Defenders of Earth (Book 2 of the Keepers Trilogy)

Chapter 3

Here's something about my house that only I have realized: if someone's having a conversation on the first floor, you can hear the entire conversation pretty clearly if you're on the second floor in the general vicinity.

This is a trick I use only if necessary, because I've overheard things that make me gag.

I walk into the laundry room and press my ear to the floor. Thankfully, neither machine is running, so I can hear Mom and Dad perfectly.

"We can't keep her in the dark about them," Dad says. "She'll find out sooner or later."

"I don't want to keep her in the dark, Leo, I want to protect her. I am going to tell her, just...not until I get all the details."

"Which will be when? All this cloak-and-dagger stuff going around is ridiculous. Callie won't talk about her past, now there's these Area 51 people claiming that we are playing host to an alien. Doesn't this seem odd to you?"

"It does, Leo, and I'm having a hard time believing everything. But what if they are legit? What if that's what Callie's escaped from? What if they want their test subject back?"

"Or what if it's just a bunch of shit? What if we're looking into it too much? Emily, this is stupid and you know it."

"Well, let's think about the circumstances. A girl just suddenly appeared in our backyard back in October, wearing a cotton gown that wouldn't look out of place in a hospital, just suddenly appeared, she looked like hell-none of the doctors can make heads or tails of her; they'd probably understand even less if we could afford testing-"

"I know the facts, Em-"

"But we don't understand them, Leo! But I haven't even told you the weirdest thing about this whole situation. I told you what she said when we found her-"

Dad pauses. "Simon...came-"

"Simon. She mentioned someone named Simon was coming. And when Mark was talking to her earlier, she let slip that someone named Simon was looking for her."

Nobody speaks. Then I hear the creaking of floorboards as someone-possibly Dad-paces underneath. "You know that blue notebook we got her? Her diary?"

Mom groans. "You didn't read it, did you?"

"It's not a diary, Em. It's a grammar book with nothing but examples. But a lot of it is in a made-up language with more characters than in English, and none of them are familiar. Maybe she's making up her own language. But it seems like maybe, just maybe, she's more familiar with this language than regular English."

"Still seem like a bunch of shit to you?" Mom asks drily.

"What are you doing?" someone asks behind me. I lift up my head and turn it to see Callie staring at me in confusion.

I put a finger to my lips and put my ear to the floor again. "-prove it," Dad is saying. "Why don't we go ask her right now?"

"No, Leo-no!" Mom protests. I stand up quickly and back into Callie, who almost falls to the floor. "What-"

"Shhh!" I hiss as Dad thunders up the stairs, Mom following right behind him. Callie and I both turn simultaneously as my parents reach the landing.

My dad grabs Callie by her shoulders. "Callie, have you ever heard of the ETL?"

She stares at Dad blankly, then shakes her head slowly. No, why would I?

Dad turns his head to raise an eyebrow at Mom, then looks back at the girl. "Have you ever heard of Dr. Matt Wilson or Dr. Terry Orbeck?"