Part One

"Liz, go get your sister from her room please." Liz looked up from her packing and nodded at her mother's request. At the moment seeing Tess was the last thing Liz wanted to do - she knew her sister would be crying or pouting or doing something else she didn't want to deal with, but obviously neither did her mother.

She stood up and looked around her room for anything she'd forgotten as she left to find her sister. Her small, pleasant room looked so bare without her things scattered around it. Liz's bulletin board now had nothing but scattered push pins; her posters of her favorites music groups and actors were off her walls and rolled up in her backpack; her closet held nothing but hangers; framed photographs of her mother and father and of Maria and her friends were gone from atop her dresser and bedside table; her bed was stripped of her sheets; her favorite books were gone from her shelves. Only day's ago a stranger could look in her room and know everything about her, now her room was empty and impersonal and it made her want to cry.

Putting a metal shield over her emotions she knocked on her sister's door. She could still hear muffled sniffles from her sister's room. Liz had been hearing them all weak and the sound was beginning to give her a migraine. Finally her red-faced sister opened the door, her cheeks tear- stained. "What do you want?" Tess hissed her voice hoarse. Liz noticed a phone in her sister's hands and figured she was saying her last goodbyes.

Panic struck her like a lightning bolt, what had her sister been telling her friends? Grabbing the phone away from her Tess, Liz asked in a hushed voice, "You haven't been telling anyone where we're going have you?" Tess looked at her as if she was crazy and shook her head quickly grabbing the phone back. She muttered something to whoever was on the other line before hanging up and looked at Liz pointedly.

"Mom wants you," Liz said simply before turning away and walking back to her room. Sometimes she felt like she was still baby-sitting Tess when she was twelve and Tess was eleven. Not much of an age difference, but a maturity difference the size of the Grand Canyon. Even then it was like she was sitting for a four-year-old.

Before she could get to her bedroom door her mother's voice stopped her. Liz paused and waited for her mother to say something. After a few awkward moments her mother finally spoke. "Girls, before we go I need you to understand something. I will admit that I am an alien, but I can't be proud of it. I want you both to forget you have the Antardrin origin in you're blood. I don't want you practicing your powers or studying about Antardrin history. Once this war is over we are going back to being humans."

Liz wanted to yell at her that she would never be able to forget that she was actually part Antardrin; that they weren't and never were humans. It wasn't something she could just tell herself wasn't important and put behind her. By the nonchalant look on her sister's face Liz was sure Tess was not dealing with the same mixed feelings she was. Without saying a word Liz left the room, but she was terrified her silence spoke her true feelings loud and clear.

Walking back to her room tears started to form in her eyes. Why did her mother have to be an alien? Why did things have to change so much? Liz was perfectly happy just being ignorantly normal. She didn't want to question what was right and wrong as this was forcing her to.

Through her tears Liz looked at her watch. It was three-thirty. She had a half hour before they had to leave. Closing her eyes against the flow of her tears Liz stood up and took the remaining time to try and look like she hadn't been crying.

She brushed out her long, thick brown hair and pulled it back into a high ponytail. Then she splashed some freezing cold water on her face and dabbed some concealer over the tearstains lining her cheeks. After putting on a coat of lip gloss - somehow she hoped the gloss on her lips would take the notice off the glossy coating that covered her eyes - Liz looked at herself in the mirror. She still looked paler then usual and as hard as she tried her smile would not look normal, but she had done as much and she could.

She checked her watch again: three forty five.

Sighing Liz walked back into her room and tried to conceal her stuff into one less bag. Her father had said to try to get the bag count down to less then five. Since she'd already done that she took the stuff out of her smallest bag and tried for three.

center~*~/center

"Mom, please!" Max knew very well that trying to convince his mother to let Michael come was useless considering how many times he'd already tried, but watching he and Isabel saying goodbye the whole day was keeping him going. "Izzy is going to be crying half the time if you don't, and you know it." His mother didn't even pause in packing. "Plus," Max continued, "He was suppose to be my second-in-command right? If we don't take him and if Kavahr finds out, he could be killed!" That made his mother pause if only for a moment. Of course it had made her pause every time he'd mentioned it.

