“What did he say exactly when you called him?” Mom asked from the backseat of the SUV that had picked them up from the hospital.

  It was the same one that picked up Eric from the airport, including the driver Airman Harper. There were ashes in the ashtray at Eric’s elbow, and the powerful smell of cigar smoke permeated the backseat, even though he knew it had been hours since he’d last been in the vehicle with the General.

  “I told Rikker that you needed to talk with him about what happened at the farm and that it would give him more information about the ship. That’s it.”

  Mom was staring out the darkened window of the SUV with a scowl on her face. He knew she didn’t want to do this, but he was glad that she was. Like it or not, the truth would get out sooner rather than later that the alien ship was connected to their family and then the shit would truly hit the fan. It was better that she at least came clean to the United States government now instead of them knocking on her door, even still, this was sure to be an unpleasant conversation.

  Eric was still trying to wrap his mind around it all. It just seemed so impossible, so unreal. He had barely grasped the concept that there was other life in the universe with the arrival of the alien ship yesterday, and now he discovered that the people he’d been calling his family for years were never who he thought they were.

  What’s more is they had been living on Earth for years and almost no one had known the truth of their origins. Eric had been a part of their family and had never once suspected the truth. Though is seemed he had known at one time, or at least suspected when he was younger. That was why Dad had altered his memories.

  Eric tried to swallow past the lump in his throat. That had been the hardest part to accept––that the man he’d learned to love and respect over the years, and eventually call Dad after Eric had lost his biological one, had suppressed his memories. Was that why Eric hadn’t seen past the lies his adoptive parents had told? Because surely he should have known or guessed that something was different about them?

  And yet, as he looked back over the years, all he could see were the moments of a normal American family: backyard barbecues, Christmas mornings, helping Michael with his homework, teaching Emmaline to ride a bike, Mom making cookies for bake sales and Dad teaching Eric how to drive. There was nothing alien about those memories.

  The SUV turned onto a narrow road that led toward a nondescript government building. Eric had never been here before, but he recognized the security protocols as they approached—armed guards, vehicle checkpoints, biometric scanners. And suddenly what Mom was doing felt all too real. What guarantee did he have that Rikker would let Mom just walk out of that building after she told him the truth? Suddenly, years of the family’s friendship with the man didn’t seem so unshakeable after all. Maybe this had been a mistake.

  “You don’t have to do this,” he said quietly to Mom. “We could turn around right now.”

  She finally tore her gaze away from the outside and gave Eric a sad smile. “No, you were right, Eric. I need to do this. For you… and for me. It never sat right with me, hiding ourselves away from this world. It’s time to start putting that right.”

  Mom reached to put a hand over Eric’s that sat on the middle seat between them. Eric turned it over to grasp hold of hers, and he was surprised by the strong feeling of love that came over him. It was intense and beautiful and deeply comforting. It was like being wrapped in a warm blanket and being surrounded by everything he loved all at once. Eric blinked at the only person he’d ever known as Mom. His real one dying from complications after he had been born.

  “That’s how I feel about you, Eric,” Mom said with tears sparkling in her eyes. “No matter what has happened, or what will happen, I wanted you to know how much I love you.”

  “How?” he rasped out thickly, feeling overwhelmed by the emotion, and not quite sure how to react to it.

  “That’s my Dome-ni. It’s called Sensory. I can sense other’s emotions through smell and touch, and share emotions with others too.”

  “Oh,” Eric said quietly, staring at their joined hands. The warm sensation was slowly fading, leaving behind a lingering comfort. “That’s… I don’t know what to say.”

  “You don’t have to say anything.” Mom squeezed his hand once more before letting go.

  Eric nodded and drew back his hand. His mind was in a whirlwind. It felt good knowing how she truly felt about him. She really loved him just like her very own. He had often thought about his biological dad, whom Eric remembered a little of, and his biological mother, he remembered not at all. But Arnold and Cassandra had made him so much a part of their family that Eric had not felt like he was missing out on something important even though he’d been completely orphaned at eleven. It was good to know that at least that much was true. That his belonging had not been a lie.

  The SUV stopped, and Airman Harper got out and came to open Eric’s door. “The General is just inside, sir,” the man said.

  Eric stepped out of the vehicle and looked toward the nondescript building. Mom came around the car, and they both entered the front door. Inside was another Airman sitting behind a desk. He nodded down the long hallway to his left.

  “The General is expecting you. It’s the door all the way at the end.”

  Eric nodded and led the way. All the other doors were closed tightly, but the one they were looking for was halfway open. Eric stopped just outside, and the booming voice of the General sounded. “Come on in!”

  Eric pushed the door the rest of the way open and stepped in with Mom following closely behind. The General stood up from his desk and came to stand in front of Mom with an expression of concern. “Cassandra, I am so sorry to hear about Arnold. Please let me know if there is anything I can do.”

  Mom nodded. “Thank you, General. I know Arie always thought of you as a friend.”

