AUTHOR'S NOTE: Dudes, I'm back! Chapter twenty at your service. It's kind
of boring. Just a load of talking. Hope you enjoy it, though. Read, review
and be merry!
CHAPTER TWENTY
Thirty-one people sat, cramped in the living room of a large Victorian house on the nice side of a small desert town that night, staring blankly at each other's ashen faces. Some in shock, some in fear and some just because they couldn't think of a better way to react. The battle was over and they'd won. But the war had just begun. Khivar was still out there, no doubt mad with rage, plotting his revenge. They'd already seen what his anger could do and they weren't looking forward to experiencing his wrath.
Suddenly the doorbell broke the silence. Sheriff Valenti silently went to answer the door. It was the Parkers and the Whitmans. The Pod Squad had decided that it was no use keeping their origins a secret from the adults in their lives. The night's fight had been a real eye opener. It made them realise that Khivar would stop at nothing to get to them, and he didn't care whether the people he used knew or not. They figured that the least they could do was tell them why they were possible targets to a raving, murderous psychopath.
"I'm glad you could come," Sheriff Valenti said, as they walked into the crowded living room.
"Well, Alex made it sound important," said Charles Whitman.
"What's going on?" asked Jeff Parker as he saw his daughter, all her friends and all their parents sitting there staring at each other.
"The kids have something to explain to us," Amy said. Her voice was soft, but the underlying demand for answers was still there.
"Okay," Jeff said, taking a seat next to the other parents, "What's going on?"
Taking a deep breath, Max stood up, taking command of the situation like the king he was meant to be. Priming himself, Max began.
"Isabel, Michael, Rath, Zan, Ava and I aren't from around here." He paused. "We're aliens."
There was a moment of silence.
"Aliens," Jeff stated in disbelief. "Right. And I'm supposed to believe you, why?" Max smiled grimly, walked over to him and turned his shirt pink. Mr. Parker's jaw dropped in shock.
"We were in the crash of 1947. We were in incubation pods until 1989, when we came out as six year olds," Isabel continued, turning to her parents. "That's when you found us in the desert."
Diane Evans gasped, putting her hands to her mouth, tears in her eyes. She'd suspected that her kids weren't telling them everything, but she didn't expect that. Her babies. Aliens.
"Please, Mom, we're still the same Max and Isabel you raised. Don't hate us," Isabel pleaded.
Diane shook her head; tears streaming down her cheeks. "Oh honey," she said, engulfing her daughter in a hug. "I don't hate you. Your father and I could never hate you. Why didn't you tell us?"
"I wanted to, I really did, but Max and Michael wouldn't let me."
"We weren't sure how you would react," Max explained, "We didn't want anything to change between us."
"You should have known better, son," Phillip said, pulling the whole Evans family, including Zan, in for a group hug.
The touching moment was interrupted by a frantic knocking on the door. Rath jumped up to answer the door, preferring not to be reminded of the fact that he'd never had a family like that. With a mother and a father. Even back on Antar he was a bit of an outsider in the royal family, just the adopted kid. It wasn't the same.
He was surprised to find Cortenia on the other side of the door, half carrying a blonde girl.
"Rath. I was hopin' to find you here," she said, as he eased the girl out of her arms. "She just collapsed on my doorstep." She shook her head. "Dead indeed." Rath frowned, pulling back the unconscious girl's hair.
"Kaylanna. I thought.they said she was dead," he said.
"She's clearly not, now, let an old lady out of the cold. Have I taught you nothing?"
Rath nodded and stepped aside, not understanding how she could joke like that when her sister lay limp in his arms.
"Let's take her upstairs." Rath shifted Kaylanna in his arms. "We need to put her down. You two were always on the heavy side." Cortenia tapped him upside the head as he laughed.
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"How can you say this is all right?!" Jeff exclaimed, finally out of his shock induced silence. "They're aliens for God's sake, they could be dangerous."
"But Dad."
"They probably are dangerous!" He jumped to his feet, flinging his arms up. "Nancy, Lizzie, come on. We're going home. You are not to see these people again."
"But Dad, just listen to me."
"No, Liz, you listen to me. I will not have my only daughter put in danger for some 'alien conspiracy'. It's not gonna happen. You could die!"
"I already have!" Liz shouted. That shut him up. Half the room gasped.okay, just the five people.
"What?" Nancy whispered.
"Two years ago, I died. And Max saved me." She caught Max's eyes, and smiled. "Remember the shoot out at the Crashdown?" At their nod, she continued. "We said it was ketchup, but it wasn't.well it was, but only to cover up the blood." She looked her parents in the eye, willing them to believe her. "He healed me, and he saw into my soul and I saw into his. I know he won't hurt me. Or the others. Not intentionally." Nancy choked out a sob and crushed Liz in a hug.
"That's when you found out?" Amy asked.
"Yes. I told Maria, then later I told Alex."
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"You picked a good time to show up," Rath said after laying Kaylanna down on Ava's bed. He didn't think she would mind.not much. "We're telling the parents the truth."
"Because?"
"The Evans and the Valentis got kidnapped by Khivar tonight. We can't hide it anymore. I'm sorry. I know you were trying to protect Amy from all this."
"No. Don't be. I should've known she'd have got tied up in it eventually. Amy always gets herself in trouble. I just hope she forgives me for keeping this from her."
"She will. Don't worry about it," he reassured her. He looked down at Kaylanna. "So, do you know what happened to her?"
"I don't know. She was really hurt when I found her. I healed her as best I can, but I'm not a healer. Minor cuts and scrapes I can do, but not to this extent." She sighed.
"I'll get Zan to fix it." He brushed her hair out of her face. "Where has she been?"
"That, we'll have to ask her when she wakes up."
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"So let me get this straight," said Alicia Whitman. "You're reincarnated royals from another planet, sent here in incubation pods to grow up all over again so you could go back and kill your enemy sixty years later?"
"Yes."
"That doesn't make sense. Your enemies would be dead by then.unless your people are immortal and we know they're not because you died. So try again."
Everyone stared at her.
"Whoa," Kyle whispered to Michael, "I thought only Delucas talked that fast." Michael nodded.
"Time moves slower on Antar than on Earth. One day there is like five days here," Zan explained. "So, only ten years passed since we died."
"Right," she said, "All that technology and they couldn't just shoot him?"
"Mom, don't you think they would if they could?" Alex asked. It was kind of embarrassing, but he had to admit his mother was on a roll. She never really talked to his friends. She was usually really quiet, but sometimes she was just loud and in even competition with Amy.
"I don't know, this story seems kind of nonsensical to me."
"Khivar never showed his face in battle. Nobody knew who he was or why he was suddenly trying to take over after being out of business for twenty years," Rath answered as he walked down the stairs. "Zan, go upstairs to Ava's room, will ya?" Zan raised an eyebrow in question, but went anyway. "We were always protected in the palace, not allowed to go out into the city, Queen's orders, because Khivar had taken over the most peaceful planet in the system. Carnath. He killed off the whole royal family."
"So he took over a peaceful planet? Duh. That's an easy conquest. They were probably cocky. Didn't even have a full army, I bet. I say their leader was completely incompetent and."
