“They won’t let me.”
“They’re leaving.”
Ria whipped around. “No, they can’t.” She ran toward the black van, but it sped off in a small cloud of dust.
“I have to go after them.”
Carly pulled her toward the house. “It won’t do you any good. If he’s not here legally, then they’ll deport him. But I’m sure he’ll try to contact you. Besides, they’ll probably lock him up here. Heath and Neil will make sure they don’t harm Kristor.” Once inside, Carly shut the door from prying neighbors.
Ria paced the living room. “You don’t understand. There’s more to it than that.”
“More what, Ria?” Carly watched Ria with troubled eyes. “What haven’t you told me?”
Ria stopped, and looked at her friend. It was time to tell her everything. She took a deep breath. “He’s an alien.”
“I figured that one out,” Carly said. “But all they’ll do is deport him. I’ll get you a discount ticket and you can go to wherever he’s from.”
She shook her head. “Only if you can get a ticket to another planet.”
Carly opened her mouth, then snapped it closed. Her forehead puckered in thought, then her eyes widened. “He scammed you into believing he’s an alien from another planet? You have got to be kidding me.”
“He wasn’t scamming me. He’s a shapeshifting alien from the planet New Symtaria, and I’m part alien. My father was part alien; my mother was from Earth.”
“You haven’t been smoking anything, have you?” She scanned the room. “We didn’t do drugs in school. Why would you start now?”
“I’m not on drugs.”
A car pulled up out front, and doors slammed a few seconds later. She ran to the door and opened it.
“Mom! Dad!”
They rushed inside.
Ria fell into their outstretched arms. “Men in black suits came and took Kristor away. What am I going to do? What if they discover he’s an alien?”
“I’ll call Heath. Maybe we can break him out of jail,” her father said.
“I could bake a pie and hide a file inside,” her mother suggested.
“Whoa!” Carly looked at each of them. “Have y’all lost your minds? He’s not an alien from another planet and you can’t break him out of jail! That’s illegal. Do you want to spend the rest of your lives behind bars?”
Her mother and father looked at each other. “You haven’t told her?” her mother asked.
“It just never seemed like the right time.”
Carly threw her arms into the air. “Oh, puleeze! This is so not happening.”
“I have to see him. Make sure he’s okay.” Ria looked at her father. He would know what to do. He always knew what to do.
“I’ll call Heath. He’ll be able to tell us what Kristor’s rights are. I’ll hire him a lawyer. Whatever it takes.”
But before her father could make the call, Heath and Neil pulled up in the patrol car and jumped out. Running toward the porch, they took the steps two at a time, which didn’t take long to reach the top since there were only four steps.
Her father flung the screen door open. “We have a mess on our hands, fellas.”
“You can say that again,” Heath said.
Neil went to Carly’s side. “You okay?”
She shook her head. “They’ve all lost their minds.” She hiccupped back a sob.
“What are they doing to Kristor?” Ria asked.
“I don’t know,” Heath said with a worried frown.
Ria froze. “What do you mean, you don’t know? Isn’t he locked in your jail?”
He shook his head. “They took him back to their office. One of them said they’d gotten some information Kristor was more than an illegal alien. That he might be from another planet.” He shook his head. “I know, it sounds crazy. That’s the government for you, though.”
“That’s what the agent told me, too. That they got an anonymous phone call.” Ria sat down on the sofa with a hard thud. “Who would tell them such a thing?”
“Me,” Carly squeaked. “Oh, God, don’t hate me. I was desperate, and scared for you.”
“Why?” Ria asked, tears welling in her eyes. “I thought we were friends. You could’ve just come to me, not strangers.”
“I was protecting you. I’m so sorry. When I couldn’t find New Symtaria on any map, I called Donald for advice and he encouraged me to call immigration.”
Ria’s lip curled. “Yeah, I just bet he did.” It was a good thing Donald wasn’t here or she’d flatten him. She came to her feet, ready to put a stop to all of this. “Where are they taking him?” she asked Heath.
He shook his head. “They told me they were taking him to an undisclosed location. I’m sure he’ll be okay, though. The worst they’ll do is deport him.”
“No, that isn’t the worst thing. I have to know where he’s going. What direction did they leave in?”
“East. But you’ll never catch them now,” Neil said. “All you can do is wait.”
Fear filled Ria at the thought of shifting into her animal guide. Could she do it if it meant saving the man she loved?
No, she couldn’t.
The thought of flying terrified her. She didn’t want to crash in a blazing ball of fire: She hadn’t married or had children or anything.
Of course, the man she loved was being carted away to God knows where, to possibly be dissected by mad scientists. If they did that, she would probably live a lonely miserable life, then die an old maid.
Ria had a feeling she was going to regret what she was about to do, but she couldn’t see any way around it. She took a deep breath.
“I can find him,” she said. “If I shapeshift into my animal guide.”
Chapter 27
Kristor shifted on the hard bench. They had forced him into the back of the hot stuffy van. An agent was in the back with him, the one called Jack. The guy looked nervous. Why, Kristor didn’t know.
Maybe because he was young and oozed inexperience. The older agent seemed to enjoy Jack’s discomfiture when he’d told Jack that he would be riding in the back with the prisoner.
Kristor glanced around, weighing his options. He could mentally unlock the restraints, but they had his hands bound behind his back. He had to be able to look at them to unlock them.
“So, where you from?” the young agent asked, trying for the voice of authority.
It came out more of a squeak. He might intimidate women and children, but not Kristor. He had a feeling the young agent knew that, too.
Was it a trick question? Was the young man only acting nervous? He studied him for a moment. Jack’s expression only showed curiosity.
“Not from here,” Kristor finally said.
“Yeah, I can’t really blame you for not talking.” He nodded his head toward the front of the van. The only thing separating them from the two men up front was a glass panel. “Adam can be an ass.”
