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Ambassador would like to speak with you,” General Baker said.
    Uh-oh. That couldn’t be good. “Umm, that’s okay I guess. Maybe after school?”
    “There is no reason to fear.” Nematali placed her hand on my shoulder. “They sent me to make sure you were at ease.”
    I fidgeted with my backpack. “Oh, I’m at ease all right. But I just got back. You know, school, life, all that good stuff.” I inched closer. “I just want to be normal again.”
    Her forehead crinkled. “Trust me. I think you will like what he has to say.”
    Oh, I was sure I would not like what he had to say. “But … ”
    “Major Martinez has already cleared it,” the general said. “He will be meeting us there.”
    Checkmate. How did they get Dad to go along with all this?
    So much for my first full day of school.

5
     
     
    I slumped into the limousine and folded my arms. A year ago, I’d have done anything to get a limo for the junior prom, but after two months of being carted around in one, they’d definitely lost their luster.
    General Baker scrolled through his phone. It always looked weird to me, seeing an old guy on a smartphone. It just didn’t fit.
    Nematali stared at the backs of her hands, and then her palms. Did this new human costume feel different on her? Did it take a long time to get used to not being purple?
    An Erescopian traveling peaceably with a bunch of humans was probably just as weird to her as it was to us. So much insanity, so many lives lost. Yet here we were, in the back of a limo together. Life sure could be strange at times.
    She rubbed her thumbs together. Her gaze traveled out the window and seemed to fix on nothing. She said she had stood beside David when he spoke to the council. If she was a scientist, maybe she was part of David’s Mars project.
    I shuffled closer. “By any chance, have you seen David recently?”
    “I have. Tirran Coud and I have worked closely together these past months.”
    “Is he okay?”
    “Why would he not be well?”
    “I don’t know. I just haven’t … ” Heard diddly-squat from him.
    I bit back the thought, but my lousy poker face probably gave my feelings away.
    Nematali raked her fingers through her blond curls. “Tirran Coud is the primary advisor and chief tactician of the most important venture our people have ever undertaken. His time is not his own, but he is in good health.”
    Good health? Well, I guess that was something to be happy about. Dad was probably right. I’d never see him again.
    The limo lurched as we went over a speed bump, entering McGuire Air Force Base. After some discussion at the gate, General Baker had to lean out the window before they would let us pass. I gulped as we drove deeper into the complex and stopped next to a brown brick building.
    Six MPs stood under the overhang and saluted as we exited. I glanced around the grounds, but nothing around us seemed familiar. I didn’t even know this part of the base existed.
    Nematali ushered me through a solid, black, unmarked door, down a long hall, and past enough security to make the president wonder what was up. Our pace slowed as we reached a room with a door thick enough to guard Fort Knox. I cringed when the mass of metal closed behind us.
    A camera’s flash went off, momentarily blinding me.
    “No flashes,” General Baker said.
    Tiny orange spots danced in front of my eyes, ominously reminiscent of the orbs that floated above when the alien scourge almost destroyed Earth. I shivered.
    Dad walked into the room a few seconds after me. He saluted General Baker, but his eyes never left mine. This time, I welcomed his protectiveness. I latched onto his gaze, centering myself until my hands stopped trembling. Earth was safe now. It was only a camera flash.
    The photographer shot off several rounds, his back to me. He was using a Nikon D4—the mother of all cameras. I flushed, thinking about the rinky-dink, four-hundred-dollar Panasonic in my backpack. But hey, I’d taken some darn