Whatever she knew, she kept it to herself.I checked the window – closed and locked. I checked the closet – nothing out of place.I wanted to run to...The Parents’ room and check if Angie was there. It was the most logical explanation. But I stopped myself. While I was at this end of the house, I should check on Dan.His door was slightly ajar. I pushed and it swung quietly open. I peered in. I could hear Dan’s heavy breathing from the doorway. It was steady and regular. I crept on silent feet over. She turned to Hannah. “Last chance to back out.” Hannah leaned in to kiss her again, but Carrie put a finger over the girl’s lips. “Point taken,” she said. “But there will be plenty of time for that later. You know how to play?” Now it was Hannah’s eyes that lit up—a promise that meant acceptance. She nodded. It was the one gambling card game she’d been allowed to learn. “We’re playing for clothes now. Play to win, people.”“Wait,” Hannah said. “For clothes?”“See, Mike?” Carrie said. “I knew we. You know better than that.” I began to unbutton her blouse.“Wait,” she said. “No, really ... wait.”She hesitated. “We need rules. Ground rules.”“No blouse-unbuttoning?” I asked frivolously. I was feeling confident now. Eager. This was actually going to happen.Emily wasn’t in a joking mood. “We both want to do this, but we have to go into it with eyes open.”“Blouses, too,” I offered.“Circumspect,” she said. “If I’m going to do this, it’s going to have to be a secret. A real one. All my boarders. ““Apparently it worked.”“Full disclosure. We are not from here and we are not human. We are so genetically close to human that only a full sequencing of our DNA would tell the difference. Physiologically only our eyes and our brains are different. The difference in our brains is what has our superiors so agitated about what we did to save you.”Lance was a bit worried now. “What did you do?”“Two areas of your brain were completely destroyed. We had to replace them. We have technology.