"You are not going to believe what I found out!" she bubbled.

"Pierce" led Tess into a private room at the back of his office. There he shifted from Pierce to Nasedo. "Tell me everything."

"Valenti's ex-wife was one of us!"

Nasedo thought back to the crash. "She and I were the only survivors. I knew she was my destiny, but she would have nothing to do with me, here or at home."

Suddenly his gloomy face lit up. "She got married to the sheriff, didn't she?"

"And divorced," Tess reminded him.

"And they had a son."

"Right. The doctor says he thinks Kyle's some kind of alien-human hybrid."

Nasedo smiled. "This is the perfect way to get back at the man who's threatened us for so long. I want Kyle here for tests and I want him now."

Tess smiled. She hated Kyle too. "Leave that part to me."

After telling Nasedo, Tess told Max, Michael, and Isabel. "That is really strange," Michael said when she finished.

"And I thought I felt out of place," Max said. "Who knows how Kyle must feel?"

"I doubt he knows," Tess said. "But I'm sure he'll find out."

Her smile worried Isabel. "What do you mean?"

"Nasedo wants to run tests on Kyle. It's his way of getting back at Valenti for making us feel threatened."

Max's heartbeat accelerated. His time in the white room was not such a distant memory, and he had no desire to see anyone else there. "You're going to stop him, right?"

"No. I'm luring Kyle to the lab. I mean, come on. He deserves it."

"No one deserves to be trapped and violated like that!" Max's abnormally long fuse went off.

Isabel could only sit silently. She'd thought Tess was her friend, but she had no friendly feelings towards this cold-blooded schemer.

"I did not heal him just so you could lure him to a fate worse than death!" Max raged.

"Max, Isabel, Michael, don't hate me for this!" Tess pleaded. "This is for all of you, too. And we need to stick together in this time. Who knows what a hybrid could do to us?"

Michael stood up. "I have had enough of you!" A blinding white light flew from his hand. The force was stronger than ever before. Tess's body turned to dust immediately after she died, and the particles floated away.

Michael waited for Max to chew him out. Max and Isabel waited for feelings of remorse and anger. Surprisingly, none came.

"Everything was fine before she came along," Max said. "What right did she have to manipulate us like that?"

"I can't believe she'd betray all of us," Isabel said.

Michael wasted no time on sentimentalities. "You're forgetting something. Nasedo doesn't need Tess to get Kyle. He'll probably get him himself."

"Oh my God!" Isabel was out of the house without another word.

"Where's she going?" Michael asked.

"Probably to warn Kyle," Max said. "I'm coming with her."

Valenti came into Kyle's room. "Smells good in here," he commented.

"Yeah, I've been trying those oils Maria gave me," Kyle said. "I don't know if they work, but the smell takes my mind off things for a little while."

He looked up. "What's wrong, Dad? Did you find out how Mom died?"

"The cause of death will be listed as natural causes. There's something about her that affects you, and I'll be damned if anyone finds out."

"What is it?"

"Kyle, your mother wasn't like us. When they examined her cells after the autopsy...they weren't human cells."

"Mom was an ALIEN?!" Of everything Kyle had expected, this wasn't it.

Before Valenti could say anything else, the doorbell rang. A loud knocking followed it. "Whoever it is will have to wait," he said.

"Kyle!" Isabel shouted over the ringing bell. "If you're home, you have to let us in! We have to tell you something now!"

"We can't yell it through the door, so let us in to tell you!" Max yelled.

Kyle hurried out of the room as the knocking and ringing continued. He saw Max sweating and Isabel with her hair blown all over her head. "What's wrong?"

"Kyle, Tess told Nasedo!" Isabel said. "He's been masquerading as Pierce to keep us safe, but he wants to do tests on you!"

"Tess won't tell anyone else, but Nasedo is just going to get you himself!" Max added.

Kyle didn't say anything. The shock was too much.

On Saturday, the Crashdown was unusually empty. "Okay, it's either some holiday we don't know about, or Roswell was evacuated without us. What do you think?" Liz asked.

"Huh?" Maria came out of her thoughts. "Oh, Roswell was evacuated. Definitely."

She turned around, holding a pie. "Maria, one piece is enough," Liz said.

Maria smiled, blushing a little. "Ever since my mom made me take those aromatherapy oils to the Valentis', I have been in, like, good deed mode. You want to take a pie over to the Valentis' with me?"

The blush helped Liz see right through Maria. "Oh no. Do not tell me you are developing a thing for Kyle."

"It's not like I planned it," Maria said, her face turning darker red with every word. "It just happened without warning, and I couldn't fight it. I don't WANT to fight it. So are you coming or not?"

Liz smiled. "I'll come. It's not like we're overwhelmed with customers."

After they got there, Liz held the pie while Maria rang the doorbell. No one answered. She rang again. No one answered. She rang with one hand and knocked with the other. "Where are you?" she muttered, ringing, knocking, and kicking the door.

"Maria, I think it's been established that no one's home," Liz said.

"But where would they be?"

Valenti burst into the compound, shocking Nasedo. "What are you doing here, Sheriff?" he asked.

"Where's my son?" Valenti demanded, grabbing Nasedo by the collar.

"What are you talking about?"

"I haven't seen him since yesterday afternoon, and I know you wanted him here for tests. So WHERE IS HE?" Valenti was dangerously close to hitting the man/alien.

"He's not here. Now let go of me or I WILL see to it that your son is captured." Nasedo was ready to kill Valenti with a touch.

Valenti let go, moving as far from Nasedo as possible. "He's really not here?"

"No, he's not, and I'd appreciate your leaving. I'm on a schedule here, and you're disrupting it."