Free Fallen + Marli & Lalo (Fallen Invasion, #3) by Mia Mitns

halfway.  To get to Lalo, I began stepping on the area full of rocks.  My ankle adjusted for the uneven surface until I landed on a rock that sent a sharp, piercing sensation to my foot.  My knee jerked up.  I examined the bottom of my shoe.  There was no puncture.  Phew.
    “You alright?” Lalo asked.
    “Yeah,” I said.
    Lalo rushed over and bent down to check my foot.  Placing it aside, he picked up one of the rocks.  He twirled the rock in his hand then moved the top layer of rocks off to the side.
    “What’s going on?” I asked as I glanced down, towering over him.
    He picked up a couple of small, purple spotted glass rocks.  “Here is our clue.”  He put the rocks in his pocket.
    The wind blew, sending more chills through me.  I took that as a message to get out of there.  “Let’s go,” I said.
    “Okay,” he said.
    I pulled out my car keys and surveyed the area for any upright, standing, living things as Lalo and I trotted back to my car.
    Under the hold of my windshield wiper was a flyer, flickering in the wind.  I snatched it.
    Out of all places.  They always find you don’t they?
    Once we were inside the safety of my car, my fingers couldn’t move faster to lock the doors and turn the key.  I wanted to slam my foot on the pedal and peel out of there, but I escaped at a moderate pace.  I noticed I had maintained a death grip on the flyer, so I put it in the drink holder.
    “Look and see if anyone is back there,” I said.  That cat could have been making the noise, but someone else could have been there too, excuse me, something else could have been there too.
    Lalo twisted around in his seat.  “I can’t see anyone.”
    “Are you sure?”
    “Yes.”
    “What about feel?  Can you sense anyone, anything?”
    “No.”
    “Good.”
    I didn’t relax until we were on the highway again, going back to the country.
    “Let’s not ever do that again,” I said.

Chapter 8
    W hen we reached my house, I couldn’t get out of the car.  I had to sit there for a while.  Lalo held my hand.
    “It’s okay to be scared,” he said and massaged my shoulder.
    “It’s just...” I said. “When we were there.  The sight of that tall man flashed across my sight.  I don’t know what is happening to me.”  I met Lalo’s eyes with mine.
    “Part of the process is what it is,” Lalo said.  “Marli, you aren’t exclusive to me as far as connecting.  If this is more than a made up dream, you may be connecting with another Masqysava.  We Masqysava can be good and bad like people.  We aren’t all the same.  But I would think we all have the same purpose for being on Earth.  We couldn’t do what we wanted, back at home.  Everyone had to have permission.”
    Lalo paused and shifted his eyes towards Kallen’s house.  “We had to have permission... but I don’t think I did.”  He closed his eyes.  “I remember running to my ship.  I hastily got in and left.  I don’t even remember setting the course.  The next thing I saw was you running, and I crashed.”
    “Is your planet controlled by rulers or a family?” I asked.
    “I don’t know.  But back to you.”  He reverted his eyes to me.  “If you are connecting with someone else, what you see either happened not too long ago or at current time.  You are safe as long as they don’t know you are there.  I need to teach you to be able to block others.  In case they try to find you.
    “Earlier, at least ten years ago, Masqysava found that people like you, ‘connectors,’ existed.  They were so intrigued that they requested a whole group of Masqysava to be sent to Earth to find connectors.  Those Masqysava who left for that mission never returned.”
    I perked up.  “That could be why you are here— to either find people like me or find the missing Masqysava!”
    “No,” Lalo said.  “From what I can perceive the reason is darker, and it won’t be that simple.”
    “So ‘Masqysava,’ is that term similar