Chapter 8

She stared into his eyes-which were now wide open-and searched for a sentence in the whirlwind of thoughts and questions racing through her mind. "How did you do that?" He whispered. "No idea." She sat up straight and replayed the past few seconds in her head. She didn't understand any of it. "We have to get out of here," Fitz said urgently, pointing to the motorist, who stared at them as if he had witnessed a miracle.

"He saw it," Alice said startled. Panic squeezed her chest. Fitz stood up and pulled her upright. "Come, let's get out of here." She was so upset that she didn't know what to do herself, so she didn't resist as he dragged her across the street. "Where to?" He asked at the first crossroads. She didn't want to be anywhere alone with him, so she nodded forward, toward the zoo, where surely people would be, even during a firestorm.

They began to run, even though no one was coming after them, and for the first time in her life Alice regretted not hearing thoughts. She had no idea what Fitz wanted, and that changed everything. 

Terrifying scenarios passed in her mind, most of them involving secret agents throwing her into dark vans to do experiments on her. She kept a close eye on the road, ready to run off as soon as she saw anything suspicious.

Alice relaxed when they got to the zoo's giant parking lot, as plenty of people walked to and from their cars here. With so many witnesses around, nothing would happen. She walked at a normal speed. 

"What do you want?" Alice asked once she had regained her breath. "I'm here to help, really." His voice sounded convincing. But that didn't make it any easier to believe him. "Why were you looking for me?" Alice dreaded the answer and plucked an eyelash. He opened his mouth and then hesitated. "I don't know if I'm allowed to say that," he said. "If you don't answer my questions I can't trust you." He thought about that for a moment. "Okay, fine then - but I don't know much either. My father sent me here to track you. We had been looking for a certain girl your age for some time, and I had to observe you and report back, as usual. I wasn't actually allowed to talk to you." He frowned, as if he was disappointed in himself. "But I couldn't get enough information from you.

You don't knock. 

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"What the hell does that mean?" "That means you're … different from what I expected. Your eyes confused me." "What's wrong with my eyes?" Confused, she touched her eyelids for a moment. "We all have blue eyes. So when I saw yours, I thought we had the wrong girl again. But we didn't." His gaze took on something admiring. "You really are one of us, despite your bright green eyes."

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"Wow. Wait a minute. What do you mean by 'one of us'?" He turned and frowned when he saw a group of tourists with fanny packs standing close enough to hear them. He pulled her along to a deserted corner of the parking lot, where they dived behind a dark green van. "Okay. I can't really explain this subtly, so I'm just going to say it. We're not people, Alice." For a moment she couldn't say anything. Then a hysterical laugh escaped from her mouth. "Not people," she repeated shaking her head. "Of course." "Where are you going?" asked Fitz as she walked to the sidewalk. "You're insane - and I'm stupid because I trusted you." She kicked the ground and stomped away. "It's really true," he shouted. "Now think about it, Alice." She had absolutely no desire to listen to this boy for even a second, but he sounded so pleading that she stood her ground and turned anyway. "Can people do this?" He closed his eyes and disappeared. He was only gone for a moment, but long enough to make her dizzy. She found support from a car as everything began to spin. "But I can't," she threw in and out to clear her head. "You had to know what you could do if you wanted to. Just think what you did to that lamppost a few minutes ago." He seemed so sure of himself - and it almost sounded logical. But surely that was impossible? And if she wasn't human ...

then what was she?