Disclaimer: I don't own Roswell. If I did, well, I'd be ten times richer and a thousand times happier. The song Isobel is Dido's.

A/N: I fixed the formatting so it's less confusing. And I intend to write a prologue. Was going to do it now but I'm being yelled at to go offline so I'll do it some other time. If this is weird, or seems that it has absolutely no connection to the summary, the prologue will make it clearer. So, until that time, please bear with me… Review!!! Give me constructive criticism, please! I know I need it! J

ISABEL

I thought it was strange

when you missed the train

When I rang you at home

They said you'd left yesterday

"What?" Liz practically shouted into the receiver. She wasn't sure if she had heard right. Her eyes widened as her best friend, Maria, repeated the news. Maria's voice was shaking and Liz could her in it barely suppressed tears.

"I'll be right there," she promised. She put down the phone and looked hurriedly around the room. She began to get nauseated as she remembered what Maria had said.

"Think rationally, Parker. It's okay, it's okay," she muttered to herself. She attempted to go to the door but halfway there she swayed, and she grabbed onto the edge of her desk, which she had neatly arranged for the studying she had planned for that night.

Sitting down slowly on her bed, she took a few deep breaths and tried to sort the situation out. Come to think of it, she hadn't seen Isabel at school for the past couple of days. She hadn't taken much notice of the fact, thinking probably Isabel was sick or something. She shuddered. She had forgotten that aliens don't get sick.

Maybe if they knew… she thought. Guilt rose in her chest. This was all her fault. She shouldn't have kept it a secret.

"I should have told them."

Maybe then this wouldn't have happened.

I thought it was strange

When your car was found

By the tree in Ennis

Where we used to hang around

"What exactly happened?" Michael demanded, his voice shaking with a mix of anger and fear.

"Isabel didn't come home last night. The other day she said she was spending the night at Tish Okabe's house. She didn't call last night, so my parents rang up Tish. She had no idea where Isabel was," Max replied.

"How could you let her do that, Maxwell? How could you let her out of your sight when you knew- when we all knew- that Nikolas was after her?" Michael's voice had risen now. He stood up from his position on the floor and walked over to the fireplace.

"I know I shouldn't have. I'm sorry. It's all my fault. I tried to convince her not to go, that it was dangerous, but she didn't listen. She insisted it would just be a girls' night out… perfectly safe." Max looked up at his image in Michael's mirror in disgust. "It's all my fault."

There was silence in the room for a moment. Then the doorbell buzzed. They all jumped.

"It's Alex!" they heard from outside.

Maria ran to the door to let Alex in. "Alex!" she exclaimed. "What took you so long?"

"What happened?" Alex demanded.

"Max let Isabel go over to Tish's house the other night. Except now it turns out she was never there." He turned to Max. "Nikolas could've gotten her."

He closed his eyes. His head was suddenly pounding strangely. Images of Isabel, hungry, alone, ran through his brain. He tried to push them out. Instead, images of Isabel with Nikolas flooded into his brain. Being forced to give out their secrets. Being tortured. Getting hurt.

His Izzy… he had to save her.

"We've got to find her!" he shouted, his eyes flying open. "Wait- how could Nikolas have gotten her?"

"Well, it could've been after she left Tish's…on her way home…" Maria suggested.

"No. Tish said she hadn't seen Isabel since school the other day. That means it must've been before then," Max countered.

"So you mean Isabel was lying about staying over at Tish's? Why would she do that?" Michael asked.

"Maybe she was forced…" Tess tried.

"Isabel wouldn't to that!" Michael exclaimed angrily. "She might've been forced to go, but she wouldn't lie so easily! She would've gotten it across to Max that she was in trouble!" Actually, Michael was trying to convince himself. What if Nikolas had tortured her enough to make her stoop to that?

"You're right," Max said. "She wanted to go… she didn't ask. She informed me, firmly, even coldly, that she was going. Which was typical Isabel. If the situation had been weird she'd have acted differently from normal, to let us know that things weren't right."

"So…why would she lie to go with Nikolas?"

Then Alex spoke.

"Maybe… maybe her disappearance didn't have anything to do with Nikolas at all."