Part 51
Liz was the last to enter the transformation chamber. She caught sight of Kyle hurrying down the stone corridor from the opposite direction just as she was about to go through the entrance. He seemed excited. Actually, he was GRINNING.
"Liz! You're never going to believe what I found!" He exclaimed, pulling something out from behind his back.
Liz felt her eyes widen. It was her journal! A feeling of relief flooded through her, bringing tears to her eyes. She hadn't realized how much she had missed the book that held the history of her relationship with Max until Kyle placed it back in her hands.
"Where did you find this?" She finally managed to ask Kyle, her voice cracking slightly as she flipped through the familiar pages.
"There's a gigantic library about ten minutes from here." Kyle explained as they made their way into the transformation chamber where the others were gathered. "There are like a million books and other things in there."
Liz snapped her head around to stare at Kyle. "Do you think there might be something in there that could help Jennetta?" Liz asked excitedly, her journal all but forgotten in the hope that suddenly claimed her.
Kyle just shook his head. "I can't say, but Liz, the place is huge. I don't think we'd ever find it, even if it existed."
Liz sighed with disappointment. They entered the main chamber in time to hear Isabel saying, "I think that I might be able to connect with her. I got the feeling that she had something to tell us."
Kyle looked at Liz. "What's going on?"
"Isabel thinks that Jennetta contacted her." Liz explained.
"I want to go with you!" Maria was replying, sounding upset. "If anyone should be able to connect with her, it's me!"
"She called for me." Isabel said firmly. "I'm going in alone."
Ren shook his head. "I don't know about this my lady. Jennetta is absorbing very specific information in that pod. Even a momentary interruption could cause the whole system to break down."
"It's breaking down already!" Michael interjected. "I say let her do it!"
"I cannot." Ren said. "My job is to see that she comes through the transformation safe and sound. I cannot allow the slightest..."
"I'm her father!" Michael yelled, looking like he wanted to punch Ren out.
"She belongs to Illyria." Ren replied simply. "Decisions about her safety may not be made arbitrarily."
Liz saw Alex step forward. He was as aware as she was that Michael was at the breaking point. He clearly intended to step in if his friend lost it and attacked the shapeshifter.
"But if she's going to die anyway..." Maria said quietly. "Shouldn't we find out what she wants us to know?" She moved forward, touched Ren's arm. "Please Ren..."
"I can't." But Liz could hear the weakening in his voice.
Liz looked at Max. He was listening to the conversation in silence, an unreadable expression on his face. Liz wondered why he wasn't intervening. She knew that if he commanded Ren to let Isabel try, that Ren would do it. He never refused a direct command from Max.
Just then the entire chamber was flooded with the same piercing squeal that Max and Liz had heard the last time a tear had appeared in the pod. Michael rushed forward, ran his hands over the pod, found the tear and closed it under his hand. Maria had thrown her hands over her ears, was staring at Jennetta in horror.
"The tears are coming more often now Ren." Tess said. "That's the third time in the last ten minutes."
Liz saw Ren swallow. For once his face was not an implacable mask. He was biting his lip, undecided. He looked at Max for guidance. Liz watched Max raise an eyebrow at him. She frowned. What on Earth was going on in her boyfriend's head? For once she could not read him at all...
"Very well." It sounded like Ren had to spit it out. He turned away. The group collectively breathed a sigh of relief. Liz wondered why they had all felt the same need to have Ren's permission to do this...Michael and Maria were her parents...Max was like her brother, was responsible for her on Earth. And yet they had all known that if Ren had not wanted Isabel to connect, they would not have done it.
Very strange.
Isabel moved forward, gently moved Michael aside. Her almost brother was still frantically running his hands over the pod, clearly searching for more tears. "Michael..."
Michael turned to stare at her. "Izzy...please. You need to get her to tell you how we can help her!" For the first time since this whole disaster had happened, Michael really seemed on the verge of losing it. Liz felt her heart go out to him. He had been so strong - all for Maria Liz knew. And yet he needed Jennetta even more than Liz's best friend did.
Liz remembered how angry she had been at Michael during the months of Max's disappearance. She remembered telling herself that she was going to forgive him when Max came back, but in her heart she never had. She and Michael were perfectly civil to each other, but they were not friends any longer.
But in this instant, seeing him crumble - finally - Liz loved him. Maria seemed incapable of moving from the spot where she stood rooted, so Liz went and took Michael's hand, pulling him out of Isabel's way. She put her arm around him. "It will be okay." She whispered.
Michael stared down at her, his eyes blank. He swallowed, nodded. Liz felt his spine beginning to straighten under her arm.
Isabel was rubbing her neck, staring at Jennetta's face through the pod. She turned to Alex. "I need you to pull me out in fifteen minutes."
Alex nodded, looking worried, but as usual not trying to stop Isabel from what he knew she had to do. He knew her better than anyone else, knew that holding her back was the way to lose her.
Liz held her breath as Isabel closed her eyes, placed her hands directly on the pod.
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Isabel opened her eyes, looked around in confusion.
She was alone in a field of waving yellow grass. The sky above was the same yellow, peculiar and disturbing...
"Jennetta!" Isabel called her sister's name, looked around desperately. She caught a glimpse of movement far to her right. She took a deep breath, started walking in that direction.
Moments later huge standing stones were looming above her. The place was exactly like Stonehenge, yet without the fallen stones, without the destruction of centuries...the monoliths stood in perfect symmetry, a perfect ring of power.
Isabel paused on the periphery, swallowed and stepped through into the circle.
A tall, dark-haired girl - really a woman, although she was likely only a couple of years older than Isabel - was waiting for her. She looked familiar and yet not. "Hello?" Isabel said quietly.
The girl stepped forward, an expression of relief crossing her face. "Mirana! You came!" She rushed forward, grasped Isabel's hands.
A series of flashes hit Isabel's mind like a torrent of emotion. Michael and Maria's faces, Max's face, images of a palace, of a woman who looked like Isabel but was not her, images of pancakes and Tabasco sauce and Big Macs, images of an old man with a long white beard...
She blinked, shook her head. "Jennetta?" She gasped. And Isabel realized suddenly why the girl looked so familiar. She looked like a cross between Michael and Maria - just like the little girl they had known and the adolescent in the pod did as well. Her hair was Michael's light brown, her eyes the exact same shade as her father's. Her face was all Maria's though, from her pert nose to her rosebud lips. Her height had obviously been inherited from Michael, although she was slender and delicate boned like her mother.
"Yes, it's me." Jennetta acknowledged. "You're seeing how I will look when I come out of the pod. My internal maturation is almost complete." She explained at Isabel's perplexed look. "The outside takes a little longer." She continued wryly. She sounded impatient actually - sounded exactly like Michael.
Isabel reached out and hugged her, suddenly feeling a connection to this person that she had never allowed herself to feel before. This was Michael's DAUGHTER. "Are you okay? Michael and Maria are seriously freaking out." Isabel told her. "Why did you call me here?"
Jennetta looked sad. "You have to let them know I'm all right Mirana. This is what had to be. It was why I didn't let Liz or Jaxon stop me when they tried. Danala did not know what she was doing when she put me in the pod, but I knew it was right. It's my destiny."
Isabel flinched at the word. Destiny had not been kind to any of them. "But the pod is decomposing Jennetta!" Isabel told her, realized that time was running out. She had told Alex to pull her out of her trance after fifteen minutes. She had to be close to that time now.
Jennetta looked embarrassed. "Um...actually...that's my fault."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I needed to get your attention somehow!" Jennetta explained defensively. "And I couldn't contact you unless I had a way to send a message through the pod."
Isabel stared at her open-mouthed. "Are you telling me that everyone thinks you're dying for no reason?" Isabel demanded, feeling a flash of anger. Jennetta grimaced.
"Not for no reason." Jennetta reached out and grabbed Isabel by the shoulders. "You must listen to me Mirana...and hear me well. All is not well on Illyria. I do not know what is happening there, but I have been visited by Lucianus here - he teaches me - and I know that there is something desperately wrong..." She paused. Isabel saw tears fill her eyes. "Our planet is in the greatest danger it has ever faced. You must find a way to contact Mother. You must find out what is happening! It is information that I will need when I come out of the pod."
"When will that be?" Isabel demanded, doing her best to take in what Jennetta was telling her. She was still trying to adjust to the fact that the girl was safe, that she was not going to die.
"Soon." Jennetta replied. "Until then, you must keep this to yourself - I cannot have the others worrying...they have been through enough. They must continue to live their lives normally until the time of reckoning arrives. Tell my mother and father that I am well, that all is as it should be. Tell them I will return to them soon. But you MUST contact our Mother Mirana. We must know what we are going to face when we go back..."
Isabel started. "Go back?" A feeling of dread, unlike any she had ever felt before ran through her, like someone had stepped on her grave.
Jennetta sighed, nodded sadly. "You must find out what is happening Mirana. You must!"
Isabel covered her face with her hands. Go back to Illyria! They were all going to have to go back! She could not face it. She did not want to go back. Earth was her home! She was going to have to leave her parents and her friends...and Alex...
"Isabel!"
Isabel's head snapped up. Alex's voice...it was time to go back...
"ISABEL! Wake up!"
"They are calling for you." Jennetta said, her eyes wide. "Remember what I have told you Mirana...tell them all will be well with me...but find out the truth! You must find out!"
"ISABEL!"
