Steps of the Dance: An Alien Invasion Series - The Second Generation, #2

By Patricia Renard Scholes

A planet enslaved. A girl born to rescue them. An alien entity lusting to control her.

 

Born with unique abilities to save her people, Tadessa must learn all she can from her father. Because someday one of the alien entities will find her. Either she will be strong enough to defeat it, or it will possess her, and through her dominate the whole planet.

 

Snake teaches her a physical form of defense called the Dance. As she learns each step, he watches excel in her control the huge flow of energy coursing through her. He knows her greatest challenge will be to learn when to refrain from using it. Amazed with her talents, he realizes his special daughter will eventually be able to do anything required of her.

 

Such training takes years.

 

If one of the creatures gets to her first, it will control all her unique abilities, making her its slave, causing her to become the monster it desires.

 

Is there enough time?

 

Award-winning author, Patricia Renard Scholes, provides this raw and stunning novel filled with action from the very beginning. Don't miss out on Steps of the Dance, the next installment in the Alien Invasion Series – The Second Generation.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lorekeeper Publishing Services
• Release date: Oct 11, 2017
• ISBN: 9781484062883

Patricia Renard Scholes

Born into an abusive home, Patricia determined to make a better home when she married. She realized as soon as her first child was born that she needed to relearn how to parent. After much reading, trial and error, and advice, she accomplished her goal so well she began to parent other children in her home. That is the background Patricia brings into her stories. Her "children" are heroes, survivors who lived through tough childhoods and went on to become successful adults. Although her work is mainly science fiction, her characters are based on composites of real people who also must live with their decisions. Patricia and her husband, live outside of Durango, Colorado, surrounded by national forest, a great environment for a writer.  

Book preview

Chapter 1

The sky pushed a warm glow of light onto the horizons as Karra rushed her daughter toward their new home.

Safety had its price.  Karra was willing to pay any price to keep her daughter safe. Chalatta, full of questions, sent snippets of them gasping out at odd moments.  Each time Karra glanced back, she saw her little girl’s eyes wide, the way they became when a hundred questions nudged toward expression. But Karra had no time to answer them. They were hours away from where they needed to be, and soon dawn would make them visible to everyone.

Chalatta kept stumbling in mounds of snow, and then would run to catch up, but Karra didn’t slow. She had to get through their old neighborhood before someone recognized them.

The early dawn blossomed into full morning before Karra stopped, so suddenly that Chalatta ran into her. She pulled her daughter to her and eased into the shadow of a building, while she kept her eyes on the airway glistening not far away in the morning light. No dark-uniformed Security guarded the entrance, but a handful of people moved in and out.

Karra glanced down at her once-beautiful B’anu silk dress and sighed in defeat. They would be noticed.  Nevian attire was very out of place here in the Area. The populace wore durable thickweave, a fabric known for its warmth and function, not the flimsy, stylish threads that adorned her body.

I hoped to be there by now, Karra said, more to herself than her daughter. She kept staring at the airway and at the increasing number of people boarding individual bubbles to speed them to their destinations. In the distance, more individuals strode toward them; their number made Karra even more nervous.

Wh...  Chalatta gulped for air.  Where?

Karra knelt beside her daughter.  It was time Chalatta she knew a couple of things about their new home. 

There are some people I know.  We’ll be staying with them but...  Her eyes flitted toward the airway again.  She wondered when she would be able to offer her daughter a measure of security.

No one I know is safe, baby girl, Karra finally admitted aloud.  What am I thinking, taking my one precious jewel into my world?

I’m not a baby, Chalatta said in protest.  "I’m seven today."

Karra chuckled under her breath.  So you are.  How silly of me to forget that a girl of seven is no longer a baby.

Her daughter snuggled under Karra’s arm.  Karra loved the rare moments of closeness and wished she knew how leave herself open enough to enjoy them.  She always felt as if she fought against herself, the desire to be close warring with her need to keep a protective distance.

Now was not the time to discuss her failings as a mother.  Do you remember why I had my youngest sister and brother walk you to and from school?

Kata and Benej kept me safe from the bad people, Chalatta said.  Mama, I know how to hide.  I’m not afraid of bad people.

She couldn’t keep back the bit of a smile that escaped.  I know, baby.  I know.  But it might be a bit different if we have to live with some of them.

We’re gonna live with bad people? That doesn’t sound like a very good idea, Mama.

Well, they won’t be bad to you.  Some memories still hurt.  When I was just a few years older than you, I lived on the streets.  Both my parents were dead, and no one else cared if I lived or died.  I lived with these people, off and on, until I could finally survive on my own.

