Hi people!

Now I'm sitting in my student room in Australia – on the other side of the world from where I usually sit... Tonight it's the first "cool" night since I got here, so I had the energy to update.

First of all, I want to thank those of you who have left feedback from the bottom of my heart!! It means so much to me. A special hug to Charisma for leaving feedback on each and every chapter. But everyone's feedback is great. I'm happy just to receive an "I'm reading your story, please post more" or sth like that. Just as long as you in some way let me know that you are reading and are enjoying what you are reading.

Okay, I won't babble anymore. I guess you want to know what's going to happen to Liz. So here it is…

Chapter 46

Maria could feel the impending doom vibrate through her body. As she ran past the burning building, she didn't spare it a glance. There was no doubt in her mind that the building was teetering on the brink of disaster. It would not end its last days peacefully dying in the flames. She could feel it in the air. She could smell it. They needed to get out of there. Fast.

Her lungs burned with the poisonous smoke that filled air as she struggled through the dark mists to find the others. The ground was uneven under her feet and she could even feel the heat through the soles of her shoes as she stumbled to the location where she had last seen Max. Her eyes stinging, she spotted movement further ahead.
"Max! Michael!" she yelled.
She ran faster, continuing to call the names of her friends. Her pace quickened when she didn't receive an answer. They didn't even acknowledge her.

They were all standing in a circle. Michael, Isabel and Alex. She didn't see Max anywhere though. "Michael! Where's Ma…" Her breathless voice trailed off when Alex stepped to the side and her eyes landed on the two persons on the ground. Max, holding Liz.

And she was glowing. Literally.

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Maria looked up, startled when Max and Isabel simultaneously inhaled sharply. She noticed Michael rising from the armchair out of the corner of her eye.
"What did you see? Could you reach her?" Michael didn't waste one second to start firing questions at the siblings.
Isabel slowly sat up on the bed, rubbing her temples. Dreamwalking was still new to her. She rarely used it, only for fun. Often, she used it to find out what people in her school were dreaming about. Sometimes she had even used it to see that her closer friends didn't suspect anything about her otherworldly origin. On the other hand, she had never let anyone really close. The only one who she could honestly call her friend, who was human, was Maria. There had never been anyone else. And she would rather keep it that way.

Next to her, Max bolted up and swung his legs over the edge of the bed.
"Did you talk with her?" Maria asked. She put a hand on his arm, wanting to calm down the obvious feelings of distress surrounding him.
"She's in danger," Max said. Maria shivered at the sound of his voice. She didn't recognize it. He sounded…detached.
"Has someone taken her?" Michael asked. "Where is she? Did you find any clues at all where she is?"
"She's held captive somewhere…" Isabel started, but Max cut her off.
"They are telling her that we aren't real. They are brainwashing her…"
Maria's eyes widened with fear. "What?!"
"Brainwa…" Michael stumbled on the words. It was something they had feared all their lives. A fear that had been as large a part of their lives as their next breath, and yet it felt foreign to actually face it. "Is it the government? The FBI? CIA? Who?"
Max looked distant. His eyes were fixed on the door, like he was waiting for someone to enter.
"Is he still here?"
Maria frowned and unconsciously looked at the door. "Who? Alex?"

Michael started for the door. "I'll take care of him." His angry advance snapped something in place within Max. He stood up and lifted his hand in a halting motion. Michael ripped the door open, only to have it pull out of his grip and slam closed again.
"What the…" He tried the doorknob again, but when it stubbornly remained in its closed position, his head whipped around to Max. He found his friend with his hand outstretched, directed at the door.
"Calm down," Max said calmly.
"But he…" Michael protested, his words tainted with anger.
"We can't screw this up," Max said. "We have to come up with a cover story. We can't risk that he finds anything out just because he has gotten this close. That is just another reason to make sure he does not suspect anything."
"What should we say?" Maria asked.
Isabel bit her lower lip as she looked between her brother and Michael. She knew that her suggestion wouldn't be welcomed, but she had to say it nevertheless. "Maybe we should just tell him the truth."

"What?!" Michael exploded.
Isabel gathered her confidence and raised her head to meet Michael's outraged eyes. "Maybe it's safer to have him with us than against us…"
"What can he do if he's against us?" Michael said hotly, "He's no threat, so-"
"Exactly, he's no threat!"
"Damnit! You know what happened the last time you thought it was a good idea to let someone else into our lives! She was abducted a couple of days ago!"
Maria watched how Max paled at Michael's outburst. "Michael!"
"He knows Liz! He's already involved. Maybe he can help-" Isabel's voice quickly rose in volume.
"Just because he's Liz's friend, doesn't ensure that we can trust-"
"Maria didn't bolt when we told her, did sh-"
"Stop it!"