"Jennetta!" Isabel screamed as Jennetta began to fade away in front of her. "Can we take them with us? Jennetta! Please! Answer me!"
"ISSSABBEELLLL!"
Isabel felt as though thousands of hands were grabbing at her. She was being dragged from the Ring. Jennetta stood perfectly still in the spot Isabel had left her. Her dark eyes were unreadable as she raised her hand in farewell...
"JENNETTA! TELL ME!"
But she was gone.
Part 52
Max watched Isabel's eyes fly open. She had started screaming right before Alex had finally pulled her out of the trance into which she had gone when she had connected with Jennetta. Her words had been indecipherable but her last scream had gone through him like a knife...
"JENNETTA! TELL ME!!!"
Max hurried forward as Isabel collapsed into Alex's arms. Her face was white. Max turned her around gently, placed his hands on both sides of his sister's face. "Izzy? Are you okay?"
"What happened Isabel?" Michael demanded. He was still standing with Liz. Max noted that he seemed to have gotten a handle on himself again. His stone wall was back in place. He seemed to be taking his strength from Liz.
Maria was standing nearby, her hands clenched in front of her, as though that was all that was keeping her on her feet.
"Give her a moment!" Alex snapped. He was stroking Isabel's hair. She seemed to be in some sort of a daze still. Max stared into her eyes. He wasn't sure if she was actually back with them yet...
Isabel's eyes closed briefly and she gasped once for breath but then began to breathe calmly. When her eyes opened they found Michael's face immediately. "She's okay!" A smile broke across her face. "She's fine you guys! I spoke with her!"
Max could see incredulity cross Michael's face. "You really talked to her?"
Isabel nodded, eased herself away from Max and Alex. "She's really fine." She brought her hands up to cup Michael's face, pulled him into a hug. "She told me tell you that she made the choice to be in that pod." Isabel pulled back, looked at Liz and then Max. "She said that neither of you could have stopped her. It was her destiny..."
"But what about the pod?" Maria asked. "It's falling apart!"
Isabel rolled her eyes. "She's definitely your daughter." She told Michael, poking him in the chest. "She did that herself. She was trying to get our attention!"
Michael's face darkened. "I think she gets that from Maria." He muttered.
Max looked at Isabel again. "There's more Isabel. What else did she tell you?" His sister's face whitened again.
"She just told me that she was fine, that she would be coming out of the pod soon." Isabel replied evasively. Max frowned. Somehow he knew that his sister was lying to them.
"How soon?" Maria asked.
Isabel shrugged. "She just said soon."
There was a long moment of silence.
"Well, what do we do now?" Tess asked finally.
Isabel looked from face to face, deadly serious. "Jennetta said that we had to let things go back to normal." She told them. "I don't think she wants us putting our lives on hold any longer..." She paused, looked straight at Michael, then Maria. "She wants us to live our lives to the fullest...which means no more shift work."
"That's ridiculous!" Michael bit out. "I have no intention of leaving her in this place all by herself!" Maria was nodding, had moved closer to Michael and taken his hand.
"It's what she wants Michael!" Isabel replied stubbornly. "We have to respect it!"
"No." Michael was shaking his head. "No way!"
"Michael! You don't understand!" Isabel said, sounding frustrated. "She isn't a child anymore!" Isabel pointed at the pod. "She looks like a kid, but she's not! I was talking to an adult in there...a very insistent adult. She is the Chosen One! We have to do what she asks!"
"I will stay with her." Ren spoke up for the first time since Isabel had emerged from her trance. "It is what I am here for."
"But why?" Maria asked, sounding like she wanted to cry. "Why doesn't she want us with her?"
Isabel's face softened. "Because she loves you Maria. She knows how hard this has been for you. She wants you to have a life. She's going to be with you soon enough. You need to live your lives until that time comes."
"I don't know if I can." Maria said quietly.
"It won't be a complete break." This came from Kyle who had been listening quietly since he and Liz had come in. "We have other things to do around here."
Max frowned. "What do you mean Kyle?" He saw Kyle's face harden momentarily.
"I mean that I found something." Kyle replied. "Something that might give you guys all the answers you want." Max saw Tess look at Kyle, one eyebrow raised.
"I don't know Kyle..."
"I went back." Kyle told her, cutting her off abruptly. "And I got in. I wasn't imagining things." He looked at Liz. "Show them."
Liz jumped. "Oh. I forgot!" She hurried over to the table where the two purple communicator orbs still sat from where Max and Liz had left them earlier in the evening. She picked up a book sitting beside them. "My journal!" She announced, a smile breaking across her face. Max smiled slightly to himself, momentarily amazed again at how beautiful she was and that she was HIS...
"Where was it?" Isabel asked, sounding relieved.
"There's like a storage chamber slash library further underground." Kyle explained. "Tess and I found it earlier. Well, I found it..." He amended. "Tess couldn't see it - she couldn't open it either."
"But clearly you went back." Tess said. "And YOU could open it..." She looked at Max, her blue eyes perplexed. "What does this mean Max?" Max saw Kyle frown slightly.
"My question is: how did Liz's journal get in there?" Alex demanded. "I thought Danala had it. And why would it be in an alien library anyway?"
Max scrubbed his hand across his face. He was suddenly exhausted. It seemed like every time they found any sort of answers, a whole new load of questions were dumped into their laps. "Well, I don't know that we're going to find out tonight." He finally told the others. As usual, they were all beginning to look at him, waiting for him to make a decision. He looked at Michael. "And I don't think we should leave Jennetta alone either...we'll just tone down how often we're here. We can set up a schedule where a few of us come and relieve Ren for a couple of hours every day, but I don't think it needs to be around the clock anymore." He frowned again, stared at the leather bound book that rested in Liz's arms. "We can go check out this library tomorrow. In the meantime, I think we should all go home and get a good night's sleep for once."
The others seemed to be in agreement, although Michael and Maria decided to stay with Jennetta for at least one more night, just to make sure that the pod was going to stay intact. There had not been another alarm since Isabel had returned from speaking with their sister, but it was better to be safe than sorry.
Alex and Isabel left first, Isabel almost asleep on her feet. The connection with Jennetta had taken a lot of energy. Max knew that she was still hiding something - he could see it in her eyes as she turned for one last look at Jennetta, who was still floating peacefully in her pod. Max sighed, decided that he would try talking to her in the morning. He did not miss that she paused to stare down at the purple communicator orbs sitting on the table though, nor that she carefully picked one up and put it in her purse.
Kyle left next. Max thought for a moment that he was going to offer Tess a ride home, but in the end he didn't. Things seemed to be a little less tense between the two of them, but it was clear that they had not managed to really talk about what was going on with them.
And so when Max and Liz left, they took Tess with them in the Jeep. The conversation on the way back to town was casual and relaxed, clearly they were all relieved that Jennetta was going to be all right. Somehow now it didn't seem quite as tragic that Michael and Maria were not going to get the chance to be real parents to her...at least they knew that she was going to live.
The minute Tess exited the Jeep though, Liz turned to look at him seriously. "Okay, what's going on."
Max blinked at her. "Huh?" Liz just eyed him for a moment, raised an eyebrow.
"Why did you let Ren make the decision about Isabel going in to talk to Jennetta? You know that he would have done whatever you asked him to do..."
Max put the Jeep into gear before he tried to answer. "I'm not sure why I did it." He finally told her honestly. "It just seemed that he needed to decide...I sometimes wonder..."
"What?" Liz asked quietly. "Whether you can trust him?"
As usual she had hit the nail right on the head. "He's like Tarsus Liz...or at least he was. I know Maria told us that he saved Jennetta's life when she was a baby, I know that he technically had his emotions returned when he came through the portal...but I needed to know if he was able to make a decision that INVOLVED emotions. I needed to know if he would take a chance on something important. I remember how cold he was when she first went into that pod. He seemed incapable of understanding why we were upset..."
"So you were testing him." Liz finished.
"I guess I was." Max agreed. "To see if he could make a decision, take a chance...she obviously needed to talk to someone. I think she might have been lonely...I needed to know if he is capable of breaking the rules, to let emotion rule him on something that isn't really going to make a difference in the long run. If Jennetta was going to die in that pod anyway - didn't it make more sense for her to not be alone? If he couldn't see that...than I didn't want him around."
Max realized that he hadn't even really been aware of what he was looking for from Ren when he had let him make the decision. Now that he knew, he was pleased that Ren had passed the test Max had not even known he had been giving him. Max knew that if Ren had refused in the end, Max would have ordered him to let Isabel be with Jennetta. He was glad that it had not come to that.
If Max had learned one thing on Illyria, it was that losing your ability to feel compassion was the one thing a leader should never allow to happen. If he was going to be any sort of leader, in whatever capacity, it was the one thing he would never allow to happen again. Max knew that the love he felt for his friends, for his family, for Liz above all was what made him strong.
"Why now though?" Liz asked. "It's been months Max. Why were you testing him now?"
Max just shook his head. "I just have a feeling Liz...something's coming...and I think that we need to know exactly WHO we can trust. Jennetta coming out of that pod, it's going to be a new beginning. I have no idea where any of us fit into it...if she's the Chosen One, where does that leave me, Isabel, Michael and Tess? I can't believe that our role on that planet is just going to disappear completely."
Max felt the flash of fear that ran through Liz as though it was his own. He turned his eyes from the road, looked at her. Her face had gone white. "Liz?" He asked worriedly. "What's wrong?"