"My mother tried her best," Michael ground out.
".He.what now?"
"The queen of Carnath was my mother. I was adopted into the Antarian royal family when I was two," Michael said. "Khivar.he was.he is her brother, Kyden."
"How do you kids keep track of this stuff?" asked Nancy. "I'm already getting lost."
"See? I told you we should've made a brochure," Anya said. "It would have saved us a lot of time."
They ignored her.
"Max, wouldn't it be easier to just connect with them to show them?" Maria asked. As it was she was tired of hearing their entire life story. It was getting boring. She could tell from his expression that he never thought of that.
"Connect with us?"
"Yeah, I won't read anything in your head or anything. I'll just show you what has happened in the past two years," Max explained. "You trust me, right?"
"No, not really," Amy answered bluntly.
"Mom, it's fine. It won't hurt. Michael and I've done it tons of times." Maria started. Then she realised what that sounded like when she saw the look on her mother's face. "No, mom, it's not what you're thinking. He only needs to hold your hand to show you what's in his head."
Amy looked at her suspiciously, but then nodded. "Fine." Maria breathed a sigh of relief. "But I want Michael to show me. I want to see exactly what's going on in his head." Maria tried to hide her fear with a smile. Tried, but failed. She glanced at Michael who looked like he was going to faint, or have a heart attack.
"I, um, I don't have much c-control over my, uh, my powers."
"That's okay. I don't mind a few off-point visions. I trust you won't blow my head up." It was an encouraging statement.had it not come out of the mouth of Amy Deluca. Now, it was just scary.
'You and your big mouth,' Michael complained through their connection.
'Stop whining, Spaceboy, I'll make it up to you later. Can you keep her from seeing anything incriminating?'
'I'll have to, won't I?'
Max and Isabel connected with the Evans, the Parkers and the Whitmans while Michael connected with Amy, silently praying to a god he didn't believe in that she didn't see anything that would result in her beating the hell out of him with a newspaper, then slowly torturing him to death.
************************************ *******************************
"Okay, who the hell are you?" Zan asked as he saw the figure sitting on Ava's bed.
"Cortenia Deluca, Maria's grandmother. This is my sister, Kaylanna. I need you to heal her," she said, not bothering to beat around the bush.
Zan's eyes narrowed. "How do you know about us?"
"I'm from Antar, too, your Royal highness," she said sarcastically, smiling sweetly. "I was friends with Rath."
"You're that chick!" Zan said in realisation. "The one Nicholas was talking about."
"Okay. Whatever you want, buddy, just heal my sister." Zan nodded and walked over to the bed, and sat next to the unconscious girl.
"Isn't she a little young to be your sister?"
"Oh gee, thanks a lot there, cause I didn't need to feel young just then," she said, rolling her eyes. "She shifts into the younger body, probably so Rath would recognise her when he saw her. I shift into the older, you know, to look normal, like I'm aging?" She widened her eyes and nodded at him slowly as she explained, as if he was two years old.
Zan stared at her then shrugged. "Yeah, I guess that makes sense." Then he paused with his hand over Kaylanna's chest. "Wait. How do I know you're not lying?"
"Oh, for God's sake, Zan, she's dying! Look at her!"
Making a quick decision, Zan closed his eyes and concentrated on healing the girl. His hand glowed red as he mended the broken bones, tissues and organs. While he was connected to her, he could see memories of when she and Rath were friends back on Antar. He could see the love she had for his friend, but he could also see the love, or lack thereof, she had for him. She was the head of the rebellion against his rule, the faction that supported Rath and only Rath. In fact, even her subconscious seemed to be revolted by his presence in her mind. Gasping, he let go of his connection and opened his eyes to stare into the bright blue eyes of Courtney Banks. Before he even had time to think about it, he was shoved out of the way as Cortenia engulfed her sister in a hug.
******************************* ****************************
Amy Valenti gasped and pulled her hands away from Michael as the final flash passed her mind's eye. Michael backed away from her shaking form, afraid of what she might have seen.
"Oh my God, Michael, what did you do?" Max demanded.
"I." Michael stuttered, with a shrug. They knew he couldn't control his powers that well.
'What did she see?' Maria asked him silently as she hugged her mother.
'I don't know, okay?' he replied. 'I can't control what visions I give.'
"Mom?" Maria murmured, brushing her mother's hair behind her ear. "You okay? What did you see?"
"I.I saw.she didn't even tell me," she said, anger creeping into her voice. "I'm going to kill her!"
"Mom.you can't kill Mi." she trailed off when the fact that she said 'her' and not 'him' struck her. "Wait, who do you want to kill?"
"My mother. She's.god, I can't believe her!"
"Uh-oh," Rath said.
"He knows too?" Amy exclaimed. "Is there anybody in this room besides me that doesn't know?" Looking at all the guilty faces, Amy got her answers. "Jim pass me the phone," she said coldly.
"Now, Amy."
"Shut up, Jim. We're married now, you shouldn't be hiding things like this from me."
"But."
"No buts, Jim. I might forgive you eventually, but until then, hand me the damn phone."
"No need for the phone, Amy, I'm right here," a voice said from the stairway. They all turned to find Cortenia, with Zan following closely behind her.
"Mother. Why am I now hearing about this? And from Michael of all people? You're an alien and you never told me? I'm your daughter!"
"I know."
"I could have been captured by, like, the MIB or something."
"They're not real, dear."
She continued, unphased. "And I wouldn't even know what for. And what about Maria? What if she turned out green and scaly 'cause of some mutated genes or something?"
"Amy."
"Mom, no, I had a right to know."
"I know, and I'm sorry."
"You better be. What about Jerry and Sean? Did they know?"
"No."
"Well, at least I'm not the only one out of the loop."
'Who's Jerry?' Michael asked silently.
'Jerry's my uncle. Sean's father. He died in a car crash three years ago.'
'Oh.'
"God, when were you gonna tell me?"
"I was hopin' it would never have to come out," she said, sadly. Seeing that Amy was about to continue her rant, she waved her hand in the air, cutting off her voice. "Let me explain." Amy's eyes widened as her mouth flapped open and closed, but no sound came out. "Sit down, sweetie. I'll explain it. I guess I should tell Sean, too, where is he?"
"Albuquerque. A court hearing thing," Maria answered.
Cortenia nodded. "My name was Cortenia Dehlookhaar, I had to change it obviously, to a more earthbound name, so I just changed the spelling. Anyway, we, my sister and I, we met Rath on a beach in the capital city of Antar when we were thirteen years old. He'd just snuck out of the palace, because who'd like to see the same scenery day in, day out, for the rest of their lives? Not Rath, I'll tell ya." She smiled wistfully at him. "Anyway, it was an instant friendship. Every week at the same time, we'd meet up at the beach. Kaylanna developed a huge crush, but that's beside the point."
"How did you end up here?" Amy asked.
"It was just before the last battle. Zan, Ava and Vilandra were already dead. Rath came to me right after Zan was killed. He didn't want us to die too. Didn't want to fail his whole family, so he gave me a serum. He told me of the Queen's plan to send hybrids to Earth in the event that they lost the war to Khivar. He wanted us to go, too, to be safe. Without him, you wouldn't have been born."
