“I figured everyone would be hungry,” he said.

Isabel nodded as all four girls took seats in the room. Alex was sitting on the bed nearest the door and Isabel joined him there. Kyle was lying on the other bed and Tess and Liz sat beside him, facing Isabel and Alex. Michael was sitting in one of two chairs by the window and Maria went to sit in the other chair. Max sat on the TV stand facing the two beds.

The teens were quiet for a few minutes but then Alex spoke.

“So, that was some adventure, hey?” A laughed formed on his lips but then faded as he saw that no one else was smiling.

You could have cut the tension in the room with a knife.

Isabel took a deep breath. “Look, I think we owe you guys an explanation.”

No one said anything.

“Okay, I’ll take that as a ‘Yes’.”

Isabel paused to collect her thoughts. Here goes nothing, she thought to herself.

“You know how the four of us were found in the desert when we were six?”

Still nothing from the guys.

“Well, those people that took us are very interested in finding out how we ended up there. We don’t really know the full story but basically we were left there by our parents when it was no longer safe for us to remain at home.”

“Where’s home?” Finally some sign of life from the guys. A question from Alex.

“Really far away.” Isabel paused, “Like, light years away.”

Now Kyle sat up, “I don’t get it. Your parents left you in the desert, all by yourselves, because it wasn’t safe in your home? How was the desert any safer?”

“Well it wasn’t necessarily. But the planet itself was.”

“Oh.” Kyle paused a minute and then, “Huh?”

“We’re from a different planet. We’re… aliens.”

Isabel told the guys all the details she knew about how the girls were living on Antar when a war broke out and how they were sent to Earth until it was safe to return to their planet. They were the only set of quadruplets to have ever been born on Antar and as such were considered sacred. Antar did not have a royal family lineage like many cities on earth did. People were selected at birth to ascend the throne and rule the kingdom. Sometimes there would be several living heirs at once but the next to ascend was always chosen by a vote of the people. The sisters were given precedence over everyone because their birth had been so unusual but this had caused a lot of turmoil among people who thought they should be the rightful heirs and so a war had broken out. Their parents had no choice but to send them away and once the planet was reclaimed by their people they would be sent for. That had been over 50 years ago.

Alex couldn’t grasp the idea that Isabel was more than 50 years older than him but she patiently explained that only the essence of their former selves was in these bodies. For all intents and purposes they were 17 year olds just like the guys. They just had some memories of a past life that other people wouldn’t.

Michael had sat quietly through all this. At times the explanation had been too much for Isabel and she had broken down in tears. Liz had cut in then, continuing until she was overwhelmed, and then Isabel had picked it back up again. Tess had cried the entire time while Maria sat stone-faced, never making a sound. Michael wondered how she could just turn off her feelings like that but supposed she probably had that trait in common with him.

Finally he couldn’t stand her silence any more and got up to leave the room.

“Where are you going?”

One of the girls called after him and Michael paused for a second until he realized it wasn’t the Parker sister he wanted it to be.

“Nowhere, Isabel. I’ve just got to get some air.”

“Michael, don’t you leave this room.”

He whipped around to look at her. “Now you’re going to tell me what to do too?”

Isabel stood up to face him. “It’s too dangerous for you to go outside.”

“Oh yeah, dangerous for who?” Michael was in her face now, daring her to stop him.

Max stepped in between them. “Stop it. Both of you.”

Isabel looked furious but Michael had a small smile on his face. “You four think you can just come in here and tell us this… this fairy tale about being from another planet and we’re just supposed to sit back and take it. ‘Oh yeah, no big deal. Cool.’” Now he was mocking her.

Isabel looked like she was going to explode.

Max shouted. “Michael that’s enough.”

“Yeah it is.” Michael replied and went into the girls’ room next door, closing the door behind him.

Alex stood up to pull Isabel back to the bed but she shrugged him away. “Is that how you feel too?” she questioned him.

“No,” Alex replied. “I just think… well… it is a little unbelievable.”

“Great,” Isabel responded as she sat down. “Just great.”

Max stepped forward again. “Look, it’s just a lot to take all at once. Give Michael a chance, he’ll come around. And as for the rest of us…” Max looked at Alex and Kyle expectantly. “We’ll come around too. This IS pretty big news.”

“Max is right,” Liz spoke up. “We didn’t realize how this would affect you. It’s just that we’ve been carrying around this secret our whole lives and we were always afraid of what would happen if someone found out. We never thought we’d actually be the ones to tell someone. It’s just a lot for us to digest too.”