"Pull over." Liz told him abruptly. They were on the main street of Roswell, close to the Crashdown. Max felt a genuine flash of fear of his own. He quickly pulled the Jeep over, turned it off.
"What's wrong?" Before he even had the words out again, Liz had her seat-belt off and had turned to face him. She had her hands on both sides of his face, forcing him to look at her. "Liz?" He was truly scared now. He had never seen her act so strangely.
"You remember what you promised me..." She said seriously, staring him straight into his eyes.
"What?" Max touched her face, felt his heart contract when tears began to fill her eyes. "Liz..."
"You promised me that you wouldn't leave me behind again. I can't do it again Max...I mean it." She swallowed. "I need to be with you. I have to know that you're safe. I cannot do it again Max."
Max frowned slightly. For the first time, she was letting him see how hard it had been for her when he had been gone. She had been so preoccupied with helping him to regain his memory when he returned, it had never even occurred to him that she needed to be "healed" in a sense. He was very good at healing physical complaints, but he couldn't believe that he had not realized how much she had suffered emotionally while he was gone. "Liz..."
She wiped at her eyes angrily. "Max..." She retorted. "If you leave me behind, I swear I will follow you and you are not going to like what happens to you when I do find you!" Max stared at her, felt his mouth fall open.
"Liz, listen to me." He finally managed to say. "I know what I promised you...and I meant it. We are never going to be separated again. At least not because I leave you behind." He reached out, tucked a stray lock of her silky hair behind her ear. He pulled her into his arms. "Because I cannot let you go. Ever. You are my strength. I wouldn't be me without you."
He felt Liz running her fingers through his hair. "I just know that something awful if going to happen if we let them separate us again Max." She whispered. It didn't sound like he had reassured her at all - or that it had anything to do with her not trusting HIM.
Max felt a shiver of dread run down his spine as he stroked Liz's hair comfortingly.
Somehow he knew that he had been right.
Trouble was ahead.
Part 53
Liz woke up to sunlight streaming through her bedroom window. She rolled over and stretched, sighing. In that moment before she was truly awake she smiled softly to herself, wondered when Max had gone home. She knew that he had still been lying beside her on the bed when she had gone to sleep. He had been stroking her hair, his heartbeat strong and steady under her ear...
And then a shiver descended her spine and she was drawn back into the paralyzing feeling of terror that had immobilized her the night before, when Max had started talking about his role as leader, of the possibility of a return to Illyria...
She was completely awake now.
Max had been worried about her after her little outburst the night before. She knew that he had never seen her like that before. The only time she had ever let her fear control her as it had the night before had been when Max had been taken by Pierce almost two years before.
The terror she had felt that night...she barely remembered anything from the moment she had realized that it was Nasedo in that bus with her until she had stumbled into Michael's embrace several minutes later...complete and utter fear had practically rendered her incoherent.
She had hated that feeling more than anything, had fought it ever since. When Max had been gone the last time, she had managed to control it, using the promise she had made him to be strong for the others to solidify her resolve.
But now that he was back - that he was TRULY hers - she knew that if they were separated again...only horrible things would come of it. And not just for them...
Somehow she knew that if they lost each other again, every single person they cared about would be affected.
And so she had forced him to acknowledge his promise that he would never leave her again.
It was not that she had not trusted him...Liz knew that when Max made a promise, especially to her, it was kept. She had just needed to hear it, to try and convince herself that it was enough.
But all the wonderful things he had said to her and not managed to do anything about the cold feeling that had her heart in its thrall.
Something was coming...
It had upset Max, Liz knew, that she had been so irrationally terrified, but she had been unable to stop herself from clutching at him desperately after he had accompanied her up to her room, ordered her into her pyjamas and had tucked her into bed.
"Don't leave me Max!" Liz had insisted when it was clear that he meant to go home. His dark eyes had gazed at her for moment, concerned, but he had taken off his shoes and had climbed onto the bed beside her, pulling her into his arms and had let her fall asleep in his arms.
Liz sat up now, clutched her pillow to her chest. She rubbed her eyes wearily, realized that she heard her parent's phone ringing elsewhere in the apartment. Liz knew that both of her parents were likely dealing with the Saturday rush in the Crashdown, that she should probably answer that, but she was just too tired to deal with it at the moment.
Her eyes lit on her journal, which was sitting on her bedside table. Her heart lightened marginally. At least they could stop worrying about THAT...although now there were even more questions...
They knew from Tess that Danala was the one who had taken it - it still freaked Liz out that Michael and Tess' emotionless and dangerous sister had been anywhere near her home, near her parents, which she had to have been to get her hands on the book - but how had it ended up in this mysterious subterranean library that only Kyle Valenti of all people could see OR access?
Liz stood up, dropped her pillow and picked up her journal, flipping through it. She paused at the last written page, at the entry she had been in the middle of writing when Isabel had called her with the first news that Max was on his way back to them...
"I'm Liz Parker and nine months ago I died.
Or at least that's what it feels like.
When you left Max - my life just ended. Oh, I go through the motions. I have kept my promise to you. I am strong. I am a rock. I am everyone else's shoulder to cry on.
I refuse to cry.
Max! Where are you???
I am trying so hard to be strong but it just gets harder and harder every day...
I feel so alone. I miss you so much.
Everyone misses you. It's like we've all gone to sleep waiting for you to come back..."
Liz slammed her journal shut, resolutely removed the brick from the spot in the wall where she kept it. She placed her journal back in its rightful place, put the brick back.
NO MORE! Liz told herself sternly. This is NOT you. You are not a scared little girl...you are going to make sure that NOTHING happens to Max or ANY of your friends. You are in control of your destiny Liz Parker and you are going to stay in control.
And the way to stay in control was to get as much information as possible.
Liz picked up her phone, dialed Kyle's number. When she rung off several minutes later, she breathed a sigh of semi-contentment.
Step one.
Liz was about to call Max to tell him what she was planning to do when a knock sounded on her bedroom door, distracting her.
"Lizzie, honey...can I come it?" It was her dad. Liz frowned slightly.
"Sure Dad." Mr. Parker cautiously opened the door, poked his head around it.
"I wasn't sure if you were up sweetie." He pushed the door open entirely. "You were home awfully late last night Liz."
Liz grimaced. "I'm sorry Dad. Alex was sick..."
Mr. Parker frowned. "That was Amy Deluca on the phone." He interrupted her. Liz blinked.
"Oh really?"
"She was wondering if Maria had stayed over here last night...she never came home. Amy tried Michael's but he's not home either. He didn't come into work this morning either."
Liz sighed. "I think Michael stayed with Maria at Alex's." Liz explained, feeling guilty as always that she had to lie to her father.
Mr. Parker just raised an eyebrow. "Lizzie...." He sounded like he wanted to say something else.
"Yeah Dad?" Liz was becoming distracted. She could feel her fingers tracing the digits to Max's phone number on her phone. She stopped abruptly when she saw that her dad had noticed.
"Nothing." He sighed heavily. "What are your plans for today sweetie?"
"Oh, Kyle and I have a project." Liz explained, pleased that she didn't have to stretch the truth this time. They DID have a project - just NOT for school.
"Okay." Mr. Parker moved forward, kissed her on the forehead. "Be home for dinner. Your mom is cooking."
Liz nodded, watched him go, her heart heavy. She knew that her parents were doing their best to trust her, but it had to be hard. She had managed to cover her many overnight Jennetta baby-sitting sessions with various sleepover excuses, aided by the Evans and the Sheriff who could be counted on to cover for them, even though it upset them to do so.
The Sheriff had even told Max a few weeks ago that he thought that all the parents should be brought in on the secret, that the support that they could provide would ease their burden somewhat. Max had said that he would think about it, but Liz knew that he wasn't seriously considering it...it had practically taken complete disaster for him to let Isabel tell THEIR parents. Liz knew that he worried most about HER parents' reaction, that they would hate him, ban them from seeing each other.
Liz feared it too. Not her dad - he was reasonable...but her mom, she had the tendency to majorly over-react. She would not hate Max because of who he was but she would be supremely uncomfortable by the information of how often Liz had been in danger BECAUSE of who Max was.
Of course, the Sheriff still did not know the whole truth either. While he knew that Jennetta was important on their home planet and that she was in incubation and that they were all protecting her, he didn't know that she was Michael and Maria's daughter. He believed, as did the Evans, that she was Max and Isabel's sister and that was how they intended to keep it.
Liz shook herself. She didn't have time to worry about her parents at the moment. There were answers to be uncovered and they were waiting for them at the transformation chamber. She dialed Max's number quickly.
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Kyle sighed when Max's Jeep pulled to a stop outside his house. Liz hadn't mentioned that she was bringing King Max with her. He pressed his lips together even more tightly when he climbed into the Jeep and saw Tess staring back at him.
Liz turned around in her seat, smiling warmly. "Hi Kyle!" He just stared back at her with a raised eyebrow. "Tess and Max wanted to come help. It's probably best anyway - you know, so we can see if Max can open the library?" Her voice was heavy with forced cheer, pleading with him to not get upset.
When Liz had called Kyle that morning, she had told him that she had been thinking about the library and about why Tess couldn't see it but he could.
"Do you think it might be because of how Max changed us? That maybe I can open it too?" Liz had asked him.
Kyle had gotten a weird feeling in the pit of his stomach. He didn't like to be reminded that he had been changed. "Er...I don't know. I mean, it might explain why I CAN open it, but it doesn't explain why Tess CAN'T."
