Chapter 2
They are among us.
Daria Stazen shivered at the electronic signs being broadcast all around their school. Images flickered on the walls and lockers, showing all the shapes and sizes and disguises those creatures could take and how they could easily blend in without anyone ever knowing.
It was such a chilling thought that one of her classmates could be one to them in hiding.
A human being.
She shuddered in revulsion and fear. Then glanced about suspiciously at everyone in her hallway. How would she ever know? Could it be the strange girl on her right whose gray skin was a shade darker than the others? Or the boy to her left whose skin was a tiny bit bluer? Or the teacher whose lips held more black to them?
What about the custodian whose black eyes had pupils that didn’t seem to dilate properly? He said it came from an accident in his youth.
What if it wasn’t?
Could he be a human using some kind of magic or drug to disguise his real features? The documentaries all warned that humans were extremely cunning.
Highly dangerous. Capable of any imaginable treachery. They were unpredictable animals. A shiver ran down her spine.
“Are you all right?”
She almost screamed as Tamira came up behind her to speak in her ear. “Don’t do that!”
“Do what?” she asked innocently.
“Sneak up on me when I’m scaring myself with really creepy thoughts about humans being here in our school!” Daria waved her hand in front of her unit to open it automatically and pull out her sweater and gear for gym.
Like her, Tamira Czaren was slightly taller than average and rather muscular, with pale gray skin and dark ebony eyes and hair. They were both from warrior caste families, but Daria’s father had been granted a special dispensation to attend university after he’d scored exceptionally high on his entrance tests in upper primary.
Now he was one of their top-rated scientists—like her mother. Daria was hoping to follow in their footsteps. If she could stop being late to her classes all the time ...
She closed her unit and paused as she caught Tamira staring at the images, too.
They were mesmerizing. As all good nightmares tended to be.
It was impossible to turn away, even when you tried.
Tamira jerked her chin at the human they showed transforming himself into the unerring image of a Materian, right down to the dual noble birthmarks Daria had been fortunate enough to inherit in perfect symmetry at the edges of her mouth. It was something all of her friends envied her for as it made her one of the most desirable to date and ultimately breed with.
“You think we’ll ever see a real human?”
Daria clutched at her designer bag that her father had brought to her all the way from their home world on his last trip there. “Hope not.”
Tamira arched her brow at that. “Why? Aren’t you curious about them?”
Not even a little.
“They’re disease-ridden, for one thing.”
Tamira laughed. “Oh please! How can you say that? We’re the ones who brought our illnesses to them. Besides, it was a simple cold that killed them off.”
“Exactly! Humans were so weak a species, the sniffles killed them all. How can you admire a race that can’t even survive a mere head cold?”
Tamira scoffed. “You are so cynical. No wonder they chose you for the Invarium committee.”
Lifting her chin proudly, Daria patted her badge that proclaimed her chairwoman of HELL—Human Extermination Licensing Leaders. It was now officially her job to help investigate and find any humans who might infiltrate their school or youth community and report them promptly to the authorities. She couldn’t wait to fulfill her obligations. “Yes, well, the humans are a threat we need to eradicate.”
“Why bother? You just said they were so weak as to be ridiculous.”
Daria growled in frustration of her friend’s continued churlishness. Sometimes she swore Tamira would argue with a sign post!
And not one possessed of artificial intelligence—one that was inanimate.
“That doesn’t mean they couldn’t mutate it into something worse. Like bird flu and wipe us out with it!” That was, after all, what her people had fought a civil war over when they’d first landed on this planet a hundred years ago.
Gah! How could any Materian have ever wanted to save a single human for anything? Never mind have actually killed their own in defense of one of those disgusting things?
That she’d never understand.
Rodents and humans. Same revolting thing. Parasites could do all kinds of damage to higher organisms like them.
Basic biology.
Besides, everything she’d read about their subspecies said humans were a barbaric lot who’d been on the brink of civil war with each other all the time back then. For every little imagined insult and slight. No culture. No higher tech. They’d never done anything particularly noteworthy as a race.
Mass extinction had been the greatest kindness for them. The humans should be grateful for eradication.
Not that it mattered. They were gone from existence and the Matens were in charge. This was their planet now, and it would remain so. It’d been theirs since the last of the major human cities had succumbed to the final wave of plagues, and the Matens had burned the last of the human bodies, and shed this beautiful planet of the humans’ feeble disease-ridden remnants.
All that was left now were bits and pieces that only the most daring Matens collected as curiosities.
“Hey Day!”
She paused as she heard Frayne’s deep voice calling out a greeting to them. Her heart quickened uncontrollably. It always did.
