Jack's POV

Alex and I went to buy breakfast while the kids slept. Alex told me everything she had learned from her talk with Harley.

"We still have to help the kids get her back." I told her.

"I know that but it's still wrong what they did to her. I understand why she is fighting so hard to stay."

I nodded. "Don't get me wrong, I feel bad for her. I just don't think we should risk the survival of two planets, let alone Seth's life, on her."

Alex sighed. "This is a messed up situation, Jack."

I nodded. "My thoughts exactly."

Seth's POV

I awoke to find that Jack was no longer in the room. I became worried for him until I realized that the cab was gone and assumed he had left on his own accord and would return in the same manor.

I went to the female's room and knocked. No one answered so I reached through the door to open it myself. As I entered the room, I found Sara asleep on one bed and Harley seemed to just be waking up. She was trying her best to rub the sleep out of her eyes, but the cuffs were proving that to be difficult.

She blinked several times and focused on me. "How am I going to take a shower with these things on?"

I shrugged. "I think you can find a way."

Harley rolled her eyes. "Yes, I do believe it is possible to put an electrical device in water and not die." She smiled in mock satisfaction. "I think I will try it now."

She started to get off the bed but I grabbed her arm. "Wait until Sara is awake. She will take the restraints off of you so you can bathe but she will be able to hear when you plan to escape."

Harley frowned. "What is it you are under the impression I'm going to do? I cannot phase through walls like some. I am unable to turn invisible so that I may sneak past you. Tell me, Seth, how am I to escape from a room with no windows and one door that leads right back out here."

I glared at her. "You will wait for Sara so that she can keep constant surveillance of you."

Harley grinned as an idea must have struck her. She stepped closer to me and tilted her eyes to meet mine. "You could come with me."

I blinked in surprise. Not so much to her question but to how appealing the idea was to me. Before I even had time to either tell her to shut up or kiss her—I hadn't decided on which—we heard Jack and Alex's voices coming down the hall.

Harley glanced to the door and then smiled at me. "Your opportunity is going . . . going . . . going . . ." Jack and Alex entered the room and Harley faked looking disappointed. "And gone."

"What's gone?" Alex asked.

I stepped away from Harley. "Nothing. She was only causing problems again."

"That really depends on how you look at it." Harley said with a smile. "I only wanted to bathe and I am unable to do that with these restraints on. Seth was telling me I had to wait for Sara to wake so that she could keep watch on my thoughts."

Alex frowned at me. She seemed to want to say something but didn't.

Jack frowned to be he spoke. "I honestly don't see a problem with that, Seth. The bathroom doesn't even have a window." Then he paused. "Or, wait, can she do the wall thing to?"

"No." Alex and I said at the same time. I frowned at her. "How do you know what she is capable of?"

Alex glanced at Harley looking worried. Harley was the one who answered me. "I spoke with Dr. Freidman briefly last night and she asked me what kind of powers I had."

"Why would you tell her?" I asked astonished.

Harley shrugged. "She may be a human and she also may be helping you but . . ." Harley smiled at Alex. "You are a trustworthy person."

Alex smiled. "Thank you."

Harley held out her wrists to me. "Take them off."

I frowned at her for a minute. "You had better not try to run."

Harley only rolled her eyes. I grabbed the restraints and slid my thumb along the right cuff and it released instantly. "You should be fine still wearing one."

Harley gave me a cold look and then stormed off into the bathroom. Jack frowned at me. "You do not really understand this husband thing do you?"

Sara woke up when the aroma of the fresh doughnut had had time to fill the room. We ate the food sparingly.

Harley left the bathroom still towel drying her hair. I stood and held out my hand. I have no idea why I assumed she would be graceful about getting the other handcuff placed back on her but I did. She moved quickly and I felt the cold metal snap on my wrist.

Everyone in the room froze and Harley smiled at me. "Yeah, doesn't feel good, does it?"

I tried to phase out of the cuffs but a pain hit me hard. I dropped to my knees and Harley was pulled to the floor next to me. She seemed to be in pain as well.

"Stop doing that!" Harley yelled at me.

I waited for the pain to leave before I spoke. "What the hell was that?"

"Did they not tell you what these things did?" Harley asked looking shocked. "If you try and use any ability the restraints send thousands of electrical currents to your brain and cause unbearable pain. You are lucky you're only wearing one of them."

I looked around the room and everyone was on their feet. I caught Sara's eyes. "Can you get it open?"

She shook her head. "I am sorry, Seth, but I do not believe it will allow any person apart from the one whom placed it on you to release it."

I turned to glare at Harley and she returned the look coldly. "Take mine off first." She said.

I frowned. "That will not happen."

"Well," Harley lifted our conjoined wrists. "I guess this is what you have to look forward to for however long it takes us to get back to your ship."

Jack's POV

Harley seemed happy with herself for her trick on Seth. I thought of that old saying about payback and couldn't help but think it was amazingly true in Seth's situation.

He was taking it calmly. It was that scary type of calm where you watch every move you make to be sure you don't set him off. We were driving fast down a road in the middle of the city. Sara was screwing with some form of tracking beeper thing.

She claimed that they had landed their ship in the desert. I frowned. "Isn't that where you left it last time?"

Seth and Sara exchanged looks. Sara frowned as she read my thoughts. "I do not think that they will find our ship this time. We did not crash and were careful to hide it."

"If your ship is as big as the one you had last time I don't think you can hide that." Alex said. She turned to me with a worried expression. "We should hurry."

I drove as fast as the cab would possibly go. When we reached the old dusty house Sara told me to turn onto a dirt path. I drove quickly but was forced to slow down.

Sara told us to stop and I slammed on the breaks. "It should be right over that hill."