She looked at him and took a slow breath. "I understand that you're worried, but you have to understand that there is no reason for Kavahr to find out Michael was meant to be beside you in the palace. No one but you, your sister, Michael and I know who his father use to be."

Max knew his mother was right, but he wasn't one to back down from an argument. He never had been. "But what if he does, Mom? What if Kavahr was to find out somehow? Would you want Michael's death to be on your head?" Now he was putting on the guilt, how low could he sink?

For a few minutes his mother was silent. Had he gotten to her? Had he proven his point? Or maybe he had just annoyed her so much she didn't know what to say to make him stop. Finally she spoke. "Alright... he can come." Max wanted to jump up and down he was so happy. "But not right away, Max, do you hear me? I've already made a deal with the people we're staying with that I'm bringing only two children. Once we're settled in I'll ask them about Michael. If they say no, I'm sure you can pester them into saying yes." Max smiled despite himself and hugged his mother.

"Thank you," he whispered into her hair and she nodded.

Waving him away she said, "Well go tell them the good news Max." He smiled and ran to Isabel's room. On her bed Michael was holding Isabel, her head resting on his shoulder as he whispered words of promise that they'd see each other again. It was times like this Max was jealous of the couple. Would he ever find someone he'd be so happy with?

Ignoring his thoughts Max cleared his throat to get their attention. Both aliens looked up. He leaned against the doorframe as if what he had to say would be something like, "Don't forget you're rain boots". He knew it would annoy the hell out of Michael, which was one of Max's favorite pass times. "Michael, my mom just told me you'd better start packing, 'cause in a couple weeks you're going to be in hiding with the rest of us." He cracked a half-smile. "Figured I should let you guys know." Shrugging his shoulders he left the room. In exactly five seconds he heard Isabel shriek and run after him throwing herself at his back. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!" she yelled into his neck hugging him. He set her down and kissed her head.

"No problem, Sis," he answered softly. Michael had followed Isabel and slapped him on the shoulder. It was Michael's form of thanking him and Max smiled in his form of your welcoming him. Then Isabel turned around and threw herself into Michael's open arms. He picked her up off her feet and twirled her around like he used to do when they were little and she was just four feet tall and he was already five-foot-three.

Max could tell they were beginning one of those moments where it's like no one's in the room but the two of them so he left the room and went to finish packing.

When he reached his room the fact that he wouldn't be back to this house for a long time hit him hard. His room was bare except for a few little things he didn't want to bring and his furniture. They were really, truly leaving. And it made him sick.

Max sat down on his bed. The mattress stripped of his sheets was cold to touch despite the hot weather of June that made the air sticky and thick. He knew going into hiding was the only thing he and his family could do, but he still resented it. He had done nothing wrong being born an alien of Earth and still he was punished for it.

Yes, it was true that the humans themselves weren't forcing him to go into hiding, but they were ignoring the war going on between the Antardrin people and Kavahr's followers; they were acting as if it wasn't happening at all. They didn't seem to realize that if Kavahr won - which he wouldn't if Max had anything to do with it - their race as they knew it would die and Kavahr's kind would take over. Somehow he knew that the United Nations knew very well what would happen, they just didn't care. Half of the leaders had gone to Kavahr's alliance already.

"We're going to win, Maxwell." Max looked up to see Michael leaning against the doorframe and staring at him. Michael always seemed to read Max's mind when he was worried or upset. "I know we are."



Max tried to give a smile towards Michael that said he'd never doubted it, but by the look on Michael's face he knew it hadn't come out the way he'd wanted it to. Letting a frown fall back on his face Max said, "We have to."

center~*~/center

Liz was silent in the back seat of the family car. Her mother and father were having a conversation of whispers so low-pitched she couldn't understand a word they said. And beside her Tess was using up tissues as fast as Liz had learned to fill saltshakers over the years of working as a waitress at her father's restaurant. Which was pretty fast. All together the Parker car was one big whirligig of fun. Liz cracked a small smile at her own joke.

It was after midnight and the dark streets of Roswell, New Mexico were bare except for a few sleeping homeless people un-awakened by the gentle hum of their hover car. Take a good look, Liz said to herself, this is the last time you'll be seeing good 'ole Roswell for a while. She swallowed down a small sob lodged in her throat and continued to stare out the window.

