Chapter 1

Darkness had settled over the Colorado mountain range, bringing with it security for the few remaining humans in the world.

They had fought the Energon invasion, using their knowledge of light to craft weapons to fight what they couldn’t touch. The majority of the group had been sixteen when the light had come to earth, destroying what it could and possessing the people who hadn’t or couldn’t fight. The small team of teenagers had been smart; they hadn’t tried to run from the enemy �" running from energy would be pointless and they knew as much. They hadn’t panicked and had instead stayed hidden and learned what they could from observation. That’s what had gotten them as far as they had. What had been officially named the Invasion had occurred two years ago. Since then, those who had dismissed the warnings and ideas of the group of kids had been possessed by Energons and converted to Lucerian soldiers, leaving the teenagers as the last remaining humans, as far as they knew.

“Sun’s down, all clear.” The oldest of the group called over her shoulder from where she sat against the wall, staring out the dusty window pane of the small abandoned cottage the five occupied for the time being.

“Ella,” the oldest boy of the team called, drawing her attention before the weapon he’d tossed through the air could hit her. Ella caught the small laser effortlessly, habitually sliding it into her back pocket.

“Thanks, Parker.” She tossed over her shoulder as she pushed off the floor, sweeping her waist length golden hair over shoulder. Sam nodded in acknowledgment, turning back to his girlfriend and enveloping the hand that wasn’t busy detaching her Riflector from its charger. Emma slipped the gun into the belt loop of her army green cargo pants, looking up at Sam to tell him she was ready. Their leader, a term that had been often used casually to describe Sam Parker once they had all automatically begun looking up to him for instruction, switched his focus to the right side of the cabin where the two youngest kids stood loading new batteries into the black light flashlights.

LED bulbs, they had quickly learned, attracted Energons almost as effectively as natural light. McKayla, the youngest, had halfheartedly suggested they try black lights the next day. The UV lights had repelled the small clouds of light better than the darkness itself could. Emma, the team’s researcher, hadn’t been able to find anything that could explain why, but it worked. Until then, they hadn’t had anything with which to fight the intangible enemy and that had driven the only other boy insane. Caleb was the weapons expert, knowledge that he as a sixteen year old had acquired from his video games before he and his sister had evacuated. Once McKayla had given her boyfriend something to fight them with, he had set to work on creating weapon. The Riflectors and black light lasers had come into existence within the week.

“Penick and Carter stay.” Sam ordered, staring at Caleb and McKayla with look that dared them to argue. McKayla exhaled in poorly concealed relief, leaning back against the cracked marble counter. Caleb on the other hand tensed angrily, hand clenching around the flashlight he had been working on seconds before.

“You told him to, I assume?” he accused his sister, glaring at Emma until she looked away, giving him her answer. “I knew it.” He scowled, moving to walk forward. Sam shifted in front of his girlfriend, hand tensing around hers. Caleb scoffed, rolling his eyes and avoiding McKayla’s gaze as he paced in frustration.

“You nearly blew our position on the last raid, Caleb, almost getting yourself killed in the process.” Emma attempted reason, peering around her protective boyfriend’s body.

“It’s not your call, Emma! You are not my mom and you never will be. Mom’s dead!” he snarled, lunging at her. Sam moved so that he was completely blocking Caleb’s path, glaring down at the boy as McKayla pulled him back.

“Enough, Caleb.” Ella interrupted. “You’re staying, that’s final. Move out.” The silver eyed girl ordered, waving a hand in the air in a general gesture, leading the way out the door. “Lights off.” She reminded as she disappeared around the corner where their stolen car was parked.

Sam pulled a suddenly silent Emma to a stop, tilting his head to capture her attention. She deliberately refrained from meeting his eyes, a quiet sniff the only thing giving her away. Sam sighed, tugging her into his chest and kissing the top of her head.

“I miss mom.” She murmured, voice muffled by the fabric of his grey shirt.

“I know, Em. But she’d be really proud of you. And Caleb. You’ve taken good care of him.” He responded, finally knowing after all these years what to say to her when she cried. She nodded against his chest, not fully believing him but she could practically feel the impatience radiating off her best friend who had pulled the car around. “You ready, beautiful?” he asked carefully, angling her body so that he could see her shadowed face.

