Devon dragged Ali down the hallway and to one of the girl's bathrooms. Once inside he let her go.

"What was that for?" Ali demanded, rubbing her wrist.

"This," Devon said and he pointed over Ali's shoulder.

Ali sighed and looked over her shoulder to see a large bathroom mirror, grimy with dirt, taking up the whole wall behind her. That was when she saw what had freaked out Devon and Emery. A long, thick, yellow and green bruise stretched across her entire back. Her upper shoulder had a large hole from where the alien's tail had pierced her and the area around it was swollen and black.

"What happened?" Devon asked.

"I was attacked by an alien from the other Hive, nothing to worry about," Ali said. She turned her body to face the mirror and lifted the front of her shirt slightly to see the bruise that had formed on her stomach.

"Nothing to worry about? Are you crazy?!" Devon demanded.

"No."

"Look at you, you're a mess!"

"I'm fine!"

"Why won't you let me worry about you?"

"Because you don't need to."

"Look, I care about you a lot. But you treat me as if I'm nothing."

"I consider you a friend," Ali said. She poked the bruise on her stomach lightly, wincing as she did.

"Second to the aliens."

"And?"

"Why won't you let anyone in?"

Ali rolled her eyes. "We are not having this discussion again!"

"I love you, Ali," Devon shouted.

Ali glared at Devon through the mirror. "Human emotions like happiness and joy are ones that I rarely feel, but love—"she said the word with spite and hatred "—is the worst because—,"

"—it makes you weak, I know, you've told me before, but still—!"

"No!" Ali screamed, turning to face Devon. "I am not human, it's bad enough that I look like one, I don't want to be tied down like one with human emotions!"

"I'm just like you, Ali," Devon said, "I'm the only one like you in the world."

"No," Ali said in a quiet voice, "You are not like me at all."

"What does that mean? What's different between you and me?"

Ali's lips parted in a small smile. "You have human emotions."

She left him standing in the middle of the bathroom, mouth gaping open and speechless.


Yeah, I know it's another short chapter!

~Ali Wenstern