Chapter One
Sasha’s mother shouted about everything.
Ev-ery-thing.
From complaining about the weather and Sasha’s split-ends to Sasha’s amount of airtime—it was never ending. Which was why, when she heard her mother’s voice rise, Sasha didn’t bother paying attention to what the woman said. More than likely, it would be the same crap as always. What was the point of stressing about her momma’s drama-llama now? Pretty sure that her mother was on the phone, Sasha figured she was shouting about wanting more airtime and money. The managers at the local television station where Sasha worked were terrified of her mother.
Which meant she’d probably get her way. As always.
Sasha went over the schedule one of the production assistants had given her, and a quick scan revealed it would be a decent week—two morning spots and three in the afternoon. She was on almost every day and that was an improvement over the last few weeks. Ever since her mother had gotten Sasha’s contract changed to get them more money per appearance, the number of spots had decreased.
Based on her mother’s continued raised voice, the number of TV slots might be going up even further soon.
She sighed and tossed the schedule aside, unsure how to feel about her mom’s interference and what it’d mean for her career.
It had taken Sasha a while to get onto mainstream TV. Initially, she had worked with her mother on a YouTube channel and presented her thoughts on fashion, makeup, and light news. The audience responded well, and she’d ended up with a couple million followers in the first month. Sasha had been content with that level of success. She’d loved her little show, Sasha Says.
Her mother’s voice rose again, almost shrill, and Sasha glanced in her mother’s direction. Jenna was almost toe-to-toe with the station manager, arms folded and eyes hard. The woman knew enough about TV production by now to see that there wasn’t enough room for a regular light news reporter. Her bit was popular, but it wasn’t considered mainstream.
Sasha sighed and returned her attention to the schedule quickly, not wanting to catch her mother’s eye or draw her attention. The woman was in attack mode and would lash out at anything with the viciousness of a rabid Teacup Yorkie. Rawr.
The thought made Sasha smile, but she quickly smothered the expression before her mom caught sight of her hint of happiness. God forbid anyone be happy while Jenna Dane raged.
Things had been simpler when she was “just” a YouTube star. Once the channel took off, Sasha’s mother contacted magazines and talk shows, setting up interviews and appearances. Even though there had only been a few in the beginning, her popularity grew until people begged the big stations to book her. Sasha had a lighthearted, honest manner that appealed to people in today’s age of lies and misinformation.
The media storm soon transformed into small parts on sitcoms and commercials. Companies bid for her attention to get her endorsement on their products. For whatever reason, Sasha Dane was considered trustworthy by the public.
Of course, things couldn’t remain the same forever.
One day she’d been covering a charity benefit in the park. It had been a fabulous event with rides, junk food stalls, and a hand-crafted market. It’d been for disabled children and kids had been everywhere having their faces painted and screaming in joy as they frolicked and played.
That’s when three Preor dragons arrived.
Some promotions representative had invited them, and apparently they wanted to see the charity work up close. When the three huge dragons blocked out the sun on their flyover, Sasha had been so shocked she’d dropped her microphone and stared into the sky in horror.
“Now, now!” her mother had hissed from her place behind the camera. Sasha nodded firmly and picked up her mic, staring into the camera with a stern expression on her face.
While Sasha recovered from her shock and horror, every single child at the fair took off to the opposite side of the park to greet the dragons. That’s when she’d apologized to her audience for the interruption and used the situation to push her—her mother’s—views.
The Preor hypnotized people. They had humans under a spell. Their presence on Earth would destroy the human race. Just look how the humans flocked to the aliens while abandoning the charity fair.
Of course, her mother had been thrilled by Sasha’s performance, but her popularity split dramatically. A lot of people loved the Preor and wouldn’t support Sasha if she was against the aliens. Other factions rose behind her and she suddenly found that her position was very political.
Her mother loved every moment. There was nothing like a media storm to enhance someone’s popularity, and to her mother there was no such thing as bad press.
Sasha hated the change. She didn’t like the hateful comments on her social media pages or how the other actors treated her after that recording aired. That didn’t mean she trusted the Preor—she was on her mother’s side completely—she just didn’t appreciate how her career hinged on one issue.
The station manager’s voice rose, drawing her from the memory, and Sasha was forced to look in their direction. He protested that Sasha was too controversial for certain time slots and that was that. Her mother went very quiet, body drawn to her full height.
Here we go…
Her mother puffed up her chest, opened her mouth, and let out a blast of angry words, her face right at the station manager’s nose. Yeah, she didn’t need to listen to that hot mess unfold.
Sasha turned away with another sigh, deeply concerned her entire media presence was now “controversial.” Even though she didn’t like the Preor or the changes they made to the planet—as well as the human race—she probably could have handled everything more delicately.
People might actually listen if the subject was approached the right way. Her mother had no charisma and tended to just yell louder when people didn’t agree with her. The woman wound Sasha up so tightly she ended up spewing words at the camera with the delicacy of a meat grinder. No gentle coaxing, but a rapid-fire attack. Ugh.
She needed more information about the Preor, that was for sure. She needed to interview one of these “mates” and do some careful editing to enhance this whole brainwashing angle. Rumors of the “Knowing” ran rampant around the world but no one really knew what it was.
Sounds like brainwashing and programming to me.
She couldn’t figure out how any self-respecting woman would allow herself to be overtaken by an alien so easily.
The one thing she did know was that yelling wasn’t working. Sasha was losing followers and her mother’s solution was to yell even louder. She was simply cutting out a major chunk of her followers by not showing sympathy for their viewpoint.
Instead of, “The Preor are evil. Hate them,” they should be saying, “How well do you really know the Preor?”
Sasha glanced over at her mother again, but the situation hadn’t changed. With a shake of her head, she pulled out her phone, ready to book some charity work around her scheduled television spots. She worked for a few charities, and this week during the month she usually volunteered at the homeless shelter. She didn’t always take her camera crew along, and her mother hated the volunteering so much she generally didn’t bother to capture the footage of Sasha working.