PROLOGUE
Nobody can ever tell whether the person looking you in the face is a wonderful or horrid person inside. Some people are naturally kind and so don’t care whether a person is good or bad, but others they have to know. Me, I can’t help but know. I would always know. It was a gift to know.
My family, we all have gifts. We all have extra strength, extra speed, and only age a tenth of what a normal human does. We each have one other specific and individual gift. My Mother can communicate with animals, my father has a hugely desired skill of being able convince anybody of anything using a little bit of eye contact, my older brother can control the wind, and my little sister can levitate. Me, I’m a mind reader. I can read every mind in a room with ease. I can stretch it to one or two miles away if I try hard.
We aren’t from this small insignificant planet. We aren’t from the planet you call Earth. We aren’t from the mass of planets that you call The Solar System. We aren’t from the galaxy you call the Milky way.
We’re from a galaxy that you call Messier 83, we call it Mastrigac. We call our mass of planets The Bariacs. We are from a planet called Scerna. My parents came here originally as a holiday in the 1600’s. They liked what they saw and so they stayed permanently. They had to move every time something happened that nobody could explain, for example somebody would see my mother talking to animals, or somebody that my dad used his talents on realised what had happened or somebody would notice that they weren’t getting any older.
They had my brother, Alec, in Orlando, Florida in the year 1831
They were moving more when Alec came. As a baby he would start a wind storm every time he started to cry or have a tantrum. They had to move every other month because somebody would catch on.
Twenty earth years later – when Alec was two years of age – when they were finally able to settle down without a wind storm brewing every month, I – Sarah – came along.
They had settled in Las Vegas, Nevada. 1851.
From the moment I was born, all I could hear was a buzzing noise in my head. It was the thoughts of everybody in the room. Most were nurses. I heard them all gush in their minds of how cute I was. I heard my dad hold back an internal choke of how proud he was. I heard mom internally cheering that I was the baby girl that she most desperately wanted.
It wasn’t easy growing up with the constant chatter in your head. Most people say that the more a baby hears people talking the quicker they will pick the language up. I was living proof. I heard every thought that was in my house and the houses surrounding us, and so I said my first word – Gamble – at the miraculous age of ten days.
My parents thought my gift might be super knowledge but as I grew older and learnt how to structure a sentence I told them about my gift, I told them about the voices in my head, the unspoken thoughts that were floating in to my ears.
Because of me, we had to move a lot. I would, without realising it, answer somebody’s thoughts instead of the words that they had actually spoken or I would speak when babies my age should only be talking gibberish.
Me and Alec where the closest of brother and sisters. As we aged more slowly than average humans, we spent a lot longer as children playing together then what normal humans do and so the bond was even more extreme, like most things about us.
When I had reached the sensible age of three my sister Irena graced us with her presence.
We were in the small town of Ann Arbour in Michigan when Irena was born.
We knew what her gift was straight away. We had to move the day she was born because she floated up and out of the nurses arms as she fell asleep. She was the most difficult to raise, and I would know, going on the thoughts that mom and dad thought.
It didn’t surprise me though. She spent most of her baby days up in the air, we were no longer able to have people around to visit, in case she decided to float up into the air. We became the mysterious family that only ever socialises as individuals, never as a family.
As we all got older, we all leant to reign in our gifts. Alec learnt to control his anger, as that is when a storm will start. He learnt how to harness his emotions so he could use the wind as an ally without getting angry. He could lift objects using the wind, or he could blow objects away. He could create gale force winds that could be shrunk into a tunnel of wind that had a diameter of only two centimetres or he could create an entire Tornado.
I had managed to push the thoughts of other people to the back of my mind. They were still there, and still fully understandable, but they weren’t the a mass of screams like they once were. I tried not to listen to the thoughts of my family and friends. It felt too intrusive. I didn’t like not being able to give them the privacy that they give me. It almost makes me feel guilty. However, I do come in handy to my family, if anybody has suspicions about our humanity I will hear it and we will be gone before they can even spread the word.
Irena had learnt how to control when she rises into the air. She often flu around the house or would fly up to reach something that none of us could, but apart from that she stuck to the ground. She had been the slowest walker in the land. It took her three whole years to learn how to walk, plainly because she flu everywhere.
While we were young, we weren’t able to stay in the same place for more than two years maximum, people would notice that us kids weren’t aging normally. We could pull off two years but then we would have to move and start a life all over again.
But now, we’re getting older. I am sixteen years of age, Alec is eighteen and Irena is thirteen. We can stay in one place for at least five or six years. Nobody seems to notice our slow aging at this age, even Irena’s age, everybody just concludes we’re shorter and have younger faces. We know soon we won’t be able to say we are a real family. Alec, Irena and I will still be able to say we are blood related brothers and sisters, but soon mom and dad will be too young to pull off being our real parents. We’re pushing it is with Alec. Everywhere we go, we push up mom and dad’s age by two years to thirty two and pull Alec down to a reasonable seventeen. Though that won’t last for long. Soon Alec will look too mature to pull off the age of seventeen and so we will have to use his real age and claim to have been adopted or fostered or just plain house companions.
But for now, we are a family to those around us. And for the time being that is how it will stay.

CHAPTER ONE

2011. Aged sixteen in Scerna years. Aged one hundred and sixty in human years.
We had not long celebrated my sixteenth birthday on the shores of Santa Barbara in California. We had a beach side bungalow, with four bedrooms, a lounge, a kitchen, one bathroom and an outdoor swimming pool in the back yard.
The backyard was mostly grass, well past the swimming pool and the concrete around it. The grass had no real purpose but an area for us to train using our powers – though we only did it at night so nobody would be able to see us. Surrounding the backyard was a wooden fence. And past the back fence was about ten metres of grass and then a long stretched out beach.
This was one of our preferred spots. We return here every half a century with different names and identities. This house was one of the many that we actually owned and so we keep coming back to it. In the years in between visits we rent it out as a human holiday home – it proves quite popular, especially with the beach at the end of your backyard. The area is a little cluttered with hotels, motels and holiday apartments, but none that bothered us.
I would often meet the friends that I had made down at the beach in the evenings, to just hang and be like a normal human teen, and sometimes I would take Alec and Irena with me. We usually stuck together. If one of us was going out, the other two would not be far away. We had to do that, for protection reasons. If one of Irena’s friends were to get suspicious of how far Irena could sometimes jump Alec and I would step in, or if Alec was to get too angry and the wind was picking up, Irena and I would step in to calm and stop him, or if I had accidently slipped up and answered a thought instead of a voiced comment or question, Irena and Alec would quickly made up some excuse to get me back home.
Sometime we did make slips like this. Mostly nobody pays any real attention to them, but we knew better than to sit and wait for the mad house people to stop by. And if we wait, they do stop by. Ever since our first major slip as an alien family up in North Dakota in 1960’s, the illusive conspiracy theorist and alien enthusiasts that have kept the business called ‘We Come In Peace’ running, have been on our tail.
“We Come in Peace” was originally a group of six men, who would now be in their late seventies, who studied anything that whispered Paranormal. They went and visited any supposed Alien encounter location, which included a few of the places we have been.
Now, though, it has been passed down to their younger and healthier relatives. These relatives are even more of a pain that the original six men, these have more energy to come after us. They still reside in North Dakota, and so we try to avoid going anywhere too close to that state in case we do have an unfortunate slip up.
However, we do have an advantage against them. The original six men create a web page called “We Come in Peace”. Every location they go is posted on the website before they go there. We keep a close eye on that. If they appear to be coming to close, we’ll pack up and go on a holiday for a while until they have gone. We also have the desired computer systems that wipe anything to do with us off of the internet, any videos, any photo’s and any news pages.
We’ve been in Santa Barbara for a two years now. Mom, stays at home, playing the sensible and responsible mother at home. Dad, works as a sales manager for a local company whose business has rocketed since Dada joined the force. Alec and I attend the upper school in Laguna Blanca, while Irena attends the middle school. The school’s are right next door to each other, but is a good car journey to reach them.
Laguna Blanca high school is much the same as other high schools in the United States of America. One building, some stuffy no windowed classrooms, some open and well decorated classrooms, chalk white floors and walls, lockers, teachers, juniors, and seniors.
Alec is in his Junior year, while I am in my Sophmore year, though both Alec and I have enough knowledge each to rival that of the teachers teaching us. It is rare that they should ever teach us anything knew, unless we were able to start and finish at an older age, and so were able to go up to the next level of learning.
Wednesday 18th May. We were coming up to the end of the school year. Only another month or so and we would be another school year older. The whole school was upbeat by the upcoming summer holiday, like they and every other school is every summer holiday.
The day could have passed smoother though.
Dad dropped us off at our high schools on his way to work. Irena was the first to split off from us. She headed towards the middle school with a noticeable spring in her step. Alec and I enhanced towards the high school.
As we entered the usually crowded grass outside of the school building, Alec and I parted. I joined my friends while Alec joined his.
His usual crowd was the football team. He is one of the more popular members of the team, a quarter back. We have tried to discourage him from playing because of his almighty strength but he gets spotted at each school and offered a place on the team, and he never refuses an offer.
Me, I prefer to hang with a more sensible crowd. For Sophmores, my crowd is rather popular. Probably because in my crowd is Lauren, the daughter of singing sensation Billy Wright. She is the one person I do not get on with in my crowd. The rest are cool, chilled and relaxed.
As I approached them, I knew instantly what the hot topic was. Everybody was thinking about it. Prom.
I wonder if I should ask her now or later, or should I...
He’s going to say yes, I know he is...
I’ll get my dad to come and take us in his amazing new car...
Does my nose look big...

