Weight of the World (CC/ Mature) [WIP]

[Anniepoo98]

Part Nine:


Alex let out a deep sigh. He had to go to English. After all, his first period was English. As in first period English with none other than Isabel Evans. “God’s cruel,” he groaned, making his way down the hall.

Today was just not going to be his day. Alex could just tell.

Not only did he have to start off his day with English, but he had completely slept through his alarm. By the time he managed to get dressed, find his books, and get to school, he was running late. Hell, he’d even missed the warning bell. To top of the whole thing, he had woken up with this killer migraine, which was still happily pounding away at the back of his brain like a sledgehammer.

Now, he had to come up with a game plan. There was no way he could face Isabel without one, especially after the brush off from the night before. “What to do, what to do,” he chanted like a mantra as he made his was towards class.

Ignore her.

Freezing in his tracks as the thought crept into his head, Alex felt a tiny smile cross his face at the sheer brilliance of it. That’s it, I’ll just ignore her. She seems to forget I exist, so this will be a taste of her own medicine. Thanks.

You’re welcome, the voice answered. By the way, note to self, get head examined because you talking to yourself... and you’re not even doing it aloud.

“Shut up,” Alex muttered under his breath. The sound resonated through his brain, causing it to pound even harder.

A groan escaped his lips as he started to rub at his head. “Just gonna get through today, go home, and sleep. But first, I have to deal with English and Isabel.”

With a bit of confidence in his stride, Alex hurried on to the classroom. He barely made it in the door before the bell rang. Taking a quick glance, he spotted Isabel sitting in her chair.

“Hey Alex,” she whispered as he passed her.

Damnit, he thought. She wasn’t supposed to do that. She ignores me. That way my ignoring her is much simpler. Why is she messing with the plan?

“Are you okay?” Just the sound of her voice broke though his thoughts.

“Yeah.” Okay, he said it a bit harsher then he meant to, but his just wasn’t turning tou to be his day. Still, he eased the tone down a notice when he added, “Why?”

“Because I need for you to sit, Mr. Whitman, before I can start class,” the teacher chimed in.

Alex winced. “Sorry.” He took a seat in the desk next to Isabel.

The second his butt hit the chair, the teacher dove into her lesson. Alex could feel Isabel’s eyes on him occasionally, but he was still trying to work the ignoring angle of his plan. After about fifteen minutes, he couldn’t stand it anymore.

Turning to face her, he met her gaze head on. “What?” he demanded in a low tone.

Isabel jerked back a bit at the sound of his voice. “What’s the matter with you?”

“Why would anything be the matter?” Irritation was humming just beneath the surface, and for once in his life, Alex wasn’t sure he could keep it from rising.

Isabel wrinkled her nose at him. “You’re grouchy,” she told him. “You never get grouchy.”

“And how would you know,” he snapped at her.

“Mr. Whitman, Miss Evans.” Alex noticed the teacher had stopped the lesson, and was now focusing her attention on him and Isabel. “Do I have to ask the both of you to leave?”

“No,” they replied in unison, falling back into silence for the rest of the class period.

When the bell rang, Alex pushed his way to the door first, determined to get some distance.

“Alex,” he heard Isabel call after him, but he kept moving.”

She yelled to him again, and this time his pace slackened a bit. A few moments later, he felt her fingers wrap around his arm. A second later, she was standing in front of him. “What’s going on with you today?”

Alex shrugged. “Like you said, I’m grouchy.” At least the words managed to sound a bit softer this time. He could see the worry written plainly on her features, and there was a tug of guilt in his belly knowing he was the cause.

Isabel took a deep breath. “And that’s it? You’re grouchy. I’m not buying it. Even when you’re grouchy, you’re not like this.”

Alex let a out a groan. “Would it help if I added that I have a headache?”

A smile spread across her lips as relief lightened up her expression. “Yes,” she conceded, gently reaching out to touch his head. “Do you want me to...”

“No,” Alex cut her off, moving back immediately. “It’ll go away on its own,” he covered up.

Her hand instantly dropped back to her side. “If you’re sure…” Her voice faded, and the look on her face told him that she wasn’t convinced.

“Yes,” Alex eagerly replied. “Now, I gotta go to class. See you later.”

So much for ignoring, his brain scolded as he walked away from her.

Alex rolled his eyes. Shut up, he retorted.

~~~~~~

“Two down, only five more to go,” Liz sighed to herself as she made her way back towards her locker. She had avoided it after first period and the run in with Max, but it was inevitable she would have to go back.

Turning the corner, Liz saw Maria standing impatiently next to her locker, her eyes hunting for her pray. In an attempt to make a quick getaway, Liz veered off the other way, knowing full well that it probably wasn’t going to work.

“OH NO, YOU DON’T!” The sound of Maria shouted echoed down the hallway. There was no escaping a ticked of Deluca

Accepting the inevitable, Liz spun around to face her friend. “Good morning to you too, Maria.” Yes, there was just a hint of sarcasm behind the statement, but Liz didn’t care.

“Don’t take that tone of voice with me,” Maria warned. “Spill.”

“Spill what... huh... what are you talking about?” Even as the words left her mouth, Liz knew they would work. You couldn’t avoid Maria by feigning ignorance or confusion.

Sure enough, Maria simply rolled her eyes. “You know what I’m talking about. That girl… the newest possible Czechoslovakian in town. Is she... well... a Czech.?”

Liz threw up her hands. “I don’t know.” The hands landed on top of her head, and Liz started nervously tugging at her hair. “I just don’t know.”

“What do you mean that you don’t know?” Maria’s hands came to rest on her hips. “Did she do something funky or different?”

Liz shook her head. “No, she didn’t do anything, but...”

“But...” Maria trailed off.

There’s no way around this, Liz thought to herself. This is Maria, after all. At least I can talk to her about some of this.

“But,” Maria repeated. “You’re scaring me, Liz.”

“It’s Serena,” Liz said simply.

Maria’s audible gasp could be heard bouncing down the halls. A few other students turned to look at them. Maria and Liz ignored them completely.

“Not that Serena?” Maria asked in disbelief, her face growing pale by the second.

All Liz could do was nod her head. Words had failed her up to this point, so why bother trying to use them.

“As in...” Maria whispered, than took a deep gulp of air. “... end of the world and ...”

“Future Max,” Liz finished. “Yeah, I think the one he was talking about and this one are the same person.”

Maria swallowed hard in an attempt to get right of the frog in her throat. “Do you think that it means something is going to happen? For instance…” With a jerking motion, she scraped her finger across her throat.

Liz found her heart pounding in her chest. It was one thing for her to think about it. She could chalk it up to paranoia or the like. However, it was something totally different when her best friend started having the same suspicions. That made it more like a confirmation.

“It can’t, Maria,” Liz began. “I won’t let it. I won’t let hurting Max be for nothing. God, he thinks I slept with Kyle, and I’ve done everything in my power to convince him of it. It can’t be for nothing.” By the time she was finished, Liz found herself hyperventilating as the fear rose within her.

Maria quickly guided Liz to the nearest bench, urging her to sit down. “Breath,” she said gently. “Just take a deep breath. Now another.”

Doing as Maria directed, Liz inhaled as much air as she could, filling her lungs, then exhaled it quickly. With each breath, she tried to regain in her emotions... the fear and desperation that wanted to consume her.

“Liz, it’s time to talk to someone,” Maria told her, when she noticed Liz was calming down. “It doesn’t have to be Max, but someone.”

“Like who?”

Maria shrugged, taking the seat next to Liz. “Michael or Isabel. Maybe Alex or Kyle or Valenti... I don’t know, and right now I don’t care. Just talk to someone. You’ve barely slept in a month. This secret is killing you, Liz. And I won’t let that happen.”

Better me than everyone else, Liz thought as closed her eyes. “No,” she said. “We can’t tell any of them.”

Maria opened her mouth to protest, but Liz cut her off. “If we do, Maria, it won’t be long before it gets back to Max. I don’t think I could do what needs to be done if he knew the truth. At least now he has a reason to hate me. I am lying to him. Hell, it’s all I seem to do.”

“But you’re doing it for the right reasons,” Maria countered. “Saving the world is a damn good reason in my book.”

An eerie smile spread across Liz’s lips, radiating a equally eerie calm that seemed to wash over her. “The road to hell is paved with good intentions,” she giggled ridiculously.

The giggles grew into a full blown laugh when Liz saw the expression on Maria’s face after her last statement. “Chica,” Maria sighed. “I think it’s safe to say you’ve lost it.”

Still laughing, Liz nodded her head. “I think you’re right,” she agreed, then grew quiet again... serious. “Whether or not I have lost my mind, it doesn’t change a thing. We tell no one. Got it.”

“Fine,” Maria relented, knowing it would be of no use to argue.

“Good.” That one word was full of relief. “I guess I better head on down towards the office.”

A look of confusion spread across Maria’s face. “Why?”

Liz got up from the bench. “My parents are registering Serena today. I figured I’d stop by and see if everything was going alright.”

“They’re enrolling her in school already.” Maria shook her head in disbelief. “She hasn’t even been here a day.”

“Judge’s orders,” Liz said, shrugging her shoulders. “Or something like that. My parents explained it last night to us, but I wasn’t really listening.”

“So,” Maria sighed. “Do you really think Serena is one of the good guys?”

Stopping in her tracks, Liz thought about it for a moment. “Yeah,” she answered thoughtfully. “After all, it was Max that told me she was a friend. It may not have been this Max, but Max nonetheless. I’m giving her the benefit of the doubt.”

Maria sharply tossed her head, a gesture that only came about when made an important decision. “Okay, I will too, but only because you do.”

“Thanks,” Liz joked. “Way to relieve the pressure.”

“I’m here to help,” Maria teased.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Michael made his way down the hallway. He had exactly two minutes find Maria in order to begin the next round of apologizing and/or arguing with her. With an option for two minutes of arguing, he figured that would leave him one minute to get his butt to the other end of the school for his third period class.

If this had been a normal day, or even a normal argument for that matter, Michael wouldn’t have bothered. After all, he was bound to run into her eventually. They went to the same school, worked at the same place, and had the same circle of friends. But this time wasn’t normal.

This time he had really screwed up.

Michael shuttered at the thought of what Maria was going to do when she caught wind of that little piece of information. Hell, as he walked down the hall, he could practically picture the whole scene in his mind....

Maria would instantly stop all movement and stare directly at him. When she realized he was serious, she would probably pretend to faint from the sheer shock of it all. Of course, all of this would be done right in the middle of the school hallway, where half the school could witness it.

Unbidden, a smile crept across his face. It would be all worth it, he thought to himself.

With that in mind, Michael continued on his quest, rounding a corner as he headed to the common area. And that is when he ran smack dab into a barrier. A blond barrier.

For a moment, Michael stared hopefully at the flash of blond hair. That is until he realized it belong to someone who was too tall to be Maria.

“Michael,” Isabel exclaimed. “Don’t you watch where you’re going?”

Michael gave tug at his tee shirt in an attempt to straighten it. “I can say the same thing about you. Now, if you excuse me, I’m running a bit late.” He started to make a path around her.

What he didn’t know was that Isabel was on a mission, one he was a part of. “Where are you off to in such a hurry?” She reached out and gave his arm a tug. “I need to talk to you.”

Letting out a groan of frustration, Michael turned to face her. “Make it quick Isabel. I really need to find Maria.”

“She’s still upset about last night,” he heard Isabel mutter, noticing the regret lacing her words. He nodded his head in agreement.

“That’s the understatement of the century.” Michael tried for it to come out as a joke, but it fell short. It wasn’t like he was in a joking mood anyway. “So what’s up?”

Taking a deep breath, Isabel launched herself into the problem at hand. “I think something is wrong Alex,” she told him. “He’s acting… well, angry.”

Michael stood there for a second, expecting her to continue, but she didn’t. “Angry,” he repeated. “That’s it. He’s angry.”

Watching as Isabel nodded her head emphatically, Michael couldn’t help but rolling his eyes. This was what she stopped him for? “Does he have a reason to be angry?” he mocked slightly.

A flare of her own anger flashed through Isabel’s eyes. “Don’t patronize me Michael. First off, we both know that it takes a hell of a lot to get Alex angry. Plus, I’ve seen Alex when he’s ticked off, and this was different.”

Now Michael’s curiosity was piqued. “Different how?”

“He was just... and then...” Isabel let out a sigh of annoyance at her inability to think all of a sudden. “Just trust me, this was different.”

“It’s okay.” Noticing her distress, Michael laid a comforting hand on her shoulder. “Just tell me what do you want me to do?”

He heard another sigh escape her lips as her head dropped to the floor. “Keep an eye on him. Please.”

“Okay,” Michael agreed. “I’ll watch him. Keep a eye out for anything strange going on with him.”

Isabel’s head snapped up, and in a flood of relief, she flung her arms around Michael, giving him a big hug. “Thank you. I owe you big, Michael.”

“Then, I’d like to breathe please.” Michael said as she held him tight, even though he holding her as tight. “It’s no problem. But, right now, I’ve got to get going if I ever expect to find Maria.”

He could feel her nodding her head against his shoulder. With one last squeeze, she let go, heading off down the hall. Michael watched her for a moment, wondering what was really happening with Alex that had her so freaked. This was the closest to unnerved he had seen her in a long time.

However, he didn’t have long to think about it. Maria’s voice filtered down the hallway, pulling him out of his thoughts. He twisted around just in time to see her and Liz heading in his direction, completely engrossed in some important topic of conversation.

As they came to a halt at a nearby bench, Michael ducked into a doorway, decided he better not interrupt them if he ever wanted to get back in Maria’s good graces.

“It’s Serena,” he barely heard Liz whisper.

He could see Maria go pale, eyes widening with both recognition and fear. “Not that Serena.”

Now, deep down, Michael hadn’t meant to listen, but when he heard the name, the way both of them were complete on edge at just the mention of it, he found that he couldn’t resist.

“As in,” Maria started, then paused as though she could even contemplate what she was about to say. “The end of the world and...”

“Future Max,” Liz finished for her.

Future Max, Michael’s brain cried out, then it quickly attached huh to the end of that. What the hell are they talking about?

“... one and the same person,” Liz finished her sentence, and Michael quickly scolded himself for not catching the rest of then statement. Yet, the words that came next were what truly threw him for a loop.

“Do you think that it means the all of it’s gonna happen,” Maria whispered as though the mere thought was something to horrible to even mention aloud.

And whatever it was, he figure it must have been as Liz’s eyes grew larger in trepidation. “It can’t, Maria. I won’t let it. I won’t let hurting Max be for nothing. God, he thinks I slept with Kyle, and I’ve done everything in my power to convince him of it. It can’t be for nothing.”

Michael’s head began to pound with several new revelations. First and foremost was that Liz hadn’t slept with Kyle. Watching as Liz took gasping breaths, with the help of Maria, in an attempt to calm down, Michael could help but wonder what had made her so desperate that she needed to push Max away so badly... so cruelly.

And what is this Future Max deal, his mind added. Not to mention Serena? Who in the hell is that?”

Unable to handle anymore, Michael backed up, heading in the opposite direction. I have to think this through, he told himself. And I am going to need help.

For some reason, Max seemed completely out of the question. Michael reasoned that it was because that his best friend already had enough on his mind. Valenti was part of the problem and Tess wasn’t inspiring much in the way of his trust lately. Isabel was too close to freaking out point with everything going on, so that left only one person.

“I can kill to birds with one stone,” he muttered to himself. “Figure out was is going on and keep an eye on Alex at the same time. Now, all I have to do is find me a Whitman.”

[Anniepoo98]

Howdy all~

I am back with the next few installments. I might even be back later with more. In any case... I'll get parts 10-12 up today! I hope you enjoy them.

Annie:)


Part Ten:

Alex furiously shuffled through his locker, searching for a bottle of aspirin, Tylenol, anything to get rid of his headache. It almost doubled in intensity since Isabel offered to heal it. Maybe I just should have let her, he thought to himself. However, something about very act simply gave him the creeps.

Suddenly, he heard heavy footsteps approaching him.

“Alex,” a voice called out.

Peering around his locker door, Alex saw Michael practically running towards him. “Yes,” he bit out.

Michael opened his mouth to speak, but Alex beat him to the punch. “Let me guess, Isabel is concerned and she sent you to check up on me.”

The shock was apparent on Michael’s face for only a moment, but then it was gone as soon as it appeared. “Sorta. You know how she gets when she goes into the motherly mode, but that is not the real issue.”

“And the real issue is,” Alex asked, his tone bordering on impatient.

“I think that there is a hell of a lot that neither Maria or Liz is saying about the whole Kyle-Liz situation,” Michael blurted out.

Now it was Alex’s turn to be confused. “Huh? What Kyle-Liz situation?”

“You know...” Michael trailed off as his face curled into a classic ‘duh’ expression.

Alex shook his head. “No I don’t.”

Michael blinked a couple of times. “Yeah you do!”

“No, I don’t,” Alex replied emphatically.

“There is no way that you don’t know about this,” Michael growled in frustration. “The rumor mill has been going around for weeks. Hell, everyone in school has probably heard it by now.”

“Michael,” Alex said, becoming equally frustrated. “Why would I be asking if I had any clue on what you are talking about? Now, tell me what rumor is?”

Michael glanced up and down the hallway, hating the fact the he was going to say it. After all, it was the reason his best friend had been so defeated the past few months. “Kyle and Liz slept together,” he whispered.

Alex stood stunned for a second, than burst out into peals of laughter that rang through the hall. “Funny,” he gasped when he was finally able to form words. “But what was the rumor really about?”

“I’m not kidding,” Michael said defensively. “That’s the rumor. The whole school has been talking about it.”

Laughter stopping instantly, Alex reverted back to his stunned expression. “People actually believe that... you actually believe that,” he uttered, feeling his anger grow slightly.

“Max has been walking around like suicide on a stick since before Thanksgiving,” Michael explained. “None of us knew why, well, not until the rumor. Then it all sort of made sense.”

Alex grabbed ahold of his locker door, whipping it shut. He was too angry to even notice Michael taking a step backwards at his actions.

“This is unbelievable,” he bit out. “You all are on drugs. It’s the only explanation because anyone who really knows Liz wouldn’t believe such a stupid rumor. Especially anyone who has witnessed the whole Max and Liz, stare-into-my-eyes, soulmate thing. This is what happens when I go away. Visit Sweden for two months and come back to find out everyone’s gone crazy.”

Michael raised one eyebrow. “Are you finished?”

Tilting his head to the side as if considering, Alex remained silent for a moment before he finally nodded his head. “Yeah, I think so.”

“Now, as I was saying,” Michael started. “I did believe it. It fit in with what was going on, but....”

“But...” Alex questioned.

“But, after what I just heard, I’m not so sure anymore,” Michael finished. “In fact, I think we are being kept out of the loop on purpose.”

“By Maria and Liz,” Alex wondered aloud.

Michael nodded his head. “In a nutshell.”

“So we have to go to the source,” Alex told him.

“Who,” Michael questioned. “Maria or Liz?”

Alex shook his head. “No... Kyle. I say it is time we find Valenti.” With that, Alex started off down the hall.

“We’re not going to find him now,” Michael called after him.

That stopped Alex for a moment, had him turned back to face Michael. “And why is that?”

Michael thought for a moment. “Well, for one thing, the bell is going to ring any minute. I don’t think being late for class will fall under the ‘keeping a low profile’ category. Two, you look pissed. I doubt that Kyle is going to give up any information if we interrogate him.”

Alex folded his arms across his chest. “So how are we planning to get the details from him?”

“Ask,” Michael stated simply, moving towards Alex. “

”That’s your brilliant plan,” Alex said, dumbfounded. “Why would he just tell us if he has been keeping it a secret this long? Especially after hearing the rumors.”

Michael took a deep breath, trying to work out what little he knew about the situation. “I think Liz asked him to,” he said a few moments later. “This was some act of desperation, Alex. At least, that is what it seemed when I heard Maria and Liz talking. We have to make Kyle see that the best thing would be for him to tell the truth because I know that right now we won’t get it from either of those two.”

“And if it is Kyle spreading the rumor,” Alex posed, playing devil’s advocate for a second.

“Then you can kick the crap out of him,” Michael offered. “I’ll even hold him down.”

“Agreed,” Alex conceded, nodding his head firmly. “So what did you overhear that has you this freaked, because frankly Michael, I have never seen you this ...”

“Logical,” Michael tossed out.

Alex shook his head.

“Insightful?”

Alex shook his head again. “Concerned,” he blurted out as soon as the word popped into his head.

“Well, these are our girls... well... sorta,” Michael muttered. “And I think they have gotten in way over their heads this time.”

Alex was really starting to agree. “Tell me what this is all about.”

Michael began to walk towards class. “You’re not going to believe this, but...”