  “Likewise. I sincerely hope he will be up and about soon.” The General gestured toward the chairs in front of his desk. “Please sit. Would you like something to drink? My secretary just brewed a fresh pot of coffee. Tell you the truth, I can’t drink anything that’s been sitting in a pot for more than a few hours.”

  “A coffee would be good,” Mom said as she sat down, her back rigid with tension despite the General’s warm welcome.

  “Lieutenant?” the General asked.

  “Yes, thank you. Black,” Eric said as he sat down beside his mother.

  The General picked up a phone. He barked two orders of coffee into it confirming Mom took cream and sugar, and placed the receiver down. It wasn’t until then that Rikker settled into his own seat behind the desk, folding his hands onto the dark wood surface before him. His own still-hot coffee, with steam rising and untouched, was near his elbow.

  “I understand you might know something about the ship that appeared outside the farm yesterday?” He asked in a firm, no-nonsense tone, making it clear the pleasantries were over and the real conversation had commenced.

  Mom nodded. “Yes, I do. Quite a lot, actually. It was from a place called Ethia. It’s quite a way from here. Another galaxy, in fact.”

  She shifted nervously in her chair, and Eric thought she might not go through with it, but she lifted her chin and looked the General square in the eyes as she said the next part. “It came here looking for us, because that’s where Arie, Michael, and I are from. We came to this planet twenty years ago to hide, but it seems they finally figured out where we were.”

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  If the General was surprised by the revelation, he didn’t show it. He simply sat there like Mom was just talking about something as simple as the weather. After he didn’t say anything or even twitch an eye after her revelation, Mom took that as permission to keep going, and she did.

  Everything Eric had heard from Emmaline came spilling out from his mother. They were interrupted only once when the Airman from the front brought in their coffees. Mom accepted hers, took one sip and then set it on the edge of the General’s desk as she continued her story and didn’t touch it again as she first told of the attack on Michael when he was a child, the decision to leave the Empire, their ship crash landing on Earth, and then deciding to blend in and hide on Earth.

  Eric didn’t even think to take a sip of his coffee until she started in on yesterday, when Michael was finally told the truth of who he was and that the biggest reason the ship was here was to take him back to his birth father.

  He thought it would be easier to hear it all the second time, but a tightness in his chest constricted and grew when she told the General of how Dad had decided to sacrifice himself to keep them from taking Michael, and then Michael leaving the townhouse to stop Dad. She finally finished speaking after she summarized Dad’s condition and suspected what was the cause of it, but not exactly sure what had transpired after Michael reached the farm that caused Dad to be left in that state.

  After she was done, silence hung heavily in the room. The General had not moved a muscle the entire time Mom spoke, but after she was done, he opened a drawer and pulled out a fresh cigar. He didn’t say a word as he cut off the end, lit it, and sat back in his chair. He blew out a long breath of smoke that floated across the desk and invaded their space on the other side.

  “Well, that’s one hell of a story. I’ll give you that. Hell of a story that explains a lot,” the General added after another puff on his cigar. “I always knew there was something different about your family, Cassandra. Never could put my finger on it.”

  The smoke curled around them like a living thing, and Eric watched his mother’s face carefully. She seemed both relieved and terrified at having revealed her secret.

  “You don’t seem surprised,” Mom said cautiously.

  General Rikker leaned back in his chair. “When you’ve been in this business as long as I have, you learn to expect the unexpected. And I always figured Arnold had something to hide.” He tapped his cigar on the edge of the ashtray. “The man was too perfect. Too careful and unusually purposeful in all his actions.”

  Mom’s shoulders tensed. “And now? What happens now that you know?”

  The General studied her for a long moment. “That depends. Are you a threat to this country? To this planet?”

  “No,” Mom said firmly. “We never were. We just wanted to live in peace.”

  “And this Empire of yours? Should we be concerned about more ships showing up?”

  Mom hesitated. “I don’t know. I was surprised they didn’t try harder to get Arie and I before leaving with Michael.”

  The General leaned forward, eyes narrowing. “So they got what they came for—your son.”

  “Yes,” Mom whispered, her voice barely audible. “But I don’t understand why they didn’t take us too. Ghar would have wanted his justice after all.”

  “Maybe he was just satisfied with getting Michael back?” Eric offered through clenched lips. He was still furious that his brother had been taken and there wasn’t anything he could do to get him back.

  Mom nodded slowly. “I suppose it’s possible.”

  “But it’s also possible they could be back one day?” The General asked as if that fact didn’t bother him at all, but Eric could see Rikker clench his jaw, and the cigar was left to burn in his hand as if he’d forgotten it.

  “Yes, I suppose so,” Mom replied.

  “And if they do return?” the General said, giving Mom a pointed look.

  “Then I suppose Arie and I will have to give ourselves up,” Mom said quietly.

  Eric looked to his mother, startled. “Mom?”

  She turned to him with a sad smile. “It was never our intention for anyone else to get pulled into our troubles, Eric. The last thing I want is for you, your sister, or this planet to suffer from your dad and my choices.”

