with so many people around; only muted murmurs make a low buzzing noise around me. Expectant anticipation seems to be keeping voices whisper soft. Still looking for my friends, I notice everyone suddenly focuses their collective attention on the canvas of space outside. Pushing my way between two giant black-clad Cerasteans, I make myself some room directly in front of the windows.
It looks like the same view of space I’ve seen a hundred times now. I never thought I’d get ho-hum about floating in an endless vista of star-speckled black, but the same view every day has lessened its impact. I shrug, ready to return to my search for Maya and Laney, when someone steps up next to me. I look over and see my frenemy L’Corte.
Since L’Corte is the Program Director of the Bride Program, we end up needing to interact often. As I planned my friends’ Presenting Ceremony a few weeks ago, we kept bumping heads over the details of the event. He’s got a stick up his ass and he needs to learn how to loosen up, and I’m just the girl to yank that stick from his rear end. I just never expected how tightly clenched he would end up being. It’s been fun watching him stew each time I thwart his attempts to exert control over every situation. Plus, arguing with him is extra enjoyable since he’s so damn pretty.
I love watching his golden eyes with cat-like pupils narrow in annoyance when I question him. Sometimes, it’s all I can do to stop myself from giving all that long tawny-colored hair a tug, like pulling a cat’s tail to see if it will claw you. It’s always so perfectly in place; it makes me want to muss it up. I even like his scaled skin, which reminds me of a snake. And I hate snakes. But somehow on this alien-man, the scales look good. It’s not fair that someone so hot is so uptight.
I also like that he’s not as big and imposing as some of the other Cerasteans. Don’t get me wrong, he’s still way taller than a normal human man. But some of these Cerastean Warriors look like they didn’t just eat their Wheaties; they ate the Wheaties guy too. I often feel like a Lilliputian around here, even in my ‘stripper heels’ as my friends call them. L’Corte’s the perfect height, just big enough to make a woman like me feel delicate and cute.
“What is going on here?” I whisper to L’Corte.
“The Hisk are returning from –” L’Corte starts to say, but my whoop of excitement interrupts him. This means Ally’s back! The smile on my face slowly dies because jubilation should be filling the air, but it’s not. Everyone around me is somber and solemn.
“Is everything okay? What’s wrong?” I demand.
L’Corte opens his mouth to answer but is interrupted by a low gasp from the crowd. Hundreds of copper-colored ships blink into existence on the other side of the glass. My mouth drops open in shock, and I can’t seem to close it. I’ve lost all control over my facial muscles.
I press my hand against the cold glass separating me from the vastness of space and the overwhelming sight of hundreds of nautilus-shaped spaceships spreading out in the distance. I recognize them as belonging to the Hisk. I met several of the giant centaur-camel aliens at the Presenting Ceremony – the Cerastean version of a wedding – for my friends Maya, Serena, and Chelsea.
The stacked rows of Hisk ships stretch out into the distance until they are nothing but glimmering dots against the black velvet of space.
One of my dormmates, Ally, left just under a month ago to go on some kind of religious pilgrimage with the Hisk to their home planet. She isn’t due to return for about a week, but I hope she’s in one of those pretty metallic ships.
Clearly, this is what my friends needed me to see, but what does it mean? Why are all these ships here? Only one ship was coming back to return Ally and a few others once the pilgrimage was over.
I open my mouth to ask L’Corte more questions, but the ships disappear. They just… blink out of existence.
“Holy shit! They’re gone. They’re just fucking gone,” I say with a dry gulp. Turning my attention from the now vast emptiness of space outside, I stare at L’Corte. I can see my shocked face reflected in his cat-like eyes.
“They’re still there, just cloaked now,” L’Corte explains.
“Cloaked? Like onStar Trek? Ally would love to get her hands on that kind of technology,” I say, thinking of my nerdy friend and her love of all things technological.