~~~~~~~~

The office was a bust. By the time that Liz got down there, they had already found someone to show Serena to her first class. Now it was lunchtime, and still no sign of her new roommate.

Deep down, Liz was beginning to worry. Serena was new, probably very confused, and had yet to say a word. That would make her an easy target for anyone of the creeps that attended West Roswell High and who knew what else. Liz was starting to wonder if the day could get any worse.

Three more periods, she sighed inwardly, moving towards the lunchroom. I only have to make it though three more and I can put this day behind me.

However, with each passing step, Liz felt a bit of dread creep up. Something was going on.... something bad. Quickening her pace, she hurried along the corridor, only to find herself smack dab in the main common area. A crowd was gather near the center, engrossed in what seemed to be one hell of a show.

Yet, the closer Liz got, the more the nagging feeling in the back of her mind pulled at her. Ignoring it, Liz pushed her way through the growing mass, trying to see what was at the heart of the commotion.

Serena was standing in the middle of the crowd, three football players circling her.

“Seems like the new girl’s a freak,” Scott Bruce commented, eyeing Serena up and down.

“Too bad,” Ben Hamerich added. “Cause she’s such a pretty thing. But I hear she won’t say a word.”

Jarod Stamm took a step towards Serena, his buddies closing around her back. “That’s okay,” he sneered. “She might not talk now, but I bet we could make her scream.”

“Stop it,” Liz cried out at the sight in front of her.

The three guys shot a glance over at her, deciding a moment later to ignore her. They closed in even more.

“Are you three deaf?” she yelled again, attempting to get in-between Serena and them, but it was no use. She wasn’t any match for the football players. So, as a last resort, she tried shoving at one of them with all her weight.

The guy simply shrugged her off, and the next thing Liz knew, she was sliding backwards across the floor on her butt. From there she could see the fear in Serena’s eyes as they grew closer and closer. She almost resembled a frightened animal that was about to be caged, or worse...

Then, suddenly, a salvation rang through the hall. “THAT”S ENOUGH!”

~~~~~

Kyle and Tess walked down the hallway on their way to lunch. Something that was becoming a regular occurrence, Kyle noted. Not that he minded at all. In fact, whether they were talk or enjoying a comfortable silence, he just liked being around Tess.

There was only one problem. He was pretty sure that Tess didn’t feel the same way about him.

“I was thinking about making chicken or something tonight,” Tess commented, breaking Kyle out of his thoughts.

Kyle pushed them aside, turning to look at her. “What’s with you lately? It’s like you’re becoming friggin Martha Steward.”

“What are you talking about?” Tess muttered.

“This whole domesticated kick you’ve been on,” Kyle replied, still eyeing her. “The last time you did any of this stuff was over Christmas. Now, explain why you’ve become Little Miss Susy Homemaker over these past two weeks.”

Tess shrugged her shoulders. “It’s nothing really.”

Kyle knew better. The one thing he’d learned over the past few months of living with Tess was when she tried to cover up her emotions. Sometimes it was annoying, but in the back of his mind, he could justify it. Tess had spent almost all of her life with Nasedo, and that guy knew nothing about the sticker aspects of humanity.

Just then, he felt Tess shift, obviously uncomfortable with the silence. Now was the time to light the mood a bit, or she would shut off completely. “All I know is that the only time I even attempt to cook is when I want something or have done something I don’t want Dad to kill me for,” Kyle joked. “So come on, spill.”

“You can’t even tell the difference frying pan and a pot,” Tess retorted.

“I can too,” Kyle told her indigently. “And you’re avoiding my question. You’re feeling guilty about something. Just tell me what it is.”

Tess rolled her eyes. “Fine. I sorta... kinda... broke the bowl.”

“The bowl,” Kyle asked, one of his eyebrows rising on its own accord.

“Yeah,” Tess nodded her head. “You know... the bowl.”

Kyle thought for a minute, as they turned the corner, not having a clue what she was talking about.

As if she could see the wheels in his head working without coming to any conclusion, Tess gave up. “The one on that was on the top shelf in the kitchen with the little rosebuds on it...”

Then, it dawned on Kyle. “My mother’s,” he whispered.

“Yes,” he barely heard her admit. “I knocked it over a couple weeks ago when I was trying to reach one of the tins up there. I didn’t mean too.”

Kyle was still trying to get past the fact that his mother’s favorite serving bowl was now in pieces. Hell, it was the only thing they left of her.

“Why didn’t you just poof it back together with the mumbo jumbo,” Kyle asked a moment later when the thought occurred to him.

“I couldn’t get the mumbo jumbo to work,” Tess told him. “Not since the museum. That took too much energy.”

“So where is it now,” he choked out. Never once had Kyle brought his mother up since Tess had come to live at his house. Hell, he never talked about her. There was no way for her to know how much the bowl meant to both him and his father. The long hours they’d spend looking at it, wondering when she was going to come back to claim it.

When she never did, they both felt so abandoned. Just like she...

He just had to know. “Tess...”

“It’s under your bed,” she confessed. “Next to Busty Biker Babes and Siddartha.”

“Oh,” Kyle muttered.

They moved quietly for another minute, closing in on the common area. Kyle had a sneaking suspicion that while it was part of the story, there was still more bugging Tess than she was telling him. He opened his mouth to speak, however, aloud commotion interrupted his train of thought.

“What’s going on?” Tess wondered aloud, noticing the crowd swarming in a circle.

“I’m not sure.” Yet, Kyle stopped and took a good look at the display going on in front of him. “Something big, like a fight...”

“Stop it,” Liz’s voice echoed down the hall.

“That’s Liz,” Kyle exclaimed the second he recognized it. “Come on,” he urged, giving a tug on Tess’s sleeve.

Racing towards the group, Kyle saw exactly what Liz was yelling about. “THAT’S ENOUGH,” he called out, charging into the chaos.

“Valenti,” Jarod said, smiling him. “What’s going on?” Even as he asked the question, he reached out and grabbed onto Serena’s arm, pulling her to him. She let out a little whimper as she struggled to get free.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Kyle yelled, taking in everything around him. It was obvious that the girl staying with Liz wanted nothing to do with Jarod, and Liz was a few feet away, sprawled on the floor.

“Having some fun,” Scott answered, laying a hand on Kyle’s shoulder. “Come no, it’s no big deal.”

Kyle turned to him, glaring. Boy, if looks could kill...

Feeling his anger flare, Kyle turned back to his other teammate, who still had a grip on Serena. “Let her go,” he demanded.

“Chill Valenti,” Jarod said. “Everything’s good here.”

“It will be better when you let her go,” Kyle informed him, stiffening.

Out of the corner of his eye, Kyle could see Tess wormed herself around them, hurrying over to Liz. Offering a hand, she helped the other girl to her feet, whispering something to her at the same time.

But none of that was the pressing issue. Now that he was sure Liz was okay, Kyle focused all of his attention back onto the matter at hand. “Don’t make me repeat myself, Stamm,” he told Jarod.

“Or else what?” The challenged was there. For a moment, Kyle wondered what the hell had gotten into his teammate. Granted, the guy could be a jerk, but practically goading him into a fight in the middle of the hallway was beyond. However, there was Jarod, posed and ready for the charge, an evil glint in his eyes. “There’s nothing you can do about it, and you know it.”

Kyle inched closer to the guy. “I’ll make your life a living hell on the field. That’s what I’ll can do about it.”

“God,” Jarod snarled. “Every since you banged that Parker chick and began hanging out with her friends you forgot what it was like to joke around. That’s all this is.”

Glancing over at the girl, seeing her green practically begging for someone to help her, Kyle resolved kicked into overdrive. “Not for everyone,” he said, nodding towards the struggling red-head.

Jarod’s grip tightened.

That was the last straw. Kyle pushed Jarod back, causing the other guy to let go of Serena’s arm. “You must be stupid,” he shouted, stepping in front of the girl. “She wants be left alone, so leave her alone.”

“Hey,” Jarod hollered back. “We didn’t hear her say anything.”

“But look of revulsion on her face should have given you a clue,” Kyle replied. “Now get out of here.”

“This isn’t over,” Jarod told him, followed by a quick chorus of yeah’s from the others.

Kyle didn’t back down. “Yes. It. Is,” he stated, punctuating each word.

Some mutter profanities ensued as the boys moved down the hall. Within seconds, the crowd began to clear, and whispers filled the corridor.

“Are you guys okay?” both Tess and Liz said, practically in unison.

Taking a deep breath, then another, Kyle tried to calm himself down. “Yeah,” he sighed. Turning towards the red-headed girl, Kyle offered her a small smile. “How about you?”

Glancing around, she looked at him, than Tess and Liz, for a few seconds before nodding her head in agreement.

Kyle looked at her for a moment, trying to gage whether it was the truth or not. His gaze suddenly fell upon a darken mark on her wrist. “They hurt you?”

Quickly, she shook her head. Noticing his line of sight, she tucked her arm behind her back, all the while hoping to appear natural about it.

“I better get Serena out of here,” Liz told them. “I’m going to take her home. Just tell anyone who asks that neither one of us was feeling very well.”

Serena, Kyle thought. So that’s her name.

However, he didn’t have long to think about it. “I don’t that is a good idea,” Tess argued. “We can’t raise anymore suspicions, especially after what just happened.”

“Frankly, I just don’t care right now,” Liz mumbled.

“We’ll make something up,” Kyle intervened. “Just go. Get some rest or something.”

Liz offered him a smile, silently thanking him for covering. With a little wave, she moved down the hallway, Serena trailing after her. Both Kyle and Tess watched them go. Yet, as they reached the door, Serena looked back, looking directly at Kyle. A tiny grin spread across her lips just before she walked out the door.

“What was that all about,” Tess demanded, a hint of jealousy in her voice.

A small part of Kyle’s brain felt a glimmer of hope, but he tried not to dwell on it. Besides, with the particular expression she was sporting, he knew it wasn’t the best idea to mention his suspicions. “I just said that I would cover for her,” Kyle said defensively.

“But it’s going to make people more...” Tess began.

“Suspicious,” Kyle finished for her. “I know, I know. But it seems to me that they already are. Plus, can you blame them for not wanting to be around?”

Tess let out a deep sigh. “No, I guess not. But do I have to like it?”

Kyle couldn’t help but laughing a little bit. “No, I guess not. So, her name’s Serena.”

“Yeah,” Tess mumbled. “We finally have a name.”

“So what do you think of her,” Kyle asked. “Friend or foe?”

He watched Tess shrugged her shoulders. “To early to tell. I hope we find out soon though. I hate all this uncertainly.”

“I can second that,” Kyle agreed, his thoughts turning towards Serena. “I definitely second that.”


~*~
Be back momentarily with pt. 11
Annie:)

[Anniepoo98]

Part Eleven:


“Mom, are you home,” Liz called out as she and Serena walked into the apartment.

A head peeked out from the kitchen. “Liz? Serena? What are you two doing home?” Nancy asked, walking out from the behind the counter.

“Ummm...” Now, Liz hadn’t really thought through was she was going to say to her mother, and what she did plan out seemed to slip right out of her mind. “There was um ... not feeling well,” she finally stuttered.

Nancy approached her daughter, every once and awhile glancing at Serena. “Which one of you wasn’t feeling well,” she wondered, placing a gentle hand on each of Liz’s shoulders.

“Serena... well... and me,” Liz stuttered idiotically. God, she thought. You’d think I’d be better at this by now.

She could feel her mother’s concerned stare on her. For a second or two, it would move over to Serena, but then it came right back to her. Liz suddenly found her shoes very appealing.

“Okay,” Nancy finally said, turning her attention fully on Serena. “Do you need anything,” she asked in an almost motherly tone.

Serena shook her head briefly.

“Then why don’t you go into the bedroom and lie down for a little bit,” Nancy suggested. “I need to talk to Liz for a moment.”

Liz tried desperately to swallow the lump forming in her throat. This was not a good sign.

Waiting until Serena was out of sight, Nancy, who still had a hand on each of Liz’s shoulders, guided her towards one of the chairs in the kitchen. “Tell me what really happened,” Nancy urged, not demanded. Liz thought that is sounded more imploring than anything else.

“Some guys were teasing her,” Liz explained, finally looking her mother in the eye. “It was bad.”

“Really bad,” Nancy questioned.

Liz nodded her head. “Three of them were circling her by the time I got there. She was pretty scared, not that I can blame her. Nothing says ‘welcome to West Roswell High’ like a pack of jerks taunting you,” she finished sarcastically.

“Did she say anything?” Nancy asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.

“No,” Liz said, shaking her head to emphasis. “That’s why I brought her home. I didn’t know how bad off she was, and I figured here was better than anywhere else.”

A small smile spread across Nancy’s face as she pushed a lock of Liz’s hair out of her face. “I think you did the right thing,” she reassured Liz. “You just can’t make a habit of it. No more missing school, okay.”

“Yes mom,” Liz agreed, holding in the sigh of relief that desperately wanted to leave her body. “I think I’m going to lie down too,” she added.

Quickly, Liz got up to leave, but a gently hand on her arm stopped her movements. “How did you stop them?” Nancy wondered aloud, searching Liz’s face for an answer.

“It wasn’t me.” Liz told her. “Kyle came and made them back off.”

“What about Max?” Nancy inquired, out of the blue.

Liz froze. “What about Max?” She nearly choked as she repeated the words.

“Didn’t he help you,” Nancy asked. “He always seems to be around.”

“No,” Liz answered abruptly . “Max wasn’t there, Mom.” Pausing for a second, Liz continued. “I’m just gonna go...”

“Lay down,” Nancy finished. “Go ahead. I’ll give you both a heads up for dinner. I’ll be in the restaurant until then.”

“Thanks Mom,” Liz said, hurrying down the hallway. She didn’t stop until she reached the door, promptly turned the handle and rushed inside. However, nothing could have prepared her for what she was about to see.

Serena was sitting on the cot, her back to Liz. She had removed the sweater she was wearing earlier. Peaking out from the tank top on her left shoulder was a tattoo. The swirling mark instantly reminded Liz of one of the alien symbols scribbled over the cave wall out at the reservation. Yet, there was one big difference. Five dots surrounded it.

As Liz’s eyes passed over them, the strangest thing happened. The dot directly underneath the symbol began to glow.

“Oh damn,” Liz gasped.

~~~~~~~~~

Kyle shoved his geometry book into his locker, rolling his eyes as another group of whispering students passed by. Holy Buddha, barely an hour’s passed, his mind cried out. It wasn’t even a fight. No punches, no kicks, no blood drawn. Get over it.

“Oh Sheriff Valenti, gonna arrest me if I look at your new girlfriend the wrong way,” a jock mocked as he passed by.

Feeling the muscles in his jaw clench, Kyle took a deep breath, trying to reign in his temper. Patience, he told himself. They will get the karmic reward sooner or later. Ha... see you the next life when you’re a jackass.

Satisfied with that, Kyle continued on with digging for a notebook. After sifting through a pile of junk, he was quickly coming to the conclusion that he needed to clean out his locker. Soon, he decided as he came across an old sock, which had seen much better days according to the gigantic hole where the big toe would go. Really soon!

Shoving that thought aside, Kyle kept looking. But peace was not meant to reign in his little world.

“Valenti,” someone called out down the hall.

“Screw patience,” Kyle muttered, slamming his locker shut as he prepared to deal with the next set of tormentors. However, when he looked in the direction the voice had come from, he saw Michael and Alex heading his way.

“We’ve got to talk,” Michael said, walking right up to Kyle.

Confused, Kyle just started at him for a moment. “About what?”

“This rumor going around,” Alex chimed in. “You and Liz... together?”

“That’s old news,” Kyle told them, wondering why they were even bring it up. “So?”

“Well, I just heard it,” Alex exclaimed, suddenly grabbing Kyle by the shirt. “Are you telling me that you did nothing to stop it?”

Kyle took a step back, finding himself up against a locker. “No, but I didn’t start it, if that is what you’re thinking,” he confessed, glancing back and forth between Michael and Alex.

“Then tell us what happen,” Michael reasoned. “Sounds like the best way to work out this misunderstanding.”

Shaking his head, Kyle looked down. “I can’t,” he muttered. “I promised Liz that I wouldn’t.”

“That’s it? She asked you to let people ruin her reputation,” Alex asked in disbelief. Just to make sure Kyle got the point, he gave him another little shove.

Feeling his spine come into contact with metal, then bounce back, Kyle decided that enough was enough. “Yeah, that is what I’m telling you. For all I know, she started the rumor. She seemed desperate enough to do it. Okay. I’m not the bad guy here.”

The second the words left his mouth, Kyle regretted them because no one could mistake the wince of pain that ran though Alex when he raised his voice. “Hey man,” Michael said, laying a hand on Alex shoulder as he begun to sway a bit. “You okay.”

“Fine,” Alex snapped, than relaxed almost instantly. “Sorry. I just want to get to the bottom of this. So spill, Kyle.”

“Yeah. What do you mean by desperate? Desperate to sleep with you, or desperate to have everyone think she did,” Michael added.

“To make Evans think she did,” Kyle corrected. Then, it dawned on him what he just said. Man, he was gonna be in trouble.