  “It would also be helpful for us to be ready if that ever happens,” the General said, crushing out his cigar with deliberate force. “We didn’t catch sight of that damn ship until the day before yesterday, when one of our satellites spied it out near the moon. That’s way too close without us getting a better heads-up. The United States government is going to need everything you know about Ethian technology, their military capabilities, and any potential weaknesses in case things get messy.”

  The shift in his tone was subtle but unmistakable. This was the real General coming out, and his tone made it clear he wasn’t taking no for an answer.

  Mom’s fingers tightened around her untouched coffee cup. “I was a horticulturist, General. I know very little about all that. Arie knows more than I. He was the one to start New Horizons after all.”

  The General didn’t seem to like that very much as he frowned across the desk at the woman. “All the same, I suspect you know more than you think you do. And we’ll need to debrief you thoroughly, and Arnold too if he ever wakes up.”

  “So you aren’t going to detain me?” Mom asked tentatively.

  “Of course not,” the General replied, but something in his tone made Eric uneasy. “You’re a valuable asset, Cassandra. Besides, we’ve known each other for what—fifteen years now? You’ve been to my home for dinner. My wife used to rave about your strawberry shortcake before she passed. God rest her soul.”

  The General stood, circling his desk with measured movements. He stopped in front of them. Rikker’s eyes locked with Mom’s. “As long as you cooperate with us, I don’t see any reason for this to get unpleasant. It’s obvious that you’ve been through a lot already and still are. I simply need to ensure the safety of those under my care. You understand?”

  “Yes, of course. I will do whatever I can to help, General.”

  The man smiled with a warmth that seemed genuine. “Excellent, that’s what I was hoping to hear. It’s getting late. Why don’t you and Eric go home and get some rest? I need to run this up the chain of command anyway. A lot of people are going to rest easy at least knowing what’s going on with that ship.”

  Mom tensed. “Are you going to go public with this?”

  The General shook his head. “Not my decision to make. I guess we’ll have to see what the higher-ups think, but I do believe it unlikely this will stay under wraps forever, especially with how much your family is already in the public eye. I’d be prepared for full disclosure if I were you.”

  Mom stood up. “I understand.”

  Eric stood up beside her and was about to turn to leave when the General spoke again. “I am really sorry about Arnold and Michael too. He was a bright kid. He was going places.”

  “He is going places,” Mom said. “Just not here.”

  The General snorted. “I suppose so. Well, have a good night. My office will be touch soon with further instructions. Please answer the phone when they call.”

  Mom nodded.

  Airman Harper was waiting outside in the SUV, and Eric wondered if he’d been sitting there the whole time. Between Mom telling her story and answering the General’s questions, they had been inside for several hours. It was well into the night now. As soon as the Airman saw them coming, he stepped out and opened the backseat door.

  “Where to?”

  Mom had stopped to look at her phone. She must have had it on silent, because Eric hadn’t heard it go off once.

  “Emmaline texted a while ago that Anna took her home. So home please. Do you need the address?” She asked the Airman.

  “No, Ma’am,” he replied.

  Eric wasn’t surprised. The General ran a tight ship. Eric let Mom get in first and then he followed. The Airman shut the door and slipped into the driver’s seat. Eric turned to his mother and spoke in a low voice so only she could hear.

  “I think it might be a good idea to give the family lawyer a call. Let him know what’s going on and see if he can’t help get the legal stuff with the government ironed out. The General was a little vague on that part. I’d feel better if you had your own representation going forward.”

  Mom nodded. “Yeah, I was kind of thinking the same thing. I just… Arie always took care of this sort of stuff, even getting our fake birth certificates. And don’t ask me how he got them. I never wanted to know.”

  That part didn’t surprise Eric in the least. Dad was always prepared for everything. If he had come and stayed in America illegally, he certainly wouldn’t have been satisfied with not having the right paperwork. There was no way he and Mom could have gone as long as they had without it, or Michael either.

  It didn’t even surprise Eric that Dad had gotten forged papers, and some damn good ones if they hadn’t raised any red flags. Because while he didn’t live his life in the gray areas, Arnold Layton had demonstrated to Eric a few times over the years that he was comfortable treading the places outside normal society when necessary.

  The drive back to Manhattan was a slow one with the Williamsburg Bridge locked up with an accident. By the time Airman Harper pulled up to the brownstone, it was well past midnight. Eric stepped out, retrieved his bag from the Airman, and made his way up the front stairs closely behind by his mother. Eric could see that the light in the living room was on.

  Mom unlocked the door, and they stepped into the townhouse to find Emmaline standing in the middle of the living room with hands on her hips and a ferocious scowl on her face.

  “Why on earth are you up so late, Emmaline?” Mom asked as she stepped forward and then stopped, standing completely still just inside the threshold.

  Eric came up from behind and stepped around her. Emmaline was still glaring––at Mom––Eric noticed, and Mom’s gaze had locked onto the thin rectangular object in Em’s hand. It was the device Mom had used earlier at the hospital to show them Dad talking about the possible side effects of using his Mind Bender talent.

  “When were you going to tell me I could save Dad?” Emmaline demanded.