Track 50

“Superman”

Present Day

“How many times has this happened?” Lindsay asked in a clipped tone. She folded her arms tightly across her chest.

Hayden gulped. Contrary to his sister’s prediction, he felt no relief about finally revealing his abductions. “Twice. The first time was the same night Cassidy collapsed here.”

Sam rested his chin on steepled hands. “Why didn’t you tell us?”

“I wanted to gather more data before I involved you, find out who they were,” Hayden said, straightening his spine. “Technically, I followed our rules—I didn’t interfere. I pretended to be just another Earthling.”

“You didn’t interfere, I’ll grant you that, but you let yourself get captured and stupefied. That’s careless, Hayden,” snapped Lindsay. “No matter what, we must always protect ourselves. Who knows what was done to you while you were unconscious?”

“If there’s good news from this, it’s that their methods are imperfect. My system metabolizes their medications very quickly.”

“Did it occur to you that they may be refining their ‘methods’ as we speak? The next time they drug you, if they catch you again, it may be with a stronger formula.” Lindsay raised a brow. “You are not to leave this house until we consult with our diplomats.”

“I think it would draw less suspicion if he carried on as normal,” Sam said.

Eyes wild, Lindsay said, “But in the meantime, he could be taken again!”

“Not if I use my abilities. You know, to protect myself,” Hayden drawled pointedly.

“That’s out of the question,” replied Lindsay, ignoring her son’s growl of frustration. “You are well aware of the consequences if you were to expose your abilities here.”

“Yes, yes, banishment to the deep, dark, undersea bases,” said Hayden. Truthfully, he thought those caverns were an Aguan myth. His people weren’t that brutal.

Weren’t they?

“You won’t see the sky again, much less fly through it,” Lindsay bit out.

The prospect of never being at the controls of an airship again put a lump in Hayden’s throat. His mother knew how to push his buttons. He looked away.

“Does this mean we have to find another place to live?” Trudy spoke up in a tiny, plaintive voice, sounding all of her five Earth years. She hugged Yoda till he squirmed.

Lindsay drew a deep breath and crouched before her daughter. “It might mean an extraction to Agua. But we will do our best to stop that from happening. Right, Hayden?”

Hayden nodded. Damn straight, he’d stop it.

Trudy kept her gaze on the carpet. Hayden knew what she was thinking. Guilt hit him like a baseball bat to the stomach. She didn’t want to leave. Moving here from Maine, across the country, was hard enough for her. How would she cope with moving to another galaxy?