Part 7
Jaxon stared at the vision before him, unsure what to say.
She had haunted his dreams for so long. He even knew her name.
Liz.
A plain, sensible name but, somehow, like music to his ears.
But this dream was different. In all the past dreams of her it had been as though he was observing the action, watching events that had been, that would be, that were. Events that had happened in another lifetime to someone that she called Max.
This time was different. She was there staring at him, her dark eyes wide with some unnamed emotion, clearly seeing him, just as he was seeing her. Her long dark hair was streaming behind her in the breeze, her delicate form dwarfed by one of the gate-markers.
Jaxon licked his lips, spoke. "It's you."
She blinked, frowned slightly. "Don't you know who I am?" She asked in a small voice.
He could tell that his next answer was very important, that one wrong word might shatter her, and for some reason, that was the last thing under the Illyrian sky he wanted to do.
"You're Liz." He replied carefully. He was eyeing her with concern. She was slowly making her way towards him through the waving grass, her eyes not leaving his face. He saw her face light up with pleasure, but also with concern.
"I am." She stopped about an arm's-length away from him. He wondered why it felt inherently wrong that she should do so. "And who are you?" She asked quietly, clearly willing him to give her the answer he wanted.
At least he knew THIS answer. "I'm Jaxon Falconer, Blue Prince, High King of Illyria." He replied. He hoped it didn't sound too arrogant. Tarsus was always telling him to behave like the king he was, but it had always made him uncomfortable to push his status on others.
Jaxon was disappointed when her face darkened, her eyes suddenly filled with tears. "No, who are you really?" She asked almost desperately.
His eyes narrowed. He didn't understand what she wanted - but whatever it was, he wanted to give it to her. "Who do you think I am?" Jaxon asked cautiously, not wanting her to lose it. He was unused to dealing with emotion in beings. His people were not a demonstrative group. Emotion was considered weak. He had always thought so.
Yet for some reason it did not seem weak in her. It actually seemed to him that she was brave to reveal so much to him in just a look, a sentence.
It was clear that she trusted him.
Liz had tilted her head. She was staring at him, clearly trying to come to a decision. "You're Max Evans." She finally told him, biting her lip.
He didn't hear her right away. Jaxon was staring at that lip. At both of them actually. He was horrified when he realized that he wanted very much to kiss them. He shook his head. "I have heard that name before." He told her quickly, trying to suppress the image that suddenly appeared in his mind. It was like a flash of memory but he knew that is was not HIS memory.
"I better go." It was as though he was saying it in the vision, but then again, it was not him.
"Why?" Liz asked, her eyes wide with questions.
"'Cause if I don't go right now, things are going to change."
"Change how?"
Jaxon shook his head again, stared at her. She was directly in front of him now. He could tell that she wanted to touch him. He was shocked to realize that he wanted her to as well.
"Are you okay?" She asked him instead, clutching her hands in front of her, as if trying to control them.
"Yes. Why are you here? Did my parents send you?"
She looked sad. "You really don't remember me do you?"
Jaxon decided to be honest with her. "I don't. I know that I have seen you before." He didn't tell her that it had been in his dreams. She would think he was crazy.
Of course, I am having a conversation with her IN my dreams, so maybe I am insane, he reflected wryly.
"Do you remember anyone?" She asked, clearly trying to get past her disappointment. "What about Isabel, or Michael?" She took a deep breath. "Or Tess?" She finished in a small voice.
"No. I'm sorry."
Liz did not look sad anymore, but rather thoughtful, like she was trying to work out a puzzle. "Wait! What about Tristandor...or Mirana?" She asked suddenly.
Max scowled, suddenly annoyed. "My sister and her no-good husband. How do you know them? Did they send you here?"
She blinked at him, surprised at his tone, although she did not appear frightened. Had he used that voice on any of his people, they would have fled from his presence in a split second.
He forced himself to calm down. He didn't know why, but he knew that she was not there to betray him. Somehow he just knew. "How do you know them?" He asked again, in a more civil tone.
"Mirana - she is Isabel where I come from - is one of my best friends. And Michael, er Tristandor, is YOUR best friend and is my other best friend's boyfriend." Her eyes narrowed slightly, "Although little good he's ever done you." She muttered to herself.
"Tristandor is NO friend of mine." He told her firmly. "Why are you here? And what is a boyfriend?" Jaxon asked, images of his sister suddenly filtering through his mind. The only recent memories he had of her were bad ones. She was a tyrant and a shrill-voiced witch - one who had always been jealous of him and had conspired with her husband and his parents to try and steal his throne.
He refocused on her, saw that she was smiling sadly. "A boyfriend is like a partner, I guess. Less then a husband, but more than a friend."
"Do you have a boyfriend?" He asked her, then clamped his lips shut. Now where did that come from?
"I do." She replied, still smiling, although she had tears in her eyes. "Max is my boyfriend."
He was not at all surprised to hear this. "But you said that I am Max."
"You are." She had unclenched her hands. One was reaching up. It touched his face lovingly. "You are mine."
"But I am not Max. I am Jaxon." He managed to croak. He almost gave into an irresistible urge to turn his head, to kiss her palm. But he was NOT who she thought he was. She had made a mistake. He could not take advantage of her like that.
"You are both Max AND Jaxon." She replied firmly. "They've suppressed the real you somehow, have made you forget. But I know who you are."
Jaxon stumbled backwards a step. He had to get away from her. He could not think clearly when she was so close to him. "Who are they?"
Her beautiful face clouded. "Tarsus of Dernia - and his leader, although we never did know who HE was." She told him.
Jaxon's felt his stomach clench. "I am his leader. Tarsus is my right hand. He is above reproach." He told her stiffly.
She just looked at him. He could tell that she thought that she was right, but she was not going to argue with him. "We'd better leave it alone." Liz finally said. "I don't know how long I can stay. There is so much to say Max! You have to help me figure out how to get you back."
"Back where?" He asked, letting her change the subject.
"Back home, where you belong. With Isabel, and your parents, and Michael....and me." She was looking around at the stone circle suddenly, her eyes wide with curiosity. "Where are we?"
"We are in the Waylandian Ring." Jaxon replied, suddenly realizing how peculiar it was. "I'm not sure why." He admitted sheepishly.
