Rating: TEEN for violence
Disclaimer: I do not claim to own any Roswell Characters; I am just borrowing them for a while. And I will try to play nice so please don’t sue me! The only character that is truly mine is Kyia Hopkins.
Summary: This takes place about 20 years after Graduation episode. Zander is a famous author well known for his series of books called The Chronicles of Antar. He always knew he was different but didn’t know how different he was until he met a reporter named Elizabeth Evans.
Part 1
Zander Hopkins looked at the woman sitting across from him. She was older than him, in her late thirties perhaps. But what caught his attention was her huge brown eyes. There was a nagging in the back of his mind that he had met this woman before. But he let the thought slip as she began to speak.
“Mr. Hopkins, Thank You for meeting with me on such short notice. As I told you on the phone I have been desperate to meet you for some time, ever since I saw the article about your book in the New York Times.”
“Well thank you. I sorry but I have forgotten which paper you said you were from?” There was something not right about this woman’s story but Zander could not put his finger on what it was. She did not act like any reporter he had ever met. Most were cocky and a bit full of themselves, but this woman seemed meek and maybe even a little nervous.
“Umm, I am from the Chicago Tribune.” He had caught her in a lie. On the phone she had said some paper he had never even heard of. Even though he knew she was lying he did not feel threatened by her. Now she had peaked his curiosity.
“Well then let’s get on with the interview Miss…..”
“It’s Mrs. Elizabeth Evans”
“Well Mrs. Evans, we should hurry this along I need to get home. My kids except a bed time story before they go to sleep.”
“Oh I did not know you had children. You look so young.”
“Yeah I am twenty one but me and my wife started a family young. We were fifteen when we got married.” He watched her eyes get big at his last statement. He did not know why he was telling her about his personal life. He had been a famous writer now for three years but there weren’t many people that even knew he was married and that is the way he wanted it to stay. But there was something about this woman that he had felt he could trust her even though she had lied to him. He lit a cigarette while he waited for her next question. When she didn’t speak up he did.
“Do you believe in soul mates Mrs. Evans?” When she nodded her head yes he continued, “Well I met Kyia when I was twelve and I just knew she was the one. She lived in the same group home that I did.”
“Group home?” she asked him “I thought you were adopted?”
Zander looked at her quizzically. She had certainly done her home work. “I was adopted when I was eight months old, but when I was four the couple that adopted me couldn’t handle me so they put me back into the system were I stayed until my and Kyia ran away.”
“What do you mean ‘they couldn’t handle you’? How could they not handle a four year old?”
“I don’t really know, but I was kind of a strange kid I think. I always knew that they were not my real parents and from the time I could talk I would ask them to take me back to my dad. I think it freaked them out a little. I was also very paranoid. I would swear that we were being followed by bad guys and I would go hysterical when I was around men in dark suits. Like I said I was a weird kid. They had me in therapy for a while and when that didn’t work they decided it was best if they gave me back.” Why was he telling her all these details about his past? He had had an awful childhood. Why tell anyone about it? But for some reason he felt she should know.
“I’m sorry I didn’t know. I guess I just assumed that since you were such a child prodigy that you had come from a good home. You know? It says here that you wrote the first book in your Antar Series when you were only 14.”
“Yeah but I had the story in my head since I was a child. I suppose every child dreams of living on a different planet. I used to even draw pictures in school with violet skies and two moons. My teachers thought it was me just being creative.” Zander looked over at this so called “reporter” and saw that she was hanging on every word.
“Many of the characters in your books have special powers.” He nodded at this so she continued. “Did you ever pretend you had special powers when you were a child?” This question caught him off guard and he had an urge to flee but he calmed himself and simple nodded his head no. She looked at him for a moment as if she were trying to read his thoughts. ‘You’re just being paranoid’ he told himself.
“Well one more question before I go.” She looked down at the notebook she had brought with her. “Many of your characters have such unusual names. The king is Zan, his queen Ava, Princess Vilandra, and the general Raffe. Where did you come up with these names?”
That seemed like a nice safe question for him to answer. He liked that they were talking about his imaginary world instead of his life. “Well my son’s name is Zander after me and my daughters names are Vilandra and Avari. My wife started calling my son Zan so it would be less confusing. And my daughters we call Lonnie and Ava for short. So I guess I named the characters after my kids. They definitely think they are royalty.”
