A/N- Well, here it is, the final chapter of Shadows. The reviews were slim on the last chapter, but my stats were good so I know people are reading it and hopefully enjoying it. :) So, this is it. I hope everyone enjoyed it. There's something about this story that I loved. I love the imagery of shadows that I worked in throughout, forming the basis of the story. So, enjoy the chapter! Reviews would be appreciated so that I know how you all felt about the story as a whole. As for me, if I write anything new anytime soon it will probably be continuing my Roswell story called Forbidden but that is only if I can get the inspiration to write. Thank you all, readers- you make this all worth while!

(P.S.- notice the slight Roswell High reference at the end, for all the old school fans. Not much, just the aura colors, but I like to stick in references wherever I can. :))

Chapter Eight

We assembled in the Valenti living room. Isabel stood in the corner, her arms wrapped around herself as the tears fell freely from her eyes. The revelation of what had happened to Alex had set something free inside of her and for the first time she allowed the tears to fall. Sheriff Valenti stood next to her, his arm wrapped around her back attempting to give her the only comfort he could provide. The shock was still printed on his face, as well as the embarrassment that he could hold a key to the mystery. Kyle stood off to the side of them, his face stony in anticipation and sadness. Maria and Michael sat on the couch in a tight embrace. Maria's tears fell one by one from her eyes, quickly being wiped away by Michael's protective thumb. She would sob and he would whisper into her ear some secret message of hope and comfort and she would look toward him, a slight smile forming on her lips as she stared into his eyes.

I stood on the far side of the room, my eyes moving from one person to the next. Suddenly I realized that this was the first time we'd all been together in years. The absence of Liz and Alex had formed a barrier between us all that we couldn't shatter. Now, with new hope at finding the truth to what happened to Alex and Liz that dark, memorable night had brought us together and let us trust one another again. It allowed Isabel to let the tears fall from her parched eyes, it allowed Maria to look into Michael's eyes again and trust in his embrace, and it allowed us to stand together in the Valentis' living room and form a plan as we hadn't done since before the accident.

"What do we do now, Max?" Maria asked, causing all eyes in the room to fall on me.

I stood for a moment, my eyes closed. Tess had killed Alex and Liz. My mind was still attempting to wrap itself around the thought that Tess could have played a part in what happened to two of us. Now she was gone. I opened my eyes and looked at the others. "We need to find Tess and there's only one of us that can do that." I paused and looked toward Isabel. "Izzy, we need you."

Isabel let out a little noise and shook her head. "No, Max, please. I just- it's been so long. I haven't done that in such a long time and this- this is so important. Please, this can't fall on me. I can't be the one that is blamed for not being able to find out the truth. I can't- I just can't let Alex down like that."

I took four long strides and stood in front of Isabel. I took her chin in my hand and nudged her face up so that her eyes looked into mine. "Alex needs you, Isabel. Please help us... help him."

Isabel's eyes held mine. Finally she nodded. "For Alex," she said.

"You can go into the bedroom so that you can relax and focus," the sheriff said, pointing down the hall.

"I'll go with you to keep you company," Maria said, standing up from the couch. Isabel gave her a grateful smile and the two headed down the hall.

After they left the four of us sat down on the couches and waited. I was amazed and pleased at how we could all pull together after such a long time. It was almost as if no time had passed between us; as if we'd simply been waiting for the signal to get right back into the groove. We were ready to pull together to serve justice to Alex and Liz by finding out the truth.

I sat next to Michael on the couch and for a few minutes no one spoke. Michael turned to me, breaking the silence. "Max, I owe you an apology," he said.

"No, Michael," I broke in. "You don't owe me an apology."

"Yes, yes I do." He insisted. "I should have listened to you and I shouldn't have been so harsh about you going to Maria. I knew you'd go against my wishes and that angered me, but I was wrong. I don't know how this is all going to play out, and I don't know what we're working so hard to find, but whatever the case winds up being, you've helped Maria. I was wrong and I admit it. You've allowed Maria to gain something... some sort of closure. You've helped her heal, and I appreciate that. So, thank you." He finished with a nod. "Thank you."

I nodded and smiled. "You're welcome, Michael."

Isabel jogged into the room followed by Maria and every set of eyes turned toward her.

"I know where she is," she said quickly, grabbing the keys to Maria's Jetta off of the table. "Tess is in Las Cruces."

Later- in the car

"We should be getting close. I couldn't get an exact location, just sort of fragments and images," Isabel said, scanning the surroundings in search of anything that could give us a clue.

"She was in an abandoned house? Are you sure?" Maria asked, leaning forward so that she could look directly at Isabel.

Isabel shrugged, "that's what I got from her. She drove to Las Cruces after Max and I stormed into the house. She drove to this house and... wait..." her words trailed off and she slowed the car. "That's it! That's the house."

I unbuckled my seatbelt and heard the others doing the same. Sheriff Valenti and Kyle pulled up behind us and parked, turning off their engine and getting out of the car.

"The jeep," Kyle stated quietly as we all stood together in the street, staring in the direction of the house. "She's in there."

"Everyone will follow behind me. I want to be the first to enter, OK?" I asked, looking back at them. A round of nods followed my statement and I turned back toward the house. "Let's go serve our justice. Just remember Alex and Liz." With those final words we began walking. With every step the rage built inside of my chest. Tess had betrayed all of us; none of the people walking up the driveway had escaped being hurt by her careless actions. We wanted to know the truth; we needed to know what had happened to Liz and Alex.

The sun was setting behind the house, shining light through the rear windows and casting long shadows as we entered through the doorway. The house was bare and shoddy, the wallpaper torn and hanging in rags from the walls. Trash littered the ground and the windows lay in broken pieces along the walls.