“And that makes it right,” Alex yelled, flabbergasted. Kyle knew Alex was trying to come up with a reason to justify what Liz did, and was probably falling short. Hell, he had thought it over several times and, for the life of him, couldn’t figure it out.

“No,” Kyle finally admitted. “But it’s what makes me her friend. I didn’t have to understand why she was doing it. I just helped her. I don’t even know how she knew he was going to show up, but he did. So she broke both their hearts.”

Running through everything that was said, Michael was tried to add it up with what he heard. “Future Max,” he exclaimed as it dawn on him. “Hot damn, that’s how she knew.”

Kyle and Alex stood there, watching Michael threw his arms up with excitement over something only he seemed to understand. “What the hell are you talking about?” Kyle questioned, not even caring to hide how baffled he was by Michael outburst.

Stopping for a second, Michael stared directly at Kyle. “I’m not sure,” he replied hurriedly. “I think that we’re close to putting all of the pieces together, and you two are going to help me, but I need to know one thing first. And if you lie, I swear that no power on this planet or the next will help you, got it, cause I am tired of all of this lying. It’s time for it all to stop.”

It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what the next question out of Michael’s mouth was going to be. Especially with the look he was currently giving Kyle. Swallowing hard, Kyle nodded his head, informing him that he was going to tell the truth.

“Did you sleep with Liz?” Michael stated it more than asked.

Kyle shook his head. “No. No I didn’t.”

“Okay, you both are insane,” Alex stated. “You know... just for the record and all. Now, give me a minute for my mind to catch up to everything.”

Both Kyle and Michael watched as Alex stood there, rubbing at his temples. “You and Liz were never together, but she needed Max to think that she was,” he muttered, and Kyle knew it was directed to him.

“Pretty much,” he answered.

“And Michael thinks that Liz knew she could set Max up because of Future Max.”

Michael nodded his head in agreement.

“So that was the thing you didn’t have the chance to tell me,” Alex wondered aloud.

“Yup,” Michael confirmed. “That was it in a nutshell. Liz and Maria have a big secret that neither of them is willing to share with us. It also has something to do with the new girl.”

“Serena,” Kyle whispered, not even realizing that he was saying it aloud.

Alex tipped his head, looking perplexed. “That’s her name?”

“I helped her out this afternoon,” Kyle told them. “Some guys were pushing her around. Trust me, she doesn’t seem dangerous at all. In fact, she didn’t even say a word. If she really is a big bad, couldn’t just have puffed them or something?”

Michael shrugged. “I guess.”

“So are you going to help us,” Alex chimed in. “Cause I definitely think we are going to need all the help we can get to figure this one out.”

Kyle thought for a moment, unable to shake the picture of Serena that popped into his head for a second. “I’m in.”

~~~~~

Serena stayed stalk still after she heard Liz exclamation. This is so not good, her mind screamed.

After Nancy told her she could go to the room, Serena practically ran in, going directly to the place where she knew Liz’s journal was hiding. At the time it didn’t matter that someone could walk in on her reading it. Serena needed answers, particularly after what happened that day in school. She just couldn’t afford to get caught in a situation like that again.

She needed answers, needed them to stay alive.

But right now, she was reconsidering the whole not caring about getting caught thing.

Silence hung for a minute or two, tension growing in the room as neither of them moved or spoke. It all finally proved to be too much.

Just as Serena was turning around, Liz was moving for the door. “No,” Serena said, holding out her hand. Instantly, the door swung shut, locking itself.

Liz whirled around, backing herself flat against the wooden surface. “What are you,” she demanded, attempting to sound more confident than she felt.

Serena nodded her head. “You know what I am Liz. I read all about it in here,” she told her, hold up Liz’s journal.

“My journal,” Liz whispered. “How did you... so you are an alien.”

Getting off the bed, Serena walked towards Liz. With each step, she noticed Liz trying to inch further along the wall, looking for anyway to get out.

“It’s not what you think,” Serena tried to reassure her. “I’m an alien, but a good one. Kind of like ET, but cuter.”

“Not the time for a joke,” Liz bit out, her eyes glancing over at the window that led to the balcony. “And I am telling you right now, I won’t let you hurt them.”

Serena shook her head. “I’m not planning on hurting them. I’m one of them.”

Liz shook her head emphatically. “No, you’re not. There’s only four. You would make five. That’s one to many.”

“I didn’t die right away,” Serena tried to reason with her. “I was sent later. Much later, but I am one of them.”

“No,” Liz cried out, wagging a finger at her. “You’re a shapeshifter or skin or something else. You can’t be a h... hy..”

“Hybrid,” Serena finished for her. “But I am. See, I can prove it” she said, twisting around. She pulled up the back of her tank, exposing nothing but smooth skin. “No seal. As for the shapeshifter thing, I really can’t show you that I’m not other then the fact you will never see me shift my shape. Just one hundred percent Serena standing here.”

With her finger still pointed at Serena, Liz’s entire body started to shake. “But that thing on your back,” she argued. “It glowed.”

Serena’s eyes widened, jaw dropping slightly at the same time. “No it didn’t,” she said defensively.

“Yes it did,” Liz retorted.

Glancing over her shoulder, she tried to see what Liz was talking about. “That’s impossible. It can’t do that.”

“But it did,” Liz retorted.

“I don’t know how...” Serena trailed off, still thinking over what might have made symbol glow. However, they were interrupted as Liz reached her breaking point.

“Just tell me who you are,” she ordered.

“I’m the keeper,” Serena stated softly.

Liz simply looked at her, dumbfounded for an instant. “The keeper. That’s not an answer. Keeper... just what the hell are you the keeper of?”

Serena took a deep breath, running her hands through her hair at the same time. “Of the Granolith,” she admitted. “I’m the keeper of the Granolith.”


~*~

And I will be back once more with pt.12
Annie:)

[Anniepoo98]

Part Twelve:


“Wow.” It was the only thing Liz could think of to say that would make any sense at that point. She and Serena had just spent the better part of the past two hours, sitting on her bed, while Serena tried explained everything and anything that she could. Liz now had a vague idea of the bigger picture, and damn, it was immense.

“You think I lying, don’t you,” Serena questioned in a small voice.

Liz shook her head. “Lying is such a strong word,” she replied, unsure.

“Then you believe me,” Serena wondered hopefully.

Swallowing hard, Liz tried to gage her next response. “Believe is such a strong word...” she trailed off, glancing over at Serena.

The other girl took a deep breath in an attempt to calm down. Yet, Liz has a feeling that it wasn’t working. “Then what the hell do you believe,” Serena exclaimed a moment later. “I’ve told you everything I know about me, the granolith, the others... I need know what you think is the truth and what you think is a lie.”

“It’s not you,” Liz told her, unable to miss the flash of shock that appeared on Serena’s face. “I believe that you believe what you told me. And, in a way it makes sense. Granted, it makes sense in that six-degrees-of-I-know-an-alien kind of way, but that’s not the point.”

“And the point is,” Serena asked, curious to see where Liz was planning to go with this.

Liz took a deep breath, working her way through all the information. “How do we know what you know is the truth? What you know and what the others know is so different. I mean, everyone seems to have all these half-truths and how can we tell which way they’re suppose to fit?”

Serena thought this over for a moment before she started to speak again. “My parents… well, the protectors sent to act as my parents, they knew the original versions of us hybrids. I grew up knowing what I was, who I was. None of this was a secret in my house. Trust me that what I told you is the truth.”

“If that’s the case, you have to tell the others,” Liz said. “They need to know. After all, it has more to do with them than me.”

Liz’s eyes grew wide when she saw Serena start to shake her head emphatically. “You are a part of this. You might not think so, but you are.”

Swallowing hard, Liz scooted back on the bed a bit. “What do you mean? How am I a part of this?”

“We’re basically human,” Serena blurted out. “You understand that, right?”

Liz nodded her head. “Nasedo told the others something like that once. What does that have to do this?”

“Antarian form is very similar to that of a human,” Serena continued. “That is why Earth was a logical choice to hide the pods, because not only would our DNA combine well, but it would allow us to access parts of the human brain that usually went unutilized.”

“Then why are Max’s cells different from mine,” Liz questioned, trying desperately to combine all of this information in her head.

“There are differences between the two,” Serena explained. “The biggest would probably the atmosphere. The first stage of creation happened on Antar, therefore, our cells had to be altered to survive on both planets. Hybrid cells are also different from Antarians.”

Liz opened her mouth, forming an O. However nothing came out. Instead, she just sat there, waiting for Serena to go on.

And she did, when she was sure that Liz wasn’t going to say anything. “Okay, so now you know that hybrids use more of the human brain than regular humans do. However, there are regular humans that use more of their brain then others. When that happens, it’s like this energy is created by it.”

“How,” Liz wondered. “How can it create energy?”

“Think of telepathy,” Serena said. “It’s one creature communicating with another without making one single sound. The way that they are able to do that is through energy. Sort of like a wavelength that carries the communication from one being to another. The only catch is that someone’s brain has to be adapted to receive it. Am I making any sense yet?”

“The connection,” Liz whispered. “Is that how it’s possible?”

“Yes,” Serena shouted with excitement. Then her voice quieted as she realized just how loud she’d been. “That’s exactly how. Hybrids can connect with others on this level because of the energy. Hell, higher levels or forms of this can almost be like precognition.”

Liz was starting to perceive where this conversation was going, and she wasn’t entirely sure she liked where it was going. “That’s what happened when Max healed me, isn’t it? He opened up this connection.”

Serena nodded. “I think the healing enhanced your abilities, but I also think that they were there to begin with.”

A dumbfounded expression crossed Liz’s face. “Huh?”

“In here,” Serena said, holding up Liz’s journal, “you said that in a flash that Max was drawn to you from the moment he laid eyes on you.”

Narrowing her eyes, Liz tried her best to remain focused on the situation at hand. “You know, you and I are going to have a serious conversation about invading the privacy of others,” she couldn’t help saying, a bit irritated that Serena had read her journal. “Anyway,” she bit out. “You were saying?”

“I think he could feel your energy,” Serena finished. “I think that was why he was drawn to you. Healing you would have enhanced it, but Liz, your energy is stronger than any humans I have ever felt. The healing wouldn’t have given you this much, not unless some had been present before.”

Liz got up from the bed and began pacing around the room, hoping that she would be able to process what Serena was saying. “Go back to the precognition part,” she ordered. “I want to hear more about that?”

“It has to do with those who have a high level of energy, or maybe it’s a certain kind of energy,” Serena thought aloud. “The Granolith is the purest form of energy. Therefore it knows all and sees all. You know, its that the whole omnipotent thing. A person who has the ability to connect with it can access some of what it knows about the future. At least that is the gist of the whole thing.”

“Can you,” Liz asked. “Do you get premonitions?”

“I would have to be in direct contact with the Granolith to form that kind of connection,” Serena told her. “My true gift is to access the power of the Granolith through the connection. I can influence people through it or feel there emotions. Sort of like empathy, only I have the ability to reverse it.”

“Do you know how premonitions come?” Liz questioned.

“Why do you want to know....” Serena trailed off as the realization hit her. “You think you see it. The future, that is.”

“I’ve started to get dreams,” Liz confessed. “About a month ago, when all the killings started, I began getting them. Each time, it gets worse. And each time, the location gets closer to Roswell. I had another last night.”

Serena’s hand flew to her mouth as she processed this new tidbit. “Do you have any idea where your last dream took place?”

Liz shook her head once more. “No. I have no idea. But it means something, doesn’t it? I’m not going crazy.”

“I actually think it’s a warning,” Serena admitted.

“Great,” Liz mumbled. “This is just great. I’m like an intergalactic transmitter radio with my all of my energy and wavelengths.”

“This is serious,” Serena reminded her.

“I know,” Liz answered. “Believe me, I know.”

“Then will you help me,” Serena asked. “I think I have a plan. Probably not the best one, but I have a feeling that it is the only thing that will work.”

Liz sighed loudly, weighing her options. “What do I have to do,” she said finally.

~~~~~~


“Hmmm. What smells so good?”

Tess whipped around to face Kyle as he entered the kitchen. “I decided to make chicken, with that rice stuff in a packet. I read somewhere that it tastes really good when you mix them together.”

“Well, it’s got my vote,” he told her as he walked over to the refrigerator.

“So where have you been?” Tess asked, trying to appear nonchalant about it. The truth was she was hoping he wasn’t mad about her little freak out earlier.

She watched him shrug his shoulders. “Damage control, football practice... You know, the usual.”

“Oh,” Tess muttered, turning her attention back to the rice simmering on the stove. “Was there a lot of fallout?”

Kyle glanced over at her as he took a sip of milk from the carton, a confused expression clouding his blue eyes. “You’re kidding, right? Our mini-smackdown happened in the common room during lunch. I wouldn’t be surprised if half of Rowell has heard about it by now.”

Tess managed a little laugh. “Joys of living in a small town?”

Nodding, Kyle placed the milk back in the fridge. “You know it,” he joked sarcastically.

“And football practice?” Tess wondered aloud. A second later, she could feel his eyes on her back, knowing that he was watching her intently.

“What’s with the twenty questions?” Kyle joked, moving towards her. “Worried?”

“Just curious,” Tess told him, trying to act unconcerned when she was feeling anything but. She could feel Kyle as he got closer. The knot in her stomach tighten when she felt him stop right behind her.

“So, you weren’t concerned?” Kyle breathed next to her ear.

Tess glanced over her shoulder, meeting his gaze head on, and knew it was her biggest mistake. Kyle’s finger grazed her chin, drawing her face until they were only a few millimeters apart.

“I like you, Tess. A lot.” he whispered, crossing the distance and pressing his lips to hers.

For a moment, she wanted to give in, to return the kiss with everything in her. In fact, Tess was desperate to, but she couldn’t. She had a duty, a promise to keep. So, she tore herself away from him, putting a few steps between them.

Kyle was confused. The expression was written all over his face. “What? What’s the matter?”

“I can’t,” she whispered. “I can’t do this, it’s not right.”

“What’s wrong about it?” Kyle asked.

“Because this is not my destiny,” Tess replied, her voice still soft. “I can’t be with you, Kyle. I belong to Max.”

“Belong to Max,” Kyle scoffed. “You belong to him.”

Tess nodded, unable to saying further at the moment.

“That’s bullshit,” Kyle exclaimed, taking a step towards her. “You don’t belong to him, or anyone else for that matter. You belong to you, Tess.”

“I belong to Antar,” Tess shouted back. “I have known from the moment I came out of the pods who I had to be. What I had to become. It’s my destiny.”

“If you hadn’t noticed,” Kyle retorted, “Max doesn’t see to care. Neither do Isabel and Michael. None of them have bought into this destiny crap. You’re the only one who seems to force the issue.”

Shaking her head, Tess turned away, heading over to the cabinets. “They will come around,” she said, but her voice was lacking in conviction. “And once they do, everything will be like it’s suppose to.”

“No, it won’t,” Kyle was practically screaming now. “They don’t want destiny, Tess. They are happy being here, living their lives and making their own choices. Don’t you see that this is your chance to do that too? You can make a life here.”

Tess leaned against the counter for support. God, how she wanted what Kyle was offering her, but there was no way she could accept. He didn’t understand. There was just too much at stake.

“No,” she forced out. “I won’t.”

She heard some shuffling behind her, feeling Kyle moving farther and farther away. “Fine,” he muttered. “Forget I said anything. Forget this ever happened. I should have known anyway. Maybe I’m not even that upset.”

There more footsteps. Turning towards the archway, Tess saw Kyle make his way out of the kitchen. “I’m going out,” he called back. “Don’t hold dinner.”

With that, he was gone, and Tess found herself alone again. On unsteady legs, she walked over to a chair. “I’m sorry,” she whispered to herself, sitting down in the seat. “I have no choice. I have no choice.” For the first time in years, she found herself genuinely crying.

[Anniepoo98]

Howdy all~

I've finally got another couple of parts ready for posting. Sorry that it has taken me so long. Real life just keeps getting in the way. LOL! In any case, thank you all for the feedback and bumps. I can't tell you how much it means to me that your sticking with this story.

So... without further ado, here are the new parts. I hope you enjoy them!

Annie:)


Part Thirteen:

They’re planning something, Maria thought to herself as she poured a refill of coffee for a customer. She smiled when the old man babbled on about his darling granddaughters without hearing a single word. Nope, her mind was completely fixated on Michael and Alex.

She’d spotted them not more than a few minutes before, sitting in the usual booth, talking in lowered voices. To an outsider, it would appear that they were discussing the menu, but Maria knew better. The occasional glances in her direction only went that much further to confirm her suspicions, especially since the instant she would meet their gaze, they would quickly turn his eyes back to the other. Well, roll his eyes in Michael’s case. Either way, the whole scene unnerved her.

Oh yeah, defintinally planning something.

“Excuse me, Miss,” the old man’s voice finally registered in her brain. “I think that I have enough coffee.”

Maria looked down at him, only to find that she had filled his cup until it overflowed. “Oh. I am so sorry sir,” she quickly apologized. “Let me go get you another cup. I promise not to over fill it this time.”

The man looked slightly put out, but he agreed nonetheless. Maria quickly hurried towards the counter, pausing for a moment by Michael and Alex. “Are you two planning on memorizing that menu, which hasn’t changed since we were six years old, or are you going to tell me what the both of you are up to?”

“What makes you think that we are up to anything?” Alex feigned innocence.

Maria scrunched her face up, studying them closely. “Because, I know you two. There is defiant plotting afoot here, and I want to know what it is.”

“What if we don’t want you to,” Alex challenged weakly. “We don’t have to tell you everything.”

“Yeah, can you honestly say that there is nothing you’re keeping from us,” Michael retorted. Maria could tell by his tone that he was trying to goad her into admitting something. She didn’t know whether she wanted to smack him or simply walk away and leave him to his immaturity. After all, he was the one who kept a possible alien invasion from her. She had the right to be mad, damnit.

“Fine,” she scoffed. “If you guys are going to be like that, forget about fast and friendly service tonight.” Maria turned and crossed the last few feet to the counter.

“I’ll complain,” Michael called after her.

“Go to hell,” she hollered right back. A few seconds later, she heard him mutter something under his breath that sounded quite a bit like see ya there, but she chose to ignore it. Instead, she grabbed another cup and saucer from beneath the counter.

Out of the corner of her eye, Maria spotted Max sitting in one of the stools, glancing down and doing a terrible job of hiding his amusement over the conversation she knew he just heard. Hell, she thought to herself, who am I kidding. Half the restaurant heard it.

“You’re not going to get any better service if you keep laughing like that,” she told him as she reached over for a fresh pot of coffee.

Max winced a tiny bit, giving Maria a hint of satisfaction. “So, I guess I’m still on your list,” he tried to joke.

Maria nodded. “Well, I haven’t heard any reason why you shouldn’t be,” she stated matter-of-factly.

“I am sorry about it,” Max confessed. “I didn’t mean for this to happen.”

