Part 21

"Are you guys okay?" Alyssa asked, approaching Max and Liz and crouching beside them, while Matthew made his way towards Tess’s still form a few feet away.

"Is she…" Liz asked, her voice fading off.

"She’s dead." Matthew confirmed. He looked over to see three pairs of eyes locked on him. "You guys might not want to watch. I’m going to get rid of the body, and it isn’t going to be pretty."

Matt waved his hand over the body, and broke down her molecular structure, as her body slowly decombusted, fading into the ground. He made his way back over to his sister and their parents, and sat down beside Alyssa.

"You probably have questions." Alyssa stated, running her gaze back and forth between Liz and Max.

"Where are you…I mean, are you from…" Max stumbled over his words, unsure about what to say.

"We’re from home." Alyssa confirmed with a laugh.

"What are you doing here? How long have you been here?" Max asked in amazement, the reality of it all finally beginning to slip over his mind.

"Whoa…slow down!" Alyssa chuckled again. "We’ve only been here for a few days…our first priority on arriving was to enroll in school…to get as close to you as possible.

"As for why we’re here…" Matt took over for his sister. "We’re here to help you."

"But why?" Liz asked in awe. "Why would you come all of this way. And aren’t our people trapped in slavery? How were you able to escape?"

"It’s a long story." Alyssa told her. "Let me explain."

Liz nodded for her to continue.

"Yes…our people are bonded as slaves to the skins. Matthew and I were slaves all of our lives. The skins are so horrible to our people…it’s really not a very pretty sight. Many of our people have died."

"But we haven’t….we’ve endured all of it." Matthew told them proudly.

"Anyways…" Alyssa continued. "We were raised with stories of the Royal Four, and tales of your life back home…how great our planet was under your rule, Max, until the skins invaded…stuff like that. Your mother is a great woman, Max. She went into hiding after the skins came, and they still have been unable to locate her. She leads a secret rebellion against the skins, the major action of which was to recreate the royals who were executed during the invasion, and send them to earth."

"In other words all of our lives right now are thanks to her rebellion." Liz confirmed.

"Yes. She’s been monitoring all of your lives, since the day the ship landed on earth. In fact, she’s probably watching us right now."

"Alyssa and I used to go down to her safe house when we could and watch with her." Matt told them, a half smile etched on his face.

"We were all so worried when we realized that the skins had found you, and murdered your protector. Your powers still haven’t developed to their full potential, and we were afraid you’d be unable to protect yourselves." Alyssa continued.

"So we begged your mother to let us take his place." Matt finished. "We wanted to be able to help you. So the rebellion arranged to have us sent to earth, and here we are."

"Thank you." Liz responded warmly. "For caring enough to help." She leaned over and pulled Alyssa into a tight hug, and then switched over to Matthew, before settling back down in Max’s embrace.

Max’s mind was reeling. He couldn’t believe the things that they were telling him. His mother was leading a secret rebellion against the skin, and he was the main tool in that rebellion. He couldn’t help feeling incredibly proud of her for being so strong…and incredibly lucky for being alive at all…but on the other hand, the idea that she was just out there somewhere watching everything he did…it was kind of creepy.

"We’re going to have to tell everyone else." Max reminded them quietly.

"Of course." Alyssa agreed.

"Do you guys know where we live?" Max asked. Matt nodded in confirmation. "Why don’t you come by around eight tonight? I’ll explain everything before you get there…so that I can calm Michael down before you arrive." Max explained with a laugh. "Then they’ll probably have questions and stuff…"

"Michael is really slow to trust new people." Liz explained.

"Okay…we’ll be there." Matt confirmed.

"We’ll let you finish your picnic now." Alyssa grinned.

"See you later!" Liz called out as they left.

Max smiled softly, turning his full attention back to the angel snuggled up beside him as soon as they were gone.

"So…where were we?" Max laughed, before bringing his lips down on Liz’s.

"So what do you think?" Matt asked his sister, as they headed back to school in their borrowed car.

"I thought it went well."

"Do you think we did the right thing by not telling them about us?"

Alyssa sighed. "I really, really want them to know. More than anything. But I’m not sure if they’re ready yet."

"It might weird them out." Matthew agreed.

"God, how do you say something like that?" Alyssa cried. "Hi, we’re your 50 year old children from your past life. You’re our parents that we never knew, even though you’re younger than us? Too weird."

"Yeah…I know what you mean." Matt agreed.

"But when she hugged me…it felt so right! Motherly…even though she doesn’t know."

"Yeah…it was just the way I had always hoped it would be." Matthew agreed.

"I really want to tell them, Matt."

"So do I, Lis, but we can’t…not until we’re a little closer."