Lauren’s thoughts were so self centred it was unbelievable.
“Hey guys” I said.
I got a “Hey” or two back but most were too far off in their own little world to even notice my arrival. Only if they knew that I could hear every word they were thinking. I’d of loved to tell Lauren that I knew she felt jealousy towards me. I could just imagine it now “Hey Lauren. Guess what. I know your jealous of me because I can read your mind, so stop being such a asshole and get on with live!”
I could just see her face in my mind, angry, shocked and total humiliated. On my last day, I might have to do that, just for fun. Ha, imagine her real face if I actually did do that.
Oh, look whose arrived, if it isn’t miss totally perfect Sarah.

Her shrewd voice is so recognisable in my head. I really wished somebody would put her in her place. Maybe I should do that.

I sighed. I really did hate knowing what people are thinking sometimes. I could do without the constant inner monologue of Lauren’s hate feast about me.
“What’ up Sarah?” asked one of the lads, Richard.
Richard was like my best friend. He was the first person I’d met here in Laguna Blanca. He lived a few miles away from me. It only took about half an hour to walk to his house, at normal human speed. It only took a few seconds to get there at my normal speed.
“It’s morning” I lied.
His chuckled rang in my head.
It would be Sarah that moans because its morning. Day not going fast enough for you Sarah?

“It would be you that moans on a beautiful day like this, just because it’s morning”
The one thing with Richard, is I always hear everything twice. I hear it when he thinks it, and then when he says it. The words hardly ever differ as they come down from his head and out through his mouth.
“I didn’t get much sleep last night” I moaned. That was true. Even though my kind don’t need as much sleep as humans we still need some – three or four hours. We usually sleep in the early hours of the morning, starting usually from one o’clock. The night before that time is spent training. Alec and I had gone overboard last night, challenging each other to fights.
With Alec and I, you never know who is ultimately going to win. Alec has the advantage of having a skill that is both defensive and aggressive. But I can tell what his going to do before he does it. It’s usually a fair fight and can sometimes go on for hours without a winner. That’s what it did last night. We start the fight at eleven and ended it at three. We didn’t even have a winner. Dad came out and – using his gift – convinced us to call it a draw and go to bed.
“You never get much sleep” You always say that

. Piped up Angelina. Angelina was one of those people who said before they think. I always hear her words and then hear her opinion on them. Most of the time the thoughts mimic the words, but sometimes her thought go along the lines off ‘I shouldn’t have said that’.
“Well I guess that’s just me” I shrugged.
The day passed without drama. Well, no drama for my family. Lauren had an awful start – Partially my fault. Lauren had opened her locker to find a red paint bomb. It squirted all over her made up face and beautiful, expensive, designer clothes. Me, Richard and Angela had rigged the locker yesterday evening. All of us agreed on the total snobbery of Lauren Wright, and have vowed to kick it out of her system. Her thoughts were incomprehensible for at least five minutes after the locker trick as she stood, splattered in red paint as everybody around her laughed.
I know, it was mean to do something so horrid, but horrid people do need to be taught a lesson and this should bring Lauren down from her thrown for a week or two.
When her thoughts finally managed to make sentences the very first thing she thought was, I’m so going to get her back for this. I know it was Sarah. I know it. I’m going to tell daddy, he’ll sort her out. She’ll regret the day she messed with Lauren Marie Wright.

I almost laughed out loud. I’m sorry hunny that won’t happen. You can’t take revenge on someone like me, who knows when it’s coming. I bit onto my tongue to keep the laughter in. If I laughed too much she’d know it was me. Richard and Angela were obviously biting their tongues as well, but I could hear their inner laughing fit. They had as much fun as I did on that.
Idiot Lauren sneered as she stormed past me towards the principal’s office.
“That was fun” I commented towards Richard and Angela when she was out of earshot.
“Do you think she knows it was us?” asked Angela.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if she thought it was me” I laughed. I knew she thought it was me.
“Do you think she’ll tell?” asked Richard.
“Even if she did, she has nothing to pin it on us” I replied, though I might keep an eye on what the principal thinks of this mess.
Alec walked down the corridor past me then with his group of guys.
Good going on that Lauren girl, Sarah. Excellent. Couldn’t have done it better myself.

He thought while smiling at me.
He must have passed her in the hall.
I just managed to stifle a giggle.
Lauren didn’t turn up for any of the lessons she had with me, she had requested a new timetable that completely avoided me. She was sure it had been me, which was a right assumption, and is now planning to keep an eye on my every move.
The principal believed her little claims that it was me, but had no proof to pin it down on me. He called me in for a little chat during third period.
“Do you know anything about this locker incident?” he asked. If I don’t find the culprit Mr Wright’s going to have my bum on a barbeque tomorrow.

“I’m sorry sir. I only saw it out of the corner of my eye.” I replied. It was me! It was me! I felt like jumping up and screaming it at the top of my lungs, just to brag.
Really? Is she telling the truth?

“You do realise the consequences if I find that you are lying to me, don’t you?” he asked, well threatened.
“Yes sir. But I don’t need to worry about them. You won’t find anything that would even suggest I’m lying, cause I’m not” Another lie.
Hmmm. She is lying. I know it. But how do I get her to admit it.

“So you know that the locker stunt would get a person at least a week in detention and then lying in top of it would get you a week more?”
I sighed. “Sir, I think this is really unfair. I’ve said the truth and yet you won’t believe me”
Because I know it was you, and if it wasn’t you I still need somebody to be punished. It’s you or me kid. I think I’d know who’d I’d prefer punished.

I gritted my teeth. What an unfair way. So much for innocent until proven guilty.
“We take bullying very seriously here, Miss Lawrence. If it was you, we’ll find out. Don’t forget we have security cameras fully operational all around the school twenty four seven”
And I didn’t forgot about them. You might find when you watch them sir that at eight o five last night a lense cap mysteriously appeared on the camera lense, and remained there for a whole ten minutes while me, Richard and Angela rigged the locker.
“Sir, you won’t see me on those cameras. It wasn’t me. Feel free to watch them” I said.
Shoot. She must already know I’ve watched them. There was nothing there. Let me think. What do I say now?

“Sir, I hate to rush us, but I’m already falling behind in English, this is going to severely effect my grade if I stay any longer.” I said. I wanted to leave now.
Shoot! I can’t argue with that. I’ll have to pray to god for help with Mr Wright.

“Alright. Off you go”
Nobody could believe that we’d gotten away it.
A good day. I thought as I strolled slowly to lunch with Angela and Richard.
How little did I know how today’s events would affect us?
I heard nothing of the event until a week later. Mr Wright had arrived home from a tour around Europe, he came home to find a very upset Lauren. Apparently I hadn’t just wrecked a nice pair of clothes, I had wrecked her favourite and most expensive outfit. And Mr Wright decided to cause havoc at school.
I was stood in my usual friend group when I heard him coming. This girl has taken it too far. Nobody makes a fool of my daughter. I will be sure to make a complete and utter mockery of her. She will regret the day that she messed with Billy Wright’s daughter.

I knew better than to let him confront me. I excused myself from my group and went off, Richard and Angela trailing behind me. I went straight to the girls bathroom and pulled out my phone. I sent a text to everyone in my family.
'Hey, meeting spot in ten. Billy Wright is gonna cause trouble.'
It only took most of us five minutes to reach the spot. Dad was the last to arrive, exactly on the ten minutes mark. Our meeting spot was in the middle of the nearby woods. Irena and I were sat on a fallen tree. Alec was leaning against one of the standing trees and mom was stood in the middle of the small space. When Dad arrived he stood besides mom.
“What is wrong Sarah? You said something about Billy Wright in your text” asked Dad.
“Yeah, he’s mad. He thinks I’m the one to do the paint bomb in Lauren’s locker last week, and because the principal couldn’t punish me – as he had no evidence it was me – he’s mad.”
“He’s just being protective of his daughter.” Commented Mom.
“No, his exact thoughts were ‘I will be sure to make a complete and utter mockery of her’. He’s going to go digging.” I told them.
“We can’t have somebody digging” agreed Alec. “He might find out too much”
“Well what can we really do?” asked Irena.
“We have to be careful here. If he suspects anything, I won’t know. He’ll always be out of reach” I replied.
“This is risky. But we can’t afford to leave if he would follow us. He’s rich and rather powerful. We wouldn’t be able to stay in the USA, that’s for sure. We will need to deal with him” mused my dad.
Perhaps I can talk to him.

