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it was giving him goosebumps nonetheless. “This Rhozan dude is bad news?”
    â€œHold the orb lightly in your hands and close your eyes. Anna’s watching.” Darius dropped his voice even lower.
    Alec found himself complying with Darius’ request before he could even think about it. He tried to take a deep breath and unclench his fingers around the orb. Why was he obeying this guy?
    â€œWe don’t know much about Rhozan,” Darius continued. “We think he’s a Field Marshall. You know, scopes out new worlds for the invading fleet, determines if conditions are right.”
    â€œConditions?”
    â€œRips,” Darius said, “in the time/space continuum. That’s how the Others get into our dimension. We don’t know how they find them, we only know what happens when they do.”
    â€œWhat happens?” Despite the fact this
could not be true
, Alec’s heart had started pounding somewhere in the vicinity of his Adam’s apple.
    â€œTrouble. Seriously awful trouble.” Darius stood up. “Try and let your mind go blank. Let the orb do its thing. Don’t force it. Just relax.”
    What exactly would the orb do? Alec wondered. And why on earth would he want to do it, whatever it was?
    â€œYou’ll see.” Darius answered his unspoken question before walking over to Anna’s side.
    Alec sat back and let the orb roll around in his hand. He watched Darius and Anna out of the corner of his eye while his brain leap-frogged from one subject to another. These guys were aliens. Darius had saved his life. Someone was really trying to kill him. Riley was pretty cute. He was kidnapped. He had some kind of power that other people wanted. Part of him was excited beyond belief, but another part of him wanted to tell Darius and Anna where they could stick their orbs and storm out because the whole thing was totally implausible.
    Was it possible the subway train had killed him and this was some weird after-life experience? Was he having the kind of delusion you read about in grocery store tabloids?
    Regardless, he had to go home. If he was late again, his father would kill him.
    He looked around for the exit. He’d been so distracted when he entered, he hadn’t kept track of the door’s location. Now he couldn’t see it.
    Darius sat down at the end of the table and waved his orb in a complicated pattern. Directly in front of him, a type of screen winked into existence. Alec could see directly through it. A series of glowing symbols scrolled quickly across the perimeters of the screen. Whatever the language was, Darius was reading it and not liking what he saw. “There’s more activity. Increased by thirty percent. I’ll have to go now.”
    Anna leaned over his shoulder.
    â€œI know what I’m doing,” Darius said.
    Anna pointed a finger at the screen. “Two more overnight. He’s strengthening quickly. Better go now.”
    â€œThat’s what I said.” Darius got up. “There’s a second in the Beaches but I’ll get Peter first.”
    Alec tried to suppress his astonishment. These guys had technology right out of one of his favourite video games. As far as he knew, no one had yet to develop that kind of stuff on earth, which meant …
    He
had
to get out of there. Darius and Anna might really be aliens. His hand tightened on the orb unconsciously. The minute the door opened …

7

    â€œ H ere, you’re going to need an orb.”
    Riley jumped at Anna’s voice. She had been so lost in her angry thoughts she’d missed the woman crossing the floor to stand at the end of the bunk. The small glass ball rolled along the blanket to rest at her knee.
    â€œDoubt it.” Riley examined her nail polish.
    â€œAn orb is your only weapon against Rhozan’s Emissaries. You might want to learn how to use one.” Anna headed back towards the teens on the sofas.
    Riley snorted. As