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Chapter One
Sienna stared out thetrain’s window, her green-eyed, dark-haired reflection staring back at her between the brief flashes of river glinting outside under a full moon. Not that she took much notice. Her morose thoughts were too busy pondering how much longer she’d be forced to live inside one of these ten train carriages that click-clacked in a ceaseless roundtrip through New Faxian.
She grimaced. She shouldn’t complain. She had an ever-moving shelter that kept her alien enemies, the Dronians, from getting a fix on her position. That the train followed the freshwater river of Dahrt, which flowed through the city of New Faxian in a nourishing rush, was just a bonus.
She swallowed, her throat suddenly parched. She’d dunk herself in the river soon enough, and shift into her primary, aquatic shape. Her body ached with the need to do just that. Underwater was the one safe place she could become her real self without the Dronians tracking her down. Earth’s H20 didn’t just sustain her—any of her kind—it shielded her alien identity from the Dronian fuckers.
She sighed heavily. She needed water like humans needed oxygen. Not that she’d die without it, but herrarepowers would dry out like husks under the sun and her whole body would operate at base level. She’d be living and breathing, but she’d be a shell of her former self and as weak as any human here on Earth.
She couldn’t afford any fragility. Not only did she have the Dronians hunting her down, just a few days ago she’d become aware of a different species of alien following her. A Gorema native. She didn’t know a lot about them other than the fact they had gold and tan striated skin, pointed ears and gold eyes, and they were an alien race renowned for their merciless bounty hunters.
She shivered, instinctively knowing the male who’d followed herwasone of their infamous hunters. One glimpse had revealed the predatory nature of the man, the fluid movement of his coiled muscles hidden beneath his long pants and long-sleeved jacket. Even the way he blended in with the crowd, despite his striped skin and his size, showcased his mercenary skill.
Though why the hell a bounty hunter wanted her, likely the last female of her kind, was beyond her. Not that she intended to ever find out.
She’d escaped her planet, Strazan, by flying in a preprogrammed craft to Earth with six other Strazanianraresin a bid for freedom and an attempt to stay alive. Her eyes narrowed. The rest of her kind hadn’t sacrificed their lives for nothing. She and her six comrades had to stay alive at all cost. That they were allrareswith powers meant they had a better chance than most to keep their hearts beating.
For the moment, the train—and the river—were her safest option. But to live in any one of the carriages she had to constantly alter the perception of the passengers who saw what she wanted them to see: an old couple taking up the double seats where Sienna, for the most part, lived and slept. In the passengers mind a gray-haired, frail woman had her head back on the seat and slumbered, while the old man opposite read a paper, his vein-riddled hands flicking the pages every so often for good effect.
The less her imaginary people moved, made eye contact, spoke or generally had to act real, the better. Though her mind altering ability was as natural to her now as breathing thanks to her long-practice, it required a lot of energy. Some days she felt as weary as the old couple appeared to be to every human who saw them.
But if the passengers saw the old couple instead of Sienna, she stayed safe. Even the bounty hunter would be kept busy chasing his own tail—if he had one. It wasn’t as if she could fully research his species to find out. Most humans didn’t even believe in the existence of aliens, let alone have extensive information about them.
The train rattled and slowed and she exhaled softly, her patience running as dry as her human skin. She couldn’t wait to disembark and enjoy her midnight swim. Her every cell, every molecule craved the water! She was literally itching to slide into its wet embrace and shift back into her primary form.
At this late hour there were only three other people in the carriage. Two were a young couple in ripped jeans and matching black T-shirts who constantly whispered and intermittently kissed. The other was a weary looking, middle-aged businessman in a suit, a leather briefcase in hand. All three of them stood and began making their way down the aisle toward the exit doors, preparing to disembark.
Sienna stood too, sighing with relief as she relaxed her mind and the imaginary aged couple disappeared. She walked between the seats, trailing behind the trio of humans walking toward the end of the carriage.
The train finally stopped at the empty station platform. Very few passengers, if any, caught the train at this hour of night—early morning, now—but it would continue on again very soon and complete its endless commute from one end of the city and its surrounding suburbs, to the other.
A movement outside in her peripheral vision made her pause, the hairs on the back of her neck standing up even before she noticed the man in a hoodie and camo pants walking fast and efficiently along the platform and past her carriage. His gold eyes locked onto hers through the widow and she inhaled sharply.
The Gorema.
Her muscles unlocked.Too late.The bounty hunter was already running to the open carriage doors, where the three other passengers disembarked. She would soon be all alone with him on a carriage with nowhere to go.
The doors slid closed and the train lurched forward as it started its journey again. It took her a split second to duck behind a seat and simultaneously push an image into the bounty hunter’s mind of her standing in the aisle as he pushed open the door.
He stilled, facing her duplicate. “Sienna,” he said in an accented, faintly amused voice. And yet, there was no mistaking the dark intent in his voice. “I finally have you.”
That’s what you think, asshole.
He stalked toward her mirage. Even from her hiding place, his big body seemed to suck away all the space, making it hard for her to breathe...to focus. It took everything she had for him to believe her duplicate was shuffling back to the other end of the carriage.
Sienna shook her head. She should have swum in the river already and regained her strength. That she’d been eating and sleeping very little was also on her. She deserved to be caught.
No, you don’t. You dishonor your fallen people to even think that way.
She closed her eyes, wishing she had her comrade Nero’s level of ability to plant a suggestion. Except she had a strong feeling this bounty hunter wouldn’t be easily influenced, and she couldn’t simply suggest that he step out of the carriage and onto the next platform to leave her alone.
Illusions were by far her greatest strength.
Though she was arare,whose ability to plant suggestions was considered to generally be strong, she was one of the weakest in that regard. Her ability was even more diluted here on Earth, with only her skill at illusions growing stronger each day.
Of course, she had one otherraretrick up her sleeve, but she’d used that failsafe already, wiping out a heap of Dronians a few days ago by blowing them up from the inside out. It was mostly why she was so wretchedly weak now.
The stranger clucked his tongue. “If there was any other way of dealing with the Dronians, believe me, I’d happily leave you the hell alone.” At her duplicate’s continued silence, he added, “But there isn’t, which means you’re going to have to come with me.”
