"We are not aliens," Max said, gritting his teeth.
"You so are," Maria countered. "You made those rocks explode, and you made a door appear in solid rock, and well, you're aliens!"
"We didn't make those rocks explode," Max said.
"Well, not all of them," Michael said.
"Michael!" Max shouted.
"What? It's not like I meant to do it! It was just a mistake. I kind of lost it when I saw Mar – never mind, it was just a mistake."
"Jesus, Michael, are you ever going to learn to control your.."
"Isabel!" Max shouted.
"Mouth?" Isabel continued. "Come on, Max, do you think I'm stupid or something?"
"Look, would somebody mind telling me what's going on here, because I'm really confused?"
"It's nothing," Max began. "We were just…what was that?"
"What was what?" said Tess, I didn't hear anything."
"That! Listen!" He turned and looked over to where the door had been located, trying to place the rumbling sound he heard.
. "Everyone, be quiet," Max whispered. "I think somebody's trying to get in. There isn't any place to hide. It's up to you Tess, can you do it?"
"I think so, Max," Tess whispered back, her face a mask of worry.
"So what?" asked Kyle. "What can she do?"
"Will you please shut up!" Max whispered.
"Aye-aye El Presidente," said Kyle, giving Max a mock salute.
Max was about to respond when the hidden door suddenly appeared, and slid back. Sunlight entered through the chamber door, making it impossible for them to identify the figure that entered slowly. He stepped further into the chamber, his features becoming more clear and defined. When they could finally see him clearly, Tess gave a small gasp of fear, closed her eyes tightly and began to move her lips in a soundless whisper.
"Where are they?" the man growled. "They had to come in here? Damn it, I need them and the Granolith if I want to get out of this place. Where the hell did Calarish hide the damn thing?" He cursed softly as his eyes scanned the small cavern once more. With a final burst of what they took to be profanity in some unfamiliar language, he turned, passed his hand across the rock wall, and stepped through the door that appeared.
The eight friends waited silently for what seemed like hours – waiting to see if the stranger would return. Finally through some unspoken signal, they all began to speak at once. Maria, Alex and Kyle all began demanding an explanation of what had just happened, while Michael and Isabel did their best to convince them that nothing had happened. Tess was crying and shaking with fear, and Max was busy asking her who the man was.
"That's the man who tried to gr-grab me in the mall," Tess sobbed.
"But who is he? Does he know who we are?" Max asked.
"His name is Nescado, and not only does he know who you are, he's one of you," said Liz, holding a folded piece of paper. "At least I'm pretty sure he is."
"You know that creep?" asked Kyle, who had by now, abandoned all pretense of being on a date with Liz, and stood, rubbing Tess' back.
"No, I don't know him, but I can read, and the answers to everybody's questions are right here," Liz said, waving the paper.
"Give me that!" Michael demanded, trying to grab the paper from Liz.
"No, not until you guys tell us the truth – about everything," said Liz.
"What truth?" bluffed Max. "There isn't anything special about us."
"Max, this says it was written by you. That in 2014, you and I used the granolith to send you back in time to warn me. And it says that we made a mistake in our calculations, and you went back to far. There's a lot more, but I'm not letting you have this, until the four of you come clean. What is the granolith, and why did WE send it back in time so that you could warn me?"
Max looked at his brother and sisters in a moment of silent communication, and one by one they nodded.
"We might as well sit down," Max sighed, dropping to the ground. "This may take a while."
Max explained, with the help of his siblings to explain everything they knew about themselves, including faint half memories of a stranger finding them and leading them to the spot where Philip and Diane found them.
"Yeah, I'm sorry, but that just sounds pretty strange," said Alex.
"I know," said Isabel. "Try living it. But it's all true, I swear. We – we've wanted to tell you for a long time, but we'd all swore we'd never tell anyone. Our parents don't even know."
"Wait, you wanted to tell us?" Maria asked. "Us four, specifically? Why, Isabel. It's not like you even like any of us, or anything. We're not a part of the "A" list."
"Hey!" said Kyle. "Didn't we already have this discussion? I'm a part of the A-List, remember?"
"Seriously, Isabel," Maria continued, ignoring Kyle. "Why would you want to tell the four of us, the three of us," she amended, glancing at Kyle, "anything?"
"This is going to sound weird," said Isabel, "but all of us, have felt a connection to you in one way or another from the first time we met. Tess and Max didn't fight it as much as Michael and I did, but all of us have kind of felt that there was some sort of bond between us."
"She's not far from wrong," said Liz, softly. "According to this we were, uh, close in the future."
"Close, what do you mean, close?" asked Maria. "Cause girlfriend, you can't tell me that I was close with," she paused when she realized that Liz's gaze shifted from her to Michael and back again. "You have got to be kidding me?" she shouted. "He doesn't even like me. He can barely stand to be in the same room with me, and you're telling me that in the future, we were, uh, close?"
"That's what it says here," said Liz. "Look, it says a lot of stuff, but how do we know it's true? I mean this could all be part of some elaborate practical joke that they're playing on us." Her voice climbed hysterically. "Right, it's just some joke? Because if it's not, that means I'm going to get shot in a few months, and I really don't think I can stand knowing that it's going to happen."
Without warning, Liz dropped the paper and covered her face with her hands. Her shoulders shook as she struggled to contain the deep sobs that exploded from her chest.
"I don't want to be shot," she cried. "I don't."
It was Max who moved toward Liz and wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly.
"Liz, don't," he said, quietly. "You're not going to get shot. If we know when it's going to happen, we can make sure it doesn't. Don't worry, we're not going to let you get hurt. I promise."
"Look, I really don't think we should hang around here," said Michael. "We don't know if that Nescado guy is going to come back. JockBoy," he added, pointing at Michael, " You come with me and scout out the area to make sure he's really gone. If it safe, we'll come back and get the rest of you, and we can head back to town."
"Who died and made you king?" Maria asked glaring at Michael.
"Yeah, and can I just say, I'm not really comfortable of being a part of the scouting party. That guy was blowing up rocks. I don't really think I can do much to defend myself against that."
"Michael's right," said Isabel. "We have a lot to talk about, and it's obviously not safe here. Kyle, you'll be okay. Michael won't let anything happen to you."
"I'm not reassured," said Kyle with a long-suffering sigh.
"Uh, before you go out there, I think you should all hear this," said Alex. He glanced down at the paper Liz had dropped. The one he'd picked up off the ground and continued reading while Max comforted Liz. "According to this, by the time Max came back to change the future, we were all already dead."