“That would work dad, but how are you going to get to talk to him. You can’t just wander up to him without warning and say ‘my daughter didn’t do it so back off’” I told him.
“That is true” he agreed.
Sarah, do you think we would be able to scare him away?

Asked Alec in his head.
“No, that would just cause us so much more trouble”
“What if we stay, keep an eye on the subject. He may just end up having a word with you and then Henry can have a word with him.” Suggested Mom.
“Yes, that is what we shall do” Agreed Dad.
Don’t worry Sarah, if he starts getting angry we can always have a nice tornado visiting his house.

Snickered Alec.
“Okay” I said to both Dad and Alec, with a little hint of a giggle. I liked the sound of a Tornado hitting that house more than I should.
“Now get to school. And be careful when you arrive.” Commented Dad seconds before he shot off at a speed that humans wouldn’t even detect. Next mom left. Irena and I jumped down from the tree then. Irena vanished straight away, but Alec hovered a while.
Race ya.

Thought Alec.
“You’re on. School boundries.” I told him.
We both shot off.
I loved running at full speed. It was like flying through the forest. I was the fastest runner, but Alec could use his wind to propel him making it even and Irena could fly as fast as I could run. So all of us were even.
As we started to approach the school boundaries I focussed hard on my ability, so then I could pick out the people at school and find out where they were and which way they were looking. Nobody was the parking lot, but that was because they were all by the school boundries watching Mr Wright yelling at the principal. I quickly grabbed Alec shoulder and pulled him back and behind the closest tree. We were only about ten trees away from where a whole crowd of students are stood surrounding the arguing adults.
What are you doing?

Alec asked me.
“Mr Wright and the principal are at the school boundaries, arguing, surrounded by practically the whole school. We have to go around.” I whispered to him.
Okay. Lead the way.

I lead him – at full speed – around the other side of the school. I listened out. There was nobody there. We were safe to leave the woods here and so we both stepped out. We slipped quietly into the school building.
Should we go to the other students?

Alec asked me.
I nodded. We can’t afford to be different.
We headed to the crowd of students. Teachers had started to watch the verbal fight. I used my ability to see what was happening. Angela was stood at the front. She was a good mind to watch from as any.
Mr Wright and the Principal were stood just inches from each other. Both look as angry as a wild boar. Both were huffing and puffing.
“My daughter was absolutely humiliated by that girl and you let her go scot free” Prick

. Mr Wright yelled adding on a little bit on the end mentally.
“There was no proof that she was responsible” growled the principal. “I can’t punish someone without proof that they did it. The CCTV camera’s didn’t pick up anything and there was no eye witnesses” I don’t care how rich and powerful you are, you can’t tell me what to do, muck head.

I was so engrossed with watching the argument, giggling at some of the things they were calling each other mentally, that I didn’t notice Lauren had spotted me.
“Daddy, there she is” she called.
That caught my attention, and I silently cursed myself for getting distracted.
Mr Wright stormed through the crowd of students to come face to face with me. He must of expected me to be scared and back away, because he looked shocked when I stood still, with a innocent expression on my face.
“Hello, Mr Wright” I said in the softest voice I had.
You little rascal, acting so innocent.

“Are you Sarah?” he growled.
“Yes, sir” I replied.
“What were you playing at, putting a paint bomb in my daughters locker?” he asked, well growled.
“I didn’t put it in there, sir, I was as surprised as she was.” I lied.
“Really?” he sneered. What a little liar?

“Trust me on this one sir. Had I the brains to come up with such a brilliant idea I would have done it. But as I don’t I didn’t” That was one of the many things I’d leant to do. Take the rip at yourself. It tended to work, because they think your being honest.
Damn right, you don’t have the brains, but you did it you filthy little peasant.

My jaw locked. How dare he?
“I think we should sit down and talk this through, like civilised people instead of scrapping animals sir. You and Lauren and then me and my dad” I said. “Because obviously there has been a mistake. It’ll only take my dad about ten minutes to arrive. I’ll see you in the principal’s office then.”
I turned on my heels and headed off to phone Dad. I used Richards eyes to see that Mr Wright was stood huffing and puffing where I had left him. Something snapped in him.
“Did you just call me a scrapping animal?” You dirty little peasant.

He stormed after me, grabbing my arm, tightly and turning me to face him. I grabbed me by the collar as he sneered into my face. “How dare you? I am more of a person than any of you poor folks could ever be”
Alec leaped into action then. He was always protective of his family. He grabbed the back of Mr Wright’s top, making him let go of me, and then flung him across the parking lot like he was a bag of feathers.
Alec was shaking with rage. The wind was increasing. Everybody was having to brace themselves against the force of the wind.
Oh no.
I spun Alec around to face me and placed my hands on either side of his face.
“Calm down. Calm. Down. Alec, you need to calm down”
He could have hurt you.

He growled in his head.
“Forget him, he’s unimportant. Think of us. Thing of the ‘We Come in Peace’ people. Think of the family” I said to him. I didn’t care if anybody saw us. We would have to leave now anyway. The wind was starting to decrease.
Mr Wright was back on his feet. He was watching the two of us with wide fear stuck eyes. Everybody was. They were watching uncertain of what was really going on, but both of us knew instantly we wouldn’t be able to stay here any longer. We would have to move on.
When the wind had gone I listened in to what everybody was thinking. They all though in sync with each other...
Freak

I looked to Alec.
“It’s time to leave.” I said to him.
You get Irena. I’ll go and get dad. We’ll meet back at the house.

He thought.
I nodded.
We turned and ran, at human speed away into the woods. As soon as we were out of eye shot we went to full speed. I hurried to Irena. I searched the school for her thoughts.
I wonder whether Bradley will ask me to the prom? I hope so. It would be perfect.

She was in her classroom already. I didn’t need to leave behind more rumours.
I ran inside the school at full speed until I reached the corridor her classroom was on. The corridor was empty so I halted there. No camera’s or human eyes would have been able to see my approach. To them it would seem as though I had just appeared. I followed her voice to the classroom she was in. I didn’t knock on the door, I just walked in. I ignored the teacher’s negative vibe and walked straight to her. She looked at me oddly.
Are we leaving?

She asked.
The expression on my face must have given it away. I nodded.
I saw the small storm. I guessed we’d have to leave after that.

She sighed.
She collected up her things without saying a word. Her thought were a jumble of things. She was just as sad to leave this place as I was. I loved it here. We all did.
What on Earth is she doing? She is not going anywhere. Not in the middle of class.

The teachers thoughts entered my head. She was heading to us. “What is going on?”
“We’re leaving” I told her.
Oh no you’re not.

“You need parent permission to be out of school yourself and to take her out of school”
“We’re leaving” I repeated. “I mean leaving leaving. We’re not returning here”
What are we doing? Door or window?

I shrugged.
Window?

I looked at her puzzled. She was normally against showing off our powers.
Well, if we’re going to out with a bang. We may as well make it a big one. That will cheer up the ‘We Come in Peace’ up. I bet they think we’ve left, we’ve been so quiet.

She giggled.
I walked to the window and opened it.
What is she doing?

Asked everybody in sync.
I looked out. This was a second floor window. Had we been human, there was no way I would even consider jumping this, but as a person from Scerna we can jump a lot further than this without getting hurt. This was a minor jump.
Irena was at my side now.
Who goes first?

She asked.
I nodded towards the window. She climbed up and jumped out.
There was a conjoined gasp and scream from the room. I followed seconds after, landing next to her.
“Three. Two. One. Go” I said.
It was a tradition of mine and Irena’s to race back to the house. We shot off at a speed I knew nobody that was now looking out of the windows would have been able to see.
We beat Dad and Alec home. Irena and I rushed in. Mom had been busy. She must have spotted the storm as well. She had started packing the essentials.
Perhaps I’ll get an answer out of these two.

“What happened?” asked Mom.
“Billy Wright” I replied. “Decided he didn’t want to sit and talk like civilised humans”
Men these days. So egocentric. Where is Alec and your father?

“There on their way.” I replied. I could hear both Dad and Alec’s thoughts now. They were close. They’d be here in about three minutes. “Three minutes away”
Irena and I went and packed up the essential parts of our room. As we always do in this house, we moved the less essential stuff into the loft and pulled down the holiday home furniture. Dad and Alec arrived exactly three minutes after us, and helped with the pack away. I would have moaned that we didn’t have the time but I decided that would just slow us down even more.
We were packed, car loaded and ready to go within the hour. Dad replaced the number plate on the car with a new one and then we were off.

