Strange things, yes. And many changes. Even now, she knew her body was changing. When Max had brought her back, he had changed something inside of her. Part of his alien self had touched Liz and made her like him… had made her part alien.

The word no longer meant what it used to for Liz. When she was a girl it meant monsters from space… monsters that weren't real.

Now it meant Max, Michael, and Isabel… people she knew and, in the case of Max, loved. Now alien meant Liz herself. When Max had healed her he had given her the gift of life. He had also given her powers that had lain dor- mant until a few months ago.

She now sometimes saw things before they happened. And she could occasionally move things with her mind. She had made a harmless schoolbook burst into flames.

The changes Max had started in her three years ago were not finished, Liz was sure. Would they be a gift? Or a curse? They were frightening. Of that much she was sure.

Turning her head, she looked at Max. He was concen- trating on driving. Like the others and like Liz herself, he was silent… lost in his own thoughts.

But he sensed Liz looking at him and shot her a glance, raising his eyebrows to ask a question that he did not have to speak out loud.

Anything wrong? his look said.

With a smile and a shake of her head, Liz responded just as silently and just as clearly.

Liz was no longer surprised at how often they didn't need to speak out loud to communicate or to know what the other was thinking. It wasn't an alien trick, though. She knew other couples who enjoyed the same kind of communication.

Turning her head, she saw her best friend, Maria, sitting in the van directly behind her. Maria gave Liz a thin smile. Next to her was Michael, who was looking intently out the window. In the seats behind them were Kyle and then Isabel, who was also staring out the window, looking lost… maybe more lost than any of them.