Read Alien Hostage for Free Online Page B

*
    Noelle sat in the strangers’ shuttle on a bench seat. Next to her Tasha slept deeply, refusing to wake no matter how Noelle pinched and tugged and pleaded.
    The little princess tried hard to be a big girl and not cry. It was hard to swallow her tears however. She didn’t know who the big Nobek was who had appeared out of thin air in her nursery and then taken her and Tasha out to the balcony. She didn’t know who the Dramok and Kalquorian woman were on board the shuttle the Nobek had put her on. The shuttle had also appeared out of nowhere. One moment the sky had been empty, the next a shuttle hovered over the balcony.
    No one – not the Nobek who had brought her on board, the Dramok pilot, or the woman – had said where they were going. Noelle thought she knew though, and it frightened her.
    Noelle wondered what she’d done to make her parent clan send her away. She’d done her best to be a good girl after Wayne left for training camp. He’d broken a lot of things and flown into rages before he had to go away. Noelle had not done those things. Even when she got mad these days, she didn’t raise her voice or stamp a foot. She did things she knew would make her mother and fathers smile. She’d worked hard to make everyone happy.
    It hadn’t been enough.
    The Kalquorian lady with the prettily embroidered gown left the cockpit. She stood in front of Noelle, staring down at the little girl with hard eyes. She’d been looking at Noelle since ordering her to sit down. In the soft lighting of the shuttle cabin the woman had a slender, beautiful face with high arched brows.  Her dark hair was filled with soft curls, much like Noelle’s Aunt Michaela. She wore a small smile on her red lips, but it still wasn’t a nice look she gave Noelle.
    The pilot had called the woman Feyom. Noelle had never met her before. She didn’t know why Matara Feyom looked her over so carefully. Between that and the hope that being a big girl would save her from being sent away, Noelle held back the tears that wanted to come.
    Feyom finally spoke. “Hello, my princess. Aren’t you a pretty little thing? You certainly don’t look half-Earther.”
    Noelle knew it would be polite to return the greeting and thank the woman for calling her pretty. Fear choked her though. She couldn’t summon proper manners, so instead pleading questions poured out. “Where are we going? Am I going to training camp?”
    Feyom stooped down so they could look eye-to-eye. Close up her face showed lines, making her look older than Noelle’s mother. Feyom was still beautiful, but her slight smile was too cruel to promise comfort. Noelle instinctively shrank away.
    Feyom smiled bigger, as if the child’s fear pleased her. “Mataras don’t go to training camp. That’s for Nobek boys.”
    Some of Noelle’s terror abated. No training camp. That was good. But she was still being taken from home, so tension remained. “Where are we going then?”
    “To a different kind of camp. A camp full of women like your mother. Like your cousin here.”
    The tears returned and this time Noelle couldn’t keep them from overflowing. A different camp. Noelle had not been good enough to stay at home with her parents. They had sent her away, like Wayne.
    Feyom chuckled and tapped Noelle’s nose with a perfectly manicured finger. “There is no reason to cry. You should be happy to be among your own wretched kind. And your cousin is going with you. What fun!”
    Noelle was quite sure it would not be fun. “I want Mommy. And my daddies.”
    She and her parents had all accompanied Wayne when he went away to camp. They had toured the camp, met the head of it and Wayne’s instructors. They’d even had a nice lunch before making lots of promises to visit soon and often and saying goodbye.
    Why weren’t they going with Noelle to camp to talk to the grownups and say all those nice things to her too?
    Feyom’s smile had faded. She looked at Noelle with distaste.  “You may