Amy started nodded, then paused as a disturbing thought came to mind. "Are you trying to tell me that my daughter's boyfriend is my father?"
"What? No! Why do you people always think I was sleeping with Rath? He was my best friend, nothing else." She shook her head in disbelief. "My kids have screwed up imaginations. That has to be it. Must get it from your father, 'cause it's not from me."
"Mom. The story?"
"Huh? Right, yeah. The serum.it was developed by the royal scientists. The protectors sent with the pods all got some. I'm not sure what was in it, but it made our bodies more compatible with the atmosphere, so we could survive on Earth without husks. A husk is."
"We know what a husk is, the kids showed us."
"Right. Anyway, he set it up so that my sister and I could catch a ride on the ship to Earth. Kaylanna decided to stay and help with the war, but I honoured his last wishes and left for Earth. That would have been in 1947, Earth time."
"The Crash," Jeff said in realisation.
"The ship was sabotaged. There was someone working on the inside. The, um, hydro.thingy, crap, I don't know anything about ships. Anyway, it blew up or something. Kaylanna would be able to explain, she's good with those things. The ship went off balance and it entered the atmosphere at the wrong angle, so half the hull burnt up on entry. That's why we crashed."
"Wow. Do you know how many of my customers would kill for this information?" Amy exclaimed.
"Mine, too," Jeff Parker added.
"There were nine of us on that ship, only three survived. Your protectors got captured and your pods were confiscated by the FBI. I didn't see them again for another year. In that time, I stayed in a cave, preparing for when you got out. I knew you would get out. Your protectors, they were brave and strong. They kept me covered so that I could get away to hide the Granolith. I believed they would get out. Our world depended on it."
"You built the pod chamber?" Isabel asked in amazement.
"Yeah.well, I guess it's more I smoothed down the cave walls and created the Granolith chamber. It was hard work, let me tell ya, like makin' a house out of spaghetti sticks, especially since I never had powers before. I had to learn how to use 'em and build a room at the same time."
"Cort, you're rambling," Rath said.
"Well excuse me, Mr. Army man," she said rolling her eyes. "I'll be more concise, then." She saluted him. "The protectors, when they finally got out, they were changed. They weren't the same men I flew down here with. There was an underlying sense of.of hostility that they developed in the base. Not the same kind, though. One, Captain Haardhayn, he hated humans. Completely. Before, he was excited to come to Earth. He had this indescribable need to travel, to see the universe. It was why the Queen chose him to head the mission. She thought that he would make the least impression on the Earth once he got there. He wouldn't be a soldier on a mission, he would be.I don't know, just a man who is fascinated by the world he's in. I don't know what they did to him in there, but when he came out, he was.oh, I can't even describe him." She shook her head in dismay.
"The other, Private Vardex." She glanced at Rath. "The man you sent me to. Before, he was all about the mission at hand. He just wanted to bring the Royal Four to Earth and complete his mission as quickly as possible so that he could go home. He just wanted it over and done with. I don't think he thought very much of the humans. They were just stupid animals, not worth any thought. Earth was just a place to hide the Royals. When he came back, he had the same hostile attitude as Captain Haardayn, the same attitude you would expect from a soldier kept in captivity and tortured for a year. He resented the mission itself for putting him in that position in the first place, but his attitude towards humans changed completely. He seemed disgusted at the way they treated them at the base, but he was also.curious. He wanted to know how a single species could experience, feel so many things and yet be so." she trailed off as she searched for the right words.
"He once told me a story of when he was in the facility. He was strapped to a table in a white room." The Pod Squad involuntarily shuddered at that. "There were tools on a little tray next to him. 'They didn't look like a good time,' he said. Anyway, the doctor, she seemed to be new, came towards him with a scalpel poised to slice him down the middle, but then she looked into his eyes and paused. He said that he could see the compassion in her eyes. It was like she felt sorry for him in that one moment, but then as quick as it was there, it was gone and she was ripping into his flesh, not even flinching at his cries of pain. Another man came in and handed her a phone, he didn't know it was a phone at the time, though. In an instant her whole demeanour changed and she was just this.this woman, somebody's mother, somebody's daughter. He said that from what he read in her mind, that's one of his powers, her daughter had just gotten in a car accident. He could feel her mentally breaking down, but he could also feel her loyalty to her work pulling at her to finish her job. When she returned to him, she sliced him open with anger. Complete rage. Rage for what happened to her daughter most likely, but he could also read a lot of grief. It was her grief that made it easier for him to read her mind. He could feel everything from the feeling of a warm bed to the taste of ice cream, to the sound of her favourite song. It was all there. I think he didn't understand how beings with such wonderful things could waste their time being cruel to others. When he came out, all he wanted to do was find out. He just wanted to study them. To live among them and find out what made them tick, so to speak."
"That doesn't make sense, mom, I mean.you have emotions. Aliens have emotions, right? 'Cause I have 'em."
"You don't understand. We have emotions. That's not the point." She got up and walked around the room. "Antarians. We do everything for a purpose. It must be for something.useful or we just don't bother. It's how our technology advanced so far. We didn't waste our time inventing luxuries like TVs and stereos. We did things by necessity only. If it didn't further our knowledge or lessen our vulnerability, we didn't do it." She stopped in front of the TV and slammed her hand down on it. "That is why Private Vardex was fascinated. Humans waste time, things. He wanted to know why."
"So, what happened to them?" Amy asked.
"Captain Haardayn took the duplicates to New York, I never knew where he went exactly. Private Vardex settled in at a reservation nearby, the Mesaliko reservation. He wanted to observe humans, but he didn't want to be around too many of them at the same time. He was a bit weird. I visited him there a few times." The Pod Squad gasped. Nasedo. "The people called him Nasedo, the visitor. He lived like a recluse, the people not trusting or understanding him, but he didn't care really, he just wanted to see. He befriended two people in his stay there, though. A boy called.um."
"Riverdog?" Michael supplied.
"Yeah, that's it. Riverdog and.um.Ath-Atherton, that's it."
"But he killed Atherton, didn't he?"
"What? No! He wouldn't do that. When Haardayn came back and found him living there, he was livid. They were supposed to be on a mission, scowering the earth, checking to see if any of Khivar's minions had followed them and protecting the Royal Four, not studying the habitants of Earth. He also didn't like the fact that Vardex had told humans about what he was. It was a danger to the mission. So he waited. He planned a way to sever his connections to the humans."
"Haardayn killed Atherton," Max said in realisation.
"Yes. He shifted into the form Vardex had adopted and burned him through, from the inside out. Killing him wouldn't be enough, though. He did it during a celebration, where everyone, including Riverdog, would see." She sighed. "Private Vardex was drummed out of the community.okay, maybe not literally, but.hmm, how can I explain this?" she muttered to herself. "When Vardex was healed by Riverdog, he formed a connection with him. It made it easier for him to see into his mind at any time than, say, if it was you or me. Wherever he was that night, he could feel the anger and disappointment and.fear that rolled off of Riverdog in waves. Riverdog didn't trust him anymore, and when he further went into his mind, he could see why."