“But somehow it always does,” Maria sighed. “We all seem to be going in the same pattern. Something new comes up, and you guys keep it from us. Everything goes wrong, we find out anyway, and there is a big mess to clean up. Quite frankly, I think it’s a stupid cycle. One we need to break. It just doesn’t seem like that is going to happen anytime soon.”

Max looked down at the counter. “If there was something I could do…”

That was it. Maria had finally reached her breaking point with this whole situation. “There is something you can do,” she shouted, effectively interrupting him as she slammed her free hand down against the tile. “After all, aren’t you supposed to be the leader of this wayward little group?”

A few customers turned to look at them, causing Max to sink even further into his seat. Maria saw his reaction, knowing she had probably gone a little overboard. Toning it down a bit, she leaned across the counter, eyes locking with his. “I understand that the situation sucks, Max. Really, I do. But you know what, a lot of them do. Life is just chocked full of crappy circumstances. You deal and move on. You’re the King, the head honcho, the buck stops with you. So, the position has a lot of down sides, but it has some good ones too.”

“Like what,” Max asked, speaking up for the first time since Maria began her rant.

“Other than you get to boss Michael around, and he has to do what you say,” Maria said with a wicked gleam in her eyes. “You have the power to change the situation. See, people have to listen to you. When you see something you don’t like, you can try to fix it.”

The bells on the door chimed, causing both Max and Maria to look in that direction. Kyle stormed in, definently ticked off about something and looking like he was willing to share his bad mood with anyone who dared to cross him.

“Sure,” Max muttered sarcastically. “I’m really good at fixing things. That’s why I have no idea what to do about the…” he glanced around cautiously, “bad guys. I have no idea whether this new girl is one of them. And no matter how hard I try, Liz and I keep getting further and further apart. If I’m such a great leader, why would she need to lie to me so much? Why won’t she tell me the truth?”

Studying him closely, Maria’s could feel her heart breaking a bit for him. There was no was to miss the pain and confusion rolling off of Max in waves. Maybe, I can give him a bit of hope, Maria thought to herself. Surely a smidgen won’t bring about an apocalypse. Besides, I doubt that this lost version of Max would be a great amount of help. Nope, I’d rather stubborn Max any day.

So she asked him the only questioned she could think of. “Do you trust her?”

Max’s head snapped as he brought his eyes to study her expression. Maria shifted a bit, feeling slightly uncomfortable under the sudden scrutiny. “What?”

“Do you trust Liz,” she repeated, determined to get an answer from him.

“I don’t know,” he finally admitted.

That wasn’t the answer Maria wanted to hear. “Let me put it to you this way,” she began, frustration lacing her words. “She’s put herself on the line for you, Michael, Isabel, even Tess, over and over again. That includes this whole deal. Am I right?”

Max nodded.

“Well, shouldn’t that be enough to show you Liz will be always be there for you?”

“Being there for me and being there with me are two totally different things,” Max told her softly, glancing in Kyle’s direction for a moment. “And I want her with me. So much so it hurts. ”

Maria let go of the coffee pot, reaching out to take Max’s hand. “Then nothing else matters. Not Kyle, not being a leader, none of it.” She paused for a moment. This has gone on too long. God, if Liz ever finds out that I told Max anything remotely close to what I am going to tell him, I will so be dead, but I am not about to consider what might happen if I don’t. Better me than her. “So let me leave you with this last piece of advice. There’s a difference between can’t and won’t. All you have to do is figure out which applies to Liz.”

“What’s that suppose to mean?” Max asked, beyond confused at Maria’s latest riddle.

“It means just what I said,” Maria told him. “It also means that I can’t tell you anything else. Sorry, but those are the breaks.”

He managed a little smile. “Thanks Maria. You know, you’re a really great friend.”

Beaming a bit, Maria nodded her head. “Of course I am. Duh. Now, I want to do me a favor.”

“What?” Max asked.

“Keep an eye on the three stooges over there,” she said, pointing toward the table where Michael, Alex, and now Kyle were sitting.

Max’s looked in the direction that Maria was motioning to. “You think they’re up to something,” he wondered aloud.

“I guarantee it,” she informed him. “I mean how often do you see those three hanging out. It’s strange, and over the past year and a half, I’ve learned that you need to keep an eye on strange. So you watch, I waitress. Got it.”

“Okay,” Max conceded.

With that, Maria headed off in the direction of the old man’s booth, hoping he wouldn’t be too perturbed that it took her so long. Her hope was dashed when she discovered the table was empty, except for a few dollars to cover his bill. “Great,” she mumbled. “This is just perfect.” She looked towards Michael once more. “I am going to find out what you are up to, buster. You better believe it.”

~~~~~~~

“Awwwww, come on,” Kyle protested. “How did I get the short end of the stick?”

“You’re the only one who can actually convince him that nothing happened,” Michael argued. “If Alex or I do it, it will look like we’re just saying it to make him feel better or something.”

Kyle couldn’t help but snicker. “Feel better… as in comfort? Somehow, I really don’t see you as the comforting type.”

Michael brought his hand up over his heart, letting out a little gasp of surprise. “I’ll have you know that I am a very gentle soul,” he mocked.

“Yeah,” Alex chimed in. “Isabel told me once that he cries every time he watches…”

“That’s enough,” Michael cut him off. “We’re getting off the subject. Kyle, you’ve got to be the one. No one else can talk to him.”

“And you think that he is actually going to listen to me,” Kyle questioned, leaning back in the booth. “The guy hates me. Not that I have warm and fuzzy feelings for him either, but let’s look at this realistically. Your plan calls for Evans and I to be confined in a relatively tiny space to sort out our differences. You both know he’s already concluded that I’m the guilty on in this.”

Alex tossed him a disbelieving look. “You ARE guilty. He saw you both with his own two eyes. You are guilty, at least as far as Max is concerned.”

Kyle held up his hand defensively. “Hey, don’t jump down my throat. I was only helping Liz out. You know, being a good friend.”

“Yeah, yeah… we know,” Michael replied sarcastically. “We’ve already been through all of this. The only thing that matters right now is fixing this and find out what the girls know.”

“Well, what do you think about this whole Future Max thing?” Alex asked. “It just seems a little out there in my opinion.”

“This whole stinking situation is out there if you ask me,” Kyle muttered under his breath.

Michael let out a groan of frustration. “It’s a good thing we didn’t ask you,” he retorted. “As for Future Max, I think that Liz and Maria believe he’s the real deal. Especially Liz. She nearly went off the deep end when Maria asked her if the end of the world could happen.”

“And we know that the redhead is named Serena,” Kyle added. “So she’s gotta be the one Liz mentioned, right?”

Both Michael and Alex shrugged their shoulders. “I think it’s a safe bet,” Alex told them. “After all, Serena isn’t a very common name. The only thing that I can’t figure is that if Liz knew about Serena before she ever came to Roswell, does it prove that Future Max is real or that he isn’t.”

“I’m voting for real,” Michael threw his two cents in. “In some way, shape, or form, he was real.”

Now, Alex was leaning back in the booth, both arms folded across his chest. “Wow!”

“Wow what?” Michael asked.

“Time travel, knowing a bit of the future” Alex told him. “That’s like … wow.”

Michael stared at him in disbelief. “No, not wow. Dangerous. Having that kind of power is just wrong. If we really could change it, who’s to say that it was for the better.”

“What do you mean if? I thought you just said that you believed what Maria and Liz said,” Kyle pointed out.

“No,” Michael began. “I’m saying that I believe they believe the future has changed. However, Serena showing up doesn’t exactly bode well in any way, shape, or form of this situation. Right now, we need to know what Liz thought she changed, how pushing Max away was part of the brilliant plan, and then we will figure in Serena.”

“Fine,” Kyle grumbled. “I still want it on the record that I am against this.”

Alex rolled his eyes. “Think of it as taking one for the team. Besides, it’s one lousy car ride across town, and Roswell is a small town. You ‘ll manage.”

~~~~~~~~~

Max found himself lurking at the Crashdown until close. Basically because that’s when Maria tossed him out. But two things were bugging him as he stood on the sidewalk just outside the restaurant. First, that neither Liz or Serena made an appearance the entire time he was there. Second, the sneaking suspicion that Maria was right. Michael, Alex, and Kyle were up to something.

He had watched them, just as Maria ordered him to do. He saw them talking, maybe even arguing over something. Kyle looked especially displeased as he got up from the booth, but for the life of him, Max couldn’t figure out why. It wasn’t common for those guys to hang out, let alone talk at lengths about anything. They’re up to something, Max decided firmly. I pity the person on the receiving end of whatever it is they’re planning.

Behind him, the lights of the restaurant flickered out, and Max knew it was time for him to move on. Regretfully, he began walking down the sidewalk. “I should never have agreed to let Isabel take the Jeep tonight,” he muttered to himself. “I mean, how many pairs of shoes does she actually need? Now, I get to walk across town...”

Screeching tires broke Max’s concentration as a mustang pulled itself into a stop right in front of him. “Evans.”

Max bent a bit, trying to look into the car’s window. “Kyle?”

“Right in one,” Kyle called out. “Get in. I’ll give you a ride home.”

Eyeing the other guy serious, Max shook his head to decline. “I don’t think that is such a good idea.”

“And why might that be?” A smug smile twisted Kyle’s mouth. “Scared?”

Max stared at Kyle in disbelief for a split-second. “You’re kidding me, right?”

“Just calling them as I see them,” Kyle scoffed. “So, are you getting in or what?”

Walking over to the car door, Max leaned into the window. “Why are you pushing this, Kyle? I am sure you didn’t just suddenly decide that we need to be buddy buddy. Tell me why?”

He watched as Kyle shrugged, looking for a moment out the driver’s side window. “It’s simple really. I saw the guy who saved my life walking, and I thought I’d offer him a ride. It didn’t matter that he’s a big pain in my ass. I kinda figured I owed him that much.”

Taking a deep breath, Max grabbed the door handle. “Fine,” he grumbled, getting into the car. “Happy.”

“Positively fan-friggin-tastic,” Kyle retort, shifting gears into drive. With a jerk, the car took off down the road, heading toward the other end of town.

Max sat in silence as the first street passed, then the next. He figured it was safer that way. However, it seemed that Kyle had another idea.

“So, you hate me, huh?” he asked as the pulled up to a stoplight. “Cause of this whole thing with Liz...”

“Don’t really want to talk about it,” Max managed to pushed out as he jaw clenched. This was definitely not what he had in mind when he got into the car.

He heard Kyle laugh a bit. “I’ll take that as a yes. Not that I can blame you. After all, you saw me and the girl you loved together... in bed...”

“Forget this, I’m walking,” Max spit out, clenching the door hand as he began to jerk the door open.

“If you want a clue as to what really happen, you’ll keep your butt in this car, your highness.”

Max’s head whipped around. “What the hell are you talking about? I saw what happened. You and Liz...”

A slight frown crossed Kyle’s lips when Max didn’t go any further. “Can’t even say it, can you?”

Snorting in disbelief, Max shook his head. “Not really into really into reliving the worst night of my life. Sorry if that puts you out, but quite frankly don’t care how you feel. I know what I saw...”

Kyle cut him off, not wanting to drag his assignment out any further than he had to. “Think about it, Max,” he exclaimed, turning down Elm Street before Max had a chance to get out of the car. “Since then, have you seen Liz and I together in anyway that could be considered lovey-dovey? Have you seen her with anyone that way...”

Max thought for a moment, opening his mouth to say something, but Kyle beat him to the punch.

“And if you say Sean Deluca, I’ll beat the living tar out of you, cause you know she only doing that to save your ass,” he ended muttered. “The truth is, Liz has been walking around with her heart broken since that night, the same as you. Not even a blind man could miss it. Then again, blind and stupid...”

“So why did she do it,” Max finally exclaimed. “Why was she there with you like that if it broke her heart? It just isn’t like Liz to be with someone she didn’t care about.”

“I think the question you need to ask yourself is what is the only thing, or person for that matter, that can make Liz act against her norm,” Kyle said, trying to corral Max towards the right answer.

Max’s eyes grew wide as he realized what Kyle was implying. With eyes blazing, he gritted out what he believe the other guy was implying. “You’re saying that this is my fault. That I made her do it?”

“No,” Kyle countered. “I’m simply saying think about the whole thing. Is there any reason to believe she would have been with me? It wasn’t like we weren’t dating before you and the whole alien mumbo jumbo stuff happened. Why would she change her mind suddenly?”

“ARE you saying that you didn’t... didn’t,” Max stuttered, desperately trying to grab at the meaning behind Kyle’s words. Some of it, a lot of it actually, made sense. However, the conclusion was just beyond his understanding. What was Kyle getting at?”

“I’m not saying either way,” Kyle told him, finally pulling into the driveway of the Evans’ house. “In fact, I will probably get my butt kick for saying this much to you, and if anyone finds out I’m kicking yours.”

As if on autopilot, Max got out of the car, shutting the door behind him. The rapid course of emotions running though him almost left him numb. How could he be this angry, confused, and hopeful at the same time?

“One last thing,” Kyle called out. “Liz can put up a good act. Hell, she’s practically perfected her stubbornness. But if you really love her the way you’ve been claiming all this time, you should be able to look past anything she’s done. Whether she wants to or not, Liz needs you. Whatever conclusion you get out of this little talk, that should be the most important thing to you.”

Nodding, Max stood there, watching as Kyle shifted into gear and pull out of the driveway. His head was spinning with all the new information. He needed time. To think about everything, to work out the confusion in his head. “Thanks for the ride,” he mumbled, watching the car disappear down the road.

[Anniepoo98]

Part Fourteen:

To Liz, school the next day went by in a blur. With the choices lurking off in the near future, she figured the minutes would have ticked on forever. That was what she’d come to expect over the past year and a half.
Then again, nothing over the past year and a half was ever what it seemed, and it took Thursday at West Roswell High with it.

In the morning, Liz managed to hunt Maria down, and recruited her into spreading the word about a meeting at the Crashdown after close. Then, of course, came classes, which she was using as a planning session for that evening. Occasionally, she her brain would stop long enough for her to check in with Serena in between periods, but her focus always returned to the meeting.

While her mind was out in left field, mulling over every word she was thinking about saying, bell after bell rang. Suddenly, school was over and Liz was starting her scheduled shift at the restaurant. And that is when things came to a screeching halt. Every second felt like a minute, and every minute an hour, dragging its way towards 10 o’clock.

“God,” Maria groaned, wiping down the counter for the umpteenth time that night. “Were are the hungry masses? I know that Thursdays are dead, but this is ridiculous.”

Liz leaned back, resting her elbows on the counter. “Upside is that we won’t have to wait long to start the meeting. We’ve done almost all of the closing clean up, so we’ll just be able to jump right in.”

“Why don’t we just close up and jump in right now?” Maria asked, glancing around the room. “It seems like most of the gang are here anyway.”

Turning her head, Liz followed the direction Maria’s eyes travel just moments before. Sure enough, her best friend was right. Almost everyone was there, except one.

Kyle was sitting with Alex, watching the door to the breakroom with particular interest. Serena left through them only moments before. At the usual booth, Tess was glancing sideways at him, occasionally tuning into the conversation Isabel was attempting to make with Max. Last, but not least, Michael was in the back cleaning the grill for the evening.

However tempting it was to take Maria up on her suggestion, Liz’s knew they should wait. “Serena’s not back yet. She said that she’d only be a moment,” Liz sighed wearily. “Besides, you know my dad is just upstairs. If he comes down and finds out that we’ve closed early, he’ll have a kinption.”

Maria groaned again. “This sucks.”

“Quit your griping and finish cleaning,” Michael ordered as his face appeared in the pick-up window. “The sooner we get that and this meeting over with, the sooner I can get home and watch my hockey game.”

“Shut up,” Maria retorted. “You’re taping it.”

“It’s not as good as watching it the first time around,” Michael threw back at her. “Beside, you never know if something will go wrong. The tape might get eaten, or...”

However, Maria wasn’t having any of that. “Then you’ll just do a little hand waving trick and presto...”

The bells on the door rang, announcing the presence of someone new in their midst. Liz turned her head to find Sean Deluca walking in.

“Don’t stop arguing on my account,” Sean told Maria as he made his way to the counter. “And maybe if you put a little more effort into it, they could hear you Clovis.”

“Order something or leave,” Maria said, turning to face off with her cousin.

“Testy,” he muttered under his breath. Then, he glanced over at Liz, the smile on his face growing bigger. “Hey Parker.”

Liz tipped her head to look on the counter. “Hey Sean. We’re just getting ready to close down the kitchen. Did you want something?”

“Just a little conformation on our date tomorrow,” he told her, his voice rising a bit with each word.

Wincing a bit, Liz reached for a rag and started wiping down the Formica. It didn’t matter that Maria had already done it, she simply needed something to do. “Yeah, I guess so. We can go bowling or something.”

She could feel the sensation of eyes wash over her, and instantly Liz knew Max was watching her. Quickly, she glanced in his direction, only to see his eyes darken with what she could simply assume was anger. It was more than she could handle, so Liz turned her head away. That’s when she found out that everyone else was staring at her as well.

“...not quite what I had in mind,” Sean finished his sentence as Liz tuned back into the conversation at hand. “I thought we could go out to dinner. Maybe a drive,” he offered, placing his hand over hers.

Liz jumped back a bit with the contact. “Sean,” she gasped slightly, then taking a deep breath. She desperately needed to get this situation back under control. She had to make him understand. “Tomorrow is not a da....”

“Date date,” Sean interrupted her sentence. “I know. You’ve told me that. Several times, in fact. But you can’t blame a guy for trying.”

“I can,” Maria mumbled.

Sean’s head whipped over to look at her. “I didn’t ask you.”

“Nah,” she retorted, but Liz felt her back up a step or two.

It was time to get Sean out of there. Liz could feel the tension growing in the room, and she wanted him out of there before things got worse. “Sean, I think you better get going, unless you’re going to order something. Like I said, we were just getting ready to close.”

Nodding, Sean flashed her another smile. “I get the picture, Parker. I’ll see ya tomorrow. Seven o’clock?”

“That’s fine,” Liz told him, moving a towards the door. “See ya then.”

Sean followed her lead, walking over to the door. When he was finally outside, Liz flipped the lock. “Forget the last ten minutes,” she said to no one in particular as she turned back to the group. “We’re closing now.”