Both Isabel and Michael mouths closed and they stared with an expression of surprise mixed with apprehension at the source of the authoritative command.
"Someone has taken Liz. Probably someone from the government," voice breaking with audible agony, "God knows what they are doing to her right this moment, just because I contacted her."
Michael's hand dropped from the doorknob, his chest heaving with heavy breaths as a result of the heated argument. Isabel's eyes dropped guiltily to the floor.
"And all you can do is…" He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
"What do you think we should do, Max?" Maria asked carefully.
Max stood in silence for a few long seconds before he opened them, a new determination in his eyes. "West. We should go west."
"West?" Michael asked, not even trying to hide the sarcasm in his voice.
"That's where Liz is."
Isabel and Maria stared at him, thousands of questions milling in their heads, but none of them important enough to ask at this moment. Not when time was such an important factor.
Max answered their main question for them. "I have this…feeling. Like something is pulling me in that direction."
"And what if you're wrong?" Michael asked.
"Do you have a better solution?" Maria asked and glared at him to keep him from saying anything else.
Michael met her eyes and after some seconds of silent battle, he realized that he had been outnumbered. "What should we tell Alex?" he mumbled sourly.
"What he wants to hear," Max answered.

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"What's wrong with her?" Maria's eyes were transfixed on Liz's body, her pupils contracting in the bright purple light surrounding Liz, like a shield of color.
"I guess this answers the question about her human status," Michael said.
Maria turned to look at Alex standing beside her. Everything she expected to see on his face at this moment, he was displaying, and more. Fear, confusion, shock, disbelief… Maria silently watched the emotions play over his face. He looked like he had been hit by a train without even knowing what a train was.
"Alex?" Maria put a hand on his arm. He took a slow step back from her and her fingers left the material of his shirt. His eyes were fixed on Liz and his mouth was opening and closing as if he wanted to say something, but couldn't decide if he should use the little air he was getting in to breathe or to try to pronounce syllables. Either way, he probably wouldn't be able to say anything comprehensible.

"She's so cold, so cold," Max murmured and Maria turned her head back to Max. Max discarded his jacket and spread it over Liz.
"Is she okay?" Maria asked.
"I don't know," Isabel answered. She looked pale in the light of the flames dancing in the background. The fear and guilt were haunting her eyes. She was unable to tear her eyes away from the unresponsive girl.
"Did you find anyone?" Michael asked and Maria looked at Michael. When her eyes met his the air compressed around her, getting heavier and pressing against her chest. She could feel tears prickling the back of her throat. Could feel her lips stinging with hidden emotion. She shook her head in answer to his question. Her eyes dropped as she tried to compose herself. They had far more important things to concentrate on than her having a breakdown.
"Hey…" A gentle voice made her look up and she found Michael standing next to her, looking at her with concern in his normally guarded eyes. The first tears fell and her bottom lip started to tremble and she stepped into Michael's warm arms.
"It just hit you, didn't it?" She nodded against his chest, taking comfort in his protective embrace. Michael always put up this tough exterior, pretending to be an uncaring womanizer. It was only with Maria that he was real. It was only Maria who could anger him until he lost his temper. It was only Maria who made him feel real. And she knew it. She was the only one who had seen the other side of Michael. The side he didn't let anyone else see. They weren't together. They had never kissed or even held hands, but still there was something else there. Something that was perhaps even more important than romantic gestures. Friendship. Trust. Support. Love.

She clung to him and tried to block out the horrors of the last couple of days, for at least a few seconds. The commotion continued around them. Michael followed what was happening, while his hand consolingly threaded through her hair. He watched as Isabel kneeled down to help Max. He watched as she reached out to pull Max's jacket closer around Liz. When the powerful blue streak of light exploded as Isabel's hand connected with the light around Liz and she was thrown three feet through the air, his hand rapidly left Maria's hair. Maria, hearing Isabel's cry of fear, turned around in Michael's arms and her breath caught in her throat as she saw Isabel fell heavily to the ground.
"Oh my God!" Maria cried.
Michael moved behind her, running towards Isabel.
Max looked into the mist, trying to spot his sister. "Isabel!"
Isabel lifted her head with a groan of pain. Michael fell to his knees beside her. "Is, are you okay?"

