Emmaline shrieked and ducked behind her brother. Eric reached for Anna and pulled her behind him. Then all three looked in the direction they had heard the gun go off. Standing at the top of the hill stood a tall man in a brown tattered bomber jacket and a shotgun pointed in their direction.

  “Eric, is that you?” A gruff voice shouted out to them.

  “Yes, and I would appreciate if you’d point that thing elsewhere.”

  Emmaline could feel the tension in her brother’s back. He was like a coiled snake ready to strike, and she was sure he would. He was a Navy SEAL after all. Whoever that idiot on the hill was didn’t know who they were messing with!

  “Dammit all to hell. I’m sorry about that. I thought you all were some of those whacka do’s waiting for the aliens to come back. They’d been encroaching on my property all day. I’m going to shoot one of those bastards yet. Just you wait and see.”

  “Pretty sure that’s against the law, Angus,” Eric said with a thread of impatience in his voice.

  Em could feel him relax though, and she did too. She even stuck her head around her brother to see the man in the bomber jacket coming down off the hill toward them. He was now pointing the gun toward the sky. She recognized him now. It was Angus Grober. The kooky old man who lived next door.

  “Not if they are on my property, it’s not!” Mr. Grober declared.

  “Actually, it is. You can only use lethal action if someone comes inside your house and they present an immediate threat.” Eric explained as if he were talking to a child.

  Grober stopped a few feet in front of their small group. Now that he was closer, the man’s liver spots and wrinkles were quite evident on his face and hands. And his white hair stood up every which way on his head, looking for all the world like he’s just stuck his finger in a light socket.

  “I have a right to defend my property,” Mr. Grober replied stubbornly.

  “They seem harmless enough,” Eric said, trying to defuse the situation.

  “Harmless, my ass. I caught one of those bastards trying to take a piss in my orchard over there.” Mr. Grober pointed to a thick row of trees off to the left of the Radcliffe meadow and at least half a mile from where they currently stood. A little down from that sat the old man’s blue and white Cape Cod, which had a good view of the hillside they were climbing and the Radcliffe property.

  “At least he was fertilizing your trees,” Eric said with a slight chuckle.

  Emmaline fought back a giggle. Leave it to Eric to find humor in a situation where they’d nearly been shot.

  Mr. Grober’s weathered face crinkled into a reluctant smile. “Yeah, I suppose you’re right. So what are the three of you doing all the way out here?”

  “Just picking up Dad’s car. We had Tyler fly us over in the company helicopter.”

  A frown came over the other man’s face. “Yeah, I heard about Arnold. That’s a damn shame about the stroke. Is he going to pull through?”

  “We aren’t sure. We plan on doing surgery soon to see if it helps,” Eric replied in a neutral tone.

  Mr. Grober nodded. “Yeah, I heard the ambulance and saw it come up your drive. Knew it must have been for him. I saw it happen, you know?”

  “What?” Anna asked.

  She had come around from behind Eric and was standing by his side now, and Emmaline did the same on his other side. The three of them stood there eyeing the old man, suddenly eager for any information he might have about what had happened to Dad.

  “I saw it all from my front porch. Arnold was right over there,” the old man pointed to a place near the top of the hill where the grass cut up through an overgrown drive that no one used anymore.

  “He drove the BMW to that spot, and of course, I knew it was him all the way from where I was standing even if I hadn’t recognized his car. That walk of his. It’s like he’s taking over the world,” Grober shook his head with a wry smile. “He parked his car there, got out, and leaned his back against the grill like he was just waiting there for someone to show up. And to my surprise, someone did.

  “Some guy had come up from this side of the hill and tried to sneak up on him, but he fell down all of a sudden. Then Arnold walked up, touched his head, and the guy got up. That’s when I went inside to get my gun and my binoculars. When I came back out, the two of them were arguing. I used the binoculars and finally made out that the guy was Michael.

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  “It shocked the shit out of me,” the old man shook his head with a frown. “I’d never seen Michael yell at his father like he was doing right then. I realized that whatever was going on wasn’t my business, so I stayed on my porch instead of coming up here to stop it. But I had a hell of a show watching those two going at each other.”

  Mr. Grober shook his head. “I don’t know what kind of row those two were having, but they both looked determined to kill each other. It got physical too, but that didn’t last long, and shortly after that, Arnold got very still. I watched as Michael led his dad to the car, put him in the backseat, and drove him down to the house.”

  Emmaline’s heart was hammering as she took in Grober’s words. Had that been when it had happened? When Dad had gone into the thing Mom called the living death? It certainly sounded like it.

  “I figured that was the end of it,” Mr. Grober continued. “So I went inside to get some coffee. I was getting my mug out of the cupboard when everything went dark all of a sudden. It was like it went from day to night in an instant. I walked over to the window to see what was going on. That’s when I saw that blasted ship.

