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    This new alien, for there was no question he was anything else, wore a gray, three-piece suit with a white dress shirt. His eyes were silver only, no human color beneath. His hair was also silver, but his face didn't appear to be lined or wrinkled from where I was lying and you couldn't have paid me to go in for a closer look.
    Holding my side, I started to scoot back into the living room, feeling what remained of my breakables bite into my hand and crunch under my feet. He followed, then stopped short, staring at something over my head. I didn't bother looking around to see what had caught his attention. Instead, I kept moving back toward the kitchen door. There was a phone in the kitchen and if he stayed spaced out long enough...
    I bumped into what felt like a pair of legs. I looked up. The Observer from the diner–Caelan was evidently his name, not that we'd had time for proper introductions–stood above me. He didn't look well. His face shone with sweat, and he seemed unsteady on his feet, wavering back and forth as he stood there. The black leather coat he now wore over his gray T-shirt accentuated the startling pallor of his skin, so different from when I'd first seen him.
    Caelan reached down and lifted me up by the collar of my shirt. A hysterical giggle escaped from me when I realized I was actually relieved to see him. I had a split second to wonder how things had gotten so messed up in the last five minutes of my life.
    "Leave her. She is nothing to you." The silver-haired Observer's voice took on a hardened edge, losing that refined charm I'd heard earlier.
    "We both know that is not true, Nevan. She is the one we've been looking for, as you are aware or you would not be here," Caelan said.
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    Stacey Klemstein
    The one what? I wondered.
    "It does not matter. She can do nothing for you now." Nevan pulled a gun from inside his suit coat.
    I'd seen guns before–this was Texas, after all. But none had ever seemed as large as the one pointing at me. I tried to take a step back, but Caelan held me firmly in place.
    "You cannot rid yourself of both of us. You can try to shoot her, but I will stop you. Once you turn your attention to me, she will escape," Caelan said. He tilted his head in the direction of the front door. "And even now her deputy is reconsidering his course of action. He is wondering about her safety, thinking it might be best if he returned and offered to stay. She's a little nuts, but not half-bad looking. That knight in shining armor crap might buy me some points. Plus, she's not getting any younger." I craned my head around to stare at Caelan. His tone had remained calm and even throughout, like he was pointing out the pros and cons of chemical fertilizers, but his last words were Mike's. It sounded exactly like how Mike rationalized everything, sucking the slightest bit of impulse out of his every move and killing his chances of success with every woman he ever met. And not getting any younger? I was only 26, for crying out loud. Though, it seemed I might not have to worry about getting any older.
    I faced Nevan again to see the effect of Caelan's words. If Caelan wasn't telling the truth, he was a spectacular liar. Apparently, Nevan agreed. He tucked his gun back into his suit coat.
    "I can bleed her dry before her deputy even reaches the front door," Nevan said. I heard a car door slam outside. Caelan had told the truth. Mike, or somebody, was here.
    "Yes, but it won't look human, will it?" Caelan said. Their conversation left me light-headed. I took another hit from my inhaler then stuffed it back into my pocket. Damn thing 29
    The Silver Spoon

    was going to be empty if I didn't stop having emergencies. "Look, do I get a say in this? I don't know either one of you, so I'm pretty sure I haven't done anything to make you mad. I suggest you both get out of here before I scream and send Mike running in to shoot anyone who's not me." There, that sounded good, considering my voice was