"But we're on Illyria?"
"Yes, of course, where else would we be?" Liz suddenly looked suspicious.
"How long have you lived on Illyria Max...er Jaxon?"
"My entire life of course."
Liz sighed, shook her head. "So they've not only made you forget, they've also planted false memories."
"What do you mean?"
"It's too complicated to go into now." Liz turned back to him, smiled lovingly. "I just want you to know that we are going to figure out a way to get you home."
"Why?" Jaxon was confused. He WAS home.
"Because I love you - we all do." Liz replied, touching his face again. His breath caught in his throat.
He was staring at her lips again. He had never kissed anyone before - but why did this all seem so familiar? He could feel his head beginning to lower. Liz's gaze was hypnotic. He seemed to have absolutely no control over his behavior.
All he knew is that his lips needed to be on hers.
"Max..."she sighed, their mouths only a breath away from each other.
And suddenly he felt like he had been kicked in the stomach. The last image he had of her was of her eyes widening in panic. She was reaching for him. "MAX!" She screamed.
She was gone.
Jaxon opened his eyes. He was not at all surprised to see that he actually WAS being kicked in the stomach - by one of his guards. He was lying sprawled on the hard stone floor of his cell.
"Get up you traitor! Your parents are ready to see you now." The guard kicked him once more for good measure, then left him a moment's peace to get ready.
Jaxon sat up, scrubbed his hand across his eyes.
He remembered everything.
Who was she? Why had she been sent to tell him all these lies, to haunt him?
He climbed unsteadily to his feet, shook his head. His jaw set.
It was his parents - it had to be. They were trying to control him by using his dreams. He swiped a hand through his hair, straightened the tunic he had been wearing for the last week - ever since his parents had captured the Citadel...and him.
He would face them and they would not know that they had finally gotten to him. She meant nothing. It was all a ruse to wrench him from his true friends, back into their evil clutches.
While his mind was telling him all this, his heart was beating a mile a minute, as though HE was somehow wrong in all this. He pushed the feeling aside.
For this was the worse part of all. These dreams had reawakened something within him that he had thought he had long hidden, buried, done away with.
He was beginning to feel again.
Jaxon erased the admission from his mind. He straightened his spine, walked to the open door of the cell. He glared at the guards waiting for him. When he spoke, his tone was arrogant.
"Take me to my parents."
Part 8
"Lizzie. Wake up honey."
Liz slowly opened her eyes, stared up at her father in confusion. "Dad?" She sat up groggily. "What's going on?"
"You fell asleep on the floor sweetie." Liz could see the concern on her father's face. "You were gone so long I came to check on you."
Liz blinked, stared down at the floor. It had all been a dream.
But she also knew that it had been more than that. She had been with Max.
She had to get away from her father, had to call Isabel, had to try and understand what it had all meant.
"Oh, I guess I was tired." Liz replied lamely. There was really no logical explanation for why she would have fallen asleep on the floor of the restaurant, so she didn't even bother trying to make one up. "I guess I'd better head up to bed."
Mr. Parker was not going to let her off the hook so easily. "Liz, are you okay honey? I know that you're still having a hard time dealing with Max's death..." He trailed off, clearly hoping that she would open up to him.
Liz shut her eyes, took a deep breath. "I'm fine Dad, really. I'm just tired." She just could not get into this with her dad right now. She needed to go think about what had happened in her dream before she forgot any of it. "I'm just going to go to bed." She opened her eyes, tried not to look her father in the eyes.
She heard him sigh sadly. "Okay honey. Sweet dreams."
Liz could not resist. She gave Mr. Parker a quick hug. "I love you Dad."
"I love you too honey."
Liz sprinted up the stairs to her family's apartment and was in her room only a couple of minutes later. She grabbed the phone, misdialed Isabel's number twice before she finally managed to control her shaking hands enough to hit the right numbers.
The phone rang five times before Isabel's answering machine picked up.
"Izzy! Where are you?" Liz muttered to herself.
She tried Alex, Maria and even Michael. No answer at any of their homes. Liz could feel herself getting panicky. She had to tell someone!
Should she try Kyle or Tess? No, it was better to get it all down on paper before she forgot.
Liz leaped off the bed, hurried to her journal's hiding spot. Her heart stopped when she saw the brick sitting on her bureau.
She smacked her hand against her forehead. She had left it sitting on the chaise on her balcony. She had been writing in it when Isabel had called her earlier that day to tell her about her vision.
Liz hurried out her bedroom window, stopped abruptly. She stared at her favorite seat in horror.
Her journal was gone.
Isabel climbed the steep slope to the entrance to the pod chamber, her heart in her throat. Alex was slightly ahead of her, leading the way with a flashlight.
Isabel had not been back to her birthplace since the day she, Max, Michael and Tess had found out the truth about themselves by using the orbs, almost two years ago.
She hated it there.
Isabel had very few memories of the time between her emergence from her pod and being picked up by the side of the road by the Evans. When Max had first found the chamber, she had had a flash of her first moments of life but, since then, nothing more had returned. She knew that Michael and Max both remembered a lot more.
She suspected that it had something to do with the fact that they had both WANTED to remember, while that had been the last thing on Earth she had wanted to do. Isabel had been horrified when first faced with the absolute truth that she was not human. The pods had revolted her more than she had expected and she had wanted nothing more than to get away from them. Max had had to chase her halfway back to the car before she would stop that day, Isabel recalled wryly, feeling a pang of affection for her brother, that for once was not mixed with sadness.
When they had returned to the chamber to heal Nasedo and to use the orbs, Isabel had managed to block out the disturbing sight of the pods. She had been eager to hear her mother, which had overshadowed her disgust.
The whole destiny fiasco, followed swiftly by Max and Michael's encounter with Tarsus and consequent jerky behavior had given Isabel excuse enough not to reflect on something that disturbed her.
But there was no avoiding it this time.
She was glad that Alex was with her. He was the only one who truly understood how hard her origins were for her to deal with. The idea that she had been engineered - she despised it. Max and Michael had been too wrapped up in their own issues surrounding their own heritage - Max torn between his humanity and his otherness, Michael ready and eager to embrace his alien side - to help Isabel deal with her own.
So she had turned to Alex.
