Free My Cousin, the Alien by Pamela F. Service Page A

finally reached the old road.
    Gently, the woman laid Ethan down in a nest of gnarled roots. She placed her hands above Ethan’s body and moved them from his head to his feet. I thought I caught a bit of glow coming from her hands. “He’ll wake soon and be fine. I don’t suppose I have to caution you not to tell him or anyone else what I’ve told you?”
    “No. I understand.” As if anyone would believe me. Well, Ethan might. But it could hurt him too—giving up his specialness to someone else.
    I looked at the woman as a foggy idea formed in my head. “Here, could you take this with you? I don’t want to lie about everything.” I handed her Ethan’s pendant.
    She nodded and took a ring off her finger. “An exchange then. Just a bauble I picked up at a space-station gift shop. Powerless, but pretty—and authentic alien.”

    I took the rainbow shifting ring, admiring the colors.
    “I’ve got to go now, Zack,” the woman said. “They’ll find you soon. But don’t worry, we’ll be in touch.”
    She started down the overgrown road, then she turned. “You know, I envy you. This is a good planet to belong to. A good place to call home.”
    Almost before her footsteps had died away, Ethan was stirring at my feet. I crouched beside him, my thoughts tossing about like a sick person. He opened his eyes. I took a deep breath.
    “Hey, Ethan, glad you’re back.”
    He sat up and looked blearily around. “What happened? I was climbing down a tree, and one of those baddies shot at it. But that wasn’t here.”
    “No, another alien carried you out. She explained everything. You were right about lots of stuff. I should have believed you. There are good aliens and bad aliens.” I paused a minute, rummaging through ideas. Then I stumbled ahead.
    “But they weren’t after you, really, they were after. . . your pendant. It’s really powerful. It seems that years ago some aliens crash landed on Earth. They had this important pendant with them, and before some bad guys could track them down, they hid it with a toddler they met in a park. They begged you to protect it. Maybe it was ESP or something, but you did.”
    Ethan’s eyes were wide. My mind kept leaping ahead, interweaving fact and fantasy. “But the bad aliens figured out what had happened to it. That’s why they were after you. After they knocked that tree down, one of the good aliens arrived, a lady with terrific white hair, and blasted them with this really cool ray thing. Then she carried you out here. She said you’d be fine.”
    “And the pendant?” he said fumbling at his neck. “Is it safe?”
    “Yes. She took it. It can go back to its home planet now. But she thanked you for being its guardian all these years. She said how proud they all were of you. And she wanted you to have this.”
    I handed him the ring. In the moonlight, color shifted over it like oil on water. He slipped it on a finger.
    “Wow,” I laughed. “You’ll be the only kid on your block to have a real alien ring!”
    He smiled, then looked at me, smiling even broader. “So I’m not an alien! I was taking care of an alien pendant, but I’m really
human
. I belong here!”
    His words tore at me, but I nodded. “Yes, Ethan, and I’m glad. I don’t want my favorite cousin snatched away to some weird alien planet. Your parents would feel the same, too.”
    “My parents! So they really
are
my parents.” His voice trembled a bit. “You know, Zack, I’ve got to admit, I’m kind of glad. They’re not perfect, but they’re family.” He wrapped me in a quick hug.
    “So, let’s see if we can find them.” I stood up, feeling painfully hollow. Ethan had found his family, but had I lost mine? I thought about my home, about my parents—my adoptive parents, but the only ones I had ever known.
    No, I insisted fiercely. We had all loved my crazy cousin even when he thought he was an alien. And I loved him still. I loved them all. That made them family enough.
    I turned