The Real Royal Four

by HannahC

Chapter Eleven

My knees felt like they were ready to give out. How many times this week would I have to walk into these group meetings feeling like I was walking in front of a firing squad? The only thing that kept my legs moving was the fact that I was holding Max's hand. If not for him I don't think that I could face them all right now with everything that has happened. Already I could see Tess and Kyle, it seems that they were the first ones here and I did not like the look on Tess' face. It looked like she had already guessed the topic of this group meeting and she was not happy about it.

At that moment Max gave my hand a squeeze as if he knew what I was thinking about and he wanted to reassure me. Thank God for him, I thought. I smiled up at him and he gave me one of those smiles that I so loved, but hadn't seen a lot of these days.

Just then Isabel, Alex, and Michael walked into the café and I breathed a sigh of relief, they at least would understand and listen. And quite possibly, they may believe me. Isabel gave me a small smile as she slid into one of the booths we normally sat at. The café was between the breakfast and lunch rush, so it was empty except for us which meant we could pretty much speak in peace. Once everyone was here and sitting, Max began speaking:

"We all know why we're here. There is a possibility that we are not the only alien hybrids here."

"More than a possibility! The military found eight pods at the crash. We can only account for four of those pods." Michael broke in.

"I know. And now we may be able to account for some of the other four pods that were found. There is a very high possibility that two of the four of those pods belonged to Liz and Maria." Tess looked like she was about to object, so Max held up a hand to silence her and continued. "Both Liz and Maria have spoken to their parents and have found out that they were both adopted. Maria from an actual adoption agency and it seems that Liz was found wondering the high way, like you and I were found." He finished looking at Isabel. I saw Michael reach for Maria and her walk over to him. It seemed like a perfect moment there for a while, but of course those moments never last too long.

"That could just be a coincidence! I didn't believe this the first time it was brought up and I don't believe it now! I still think this was just some silly dream that Liz just wishes were true!" Tess looked like she was about to explode.

"I really don't think you should be talking right now! If what we saw is true, and I really think it is, then that makes you a liar! You and your wack-job of a foster parent, Nassato, lied to all of us! You lied about not only who we are, but who you were! You were never queen of Antar, you never married Zan! And Vilandra never betrayed her brother for Kivar. That was all a lie fabricated by you and Nassato!" Once again it was Maria to the rescue. She had moved away from Michael and was now advancing toward Tess with a mean glint to her eye. Michael grabbed her before she could get too far. Tess looked scared and it made me smile a little.

"Okay everyone just needs to calm down! Look whether this is true or not, we need to remember that what happened then doesn't have to be what happens now. Our past lives are just that, our pasts, they don't have to be our futures!" Isabel with the level head. How could we ever believe that she would be the one to betray her brother and cause some huge war?

"Isabel's right." It was time for me to finally speak up. "Look, I know this is really hard to process right now, but I know in my heart it's true." I looked at Tess as continued. "I know that Nassato had you lie to us. I know that you weren't a very great person back on Antar, but we don't have to relive what already happened."

"Whatever! If you all want to live in some fantasy world, fine, whatever, but don't count me in!" With that Tess turned and walked out the front door. I can say that I was more than a little relieved that she didn't put up more of a fight, but the strange thing was that I felt a little sorry for her. Where did that come from? I thought to myself, I mean, she betrayed all of us! Lied and manipulated us, why should I feel bad if she is a little upset? Why did I even try and be nice to her? All these thoughts ran through my head as I watched her walk out the door and down the street.

"So what does this mean?" This time it was Kyle who brought us back to the real issue.

"I don't know. I think we need some more answers before we start worrying too much." Max tried to reassure everyone.

"Maybe we should go back to the pods and see if we can find any answers there. I mean, there must be something we missed, some clue that can point us in the direction of what is really going on." Isabel looked around at all of us and tried to give a weak smile.

"There probably isn't much that you'll be able to find there." Alex cut in, "You guys have been all over that place since you found it, don't you think you would have found something by now. I think that the answers lie in that book of Tess'. If we could find a way to just understand what it is saying then maybe we could find out what really happened in your guys' past." Alex concluded.

"But how can we do that without Nassato's help. He was the only one who could possibly understand our language." Michael didn't really look too convinced about Alex's idea.

"Yes, but there are ways of getting around that. There are key letters and words that repeat constantly in any language. Once you find out what those words and letters are, they become the key to translating the rest of the message. It's like decoding a scrabbled code." Alex had a look in his eye that said that he found this challenge to be very exciting.

"Are you saying that you could translate the weird alien book?" Kyle looked skeptical.

"Yes, that is exactly what I am saying. I'm not saying that it won't be hard and it will probably take quite a while to translate it entirely, but, yes, I can do it." The grin on Alex's face at that moment was priceless.

"Trust me, if there is one person on this planet who could translate that book, it would be Alex." I couldn't help the smile that spread across my face. But I still couldn't help this nagging feeling in the pit of my stomach that I should go talk to Tess. I still couldn't explain it, but it was there. "Hey you guys, I think I'm gonna take a walk. I'll be back soon, okay?" With that I turned and walked out the door and in the direction I saw Tess walk.

So, HA! I did it! Two chapters in a row ;p Anyway, thanks again to all those that review and I few things: One, no Tess did not do that mind warp thing to Alex, so he has not translated the book yet. And Two, I really want Tess to turn good. What do ya'll think? I really like her character and I hate that she is an evil bitch, soooooo yeah see you next chapter!

Xoxo

Hannah