Vanessa Barneveld - Under the Milky Way

Praise for Vanessa Barnevelds

Ms. Barneveld has done it again! This story is gorgeous. It has everything: romance, mystery, suspense. The speculative backdrop adds a delicious ambiance to this atmospheric tale. This is everything I want in a book!

Darynda Jones, New York Times bestselling author of the Charley Davidson series

Under the Milky Way is out of this world. This novel has it all: Swoony romance! Alien abduction! Mystery!

Marlene Perez, bestselling author of the Dead Is and Afterlife series

Under the Milky Way is the perfect read, tugging at your heartstrings while sending chills down your spine. Deftly paced and plotted, Barneveld keeps readers guessing through its exciting conclusion.

Tina Ferraro, author of Top Ten Uses for an Unworn Prom Dress

With prose that pops with supernatural charm, Vanessa Barneveld delivers a captivating story filled with earthly intrigue, extraterrestrial twists, and a romance thatll levitate even the heaviest of hearts!

Darcy Woods, award-winning author of Smoke and Summer of Supernovas

Under the Milky Way is a thrilling paranormal romance sure to skyjack you from start to finish. Barnevelds writing is perfection, the story high-octane and the characters so tender and fierce, they will haunt you long after theyre gone. Read this book. Read it now! Youll never see homecoming the same again

A. K. Wilder, bestselling author of Crown of Bones

Fun, riveting, and addicting. Vanessa Barneveld has crafted an out-of-this-world story suggesting that were not alone in the universe, while exploring the heartfelt relationshipsromantic or familial, human or alienthat keep us grounded on this earth. Prepare to giggle, gasp, and swoon!

Pintip Dunn, New York Times bestselling author of Forget Tomorrow and Dating Makes Perfect

Also by Vanessa Barneveld

This Is Your Afterlife

Live Fast, Die Young

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

Copyright 2021 by Vanessa Barneveld. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce, distribute, or transmit in any form or by any means. For information regarding subsidiary rights, please contact the Publisher.

Entangled Publishing, LLC

10940 S Parker Road

Suite 327

Parker, CO 80134

Entangled Teen is an imprint of Entangled Publishing, LLC.

Visit our website at www.entangledpublishing.com .

Edited by Lydia Sharp, Stacy Abrams, and Liz Pelletier

Cover design by Elizabeth Turner Stokes

Cover images by

Couple Shutterstock/Iaroslava Daragan

UFO Shutterstock/rodnikovay

Interior design by Toni Kerr

ISBN 978-1-68281-573-1

Ebook ISBN 978-1-68281-582-3

Manufactured in the United States of America

First Edition August 2021

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

For Mum, who wanted to believe.

Under the Milky Way is a thrilling and romantic out-of-this-world mystery that will keep you on the edge of your seat. However, the story includes discussion of divorced parents and kidnappings; scenes depicting use of needles and extreme physical pain; scenes depicting a character with a mental illness and undergoing drug therapy. Readers who may be sensitive to these elements, please take note.
Authors Note : This book features Deaf and also Dutch-Indonesian characters. Every effort was made to verify the use of American Sign Language and foreign-language phrases. Any errors in translation are that of the author.

Track 1

You Shook Me All Night Long

August 1977

The Nullarbor Plain, Australia

T he feeble lights of Mitch Klaxons Toyota van illuminated a stretch of Nullarbor highway that was more red dust than asphalt. Theyd not passed a single dwelling since sunset, and the next township was at least sixty kilometers away.

Mitch didnt scare easily. At the Perth gig, even as he dodged beer canssome empty, some half fullhed kept on singing. Didnt miss a single note. That was one reason why he was a great front man for the band he and his brother Les had started in their mums garage six months ago.

But one thing that did scare the leather trousers off of him was flying. Too many musicians had fallen out of the sky already. Patsy Cline. Buddy Holly. Otis Redding. He didnt want to be another statistic. Which was why he was taking the band on a thirty-six-hour road trip from the sleepy western end of Australia to the glittering lights of Melbourne.

If they werent so broke, the rest of the band would have hated him for it. Didnt stop them from grumbling about the lack of air-conditioning or suspension. Despite the bumps from potholes and cracks, the guys snoozed in the back, their heads resting on guitar cases and amps.

Jangly strains of The Rolling Stones leaked quietly from the radio. Mitch frowned as static began to buzz.

Bugger, he said, twiddling the knob in search of a station. Finding none, he flipped the radio off and squinted at the horizon.

Bright headlights glimmered far ahead.

Without warning, the van shook to a halt. The dash lights and headlights blinked once, twice, then extinguished.

Shit, Mitch muttered, and turned the ignition key. Nothing. Decrepit as the van was on the outside, he knew there was enough petrol in the tank. And the engine was a die-hard block of Japanese iron. Itd take a meteor to demolish it. Guys, we have a problem.

When none of his band mates replied, he faced them. All were fast asleep.

Hey, he said, shaking his brother. Les, wake up. Help me push-start this thing.

But Les remained dead to the world.

Mitch peered out of the windscreen, shielding his eyes as the approaching cars headlights grew brighter.

Jeez, turn off your high beams, mate, he said, opening the drivers door so he could get out and flag the motorist down for help.

As Mitchs booted right foot touched the dusty tarmac, a vibration rumbled all the way up his body. His gaze was stuck on the oncoming car, which seemed to be rushing toward him at breakneck speed.

Immediately, the silence struck him. It was like hed stepped into a vacuum. No crickets chirping. Nothing from his band mates in the van.

Most troubling of all, the approaching car was completely silent, too. Not even the rattle of a fender on the bumpy highway. And it was heading straight for Mitchs van. Growing bigger and bigger.

It was wider than the roadway, Mitch realized. As it came closer, more lights fanned out horizontally, and he glimpsed the shape of something smooth and elongated. This was no car. Not even semitrailers hooked together in the road trains that were common in these parts.

Mitch stood frozen in place. He couldnt turn away from those blinding halogen-blue lights. They burned his skin, pierced his eyeballs. Helpless, he tried to yell, but his throat felt like it was being squeezed by a giant invisible hand.

Now less than a hundred meters away, the lights pitched upward, lifting higher and higher.