Chapter 33


The TV was on and the apartment was filled with the sounds of a hockey game. There was a knock on the door. Maria's voice blended with the commentator's voice on the TV, and reached Michael's unreceptive ears.
"Michael!! Can you get the door? I'm painting my nails!!"
Michael huffed and stood up from his comfortable position on the couch, and moved towards the front door - one eye constantly glued to the screen. The safety chain drifted out of the latch by an invisible force, and then the doorknob was turning.
"Hi Michael!!" her voice chirped in his ears. He released his gaze from the TV screen and look at their 'guest' to see if it really was who he thought it was. Yep, it was her. Tess. The one person that had been 'hanging out' with them for about a week now. They couldn't seem to get rid off her. And it was slowly killing both Michael and Maria, since they knew what Tess had been a part of but they still needed to act like they didn't have a clue. Raise no suspicions, remember. Well, it sucked!

"Hi Tess," Michael said tiredly.
Tess took the liberty to walk into the apartment and sat down on the couch in front of the TV.
"So, who's winning?"
"No one it's seems. It has been dead for ten minutes," Michael said, standing in the middle of the room, staring at Tess and cursing whatever force that were responsible for putting Tess in his living room when there was a game on TV.
"Tess...did you want something?" Michael asked.

"Yeah, I was thinking that we could all do something together," Tess said. "You know, the old gang. I think we need a break."
"A break from what?" Michael asked, already beginning to get worn out by Tess's over-energized behavior. He walked into the kitchen to get a bag of chips. He was actually having a break until she walked in.
"Just a break," Tess said innocently. "Where's Max anyway? I haven't seen him in ages."
"Well, he's in his dorm, cramming for exams. You know him - he always took those things seriously."

"Okay," Tess said. She knew that Max was in this moment studying as much as she was right now. She knew that Max was with Liz, and that was why he had been missing in action the last couple of days. But she was going to pretend that she bought that explanation to Max's whereabouts. She wasn't going to push it and give off the appearance that she was suspicious. This had to run in accordance with the plan. And she was going to stick with the plan this time - and she would in the end get Max, just as she'd always wanted. She needed to get them out of the apartment, out of reaching radius.
"They're having a rave at the old soap factory," Tess said.
"Really?" Michael asked. He couldn't be less interested.
"Yeah, and I've already talked to Kyle, and Alex. It would be so much fun if we could all go!"
"Go where?" Maria asked as she walked into the living room, unable to hide the venom in her eyes as she laid her gaze on Tess, sitting on the couch.

"Oh, hi Maria. We were all planning on going to this rave at the old soap factory."
'Oh, so now it's we,' Michael thought as he poured Tabasco sauce over the potato chips.
"We are?" Maria asked.
"Yeah, wouldn't it be fun to do something together for once. I've called everyone, and Alex is going to ask Isabel."
Maria thought about it. That sounded like a lot of fun. And she didn't really need to spend so much time with Tess. Additionally, it meant that she would get Tess out of this apartment.
Michael thought about it. On TV they were playing a hockey game, which he had been just fine watching. He didn't really feel like going out anywhere. But if it meant getting Tess out of this apartment then it was fine with him.
"But rave? Is that really us?" Maria asked.
Tess shrugged.
"I don't know. But I've never tried it and it would be fun to try something new," she said.
"Okay, how much time do I have to get dressed?"

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In an abandoned warehouse, outside of Roswell

"That's why you're special, honey," Liz said, stroking Emma's hair.
"And it's not bad special, but good," Max said - trying hard to believe it himself. This far all his origin had done for him was getting him into trouble, messed up his life - and was slowly killing his soulmate. He received a warning look from Liz, and he could almost hear her in his head, telling him to stop blaming himself.
"You can use your talents to help other people," Liz said. "Like when you healed my hand, and when daddy healed my stomach that we were telling you about earlier."
Emma nodded. Trying hard to understand. Her parents had told her that she was special. That who she was and where she came from made her special - different from others, but different in a good way. That meant that she had special talents, and could do cool stuff. But they had also said that there was people out there who didn't like her and her parents. That she couldn't quite understand. She hadn't done anything to them. She had never been bad to them. But one thing that had come through loud and clear was that she was a princess. Just like the sleeping beauty...or Cinderella.
"Mommy, why don't we libe in a big cwastle?" she asked, the discussion about talents (as Max and Liz had decided to call the powers) forgotten for the time being.
Liz and Max smiled lovingly at their daughter.

"Soon, pumpkin," Max promised, and hoped it with all his heart. "Soon, we will have our own very castle. But not the way you imagine it. It will look like just another house. But it will be really great."
Emma's small lips formed into a small pout, disappointment written over her face.
"You see, Emma. Here on Earth, no one knows that you are a princess," Liz tried to explain.
Emma looked surprised.
"No one knows dat you're a king either?" she asked her daddy.
Max shook his head.
"That's why we are going to live in a normal house," Liz continued. "But I'm sure you gonna like it anyway."
"Can I have a dress?" Emma asked.
"Sure," Max promised, and leaned forward to kiss her forehead. "Now you have to go to sleep."

"But I want to know more," Emma protested, while she could barely keep her eyes opened.
"There's a new day tomorrow," Liz said, also kissing Emma's forehead.
"Sweet dreams," Max said. "Nite, honey."
"Nite, daddy," Emma said. "Nite, mommy."
Liz smiled, and turned off the bedroom lamp.
"Nite, Em."
Max took Liz's hand and together they walked out of the bedroom.

