"Phyllis," she replied. It was but a moment. As she locked eyes with Lucius, her shoulders slumped, her chin lowered, her expression went blank.

It was as if a dark spell permeated the cla.s.s. Kaila began to panic. Every student was coming under the spell as Echidna and Lucius went to each student and stared. Kaila held her breath as her heart lobbed on her ribs like a pogo stick.

Mrs. Bourg had come to stand in front of Kaila's desk. "Don't be afraid, Kaila," she said softly. Kaila saw the small white b.u.t.tons on her blouse, the roundness of her belly in the black skirt. Kaila's heart thudded, flooding blood to her brain making her dizzy. She didn't want to look. Somehow she knew that to look into their eyes gave them power over her.

"Kaila," Jordyn said to her side.

Kaila glanced at his huge, golden eyes.

"Trust us," he said. He leaned closer, staring. She felt like her bones softened like warm clay as her mind submerged into the darkness of another world.

Chapter 3.

We would like to get to know everyone in the cla.s.s," Mrs. Bourg said. "Phyllis Joiner, you're first. Please come to the front of the room."

Phyllis was the one with stringy, dirty blonde hair, but she was no longer nervous. Like a mannequin, she stood dutifully in front of the cla.s.s. She wore old jeans ripped at the knees and a yellowed t-shirt with a Pennzoil motor oil logo. Her hair was oily and uncombed, and she emitted an acrid body odor. But most unfortunate was that she had blue eyes that bulged out of her sockets, as if they were being pushed out of her skull. She wore an expression of eternal surprised fear.

"Tell us the truth about yourself," Mrs. Bourg instructed.

Under the hypnotic spell, Phyllis complied. "Well, um, I usually don't talk much. Um, everyone makes fun of me." She looked at the floor. "But the reason my eyes bulge out," she said quietly, "is because I have a thyroid problem. I have Grave's disease. It's an auto-immune disorder. There's really no cure, and my mother doesn't have health insurance or much money. I have to tape my eyes shut at night because my lids won't reach closed anymore. That's why my eyes are dry. I hate being called bug-eyed and all those names because I can't help it."

Kaila, in a suspended dream state, noted that Phyllis's bulging blue eyes were bloodshot. She felt like she floated under water and her conscious thought or will was above the water but she hadn't the strength to swim up and find it. This was not real. It had to be a dream.

"Of course you hate being called names. No one likes being called names," Mrs. Bourg said. "Some of us do not understand why others in high school are cruel to their cla.s.smates."

"Tell us about your family," Lucius shouted behind Kaila.

Phyllis hesitated, but then answered obediently, speaking from her altered state. "My dad left when I was four, and my mom is miserable and um, drinks all the time and um, calls me all these names till she pa.s.ses out. I hate to go home."

"Can you picture the worst of these times?" Lucius prodded.

"Lucius," Mrs. Bourg frowned. "Please let me lead the cla.s.s."

Still under Lucius's hypnotic suggestion, Phyllis lowered her head, her lips pressed together. Her shoulders quivered.

Lucius and Echidna walked up to Phyllis. They leaned over her, as if inspecting a lab rat. A tear fell from Phyllis's bulging eye.

"One time she beat me," Phyllis said, "and told me she was sorry I was ever born. That I was ugly and a curse."

She sobbed, reliving the scene. Lucius and Echidna inhaled, as if breathing in the perfume of her anguished emotion. "I hate my life," Phyllis wept. "I even stole my mother's gun. I've thought about killing myself so many times. I'm just too scared to pull the trigger."

Lucius leaned closer to Phyllis. "Such despair," he sighed.

Echidna inhaled and rolled her eyes ecstatically. "It is delicious," she said. She leaned closer to Phyllis and breathed again as the girl wept.

"Lucius. Echidna. Please sit," Mrs. Bourg said. "You should have mingled at lunch to feed off the high school emotions. That you didn't is your problem. When you're hungry you will feed, but not on cla.s.s time. Now, we have work to do."

Echidna, who had been staring at Phyllis with her arachnid eyes, thoroughly entranced and absorbing her, ignored Mrs. Bourg. She placed her long fingers on Phyllis's forehead.

"I am seeing more. So. Tell us," Echidna said. "About this boy you like?"

"I really like Derek Mendoza," Phyllis erupted, her deep secret expelled. "He's just so hot, and I know he'd never like me, but I can't help it."

Kaila recalled that Brandy Powell had dated Derek Mendoza-the jock who had thrown the paper football at her in English. Yet, Brandy sat still, her head lowered, staring blankly up at Phyllis. Dimly, Kaila realized that she, too, was slumped, staring vacantly. She tried to wake, to swim up to consciousness, but could not.

Echidna said to Lucius, "Is Derek Mendoza the human who threw that one," she nodded to Douglas Lafarge, "into the trash box at lunch time?"

"Yes," Lucius confirmed.

"Why would she be attracted to such a simplistic, cruel one?" Echidna wondered.

"He kind of reminds me of my father," Phyllis stated.

Lucius shook his head. "These humans are ridiculous."