CHAPTER TWO
Wednesday 18th May 2011.
Dear Travel Diary.
Yes, I’m back to write another entry. We slipped quite big. We hadn’t realised how big this slip was. Mr Wright instantly called the police once Alec and I had left. I should have seen that coming, but he decided to do it just second before he did, and he was already out of range by then.
We managed to switch all the furniture, wipe away any trace that we had been in that bungalow, and head off in the car within the hour. We had to pass by the school, which was risky but it was the fastest route out of the state. Just as we passed, the police were heading out of the school in the direction of our house.
Dad thinks we should go to the other side of the country. They expect this to be a big thing for a while. So, we are heading for Wisconsin. Well, he’s driving in that direction and that is where his mind is heading. He hasn’t actually announced it yet.
Mom is hoping for somewhere hot, well I can tell her now, that isn’t what we’re getting.
Irena is fusing about how she never got to go to Prom with her knight in shining armour, Bradley.
And finally, Alec is imagining fighting with Billy Wright. It was comical. Alec was beating Billy over and over again. Every time he beats him, he’ll start the fight over again, attacking in a different fashion.
It doesn’t get any better than this. Dad making decisions without consulting us, mom wishing to go somewhere what is not going to happen, Irena gushing about boys, and Alec imagining a fight. Typical family routine.
We passed through my birth city on our way, Las Vegas. It felt good to see it again, even if I didn’t quite get to go to the strip. I missed the heat of Las Vegas, and then the surprising snowfall over Christmas. It seemed strange to get snow in such a hot place but it snowed, and it wasn’t tampered with. It snowed, naturally. But I missed it.
As evening approached, we spotted the black ‘We Come in Peace’ van heading in the opposite direction. I just managed to catch their thoughts before they went out of range.
I hope we can catch them this time. Dad will be so proud. I’d take them to his bedside, so he can see them at least one time before he leaves us.

“One of the original ‘We Come in Peace’ members is ill” I told the rest of the family.
“One less problem” laughed Alec, even though all of us knew it didn’t quite work like that.
Nobody said anymore but I knew all of our thoughts were now in sync. With one dead the others will work more eagerly. The other five will realise they only have a short amount of time to finally find us before they pass on as well.
We pulled into a motel in Cedar City, Utah.
Dad and Mom shard a room. Alec had a room to himself while me and Irena shared a room. I could hear that Irena was still fussing about that Bradley guy. As she dried her hair I was monitoring her thoughts.
Should I try and contact him? Hmmm. Maybe not. Maybe I’ll go back in a few years? No. I bet he saw how much of a freak I was. I bet he knows I’m not normal.

“You should stop fussing about that Bradley guy” I told her as we settled for bed. We’d turned out our light and were lay back in bed.
“He was a nice guy” she sighed.
“On the outside, I’ll agree with you. But his thoughts almost lead me to breaking his neck” I told her.
“Really?” she sat up with a mixture of shock and intrigue.
“Yes. You can do so much better than him. They’ll be plenty of nice people where we’re going” I replied.
“Do you know where we’re going?” she asked me.
“Yes. Dad decided as soon as we pulled away from the house. We going to somewhere in Wisconsin.”
“Wisconsin. We’ve never been there before”
“Nope. Should be good. Mom wanted to go somewhere warm, but Wisconsin isn’t really that warm.”
“I don’t want to be Dad when he tells her”
We shared a quiet laugh.

Thursday 19th May 2011
Dear Travel Diary
I didn’t get much sleep last night. The events that lead us to leaving ran through both mine and Alec’s head. We’d been the cause for us having to leave the place all of us love. It was my fault because I was the one who did the paint bomb in the locker and Alec thought it was his fault because he was the one that slipped and used his powers. Though I feel grateful that he cared for me so much that he would act like that, I’d have preferred it if he didn’t. Sometimes I wished he would stand back and just let me deal with the threat myself. I’m not a vulnerable as he always made me out to be.
We woke and had a leisurely breakfast. Mom and Dad were quiet. Dad had broken the news that they were going somewhere that wasn’t hot and Mom was particularly happy. She get over it but she is in a bit of a mardy, whining in her head.
We loaded up in the car, and set off. We reached the highway at about eleven o’clock. It was Mom’s day to drive today, while Dad recovered from yesterday’s journey. Mom drives only just slower than Dad, so it didn’t really make much of a difference.
We crossed the border into Colorado by four o’clock.
We’d never been to Colorado. As we drove through it I could tell mom’s thoughts were on Colorado.
This would be a lovely place to settle. I wonder if he’ll change his mind. No, probably not. And I can’t really argue with him, I’d only last a second before I give in. But just look at the scenery. We’re coming here the next time we move, it’s just so lovely.

Dad was reading the map. They’d drawn on the route that we were going to take that would get up to where we want to go, well to where Dad says we’re going to.
So, we need to take the 170 east, then, oh, 170 east. So we stick on the 170 until we get to Wisconsin. That’s handy.

Irena was lost, her head was empty at the moment. She sat just staring out of the window. She was thinking nothing. I could never truly understand how she was able to do this, but she managed it.
Alec was thinking up a game strategy for football. I’d doubt if he’d ever get to use it, no coach so far has ever taking in his strategy’s.
Irena came back to life as the night started to come. She was thinking of the planet we had never known. The planet that was supposed to be our home planet. We never even stepped foot on it.
I wonder what it was like. Maybe it was like this one, blue and green, Land and sea. Or maybe it was like Africa all over, a dessert planet. Perhaps it was... no. Mom told me not to do this. We’ll never get back now we’re here. We’ve passed our due date. But I wonder whether if more of us are here. Perhaps we could get a ride back with them. Maybe. Or, a school trip. They might to school trips here. That would mean other people my age. I wonder if they’d like me. I hope so.

We didn’t manage to fully cross Colorado so, we stopped at Brighton. We’d cross the border tomorrow, I guess. It appeared to be like we were half way when I looked down on the map through Dad’s eyes.
We should reach Omaha tomorrow. Then we’ll be able to pass through Iowa the next day. Well reach the house late that night I should think. Brilliant. Only two days more of travel. One day for me and one day for Janice.

As much as I hated looking through Dad’s eyes – he was always thinking something far too intelligent – he was useful at times like this. Only two more days of travel. Good. I didn’t not like travelling but I didn’t like it either, not none stop like when we travel from place to place.

Saturday 21th May 2011
Dear Travel Diary
Sorry I missed yesterday. I couldn’t find you.
The weather is starting to get colder. We passed over the border into Nebraska at around midday on the Thursday. Nebraska was rather pretty. I could see Mom’s head hoping again, that we would stop here. Here is warmer than Wisconsin

, she thought. Though she never plucked up the courage to actually ask dad whether we could stop. None of ever attempted to argue with Dad, we could try and convince him to our way of thinking – you only get one chance though – but none of us ever did.
Irena was planning our next shopping trip. We would have to go and get some warmer clothes than the ones we had for California. She was planning out the whole family wardrobe. She was dressing Dad in cool dad clothes, mom is beautiful winter dresses – mom didn’t like wearing trousers, always a skirt of dress. Alec had the usual homecoming king attire, me, a glamorous winter model line, and the same but younger version for her.
We passed slowly through Nebraska, stopping at Omaha for the night, just like Dad predicted.
When we woke the next day, even thought it was raining, we were all buzzing at the idea of finally reaching the house.
Dad had rented a four bedroom house. It was going to be bigger than the bungalow we had before. It has a kitchen, a dining room, a lounge, a study, a basement, an attic and a heated indoor pool. How much better can you get than that?
We’ll be living in Plum City. What a cool name! Alec will be going to the high school. Irena and I will be starting in middle school. Alec will be finishing this school year as a freshman, so then next year when we all move up one year I will be starting my freshman year.
Watch out Plum City. The Lawrence’s are on their way.

