Part 14
“Diane, what’s going on?” Charles Whitman asked as he joined Diane and Phillip Evans, Jeff and Nancy Parker, and Amy Deluca at the Crashdown Café.
“Yeah, darling, you haven’t told us what this is all about,” Philip
added.
Diane sighed and stood up to address her friends.
“As you all know, our children along with Michael Guerin and Kyle
Valenti are incredibly close. Weird
things involving their group have been happening for two years now.
I have discovered something today that I think I should share with you.
There also some other things that I’ve known about for a while now, but
I want to wait for Jim Valenti before I tell you everything.”
“Well, he’s here. Hello Jim,” Amy said.
All of the adults at the table noticed that Jim had gone deathly pale and
his eyes were wide with surprise and worry.
“Uh, hi everyone,” he said as he pulled up a chair.
“What’s going on?”
As soon as Diane mentioned Max, Jim jumped up and said, “Could you hold
that thought? I need to go to the bathroom.”
“Sure,” Diane said.
Amy frowned and followed Jim. Before
she could knock, she heard his voice.
“Maria? This is Valenti…Really…Wow, that’s amazing…Freaky. Hey, can you put Max on? Thanks…Max, Valenti here…Yeah,
Maria told me…Listen, there’s something you have to know. Your mother has called me, your father, the Parkers, Charles
Whitman and Amy Deluca over to the Crashdown to talk about you guys.
When I came in she was talking about the weird things that have happened
over these past two years and said something about discovering something today
that she wanted to tell us…No, I am deadly serious…What do you want me to
do?… Yeah, I think she really suspects something…No way Max, nuh-uh, I am
not going to be the one to tell them…They’ll kill me!…Look, if you really
think they should know then I suggest you all get your butts over here and tell
them yourselves…Can’t that wait?…Well, do it and bring them over
too…They’re going to have to face their parents eventually!…Isabel and
Alex will understand…Yeah, Isabel would be thrilled…I’ll figure out a way
to distract them for a while…”
That was all Amy could bring herself to listen to.
She walked back to the table in a complete daze.
‘What in the world is going on and why does Jim know all about it?
He knows things about my daughter that I don’t.
He’s more involved in her life than I am!
Damn, I’m rambling in my head again!’
“What were you doing Amy?” Nancy asked, giving her friend an odd
look.
“I thought there was something off about the way he was acting and was
going to talk to him when I heard him talking on the phone.
You’ll never believe what I heard.”
“What?” Jeff asked as everyone leaned in to listen.
“Well, first Maria picked up and she apparently told him something
amazing then he asked to speak to Max. Max
got on the phone and told him the same thing that Maria did, and then Jim
proceeded to tell Max what’s going on and why we’re here.
I’m assuming Max wanted him to tell us the truth about what is going
on, but Jim insisted that the kids be the ones to tell us.
Then he started talking about Alex and Isabel as if they were alive and
that’s when I left. I-- what?” Amy said when she noticed the others pale.
She turned around and saw a very pissed off Jim Valenti standing behind
her.
“Who the hell do you think you are, Amy? How dare you eavesdrop on a
private conversation!”
“If you didn’t keep things from us then maybe I wouldn’t have
to!” Amy shrieked.
“She’s right, Jim. What
exactly do you know about our kids that we don’t?” Phillip asked.
“Its not my secret to tell so I would prefer it if you would wait until
the kids show up and tell you themselves before you get all pissed off.”
“Fine!”
On that note, the six pouting adults sat down in silence, refusing to
speak until the kids showed up.
“You owe me big, Max,” Jim mumbled as he sat down on the opposite
side of the room.
“What did Valenti want? That didn’t sound so good,” Liz said as he
hung up Maria’s cell phone.
Max groaned. “Get this, my
mother discovered something that she felt she just had to share with all of our
parents, plus Alex’s dad. She was
talking about the strange things we’ve been involved with over the past two
years and stuff only she knows about.”
“Jesus Christ, Maxwell! What are we going to do?” Michael asked.
“First we’re going to bring back Alex and Iz, then we’ll go deal
with the adults. I told Valenti
that we would tell our parents the truth.”
“Gee, I bet they’re going to be thrilled,” Maria said
sarcastically.
“I know, but let’s get this over with first.
Okay, Cera, how do we do this?”
“First, I need their bodies. Serena?”
Serena used her powers to make the dirt disappear and brought the coffins
up to the surface and beside them. Then
Serena took a deep breath and opened them up.
