Part 3 - Phoenix

Chapter 31 - Homecomings

The young woman looked out at the barren frozen landscape and cried soft silent tears. The landscape had a filmy ethereal quality, and that was the only clue for the young woman that what she was seeing was not actually reality, but rather what will be or could be. She strolled down a deserted street; there were frozen buildings, cars and people all around her. Many of the people were frozen in place as if the calamity had come upon them completely unexpected. Others were pointing up at the sky. She turned right at an intersection and here the scene was different. It was a scene of violence. It looked as if dozens of people were running away from an angry blood crazed mob. Many of the escaping people had expression of horror frozen upon their faces. The young woman walked past this scene and turned left at another intersection. Before her was yet another scene of violence. This one showed various war machines scattered all over the street. The war machines were human shaped with two arms and two legs, but as she approached one that was frozen upright; she could see that it towered over her at approximately fifteen feet. Further down the street, she could see a large vaguely oval shaped spacecraft that had crashed into the ground. There were several large gaping holes that had been blasted into its once pristine hull.

The young woman turned down yet another intersection and found this one to be almost completely deserted. Standing in the middle of the street was an old Chinese man. The old man’s eyes were shut, but he was facing the young woman as if he could see her walking towards him.

“Is this what you saw?” asked the young woman without hesitation.

The old blind man sighed sadly and nodded his head. “No matter how I trace the lines of destiny, it always comes down to this. There are events beyond our control.”

The young woman glanced up at the sky at the shining winged being that was looking down upon the world. “I’m not sure if I believe you old man.”

The old man seemed saddened at these words. “Everything I have done was to ensure the survival of our kind.”

“Survival or ascension?” When the old man didn’t answer right away, the young woman continued in an angry tone. “When the human race is dead, there would no one left who can stop the psions from becoming the next evolutionary step right?”

“You do not understand yet. Normal humans and psions can never co-exist in harmony. There will always be feelings of envy, fear and outright hatred keeping the two apart. You’re an Empath. You know how emotions can get in the way of rational thought.”

”I don’t buy it grandfather. Humans and psions can learn to live together!” retorted the young woman.

If possible, the old man seemed even more sad. “There was a time when you called me Gon Gon.”

“That was before I went to China!”

“I didn’t want you to go, child.”

“I know, but I went anyway.”

“And you overcame every challenge that the Psion Triumvirate set before you. I am so very proud of you.” said the old man.

The young woman felt her anger dissolve at these words. She wanted so very much to rush over and give her grandfather a hug. But then, she remembered what he had done, and that the hellish future that she saw was in part his fault. “Diablo was the key, wasn’t he? Somehow, he has a part to play in all of this. If we had killed him when we had in at our mercy, none of this will happen.”

The old man simply shook his head. “If you had managed to kill Diablo, then someone else would have taken his place. Someone unknown. Someone who may not be as easy to manipulate to do the right things.”

“Manipulate? Don’t you ever get tired of manipulating people?”

Instead of responding, the old man said, “Diablo’s actions will ensure the survival of our kind.”

“What about Hydra? Could we have stopped it?”

“How do you kill a thousand headed snake?”

“By attacking the source!”

“What if the source is human greed and lust for power? Will you travel all over the world and kill everyone who entertains ambitions of world domination? Kill one tyrant and another will simply take over. No, dear child. The storm is almost upon us.”

“But what can I do?” asked the young woman desperately. “How do I protect the people I love?”

The old man looked directly at the young woman and his eyelids opened. His empty eye sockets seemed to bore into the young woman’s soul. “You cannot save her. Her death will free the Phoenix. Do you let her linger in pain, or do you let her death serve a higher purpose? Choose!”

A bright white light flared out from the old man’s empty eye sockets and engulfed the young woman, blinding her with its intensity. She squeezed her eyes shut to block out the light.

With a start, the young woman woke up and stared up into the darkness of her room. Her dream was so vivid, so real, that she instinctively knew that it was more than just a dream.

She could see a faint glow around the curtains of the hotel room and knew that the sun must be rising. She sat up in her bed and sighed. There was no point in trying to go back to sleep now. She and her friend who was sleeping on the bed next to hers had to catch an early flight home.

Home. The word filled her with excitement. It seemed as if it had been forever since she was home, but really it had only been a little more than one year. Her friends had all finished high school without her. She wondered how Michael and Tracy were. She had sent a letter home to Tracy whenever she had the chance over the last year, but due to her strange circumstances in China, was never able to receive any letters. It had been hard for her. She missed Tracy so much. She also missed Phoenix, even though there had been times over the last year when she was sure that she had felt his presence. She glanced down at her silver armbands. Perhaps they were the reason why she could feel his presence, since they were once a part of him.