Mrs. Bourg said, "You have much to learn about humans. Now I insist. Sit down!" She peered around, surveying each student in the cla.s.sroom. "Phyllis, thank you. Please take your seat. Now, the one we need to explore next is Kaila Guidry. Kaila, please step to the front of the cla.s.s."

Kaila stepped dutifully to the front of the cla.s.s, vaguely aware that something was terribly wrong, but she didn't have the energy to fight. This was a strange dream from which she would soon awaken. She couldn't be standing in front of the cla.s.sroom like this for real.

"First," Mrs. Bourg said. "Take off that artificial hair."

Under control, there was no possible way to resist suggestion. She should have cared and been embarra.s.sed but she wasn't. Kaila pulled off her wig.

"And what is this?" Mrs. Bourg said, touching the black plastic wrapped around Kaila's skull.

"I wear it to protect me," Kaila said.

"Take it off."

Obediently, Kaila unwound the plastic from her head. Her damp blond hair spilled down her back. Any other time she would have died of humiliation standing in front of the cla.s.s like this. But now, she didn't care. The students, except for the aliens, wore a zombie-like expression on their faces.

"Feels better, yes?" Mrs. Bourg said. "More natural."

"Yes," Kaila stated.

"Now tell us about your father, Kaila."

"I never knew my father."

"Then tell us what you need protection from."

"I don't know. My mother says we need protection."

"Echidna," said Mrs. Bourg, snapping her fingers. "Scan her."

Echidna went to Kaila, thrusting her beautiful moon face a few inches from hers. "Look at me," she commanded. Kaila dropped into Echidna's tarantula eyes.

"I'm receiving something," Echidna said, tilting her head. "Her mother wears the wrap over her head to block telepathy-not from her-from us. Her mother is terrified of the mind-scans and mind-screens. But let me go deeper. Yes. Here. Her mother was abducted by the workers. Let me probe more . . . typical abduction . . . at night, taken from her bed. Very afraid, seeing the workers, the *aliens' they call them. Her mother was teleported from her bedroom to a craft. Put on the table. Took her egg, DNA co-mingled with ours, re-implanted egg into her uterus. But no successive abductions."

Echidna shook her head. "I do not comprehend. Let me go deeper . . . understand I am looking at Kaila's second-hand mind memory, not her mother's. Kaila must have scanned her mother to receive these images." She stared at Kaila, absorbing her. Then, "Yes. Later, her mother, impregnated with Kaila, driving in a car late at night, very dark. Headlights of another car coming down street. Hard impact. Car crash. I understand now," Echidna said, holding her head as if she, herself, had experienced the crash. "Kaila's mother was taken to a hospital where she had surgery to repair her face. That's where our implant was removed."

"I see," said Mrs. Bourg. "The implant was taken while her mother was pregnant with Kaila and we could not then track her mother to take the fetus before she gave birth."

"Incredible," marveled Lucius. "She is one of us but born and raised on Earth."

"Yes," said Mrs. Bourg. "Kaila is a sta.r.s.eed just like you. Half-extraterrestrial, half-human." Mrs. Bourg contemplated Kaila. "Poor thing. Hmph. She looks just like a doll, staring with those empty blue eyes. We will have to educate her. This is a wonderful situation. You will all have to become good friends with Kaila. I am sure she can teach you many things about being human. And we have many things to teach her too."

"The moment I see her, I know," Jordyn said. "I never feel that about any human before." He gazed at her, his face softening. "She holds lots of interesting things inside. How much she feels emotion for her family. How she feels emotion for animals. I looked, and I had to stop because there was so much emotion."

"That's the way it is with all humans," Lucius said disdainfully.

"They haven't learned how emotions get in the way," Echidna said.

Jordyn said nothing, staring at Kaila.

"Stop, Jordyn," Echidna said. "This girl has nothing to teach you. We have everything to teach her."

"I like it," called Toby from his desk, his blue eyes sparkling, his wide moon face trying to smile. "Go inside her mind, watch her riding horses. I want to ride horses. I want to pet her dogs. I want to eat soup her grandmother cooks. I want to see her big white house with the rods."

"Rods?" Mrs. Bourg asked.

"Columns," Jordyn corrected. "They call them columns. Like when our fathers were in Greece and those temples in their time past."

"I see. But that's fine, Toby," Mrs. Bourg said in a motherly tone. "I'm sure if you make friends with Kaila you can ride horses. It will be a nice break for you all from your studies. I want you to feel some good things about being on Earth."

She went to her desk and clapped her hands. "Now listen to me, hive. Though the rest of this cla.s.s carries ancient DNA from the extraterrestrials, Kaila is a full sta.r.s.eed just like you: half-extraterrestrial and half-human. We must awaken her, but because she's been bred human, her awakening must be gradual. She is unaware of her sta.r.s.eed gifts. She will become frightened with instant, complete disclosure."

"Can I do it?" Lucius asked.

