The clock on the nightstand read 3:30, but he didn't let that stop him from getting up and dressed. He had to get to Max. They were coming, and soon, and he would need to know.

In Max's bedroom, a few minutes later, Michael paced restlessly. "I'm telling you that it was real. They're coming and we need to do something about it. We need to get ready."

"Michael, it was only a dream."

"No, it was more than that, Maxwell."

"How do you know?"

"I just know. I knew about the map, right, and the key. I'm right about this too," Michael stopped pacing long enough to say, "I feel it."

Max, still trying to wake up, had to force his brain to work. "Ok, say it's true. Say they are coming. What do you want us to do? We can't do anything until they get here and show themselves. All we can do is be on our guard, right?"

Frustrated, Michael flopped down on the bed. "I guess so." He sighed. Why was it that every time his abilities kicked it, he had to wait for the rest of the world to catch up? What was the point of having a dream like this if it didn't mean anything?

Knowing what Michael was thinking, Max said, "Look, at least we know to expect something. That's more warning than we usually get. Let's get everyone together in the morning and tell them what you saw. It can't hurt for all of us to be more cautious until we know something more."

Rubbing his hand across his face, Michael reluctantly agreed. Looking at the clock, Max offered, "Do you want to stay over?" There was less than two hours before sunrise, and today would be another school day.

"Yeah, sure." The sleeping bag was a little dusty from not having been used in several months, not since the night before Agent Pierce had captured Max, but neither boy noticed or cared too much.

They had just settled in for what remained of the evening when they both heard a sound coming from Isabel's room. Soft though it was, it sounded like a cry of fear. In an instant, they were on their feet and down the hall. Isabel appeared to be having a nightmare, and Max rushed over to wake her.

"Isabel, Isabel, wake up. Wake up."

She sat up with a cry, trembling. She clutched at him, her heart pounding. The dream had been so real... She was having problems shaking it off. Needing reassurance, she unthinkingly asked, "Max, I'm not dead. Right? I'm not dead."

Biting back a grin, Max agreed solemnly. "That's right. You're not." He hugged her and stroked her back until she was calm. Finally, he asked, "What were you dreaming about?"

"Oh my god, Max, it was so weird. I was dead, but then I wasn't. I must have been though, because I think I was haunting Liz. Sometimes I was watching her, and sometimes it was like I was inside her, looking out."

"Liz?" As always, that one small syllable brought Max to a standstill.

Still caught up in her nightmare, she shuddered. "It was terrible. And eerie, like it was all real, but it couldn't have been... It started off in school, and then there was this thing with Nasedo. And Michael was dead, too, only he'd just died. I just can't get it out of my head."

"Dead?" Michael whispered.

"And you were there," she informed Max, "but there were two of you, no wait," she corrected herself, "there were three of you, I guess."

"It was just a dream, Isabel. Michael's fine, and you're alive. I'm right here, and there is only one me, I promise."

"Maxwell, maybe this means something." Michael asserted. "I mean, there are three of you, if you think about it. There's the original leader, you and Zan in New York. Of course, you're the only one still alive, but there were three of you. And Isabel and me being dead... I mean, what if this has something to do with my dream?" Michael's tendency to panic when things got tense was starting to kick in.

"What dream," Isabel asked, feeling the tension in the room.

They quickly filled her in on the dream that had woken Michael earlier.

"I'm telling you. Both of us having dreams like this on the same night... it's too much of a coincidence. I say someone's trying to tell us something."

"But Michael your dreams weren't anything alike," Max objected.

"And I've been having the same one for a couple of nights now," his sister added.

Michael wasn't placated, but Max ended the discussion by reminding them that even if the dreams were connected, and if there were others on their way to Roswell, there still wasn't anything they could do about it until after they arrived. By this time, there was no point in trying to get back to sleep, so the three teens wearily trooped downstairs to fix some breakfast instead.

That same morning, Liz overslept. She didn't even hear the alarm. Normally, she's the type of person who is awake before the annoying buzzing begins so that she can shut it off right away. But not this morning. In fact, she'd been getting up later and later over the past few weeks. The rest that she'd gotten the day that Isabel and Maria had stayed with her had revived her only for a short time, and now it was like it had never happened. All of her bones ached with fatigue. She was trying everything she could think of to get rid of this stupid cold, but none of it seemed to be working. Each day she felt a little bit worse. Her parents were starting to notice her lack of energy. Jeff had commented on it last night after helping her close the Café. If she could, she would stay in bed all day, but she had a final to take in second period that she wasn't sure she was ready for. Somehow, it was too much of an effort to care one way or another. Gritting her teeth, she dragged herself out of the bed and headed toward the shower. Maybe the cold water would help shake off the cobwebs.

* * * * * *

"Have you seen Liz?" Max asked Maria for what had to be the tenth time since school started. It was only the beginning of fourth period.

Maria had been looking for Max ever since second period, and was thankful to find him waiting next to her and Liz's lockers. "Max, I'm really worried. Liz isn't here. She just missed her Chemistry final." Maria was beginning to stress. She couldn't think of any other time in all of the years that they had been friends that Liz had ever missed a test, let alone a final. That something was seriously wrong was a given, and the only thing she could do was stand around in a near panic.

"Have you tried calling her?" Max asked. Maria's alarm was contagious but he was trying to stay calm.

"Of course I've tried to call her. No one's answering. The restaurant doesn't open for another hour, so there's no one there to talk to." She was looking at him like she expected him to know something, to say something to make everything ok, but Max was at a loss.

"She's been sick, Maria. Maybe she went to the doctor this morning. We'll try calling the café at lunch. If she's not back, then at least there should be someone there who can tell us something." He put his hand on her arm comfortingly. "I'm sure everything's fine with her. In the meantime though, we need to have a meeting. Can you and Alex meet us in the parking lot at lunch?"

Maria felt her stomach drop to her feet. "What is it?" She was already dreading the answer.

"I don't know. Maybe nothing," he hurried to reassure her. "Michael and Isabel both had strange dreams last night, and..."

"Like the same dream?" Maria wanted to know, afraid the whole 'destiny' thing was starting all over again.

"No. Or at least we don't think so," Max qualified. Isabel's incoherent recount of her dream made it difficult to decipher, but he hoped they weren't connected in anyway. The possibility that they were about to have visitors was bad enough, but the thought of losing Michael and Isabel made his blood run cold. "Anyway, I want to talk with you and Alex about them. You know... just in case."

Maria was already not looking forward to this discussion. "Right."

"You'll tell Alex?" Max asked as the bell rang.

"Yeah. I'll see him this period." Maria hurriedly opened her locker and shoved in the books she'd been holding and grabbed out a new set. As she closed the door, her gaze fell on Liz's locker and she paused, worry of her friend setting in again after the alien intermission.