Suddenly, a sinking queasy feeling in her stomach intruded on her thoughts. She clapped a hand to her mouth and jumped out of bed. She ran to the bathroom and slammed the door shut. She made it to the toilet just in time.

There was a soft knock at the door and her friend asked in a sleepy yet concerned voice, “May, are you ok?”

May Li flushed the toilet, rinsed off her face and opened the door. “Sorry for waking you Mary. I’m ok…I think…for now at least.”

Mary yawned and said, “Not a problem. Our alarm was about to go off anyway.

As they went through their morning routines with the easy familiarity of long time friends, May couldn’t help but to marvel at how comfortable she felt with Mary Wellington. Before her trip to China, she never would have suspected that Michael’s mother was actually a secret agent. Over the last several months though, the two of them had saved each other’s lives many times and had developed the special kind of bond that only warriors of the same cloth could.

May caught herself stealing glances at Mary’s right hand. From the elbow to the fingertips, it was entirely encased in silver. Although May wanted to ask Mary about her strange hand and the powers it possessed, she never asked because Mary had never volunteered. Besides, the things that Mary could do with her right hand seemed very close to the things that a certain other someone could do. May was willing to wait until she could introduce Mary to Phoenix to find out the story behind the hand.

As Mary Wellington ran a hair brush through her snow white hair, she caught the occasional glances that May made in the mirror. For her part, Mary was a little amused at the game she and May had unconsciously created. From the moment Mary had met May in the dark alley in Beijing, where May and her fellow psions had saved Mary’s life, Mary had felt the resonances between her right hand and the ribbon-like weapons wrapped around May’s forearms. However, since May didn’t volunteer any information, Mary had never asked. Instead, the two of them would trade questioning looks whenever they thought the other one was not looking. To Mary, it seemed as if both of them were just waiting for the right time to bring up the topic. Right from the start, Mary could tell that May’s armbands – though similar to her hand – were very underpowered. They seemed only to have the ability to change their shape and could do none of the other things that Mary could with her Shard. Of course, May didn’t seem to suffer from the need to constantly feed the ribbons, nor did May have to deal with the almost constant icy pain that Mary felt whenever she used the Shard’s powers. It seemed like a fair trade off. When combined with May’s athletic and martial prowess, the ribbon armbands made May a force to be reckoned with.

They finished their business in the bathroom and went out into the main room to change and pack. There was a soft discreet knock on their door and May glanced at it, and then said, “Come in.”

There was the soft beep of a security card being scanned and then the door opened to admit three young women with identical faces. They closed the door behind them and as one, they bowed to May.

Mary watched in silent fascination as some sort of communication passed between the triplets and May. She felt slightly envious at their ability to communicate quietly, but quickly brushed that feeling away. After almost six months of hanging around with the psions, she was quite used to being left out by now!

She cast her thoughts back over the last year. To say that it was eventful would be the greatest understatement of the year. Everything had started with the betrayal. Mary and her husband David had been sent into a trap by their own organization. David had not survived the trap and Mary had ended up taking a multi light year journey to meet a living god. Mary had bonded with a piece of the god – whom Mary had nicknamed Uncle Charlie – and promptly made her way back to Earth to exact some well deserved justice. The first person she had hunted down was a certain John Lemon of the Collaborative Special Intelligence Agency. Unfortunately, John Lemon was also known as Paul Beddensen of the CIA. Anyway, Mary had found John/Paul in a mental health hospital where he was doing his best to mimic a vegetable. Mary could feel no pity for the drooling, vacant eyed man. Instead, all she felt was loathing and disgust. Normal conversation was obviously out of the question, so she had used the Shard’s powers to forcibly extract the necessary memories from John/Paul’s brain to continue her search. While digging around in his mind though, Mary found that John/Paul was completely aware of his circumstances, but was completely powerless to do anything about his physical state. It was almost as his brain had forgotten how to operate his body. If it weren’t for the machines helping him breathe, John/Paul would quickly suffocate. Compassion almost made Mary pull the plug from the life support machines – almost. Instead, she had left him lying there, to live out his days as a human vegetable.

Mary was interrupted out of her reverie by May. “Mary, the San Yen Jing say that they are all packed up and that both their room and ours are already paid for. There is a taxi waiting at the front door to take us to the airport.