"Wow," Liz said. "So Nasedo never killed Atherton."
"No. He was framed by Captain Haardayn. That was when he completely abandoned his mission. Just when he was re-developing his life on Earth, the mission came back and bit him in his proverbial balls. Gone was the safe community in which he could study human nature. He had to start his life all over again, for the third time all because of one stupid war and one mission."
"Is that why he betrayed us? Why he sold us out to Khivar?" Max asked. "If he hated the mission so much, why bother raising Tess?"
Cortenia stared at him for a while, and then looked over to Michael. "What the hell is he talking about?"
"Nasedo made a deal with Khivar forty years ago. Tess would get pregnant with Max's child, then return with the rest of us for execution."
"That is not true."
"I'm sorry, grams, but it is," Maria said.
"It's not, actually. You've been misinformed," a voice said from the top of the stairs.
"Kaylanna Dehlookhar, I told you to rest," Cortenia chastised.
"Yeah, well, I never listen to you anyway," she answered. "Besides, once I got over the nausea from having Zan in my head, it was fine." She shuddered in disgust as she ran her hands over her jeans, cleaning of the dirt and grime and mending the holes. "What?"
"What happened to you?" Maria asked, not being nice, but not being completely hostile either.
"Believe me, kid, you don't wanna know." She ran her hands through her hair, looking around the room. "Huh. Zan never could keep his big mouth shut." Her eyes landed on Amy. "Is this my niece?"
"Yes. 'Anna, this is my daughter Amy, and my granddaughter Maria. Guys, my twin sister."
"Isn't she a little.young to be your twin?" Max asked.
"Oh for God's sakes!" Cortenia exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air. "Do ya not understand the concept of a shape shifter?"
"We shift shapes? Duh, Zan. Really," Kaylanna continued. She looked towards Amy. "Now do you see why our planet collapsed? Idiots ruled the place." Amy smirked slightly. She was beginning to like this new aunt of hers, even though she looked half her age.
"What were you saying about Nasedo?" Michael asked.
"What? Oh. Right. Private Vardex never bothered with the mission. He didn't come to get you or even try to set foot in New Mexico after that. He's living in LA, working in movies. He's a producer I think. Something like that." She waved her hand dismissively in the air. "The man you had contact with was Captain Haardayn. Just because he was a shape shifter, you assumed he was Nasedo, but he wasn't. It's basic training to uses one's assumptions against them. At least that's what I teach my troops. I bet you just pretty much walked up to him and asked if he was Nasedo, right?" At Max's slightly shameful look, she smirked.
"I don't understand. If he hated us so much, why help save Max from the FBI? Or keep the special unit off our backs?" Isabel asked.
"You said it yourself, he made a deal with Khivar. He would deliver an heir to the throne and the Royal Four. What better way to get close to you than to exploit an uneducated guess? If he wanted, he could have killed off one of your human friends here and stepped into the group without much effort. Then, he could also influence your decisions from the inside as an equal, possibly even more than that." She glanced at Liz. The group dynamics certainly weren't lost on her. "But, as the infamous Nasedo, alien and protector of all, he would be seen as someone to look up to. Whatever he said would go, because he knows more," Kaylanna explained. "As for saving Max, well, I don't know about humans, but for us, it's not possible to bone a dead guy and get pregnant."
"Um.from what you showed us, the skins killed this.Nasedo. If he was working with them, why would they kill him?" Mr. Evans asked.
"Oh, that was me, actually," Kaylanna answered flippantly. They all looked at her. "I couldn't let him get Michael killed. Who would rule then? Besides, I didn't think Tess had enough of a brain of her own to carry out the plan without him. I didn't think she'd actually go through with it once he was gone, though, otherwise I would've killed her too."
"So you've been here protecting us all along?" Isabel asked.
"Not the whole time, no. I had other things to do, like infiltrating Nikaid's army, forming my own troops, searching for the duplicates. Where were you, anyway?"
"New York."
"Obviously. Where?"
"Sewers under Eighth Street."
"Oh."
"Why would Nicholas let you back in, though? He knew you were on Rath's side even before the war started," Maria had to ask the question that had been bugging her since the whole story came out.
"He loves me.well, loved me at some point."
"But you broke his heart."
"Well, yeah, but that doesn't change the fact that he loved me." She looked slightly sad at that, but quickly got back to business. "Add those emotions to the adolescent body Khivar put him in and he was easily manipulated.at least until he got accustomed to the raging hormones, but that's another story. Point is his hope never died. He always thought that there would be a chance for us."
"Was there ever any hope?" Rath asked.
"Maybe. There was at one point. But he blew it by joining Khivar's side. I could never forgive him for that. Never."
"Okay, there's still one thing I don't understand," Michael said. "Why the husk? You didn't need it. Not really."
"No, I didn't need it. It was a part of my infiltration. I had to pose as a skin to fit in with the skins," she answered. "Khivar never was able to find the formula for the serum. You know, to adapt Antarians to the Earth's atmosphere, so a shifter in a band of skins, well, obvious. So I wore the husk. Crap as it was."
"So when Nicholas said you killed yourself."
"Mindwarp. I had to make him think I was dead so he wouldn't try to mind rape me for the location of the Granolith."
"I don't understand. If it's just a ship, why would they want it? Surely there are other ships in the system," asked Diane Evans.
"The Granolith is not just a ship, in fact, it's not a ship at all," Kaylanna answered. "Man, where do you people get your information from? The Granolith is a source of power. Nobody knows where it came from or what it's for. All we know is that it holds massive amounts of power that can only be controlled by one person. When that person dies, they automatically pass the power on to the next living member of the family. If that person is deemed unworthy by the Granolith, it passes on to the next in line. Like a throne, pretty much."
"The Granolith can also be passed on by will. If the controller finds it necessary, they could pass it on to someone else," Cortenia continued.
"Yeah. The Carnasian Royal family has always held the Granolith. That's why nobody ever even tried to attack them. They were too powerful. It's a surprise Khivar even had the guts to try."
"So that's what this is about!" Liz exclaimed. They all looked at her blankly. "Guys, Khivar would have been the next in line. If he killed off Michael's mom, he would have got the Granolith."
"But since she passed it on." Max added, getting on her train of thought.
"He has to come after you. Max, you are the controller of the Granolith. That's why Khivar is still after you. He has to kill you to get it back."
"Wait," Kaylanna interrupted. "Michael's mom?"
They quickly explained the Royal family line of Carnath to the two sisters.
"Interesting," Kaylanna murmured. "So even though he has it."
"He doesn't really have it," Cortenia finished her thought.
"It all makes sense now," Isabel said. There was a moment of silence as the whole group let it all sink in.
"Well, since the whole story is out, I think we should all go home and get some rest," Max announced. There were some mumbled agreements around the room. It was five o'clock in the morning.
"The whole story's not out," Serena stated quietly from her space on Oz's lap. She took a deep breath, preparing to drop the bomb.
