Robert was the kind of man people say can’t possibly exist. He was kind and funny and loud and aggressive when he needed to be and gentle whenever he could be. He loved me. I loved him. If I ever needed proof that the world was good, I got it when he chose me. If I ever needed proof that the world was cruel, I got it three years, six months, and two days later.

—eulogy by Amanda Reyes for Robert Gilmore, delivered 2028.

Go back to your home planet, you freak.

—inscription in the yearbook of Anastasia Miller, June, 2015.

Chapter 12

Tucson, Arizona: August 6, 2031

The last day before the invasion

1.

Somehow, they still didn’t know where we were.

The news had been filled with stories about aliens. After Agent Brown’s press conference got rebroadcast around the world—as Senator Davis had predicted it would be—people had put two and two together: signal from space plus aliens among us equaled invasion on the way, and extraterrestrial fever had gripped the world.

“We don’t need to destroy them,” Jeff had muttered, after the first riot had been reported on social media. “We need to sedate them so they don’t destroy themselves out of sheer … I don’t even know what this is.”

“Proof that they’re prey,” Tahlia had replied. “Proof that we’re right.”

Toni, who had been sprawled over the entire couch with a star chart and a highlighter, had sneered without responding.

That had been the house for the past week: lots of judgment, lots of silence, and lots of aimlessness. Senator Davis had moved in full-time, claiming to be able to serve his constituents just as well from Arizona as he could from Washington DC. David and Toni were working constantly on their star charts, convinced that if they could just figure out where the invasion was coming from, they could somehow make it go back.

After the third day, Graham had started hesitantly helping them. I should probably have been hurt by that, but honestly, it had been more of a relief than anything else. He had something to keep him busy while I was outside of his reach. More and more, all I wanted to do was sleep.

When I slept, everything was okay, because when I slept, I wasn’t part of a species coming to take over a world that didn’t belong to us. I was in a world that did belong to us. I was home.