Forbidden Law (An Alien Love #1)

Chapter Three

Whenever Jace asked about things (which was all the time) I answered as much as possible while being as honest as I could. Like where a hot dog came from, when we went to the food court. That one was hard. And a picture of the president; I informed with unbiased information.

He was learning about everything. While we ate, I taught him manners, at least the ones I knew were most important. He nodded several times as he soaked up the information like a sponge. I also taught him some social etiquette, like how to say hello and good-bye in different ways. I decided to let him figure out the rest later when I let him watch TV and maybe if he made friends or something. If he stayed that long. There was no way to know if he'd be here for a limited time or if he'd decide to kill the human race. Even he didn't know his plans.

I took him to the Barnes and Noble store and tested his reading skills. He had a little trouble at first, but he became better and faster at it, understanding the words while connecting them to each other. He asked questions. Lots of them. Especially when i brought him to the magazines. Ugh. My brain felt like it was on overload, searching its far reaches and drawing out the information about celebrities and facts I knew from TV. Which wasn't much, considering I watch next to none.

We left with armloads of bags and packages. I could barely see over and past them as we slowly made our way to my car. We dumped them into the trunk and climbed in, pulling away quickly. We were silent, my voice gravelly from all the talking and explaining. I thought of what to do next, and what would be best. I mean, shouldn't I call the FBI or something? Isn't that what normal people would do? I smiled to myself. Well, I wasn't exactly normal, then, now was I? I decided finally to just try to teach him some more, or at least the basics. I pulled into the driveway, noticing that my parents car was gone. I figured they had gone to eat dinner.

We got out, leaving his new clothing stuff in my car. It was still hard to believe my eyes at how attractive he was, and how graceful. He didn't seem to stumble, trip, or scuff a shoe. I felt jealous of that. I was a serious klutz. I led him up to my room quickly and turned on the stereo. I noticed he cocked his head to the side, listening.

"It's a radio also, just fancier than the car one. This one I usually use to listen to the news," I said. "If you could even call it that, anyway," I muttered under my breath. He gave me a questioning look about the word 'news' so I continued."The news is...well, its what happens around the world. They tell you if anything happened, like disasters or good things. But mostly disasters." I looked away quickly and sat on my bed, sighing. This had been a long day, and it was already ten. Night had fallen an hour ago, the sun having done its job as best it could past the chill in the air.

Jace stood there watching me. His eyebrows were drawn together, as if he were working out a hard math problem.

"What?" I asked. His vivid green gaze was unnerving after a while, making me shift under its unmoving weight.

He shrugged. He had already picked up on some common gestures and movements. I had had to drill it in to him that staying as still as a statue wasn't a commonality in humans. That we tended to shift from foot to foot, or play with our hair. And gestures like shrugging and hand fidgeting happened when bored or tense.

"Nothing. Just trying to figure out all of this. It is very complicated, remembering everything..." he trailed off. He looked unsure about himself, and I thought i detected homesickness. "It is as you say, 'filing away' the information. Like boxes in the attic."

I felt the urge to comfort him, so I said in a soft voice, "It'll get easier. Trust me. You'll grow to do all these things instinctively soon enough. Easier, especially for you, with a brain like a computer." I patted his arm, wondering if this should be worrying. I still didn't know the first of what he could do besides quickness and intelligence. But if that was any indication, then I didn't know what he would think or do if he hated it here.