Helen thought of her colleagues, and especially of Henry. Lorena didn't know what to believe in. Everything seemed crazy, but how did her granddaughter act so naturally at all that?

"Where are we going? I want to see my parents."

"I'll take you to them. Give me your hand."

She obeyed, and held the grandmother's, too. They vanished, suddenly, escaping from the enemy by a close shave.

At that moment, the classes stopped and the school was invaded by the special forces. Soldiers with helmets, rifles and war equipment began to enter in pairs, searching for the target and indicating to those who gave cover to the areas to be invaded.

Ronald Steighem appeared at the school gate with Agent Soliver.

"Sir, where's Agent Netil?"

"He's conferring all the student's and staff's records to see if he finds any new leads that will help us in the operation."

Agent X was apprehensive. Although he managed to maintain an apparent calmness, he tried to contact Dargan, looking for him around, but he didn't feel him nearby. He must have escaped. Collin Netil contacted each teacher, instructing them not to let anyone leave while the searches were being made. A panic mood settled among the children and collaborators.

The teaching staff tried to appease the moods and questioned the validity of that operation, which seemed badly conducted, since everyone thought the building should be evacuated if there was any real danger happening there, and not be kept imprisoned.

Little Henry, in his classroom, remembered his friend.

"Teacher, Helen's not back yet. Did something happen to her? Can I go look for her?"

"Just stand there, young man. This is a big people thing. You could be in danger if you leave. I'll ask an adult to find her."

Henry sat down and leaned over his desk. He hoped everything was all right with her. The teacher took advantage of some soldiers passing down the corridor and tried to find out more information and, also, to ask for help.

"Please, soldier, can you tell me what's going on here?"

"A criminal broke into the school. Don't worry, everything's under control."

"A student from our classroom left to speak with the principal and hasn't returned yet."

"Who's she?"

"Her name's Helen Traveler. Please, protect her."

"Where's the principal's office?"

"In the second corridor to the right, at the end."

"Stay calm, we'll investigate."

The soldier reported the fact to the command of the mission and the agents Steighem and Ann entered the indicated room, assisted by the soldiers. They found the real principal lying on the floor and woke him up.

He ended up talking about what had happened, how a man had suddenly appeared in his room and had knocked him down. When they asked about the girl, he said he hadn't even asked her to be called.

"At this point, our man must have fled. According to the secretary, the girl was in here with her grandmother. Then he must have taken them. We're pretty sure he's our target." Said Agent Ann Soliver.

"All this seems very strange to me. Let's see what Agent Netil got. Ask the soldiers to trace a three thousand and two hundred feet perimeter around the school and look for alien vestiges," Steighem ordered the soldiers as he walked with Ann to the classroom where the girl studied.

Only after everyone left the room and the door was closed did Agent X materialize there. He observed everything calmly, something he couldn't do close to the other agents, to see if he found any trace of Dargan. He walked to the window, looked at the door and realized, by the waves of energy in the place, that he had teleported with the two. He walked to the wall and saw himself in a mirror.

If anyone saw him there, they would only encounter Agent Collin Netil's body and countenance. No one knew his identity; not even imagined that after Dargan's disastrous explosion, where agent Ann Soliver had lost her hand, another alien had been able to find agent Collin Netil alone, in the hotel bar. It was easy to follow him to his room and, when the man least expected it, materialize inside it.

He found him in bed, almost fainting from too much alcohol. He fought, of course, but bled before Agent X killed him, pulverizing him with a single, clear ray. Moments later, he was a perfect copy of the agent, infiltrating the WAEP as one of the greatest enemies anyone ever wanted to see in front of them.

A noise of people in the corridors took him out of his thoughts. Soldiers searched each classroom and, with that, they finally got into the principal's office. But there was no one else there, he disappeared.

In the room where the girl was studying, Steighem and Ann began asking the students and the teacher questions, to find any clue.

"Teacher, Helen's your student. Do you know her parents?" Agent Soliver asked, serious.

"I've never seen them. Lately, the girl says they're traveling."

"Aside from the skeleton's episode, have you seen anything strange happen here at school?"

"No. Everything here works perfectly well. The fact that the principal called her to talk about her mother's nothing special," the teacher was trying to keep the good name of the school.

"Does the girl have any close friends?"

"Yes. Henry's her best friend."

Henry looked at the teacher, astonished, and felt his heart race. He saw the gray-haired man look at him in a suspicious way, and the woman who wore a strange glove also turned her eyes toward him. But, wait a second... That woman, he knew her... It was the secretary, Ivy! But something had changed, he couldn't know what.

"Did they know the truth about Helen and now they're trying to capture her?" Henry thought. A thousand things went through his mind in a few seconds.

"Henry, can we ask you a few questions?" Director Steighem approached.

