Prologue
September 23, 1999
I’m Liz Parker and five days ago I died. Well, at least everyone thinks
I did. I feel really bad about it,
but they need to think that so I can save the world.
I sound like a retard, but it’s the truth.
You see, a little over a week ago I found out that not only am I an
alien, but so are Max and Isabel Evans, Michael Guerin, Maria DeLuca, Alex
Whitman, Kyle Valenti and some chick named Tess Harding.
We form what the Antarians (that’s us!) call the Royal Eight.
Max and I were Zan and Ava, the king and queen, in our past lives; Isabel
was Vilandra, Zan’s sister; Michael was Rath, Ava’s brother; Maria was
Ariana, Rath’s wife; Alex was Dirk, Vilandra’s husband; Kyle was Serno,
Dirk’s brother; and Tess was Astrid, Serno’s wife.
I’m not crazy! It’s the truth. Anyways,
when I got shot I could see that Max was going to heal me and that would have
set off a chain of events ending with the end of the world.
So what did I do? I mind warped him.
What’s a mind warp? I made him see something that wasn’t really
there. I’m surprised I was able
to pull it off since I was healing myself at the same time.
Now I need to leave Roswell and track down Tess and bring her back here.
Hopefully it won’t take too long.
Part One
“Tess! Run!” Liz screamed as the building began to crumble around them.
The two ran for their lives and ducked under a nearby fire truck. An instant later they were covered in gray dust.
“That was way too close,” Tess moaned.
The friends crawled out from beneath the truck and stared in shock at
what remained on the World Trade Center.
“All those innocent people…” Liz murmured.
“Khivar will pay for this,” Tess said dangerously.
Liz nodded absently and jumped when her phone began to ring.
“Hello?” she said through her tears.
“Liz? Are you girls okay?” Nasedo asked.
“Yeah. I assume you heard
about the attack. The tower we were
in just collapsed.”
“Damn bastard. Do you know
how many casualties?”
“Too many, that’s all I know.”
“Well, he’s also attacked my location.”
“He attacked the Pentagon?” Liz exclaimed incredulously.
“Yes. Thank God it
wasn’t a heavily populated area. We
have many casualties though.”
“How the hell did he come up with something like this?” Liz asked
shaking her head.
Nasedo sighed.
“He’s a genius. Twisted
and totally insane, but a genius. Listen,
I want you two to get the hell out of dodge.”
Liz paled further.
“Roswell?”
“Yeah, go to Roswell.”
“Okay. When will you get
there?”
“As soon as I can. Try to
stay out of sight when you get there.”
“Sure thing. Bye.”
Click.
“Well?” Tess asked.
“We’re going to Roswell. Let’s
go get the transport ready.”
Tess nodded and the two girls ran to their Jeep.
Once home, they went into the basement where their transporter was
stored. Liz punched in Rowell’s
coordinates and pressed a button. A
second later, the girls stood in the middle of Max Evans’ backyard.
“Shit!” Liz exclaimed as she realized where she was.
“This can’t be good,” Tess moaned as the backdoor opened.
“Quick! Do a mind warp!” she hissed as Max came into view.
Liz closed her eyes and concentrated.
Tess stood nervously as Max seemed to examine the spot Liz was standing
on. After a minute or so, Max
shrugged and went back inside.
“Yet another close one,” Tess whispered.
Liz didn't reply as she stared at the spot where Max had just stood.
“Antar to Liz. Antar to
Liz. Liz, are you there?”
“Very funny,” Liz snapped.
Tess just smirked and dragged Liz away from the house.
“Let’s go get a hotel room before you run into that house and scare
the shit out of Maxie-boy.”
“Well, what was it Maxwell?” Michael asked when Max came back into
the house.
“Nothing.”
“Are you sure?”
“Of course I’m sure,” replied Max, without any emotion.
Isabel frowned. Max had been
like this for two years now. Ever
since Liz Parker died he was just a shell of his former self.
Iz wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t even care about her or Michael
anymore. She wished now that Max
had been able to save Liz. How was
she ever going to get through to him?