“Yeah,” she smiled, sliding her hand down his bicep until she found his hand before pulling him towards the car. The boy slid around the front, avoiding the shards of glass that still stuck out from the smashed headlights then climbing into the front seat. He waited to start the car until both the girls were settled in the back. The small Honda revved to life, swerving and spraying dirt from under the wheels.

Caleb watched from the window as their navy car sped away, skidding onto the main road. The uneven path it drove off in lead the sixteen year old to believe that Sam was driving, easily the most careless driver of the five. He heard McKayla’s tentative footsteps behind him and looked down at the window sill while she came up and wrapped her surprisingly toned arms around his neck. Hooking his hands on her wrists, he leaned his head back against her clavicle so that he could see her.

The long grey tee shirt she usually wore, wrinkled by weeks of wear, clung to her lanky torso, accentuating each of her many curves and seemingly making her pale skin glow. Her strawberry blonde hair had grown out, like most of theirs, and had been let out of its typical fishtail braid, leaving her hair in wavy layers over her shoulder. The little moonlight that had managed to reach her face cast shadows that caught every line, every faded scar she’d attained over the last two years and illuminated her green eyes. The latent sadness in those eyes stabbed at Caleb’s heart. He knew she loved him, he knew she was glad he’d found her, but he also knew she missed her little brother. McKayla Carter had carried the guilt of her brother’s death for two years and the pain of it hadn’t faded in the slightest.

The Invasion had only started three days before the Carter’s house was raided. McKayla and Jesse had cowered in the corner of the house while their parents tried to climb out the window, and leave the kids as distractions while they saved themselves. The Lucerian soldiers had found their way in eventually, and without warning, without McKayla being able to tell Jesse not to look, had fired two single shots, ending their parents’ lives with a nine and sixteen year old  as their only audience. McKayla had been blinded by anger and fear, her overprotective instincts driving her to attack the Lucerian. She wasn’t nearly as skilled or strong as she’d be two years later. She’d never had a chance. The soldier had wasted no time aiming his gun at McKayla. Her nine year old little brother had done his best to push her out of the way, taking the bullet meant for her. She had used the Lucerian’s momentary confusion to make sure Jesse’s sacrifice wasn’t in vain, bolting out the back door and scaling a tree before he could kill her.

The group had found her shortly after, trembling in the same tree with her baby brother’s blood on her hands.

“She just doesn’t want you to get hurt.” She said, always the temperamental boy’s voice of reason.

“Doesn’t matter. She knows I can handle myself.” He growled. McKayla laughed incredulously.

“That’s not the point, Penick. You’ll always be her baby brother.” She tried to explain before her smile dropped away. “Just like Jesse will always be mine.” Longing cut through her eyes like lightning for only a moment before she blinked back tears.

“Jesse loved you, that was reason enough for him.” He reminded her.

“Not enough for me.” She finally muttered. “The point is, she will always want to protect you and you can’t do anything about it.” Caleb sighed, letting her have her coping mechanism and rolling with the change of subject.

“I know. Still annoys me though.” The boy chuckled. McKayla laughed with him, dropping onto the ground beside him, laser gripped tightly in her hand.

                Emma’s right hand tightened around her Riflector in a white knuckled grip while her left clenched around her best friend’s forearm, both girls seeking comfort in each other. Sam looked over his shoulder from the driver’s seat of the stolen Crosstour, sliding his key out of the ignition and killing the engine. He stared at the two girls in the back seat, procrastinating having to leave whatever relative safety the beat up old Honda provided and whatever relative safety he provided for the girls. He leaned around the chair, buttons of his tattered plaid cardigan catching in the rips of the leather fabric. The blonde pressed his lips against Emma’s forehead in a precautionary goodbye, taking a slow deep breath of the familiar scent that her hair had adopted after the Invasion. The brunette leaned into him, eyes fluttering shut if only momentarily before he eased the battered car door open, slipping out before shutting it again and motioning for the girls to lock it. They both leaned around the seats, manually locking the doors, even if it would only delay an attack from a Lucerian soldier at best.

