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I’d never been happier to be home as I was that night. Roan had paid the exorbitant cab fare and then left on foot to Starlite as soon as I’d entered the apartment building. He’d asked me to join him, but the close call with the cop had me on edge. All I wanted to do was hide in my darkened room for the next day or ten. But as I approached my front door, voices seeped into the cement-lined hallway.
For a second, I dismissed them, but Mom’s sing-songy voice rose above a deeper one and I stopped walking.
We rarely had anyone over at all and never at this hour. Something was going on, and it couldn’t be good.
I tip-toed the rest of the way, pressing my ear to the door.
“I tried to get ahold of you. I really did.” Mom’s voice was muffled, but I could make out her words. “But how could I know if he’d come for Maité after all these years?”
It felt like a noose slithered around my chest and tightened. Someone had come for me. But who?
In between the next three heartbeats, a few scenarios ran through my mind.
One. The cop from earlier had sent another officer to bring me in, but SpaceTech Police Force didn’t move that fast, especially for an idiotic ticket.
Two. SpaceTech had found us. Two of Earth’s Most Wanted. But if that were true, then there would be fighting and screaming and the sounds of my mother begging for them to leave me alone.
And then the third idea came and I took a big breath. There was only one other possibility. They were here. The Aunare were here. I’d stopped dreaming my father or the Aunare would show up to rescue us years ago. I wasn’t sure what this meant except that my life was about to change in a huge way.
The fluttering in my stomach started small and crescendoed into thousands of flying butterflies. I wasn’t sure if it was excitement or nerves, but specifics didn’t matter.
Better face this now.
I slid my backpack off my shoulders and unlocked the door.