“Oh my Buddha! You can fix him, right?” Kyle asked as he looked at
Alex’s corpse.
Cera smiled at the cute human and said, “Don’t worry, they’ll be
good as new. Now, everyone stand
back.”
Cera walked up to Alex and rested one hand on his head and one over his
heart. When she closed her eyes, a
brilliant white light shot out from the coffin.
Cera stepped back as Alex sat up.
“What in the world? You guys didn’t even warn me!” he exclaimed as
Maria and Liz tackled him.
Max, Michael, and Kyle grinned at their long lost brother, ecstatic to
have him back again. Cera walked
over to Isabel and repeated the process. The
first thing she saw was a very alive Alex leaning over her.
“Hey, baby,” he said
Isabel grinned as her brother held her so tight she could barely breathe.
“Oh my God, Izzy, I didn’t know what to do after I lost you. I was so lost,” cried Max as he held his sister.
“Shh, shh. Its okay now,
I’m okay,” Isabel said soothingly.
As Serena watched the touching scene before her, she couldn’t help but
feel a little jealous. She walked
back to the Jeep and climbed into the back seat.
Against her will, she curled up and cried.
After a while, she felt strong arms holding her and leaned into them.
“Sis, what’s wrong?” Michael asked.
“I’m so happy that Alex and Isabel are alive, but I can’t help
but…”
“Resent them a little,” Liz finished for her.
“I know it’s selfish, but I do.
I just want Larek back. I
really don’t know how to survive without him, I need him so much!”
“Its okay, I wouldn’t know what to do if Max died, so I know how you
feel,” Liz said.
“We both do. I’d die if
anything happened to Maria,” Michael added.
Serena sniffed and said, “Thanks.
Well, let’s go face the firing squad, though I think Cera and I will
get off the easiest since they don’t know us.”
The now complete group of friends climbed back into their cars and drove
to their second home.
“Well, its now or never,” Max said as he held Kyle and took Liz’s
hand.
The diverse family of twelve walked through the doors.
“Hi everyone, we’re ba-ack!” Isabel and Alex said.
Part 15
They were rewarded with three unconscious women; three bewildered and shocked men; and one hysterical former sheriff. Not too long after that, two of the men were sobbing while the other too tried to wake the women.
“Damn, Maxwell, I didn’t see this reaction coming,” Michael
whispered.
“What did you think was going to happen?
They’d welcome us home like nothing happened? Or maybe they’d crack
up because our deaths were just an elaborate joke,” Alex said.
“I guess you’re right, but I’m not looking forward to explaining
this.”
“You’re not alone,” Maria muttered.
The group stood around waiting for the chaos to die down, but when the
women came to, they starting screaming at the sight of the “dead” children.
“Mom, Mom, calm down,” Isabel said.
“Are you really here?” Diane asked in a small voice.
“I’m really here.”
“Oh, my baby,” Diane cried as she held Isabel.
Although he was quite freaked out, Phillip joined his wife and daughter
in a tight embrace.
“Son, come here,” said Phillip.
Max smiled and joined his family.
Meanwhile, Charles just sat staring at his son.
“How? I don’t understand how this is possible,” he stammered.
Alex smiled and replied, “That’s what we’re going to explain once
everyone calms down.”
“Oh, Alex, I thought I lost you!”
“You’ll never lose me, I promise,” Alex whispered as he hugged his
father.
Charles nodded and broke down in tears.
While Jeff and Nancy hugged their daughter and Amy tackled Maria, Serena
leaned over to Michael and said, “Kinda makes ya feel left out, huh?”
Michael shook his head as he put his arm around his sister. “Nope, I got what I need right here.”
Serena grinned and threw her arms around her big brother.
After everyone had somewhat calmed down, Max stood and said, “I think
its time we explain what’s going on.”
“I’ll think I’ll get a drink first,” Phillip muttered.
“I’ll show you the liquor cabinet,” Jeff said as the two walked
upstairs.
When the parents were settled with their drinks, Max began.
“What I am about to tell you is unbelievable, but true.
For everyone’s benefit, save all questions or comments until after
I’m done. Understood?” Everyone
nodded. “Good.
Well, around sixty years ago on a planet named Antar, there was a young
king named Zan. He was one of what
they called the Royal Four. The
other three that made up the group were his sister, Vilandra, his wife, Ava, and
Vilandra's fiancé, Rath. Rath’s
youngest sister, Serena was their protector.