Emma watched Ella out of the corner of her eye, squeezing her blonde friend’s hand before turning her full attention to watching the abandoned building her boyfriend had disappeared into. Ella spun her black light laser on her thigh, expertly avoiding the tears in her jeans that would interrupt the momentum as she watched the other side of the street. At her best friend’s sharp intake of breath, she stopped her repetitive actions, searching the reflection of the dusty window for any clue of what had made Emma freeze.

  “His shadow, I saw it in the window.” Emma hissed under her breath, worry evident in her hushed tones. A shadow meant there had to be light, and light drew Energons and with them, Lucerian soldiers. Ella held her breath, scanning their surroundings, expecting a cloud of shimmering energy at any given moment. Emma’s fingers twitched against the surface of her Riflector’s trigger, counting out the seconds as they ticked by. “He’s late.” She breathed the moment she reached six hundred seconds.

Ten minutes.

That was always the deal. If he couldn’t finish the raid in ten minutes, he would abandon the mission and they’d come back another night.

“He doesn’t have Caleb this time.” Ella reminded her, trying to ease her friend’s over active imagination. It would take him longer if he was being smart, with having to guard himself, and raid each room on his own.

The extra seconds turned into minutes until Sam had been gone for twenty minutes. No shadow or sliver of light had been seen since Emma had noticed his faint shadow in the window, but that didn’t ease either girl’s worry. Ella lithely moved into the driver’s seat, biting her laser between her teeth, both hands gripping the steering wheel. Turning her head to the side, Ella’s waist length hair flipped over her shoulder as she studied the front door of the old motel while turning the key in the ignition.

Emma let out the breath she’d been holding when Sam crept through the front door, crouching down and running to the car. He climbed in the backseat, sliding up next to Emma, and pounding on the back of Ella’s seat as a way of telling her to go. Ella slammed her foot down on the gas pedal, sending the blue car lurching forward. He slammed the door shut as they drove away, dropping the full pillow case on the car floor. Sam noticed Emma’s posture, huffing out a laugh before leaning around her stiff body and capturing her lips with his.

“Cutting it kinda close, aren’t we Parker?” Emma scolded once she’d pulled away. He shrugged, smirking arrogantly.

“I’m here aren’t I?” he cocked his head to the side, overgrown hair flopping down in front of his ice blue eyes. Emma raked her hand back through his blonde hair.

“You need a haircut.” She deflected. Sam rolled his eyes, resting his hand on her knee. The corners of Emma’s mouth twitched upwards in a reluctant smile.

“How’d it go?” Ella asked, meeting her friends eyes in the rearview mirror.

“I need Caleb back on the raids.” He answered apologetically. Emma covered his hand with hers, squeezing gently in reassurance. “It takes too long and I can’t guard properly. Came this close to getting snatched.” He explained. The girls nodded.

Ella rolled the car up behind the cabin, parallel parking perfectly for someone who had never gone through driver’s ed. Sam raised he and Emma’s linked hands, kissing her knuckles where they crossed with his.

“Don’t worry so much.” He suggested, clear blue eyes shining with amusement. He knew the request was in vain.

“Me? Worry? Never.” She replied sarcastically, smiling back before flipping her brunette bangs out of her eyes and climbing out of the car. Sam’s smile grew wider as he watched her start to walk to the cabin, pausing when he didn’t follow. Her navy blue eyes reflected the black light he had trained on her, and turned her dirty white tank top purple, setting her eyes off even brighter. “Coming, lover boy?” she arched an eyebrow in question. “What are you thinking?” she asked as he finally closed the car door behind him, pillow case held tightly in his left hand.

“That you’re beautiful.” He answered simply. She rolled her eyes. Sam didn’t need to see to know she was blushing. He fit the flashlight between his palm and the fabric of the pillow case, lurching forward to pull her back with an arm around her waist. She hadn’t had time to protest before he covered her mouth with his, cutting off any protestations she had considered making. He let the contents in his hand fall to the dirt, winding his right arm around her waist to pull her closer. Emma reached up to fold her arms around his neck, melting against his chest, letting one of her hands slide down between them until it was resting over his steadily beating heart; one of the few things left in their world that had remained steady through every unimaginable disaster that had threatened to tear them apart.

“Gross.” Caleb moaned from the doorway. McKayla and Ella’s elbows both collided with his rib cage, earning a grunt from the youngest boy.

