Touched by an Alien

sometimes gets quiet, like he did when he was little, but Christopher turned into …”
    “His father,” Claudia finished. “He was a lot more like his mother when we were all little. Now Jeff’s more like she was.”
    “She was a horndog?”
    Both girls laughed. “No,” Claudia clarified. “But she was funny and outgoing and just someone you wanted to be around.”
    “Yeah, that sure doesn’t describe Christopher.” I thought about his expression when he’d drawn his mother’s picture. He wasn’t over her death twenty years later. Not that I could blame him. I didn’t want to lose my mother right now, and the idea that she could have been killed when I was little because of her secret life made my skin cold.
    “My mother said Jeff was like Theresa’s second son. They were really close. She taught him everything about how to deal with his empathic abilities. It’s probably one of the reasons he’s in charge of Field and has been for so long, her training.”
    That seemed hard to believe—he’d been ten when she’d died. Sure, the basics, but full on super-empath skills? I didn’t buy it. “Were they both always strong in their talents?”
    “Yes, but they increased after Theresa died. Not that they wanted to do much for a while. It was hard on Richard, too. The boys lived with Jeff’s parents for several months.”
    “My mother said he almost didn’t recover from the loss. He’s never remarried. I don’t think he’s even considered it.”
    “So they’ve always been close, Jeff and Christopher?” We were really heading out into the middle of what could rightly be called nowhere. And Reader’s car was definitely bouncing more than ours.
    Dead silence. This was going to be juicy. I cleared my throat meaningfully.
    “Until a few years ago, yes,” Claudia said guardedly.
    “Uh-huh. What happened?” Silence. “Let me guess. They both liked the same girl?”
    “You’re good,” Lorraine said. I didn’t agree—they were just obvious. She sighed. “Yeah, they both wanted to marry the same girl. Her name was Lissa.”
    “Was?”
    “She was killed.” Claudia sounded close to tears. “She was a really good friend of mine. They both adored her—she was about the only A-C they’d ever really been interested in marrying.”
    “How did she die?” I was proud of myself for not being jealous. I didn’t think I had the right. I also was fast becoming aware that Reader wasn’t kidding—the A-Cs truly were like an extended Italian family, complete with everyone knowing everything about each other.
    “She was out with Jeff, and he was going to propose, but she was going to pick Christopher. So this was going to be the let-him-down-easy date.” Claudia gulped. “They were attacked by a superbeing.”
    Attacked, not manifested. “That superbeing wouldn’t have been Mephistopheles, would it?”
    “No, actually,” Lorraine said. “It was one we call Earwig.” So much for that theory. “What’s up with James?” she added.
    Reader was flooring it and driving erratically. “He always drive that badly?”
    “No. I wonder if something’s wrong?” Claudia leaned forward. “You can call them on the box,” she pointed to another button on the dash.
    Lorraine hit it. “… show you why I’m upset!” It was Martini, and he was yelling.
    “If you’d just listen to me—” Christopher, also yelling.
    “I don’t care what your damn excuse is!”
    “Could you two just calm down?” Reader, sounding freaked out.
    “Stop the damn car, James, so I can kill him, or I’ll just use you as a bat!”
    Lorraine hit the button again. We were all quiet.
    “I think Jeff’s figured out that you and Christopher, um, got friendly.” Lorraine looked at me. “What now?”
    Reader’s car spun around and stopped. He jumped out of the driver’s seat and ran toward us. I unlocked the doors.
    “Now, we put my actual plan into action.”

CHAPTER 39
    I STOPPED THE CAR NEAR READER but still far away from the other SUV. He leaped in next to Claudia. “Lock the doors!”
    “Jeff’s a lot bigger than Christopher,” I mentioned as Lorraine hit the lock button.
    “Christopher’s a lot meaner,” she said reassuringly. I wasn’t comforted.
    “Girlfriend, you need to either shoot them or talk to them, but they’re not going to listen to anyone else. Jesus, that was the most hellish ride of my life.”
    “How soon did Jeff start?”
    “The second you were in your car. He didn’t try