************************************ *****************************
Sorry about the cliffhanger, guys. I just had to do it. Heh heh heh. Whatever is Serena talking about, hmm? Eh, it's probably an easy guess anyway.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Thirty-one people sat, cramped in the living room of a large Victorian house on the nice side of a small desert town that night, staring blankly at each other's ashen faces. Some in shock, some in fear and some just because they couldn't think of a better way to react. The battle was over and they'd won. But the war had just begun. Khivar was still out there, no doubt mad with rage, plotting his revenge. They'd already seen what his anger could do and they weren't looking forward to experiencing his wrath.
Suddenly the doorbell broke the silence. Sheriff Valenti silently went to answer the door. It was the Parkers and the Whitmans. The Pod Squad had decided that it was no use keeping their origins a secret from the adults in their lives. The night's fight had been a real eye opener. It made them realise that Khivar would stop at nothing to get to them, and he didn't care whether the people he used knew or not. They figured that the least they could do was tell them why they were possible targets to a raving, murderous psychopath.
"I'm glad you could come," Sheriff Valenti said, as they walked into the crowded living room.
"Well, Alex made it sound important," said Charles Whitman.
"What's going on?" asked Jeff Parker as he saw his daughter, all her friends and all their parents sitting there staring at each other.
"The kids have something to explain to us," Amy said. Her voice was soft, but the underlying demand for answers was still there.
"Okay," Jeff said, taking a seat next to the other parents, "What's going on?"
Taking a deep breath, Max stood up, taking command of the situation like the king he was meant to be. Priming himself, Max began.
"Isabel, Michael, Rath, Zan, Ava and I aren't from around here." He paused. "We're aliens."
There was a moment of silence.
"Aliens," Jeff stated in disbelief. "Right. And I'm supposed to believe you, why?" Max smiled grimly, walked over to him and turned his shirt pink. Mr. Parker's jaw dropped in shock.
"We were in the crash of 1947. We were in incubation pods until 1989, when we came out as six year olds," Isabel continued, turning to her parents. "That's when you found us in the desert."
Diane Evans gasped, putting her hands to her mouth, tears in her eyes. She'd suspected that her kids weren't telling them everything, but she didn't expect that. Her babies. Aliens.
"Please, Mom, we're still the same Max and Isabel you raised. Don't hate us," Isabel pleaded.
Diane shook her head; tears streaming down her cheeks. "Oh honey," she said, engulfing her daughter in a hug. "I don't hate you. Your father and I could never hate you. Why didn't you tell us?"
"I wanted to, I really did, but Max and Michael wouldn't let me."
"We weren't sure how you would react," Max explained, "We didn't want anything to change between us."
"You should have known better, son," Phillip said, pulling the whole Evans family, including Zan, in for a group hug.
The touching moment was interrupted by a frantic knocking on the door. Rath jumped up to answer the door, preferring not to be reminded of the fact that he'd never had a family like that. With a mother and a father. Even back on Antar he was a bit of an outsider in the royal family, just the adopted kid. It wasn't the same.
He was surprised to find Cortenia on the other side of the door, half carrying a blonde girl.
"Rath. I was hopin' to find you here," she said, as he eased the girl out of her arms. "She just collapsed on my doorstep." She shook her head. "Dead indeed." Rath frowned, pulling back the unconscious girl's hair.
"Kaylanna. I thought.they said she was dead," he said.
"She's clearly not, now, let an old lady out of the cold. Have I taught you nothing?"
Rath nodded and stepped aside, not understanding how she could joke like that when her sister lay limp in his arms.
"Let's take her upstairs." Rath shifted Kaylanna in his arms. "We need to put her down. You two were always on the heavy side." Cortenia tapped him upside the head as he laughed.
********************************** *********************************
"How can you say this is all right?!" Jeff exclaimed, finally out of his shock induced silence. "They're aliens for God's sake, they could be dangerous."
"But Dad."
"They probably are dangerous!" He jumped to his feet, flinging his arms up. "Nancy, Lizzie, come on. We're going home. You are not to see these people again."
"But Dad, just listen to me."
"No, Liz, you listen to me. I will not have my only daughter put in danger for some 'alien conspiracy'. It's not gonna happen. You could die!"
"I already have!" Liz shouted. That shut him up. Half the room gasped.okay, just the five people.
"What?" Nancy whispered.
"Two years ago, I died. And Max saved me." She caught Max's eyes, and smiled. "Remember the shoot out at the Crashdown?" At their nod, she continued. "We said it was ketchup, but it wasn't.well it was, but only to cover up the blood." She looked her parents in the eye, willing them to believe her. "He healed me, and he saw into my soul and I saw into his. I know he won't hurt me. Or the others. Not intentionally." Nancy choked out a sob and crushed Liz in a hug.
"That's when you found out?" Amy asked.
"Yes. I told Maria, then later I told Alex."
********************************** *******************************
"You picked a good time to show up," Rath said after laying Kaylanna down on Ava's bed. He didn't think she would mind.not much. "We're telling the parents the truth."
"Because?"
"The Evans and the Valentis got kidnapped by Khivar tonight. We can't hide it anymore. I'm sorry. I know you were trying to protect Amy from all this."
"No. Don't be. I should've known she'd have got tied up in it eventually. Amy always gets herself in trouble. I just hope she forgives me for keeping this from her."
"She will. Don't worry about it," he reassured her. He looked down at Kaylanna. "So, do you know what happened to her?"
"I don't know. She was really hurt when I found her. I healed her as best I can, but I'm not a healer. Minor cuts and scrapes I can do, but not to this extent." She sighed.
"I'll get Zan to fix it." He brushed her hair out of her face. "Where has she been?"
"That, we'll have to ask her when she wakes up."
************************************ *****************************
"So let me get this straight," said Alicia Whitman. "You're reincarnated royals from another planet, sent here in incubation pods to grow up all over again so you could go back and kill your enemy sixty years later?"
"Yes."
"That doesn't make sense. Your enemies would be dead by then.unless your people are immortal and we know they're not because you died. So try again."
Everyone stared at her.
"Whoa," Kyle whispered to Michael, "I thought only Delucas talked that fast." Michael nodded.
"Time moves slower on Antar than on Earth. One day there is like five days here," Zan explained. "So, only ten years passed since we died."
"Right," she said, "All that technology and they couldn't just shoot him?"
"Mom, don't you think they would if they could?" Alex asked. It was kind of embarrassing, but he had to admit his mother was on a roll. She never really talked to his friends. She was usually really quiet, but sometimes she was just loud and in even competition with Amy.
"I don't know, this story seems kind of nonsensical to me."
"Khivar never showed his face in battle. Nobody knew who he was or why he was suddenly trying to take over after being out of business for twenty years," Rath answered as he walked down the stairs. "Zan, go upstairs to Ava's room, will ya?" Zan raised an eyebrow in question, but went anyway. "We were always protected in the palace, not allowed to go out into the city, Queen's orders, because Khivar had taken over the most peaceful planet in the system. Carnath. He killed off the whole royal family."
"So he took over a peaceful planet? Duh. That's an easy conquest. They were probably cocky. Didn't even have a full army, I bet. I say their leader was completely incompetent and."
