Chapter Seven

Everyone turned around when Isabel walked through the door. She seemed in an especially good mood as she walked over and sat down on the couch beside Maria and Michael.

" Hey Iz " said Max looking at her curiously. Even though he hadn't seen her all day she was in a totally different mood than when he last saw her go home with Thaman.

" Hey " she said smiling sweetly at all of them. " How are you all doing today? "

Her unusual friendliness took everyone back a bit.

" Great " said Liz smiling at Max. She was glad that Isabel was in a good mood even though she didn't know why.

Michael squinted at her. " What's with you? " he asked.

" I'm just in a good mood. Is that a crime? " She snapped but still smiling. " God Michael, I'm finally feeling better and you just suspect me of something "

Michael shrugged his shoulders.

Maria hit him on the shoulder and looked at Isabel. " Anything happen to make you so happy? "

" I just feel happy today "

" O k " said Michael

Kyle looked at her with a weird look on his face. " I've seen that look before " he said waving his finger.

" What look? " said Isabel all of a sudden self-conscious. The way Kyle was looking at her made her uncomfortable as if he knew.

" Oh Kyle stop it, " said Maria rolling her eyes at him.

Liz looked at Isabel. She knew where that look came from, she had that same smile whenever she saw Max. But who would make Isabel act like that?

They just sat there quietly until finally Kyle's phone broke the silence.

" Kyle here " he said when he clicked on the phone. " Dad say that again " said Kyle. He looked totally confused and scared. " How could that… ? No we're at Michael's house now, " he said looking down " We're all here dad. All right we'll meet you there " he said hanging up the phone.

" What is it? " asked Max.

Kyle was shaking his head in disbelief. " That was my dad, " he said holding his chin and not looking at any of them. " He said they found Sally Jenkins' body. She's dead "

" What do you mean dead? " asked Maria hysterically. " Was she like murdered? "

" I don't know the details " he answered. " My dad wants us guys to go see him now "

" Let's go, " said Liz.

" He only wants me, Max, Michael and Thaman to go, " said Kyle

" Where is Thaman Isabel? " asked Max looking at his sister. " You were the last one with him "

" I don't know where he is. He left me this morning " she said looking around.

" We have to find him, " said Michael.

" How are we going to find him? " asked Kyle.

Just then Michael's back door opened and they saw Thaman walk in. Isabel's first instinct was to hide her face. She could feel her heart skip a beat and her face feel flushed. The sheer excitement at seeing him.

" Is there something wrong? " asked Thaman examining their faces. He looked at Max first.

" Sally Jenkins is dead, " said Max

" How did that happen? " asked Thaman but he didn't look very surprised.

" We don't know. Valenti just called and told us to meet him "

" What do you make of this? " asked Max.

" It could be anything " he answered.

" Well give us some theories, " said Michael

" It could be Nicholas "

" Why would Nicholas be involved in this? " asked Liz

" We do not have time now. Your majesty we must go " he said to Max and started walking outside and over to the jeep. They all followed him as he got into the driver's seat. " It would be best if the Princess and the other ladies stayed behind ". The guys all nodded. Max leaned over and kissed Liz, reluctantly letting go of her hand before he went into the passenger's seat. Michael gave Maria a hug and she kissed him quickly. Thaman blocked Kyle from jumping on too.

" What are you doing? " asked Kyle

" I need you to protect them, " said Thaman looking at the girls " Take them to the Crashdown "

" Isabel can take care of us, " said Liz

" And that's my dad " said Kyle raising his voice.

" He will be safe I promise you. You have to stay with them Kyle " said Thaman

" Oh all right. I have to miss the action " said Kyle backing off from the Jeep. Thaman looked at Isabel, with his usual emotionless stare.

She looked back at him scared and vulnerable. She watched him drive away hugging herself.

" Well girlies it looks like we're going to be stuck at the Crashdown then, " said Kyle looking at them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Valenti stood near the Pepper's Café. He hadn't been to this place since the night he killed Hubble. This place was becoming a bad place for anyone. Why this place of all places? This wasn't anywhere near the Pod Chamber. Why would the person bring Sally's body here? What was here?

" Now my question is Jim, " said Deputy Hanson. " How you happened to be out here in the first place? "

" I was just driving by "

" Sure like I would buy that "

" Am I a suspect in this investigation? " asked Valenti irritated.

Hanson sighed. " No of course not. But Jim, you have to understand why I would be so suspicious of you. You're always in the middle of unexplainable things like this "

" I know but I don't have any clue about this or anything that has happened " answered Valenti. " Seriously "

" It's weird too that she was the one that videotaped the sighting yesterday " said Hanson.

" What does that have to do with anything? " said Valenti, but that was exactly what he was thinking.

" Something is just not right here. She wasn't just a random victim. Someone picked her out and killed her "

" But why here of all places? " asked Valenti.

