Christen kept glancing at Sera as the girl jerked in her sleep, haunted by trauma.

If she could make it go away, would that help Sera? The memories would be gone, but the effects would not entirely disappear from Sera's primal subconscious. The dregs of fear, anger, pain, and loss that she couldn't explain would remain, and her brain would perpetually try to make sense of it, working to fill in the blanks.

"What are you mulling over?" Sera asked, blinking rapidly as she tried to clear the sleep from her eyes, and wiped her dirty nose with her sleeve.

Christen had been so lost in thought she didn't notice the changes in her charge's breathing and heart rate as she woke.

"Seemed like you were having a nightmare, and I realized this experience would haunt and always remain with you. What if I can make the memories disappear? But be warned, some of the feelings would remain like an echo," she revealed.

Sera had been so tired when they finally reached civilization that they hadn't spoken much. They were just too glad to find a place to crash and be safe for a few hours.

Christen broke into this newly abandoned motel because she didn't want the authorities alerted to their presence and settled the girl in the furthest room from the entrance. It led out to a fire escape if they needed to leave, and it was still amazingly intact. Only the first ten rooms were tampered with, but that slightly mildewy scent of a place that stood closed up had already settled into the light-colored furniture and industrial gray carpets.

"Do you want to help me or to hide your secret?" Sera asked astutely.

"As much as I want to help you and protect you from the people who own me. These people will do anything to safeguard themselves, and I don't want you to end up as collateral damage," she admitted, allowing Sera to see her sincerity.

"Do they own the lieutenant too?" Sera asked, and it took a second for Christen to realize she spoke about her new alien "cousin."

"No, I don't expect they realize these cousins of mine exist. While I was an accidental experiment, they seem to have evolved on their own."

Why did she trust this girl with a secret that could get them both killed and expose Michael Williams and his people?

"Look, I know you're not human or not all human, but I prefer not to learn the details. Perhaps I'd like to remember you as the superhuman who saved me from a horrible fate. Twice. I wasn't in that compound because I am a senator's daughter. Few people are aware of this, but they adopted me at birth. I was there because I sense things I shouldn't."

A sound reached Christen's ears, but she dismissed it as a rodent even as she noted it. Nothing human-sized registered in the building.

But she hadn't been able to pick up on Michael and his people all the time; what if one of them worked for the enemy? Christen dismissed the thought.

"If my father was not such a powerful man, they would do experiments on me like they did with Lina, a friend of mine. Humans are changing, evolving, and they want to learn why. Those people weren't Mexicans or Cartel criminals, they were Russian, and I was born in the Ukraine."

Sera sat upright and tugged her arms around her legs as if hugging herself, resting her chin on her knees, and looking awfully young.

If what she said was true, why did Dana and her people not know about this? Or did they?

"Lina concluded that our gifts came from subtle genetic manipulation perpetrated by pharmaceutical companies under military contracts among poor Eastern block countries in the eighties and nineties. We resulted from three generations of carefully selected DNA," Sera revealed.

The girl was not lying and believed those words. Christen shifted off the single, rather comfortable bed. Tired of lying down and ready to get out of this bloody country.

"What exactly do you sense?" she asked, intrigued and worried about what that might mean.

"Sometimes I can read people's thoughts, but I couldn't read you or your cousins, and there was a disconnect as if you were not the same as me. Mostly, I perceive people's feelings and when they lie, hide something, or even bend the truth."

Sera inspected a rather inflamed-looking cut on her arm. It wasn't life-threatening, but maybe she could find some antiseptic for her charge and use a piece of linen for a bandage.

"Apparently, I am more accurate than a lie detector. So, your secret is safe with me. I've been hiding what I can do all my life, and lie detector tests don't work on me. Ask the Russians; they tried. I don't want you to take my memories. What I learned in that compound would help my father to keep me safe," Sera confided.

This explained so much. Sera's composure, ability to adapt, and strength in this situation seemed odd for such a young woman, but her life explained her fortitude. They had that in common, as well as being different.

"Although I trust you, Sera, my people will realize that to survive what we did, you would have glimpsed something of what I am," Christen said, turning the tap, and after a few spurts of sludge, clean water followed.

Washing out a cup, she filled it with water and offered it to Sera, but before she could finish washing another, the girl had drained hers and held it out again.

She must be starving as well. They had little food in the last two days, and she gave Sera her last ration pack almost twenty hours ago.

"Let me fake amnesia. Tell them you made me forget," Sera suggested.

"Wouldn't work. The moment we came out of the jungle, the chip in my brain established an intermittent signal. They can observe what I see and hear what I hear. Even though they didn't get this, they wouldn't believe you have amnesia," Christen revealed with extreme reluctance and didn't expect the pity in Sera's gaze.

"These people watch everything you do? All the time?" Sera asked, and the idea seemed to horrify her.

Idly opening the hot water tap, she expected it to be cold, but after spitting out some sludge, the water cleared and heated. Apparently, the solar geysers on the roof were still connected and working, and at least they could shower.

She had spotted a linen room down the hall. Maybe with any luck, there might be some uniforms in there, and anything would be better than the grimy, bloody, dirty uniforms they wore.

"Yes," Christen confirmed, and it shocked her how used she had become to having no privacy.

"Then pretend to wipe my memories," Sera said, but Christen glanced to her left and used her right hand to warn the girl that they weren't alone.

"So you understand I have no choice," Christen said as if they were in the middle of a conversation.

Sera scooted off the bed in a desperate bid to escape, and Christen pounced almost instinctively, holding her down.

"You are not in danger, and this will not hurt, I promise. Just keep calm," she said, but the girl kicked and wriggled as if she were about to be murdered.

"Don't please, don't!" she implored, still fighting, closing her eyes and humming.

Careful not to harm her, Christen caught Sera's hands above her head with her right hand and straddled her.

She caught the girl's chin in her hand, and Sera finally opened her eyes and grew silent. Their gazes met, and something happened. For a second, she was so convincing that Christen feared she had accidentally erased the girl's mind. Then Sera winked at her, a movement too quick for anyone else to pick up.

"When the link severed, your pupils dilated," Sera said as Christen let go.

Smart girl.

How did she not know that happened?

"Dear, you were awfully convincing," Christen said with trepidation.

Had she been hoodwinked?

"Unfortunately, I had a lot of practice hiding myself. You're the first person, apart from Lina and my father, whom I've told. The things those people did to her to test and expand her gift changed her."

Christen opened the drawer next to the fetid and empty mini-fridge, and to her surprise, it still contained a few bags of peanuts and chips.

"She's older than me by four years and works for them now. Lina has become a stranger who avoids me 'to keep my secret,' but I figure it's because she fears I would see into her mind. My gift is stronger than hers and getting more powerful," Sera said sadly, and for just a moment, she was just a kid who missed a friend closer to her than a sister.

Christen tossed her a few bags and took only one for herself. She was never fond of peanuts, and Sera ripped into them as only someone starving could, barely chewing.

Despite her fast metabolism, if she had to, she could survive without food and water for far longer than a normal person.

"They are slightly stale," she apologized.

"Hunger is the best cook; this tastes like heaven," Sera said through a mouth full of mixed chips and peanuts.

They might be safe for now, but who knew when their enemies would catch up to them or how they would get over the border? It also bothered her that despite the connection to headquarters, Dana had not yet given her instructions or spoken to her.