"My mother tried her best," Michael ground out.
".He.what now?"
"The queen of Carnath was my mother. I was adopted into the Antarian royal family when I was two," Michael said. "Khivar.he was.he is her brother, Kyden."
"How do you kids keep track of this stuff?" asked Nancy. "I'm already getting lost."
"See? I told you we should've made a brochure," Anya said. "It would have saved us a lot of time."
They ignored her.
"Max, wouldn't it be easier to just connect with them to show them?" Maria asked. As it was she was tired of hearing their entire life story. It was getting boring. She could tell from his expression that he never thought of that.
"Connect with us?"
"Yeah, I won't read anything in your head or anything. I'll just show you what has happened in the past two years," Max explained. "You trust me, right?"
"No, not really," Amy answered bluntly.
"Mom, it's fine. It won't hurt. Michael and I've done it tons of times." Maria started. Then she realised what that sounded like when she saw the look on her mother's face. "No, mom, it's not what you're thinking. He only needs to hold your hand to show you what's in his head."
Amy looked at her suspiciously, but then nodded. "Fine." Maria breathed a sigh of relief. "But I want Michael to show me. I want to see exactly what's going on in his head." Maria tried to hide her fear with a smile. Tried, but failed. She glanced at Michael who looked like he was going to faint, or have a heart attack.
"I, um, I don't have much c-control over my, uh, my powers."
"That's okay. I don't mind a few off-point visions. I trust you won't blow my head up." It was an encouraging statement.had it not come out of the mouth of Amy Deluca. Now, it was just scary.
'You and your big mouth,' Michael complained through their connection.
'Stop whining, Spaceboy, I'll make it up to you later. Can you keep her from seeing anything incriminating?'
'I'll have to, won't I?'
Max and Isabel connected with the Evans, the Parkers and the Whitmans while Michael connected with Amy, silently praying to a god he didn't believe in that she didn't see anything that would result in her beating the hell out of him with a newspaper, then slowly torturing him to death.
************************************ *******************************
"Okay, who the hell are you?" Zan asked as he saw the figure sitting on Ava's bed.
"Cortenia Deluca, Maria's grandmother. This is my sister, Kaylanna. I need you to heal her," she said, not bothering to beat around the bush.
Zan's eyes narrowed. "How do you know about us?"
"I'm from Antar, too, your Royal highness," she said sarcastically, smiling sweetly. "I was friends with Rath."
"You're that chick!" Zan said in realisation. "The one Nicholas was talking about."
"Okay. Whatever you want, buddy, just heal my sister." Zan nodded and walked over to the bed, and sat next to the unconscious girl.
"Isn't she a little young to be your sister?"
"Oh gee, thanks a lot there, cause I didn't need to feel young just then," she said, rolling her eyes. "She shifts into the younger body, probably so Rath would recognise her when he saw her. I shift into the older, you know, to look normal, like I'm aging?" She widened her eyes and nodded at him slowly as she explained, as if he was two years old.
Zan stared at her then shrugged. "Yeah, I guess that makes sense." Then he paused with his hand over Kaylanna's chest. "Wait. How do I know you're not lying?"
"Oh, for God's sake, Zan, she's dying! Look at her!"
Making a quick decision, Zan closed his eyes and concentrated on healing the girl. His hand glowed red as he mended the broken bones, tissues and organs. While he was connected to her, he could see memories of when she and Rath were friends back on Antar. He could see the love she had for his friend, but he could also see the love, or lack thereof, she had for him. She was the head of the rebellion against his rule, the faction that supported Rath and only Rath. In fact, even her subconscious seemed to be revolted by his presence in her mind. Gasping, he let go of his connection and opened his eyes to stare into the bright blue eyes of Courtney Banks. Before he even had time to think about it, he was shoved out of the way as Cortenia engulfed her sister in a hug.
******************************* ****************************
Amy Valenti gasped and pulled her hands away from Michael as the final flash passed her mind's eye. Michael backed away from her shaking form, afraid of what she might have seen.
"Oh my God, Michael, what did you do?" Max demanded.
"I." Michael stuttered, with a shrug. They knew he couldn't control his powers that well.
'What did she see?' Maria asked him silently as she hugged her mother.
'I don't know, okay?' he replied. 'I can't control what visions I give.'
"Mom?" Maria murmured, brushing her mother's hair behind her ear. "You okay? What did you see?"
"I.I saw.she didn't even tell me," she said, anger creeping into her voice. "I'm going to kill her!"
"Mom.you can't kill Mi." she trailed off when the fact that she said 'her' and not 'him' struck her. "Wait, who do you want to kill?"
"My mother. She's.god, I can't believe her!"
"Uh-oh," Rath said.
"He knows too?" Amy exclaimed. "Is there anybody in this room besides me that doesn't know?" Looking at all the guilty faces, Amy got her answers. "Jim pass me the phone," she said coldly.
"Now, Amy."
"Shut up, Jim. We're married now, you shouldn't be hiding things like this from me."
"But."
"No buts, Jim. I might forgive you eventually, but until then, hand me the damn phone."
"No need for the phone, Amy, I'm right here," a voice said from the stairway. They all turned to find Cortenia, with Zan following closely behind her.
"Mother. Why am I now hearing about this? And from Michael of all people? You're an alien and you never told me? I'm your daughter!"
"I know."
"I could have been captured by, like, the MIB or something."
"They're not real, dear."
She continued, unphased. "And I wouldn't even know what for. And what about Maria? What if she turned out green and scaly 'cause of some mutated genes or something?"
"Amy."
"Mom, no, I had a right to know."
"I know, and I'm sorry."
"You better be. What about Jerry and Sean? Did they know?"
"No."
"Well, at least I'm not the only one out of the loop."
'Who's Jerry?' Michael asked silently.
'Jerry's my uncle. Sean's father. He died in a car crash three years ago.'
'Oh.'
"God, when were you gonna tell me?"
"I was hopin' it would never have to come out," she said, sadly. Seeing that Amy was about to continue her rant, she waved her hand in the air, cutting off her voice. "Let me explain." Amy's eyes widened as her mouth flapped open and closed, but no sound came out. "Sit down, sweetie. I'll explain it. I guess I should tell Sean, too, where is he?"
"Albuquerque. A court hearing thing," Maria answered.
Cortenia nodded. "My name was Cortenia Dehlookhaar, I had to change it obviously, to a more earthbound name, so I just changed the spelling. Anyway, we, my sister and I, we met Rath on a beach in the capital city of Antar when we were thirteen years old. He'd just snuck out of the palace, because who'd like to see the same scenery day in, day out, for the rest of their lives? Not Rath, I'll tell ya." She smiled wistfully at him. "Anyway, it was an instant friendship. Every week at the same time, we'd meet up at the beach. Kaylanna developed a huge crush, but that's beside the point."
"How did you end up here?" Amy asked.
"It was just before the last battle. Zan, Ava and Vilandra were already dead. Rath came to me right after Zan was killed. He didn't want us to die too. Didn't want to fail his whole family, so he gave me a serum. He told me of the Queen's plan to send hybrids to Earth in the event that they lost the war to Khivar. He wanted us to go, too, to be safe. Without him, you wouldn't have been born."
