A circle opened up on the cube, and the Stellas halted, his eyes going wide. Green light shone brightly from all three buttons, before the cube started to vibrate. Ivy held on to it, not wanting to let go. If the Stellas had the chance, he might still try to take it back.

A ball of energy shot out of the opening. The Stellas had enough sense to duck, and the ball shot over his head, slamming into one of the pods. All over the box, smaller openings began to glow, and before Ivy could do anything, shot out energy. The cube fell from Ivy's fingers as four of them hit one of her arms. A painful tingling shot up her arm, and then it went numb.

Then the box abruptly stopped vibrating, filling the air with silence. The green light faded, and it was left lifeless.

~~~

The world spun around Lenan, and he closed his eyes. Everything hurt. It didn't seem to matter what happened anymore. But his mind knew better, so he forced his eyes open. The ground had stopped spinning, and he was able to make out the scene.

Ivy was standing, one hand clutched around her arm. Maggie was getting to her feet, starting to go over to her sister. The Kagva was still unconscious, and the other two Stellas looked stunned. One of them was on the ground, and the other one looked like he was just getting to his feet.

"Freeze, aliens." He looked up, and saw a group of police, armed with pistols. They were pointing them straight at each of the Stellas, including Lenan and the unconscious Kagva. The facemasks they wore couldn't hide their shaking hands, though.

"Not him." Ivy nodded at Lenan, her face tight with what could only be pain. "He helped us."

The police didn't respond, keeping the weapon trained on Lenan as he walked over to Ivy and Maggie. Maggie slapped his gun down, shocking both Ivy and the police, but the officer didn't raise the gun again. The other police handcuffed the other Stellas as quickly as they could. Without their weapons, the Stellas didn't resist, eyes smoldering with anger.

The police spoke in low tones to Ivy, who spoke back before coming over to him.

"You alright?" She said quietly, her green eyes meeting his brown ones.

He shook his head, staring at the ground in a daze. Nothing was alright. Perhaps in time it might be, but for now... He placed his hands over his head. Breathe.

~~~

Ivy sank down next to Lenan. She understood if it took him awhile to be normal. Not that she had been with him enough to know what that would even look like. Hopefully, though, in time he would heal.

Maggie joined her on the grass. "The cop is going back to see to it that the other aliens are taken care of." She murmured, and Ivy nodded vaguely. Her arm was still numb, and she started massaging it. Everything's okay...

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I have a short epilogue that I'll post eventually, but after that this book is going to be complete :o !