Part Two
“The Little Green Inn?” Tess said in disgust, staring at the motel before them. “Liz, remind me again why we’re staying here.”
Her best friend sighed. “Because,
Astrid, it’s the cheapest one in the whole frickin’ city.”
Tess decided to let it drop. Liz only used her formal name when she was really pissed or annoyed. She could tell that seeing Max had really shaken Liz up. Tess could only imagine how bad it would have been if Liz had seen Max and Michael. After Liz fully recovered her memory over a year ago, she cried in her sleep every single night for Zan and Rath, the two most important people in her life as Ava.
“So…wanna go get some food?” the blue-eyed blonde asked the petite
brunette.
Liz shook her head. “You’ll
have to go alone. What if someone I
know saw me?”
Tess rolled her eyes. “First
of all, they would think that they were mistaken.
Second, I doubt they’d recognize you.”
Liz had to admit that Tess was right.
Her hair was incredibly long and was done in hundreds of tiny braids, she
was a little taller and stronger, not to mention the fact that she had a total
of nine piercings and three tattoos. She
had three holes in each ear, one in the cartilage of her right ear, a tiny
silver hoop in her eyebrow, and a bar through her bellybutton.
Her three tattoos consisted of the whirlpool symbol on her left shoulder,
the Chinese symbol for “destiny” on her right, and the royal seal of the
five planets on the small of her back. Liz
also knew that the way she was dressed now was completely different from the way
she used to. Her outfit today was
her favorite: black JNCOs, black and white Vans, a white tube top that showed a
lot of her stomach, and a black hoodie with gray sleeves.
She didn’t know what really possessed her to dress like that, but she
figured it had something to do with living in New York.
Tess, too, had changed her style of dress since they moved to New York
together. When they first met, Tess
had been even more of a prep than Liz. Now
her favorite outfit, which she was also wearing, consisted of black Vans, black
low-rise jeans that were studded along the top, sides, and bottom, and a tight
white shirt that also showed off her flat stomach and belly button piercing.
“Fine,” Liz finally muttered. “But
if anyone recognizes me, there will be hell to pay.”
“Yes, your Highness,” Tess replied in a singsong voice.
“Lead the way!”
Liz rolled her eyes and headed toward Senor Chow’s.
“Why do I get the feeling that I’m going to regret this?” she
mumbled to herself.
“Maria! You promised!” Alex whined, putting on his best puppy-dog
face.
“Yeah, Maria. Come on, we
never spend enough time together,” Kyle gently reminded his stepsister.
Maria sighed. “I know I
promised to go to lunch, but I’m not in the mood.
I mean, there was the attack this morning, and the anniversary is in
seven days and you guys know how I get around this time…”
Alex and Kyle knew all too well what she was talking about. The two-year anniversary of Liz’s death was only a week
away and Maria was starting to get depressed again.
They had both been devastated to lose her, but Maria had been far worse
off than they could ever imagine being.
“Please? It will do you some good to get your mind off of her,” Alex
said softly.
Maria bowed her head in defeat. “Fine.
Where are we going?”
Kyle grinned. “That’s
the spirit, sis! We’re going to Senor Chow’s.”
“Why are we eating here?” Max asked as Isabel pulled the Jeep in
front of Senor Chow’s.
“Because, if we go to the Crashdown, you’ll be even more depressed
than normal. At least this way you
don’t have constant reminders of Liz all over the place here,” she replied.
Max’s eyes clouded over at the mention on Liz and quickly jumped out of
the car.
“Nice going, Iz. Real
subtle,” Michael groaned.
Isabel frowned and tried to fight back the tears of frustration that
constantly threatened to spill over. “Michael,
it kills me to see him this way. When
Liz Parker died, he died too and I don’t understand it. He barely knew her. How
can he still be so devastated?”
Michael shrugged. “Maybe
because he knows that he probably could have saved her if he’d gotten to her a
second sooner; maybe because he loved her, I don’t know.
I do know that talking about her so coldly is not going to win you any
points with him.”