Amy started nodded, then paused as a disturbing thought came to mind. "Are you trying to tell me that my daughter's boyfriend is my father?"
"What? No! Why do you people always think I was sleeping with Rath? He was my best friend, nothing else." She shook her head in disbelief. "My kids have screwed up imaginations. That has to be it. Must get it from your father, 'cause it's not from me."
"Mom. The story?"
"Huh? Right, yeah. The serum.it was developed by the royal scientists. The protectors sent with the pods all got some. I'm not sure what was in it, but it made our bodies more compatible with the atmosphere, so we could survive on Earth without husks. A husk is."
"We know what a husk is, the kids showed us."
"Right. Anyway, he set it up so that my sister and I could catch a ride on the ship to Earth. Kaylanna decided to stay and help with the war, but I honoured his last wishes and left for Earth. That would have been in 1947, Earth time."
"The Crash," Jeff said in realisation.
"The ship was sabotaged. There was someone working on the inside. The, um, hydro.thingy, crap, I don't know anything about ships. Anyway, it blew up or something. Kaylanna would be able to explain, she's good with those things. The ship went off balance and it entered the atmosphere at the wrong angle, so half the hull burnt up on entry. That's why we crashed."
"Wow. Do you know how many of my customers would kill for this information?" Amy exclaimed.
"Mine, too," Jeff Parker added.
"There were nine of us on that ship, only three survived. Your protectors got captured and your pods were confiscated by the FBI. I didn't see them again for another year. In that time, I stayed in a cave, preparing for when you got out. I knew you would get out. Your protectors, they were brave and strong. They kept me covered so that I could get away to hide the Granolith. I believed they would get out. Our world depended on it."
"You built the pod chamber?" Isabel asked in amazement.
"Yeah.well, I guess it's more I smoothed down the cave walls and created the Granolith chamber. It was hard work, let me tell ya, like makin' a house out of spaghetti sticks, especially since I never had powers before. I had to learn how to use 'em and build a room at the same time."
"Cort, you're rambling," Rath said.
"Well excuse me, Mr. Army man," she said rolling her eyes. "I'll be more concise, then." She saluted him. "The protectors, when they finally got out, they were changed. They weren't the same men I flew down here with. There was an underlying sense of.of hostility that they developed in the base. Not the same kind, though. One, Captain Haardhayn, he hated humans. Completely. Before, he was excited to come to Earth. He had this indescribable need to travel, to see the universe. It was why the Queen chose him to head the mission. She thought that he would make the least impression on the Earth once he got there. He wouldn't be a soldier on a mission, he would be.I don't know, just a man who is fascinated by the world he's in. I don't know what they did to him in there, but when he came out, he was.oh, I can't even describe him." She shook her head in dismay.
"The other, Private Vardex." She glanced at Rath. "The man you sent me to. Before, he was all about the mission at hand. He just wanted to bring the Royal Four to Earth and complete his mission as quickly as possible so that he could go home. He just wanted it over and done with. I don't think he thought very much of the humans. They were just stupid animals, not worth any thought. Earth was just a place to hide the Royals. When he came back, he had the same hostile attitude as Captain Haardayn, the same attitude you would expect from a soldier kept in captivity and tortured for a year. He resented the mission itself for putting him in that position in the first place, but his attitude towards humans changed completely. He seemed disgusted at the way they treated them at the base, but he was also.curious. He wanted to know how a single species could experience, feel so many things and yet be so." she trailed off as she searched for the right words.
"He once told me a story of when he was in the facility. He was strapped to a table in a white room." The Pod Squad involuntarily shuddered at that. "There were tools on a little tray next to him. 'They didn't look like a good time,' he said. Anyway, the doctor, she seemed to be new, came towards him with a scalpel poised to slice him down the middle, but then she looked into his eyes and paused. He said that he could see the compassion in her eyes. It was like she felt sorry for him in that one moment, but then as quick as it was there, it was gone and she was ripping into his flesh, not even flinching at his cries of pain. Another man came in and handed her a phone, he didn't know it was a phone at the time, though. In an instant her whole demeanour changed and she was just this.this woman, somebody's mother, somebody's daughter. He said that from what he read in her mind, that's one of his powers, her daughter had just gotten in a car accident. He could feel her mentally breaking down, but he could also feel her loyalty to her work pulling at her to finish her job. When she returned to him, she sliced him open with anger. Complete rage. Rage for what happened to her daughter most likely, but he could also read a lot of grief. It was her grief that made it easier for him to read her mind. He could feel everything from the feeling of a warm bed to the taste of ice cream, to the sound of her favourite song. It was all there. I think he didn't understand how beings with such wonderful things could waste their time being cruel to others. When he came out, all he wanted to do was find out. He just wanted to study them. To live among them and find out what made them tick, so to speak."
"That doesn't make sense, mom, I mean.you have emotions. Aliens have emotions, right? 'Cause I have 'em."
"You don't understand. We have emotions. That's not the point." She got up and walked around the room. "Antarians. We do everything for a purpose. It must be for something.useful or we just don't bother. It's how our technology advanced so far. We didn't waste our time inventing luxuries like TVs and stereos. We did things by necessity only. If it didn't further our knowledge or lessen our vulnerability, we didn't do it." She stopped in front of the TV and slammed her hand down on it. "That is why Private Vardex was fascinated. Humans waste time, things. He wanted to know why."
"So, what happened to them?" Amy asked.
"Captain Haardayn took the duplicates to New York, I never knew where he went exactly. Private Vardex settled in at a reservation nearby, the Mesaliko reservation. He wanted to observe humans, but he didn't want to be around too many of them at the same time. He was a bit weird. I visited him there a few times." The Pod Squad gasped. Nasedo. "The people called him Nasedo, the visitor. He lived like a recluse, the people not trusting or understanding him, but he didn't care really, he just wanted to see. He befriended two people in his stay there, though. A boy called.um."
"Riverdog?" Michael supplied.
"Yeah, that's it. Riverdog and.um.Ath-Atherton, that's it."
"But he killed Atherton, didn't he?"
"What? No! He wouldn't do that. When Haardayn came back and found him living there, he was livid. They were supposed to be on a mission, scowering the earth, checking to see if any of Khivar's minions had followed them and protecting the Royal Four, not studying the habitants of Earth. He also didn't like the fact that Vardex had told humans about what he was. It was a danger to the mission. So he waited. He planned a way to sever his connections to the humans."
"Haardayn killed Atherton," Max said in realisation.
"Yes. He shifted into the form Vardex had adopted and burned him through, from the inside out. Killing him wouldn't be enough, though. He did it during a celebration, where everyone, including Riverdog, would see." She sighed. "Private Vardex was drummed out of the community.okay, maybe not literally, but.hmm, how can I explain this?" she muttered to herself. "When Vardex was healed by Riverdog, he formed a connection with him. It made it easier for him to see into his mind at any time than, say, if it was you or me. Wherever he was that night, he could feel the anger and disappointment and.fear that rolled off of Riverdog in waves. Riverdog didn't trust him anymore, and when he further went into his mind, he could see why."