Karra wondered if her daughter understood. 

What about Aunt Kata and Uncle Benej? Chalatta said.  They’re your brother and sister.

They were younger than me by several years.

Well, didn’t Aunt Su care about you?  She cares about me.

Karra remembered how it had been, her brief visits to a home that was never hers.  Karra and seven siblings survived their parents’ deaths.  Her next-to-oldest brother, Jem, moved into Homelander Front Headquarters instead of the new apartment Carlon rented for them. The Front, being the only organized resistance against their Nevian invaders, replaced his family. 

Her oldest brother, Carlon, not quite out of his teens, provided for the rest of them financially, but he never made it a secret that he didn’t want her around. Even Suzin expected no more than visits.  Karra had been only ten.

Maybe Su, Karra said.  Su agreed to watch you for me.

Aunt Su loves us, Chalatta said with a firm nod of her head.

Has she ever said so? Had anyone ever actually spoken up on her behalf?

Well, no.  But she calls me her little girl lots of times.  And that means she loves you too, doesn’t it?

I suppose so. She knew otherwise. Her sister wanted Chalatta as her own child. Su provided her daughter with stability and love, making her home a healthy place to live.  Karra couldn’t have asked a better person as a substitute mother for her daughter during the years she couldn’t parent her.  Am I doing the right thing by taking my daughter away?

If I could make it possible, would you like to go back?

Instead, Chalatta pulled herself away so that her mother could see her face, and jutted out her chin. No.  I want to live with you.

Not that there was much choice. Jem would use his niece to make sure she returned to her assignment. Her daughter was safer hiding with bad people than she ever would be with Jem. 

Karra rose and turned her attention at the airway.  Good.  Then it’s settled.  Here’s the situation.  I wanted to use the cover of night to get us to our destination, but morning’s already here, and people are now using the airway tubes to get to work.  So instead of the cover of night, we’ll use the crowds to hide our movements.  She still worried about her Nevian gown attracting attention, but there was nothing she could do about it.

Suddenly she felt a cold shiver of air, and blinked in irritation.  From here, Snake?  He was much more powerful than anyone had a right to be. 

We won’t be noticed, Chalatta said, surprising her.

How do you know that?

Chalatta shrugged.  I just know.

Karra stared at her daughter, puzzled, then squared her shoulders.  Let’s go.

Chalatta beamed at her in complete trust and thrust her eager hand into her mother’s. It’s kinda like an adventure, right Mama?

Kind of, Karra said, wishing her adventures were less dangerous.

As they walked toward the airway, no one even glanced at them, not that she expected anyone would, now that Snake had hidden them.  I told him not to bother.  But when has he ever listened to me?  What niggled at her the most, though, was that Chalatta seemed to know without being told what he had done.  No, her easy response to Snake’s hiding them, as if she understood it, scares me, another reason to doubt the wisdom of this whole adventure.

Karra waited for an opening, then stepped into the bubble, and pressed a code.  The membrane formed around them.  A breath later they sped through the airway tube toward their destination. 

Only twice before had Chalatta traveled by airway.  Karra stole glances at her daughter’s expressions as the city rushed beneath them, delighted with each flicker of awe and amazement.

When the bubble stopped and finally opened, Karra pulled her daughter out so that they would not accidentally touch those waiting to enter.  People became unnerved when something they couldn’t see touched them. 

It’s not far.  Karra whispered because disembodied voices were just as disturbing as being touched by unseen people. 

But Chalatta paid no attention.  She gazed around her in amazement. Karra imagined she might be comparing the boxy apartments in shades of gray and dun of her former neighborhood to this new neighborhood with the blocks of plastiform giving everything a pinkish-orange glow.

Plastiform, Chalatta said.  Right, Mama?

Karra grinned.  Yes.  Much of this part of the city has been rebuilt in plastiform blocks or liquid plastiform poured over a frame of some kind.  See how some of the upper floors seem to grow into the adjoining buildings?"

What are those things in front of the shops, the ones on legs?

Porches, Karra said. They keep the snow away from the front door of the shop so that even in winter they can have customers. Do you remember how often Sirra Darrell, the grocer back in your old neighborhood, shoveled the snow away?  Even with his door a half a story above ground level, he still had to shovel snow all the time.

He had that canopy, but coulda used a porch.  Oh, Mama, this is the most exciting neighborhood.  Look at all the shops.  We don’t have this many shops anywhere at home.