“I think they’re adorable.” McKayla countered. Sam leaned back, rolling his eyes downwards to meet Emma’s, with repressed amusement.

Emma’s hands slid down his arms until they were hooked on his elbows, his arms remaining wound around her waist.

“We better get inside.” Sam called to the three leaning against the wooden wall of the cabin, ignoring the knowing smirks each of them wore. He picked up the discarded flashlight and pillow case. Caleb groaned, dragging his feet in procrastination as McKayla pulled him through the door. Ella pushed off the wall, almost skipping towards her best friends. She smiled widely, throwing her arms around their necks once she reached them.

The three of them walked silently back to their temporary home, arms thrown around each other. Sam ushered the girls in before him, scanning over the vacant landscape before shutting the door and locking it. He slid the full length mirror up against the door, glancing over his shoulder to make sure the others were doing the same to the windows. Mirrors reflected the Energon’s toxic energy back at itself, holding it back long enough for one of the teenagers to notice before the light could find a way in. The makeshift alarm system had only been put to the test six times in the last two years. The Energons and Lucerians had only found their hiding place those six times. The other attacks had occurred while the group was out. 

Sam walked the perimeter; gently pounding on the mirrors with his fist to make sure an Energon would be hard pressed to find a way through. Sam shoved his fisted hands into the front pockets of his khaki cargo shorts, watching their small family as they sifted through the contents of the pillow case. Emma stood, moving towards the small cooler in the corner, tossing each person a bottle of water then crouching down to find something she could prepare for dinner. Caleb caught Sam’s eyes, arching an eyebrow in question. The older boy couldn’t help but notice just how much like Emma he looked in that moment.

“You’re back on the raids, Penick.” Sam explained, winking at him. Caleb punched the air with a victorious smirk, humming happily. McKayla rolled her eyes, shaking her head in defiance when he pulled her off the floor, attempting to get her to dance with him.

“C’mon, Kay.” He whined, giving her his signature puppy dog eyes. He watched the small girl melt unwillingly, letting her boyfriend pull her around the dusty hard wood floor. Caleb knocked his thigh into the back of her knees, sending her falling backwards into his waiting arms. “Like I’d let you fall.” He defended at her glare, tilting his head to kiss her before she could scold him for tripping her.

“Foods ready!” Emma called from the other side of the dark room. Caleb pulled McKayla upright, leading her over to where his sister had prepared whatever she’d found.

Diced, half-rotten fruit, outdated cheese and crackers and sliced ripened cucumbers decorated the striped table cloth that they spread out on the floor in an excuse for a table. Yet it was still one of the more appetizing meals they had been able to pull together.

Emma dropped down between Sam and Ella, sitting directly across from her little brother who naturally had his arm tossed around McKayla’s shoulders.

They stayed seated around the circular table cloth for a little while after they had finished, staring at the cleared paper plates. McKayla stifled a yawn in Caleb’s shoulder, fitting her head in the curve of his neck. Caleb watched her in rarely shown adoration as her dark green eyes blinked closed. He raised one hand in a quick salute to the others, lifting her into his lap so that he could easily carry her to the nest of blankets they all shared.

Emma’s stare grew sad as Caleb walked away. Caleb’s seemingly always tense body had been made stronger by the years of work he’d done protecting what remained of his family. His white-streaked, blonde hair had been sloppily hacked short by his girlfriend upon his request and now hung unevenly at his forehead. He’d grown up much too fast for Emma’s liking in the past two years. They all had really, but Caleb more so than the rest. He was all too aware that when Emma looked at him she still saw the weak, immature, little boy he’d been before the Invasion. But the unthinkable had happened and he’d promised his father, seconds before the older man was snatched, that he’d grow up and do his best to protect Emma with all he had. That was what he as her brother, younger or not, was supposed to do and what he’d failed to do in the preceding years.

Still, he hadn’t been prepared for his life to be ripped away from him so completely. He’d been too young to accept it the way he should’ve been able to and he’d blamed Emma. As a kid who’d watched his mom and dad chase them from their home with the intention of taking them to the very side they’d been trying to escape, he’d needed someone to force the blame on to and Emma had been the only one there for him. Until Sam had found them, and they’d found Ella. Caleb had threatened to leave on his own if they refused to help him find his girlfriend who he’d been positive was still alive, giving the three older kids no option but to help him. That’s when McKayla had joined the small team and they’d started getting their act together so that they at least had a chance of survival.