Zan’s marriage to Ava was an unhappy arranged one.
His true love was Rath and Serena’s sister, Rayana.
They even had a child together named Cera.
Vilandra also had a wandering heart and fell for a man named Khivar, who
wanted to overthrow Zan. One night,
Serena spotted Khivar and his men trying to get into the palace.
She woke everyone to prepare for battle.
Within an hour, Ava, Vilandra, Rath, Zan, Rayana and Serena were dead.
In an effort to save her planet, Zan and Vilandra's mother-“ Max
stopped and looked at Serena questioningly.
Serena gulped and said, “Ah, well, you see, we kinda suspected that Neo
was murdered and had Mara fake her death. Sorry
I never told you.”
Max nodded and continued. “Zan
and Vilandra's mother had Zan, Vilandra, Rath, Ava and Rayana recreated as
alien/human hybrids so that they could survive on Earth.
For some reason, they had trouble with Rayana and had to make her fully
human. Queen Mara sent them to
Earth in incubation pods to wait for the day when they would return to Antar and
bring peace. They landed here in
1947. Serena, however, was taken by
Khivar to be recreated as his wife.
Rayana came out of her pod in 1983 looking more or less like a newborn
child. She was almost immediately
adopted by human parents and given the name Liz.
Zan, Vilandra and Rath came out of their pods in 1989 looking like
six-year-old human children. Unfortunately,
Rath got separated from the other two and was placed in foster care.
Zan and Vilandra got lucky and were adopted.
They were given the names Max and Isabel while Rath was named Michael.
Ava came out of her pod later and was taken by the shape-shifting alien
named Nasedo. He named Ava Tess and
the two didn’t return to Roswell for ten years.
Serena ‘hatched’ a year or so later and Khivar immediately tried to
corrupt her but was unsuccessful. Though
she was married to Khivar, she met and fell in love with her original husband,
Larek. Unbeknownst to Khivar,
Serena and Larek had a child named Rafe. Khivar
is under the impression that the child is his.
Anyway, back on Earth, Liz grew up thinking that she was a normal human
while Michael, Isabel and I knew all too well that we were different.
We tried desperately to just be normal until all hell broke loose one day
in September of 1999.
Michael and I were eating here when we heard a gunshot.
Liz had been mortally wounded and was slipping away.
Without thinking, I ran up to her and healed the wound, then asked her to
lie about breaking a ketchup bottle. She
did, but then told Maria the truth. It
wasn’t until Valenti threw Alex and Liz in jail that Liz confessed the truth
to Alex. After that, the five of us
were bonded. Liz and I were in love
and happy, until a new girl at school showed up.
Her name was Tess.
From the very beginning, she made it her mission to break us up.
Not too long after we found out the truth about her being one of us, the
FBI captured me. They tortured me and ran all sorts of tests on me.
With the help of Valenti and Nasedo, the gang got me out.
It was then that we told Valenti the truth.
Kyle was brought into the group when Valenti accidentally shot him and I
healed him.
Tess, Michael, Liz, Isabel and I went to the pod chamber, the place that
holds our pods, to heal Nasedo who had been badly injured. Afterward, we received a message from Queen Mara telling us
who we were and why we were on Earth. I
was ‘destined’ to be with Tess and Isabel was ‘destined’ to be with
Michael. This drove a wedge between
Liz and me.
We’ve faced several battles with our enemies who are known as the Skins
over the past year, but our first casualty was at the hand of one of our own.
When we all thought that Alex was in Sweden, he was actually at Las
Cruces University decoding a book from our planet for Tess.
Tess mind warped him into thinking that he actually was in Sweden.
After a while, Alex began to come out of the mind warp and confronted
Tess about it in front of Kyle. She
had screwed with his head so much that there was nothing left.
According to her, she tried to warp him again, but he’d had too much
and died. She then mind warped Kyle
and made him think that Alex was a piece of luggage so he would put the body in
the car. She then caused the wreck.
Liz knew all along that Alex had been murdered, but I didn’t want to
believe it because that would mean that an alien did it.
One night I got so desperate and felt so alone that I- I slept with Tess.
She became pregnant with my son and we soon found out that he supposedly
couldn’t survive in our atmosphere. We
prepared the Granilith, what we thought was our only shot to reach Antar, to
leave Earth and said our goodbyes. We
had left a tape with Valenti for you to explain everything.
