Page 72 of Her Alien Neighbor

She chuckles. “I don’t know either. It’s weird, right?”

“Very.”

“All right, I’m going to spend some time with Mom as I try not to think about this. Call me later?”

“Sure thing.”

After she hangs up, I find myself unable to move. I’m so confused that even getting out of bed seems like it would take far too much effort.

“Did she say what caused the explosion?” Axil asks, pulling out his desk chair and taking a seat. He uses his fork to cut the pancakes into smaller pieces before taking a bite.

“The explosion?” I ask, still dazed.

“The engine of his motorcycle exploded, did it not? That is what killed him?”

Sam didn’t mention an explosion. I assumed he died from blunt force trauma when his bike hit the boulder. Where is he getting this? “No, Sam just mentioned the crash. Do you have superior hearing or something?” I ask, teasingly. “Could you hear Sam on the other end?”

He laughs. “Yes, I do, actually. But I must have misheard her. My mistake.”

My eyes remain on Axil. I’m not sure why, but I feel compelled to watch him. He continues to eat his pancakes, and twice, I notice him look at me out of the corner of his eye. He seems nervous, though maybe he’s trying to process the same thing I am. He did meet Trevor once, and the interaction wasn’t pleasant.

He holds up my plate. “Would you like some?”

“No, thanks,” I reply, my appetite completely gone. “Can that happen?” I ask, not knowing why, but letting the words come. “A motorcycle engine exploding when it hits something?”

My dad owned a motorcycle for a few years before my mom made him sell it, and I remember him talking endlessly about how safe they are if you’re a good driver.

“Um,” he says, still chewing. His eyes dart around the room as he speaks, never landing on me. “I would assume so. I do not know much about motorcycles, though, I am afraid.”

Why won’t he look at me?

“Axil,” I say in a shaky voice. Fear, deep visceral fear begins to unfurl in my chest. “What did you do last night? Before you picked me up?”

His gaze goes to the ceiling. “Um, last night… Well, I had dinner with my mentor, Rick Olsen.”

Relief washes over me. “Oh! Oh, good. That’s great.”

“And then I went to the gas station on the way home…” he adds, his words becoming slightly stilted at the end. “That, um,” he says, rubbing his forehead. “That is where I ran into Trevor.”

“What?” I ask, but it comes out more as a squeak. “You ran into Trevor?” The fear returns, jolting my heart into a lightning-fast rhythm. “What…what are you saying, exactly?”

His knee starts bouncing nervously. He remains quiet.

“Axil…”

He sighs, dropping his face in his hands. “I tried to tell you last night. I did. Do you remember? I tried and you said no. You begged me to tell you another time.”

I hold up a hand, tears filling my eyes. “Are you saying,” I whisper, my hands shaking, unable to believe what I’m about to say, “that you were involved in Trevor’s death?”

He doesn’t need to say it. His silence tells me all I need to know.

His eyes finally meet mine and then dart away. “Vanessa, I––”

“Nope!” I shout, refusing to listen to another second of this. Throwing off the covers, I grab a T-shirt and sweatpants off the chair in the corner of Axil’s room since my only other option is the dress I wore last night. They’re Axil’s clothes, so they’re huge on me, but that doesn’t matter. Not compared tothis.

Once I’m dressed, I grab my phone and stomp toward the door. “Come on,” I shout, demanding that Axil follow.

“What are you doing?” he asks, following on my heels as I go out into the living room.

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