"Calm down, you idiot!"

I jolt awake, screaming. Images of the dream I just had flicker through my head, replaying fragments I have not yet forgotten. What remnants I have are profoundly disturbing; I keep seeing the war in which Lorien's defense was quickly vanquished, the Loric dying in horrible ways as they attempted to fight back, and the Mogadorians stripping Lorien of its resources.

My eyes dart around the strange human ship I'm in. I'm strapped into a soft but uncomfortable seat, with my Cêpan – Hali – beside me, and a girl on my other side. She is leaning out into the aisle with a disgusted face, trying to get as far away from me as possible. That girl must have been the one who told me to calm down.

"Sorry." Hali explains. "My son must have been having nightmares. He didn't like the space movie we watched last night. And he doesn't like airplanes, either."

I open my mouth to argue, but I remember not to give away who I am to humans. She is probably a human, and not one to be trusted; the Greeter is nowhere to be seen.

I don't want to look like an idiot with my mouth hanging open, so I speak. "Yeah, that movie was the scariest I ever watched!"

"Pfft, I'm not scared of no movies!" The girl, who is a little taller than I am, waves her hand dismissively and sits up. She seems more amused than ticked off now. "But it does make me very angry when little kids scream in my ear."

"I thought I only screamed after you called me an idiot. And I'm not a little kid."

"No, you screamed the whole time." She laughs. "What are you, three?"

I look pleadingly at Hali. She knows my number! What if she's a Mogadorian and she wants to hurt me? What if she'll tell her other Mogadorian allies…

The girl taps me on my shoulder. "Hel-lo!" She snorts. "I asked you your age."

Oh.

Hali chuckles behind me.

"Sorry, I just tuned out because I remembered a bad scene from the scary alien movie." I say to her. "I'm four years old, so no, I'm not a little kid."

"Awfully small for a four-year-old! I'm four, too. Turning five in seven months, ten days, and eleventy seconds."

I squint.

"You don't know what eleventy means? Wow, what a baby. Just kidding. I made up the word! It means eleven tens, and it's twenty bigger than ninety, I think. Aren't I smart?"

Which other girl thinks – or knows – that they are a genius and calls me an idiot?

"You remind me of someone." I say, thinking of a certain little redhead.

"So do you. When I looked at you, I immediately made a connection between your ugly face and my dead pet fish that I flushed down the toilet."

I frown, then laugh because her comment is so ridiculous.

"I'm just joking." The girl says, nudging me. "Sorry, you're just so fun to tease."

"What's so fun about me?" I say. "I thought I was too dumb to be funny."

"I don't think you're actually dumb. Just a little babyish in here." She taps me on the top of my head. "What's your name? If you remember it, of course, with your tiny brain."

It feels like every girl I meet is determined to call me dumb. I decide to ignore the brain comment.

"I'm Anu. I mean, Hannu."

"Cool. It sounds fun to say." The girl says. "My name is the coolest name in the history of names. I'm Ayah, which means 'bright.' It fits me perfectly."

"You love to brag, don't you?" I say. "Would you still be bragging if I beat you in a breath-holding contest?" I wink at her.

Ayah makes a gross face. "Nyah! You're only a little boy, what chance do you have against me? Here, I'll give you a head start. Count to three, and you start holding your breath." She inhales deeply and stares at me.

"One…" I look at her, trying to count as slow as possible.

Ayah makes an 'are you serious?' face and shakes her head at me.

"Two…" I count even slower, grinning evilly at Ayah.

She gestures to my nose, then bangs her fist on the armrest of my seat.

I wink at her. "Two and a half…"

Ayah's skin, which is a little darker than mine, is starting to turn pale. She makes weird faces at me and flails her arms around.

"Two and three quarters…"

She looks like she's about to kill me. I think she wants to, at least; she keeps on slicing her finger across her neck violently. I better stop teasing her, or else. I don't want to end up like Nine when he goes too far teasing One. The poor boy still probably has nightmares about her!

"Three." I sigh, then take a deep breath. Almost immediately, Ayah lets out the breath she's been holding in, and begins gasping like she is going to die.

