So, when you find out that your sweet grandma is actually an alien from another planet that is corrupted from an invasion from a traitorous man who is actually a rising leader in Earth, you tend to get freaked out. But needless to say, i'm not the kind of person who would go freak out like they do in the movies.

I looked in my closet for a fresh outfit that i could wear to the library. It was after-school Tuesday, and i figured going out to the public library would be a good start on researching Hawk. Plus, Grammy called and told me someone's coming with me to help. I know it's not Ryan, since he told me via Email that his parents are pretty mad he skipped the photo shoot, so today he' s packed with a schedule: the photo shoot, the movie (which they renamed Mister Not So Spy- a comedy/romance), lunch with Melanie Fray talking about the new fashion line the 2 were supposed to do together (Melanie with girls, Ryan for guys), and a TV talk show on the Ellietric Show (like electric-and if you're wondering why, it's because Ellie is very energetic. If you ask me, it should be called the Elligetic show). So...yeah. No Ryan today, or at least that's what i thought.

So i picked a light blue shorts, and a lilac purple shirt with short sleeves. I let my wavy brown hair down, with a purple clip putting it back. I slipped on my cream colored sandals, got a notebook and a pen, said good bye to Avery (Austin was at after school tutoring- and Mom was at her job), and exited the apartment.

Ah...today is a good day. Sun's shining, birds chirping, a perfect day. Not crowded, and since the news had died down, nobody has spotted me and caused a commotion. The library wasn't very far away, but it was still a good 10 minutes. I strolled in the doors, smiling politely at the woman at the front desk. I was about to pass her, when she called my name.

I turned toward her. "Uh...yeah, that's me."

She smiled, the wrinkles near her brown eyes crinkling. "Oh, good. A young man wanted to know he's here. I believe his name is...Jace?"

I nodded, but i was surprised. Grammy sent Jace? Huh, he really didn't seem like the type of person who would care for research, but hey, i wasn't complaining! I could use all the help I could get. The problem is, i'm not sure if he even knows how to work a computer, being from a different planet and all. "Thanks." She pointed to a a separate room with 2 computers, armchairs, a TV, and a small table. I walked in there, peering inside to see Jace sitting in the armchair all relaxed.

He raised his head to see who entered, and raised a hand in greeting. I waved back, with a slight smile on my face.

"What's up?" he said. You know, i've always imagined extraterrestrials to speak English with a stiff manner, not so comfortable as he's speaking it right now.

"Well, uh i'm here to research Hawk." I replied, placing my notebook on the table.

"So am I, your grandmother sent me." He looked up at me, and continued, "Well, don't just stand there, sit down and chill, you look like you've gotten laser-beamed by Medusa!" I don't want to know how he knows about Medusa. I sat down next to him, and faced the computers.

"Um, d'you know how to operate a computer?" I asked as i opened up Google and my notebook to a fresh new page.

He smiled as if amused and said, "That's like asking me if i knew what colour this room is," he said, pointing to the wall.

"Um, it's blue."

"Exactly!" He started to grin, but then saw my expression. "Bad analogy, huh?"

"Yeah..."

Jace started to chuckle, and then looked at me. "Shall we get started?"

"Sure." with a glance in his direction, i typed in "Lucifer Hawk" in the search bar. 848,000,000 results, i read mentally on the top of the site. Jace pulled up Google as well, and looked at me, awaiting my instructions. "Uh, okay. You search up any background information on Hawk, like where he was supposedly born, and like who he was before his rise to fame. I'll look up the past events he's conducted, so i can get a better look at his plans."

"Cool."

And for the next hour or two, we did nothing but stare at a monitor screen the entire time. I have to admit, Hawk is pretty good at hiding himself in the Internet. Sure, he's there everywhere, but information ABOUT him? Not really. It's gonna suck if a kid wants to do him for their report. I mean, he doesn't even have a Wikipedia page! We scavenged for his true identity everywhere, going on the shadiest websites to the CNN.

After the hour mark flew past, Jace stopped and looked in my direction. "Okay, so i think we should like discuss and brainstorm, or whatever. What did you find?"

I set the mouse down, and faced him. "Okay, so apparently last Saturday Hawk got knighted by the queen, and now he's in Africa helping the kids there, and he went to some gold mines in California, guest starring on the Discovery Channel. Turns out there's this kind of challenge thing where he if he could find really precious gems, money will get sent to Africa as charity. But i think he really went to the gold mines is to look for the Power Stone, which doesn't make sense since he knows i'm the one who has it. Is there another?"

Jace shrugged. "I dunno, probably, but it'd be the only other one. So i found out that he was 'born' in Salt Lake City Utah, used to be their governor, and rose to fame. And that's pretty much all i found."

"Does it say what made him popular?" Jace faced the laptop, and typed it in the search engine's bar. After 5 minutes, he squinted at the screen, his auburn hair falling lightly on his forehead. "Erm...well, it says he invented something, like a ray or magnet that attracts other creatures, but it doesn't say whether its aliens or animals from Earth."

I frowned. "Hawk probably told them to take that part out, it's probably aliens. That's what his automaton is! It's like a signal to alert his army to attack Earth!"

Jace started to nod, his lavender eyes lighting up. "Yeah, and his debut probably got lost over a period of time when his fame increased." He stretched in the chair, showing the barest hint of his pale stomach as his orange T-shirt pulled up. "But how will this evidence help in taking down Hawk?"