Mary grumbled something about early risers and as the triplets left the room to wait outside, Mary said, “How on earth do you tell them apart anyway? I can’t help but to think of them as Yen 1, Yen 2 and Yen 3.”

May grinned impishly and said, “You’re close actually. Yen Nian is the oldest by about ten minutes, then comes Yen Yuei and then Yen Tian. Think of them as Year, Month and Day.”

Mary shook her head and said, “It’s hard enough to think of them as The Three Eyes! Why are they going with us again?”

May chuckled softly and absently rubbed her stomach. “They have many purposes. The first is for my protection. They are my bodyguards.”

Mary snorted and said, “As if you need them!”

May shrugged her shoulders and said, “Chun Peng insisted that I bring them with me. I saw other advantages. Each one of them is a master of her own gift. Nian is a Clairvoyant, Yuei is a Telepath, and Tian is a Telekinetic. When we get back, I’m going to integrate them with the Children of the Night. Chun Peng insisted on bodyguards, and since they were the ones I first merged with during my trials, I felt the closest to them.”

“Don’t you theoretically outrank Chun Peng now?”

May shrugged again as she continued packing. “She’s mellowed somewhat ever since I passed my challenges, but I feel that she is constantly testing me. I don’t really mind because I know she’s just pushing me to become better.”

“I thought you hated her.”

“I don’t. I was very mad at her when I first got to China, but at least she’s always been completely honest with me.”

“So what’s going to happen now?”

“Well, I’ve left Chun Peng and her husband in charge of the psions. They’re going to continue preparing for the storm. Ever since her brother Chun Po died, Chun Peng has thrown herself into the cause with greater tenacity. She needs a focus, and this will help.”

May was about to say something else when her face suddenly paled and she ran to the bathroom with her hand over her mouth. Mary watched her go and chuckled softly. She didn’t envy May. Not one bit. Mary remembered her own pregnancy. It had been difficult, from the moment she found out, to her tragic miscarriage. Ever since then, she had been completely unable to conceive since the doctors had to remove both her ovaries due to an infection.

Mary finished her packing and waited patiently for May to emerge. As she came out, May gave Mary a sheepish smile and finished her packing. “Why don’t you ask the San Yen Jing to help you with the packing?” asked Mary.

“Because they’re my bodyguards, not my servants,” said May. “Besides, I’d rather use their gifts for more useful purposes.”

“You can merge your gift with theirs, right?”

May nodded and sat down on her rumpled bed. “If I merge with Nian, I get sixth sense. If I merge with Yuei, I get mind control. If I merge with Tian, I get psychic fire.”

“I see,” said Mary. “I think I remember hearing some of this. I think Chun Peng was talking with her husband Mohit about it.”

“Yes, I remember. This was after my trials and just after we met. You were drunk!”

“Hey, what can I say? Near death experiences always drives me to drink. Besides, that was the first time in a long time that I actually had access to booze!”

They shared a laugh and then May said, “Well, I’ll review it for you. Empathy is the key gift that can merge with the others and create new gifts. It can be merged one on one with another gift, or with multiple gifts. For example, if I merge with both Yuei and Tian, I can create psychic bolts. If I merge with Nian and Tian, I can teleport. And, if I merge with Nian and Yuei - Clairvoyance and Telepathy - I can create illusions.”

Mary thought about and digested the information. “What happens if you merge all of them at once?”

May didn’t answer right away. Instead, she had a faraway look in her eyes. Mary was about to ask her to forget the question when May suddenly spoke up in a hushed tone, “The world opens up to me.”

---

Somewhere, beyond the Earth’s Moon, there hangs a large silvery orb several miles in diameter. Once a vibrant, powerful being with powers beyond the human comprehension, it is now an almost lifeless husk whose only purpose to maintain a spatial gate. Given the simple orders to create and maintain the gate, the being was too far from any energy sources to maintain both the gate and its own life. Unable to disobey its orders, the being had slowly died as it fed all of its life energy into the gate. Now, even that energy was quickly running out. The spatial gate began to dwindle in size. Before it could disappear completely though, a large spaceship roared through from the other end of the gate. Unseen by any eyes, untracked by any sensors and unbeknownst to any being, the beginning of the end had just arrived.