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Liz felt herself drift up to the fringes of consciousness again. She was laying on the couch, her head on Max's chest, his arms wrapped around her. There was something keeping her from completely falling asleep. There was something tugging at her consciousness, something that wanted to be known. A sense of dread. She pushed her head higher up to Max's warm neck and breathed in his scent - trying to calm down her senses. She felt Max unconsciously wrapped his arms tighter around her, sensing her feelings of mischief. She closed her eyes anew, trying to surrender her body and mind to sleep.

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"There's something wrong," one of the guards said to his partner.
"What?" the partner asked.
"Can't you feel that? It smells like smoke."
The partner looked up at the sky, trying to see the smoke.
"I can't see anything," he said after scanning the sky.
"Everything is vibrating with bad energy - it's like something is bound to happen, like something is awaiting to break the peace."
"Kaleva, I know that you're good at sensing energies, but I can't smell any smoke."
"Remember Zosima, your sense of smell is not as developed as mine. We need to contact Kira."

"Are you sure? I don't want to wake him up if nothing's wrong."
"I would rather wake him up one time too many..."
The two guards walked up to the backdoor, and as they got closer to the warehouse even Zosima had to admit that it did smell like smoke.
"Inform Kira, and I'll inform the others," he said.
Kaleva nodded and his partner was off in the darkness. Kaleva opened the backdoor - which was directly connected to Kira's room. Kira was in front of him before he got time to open the door completely.
"What's wrong?!" he demanded.
"We can smell smoke, sir," Kira's guard answered.
"Shit," Kira murmured, and turned around to notify Max. His primary priority was to get Max, Liz and Emma out of immediate danger.

He opened the door, which led to the rest of the warehouse and his vision was immediately blocked by a thick gray smoke. He concentrated on separating the gas molecules from each other, pulling them apart so that he was able to see something. He pushed up the gas molecules to resemble a wall around him, while he could walk freely in a created lane free from smoke. Having the warehouse memorized to every millimeter he made his way to their bedroom, and opened the door. The bedroom was dark, but the smoke was not as thick in there as it was in the rest of the warehouse. Imagine his surprise when he found the bed to be empty.

He walked up to the bed to make himself absolutely certain that his eyes weren't fooling him. The bed was unmade - it had been slept in. But now there was no one there. His mind started to think strategically. They could be anywhere in the warehouse, they could also be outside - having noticed the smoke and left. He made his way out of the bedroom and to the bathroom - only to find that empty as well. The smoke was only getting denser, and then he saw the coach - with Max and Liz sleeping on it. He quickly strode up to the coach and shook Max violently by the shoulder. He was difficult to wake up, the smoke had already started to fill his lungs, clogging his senses.

Max opened his eyes, and found Kira's face hovering over him. Something was wrong. He started coughing, and blinking. His eyes were stinging. When he opened his eyes again, he saw that even though the air around them was clear - the rest of the warehouse was covered in thick smoke. His first thoughts were on Liz and Emma. He bolted upwards, and found Liz snuggled up to him. Feelings of relief flooded through him, until he noticed that Emma wasn't there.
"Where's Emma?" Max croaked, his voice hoarse. He doubled over as he was assailed by another violent cough. He shook Liz, trying to wake her up. She came to with a series of rough coughs.
"I don't know," Kira said.
Max started to entangle himself from Liz and stood up, staring at Kira. Liz looked at them confused - fear gripping her.

"Where's Emma?" she asked. She tried to reach out for her daughter through the connection but she couldn't get through.
"Max, something's wrong. I can't reach her," Liz said.
Max wasted no time as he started to move towards the bedroom.
"I've already checked in there," Max heard Kira yell after him. "You need to get out. This place can blow up..."
Max ripped the door open and rushed to the bed. Even though he saw that the bed was empty, he still pulled at the covers - hoping against all odds that she was laying under them. Fighting of the feelings of horror, in order to not get slowed down, he kneeled beside the bed and looked under it. He pulled up his arm, and his palm radiated a white glow, illuminating the surroundings. It was empty. He rose again and stepped up to the closet, opening it and searched all the shelves - even though they were too small for Emma to be able to hide in. He scanned the room one last time, before he bolted out of it - heading towards where he thought the bathroom was. He didn't even bother to take away some of the smoke to make it easier for him. All he could think about was Emma. Something had happened to his little girl. He pulled the bathroom door opened. He searched the bathtub, the space under the sink, and the corner between the toilet and the wall.

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"Liz, please. You have to get out. I will have my men do this," Kira begged Liz as he tried to keep up with her as she too had started to search the warehouse for her daughter.
"NO!" she cried. "My baby's missing...and I need to find her!!" Her voice was determined, but Kira had never heard her so worried before...he had actually never heard anyone that worried before. He decided that it was no use fighting her, so he trailed after her - helping her in her search as much as he could by keeping the smoke away with his powers. He certainly hoped that the whole building wouldn't collapse or explode.

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She felt him move towards her, and she looked up to see the door open. She rose from her kneeling position and run towards him. She crashed in his arms, and his arms went around her. They clung to each other. They were both covered in dust, their hands and faces black. Their hair, clothes, and skin reeked of smoke. But that went them unnoticed. Their daughter was gone, taken from them in the night. Abducted...



And I will be back next week with the continuation…