Serena appeared in the doorway to the breakroom. She glanced around the room, apparently taking in the expressions on everyone’s faces. “So, what did I miss?”

~~~~~~~~~~

Like Liz, Serena spent the day going over what she wanted to say. Hell, she went over the whole thing so many times, in so many different ways, that she was probably less prepared than she had been the day before.

These people were her leaders. The ones she had been sworn to serve for two lifetimes. Saying she was nervous would be an understatement.

“Let’s get this little show on the road.”

This came from Michael. Glancing over at him, Serena couldn’t help but laughing a bit at king’s second in command. He never did like to wait for answers once he knew where to get them.

“Alright,” Liz said, hoisting herself up onto the counter. “I called the meeting, so I guess that I’ll be the one to start it. First off, everyone, this is Serena Ross,” she told them with a slight gesture towards her new roommate.

“And is she?” Michael asked.

“Mind specifying, general sir,” Maria mocked. “Is she what?”

“An alien,” Michael clarified. “I’m assuming that’s what this meeting is about. So is she?”

“That was subtle, Michael,” Isabel scolded, grabbing at his arm. Lowering her voice, she whispered, “What if she isn’t? You just announced to her that we are.”

“Yes,” Serena chimed in, effective cutting Isabel off. “I am an alien.”

“Are you one of those skin things?” Kyle questioned. “Maybe a Michael worshiper like that Courtney chick was?”

Serena shook her head. “I’m a hybrid. Just like others.”

“Why are you here?”

Swerving the chair just a little, Serena met the questioning eyes of her king. She couldn’t help but flinch a bit at the tone in his voice. She could hear the apprehension in it, the suspicion. No matter how much she prepared herself for it, it was still hard to grasp that the people she could remember so vividly had no clue who she was. That they didn’t trust her.

“To help you,” she stated simply.

“And we’re suppose to just believe you?” Tess scoffed. “Do you think we’re are that stupid? You waltz in here, say ‘hi, I’m a hybrid,’ and were going to accept that. Try again.”

“Well, if you gave her a chance instead of this interrogation,” Maria defended the other girl.

A slight smile crept across Serena lips. Opening up the connection just a bit, she could sense that Maria had reservations about her, but because Liz trusted her completely, Maria was giving her the benefit of the doubt.

“Sitting there is not telling us anything,” Tess retorted, moving to square off with Maria. “If she was so eager to share information, then she would have done so by now. Get a clue.”

“Get a clue,” Maria snorted, holding in the laughter threatening to bubble through. “Where the hell did you pick that up? Can we say early nineties...”

“Enough,” Liz exclaimed, jumping off the counter. Serena watched as she glared at both girls, forcing them to back down. “We don’t have time for this. I’m going to make a couple things clear, and if anyone has a problem with them, they can leave. One, I want to make it clear that I trust Serena.”

Michael started to open his mouth, but Liz kept right on talking as if she knew what he was going to say.

“Before someone asks, my reasons are mine and mine alone,” she clarified. “Two, I did not call this meeting so any you could grill her. Serena can take her time to explain the things she needs to explain. Ask any questions you want, but there will be no accusations. Like I said before, we don’t have the time. If someone doesn’t agree with these rules, you can use the door to the alley. Maybe someone will be nice and fill you in later. Everyone got it?”

She was answered with nods and muffled ‘okays’ from the group, and Serena knew it was time. Time to share the story of the royal four and the Granolith.

“This is going to take a bit,” she told them right off the bat. “There’s a lot to tell. I can’t help that. I also don’t have much in the way of proof. But I know the four of you, and the rest of you know them. You know Liz. If I were the bad guy, you’d be able to sense it.”

“The evil within,” Isabel wondered aloud.

Serena smiled at her. “That’s it exactly. You’re able to tell because of the connection. The connection comes from the Granolith. It is the purest form of energy... well, I’m getting ahead of myself. Let me start at the beginning.”

“There are five planets that make up our system. For as far back as anyone can remember, a piece of the Granolith resided on each of the planets. This was to signify that all them were equal in the system.”

“But now there’s only one, right?” Alex asked.

“Right,” Serena confirmed. “Well, just before Zan was crowned, there was a plot to unite all the pieces of the Granolith. See, if that were to happen, the person who controlled it would, in turn, control the whole system. Not to mention any other planet within flying distance.”

“How?” Maria squeaked.

“Because the Granolith is pure energy,” Serena explained. “Legend has it that when our planetary system was created, the force that set it into motion was the Granolith. Or maybe it’s the leftover energy. That part has always been confusing. In any case, it was pretty powerful stuff, so the pieces were separated. Then someone tried to ahold of the pieces, and it force the planets decided to work together.”

“They formed a Council, and the king of Antar was appointed the leader,” she continued. “Antar was the most peaceful planet in the system, and it was well-known that the king was very fair man.”

“Was it me?” Max asked.

Serena shook her head. “No. Your father was still ruling then.”

“And who was making this big play for the Granolith,” Kyle jumped in.

“Kivar,” Liz whispered.

There was a nod of confirmation from Serena. “Kivar. At the time, he was considered the greatest scientists on any of the five planets. His work primary dealt with essences. He was also part of the royal family on Rynar, a planet that was mostly made up of Amorphca.

“Amorphca,” Kyle repeated. “What the hell are they?”

“They are beings born without an outer shell or husk,” Serena told him.

Maria’s eyes widened. “Skins? That’s who you’re talking about. Those creepy skin people.”

“Yes.” Judging by the looks on everyone’s faces, Serena assumed that they all had come into contact with the race. “On Rynar, they can survive without one, but if they were to go to any other planet, they needed a husk. And Kivar invented the technology that makes them.”

“So they follow him, because he is the great husk guru,” Alex summed up. “That makes a lot of sense.”

“But that doesn’t explain Kivar’s power play,” Michael stated. “It seems like he had enough of his own.”

“Kivar always wanted more,” Serena informed. “There are two things you need to know about him. Kivar is both arrogant and smart. Those two things never make a good combination. After developing the husks, he decided that he had the power to go further.”

Serena noticed Max watching her out of the corner of her eye. “Further, how?” he asked.

Turning to look at him, Serena took a deep breath. “Possession.”

“Possession?” Tess scoffed. “You’ve got to be kidding me. You’re making it sound like this is all something out of a bad scifi horror movie.”

All eyes turned on her. After a moment, Tess shrugged her shoulders. “Okay, maybe it is true, but possession. Come on.”

“Kivar worked with essences, a person’s life force,” Serena retorted, starting to get a bit frustrated. “By the time the royal four were killed, he had already shown he could clone them and manipulate them. What we didn’t know at the time was that he also could take them over. However, to sustain it, he needed a great deal of energy.”

“And, as we know now, the granolith is the purest form of energy,” Liz finished for her. “That’s why he wanted to unite the pieces.”

“Yes. Kivar started by taking the throne on Rynar from his cousin. He had got the Amorphca to support his plans by promising them permanent husks. But what he didn’t count on was his cousin escaping with the planet’s piece of the Granolith. She fled to Antar, striking a bargain with the King for her asylum. So Kivar did the only thing he could do. Organize a small army and start trying to get the all the pieces.”

“You see, he could use the essence possession process to take over heads of the other planetary houses. He started with Libren, but was caught. That is when the council was formed. It was hard to know who to trust, to figure out if a person was who they really said they were. In the end, the council decided that the Granolith and put under the protection of Antar, because up until that point, no Antarian had been possessed.”

“Now, the Antarians took every precaution they could to keep the Granolith safe, but they knew there was a chance Kivar could beat them. So, the decided to pick one person who would be injected with part of the Granolith’s energy. In a sense, they would be two parts of a whole. One could not operate without the other. I was the one chosen. I am the keeper of the Granolith.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Serena could see Kyle wincing. “Okay,” he muttered under his breath. “Like ouch.”

She shrugged. “It’s the way it had to be. At the time, it was considered a great honor. I was entrusted with its power, and the symbol marked our link,” she recited coldly, as it had been recited to her many times in her short life. Twisting a bit on the stool, she also gave a little tug on the shoulder of her shirt, exposing the mark.

There was a gasp from both Maria and Isabel as the five dots surrounding the swirling mark began to glow. “It recognizes you,” Serena told them before anyone could ask the question. “The power of the royal four, plus... well, me. It recognizes the connection.”

“Does it hurt?” Isabel asked quietly.

Serena shook her head. “No, not really. There is just a slight sensation. Kinda like when your foot falls asleep. That pins and needles feeling.”

Michael, who had been quiet for the most part, finally spoke up again. “So, what happened next? How did we get from there to here? What happen to Max and Isabel’s dad? Our my parents, for that matter? How did we died? God, there are like a million questions that we don’t have answers for...”

“I don’t have them all either, Michael,” Serena said softly, pulling on her shirt to straighten it. “But I will tell you what I can. For instance, what happened to Lysander. He was your father,” she added, glancing back and forth between Max and Isabel.

Isabel inched her way over to her brother, taking a firm hold of his hand as she bumped into his side. For his part, Max simply stared straight at her, his eyes growing darker. However, the second he felt Isabel’s hand take his own, he gave it a tender squeeze of reassurance. “Tell us,” he told her, never taking his eyes from her.

Choking back all the emotion she felt coming off of them in waves, Serena took a couple of deep breaths as she searched for the right words before pushing forward. “He was only head of the Council for a few months before he was killed. One of Kivar’s henchmen possessed a person the King trusted very much. Then, he forced this man to kill his best friend.”

“Who,” Max forced out. “Who was he?”

“Nichalli took control of the King’s second,” she sighed. With a heavy heart, she glanced to Michael. “He was your father.”

The second the words left her mouth, Maria was across the room, gripping Michael’s arm tightly. “Nicholas,” he ground out through clenched teeth.

He was going to blow. Expecting it, Serena closed her eyes. Opening the connection slowly, she sent out as calming an influence as she could muster. Michael’s head snapped up as her eyes opened, she knew he’d felt her in his mind. A flash of understanding passed over his features just before he eased his arm out of Maria’s grasp and laid it across her shoulders. “Continue,” he urged.

“Your father was placed in prison. Many believed that he was not in control when the ... when it happened, but they had to be on safe side. Later, we figured that Kivar did it to cause enough of a distraction so he could get his hands on the united Granolith, but it didn’t work out that way. Even though he was grieving, Zan stepped right into his position, both on the throne and in the Council.”

“So how did Kivar get control of Antar?” This time the question was from Alex.

“I’m not completely sure,” Serena admitted. “I wasn’t there at the time. That was how I survived when the kingdom fell.”

“How convenient,” Tess muttered under her breath.

“Tess,” Kyle warned. Everyone turned to look at him, shocked that it was him who scolded her this time.

Serena offered him a slight smile before going back to what she’d been saying. “It was convenient, Tess. If I had died, none of you would have been sent. As it was, it was only a delay of the inevitable. I still died, but not before the Granolith was sent to Earth.”

An expression of pure confusion washed over Michael’s face. “You mean it didn’t come with us on the ship?”

She shook her head. “No. I mean, think about it. Tiny ship, big alien artifact.”

“So you sent it,” he said, coming out more as a statement then a question.

Nodding her head, Serena could tell just how hard it was for him, in fact all of them, to absorb what she was telling them. “I was attacked just afterward and hurt pretty badly. Somehow, I got to safe ground. You see, I always meant to come, except before it was going to be more in a guardian fashion. I had stayed behind in the first place because the Granolith needed to be sent to you and I was the only one who could do it. There was a ship waiting to take me to Earth, but then I died. I had to be cloned as you were, therefore I was sent later and got separated from you all. In the end, it was for the better.”

Isabel stepped forward. “What does that mean?”

The question wasn’t harsh, but Serena knew enough to know that patience was running thin at this point. And she couldn’t have them giving up on her before she told them what needed to be done.

Except she didn’t get the chance to answer.

“She means it gave us time,” Liz said quietly. “Time to prepare for what is to come...” Her voice died out as she began trying to swallow back her own emotions.

Sensing that she was now out of the conversation, Serena watched as Max and Liz shifted to face each other.

“Prepare how?” Max questioned, urging Liz to finish.

They all watched as Liz raised her head to meet his eyes. “You had to heal me, Max. I had to be changed, and accept those changes by helping Isabel to reach you in New York. I guess it gave me time to form my own connections. Now, we can do when needs to be done.” She was choking on each word as they came out of her mouth.

He started to move towards her, but Liz raised her hand to keep him at bay. Serena knew why she was doing it, but it didn’t make seeing it hurt any less.

“I have to take on the power of the Granolith.”

The statement echoed though the room as a moment of silence passed. Then, all hell broke loose.

[Anniepoo98]

Howdy all~

I know... I am an evil git for not getting this out sooner... but I do have a new part with me. Also, I am planning on focusing on this story for the next couple of weeks in a big push to get it done. So, without much more ado, here is part 15. I hope to get out part 16 tonight too... so keep an eye out!

Have a good one!

Annie:)

Part Fifteen:

“What are you talking about?” was the only question Max could even formulate after hearing Liz’s announcement. “That’s crazy.”

Liz shifted her eyes, which had been completely focused on him, down towards the ground. “Crazy or not, it has to be done,” she muttered.

Max studied her, watching as a tear leaked out from her right eye and made a path down her cheek. Then, he turned to Serena, who was eyeing them both intently, and before he knew it, anger started to turn in his stomach. Within seconds, it grew to full out fury, and Max slowly started to move towards the other girl.

“What did you say to her?” Max demanded, his voice rising with every word. “What did you do to make her believe these lies? Take on the power of the Granolith? It’s not possible. We don’t even know what it does.”

Quickly, Serena slid off of the stool she was sitting on, taking a step in retreat for each that Max advanced. “I only told her the truth.” She said it in as neutral a tone as she could muster. “I do know what the Granolith does, and transferring the power is possible.”

“No,” Max shouted, rushing forward. Suddenly, he felt at hands gripping at his arms. Both Liz and Michael grabbed at him, forcing him to stop as Kyle stepped in front of Serena.

“No Max,” Liz yelled. “Stop! She didn’t do anything to me. I swear she didn’t. Serena is telling the truth.”

Resisting the urge to jerk away from them, Max whipped his head around to look at Liz. “How can you be so sure Liz? How do you know that this isn’t some trick our enemies have cooked up to get their hands on the Granolith?”

“I just do.” As she spoke, Liz turned her head away. “I just do, okay?”

Max shook his head. “No. I think we all deserve to know how you understand something the rest of us can’t even begin to imagine. So share. Come on, Liz. After all, you’re the one who said that we’re running out of time.”

By the end of his speech, Max felt Michael loosen his grip on the arm he was hold, and Max pulled it free. Liz had also let go, her hands dropping to her sides as she started to tremble slightly.

However, he didn’t get his answer from her. It was a voice coming from behind him, one positively filled with irritation. It was Serena’s voice.

“Because I showed her,” she hollered at him.

Max turned again to face her, encountering one ticked off red head. He watched as she stepped out from behind Kyle, moving towards him this time instead of away.

“Do you want to know why we are running out of time?” Serena bit out, staring at him. “Because Earth is next. The skins are here, Kivar is here, and he is determined to get what he wants this time. And it’s all here, wrapped up like a nice little package: the Granolith, me, not to mention all the people walking around this planet just waiting for possession.”

Standing still and trying to absorb what Serena was telling him, Max almost missed the fact that she was moving again. In fact, heading straight for him, with her arm stretched out. “You see, you don’t know what it is like to carry the weight of the world around on your shoulders,” she said, taking a quick glance over at Liz. “Not really. But,” she began, offering Max her hand at the same time. “I dare you to find out. Open up the connection and see all the proof you need.”

Shocked, confused, and clearly trying to judge his options, Max hesitated for a moment. Then, he sucked in a deep breath and took her hand. The connection was instantaneous. Images and voices overtook his mind, showing him things he never expected to see.


The sound of the telephone pierced thought the night. Groggily, stumbling out of bed, a ten year old Serena made her way towards her parents bedroom.

“Yes.... yes, I understand,” her father’s voice filtered through the doorway. “Tonight.”

Then, there was shuffling and more muttering voice, to low and soft to understood. Serena stayed where she was, fear fluttering around in her stomach. Suddenly, the door jerked open, a tall red-headed woman filling it.

“What are you doing up, Serena,” her mother questioned softly.

“I heard the phone,” she told her quietly. “Are they coming?”

Her mother nodded. “Yes, pumpkin, they are. Pack quickly. We have to leave tonight.”

~~~~

“Why can’t I play,” Serena whined, watching her cousin Rory swing from the monkey bars his parents set up in the back yard.

“Cause you’re little,” came his reply as he swung to the next bar.

Serena stared up at him in disbelief. “I’m every bit as big as you are.”

“Then, it’s cause you’re younger,” Rory retorted.

“That’s a stupid reason. I’m eleven years old.”

“Fine,” he scoffed, grabbing ahold of another bar. “Then, maybe cause you’re a girl.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Forget it,” she hissed, reaching out to touch the metal of the monkey bars. Serena concentrated really hard for a moment, changing the molecules on each rung.

“Hey,” Rory called out when he found out he couldn’t let go of the bar he was holding. “That’s cheating.”

Serena started to giggle. “Sucker. Got sticky fingers?”

Rory tried to swing back and forth, his legs dangling in the air. “Mom,” he yelled. “Mom.”

Two set of parents rushed out from the sliding doors. “What’s going on here,” Serena’s father demanded.

“Serena changed the bars,” Rory told. “She won’t let me down.”

“You know better, Serena,” her father scolded. He knelt down before her, gripping both her shoulders lightly. “That is not why you have this power.”

Serena let out a deep sigh. “I know, Daddy. I have a responsibility.”

~~~~

“Kivar has started to make his move,” Serena’s father announced, glancing around the dining room table. Everyone sat there, trying to anticipate what he was about to say. “He’s attacked supporters in Utah, Arizona, and now it seems he’s concentrating on New Mexico.”

“Do you think he’s discovered their location,” Serena’s mom questioned.

“I would bet anything that he has,” her father sighed. “Everyone that I’ve been in contact with agrees that we need to meet. We’ve got a flight out to Albuquerque in the morning.”

“It’s time, isn’t it?” Serena piped in.

He nodded. “You will have to go to the others. Tell them who you are. However, we have to make sure that everyone else is prepared for what is to come. The battle is just beginning.”

~~~~

“Serena,” her father called out just seconds after a loud explosion rocked the room.

Serena tried to answer her, but the only thing that would come out of her mouth whimpers. The connection had been opened when the explosion came. She had only meant to use it to gage what the others in the meeting were feeling, and now she was enveloped in their pain.

It slammed into Serena as if it were her own. She huddled into a corner as the smoke filled their lungs, her lungs, burning them with every breath. Sharp pain ripped throughout her body, and she knew. Kivar’s men were torturing, killing, the people she had been talking to only moments before. “Noooooo,” she cried out.

It must have been just enough for her father to find her because seconds later his face swam into her blurring vision. “You have to break the connection,” he told her, wrapping his arms around her shoulders.

“I can’t,” she whimpered as more pain wracked her system. “I can’t leave them.”

She felt fingers gently pressing against her face, lifting it up slightly. “Look at me, Serena,” he father demanded. She did what he asked. “You have to. Break it now, or it will all be for nothing. Focus on me if you have to, but break it with the others.”

It took all her strength, but slowly she eased out of it. She dragged air into her lungs, sputtered with it’s thickness. “Come on,” her father ordered, finally taking her arm and hoisting her up. He started to urge her in the direction of the furthest wall. “You have to get out of here.”

“Where,” she coughed. Hands urged her towards the other side of the room. “Just keep going,” he ordered. “Keep going. Don’t look back.”