"Well, I guess we'll find out." Liz had replied.
Now as they drove through the desert, towards the place Kyle had VOWED to himself yesterday he would never be visiting again, he found that he was scared to find out what this all meant.
Because every single time he found out anything else about the Czechs or about how they affected HIM, he was a little more tied to them. At the rate he was going he might as well just start outfitting his spaceship for the return voyage to Illyria, because there was no way he was going to escape.
Kyle glanced at Tess out of the corner of his eye. She had been quiet since he had gotten into the car, was staring out across the desert, her back tense. For the millionth time in his life he wondered what she was thinking.
Seeing movement in the front seat, Kyle turned back in time to see Max reach out and stroke Liz's hair gently. He only did it a few times before returning his hand to the steering wheel, but Kyle grimaced, glanced at Tess again. He hoped she hadn't seen that. He might resent the hell out of the fact that Evans had Tess' heart, that she didn't care about him as anything more than a friend, but it didn't diminish the fact that he didn't want to see her hurt.
Tess had not moved, just continued to gaze off into the distance, her blue eyes clouded.
"Tess?" Kyle nudged her lightly. "Are you okay?"
She turned abruptly, stared at him. "What?"
"You seem kind of distant." Kyle told her awkwardly. He wondered why he was even asking her. It wasn't like she was going to open up in the same car as Max and Liz...
He realized that he REALLY wanted her to say she was okay. Maybe, if she said it... He realized that he was being a complete tool. Saying that she was okay in front of Max and Liz did not mean that she was okay...did not mean that she was NOT in love with Saint Max.
He did NOT want to see her glance uncomfortably towards the front seat, did not want to see her eyes meet Max's in the rear-view mirror...Kyle watched in astonishment as Max raised an eyebrow at her. Kyle looked back at Tess, saw her swallow and shake her head slightly.
What the hell? Were they having some sort of voodoo alien head talk? Kyle looked at Liz, who seemed oblivious. He saw Max reach out and take Liz's hand.
He started when Tess touched his arm. "Kyle?"
"Huh?" He blinked at her. What the hell was going on here?
"I need to talk to you about something later okay? I..."
Kyle could not process what she was saying. He was still trying to understand what he had just witnessed transpire between Max and Tess - and right in front of Liz...
"Okay?" He realized that it sounded more like a question than a definitive answer. He realized that he had absolutely NO desire to talk to her alone, to have her ask his advice about Max, about how to let Liz down easily...
And Liz had no idea.
Anger - red hot and sudden - shot through him. Damn them both! They could stomp all over his feelings, but if Liz got hurt in their damn alien head games with each other...
He would kill them both. Gladly.
*************************************************************************************
Tess trailed Max, Liz and Kyle down the long stone corridor. She was running her hand along the cool wall, feeling the pocks and ridges that marked where various symbols had been carved into the wall.
She frowned at Kyle's back. He looked like he had a broomstick stuck in his shirt he was so stiff. He was being really weird again. The tension between them had seemed to break slightly last night, but they were clearly back to square one for some reason that she didn't understand.
She knew that she had been ridiculously uncomfortable in the car, sitting beside Kyle in the back-seat and refusing to speak to him. But she had been scared. Scared that is she opened her mouth, every hope and fear she had for the two of them would come tumbling out, embarrassing both of them in front of Max and Liz.
No matter how much Tess liked Max and Liz, and she did, she did NOT want them witnessing her attempt to work things out with Kyle. It was private.
Not to mention she was new at putting her heart on her sleeve. She certainly wasn't new at throwing herself at someone - she grimaced wryly at Max's leather jacket clad back ahead of her - but she was new to the feelings that the person she wanted to throw herself at engendered.
She had never felt even half of these feelings when she had wanted Max. With him, it had been all about desperation, all about what she had been told was her destiny for her entire life. It had been about making Nasedo proud of her, about finally finding her place in the world.
With Kyle, she was pretty sure she had found it. Without even trying...and it scared her to death.
But she was NOT going to hurt him again. She still remembered the stricken expression on his face when she had rejected him in Senor Chow's all those months ago. How she could have been so callous...it sickened her. But she knew why.
She had been scared to death then too.
Tess sped up slightly when she realized that the trio ahead of her had stopped, were staring at something on the wall.
They had arrived at the complex, had quickly checked on Ren and Jennetta, but had almost immediately made their way down to where Kyle had found the library. Liz and Max had been hand in hand as usual, but Kyle had stiffly stalked away from Tess, apparently not even wanting to walk beside her for some reason that was beyond her. And so she had trailed behind, feeling sad and confused and trying to regain the courage to confront him.
Now the three of them were staring back at her impatiently. She hurried to join them. "Let's get this show on the road - and maybe finally get some answers." She told them, her voice much too cheerful, trying to hide where her thoughts had been.
Kyle was staring at her with hooded eyes. He frowned slightly, turned to Liz. "Can you see it?"
Liz nodded. "A window right?" Tess could see that Max was peering at the wall in much the same way she had yesterday. She was almost positive that he couldn't see this so-called window either.
He confirmed it when he spoke. "I don't see anything. Can you open it again Kyle?" Tess saw Liz glance at Max, looking perplexed. Tess didn't blame her. This whole situation was indeed strange.
Why on Earth could two humans see an alien library while two aliens could not?
Kyle nodded, waved his hand over the spot where they had found the hand print. It shone out brightly moments later. He gestured to Max. "We already know Tess can't open it. You should try and then Liz."
Max nodded, stepped forward, placed his hand squarely on the familiar symbol.
Tess realized that she was holding her breath. She let it out in a great gasp when nothing happened.
Kyle was still frowning. Tess saw his eyes meet Liz's significantly. Liz stepped forward, placed her much smaller hand on the hand print.
Almost immediately the wall slid away.
Tess saw Liz and Max exchange a glance. Max looked completely stupefied. "Well, I guess we should go in." He finally decided, sounding weary. Tess didn't blame him. All of this was just unleashing even more questions that they were unlikely ever to get answers for. Why did everything always have to be so weird?
She took a deep breath, stepped through the opening after Kyle - and gasped.
She had been sure that Kyle had been exaggerating about the size of this place, but apparently not. Metal shelves stretched out in both directions, to the point that she couldn't even see the end. Articles and books of every size and description filled the shelves to over-flowing.
"Max! What is this place?" She asked, knowing that he too wouldn't know, but needing to speak.
"I have no idea." Max replied, picking up a tome from the nearest shelf. "How could all this stuff be here? We couldn't have brought it ALL with us on the ship..."
"Can you read it Max?" Liz asked, peering over his arm as he flipped through the metal book in his hand. Max nodded.
"I think so. Just give me a moment..." Liz squeezed his arm, began to rummage through some other stuff nearby.
Tess stared at the book in Max's hands. It looked very similar to the one Tess had found in the Roswell Public Library on her very first outing with Kyle all those years ago. Nasedo had told her where to find it, had told her that if Max saw it, he would remember her...
Tess shuddered at the memory of how desperate she had been for Max and Michael and Isabel to remember her...she had been so lonely. She had felt bad about using Kyle then, but she had seen the tension that existed between he and Liz, between he and Max. She had known that if Max and Liz thought that she was interested in Kyle, they would follow them.
Of course, she hadn't realized at the time that they all thought she was a murdering maniac.
Tess felt a hysterical giggle about to erupt. Liz whipped her head around to stare at her, her eyes flashing with concern. Tess pinched her arm, forcing herself to calm down. She smiled wanly at Liz, began to wander down one of the aisles, trailing her hand along the shelf.
She needed to be alone for a few minutes. Being around all these things - most of them likely from their home planet - it was hitting her over the head again. Earth was NOT her home...
Tess finally picked up a book off the nearest shelf and began to flip through it. It was written in the same strange series of dashes and dots as the destiny book too...the language was so familiar, and yet not...it was supremely frustrating.
She threw the volume back on the shelf, strolled down the aisle for a few more minutes.
It was incredibly quiet in this place. The lights came on as she touched hand prints on the shelves, which only reinforced how dusty it was in the room.
And that was when she saw it.
In a small alcove at the end of the aisle there was a small table, two books sitting on top of it, both silver and metallic like the one Max was looking at way behind her.
A single light was shining down on the table. Tess frowned, moved forward. She glanced up at the rock ceiling above the table. She saw absolutely no source for the light.
Weird.
Tess picked up the nearest volume, flipped through it, felt her eyes widen.
Her own face stared back at her from the page. Max, Isabel and Michael were also on the page.
Tess flipped the book shut, looked at the cover, realized that it was another copy of the destiny book.
She carefully placed it back on the table. She did NOT want to look at THAT at the moment.
She picked up the other book, expected it to be the same.
Tess carelessly flipped through it. She paused briefly, when a page flashed past...
Something had caught her eye. She flipped back to the page...
Her heart stopped.
This book was NOT the same. She heard a gasp behind her.
Tess whirled, slamming the book shut, saw a white-faced Liz standing not two feet from her. She had obviously looked over Tess' shoulder to see what she was looking at...the two girls stared at each other in shock.
"Liz?" Tess did not like the look on the other girl's face. Liz looked like she was about to pass out.
"Tess..." Liz managed to say in a strangled voice. "What..."
Tess just stared at her.
Liz tried again. "Did you see what I saw?"
Tess took a deep breath, finally nodded. "If you're wondering if I saw YOUR picture in this book...well, yes I did."
The silence following this pronouncement was deafening.