CHAPTER THREE
I awoke in my shining new bedroom. This house was better than I’d imagined. At the front of the house, there is a balcony that Mom, Dad and Irena share, while at the back there is a balcony that I share with Alec. Alec and I look out over the forest that surrounds our garden and house. There is not another house within sight.
My room was fantastic. I was the same size as the last one, which was big. My bed was pushed up against the corner far left corner, I had a door to my walk in wardrobe on my right wall. The double door to the balcony was on the far wall at the end of my bed. And finally in between the door to my wardrobe and my bed, was my desk, which had my laptop already placed on it.
It had only taken one trip to get all my stuff upstairs, last night.
Plum City was a much smaller place than I had realized. We stuck to small places but I’ve never liked towns this small. Gossip spreads too quickly. The middle school only had a total of three hundred and thirty-eight – now forty – students.
We would be the new big town family in a small town full of curious adults, teens and children. We’ve been to places like this before. We never stayed very long. It only took one person to notice me giggling at somebody’s thoughts and suddenly suspicious rumours will be floating around.
I spent the day shopping with Irena and Mom. It wasn’t a very eventful day, just going from shops to shops buying warm but fashionable clothes. I spent the evening putting all of the clothes that I had brought with me into the wardrobe.
When I finished putting my clothes away – it was late evening, I took my bag of bathroom necessities and went to the one upstairs bathroom that we all had to share to clean myself up after the day of shopping.
I didn't sleep well that night. The constant whooshing of the rain and wind across the roof wouldn't fade into the background. I pulled the faded old quilt over my head, and later added the pillow, too. But I couldn't fall asleep until after five, when the rain finally settled into a quieter drizzle. I couldn’t believe that I could sleep with other people’s dreams in my head, yet I couldn’t sleep through wind and rain. It was odd.
There was a thick fog outside today, brilliant weather for our first school day.
Breakfast was a quiet affair, well for the rest of them. They were all stuck in their thoughts, but I could pick them all up.
I wonder whether I should get Alec a car when he starts his junior year this time. I think he’d like that. Then I wouldn’t have to drop them off. He could drive them. He’ll sail through the driving test just like he has in every state where he’s taken the test.

Dad. Typical Dad.
I could be sunbathing right now. I love Henry but he really should consult us when he’s making a decision. I know it probably wouldn’t make any difference, but I bet I’m not the only one that would have liked to have at least felt like they were making a contribution.

Maybe I should convince Mom to actually say that to him. I know I would have liked a say in the decision.
I wonder if this coach will pick me for quarter back. I’ll have to get Sarah to keep an eye on his thoughts. If he seems interested I’ll pick up on my skills and he’ll never know what hit him. You up for that Sarah?

I nodded. Anything to help out the big brother.
Irena however was thinking about boys. Typical Irena. I wonder if they’ll be any fit ones. I hope so. I wonder if any will like me. If they do I hope there on the swimming team, that would be brilliant. Utterly brilliant. Maybe I should join the swimming team. Then I get to meet them all. I would be able to get in, that’s not a problem, it’s just reigning in my speed. I might need to practise in the swimming pool. I’m sure Sarah or Alec will help me.

She looked at me at that moment, so I nodded.
Thank you.

I nodded again.
I suppose I better get these to school.

“Come on.” Even though it’s only a ten minute walk.

“It’s alright Dad, we can walk” I said. I turned to Alec and Irena. They nodded.
You mean you’ll run?

Asked Dad in a serious tone.
“We’d be late otherwise” I replied.
We did end up running, at full speed to school. Irena and I carefully exited the woods opposite the middle school, while Alec carried on to the high school. We looked about, a little disorientated as we approached the main door.
Where’s the main office? I presume we have to go there.

Thought Irena.
I nodded and search the heads of the people around.
New girls, I wonder if one of them...

No.
I wonder if they’re...

No.
We’re supposed to be getting a new student in this class so I better tone it down a little...

No and I hope I don’t get that teacher, that better be one of Irena’s teachers.
I need to get this sorted. They’ll be here any minute to get their timetables...

Got it.
“This way” I said heading towards the only double pair of door. I suppose it should have been obvious, that it’ll be in there. We walked through the doors and was faced with another door. That was the office. Next to the door was a small glass window.
Irena and I walked to there. I knocked on the glass.
I hate it when people knock. Does nobody have any patience?

The secretary turned and saw us. Oh shoot, it’s the new kids. I don’t have their timetables yet. Shoot. Shoot. Shoot.

She scrambled to a pile of papers and hurriedly ran her fingers through it. “Just a moment, dears. I’m just getting your timetables”
She’s lost them hasn’t she?

Irena laughed.
I looked to her and nodded, trying to stop a laugh from escaping my mouth.
The office looked nothing big. It was just a room with two desks in. One was empty, but there was a females coat slung over the chair. She was here, just not at her desk. The other was the one the woman was searching through to find the timetables. In the corner there was a small TV. I didn’t see why they have put it there, neither of their desks face the TV.
They had the news on. Nothing special was on the news today.
Ah, got it.

The secretary came to us and placed the two timetables on the windowsill.
“Which one of you is Sarah?”
“I am”
I replied.
She handed me the timetable. This one will be popular with the lads.

As if I needed to hear that.
“Here’s your timetable. You first lesson is Maths which is down the corridor and to your left. You’ll see the door along that corridor. Your locker is number 56. That is just around the corner” she said pushing my timetable towards me and pointing out the directions.
I turned so leaned against the wall next to the glass window. I wouldn’t walk off and leave Irena while she collected hers.
Sarah! Look!

Irena practically screamed in my head. I turned to her. Her eyes were glued onto the TV. The secretary was pointing out the directions to her first period and she had no idea about Irena’s lack of interest.
Mr Billy Wright was on the TV. A news report was talking to him.
“He threw me to the other side of the playground, threatening me, almost knocking me out, and then he made the wind come and attack us all. His sister was with him. They seemed to communicating but mentally. I am telling you, they’re aliens.” He Jabbered on. It didn’t look good for him. He looked more insane. Bu then the familiar face of one of the ‘We Come in Peace’ group was stood next to him.
“I am determined to find this family. I am granting the ‘We Come in Peace’ trust, we are also searching for these people, one thousand pounds a year to aid their efforts in locating this dangerous family.”
Hmmm. That could be slightly problematic.
Is this girl even paying attention to me?

I turned to the secretary. I kicked Irena in the ankles.
“Ow” Her attention too turned onto the secretary. She took her timetable and said, “Thank you”
“You’re welcome” the secretary said, putting on her best fake welcoming smile. God, good luck with these. They look more trouble then what they’re worth.

I couldn’t help but let my eyes narrow. Before she could notice I stalked away, Irena following.
Should we warn Mom, Dad and Alec about this?

“Mom will probably see it on the TV, she’ll let Dad know, and as long as Alec doesn’t slip up we should be fine till we can talk about this together” I told her.
I wondered whether this would actually cause a problem, or would we be able to walk away Scots free like we always do. Dad did say that we would have to move to another country, but then decided against it. Perhaps we should have moved. Perhaps we won’t be in USA for long.
I hope we don’t have to move again. I like my room here. I have a walk in wardrobe.

Irena moaned.
I stifled a laugh. We split up at a t junction in the corridor. I had to go left and she had to right.
Have fun!

“Thanks. You too”
I always have fun!

I laughed as I started heading down the corridor full of people. I managed to find my locker. A group of what looked like the next year’s high school football players were stood by it. One of them must have a locker nearby.
I still need a date to prom. At this rate I’ll have to ask one of the science geeks...
I wonder whether Lucy would be up for... Ew. Didn’t want to hear that.
Maybe I should just ask Tara, I don’t want to turn up alone...

Locker number 56.
As I tried to open the door, the group of lads spotted me.
Wow. Problem solved. I’ll ask her...
O.M.G, she is hot...

I tried pushing their thoughts to the back of my head. The thing I hated about being new was I had no idea which voice belong to which student. Though I’d already decided, if any of them ask me to prom, the answer will be a definite No.
I opened my locker. It was empty. I placed inside my bag, and pulled out my timetable and pen. That is all I should need, hopefully. If I need any more equipment, I’ll have to borrow it.
I closed my locker and headed on to my classroom without even looking at the group of boys gawking after me. Hopefully, none of them will be brave enough to ask me out. If they try, I’ll try and avoid them. I’ll know if it was coming.
The classroom was small. It was filled with single desks, individually placed in neat rows and columns. The teacher was at the front of the room, behind his desk. He was a tall and bald man with a quite a large stomach. I walked to him. He saw my approach.
This must be the new girl.

“Hello, you must the new student” He had a strong English accent, in his head and in his voice.
“Yes sir” I replied.
Must find out her name. He down onto his table where there was a register. Um, where is she? Ah. Miss Sarah Lawrence.

“Sarah?” he asked.
“Yes sir. Sarah Lawrence” I replied, just for reassurance sake.
“Well, I’m Mr Button. I’m your Maths teacher. I hope you have a nice time here at Plum City” he said kindly. I’m sure she’ll enjoy it. It looks as though all the lads in this class have already taken a liking.