We’re heading for the main thoroughfare, Karra said. It’s a wide avenue with stores lining both sides of the street. In the center will be a row of street venders selling everything you can imagine.

I can imagine a lot. Oh, there’s a grocery. And another one over there. We only have one, well, I mean in our old neighborhood there was only Sirra Darrel’s.  And bars.  Does every neighborhood have bars? Look, Mama, a hardware store.  That means they sell tools and such, right?  And there’s a place that sells fabric and yarn. We don’t have anything like that at home.  Books.  Mama, there are bookstores.  I’ve never seen a bookstore before, and here there is more than one. Toys?  They have stores that sell toys?  They don’t just make them at home?  A candle store.  Soaps and lotions.

Chalatta paused to catch her breath.  Oh, she sighed.  A bakery. A bakery, Mama. Erren’t you hungry? I’m starving.

Chapter 2

"What do you mean Karra’s kid’s not here?" Jem said.

Suzin wiped her eyes with a towel. They were red and swollen from weeping. Her brother had never acted this way toward her before. 

How many times do I need to tell you?  I put Chalatta to bed as I always do, then joined her after I finished doing a few things.  We’ve shared the same bed since she was a baby.  You know that.  What’s going on, Jem?

When did she leave? Surely you felt her get out of bed.  You always sleep on the outside of the bed, Su. Be more specific.

For the first time in her life she felt an edge of fear as he confronted her. She stared at him a long time before continuing.  She had always thought he looked so much like their father, but father never held his mouth in that grim, unyielding manner.  Father’s eyes, although as dark as Jem’s, never looked at any family member as if boring through an enemy.  In the next moment, she realized he might not accept her words, even though true.

I was asleep.  If she needs to use the facility during the night, I won’t necessarily wake for that. She just turned seven, Jem, and is quite capable of going into the facility by herself.  But this morning she was gone.  If you have any idea what has happened to her, you need to tell me.

And her mother?

Karra? 

Yes.  Karra.  Where is she, and where did she take her brat?

Now she understood.  Tears started again, except now hot anger lay behind them. 

This isn’t about Chalatta at all, is it?  You always just pop in here as if you have the right.  This time you let me pour my heart out because my little girl is missing.  Brat?  You just called her a brat, Jem.  But that’s how you think of her, isn’t it?  You’re looking for her mother and thought I knew where she might have taken her.  Well, I don’t know where Karra is.  I never saw her.  Just yesterday Chalatta and I sat at the table to plan her birthday party, because she’s seven today.  Today, Jem, as if you cared.  All you care about is if I know where she might have taken Chalatta.  But she’s not here and you know something.

Even as the rambling words tumbled out she realized her spitting rage drew her, not logic.  Still enraged, she pounded on Jem’s chest as if to pound out everything he knew.

He grabbed her wrists together one-handed with a strength she never knew he possessed, his face rigid with fury.

Her fear returned. Except for his appearance, everything else about him was not the Jem she knew.  Something colder than hatred stared back at her from his eyes.

That’s enough, he said, his voice nearly a whisper.  Calm down.

Suzin, frozen, could not have spoken had she wanted to.  She waited for him to release her.

When he did, a cruel grin formed on his lips.  But when you find out something, you’ll let me know, won’t you?

She found herself nodding.

He reached in his pocket and gave her a card.  This isn’t my personal information.  You can’t track me by contacting this man.  But you’ll tell the person on this card whatever you learn.

His eyes had become black pools, drawing her inside.  Nothing else existed except his need.  She must please him.  To fail meant death.  She knew it.  Again she nodded.

Look at it.

Her attention darted toward what he held.  She wanted to look away, but the information burned itself into her memory:  Frenell Perston, Exit 11-070, Bldg., 2, #408, Vid #64052.

Yes, he said. His single word released her.

She met his eyes again, anticipating more instructions.

You will contact this person as soon as you find out anything.  Won’t you.  Suzin.

She would.  As soon as she learned anything at all.  Her heart hammered a staccato rhythm that echoed in her head.

Jem left, and the darkness went with him.  Badly shaken, Suzin crumpled to the floor, too stunned to weep.  Hysteria crouched beside her, causing her whole body to tremble.  What happened?  What was that terrible darkness?  Who was this person who looks like my brother yet spoke to me with a voice as cold as the Northrange Wind?

Chapter 3

Karra led Chalatta into Mirra diZilla’s Parlor.  A bell on the door announced their arrival.