We got out of the cab and walked slowly to the edge of the ridge. Below us was a deep canyon and of course people were swarming the bottom.

Sara shook her head. "How could they find it?"

The ship was already gone and the men in suits seemed to be searching for something. I sighed. "I really don't want to go searching for that ship again."

Seth glared down at the men and then turned to Harley. "You couldn't just stay in your palace?"

Harley was about to reply but Sara jumped up. "Someone is coming."

We all stood up and ran back to the cab. Only it wasn't until we were in the cab that I realized Harley was fighting against Seth.

I jumped out of the car and ran to help Seth. Harley was jerking on their cuffed wrists and yelling at Seth. When I reached them, I grabbed Harley around her waist and helped Seth drag her to the cab. I noticed that Alex was in the driver's seat and Sara had jumped in front.

I opened the back door and pulled Harley in as I slid to the other side. Seth got in and Alex was driving before the door was even shut. Bullets started hitting the car instantly.

"Are you happy now?" Seth screamed at Harley.

"Well, maybe I would rather go with them than be in your company!" Harley raged back.

"Really? You want to go with the guys shooting at us?" Seth asked sarcastically. "Are you crazy?"

"Yes, actually I am! It's a side effect of being held hostage your whole life!"

"Will the two of you shut up?" I shouted.

Alex screamed as more bullets pelted the car. I looked out the windshield and realized that bullets weren't the only reason she had screamed.

There were a line of cars blocking our escape. Harley saw this also. "Seth, switch me places and release my restraint!"

"What? No!"

"Seth, do it if you want them to live." Harley snapped.

Seth glanced over Harley and met my eyes. I nodded. I didn't know what this girl had planned but it was better to have a moment of hope than to freely turn ourselves in.

Seth didn't like it but he slid his thumb along Harley's cuff. They switched places quickly.

"Dr. Friedman I am going to need for you to decrease your speed so that you may halt before you reached those humans." Harley spoke calmly as she stared out the window.

Alex slowed down and slammed on the breaks before the men in front of us started firing. We were about fifteen feet from them.

Harley turned to Seth. "There is a place below this house, is there not?" Seth nodded. "When I have them distracted you must go there."

Seth's eyes widened. "Wait—"

Harley was already out of the car. She walked up to meet the men as if she didn't care what would happen to her.

She held her hands in the air. "Who is your commander?"

A man stepped forward. I recognized him instantly. This was the same man who had stolen Seth and Sara. I knew that everyone in the car was thinking the same thing I was.

"My name is Henry Burke." He said. "I am leading the investigation into unidentified spacecraft."

Harley nodded. "I understand. That craft is mine. I am the princess to the king of my world and I beseech you to engage these humans no farther."

Henry Burke looked past her into the cab. He couldn't entirely see our faces but I knew he had recognized us. "I will see what I can do about them. I, however, need you to come with us if you have any intentions to leave Earth."

Harley—with her hands still in the air—shook her head. "I am afraid my return to my home is vital to Earth's survival. I would rather you reinstate my craft into my care and allow me to leave. I have no intentions of harming the people of your planet although others of my world will not be so generous if I do not return home within the time my father has given me."

Burke made a hand gesture and every man around them posed their weapons to fire. "You will be coming with us."

Harley shook her head once more. "I did not come here to harm humans but if you do not lower your weapons I will have to revoke my previous decision."

Burke smiled at her and then turned to his men. "Capture her and collect the ones in the cab."

Harley's hands smashed together and the cars the men had been standing beside leapt off the ground and smashed against the Earth with an echoing sound. "Go." Sara yelled as she flew out of the car.

We ran for the house with bullets shooting past our heads. In an instant the shower stopped. I looked up in time to see the bullets ricocheting off an invisible wall seven feet away from us.

I glanced at Harley. She was holding one hand towards us while with her other causing cars to explode. Burke was yelling at his men not to kill her.

Alex and Sara were already inside but Seth had stopped at the door. "Jack, you must enter the house!" He shouted at me.

I started inside but noticed he did not follow me. "Seth, what are you doing?"

Before he answered me, he began running into across the open land.

Seth's POV

I ran straight for Harley. If she were to be captured, I would not return home in time. I would also never be able to use my gift again.

I reached her shortly. "Harley, we must go inside the building."

She glanced at me. "What are you doing? Go into the house!"

"I cannot go without making sure you are not captured." I grabbed her shoulder. "Come on!"

She shook me off and exploded another car. She suddenly turned and grabbed my arm. We ran for the house as fast as I could go. The gun shots outside halted and Harley pulled me to duck behind the couch.

"The others have already hidden." Harley said as she looked around and saw no sign of the others. "Why did you not hide?"

"I already told you, I had to—"

"You need to go and hide, Seth." She told me seriously. "I must be captured."

I stared at her confused. "Listen, you might think that being captured by these people is better than returning to our world, but trust me it is not."

"I do not believe that, Seth." She spoke quickly. "If I am captured, they will take me to the same place they are holding your ship. You can track the power within me and find it. This must happen."

"They have nowhere to go now." I heard Henry's voice outside.

Harley peeked out the window and then met my eyes. "They will not wait outside forever and you know that as well as I do. If they were to enter we would both be captured and the others will not have as many to help gain access to the ship."

She took my wrist and slid her thumb along the keypad. It snapped free and I instinctively rolled my wrist. Harley shoved me in the direction of the fridge. "You need to go."

I glared at her. I knew that this was the only way to proceed but wasn't it the male who protected the females? I felt as if everything in this situation was backwards. She was right. I couldn't help.

I sighed. "Don't think this makes us friends." I snapped and I started to move away.

Harley smiled. "It never crossed my mind."

As soon as I reached the fridge, I heard a noise. I recognized it instantly.

I shouted a warning to Harley. "Siphon!"