Mrs. Bourg sighed. "Sometimes it is hard, all of you constantly reading my mind. I so wish I had your gifts. But no, Lucius you may not. Jordyn, come to her while she sleeps. Begin the awakening. Give it to her in a dream. She trusts you. And you have a soft spot for the girl. As I have warned you, do not give in to the soft spots. To be human is to feel emotion. And to feel emotion is to create war and die. If you get too close to these humans, they will infect you. You will suffer their emotions. Remember always: we are one group unit and we serve not ourselves. We serve a greater purpose than ourselves. Humans serve only themselves! Do we understand?"

Mrs. Bourg leaned over Jordyn's desk. "Do we understand?" she asked in a low tone.

"Yes, ma'am," Jordyn replied.

"You needn't call me ma'am while the others are unaware," Mrs. Bourg said, caressing Jordyn's cheek. "After all, I am your mother."

"Stop, Bourg!" Echidna cried, clutching her head. "No motherly feelings."

"I can't help them, dear," Mrs. Bourg replied. "As an earth human, I will always have emotion for my children."

"To your credit, you turned away from humans," Echidna conceded. "You, at least, had the intelligence to understand the importance of being selected as our breeder."

"I am indubitably grateful that I was allowed remembrance and am now allowed to play a part in socializing you to Earth. There are so many women who don't even know that they have star children . . ." Mrs. Bourg's eyes turned milky.

"It doesn't matter if they remember," Echidna snapped. "They create an embryo and we take it to grow on the ships. If these animals," she motioned to the stuporous human cla.s.smates, "were raised in proper hive consciousness, they wouldn't be so worried about clothing and music and s.e.x. Deep down, they are scared, unsure of themselves. They are a primitive species."

"You are right," Mrs. Bourg said. She reached up to stroke Echidna's cheek.

"Don't touch me," Echidna said, stepping back. "You made my embryo. That is all. Emotion is wasted thought. Think of the mission!"

Mrs. Bourg sighed as she gazed reverently at Echidna. "I am incredibly proud of you, Echidna. If I'd had your verve and drive as a young woman . . ."

Echidna stared at Mrs. Bourg. Her eyes had again widened and turned solid black.

"Don't you dare mind-stare me, young lady!" Mrs. Bourg shrieked. "If you mess with me, I will inform your Master."

Echidna's pupils instantly contracted to show the iris and whites. She looked away, her pale skin going even paler.

"Now," Mrs. Bourg said, regaining her composure, "back to the mission. My children, before we create a screen memory for the cla.s.s, please focus on Kaila's language. Access the language in her brain. Download it. Learn to talk as she does. She has a lovely way of speaking mostly proper English with a southern lilt. She does not use many foul words and does not utter "like" and "you know" in every sentence, so hers is a good basis to pattern your language. This way you will not seem as strange and foreign to the other students and you may more easily gain their trust."

The six hive stood in their silver overalls and cl.u.s.tered around Kaila. They leaned close, staring and absorbing. After a few moments, the hive relaxed.

"Did you download her language?" Mrs. Bourg asked.

"Yeah man, you r.e.t.a.r.d," Lucius said with a straight face.

"Stop playing games, young man," Mrs. Bourg chided. "Now Lucius, Antonia, Toby, Jordyn, Echidna, Viktor-please create a screen memory of Introduction to Gravity and Rotation in the students' minds and create notes in their own handwriting. When they wake, they will have surface quantum physics installed in their brains and memory of me teaching the cla.s.s but no memory of the rest. After you've installed the artificial screen memories, in the remaining time we will explore as many students as we can. Give them the superficial memories of their cla.s.smates and yourselves so that they feel they know and like their cla.s.smates but not at the deep level. They're too self-absorbed to care about anything deep anyway. Oh, and let's put Kaila's plastic wrap and wig back on her head."

Kaila looked at the clock. Two-fifteen. She felt woozy, like a vampire had fed from her. But, still, she'd gotten to know her cla.s.smates, remembering as they introduced themselves. How these six strange people all had the same last name, Stryker, because they'd been raised in that cult in New Mexico and didn't really know their last name as they hadn't had parents. It was so sad.

She learned that Phyllis Joiner liked to write poetry and loved her cat named Millificent. Douglas Lafarge liked playing sword and sorcery games, adored Star Trek, and read everything he could on quantum physics. Brandy Powell never wore the same outfit twice, coveted a new Coach purse for her birthday, and wanted to make straight As. Tara Melancon's father might run for mayor, and he wanted her to be a dermatologist when she grew up-but what she really liked was to read romance ebooks on her iPad.

Kaila read her notes. She'd never considered that the Earth, the planets, the universe itself, down to every atom in her body, moved in constant rotation. She chilled to realize that if there was a shift in gravity and the Earth stopped spinning, or if there was a polar shift, the world could come to an end.

She glanced at Jordyn.

"You feel a little better about this cla.s.s?" he asked.

"Definitely," Kaila said, not knowing why. She had an uneasy feeling, but still, when she looked at Jordyn she grew energized, like when riding horses at full gallop in the wind.

"Maybe we could hang out one day," he said.

Kaila pondered why his language had changed. He sounded more natural. What on earth was going on here?

"Maybe we could hang out?" Jordyn repeated.

He looked at her so earnestly that her heart turned over in compa.s.sion, knowing he had not been raised normally.

"Give me your phone number," he said.