"Are you okay?" I say, forgetting that I'm in a contest. Then, when she sticks her tongue out at me, I stick out my tongue back. "Who's the dying fish now?"

"Shut it, brainless. I said you looked like my dead fish, and a dead fish is worse than a dying one." She chuckles. "But that was good. You got me there, I have to admit."

"Oh, the champion of everything is giving in!" I tease her.

"Rematch!" She yells immediately. "And no head start this time!"

I nod, but suddenly I have a horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach, like I'm falling. In an instant, it goes away. "What was that?" I demand.

Ayah ignores me. "Ready… set…"

"No!" I yell, because the feeling is back, and even worse – my ears feel like they're going to explode. "Ayah, something's wrong!"

I shove past Hali, who has dozed off, and look out the window. We're approaching the ground.

"We're falling!" I scream, banging my fists on the window. "No! Hali, wake up, please do something!"

Ayah just laughs.

"What's so funny?" I spin around. "What if we die?"

"It's not funny!" Ayah howls. "It's hilarious! Did you see your face? We're just landing. I can't believe we're almost home!"

I pause. "Oh. And for the information, no, I did not see my face. I don't have a mirror. Speaking of mirrors, if you looked in one, it would break into a million pieces because-"

"Nice try, shrimp. At least I'm more attractive than you. Keep trying if you want to get me mad." Ayah winks. "But remember, it's not good when I get mad. You don't want to see-"

"I think I've already seen you when you're angry, Ayah."

"That doesn't count. You don't want to see me when I'm really-"

There's a jolt and the plane ride is no longer smooth. It feels like we're sliding on gravel. I look out the window, and we're rolling across some kind of black stony ground with lines painted onto it.

"Oh, we're here!" Ayah tries to jump up, but her seatbelt pulls her back. She falls back down with a grunt. I grin.

"What are you looking at?" Ayah nudges me with her shoulder. "I'm just excited, that's all!"

Hali stirs. "Three." He murmurs. I turn to look at him.

"What?" Ayah gives him a look.

"Sorry." Hali suddenly sits up straight, his eyes wide. "Just counting sheep in my dream."

"Oh."

"So, Hannu, it seems like you've made a new friend." Hali says. He turns to Ayah with a wide smile. "Where are you off to?"

"Um, hel-lo, I'm not supposed to tell that to strangers. But I'm coming back from a trip to Quebec, Canada. It was horrible. Everything was nice, but the cold wasn't, and it ruined everything!" She gives a dramatic sob.

Quebec? I shoot Hali a look. He ignores me.

"Yes, we have relatives in Quebec. It is so cold there compared to Kenya. I wonder how they survive going outside in the winter, even with snow gear on."

"Ask them." Ayah rolls her eyes. "I'm just sure that I did not survive Quebec. Like, I am a dead person right now." She turns to me and makes a noise which I think was supposed to be creepy. "Woooooo!"

"If you were really dead," I tease, "you would have won the breath-holding contest! Because you wouldn't have had to breathe!"

"Shh," Ayah says, "your dad doesn't know about that."

The plane seems to have stopped. A human in the aisle says some Earth words, and people begin to get up. Ayah struggles with her seatbelt and makes a frustrated noise when it comes flying off. Hali undoes his seatbelt and helps me with mine.

"Hannu, we will have to reach our destination on foot." Hali explains. "The village we're off to is deep in the jungle – off the grid. Isn't that cool?"

I tilt my head to one side. "What grid? Like on the math graph paper Tw- I mean, my friend from home is in love with?"

"Not exactly. I'll explain later." Hali smiles at me. "There is a beautiful ravine near the village's outskirts, too. We need to do some sightseeing when we get there, Hannu. You'll love the adventure."

"Yes." I say. "I love adventures!"

As long as they aren't dangerous, I want to add, but I don't. I don't want to spoil Hali's great mood.

"Ravine?" Ayah spins around. "Jungle? Sounds just like my village!" She claps her hands over her mouth.

"Don't worry," I say, "we won't tell anyone! That's where we're going, too."