For instant, Serena allowed herself to believe that the two of them were going to make it. Then, a strong pair of arms gripped her around the waist. It was too late.


Max struggle for air as he pulled out of the flashes. He struggle for a grip on reality. Hundreds of images filled his mind, and sifting though all of them at this moment was defiantly an impossibility. But he knew one thing for certain. Serena was telling the truth.

And the truth meant that they all were in big trouble.

“See,” Serena hissed, fighting for her own air. “Now you know.”

Max nodded his head, clutching at his stomach in an attempt to keep from doubling over. The anger that had been burning in his belly only seconds ago hardened like lead into pure fear. “There has to be another way,” he tried to argue as he sunk down to his knees. It was too much all at once.

The next thing he knew, Liz was on the ground beside him, her fingers lightly touching his face. “Max. Max, look at me,” she implored softly. “Just look at me for a second.”

Doing what she asked, Max lifted his head and met her gaze head on. The dark brown eyes he’d loved for so long came into focus, calling out to him as he regained his balance.

“Take a deep breath,” Liz whispered, her smile appearing for an instant when he obeyed. “Again.”

The rest of the world started to come back to him. Max realized that Isabel was crouching on the floor just beyond Liz, her eyes wide with concern. Then, she shifted her head to look at Liz.

“How did you know?” Isabel asked her.

“Serena told me what happened to her,” Liz confessed, the whole time she never looked away from him. “Let’s just say that hearing it alone is intense. I can’t even manage to understand how overwhelming seeing it would be.” Pausing slightly, she stroked his face one last time. “Are you okay now?”

Max blinked once, then twice, before he answered. “Yeah, I’ll be okay.” With that, he moved slowly as he pushed himself off the floor. Then, he made a move to off Liz a hand, but she was already standing. Max’s eyes lingered on her for second.

Then, reality came crashing down. “What did you see, Max?” Tess asked, coming over to stand beside him.

“Serena’s life,” Max told her, but his attention was going back to only person in the room with any kind of answers. “When you were a kid, fighting with your cousin, and the flames. Oh God,” he groaned, running a hand over his face. “All of it was real. That’s what happened in Albuquerque.”

Serena’s eyes drooped to the floor. Max saw Kyle come up behind her, letting her lean against him lightly for support. “Yes,” she admitted finally. “Kivar’s men killed them all. No one escaped.”

“Except you,” he muttered. “How?”

She took a deep breath, fighting to keep her composure. “My cousin Rory,” she said in a low voice, a tear leaking out from the corner of her right eye. “A skin grabbed me, and Rory shattered the seal. We managed to get to an air duct. He pushed me up and I began crawling away. I thought he was right behind me, but he wasn’t. He never came.”

By this time, Liz had moved around him, coming up alongside Kyle, laying a reassuring hand on the other girl’s shoulder. However, Serena kept right on going. “There was so much screaming and the fire…” she trailed off, closing her eyes to try and ward off the pain, but it came anyway. “It was everywhere,” she whispered. “Kivar’s men were everywhere. They killed everyone who stood in their way of getting what they really wanted.”

“And that was?” Michael wondered aloud.

Max saw a shutter pass through Serena’s body. “Me,” she told them simply, trying to move back towards the stool, but having little success. It was as if her legs were barely able to support her weight. “They wanted me.”

“It’s that ‘two halves of the whole’ thing, right?” Kyle jumped in, leading her back to the stool so she could sit down. “They can’t make the Granolith work without you.”

She conceded by nodding her head. “That’s why we have to do this. My father always said that the physical structure of the Granolith was too awkward, too noticeable. For years, I’ve known it’s location, but we’ve never attempted to move it because doing so would bring too much attention to us. I asked him why we couldn’t change the shape. You know, alter the molecular structure, and that was when he told me about the Transference.”

“If I ever needed to, I could find someone who could hold the power of the Granolith and transfer it over,” she continued. “It’s basically a larger variation of what they did to me back on Antar.”

Maria stepped forward. “So why does it have to be Liz? Why can’t it be one of us?”

Suddenly, Max realized the answer. It was what Liz had been talking about before. God, he thought, was that only minutes ago. It almost seemed funny just how fast their lives managed to change. “It’s cause I healed her,” he finally admitted aloud. “I really did do something to change her that day, didn’t I?”

All Serena seemed able to do was nod her head again. “A normal human brain would never be able to handle the full power of the connection. Neither would a hybrid one.” Max realized that the confused looks on everyone’s faces must his after Serena let out a long sigh, obviously searching her brain for a way to explain it all. “Think of glass. When glass is cold and then heated too fast, it shatters. Yet, when glass is at room temperature or hot and it gets heated, it melts. It’s the same with the Transference.”

“So what you’re saying…” Isabel started.

“Aliens hot, humans cold,” Serena finished for her. “And Liz is the only person I’ve met so far that falls in-between. That is why it has to be her.”

Max closed his eyes. This wasn’t suppose to happen. The only thing he’d wanted was for her to live. It was the only thing that ever mattered to him. If she lived, then he could to.

“So Liz will be safe,” he stated, even though it was more of a question than anything else. He met Serena’s gaze as it became entirely focused on him. He could also feel Liz’s washing over him. He just knew nothing was ever that simple. “This Transference will be safe because she changed when I healed her?”

From the expression that passed over her face, Max could see that Serena was choosing her words very carefully. “It’s a risk,” she acknowledged. “It’s never been attempted before. There is no way of really knowing what could happen.”

A sharp gasp echoed in the room. Everyone turned to look at Maria. “So it could hurt her. After all, brain breakage or melting is never a good thing,” she rambled. “Oh God, Liz, does that mean you could…”

Maria may have stopped just short of finishing her sentence, but there was no doubt in the rest of the groups’ minds how it would have finished. Dead. Max’s jaw tightened reflexively. “No,” he told them. There was no way he was going to allow that to happen. He didn’t heal her just to have her died for because of it later. “No, you’re not going to do the Transference. We’ll find another way.”

“Max,” Liz exclaimed. “We’ve already said this. There is no other way. I’m going to do it.”

Moving to face her, Max shook his head. “No. You’re not.”

“You can’t order me around, Max,” Liz countered. “Serena will perform the Transference. I will take on the Granolith. I know the risks, and it doesn’t matter. I am going to go through with this.”

Slowly, Max took a few steps towards her, unable hold on to his frustration. There were too many emotions swimming just under the surface, and they finally broke free. “But why?” he bit out. “I mean, you wanted out of all of this. You said so right before you… you…” Taking a deep breath, he push forward. “Either you want in or you don’t. Either you’ll die or you won’t, Liz. Why is it that lately everything you say is the exact opposite of what you doing? Make up your mind.”

The second the words left his mouth, he regretted them. Even more so as Liz’s shoulders squared, her spine stiffened. “This is bigger than me, Max,” she spoke calmly, countering the explosion he knew he deserved. “There is planets full of people hanging on this. I’m sorry, but I’m not the selfish. Excuse me.”

With that, Liz quickly left the room, hurrying to the backroom. Assuming to she was heading upstairs to the apartment, Max started to follow her, however, he met up with the roadblock also known as Maria. Anger flashed in her eyes as she stormed across the floor. Max was caught completely off guard when she lunged at him.

“What the…” Max exclaimed as her weight slammed in him, knocking him back against the counter.

“You bastard,” Maria yelled, attempting to claw at him. Max grabbed at her wrists, barely keeping her nails from making contact with his skin.

Then suddenly, a pair of strong arms wrapped around Maria, effectively pinning her arms to her sides. She struggled against her captor, squirming and kicking as he dragged her away from Max.

“I can’t believe this,” she cried out against them all. “Michael let me go.”

“No,” Michael told her. “Not till you stop trying to rip Maxwell’s eyes out.”

Maria’s temper flared even more, a murderous glint flashing in her eyes. “He deserves it,” she countered, trying to regain her footing on the ground. However, Michael held her firmly, keeping her feet hovering just off the floor. “How could you, Max? Make up her mind? You have no idea the kinds of decisions she’s had to make because of you.”

“What do you mean?” Max questioned, rubbing the place where his back had collided roughly with the edge of the counter top. Tess moved to his side.

Yet, Maria choose to ignore him as she continued her rant. “Now, she makes the biggest one of all, and you dump on her for it. I, for one, am not excited about the prospect of losing my best friend, but I’ll support her in anyway I can. God, she’s trying to save the world.”

“Calm down, Blondie,” Michael tried to soothe. “This isn’t helping.” Then, Michael turned to look at him. “Max, I think you need to go talk to Liz.”

“No,” Alex spoke up, his voice firm. “Liz needs at least a few minutes to regroup. None of you may realize this, but cool and stoic come right before breakdown.”

“I’ve got to go talk to her,” Max whispered.

“Don’t you listen?” Maria once again started writhing her body in attempt to break free. She sent a pleading look at Alex. “Tongs. Get me a pair of salad tongs,” she demanded.

“Everyone stop!”

[Anniepoo98]

Part Sixteen:

It was her breaking point. She’d listened to the explanations mixed with excerpts of her former life. It didn’t take much to put bits of the puzzle together, and the picture she saw wasn’t pretty. Now, with entire group bickering, it was the last straw.

“Everyone stop,” Isabel shouted.

Heads whipped around to look at her. Good, she thought. That’s exactly what I want. “Now, listen to me. Michael, I want you to take five steps backwards,” she ordered. “Then, put Maria down. Maria, you stand precisely where your feet touch down.”

“I don’t that’s a good idea,” Michael countered. However, he was already taking a few steps backwards.

“Well, I do,” Isabel retorted.

Giving in, Michael took the last step, then gently placed Maria back on the ground. “Thanks for the hand, Isabel, but I still want to kick Max’s ass.”

Shaking her head, Isabel moved over to where her brother and Tess were standing. “Not going to happen. Max needs to go check on Liz, while the rest of us get ready to go to the pod chamber.”

“No one else can go to the chamber but Liz and I,” Serena spoke up.

Isabel turned to look at her. “Why not?”

“It’s the connection,” she explained. “The four of you have a stronger connection to it the Granolith, it recognizes you. The pull will be greater. If any of you are there, the power will try merge with you, not Liz. Plus, too many people are going to be a distraction. That can’t happen. It’s too dangerous.”

Glancing around the room, Isabel considered the options. She knew that Maria would go in a heartbeat, but she would be much good if something were to go wrong. Isabel also didn’t want to send Alex. Not with the way he’d been feeling lately. That only left one person. “What about Kyle?”

“What about me?” Kyle demanded.

“You can go with them,” Isabel told him, then she focused her attention back on Serena. “One person won’t be a distraction, and he can help if you need it.”

Kyle grunted a bit. “Thanks for the volunteer, Isabel,” he muttered under his breath.

“No problem,” Isabel replied sarcastically. “Now, Max, go see Liz. I have a few more questions, then all of us can head over to Michael’s to wait.” Max simply nodded, and started for the backroom.

“Hey man,” Michael called out. “I’d use the balcony.”

“Thanks,” Max mumbled. Then, he was gone.

“Before we go any further, I have a question,” Alex piped up, looking directly at Isabel. “When did Max abdicate the throne? I mean, you’ve become all commander-like.”

Bringing both hands up to rub her temples, Isabel let out a sigh of frustration. “I just fell like Liz and Serena are right. We don’t have much time. All we were going before was arguing. It had to stop. So...”

“You went all Nazi on us,” Michael finished for her, a tiny smile curling the corners of his mouth. Isabel returned it with a full-blown one of her own. “Well, you’re the one with the questions,” he continued, getting right back the matter at hand. “So get asking.”

“It’s not questions, really,” she told them all. “I just want to see if what I’m thinking is right. First off, are you sure Kivar is here, as in on Earth?”

Serena nodded her answer.

“Okay.” Isabel filtered through all the information she’d managed to take in that night. “He knows where we are and wants the Granolith, which we have. He wants you so he can use the Granolith to possess the Earth’s population, switching their essences with the Amorphca. You need to prevent this by giving Liz the power of the Granolith, therefore, turning it into a moving target.”

“That’s kinda the cliff notes version,” Serena retorted, “but correct.”

More sorting. “All of this is done by a ritual call Transference. You have to go out to the pod chamber to preform this ritual without any of us, because if we go, we’ll be killed.” She paused. “Kyle’s still going,” she muttered under her breath.

“Fine,” both Kyle and Serena conceded at the same time.

Isabel kept going. “Good. Now that’s settled.”

Maria stepped forward. “Actually, I have a quick question,” she announced to the group. “Does this mean that if we defeat Kivar, the power can be put back into the rock? I mean, Liz doesn’t have to walk around with it forever, does she?”

A loud sigh filled the room. “The power can be put back,” she admitted. “However, you all have to know something. This will change Liz. After containing all that power, there is no way she won’t keep some of it if we reverse the Transference.”

“What the hell does that mean?” Tess demanded.

“Basically, she’ll be like one of us,” Serena told them.

Isabel felt her own jaw slacken in shock. “And Liz knows about this? She knows and she’s okay with it?”

Another nod. “Of course. Look, I’m not trying to trick anyone. Liz knows every possibility, and she still wants to do this.”

Awe. That was all Isabel could feel. All of her life, she’d wished for what Liz had. The chance to be normal. Now, here Liz was, giving it up freely to help save them. It was truly awe-inspiring.

When Liz reappeared in the restaurant a moment later, Isabel felt the need to tell her just that, but she never got the chance. They all watched as Liz quickly made her way to Maria, whispering something into the blonde’s ear. Whatever it was, Maria didn’t look very pleased about it, but Liz’s eyes were pleading, and Maria back down with a soft ‘fine’.

Max, who was only steps behind Liz, rushed in the room next. Across the room, their eyes met and held, passing some strange communication between them just before Liz turned to Serena. “Let’s go,” she said softly, heading to the door. Kyle followed, then Serena, as the all made their way outside.

~~~~~~

Liz fussed about her room, grabbing a few things that she and Serena might need later that night. They’d decided the day before to tell her parents that they were going to spend the night over at Maria’s house. While both the Parkers were reluctant, they couldn’t argue with Liz’s reasoning that Serena needed to make friends, and a night over at Maria’s would do just that.

Liz was just starting to zip up the bag when she heard the familiar clanging of shoes on the metal fire escape. She didn’t need to look out her window to know who it was. Max. It was always Max. Even if she hadn’t felt the rush of tingles up her spine that happened whenever he was near, Liz still would have known it was him.

The sneakers he wore always made the same ‘thud’ on the rungs of her latter. The sound of his gait as he made way across her balcony was as recognizable as her own. Liz let out a deep sigh. What I wouldn’t give just to be happy about hearing all those things right now, she told herself. Because I’m not. I haven’t been since future Max came. Right now, I just want to run away.

The little tapping on the window brought back the sinking reality that she couldn’t. There was nowhere to run. The problems in their lives were always so monumental that she’d never be able to escape them for long. “Come in,” she muttered softly, still having no intention of look over at him as he did was she said.

“I’m sorry, Liz,” were the first words out of his mouth. “I didn’t mean to hurt you downstairs.”

Liz took a deep breath, preparing herself for the conversation to come, then exhaled it in one long, deep sigh. “You can’t help how you feel, Max. I just wish… I just want… God,” she exclaimed, trying to get a hold of herself. “Is that how you really see me? Do I strike you as person who would be so selfish that I would put my own well being before billions of people?”

“No,” Max replied, moving slightly closer to her. “I don’t think that at all. You’re the last person I would ever call selfish.”

“Then why?” Liz asked, finally turning to face him.

“I wanted you to be mad at me,” Max confessed. “I wanted to get so angry that you would reconsider, but I should’ve known better.” He paused for a moment, then crossed the remaining distance between them with purposeful strides. “Please Liz. Please don’t do this. We don’t even know if this will work, or what could happen to you…”

Liz watched as he used all of his remaining willpower to fight breaking down right in front of her. Trembling, his hands found their way to her hair. He ran his fingers through the soft strands, mimicking her nervous gesture of tucking them behind her ear. In someways, it was comforting to Liz, almost like he was reassuring himself that she was still there.

“I love you Liz,” he whispered, his voice hitching a bit on the emotions she could feel coming off of him in waves. “I’ve lived with and without you, and trust me when I say that with is so much better. Even if we are never together, even if you’re with someone else, it would be enough for me because you’d still exist.”

Her breathing grew shallow as she absorbed every word he spoke, wracking her brain for anything that might show him why she needed to do this. “The universe doesn’t just hold us in it’s grasp, Max. It expects us to earn the right to exist, and if we don’t do this, noone will. That’s why I’m going.”

“It’s all my fault,” he muttered guiltily. “I changed you. It wasn’t something you asked for or chose. I made the decision to...”

“Heal me,” Liz finished for him. “You saved my life, Max. You gave me the chance to see my seventeenth birthday, and probably four or five dozen more. I swear this isn’t some martyr bit for me. I counting on those days, because I know for every chance that this could kill me, there is an equal chance that I will be fine.”

Biting her lower lip hard, Liz focused on that sensation more than the burning tears starting to well up in her eyes. “But I need you to understand that no matter what happens tonight, none of it is your fault.”

Max dropped his head in defeat, Liz barely held herself back from throwing her arms around him, offering up whatever comfort they carried. Then came a soft cry. “I can’t lose you.”

Those last four words were what broke her. The second he climbed into her bedroom, Liz tried to distancing herself from all of the chaos in her mind and heart. But, true to fashion, Max began to wear her down. Just as he had been doing over the past few months, Max simply was there. Her stubborn streak managed to carry her only so far, than it faded into a resolve to do the right thing for all of them. Now that was beginning to crumble too, leaving only her and Max in it’s wake.

And despite her little speech, Liz was also well aware this could be the last time. The last time that she and Max would be alone together. The last time she’d get the chance to step into his arms, to feel him, to revel in his skin and lips and they way they made her feel. To know how much love she could experience simply by being near him.

It was that fact which pushed her to lean into him a moment later. Liz knew that she had to have at least one last time.

There was an audible gasp from Max as she pressed up against him, a brief instant where he didn’t respond, but then she felt his hands, the one slightly resting in her hair, weave it’s way deeper. It began to tangled at the base of her skull just as his other arm moved around her waist, splaying his palm against her lower back.

“Liz…” he groaned slightly. She could almost feel his heart pound as his sensations kicked into overdrive because this was the first time she had willingly stepped into his arms in over a year.

“Just us,” she finally said, the words escaping her lips as a sigh. She reached up and began caressing his cheek lightly. “Nothing else. Not the connection or duties or destiny. Just you and me. Please, Max.”

He nodded, agreeing wordlessly, seemingly knowing what she needed. Liz could feel the hand on her back urging her closer, delicately stroking her back with his fingertips. However, all of her attention was focused on his mouth. Slowly, agonizingly so, his lips grew closer to hers, until the finally brushed against hers. The kiss was light, barely a breath air warming her lips. Still, as her eyes fluttered shut, Liz couldn’t think of anything more perfect.

To her, Max was perfection, and one taste would never be enough.

Pushing up on her toes, Liz’s lips met with his again, doing their best to draw him in as they touched. A deep groan echoed in the back of Max’s throat, answering a sigh from Liz as they opened up to each other instinctively. The connection between them boiled and simmered, yearning to do the same, but it remained quiet, allowing them to simply be.

In those few brief moments, they were only Max and Liz. Two beings holding on to each other for as long as possible. Soft kisses lengthened into passionate, love-proclaiming ones. Heated caresses gentled into tender ones. All the while, the connection remained in the background. Because it was also a living thing, there was no way the connection would stay quite for long.

Feeding off of their emotions, it broke free, enveloping both Max and Liz. She felt it take hold, opening her soul to Max in a way it hadn’t in months. Flashes were instantaneous, rushing from her mind like rapid fire as ones from Max filled their void.

“You’re not there, are you?” Maria asked knowingly.

Max’s lips curled slightly, as if he had a secret to tell. But it wasn’t a secret. There was no way Max could ever hide just how much he loved Liz Parker. Shaking his head, he muttered the truth behind his smile. “I can’t help it. I love her. What can I say?”
Maria laughed a bit. “You’re hopeless.”