Liz was the last to enter the transformation chamber. She caught sight of Kyle hurrying down the stone corridor from the opposite direction just as she was about to go through the entrance. He seemed excited. Actually, he was GRINNING.
"Liz! You're never going to believe what I found!" He exclaimed, pulling something out from behind his back.
Liz felt her eyes widen. It was her journal! A feeling of relief flooded through her, bringing tears to her eyes. She hadn't realized how much she had missed the book that held the history of her relationship with Max until Kyle placed it back in her hands.
"Where did you find this?" She finally managed to ask Kyle, her voice cracking slightly as she flipped through the familiar pages.
"There's a gigantic library about ten minutes from here." Kyle explained as they made their way into the transformation chamber where the others were gathered. "There are like a million books and other things in there."
Liz snapped her head around to stare at Kyle. "Do you think there might be something in there that could help Jennetta?" Liz asked excitedly, her journal all but forgotten in the hope that suddenly claimed her.
Kyle just shook his head. "I can't say, but Liz, the place is huge. I don't think we'd ever find it, even if it existed."
Liz sighed with disappointment. They entered the main chamber in time to hear Isabel saying, "I think that I might be able to connect with her. I got the feeling that she had something to tell us."
Kyle looked at Liz. "What's going on?"
"Isabel thinks that Jennetta contacted her." Liz explained.
"I want to go with you!" Maria was replying, sounding upset. "If anyone should be able to connect with her, it's me!"
"She called for me." Isabel said firmly. "I'm going in alone."
Ren shook his head. "I don't know about this my lady. Jennetta is absorbing very specific information in that pod. Even a momentary interruption could cause the whole system to break down."
"It's breaking down already!" Michael interjected. "I say let her do it!"
"I cannot." Ren said. "My job is to see that she comes through the transformation safe and sound. I cannot allow the slightest..."
"I'm her father!" Michael yelled, looking like he wanted to punch Ren out.
"She belongs to Illyria." Ren replied simply. "Decisions about her safety may not be made arbitrarily."
Liz saw Alex step forward. He was as aware as she was that Michael was at the breaking point. He clearly intended to step in if his friend lost it and attacked the shapeshifter.
"But if she's going to die anyway..." Maria said quietly. "Shouldn't we find out what she wants us to know?" She moved forward, touched Ren's arm. "Please Ren..."
"I can't." But Liz could hear the weakening in his voice.
Liz looked at Max. He was listening to the conversation in silence, an unreadable expression on his face. Liz wondered why he wasn't intervening. She knew that if he commanded Ren to let Isabel try, that Ren would do it. He never refused a direct command from Max.
Just then the entire chamber was flooded with the same piercing squeal that Max and Liz had heard the last time a tear had appeared in the pod. Michael rushed forward, ran his hands over the pod, found the tear and closed it under his hand. Maria had thrown her hands over her ears, was staring at Jennetta in horror.
"The tears are coming more often now Ren." Tess said. "That's the third time in the last ten minutes."
Liz saw Ren swallow. For once his face was not an implacable mask. He was biting his lip, undecided. He looked at Max for guidance. Liz watched Max raise an eyebrow at him. She frowned. What on Earth was going on in her boyfriend's head? For once she could not read him at all...
"Very well." It sounded like Ren had to spit it out. He turned away. The group collectively breathed a sigh of relief. Liz wondered why they had all felt the same need to have Ren's permission to do this...Michael and Maria were her parents...Max was like her brother, was responsible for her on Earth. And yet they had all known that if Ren had not wanted Isabel to connect, they would not have done it.
Very strange.
Isabel moved forward, gently moved Michael aside. Her almost brother was still frantically running his hands over the pod, clearly searching for more tears. "Michael..."
Michael turned to stare at her. "Izzy...please. You need to get her to tell you how we can help her!" For the first time since this whole disaster had happened, Michael really seemed on the verge of losing it. Liz felt her heart go out to him. He had been so strong - all for Maria Liz knew. And yet he needed Jennetta even more than Liz's best friend did.
Liz remembered how angry she had been at Michael during the months of Max's disappearance. She remembered telling herself that she was going to forgive him when Max came back, but in her heart she never had. She and Michael were perfectly civil to each other, but they were not friends any longer.
But in this instant, seeing him crumble - finally - Liz loved him. Maria seemed incapable of moving from the spot where she stood rooted, so Liz went and took Michael's hand, pulling him out of Isabel's way. She put her arm around him. "It will be okay." She whispered.
Michael stared down at her, his eyes blank. He swallowed, nodded. Liz felt his spine beginning to straighten under her arm.
Isabel was rubbing her neck, staring at Jennetta's face through the pod. She turned to Alex. "I need you to pull me out in fifteen minutes."
Alex nodded, looking worried, but as usual not trying to stop Isabel from what he knew she had to do. He knew her better than anyone else, knew that holding her back was the way to lose her.
Liz held her breath as Isabel closed her eyes, placed her hands directly on the pod.
************************************************************************************
Isabel opened her eyes, looked around in confusion.
She was alone in a field of waving yellow grass. The sky above was the same yellow, peculiar and disturbing...
"Jennetta!" Isabel called her sister's name, looked around desperately. She caught a glimpse of movement far to her right. She took a deep breath, started walking in that direction.
Moments later huge standing stones were looming above her. The place was exactly like Stonehenge, yet without the fallen stones, without the destruction of centuries...the monoliths stood in perfect symmetry, a perfect ring of power.
Isabel paused on the periphery, swallowed and stepped through into the circle.
A tall, dark-haired girl - really a woman, although she was likely only a couple of years older than Isabel - was waiting for her. She looked familiar and yet not. "Hello?" Isabel said quietly.
The girl stepped forward, an expression of relief crossing her face. "Mirana! You came!" She rushed forward, grasped Isabel's hands.
A series of flashes hit Isabel's mind like a torrent of emotion. Michael and Maria's faces, Max's face, images of a palace, of a woman who looked like Isabel but was not her, images of pancakes and Tabasco sauce and Big Macs, images of an old man with a long white beard...
She blinked, shook her head. "Jennetta?" She gasped. And Isabel realized suddenly why the girl looked so familiar. She looked like a cross between Michael and Maria - just like the little girl they had known and the adolescent in the pod did as well. Her hair was Michael's light brown, her eyes the exact same shade as her father's. Her face was all Maria's though, from her pert nose to her rosebud lips. Her height had obviously been inherited from Michael, although she was slender and delicate boned like her mother.
"Yes, it's me." Jennetta acknowledged. "You're seeing how I will look when I come out of the pod. My internal maturation is almost complete." She explained at Isabel's perplexed look. "The outside takes a little longer." She continued wryly. She sounded impatient actually - sounded exactly like Michael.
Isabel reached out and hugged her, suddenly feeling a connection to this person that she had never allowed herself to feel before. This was Michael's DAUGHTER. "Are you okay? Michael and Maria are seriously freaking out." Isabel told her. "Why did you call me here?"
Jennetta looked sad. "You have to let them know I'm all right Mirana. This is what had to be. It was why I didn't let Liz or Jaxon stop me when they tried. Danala did not know what she was doing when she put me in the pod, but I knew it was right. It's my destiny."
Isabel flinched at the word. Destiny had not been kind to any of them. "But the pod is decomposing Jennetta!" Isabel told her, realized that time was running out. She had told Alex to pull her out of her trance after fifteen minutes. She had to be close to that time now.
Jennetta looked embarrassed. "Um...actually...that's my fault."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I needed to get your attention somehow!" Jennetta explained defensively. "And I couldn't contact you unless I had a way to send a message through the pod."
Isabel stared at her open-mouthed. "Are you telling me that everyone thinks you're dying for no reason?" Isabel demanded, feeling a flash of anger. Jennetta grimaced.
"Not for no reason." Jennetta reached out and grabbed Isabel by the shoulders. "You must listen to me Mirana...and hear me well. All is not well on Illyria. I do not know what is happening there, but I have been visited by Lucianus here - he teaches me - and I know that there is something desperately wrong..." She paused. Isabel saw tears fill her eyes. "Our planet is in the greatest danger it has ever faced. You must find a way to contact Mother. You must find out what is happening! It is information that I will need when I come out of the pod."
"When will that be?" Isabel demanded, doing her best to take in what Jennetta was telling her. She was still trying to adjust to the fact that the girl was safe, that she was not going to die.
"Soon." Jennetta replied. "Until then, you must keep this to yourself - I cannot have the others worrying...they have been through enough. They must continue to live their lives normally until the time of reckoning arrives. Tell my mother and father that I am well, that all is as it should be. Tell them I will return to them soon. But you MUST contact our Mother Mirana. We must know what we are going to face when we go back..."
Isabel started. "Go back?" A feeling of dread, unlike any she had ever felt before ran through her, like someone had stepped on her grave.
Jennetta sighed, nodded sadly. "You must find out what is happening Mirana. You must!"
Isabel covered her face with her hands. Go back to Illyria! They were all going to have to go back! She could not face it. She did not want to go back. Earth was her home! She was going to have to leave her parents and her friends...and Alex...
"Isabel!"
Isabel's head snapped up. Alex's voice...it was time to go back...
"ISABEL! Wake up!"
"They are calling for you." Jennetta said, her eyes wide. "Remember what I have told you Mirana...tell them all will be well with me...but find out the truth! You must find out!"
"ISABEL!"
"Jennetta!" Isabel screamed as Jennetta began to fade away in front of her. "Can we take them with us? Jennetta! Please! Answer me!"