"Pinkie promise me you won't tell. Mom and dad will be mad if they know I've been telling my location to strangers." Ayah holds out her hand, her little finger extended out.

"What?"

"Pinkie promise!" Ayah squeezes her small finger with the same finger on the opposite hand. "Like that!"

I copy her with my hands.

"No! Your pinkie and mine! Not yours with your own!"

"Oh."

I do it right this time.

"I'm glad you won't tell." Ayah smiles. "If you did, I might have to kill you!" She is still smiling.

I take a big step back, crashing into Hali. "Whoa. Wait, what?" Is she one of them?

"Just kidding. " Ayah sighs. "You gotta take a joke, Anu."

Now I feel like an idiot. A four-year-old human girl, working for the Mogadorians or disguised as one. Wow, Three, you really do have no brain! Or a pea for one.

"Sorry, still scared out of my wits after the creepy space film." I take a step away from Hali. "Too many evil aliens. And it's Hannu."

I resist the urge to say 'I thought you were smart.' That is a quote reserved for insulting Two. I miss her so much already. I wonder if any of the other eight miss the rest. I'm sure Seven and Eight, who were great friends, must miss each other bitterly. But Nine and One – not so much. I laugh when I think of One screaming at Nine, earning me an awkward glare from Ayah.

The people in the aisle are beginning to clear out. Ayah steps out into the aisle and begins shaking an old man. "Get up, Gramps! We're home! Help me reach the bags."

"We're home."

You might be home, Ayah, but I'm not. And I won't be home for a long time.

I sit back down in my seat and fidget with my thumbs, trying to hide the sudden wave of sadness that has just overcome me. Hali moves past me and reaches up into a compartment near the roof, taking out the Loric Chest and a bag containing clothing.

"Are you all right, Hannu?" He says, noticing my frown.

"No." I whisper. "I wanna go home."

Hali sighs. "Me too, Hannu. Me too. I'm sorry."

"I just wish the Moga- I mean, the bad people felt sorry. Then they would leave us alone and we could go back home, maybe."

"We will go home." Hali says. "Someday. But today's not the day, and today is the start of an adventure. Hannu, I hope you're ready, because our Greeter got you a present." He holds up a pair of extremely long socks, longer than the ones I already own. They are white with pink frills at the top.

I force away the thoughts of home and smile. "Tell her I don't have clown feet, and I'm a boy!"

"We won't be seeing her again because she has to go into hiding, so I can't tell her, but she didn't arrange to embarrass you on purpose. She had a gift of socks for you, but she had to return them because they were too short. These were the longest socks she could find."

"It's a great gift!" I say. "Only I don't want to be – what do humans call those frill-wearing dancers again…"

"You don't want to be a ballerina, Hannu?" Hali roars with laughter at the word. "Okay, understood. We'll do something about the frills."

"How did you get the Chest here?" I ask. "You carried me, not it!"

"Our Greeter may have been small, but she was very strong. She carried it, as well as all the clothes."

"Wow." I breathe. "Maybe she is actually one of us!"

"No, just a gym teacher." I explain. "Now, Hannu, would you like to carry the Chest or this little bundle of clothes? I think I know what you will pick…"

"The Chest!" I say, making Hali look surprised. "I wanna be strong, too. And the Chest is so cool. You take those stinky clothes."

"They were washed, and this is too heavy for-"

"Come on!" Ayah calls over her shoulder. She's leaving with her grandfather. "Grandpa says you can follow us; we know the way and you will probably get lost."

I make a big show of shoving past Hali, grabbing the Chest, and laboriously marching after Ayah. "Umph! Ayah, look at me!" I say. "Am I a shrimp now, Ay-"

I drop the Chest and tumble over it, landing on my rear end in the aisle. "Ow! Hali!"

Hali comes racing over. "Oh, Hannu." He says, helping me up. "Are you all right?"

"Yes." I sniffle. I grab the clothes away from Hali. "Next time, I promise I'll listen to you. Sorry, da."

I realize I accidentally called my Cêpan 'da,' but I decide that it is actually more logical, since he's supposed to be my father in the story he's made up for us. So I don't correct myself.