Tamira’s eyes darkened with jealousy an instant before she caught herself. As did most of the girls in the hallway. But then Daria was used to that. Erian Frayne was one of the most eligible boys in their city. The son of their territorial regent, he would one day rise to a seat of political power to rival or surpass his mother’s. And because Daria was a third cousin to their ruling family, he had his eye on her as a prospective spouse.
Daria liked to pretend he had other interests in her as well, but she wasn’t completely stupid. If she were someone else, he might still talk to her and date her from time to time.
However...
Her prestigious bloodline would guarantee him a number of extreme advantages.
He pressed his cheek to hers and took her bag. “Did you not get my message?”
“What message?”
He tsked as he tapped her wrist comm. “My maja’s been called out of town tonight.” He wagged his eyebrows at her. “Want to come over and study some basic biology? Up close and personal?”
She snorted at his less than subtle innuendo. “Nice. I’m surprised you didn’t announce it over the intercom.”
“Want me to? I will.”
“No, thank you. I don’t have anywhere to hide your body and prison doesn’t look good on my Post Prime applications.”
He laughed. “But it would give you a leg up for the military.”
“Possibly.” Daria sobered as she glanced over his shoulder and caught the peculiar expression on Xared’s face as he stared at her badge.
What a strange thing ...
“Something wrong?”
A full head taller than Frayne and even more ripped and better looking, there were a number of Matens who speculated that Xared was the more accomplished athlete, but because of Frayne’s social status, Xared pulled back in matches and let Frayne take the best shots to win. Some claimed he did the same on tests, too, making sure he always took second place to Frayne, in all things.
She wasn’t so sure about that, but right now there was something strange going on. She could feel on a cellular level. And since she’d known Xared since birth, they were more akin to family than friends—as were their mothers. In fact, he was the closest thing to a sibling she’d ever known.
“Hadn’t heard about your promotion. Savan!”
Yet the chilly undertone of his voice didn’t match his congratulations.
At all.
Something was bothering him, and she didn’t like to be the cause of his strife.
“Zhaza. I think.” Perhaps she shouldn’t be thanking him. “Although, I’m feeling a little frostbite.”
He blinked and offered up a half-hearted smile. “Sorry. I was hoping I’d get it. Last I heard it was mine, so I was a little shocked to see you with the badge.”
Oh, that explained it. And it made her feel even worse that she’d deprived him of anything. Unlike Frayne, she didn’t take joy in beating others out of their dreams. “I had no idea, Xed! I’m so sorry. If you want, I’ll decline it for you and you can take my place.”
He held his hand up. “It’s fine. Really. They obviously wanted you for it, and I am happy for you to have it. It just shocked me, but I’m over it now.” The warmth returned to his dark eyes. “Couldn’t imagine it going to a better, Maten. Peace to my sister.” He clutched his fist to his heart in a symbol of eternal kinship.
She duplicated the gesture. “Peace to my brother. Always. You know I love you.”
“Love you, too.” He clapped Frayne on his arm. “I’m headed on to class. Roundabout!”
“Roundabout!” they said in parting.
As they headed the opposite way, Frayne handed her a small silver charm. The unexpected gift delighted her. However, there was one tiny problem.
“Zhaza! But... what is it?”
“I found it in the bathroom. It’s a human symbol.”
Her stomach shrank as her happiness died instantly under an onslaught of horror. “What?!” Why in the name of the divine goddess would he give her such a thing?
Frayne jerked his chin in the direction Xed had gone. “Xed dropped it from his bag. I had to look it up to find out what it was.”
“And what is it?”
“An ankie or something like that. The humans use it to identify each other and sympathizers to their cause. Just like they do those weird phrases from their books that we destroyed. You know, quoth the raven nevermore and hell hath no fury as a woman scorned.”
Suddenly, she felt sick with fear and dread. “What are saying?”
“That either Xed is a human being in disguise or he’s in league with their cause. It’s the only reason he’d have that. And whichever it is, you have to report him for having it. It’s your job now.”
She shook her head as true horror filled her. This couldn’t be happening. Not with Xed. There was no way he could be in league with the humans.
Frayne was wrong ... he had to be. “He’s like brother to me!”
“And you swore an oath for your office. Loyalty above everything. Even above blood.”
Daria wanted to weep at his dire tone and the cruel light in his dark eyes that said he was enjoying the thought of the authorities torturing and interrogating their friend.
One that was mirrored by Tamira’s.
How could they?
Worse was the unspoken threat that hovered in the air between them.
If she didn’t report Xed and see him arrested, the two of them would report them both.
And she would suffer the same fate.
Or worse.
So will my parents. More than that, she would shame the name Stazen forevermore. It might even become stricken from all their records. I can’t bring disgrace to our name. Her parents would never forgive her.
But how could she live with herself if she betrayed her best friend? Her brother?