Invaded (Abducted #2) Completed ✅

Chapter Thirty-Three

The next evening, Lani's family were gathered in their living room. This was only for a short while, before Lani spoke up. 

"I think we should go back to the base," she said then. 

"Mother...we can't do that...it's so close to the scientific community's festival and we're not going to find out any information if we keep pacing about around there," Thea told her. 

They were all dressed for such a festival. It was just difficult to think about when Albi, who had been looking forward to it for so long, was not there to share it with him. 

They had been home for less than twenty-four hours, all things being considered, but Lani couldn't hide her concern or restlessness. Since the tragic incident had happened, she had been determined to find out who had hurt Albi in such a way as to take him from her. 

She just knew that whoever did had for some reason or another wanted to hurt her. In her heart, she knew that was why it had happened. 

"I'm going...regardless of whether you two want to come with me or not," Lani said decisively. 

Thea sighed as she turned towards Jeremy. 

"Can you talk her out of this?" she asked him. 

Thea had never in a million years expected to be consulting help from Jeremy, but here she was. 

"Lani..." he trailed off. 

Lani simply looked between the two of them with an apologetic expression as she walked out of the house and to the door of the house. 

Thea exhaled in irritation, while Jeremy looked at her with empathetic eyes. 

Jeremy quickly headed out of the house after her then. 

"Lani!" he called out. 

Lani turned to him on her way to the car and he could see the tears in her eyes. 

He quickly rushed to her side. 

"What is it? What's wrong?" 

Lani simply walked closer to Jeremy and placed her head against his chest. 

"I can't do this anymore...Jeremy...I've hidden so much from this family, and so much from other people for so long in order to keep them safe but it backfired on me. Everything that I've done has just-" 

"Hey, it's okay. It's okay," Jeremy said in a soothing tone as he rocked Lani back and forth. 

Thea headed outside to the both of them then. 

"Were you really going to leave without us?" Thea asked her. "We need to get to this festival," she stated. 

Jeremy turned to her and nodded. 

They all gathered into the car while Lani tried to compose herself, while Jeremy silently tried to work out exactly what she had said earlier had meant. 

Thea trusted her mother more than anything, and Jeremy trusted Lani, too. That was why it had been so surprising for her to admit that she had been keeping secrets. He knew, of course, that Lani had been keeping the existence of extraterrestrials on Earth a hidden truth for a very long time, but he, for one reason or another, believed that she had been talking about something else prior to them getting into the car. 

As he drove on to the festival, Dana and Peia had been preparing their members with makeup so they were able to attend, too. 

It was a risky move for them all, but they wanted to be there for Lani.