Rena awoke first to a still sleeping Sylvie drooling uncomfortably close to her face. Her cellphone was still in her pocket and she needed to partially dislodge Sylvie and wedge out from the crevice she had been smooshed into. The motion of this caused Sylvie to utter a strange noise and open her eyes slightly. Rena had not meant to wake Sylvie up but knew it was inevitable with the compromised position she was forced into. Their eyes met momentarily, awkwardly, and then Sylvie let out a huge yawn, throwing her hands over Rena and bringing her into a tight embrace. She immediately fell asleep again. 

“Sylvie. God dammit. You gotta… I gotta get up!” Rena said, not struggling as much as she could.

“NOOOOOOO! I want to snuggle my ReRe longerrrrr.” Sylvie’s grip strength increased. 

“Girl you are drooling on me!” Sylvie smooshed her disgusting face into Rena’s cheek. Rena tried to pull away. “You better let go or I’ll use my powers again!” 

“I bet you’d like that! Nooooo don’t tie me up! Don’t do whatever you wish to my restrained body OOOOOH!” Sylvie returned to the theatrics.

“Jesus Christ cut it out. Enough already!” Rena started squirming more. 

“Noo, Rena. Don’t take me with your velvet ropes of love! Don’t steal my first kiss with your plump lips!” 

“Waaaaaaaah! Stop iiiit! Cut it oooout! Waaaaaah!” Only whining could save Rena now. The desperate plea worked and Sylvie ceased her assault, relinquishing Rena and rolling over to land on the floor beside the couch. Rena got her phone out of her pocket and unlocked it. It was now 8:43. Dang we slept a long time. Rena thought. Still it was a long time before work. 

A cool breeze picked up in the apartment parking lot. Red and brown leaves tumbled about each other, getting caught in random corners where the wind got trapped in whirlwinds. Rena observed a plastic bag getting caught in a spiral like a butterfly accidentally fluttering into a moving spider’s web. The grey plastic bag, like a jellyfish in a riptide, turned over and over, herded along by several leaves, caught and not allowed to escape. Its momentum grew, like an eagle catching a thermal it rose into the air, in a corkscrew, once escaping the trick geometry of the building corner some thirty or fifty feet up in the air, it took flight reaching escape velocity, and vanished from sight. 

 Rena walked, and Rena thought. Alone in the near suburban wasteland of Millvale. A cracked and twisting sidewalk was a maze of unlimited possibility, any direction she decided to turn might bring new insight. A march of ants on the pavement. A procession of creatures with no doubt of their true purpose, in service to a system far bigger and more glorious than each individual, spanned the sidewalk. The line of solidarity reached a chasm, the span of several bodies wide and dozens of bodies deep. A crack, gone to seed with the now dormant and shrinking colonists of nearby squares of bermuda grass, dandelion, and other wild flower, stifled and waiting for spring. The procession remained firm in conviction, scaling the sheer cliff of the crack, crossing the jungle, and scaling the other face. Once back on level ground each soldier took its turn accomplishing its mission. Ripping a shard off of a couple of skittles, smashed by the foot of a passing god without a care. 

Rena’s eyes lingered on many such sights on her walk. She crossed the line of ants long ago, leaving no trace but a brief shadow over the march, and continued on her path. Overhead a plane crossed the sky, leaving her path as if she were a single ant, divorced from her noble cause. Somewhere along the way, many blocks from home, she came upon a small stream which crossed underneath the road who’s sidewalk she now walked upon. She took the detour and headed down into the dirt and trees.

A smooth stone lay at the edge of that stream. Brown with black spots placed into its very being by processes which Rena could hardly comprehend. It reminded her of Geology class. A class mostly slept through. She picked up that small, flat, smooth stone. Turning it over in her hands. The chill of a rock near a stream in the fall was not quite pleasant to the touch. With a thought she wreathed the stone in her own internal fire, her aura crept from her hands to eventually engulf the entire object. She turned it over in her hands again and again. 

What can I do with this? Rena pondered. Her mind wandered to last night, with Sylvie on the couch. Then wandered to the intricate aura threads employed by Wren, that she got to see up close. She dropped the stone, it fell from her hand and stopped midair, held by a single shining thread. Oh… Ok. Rena thought.

Rena walked up to a nearby thin tree, hanging diagonally over the stream. White like birch. She kept her eyes on the stone, she had tethered to her hand, and slung it around the tree. The stone wound around the tree, just as she imagined it would, but when it got to the end of its length, the cord snapped and the rock tumbled back to the dirt. 

Rena’s mind surged with numerous possibilities. What was the extent of this new power? Surely it could be developed, trained. Changed to fit whatever she wished. Her mind wandered to Wren’s ability of linking fibers together to create new objects. 

Picking up another rock and surrounding it with her aura, Rena felt a sense of happiness and wonder. She sat at the stream until the breeze picked up and it got too cold. 

Sylvie had retreated to the dark lair of her own room, leaving the rest of the apartment to Rena, which meant Rena also returned to the darkness of her own room. 

