Beyond the Empyreal Stars

14.

14.

"How could you do this?"

Those five words hissed through Duke's teeth the moment the doors of the Suburban were closed. It was only him, his father, Clark, and Graham. His mom and Lizzie were in the one behind them with Nova, Bas, and Warin. As for Odette, she was in the third with the three Terrian leaders and Padric.

All three of them turned to look at him, taken back by the anger in his tone.

"Duke, there are a lot of things you don't understand," his father said to him. "You and Lizzie don't know about anything about this...of our past with them. That'll be explained in just a little while, I'm sure. But for now, you just have to trust me on this. The Terrians don't mean to harm us at all."

"Tell that to all the people who still don't know what's going on after seeing a spaceship land just outside the White House," he said angrily. "How is this going to go in the media? All of them had their phones out, taking videos. No matter what, one is going to be leaked. There's no covering up."

"He's right," Graham said reluctantly. "What are we going to say about...?"

"I want you to set up a press conference for tomorrow morning," Calvin interrupted. "I don't need any speech writers or anyone to help with the publicity on it. I will tell the truth – all of it – but my kids deserve to know it first."

The ride was indeed short, thought the silence seemed to extend on when they made their way into the White house, passing by the flurry of Secret Service and military, and making their way to the Situation Room. The room was guarded by two agents, the door only opening when the president nodded.

In the middle of the room was a long wooden table with multiple leather chairs on either side. Giant monitors lined all four walls, but they were all blank, something that generally didn't happen whenever they were inside. Maybe it was Duke's father's orders to not have news coverage playing of the alien spaceship that landed in front of the White House just minutes before.

The humans sat on one side of the long table while the Terrians sat on the other. His father didn't even take what was his regular place at the head of the table, opting to sit directly across from the older Terrian woman. It took some convincing on both Calvin's and Graham's part, but the Secret Service agents and military men finally left the room. There was no doubt they would be outside the soundproof door, but they wouldn't be able to hear a thing.

Duke's eyes were on Odette, who sat opposite him, but hers never met. He was looking at all of the medals and stripes pinned to her uniform, wondering how she had earned them all, including the four pins on her shoulders. He knew he should be feeling shock and anger toward her in that moment, but those emotions had completely vanished when the fascination replaced it. However, he still couldn't find it in himself to look at her face. The girl he'd come to know was different from the Terrian in front of him then.

But her words to him before were still playing in his mind.

Please...please know I am still the same Odette you have come to know over these past few weeks, all right? What you see in a few minutes...it is a part of my life we have all had to keep secret since we got here.

The moment of silence passed quickly...shattered by Duke's mom, who reached forward with both hands to grasp the Terrian woman's.

"You don't know how wonderful it is to see you after all these years, Diana," Alanna smiled. "Same to you, Hugo and Salvatore."

"It has definitely been a long time," the woman, Diana, smiled, before looking over at Graham. "And it is good to see you again, too, Graham."

Duke looked over at him just as he nodded, that look of loss and sadness appearing. He didn't understand why seeing these people – these Terrians – made him look so distraught, but he had a feeling something had happened between the two of them in the past.