Which had made it doubly difficult when they had broken up last year during the anti-Max, spaced-out Michael era.
Isabel was breathing hard when she finally joined Alex on the ridge. "I really need to hit the gym more often." She joked to mask her nervousness.
Alex was not fooled though. He was staring at the wall, his expression grim. He turned to glance at her worriedly. "Are you sure you want to do this Iz?"
"I have to Alex." He set his jaw, moved aside so that she could activate the entrance.
Isabel waved her hand across the stone wall, watched the silver handprint emerge as if by magic. She placed her palm on the imprint, stepped back as the stone slid away.
Taking a deep breath, Isabel ducked under the overhang and entered the room in which she had been born.
Alex was right behind her. He shone the flashlight across the pods, an interested expression on his face. She remembered that this was the first time he had been there. "They look different from the one Tarsus had Max use to ready himself for the journey to Illyria." He commented.
Isabel nodded. "They served different purposes I guess. These ones were to transform us to humans. The other ones were to turn us back." She shuddered at the thought.
Alex came and put his arm around her. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, thanks. Listen Alex, being here reminded me of something I've been thinking about lately." Alex squeezed her, encouraging her to continue. "Don't you think it was weird that even after Max and Michael were transformed to return to Illyria, they looked like humans?" She turned to stare at the pods again. "Why?"
Alex shook his head. "I don't know Iz."
"Do you think that our people LOOK like humans?" Isabel asked him, voicing her own suspicions. "I mean, the fact that there is life on at least two planets in the universe, makes it likely that there is life on more. Maybe we were sent to Earth for the reason that we looked like humans?"
Alex did not look convinced. "But Liz told me that when you and the others healed Nasedo, he shifted slightly into one of those typical alien forms. You know, the ones everyone sees in the UFO museum? With the big head and eyes..."
Isabel frowned. "Yeah. Well, it was just a thought."
"So what are we looking for?" Alex asked, flashing his light across the pods and stone walls again.
Isabel shrugged, moved away from him as she examined the pods more closely. "I have no idea."
And suddenly the vision was upon her. She threw her hands up to her head. It felt like someone had her head in a vise and was gradually tightening it.
*Flash
"Make the sacrifice."
*Flash
"Mirana - you are the key!"
*Flash
"Use the gate."
*Flash
A stone circle, Max's face, Michael's face, Tess' face, her own face....Liz's face, Alex's face, Maria's, Kyle's....they all whipped across her mind like a slide-show....the stone circle, Max's face, the stone circle, Max's face...
"Isabel! IZZY!"
Isabel blinked, stared at Alex. He was grasping her by the shoulders, staring at her in fright. "Izzy! What happened? Did you get another flash?"
Isabel nodded mechanically. She frowned slightly, shook her head to clear it.
"Are you okay?" Alex demanded. He sounded angry. He was clearly upset about the fact that these visions were not consequence free. Her head was still killing her.
"Yeah. Alex, please! I'm okay. It doesn't matter." Isabel tried to remember exactly what she had seen.
"The hell it doesn't!" Alex practically yelled. "What the hell is Max doing - using you as some sort of interstellar post-office? It's clearly hurting you. Why can't any of this ever just be normal?"
Isabel stared at him. "Alex! Calm down." She ran her hands up his arms comfortingly. "I'm fine." She paused. Alex was still muttering to himself. "Alex! I need you here. Just stop it! I'm okay." She waited until his attention was completely focused on her again.
"Sorry." He finally said, still upset, but at least he was listening.
She smiled at him. "If I didn't know better, I'd say that you wanted me to stick around." She teased him, trying to cajole a smile out of him.
He was having none of it. "Don't even joke about that Isabel." Alex replied seriously, his eyes dark. He took a deep breath. "Fine. So what did you see?"
Isabel stared at him a moment longer, made sure that he had reemerged from his momentary flip-out. "It's not Max who's communicating with me." She eventually told him.
"What do you mean it's not Max?" Alex demanded. He sounded disappointed, but there was a weird edge to his voice as well.
"I mean, it's about Max - about how to get him back - but it's not him sending the messages." Isabel explained.
Alex scowled. "Well, all I can say is, he's damn lucky it's not. When we got him back, I was planning on asking him how his trip was and then kicking his butt right back there for hurting you."
Isabel rolled her eyes. She wondered if Michael had been giving her boyfriend lessons in protective-guy obnoxiousness. "Alex, could you please stop being ridiculous? You know that Max would never intentionally hurt me - any of us. If last winter taught me anything, its that my brother was willing to do anything to protect us." Isabel felt a moment's sadness at the thought of the loneliness Max had had to endure during his bad-ass act, when he had had to alienate everyone he loved in the world in order to save them. "Anyway," She continued. "It wasn't Max."
"Well, then who was it?" Alex asked, sounding a bit embarrassed about his outburst.
Isabel sighed. "I don't know. I didn't really understand any of it. All I saw was everyone's faces mixed in with Max's...and a stone circle." She wrinkled her nose in thought. "And they told me to make the sacrifice again, whatever the heck that means."
"Maybe the others will have some ideas." Alex suggested.
Isabel glanced at her watch, saw that it was well past midnight. Although she had been the one who had insisted that everyone contact everyone else if something happened, she realized now that it was probably best to wait for morning. Liz and Maria were both exhausted and needed their sleep, and she just couldn't face Michael right then. His guilty face was seriously beginning to depress her, forgetting that before that day she had been the most somber of them all. "Maybe. I think you and I should go home to bed and think about it a bit first though. We can tell them tomorrow at school."
Alex understood her reasoning immediately. "Okay. I guess we better head home then." He took her hand, squeezed gently. "We're making progress here Iz. We are going to bring Max home."
Isabel smiled at him, felt tears of hope filling her eyes. She glanced at the pods again, wondered which one had been the progenitor of her wonderful, selfless, much missed brother.
They were going to find him and bring him home.
She swore it would be so. Even if it was the last thing she ever did, Isabel would see her brother again.
Liz felt the dried tears on her cheeks when she awoke the next morning. Sunlight was streaming through her bedroom window. She sighed, curled up under her covers and thought.
She was ecstatically happy and unbearably sad at the same time. But most of all she was disappointed. She had not had another dreamy visit from her boyfriend - or his Illyrian double either.
