The Storm Spirits
Chapter Twelve

Zack looked up as I entered. “Char, I-”

I held up my hand as I sat down opposite him. “Why in the world didn’t you tell me that you’re an alien?”

He sighed and looked down. “I wanted to, believe me, but I just … we weren’t sure we could trust someone we hadn’t known for very long.”

“So you chose to lie to me.”

His head popped up and he looked me in the eye. “I never lied. Nothing that came out of my mouth was a lie! I made sure of that.”

I glared. “How do I even know that’s true?”

He shrugged. “I guess you don’t; you’ll just have to trust I’m telling the truth.” He hadn’t broken eye contact. “I suppose they sent you in here to get the whole story from me?”

“I volunteered, but yeah.”

Zack shifted in his metal chair a little, and I saw a little grimace on his face. “There’s not a lot to it. On my planet, they call us Storm Spirits, even though we’re not spirits. We’re more like …” He paused, thinking. “More like shifters who can manipulate elements of weather. For instance, I can manipulate lightning. Does that make sense?”

“Wait, so you’re saying you’re like Zeus? The Greek god?”

He shook his head. “No, I said that we can manipulate the elements, not control them. It’s very different.”

A thought hit me. “The thunderstorm last night! That was you?”

He nodded. “My brothers and me, yes. I wanted to do something to make you happy.” I stayed quiet, so he continued. “My people were enslaved thousands and thousands of generations ago to the natives of the planet, because of our abilities.”

“Thousands and thousands of generations?” I interrupted incredulously. “Your race can’t be that old!”

“The universe is both older and younger than humans,” he told me gently. “My people have an extremely long history, so long that we’ve forgotten what planet we’re from. No one anywhere can remember, because it’s been so long. The only home I’ve known is the planet I was enslaved on.

“A few months ago, our masters were murdered by another race. All of them were wiped out, every last one, right down to the unborn. My people were made to think that we were being freed. The reality is, our slavery was just changing hands. My parents were taken away from us before we could escape as a family, so five of us ran. We went from planet to planet, trying to replace one that could withstand my brother coming after us.”

“Your brother? You mean the one who left on not-so-good terms?”

Zack nodded. “Him, yes.”

“So that was true.”

“I told you, I never lied to you.”

I shrugged. “Anyway, why would your brother be coming after you?”

“He orchestrated the entire thing: the genocide of the people who enslaved us, then the deal for slavery to change hands. Somehow he thought our people would come out with a better arrangement with this new race; he still thinks that. None of our people are happy with what he’s done, and I don’t even know if anyone else escaped.”

“You said you’ve gone from planet to planet; why didn’t you stay on any of them?”

He gave me a small, sad smile. “Same reason as to why we weren’t going to stay here; we were afraid of getting caught. In fact, on the last planet we were on, my younger brother did get himself caught, and then the rest of us had to save him.”

“If you’ve got nothing to hide, then why are you afraid to get caught?”

“Wouldn’t you be, if you knew that you’d be looked at as alien? Wouldn’t you be afraid that the planet’s government would interrogate you and maybe dissect you because you were different?” I stayed silent, thinking about his words. “That’s why I wasn’t fully honest with you upfront.”

“What about his original form?” Dwyer’s voice whispered in my ear.

“What about your original form?” I repeated. “You said you’re a shifter. Or is this your regular form?”

Zack shook his head. “No, I look very different when I’m back home.”

“If you’re shifters, then why couldn’t you escape your masters yourselves? Why did you need another race to help you?”

“There are ways to suppress our abilities, and our masters exploited that. We all wore collars that inhibited our shifting abilities, but allowed us to continue manipulating the weather, which is what they wanted us to do.”

“Can you shift now?”

He shook his head again. “No. There are factors at play right now that don’t allow me to use anything. I couldn’t shift anyhow because of the makeup of the atmosphere here.”

“Ask him about the cloud,” Dwyer’s voice ordered.

“What about the cloud that’s covering the city? Does that belong to you?” I asked.

He nodded. “That’s our … ship, if you will.”

“Can’t you park it somewhere else?”

“We could, but then we’d have to travel farther away to get to it. You always stay close to where you parked your car, right?”

I shrugged. “I guess.”

“Do they have any other abilities besides the shifting and weather manipulation?” Dyer prompted. I repeated the question.

Zack looked a little embarrassed. “Well … yes. I hesitate to say anything, for fear of what will follow. We can sort of see into minds.”

My eyes widened. “What?”

“We can’t read them exactly, don’t worry,” he added quickly. “We can search for word meanings in the minds of those nearby, or pictures. Some human terminology was foreign to me, so when I was with you, I checked others’ minds for the meanings. I never invaded your mind or your nana’s.”

I shook my head. “You invaded someone’s mind without asking them?”

“With the way our abilities are, it’s almost impossible to see extremely personal things. We essentially use others as a dictionary.”

“Great. That just makes it better,” I responded sarcastically, rolling my eyes.

“Is there anything else you or the police would like to know?” he asked. I blinked at him. “Char, I’m not stupid; I know you have a microphone on you.”

“Nothing else at the moment,” Dwyer told me.

“I guess what I want to know is, did you ever really like me?” I asked him.

He looked shocked. “Char … I told you I didn’t ever lie to you! Of course I do like you.” He cocked his head to the side a little. “Did you ever really like me? Or did you just say it because I did and you didn’t want to hurt my feelings?”

I worked my jaw for a moment before I had a response. “That was before I knew you were an alien.”

“Before you knew? Why does knowing make a difference?”

“Look, I’ve read enough science-fiction and fantasy to know what happens when a human falls in love with an alien!”

Zack’s face hardened, and he leaned on the table a little, his dark-light eyes flashing. “And what happens? They live happily ever after, right?”

I shook my head, getting angry. “Wrong! One of them breaks the other’s heart by leaving and never coming back! Either that, or their anatomy isn’t compatible and they end up killing any kids that even make it to birth. Why would it ever make sense for a human to be with an alien?”

“Come on out of there, Charlotte,” Dwyer ordered me. I stood up and walked toward the door.

“Remember what you said in the coffee shop?” Zack asked, stopping me in my tracks. “You were saying how Jesus loved everyone, no matter where they were from, and died for them on the cross. Shouldn’t that be good enough for you?”

The sound of my own words being said back to me threw me off guard. I just stood there. The door opened, and Chief Dwyer beckoned to me from the other side. I shook myself out of the trance I’d been in and went out. Someone closed the door while someone else started removing the earpiece and mic from me. “Charlotte? Are you all right?” the chief asked me.

I shrugged. “Is it all right if I leave?”