Touched by an Alien

leave us,” he sobbed. “No one else loves us.”
    “That’s not true, Jeff. My … illness is affecting what you can feel. It’ll all be okay.” She pulled something out from under her pillow. “I’ve put everything you’ll need in here. It’s for you and Chris, only, no one else. It’ll teach you what you need as you get older. Don’t tell anyone you have it, not even your parents or Uncle Richard.”
    Jeff took what looked like a glowing cube from her and nodded his head.
    “Now, I have to give you something, something only for you.” She leaned forward and blew into his ear. Jeff’s head rolled back, and Terry managed to hold him up. She rubbed his neck until he was conscious.
    “What did you do? I don’t feel any different.”
    “I gave you something to keep hidden. I hope you never need it, but if … the bad monster isn’t stopped, then I want you to give it to someone. Someone special.”
    “Who? Chris?”
    “No, and you can’t tell him, or anyone else, about this, Jeff. You have to promise me, a deathbed promise, that you’ll never tell anyone else, ever.”
    “I promise, Aunt Terry.” He sounded as though he was trying to be brave.
    She nodded. “If things don’t get better, then you find the human girl whose fear and hatred of evil give her courage. You’re looking for a protector, Jeff. Someone who can put her own safety aside to protect people she doesn’t even know.”
    “How will I find her?”
    She shook her head. “You’ll know when you do. That’s all I can tell you.” She hugged him and they lay down. She hugged both boys to her. Jeff went to sleep, too.
    Terry looked right at me. “Save my boys. Please.”
     
    The memory washed away. No one had moved; it had only taken a second. “What are you talking about?” Beverly huffed, as the girls gasped and Martini’s body sagged. I got the feeling he was trying not to cry.
    I didn’t know where Christopher was exactly, but I hoped he was close by and in control. “Theresa went to Yates right after Mephistopheles manifested. She went for help. I’m guessing that Yates transformed into Mephistopheles and did whatever gross thing they do in order to spread the parasite, but Theresa escaped. She knew what was going on, but this was her father-in-law, and her husband and son were already suffering enough for his sins.”
    I moved closer to Martini. “So she did what she had to do, the only thing she could, just in case things didn’t work out and the A-C operatives weren’t able to kill Mephistopheles.”
    Beverly grabbed Martini’s collar and pulled him to her. “Don’t come any closer.”
    “She implanted a memory into the only person she could, into the person whose talent was actually stronger than hers. A so-called memory that he’d be able to pass along to someone who’d interpret it correctly, when the time came. We’re calling it a memory, but I know what it was—a prophecy, if all went wrong.”
    Martini opened his eyes and nodded. His eyes looked more tortured than I’d seen yet, which was saying a lot.
    I looked over to Reader, but only so I could see the reflection. Christopher was moving in, as were the rest of my team. “Mephistopheles didn’t implant that memory in me, James. Jeff did.” Reader slowly closed and opened his eyes. Good. He’d seen them.
    “That’s absurd,” Beverly said. “You’ve been affected by him. His implant is working.”
    “Not like he wanted it to. He hit me with some kind of emotional overlay he’s been manipulating, that’s true, but I could never actually feel it. Jeff could, and it made me say some things that I wasn’t thinking to Christopher. But I have to believe Mephistopheles wanted me obeying him, and I couldn’t even feel his influence. Because Terry’s influence was already in me, protecting me so I could fight Yates and Mephistopheles both.” I looked back to Martini. “You implanted it right when we met. That’s why I fainted.” He nodded again and looked even more ready to die.
    Beverly laughed. “So you’re saying Jeff knew all this time and did nothing?”
    Martini shook his head, almost imperceptibly. But he didn’t have to. I’d known the truth even before Terry showed me. “Jeff didn’t know. Terry wasn’t going to saddle a little boy with this knowledge.” I looked into Beverly’s eyes. “She programmed him to find me. And, by the way, girls? I’d say the time is now.”
    Claudia and Lorraine moved. Or I assumed they