"Wow," Liz said. "So Nasedo never killed Atherton."
"No. He was framed by Captain Haardayn. That was when he completely abandoned his mission. Just when he was re-developing his life on Earth, the mission came back and bit him in his proverbial balls. Gone was the safe community in which he could study human nature. He had to start his life all over again, for the third time all because of one stupid war and one mission."
"Is that why he betrayed us? Why he sold us out to Khivar?" Max asked. "If he hated the mission so much, why bother raising Tess?"
Cortenia stared at him for a while, and then looked over to Michael. "What the hell is he talking about?"
"Nasedo made a deal with Khivar forty years ago. Tess would get pregnant with Max's child, then return with the rest of us for execution."
"That is not true."
"I'm sorry, grams, but it is," Maria said.
"It's not, actually. You've been misinformed," a voice said from the top of the stairs.
"Kaylanna Dehlookhar, I told you to rest," Cortenia chastised.
"Yeah, well, I never listen to you anyway," she answered. "Besides, once I got over the nausea from having Zan in my head, it was fine." She shuddered in disgust as she ran her hands over her jeans, cleaning of the dirt and grime and mending the holes. "What?"
"What happened to you?" Maria asked, not being nice, but not being completely hostile either.
"Believe me, kid, you don't wanna know." She ran her hands through her hair, looking around the room. "Huh. Zan never could keep his big mouth shut." Her eyes landed on Amy. "Is this my niece?"
"Yes. 'Anna, this is my daughter Amy, and my granddaughter Maria. Guys, my twin sister."
"Isn't she a little.young to be your twin?" Max asked.
"Oh for God's sakes!" Cortenia exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air. "Do ya not understand the concept of a shape shifter?"
"We shift shapes? Duh, Zan. Really," Kaylanna continued. She looked towards Amy. "Now do you see why our planet collapsed? Idiots ruled the place." Amy smirked slightly. She was beginning to like this new aunt of hers, even though she looked half her age.
"What were you saying about Nasedo?" Michael asked.
"What? Oh. Right. Private Vardex never bothered with the mission. He didn't come to get you or even try to set foot in New Mexico after that. He's living in LA, working in movies. He's a producer I think. Something like that." She waved her hand dismissively in the air. "The man you had contact with was Captain Haardayn. Just because he was a shape shifter, you assumed he was Nasedo, but he wasn't. It's basic training to uses one's assumptions against them. At least that's what I teach my troops. I bet you just pretty much walked up to him and asked if he was Nasedo, right?" At Max's slightly shameful look, she smirked.
"I don't understand. If he hated us so much, why help save Max from the FBI? Or keep the special unit off our backs?" Isabel asked.
"You said it yourself, he made a deal with Khivar. He would deliver an heir to the throne and the Royal Four. What better way to get close to you than to exploit an uneducated guess? If he wanted, he could have killed off one of your human friends here and stepped into the group without much effort. Then, he could also influence your decisions from the inside as an equal, possibly even more than that." She glanced at Liz. The group dynamics certainly weren't lost on her. "But, as the infamous Nasedo, alien and protector of all, he would be seen as someone to look up to. Whatever he said would go, because he knows more," Kaylanna explained. "As for saving Max, well, I don't know about humans, but for us, it's not possible to bone a dead guy and get pregnant."
"Um.from what you showed us, the skins killed this.Nasedo. If he was working with them, why would they kill him?" Mr. Evans asked.
"Oh, that was me, actually," Kaylanna answered flippantly. They all looked at her. "I couldn't let him get Michael killed. Who would rule then? Besides, I didn't think Tess had enough of a brain of her own to carry out the plan without him. I didn't think she'd actually go through with it once he was gone, though, otherwise I would've killed her too."
"So you've been here protecting us all along?" Isabel asked.
"Not the whole time, no. I had other things to do, like infiltrating Nikaid's army, forming my own troops, searching for the duplicates. Where were you, anyway?"
"New York."
"Obviously. Where?"
"Sewers under Eighth Street."
"Oh."
"Why would Nicholas let you back in, though? He knew you were on Rath's side even before the war started," Maria had to ask the question that had been bugging her since the whole story came out.
"He loves me.well, loved me at some point."
"But you broke his heart."
"Well, yeah, but that doesn't change the fact that he loved me." She looked slightly sad at that, but quickly got back to business. "Add those emotions to the adolescent body Khivar put him in and he was easily manipulated.at least until he got accustomed to the raging hormones, but that's another story. Point is his hope never died. He always thought that there would be a chance for us."
"Was there ever any hope?" Rath asked.
"Maybe. There was at one point. But he blew it by joining Khivar's side. I could never forgive him for that. Never."
"Okay, there's still one thing I don't understand," Michael said. "Why the husk? You didn't need it. Not really."
"No, I didn't need it. It was a part of my infiltration. I had to pose as a skin to fit in with the skins," she answered. "Khivar never was able to find the formula for the serum. You know, to adapt Antarians to the Earth's atmosphere, so a shifter in a band of skins, well, obvious. So I wore the husk. Crap as it was."
"So when Nicholas said you killed yourself."
"Mindwarp. I had to make him think I was dead so he wouldn't try to mind rape me for the location of the Granolith."
"I don't understand. If it's just a ship, why would they want it? Surely there are other ships in the system," asked Diane Evans.
"The Granolith is not just a ship, in fact, it's not a ship at all," Kaylanna answered. "Man, where do you people get your information from? The Granolith is a source of power. Nobody knows where it came from or what it's for. All we know is that it holds massive amounts of power that can only be controlled by one person. When that person dies, they automatically pass the power on to the next living member of the family. If that person is deemed unworthy by the Granolith, it passes on to the next in line. Like a throne, pretty much."
"The Granolith can also be passed on by will. If the controller finds it necessary, they could pass it on to someone else," Cortenia continued.
"Yeah. The Carnasian Royal family has always held the Granolith. That's why nobody ever even tried to attack them. They were too powerful. It's a surprise Khivar even had the guts to try."
"So that's what this is about!" Liz exclaimed. They all looked at her blankly. "Guys, Khivar would have been the next in line. If he killed off Michael's mom, he would have got the Granolith."
"But since she passed it on." Max added, getting on her train of thought.
"He has to come after you. Max, you are the controller of the Granolith. That's why Khivar is still after you. He has to kill you to get it back."
"Wait," Kaylanna interrupted. "Michael's mom?"
They quickly explained the Royal family line of Carnath to the two sisters.
"Interesting," Kaylanna murmured. "So even though he has it."
"He doesn't really have it," Cortenia finished her thought.
"It all makes sense now," Isabel said. There was a moment of silence as the whole group let it all sink in.
"Well, since the whole story is out, I think we should all go home and get some rest," Max announced. There were some mumbled agreements around the room. It was five o'clock in the morning.
"The whole story's not out," Serena stated quietly from her space on Oz's lap. She took a deep breath, preparing to drop the bomb.
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Sorry about the cliffhanger, guys. I just had to do it. Heh heh heh. Whatever is Serena talking about, hmm? Eh, it's probably an easy guess anyway.
