While researching her middle-school family tree project, Astara Spurlock uncovers a shocking intergalactic secret that launches her into a high-stakes race to protect her alien heritage from enemies both on Earth and across the stars. Below is an excerpt from the YA space opera Aliens Spurlock by Muriel Ellis Pritchett:

PROLOGUE

From: Astara Spurlock <Aspurlock@athens.stem.ga.us>

To: U.S. Marshals, Witness Protection Program, Macon GA

Subject: Help me, please!

Dear U.S. Marshals,

My name is Astara Spurlock. I’m a sixth-grade student at University STEM Academy in Athens GA. My Human Geography class is working on a genealogy project to find our family roots.

After doing research on my family when they lived in Kecksburg, Pennsylvania, I think my family was placed in your Witness Protection Program after a UFO or meteorite crashed in the woods on December 5, 1965.

Unfortunately, my great-grandparents, my great-uncle, and my great-aunt were in the woods looking for a Christmas tree at the time and were killed. No one knows what happened to them that night, but government officials relocated our surviving family members to Athens, Georgia.

With your help, I could make a good grade on my class project. Without your help, I might not pass Human Geography. Could you please look through your records and tell me how my family members died? The funeral home doesn’t know because when government agents dropped off their remains, they were just a pile of ashes.

Did the UFO/meteorite land on them and burn them to a crisp or crush them to death? Or was it really an acorn-shaped spaceship that landed in the woods and aliens zapped them with laser guns?

Thank you very much for any information you find regarding the deaths of my great-grandparents, Charles and Alice Spurlock; my great-uncle Samuel Spurlock; and my great-aunt Sunny Smith.

Most sincerely,

Astara Spurlock

PART ONE – CELESTIA’S STORY

CHAPTER ONE

SECRET MEETING, PLANET DELPHI

Both moons had risen over Mont Rodondo, providing plenty of light to climb by. Celestia Jovian followed her older sister Solaris out their bedroom window and down the fickleroko tree to the ground below. With lots of easy-to-grab branches, the climb was a safe and effortless way for the Jovian sisters to leave the house without their parents’ knowledge. Not that they did it very often.

The pale-blue fickleroko flowers were in full bloom, and the evening air was full of their cloying scent. “I’m going to sneeze,” Celestia whispered, trying not to step on Solaris’ head.

Solaris looked up at her sister and whispered with a hiss: “Don’t you dare! They’ll hear us, we’ll get sent back to bed, and we won’t know what’s happening.”

Celestia sighed. Her sister was right. She was always right, and that was very aggravating. Being the younger sister, Celestia thought Solaris was too bossy and a big know-it-all. She pressed under her nose hard until the need to sneeze passed. Slowly, branch by branch, Celestia continued her descent until both feet touched the solid ground of Delphi.

Crouching next to Solaris, Celestia inched her way to the poobee stone wall that surrounded Mamam’s small flower garden. Shorter than her sister, Celestia had to tiptoe to see over the wall. But Solaris could see over it, through the sliding doors, and into the star room, where the glass ceiling provided a view of the moons and stars shining in Delphi’s night sky.

The star room was Celestia’s favorite place to go in the evening. She loved to turn out the lights, lie on the soft, fuzzy rug, and gaze into the night sky. She liked to imagine that somewhere in another galaxy far, far away, another girl her age was gazing up at the stars and thinking the same thing. With so many planets, stars, solar systems, and galaxies, how could there not be other beings like them who were living and surviving in this vast Universe?

But tonight, the star room was full of parents whose children attended Egris Academy with Celestia and Solaris, an elite school for students who were part of a special government program. A school run by the Delphi government and scientists. A school for students with special abilities and superpowers. Students who were not allowed to play with other children. Celestia thought that was unfair.

Stretching as tall as they could to see over the wall, Celestia and Solaris strained to hear what was being said. Fortunately, the adults were angry and talking loudly. Celestia, an empath with the superpower to read minds, could feel how worried and frightened they were. Celestia wondered what was going on. She tilted her head closer to Solaris. “Why are they shouting at each other?”

Solaris cupped her hand over Celestia’s mouth. “Hush!” she whispered. “They’ll hear you.”

Celestia nodded her head, and Solaris removed her hand. Because there were too many garbled thoughts bombarding her brain, she couldn’t understand anything the parents were thinking. Something bad had happened. Did it have something to do with the play yard incident yesterday? During a game of glow ball, Nereid hit the ball so hard with his doobie wand, it flew over the privacy fence that prevented anyone from seeing Egris Academy students. The number one glow ball rule was if anyone on your team hit the ball over the fence, then you forfeited the game. Without thinking, Celestia’s cousin Tristan shapeshifted into a hawk, grabbed the ball in his claws, and returned amid cheering teammates.

But when Celestia’s laughing teammates saw the shocked faces of their teachers, they realized Tristan had committed the forbidden. He could easily have been seen by “others” or normal citizens of Delphi. Students at Egris Academy knew their special abilities and superpowers had to remain secret to prevent paranoia and panic. Premier Rotoran, head of the academy, kept reminding them and their parents how important this was. No one could know about the government program that gave Celestia, Solaris, and the other students extraordinary abilities. Was it possible that a Delphi citizen had seen Tristan shapeshift to catch the glow ball? Could his actions have put their lives in jeopardy?