Her happiness stemmed from the fact that she had found Max. She knew that he was alive and safe - and the sadness came from the fact that he did not remember who he was.
He did not remember her.
And now her journal had disappeared.
Liz had never managed to talk to anyone last night. She had fallen asleep with the phone on her lap after the tenth time she had called Isabel, only to get the machine.
It was annoying, but she would see them all at lunch. It had actually worked out for the best. She had a lot to do before she told them what she had learned.
Liz had already decided that she was skipping classes that morning. She had to go to the library. Something was nagging at the back of her mind about the dream she had had.
For some reason, she thought that she knew exactly where to look for the answer to all their questions.
Because now that she knew that Max was alive, Liz was going to bring him home.
Part 9
Alex stared down at his lunch, an expression of distaste on his face. "They call this pizza? It looks like..." He paused. "Well, I don't know what, but definitely not something I want to be putting into my mouth."
Michael, who was seated beside him, grabbed the slice, pulled a bottle of Tabasco out of his pocket, and dumped the entire contents onto it. "There. Problem solved."
"Contrary to what you might think Michael, Tabasco is not the solution to every culinary disaster." Maria commented, her nose wrinkled in disgust.
Isabel couldn't help but giggle at the look on Alex's face. He was staring at the pizza that Michael had deposited back in front of him, horror apparent. "Um, you can keep it."
"Thanks." Michael made a big show of taking a bite. "Mmmmm. Delicious."
Isabel and Maria exchanged looks, both laughed. Alex was scowling at them all.
For one precious moment, everything was normal. It hadn't been like this for so long - not since before Tess came into their lives, Isabel realized. She knew that Michael was actually putting on a bit of a show for Maria's benefit, but it was still nice.
It was too bad that Liz wasn't there yet.
Or Max.
She sobered instantly. "Where are the others?" She asked Maria abruptly.
Maria looked at her quickly. Isabel was pleased to note that her friend actually looked a bit better today. She had colour in her cheeks and the circles under her eyes were not quite as large. "Liz left me a message in the office saying she was going to be a bit late. I have no idea where Tess and Kyle are."
Isabel scanned the courtyard impatiently. She had thought about her latest vision all night and was no closer to deciphering it than she had been when she had dropped Alex off at home. She needed everyone else to start thinking about it too.
She groaned when she suddenly caught sight of possibly the most annoying person on campus headed in their direction.
"Don't look now, but the black widow is on her way over." Isabel muttered to the others.
Maria turned around, scowled. "What is that girl's problem?" She asked, her nose wrinkling again at the sight of Pam Troy, Max's erstwhile ex-girlfriend.
"I think the proper question would be, what ISN'T that girl's problem." Alex replied in a lecturing tone.
Pam was being followed by two or three of her minions. Isabel put on her best ice-queen expression. They had to get rid of them before Liz showed up. Her friend did not need to deal with her arch-enemy on top of everything else.
"Well, if it isn't four of the seven dweebs." Pam said in a tone dripping with venom as she finally came to a stop next to them. Her lackeys giggled. Isabel turned burning eyes on them. They immediately stopped laughing. One of them actually looked frightened.
Isabel was pleased.
"What do you want Troy?" Alex asked in a tone of long-suffering.
"I want to know where little Lizzie Parker is." Pam replied, sneering at him.
"Why?" Maria demanded, sounding suspicious - rightfully so in Isabel's point of view.
"Oh, you'll know soon enough." Pam replied in what she probably thought sounded like a mysterious tone, but rather it sounded like an irritating whine.
"Beat it Troy." Isabel's eyes shifted to Kyle, who had come up behind Pam. The expression on his face was annoyed, but Isabel could see real signs of fury underneath the surface.
Pam scowled at him but obeyed. She knew that of the whole group of Liz's friends, only Kyle was the one she had to be concerned with socially. At one time Isabel would have been able to ruin her too, but since Max's disappearance she had not bothered to continue the farce of popularity.
It didn't seem important anymore.
"Have any of you seen Liz?" Kyle asked when Pam was out of ear-shot. His tone was instantly panicked.
"She wasn't in school this morning." Maria replied. "Why? What's wrong?"
"Everything." Kyle replied, turning to scan the crowd of students for Liz.
Isabel caught sight of her friend before the rest of them did. Liz was hurrying in their direction, her head lowered, her long dark hair shielding her face. She had a large book in her arms.
It was then that Isabel began to hear the whispering. As the student body caught sight of Liz, they all began to turn and stare at her. Someone even pointed. "What the heck?" Isabel heard Alex mutter.
Isabel became even more concerned when two jocks suddenly stepped in front of Liz. "Hey Parker! Didn't know you had it in you." Isabel could hear one of them say.
Liz looked up, blinked at him. A slightly perplexed smile appeared on her pretty face. "What do you mean Tom?"
Kyle shook his head. "Damn!" He hurried in Liz's direction, grabbed her by the arm and escorted her to the table, shoving Tom and his crony as he passed them. "You're dead at practice today." He told them. It was not an idle threat. Isabel knew that Kyle could make their lives hell. He was the captain of the team and he ran the football practices with the coach.
Liz came and sat beside Isabel, plunking her book on the table in front of her. Isabel could not see the title as it was upside down. "What's going on guys?'"
The rest of them all looked to Kyle for an explanation. He looked upset that he was obviously going to have to be the one to tell her.
"Ummmm..." To Isabel, it appeared that Kyle was actually wringing his hands.
"Spill it Valenti!" This was from Michael, who looked like he was about to blow a gasket.
"Well, someone plastered posters all over school with a web-site url on them." Kyle began explaining slowly. "So I went to check it out."
"And?" Maria waved her hand in front of her encouraging Kyle to continue.
"Well, the site was about Max." Kyle swallowed. "It was basically full of a whole bunch of pictures of Max and Liz together...ummm...well...they were...doing stuff."
Isabel felt her breath catch in her throat. "What kind of stuff?" She asked, although she already knew.
Kyle turned to stare at her. "I think you know Isabel."
Isabel turned to Liz. Her friend's face had gone white. Liz's hands were clutching the side of the table, the knuckles turning white as Isabel watched in fascination.
"And that's not all. Liz's journal is posted on the site." Kyle continued.