The pilot of the ship checked his coordinates and smiled grimly. Home! He was home at last! The ships sensors reached out long probing tendrils and did not detect any other ships nearby. As planned, he had arrived unnoticed. His ship was much too large to land on Earth unnoticed, so he began to search for a likely landing spot to land his ship. A large boxy machine lowered itself from above him and completely engulfed his head. He felt his consciousness expand as his mind merged itself with his ship. The ships sensors became his eyes as he scanned for likely sites. He found one; a valley nestled between two small mountains on the Moon. It would provide adequate cover for his ship while he completed his mission on Earth.

The pilot landed his ship and with just the tiniest twinges of regret and disconnected himself from his ship’s system. Merging with the ship gave him an almost god-like perspective. Soon though…soon he would a true god. The pilot climbed out of his chair and exited the bridge. He was a big man, with a muscular build and a horribly scarred head. There were new scars on his head now, evidence of the latest procedures that had been performed on him. Unlike the previous surgeries that were performed over twenty years ago, he had remembered every single moment of the recent operations. Something about how the aliens operated had prevented the application of anesthetics. The pain of the operations was enough to drive any normal person insane. It was a good thing that the pilot was already somewhat crazy.

The pilot strolled down a long corridor and then stopped in front of a door. He passed his right hand over the sensor pad and the door slid open. Inside, was a large hangar with a large spherical vehicle parked in the center. The pilot strolled to a locker, opened it, and withdrew the contents. Then, he began to change. He stripped out of his metallic golden jumpsuit and pulled on the clothes that had belonged to him in his previous life. Old, faded jeans covered his legs and an old leather jacket covered his stained simple shirt. Steel toed boots went onto his feet. When he was done, the pilot looked at himself in the full length mirror behind the locker door and smiled. He had left his old life behind when he left Earth. He was only dressing himself in his old clothes so that he could blend in with the pathetic sheep easier and complete his mission. Diablo was gone. In his place, was something infinitely more powerful. Diablo had been a powerful psion with three psion gifts. Those gifts had been stripped from him during the operations, but something else had replaced them - something that would finally fulfill his heart’s deepest desires. Diablo was dead, but Hydra Prime would make the entire human race suffer for all of eternity!

---

The Boeing 747-8I took off from the Beijing Capital International Airport and climbed quickly – for something that large that is – to its cruising altitude. As soon as the seatbelt light went out though, May Li gratefully unclipped her seatbelt and rushed past the first class rows to the closest bathroom. Once again, she barely made it in time. She would have to start predicting these episodes better! She couldn’t wait to get home. She desperately wanted to talk to her mother about so many things. So far, in all of their telepathic conversations, she had managed to keep it a secret. How would her mother react? How would her father? Or, better still, how would Tracy react? Well, actually, that last one was quiet easy to predict. Tracy, with her exuberant love for life would react like the ecstatic auntie that she would soon be. But what about Phoenix? Would he understand? Would he be jealous? In a way, May felt as if she had cheated on and betrayed Phoenix, but in reality, she knew that that was not the case. Her love for Phoenix, while not physical, was almost entirely based upon emotions and shared spirituality. She and Phoenix shared something that went beyond the realm of sex and physical pleasure – or at least she hoped!

May gave her head a shake. The truth was, she would not be entirely sure until she saw Phoenix again. May unlocked the bathroom door and stepped out. Maybe it was due to her current condition, or maybe it was due to all the conflicts she’d had over the last six months, or maybe it was due to her fulfilling another part of the prophecy – whichever reason it was, May’s empathetic net had become much more sensitive. Or, maybe it was because May was getting that much more sensitive in sensing Hydra, due to her experiences in China. As it was, May’s empathetic net noticed that strange black void, the total lack of emotions that indicated a Hydra Head somewhere in the economy class section of the plane.

It was such a shock to May that she didn’t react right away. She stood rooted in place as she examined that emotionless black hole over and over with her gift. There was no doubt about it though. There was a Hydra on the plane – right now!

She came back to her senses when she realized that there was a uniformed flight attendant looking at her with a concerned expression on his face. Before he could ask if she was alright, May gave him a quick smile and left him with a bewildered expression on his face. She made her way back to her seat and then sat down next to Mary beside the window. Mary was reading a magazine and seemed completely unaware that something was wrong. She spared a glance behind her and noticed that the San Yen Jing were looking at her with concern written all over their identical faces. Yuei in particular seemed extra concerned. May let her emotions flow out and spoke a single Chinese word in her mind “Seu.”

Yuei immediately tensed up, and her two sisters Nian and Tian weren’t far behind her. May formed another message in her head, and the three young women visibly calmed down. Their calmness was just an illusion though. May could tell that all three of them were primed for action.