When we had only a few minutes left, Michael decided that he couldn’t
leave Maria so he left and thank God for that.
Liz, Maria and Kyle were outside screaming for us.
They ran in and told us that Tess killed Alex.
The others left as I argued with Tess.
I wanted to kill her, but she used the fact that she was carrying my son
to save herself. Then she took off
in the Granilith.
That was a little over a month ago.
Liz and I were out in the desert several days ago when we saw the
Granilith land and Serena stepped out with Rafe and my son, Kyle.
Alien pregnancies only last a month.
We eventually found out who she was and why she was here, which was to
escape the wrath of Tess and Khivar. She
was also reunited with Michael. This
is when Brody found out, but explaining that would make the story even longer.
The next day, Rafe, Michael and Serena’s sister, that’s Liz, were
kidnapped. Khivar had kidnapped
them in order to get Serena to kill herself for their release.
Larek arrived in the midst of all this confusion.
Serena was about to let him kill her when Larek and Isabel jumped up.
Khivar lost control and killed the two of them instead.
We tried to save them, but it was too late. Oddly, Larek’s body disintegrated, but Izzy’s didn’t.
Earlier today Larek, Alex and Isabel in the form of ghosts visited
Serena. She got me and we gathered
up the rest of the gang at Michael’s. After
they left, my daughter from my first life, Cera, showed up. She has the power to resurrect people as long as she has
their bodies. That’s how Iz and
Alex are standing here now. Unfortunately,
we still have to deal with Khivar, Tess and their people. Well, I think that about covers it. Any questions?”
This time all six parents fainted.
“Well, that went well,” said Serena.
“Oh yeah, better than I expected,” Michael added.
“Totally,” Liz agreed.
“God, you three are so related,” Maria groaned.
Part 16
Two hours and 35 cups of coffee later, the exhausted families headed for home, with the exception of baby Kyle and Max.
“Liz, wait. Can we
talk?” Max asked.
“Okay,” she replied nervously.
Max sat on one side of a booth cradling Kyle while Liz slid in across
from him. Max studied Liz for a
moment, and then asked, “Would you like to hold him?”
A grin spread across Liz’s face as she nodded enthusiastically.
As he placed his son in Liz’s arms, Max whispered loud enough for Liz
to hear, “Kyle, meet your mother.”
Liz immediately felt her eyes tear up at the words. “What did you say?”
“I was just introducing the
two most important people in my life to each other properly.
No matter who his biological mother is I want you to be his real
mother.” Liz smiled and nodded.
“Anyway, I haven’t really gotten the chance to thank you for what you
did for us. I have always known you
were strong, but I had no idea you were that strong.
Thank you, Liz. We owe our
lives to you. I also want to
apologize again for the whole Tess thing. I
know, I know, we’ve been over this before, but I just want you to know how
much I love you and even though I love Kyle, I still regret sleeping with Tess.
I have never stopped loving you…” Max trailed off and tried to gather
his thoughts. “What I’m trying
to say is that I will love you no matter what and I will continue to love you
until the day I die. The whole
thing with Larek, Isabel and Alex only makes me realize how little time we have.
Sure, Cera could bring both of us back, but not if she doesn’t have a
body.” Max stopped again and
looked as if he were debating something with himself.
Finally, he said, “I know we’re really young and all, but I want to
spend the rest of my life with you and I want you to be Kyle’s mother and the
mother of the rest of my children.” With
that, Max knelt down in front of Liz and reached into his pocket.
Liz gasped when he brought out a small box and opened it to reveal a
platinum ring with five diamonds in the shape of stars.
“Elizabeth Parker, will you do me the honor of marrying me?”
“I- I- I- uh-huh,” was all Liz could manage.
Max laughed and said, “I take that as a yes.”
Liz beamed and threw her free arm around her fiancé.
“You know that everyone’s going to kill us, right?”
“I don’t care as long as I have you, Liz.”
Liz giggled and said, “Well, are you going to put the ring on me or
what?”
“Oh, right,” Max said sheepishly.
As he slipped the ring on her finger, both were hit with yet another
flash.
*******Memory*********
“Rayana, I know that we can’t get married, at least not legally, but
I love you so much and I can’t
imagine my life without you. So,
will you marry me?”
“Zan, are you crazy?” Rayana asked.