~~~~~~

She was cold, or scared. For once in what seemed like forever, he couldn’t tell for sure how Liz was feeling. And it frightened him more than anything. Even the possibility that what he saw might be true. “Look Max, there’s nothing left to say,” she told him.

“Except the truth,” he insisted.

“We have already been through this,” she exclaimed in frustration.

Liz wasn’t the only one who was frustrated. Max was actually verging on desperation. He needed to hear that his on eyes had lied to him. “So far, all I know is what I saw, and what I saw can’t be true, because it means everything I’ve felt in my heart for the last year is a lie. You owe me an explanation, and I want it now.”

He shouted... actually shouted at her. Liz jumped a bit at the tone in his voice. “Please quit shouting, Max. You’re scaring me.”

“That’s a lie too. You’re not scared, you’re hiding something.”

“I’m not,” she insisted.

It couldn’t be the truth. There was no way. “What the hell is going on with you, Liz? We’ve never lied to each other, never kept a secret from each other.”

“You know, you’ve got me up on this pedestal, Max, but... I’m not this perfect person. I made a mistake. Look, Kyle and I made love. The end. I’m sorry.”

~~~~~~~

Tess is studying him. He could feel it, like a weight pressing against him pressing to find out what was going on inside his mind, whether he wanted to share or not. “You’re still in love with her, aren’t you?”

The question was sharp. Stated softly, but double-edged nonetheless. Max knew he had to choose his words carefully. “It’s hard to describe what I feel for Liz.”

With a sigh, Tess nodded her head. “I know. It’s what you and I use to have.”

It stung. The thought that he’d shared anything with her that remotely resembled what he and Liz once had almost physically hurt. Maybe it was because Tess said it was such certainty. She was saying could remember everything that he never had. It was unnerving. “Tess...”

“You know, everything Brody said is true. I know it is.”



Max pulled himself away. Liz felt the connection severe as he did, and she slowly opened her eyes. The look on his face was the embodiment of shock. Pure and utter shock.

Wide eyed, he searched her face as though the answer he was seeking was written plainly on her forehead. “What was that?”

Swallowing hard, Liz tried to force the bile in her throat down, even as her stomach began to flip. He knows. That was all she could process at the moment. He knows. He knows. He knows.

Liz quickly moved away, desperate for some distance as she tried to figure out a way to control what was happening. Grabbing the bag off the bed, she started for the door, only to feel Max’s hand wrap around her arm, stopping her.

“What was that?” he repeated, this time as more of a demand than anything else.

“It was something I had to do,” was the only explanation she gave Max. Liz felt his hand slacken a bit, and she took the opportunity to pull her arm free. “I’ve gotta go,” she muttered, yanking the door to her room open and feeling down the hall.

The trip down to the restaurant was a blur. Liz knew Max was on her heals, but she didn’t stop. She couldn’t face telling him everything. Now, right then.

Still, deep down, part of her needed him to know, even if something happened to her. So the second she reached dining room of the Crash, Liz went to Maria, ignoring everyone else. “Tell him,” she whispered in her best friend’s ear.

Maria let out a small gasp. “Liz, you said that he could never know.”

“Please,” Liz pleaded softly. “If I don’t come back, he needs to be told. You’re the only other person who knows. Please Maria.”

“Fine,” Maria agreed just as Liz’s head glanced back at the swinging doors where Max appeared. His eyes were filled with questions, ones she had no time to answer. With her own eyes, Liz sent him a silent apology, hoping she’d get the chance to explain. Then, she turned to Serena.

“Let’s go.”

[Anniepoo98]

Howdy all~

I've got part 17 with me.... possibly more if I get the chance.

Enjoy!

Annie:)


Part Seventeen:


Kyle kept his mouth shut for most of the ride out to the pod chamber, making exceptions only to ask directions. He figured that was the safest bet against letting them in on how irritated he really was at this situation. Liz and Serena couldn’t possible pick up pissed off vibes out of ‘left or right’ and ‘back roads or highway.’

Somehow, Liz managed to swipe the keys to the Jetta, and quickly asked Kyle to drive. Now, as the dirt road to the pod chamber stretched out in front of him, Kyle couldn’t help wondering if he was being ridiculous by being mad about the whole thing. Or was it all completely justified? After all, what right did Isabel have to volunteer him for this little mission? Why did Michael and Alex rope him into helping out? Was his father constantly going to cover for them, even thought he’d already lost his job? In fact, what right did any of them have to screw up his life?

Still, for every reason he came up with for being angry, there was another lurking behind it that cause him to feel guilty. Had anyone forced him to investigate Evans after Liz broke up with him? Nope. That had been him, and him alone. Kyle remembered that, at the time, there was this distinct feeling to show Max Evans up for stealing his woman.

At the thought, Kyle glance over at the rearview mirror, tilting his head just enough to see Liz sitting in the backseat. His woman, he thought again.

And it made him laugh. Genuinely laugh. The very idea of it now was seriously laughable. God, he could only imagine the reactions he’d get if he tried to use that archaic term of endearment around his current female acquaintances, hybrid or human.

A serious ass-whooping, he thought to himself. Just then a picture popped into his mind. Maria, Isabel, Tess, and Liz each hold down either an arm or leg. Serena was looking down at him, standing tall with a leg on either side of him. Man, she looked good when she was pissed.

Kyle shook his head. Where did that come from?

“Something amusing?” Liz voice rang in his ears, just before he got to the part with the jell-O and whipped cream.

“Huh,” he groaned, glancing back at her again in the rearview. “Did you say something?”

With a deep sigh, Liz shook her head. “Nevermind,” she mumbled. Reaching out, she pointed to a giant, jagged rock formation looming to the left of them. “The chamber is just over there.”

The car did a little swerve as Kyle eyed the large rock the car was inching it’s way towards. “Ummm, Liz,” Kyle said, this time turning his head to look at her. “You do realize that is solid rock.”

“There’s an entrance,” she explained. “Little wave of the hand, silver handprint, and presto... pod chamber.”

Kyle’s mouth formed a large O. He glanced over at Serena, who was sitting beside him. “So you do your little voodoo stuff and in we go?”

Serena nodded her head as Liz let out an exasperated sigh. Kyle even caught her rolling her eyes at him. “Hey, I’m just the tag-a-long trying to keep up,” he told her defensively as the car rolled to a stop alongside the rock.

Without a word, the three of them quickly filed out of the car, leaving all their other stuff except flashlights in the Jetta. The bright moonlight shadowed Liz as she walked head of Kyle and Serena, making her way up the sandy hillside. In fact, judging from the sound of her footsteps, he could tell she was practically running. With a deep, strangely unmanly sigh, Kyle wondered what exactly it was she was running from.

“So what flavor jell-O?”

Kyle’s head instantly snapped around towards the sound of Serena’s voice. “What,” he croaked.

She shrugged her shoulders. “I was just wondering what flavor jell-O you wanted to go along with all that whipped cream.”

Though the expression on her was a picture perfect example of indifference, the teasing tone in her voice let him know exactly what she was referring to. His eyes went wide with shock. “Did you read my mind or something?” he asked accusingly.

Shaking her head, Serena let out a little laugh. “Nah. I can’t do that.”

“Then how…”

“It was the connection,” she said, cutting him off. “I heard you laughing in the car. It seemed like a strange time do be doing that, so I opened up the connection a little bit.”

“Great,” Kyle muttered. “First I’m order out here by Isabel, now you go around and invade my thoughts. Just peachy.”

“I didn’t invade anything,” she corrected, all teasing gone from her voice. “I just opened up the connection a teensy bit. You’re the one who grabbed a hold of it and sent me all those images.” Her footsteps started getting heaver in the sand as she tried to put some distance between them. However, it took almost no effort for Kyle to keep up with her.

“By the way,” she bit out, glaring at him. “If you’re going to imagine being with five women at the same time, trying coming up with something a little more original that whipped cream and jell-O, okay? I find it insulting that I was associated in any way, shape, or form with that measly fantasy.”

Measly, my ass, Kyle thought. You can do a lot of creative things with jell-O. Then it dawned on him what else she said. “What do you mean by I grabbed a hold of the connection thingy?”

“I mean that you can tap into it,” she told him matter-of-factly. “With how much I opened it up, I should have only been able to a slight impression from you. That’s all I wanted, but you’re emotions were high. The connection flared and I saw stuff.”

Kyle’s eyes shut with that, wondering what else she saw from him. “What else did you see while you were traipsing around in my brain?”

Serena stopped dead in her tracks. Fire burning in her green eyes as she whirled around to face him. “That you feel guilty, you jerk,” she tossed back out at him. “You feel so guilty because you hate being involved with all this alien crap. You don’t want to have anything to do with it, but you feel horrible cause you’re not doing more. It drives you insane that your life isn’t normal anymore, that you might be different now. Well, guess what? You’re not the only one.”

Listening to her tirade, Kyle felt his clever comeback die in this throat.

“Oh sure,” she continued. “The five of us, we all have a destiny to fulfill and a duty to our people, or whatever. Well, do you know what I want? I want to be a normal, seventeen year old girl. It’s never gonna happen, but it hasn’t stopped me from wanting it every damn day of my life. Hell, I’d settle for waking up tomorrow in my own bed, being grounded for melding the door locks shut on my cousin’s car because it would mean he was still alive to be mad at me. That my entire family would still be around.”

Watching, horrified, as her eyes started to fill, one tear slipping out of the corner of her eye and down her cheek, Kyle started towards her. Her hand flew up, warning him to keep away, even as a few more tears fell. “I’m fine,” she asserted. Kyle only moved a step closer.

“I’m sorry,” he said sincerely. “I didn’t mean to bring up...” he thought for a second, deciding to change his approach. “... to accuse you of stuff.”

Serena managed a weak smile, letting him know that she didn’t believe a word of it. “Yes, you did.”

Kyle countered her by shaking his head. “No, I didn’t. Not like that.” With a shaky breath, he started to kick the dirt at his feet, trying hard to come up with the right words to explain it to her. “Have you ever felt like fungus was a higher life form than you?”

A dazed expression crossed her features. “What?”

“Max healed me,” he confessed. “Superevans used his magic powers to bring me back from the dead. That means that I’m changing too, like Liz. She’s not the only one would can take on the power of the Granolith thing.”

Not able to continue to look at her as she figured out what he was saying, Kyle found the ground very interesting. “Back at the Crashdown, I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want to do it. It’s this huge sacrifice and I wasn’t willing to make it.” The truth, rough and raw. He would have rather let his friend get killed then offer to help. And the guilt was starting to eat at him each time he looked at Liz.

“Everyone else is real good at making them,” he offered as his only excuse. “Max did when he saved Liz’s life. Alex gave up the closeness he had with Liz and Maria. Maria gave up normal, and Isabel gave her quest for it. As for Michael, he let us all in, not willingly granted, but he did it anyway. Tess gave up...”

The memory of what happened back in his kitchen popped into his mind. Kyle decided to move on. “And we both know that Liz has done more than all of the combined. I’m just starting to get it thought my head that it probably wasn’t all for Evans either. I can blame them as much as I want, or take out my frustrations on all the innocent bystanders in the world, but it doesn’t make the truth go away. Liz shouldn’t be the one to do this. I will.”

He didn’t look up. Well, more like couldn’t. He didn’t want to see the disappoint written on her face. Never in a million years would Kyle have guessed what Serena’s actually reaction was.

A pair of slender arms wrapped around his shoulders just a few seconds before he felt the softest caress of warm lips against his cheek. His head snapped up instantly. “Sacrifice isn’t about want,” she whispered next to his ear. “It’s about need. You don’t want to be here, but Liz needed you, so you came. You’re a good friend.”

Kyle pulled away slightly, absorbing what Serena said. Judging by the expression on her face, she’d meant it too. “So does that mean...”

“No,” Serena told him, shaking her head to emphasize it. “You might be changing, Kyle, but Liz is still different. Whatever link she had to the connection came way before the shooting. Max healing her enhanced it, but my guess is that she’s been connected since she was born.”

“So she still has to this,” Kyle muttered. “I get to be standing-around guy while my friend risks her life for the planet.”

“Actually two,” Serena said with a slight teasing tone in her voice. Kyle knew she was trying to lighten the mood a bit, but it didn’t help much. Letting out a sigh, she kept talking. “And being here is enough. Probably more than you think.”

Kyle stared at her, seeing nothing but honesty in her green eyes. Their depths started to draw him in a bit. That is until a bright beam of light washed over him, nearly blinding the both of them.

“Serena?” Liz’s voice called out. “Kyle?”

Serena jumped at the sound, and immediately dropped her arms, turning to face Liz fully. There was a little tug in his gut when he felt their loss. Kyle looked up the side of the formation, noticing Liz’s silhouette standing next to an jagged outcropping of the rock. “We coming,” he shouted back.

He couldn’t tell if Liz nodded or heard him, but after a minute she moved to behind the rock.

“Let’s go,” she said softly, beginning her climb again.

“Yeah,” Kyle conceded.

They made it up the formation pretty quickly, meeting Liz just behind the large outcropping. “I guess it’s time for me do to my voodoo,” Serena told them, keeping her voice light. Kyle smiled at the reference to his comment in the car.

With a little wave of her hand, a faint sliver handprint appeared, casting a glow across Serena’s face. “Wow,” Kyle exclaimed. “I know that this is minor in comparison to everything else, but that is just cool.”

“The little things,” Liz laughed. The smile on his face grew that much wider. Maybe being forced to the tag-along wasn’t such a bad thing.

“You haven’t seen the nifty part yet,” Serena said, pressing her palm to the print. Kyle heard a slight rumble, than felt the ground shift a bit. A second later, part of the rock began moving aside, revealing a cave.

“Damn.” It was all he could think to say.

Carefully, the three of them moved inside, aiming their flashlight ahead of them. Serena let out soft gasp as the entered a wide cavern inside, then swayed a bit. Kyle quickly reached out, placing a hand on her shoulder to steady her. “What’s the matter?” he demanded. “Are you okay?”

“The Granolith,” she whispered. “It’s closer. I can feel it.” She shone her light over what looked like knotted metal doors with four oval shaped openings covered in a gauzy substance. “Through there.” She started walking towards it. “The Granolith is through there.”

Liz following, with Kyle a step behind them. They all stopped shy of the... well, Kyle had no idea what to call it. “What is this?” he asked as he studied it.

Walking towards one of the oval shaped openings, she lightly touched it. “The pods.”

Kyle’s jaw dropped. “You mean this is where they hatched?” Both Serena and Liz nodded their heads.

“Hence the name pod chamber,” Serena taunted. Her light flashed on the bottom pod to the right. “Tess,” she told them. Next, it moved to the one beside it. “Isabel.” Then, her attention turned to the one diagonal from Isabel’s. “Michael.” Lastly, her flashlight landed on the pod Liz was fingering. “And Max.”

At the mention of his name, Liz jerked her hand away. Her eyes darted around the room, focusing on anything that wasn’t Kyle or Serena. Looking at each other, they mutually shared a glance of understanding. Something big happen earlier between Max and Liz.

“We have to crawl through there,” Serena finally broke the silence, pointing to Isabel’s pod.

Kyle shook his head. “The things I do,” he muttered good-naturedly.

“You’re not going.”

Serena’s statement simple, direct, and complete bullshit in Kyle’s mind. “What do you mean I’m not going?” he demanded. “I thought that’s why I was here; to go in, help, all that fun stuff.”

“Kyle,” Liz warned.

“It can only be Liz and I,” Serena explained. “It’s to dangerous for you.”

“So, I just wait,” Kyle huffed. He definitely didn’t like this plan at all.

Tugging on her lower lip with her teeth, Serena shifted back and forth from one foot to the other. “Tell you what,” she started, obviously trying to figure out what to tell him. “If we’re not out in a half an hour, you can crawl through. The Transference shouldn’t take any long than that. Okay?”

It really wasn’t a choice. Kyle knew it. So did Serena and Liz. They were going, he was waiting. “Fine,” he said shortly.

“Thank you,” Liz mouthed. Kyle watched as she got down on her hand and knees, slowly disappearing thought the pod. Then, he turned to Serena.

“I’m not going to let anything bad happen,” she said, as much to herself as to him.
He nodded. “I know. Now, go. The sooner we get this done, the quicker we can get back, right?”

“Yeah.” Her voice was soft, sad. She moved away from him, dropping to the ground and crawling away.
~~~~~~~~

The time ticked by slowly as Kyle paced the outer cavern of the pod chamber. Glancing down at his watch, he realized the more than fifteen minutes had pasted, eliciting a grunt of dissatisfaction from him. Sure, Serena had told him thirty minutes, but at the rate in which it was passing, Kyle figured he was going to start scaling the walls before they came out.

He started towards the back, then stopped, and started again. This time he stopped just a few feet short of the entrance to the Granolith chamber. “By Buddha,” he exclaimed, running one hand through his hair roughly, “this is ridiculous. I’m going,” he said, taking another cautious step. “I’m going,” he repeated, a little unsure as he feet grew slower.

Studying the entrance way in front of him, Kyle groaned and threw his head back. “I’m stopping.”

He moved back a bit and resumed his pacing, looking down at his watch every few seconds. Suddenly a piercing scream filled every inch of the room, bouncing of the walls as it resonated in his ears. Kyle instantly started running to the back, determined that he was getting into that room.

Then, the world around him exploded.

[Anniepoo98]

Another part!

Annie:)


Part Eighteen:

The million thoughts that had been running through Liz’s head every since she decided to do this started to reappear as she began crawling towards the inner chamber that housed the Granolith. She’d ignored them at first, but as the time for the ritual got closer, they started to serve as warnings, going off inside her mind grew louder and louder to the point where they were almost screaming. On the very top of the list was everyone’s safety. How safe was this? She knew that, while Serena knew everything someone could know about this ritual, it had only been tried once. And that had been on another planet. There was no way to tell what would happen this time around.

