| She groaned in pain, but didn�t let a single tear enter her eyes. She wasn�t going to show him the hurt he bestowed on her. He returned to the front and started driving. Tess lay in the back, holding her aching belly. �Rath, that wasn�t necessary! You don�t have to beat her every time you thing somethin�s up.� Lonnie scolded Rath. �Hey, next time YOU punish her! We�re not lettin her git away with nothin!� Rath yelled. He pressed on the gas pedal and they sped away. Michael knocked on the door. Max opened the door and said �Oh, hi Michael. Come in. What�s up?� They walked into the living room and sat down on the couch. Michael looked around, checking to see if Mr. and Mrs. Evans were around. �Where are your parents?� He asked. Max replied, �They�re out for lunch.� �What about Isabel? Is she here? She kind of needs to hear what I have to say.� Max got up and walked up the stairs to Isabel�s room. He opened her door and saw her sitting on her bed, working on some homework while listening to the radio. �Hey Izzy. Michael�s here and says you should come down stairs.� �Okay. I�ll be there in a sec.� All three sat down stairs in silence. Finally Michael started. �There�s something I�ve been keeping from you for a long time. You know that Tess killed Alex and that she�s pregnant with your child.� �Yeah. But she�s gone now. We don�t have to talk about her.� Max interrupted. �Max. Just listen to me. That Tess that killed Alex is not who you think. She�s Ava.� �What? How can it be Ava. She wouldn�t do that.� Isabel said. �Isabel, you barely know Ava. How can you make judgments like that when you don�t even know who she is. All you know is that she�s Tess�s duplicate.� �Yeah, but why would Ava take Tess�s place?� Max asked. �Because she wanted to be with you. When Rath killed Zan, she was devastated. She was told by Nasedo that he had made that deal and she agreed to go through with it instead of Tess. She knew it was the only way she would be able to be with her Zan again. So she, Rath, and Lonnie came to the Valenti�s and took her away and Ava took her place.� �What about Rath and Lonnie? What did they get out of it?� Isabel asked. �They got Tess. They figured that if they had Tess, the true queen, they�d be able to get to Antar by them selves with out anyone else. All they�d have to do is find out where the granolith is and Lonnie can dream walk Tess for that. But, obviously, Tess has been strong enough to fight the dream walk.� Max sat back, trying to make sense of this all. �I can�t believe it! All this time it was Ava? I should have known! I knew I didn�t feel the same love I felt with Tess as I did with Ava. How could I have been so stupid!� Max beat himself up for not realizing it sooner. �Max, how could you have known? Ava looked exactly like Tess. And besides, you didn�t even know Tess that well back then, so how could you have noticed the difference.� Isabel said, trying to calm down her brother. �Well, we have to do something. I would have told you sooner, but Ava would have mindwarped us all and all would have been lost. I don�t know where she is, but I�m sure we could find out with all three of us working together.� Michael said. They nodded in agreement. The next few days were filled with phone calls and tracking down of e-mails. Max tried calling all over the country asking if anyone had seen three teenagers, one male, two female. But it was practically impossible to describe three teenagers in the U.S. because according to any average grown up American, all rebellious teens look the same. Then, one night it happened. Michael was sleeping in his bed when he had a dream. Or at least it seemed like a dream. He saw Tess laying in the back of an old beat up van. She was holding her bleeding arm, crying. He could hear her crying to him. �Michael, please come! They�re going to kill me. They know there isn�t anymore granolith.� He walked over to the van and opened up the back door. Then he took her in his arms and carried her over to a hidden patch of grass. He asked her �Where are we?� She looked at him with icy blue eyes and said in a cold voice �Central Park.� Then she faded away into nothingness. It was 4 o�clock and the plane was preparing to land. Michael had woken up in a sweat and ran over to Max and Isabel�s house immediately. They had quickly phoned the airline and bought three tickets to New York City. Then Michael phoned Maria and asked her to cover for him at school. She asked why, but couldn�t get an answer because he hung up right away. Now they sat impatiently in the small jet. Michael stared out the window, desperately trying to look for the dark van he had seen in his dream. It wasn�t any use for there were more than 20 vans that looked exactly like the one he saw. Max was reading a book and Isabel was brushing her hair. (they�d rushed out the door so fast, she hadn�t had enough time to get ready properly) After they landed, the trio headed strait for Central park. It was the only place they knew where to start. Michael lead the way in the park. They searched through every bush but found no one. They spent the entire day walking around the park. �You�re certain that she�s here?� Isabel asked Michael. �Yes I�m sure. I can almost feel her. We�ve got to be close.� Michael answered. Max piped up, �I wonder if there are any sheds around here.� �Yeah. Good idea.� Isabel said. They started searching through all the buildings in the park, despirately hoping to find Tess in one of them. Near midnight, they were near the edge of the park when Michael suddenly got a sharp pain in his leg. �Aaaaagh! My leg!� He yelped as he fell to the ground. �Michael! What�s wrong?� Max said, startled by Michael�s cry. Isabel rushed to his side and looked at his leg. There was a gash just below his knee which was bleeding crazily. �Max, come here! Heal it quick. It�s bleeding to fast.� Isabel said. Max rushed over and put his hand over the wound. He closed it up enough so it stopped bleeding, but couldn�t do anymore because he was kicked to the ground. Startled and his stomach in pain, Max looked up to see his sister glaring at him. Only, it wasn�t his sister, it was Lonnie. �You ain�t gittin ya girl back. We�s not gonna let ya.� Lonnie spoke with an icy voice and then kicked Max again. Isabel shot a fire ball at Lonnie which hit her in the back and burned it crispy brown. She screamed in pain and fell to the ground. �Nobody ever mess�s with my brother.� Isabel said in a hoarse voice. She sent another fire-ball flying at Lonnie, this time sending her into flames. Just seconds after the fire-ball hit her, Lonnie started to shrivel up and then all of a sudden burst into nothingness. She was gone, just like that. okay Isabel. I�m fine now. My family�s here now. With you guys here, nothing can go wrong.� Tess gave a forgiving smile and turned to Max, who was standing behind Michael. He hadn�t said a word since they�d walked in. He hadn�t fully come to terms with the reality of the situation until that day and it was almost too much for him. He had been so hurt and angry with Tess�.Ava�whoever it was. Tess looked at him with hopeful eyes, hoping he would scoop her up in his arms and carry her home. But he didn�t. It was Michael who carried her. |
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