I knew he was right. I could hear their thoughts, and I could see them imagining me with them. I couldn’t help but grimace internally at some of them.
Thankfully, he sent me to an empty desk at the back without introducing me to the class. It was harder for my new classmates to stare at me when I was at the back, though they still a managed. I kept my eyes down on the desk in front of me.
The exams were coming up, so Mr Button was going over things that people didn’t understand as well as they should. Not understanding things seemed comical to me. I knew everything there was to know about this subject. I had repeated this year a lot more than any of the others that I will do during this stay here.
I spent the lesson trying to get to know the people around me. The girls seemed the nicest minds to be in, well only half of them. The lads had only me in their head, so I tried to avoid them. The nicest girl seemed to be Samantha, that sat at the front of the class. She had long blond hair that she had tied up in a bun. She wore big round glasses that looked as though she had stolen them from her grandmother. She was average height for a human of her age – slightly shorter than me – and was extremely skinny. She wore odd looking clothes. Her jeans were alright, but she wore a knitted sweatshirt that had a horse’s head on it. It looked almost four sizes too big for her. Irena and I would have fun giving her a makeover. I listened to what she was thinking.
She sighed internally. He will never say yes, not in a million years. And the last thing I need is giving Gabrielle another excuse to give me a public beating. She sounded posh. I wondered whether she spoke posh or whether she just though posh. At least I am not the new girl anymore. Gabrielle does not have that excuse anymore. I feel sorry for the new girl though. It looks as though she is getting more attention than she wants. She does not know what it is like to be the new girl around here. And she will not know until Gabrielle decides to give her a public beating. Poor girl. Maybe I should warn her. No, I will never have the confidence to talk to her. She will probably just call me a freak like the rest of them. Poor girl.

She’s calling me a poor girl. I feel like calling her a poor girl. I am trained in fighting. I can stand up for myself against this Gabrielle. I wondered which lad she planned to ask, probably somebody popular, if she’s on about giving this Gabrielle girl another excuse. Perhaps even Gabrielle’s ex-boyfriend. That would make sense.
A nasal buzzing sound rand around the room. I’ve heard worse bells I guess. I saw the Samantha start to pack her things away, slowly. I quickly got up, gathered together my on book, pen and timetable. I snuck a quick peak to see what lesson I have next – Biology. I went into her thoughts.
Biology with Gabrielle. A whole hour of sitting alone and have pens thrown at me.

she moaned.
I took my stuff, and started to head out with everybody else. Everybody was watching me. As the classroom was nearly empty I changed course and headed to her desk.
“Excuse me?” I asked.
She looked up to me. She is talking to me?

“Urm, do you know where Biology is?” I asked. I could probably find it myself by searching for the Biology teacher, but this seemed more appropriate for making friends.
She’s talking to me? She is in my next class. There is only one seat and that is next to me. I will not be alone.

She smiled and nodded. “I’ll take you there”
“Thanks” I said.
She gathered her stuff quicker now and walked out the room, with me walking beside her.
“I’m Sarah” I told her. Best way to start, I guess.
“Samantha” she replied quietly and briefly.
“Did you grown up here?” I asked her, already knowing the answer.
“No. I moved here two months ago from Orlando, Florida” she replied.
“Cool. I live there for a while.” I said.
“Where did you live when you were there?” she asked.
“A town called Lake Hart” I replied.
“I live in Orlando centre”
“Cool”
“So is that where you’re from?” she asked.
“No, I just moved here from Houston Texas” I lied. We never said we had come from where he had actually come from. We agreed on Houston Texas last night before we all went to bed. So all of us will be saying we’re from Houston Texas.
Wow, Texas. I bet it is really warm there. I have always wanted to go there. I wonder what it is like there. I wonder whether it really is sand filled or whether it is just like here just hotter.

“But don’t be fool by what people tell you about Texas. The roads and paths aren’t made out of sand. It’s just like here...” I paused “But warmer”
Did she really just say that? People must ask that question a lot. She is too used to asking that question that she adds it in anyway. Understandable I guess. Totally understandable.

She lead us into another corridor and into the first classroom on the right. She walked straight to her seat which was the front desk to the left hand side, by the window.
Ha, look what the cat dragged in. If it isn’t little Samantha. I wonder if I used the clothes joke on her before. I have haven’t I. Oh well, I use it again. I’ll wait until we’ve been set some work.

This was one the new voices. It stood out. This must be Gabrielle, but I wonder which girl it belong to. It sounded like it was coming from the girl that sat directly behind Samantha, but I couldn’t be sure.
I went to the female teacher. She was tall and skinny and wearing at least a ten centimetre high heels. How does she walk in these?
I hope I can get these kids out before the bell goes, then I have more time to ring Malcolm. Maybe I should set them to work and just leave them to it. I could run off into the toilet, claiming I was ill.

I had to stand beside her for ages waiting for her to notice me. Finally she spotted me.
Well there goes that idea. A new girl. Oh, what was her name? Ummmm... was it Law... Lawrence. Yes. Lawrence. Now, what was her first name?

“Hello, you must be the new girl.” I’m sure it began with S. Samantha, Sammy, ummm. Sarah? Yes Sarah. Sarah Lawrence.

“Sarah Lawrence, right?” she asked.
“Yes miss.”
“Right. I’m Miss Letti. If you need any help, do not be afraid to ask” she said.
I’m sure I won’t need her help at all during this year. She lead me to the seat next to Samantha and said, “Right, if you find that I’m going too fast for you just raise your hand and I’ll slow down. Okay. We’ve finished all the topics and we’re just going through them quickly”
I nodded.
I bet she’s going to be a right pain. I bet she’ll raise her hand every five seconds.

Teachers were always the worst for backstabbing. Always, always, always.
I bet she thinks that Miss Letti is really nice. I wonder how long it will take for to realise what I did? She is not nice. I will warn her about that while I am at it.

Samantha thought.
“Was that new person niceness?” I asked her.
“Yes. I was about to warn you about that. You are like physic.” She replied.
“That’s impossible” I laughed.
“Maybe” she shrugged.
I wonder who the new girl is. I want to say she’s like Samantha but she doesn’t look like the type. She looks sort of pretty. She might be a worry with Eddie. I don’t have to worry about Samantha’s little crush on him, he’ll never go out with a maths geek, but the new girl is pretty. Perhaps if I made her my friend, she’ll stay away from him... NO. That won’t work. Don’t be stupid. That will just mean introducing her to him. No. I’ll just have to spoil her reputation. That should be fun. Let’s see what can I do to her that I haven’t already done on Samantha.

Gabrielle was already starting to annoy me and she hadn’t even introduced herself yet.
“So, Samantha, who is your friend?” It was her. Gabrielle is the person directly behind Samantha.
Friend? Can I call her that? I’ve only just met her. She might not want to be caught as my friend.

“I’m Sarah. I just moved here from Houston Texas” I told her.
“Oh, well, I’m Gabrielle. Nice to meet you”
“And you”
She seems nice enough, but that could just draw Eddie in.

Gabrielle thought.
“You look really familiar. Have I seen you before?” I asked her. I knew I hadn’t but I had a good idea of an insult, an innocent looking comment with a horrid insult inside it.
Oh, I knew it. I bet she’s seen that picture. No. If she has she’s a lesbian. Why would a girl be looking at playboys. Then again, I was on the front cover. And I think people would remember my amazing Dora the Explora bikini.

She was worried. That was even juicier gossip.
“Oh, I remember. My brother had a magazine with you on.” I said too loud. The whole class were secretly listening. I could hear my words echo through every head. “You were on his playboy magazine with the stupid looking Dora the Explora bikini. You looked honestly stupid”
She went bright red in the face. Everybody was stifling a laugh, trying to pretend they hadn’t been listening. Most thoughts where in sync.
Oh my god.
Dora the Explora. Ha.
Blah, and I thought she had good taste.

Gabrielle was practically shaking with rage. As I turned around I could hear the thoughts that she was thinking.
I’ll get you for that, you... you...pig, slut, asshole, tramp. I’ll get you for that. Prepare to be absolutely humiliated.

She sneered internally.
I stifled a laugh. I could see Samantha trying to hide a smile.
Why is everybody laughing?

Pondered the teacher. Well, everybody but miss goody two shoes Gabrielle. I bet she’s the butt of the joke. That would be a first. Oh, I wish I knew who had done it. I would have come up with an excuse to award them a point, just for that.

I raised an eyebrow. Apparently Gabrielle isn’t as popular as I had first thought. Interesting.
As everybody turned back to the work a voice came through.
I wonder who that girl is? Pondered a shy boy voice. She looks new. I wonder if she knows anybody yet. If she doesn’t and she’s sat alone at dinner, I’ll join her. Don’t be stupid Mike, you know you will never get a friend, especially a girl like her. Maybe it’s worth a shot. Maybe. I’ll do it. If she’s alone... completely alone.

