Real threat. The words reverberated in Caeyin’s mind like an alarm bell, and it took everything inside of him not to press the human for more information. He couldn’t tell if she was telling him the truth or lying through her teeth again just to scare him. According to the Higher Powers, he and the other scouts had been sent on their mission specifically to wipe out the rest of the humans—if there were any survivors left—because [i]they[/i] were supposed to be the threat to the Lunairan people. If there was something else that was more dangerous, it was an unknown variable, and they may not have been prepared for it.

For a moment, he was almost tempted to swallow his pride and call for help, if only to alert the other scouts to this new potential danger. However, being unsure if she was trying to trick him or not, he didn’t touch the button on his belt. It would have been even more humiliating if he summoned the others to his location to be freed from a single human who had managed to overpower him and then warned his comrades about a hazard that didn’t exist. The pilot might even decide he was too easily manipulated to carry on with his assignment and send him back to the mothership. He tensed at the thought, deciding inwardly that it wasn’t worth the risk. Even if she was being truthful, he was sure the scouts could handle the danger without him.

“Don’t get your hopes up,” he muttered as the human seemed to lose interest in verbally harassing him. When he was finally left alone, he was relieved, though he tracked her movement with his violet eyes to make sure she was really done with him for now. It looked like she was going to take her own advice and get some rest in what looked like a makeshift sleeping area in the back of the winged vehicle.

Taking the opportunity to examine his restraint again, Caeyin turned away from her as she settled on her bed and fiddled with the metal wrapped around his wrist. Unfortunately, it held fast, so he proceeded to inspect the pole to which the other end was attached. He hoped that he would find a weak spot that he could exploit to break himself free, but both the device and its anchor were sturdily built. He was stuck unless he could get ahold of the key for the piece that held his wrist.

Frustrated, he let out an irritable huff and glanced at the human again with narrowed eyes. She seemed to be ignoring him with her nose in what he guessed was a book. He wasn’t in the mood to strike up another conversation, nor did he expect that she would simply give him the key if he asked, but he refused to be a compliant prisoner. If she was going to tie him up and keep him as some sort of trophy in her hideout, he was going to make her life as difficult as possible.

Shifting on the floor, he did his best to make himself comfortable by laying down on his side and folding his unbound arm beneath his head. Instead of going to sleep, though, he looked up at the human once more, his pupils dilating as he reached out to her telepathically and seized control of her optic nerves. With the connection in place, he closed his eyes, feigning sleep while he overrode her sight with a vision of the contents of her book disappearing off the pages so that she was left with what looked like a binding of blank paper.