Alienated by Melissa Landers

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    “How’d you do it, then?” Tori circled one finger around her temple in the universal gesture for crazy. “Alien miiiiiind control?”
    Aelyx parted his lips to reply but hesitated a moment as if deliberating how much to reveal. “Let’s just say it’s due to evolution and breeding.”
    “Uhn-uh.” Cara shook her head. “Not buying it. Violence is part of human nature. You can’t just—”
    “But you keep forgetting, Cah -ra.” Aelyx stopped, turning to face her and narrowing his cold chrome eyes. “I’m not human.”
    A prickling of goose bumps raised the hairs on her forearms and along the back of her neck. Aelyx began walking again as if nothing had happened.
    “W-well,” she stammered, “I’ll see for myself.” And strangely enough, she wasn’t afraid. She couldn’t wait to see how his people lived—and whether he’d embellished their greatness.
    “I’m not reassured.” Tori kicked aside a twig and openly glared at Aelyx. “You talk, but you don’t really say anything.”
    “Tor- ri !” Cara chided.
    “No, don’t Tor-ri me! Why won’t he answer the question?”
    “I did. You simply didn’t like the response.” Aelyx started to say something more, but his head snapped up as if on high alert. Soon Cara understood why. A distant clamor filled the tranquil woods, growing louder as they approached the end of the trail.
    Cara froze and stared blankly across the street at the Midtown High parking lot, where a swarm of demonstrators chanted and pumped their handmade signs into the air: H ONK I F Y OU S UPPORT HALO! It was like watching an anthill under attack—bodies scurrying in every direction without any leadership. Random car horns blared as morning traffic crawled past, and two uniformed police officers shouted at the protesters while shaking their heads and pointing to the clogged street.
    She turned to Aelyx, who maintained a calm expression but clutched his notebook in a white-knuckled kung-fu grip.
    “Not a very warm welcome,” Tori said.
    Cara drew Aelyx’s attention to the vacant lot adjacent to the school. “At least you’ve got groupies.”
    A much smaller crowd of around fifty men and women held signs that read A LL A RE W ELCOME ! and W E L’ OVE Y OU , B ROTHER ! The supporters swayed from side to side and sang with wild flower-powered abandon, but HALO’s disorganized chants drowned them out.
    “Come on, we’ll be late.” She reached out to pat Aelyx’s shoulder, but then pulled back. She kept forgetting he didn’t like to be touched. “Just ignore the freak show.”
    Tori led the way, waving to the crowd like Miss America and taking their focus off Aelyx, if only for a few moments.
    After a tight nod, Aelyx lifted his chin, and they walked briskly toward the school’s entrance. Cara kept her eyes forward, pulse racing and in total awe of Tori’s brass cojones . She heard a few isolated shouts from the protesters, mostly “Don’t trust him!” and “You’re a traitor, Sweeney!” When feedback from the police bullhorn pierced the air, she cupped her hands over her ears. It was still easy to hear the officer tell the crowd to disperse, that they couldn’t legally protest on school property.
    When she made it into the building, she heaved a sigh, rolling her shoulders to release the tension. Tori promised to find them at lunch and then rushed off to her first class.
    “You okay?” Cara whispered to Aelyx, standing on tiptoe to reach his ear.
    “Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?” But his stiff posture and clenched jaw gave him away.
    “It’s normal to feel a little shaken up, you know.”
    “For your kind, perhaps.”
    “Oh, gimme a break; you don’t have to pretend that noth—”
    “Sacred Mother,” he said, skidding to a halt in the middle of the crowded hallway.
    “What?” She followed his gaze to a group of girls squealing and bouncing toward them. She glanced back at Aelyx’s gaping mouth and laughed. It was about time something