Isabel carefully pulled herself up into sitting position, rubbing the back of her head with her hand. "Yeah, I'm fine." There was a strain in her voice and she was pale, but after some quick checking Michael could see that she was okay. She would probably have some bruises tomorrow, but other than that she was only shocked.
"What happened?" Maria asked, stepping up behind Michael. Her hands were brushing away lingering tears from her cheeks.
"I… I don't know…" Isabel said. A grimace of pain formed on her face as she started to stand up. Michael reached out and helped her up.
"It was like she pushed you away," Michael said.
Isabel rubbed her back. "That's an understatement."
"Is?"
Isabel turned to Max, who was now standing up, cradling Liz in his arms. Michael frowned at the sight. Maria voiced the question for him, "How are you able to touch her?"
Perplexed, Max looked down at the unconscious Liz, dangling loosely in his arms. "I…I… I don't know."
"That…that thing that she's emitting is some kind of shield," Michael said, "Why is she letting you touch her?"

"What are you talking about?"
Three faces turned to Alex, who uttered his first words since they had found Liz.
"Who the hell are you?" His eyes were darkening with anger, his mouth thinning out, "What have you done to her? You have done something to her!"
"Hey, listen man," Michael snorted, "She's the one who's purple!"
"Alex…" Isabel said, reaching out a tentative hand towards Alex. Alex wasn't hearing her. The protective streak within him kicked in full force, and it was giving him one clear message: get Liz away from these people.
Max instinctively cradled Liz's cold body closer as Alex took a step forward. One of Max's hands stretched out in the air, dangling there in indecision. His heart had told him to protect Liz against anything, but the rational part of his mind stopped him from letting his powers have free reign. His mind knew that Alex wasn't a threat, but still there was something imprinted in him to not let anyone near Liz. She was hurt, completely vulnerable to anyone who wished her harm. He had failed her once, but he wouldn't do it again.

Max took a step back, partly to stop Alex from trying to separate Liz from him, but mostly to prevent what he suspected would happen. Seeing what he had seen, Alex still tried to defeat the forces of nature. His mind wasn't following rational routes any longer. In the last six hours, he had heard and seen things he could never even begin to imagine. The only action his mind could sort out right now was to get Liz as far away from here as possible, and then pretend that none of this had ever happened.

Isabel stepped forward to prevent Alex from doing the same thing she did, but she was too late. Alex reached for Liz's arm, intending to pull her out of Max's grip. With a cry of pain, the light flickered violently around Liz, and Alex was catapulted away from her. Isabel impeded his landing and together they fell to the ground, Alex groaning loudly in pain. Isabel rolled on her side and turned around to see if he was all right. He was grabbing his right hand with his left one with deep lines of pain on his forehead and around his mouth.
"Alex!" She tried to get his attention, but he only rolled away from her.
"Get away from me!" he yelled.
Isabel's hand hung in the air as she looked into Alex's face and saw just what she had feared all her life: someone looking at her with fear and…repulsion.
"Please, Alex," her voice broke as she pleaded with him for understanding, "Let me look at your hand. You're hurt, Alex."

A loud crack interrupted Isabel and they all turned to see a massive iron bar hanging on with its last strength. The bolts in one end of the bar were being melted in the thousand degrees heat and it was frighteningly close to let go and fall down.
"We have to get out of here," Maria cried.
Isabel looked at Alex in indecision as the others started running for the car.
"Isabel, come on!!" Michael shouted.
"Alex… Please, come with us," Isabel pleaded. Alex looked her right into the eyes. He didn't know what was worse. To be abandoned out in nowhere, where there was still no sign of any fire brigades, in the middle of the night several miles away from any living sign, or to step into the same car as people who could break in anywhere and weren't shocked by the fact that a girl was glowing purple.

There was an earth-shattering rumble and Isabel's head once again whipped around towards the warehouse. A large part of the building collapsed under her terrified gaze.
"Alex…" Her eyes back on Alex, she wanted him to see that she wasn't dangerous. That she wasn't repulsive and different, as his eyes were accusing her of being. For some reason, the need to have him accept her was greater than ever before. Maybe it was because he was the first person who didn't know already know her, to learn that she was different. Maybe it was because his reaction fulfilled all her fears and insecurities. Or maybe it was something else.
"Please…come with us. You can get off in the next town. Just please…"
"Isabel!!"
Isabel didn't let Alex go with her eyes, even though the urgency of Michael's shout and the threatening sparking of fire behind her, told her of how vital it was to get out of here as soon as possible. Alex searched her face and Isabel stopped breathing for a second. It felt like he was looking right through her. Scanning her insides to see if she meant what she was saying, if he should trust her words instead of his own eyes.

His voice was breathless, but still determined when he answered her, "Next town, okay?"
"Yeah," Isabel nodded, relief spreading inside of her. They rose in unison and started running for the car, not turning their heads even once when they heard the deafening sound of the warehouse collapsing behind them and small explosions echoing in the darkness.

TBC...