“Only about you. Seriously,
one day I will marry you. Maybe not
in the next ten years or maybe not in this lifetime at all, but I am going to
marry you someday,” Zan said firmly.
Rayana was so choked up in tears that all should could do was nod.
Zan grinned and held his true love tightly.
“Serena is so going to kill us.”
“Yeah, her and my brother,” Rayana mumbled.
“At least we have each other.”
“Forever, Zan.”
“Forever, Rayana.”
*******End memory********
Liz and Max gazed into each other’s eyes, reveling in the feeling that
they were truly meant to be. Kyle’s
crying brought them back down to Earth and Max smiled at his son.
“What do you say we stay with Mommy tonight?”
Kyle giggled. “I think
that’s a yes.”
Hand in hand, the couple walked upstairs with their son, thankful to be
together finally.
*************************************************************************************************
Later that night, Serena was tossing and turning in her sleep having a nightmare.
*********Dream***********
Serena crept along the hallway toward Ava’s room where she could hear
arguing. As she came to the door,
she distinctly heard Kivar’s voice. She
furrowed her brow and listened.
“…suspect a thing. You
know, that mind warp power of yours comes in handy,” said Khivar.
“Zan and the others might be fooled, but I know Serena and she’ll
eventually figure it out,” Ava commented.
“Well, we’ll just have to take care of her before she can say
anything.”
“No! I mean, we just have to make sure she doesn’t remember anything.
It would be even more suspicious if the most powerful person in the
universe were suddenly killed. Besides, it would take all of your strength to make a blast
powerful enough to kill her,” Ava said quickly.
Khivar eyed her suspiciously. “Right.
Anyway, I’ve already disposed of the baby’s father so he can’t
create any problems now. Just keep
making Zan think he slept with you, etc. I’ll
take care of Serena.”
Ava looked into Kivar’s eyes and whispered, “Brother, please don’t
kill her.”
Serena saw Khivar heading toward the door and bolted.
‘Oh my God! Oh my God!’ Serena screamed in her head.
As she rounded the corner she slammed into a tall figure.
“Why, hello, Serena,” a deep voice murmured.
Serena gulped and looked up into Kivar’s black eyes.
“Hey,” was all she said as she thought, ‘I am so dead.’
“I know you overheard us, but I’m not going to kill you or
anything.”
“W-what are you going to do?”
“Erase your memory of my and my sister’s conversation.”
“Sister? Ava is your sister?” Serena shrieked.
“Yes! Keep quiet!” Khivar hissed.
Serena kept trying to use her powers and was confused as to why she
couldn’t until she saw the pendant around Kivar’s neck.
He noticed her eyeing it and said, “Yes, I know how to paralyze your
powers for a limited time.”
“That was sealed up! How did you get that? Only Zan, Rath, Rayana,
Lonnie and I have access…Lonnie. That’s
why you’ve been screwing around with her, isn’t it?!”
Khivar sighed. “You make
me sound so…so evil.”
“You are! Jesus, you’re betraying Lonnie, your best friend, me. Hell, you’re probably plotting to overthrow your best
friend or even kill him. Of course
you’re evil!”
“Serena, I wouldn’t expect you to understand.
It kills me to do this, but I have no choice.”
“Oh, right. You have no
choice other than to be a traitorous asshole!”
Khivar couldn’t take it anymore and put his hand on her forehead,
wiping away the memory of the thirty minutes.
Serena
suddenly had on a bright smile on her face and said, “Hello, Khivar.
How are you doing?”
********End dream*********
“Nooooo!!!” Serena screamed as she sat up in bed.
Brody and Rafe were immediately by her side.
“What happened, sweetie?” Brody asked.
“I just recovered some lost time I had in my past life,” she replied.
“What did you remember, Mommy?”
“Kivar and Ava were arguing and I overheard them.
That’s when I found out that Zan wasn’t the father of her child and
that Khivar was her brother. He and
I argued then he wiped my memory of both conversations.
He also had the pendant.”
“What pendant?” Brody inquired.
“Its this necklace that disables my powers for a short time. After the time is up, my powers are back, but weak as long as
the pendant is around me. It was
lost after I was killed and no one on Antar knows where it is.”
“What does it look like?”
Serena described it and Brody’s eyes widened.
“Serena, I’ve seen Max and Liz with a necklace exactly like that.
I think Liz said that they got it in Marathon, Texas.”
Serena paled. “Was it
found at Atherton’s place?”
“Yeah, I think that’s the name.
