Liz sat in the front passenger seat of the rented Volvo, her face plastered to the window. As she watched the rolling English countryside fly past, she could feel her heart beginning to speed up with every mile that brought them closer to Stonehenge.

Only a couple of hours to go...only a couple of hours to go. It was like a chant, repeating itself in her mind as she tried to calm herself down.

Mr. Evans was driving. He had insisted on coming, although Isabel had tried to talk him out of it. "I need to be there in case something goes wrong." He had told her firmly. Really, Liz had expected nothing less. He had been very cooperative for a dad up until that point. They couldn't exactly expect him to sit back at the hotel twiddling his thumbs while they went off and broke into one of the most famous tourist sites in the world.

Liz turned around in her seat to glance at Isabel and Michael. Michael was staring out the window, his expression unreadable. He had been unaturally quiet since they had tried to reach Maria an hour or so before. There had been no answer at the Deluca, Valenti or Harding residences. Even Alex's parents had had no idea where he was.

It was most disconcerting, but Liz forced her concern about their friends to the back of her mind. They needed to worry about Max now.

Everything would be better when Max came back.

Isabel presently had her eyes closed. She had a small backpack clutched in her hands. Liz knew that the bag contained the two blue orbs - the keys that opened the portal to Illyria. Isabel had opened the portal once before...she would do it again.

Not for the first time, Liz wondered why they had to be at Stonehenge to bring Max back. Michael and Maria had been returned at the Santa Anna Hot Springs back in Fraser Woods - the same place they had left from. It was all so confusing.

But then intergalactic travel was not exactly a known science, Liz reflected wryly to herself.

Liz swallowed when she felt the Volvo rolling to a halt. "I don't think I better get any closer." Mr. Evans told them, pulling the car off the motorway onto a slight shoulder.

Pulling her rain-jacket more tightly around her, Liz opened her door and climbed out. She took a deep breath, stared up at the for-once cloudless sky. The moon was almost full and shone down on them. Liz knew that it would only get brighter as the evening progressed.

It was reassuring.

Michael had told them earlier that he knew for a fact that there were three security guards posted on the grounds of the monument. When Isabel had asked him how he knew, he had grinned saucily. Liz had wanted to laugh despite herself.

"I have my ways Izzy."

Isabel had muttered under her breath to Liz. "I guess Thomas the tour-guide isn't the only one who can flirt with English Heritage employees."

"Please." Michael had rolled his eyes. "I am far above that. It was a gift shop employee."

Liz HAD laughed at that. It had felt wonderful. They had all been in great moods over dinner at the hotel, all clearly sure that it was now only a matter of time until they saw Max again. Isabel had practically been jumping up and down with excitement at the table. Liz had even managed to be civil to Michael...a fact of which she was very proud.

She knew that the rift between she and Michael was painful to Isabel. Liz was trying to control her feelings, and now that it looked like Max was on his way home...suddenly she wasn't quite as angry.

Or at least, she hadn't been until those disturbing phone calls to Roswell. At the thought of what might be happening to Maria back there the iron had re-entered her soul.

And thus, it was a somber group of four that gathered near the entrance to the heritage site.

"Okay, so Dad you're with me and Liz you're with Michael." Liz grimaced. She knew that she could manage to work with Michael now, but it was going to be as annoying as all get out. "We have to take out those guards."

Isabel had surprised them all earlier that evening when they had been refining the plan when she had told them that she would be able to take some of the guards out on her own. "How?" Michael had demanded, sounding suspicious.

"I've been working on a little something." She had smiled self-conciously. "Liz, do you mind if I use you as an example. I promise that you'll be fine."

Since Liz trusted Isabel implicitly, she had nodded.

The next thing she knew, she was being shaken awake by Michael. Liz had blinked, sat up confused. "What the heck?"

"I don't know how I do it..." Isabel had shrugged. "I just sort of tweaked your mind...it put you under almost immediately. I think its somehow connected to the dreamwalking, so I can get in when someone's awake...I don't know for sure."

"How did you discover this?" Michael had asked, clearly intrigued.