"Don't worry, Hannu." Hali pats me on the head and scoops up the Chest.

We walk to the front of the plane together. We were seated at the very back. The flight attendant sees us and waves, saying something in Swahili.

"She asked you if you enjoyed your flight, Hannu." Hali tells me.

"Yes!" I say in English. The flight attendant seems to understand, and beams at me.

We leave. Hali and I don't see Ayah and her grandfather at first, but then we notice that they are unloading more bags from what seems to be an almost-empty rack of luggage. They are being helped by a tall, dark teenage boy and a much smaller, but equally dark-skinned girl. A pale man watches them.

"Why are you doing this?" I say. "Are you taking other people's stuff?" I gasp, horrified. "I thought you already got your bags off the plane!"

"Oh, those were our carry-on items." Ayah waves her hand. "We brought more with us, but there were too many to carry on."

"Stealing is against the law, young man." The pale man leans down to confront me. "Don't get any ideas."

"I wasn't-"

The man turns away and scrutinizes the rack again, but not without a sideways glare at me. When he's not looking, Ayah makes a face at him. I decide that she's not so bad. She is ruder than Two and almost as rude as One, but I think she's nice. Maybe we can be good friends.

"Who's this?" The teenage boy points at me. He says something in Swahili. I'm sick of not understanding this language.

"That's Hannu." Ayah says. "My friend. And yes, he's coming to the village with us."

The other little girl waves at me, but averts her gaze immediately and hides behind the boy's legs.

"Oh, hey." The boy says. "My name is Beno, and this is my little sister, Dhamiria. Do you speak Swahili?"

"No." I say. "But I'll learn."

"Oh, you better." Ayah says. "Or you'll feel like an alien for the rest of your life with us!"

I bite back a comment. I can't tell her that I'll always feel like an alien, because I am one – but nobody's allowed to know.

It feels so bad, keeping secrets. I never had to keep secrets from Two. Why am I thinking of Two so much? The answer comes to me almost as quickly as the question does.

Because being away from her is like being ripped away from my family, all over again. Besides Hali, she was the closest thing to family I had, since leaving Lorien. I want to confide in her again, and share all my secrets with her. She knows stuff about me nobody else does – like, for example, that every other night, we would sneak to the cookie jar with Five to feast. I didn't even tell Hali that.

Two, do you miss me as much as I miss you?

"Hel-lo?"

Ayah waves a hand in front of my face. I flail and stumble backwards. "Woah!"

"Hannu, you totally zoned out there, bro!" Beno says. "You okay, kid?"

"Yeah," I say, "just thinking about the scary alien movie da made me watch."

"Oh, I didn't make you." Hali crosses his arms. "Didn't you insist on seeing it?"

"What movie?" Beno asks.

Hali's mouth drops open, and so does mine. What do we do?

"Definitely the War of the Worlds." Ayah shivers. "No other movie is so scary!"

"Yeah, that." Hali says. "Horrible violence. Gives me nightmares, too." He looks relieved.

"I thought you weren't scared of any movies." I say to her. "You even said."

"Yeah, I wasn't scared, of course!" Ayah says, standing up taller. "I just meant that it would be scary for normal people. I'm too good for that."

"But normal people eat cookies." Beno winks. "Are you too good for those, too?"

"No way!" Ayah yells.

Cookies – the mention of that food reminds me. Hilde noticed something off, and she blamed it all on Reynolds, because she saw him cleaning up the kitchen at night. I wonder if Eight still accuses his Cêpan of being a notorious cookie thief.

"It's time to go." Hali says. "Hannu, hang in there. I know you're tired, but-"

"I'm not tired." I say. "Just thinking."

We begin walking down a hall. Dhami-something yawns. Unfortunately, my mouth opens wide and my jaws part in a huge yawn, too.

"You are tired." Hali insists.

"She-" I point at Dhami-whatever. "She gave it to me!"

Dhami-hard-to-pronounce-name whimpers and hides behind her brother, clutching his hand.

"Sorry." I tell her. "I guess it's not your fault you yawned. But it's not my fault I yawned, either."