Eventually they got to their final destination: an old house in the outskirts of Roswell that looked relatively abandoned and broken down. A few days ago her father had taken she and Tess to see the inside. It too looked a bit broken down, the wallpaper was peeling, some of the metallic pieces in the kitchen and bathroom were rusted over, and the wood floors squeaked, but it wasn't nearly as bad as you'd have expected from the outside. And it had no problems an alien's powers couldn't fix. She knew it was wrong, but the fact that she might have those powers herself fascinated her.

Mutely Liz and her family left the car. There was a small light coming from the cracks in the wood covering the windows, it was almost impossible to see unless you were looking for it, but it was there. Liz had known that another family was going to be with them, she'd even prepared herself, but actually seeing proof that there was someone else there made her heartbeat quicken. She was going to spend God only knew how long with an Antardrin family. Considering how pale her mother was Liz was sure the excitement this fact brought to her did not have the same effect on her mother.

After producing a key from his pocket Liz's father unlocked the door. The very bottom level of the house was empty and quiet. Liz knew that they were leaving that floor alone so if someone was to become suspicious and broke in they would find no proof - at least without a thorough inspection - that anyone was living there. As she followed her parents to the stairs that lead to the two upper floors Liz's hands unconsciously gripped the handle to her suitcase more tightly and bile began to rise in her throat. Liz mentally hit herself for being so nervous, there was no reason for it... not really. Once they reached the top of the staircase another door blocked them. Liz's father cleared his throat loudly as if preparing the aliens for their entrance and opened the door.

Liz's mouth popped open. The inside of the second floor was completely redone. Obviously the Antardrins' had been using their powers to spruce the place up. The moment her father saw it was the reddest she'd ever seen his face get. He let out one long, loud breath and walked over to where a beautiful woman with striking green eyes and long sandy-blond hair was unpacking some silverware.

His voice was hushed but Liz could he was saying from years of practice. "Diane, I thought we talked about using your powers," he paused, Liz was sure, for effect, "you know, to not use them." When Liz's father got really pissed off, like he was right now, who ever he was pissed with usually backed down right away, afraid of what he might do. If anything this woman sat up higher. "If you want to live in a house with pealing wallpaper, rusting metal, and floors that squeak wherever you step, it's your life, but my family and I have a little common sense and thought that we might make the place livable." Her father's face got a little redder before he nodded mutely and took one long breath.

Looking at her directly in the eye he said, "Thank you. But if you use them again I'll have you kicked out."

Liz's whole family knew his threat was stupid, that he would never be able to get them kicked out for using something they were born with and raised to use, but the woman simply nodded politely and turned away. Liz's mother went over to her husband and hugged him reassuringly.

Moments later the woman came back with the sound of four feet following her. Slowly the two people in back of her came into view. First was the daughter her father had mentioned. She looked a lot like her mother, long, thick blond hair flowing to the small of her back and deep amber eyes surrounded by thick eyelashes. The woman smiled kindly at Liz and Tess and said, "Girls, I'm Diane and this is my daughter Isabel." Liz smiled at Isabel and Diane and sent Tess a look that said, "be nice". Staying in character Tess completely ignored her, crossed her arms over her chest, and sent a very smirk like smile to each of them.

Trying to take the notice of Tess Liz said, "It's nice to meet you both." Isabel gave an attempt at a smile and nodded.

Then the woman named Diane motioned to someone who was still lingering in the back. When he finally did come out of the shadows Liz felt her heart stop. This boy, this creature, was the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen.

"And this is my son, Max," Diane said, continuing with her introductions. Liz couldn't tare her eyes away from him; he on the other hand wouldn't stop looking at his shoes. Diane cleared her throat and looked pointedly at Max. Finally he moved his gaze appropriately up and looked from Tess to Liz. Once his gaze found Liz it held.

"Liz," she whispered, her voice to husky for it's own good. She swallowed and tried again, "I'm Liz." She laughed awkwardly. "Yeah, I'm Liz." Remembering her sister she continued, "And this is Tess." She pointed to her left, where Tess stood, dumbly and smiled at him.

His stare didn't leave her face the entire time. "Liz," he whispered so softly she almost didn't hear him. "It's a pleasure.

TBC…