<I won’t remember him.>

<You will know him somehow. You performed the reven-daai, the never apart, the soul-linking, and that is forever. You will find each other.>

<Why must I go separately? Why can’t I go in the place of his "trophy," the bride he fought so hard to win but now hates? Why send her?>

<You are not a royal. You cannot be in the ship with the remains. The enemies will know if there is a unknown aboard the ship.>

<How is this going to work? You can’t make me a hybrid. They didn’t kill me. I’m not dead.>

<But you will be. We can only send your essence. Not your body.>

<What . . . How will we . . .>

<It is your choice, your sacrifice. When you find each other, he will awaken you. You will know.>

It happened in the middle of biology, with Max sitting behind her. Maria was gabbing as usual, Ms. Carter was talking about DNA again (how many times would they have to go over this? Building blocks of life, blah, blah, blah). Liz was doodling in her notes, and suddenly Liz heard the voices. Voices, this time. Two distinct voices, filled with enough emotion that Liz could almost see what was happening.

She hadn’t realized she had spaced out (almost literally) until Maria dug an elbow into her arm, causing her to drop her pencil, while at the same time, Max hissed behind her, "Liz, are you alright?"

She looked at Maria in confusion. "Ms. Carter asked you a question, Liz. What the four bases are or something."

"Miss Parker? My heart will stop if you don’t know the answer to this question. Is something the matter? You do know the four bases that make up DNA, don’t you, the reigning science fair queen?" Ms. Carter said, half-jokingly.

"Umm, guanine, thyamine, cytosine, and . . ."

"I expect the entire class to know what `A’ stands for in the genetic code when we return on Monday. I’ll return your grades on your group projects on Monday as well. Miss Parker, are you sure you’re alright? I can give you a nurse’s pass," Ms. Carter said as Liz moved toward the classroom door.

"No, Ms. Carter, I’m okay. Don’t worry. I’ve just had a lot to think about. No problems," Liz said, hoping the teacher was convinced.

"Alright, young lady, just keep your head out of the clouds in your next period. I hope you get it all under control. And you will, knowing you!" Ms. Carter waved Liz out of the classroom, and Liz slipped out quickly.

Seeing Max across the hallway, she turned and headed to her next class, consciously reminding herself not to turn back and look at Max, who was almost assuredly following her to make sure she was okay. She hurried through the door and took her seat, pulling her textbook out and trying to make it clear that she did not want to be bothered. It must have worked, because she saw Max look through the window in the door, then move on. As soon as she walked away, she put her head down and tried not to cry.

*****

It was late that evening, just before she went to bed, before Liz could think about what she’d . . . heard during biology. She was sprawled on her bed, journal in hand, trying to put her thoughts into words.

"It’s late. I can’t sleep. The memory of the conversation is still rattling around in my head, demanding that I figure out what was going on. As far as I can tell, the first voice, the one I heard the day of the biology presentation, she (it’s definitely a female) appears to be Max’s mother, or at least the mother of the King on his planet. It seems like she’s asking this other person, the real love of his life, to go with him to Earth. She has to die first, because they can only send essences, and she has to go after the ship carrying the royal essences has reached Earth, or the enemies will know something (else) is wrong. The enemies apparently don’t know about this reven-daai ritual, which binds two people together, like a marriage. Some sort of mind-sharing happens and the King, the Zitan, needs this girl to function now. It was a secret thing, that only the King and the girl and the mother knew about. The King had battled others to win who I assume is Tess now, but he realized after a while of seeming to truly love each other that she had tricked him and he began to hate her.

"Am I a bad person to wish that this was true, that Max didn’t love Tess in that other life? And am I insane to think that this could have anything to do with me? Why it seems like I remember this? I must be crazy. I can’t be remembering this. I’m human. I was born, I didn’t come out of a pod. I would know. Wouldn’t I? She said the girl would be ‘awakened.’ Could that be the connection Max and I share? No, it couldn’t be. I refuse to believe this without some sort of scientific proof. I am human, no matter how much I want to be with Max. I’m just indulging in a little bit of make-believe. That’s all it is. I’m trying to ignore Max’s destiny and that’s wrong. I will forget this because it can’t be true."

Writing her thoughts down, Liz felt better. The litany of truths allowed her to separate her feelings from her imaginings, and she, being the scientific, methodical person she was, she knew what was fantasy and what was fact. But she couldn’t help wishing what she had heard was true.