Mary finally noticed that something was not quite right and she leaned over to May and asked, “What’s the matter?”

May answered in a hoarse voice that was barely above a whisper. “There is a snake on the plane.”

Mary almost drew back in alarm but restrained herself. “Are you sure? Here, on this plane?”

May nodded with absolute surety. “I don’t think its part of the nest we destroyed.” May looked directly at Yuei and in response, Yuei stood up and shuffled past Nian until she was in the aisle. Without a word, Yuei walked down the aisle, towards the stairs that would take her down into the economy class seats.

“Where’s she going?” asked Mary.

May touched a finger to her lips and shook her head. She closed her eyes and reached out with her gift until she linked up with Yen Yuei. May looked out through Yuei’s eyes as she scanned the airliner with her gift. Where was the Hydra? May found the empty emotionless void almost right away, but it took Yuei several minutes to walk over to where the Hydra was sitting.

The Hydra was a rather ordinary looking Asian man with a small leather briefcase clutched tightly on his lap. The only thing really odd about the man was that he was taking no interest in anything around him. He was simply staring at an invisible point several inches in front on his eyes.

May sent a silent instruction to Yuei, asking her to come back. She then opened her eyes and looked at Mary. “We’ve found it. I think it’s a carrier.”

Mary took a tense breath and asked, “What’s it using to carry it?”

“A leather briefcase. It was holding it as if it were the most important thing in the world.”

Mary snorted in contempt. “It probably is to it. We can’t let it get off the plane – not with that briefcase.”

May’s eyes hardened. “We can’t let it get off at all.”

Yuei came back then and sat down in her seat between her sisters. Mary waited until she was settled and then asked, “How many people are back there?”

Yuei answered in heavily accented English. “I did not count but there are at least two hundred.”

May whispered a swear word and said, “That’s a lot of people to cast an illusion over.”

“Any way we can make it leave its seat?”

May thought about it and then said, “What do you have in mind?”

“If we can get it into the bathroom, we can kill it there. There will also be fewer people there.”

“Good idea,” said May. She looked back at the San Yen Jing and said, “Tian, you and Mary will get as close to the Hydra as possible. Mary, turn invisible and wait for my signal. Nian and Yuei, you two come with me to the last bathroom at the end. Prepare yourselves. We’ll have to cast a quick illusion when the time comes.”

“Who gets to kill it?” asked Mary somewhat eagerly.

“I will,” said May. “You just be ready to clean up the mess. Everyone clear on their parts? Great. Let’s get it done!”

The plan that May sketched went exactly as she planned it. The most difficult part was getting the Hydra over to the bathroom without raising any undue attention. However, since most the other passengers were either involved with the in-flight movie, or busy trying to catch a few winks, no one paid the non-descript Asian man any attention when he suddenly lunged out of his seat and looked wildly around. No one but him noticed the leather briefcase that seemed to flash in and out of existence as it lured the man to the back of the plane. At the bathroom door, the passengers in the area didn’t see anything out of the ordinary as both the briefcase and the man were pushed by an unseen force into the bathroom. The door shut behind him and locked. In the small cramped room, May was hugging the walls just above head level. As the Hydra was pushed in, May unmerged from Nian and Yuei and dropped the illusion of normality that she had been casting into the minds of the passengers in the area. Her right hand ribbon obeyed her mental commands and reformed itself into a long wire-thin garrote. May expertly looped it around the Hydra’s neck and tightened it with an explosive reflex jerk. The Hydra’s head spilled from its shoulders with a short spray of blood that splashed all over the bathroom.

She wondered briefly how she was going to step down from her precarious perch without stepping in any of the blood when the door suddenly opened and her answer presented itself. Tian stood just outside and levitated May out of the bathroom where she quickly rejoined the rest of her team. No one was looking their way. So far so good!

Mary suddenly appeared behind May and whispered, “You always get the fun, and I have to clean up!”

May smiled and then closed her eyes. She took and deep breath and paid particular attention to how the air smelled. Then, she merged her Empathy with Nian’s Clairvoyance and Yuei’s Telepathy. The illusion she cast was a simple yet subtle one. She had to convince the other passengers that they were hearing and smelling nothing out of the ordinary. Mary stepped into the bathroom and May did her best to ignore the sizzling sounds and the sickening stench of burning flesh.

