"Well, actually Waheeb, there is one more thing—" Fatim began nervously but didn't complete the sentence. She looked at Nate as if hoping he would explain it.

"Please don't freak out after hearing this, Waheeb," Nate said. And finished her thought, "Fatim and I aren't human."

I was having trouble believing they were from a different planet, and now they wanted me to believe they weren't even human. "Yeah right," I said, feeling hurt, "Now I know it's all a joke. Well done guys. You had me fooled. I shared one problem with you, and the two of you decided to have some fun at my expense."

"Whether you believe us or not, we need your help to stop the troublemakers." Fatim gave me an earnest look, and once again, I found myself questioning reality.

I was having a hard time believing anything they had said so far. Not that they could blame me. My mind kept going back and forth. Believe them. Don't believe them. It's true. It's a joke.

Sighing, I wondered if my brain would ever cease playing tricks on me. I had to admit though; they looked convinced of it. Should I dare believe them? And what would that mean for me, for the world I knew of?

Finally, coming to a decision, I said, "Let's hear all of it. If these mysterious beings are ancient and so powerful, then how am I going to save the world when I can't even see them?"

"You don't need to see them. You're their link to this planet, their anchor, as I said before. You can make them go back. They've been messing with your head because they still need you. They're not completely here yet. Once they are, they will probably kill you first and then eat this planet whole. And move on to the next until our universe has no more planets left for them to eat. That's when they'll try to jump to the next universe."

"Your imagination is something, Fatim. I mean, eat the planet? What does that even mean?" I was still not fully convinced. "I can't imagine that happening."

"You're not ready to believe us. I can understand that, but we're running out of time. We have to break your connection with the troublemakers as soon as possible. And for that, we need your compliance. We can't do it without your help." Fatim beseeched me, and I wanted to say yes to whatever she needed.

"Waheeb, how long have you known me?" Nate asked.

"Six or seven years," I said, wondering what he would say to convince me.

"And in that time, when have I ever made fun of you or lied to you about anything?"

"Well, if I'm to believe you now, then you have been lying to me by omission all this time," I pointed out the obvious. Even if I believed him, I wouldn't mind the secrecy. If he was an alien hiding on Earth, it was only fair he would keep it a secret from us humans. But it would also mean that Nate was capable of something I thought he wasn't capable of. Deceit.

"Ah, that's complicated," he said. "We're trying to assimilate here, so revealing ourselves as aliens won't help anyone." At least, he had the decency of looking ashamed.

In my heart, I might be willing to overlook it, but I wasn't about to give him an easy pass. "Yeah, right, that's just an excuse. You should have trusted me. As if I'd ever betray your trust."

"I know, but I don't regret it," Nate said. "Waheeb, you're an amazing person and a good friend. But this secret wasn't mine to share. It affects all my people. I couldn't tell you when we've been trying to hide from everyone else. Still, I apologize to you. Maybe our decision to hide from humans was wrong, but it was a choice we made collectively."

"I don't know, Nate," I wasn't ready to forgive him yet. "Maybe you should've given me more credit. I'm good at keeping secrets. You may not know this, but I have quite a few of my own."

I looked at Fatime then. "And is this why you approached me? Because of these otherwordly creatures, or whatever?"

"I... I like you," she said lamely.

"You have secrets?" Ignoring Fatim, Nate asked me as if the very notion was unfathomable.

"And you're surprised?" I replied pointedly.

"I suppose we all have secrets."

Seeing genuine regret on their faces, I relented. "I accept both your apologies. And I believe you because I know Nate isn't the kind of person to lie to a friend to this extent."

"Finally!" Fatim exclaimed.

"Don't be too happy. We're going to deal with the question of us later," I reminded her. "But first tell me everything about the Havocs." Like Nate, I decided that name suited them better than others. They were wreaking havoc on my brain.

"As we mentioned, we aren't from Earth. Our home planet was destroyed long ago, and that was when we came here. We have been living with humans since then. Hiding our true identities has always been an absolute rule. And as you know by now, Zaroon is the oldest enterer. He is the one who told me about the troublemakers. The two ancient beings whose exact origin is unknown. They feed on planets, and they are coming to Earth to destroy it. It seems you are their ticket to our planet, and for them to come here they somehow need you. Right now, they're just fading in and out of here. That's why sometimes they can talk to you, but not always. Nate saw them once when they were talking to you. But I haven't seen them."

"Hold on a second." I gestured for her to stop talking and looked at Nate. "You saw them? When was that?"

"That one time when you were talking to them on the roof," he admitted.

"So, you knew," I was shocked at his ability to deceive. It was worse than what I thought. "This whole time. When I told you about my "little problem with bodiless voices" you already knew about that?" Then I looked at Fatim, "And you knew it too. OMG!" They were unbelievable. I had been so nervous, and it was nerve-wracking for me to confide in them about my problem, but they already knew. And they were only pretending not to know.

"Look, I know you feel betrayed, but can we argue at some later date," Fatim implored me. "This is a very real problem. The world is in danger, and we're the only ones even aware of the situation. Please, Waheeb, let's fight some other time."

"Alright," I said, defeated. After all, she was right. This was bigger than my hurt feelings. My sense of foreboding had been growing steadily, and now that I knew the truth, it explained a lot. "Okay, so let's talk about the Havocs. This Zaroon guy said they had some kind of connection to the earth through me?"

Fatim nodded. "Yes, that's right. You're their way in."

"Then, how do we break this connection?" Nate said.

"That's the complicated part, I don't know yet."

"Seriously?" This time Waheeb and Nate both exclaimed in unison.

"Look, no one knows these creatures well. Zaroon filled in a lot of blanks, but even he doesn't know everything. He mentioned they had tried to invade our home planet once and failed, which confirms there's a way to stop them. Also, maybe that's the reason you detected their weariness, Nate. If they're avoiding us, there's a reason for it."

"We still don't know enough to draw up the battle plans."

What were these ancient beings? And how were we ever going to fight them if we didn't even know that?