She nods.

Hali laughs. "I'm just pulling your leg, Hannu. Come on."

"Don't pull my leg." I say. "I might fall."

"Don't be so literal." Ayah shoves past me and blows a raspberry.

"Huh?"

"Never mind." She snorts. "Anyway, you'll hate my grandmother… she is the strictest person ever to new students! You're old enough to go to school, right?"

Oh, no! Another Hilde-clone?

"Unless you like people who talk like they're a principal about to give you a suspension." Ayah says. "Then you'll love her."

I don't talk. I'm scared out of my wits. What if she's even worse than Hilde? At least Hilde is nice when she's not freaking out at us. What if Ayah's grandmother is never nice nor calm? It's a terrifying thought.

Maybe I should stop thinking. But I can't turn my brain off. I just start thinking about the cookie jar raiding incidents again.

We walk through a human building with people walking everywhere. Some of them are pale or slightly tan, but most of them have darker skin. Beno and Ayah's grandfather lead us. When we're outside, I take a deep breath of the fresh, humid air.

It's nothing like Lorien's air, which is so clean and immaculate. But the air here is somehow just as refreshing, and full of different smells, all seemingly alive and intermingled. I think I like Earth!

"So, where do we go?" I say. We're standing on a platform; ahead is a black path. Humans ride in some kinds of land ships. Two might call them 'terrestrial transport systems.' I frown, because I notice bad-smelling smoke spewing out of their ends. "Do we have to go in one of those?" Then I remember. "Oh, we have to walk. How far will it be?"

"Actually, I arranged to hitch a ride from a friend. She'll drop us off when the road stops, and it's just a few hours' walk from there." Beno grins, showing off a mouthful of perfect, white teeth.

"Okay!" I say, but then my eyes grow wide. "Wait… a few hours?"

"Yep!" Beno flexes his muscles. Ayah does the same, and so does even Dhami-whatever-the-rest-of-her-name-is. I try to copy them.

Ayah screams with laughter. "You look so funny! Even Dhamiria has bigger muscles than you."

I smile. "Well, when I get some exercise, I'll have muscles so big that the mountains over there look like pins." I point to some towering mountains in the distance.

"Pfft, right now your entire arm looks like a pin." Ayah collapses on Dhami's shoulder. She is laughing so hard, I think her jaw will come straight off her head. But it doesn't, and Dhami begins giggling a little, too.

"Guys, give Han a break." Beno winks at me.

"Hanna!" Ayah squeals. "That should be your name!"

I laugh with them, even though I'm just a little offended. I guess it is pretty funny that tiny Dhami looks stronger than I do. It is even more funny that soon I'll be so strong, I could burrow a hole through one of those mountains with my bare hands. It's great to be a Loric Garde!

"Sorry, bud, hate to interrupt your party." Beno taps me on the shoulder. "But our ride is here."

A relatively large human vehicle pulls up. I frown at the stuff coming out of the pipe at the back of it. We never had things this gross on Lorien!

"Oh, so we do have to go in there." I sigh. "It won't kill us, right?"

"Duh." Ayah almost pushes me over, but I catch myself just in time. "You think we'd be allowed to go in if it was dangerous? Gramps, would you let us?"

Ayah's grandpa says the first word I've heard him say. "No."

"Told you." Ayah whispers. "Idiot."

"He's kind of cute." Dhami says to Ayah in a low voice, but I can hear her. I begin blushing like crazy, and run to hide behind Hali.

"Yeah, baby cute, not boy cute." Ayah shoots back.

"That's what I meant." Dhami's voice is so quiet that I can hardly hear her, and she sounds just like a subject agreeing with her ruler.

I keep hiding behind Hali, but for a different reason now. I feel so embarrassed.

"Stop being mean, you two." Beno says, as a window of the vehicle rolls down. "Hey, Jian. Exactly on time, as always! Hey, new paint job on your van?"

"No. New van." A familiar female voice says.

I squint at the woman behind the wheel. When I see who our driver is going to be, I can't stop my mouth from dropping open in surprise.

It's the Greeter.