To be continued...
Jaxon stared at the vision before him, unsure what to say.
She had haunted his dreams for so long. He even knew her name.
Liz.
A plain, sensible name but, somehow, like music to his ears.
But this dream was different. In all the past dreams of her it had been as though he was observing the action, watching events that had been, that would be, that were. Events that had happened in another lifetime to someone that she called Max.
This time was different. She was there staring at him, her dark eyes wide with some unnamed emotion, clearly seeing him, just as he was seeing her. Her long dark hair was streaming behind her in the breeze, her delicate form dwarfed by one of the gate-markers.
Jaxon licked his lips, spoke. "It's you."
She blinked, frowned slightly. "Don't you know who I am?" She asked in a small voice.
He could tell that his next answer was very important, that one wrong word might shatter her, and for some reason, that was the last thing under the Illyrian sky he wanted to do.
"You're Liz." He replied carefully. He was eyeing her with concern. She was slowly making her way towards him through the waving grass, her eyes not leaving his face. He saw her face light up with pleasure, but also with concern.
"I am." She stopped about an arm's-length away from him. He wondered why it felt inherently wrong that she should do so. "And who are you?" She asked quietly, clearly willing him to give her the answer he wanted.
At least he knew THIS answer. "I'm Jaxon Falconer, Blue Prince, High King of Illyria." He replied. He hoped it didn't sound too arrogant. Tarsus was always telling him to behave like the king he was, but it had always made him uncomfortable to push his status on others.
Jaxon was disappointed when her face darkened, her eyes suddenly filled with tears. "No, who are you really?" She asked almost desperately.
His eyes narrowed. He didn't understand what she wanted - but whatever it was, he wanted to give it to her. "Who do you think I am?" Jaxon asked cautiously, not wanting her to lose it. He was unused to dealing with emotion in beings. His people were not a demonstrative group. Emotion was considered weak. He had always thought so.
Yet for some reason it did not seem weak in her. It actually seemed to him that she was brave to reveal so much to him in just a look, a sentence.
It was clear that she trusted him.
Liz had tilted her head. She was staring at him, clearly trying to come to a decision. "You're Max Evans." She finally told him, biting her lip.
He didn't hear her right away. Jaxon was staring at that lip. At both of them actually. He was horrified when he realized that he wanted very much to kiss them. He shook his head. "I have heard that name before." He told her quickly, trying to suppress the image that suddenly appeared in his mind. It was like a flash of memory but he knew that is was not HIS memory.
"I better go." It was as though he was saying it in the vision, but then again, it was not him.
"Why?" Liz asked, her eyes wide with questions.
"'Cause if I don't go right now, things are going to change."
"Change how?"
Jaxon shook his head again, stared at her. She was directly in front of him now. He could tell that she wanted to touch him. He was shocked to realize that he wanted her to as well.
"Are you okay?" She asked him instead, clutching her hands in front of her, as if trying to control them.
"Yes. Why are you here? Did my parents send you?"
She looked sad. "You really don't remember me do you?"
Jaxon decided to be honest with her. "I don't. I know that I have seen you before." He didn't tell her that it had been in his dreams. She would think he was crazy.
Of course, I am having a conversation with her IN my dreams, so maybe I am insane, he reflected wryly.
"Do you remember anyone?" She asked, clearly trying to get past her disappointment. "What about Isabel, or Michael?" She took a deep breath. "Or Tess?" She finished in a small voice.
"No. I'm sorry."
Liz did not look sad anymore, but rather thoughtful, like she was trying to work out a puzzle. "Wait! What about Tristandor...or Mirana?" She asked suddenly.
Max scowled, suddenly annoyed. "My sister and her no-good husband. How do you know them? Did they send you here?"
She blinked at him, surprised at his tone, although she did not appear frightened. Had he used that voice on any of his people, they would have fled from his presence in a split second.
He forced himself to calm down. He didn't know why, but he knew that she was not there to betray him. Somehow he just knew. "How do you know them?" He asked again, in a more civil tone.
"Mirana - she is Isabel where I come from - is one of my best friends. And Michael, er Tristandor, is YOUR best friend and is my other best friend's boyfriend." Her eyes narrowed slightly, "Although little good he's ever done you." She muttered to herself.
"Tristandor is NO friend of mine." He told her firmly. "Why are you here? And what is a boyfriend?" Jaxon asked, images of his sister suddenly filtering through his mind. The only recent memories he had of her were bad ones. She was a tyrant and a shrill-voiced witch - one who had always been jealous of him and had conspired with her husband and his parents to try and steal his throne.
He refocused on her, saw that she was smiling sadly. "A boyfriend is like a partner, I guess. Less then a husband, but more than a friend."
"Do you have a boyfriend?" He asked her, then clamped his lips shut. Now where did that come from?
"I do." She replied, still smiling, although she had tears in her eyes. "Max is my boyfriend."
He was not at all surprised to hear this. "But you said that I am Max."
"You are." She had unclenched her hands. One was reaching up. It touched his face lovingly. "You are mine."
"But I am not Max. I am Jaxon." He managed to croak. He almost gave into an irresistible urge to turn his head, to kiss her palm. But he was NOT who she thought he was. She had made a mistake. He could not take advantage of her like that.
"You are both Max AND Jaxon." She replied firmly. "They've suppressed the real you somehow, have made you forget. But I know who you are."
Jaxon stumbled backwards a step. He had to get away from her. He could not think clearly when she was so close to him. "Who are they?"
Her beautiful face clouded. "Tarsus of Dernia - and his leader, although we never did know who HE was." She told him.
Jaxon's felt his stomach clench. "I am his leader. Tarsus is my right hand. He is above reproach." He told her stiffly.
She just looked at him. He could tell that she thought that she was right, but she was not going to argue with him. "We'd better leave it alone." Liz finally said. "I don't know how long I can stay. There is so much to say Max! You have to help me figure out how to get you back."
"Back where?" He asked, letting her change the subject.
"Back home, where you belong. With Isabel, and your parents, and Michael....and me." She was looking around at the stone circle suddenly, her eyes wide with curiosity. "Where are we?"
"We are in the Waylandian Ring." Jaxon replied, suddenly realizing how peculiar it was. "I'm not sure why." He admitted sheepishly.
