InvaSUn

29

I pressed my hands on Aiden's body and let my abilities work their will. I felt energy run through my body as I healed all of his wounds, bruises, and broken bones. Aiden was still asleep, so I knew it would be a while until he felt relief.

Once I finished, I lost my balance and almost fell on my behind, but James caught me. Healing all those wounds at once drained me.

James raised my chin slightly and kissed me again, which earned me a surprised gawk from Su. The energy I lost was restored and I was able to hold myself up properly after James pulled away. "How do you feel?" He eyed me up and down.

I blushed and looked away from him. "I'm f-fine." I was surprised that James figured out that he was able to give me a recharge through kissing. It was embarrassing and corny, but it did its job.

"It seems your relationship has improved greatly once you've returned, Riley," Su smirked at us. I covered my face to hide the red rising on my cheeks, but James's reaction was indifferent. Instead of asking me questions about what happened to me or where I went, he just stood there, gazing at me. He must've just been relieved that I was there.

I remembered why I was sent back in the first place. If I didn't explain, we'd run out of time before our home planet expired. I tugged onto James's arm and frowned. "I have to tell you something, both you and Su." I sighed.

Both of them looked at me intently, very curious as to why my mood changed so quickly. "Su, your sister wants you to come back in 3 days. I promised to help you return so that she won't send any more Criebeasts to kill anymore humans."

"What?" James spat. "3 days?? It took us weeks just to get to California!" He pulled his arm away angrily. I knew James wouldn't be the happiest to hear of this news because he'd be the main one driving. Not only that, I could tell he was still worried about Aiden. It was too soon for us all to get back on the road to travel 38 hours back to the east coast.

"Lu'an has threatened you and your home just to get me to return?" Su snorted. "Figures she'd do something like that. I told you she was a killjoy."

"I know it sounds like a rush, James. And I know that you're thinking about Aiden's condition. But we have to get back if we don't want others to die. Including our families."

"She is right, Chenglei." Su nodded at me in agreement. "We cannot delay a moment further if you want your family and yourself to survive. I suppose it's time for me to head back anyway. I've been gone long enough."

James glanced in between Su and me with a grimace, and eventually, he sighed in response. "Fine, but we have to sneak Aiden out of here. They're still trying to contact his father, we don't know how long that's going to take."

"Leave that to me." Su chided.

~

Su and the rest of us managed to sneak Aiden's sleeping body out of the hospital, using her abilities. She was able to hide us from the eyes of all the workers inside. I was sure there were many other things she was capable of, but as of now, I didn't have the time to find out. We left in a hurry, and we were on a long road heading for the state line to cross into Nevada.

It was still dark outside.

We drove past a small gas station in the middle of nowhere before the car started to whizz left and right. "What the—" James pulled the car to a stop. The ground started to shake and James and I glanced at each other briefly before hopping out of the car.

Crap. I almost forgot what Lu'an had told me.

"Is that..?" James raised his palms above his eyes and squinted them. The Criebeasts were approaching from tumbling boulders instead of flying meteorites this time.