Shallow breaths. Light footsteps. Jane Clarke pressed herself against the wall and listened to her parents argue in their room.

Dad’s voice filtered through the narrow gap at the bottom of the door. “—don’t understand why you’re so worried,” he was saying.  

“It’s been two years, and she’s still obsessed! We should take her to see someone,” Mom replied. “She won’t even tell us what really happened.”

“She’s told us a thousand times.”

“Aliens, Will? You really believe she saw aliens?”

“Well, why not?” Dad sounded like he was giving Mom that half-hearted shrug of his.

“Only conspiracy nuts believe aliens are running around kidnapping children.”

“I don’t see why it’s not possible.”

Jane carefully unfolded the newspaper page she’d grabbed from the trash bin that morning, wincing at the crinkling sound it made. The crumpled headline was barely visible in the light spilling from under the bedroom door. Are aliens kidnapping children? Conspiracy theorist says yes.

“Okay, fine,” Mom said. “Let’s pretend for a moment it’s true. That’s all the more reason to have her talk to someone.”

“We can’t afford a psychologist, or therapist, or whatever you’re thinking.”

“Her teachers have been telling us for years that she has trouble connecting with other kids. I swear this has only made it worse.”

“She does great in school,” Dad pointed out, setting off a swell of pride in Jane’s chest.

“Grades aren’t the only thing that matters.”

Mom had more to say after that, but Jane forced herself away from the conversation. She crept to the end of the hall, through the kitchen, to the front door of the apartment that William Clarke and Nancy Van Camp had lived in since they’d had Jane twelve years earlier.

The door creaked as Jane pushed it open. She froze. Her parents’ voices continued, barely audible from here. She stepped into the dark hallway of the apartment complex, and the door clicked shut quietly behind her.

Although Mom had praised Jane for devouring book after book when she was younger, pride had turned to concern once Jane claimed she’d seen aliens with her own eyes and took an interest in space politics. She read everything she could find on the Star System Alliance—which, to her dismay, wasn’t much.

The Solar System had officially been invited into the alliance nine years earlier, near the beginning of 1955. The Janus System, The Aquila System, and the Ra System had been allies for nearly a thousand years prior.

But Earth wasn’t new to aliens, even back then. Plenty of heroes and villains over the span of human history had claimed to hail from other worlds. No one knew the extent of what was out there before the alliance made contact, though. And they still didn’t. Despite agreeing to join the alliance, Earth hadn’t been given much information on the other star systems.

Some felt Earth didn’t have enough say or power in the alliance, while others argued the minimal communication was fine. The alliance was supposed to be for emergencies and occasionally trading resources. Travel between star systems was too difficult and expensive for any concern about aliens coming to Earth regularly and causing problems.

After what had happened to her two years earlier, Jane knew that wasn’t entirely true. She reread pieces of the newspaper article while she made her way out of the apartment building. According to theorist Dawn Teller, New York City is a prime location for these supposed intergalactic bounty hunters.

Teller asks anyone who may have seen these aliens to come forward and share their story.

The nearest payphone was right behind the apartment building, but the walk felt much farther at night, when the world was dark and every distant sound made Jane jump. This had seemed like a better idea in the daylight.

But she had to do this. She needed answers.

Two years earlier, she’d gone out with Mom to get groceries. It should have been a mundane thing, the sort of day that would blur together with all the other supermarket trips in her memory. But they’d been separated in the crowd near the store. In the desperate search for her mother, Jane wound up in a quiet alleyway behind the building.

That was where she saw them.

The woman had leathery red skin, limbs that were a little too long, and neon green eyes with rectangular pupils that glowed in the shadows. The man was similar in appearance, but his skin was a deep blue and his red eyes held cat-like pupils. They both stood at nearly seven feet, were completely bald, and wore all black.

They spoke to each other in a language unlike anything Jane had ever heard. Then, the woman took a step forward and said, in perfect English, “Hey, kid, you lost?”

“I’m—I’m okay,” Jane stammered. She took a step back toward the street.

“Where do you think you’re going?” the man asked.

“She looks like an easy target.” The woman studied Jane, taking in her ragged secondhand clothes. “Doubt many people will miss her either, by the looks of it.”

Whatever they wanted with Jane, she was lucky enough to not find out that day. She wasn’t sure if they attempted to chase her when she ran, or if they decided she wasn’t worth the effort, but she made it back to the street and into the crowd of New Yorkers. Mom found her a few minutes later.

Now, two years later, Jane entered the phone booth. “Dawn Teller,” she muttered as she scanned the newspaper for the phone number that had been printed after the theorist’s plea for stories. “Dawn…”

She hadn’t even made it halfway down the page when movement outside the booth made her heart skip. Her gaze darted to the shadows at the edge of an alleyway entrance.

A figure stood with their back to Jane. The clothing, the black hood over their head, the height and stature—Jane recognized it instantly. The figure’s head turned to the left, offering the briefest glimpse of red skin.

A moment later, the alien woman disappeared into the alley.

Jane dropped the newspaper and flew out of the booth. If the woman was here, the other alien might be, too. Jane could spy on them and find out what they were up to.

When she peered around the corner into the alley, she found it empty, despite the dead end. She took a few cautious steps forward. A shadow passed by overhead. Jane spun around as the alien woman dropped from a fire escape and landed at the front of the alley, her hood down now.

“It is you!” Jane exclaimed.

The woman’s head tipped to the side. “Kids like you shouldn’t be out so late on their own. Right, Eriph?”

“Didn’t your parents ever teach you that?” came a deeper voice from behind Jane. A rough blue hand grabbed her arm.

“Hey!” Jane shrieked, her momentary excitement washed away by terror. “Let me go!”

“Sounds like she recognized you, Ybra,” Eriph said, ignoring Jane’s frantic attempt to escape his grasp.

Ybra squinted at Jane. “I don’t know. I guess she looks familiar. Let’s just get her to the hub.”

Jane fought more violently now. With his free hand, Eriph pulled a weapon from his belt. It looked vaguely like a gun, but it was too small and rounded, and it was made from a white metal.

“Someone, help—” Jane tried.

Eriph pressed the weapon to Jane’s neck and pulled the trigger. An electric pulse shot through her body. The world went black and for a few moments she was entirely unconscious. Then, she was faintly aware of Ybra throwing her over her shoulder.

Through blurry vision, Jane watched Eriph lift a manhole cover and descend a ladder. Ybra followed, moving with ease despite carrying Jane.

A weight sank into Jane’s stomach, growing with every passing second and squeezing her chest. She couldn’t move. Couldn’t protest. Could hardly breathe at all. She drifted in and out of darkness, but the fear never let up.

After traveling through a dim tunnel for what could have been anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours, Eriph paused and pressed a hand to the wall. A section of stone popped out and swung open, revealing a hole for the key Eriph drew from his pocket. The three passed through a hidden door and entered another tunnel.

This was followed by more walking.