My heart sank. "It probably won't. We'll need more." I had an idea, and i opened my mouth to say it, but I hesitated.

Jace looked at me. "Say what you need to say."

"Okay, well, i think we should, well, this could be our last resort, our plan Z or something-"

"What's your point?"

"Oh, right,well, i was thinking we should break into his house and destroy the automaton and any other type of connection telling the aliens to come attack us."

His handsome light colored eyes gazed at me thoughtfully, as if I surprised him somehow, as if he'd underestimated me. "We could do that now itself, but we won't have much time; 2 weeks to break into a highly guarded mansion, and it probably won't be as easy as the hotel you and Ryan broke into."

"Yes, well that's why I said last resort."

We were quiet for a moment, when the person i least expected burst through the room. Jace and I looked up in surprise, to see Avery panting, holding the door frame for support.

"O.M.G i've been looking for you everywhere, Rai! Turn on the TV, right now to channel 65."

"Avery, did you run all the way here?" I asked as Jace took the TV remote and turned it on. Avery shut the door.

"Yeah, you need to see this." Sheesh, this should be good.

"Avery, i swear if it's one of those 'oh look at the pretty sunset!' things, i'm gon-"

"Shut up and look!" I looked. It was Ryan.

-RYAN-

I was nervous. Yeah, i've done talk shows before, but for some reason this one gave me 'the vibes'. I walked in as Ellie the anchorwoman (is that right?) shouted my name. I'm supposed to appear confident, because when it gets leaked that you saved the president's life, then you ought to feel like a million bucks. With black jeans and an aquamarine shirt on (as my stylists said 'brings out my eyes'), i walked in.

I gave a bright smile as i sat down, waving at a couple of teenage girls.

"Welcome to my show," Ellie smiled.

"It's my pleasure."

"So, tell me, Ryan, how's that movie of yours coming along? Mister Not So Spy?" She said, and i got comfortable in my seat, crossing my right leg over my left and leaning back.

"It's great so far, Deidre Jean is an awesome director, and i have to say, being the main character is pretty fun."

She grinned, showing off her red lipstick against her cream colored heavily makeup-ed skin. "Oh, really? Please, i'm pretty sure we'd all love to hear some of the fun moments on set." she gestured towards the crowd, and they all yelled in agreement.

I smiled, and replied, "All right, okay, so I was with Melanie-" Ellie made the "oooh!" romantic sound. I rolled my eyes as the crowd started to laugh. "And um, my line was something in Italian, and since i didn't really memorize that Italian part the other day, it pretty much basically sounded like crap." Ellie chuckled. "So i tried the best I could, and when i finished, Deidre-who by the way IS Italian- said to me in a fake Italian accent, 'son, you just said i think pretzels know how to swim'. Everyone cracked up! Melanie was laughing so hard that she accidentally knocked over the prop vase!" Everyone roared with laughter, and I just sat there triumphantly. Score!

Ellie, after she finished laughing, said, "So, what exactly was your line?"

"Come on, we need to MOVE! Or, Dai, abbiamo bisogno di muoverci. And I think pretzels know how to swim is apparently 'Penso salatini sa nuotare'."

"How do those two sound ANYTHING alike?"

I started to laugh. "I don't even know!" And we cracked up again. And from there, it was fine for the next oh, 30 minutes. Then, we reached a pretty awkward topic.

Ellie started, "So i was reading All Star the other day, and I saw a news report saying that you and Melanie are together. Hooray for you guys!"

Uhhhh...what? We're dating? Since when? "Um...we are?" Crap, i cursed. Now i sound like an idiot on television. I tried to smile politely, but i don't know if it did any good.

"Yes, it said so on All Star magazine!" She gave me a secret look that said "lets get on with it, and worry about this later".

"Oh, well, i didn't read it yet, and um...yeah." Ellie gave an amused grin, but then it turned to shock, and then excitement.

"Ooh, is there another girl in the picture? Oh, i bet it's that dark-haired beauty um, Raina! She seems like a good girl."

I swear the blush that ran up my cheeks was faster than the speed of flipping light. "Um..." Oh, i really hope Raina wasn't watching this!

Ellie sat up in the chair and pointed at me to the crowd, with a bright grin on her face. "Ah-ha! I was right! Score for the Ellietric!" The laughter rolled from the audience.

"Wait, no!"

"No, what?" Okay, I guess you would call this moment the moment of truth. Or lies. I could almost see the news reporters and paparazzis zooming in on this moment, my face, my very actions.

My palms started to sweat. Ellie continued, but she was addressing the crowd. "If you guys don't know who this Raina is, here's a picture." On the back, there was a probably a high school photo of Raina (don't ask me how they got it. They do the shadiest things sometimes), with her long, chocolate brown hair tumbling over her shoulder on her chest. She was smiling, no teeth showing, and it was very delicate and dainty. Her exotic eyes looked even more unreal in the photo, as if it was Photoshopped somehow, but i think everyone had a feeling it wasn't. Her cheeks were glowing pink, with her dimples showing. "My, my, she's a pretty thing. No wonder Ryan's going crazy for her!"

"Well, that's not-"

She turned to me with a secret mischievous grin. I hate this woman. "What was that, Ryan?"

"Um, i didn't mean it like that..."

"Okay Ryan, answer this question," she sat forward, like everyone else in the room. I could feel the room pulse with Ellietricity. "Do you or do you not like-or love- Raina?"

I took a deep breath, and avoided her eyes purposely. "No, i don't."