Part 8

Michael’s grip on the Rotcu tightened. The ends of his hair on the back of his neck rose and his alien senses went wild. Without hesitating, he turned around and held out his palm.

“Michael, what are you doing?” Max cried in shock as his former second-in-command gathered power into his palm to channel.

“Something you would thank me later on Maxwell,” Michael clenched his free hand into a fist and prayed to the higher power that his instincts weren’t wrong.

With a strangled noise from his throat, he released the pinned energy beam and watched with fear as it collided with Liz’s petite body. Max tried to shield Liz from Michael’s energy blast but Isabel and Tess held onto his hands. He couldn’t tear his eyes away from the unfolding scene before him. His heart dropped as the blast came nearer to Liz.

“NO! LIZ!” he screamed as it made contact. Michael’s blast had been enormous and some of Liz’s furniture got caught in the crossfire. Her belongings exploded and fragments of wood came splintering out. There was another sudden light and then everything was silent. As he glances at where Liz was standing after the smoke cleared, Max couldn’t find any trace of her. There was no sign of her body, blood, or even ash. Michael trembled at the result.

*Maybe I was wrong. Maybe Liz really is human.* Isabel thought, regret making their way into her teary eyes.

Michael continued to stand there, staring at his palm. *I killed her. I killed Liz.*

Tess didn’t know what to think. A few days ago, her powers didn’t even leave a scratch on Liz, but a single blast from Michael killed her. *This just doesn’t add up.*

Isabel laid a hand on Max’s shaking body. He jerked from her touch as if he was burned. She felt hurt, and her eyes showed it. Anger surged through his very soul at the thought of Michael, his best friend, someone like a brother to him, had killed the love of his life with one raise of a palm.

“How could you?” Max shouted at Michael, ready to pound him to pieces. “What were you thinking?”

Under all the noise of the girls’ crying, Max could hear Michael say just above a whisper, “I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?” Max felt outraged, “You don’t know?” He reached over, grabbed Michael by his collar, and punched him in the face. Michael tumbled back at the sudden attack, falling backwards and onto the floor. *Shit. I think he broke my nose! What will Maria say now?* His conscious replied to the question made by his brain. *She’ll eat you out. That’s what she’ll do. You just killed her best friend for crying out loud!*

Max swung his fist back to get another good hit when an invisible wall met his oncoming anger packed punch.

“What the …” Max cried. He was thrown back and landed on Liz’s bed. There was a slight breeze in the room, but a quick check of the window proved that it was shut.

“Who’s there?” Isabel yelled out frantically, helping Max back onto his own two feet.

The wind brushed by Isabel’s ear and a voice whispered, “Did you miss me?”

Isabel whirled around to see Liz standing behind her with an evil grin on her face. She gasped and stumbles backward, bumping into Tess and nearly stepping onto Michael who was still lying on the floor. Liz laughed, a bone-chilling sound from someone who looked like an angel.

“Liz,” marveled Max, “you’re okay.”

Liz snorted, her beautiful features twisted into a disgusted one, “Save the sweet talk for later lover boy.”

Not waiting for the Royal Four’s answer to her harsh words, she snapped her fingers and all four of them fell unconscious.

“When will they ever learn not to play with fire?” Liz asked herself.

Kneeling to the motionless bodies, she went over to them and touched each of their foreheads one by one. With another wave of her hand, whoever she had touched had disappeared. She paused in front of Max’s body; a dreamy smiled forming on her face. Brushing away a piece of stray hair, she pressed her lips lightly against his head, and said softly to him, “We’ll be together again soon my love, very soon.”

Like a switch turned off, her eyes turned hard and waved him away. Walking to her battered and bruised furniture; she healed it with her powers, making sure that they looked the same before Michael had blown them up.

*Now’s not the time to get the Parkers suspicious of our actions.* Fixing her drawer, she came upon a bunch of hidden framed photos under it. *Liz must’ve hid them when they betrayed her.*

Shifting the photos, she eyed them in interest. There were six photos in all, and they were each different. The first one was a group picture. It was taken when they decided to go camping together, when Tess didn’t arrive on the scene yet. The second, third, and fourth photos were pictures of paired couples and groups; Alex and Isabel laughing over a joke, Maria and Michael fighting playfully, Isabel and Max sitting side by side on the bench, and a group picture of the aliens, Isabel, Max, and Michael. The last two photos brought some tears to Liz’s eyes. It was Maria, Alex, and she when they went rock climbing. Maria was screaming out of fear and Alex was laughing at her. The Liz in the photo was trying to hide a smile.

Fingering the last photo, she threw it on back into the drawer quickly. It was of her and Max in the Crashdown and Maria must’ve captured the moment secretly. Max was smiling at his favorite waitress and Liz was returning it with one of her own heart-melting smiles. Resting on the table were Max and Liz’s hands intertwined.

*They remind me of when Yiran and me were their age.*

Remembering what she was supposed to do, she pushed back all her nonsense thinking and disappeared in a flash of red.

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