This early in the freetin’ morning? Berita diZilla entered her domain with all the theatrical imperiousness of a queen. Her size, if nothing else, gave her words substance.  Berita, dressed in many shades and patters of red, including the scarf on her head, was not a small woman.

Karra stifled a giggle, wondering if her daughter understood that it was no more than an act.

Evidently not. Chalatta leaned into her as if she could hide within the folds of Karra’s B’anu silk gown. 

Come over here and sit down, Scout.

Chalatta might not have obeyed had not Karra placed her in the seat across from the large woman.

She wants to tell your future, Karra said.

If she knows so much, how come she erren’t got my name right? Chalatta said, her voice a bit squeaky as she tried to sound indignant.

Karra sat in one of the chairs in the front of the shop, keeping her back to the huge window.  She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, loving the fragrance of the herbs Berita sold.

Just how many do you want to know that name of yours? Berita asked Chalatta. Walls sometimes have ears, you know.

Chalatta looked around at the walls, her eyes wide.

Give me your hand, Berita said.

Chalatta glanced at her mother at the same time the large woman grasped her hand in her fleshy brown paws. 

Suddenly Berita threw her head back and let out a gurgling howl.  Chalatta yanked her hand back, and turned her eyes toward her mother, alarmed.

Karra opened one eye, unimpressed.

You’re no help. Berita glared at Karra. All right, enough of the theatrics. She stared directly at Chalatta.  Your future will prove to be interesting, Scout.  Whether you live or not, however, depends on how well you learn some basic skills.  So let’s get this day started.

Berita stood and walked to the front door, locking it.

Chapter 4

Striding back of her shop, Berita brushed back the tapestry door that separated the shop from the apartment behind it. Karra, with a touch to her daughter’s shoulder, followed. When Berita removed her boots, Karra noticed her daughter watching. She removed the dainty slippers that complemented her formerly lovely gown, with a sigh of regret. The Area was not kind to delicate footwear.  She frowned at the stains left from sleeping in an alley the night before last had embedded in the fabric. She had once loved this dress.

Chalatta, after a glance at her mother, removed her boots too.

Living room, Berita announced in her never-quiet voice. Large, comfortable, and filled with rugs and pillows. She gestured to a far door. My room. You will not go in there. With a nod at a curtained bay window room, she said, Your room, little one. That padded seat, which is also your bed, is hinged. You will store your things inside there. She jutted her chin toward a pair of tapestries. Beyond that is the kitchen.

Compared to the shop, the apartment was small, even though it was larger than many Area apartments. Karra never noticed that before, even though, at one time, this had been her home.

A dark, lean man rose from one of the pillows, his full attention on Chalatta.  "Beneree," he said, touching his forehead.

Chalatta tried to slide back into the folds of Karra’s Nevian clothing.  Mama, she said under her breath.  Are these the bad people you were talking about?

Bad? Berita swung toward Chalatta, chuckling.  Soon she was howling.  B-bad! she said, choking on her laughter.  No one’s as bad as your mama, Scout.

Karra responded with an easy smile. Says you. If you’ll fix breakfast, I’ll heat water for dishes.  I need to heat water for a bath anyway.  I smell like a drunk.

You are a drunk, should anyone come up and ask.  But some breakfast might be nice.  What do you say, little one?  You interested in helping with breakfast, or would you rather help with dishes afterwards?

How is Chalatta going to respond, Karra wondered.  Suzin never insisted Chalatta help with anything, even though she was old enough.  It was one aspect of her sister’s parenting that Karra found lacking. 

I think I can wash the dishes, Chalatta said in a small voice.

Great! Berita said.  "I always love help in the kitchen.  Your mama was never any good at cooking, but she was

Reviews for Steps of the Dance

[jayblac21 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

If you read book one then like me you might be like me wondering why this book opens the way it does considering that at the end of the first book Karra and Chalatta had already made it safely to their new home Chapter 1 should have been at the end of book 1 and this book should have started with chapter 2 I think the scene with Jem interrogating Suzin would have been the perfect opening for this book. The author did a great job on Karras character her change in personality was done well and is immediately evident . I like how the author leaves clues like when Jem uses his compulsion on Suzin if gives insight into why Karra is afraid to learn to you her power. She had been compelled by. Jem who was jealous of her to never to use it a little personal insight because this is corroborated by events in book 1 but has not yet been confirmed. I really enjoyed he story aside from the mishap with the beginning the book was excellent I really enjoyed. I like that the philosophical vibe is very light the characters are great I look forward to book 3