That segued quite nicely into wondering if should Kyle even been there at all? After finding out that aliens walked among them, he’d been dragged into one dangerous situation after another, and most of the time it was directly because of her. If something happened to him, or Serena, or any of the others because of this, she’d never be able to live with it.

Because, at the moment, Kyle and Serena were at the top of Liz’s list of people to worry about, she briefly wondered what was going on between them. She had seen their little interlude outside the chamber, and even before that, in the café, she could sense an growing connection between them. It was the only thing that brought a slight smile to her lips. Well, that and Max.

Climbing the last inch or so out of the dusty tunnel, Liz stood quickly, brushing off her pants as she spied the metal doors in front of her. Instantly, they opened and Liz was giving her first glimpse of the Granolith. Her imagination of what it would look like did it no justice. She’d pictured some large and horrifying, mostly because it had been the force crushing all of her hopes and dreams, but she couldn’t have been more wrong. While still grand and tall in stature, the Granolith was collinear in shape, smooth, and glowing with what seemed to be every hue of blues and purples in the color spectrum. It was what most people would find fascinating and beautiful.

She still hated it.

It had been the catalyst that brought future Max into her life, giving her the glimpse of what it would be like to be so intertwined with him, how loving him would change him into the man he was becoming, then took it all away because a life with her would have meant the end of the world. It was a pretty devastating thing to find out that simply being in love with your whole heart could cause the end of the world. Even more so, to find out that your soulmate actually believed he could fall out of love with you after spending more than fourteen years together.

However, future Max had underestimated himself. Her Max had forgiven her. She had broke his heart and he still wanted her. Liz’s own heart couldn’t help but feel a bit lighter. Max didn’t even know the whole truth and he still needed her. She felt it in that kiss.

Oh God, Liz thought. He had seen what happened in that kiss. And she didn’t explain a bit of it. She had taken the coward’s way out and run from him, again. Breath rushed out of her lungs as the realization settled in. She’d done it after finding out about his destiny, and vowed to herself just before she came back from Florida that she would never do it again. Even if she couldn’t be with Max, she was determined to be by his side, helping in any way she could. At the first chance to prove that, she’d turned and run. Taking a deep breath, Liz marched straight up to the Granolith, not letting the towering structure frighten her.

“Damn it,” she seethed, practically growling the words. “I am going to live though this. I will go back to him and explain. He deserves that. I deserve it. You got me. Max will get his chance to tell me to go to hell for what happened... for what I did. For what you helped me to do.” Looking up towards the top, looking for any changes in the Graniloth, than cursed herself for thinking a inanimate object could understand her. “You big, stupid... thing!”

Then, she kicked it. Brought her leg back as far as she could and kicked the base with all of her might. Surprisingly enough, it kicked back, in a manner of speaking. The second her foot made contact with the rock, she felt a sharp jolt of energy bolt up her leg. The shock of it sent her reeling, and Liz lost her balance, falling flat on her butt.

“It doesn’t really like that,” a voice said from behind her. Liz’s head snapped around to find Serena standing in the doorway.

Reaching around, she rubbed at her backside. “Thanks for the warning.”

“No problem,” Serena replied sarcastically, moving towards her. Liz glanced up as Serena offered her hand. Taking it, they hoisted her to her feet.

“Thanks,” Liz muttered under her breath. Her focus turned back to the Granolith, glaring at it once more. “So what do you mean by ‘it doesn’t like that’? Are you saying it can hear me yelling at it or something?”

Serena shook her head. “The Granolith is omnipotent. It probably knew what you were going to say it even before you were born.”

Still rubbing her tender backside with one hand, Liz let out a little snort. “So it knew I was going to kick it, and was pretty ticked about it.”

“It was more of a defense mechanism,” Serena said, laughing a bit herself. Then, she turned serious. “It can interrupt our feelings through the connection. It knows when we mean it harm, even in a small way. You wanted to damage it, and the Granolith could sense that, so it judged it’s response accordingly.”

“Joy,” Liz groaned. That’s when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned to find Serena staring at her.

“You have to let it go, Liz.” The expression on Serena’s face was grim. “Your head has to be clear when we do this. If it can sense anything offensive in you, this won’t work and I don’t know what will happen. You have to have open mind.”

Liz took a deep breath, then another, trying her best to clear out her thoughts. “Okay. Fine. What do we do now?”

Obviously unconvinced, Serena studied Liz. “It couldn’t have been that simple,” she stated plainly. “I’m completely serious about this, Liz.”

Closing her eyes, Liz nodded. “I know. Just... give me a minute.”

“Okay,” came the one word reply, but Serena’s tone had change from foreboding to sympathetic.

It was up to her. Liz knew what was riding on how this ritual turned out. She knew who was counting on her. Images of all her friends passed behind her eyelids; Maria laughing over a movie, Alex playing his guitar, Isabel fixing her shirt with a wave of her hand, and Michael giving her back her journal. Liz thought about Kyle waiting out just beyond the pods and Serena standing right next to her. She thought about Max, and getting back to him so she could tell him the truth about everything that had happened that night. She could let go of almost everything to have that opportunity.

Opening her eyes, Liz found Serena still looking at her, only this time with a slight smile on her face. “You’re ready.”

Moving towards the Granolith, Serena took one of Liz’s hands in her own, placing the other on the smooth surface of the rock. “Remember what I said. Keep your mind open,” she warned gently.

“I remember,” Liz told her.

Serena sighed and nodded. “Existence beyond time and space, we ask for your aid in what we are about to face. Through the connection, let the power surge. Through me, let two become one and merge.”

Suddenly, Liz felt the connection rip wide open, sending her stumbling back as she gripping onto tighter to Serena’s hand. The sheer force at which the images flew by her mind, caused Liz to close her eyes, as she attempted to make sense of what she was seeing.

Stretched out before her was an assembly of beings of all shapes and sizes, watching expectantly as five people stood on a small stage at the head of crowd. One man, tall and lean, stepped forward. With the exception of the pure white hair and the dark, fathomless eyes, his form was almost completely human. After a sight pause, the man opened his mouth to speak.

“Ostros wene tath K’var eh nect te seciep Granolith. En tsum adan eb wolla ot siht. Rewop eh ot hcum.”

Though the words to her were as foreign to her as if someone had been speaking Russian, Liz knew and felt the meaning... ‘We know that Kivar is trying to connect the pieces of the Granolith. He must not be allowed to do this. The power is too much.’

Voices of the beings around her rose in support. People chanted this man’s name over and over again. L’sander... Max and Isabel’s father.

~~~~~~

“Oy adan tant enorth,” a voice shouted in a definance that echo throughout the hallway now present in her mind. “Oy adan reven.”

‘I do not want the throne. I never did.”

Two beings moved around a nearby corner, coming into full view. A man and a woman, both human-like with the same white hair and eyes as the man she had seen just seconds before. Max and Isabel.

“Ti et rouy alset,” the woman told him. “Uoy evah essa usta K’var oma seciep Granolith.”

‘It is your duty. You have to, just to keep Kivar from the Granolith pieces.’

‘Nda yarrm Aveena?” he chewed out bitterly. “Essa sepa foy laed?”

‘And marry Aveena? That has to be part of the deal?”

The woman simply nodded her head. “Foy ceape.”

“For peace.”

~~~~~~

The Granolith stood before Liz in a room that eerily mirrored the one on earth. Another being loomed off to the side, hunched forwards, with her arm outstretched. Unlike anyone she’d seen so far, Liz noticed that this girl’s hair was a light shade of purple, that only managed to grow deeper when the Granolith came to life with her words. It was a chant, low, soft, and utter melodious in its meter. While Liz couldn’t make out any of the words, she still listened intently, waiting for whatever was about to happen.

Soon, light began to glow brighter from within the Granolith, each word the girl spoke causing it to grow in intensity, until it filled the whole room with its blinding radiance. Then, just as fast as it grew, the light disappeared as a group of people rushed into the room.

“Kata ahua enod, Seryn’atha?” a man demanded, stepping towards her, hatred and anger burning in his eyes. Liz almost instantly knew who he was. Kivar.

‘What have you done, Serena?

She stood proudly, straightening her slightly shorter frame until she almost met him eye for eye. “Oy tenta yoh Granolith ot acelp adan,” she told him defiantly.

‘I have sent the Granolith to a place where you will never find it.’

Kivar let out a furious howl, causing Serena to tremble despite herself. His hand reached out, gripping her throat before she even had a chance to react. “Leta em,” he ordered.

‘Tell me.’

“Reven,” came her one word reply.

‘Never.’

“Nieb,” he scoffed. The hand around her neck tighten painfully, making Serena start to struggle and gasp for air. “Wone voy muretan ot.”

‘Fine. Now you will die as well.’

“No,” Liz found herself crying out as she watched Kivar quickly snapped her neck, than dropping her body fall unceremoniously to the floor.



Without even realizing it, Liz started to mutter the word ‘no’ over and over again on the physical plane. However, the flashes were too strong and the pull of the connection too deep for her to break from it now. Another scene began to play in her head, drawing Liz even further into the Granolith’s power.



Lightly, she ran a finger over the smooth contours of his chest, reveling in the sound of him sucking in air through his teeth. “We missed the concert,” she whispered, placing a tender kiss where her finger had previously been.

She felt Max’s chest rise up and down as he chuckled. “What concert?” he joked, wrapping his arms even tighter around her waist. All Liz could do was snuggle closer.

“Hmmmm,” she murmured, feeling the warmth of his body all around her. “I don’t remember. All I can think about right now is never moving again. Is that workable for you?” she asked, tilting her head up to look at him.

Max leaned forward, and she felt him place a tender kiss on her forehead as she closed her eyes. “Sounds like the best plan I’ve ever heard.”

~~~~~

“It’s him,” Michael panted, trying to catch is breath. He lumbered over to a stool in Max and Liz’s kitchen, falling onto it the second he reached it. Liz watched with horror as her normally strong, stoic friend struggled to keep it together.

She felt her husband’s fear as Max instantly rushed to him, checking over Michael’s battered face, assessing his injuries. “What are you talking about?” he asked, erasing Michael’s blackening eye with a wave of his hand. By this time, Liz had come to stand by Michael.

“Kivar,” Michael hissed, gripping his side. Liz silently pulling his hand away, pushing gently. Groaning, Michael nudged her away with his elbow. “Yeah, yeah, a few of them are broken. Okay?”

Again, Max connected with Michael, melting away the rest of Michael injuries. In the process, Liz knew he was seeing everything that happen. Tears started running down his face, as intense sadness overloaded their bond. A second later, he was out of the connection, Liz by his side.

His arms wrapped around her, clinging with desperation. “Alex, your parents.” he whispered in her ear. “Kivar is here. They attacked the Crashdown. Alex, he... he tried,” he stammered, trying to find the words to tell her, but Liz already knew what he was going to say. They were gone. All of them were gone.

~~~~~

Liz felt like her eyes were burning with the intense light from the Granolith, but she was determined to watch as the beautiful man fate had allowed her to call her best friend, lover, and husband disappear from her life. She had been determined to keep her eyes on him as long it was possible, because she knew if they succeeded, fate would not allow her the privilege in the next time around.

Somewhere along the line, she’d stumbled backwards against the wall of the chamber, and now she could feel it rumble with Kivar’s attempts to break through the chamber’s doors. With any luck, they would all fade away before he’d get into the room. With any luck, the Granolith would feel so threatened that it would blast him and his minions to kingdom come the second any of them tried to touch it. But Liz knew she had time before any of that would happen. How much, she had no idea, but it was time nonetheless. And Liz was determined to use it.

So, she allowed herself a moment to grieve over everything she and Max had lost. All of their friends and family were gone, the dreams they had worked so hard for, and the only world they’d called home. She even found herself grieving for her younger self, because she knew exactly what that Liz was struggling to give up. On that night fourteen years ago, it hadn’t taken much for Max to convince her to give them a second chance. In fact, it had only taken three little words... I love you.

However, she didn’t much more than that moment to linger on what was lost as the doors finally fell away , revealing Nicholas and about twenty of his men. Liz gritted her teeth as she faced him, her spine stiffening. “What?” she questioned, raising her eyebrow. “Did Kivar send you to do his dirty work again?”

“He had a few last minute details to take care of,” Nicholas retorted. “After all, being the leader of a fallen world is a demanding job. Don’t worry, you’ll get to see him soon enough. He’s asked that you and his royal pain in the ass be brought to him so he can deal with your punishments personally. Now, just tell me where Max is, Liz, and maybe he’ll go lightly on you.”

Liz shook her head. “Not a chance in hell.”

With a flick of his wrist, Nicholas sent her flying. Her body slammed against the wall on the opposite side of the chamber, knocking all the wind out of her lungs. With all her might, Liz stumbled to her feet quickly, extending her hand at the same time. Gathering what power she had left, Liz directed her blast straight at Nicholas’s chest, wanting to inflict at least a small measurement of pain on the being that had caused her so much.

She heard the crack that resonated in the chamber when he hit the wall. However, it wasn’t enough, and all too fast, he was standing again, ready to face off. “Just kill me,” she shouted. “Just kill me and get it over with, Nicholas. It’s not like I would ever help you.”

With another flick, Liz was on her knees. Only this time, she knew she wouldn’t have the strength to get back up. A searing heat surged through her, burning, leaving her crying out in pain.

“I’m not going to kill you,” he told her, making his way to her side. “Kivar wants the luxury. But that doesn’t mean that I’m not going to have a little fun first.”

Liz knew what he was going to do. Mind-rape. Remember what happened to Isabel when she’d been captured, how lost she was in the aftermath, Liz knew she could never allow that to happen. She couldn’t allow them to find out where Max really was. She’d rather die first.

An idea quickly formed. Calling on every ounce of her being for the ability, Liz stretched out her leg, catching Nicholas off-guard. The kick dropped him to the floor, and Liz took the opportunity to reach for the only weapon she had. The small handgun Kyle had given her just before he’d been killed was hidden in a holder strapped to her ankle. Gripping it, she raised the gun, aiming straight for the Granolith.

“You should have done what I asked,” she muttered, pulling the trigger. Power, electric and hot, filled the room, overcoming Liz as she collapsed backwards. As the pain welled inside her body, Liz’s mind wandered back to Max and all the wonderful things his love had shown her. Her last thought was of intense and beautiful amber eyes, shining on her with love.



The power was building on the physical plane was well. Liz could vaguely feel it pass though Serena and into her body, altering her, adapting to her, and finally merging with her. As the last flash flickered across her mind, Liz became aware of the light building just behind her eyelids.

Growing and growing, Liz also felt the rest of her senses start to go into overload. She could hear the hum of the connection, smell the electricity cracking in the air around them, taste the ozone as it burned. Yet, nothing could rival with the power surging through her veins. Building to breaking point, Liz felt the last surge go through her system as the light enveloped everything, than burned out, leaving only darkness in it’s wake.

The sound of her own scream didn’t even register in Liz’s mind before unconsciousness claimed her.

~~~~~

Everything hurt. Her legs, her arms, the rest of her - everything. At this point, Serena didn’t give a damn what it was called. If it was a part of her body, it hurt. Letting out a groan, she made an attempted to sit up, only to feel a wash of dizziness swarm her head, causing her to fall back with a heavy thump.

Squeezing her eyes shut, Serena felt the prickle of tears stinging them. She didn’t know if they were from frustration, or pain, or a wonderful combination of the two, but she somehow summoned the strength to ignore them. I’ll just lay here for another second, she told herself. Just a second, then I’ll trying again.

“Serena.”

Her ears perked up the instant she heard a rough, low voice mutter her name. Mustering all of her strength, she tried to sit up, with no luck. Instead, she did manage to stretch out her hand, waving it about a bit. A minute later, Kyle’s face appeared above her. Granted, her vision was a little out of focus, so his head was all fuzzy, but she didn’t really care at that point. Serena was just happy to see him.

“Are you okay?” he groaned. Gently, she could feel his hand slip behind her head.

“Sure,” she hissed sarcastically. “It only hurts when I breathe.”

The second the words left her mouth, Kyle’s other hand moved over her stomach, trying to assess any damages. “Hurts as in ‘I’m being a smart ass,’ or hurts as in ‘I’ve got a couple of broken ribs in there poking at a few prime internal organs’? Can you even sit up?”

Surprised by his genuine concern, Serena decided to cut out the rest of the sarcastic remarks, and go for the honest kind. “I just need a little help up.”

The hand behind her head moved down to behind her shoulders, while his other remained pressed lightly against her stomach. Carefully, he lifted her upper body until Serena found herself sitting in an up right position. “Thanks,” she whisper, turning to get her first good look at him. Right away, she noticed the deep cut alongside his eye, leaving a trail of blood down his cheek. “Why didn’t you tell me you were hurt?” she demanded.

He reaching up, touching the cut gingerly. “It’s not bad,” he hiss unconvincingly. “I just wacked it against a rock when... well, whatever that was, rushed through. By the way, can you tell me what the hell that was? I like to have names for all the things that try to kill me. You know, like skins or funky alien crystals, now....”

Serena gathered up a corner of her sleeve, using it to wipe the blood away from his cheek. “Backlash.”

The funniest dazed expression crossed his face. “Backlash? That’s it? Just backlash?”

“Yeah,” Serena sighed. “The energy created from the Transference needed some place to go. I was expecting to get knocked on my butt, not a big boom and thrown across the room.”

She noticed Kyle’s eyes snap up, quickly surveying the room. “Where the hell were you standing?”

Serena glanced around, then pointed to the space kitty corner from them. “Over there.”

“And Liz?”

“Oh no,” Serena gasped, her eyes now frantically searching the room. “She was right next to me.” In an instant, Serena managed to get to her knees and she started crawling in that direction. Rounding the base of the structure that had housed the Granolith, Serena first noticed a hand lying against the ground, the palm opened and facing upward. “She’s over here,” she called out to Kyle.

She heard him shuffling his way over, stumbling as he dropped to the ground beside Liz. Her long hair was covering her face, and he brushed it away to get a good look at her. “Liz,” he muttered. “Come on, Liz. Time to wake up.”

There was nothing.

“Liz,” Serena said, clasping the hand in front of her. “Liz... come on. Wake up.”

Still nothing.

Thinking quickly, Kyle leaned over, pressing his ear against her chest. “Her heart’s still beating.” he confirmed. “I’m not sure, but it sounds a bit fast.” Feeling a bit hysterical, Serena watched as Kyle lifted his head, glancing over Liz once more. “Come on,” he said, louder than the first time. “This isn’t funny, Liz. Wake up.”

Serena nudged him out of the way, mimicking his actions and hold her breath while she waited for the answer. What seemed like forever passed, but Serena came to the same conclusion. “You’re right. We have to get her back to the others. The ritual is really intense. Maybe she went into some sort of overload because of it. ”

“Evans can fix that, right?” Kyle wondered aloud. “He can fix her?”

Serena took a deep breath. “I think so,” she said, hoping she sound reassuring. I hope so, she thought to herself.