“When did you get so smart?”
“Dunno. Let’s eat.”
“Fuck me,” Liz murmured, staring in shock at the door of Senor
Chow’s.
“Why?” Tess asked, baffled by her Queen’s behavior.
Liz only continued to stare. Tess
frowned and turned around to see what had her friend’s attention. She immediately saw the problem.
“Uh-oh. Max, Isabel, and
Michael are here.”
“No shit, Sherlock,” Liz snapped.
“It could be worse.”
“How?” Liz asked, looking at her friend as if she was crazy.
“Alex, Maria, and Kyle could show up.”
“Well, its worse,” Liz hissed.
“No fucking way!” Tess exclaimed and turned around.
Sure enough, there stood the last remaining members of the Royal Eight.
“Kyle’s the shorter one, right?”
“How can you tell?”
“I can feel it. I feel
drawn to him. Is that normal?”
Liz smiled faintly. “For
us. Come on, eat up. I don’t want to be in here longer than necessary.
Otherwise, I just might go throw myself at Max and kiss him senseless.”
Tess chuckled. “I’d pay to see that. Poor guy would probably think he was going crazy—his long dead dream girl kissing him and then telling him that they were meant to be together. He’d freak.”
“Eat your enchiladas, Astrid.”
As Michael, Max, and Isabel were being seated, Max felt a strange force
pulling his attention towards a table at the back of the restaurant.
He looked over and saw a cute blonde with amazing blue eyes that looked
about his age.
‘Weird,’ he thought. ‘I’ve
never seen her before.’
Yet he felt some sort of connection.
He saw her lean across the table and say something.
Max then realized that she was sitting with someone who was blocked by a
pillar. He felt a strange need to
see who it was, so he muttered something about going to the bathroom and walked
past the table with the blonde girl. As
he caught sight of her companion, he froze in his tracks.
Sitting at the table was the most beautiful girl he’d ever seen.
She looked insanely like Liz and he shook his head to clear out the crazy
notion that it was actually her. He
went to the bathroom and threw some cold water on his face.
“Get a grip, Evans. Liz is
dead. She’s never coming back,”
he muttered to his reflection.
As he opened the door to the bathroom, he heard an eerily familiar voice.
“Are you almost done, Tess? We need to get out of here.”
Max peeked his head around the corner and saw that it was the beautiful
girl who had spoken.
“Chill out, Liz. I don’t
think Max or the others have spotted you yet.”
Max’s jaw dropped in shock. Liz.
That blonde, Tess, had just called her Liz.
She also knew his name. Was
it possible? Was it really his Liz?
“Keep your voice down!” Liz hissed.
“The last thing we need is for one of them to hear us.
We’re not supposed to disclose our identities until Nasedo gets
here.”
Max’s head was spinning. ‘Nasedo?
That’s the man that Riverdog spoke of. He’s
an alien. What are Liz and this
Tess girl doing with him?’ He shook his head and started to make his way back
to the table. He was tempted to run
to Liz and scoop her up into his arms, but he had some things to think about.
Like, how the hell was she alive? He was distracted that he ran smack
into Michael right by Liz and Tess’ table.
“What took you so long, Maxwell? Isabel started to think—Liz?”
Michael stammered in shock as his eyes came to rest on her.
Liz’s eyes widened in shock as she stared up at her brother and her
destined husband.
“H-hey Michael, Max,” she managed weakly.
The two men just stared at her in shock.
Tess looked at the three and took charge.
“You two go back to Isabel and finished eating.
Meet us at the Little Green Inn at three o’clock.
We’re in room 119. Do not tell Isabel, or Alex, or anyone that you saw Liz.
Got it? Good. See ya in a few hours, boys,” Tess said and drug Liz out of
the restaurant.
Max and Michael continued to stare after them in shock.
Finally, Max asked, “I wasn’t imagining that, right? Liz was really
here, and we’re really supposed to meet her in two and a half hours, right?”
Michael could only nod.
“Wow,” Max murmured and smiled for the first time in two years.
TBC