  “Naturally, I rushed back out to the porch to get a better look. Of course, I’d seen the news about an alien ship in Georgia, so I grabbed my gun in case those bastards came onto my property. And when I got back outside, there was Michael again, standing right at the top of that hill. Next thing I knew, this green light—like nothing I’ve ever seen before—it just wrapped around him like a cocoon. Then he started rising, feet dangling, straight up toward that ship. I stood there with my mouth hanging open. Had to give my arm a good twist to convince myself I wasn’t dreaming the whole thing up.

  “I did run up the hill to see if I could help him somehow, but by the time I got there he’d disappeared into the belly of that ship. Then it was just gone like it had never been there in the first place,” Mr. Grober shook his head sadly. “I tried to call your mother after that to tell her what I saw and to ask about Arnold, but she never returned my calls.”

  Emmaline exchanged a quick glance with Eric, whose face had gone carefully blank. She turned back to Grober and schooled her face as best as she could to do the same, but fear seized her. Was it out then? Would everyone soon know that Michael had been the one taken by the aliens? And once that was out, it wouldn’t be long before they found out the rest of it. Emmaline was certain of that.

  “Mom’s had a lot on her plate,” Eric said carefully. “With Dad in the hospital and all.”

  Grober bobbed his head up and down. “Of course! I just wanted to make sure she knew, you know…” he trailed off as he eyed the sky like the ship might come back at any moment.

  “She knows,” Eric said, but this time he couldn’t keep the strain out of his voice.

  “We’ve been dealing with it all,” Eric added, his voice softening slightly. “It’s been difficult.”

  Mr. Grober studied their faces, his weathered brow furrowing. “I haven’t told anyone else, if that’s what you’re worried about. Figure it’s none of my business, but I have to say, it was like Michael wanted them aliens to take him. Has that boy lost his damn mind?”

  “Thank you for letting us know, Angus,” Eric said brusquely. “We appreciate your discretion.” Eric placed his hand on the older man’s shoulder, subtly turning him back toward his property. “As you can imagine, this is a... complicated situation.”

  Mr. Grober’s eyes narrowed, but he nodded slowly. “I get it. Government is probably crawling all over your place already. This morning, after those army fellas finally cleared out, I was heading to the Quick Mart for my usual—bread and milk, you know—when I spotted a convoy of those fancy black government SUVs turning into your drive. Tinted windows and all.” He lowered his voice conspiratorially. “Don’t worry, I understand. Been around long enough to know when to keep my mouth shut.”

  Emmaline felt relief that Grober hadn’t told anyone, but also anxiety knowing the government had been at the farm and might even still be there. The three of them watched as the old man made his way back to his place. It wasn’t until he was far enough away not to overhear that Eric spoke.

  “I didn’t see any other vehicles than Dad’s car at the farm when we were in the air.”

  “Maybe they’ve been and gone already?” Anna suggested.

  “Or old man Grober is full of shit,” Emmaline suggested. The man was known to tell a tale or two just to stir up trouble, and she wasn’t convinced he wasn’t going to talk either. She wished Eric had laid on him a little harder about keeping his mouth shut.

  “Maybe Mom knows something?” Eric said as he pulled out his phone and typed up a quick text and then sent it.

  “Then why didn’t she say something this morning?” Emmaline asked as she eyed the neighbor. For an old man, he was making good time. He was almost to his front porch.

  “She had a lot on her mind,” Eric said.

  Emmaline snorted. “Yeah, Melody’s threats probably didn’t help.”

  She peered down the hill toward the farm, but she could only make out the roof of the barn through the trees surrounding their property. In just a month or so after most of the leaves fell, they’d have a clear view of the barn, house, and even part of the driveway from where they stood. But right now, the entire place was behind a veil of heavy foliage.

  Only a few moments passed before his phone dinged with a response. Eric read the message and frowned. He then angled the phone so both Emmaline and Anna could see it.

  Rikker’s office said officials would drop by the farm at some point but nothing about today.

  “So what do we do?” Emmaline pouted, not happy to have a clearer answer.

  “Well, it’s too late to turn back now. I think we should go down, but carefully, in case anyone is there,” Eric suggested.

  Emmaline eyed the grown over drive they would be taking to get to the farm, just imagining government agents ready to pounce on them as soon as they passed through the trees. “How about you go, Eric, and we wait here?”

  “Nice try,” Eric said, giving her a slight smirk. “We stick together. We belong here, remember. It’s our family home, and it’s not like we will be sticking around. We just came to pick up Dad’s car.”

  Emmaline blew out a breath. “I suppose. Strength in numbers and all that.”

  Eric chuckled. “Sure, little sis. Strength in numbers.”

  Em threw her brother a nasty look for teasing her, but she was used to him and Michael doing that.

  “Alright, let’s go already,” Anna said impatiently, as she stepped around Emmaline and Eric, taking the lead as they descended through the wooded path.