CHAPTER TWO

PARENTAL CONCERNS

Celestia and Solaris climbed over the wall and beebee-crawled low, against the sliding doors. From where they finally squatted, the sisters were able to see and hear the adults in the star room, but they couldn’t be seen.

Celestia grabbed Solaris’ arm when Tristan’s dad—their mamam’s brother, Uncle Umbra—pushed to his feet. “The council has been concerned about the children for a long time. Remember last year when the Hassen boy levitated his cup of almee-nut milk at the Fifth Galaxy Rock Fest in front of the man from Cadif?”

“His honorable Premier Rotoran smoothed that over with the public,” Celestia’s poppy responded calmly.

Uncle Umbra grimaced. “Pure luck for us Deimos that the man’s brain was fried from drinking too much fartzy juice himself. What if a reliable, sober Delphi citizen had seen it?” Murmurs went up around the room.

“There have been other incidents, too,” said a thin woman dressed in black. Celestia recognized her as Corona Meteora—Lemoon and Luna’s mamam. “My own daughter Luna materialized in the middle of tea with several women friends. I convinced them she’d been hiding under the table and jumped out to scare them.”

Celestia squeezed her sister’s arm tighter. She and Solaris had had close encounters, too. It was very hard to remember not to use your special abilities when they were so much a part of you. Like breathing, it just happened without thinking. More than once, in a period of rage, Solaris had used telekinesis to throw her groomee-brush at Celestia. Fortunately, Celestia wasn’t hurt and no one outside the family was present. As for Celestia, she never hesitated to use her telepathy to her advantage. Like if she didn’t know the answer to a question in class, she could always find it in her teacher’s mind.

“I think what Corona is trying to say is that our children need to be more careful,” added Cosmos Spurlockius, the poppy of Seyfert and Leonardos. “Remember what happened when Adonius lost his temper, threw a fireball, and damaged the Frayferts’ home?”

Celestia felt her stomach twist. Who did not remember that? Premier Rotoran had summoned Adonius and his parents. They were never seen, again. No one asked any questions for fear they would quietly disappear, too.

Suddenly gasps sounded throughout the star room. Celestia peeked through the sliding doors and watched Premier Rotoran, glide across the room. The hem of his flowing-turquoise robe skimmed the star room’s stone tiles. “Good evening!” His deep bass voice echoed loudly. “I didn’t get the memo regarding a parent meeting tonight. Have I missed anything of importance?” His shoulder-length black hair swirled around his face as he circled the room.

Solaris pushed herself up against Celestia and looked over her shoulder. Celestia could feel the warmth of her sister’s body against her own. She held her breath as the parents sat in shocked silence. She could feel the parents’ guilt and wariness.

“I see,” said the Premier, turning to look each parent in the eye. “So, strictly a social gathering?”

Uncle Umbra cleared his throat. “Yes, you’re right, Premier. Strictly social.”

He grunted. “Then while everyone is here in one spot, let me share my news with you. After an emergency meeting of the council this afternoon, we made a decision that will directly affect you and students at Egris Academy. In order to protect the citizens of Delphi mentally and physically, the council made the decision to move all Egris Academy students to a special school where we won’t have to worry about ordinary Delphi citizens discovering your children have special abilities.”

Celestia breathed in deeply. What did the Premier mean? Would she and Solaris be taken away from Mamam and Poppy forever? She felt a lump in her throat and her eyes began to sting.

An angry murmur went up around the room.

The Premier waved his hands. “Please! We knew this day was coming. We knew eventually there would be problems and issues once the children’s powers and abilities developed. We started planning many lunar years ago and built a special institute for our students. The entire complex is palatial and high tech. It will be like sending your children to the finest boarding school imaginable. You can visit them anytime you like. But they won’t be allowed to return home until they have learned to control their powers and special abilities.”

Celestia’s poppy stood and faced the Premier. “Where is this institute located?”

The Premier smiled coldly with a glint in his black eyes. His thin lips pursed into a tight line. An evil smile, Celestia thought. She sensed he was enjoying this. “On Aquabacarius Island.”

“What?” exclaimed Luna’s poppy. “That pile of luna rock in the middle of the Canaverius Sea?”

“On the other side of our planet?” questioned Aurora Spurlockius, Seyfert and Leonardo’s mamam.

“It’s a long journey just to fly to the nearest star port and find an aqua boat to the island,” pointed out Cavius Orion, Nereid’s poppy.

“The island has never been developed because it’s in the middle of nowhere,” yelled Luna and Lemoon’s poppy.

“You are correct on all counts.” The Premier’s thin lips parted as a slight snarl escaped his throat. “That’s exactly why we chose such an inhospitable location. No one will want to go there. Your children will be safe from prying eyes. There will be nothing or no one to distract them from their studies.”

While the parents angrily plied the Premier with questions, Celestia slowly began to understand. The students at Egris Academy would have to leave their homes and not return. No more family gatherings and celebrations. No Mamam or Poppy around to comfort her after a very bad day. To Celestia, this sounded like the worst thing that could happen to her. She let out a soft cry of despair, only to have Solaris clamp her hand down hard over her mouth. Celestia cried silently, the tears running down her face.

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