Isabel had blushed slightly. "Well, I tried visiting Alex in his dreams one night...but I couldn't get in. He was mad at me because I forgot to pick him up at school - it wasn't my fault there was a sale at the mall. Anyway, it was like he knew to block me or something. I got into Pierce that time,when he was awake, but he didn't know I could do it...and the time I got into Maria, she was waiting for me. Anyway...Alex wasn't asleep and he was conciously blocking me because he was mad, so I just sort of convinced him to go to sleep. I don't know how."

"Weird, but useful." Michael had judged. "So you'll take out two of the guards and I'll get the third." He had decided. "My guy's going to wake up with one hell of a headache, and its better if we can at least be nice to two of them." He had grimaced wryly.

Now, Liz pulled a flashlight out of her bag. The moon was not quite high enough in the sky to go by alone and Michael and Isabel still hadn't managed to perfect Max's little hand-light trick. She handed the first light to Isabel, pulled out another one for she and Michael.

"So, we'll meet at the heel stone in twenty minutes." Isabel whispered, sounding nervous. Liz could see that Mr. Evans' eyes were wide. She realized that this was probably the first time in his entire life he had ever done anything illegal.

Wish I could say the same, Liz reflected ironically, thinking back to the fact that not only had she been a party to numerous illegal break-ins during her association with the aliens, she had also been party to a murder - Pierce's - although it had been a perfectly deserved and, in Liz's opinion, justified one.

It had been done to save a life...many lives.

Taking a deep breath, Liz gave Isabel a quick hug. "Be careful." She ordered.

Isabel nodded. As Liz watched, she reached out her hand to the chain-link fence in front of them. They were about fifty feet from the main gate but had decided not to break-in that way...too obvious and there might be security cameras.

Liz saw Mr. Evans' eyes widening even more as Isabel's hand started to glow. The chains began to disintegrate under her palm, forming a large hole. Izzy stopped when it was big enough for them to squeeze through, one at a time.

Liz and Michael went first, Michael in the lead. They turned to the right and began to slink around the perimeter of the site. Liz turned once to watch Izzy and her father heading in the opposite direction.

"Where do you think they are?" Liz whispered ahead to Michael. He shrugged, stopped briefly, straightened to scan the entire site.

"They're probably closer to the actual stone circle." Michael finally replied. "Izzy's going to get the one that's probably near the visitor's centre."

The great stone circle was dead ahead, lit up by floodlights. It looked bigger than it had that afternoon, finally standing as it was meant to, solitary and commanding, it's great stones reaching towards the heavens.

"Michael!" Liz whispered urgently, having suddenly caught sight of movement to her left. A shadow seemed to cross one of the stones.

Michael turned to stare in the direction she was pointing. "Stay here!" He ordered, taking off across the open plain at at dead run. Liz clenched her hands in front of her, wanting to follow him.

Her heart stopped as she suddenly heard a strange voice yelling. "HEY! You're not supposed to be in...."

Michael had come screeching to a halt. Liz could see him clearly in the ever brightening light of the moon. His hand was up and Liz held her breath as it began to glow.

She closed her eyes as the blast went soaring across the plain and smashed into the guard who had been staring at Michael with terror written all over his face.

Liz managed to unfreeze. She went sprinting over to Michael, who was breathing hard. "Is he okay?" She demanded. Of all the powers that the Czechs possessed, Michael's was by far the most terrifying. He had managed to refine it to a certain degree, but Michael had never had much control to begin with.

There was always the slight chance that something could have gone wrong...that they had killed an innocent person.

And Michael knew it too. Liz could see that his face was white. "Can you...Liz..." He managed to choke out.

Liz bit her lip. No matter how mad she was at Michael, no one deserved to have the look on their face that he currently did. She hurried over to the guard, who had collapsed very close to one of the stones that lay on its side.

Kneeling beside him, Liz felt for a pulse. She heaved a sigh of relief when she found it quickly. It was steady and strong. "Good job!" She managed to stage-whisper to Michael. "He's okay!"

Liz could see Max's best friend heave a sigh of relief. He moved quickly to join her.