The boy froze.

"Did you notice anything strange about your friend Helen?" Ann asked him, curious.

"No. Helen's a nice girl." His lips twitched as he spoke.

"It's all right. We'd just like to know if you've noticed anything different here at school, in these last few days."

"I didn't notice anything. Everything is normal."

"I need you to be honest about your friend Helen. Has she ever told you anything about her life? Or maybe about her parents?"

Henry swallowed hard and said:

"No, sir. She hardly says anything about her family."

The WAEP director stared at him for a few seconds, as if he knew what he was thinking. However, he decided to give up. What he saw in the boy's mind was nothing new: just the wish that his friend was well.

Steighem and Ann felt that they would find nothing new at that school and decided to continue the investigation, while the tracing teams did their job. After a while, they left.

The principal allowed the students to go home earlier that day. That school was not a common place: skeletons that moved by themselves, bombs that exploded and invasions of the special army forces.

Something strange was happening there and the principal needed to keep the good name of the education institution, which was a complicated task in the face of so many events.

"My God, now a disappearance of a student and her grandmother. Was it a kidnapping? And that guy who left me passed out in the office? Who was he?"

Many doubts hovered in the head of the principal and he hoped that a police investigation could decipher those mysteries.

At the hotel, Dargan, Lorena and Helen materialized. The girl looked at herself and put her hand over her belly, to see if she was whole. There was a mirror on the wall and she stared at it for a few seconds, to see if everything was all right.

"Where are we? How did we get here?" Lorena thought, impressed, looking to all sides.

"Helen, how are you?" Her grandmother asked as she ran to hug her granddaughter.

"I'm fine, Grandma. And you, how are you?"

"A little bit nervous. What happened?"

"I'll answer all the questions later", Dargan said, next to them. "You can sit down if you like; make yourselves comfortable." He pointed to a sofa.

They looked at everything, suspicious, but decided to sit down. Helen wanted to know where her mother was and maybe that ET could answer her.

He read the little girl's mind and said:

"Wait for me here for a minute for I will be back. I'll answer you all you need to know about your parents."

Dargan then went to the room where he had left the teacher and loosened the collar around his neck. He grabbed the man's hand and teleported with him to the university. He left him sitting in an empty classroom and put the car keys in his pocket. The professor had no idea of what was happening. It was like he woke up from a nightmare. His head was a little dizzy, probably because of the drugs Dargan used to make him sleep. Within seconds, the spy was back in the hotel room. Helen asked, eager for news:

"Where are my parents?"

"They are returning to planet Earth. I learned about this today, through a man from my world who contacted me."

"Is my grandfather Merko with them?"

"Yes, you can be sure of it."

"Why did you take me from school? Why did the director faint? What did you do to him?"

"Calm down, girl from Earth. I'll answer every question you have so that you can understand why I need to protect you."

"Hold on. This story's very confusing. You speak as if Merko, Nicholas and Zara were on another planet... As if all these things that happened to us were real. This is a dream, isn't it? Was that really what I heard?" Lorena was still confused.

Helen nodded, but Dargan changed the subject. He didn't want to make that lady even more frightened. With fear, humans become unpredictable.

"I need to think of a way to keep you safe."

Lorena and Helen were silent, looking at everything around them. The girl thought of a way to take her grandmother away from there. And Lorena wondered how they both could escape.

They still didn't trust that stranger who couldn't answer them correctly.

Dargan knew the others would be here soon and that there would be no escape. He had done his part, removing the girl from the school, and preventing her from getting hurt. Now he had to wait and accompany them to find a way to save them. He was with Sophia's mother and niece and couldn't let them suffer any harm. Hiding from Agent X and his team, along with the girl and the grandmother, would be very difficult.

"Better wait for the right moment and try to help them."

He read the girl's mind and tried to soften the things that were difficult. He saw that she wanted to run away and didn't trust him.

"Please, Helen, trust me. I don't want to do any harm to you. The best chance for you now is to stay close to me. At least until your parents and Merko arrive."

Helen lowered her head, thought, and decided to believe that man. After all, her parents and grandfather had disappeared, and he was the only one who had said anything real about it.

Lorena was tired and felt sick. Her bones ached and her forehead was wet. She has felt that way for a few days, especially at night, when she got short of breath, fever, and woke up with her body soaked. The medicines that the oncologist had prescribed had made her feel better, but this time they were home, and the pain only increased.

Helen, seeing her afflicted grandmother, placed her hand on her head, and made her feel a complete and instant relief.

The grandmother was surprised by that. The girl, on the other hand, didn't understand what happened. Dargan was only looking at them, worried, while he thought of the next steps. He had to not only save them, but ensure that he did not have to return to his planet. He was really enjoying living on Earth.

He wanted to stay with Sophia.