It seems to me as though he is the only decent lad I have met. I would have to talk to him. I used the teachers eyes to look back at where I am sure the lad is. It wasn’t hard to identify him. He was sat in the middle of a collection of girls. He was a short lad, though no shorter than Samantha. He was average in height I guess. He was skinny, but had a nice face. He was kind of cute. In fact I’m changing that, he is cute. He was obviously a fan of the gothic stuff. He was wearing all back and padded clothes and his hair was died black. He looked uncomfortable among all of those girls. He glanced around nervously every now and then at the girls around him. Poor Mike, I thought.
The rest of the morning passed by quickly. After the next two lessons I start to recognise some of the faces and voices. The constant boy attention was bugging me. I was watching myself walk past, from the eyes of every single lad. I could pick and choice which one I want to look through.
I tried to keep track on Mike. He had seen me with Samantha at break and so had chickened out. I hope he can pick up the courage to talk to me. I’d like that. I followed him through the school using the eyes of other people. Sam seemed to be in a lot of my classes. He was in my science class – Biology, Physics, and Chemistry were done with the same students, according to Samantha – class, and my English class.
At lunch, Samantha had to vanish to go to the maths club. I didn’t fancy joining her. I had just seen Mike heading outside. This was my chance. I headed towards the door, where I was barricaded by a tall lad, taller than me even.
He was hot, I’d give him that, but he had been one of the ones I had seen first thing by my locker.
“Excuse me” I said trying to squeeze past him.
“Hold up there, little lady, where do you think you’re going?” he asked in a patronizing voice.
I knew she was trouble

sneered the recognizable voice of Gabrielle. She was behind us, looking this way.
“Let me past” I growled.
A fiery girl, even better.

His inner voice chuckled.
I had no time for this, I locked onto Mike’s mind and saw him sat down on the grass at the front of the school. I needed to get to him somehow.
“Fine. Don’t let me past. I’ll find another way out” I said turning on my heels.
I walked to the girls bathroom where I was glad to see a window I might just be able to fit through. Climbing up to it would be no problem. I used my ability to check if it was clear on the other side. Yes. Yes it was. Cool. I climbed up and slipped through and dropped on the other side. I had landed around the back of the school. I ran around to the side where I could just see Mike sitting on his own, on the grass.
I took a deep breath. I started walking over to him. I probed around in his mind while I walked. He was thinking about different ways to approach me.
She might end up in my Gym class, then I can ask if she wants to be partners. Then again, she might be asked by one of the big lads. I’m sure she’d prefer to be with them than me. I know they’ve definitely took a fancy to her. Even Eddie.

Before I could reach him I got distracted.
SARAH!

Came the shout from behind me. It was Irena. She came running – at human speed – towards me. I didn’t have to look behind to see her. I knew her voice and mind far too well. I recognised her voice and I could see from her eyes that she was approaching me. I turned to her.
Alec just rang. He’s seen the news, and Mom and Dad have seen it too. They’ve checked the website. The website hasn’t been updated since we left Santa Barbara.

That was disturbing. They don’t normally fail to update daily. That is slightly worrying. What are they doing if they aren’t updating,
I have more. Somebody caught Alec on video. You’re only just in it, but we’re going to have to do a makeover for the pair of you. Mom said we should go home now. Alec’s already left his school.

“Okay. But we can’t just walk out of here” I replied, whispering.
No, but we can going around the side and just vanish into thin air.

She suggested.
I nodded.
I took one last glance at Mike before following Irena to the side of the building. Once there, we turned back the way came and ran, at full speed, into the trees. Nobody would have seen our little dash to the trees but just to be sure I checked the voices behind us.
I am going to get that girl...
Do you really think he will ask you to...
Idiot!...
I wonder whether she is going to be in any more of my classes. I might be able to talk to her. I managed to lock onto Mike. No. I’m just the Goth kid at the back of the class. She ain’t going to be interested in talking to me.

Slowly his voice faded as we ran further away.
I sighed, wondering when I would get to see him again.
What’s up?

Asked Irena.
I shook my head. “Nothing. I just hate it when we have to do stuff like this”
That’s so not the reason.

“Same actually” but I’ll humour you.

“Thanks”
You’re welcome.

We arrived at the house within five minutes. We entered through the front door. We could just hear Mom on the phone.
“Yes, I’ve taken him out for the afternoon. We’ve realised there are a few documents he is need for, and we can’t move the appointment back. I’m sorry... yes... thank you so much for your help”
Human’s can be so absurd sometimes.

She though as she put the phone down.
Irena and I joined the three of them in the lounge.
“So what’s the plan?” I asked.
“We’re going to stick it out. If they show any sign of picking up our track we move to another country” Explained Dad. Though I hope that doesn’t happen. I like it here.

“How are we going to keep an eye on them if they’re not updating?” asked Alec.
“They aren’t updating, but they still have the tracker on them. They have a system on their website that tracks their movements so the viewers of the website can follow their tracks. They haven’t gotten rid of it yet” explained Mom, hovering by her laptop. She had it open on the ‘We Come in Peace’ website. She was right, there was a tracker.
“But that may not be all of them. What if another group of them comes this way? We’ll be completely unprepared.” I asked.
“I know. For that we’ve just got to hope” replied Dad. Let’s hope hoping is enough to keep them away for now.

“What about the video?” I asked them.
“We’re working on getting rid of it, but we keep getting blocked, so for safety reasons you two are going to have to change your looks” commented Mom.
The day after we started school?

Thought Alec. “Don’t you think people will find it a bit odd that we’ve changed our looks a day after we’ve started school?”
“Possibly. But there is a greater risk of you two being recognised.” Replied Dad.
“Can I do the makeover?” asked Irena.
“Not on me you don’t. I’ll end up looking like a ken doll” laughed Alec stepping away.
“You can give me a make-over but you have to stick to what I want or the deal is off” I told her. I knew exactly how I wanted to look. I wanted to change my light brown hair to black, start with the heavy make-up and add a cool looking hairstyle to the mix. Brilliant. Maybe then Mike won’t have such a hard time trying to get the courage to talk to me.
Stop. I needed to get Mike out of my head. I missed several important thoughts while I was tracking him. I could have easily avoided that lad at lunch had I been focussing, but no, I wasn’t. I was too concerned on Mike. At these times my family needed me to concentrate, and work without distractions. It could mean being captured or remaining free.

CHAPTER FOUR
For the rest of the day, Irena and I worked on my makeover. Irena went out to fetch the hair dye and buy me some make-up. She bought two of every item of make-up just so then I had a lasting supply. We had studied the computer for almost two hours before finally deciding on the right type and brand of make-up to use, which included pale – extremely pale – liquid and power foundation, rose blusher, blood red lipstick, bright coloured eye shadow and a thick black eye liner.
We refitted out my wardrobe with black but still stylish clothes. My favourite had to be a skimpy but completely suitable black top. On the chest it had a bright red rose, that had green veins winding down across the stomach.
And now I was going to be even taller, most of the shoes had a heel on even if it was only a few centimetres. When I placed on the tallest high highs I was taller than Alec, and that was a significant difference. The smallest where only two centimetres tall but still propped my heels up enough to mess with my original height. The smaller heels where always the wider heels, while the long heels where tall and skinny. Some of them looked as though they were about to break any moment now.
Mom cut my hair for me into a short and choppy hairstyle. I loved it, and so did mom and Irena. I loved each and every bit of my new style. I was even half tempted to keep this way for good.
You look beautiful hunny.

Mom thought.
“Thanks mom”
I wish I could have a makeover.

Sighed Irena
“You’ll get a chance when you make a slip up” I laughed.
“Right, you slip up and you rewarded for it. I thought it was supposed to be you got punished for a slip up” she moaned heading off to her room.
“Nobody gets punished for a mistake in this house. You two couldn’t stop the meddling man without doing something. All of us respect that.” Mom said to me gently. Besides it wouldn’t have been the first time she had slipped up.

“Nice mom, proper nice” I laughed quietly.
Ssshhhh! You’ll get me in trouble.

“Secret safe” I whispered in her ear.
Thank you.

Most of the talk that day was about school. ‘What was school like?’, ‘Did you make any friends?’, ‘Did you have fun?’, ‘Where the teacher nice?’. All of those questions were Mom and Dad but Irena and I got talking about our school.
“I made a friend in the first lesson. Zach he’s called...”
“Another guy?”
“Yes, you’ll have to read him sometime. Let me know what he’s really like”
“I’ll try and find him. Point him out sometime and I’ll see what I can find out about him.” I told her.
“He was really nice. He was my Biology partner, well, science partner. And he’s in my maths and English. He’s being really nice. He’s a science geek – apparently – according to the other lads. But I think he’s really cool” she blubbered.
“Science geek? Just be careful. Science geeks are more acceptable to believing Alien enthusiasts like the ‘We Come in Peace’ folk” I warned her.
“I’ll be careful. Promise” she laughed. As her laugh died she started a new topic, “So... why where you upset when we were heading home?”
“You caught me at a bad time. I was about to make a nice person happy” I replied.
“How exactly?” she asked suspiciously.
I shrugged. “Give him some company”
“He?” she burst in fits of laughter at that sentiment. I’ll agree, I’ve never really been the type of girl to make friends with one boy alone without making a friend with a girl, but it’s not that funny.
“Yeah, what’s wrong with that?”
“A he? No wonder you were upset. I bet you like him”
“No. I just read that he was a good person that has been treated poorly and so I wanted to rectify that” I told her.
“Yeah right” she laughed.
We spent a long time going from one lad – Zach – to the other – Mike. It was then that Irena worked out my new desire for gothic clothes.
That night was another training night. We started the same way every training session. Rock, paper and scissors to see who will sit out first. It was a rock, paper, scissors match against me and Alec. We always fought each other last because we could go on all night if we wanted to but both of us always wanted to fight first against Irena.
I don’t see why we do rock, paper, scissors because I always win. He always thinks which one he will put forward and so I can always beat him.
Rock... no, paper... no, scissors... no, rock... Scissors. Yes, scissors.