Isabel pointed to the left and I led the way down a hallway and into one of the back bedrooms. Tess stood in the middle of the room holding a stack of paper in her hands. She looked up at us as we entered, but didn't move to escape. She simply stood there and I knew she understood that there was no escape. There was no way she could break away from six people she had betrayed and hurt so badly.

She held the papers up before any of us could say a word. "This is it," she said handing the packet forward. I took it and looked down, scanning the pages. "That is where I sent Alex. Max wasn't responding to me and I just needed some answers. I just needed to know what was in that stupid book! So I got desperate," tears formed in Tess's eyes. "So I thought to myself, 'who could figure out that book? Who would help me out?' And you know what the answer was? No one. No one would want to help me out because you all hated me. You hated me and all I wanted to do was get you to accept me! So yes, I mind warped Alex. I created this fabrication and you thought he was in Sweden while he was really here in Las Cruces, decoding the book. He- I just don't know what happened. I don't know how he broke through the mind warp and remembered. I- my hold must have been weak or something. But he remembered. He remembered and he went to Liz. So he and Liz came to our house and they were demanding answers. What was I supposed to do, Max? What was I supposed to do?" She screamed, her words echoing through the room.

"Where are they?" Isabel's words came firm and strong from behind me and I saw Tess shrink backwards, moving toward the wall.

"What was I supposed to do? Isabel, please put yourself in my shoes." The tears streamed down Tess's cheeks, catching in the fading sunlight and reflecting. Her fingers wound tightly around her necklace as she rubbed the stone nervously, her knuckles whitening from her strong grip. "Can you imagine what you all would have done to me if you had found out? I just- I didn't know what I was supposed to do!"

"Answer us, Tess!" I screamed, my voice tearing through the room. "We can imagine what we would do because we DO know and we now want the truth. So tell us what you did to them. Tell us!"

"I- I-" she stammered, backing up against the wall. "I just didn't know what to-"

"Answer us!" I screamed, walking forward and grabbing her hand, pulling it toward me. The gold necklace chain broke and Tess's fingers loosened, the small stone falling toward the ground and letting out a crack as it broke on the hard cement floor. Suddenly the room began to lighten. Amber and yellow ringlets of light began to fly and circulate throughout the room, flowing against the walls and wrapping around the six of us. I looked around the room and saw the others smiling, watching as the colors enveloped the room, sending out warmth with every second that passed. Slowly the streams of light began to converge, the amber and yellow clumping together and solidifying, forming two solid masses in the corner of the room.

Liz and Alex stood wrapped in each others' arms, their eyes both closed tightly as they held onto each other. They stood alive, tangible, and real. I felt my heart begin to beat faster and I heard Maria let out a choked sob beside me. They were alive.

Slowly their eyes opened and they turned toward us, a smile forming on their faces as they looked upon the six of us, but no words coming from their mouths.

"I didn't know what to do, so I concealed them." Tess's voice came from the other side of the room and I turned toward her. I heard Maria rush from my side toward the pair behind me but my eyes stayed concentrated on Tess. Her eyes locked on mine. "I concealed them and created a car crash. It wasn't hard, as I'm sure you can imagine. It wasn't hard and I knew you'd all be too grief stricken to investigate it thoroughly. And I was right... until now."

I stared at Tess, tuning out the sounds of joy behind me as Liz and Alex were accepted back into life and back into our reality. "You will leave, Tess. You will go away and you will never ever return. If I ever see you anywhere near us again I will kill you. Don't doubt me. Leave Tess, leave." I watched as my words hit her. She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. When she opened them I saw her nod. She turned slowly and walked from the room, turning briefly in the doorway to look back at us. She disappeared through the doorway seconds later, leaving our lives forever.

I felt a tentative touch on my shoulder and I turned, warmth melting through my heart as I looked down at her small form. She was exactly how I'd remembered her, from her thick, dark hair to her pale eyes and thin lips. She was real. Liz looked up at me, the smile lighting up her eyes as she reached her hand up to brush the hair from my eyes. I caught her hand and laced my fingers through it, pulling her toward me. And then I held her, her head fitting into the crook in my neck just as it had so many sunsets ago.

She pulled her head away and looked up into my eyes. "You searched," she broke our silence, her voice coming out in a soft whisper.

I smiled down at her and nodded. "You gave me the clues." I looked around the room and saw Alex and Isabel standing off to the side, their lips connected and their arms wrapped around each other. Isabel pulled away and I saw the smile stretching her eyes into thin lines. She turned toward me and caught my eyes and I knew she was thanking me. To the other side of the room I saw Maria leaning her weight into Michael, her eyes closed as he slowly ran his hand through her long curls. Her face was relaxed and set in a content smile and I could see the happiness in her features; her best friends had returned. We stood as a whole- a complete set- the gaps being finally filled in by Alex and Liz, their places no longer standing empty and cold.

I turned my eyes back down toward Liz and saw her staring up at me. In my eyes she could see the months of searching, the pain at so many months thinking she was gone forever. In her eyes I could see the months of waiting, the months of standing in the darkness and hoping to see the light again. Slowly she raised herself up on her tip toes, her mouth moving toward my ear. "Thank you for not letting me get lost in the shadows," she whispered. She pulled away and I felt my breath catch in my throat as I looked into her eyes. Without hesitation I lowered my head and caught her lips with mine, closing one book and opening another with the sweet kiss I'd waited so long to receive. We all stood- the eight of us- laughing in the dying sunlight, our shadows stretching out so long that they blurred at the tips, converging us all into one single shadow, one whole, just as we'd always longed to be.