"ISSSABBEELLLL!"
Isabel felt as though thousands of hands were grabbing at her. She was being dragged from the Ring. Jennetta stood perfectly still in the spot Isabel had left her. Her dark eyes were unreadable as she raised her hand in farewell...
"JENNETTA! TELL ME!"
But she was gone.
Part 52
Max watched Isabel's eyes fly open. She had started screaming right before Alex had finally pulled her out of the trance into which she had gone when she had connected with Jennetta. Her words had been indecipherable but her last scream had gone through him like a knife...
"JENNETTA! TELL ME!!!"
Max hurried forward as Isabel collapsed into Alex's arms. Her face was white. Max turned her around gently, placed his hands on both sides of his sister's face. "Izzy? Are you okay?"
"What happened Isabel?" Michael demanded. He was still standing with Liz. Max noted that he seemed to have gotten a handle on himself again. His stone wall was back in place. He seemed to be taking his strength from Liz.
Maria was standing nearby, her hands clenched in front of her, as though that was all that was keeping her on her feet.
"Give her a moment!" Alex snapped. He was stroking Isabel's hair. She seemed to be in some sort of a daze still. Max stared into her eyes. He wasn't sure if she was actually back with them yet...
Isabel's eyes closed briefly and she gasped once for breath but then began to breathe calmly. When her eyes opened they found Michael's face immediately. "She's okay!" A smile broke across her face. "She's fine you guys! I spoke with her!"
Max could see incredulity cross Michael's face. "You really talked to her?"
Isabel nodded, eased herself away from Max and Alex. "She's really fine." She brought her hands up to cup Michael's face, pulled him into a hug. "She told me tell you that she made the choice to be in that pod." Isabel pulled back, looked at Liz and then Max. "She said that neither of you could have stopped her. It was her destiny..."
"But what about the pod?" Maria asked. "It's falling apart!"
Isabel rolled her eyes. "She's definitely your daughter." She told Michael, poking him in the chest. "She did that herself. She was trying to get our attention!"
Michael's face darkened. "I think she gets that from Maria." He muttered.
Max looked at Isabel again. "There's more Isabel. What else did she tell you?" His sister's face whitened again.
"She just told me that she was fine, that she would be coming out of the pod soon." Isabel replied evasively. Max frowned. Somehow he knew that his sister was lying to them.
"How soon?" Maria asked.
Isabel shrugged. "She just said soon."
There was a long moment of silence.
"Well, what do we do now?" Tess asked finally.
Isabel looked from face to face, deadly serious. "Jennetta said that we had to let things go back to normal." She told them. "I don't think she wants us putting our lives on hold any longer..." She paused, looked straight at Michael, then Maria. "She wants us to live our lives to the fullest...which means no more shift work."
"That's ridiculous!" Michael bit out. "I have no intention of leaving her in this place all by herself!" Maria was nodding, had moved closer to Michael and taken his hand.
"It's what she wants Michael!" Isabel replied stubbornly. "We have to respect it!"
"No." Michael was shaking his head. "No way!"
"Michael! You don't understand!" Isabel said, sounding frustrated. "She isn't a child anymore!" Isabel pointed at the pod. "She looks like a kid, but she's not! I was talking to an adult in there...a very insistent adult. She is the Chosen One! We have to do what she asks!"
"I will stay with her." Ren spoke up for the first time since Isabel had emerged from her trance. "It is what I am here for."
"But why?" Maria asked, sounding like she wanted to cry. "Why doesn't she want us with her?"
Isabel's face softened. "Because she loves you Maria. She knows how hard this has been for you. She wants you to have a life. She's going to be with you soon enough. You need to live your lives until that time comes."
"I don't know if I can." Maria said quietly.
"It won't be a complete break." This came from Kyle who had been listening quietly since he and Liz had come in. "We have other things to do around here."
Max frowned. "What do you mean Kyle?" He saw Kyle's face harden momentarily.
"I mean that I found something." Kyle replied. "Something that might give you guys all the answers you want." Max saw Tess look at Kyle, one eyebrow raised.
"I don't know Kyle..."
"I went back." Kyle told her, cutting her off abruptly. "And I got in. I wasn't imagining things." He looked at Liz. "Show them."
Liz jumped. "Oh. I forgot!" She hurried over to the table where the two purple communicator orbs still sat from where Max and Liz had left them earlier in the evening. She picked up a book sitting beside them. "My journal!" She announced, a smile breaking across her face. Max smiled slightly to himself, momentarily amazed again at how beautiful she was and that she was HIS...
"Where was it?" Isabel asked, sounding relieved.
"There's like a storage chamber slash library further underground." Kyle explained. "Tess and I found it earlier. Well, I found it..." He amended. "Tess couldn't see it - she couldn't open it either."
"But clearly you went back." Tess said. "And YOU could open it..." She looked at Max, her blue eyes perplexed. "What does this mean Max?" Max saw Kyle frown slightly.
"My question is: how did Liz's journal get in there?" Alex demanded. "I thought Danala had it. And why would it be in an alien library anyway?"
Max scrubbed his hand across his face. He was suddenly exhausted. It seemed like every time they found any sort of answers, a whole new load of questions were dumped into their laps. "Well, I don't know that we're going to find out tonight." He finally told the others. As usual, they were all beginning to look at him, waiting for him to make a decision. He looked at Michael. "And I don't think we should leave Jennetta alone either...we'll just tone down how often we're here. We can set up a schedule where a few of us come and relieve Ren for a couple of hours every day, but I don't think it needs to be around the clock anymore." He frowned again, stared at the leather bound book that rested in Liz's arms. "We can go check out this library tomorrow. In the meantime, I think we should all go home and get a good night's sleep for once."
The others seemed to be in agreement, although Michael and Maria decided to stay with Jennetta for at least one more night, just to make sure that the pod was going to stay intact. There had not been another alarm since Isabel had returned from speaking with their sister, but it was better to be safe than sorry.
Alex and Isabel left first, Isabel almost asleep on her feet. The connection with Jennetta had taken a lot of energy. Max knew that she was still hiding something - he could see it in her eyes as she turned for one last look at Jennetta, who was still floating peacefully in her pod. Max sighed, decided that he would try talking to her in the morning. He did not miss that she paused to stare down at the purple communicator orbs sitting on the table though, nor that she carefully picked one up and put it in her purse.
Kyle left next. Max thought for a moment that he was going to offer Tess a ride home, but in the end he didn't. Things seemed to be a little less tense between the two of them, but it was clear that they had not managed to really talk about what was going on with them.
And so when Max and Liz left, they took Tess with them in the Jeep. The conversation on the way back to town was casual and relaxed, clearly they were all relieved that Jennetta was going to be all right. Somehow now it didn't seem quite as tragic that Michael and Maria were not going to get the chance to be real parents to her...at least they knew that she was going to live.
The minute Tess exited the Jeep though, Liz turned to look at him seriously. "Okay, what's going on."
Max blinked at her. "Huh?" Liz just eyed him for a moment, raised an eyebrow.
"Why did you let Ren make the decision about Isabel going in to talk to Jennetta? You know that he would have done whatever you asked him to do..."
Max put the Jeep into gear before he tried to answer. "I'm not sure why I did it." He finally told her honestly. "It just seemed that he needed to decide...I sometimes wonder..."
"What?" Liz asked quietly. "Whether you can trust him?"
As usual she had hit the nail right on the head. "He's like Tarsus Liz...or at least he was. I know Maria told us that he saved Jennetta's life when she was a baby, I know that he technically had his emotions returned when he came through the portal...but I needed to know if he was able to make a decision that INVOLVED emotions. I needed to know if he would take a chance on something important. I remember how cold he was when she first went into that pod. He seemed incapable of understanding why we were upset..."
"So you were testing him." Liz finished.
"I guess I was." Max agreed. "To see if he could make a decision, take a chance...she obviously needed to talk to someone. I think she might have been lonely...I needed to know if he is capable of breaking the rules, to let emotion rule him on something that isn't really going to make a difference in the long run. If Jennetta was going to die in that pod anyway - didn't it make more sense for her to not be alone? If he couldn't see that...than I didn't want him around."
Max realized that he hadn't even really been aware of what he was looking for from Ren when he had let him make the decision. Now that he knew, he was pleased that Ren had passed the test Max had not even known he had been giving him. Max knew that if Ren had refused in the end, Max would have ordered him to let Isabel be with Jennetta. He was glad that it had not come to that.
If Max had learned one thing on Illyria, it was that losing your ability to feel compassion was the one thing a leader should never allow to happen. If he was going to be any sort of leader, in whatever capacity, it was the one thing he would never allow to happen again. Max knew that the love he felt for his friends, for his family, for Liz above all was what made him strong.
"Why now though?" Liz asked. "It's been months Max. Why were you testing him now?"
Max just shook his head. "I just have a feeling Liz...something's coming...and I think that we need to know exactly WHO we can trust. Jennetta coming out of that pod, it's going to be a new beginning. I have no idea where any of us fit into it...if she's the Chosen One, where does that leave me, Isabel, Michael and Tess? I can't believe that our role on that planet is just going to disappear completely."
Max felt the flash of fear that ran through Liz as though it was his own. He turned his eyes from the road, looked at her. Her face had gone white. "Liz?" He asked worriedly. "What's wrong?"
