Oblivion

When I was in my true form, I couldn’t speak in a language that Kat would understand, so I did something I’d only ever done with those of my kind. This was also forbidden. But so was everything I was doing right now, so really, might as well go the whole nine yards.

Luxen had the ability to transfer our thoughts telepathically to one another. We could communicate that way if we were in our true forms, which wasn’t often, but humans could not respond back. We couldn’t pick up on their thoughts.

This is what we look like.

Kat gasped.

We are beings of light. Even in human form, we can bend light to our will. I paused. As you can see, I don’t look like a giant insect. Or…sparkle.

“No,” she whispered.

Or a lumpy little creature, which I find offensive, by the way. I lifted my arm, stretching out my hand to her, palm up. You can touch me. It won’t hurt. I imagine that it’s pleasant for humans.

She swallowed as she glanced at my hand and then up toward the general vicinity of where my eyes were. The she reached out. Her fingers brushed mine. A jolt of electricity, totally safe, transferred from my hand to hers. Whitish-red light danced up her arm. I smiled as her eyes widened.

Gaining courage, she wrapped her fingers around mine, causing little wisps of light to whip out and circle her wrist. My light enveloped her hand.

Figured you’d like it.

Truth was, I liked it, too. In my true form, I was hypersensitive to, well, everything. I liked her touch. Probably a little too much.

Pulling my hand free, I stepped back. My light slowly faded, and then I returned to the form she was more familiar with. “Kat.”

She stared at me, slowly shaking her head.

Perhaps I should’ve waited on the whole show-and-tell thing. “Kat?”

“You’re an alien,” she whispered as though trying to convince herself.

“Yep, that’s what I’ve been trying to tell you.”

“Oh…oh, wow.” She curled her hand, holding it to her chest. “So where are you from? Mars?”

“Not even close.” I laughed. “I’m going to tell you a story. Okay?”

“You’re going to tell me a story?”

I nodded as I dragged my fingers through my hair. “All of this is going to sound insane to you, but try to remember what you saw. What you know. You saw me do things that are impossible. Now, to you, nothing is impossible.” I waited for that to sink in. “Where we’re from is beyond the Abell.”

“The Abell?”

“It’s the farthest galaxy from yours, about thirteen billion light years from here. And we’re about another ten billion or so. There is no telescope or space shuttle powerful enough to travel to our home. There never will be.” As if our home still existed, I thought as I stared at my open palms. “Not that it matters if they did. Our home no longer exists. It was destroyed when we were children. That’s why we had to leave, find a place that is comparable to our planet in terms of food and atmosphere. Not that we need to breathe oxygen, but it doesn’t hurt. We do it out of habit now more than anything else.”

Recognition flared across her features, and I bet she was thinking about the day at the lake. “So you don’t need to breathe?”

“No, not really.” I shrugged. “We do out of habit, but there are times we forget. Like when we’re swimming.”

“Go on.”

I waited for a moment, wondering if she could handle all of this, and then decided to go for it. I refused to acknowledge the part of me that wanted her to know everything. The part that wanted to desperately know what she’d think if she knew the real me. “We were too young to know what the name of our galaxy was. Or even if our kind felt the need to name such things, but I do remember the name of our planet. It was called Lux. And we are called Luxen.”

“Lux,” she whispered. “That’s Latin for light.”

“We came here in a meteorite shower fifteen years ago, with others like us. But many came before us, probably for the last thousand years. Not all of our kind came to this planet. Some went farther out in the galaxy. Others must’ve gone to planets they couldn’t survive on, but when it was realized that Earth was sort of perfect for us, more came here. Are you following me?”

Her stare was blank. “I think. You’re saying there’re more like you. The Thompsons—they’re like you?”

I nodded. “We’ve all been together since then.”

“How many of you are here?”

“Right here? At least a couple hundred.”

“A couple hundred,” she repeated. “Why here?”

“We…stay in large groups. It’s not…well, that doesn’t matter right now.”

“You said you came during a meteorite shower? Where’s your spaceship?” Her nose did that cute wrinkle thing.

I arched a brow. “We don’t need things such as ships to travel. We are light—we can travel with light, like hitching a ride.”

“But if you’re from a planet billions of light years away and you travel at the speed of light… It took you billions of years to get here?”

Did she really just do that math in her head? “No. The same way I saved you from that truck, we’re able to bend space and time. I’m not a scientist, so I don’t know how it works, just that we can. Some better than others.”

She nodded slowly, but I had a feeling that was just for show. She wasn’t freaking out, so that was good news at least.

I continued as I sat back down. “We can age like a human, which allows us to blend in normally. When we got here, we picked our…skin.” She winced, and I shrugged. What could I do? It was the truth. “I don’t know how else to explain that without creeping you out, but not all of us can change our appearances. What we picked when we got here is what we’re stuck with.”

“Well, you picked good then.”

I gri

“With the exception of being a ball of light I can touch?”

My grin spread. “Yeah, that, and we’re a lot more advanced than humans.”

“How advanced is a lot?” she asked quietly.

“Let’s say if we ever went to war with humans, you wouldn’t win. Not in a billion years.”

She was frozen, and then leaned back from me. Probably should’ve kept that little piece of knowledge to myself. “What is some of the stuff you can do?”

I met her gaze. “The less you know is probably for the best.”

Kat shook her head. “No. You can’t tell me something like this and not tell me everything. You…you owe that to me.”

“The way I see it, you owe me. Like three times over,” I pointed out.

“How three times?”

“The night you were attacked, just now, and when you decided Ash needed to wear spaghetti.” I ticked them off my fingers. “There better not be a fourth.”

Confusion marked her expression. “You saved my life with Ash?”

“Oh yeah, when she said she could end you, she meant it.” I sighed as I tipped my head back. “Dammit. Why not? It’s not like you don’t already know. All of us can control light. We can manipulate it so that we’re not seen if we don’t want to be. We can dispel shadows, whatever. Not only that, but we can harness light and use it. And trust me when I say you don’t ever want to be hit with something like that. I doubt a human could survive.”

“Okay…” She twisted her hands together, a movement she appeared to be unaware of. “Wait. When we saw the bear, I saw a flash of light.”

“That was me, and before you ask, I didn’t kill the bear. I scared it off. You passed out because you were close to the light. I think it had an effect on you. Not sure why it affected you then and not now. Anyway, all of us have some sort of healing properties, but not all of us are good at it,” I continued, lowering my chin. “I’m okay at it, but Adam—one of the Thompson boys—can practically heal anything as long as it’s still somewhat alive. And we’re pretty much indestructible. Our only weakness is if you catch us in our true form. Or maybe cut our heads off in human form. I guess that would do the trick.”