"But we're on Illyria?"
"Yes, of course, where else would we be?" Liz suddenly looked suspicious.
"How long have you lived on Illyria Max...er Jaxon?"
"My entire life of course."
Liz sighed, shook her head. "So they've not only made you forget, they've also planted false memories."
"What do you mean?"
"It's too complicated to go into now." Liz turned back to him, smiled lovingly. "I just want you to know that we are going to figure out a way to get you home."
"Why?" Jaxon was confused. He WAS home.
"Because I love you - we all do." Liz replied, touching his face again. His breath caught in his throat.
He was staring at her lips again. He had never kissed anyone before - but why did this all seem so familiar? He could feel his head beginning to lower. Liz's gaze was hypnotic. He seemed to have absolutely no control over his behavior.
All he knew is that his lips needed to be on hers.
"Max..."she sighed, their mouths only a breath away from each other.
And suddenly he felt like he had been kicked in the stomach. The last image he had of her was of her eyes widening in panic. She was reaching for him. "MAX!" She screamed.
She was gone.
Jaxon opened his eyes. He was not at all surprised to see that he actually WAS being kicked in the stomach - by one of his guards. He was lying sprawled on the hard stone floor of his cell.
"Get up you traitor! Your parents are ready to see you now." The guard kicked him once more for good measure, then left him a moment's peace to get ready.
Jaxon sat up, scrubbed his hand across his eyes.
He remembered everything.
Who was she? Why had she been sent to tell him all these lies, to haunt him?
He climbed unsteadily to his feet, shook his head. His jaw set.
It was his parents - it had to be. They were trying to control him by using his dreams. He swiped a hand through his hair, straightened the tunic he had been wearing for the last week - ever since his parents had captured the Citadel...and him.
He would face them and they would not know that they had finally gotten to him. She meant nothing. It was all a ruse to wrench him from his true friends, back into their evil clutches.
While his mind was telling him all this, his heart was beating a mile a minute, as though HE was somehow wrong in all this. He pushed the feeling aside.
For this was the worse part of all. These dreams had reawakened something within him that he had thought he had long hidden, buried, done away with.
He was beginning to feel again.
Jaxon erased the admission from his mind. He straightened his spine, walked to the open door of the cell. He glared at the guards waiting for him. When he spoke, his tone was arrogant.
"Take me to my parents."
Part 8
"Lizzie. Wake up honey."
Liz slowly opened her eyes, stared up at her father in confusion. "Dad?" She sat up groggily. "What's going on?"
"You fell asleep on the floor sweetie." Liz could see the concern on her father's face. "You were gone so long I came to check on you."
Liz blinked, stared down at the floor. It had all been a dream.
But she also knew that it had been more than that. She had been with Max.
She had to get away from her father, had to call Isabel, had to try and understand what it had all meant.
"Oh, I guess I was tired." Liz replied lamely. There was really no logical explanation for why she would have fallen asleep on the floor of the restaurant, so she didn't even bother trying to make one up. "I guess I'd better head up to bed."
Mr. Parker was not going to let her off the hook so easily. "Liz, are you okay honey? I know that you're still having a hard time dealing with Max's death..." He trailed off, clearly hoping that she would open up to him.
Liz shut her eyes, took a deep breath. "I'm fine Dad, really. I'm just tired." She just could not get into this with her dad right now. She needed to go think about what had happened in her dream before she forgot any of it. "I'm just going to go to bed." She opened her eyes, tried not to look her father in the eyes.
She heard him sigh sadly. "Okay honey. Sweet dreams."
Liz could not resist. She gave Mr. Parker a quick hug. "I love you Dad."
"I love you too honey."
Liz sprinted up the stairs to her family's apartment and was in her room only a couple of minutes later. She grabbed the phone, misdialed Isabel's number twice before she finally managed to control her shaking hands enough to hit the right numbers.
The phone rang five times before Isabel's answering machine picked up.
"Izzy! Where are you?" Liz muttered to herself.
She tried Alex, Maria and even Michael. No answer at any of their homes. Liz could feel herself getting panicky. She had to tell someone!
Should she try Kyle or Tess? No, it was better to get it all down on paper before she forgot.
Liz leaped off the bed, hurried to her journal's hiding spot. Her heart stopped when she saw the brick sitting on her bureau.
She smacked her hand against her forehead. She had left it sitting on the chaise on her balcony. She had been writing in it when Isabel had called her earlier that day to tell her about her vision.
Liz hurried out her bedroom window, stopped abruptly. She stared at her favorite seat in horror.
Her journal was gone.
Isabel climbed the steep slope to the entrance to the pod chamber, her heart in her throat. Alex was slightly ahead of her, leading the way with a flashlight.
Isabel had not been back to her birthplace since the day she, Max, Michael and Tess had found out the truth about themselves by using the orbs, almost two years ago.
She hated it there.
Isabel had very few memories of the time between her emergence from her pod and being picked up by the side of the road by the Evans. When Max had first found the chamber, she had had a flash of her first moments of life but, since then, nothing more had returned. She knew that Michael and Max both remembered a lot more.
She suspected that it had something to do with the fact that they had both WANTED to remember, while that had been the last thing on Earth she had wanted to do. Isabel had been horrified when first faced with the absolute truth that she was not human. The pods had revolted her more than she had expected and she had wanted nothing more than to get away from them. Max had had to chase her halfway back to the car before she would stop that day, Isabel recalled wryly, feeling a pang of affection for her brother, that for once was not mixed with sadness.
When they had returned to the chamber to heal Nasedo and to use the orbs, Isabel had managed to block out the disturbing sight of the pods. She had been eager to hear her mother, which had overshadowed her disgust.
The whole destiny fiasco, followed swiftly by Max and Michael's encounter with Tarsus and consequent jerky behavior had given Isabel excuse enough not to reflect on something that disturbed her.
But there was no avoiding it this time.
She was glad that Alex was with her. He was the only one who truly understood how hard her origins were for her to deal with. The idea that she had been engineered - she despised it. Max and Michael had been too wrapped up in their own issues surrounding their own heritage - Max torn between his humanity and his otherness, Michael ready and eager to embrace his alien side - to help Isabel deal with her own.
So she had turned to Alex.
