“And he healed her?”
“Yep. I don’t know more.” It was easier saying it out loud now. “They…they died a couple of days later. I guess it’s like two photons splitting, separate but the same. That explains how we can sense each other. I don’t know. It’s a theory.”
“Do you think whatever is happening with me will stop?”
I ate the last of the cake and then placed my plate on the coffee table. “We may get lucky. What you’re doing might fade over time, but you need to be careful. No pressure, but it’s a threat to all of us. I’m not trying to be…cruel. It’s the truth.”
“No, I understand. I could expose you all. I’ve almost done it several times.”
I leaned against the couch, tossing my arm along the back. “I’m checking around to see if anyone has heard of this happening. I have to be careful, though. Too many questions will give way to suspicion.”
She fingered the necklace as I turned to the television and smiled. An eighties hair band played, screaming about losing love. “After seeing your dance skills earlier, you would have blended right in with the eighties.”
“Can we not mention that again?” she muttered.
I grinned as I looked over at her. “You were this close to having ‘Walk Like an Egyptian’ down.”
“You’re a douche.”
I laughed. “Did you know I had a purple Mohawk?”
“What?” She giggled as she cocked her head to the side. “When?”
“Yep, purple and black. It was before we moved here. We were living in New York. I guess I went through this phase. Pierced nose and all.”
She busted out laughing, and I tossed a throw pillow at her. She placed it in her lap. “You were a skater boy, huh?”
“Something like that. Matthew was with us. He became our guardian of sorts. He had no idea what to do with me.”
“But Matthew—he’s not that much older.”
“He’s older than he looks. He’s around thirty-eight.”
“Wow. He’s aging well.”
I nodded. “He arrived at the same time we did, in the same area. I guess he thought he was responsible for us, being the oldest out of everyone.”
“Where did you guys…?” She winced. “Where did you all land?”
Reaching over, I picked a piece of lint off her shirt. “We landed near Skaros.”
“Skaros?” She wrinkled her nose. “Uh, is that even on Earth?”
“Yes. It’s actually a small island near Greece. It’s known for this rocky region where a castle once stood. I’d like to go back one day. It’s kind of like our birthplace, I guess.”
“How many of you landed there?”
“A couple dozen, or at least that’s what Matthew has told us. I don’t remember anything from the beginning.” My lips pursed. “We stayed in Greece until we were around five, and then we came to America. There were twenty or so of us, and as soon as we arrived, the DOD was there.”
“How did all of that go?” she asked, her expression open and curious.
It was weird talking about this stuff. It was something none of us really went into, but I imagined that Dawson had done it with Beth. “Not very well, Kitten. We didn’t know that humans were aware of us. All we did know was there were Arum around, but the DOD came as a huge surprise to us. Apparently they knew about us from the moment we got here. They rounded up hundreds who had arrived in America.”
She clutched the pillow to her chest. “What did they do with you guys?”
“They kept us in a facility out in New Mexico.”
“No shit.” Her eyes went wide. “Is Area 51 the real deal? Wow. I thought the whole Area 51 thing had been around a while.”
“My family and friends arrived fifteen years ago, but that doesn’t mean the Luxen didn’t come before that.” I laughed at her expression. “Anyway, they kept us there for the first five years. They—the DOD—had been assimilating the Luxen for years. We learned a lot about humans during that time, and when we were…deemed ready to fully assimilate, they let us go. Usually with an older Luxen who could take care of us. Since Matthew had a relationship with us, we were placed with him.”
Her brow wrinkled. “But you guys would’ve been only ten years old. Did you live with Matthew until recently?”
“Believe it or not, we mature differently than humans. At ten I could’ve gone to college. We develop a lot faster, our brains and whatnot. I’m actually smarter than I act.” I grinned when she looked wholly unimpressed. “Matthew lived with us until we moved here. At fifteen, we were pretty much adults. The DOD set us up with a house and money.”
“But what about people asking questions—looking for your parents?”
“There’s always an older Luxen we can pass off for our parent, or we can morph into an older version. The morphing thing we try to avoid because of the trace.”