“One, two, three” he said.
He put forward scissors as I put forward rock. Yes, he sits out first.
He walked glumly to the deck chair that was on the decking. He lay back in it and relaxed.
Irena was waiting on the lawn. I walked to the other side of the lawn, directly opposite her, and turned to face her.
Knock her down Irena.

She told herself.
She dashed at full speed towards me. I braced myself. Waiting. Her body collided with mine. I didn’t budge an inch. I stopped her flat, not allowing her to charge. She staggered backwards a little at the sudden collision.
Ouch!

She would never say that out loud.
She swung a roundhouse punch. I bent backwards and felt her knuckles swish past my nose.
She tried again. I blocked her arm, and twisted around her body taking her arm with me.
She cried in anguish.
“Give?” I asked her.
“Give”
I dropped her arm. She swinging her arm in a circle, stretching it.
“I’ll beat you tomorrow” she growled.
“You said that yesterday” I smiled.
She grumbled, but soon sighed and admitted “And the night before that”
“When you’re older you’ll beat me” I commented pulling her head down and messing her hair.
She laughed as I let her go, “Yeah, right”
I stepped aside as Irena faced Alec.
I never understood why Irena never used her levitation when she fought against me, but she used to when she was fighting Alec, always. Though it never did her any good. Alec only had to change the direction of the wind and she’ll be thrown off course. It didn’t stop her from always trying. I had to give her some credit for her determination. Most of their fights took place up in the dark sky, and today was no different. As Alec could use the air to give him propulsion, he could stay up in the air with Irena. But as well as being up in the air, he can attack without moving anywhere near her. They always fought in the clouds, so mom and dad who I could see watching from the window couldn’t see a thing. I was watching from both Irena’s and Alec’s point of view.
Irena dropped to the ground a few minutes after they first went out of sight. She didn’t hit the ground but managed to stop herself a few feet shy of the ground. She touched down on the ground lightly.
“Well, who won?” I asked.
I could see Alec slowly heading down, a gust of wind following him.
“As if you don’t know” Irena snorted sarcastically.
I laughed with her as Alec’s feet touched on the ground.
“Ready?” Alec asked me.
I nodded.
We took our places on opposite ends of the lawn.
They better end this quickly this time. Three o’clock was far too late.

Mom’s thought’s rung in my head.
They’d came out to watch. They always did for the first fight in a new place. We had to be careful in the first fight. If we got carried away, it may give us away, and to get carried away on the first night would be a disaster.
I’m going to beat you this time Sarah. I won’t be settling for a draw.

He thought.
“You will if Dad says so” I laughed.
He scoffed and charged – at full speed – towards me. I jumped quickly to the right.
He spun and changed back. This time I ran – at full speed – directly in to him. We both staggered back at the collision.
The wind picked up. I lowered my body, shrinking my surface area down as much as possibly as the strong winds rippled and swung around me. I ducked my head, and curled almost into a ball. Alec rushed forward, but as he did the wind decreased. I swung my leg around, connecting with his jaw.
I steadied myself and then kicked again, knocking him to the ground.
Geesh Sarah!

He groaned. The wind was picking up again.
“I won Alec. No need to get grumpy” I laughed. This, also, happened every training session.
“I want a rematch” I grumbled.
“Kids. Come in before you get carried away” shouted mom.
Oh! I wanted to watch another match. I suppose I better not anger her after taking her to a freezing cold place without even consulting her. That would be held against me for a while.

Dad thought as we all walked to the house.
“Probably a wise move dad” I laughed as I passed him.
I entered the house first, followed by Dad, mom, Irena and finally Alec.
We settled in the lounge. It’ll be a while until we go to sleep. It was only twelve. I couldn’t believe mom had stopped us so early. Alec and I didn’t even get to fight properly. She did normally shorten the training times for a new place but never by this much, we only got an hour.
“Mom, how come you cut short our training session?” Asked Alec before I could. It had been pondering on his mind just as much as it had on mine.
“I’ve been chatting with the birds from down south.” They’ve just flown up from California. They’re wonderful... Focus Janice, back to the message.

“According to them the ‘We Come in Peace’ company have been recruiting so they can create a bigger search group for us, this way they can search more places at once.”
“So they have an advantage on us? I’m presuming the tracker that we’re relying on is only relays the signal from the one group” I asked her.
“Three tracking dots appear on the screen, but the birds say there are at least five groups and possibly growing” replied mom.
We stared at each other uneasily.
“Then why did you let us train at all?” asked Alec.
“Because I know how much you like to train. It would be wrong to take that away from you” she replied.
“No offense mom, but I think we could have sat it out for the reason of our safety.” I told her.
“Yes, but how long would you be able to go without missing it too much. We don’t know how long they will do this search for and how long we will have to stay on orange alert, or when we’ll have to move up to red.” We sometimes graded situations with green, orange and red alert. Green meaning just be careful, orange meaning be wary and alert, and red meaning no power usage at any time. “I’d prefer you got it out of your system now, so then if we do go onto red, you won’t be bogged up with unused training time”
“Fair enough” commented Alec. “Do you think we’ll have to extend it to red?”
“Maybe” admitted Mom. Though I hope not.

“Dad?” asked Irena. She wanted his opinion.
“Possibly. Should we hear of any coming too close, we’ll move it up to red, but for now we keep low profile. You can train, but only at night when the light is gone. Never during the day. And be prepared to leave at any moment. And... No distractions or ties.” Commanded Dad. Dad’s word is the law when situations like this arise. We do what he says. If he says no training, we won’t train. Thankfully he hasn’t said that, he’s just said we can’t train during the day.
We all nodded in agreement.
We discussed several other things that night. Mostly about Billy Wright and the meddling ‘We Come in Peace’ company. With the extra money they will be harder to avoid. They will be harder to escape from. They have the money, resources and a big name backing them up.
“Do you think they will calm down after a while?” asked Irena to Mom and Dad.
“Of course they will” grunted Dad.
“I don’t think they themselves will. The publicity and media coverage will, but we already know how determined the ‘We Come in Peace’ folk are, and I got a good look into Billy Wright’s mind, he doesn’t quit at something he has started. That is why he is so successful.” I told them all. “But I think soon the media will direct their attention off Billy Wright and us as soon as another murder or natural disaster happens”
“If things become too desperate would we create a natural disaster? Like a Hurricane or Tornado?” asked Alec.
“No” stated Dad firmly. “That will not help us. If anybody catches wind – sorry about the pun – of it being our doing, it will scare a mass majority of people and will spur the search on. No that would make it more difficult. And imagine the lives lost. Had I been speaking only for myself I would hand myself over to save innocent lives, but I’m not speaking only for myself. If I handed myself over, the four of you will be in danger and I would be constantly worried. But I will not let you kill innocents.”
“I agree with Dad. Killing innocents isn’t right” I said.
“What about Billy Wright and the ‘We Come in Peace’ folk? Couldn’t we scare them off?” asked Irena.
“I thought we’d discussed this in Santa Barbara. If we tried to scare them off and it failed... it would cause even more problems. It would just make them more determined” I replied.
“So... all we can do is hope for the best?” asked Alec sceptically, not practically happy with that idea.
That’s stupid. We can’t just hope. Hope alone will get us nowhere.

“I’m afraid so Alec, but if we keep low key, no powers apart from in training session at night, hope is all we need” answered Dad. I couldn’t have put it better myself.
“Beside, without hope, we’d have nothing” Irena added.
I never said anything about no hope

grumbled Alec.
We didn’t get to bed until early morning. About four o’clock, I think. I didn’t really look at the time. I presumed it was.
We were all kept awake that night. None of us wanted to be the one that let the side down. I could hear Alec’s worries. He was practically screaming about them in his head. Irena is worried about getting too attached to a member on the swimming team. Mom is worried that the birds may not be able to keep us fully informed because of their journey patterns. Dad is worried he may have made a mistake of staying in the USA. While me, I just wished everybody would stop worrying. Little did I know that it would be I, that had cause for concern.

.......

Keep watching this book. More is on its way.

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Tag der Veröffentlichung: 08.09.2011

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