Both men watched as the medics carried away Sally Jenkins' body.

Before Valenti had called it in he examined her body. He had been driving down this way when he found a body bag in the abandoned café's parking lot. He stopped his jeep and opened the bag. Her body had a strange symbol on its chest. It wasn't the silver handprint that was left behind from the aliens he knew. This was different. It was almost like a tattoo was placed there. It looked like a red Triangle or something that looked like it. Sally's face had the face of horror on it. Her death must have been instantaneous. She had seen her killer's face before it killed her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Half a mile away from the Pepper's Café Thaman stopped the car.

" What are you doing? " asked Michael, leaning forward.

" Do you wish to draw more attention to yourselves by going to a crime scene with the police swarming around my Lord? " asked Thaman. Michael sighed as he leaned back on the back seat.

" Why here? " asked Max

" I do not know my Lord " answered Thaman. " But whatever it is, someone is planning something "

" We're being watched, " said Michael

" I do not think so, " said Thaman. " There is no way that anybody would know you were still here "

" But you never know "

" Trust me I know, " said Thaman " If there was anyone watching I would know "

" How would you know? " asked Max

" I am a bodyguard. I am trained in that field. I do not think this incident has anything to do with you my Lords. This is someone who is covering up something. We just have to figure out what it was "

" You said it might be Nicholas "

" Yes it could be that he is hiding something and this Sally Jenkins must have figured it out "

Max looked ahead at the crime scene. He saw the lights of the ambulance drive out of the parking lot.

" They will see us, " he said

" I have it handled my Lord " said Thaman holding out his hand. The ambulance passed by them without even looking in their direction.

" Did you mind warp them? " asked Michael.

" No. I turned us all invisible "

Max and Michael looked at each other.

" This is where Hubble was killed was it not? " asked Thaman

" Yes, " said Max " He said that Nascedo had killed his wife in the parking lot "

" He was very unfeeling. He made his presence so public. He was asking for someone to chase him " said Thaman with his eyes squinting.

" If you knew Nascedo was a traitor than why was he brought here? " asked Max. " Why was Tess brought too? "

" It is a long story my Lord. " said Thaman looking at Max. Max gave him an encouraging nod and he continued. " Things were happening too fast when you were being put into the Pods. I was the only one that knew, beside yourself before you died, that Ava was the traitor. Your mother insisted that she be brought along with you. She was needed for your future survival. They needed the original Four Royals to go together. I protested but your mother would not hear of it and I was not in a position to correct her. The being you call Nascedo was brought along just in case. "

" Just in case of what? " asked Michael " In case Tess didn't kill us first? "

" The Queen Mother and I both knew that Nascedo was sent from Khivar but we needed him there so that Khivar would not immediately follow you to Earth. He would have. "

" What about the Dupes? Why were they sent to Earth with us? " asked Max

" They are the Decoys. They were the original batch that we made but something was wrong. Combining our DNA and human DNA did not work quite right. It was only later that we learned how to properly use the Gandarium. We brought them along with us in case Khivar decided to come anyway. We were so rushed into the ship that our coordinates with Earth were wrong. I had to manually fly the ship down to Earth. We crashed in Roswell in '47 but Nascedo and I had to leave you and let you be captured by the American government because we had to hide the Granolith. We both went to retrieve you later. I told Nascedo to take the Duplicates somewhere far away from you. I took your pods and placed you with the Granolith. After he left I did not see him again until he came to Roswell "

" Why not? " asked Max

" Because he knew I was aware of his real intentions "

" Why didn't you stay with us? " asked Michael

" Earth was a new place for me. I had to adapt to the environment before I could fully protect you. I spent the next 42 years adapting to Earth. Which trust me, was not easy. But before I left I made sure that Tess would not be joining you when you hatched. "

" How did you do that? " asked Max

" I rigged her Pod so that she would hatch two months after you would. Nascedo found her and took her. He had to train her before she would meet you. He kept moving around so that I would not catch up "

" Still that doesn't answer why you weren't there for us, " said Michael

" What would you have preferred? To move around with no purpose and be trained when your powers couldn't improve? Look at how Tess turned out. She was not human at all. She was emotionless and alien, that was what made her fail her mission. That was how Liz figured out what she did. Remember you were made with the capacity to use all of the human brain. Nothing would have been accomplished if I were with you. You needed to live on your own and be human " he turned around and looked at Michael. " I regret most deeply that you had to go through what you went through my Lord " Michael could hear the sorrow in his voice. " I put that burden on myself. That I was not there to protect you from your human father "

" It's what made me strong " he said sighing.

" It is strange how things work out the way that they do my Lords. " said Thaman looking ahead. Max and Michael both looked at him. " Even though your circumstances were different you all ended up the same way. I am glad that you all are who you really are. True to yourselves as in your past life "