It can't be you," Isabel said. For a moment, she couldn't say the name. When she finally did, she spat it out: "Nicholas."

"In the flesh, as it were," he said. Then he stepped closer to Isabel and smiled… at least the one side of his face that still had lips curled upward. "After all we've been through, I'm glad to see you recognize me."

Isabel couldn't believe it, but it was Nicholas: She could see the shadows of him in his ruined face and in his voice. "You should be dead by now," she said.

"I really should be," Nicholas said. "All the others are dead, thanks to you all. And this husk is way past its expiration date."

"Isabel, you know this guy?" Kyle asked.

"We all do," Isabel replied. "He was one of the Skins in Copper Summit."

"Not just one of them, my dear. I am Kevar's voice on this planet," Nicholas said. "You should show some respect. Kevar is your king."

"Just kill him, Max, and let's get out of here," Michael said.

To Isabel's surprise, Max raised his hand and seemed like he was about to do just that.

"Don't do it, Max," Nicholas said, raising one hand in the air. He was hiding a small remote control of some kind.

"If I die, your friends die," Nicholas said.

"He's bluffing," Michael said. "Do it."

"This controls the electrodes that are attached to your friends' heads," he said, then he thumbed the control and Isabel felt her head turn to fire. She could hear Michael call out as well.

"Okay, stop!" Max said, but he didn't put his hand down.

"See the electrodes on each of their foreheads? They are directly over the cerebral cortex. A mild charge disrupts your special abilities. That's a little trick I learned from your friends in the Special Unit. They know quite a bit about your physiology. Too bad you didn't stay long enough for them to do a proper dissection," Nicholas said.

"You're working with the Special Unit," Isabel said.

"We don't exactly work together, but they've been useful," Nicholas replied.

"You were the one who told them where we were," Max said.

"An anonymous tip," he said. "Like I said, they have been useful. Actually, I had wanted them to save me the trouble of capturing you, but you didn't cooperate."

Isabel felt the beginnings of an idea and decided to keep him talking. He was vain… a braggart, actually.

Maybe he would reveal something they could use.

"How did you find us?" Isabel asked.

"A happy accident. You wandered into the range of my equipment. Really lucky for me. I'm not feeling so well these days. I don't know if I would have had time to grow another husk," Nicholas said.

"You did something to our van?" Isabel said. Suddenly things were becoming clear to her, and she felt a rising anger.

"You were painfully easy to manipulate. When you escaped the Special Unit, a little bright light to attract you to this spot and a little car trouble, and you wandered right into my hands. You humans, even half-humans, are a depressingly simple species," Nicholas said.

"You set it all up. The Bentons? The book? Everything?" she said.

"Actually, my dear, there really was a family called the Bentons, and a crazy old man who raved through these halls for years. Fortunately, he kept this remote house in good condition. Perfect for me to grow some new friends," he said.

The Bentons had lived and died in this house. But how much of what she had felt had been real? She couldn't believe that he had come here, disturbed this house that had been such a good place… a comfortable place. He had brought his evil here, his rotting stink, sullying whatever the Bentons had left of themselves in this house. She wasn't just angry now, she was furious. "That was you calling my name?" Isabel said.

"And you came so quickly. Investigating ghosts, Vilan-dra? You were always flighty but I think you have let these

simple, superstitious humans get to you," Nicholas mocked.

"That's what the plastic is for," Liz said. "And the food. More of the husks."

Nicholas looked at Liz with approval. "Max, it looks like your taste in women is improving."

"Stay away from her!" Max said, his voice booming.

To Isabel's surprise, Nicholas took a step back. He's afraid. He doesn't want to die, she thought.

"You're right. New husks need a clean environment," Nicholas said, then he turned back to Isabel. "I'm growing a special one for myself, something I think you will like. Tall and strapping. Perfect for your shallow sensibilities."

He stared at her as if he knew something about her. In the past, he had claimed that she and he were lovers on their home world. But he had also claimed that she had betrayed her brother and her people, and she had learned that was a lie. "Kill him, Max," she found herself saying.

Nicholas turned quickly to face Max. "I wouldn't, Max. This device has what you might call a dead man's switch. If I let go of it, your friends will get the shock of their lives," he said, flashing his rotting grin. "Now, with your abilities, you might be able to heal them, save one, maybe two, before it's too late. But which ones?"