Which had made it doubly difficult when they had broken up last year during the anti-Max, spaced-out Michael era.
Isabel was breathing hard when she finally joined Alex on the ridge. "I really need to hit the gym more often." She joked to mask her nervousness.
Alex was not fooled though. He was staring at the wall, his expression grim. He turned to glance at her worriedly. "Are you sure you want to do this Iz?"
"I have to Alex." He set his jaw, moved aside so that she could activate the entrance.
Isabel waved her hand across the stone wall, watched the silver handprint emerge as if by magic. She placed her palm on the imprint, stepped back as the stone slid away.
Taking a deep breath, Isabel ducked under the overhang and entered the room in which she had been born.
Alex was right behind her. He shone the flashlight across the pods, an interested expression on his face. She remembered that this was the first time he had been there. "They look different from the one Tarsus had Max use to ready himself for the journey to Illyria." He commented.
Isabel nodded. "They served different purposes I guess. These ones were to transform us to humans. The other ones were to turn us back." She shuddered at the thought.
Alex came and put his arm around her. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, thanks. Listen Alex, being here reminded me of something I've been thinking about lately." Alex squeezed her, encouraging her to continue. "Don't you think it was weird that even after Max and Michael were transformed to return to Illyria, they looked like humans?" She turned to stare at the pods again. "Why?"
Alex shook his head. "I don't know Iz."
"Do you think that our people LOOK like humans?" Isabel asked him, voicing her own suspicions. "I mean, the fact that there is life on at least two planets in the universe, makes it likely that there is life on more. Maybe we were sent to Earth for the reason that we looked like humans?"
Alex did not look convinced. "But Liz told me that when you and the others healed Nasedo, he shifted slightly into one of those typical alien forms. You know, the ones everyone sees in the UFO museum? With the big head and eyes..."
Isabel frowned. "Yeah. Well, it was just a thought."
"So what are we looking for?" Alex asked, flashing his light across the pods and stone walls again.
Isabel shrugged, moved away from him as she examined the pods more closely. "I have no idea."
And suddenly the vision was upon her. She threw her hands up to her head. It felt like someone had her head in a vise and was gradually tightening it.
*Flash
"Make the sacrifice."
*Flash
"Mirana - you are the key!"
*Flash
"Use the gate."
*Flash
A stone circle, Max's face, Michael's face, Tess' face, her own face....Liz's face, Alex's face, Maria's, Kyle's....they all whipped across her mind like a slide-show....the stone circle, Max's face, the stone circle, Max's face...
"Isabel! IZZY!"
Isabel blinked, stared at Alex. He was grasping her by the shoulders, staring at her in fright. "Izzy! What happened? Did you get another flash?"
Isabel nodded mechanically. She frowned slightly, shook her head to clear it.
"Are you okay?" Alex demanded. He sounded angry. He was clearly upset about the fact that these visions were not consequence free. Her head was still killing her.
"Yeah. Alex, please! I'm okay. It doesn't matter." Isabel tried to remember exactly what she had seen.
"The hell it doesn't!" Alex practically yelled. "What the hell is Max doing - using you as some sort of interstellar post-office? It's clearly hurting you. Why can't any of this ever just be normal?"
Isabel stared at him. "Alex! Calm down." She ran her hands up his arms comfortingly. "I'm fine." She paused. Alex was still muttering to himself. "Alex! I need you here. Just stop it! I'm okay." She waited until his attention was completely focused on her again.
"Sorry." He finally said, still upset, but at least he was listening.
She smiled at him. "If I didn't know better, I'd say that you wanted me to stick around." She teased him, trying to cajole a smile out of him.
He was having none of it. "Don't even joke about that Isabel." Alex replied seriously, his eyes dark. He took a deep breath. "Fine. So what did you see?"
Isabel stared at him a moment longer, made sure that he had reemerged from his momentary flip-out. "It's not Max who's communicating with me." She eventually told him.
"What do you mean it's not Max?" Alex demanded. He sounded disappointed, but there was a weird edge to his voice as well.
"I mean, it's about Max - about how to get him back - but it's not him sending the messages." Isabel explained.
Alex scowled. "Well, all I can say is, he's damn lucky it's not. When we got him back, I was planning on asking him how his trip was and then kicking his butt right back there for hurting you."
Isabel rolled her eyes. She wondered if Michael had been giving her boyfriend lessons in protective-guy obnoxiousness. "Alex, could you please stop being ridiculous? You know that Max would never intentionally hurt me - any of us. If last winter taught me anything, its that my brother was willing to do anything to protect us." Isabel felt a moment's sadness at the thought of the loneliness Max had had to endure during his bad-ass act, when he had had to alienate everyone he loved in the world in order to save them. "Anyway," She continued. "It wasn't Max."
"Well, then who was it?" Alex asked, sounding a bit embarrassed about his outburst.
Isabel sighed. "I don't know. I didn't really understand any of it. All I saw was everyone's faces mixed in with Max's...and a stone circle." She wrinkled her nose in thought. "And they told me to make the sacrifice again, whatever the heck that means."
"Maybe the others will have some ideas." Alex suggested.
Isabel glanced at her watch, saw that it was well past midnight. Although she had been the one who had insisted that everyone contact everyone else if something happened, she realized now that it was probably best to wait for morning. Liz and Maria were both exhausted and needed their sleep, and she just couldn't face Michael right then. His guilty face was seriously beginning to depress her, forgetting that before that day she had been the most somber of them all. "Maybe. I think you and I should go home to bed and think about it a bit first though. We can tell them tomorrow at school."
Alex understood her reasoning immediately. "Okay. I guess we better head home then." He took her hand, squeezed gently. "We're making progress here Iz. We are going to bring Max home."
Isabel smiled at him, felt tears of hope filling her eyes. She glanced at the pods again, wondered which one had been the progenitor of her wonderful, selfless, much missed brother.
They were going to find him and bring him home.
She swore it would be so. Even if it was the last thing she ever did, Isabel would see her brother again.
Liz felt the dried tears on her cheeks when she awoke the next morning. Sunlight was streaming through her bedroom window. She sighed, curled up under her covers and thought.
She was ecstatically happy and unbearably sad at the same time. But most of all she was disappointed. She had not had another dreamy visit from her boyfriend - or his Illyrian double either.