“I’ll take first watch.” Ella offered, glancing pointedly at Sam when Emma started to argue. The blue eyed girl looked up at him, smiling softly at his drooping eyelids and slumped posture. Emma hadn’t realized she was partly supporting him until she moved fractionally and he slouched forward.

Ella reached forward and unhooked the Riflector from her friend’s belt, picking her favorite book off the counter on her way to the door. She sat down, sloppily braiding her hair down her back. Holding the flashlight between her chin and collarbone, she flipped open to her favorite chapter and started to read, half her attention focused on listening for any telltale sounds of an enemy attack.  

Emma stood, pulling weakly at Sam’s hand to wake him up. When that didn’t work, she tugged loosely on his hair, tipping his head backwards so that he was looking up at her.

“Not tired. I gotta keep watch.” He mumbled. Emma just giggled as he watched her drunkenly.

“You’re exhausted, lover boy.” She countered, heaving him to his feet with a groan. He stumbled after his girlfriend to the half occupied bed in the corner of the pitch black cabin, aside from the faint beam of purple light emitting from the corner that cast ghost like shadows across Ella’s face. She let him fall to the cushioned floor, dropping down next to him with more grace then he possessed on his best day. She looked across the blankets to her little brother who had curled up next to McKayla and fallen asleep within seconds of his head hitting the ground. Emma held her two fingers up in a peace sign to Ella before closing her eyes and rolling onto her side.

Ella stared at her four sleeping friends across the room, attention wavering from the world outside that she was supposed to be listening to. Her sun tanned hand traced down the hollow of her neck until her fingers brushed the indestructible silver chain that was permanently tucked beneath her shirt. Unwanted tears welled in her silver-flecked blue eyes as she held the four charms in her palm. Each pendant represented a different member of her family, the gift given to her for her fifteenth birthday, the year before the Invasion. The constant weight against her chest provided a continuous, heartbreaking reminder of her family.

The short blonde had been babysitting her three younger siblings when the Lucerians had come to her house. The youngest, two year old Skai, was sleeping when they broke in, an army of Energons blazing behind them. Ella had taken the two older kids, four year old Fythan and seven year old Celia to the baby’s room, pushed the glider and crib in front of the door and shielded the children with her body as best she could. The four year old, too curious for his own good, had escaped the protection of his two older sisters, running out into the middle of the room just as the soldier’s broke through the barricaded door, the Energons surging forward from behind them. Ella had panicked, seeing the enemies towering over her baby brother, bolting forward to pull him back. Before she’d been able to reach him, a cloud of mesmerizing light surrounded Fythan and he’d collapsed. Celia and Skai’s cries echoed the sound of her brother’s body hitting the carpeted floor and Ella had turned in time to see the same light cloak the girls’.

The mechanical, in-sync way the Lucerians had turned to advance on her still haunted the eighteen year old girl’s dreams. Once they’d had her backed against the window, she’d looked at the fallen bodies of her siblings, guilty and apologetic tears spilling over before she thrust her elbow behind her, effectively shattering the window. With hardly a glance at the one story fall behind her, she climbed backwards out the window, throwing her shoulder forward to propel herself into a somersault, the best way, she’d discovered, to absorb the impact.

By the time the Lucerians looked out the window, Ella had flattened on the ground, intentionally bending her limbs at odd angles to make herself appear dead. They’d accepted her death easier than she thought they would’ve. She had stayed still until she’d heard the drone of an unfamiliar vehicle rumbling away. She waited on the porch, hidden in the shadows for her parents to return.

Ella had sat there for three days, waiting for something that never came. Sam, Emma and Caleb had found her the day after she’d given up on any possibility of her parents’ return, unfeeling, unspeaking, and clutching the necklace with every ounce of her remaining strength.

Emma had eventually managed to pull her best friend back from the edge that Ella was dangerously close to falling from and Ella had pulled herself together. Crying over them wouldn’t bring them back and it wouldn’t help her protect the family that she had left.