"Pull over." Liz told him abruptly. They were on the main street of Roswell, close to the Crashdown. Max felt a genuine flash of fear of his own. He quickly pulled the Jeep over, turned it off.
"What's wrong?" Before he even had the words out again, Liz had her seat-belt off and had turned to face him. She had her hands on both sides of his face, forcing him to look at her. "Liz?" He was truly scared now. He had never seen her act so strangely.
"You remember what you promised me..." She said seriously, staring him straight into his eyes.
"What?" Max touched her face, felt his heart contract when tears began to fill her eyes. "Liz..."
"You promised me that you wouldn't leave me behind again. I can't do it again Max...I mean it." She swallowed. "I need to be with you. I have to know that you're safe. I cannot do it again Max."
Max frowned slightly. For the first time, she was letting him see how hard it had been for her when he had been gone. She had been so preoccupied with helping him to regain his memory when he returned, it had never even occurred to him that she needed to be "healed" in a sense. He was very good at healing physical complaints, but he couldn't believe that he had not realized how much she had suffered emotionally while he was gone. "Liz..."
She wiped at her eyes angrily. "Max..." She retorted. "If you leave me behind, I swear I will follow you and you are not going to like what happens to you when I do find you!" Max stared at her, felt his mouth fall open.
"Liz, listen to me." He finally managed to say. "I know what I promised you...and I meant it. We are never going to be separated again. At least not because I leave you behind." He reached out, tucked a stray lock of her silky hair behind her ear. He pulled her into his arms. "Because I cannot let you go. Ever. You are my strength. I wouldn't be me without you."
He felt Liz running her fingers through his hair. "I just know that something awful if going to happen if we let them separate us again Max." She whispered. It didn't sound like he had reassured her at all - or that it had anything to do with her not trusting HIM.
Max felt a shiver of dread run down his spine as he stroked Liz's hair comfortingly.
Somehow he knew that he had been right.
Trouble was ahead.
Part 53
Liz woke up to sunlight streaming through her bedroom window. She rolled over and stretched, sighing. In that moment before she was truly awake she smiled softly to herself, wondered when Max had gone home. She knew that he had still been lying beside her on the bed when she had gone to sleep. He had been stroking her hair, his heartbeat strong and steady under her ear...
And then a shiver descended her spine and she was drawn back into the paralyzing feeling of terror that had immobilized her the night before, when Max had started talking about his role as leader, of the possibility of a return to Illyria...
She was completely awake now.
Max had been worried about her after her little outburst the night before. She knew that he had never seen her like that before. The only time she had ever let her fear control her as it had the night before had been when Max had been taken by Pierce almost two years before.
The terror she had felt that night...she barely remembered anything from the moment she had realized that it was Nasedo in that bus with her until she had stumbled into Michael's embrace several minutes later...complete and utter fear had practically rendered her incoherent.
She had hated that feeling more than anything, had fought it ever since. When Max had been gone the last time, she had managed to control it, using the promise she had made him to be strong for the others to solidify her resolve.
But now that he was back - that he was TRULY hers - she knew that if they were separated again...only horrible things would come of it. And not just for them...
Somehow she knew that if they lost each other again, every single person they cared about would be affected.
And so she had forced him to acknowledge his promise that he would never leave her again.
It was not that she had not trusted him...Liz knew that when Max made a promise, especially to her, it was kept. She had just needed to hear it, to try and convince herself that it was enough.
But all the wonderful things he had said to her and not managed to do anything about the cold feeling that had her heart in its thrall.
Something was coming...
It had upset Max, Liz knew, that she had been so irrationally terrified, but she had been unable to stop herself from clutching at him desperately after he had accompanied her up to her room, ordered her into her pyjamas and had tucked her into bed.
"Don't leave me Max!" Liz had insisted when it was clear that he meant to go home. His dark eyes had gazed at her for moment, concerned, but he had taken off his shoes and had climbed onto the bed beside her, pulling her into his arms and had let her fall asleep in his arms.
Liz sat up now, clutched her pillow to her chest. She rubbed her eyes wearily, realized that she heard her parent's phone ringing elsewhere in the apartment. Liz knew that both of her parents were likely dealing with the Saturday rush in the Crashdown, that she should probably answer that, but she was just too tired to deal with it at the moment.
Her eyes lit on her journal, which was sitting on her bedside table. Her heart lightened marginally. At least they could stop worrying about THAT...although now there were even more questions...
They knew from Tess that Danala was the one who had taken it - it still freaked Liz out that Michael and Tess' emotionless and dangerous sister had been anywhere near her home, near her parents, which she had to have been to get her hands on the book - but how had it ended up in this mysterious subterranean library that only Kyle Valenti of all people could see OR access?
Liz stood up, dropped her pillow and picked up her journal, flipping through it. She paused at the last written page, at the entry she had been in the middle of writing when Isabel had called her with the first news that Max was on his way back to them...
"I'm Liz Parker and nine months ago I died.
Or at least that's what it feels like.
When you left Max - my life just ended. Oh, I go through the motions. I have kept my promise to you. I am strong. I am a rock. I am everyone else's shoulder to cry on.
I refuse to cry.
Max! Where are you???
I am trying so hard to be strong but it just gets harder and harder every day...
I feel so alone. I miss you so much.
Everyone misses you. It's like we've all gone to sleep waiting for you to come back..."
Liz slammed her journal shut, resolutely removed the brick from the spot in the wall where she kept it. She placed her journal back in its rightful place, put the brick back.
NO MORE! Liz told herself sternly. This is NOT you. You are not a scared little girl...you are going to make sure that NOTHING happens to Max or ANY of your friends. You are in control of your destiny Liz Parker and you are going to stay in control.
And the way to stay in control was to get as much information as possible.
Liz picked up her phone, dialed Kyle's number. When she rung off several minutes later, she breathed a sigh of semi-contentment.
Step one.
Liz was about to call Max to tell him what she was planning to do when a knock sounded on her bedroom door, distracting her.
"Lizzie, honey...can I come it?" It was her dad. Liz frowned slightly.
"Sure Dad." Mr. Parker cautiously opened the door, poked his head around it.
"I wasn't sure if you were up sweetie." He pushed the door open entirely. "You were home awfully late last night Liz."
Liz grimaced. "I'm sorry Dad. Alex was sick..."
Mr. Parker frowned. "That was Amy Deluca on the phone." He interrupted her. Liz blinked.
"Oh really?"
"She was wondering if Maria had stayed over here last night...she never came home. Amy tried Michael's but he's not home either. He didn't come into work this morning either."
Liz sighed. "I think Michael stayed with Maria at Alex's." Liz explained, feeling guilty as always that she had to lie to her father.
Mr. Parker just raised an eyebrow. "Lizzie...." He sounded like he wanted to say something else.
"Yeah Dad?" Liz was becoming distracted. She could feel her fingers tracing the digits to Max's phone number on her phone. She stopped abruptly when she saw that her dad had noticed.
"Nothing." He sighed heavily. "What are your plans for today sweetie?"
"Oh, Kyle and I have a project." Liz explained, pleased that she didn't have to stretch the truth this time. They DID have a project - just NOT for school.
"Okay." Mr. Parker moved forward, kissed her on the forehead. "Be home for dinner. Your mom is cooking."
Liz nodded, watched him go, her heart heavy. She knew that her parents were doing their best to trust her, but it had to be hard. She had managed to cover her many overnight Jennetta baby-sitting sessions with various sleepover excuses, aided by the Evans and the Sheriff who could be counted on to cover for them, even though it upset them to do so.
The Sheriff had even told Max a few weeks ago that he thought that all the parents should be brought in on the secret, that the support that they could provide would ease their burden somewhat. Max had said that he would think about it, but Liz knew that he wasn't seriously considering it...it had practically taken complete disaster for him to let Isabel tell THEIR parents. Liz knew that he worried most about HER parents' reaction, that they would hate him, ban them from seeing each other.
Liz feared it too. Not her dad - he was reasonable...but her mom, she had the tendency to majorly over-react. She would not hate Max because of who he was but she would be supremely uncomfortable by the information of how often Liz had been in danger BECAUSE of who Max was.
Of course, the Sheriff still did not know the whole truth either. While he knew that Jennetta was important on their home planet and that she was in incubation and that they were all protecting her, he didn't know that she was Michael and Maria's daughter. He believed, as did the Evans, that she was Max and Isabel's sister and that was how they intended to keep it.
Liz shook herself. She didn't have time to worry about her parents at the moment. There were answers to be uncovered and they were waiting for them at the transformation chamber. She dialed Max's number quickly.
*************************************************************************************
Kyle sighed when Max's Jeep pulled to a stop outside his house. Liz hadn't mentioned that she was bringing King Max with her. He pressed his lips together even more tightly when he climbed into the Jeep and saw Tess staring back at him.
Liz turned around in her seat, smiling warmly. "Hi Kyle!" He just stared back at her with a raised eyebrow. "Tess and Max wanted to come help. It's probably best anyway - you know, so we can see if Max can open the library?" Her voice was heavy with forced cheer, pleading with him to not get upset.
When Liz had called Kyle that morning, she had told him that she had been thinking about the library and about why Tess couldn't see it but he could.
"Do you think it might be because of how Max changed us? That maybe I can open it too?" Liz had asked him.
Kyle had gotten a weird feeling in the pit of his stomach. He didn't like to be reminded that he had been changed. "Er...I don't know. I mean, it might explain why I CAN open it, but it doesn't explain why Tess CAN'T."