---

General Clark watched impassively as the large dark spaceship landed on the airstrip of the remote and secluded air field. In the quickly fading twilight, his face showed no outward emotion however inside, he was seething with envy. The spaceship was round, almost spherical, and it glided down to the ground with the gracefulness of a falling feather. It was large, over a hundred feet in diameter, and it showed no outward evidence of propulsion. Only the green glow from the bottom of the spaceship showed that it did have a propulsion system of some sort. If only he had technology like that! The Pracetorians had proven to be faithless negotiators. They had shared their Hydra technology with virtually every superpower nation in the world. Nations such as North Korea and China had eagerly bought into the program and were even now way beyond the meager efforts of General Clark. With the silent arms race escalating, the Pracetorians had promised General Clark something that the other nations didn’t have: a control module that would assist in giving complex commands to the Hydras. It wasn’t enough for General Clark though, and he had demanded more high tech weapons from the aliens.

The large spaceship landed and a large vertical door lowered itself into a large ramp. A large humanoid figure – easily fifteen feet tall – stomped down the ramp and came to a halt about twenty feet away from General Clark and his escort of ten Hydra soldiers. General Clark surveyed the war machine and nodded in satisfaction. He noted the large long barreled cannon over the machine’s right shoulder and the multitude of anti-personnel weapons on the humanoid figure’s forearms. This, was what General Clark was waiting for! This would easily turn the tide in the silent arms race!

There was a loud hiss of escaping gas and the top half of the war machine seemed to split open. A shadowy figure climbed out and jumped lithely to the ground. Around General Clark, the Hydra soldiers snapped to attention. General Clark frowned and glanced back. He had not given any commands to the Hydra. He returned his gaze back to the approaching figure. Maybe the Hydras were reacting in some way to this new person? Or were they reacting to a perceived threat of some sort?

The approaching figure came to a halt and General Clark gasped in shock. “Toby?”

The figure grinned evilly and said, “Not anymore!”

“What…what do you mean?”

The figure stepped closer until his face was inches from General Clark’s face. “You sent me to them. You sent me to hell.”

“Hell? Toby? I only did what was best…”

“What was best for you, old man. Still, in the end, it all worked out.”

“What worked out? Toby, are you alright?”

“My name is not Toby!”

General Clark frowned. The maniacal timbre in his son’s voice scared him. A bead of sweat rolled down his face. “Ok, I think you’re calling yourself Diablo these days, right?” General Clark slid his right hand into his pants pocket and touched the remote control. With it, he could give his Hydras several pre-programmed instructions. His finger found the first button, the one that would order his Hydras to protect him and pressed it. Nothing happened. He frowned again and pressed the button again. Again, nothing happened. What was going on? At the very least, the Hydras should be reforming around him right this instant.

The madman cackled a short crazy laugh. “My name is not Diablo anymore!”

General Clark pulled the remote control out of his pocket and repeated stabbed all the buttons. Suddenly, strong hands with grips of iron grabbed him from behind. The remote control was pried from his hands and thrown away. General Clark tried to turn but more hands kept his head riveted. “What…what do you call yourself now?” he asked. His voice was trembling now.

“I am Hydra Prime! As your reward for your part in making me what I am, you shall be the first.” Hydra Prime tossed something over General Clark’s head.

“The first what?”

Hydra Prime grinned and said, “The first of a new kind of Hydra!”

General Clark felt something sharp bite into the back of his neck. “Nooooo!” he cried. It was too late. Darkness claimed him and General Clark never had a coherent thought ever again.

---

Serena took one last glance at the two silent forms in the crib and then quietly exited the room. Outside what used to be the guest room, Serena could still hear the gentle lullaby coming out of the dual purpose baby monitor. Her babies were finally asleep! She let go of a deep silent breath and softly made her way back to the master bedroom.

At Michael’s insistence and over her own vehement protests, she and Ted Marshal had moved into the master bedroom – what was once David and Mary Wellington’s room – soon after the twin boys were born. Michael had claimed that the guest room was an ideal nursery and that Ted couldn’t keep shuffling back and forth from his tiny apartment anymore. Besides, Ted and Serena were practically married in everything but name, what difference did it make?

