Caroline's Keeper

When Caroline woke up, she was back in her room. Yawning sleepily, she turned to the empty side of her bed...

But it wasn't empty.

Caroline jumped. Eivon lied there, staring at her with a grin on his face that she didn't recognize. It was more sweet than conceited, something she'd expect from Simon or even Bastien, but never Eivon.

"You're adorable when you sleep," Eivon said, his excuse both for showing up in Caroline's room unexpected and for having that alien smile across his lips.

Caroline felt herself blushing. This was one of those very rare moments when she had nothing to say. Eivon handed Caroline her glasses, and she put them on in a sort of uncomfortable silence, Eivon still grinning at her.

Suddenly, he sat up. His smile was gone and he looked like himself again. The butterflies in Caroline's stomach desisted. "I'm here to apologize for being such a jerk."

He paused his speech, and Caroline looked at him as if to say, 'Go on...'

"I never would expect to be doing this," he said, sighing. "I feel inexplicably terrible about lying to you, but there's still a lot I can't say. It really is all because I've given Bastien my word that I wouldn't."

Caroline couldn't understand what Bastien could possibly want to keep from her.

Eivon was reading her mind, again, and suggested, "Why don't you ask him?"

She nodded and left the room. After a few minutes, she was standing in front of Bastien's door. She pounded on the door, and no more than a few seconds passed before she became impatient and began to furiously jab random buttons with her fingers.

A red light started to flash from behind the door, and Caroline could see it through the cracks. The door started to open, and Bastien stood behind it.

"What would you l—"

He didn't get to finish his sentence because Caroline tackled him into the doorway.

"What aren't you telling me?" she asked, pinning Bastien down with incredible force of an unknown origin.

"W-what are you talking about?" he stuttered a reply in his high pitched, nervous voice.

"You know what I'm talking about!" Caroline growled. "Stop playing games. I'm sick of your lies!"

Bastien squeezed out from underneath her, got to his feet, and shouted back, "You don't understand!"

Caroline stood just as quickly. "Of course I don't! You won't tell me what I'm supposed to understand!"

"I'm only trying to protect you!" he yelled, his anger bleeding into apology.

"From what? The truth? You won't solve any problems that way; you'll only postpone them."

Bastien looked down, seeing the wisdom in Caroline's words.

"Please, Bastien. Tell me."

"It's because... well..." Lifting his head, he admitted, "I'm feeling something for you that I don't quite understand."

Caroline nodded. "But that's not the secret, is it?"

"No." Bastien sighed deeply and muttered, "Sit."

Caroline sat slowly on one side of the big blue couch, and Bastien sat on the other.

Wiping the sweat from his palms onto his jeans, Bastien declared, "Here's how this is going to work. You ask a question, and I answer it to the fullest degree necessary. All right?"

"Do you really have to make a game of it?" Caroline rolled her eyes.

"I'm just trying to make this as simple and as painless as possible. Bear with me."

"Fine." Caroline cleared her throat. "What are you trying to protect me from?"

"That's a very broad question," Bastien complained. "Its answer would have multiple parts."

Caroline reminded him smugly, "You have to answer it 'to the fullest degree necessary.'"

"That isn't fair," Bastien whined like a child. "New rule—"

"That isn't fair! You can't make up new rules! What happened to simplicity?"

"It has to be compromised for painlessness."

"Oh, quit whining," Caroline remarked, "and just answer my question."

Bastien sighed. "There's much for you to beware of, Caroline. No one here is reliable, especially my kind, but even your kind should be kept at a safe distance. And your future looks so dismal. I swear to do everything I can to help you, but... I'm afraid it may not be enough."

When she thought he was done—she hadn't wanted to interrupt, missing something in the process—Caroline inquired, "Is there anything else I should know about my dismal future?"

All she got in response was the single nod of Bastien's head.

"Um, like what?"

Bastien sighed, having been tricked a second time in his own game. "Your physical lifespan is about to become significantly shorter, and your mental lifespan even shorter than that."

"And... how will that happen?" Caroline asked, a lump forming in her throat. "You're going to kill us?"

"Close," he answered, sending a shiver down Caroline's spine. "There's a planet near ours that we plan to conquer, but we're not equipped to do it ourselves. As far as intelligence goes, we're a very advanced species, but physically, we are weak. That's where the humans come in. We'll remove the parts of your brain you'll no longer need, arm you with some of our weapons, and station your into the planet to fight the inhabitants. When the war is over, as you are no longer of use to us, we'll dispose of you. Or, rather, whatever is left of you to dispose of." When he took notice of Caroline's horrified expression, he added, "Of course, my intentions are not so. I've been thinking about this for quite some time, and, Caroline, I would never forgive myself if you were made to suffer that dreadful fate, which is why I'm going to hide you."

"And then what?" Caroline asked, fear still apparent in her voice, despite Bastien's overwhelmingly kind gesture. She felt like a little girl at camp, homesick and crying for her mother. And, in reality, that's just what she was. Caroline missed the people in her neighborhood, her friends, her parents. She just wanted to go home.

"It is unlikely that you'll ever return to Earth," Bastien answered, hearing not only her question, but her thoughts as well, "but you are welcome to stay with me for as long as you like."

"So that's it?" Caroline raised her voice. "I have two options—die, or stay in hiding for the rest of my life with the sliver of hope that I might one day escape?"

"Really, you're lucky to even have the second option," he pointed out. "Everyone else can do nothing but die."

Caroline thought instantly of Simon and felt a stinging in her heart. She wondered if he was even the least bit aware of his own impending doom.

"You're the only one I can save, Caroline," Bastien said softly, turning the stinging into a searing inferno. "If I try to hide more than one person, someone is bound to notice, and we all will be executed."

Caroline nodded, using her eyelids to halt her tears in a vain attempt to look strong. She blinked once, and a hot tear rolled down her cheek, followed by another, and within moments a steady stream was cascading from Caroline's eyes.

An awkward moment persisted as Bastien watched Caroline cry. He stammered, "I don't... I don't know what to..." Slowly and uncertainly, he pulled Caroline's face into his chest and gently stroked her hair. She welcomed his embrace, wrapping her arms around his middle.

When Caroline's tears had ceased, she asked, "How are you able to read minds?"

Still cradling Caroline's head into his chest, Bastien answered, "It is a trait I've possessed since birth."

"Can you read anyone's mind?"

"For the most part," he replied. "However, there is a big difference between the mind of a human and the mind of an alien." Caroline cringed when Bastien used the word 'alien', but he didn't seem to notice. "I can read all of a human's thoughts, even the ones they're trying to hide. But our kind communicate through telepathy much the same way your kind do through words; we only can retrieve as much information as our associate wants us to."

"If you don't use language, how can you speak English?"

"I had to learn it," he said. "In this form, I have vocal cords which allow me to speak, whereas in my true form, I do not."

"Your... true form?"

Suddenly, the door started to open and Caroline and Bastien scrambled to opposite ends of the couch.

Eivon came into the room and asked, "I thought I heard an alarm..."

"I didn't hear it," Bastien lied. "You must be mistaken."

"Anyway, breakfast begins in a few minutes," Eivon said, then left, still in a state of confusion.

"We should go," Bastien said. "I'm afraid we'll have to postpone this discussion."

Caroline nodded, took his arm, and walked with him to the dining hall.