She laughed at that. She had a very comforting laugh, it made Zander instantly relax. “Do you have any pictures of them with you?” Zander nodded found a picture of his twin daughters and handed it to her. “That’s Lonnie with the straight hair and Ava the one with the curls. It’s difficult to tell them apart sometimes and there hair is the only way I can tell them apart. There mother always knows though. They just turned four last month.”
She was smiling as she looked at the picture. “They are beautiful. They look like little angels. Where do they get the blonde hair from? Their mother?”
“No Kyia has dark brown hair like mine. We don’t know where the blonde came from just one of those weird genetic things I guess.” She nodded and Zander handed her a picture of his son. She looked at it and stopped smiling. “What’s wrong?” he asked her.
She looked up at him, “Oh nothing I just thought he would look more like your daughters I guess. How old is he?” She said changing the subject. “He is five. Just started kindergarten.”
She handed the pictures back to him. “Well I hope your new book does well. Thank you for the interview Mr. Hopkins.” And with that she grabbed her stuff and left in a flash.
“Man and I thought I was always in a hurry” Zander thought to himself as he watched the woman practically run out the door.
**************
Liz Parker- Evans hurried back to her hotel room. It had been a long day and she had a feeling it was going to be a long night as well when the others discovered her news. Before she could put the key in the door it flung open. She looked up and saw a slightly agitated Michael on the other side of the door.
“Well what took so friggin’ long. We were about to send in the cavalry.”
Liz rolled her eyes at him and entered the room where her husband and her closest friends gathered. She looked at Max who seated on the bed tapping his foot nervously. She took a seat beside him and got ready to share the news.
“Well I was not sure if it was him at first. He doesn’t really look like you Max. I mean he is about your height and you have the same color hair but other than that that is the only similarity. If I saw him walking down the street I wouldn’t make a connection. His eyes are however Tess’s all the way. But then I thought a lot of people have light blue eyes. We started talking about his childhood and he was adopted but not for very long.”
Max looked at her then. “What do you mean?”
Liz cleared her throat. This was not information she wanted to tell her husband but she knew he needed to know. “Well he had a very bad childhood Max. The people that adopted him couldn’t handle him so they put him back in the system. He grew up in a group home until he was fourteen. Then him and his wife ran away.”
Max just shook his head. He knew what happened to people raised in places like that, Michael being his prime example.
“Well Liz do you think that this guy is Max’s son or what?” Michael said.
Liz looked at the grief’s stricken face of her husband. She knew he had always wanted to find his son, they had been looking for a long time. Liz didn’t think Max could handle any more disappointments in his life. They were still on the run from the FBI. The group had a friend who was a shape shifter that had infiltrated the FBI a couple of years ago. This was how the group got information that the FBI had found Max’s son and were preparing to kidnap him. However they didn’t get a name so they had no idea where to start looking. Then Liz had went into a bookstore when one book caught her eye. The Chronicles of Antar By Zander Hopkins. At first she just thought it was a coincidence until she started reading it. It mentioned everything she knew about Antar plus things she didn’t know about it. The most important aspect mentioned was the royal four. So she set up an interview with the very private author to try and find out more.
“Zander is different. I think he knew I was lying about being a reporter but he didn’t push the subject when he could have easily asked for some sort of identification. He kind of acted funny when I asked if ever dreamed of having super powers when he was a kid. I don’t know if he has any powers but he did seam very intuitive.”
Max had a far away look on his face. Liz wondered if he was blocking her out completely. “But what confirmed my any suspicions was a picture of his son.”
Max finally looked at her when she said this. “He has a son?”
“Yeah Max. Not only that but the boy looked just like you. I mean he could have been you when you were five. And he also has twin girls that look a lot like Tess. It was eerie and it gets weirder. His kid’s names are Zan, Lonnie, and Ava.
With that the room got really quiet until Isabel who had been unusual quiet the whole time spoke up. “You have got to be kidding me.”
Liz just shook her head. “I don’t think he knows what he is. He really thinks his books come from his imagination. Do you think that Tess might have done something to him so he would never forget who he was? Kind of like when Max gave him a memory.”
Max stood up and looked out the window. “I don’t know Liz. I just don’t know.” But Max did know one thing. His son was out there and he was in danger.
My muse is being a pain. Song by Ana Johnsson