Serena shook her head ruefully as she entered the master bedroom and turned on the remote for the baby monitor. Poor Ted! He had tried so hard and for so long to keep up the pretense that everything was status quo. Something about making an honest woman of Serena! Apparently, Ted had felt very guilty about Serena getting pregnant before they were properly married. He was such an old-fashioned old fart sometimes. Not for the first time, Serena wondered if she should tell Ted that it was her idea to get pregnant in the first place – that she had purposely stopped taking her own birth control pills. She knew that she wanted to marry Ted, and she wanted to have kids with him. She just didn’t count on how fast she would get pregnant! Her twin boys, David and Charlie were both three months now. Three months since her appallingly long labour! Serena had used that time to get her body back into shape so that she could fit into her wedding gown next week.

She undressed and glanced down at her body. Almost there! She walked into the ensuite bathroom and turned on the shower. As she stepped in, she couldn’t help but to smile. She could still remember the day she found out about Michael’s new abilities. That was when Michael had sheepishly confessed to watching her take a shower. Serena had teased Michael about it mercilessly for as long as she could. It was fun to have a little brother!

Serena finished her shower as quickly as possible. She couldn’t hear the monitor while she was in the shower, and she was still too much of a new parent to feel comfortable when she couldn’t see or hear her little ones. Back in the bedroom though, Serena was relieved to hear soft snores coming from the monitor.

Serena wished that she had someone whom she could turn to sometimes for help. Ted’s parents had long passed away, and Ted was often away for days at a time, trying his best to build his commuter airline business. The money that Serena had received from the insurance company wouldn’t last forever, and despite Michael’s protests, she refused to touch what she perceived to be Michael’s portion. Instead, she had used her half to fund Ted’s business venture after he resigned from the Air Force. He had started with one small airplane and with her help, had quickly built his business to include several small to medium sized passenger planes and even two helicopters. Being successful also meant working hard and being away a lot. Tonight was one of those nights.

Serena pulled on a nightgown and then pulled out a photo album. It was a new one that she had started when she moved into the house. All the older ones that included David and Mary had been reverently been placed into storage. This particular album had pictures of Michael’s prom.

Michael had gone the whole nine yards in and effort to make his girlfriend Tracy Adams happy. Serena remembered that night well! Michael had arranged for the limo, and had picked up Tracy and her friends at her house. In the pictures, everyone looked so happy. The whole night - including the hotel rooms - had cost Michael a bundle, but even Serena had to admit that it was all worth it just to see Tracy to happy. It had been one of the last few times that Tracy had been truly free and happy.

Serena quickly brushed that thought away. It wasn’t a good idea to dwell on what ifs and if only’s! She let her fingers brush a close up of Michael’s face. He had matured and grown so handsome! She could barely recognize the shy, quiet and somewhat scrawny kid that Michael once was.

She was interrupted from her recollections by the ringing of the doorbell. She frowned and glanced at the baby monitor. Thank goodness the doorbell didn’t wake up her kids. But who would be ringing at this time of night? She glanced at the clock as she left the room. The display read 9:30 PM.

Serena hurried downstairs, just in case her visitor got impatient and rang the doorbell again. She got lucky with the first ring, and she didn’t think that her twins would stay asleep for a second ring.

At the front door, Serena reached into the shoe closet and pulled out a taser. Even though it was a quiet neighborhood, Serena never took any chances when she was alone in the house.

She cracked the door open by a fraction and both her visitors face and voice made her gasp is shock and drop the taser.

“Hello Serena, long time no see!”

The face was the same, and the voice was unchanged, but Mary Wellington’s hair was completely white.

“Mary?”

“Yes, Serena, it’s me. News of my apparent demise has been somewhat exaggerated. May I come in?”

“I…yes…of course!” stammered Serena. She moved out of the way and opened the door all the way.

As Mary walked into the house, Serena gingerly closed the door and reached a hesitant hand towards Mary. “Are…are you…”

Mary gave Serena a warm smile and said, “Of couse.”

Serena let out a cry that was half heartbroken wail and half triumphant scream and grabbed Mary into a fierce bear hug. “Oh Mary! Mary, Mary, Mary! I thought you were dead!”

Mary returned the hug with equal fervor and stroked Serena’s head and shoulders. “Shh…I’m not dead. I’ve been away, but now I’m back.”

Serena pulled back and wiped away her tears. “Where’s David? Is he alright too?”

Mary didn’t answer right away. Instead, she pulled Serena into the living room and sat on the loveseat. She pulled on Serena’s hand and Serena sat down beside her. “David is dead,” said Mary.

Fresh tears welled up in Serena’s eyes. The hope that she was just starting to feel were suddenly dashed. “How? I mean, I saw the video footage and –“

“You saw it? How? Oh, from David’s camcorder. He had it set up just before…I remember.” Mary looked thoughtful for a moment and then asked, “But, how did you see it?”