Why?”
“We’re all dead,” Serena whispered.
Part 17
“What do you mean?” Brody asked.
Serena and Rafe locked eyes. A
look of realization hit the child as he gazed into his mother’s eyes.
“Oh shit!” Rafe exclaimed.
Brody stared at the four year old in shock while his teenaged mother just
nodded.
“Would one of you please explain what the hell is going on?!”
Serena sighed. “Once
again, I need to explain this to everyone.
Call the others.”
Brody nodded and turned to leave the room, but not before he noticed the
tears in Rafe’s eyes. ‘Something
is horribly wrong.’
Michael shot up in bed and woke Maria who was asleep next to him.
“What is it Michael?” she grumbled.
“Something’s wrong with Serena.”
“Wh-“ Maria was cut off by the ringing of the phone.
“Hello?…Yeah, Brody, I know…We’ll be there in a few minutes.”
Michael hung up the phone and turned to Maria.
“We gotta go over to Brody’s.”
“Now?” Maria whined.
“Yes, now. Like I said,
something is wrong with my baby sister.”
Maria realized how serious it was when she met his eyes and saw the fear
and worry in them. Wordlessly, they
dressed and sped over to Brody’s and were the last to arrive.
Michael immediately noticed Serena and her son curled up on the couch
with tears in their eyes.
“What’s going on?” Michael demanded.
Brody shrugged.
“Max, Liz, do either of you have the pendant you got in Marathon?”
Serena asked quietly.
Liz nodded and pulled it out of her shirt.
“I always wear it.”
Serena closed her eyes and Rafe began to sob.
“No, Mama, no. It can’t
be,” he cried.
Serena smiled at her son sadly and took his hand.
“Sis, what’s going on? Why are you asking about the necklace?”
Michael asked gently.
“That necklace contains the power to destroy me and my powers,” she
stated simply.
She glanced around at the shocked faces and continued.
“It was designed as a protection device against all Protectors.
Since we have more than enough power to overthrow any planet, that weapon
was developed to protect all Royals from us if we became traitorous.
The only ones with access to it in our first lives were Zan, Vilandra,
Rath, Rayana and myself. Ava
couldn’t get to it because she never consummated her marriage to Zan.
What I haven’t told you, because I didn’t remember it until half an
hour ago, is that Ava and Khivar were brother and sister. Khivar was also Zan’s best friend. Ava got pregnant by another man and mind warped Zan into
thinking they’d slept together. I
don’t know why either one betrayed us. Anyway,
Khivar convinced Vi to give him the pendant and he used it so that he could wipe
those memories from me. In the
aftermath of our deaths, the pendant was lost.
I’m betting that the little bitch Nasedo took it.
Brody told me that you found it at James Atherton’s place, right?”
The group nodded. “Fuck.
Your buddy must have given it to him figuring that somehow one of you
would wind up with it. Bastard
always was out to get me.”
“So, what all does the necklace do to you?” Liz asked with a sinking
feeling in her stomach.
Rafe cried harder and clung to his mother.
“Well, there are several different effects.
If I came into direct contact with it when I was the least bit injured,
it would kill me. Being around it
for a short amount of time takes away my powers temporarily and weakens them for
24 hours. If I’m around it for
long periods of time, it will slowly kill me and nothing can stop it.”
She stopped suddenly and looked at the floor.
“What are you saying, Serena?” Michael questioned.
Rafe looked up for the first time and Michael and Liz’s worlds came
crashing down at his words.
“Mommy’s dying,” he whispered.
*********Kivar’s Dream*********
“Father, what are you saying?” Khivar demanded.
“You heard what I said. I
want you to overthrow Zan and rule like you should have been doing all along!”
Dirk snapped from his bed.
“I cannot and will not betray my King and best friend!”
“You know the Antarian law just as I do; you must carry out a dying
person’s last wish or you shall be punished with death yourself.”
“That law is ridiculous and everyone knows it.
Zan is getting ready to throw it out.”
“But he hasn’t yet, has he?” Dirk smirked.
Dirk groaned as he felt his life slipping away.
He grabbed his son’s arm and hissed, “You will do what I asked, I
know you will.”
With that said, the evil man known as Lord Dirk Rige died.
Khivar looked heavenward and muttered, “God forgive me.”
*********End dream*********
Khivar Rige woke with a start. He’d
had that damn dream again, the dream that forced him to relive one of the worst
moments in his life. The absolute
worst moments, though, were almost too painful to bear.