Isabel saw the pain on Max's face. There had to be something she could do to help. She tried to summon her powers, but found Nicholas had been telling the truth about them being blocked. And with her hands strapped behind her and attached somehow to the chamber, she could hardly move. Still, there had to be something…

Then there was the beginnings of an idea.

Isabel remembered seeing similar chambers in Copper Summit. The ones holding her and her friends looked different, more crude, but similar. She remembered the day in Copper Summit when she had seen them, when she had first met Nicholas.

"What's your plan? I don't think you're going to last until the new husks are grown. Doesn't that take twenty years?" Isabel asked.

"True"… he nodded… "but I've improved the process. Necessity is a mother, you know. And I don't mind saying that it was tricky with this planet's limited technology. You destroyed all of our best equipment back in Copper Summit. It was like using stone knives and bearskins to create a growth chamber… Still, I did it." Nicholas leaned into her. "Impressed, dear?"

Isabel spat in his ruined face. "You had fifty years to get us the first time. Do you really think another fifty will make a difference?" she said.

"Well, it looks like I won't even need that long," Nicholas said. "It looks like my mission is almost complete."

"Your mission?" she asked.

"Bring the Granilith back to Kevar, and with it, the head of Zan," Nicholas said.

"Well, it looks like you're going to have to go home empty-handed," Michael said, "because you'll get nothing from us."

"Really?" Nicholas said, and then he turned to Max. "You wouldn't sacrifice yourself for your friends? Give me a little artifact to save your sister, your friends and your

new mate? Gotten a little coldhearted over the years, have we, Zan?"

"Don't listen to him, Max. You can't trust him," Michael said.

Isabel could see the pain on Max's face. He would sacrifice himself for her, or for any of them, but she couldn't allow it.

"You think that if you do that, you'll return to Kevar a hero?" Isabel challenged.

"Mission accomplished, and for that I get one of the five worlds to control," he said.

Isabel nodded. "I'm sure Kevar values your services, but why didn't he recall you home before you fell apart?"

"This isn't the movies, Isabel. Space travel is not that simple," he said.

"Really? Kevar didn't mention that when he was here," she said.

"What?" Nicholas said. "Kevar was never here."

"Of course he was. He came to get me, said there was new technology for the return trip. He said I could go home," Isabel said.

Nicholas looked stricken, then furious. "You're lying!" he screamed. "This is a trick."

"He wanted me to come with him," Isabel said. "Odd that he would offer me a trip home just to get me in the sack, but not to you… his valued aid… when your life depended on it."

Doubt flashed across Nicholas's face.

"It's true, you know it is," Isabel said.

"Yeah, that's the problem with backstabbing weasels like Kevar. You just can't trust them," Michael said.

Nicholas was quiet for a long moment, then he raised his head and leveled his gaze at Isabel. "Kevar's a born leader. He does what he has to do," he said.

"You just keep telling yourself that," Isabel replied. "For all you know, he has no more use for you. If he even allows you to come home, you don't know what you'll find. Or what kind of welcome you'll get."

Nicholas only shrugged. "I know what happens if I stay here. I'm stuck on this backwater excuse for a planet forever. No thanks. I'll take my chances with our glorious leader." He spun around and said to Max, "It will be worth it to see his expression when I throw your head at his feet."

Isabel saw a twisted smile on his face and a wild look in his eyes. More than his body is falling apart, she thought. He's losing it. But he still had a cunning intelligence that Isabel didn't like.

He turned to Max. "It's time to stop playing games."

"Let them go, or I will kill you… right here, right now," Max said. There was steel in his voice.

Nicholas laughed, a grating sound from a decaying throat. "And watch your friends die? I know you too well. You never could make sacrifices. That's why you're here and Kevar is sitting on your throne. History repeats itself, Max. Destiny brought you here. Do you believe in destiny, Max? I do. I've always been a student of history… even Earth history, stupid and short as it is. And there is one thing that I've learned: There are always patterns and cycles. History does repeat itself, Max. You're here so I can defeat you again, so I can kill you again, just like I did last time. That should suit you, Max. You die, but you save your friends. It's so predictable, it's so you. A martyr's