Her happiness stemmed from the fact that she had found Max. She knew that he was alive and safe - and the sadness came from the fact that he did not remember who he was.
He did not remember her.
And now her journal had disappeared.
Liz had never managed to talk to anyone last night. She had fallen asleep with the phone on her lap after the tenth time she had called Isabel, only to get the machine.
It was annoying, but she would see them all at lunch. It had actually worked out for the best. She had a lot to do before she told them what she had learned.
Liz had already decided that she was skipping classes that morning. She had to go to the library. Something was nagging at the back of her mind about the dream she had had.
For some reason, she thought that she knew exactly where to look for the answer to all their questions.
Because now that she knew that Max was alive, Liz was going to bring him home.
Part 9
Alex stared down at his lunch, an expression of distaste on his face. "They call this pizza? It looks like..." He paused. "Well, I don't know what, but definitely not something I want to be putting into my mouth."
Michael, who was seated beside him, grabbed the slice, pulled a bottle of Tabasco out of his pocket, and dumped the entire contents onto it. "There. Problem solved."
"Contrary to what you might think Michael, Tabasco is not the solution to every culinary disaster." Maria commented, her nose wrinkled in disgust.
Isabel couldn't help but giggle at the look on Alex's face. He was staring at the pizza that Michael had deposited back in front of him, horror apparent. "Um, you can keep it."
"Thanks." Michael made a big show of taking a bite. "Mmmmm. Delicious."
Isabel and Maria exchanged looks, both laughed. Alex was scowling at them all.
For one precious moment, everything was normal. It hadn't been like this for so long - not since before Tess came into their lives, Isabel realized. She knew that Michael was actually putting on a bit of a show for Maria's benefit, but it was still nice.
It was too bad that Liz wasn't there yet.
Or Max.
She sobered instantly. "Where are the others?" She asked Maria abruptly.
Maria looked at her quickly. Isabel was pleased to note that her friend actually looked a bit better today. She had colour in her cheeks and the circles under her eyes were not quite as large. "Liz left me a message in the office saying she was going to be a bit late. I have no idea where Tess and Kyle are."
Isabel scanned the courtyard impatiently. She had thought about her latest vision all night and was no closer to deciphering it than she had been when she had dropped Alex off at home. She needed everyone else to start thinking about it too.
She groaned when she suddenly caught sight of possibly the most annoying person on campus headed in their direction.
"Don't look now, but the black widow is on her way over." Isabel muttered to the others.
Maria turned around, scowled. "What is that girl's problem?" She asked, her nose wrinkling again at the sight of Pam Troy, Max's erstwhile ex-girlfriend.
"I think the proper question would be, what ISN'T that girl's problem." Alex replied in a lecturing tone.
Pam was being followed by two or three of her minions. Isabel put on her best ice-queen expression. They had to get rid of them before Liz showed up. Her friend did not need to deal with her arch-enemy on top of everything else.
"Well, if it isn't four of the seven dweebs." Pam said in a tone dripping with venom as she finally came to a stop next to them. Her lackeys giggled. Isabel turned burning eyes on them. They immediately stopped laughing. One of them actually looked frightened.
Isabel was pleased.
"What do you want Troy?" Alex asked in a tone of long-suffering.
"I want to know where little Lizzie Parker is." Pam replied, sneering at him.
"Why?" Maria demanded, sounding suspicious - rightfully so in Isabel's point of view.
"Oh, you'll know soon enough." Pam replied in what she probably thought sounded like a mysterious tone, but rather it sounded like an irritating whine.
"Beat it Troy." Isabel's eyes shifted to Kyle, who had come up behind Pam. The expression on his face was annoyed, but Isabel could see real signs of fury underneath the surface.
Pam scowled at him but obeyed. She knew that of the whole group of Liz's friends, only Kyle was the one she had to be concerned with socially. At one time Isabel would have been able to ruin her too, but since Max's disappearance she had not bothered to continue the farce of popularity.
It didn't seem important anymore.
"Have any of you seen Liz?" Kyle asked when Pam was out of ear-shot. His tone was instantly panicked.
"She wasn't in school this morning." Maria replied. "Why? What's wrong?"
"Everything." Kyle replied, turning to scan the crowd of students for Liz.
Isabel caught sight of her friend before the rest of them did. Liz was hurrying in their direction, her head lowered, her long dark hair shielding her face. She had a large book in her arms.
It was then that Isabel began to hear the whispering. As the student body caught sight of Liz, they all began to turn and stare at her. Someone even pointed. "What the heck?" Isabel heard Alex mutter.
Isabel became even more concerned when two jocks suddenly stepped in front of Liz. "Hey Parker! Didn't know you had it in you." Isabel could hear one of them say.
Liz looked up, blinked at him. A slightly perplexed smile appeared on her pretty face. "What do you mean Tom?"
Kyle shook his head. "Damn!" He hurried in Liz's direction, grabbed her by the arm and escorted her to the table, shoving Tom and his crony as he passed them. "You're dead at practice today." He told them. It was not an idle threat. Isabel knew that Kyle could make their lives hell. He was the captain of the team and he ran the football practices with the coach.
Liz came and sat beside Isabel, plunking her book on the table in front of her. Isabel could not see the title as it was upside down. "What's going on guys?'"
The rest of them all looked to Kyle for an explanation. He looked upset that he was obviously going to have to be the one to tell her.
"Ummmm..." To Isabel, it appeared that Kyle was actually wringing his hands.
"Spill it Valenti!" This was from Michael, who looked like he was about to blow a gasket.
"Well, someone plastered posters all over school with a web-site url on them." Kyle began explaining slowly. "So I went to check it out."
"And?" Maria waved her hand in front of her encouraging Kyle to continue.
"Well, the site was about Max." Kyle swallowed. "It was basically full of a whole bunch of pictures of Max and Liz together...ummm...well...they were...doing stuff."
Isabel felt her breath catch in her throat. "What kind of stuff?" She asked, although she already knew.
Kyle turned to stare at her. "I think you know Isabel."
Isabel turned to Liz. Her friend's face had gone white. Liz's hands were clutching the side of the table, the knuckles turning white as Isabel watched in fascination.
"And that's not all. Liz's journal is posted on the site." Kyle continued.
To be continued...