He could still remember Serena’s piercing howl of fury when he killed Vilandra,
the look on his sister’s face when she realized Graner was going to kill her,
the way his best friend looked after Graner killed Rayana, and the hatred in
Rath’s eyes as Khivar fought with him. Most
of all, he remembered the way his own heart broke when Serena was killed.
Khivar had always loved her, and even accepted her marriage to Larek
because he treated her well and made her happy.
A piece of him died when Serena did, and not even bringing her back as he
did could revive him.
Khivar sighed and lay back down. He
fell back to sleep with his mind on Serena and his thoughts cursing his father.
That was how he’d fallen asleep every night for the past 50 years.
“I can’t ever let you go, Serena,” he mumbled in his sleep.
Tess shook her head at her brother and closed the door.
‘How is he ever gonna kill her when he’s so desperately in love with
her?’ she thought.
Part 18
“How do you know?” Isabel asked.
“I can just…feel it,” Serena replied.
“She’s right.” Everyone
turned to look at Liz and Michael.
“What?” Max cried.
“We could feel that something was wrong with her, but we didn’t know
what,” Liz said quietly.
Serena gave her a halfhearted smile.
“Its okay, sis. You
couldn’t have known.”
“Isn’t there something we can do? Like destroying the necklace or
something?” Max asked desperately.
Cera shook her head. “No,
the necklace has activated this cells in her blood that will slowly destroy her.
Distance from the pendant will give her a day or two more, but she is
going to die, and soon. I can feel it.”
“Well, won’t you be able to bring her back after she dies?” Alex
asked.
“No,” Kyle said suddenly, causing everyone to stare at him. “Her body will be destroyed by the cells after she’s
dead.”
“How do you know?” Michael demanded.
“Because he remembers. Don’t
you, Az?” Serena said.
Kyle just nodded.
“What? Is everyone a fucking alien now?
This is so fucked up!” Maria shrieked.
Serena sighed and said, “Look, we all need some sleep. I have a feeling we’ll be seeing Khivar tomorrow.”
“But-“
“We’ll deal with this later, Michael.
I refuse to die until Khivar and Nicholas are dead and you all have your
answers.” The look she shot him
made it clear that the discussion was over.
“We’d better do as she says. Khivar,
Nicholas and Tess are incredibly powerful and we’ll need all of our strength.
Let’s all sleep here for the remainder of the night, okay?” Cera
asserted.
Without much reluctance, the group settled themselves in various places
around the house.
Cera sighed as she flopped down on the couch in the living room.
“Hey, Cera?”
“Yeah, Kyle?” Cera
looked down next to her at the sleepy jock.
“Do you think we can beat them?”
“As long as we have Serena, yes. Together,
Khivar, Tess, Nicholas, Lonnie and Rath possess amazing power.
With Serena’s condition, we are slightly weaker, but I have faith that
we’ll win this time.”
“I hope so,” Kyle whispered as he fell asleep.
******Max’s dream*******
A sleeping Zan was awakened by a tearful Khivar.
“Kivar, what’s wrong? Did your father pass on?” Zan asked, a bit
confused because he knew how much Khivar hated his father.
“Yeah, but that’s not why I’m crying,” Khivar mumbled, wiping the
tears from his eyes.
“Well, what is it then?” Zan asked his god brother and best friend.
“His dying wish is one that I cannot follow.”
“You know you have to since I haven’t done away with that law yet and
that you can’t share it with me.”
“I know, but Zan, its horrible! I just can’t do it!”
“It can’t be that bad.”
“Oh yes it can, believe me,” Khivar muttered.
“Well, no matter what it is, I’ll forgive you for it.”
“No you won’t, not with this one.”
“Kivar, you are my best friend and the closet thing to a brother I
have. I’ll forgive you no matter
what you do,” Zan said firmly.
Khivar looked into Zan’s eyes and said, “I’m going to hold you to
that.”
“Whatever, just let me go back to sleep!” Zan groaned.
Khivar smiled sadly at his friend and left the room.
*******End dream********
“Huh? That was weird,” mumbled Max as he woke up.
“What was?” Liz asked in her sleep.
Max just smiled and said, “Nothing, Liz.”
Wrapping his arm around his fiancé, Max went back to sleep.
Across town, five aliens woke and began to prepare themselves for the
battle that would came later in the day.