Social media was abuzz with news of the return of a particular race of alien known to terrorize certain areas in flying saucers of various sizes. A video of a crashed flying saucer with green fire streaming out of the holes of the wreckage, surrounded by people with large guns and missiles. The Turkish military was apparently trying to handle it. The aliens hadn’t come to earth in a few years, but they didn’t do too much damage last time so everyone was joking about it. Well, there were plenty of theories that the aliens never left, or that they were never really aliens in the first place, or were new types of US military drones, or all sor<ts of things. Several local superheroes were dealing with the threat in tandem with the military. A video and pictures of a couple of the aliens were everywhere, green skin, large, bulbous black eyes, and funny looking glass helmets surrounding a big round head. A close up of one of the alien’s faces was now apparently a big meme. 

“Gliblo Gleegab!” came a message that popped up atop the phone screen as Rena got settled in, sitting in bed. Mari.

“What is all this nonsense now?” Rena responded.

“That means ‘Obey or be destroyed’ in alien.” 

“Says who?” 

“Says the aliens” 

“The aliens can’t speak human language. Or can they?” 

“Everyone is saying that’s what it means.” 

“You probably shouldn’t believe everything *people* say. Besides, ‘the aliens’ is so unspecific. Which aliens are you talking about exactly?” 

“Oh my goooood you’re always like this you know which aliens everyone is talking about.”

“Also saying ‘the aliens’ is pretty offensive don’t you think? One day the alien human alliance is gonna look back on what you said and deem you racist. Would not happen to me.”

“I’ll never sympathize with a damn alien! My grandma fought in the great alien war!” 

“Ok crank up the racism. I know a few aliens. They’re pretty nice people.” 

“You wish you knew an alien you freak!” 

“So what if I do? They’re very cute and intelligent.” 

“You want to kiss an alien! You want alien eggs inside you!” 

“You’re the one who always brings up alien eggs anytime anyone mentions aliens.” 

“Cause I know that’s what you like.” 

“What if Chandra turned out to be an alien?” 

“Then I would already be egg pregnant.” 

“What the fuck.” 

“And Chandra would be a hot alien so it doesn’t matter.” 

“Definitely think Chandra would be more of a cute alien but that’s just me.” 

“Doesn’t matter. I’d be halfway to term with her half alien spawn.” 

“We have to talk about something else.” 

“Always so jealous. Jealous Rena. If you want some of these eggs you’d just have to ask.”

“You two didn’t actually fuck did you? I know you could never score that.” 

“Fuck you! Who says I can’t? You could say we have a *mouth to mouth* relationship.” 

“Then you wouldn’t be egg pregnant you freak.” 

“Everyone knows the aliens reproduce by sticking their tongue down your throat. Their tongue has eggs in it.” 

“I’m leaving now goodbye.” 

“No wait, bitch hol up.

Kelsey and me and Jessica are gonna get food tomorrow and Kelsey asked if you wanted to come.” 

“Uhhh Kelsey isn’t gonna try to get me to pay for her window is she?” 

“Lmao nah that psychic bitch offered but Kelsey’s loaded anyway.” 

“Psychic bitch? You mean Sylvie?” 

“Uh. No, idiot the bitch who threw your face through the window.” 

“Wait. Oh duh. Woops yeah.” 

“That shit was crazy by the way. You’re dating that bitch?” 

“The girl who threw my face through the window???”

“No I meant Sylvie. Sorry.” 

“No. Very much not. We’re just friends.” 

“Yeah yeah. I know how it goes. You should invite her.” 

“I seriously doubt you ‘know how it goes’. Did Kelsey want Sylvie to come? They don’t know each other do they?”

“Nah but she saved your life. Did you even do anything to repay her?” 

“I don’t know if Amber really wanted to kill me.” 

“I bet you didn’t even say thank you huh?”

Wait. I totally did didn’t I? Oh fuck. I had to, right? Rena thought. Ooooooh shit.

“Wow what do you take me for?”

“Your awkward ass probably iced her out and didn’t even know how to say thank you.”

“My friends are so kind.” 

“Anyway if you say yes I’ll pick you up at like 11. Ask her to come or don’t. I have done by part.” 

“Yeah I guess I’m free at that time.” 

Rena returned to scrolling through social media. Now laying on her side in bed. It was still around 10. An unusually early time to be awake. Laying in bed waiting to fall back asleep and get up again in preparation for the day’s work. Alienposting was becoming quite a humorous phenomena. Several memes were circulating of hypothetical and funny responses of famous superheroes towards the alien invasion. Several people were jokingly expressing how they would defend themselves if the aliens came to their town. 

Rena continued scrolling aimlessly, but none of the information stuck. Every new picture or drawing of a small, green, scared alien in an oversized space suit blurred together in her mind until she was imagining herself as an alien. 

She sat in the cockpit of a tiny, metal craft constructed no sturdier than tinfoil. At the whims of all the elements of space, every asteroid. Lasers and bits of detritus from long over battles drifted through space, and she had no choice but to avoid them or be cast adrift by the destruction of her little craft. 

After interminable drifting, Rena awoke in the body of a disgusting human. It was about time to get to work.