"Let's get him out of here." Michael said, grabbing the guard and throwing him over his shoulder. They had decided that they would tie the guards to the fence, planning to release them after Max was back.

They were back near the stones about ten minutes later, having secured the young guard to the fence with a piece of rope that Liz had pulled from her knap-sack. Michael was now pacing near the heel stone, clearly becoming more and more concerned the longer they had to wait for Isabel.

"I think I should go find her." He finally announced. Liz frowned, glanced at her watch.

"We said we'd give her twenty minutes Michael. You have to trust her."

"I'm going Liz." Liz stared at him. She watched him stalk off, exiting the circle and promptly tripping over the sprawled body of a guard just outside the stones.

"What the...?" Michael stumbled back to his feet, stared down at the uniformed guard at his feet.

Liz heard running feet nearby. Isabel suddenly appeared from the darkness. "I just got him!" She told them breathlessly. "I couldn't find him...but then I caught a glimpse of him sneaking up on you guys."

"Thanks. Where's your dad?" Liz asked with concern. Isabel grimaced.

"He tripped and sprained his ankle." Isabel shook her head. "He's getting himself back to the car."

"He agreed to that?" Liz was surprised. Isabel looked momentarily guilty.

"Well, I might have planted the idea...."

Liz sighed. "He's going to be mad Iz."

"I know. But I don't think he can be here Liz. He distracts me. I worry too much about what's he's thinking. He's so unused to seeing me use my powers. I mean, I know he accepts me, but its just weird...you know?"

Michael had returned from trussing up the other guard. Liz was glad that he had taken some initiative. "Let's get this show on the road." He told them as he re-entered the circle.

Liz suddenly felt her heart in her throat. Max! Only a few minutes and he would be back.

Isabel's eyes were wide as if she had suddenly realized the same thing. "What if this doesn't work?" She asked in a small voice.

"It WILL work." Liz replied confidently. "I just know it." She stepped forward, hugged her friend. "You can do it Izzy...I know you can."

Isabel was biting her lip. She hurriedly opened her knapsack, pulled out the orbs. Liz stared at them. She thought about the day she and Max had found the first one.

She remembered the way she had woken up in his arms the morning after they had found it, the orb sitting on the blanket next to them, the way he had looked at her had taken her breath away. It had been the first day that she had known that she was never going to love anyone else in the way she loved Max Evans...ever.

And he was coming back to her.

Liz watched Isabel stare down at the orbs. It looked almost like she was silently communicating with them. Michael was standing nearby, his gaze resting on the orbs, his eyes wide. Liz was not surprised when his eyes raised to lock on her own.

And suddenly, in that moment of complete hope that raced through her body at the thought that Max would soon be with them...

She let her hatred go.

She did if for one person alone - and it wasn't Michael.

She did it for Max. Max had risked his entire existence for Michael, had not even hesitated to go after him when he had disapeared.

Her hatred of Max's best friend was a dishonour to that sacrifice.

Michael had not asked Max to come after him...Liz still couldn't quite understand why Michael had let Max stay behind on Illyria, but she could get past that...and maybe Max would be able to tell them.

But she felt her heart open towards Michael in a way it had not in a long time. She could work on forgiving him.

She WOULD forgive him.

As Liz silently communicated this to Michael, his face remained shadowed. She might forgive him, but it seemed unlikely that he would ever forgive himself.

And suddenly Liz's gaze was torn away from Michael's, as the orbs in Isabel's hands began to take on their strange glow. As was the case the last time, one of the orbs brightened more quickly than the other, although the second orb rapidly caught up...

It was different this time though too...

As Liz watched in astonishment, the stone circle surrounding them seemed to be coming to life. The stones began to glow, drawing on the energy being released from the orbs.

When the orbs left Isabel's hands, the light coming from them was enough that Liz had to shield her eyes. She was sure that half the countryside must be illuminated by the strange red glow.

The energy in the stones was beginning to form a column near the centre of the circle. The orbs seemed to be on the verge of exploding...

Liz forced herself to stare at the column of light...frantically searching....

MAX! Where are you!