Serena shook her head. “Later. I’ll tell you later. You first. What happened?”

Mary looked as if she wanted to argue about who told their story first but then changed her mind. Serena deserved to know what happened! “We were betrayed,” said Mary, “by our own organization.” When Serena didn’t look surprised by that statement, Mary forged ahead. “David and I were taken into this building where we were held captive by these aliens. They…they took David apart as part of some sick experiment or something. They were about to do something nasty to me too but then the building was attacked by another alien race. The new race, Valeans, were blood enemies of the Pracetorians. They killed everyone in the building and then blew it up. Then, they took me away to meet their God.”

“God?”

“I know, it sounds crazy, but that’s what they called him.”

Just then, Serena heard the faint cries of one of her babies. The second one quickly joined in and the volume of the cries rose fast.

“Oh no, they’re awake!” cried Serena. She jumped up and pulled Mary to her feet. “Come on! Let me introduce you to your grandchildren!”

A huge smile lit up Mary’s face as she allowed herself to be dragged upstairs. It was nothing compared to the almost silly grin that sparkled on her face when she saw the twin baby boys.

Serena picked up one of the crying babies and handed him over to Mary. “This one is David.”

Mary could feel tears running down her face as she accepted the baby into her arms. Serena picked up the second baby and said, “I didn’t want to name my other son after anyone in my family, but I remembered that you said that you had an uncle named Charlie once.”

Mary rocked the baby in arms back and forth and soon, he grew sleepy and went back to sleep. Serena expertly rocked the other baby to sleep and after a few minutes, gently eased the sleeping baby back into the crib. Mary reluctantly passed the baby in her arms back to Serena, who promptly laid baby David down beside his brother.

The two women silently exited the room and Mary followed Serena into the master bedroom. “They look a bit like you, but I think I detect a resemblance to someone I know,” said Mary.

Serena smiled and said, “Ted confessed his love to me soon after your…” Serena’s face clouded over momentarily and found that she couldn’t say the word funeral.

Mary understood and waved her hand. “So, he finally got the nerve?”

“You knew?”

“Of course! Who do you think kept pushing him to visit you?”

“That was you? Oh! That reminds me. We’re having our wedding ceremony next week. Now that you’re back, you can be my matron of honor!”

Mary shook her head sadly. “I can’t. No one else knows that I’m back. That’s my only advantage. Well that and this.” Mary held up her right hand for Serena to see.

Serena gasped. “Mary! What happened?”

“It’s a long story,” said Mary wearily. “I can’t be your matron of honor, but I wouldn’t miss the ceremony for anything in the world.”

“But how? I mean, if you don’t want people to know that you’re back…”

“I have certain abilities now,” said Mary. “With the help of this hand, one of the things I can do is to turn invisible – or at least as close to invisible as possible.”

Serena drew in a sharp intake of breath. “Just like Michael!”

“What? What do you mean?”

Serena clapped her hand to her mouth and then said, “Sorry! I promised I wouldn’t tell. Don’t worry, when Michael comes back tomorrow afternoon, we’ll tell you together. Oh, he’s going to be SO happy!”

Mary nodded. “Speak of the devil, where is Michael anyway?”

“He’s gone camping with his friends.”

“Friends? As in plural? That’s wonderful! David and I often worried that he would never fit in!”

Serena smiled mischievously. “Not only does he fit in, he also has a beautiful girlfriend!”

“No way! You’re kidding me right?”

Serena grabbed the photo album from where it lay on the bed and flipped quickly to a picture of Tracy. “There! Her name is Tracy Adams and they’re both head over heels in love with each other.”

Mary looked admiringly at the picture of Tracy. “You’re right. She’s gorgeous! This was taken at their prom, right?”

“Right.” Serena flipped around until she found a group shot that included Michael. “See, here’s Michael with all his friends.”

Mary looked at the picture. There were about ten happy teens posing for the camera. She didn’t see Michael though. “Where is he?”

Serena pointed to a young man, “There of course, standing beside Tracy.”

Mary’s expression grew instantly dark. “Is this a joke?”

Bewildered, Serena asked “What do you mean? That’s Michael. Here, let me find a close up picture.” She flipped through the album and then stopped on a picture of Michael posing alone in his tux. “See?” However, Serena was shocked to see Mary’s face contort in anger. “What’s wrong?”

Rage, tinged with the sadness of understanding colored Mary’s face. “That…that is not Michael!”