"Well, I guess we'll find out." Liz had replied.
Now as they drove through the desert, towards the place Kyle had VOWED to himself yesterday he would never be visiting again, he found that he was scared to find out what this all meant.
Because every single time he found out anything else about the Czechs or about how they affected HIM, he was a little more tied to them. At the rate he was going he might as well just start outfitting his spaceship for the return voyage to Illyria, because there was no way he was going to escape.
Kyle glanced at Tess out of the corner of his eye. She had been quiet since he had gotten into the car, was staring out across the desert, her back tense. For the millionth time in his life he wondered what she was thinking.
Seeing movement in the front seat, Kyle turned back in time to see Max reach out and stroke Liz's hair gently. He only did it a few times before returning his hand to the steering wheel, but Kyle grimaced, glanced at Tess again. He hoped she hadn't seen that. He might resent the hell out of the fact that Evans had Tess' heart, that she didn't care about him as anything more than a friend, but it didn't diminish the fact that he didn't want to see her hurt.
Tess had not moved, just continued to gaze off into the distance, her blue eyes clouded.
"Tess?" Kyle nudged her lightly. "Are you okay?"
She turned abruptly, stared at him. "What?"
"You seem kind of distant." Kyle told her awkwardly. He wondered why he was even asking her. It wasn't like she was going to open up in the same car as Max and Liz...
He realized that he REALLY wanted her to say she was okay. Maybe, if she said it... He realized that he was being a complete tool. Saying that she was okay in front of Max and Liz did not mean that she was okay...did not mean that she was NOT in love with Saint Max.
He did NOT want to see her glance uncomfortably towards the front seat, did not want to see her eyes meet Max's in the rear-view mirror...Kyle watched in astonishment as Max raised an eyebrow at her. Kyle looked back at Tess, saw her swallow and shake her head slightly.
What the hell? Were they having some sort of voodoo alien head talk? Kyle looked at Liz, who seemed oblivious. He saw Max reach out and take Liz's hand.
He started when Tess touched his arm. "Kyle?"
"Huh?" He blinked at her. What the hell was going on here?
"I need to talk to you about something later okay? I..."
Kyle could not process what she was saying. He was still trying to understand what he had just witnessed transpire between Max and Tess - and right in front of Liz...
"Okay?" He realized that it sounded more like a question than a definitive answer. He realized that he had absolutely NO desire to talk to her alone, to have her ask his advice about Max, about how to let Liz down easily...
And Liz had no idea.
Anger - red hot and sudden - shot through him. Damn them both! They could stomp all over his feelings, but if Liz got hurt in their damn alien head games with each other...
He would kill them both. Gladly.
*************************************************************************************
Tess trailed Max, Liz and Kyle down the long stone corridor. She was running her hand along the cool wall, feeling the pocks and ridges that marked where various symbols had been carved into the wall.
She frowned at Kyle's back. He looked like he had a broomstick stuck in his shirt he was so stiff. He was being really weird again. The tension between them had seemed to break slightly last night, but they were clearly back to square one for some reason that she didn't understand.
She knew that she had been ridiculously uncomfortable in the car, sitting beside Kyle in the back-seat and refusing to speak to him. But she had been scared. Scared that is she opened her mouth, every hope and fear she had for the two of them would come tumbling out, embarrassing both of them in front of Max and Liz.
No matter how much Tess liked Max and Liz, and she did, she did NOT want them witnessing her attempt to work things out with Kyle. It was private.
Not to mention she was new at putting her heart on her sleeve. She certainly wasn't new at throwing herself at someone - she grimaced wryly at Max's leather jacket clad back ahead of her - but she was new to the feelings that the person she wanted to throw herself at engendered.
She had never felt even half of these feelings when she had wanted Max. With him, it had been all about desperation, all about what she had been told was her destiny for her entire life. It had been about making Nasedo proud of her, about finally finding her place in the world.
With Kyle, she was pretty sure she had found it. Without even trying...and it scared her to death.
But she was NOT going to hurt him again. She still remembered the stricken expression on his face when she had rejected him in Senor Chow's all those months ago. How she could have been so callous...it sickened her. But she knew why.
She had been scared to death then too.
Tess sped up slightly when she realized that the trio ahead of her had stopped, were staring at something on the wall.
They had arrived at the complex, had quickly checked on Ren and Jennetta, but had almost immediately made their way down to where Kyle had found the library. Liz and Max had been hand in hand as usual, but Kyle had stiffly stalked away from Tess, apparently not even wanting to walk beside her for some reason that was beyond her. And so she had trailed behind, feeling sad and confused and trying to regain the courage to confront him.
Now the three of them were staring back at her impatiently. She hurried to join them. "Let's get this show on the road - and maybe finally get some answers." She told them, her voice much too cheerful, trying to hide where her thoughts had been.
Kyle was staring at her with hooded eyes. He frowned slightly, turned to Liz. "Can you see it?"
Liz nodded. "A window right?" Tess could see that Max was peering at the wall in much the same way she had yesterday. She was almost positive that he couldn't see this so-called window either.
He confirmed it when he spoke. "I don't see anything. Can you open it again Kyle?" Tess saw Liz glance at Max, looking perplexed. Tess didn't blame her. This whole situation was indeed strange.
Why on Earth could two humans see an alien library while two aliens could not?
Kyle nodded, waved his hand over the spot where they had found the hand print. It shone out brightly moments later. He gestured to Max. "We already know Tess can't open it. You should try and then Liz."
Max nodded, stepped forward, placed his hand squarely on the familiar symbol.
Tess realized that she was holding her breath. She let it out in a great gasp when nothing happened.
Kyle was still frowning. Tess saw his eyes meet Liz's significantly. Liz stepped forward, placed her much smaller hand on the hand print.
Almost immediately the wall slid away.
Tess saw Liz and Max exchange a glance. Max looked completely stupefied. "Well, I guess we should go in." He finally decided, sounding weary. Tess didn't blame him. All of this was just unleashing even more questions that they were unlikely ever to get answers for. Why did everything always have to be so weird?
She took a deep breath, stepped through the opening after Kyle - and gasped.
She had been sure that Kyle had been exaggerating about the size of this place, but apparently not. Metal shelves stretched out in both directions, to the point that she couldn't even see the end. Articles and books of every size and description filled the shelves to over-flowing.
"Max! What is this place?" She asked, knowing that he too wouldn't know, but needing to speak.
"I have no idea." Max replied, picking up a tome from the nearest shelf. "How could all this stuff be here? We couldn't have brought it ALL with us on the ship..."
"Can you read it Max?" Liz asked, peering over his arm as he flipped through the metal book in his hand. Max nodded.
"I think so. Just give me a moment..." Liz squeezed his arm, began to rummage through some other stuff nearby.
Tess stared at the book in Max's hands. It looked very similar to the one Tess had found in the Roswell Public Library on her very first outing with Kyle all those years ago. Nasedo had told her where to find it, had told her that if Max saw it, he would remember her...
Tess shuddered at the memory of how desperate she had been for Max and Michael and Isabel to remember her...she had been so lonely. She had felt bad about using Kyle then, but she had seen the tension that existed between he and Liz, between he and Max. She had known that if Max and Liz thought that she was interested in Kyle, they would follow them.
Of course, she hadn't realized at the time that they all thought she was a murdering maniac.
Tess felt a hysterical giggle about to erupt. Liz whipped her head around to stare at her, her eyes flashing with concern. Tess pinched her arm, forcing herself to calm down. She smiled wanly at Liz, began to wander down one of the aisles, trailing her hand along the shelf.
She needed to be alone for a few minutes. Being around all these things - most of them likely from their home planet - it was hitting her over the head again. Earth was NOT her home...
Tess finally picked up a book off the nearest shelf and began to flip through it. It was written in the same strange series of dashes and dots as the destiny book too...the language was so familiar, and yet not...it was supremely frustrating.
She threw the volume back on the shelf, strolled down the aisle for a few more minutes.
It was incredibly quiet in this place. The lights came on as she touched hand prints on the shelves, which only reinforced how dusty it was in the room.
And that was when she saw it.
In a small alcove at the end of the aisle there was a small table, two books sitting on top of it, both silver and metallic like the one Max was looking at way behind her.
A single light was shining down on the table. Tess frowned, moved forward. She glanced up at the rock ceiling above the table. She saw absolutely no source for the light.
Weird.
Tess picked up the nearest volume, flipped through it, felt her eyes widen.
Her own face stared back at her from the page. Max, Isabel and Michael were also on the page.
Tess flipped the book shut, looked at the cover, realized that it was another copy of the destiny book.
She carefully placed it back on the table. She did NOT want to look at THAT at the moment.
She picked up the other book, expected it to be the same.
Tess carelessly flipped through it. She paused briefly, when a page flashed past...
Something had caught her eye. She flipped back to the page...
Her heart stopped.
This book was NOT the same. She heard a gasp behind her.
Tess whirled, slamming the book shut, saw a white-faced Liz standing not two feet from her. She had obviously looked over Tess' shoulder to see what she was looking at...the two girls stared at each other in shock.
"Liz?" Tess did not like the look on the other girl's face. Liz looked like she was about to pass out.
"Tess..." Liz managed to say in a strangled voice. "What..."
Tess just stared at her.
Liz tried again. "Did you see what I saw?"
Tess took a deep breath, finally nodded. "If you're wondering if I saw YOUR picture in this book...well, yes I did."
The silence following this pronouncement was deafening.