Isabel still hadn't absorbed everything by the time the Jeep's wheels turned off of the smooth highway pavement and onto the grit of the dirt gravel road that led out to the quarry. They faced west now, and the sunset filled their view with orange sky and blue and pink swirls of clouds against the backdrop of the sun. It was breathtaking in its beauty. But Isabel scarcely noticed. On the way out, she'd noticed her brother's mood, and had persisted in questioning him until he finally told her what had been bothering him the past couple months. Why he and Liz hadn't been together, and the truth he'd finally learned. Isabel was shaken not only by the news of the granilith possibly being used as a time machine, but by the sheer sacrifice that Liz had made. It took a lot, Isabel knew, to deny yourself the one thing that would make you happy in favor of keeping a secret from those you cared about. And what a secret. God, this whole time…she had to live with Max thinking that she'd…. Isabel thought as the ramifications hit her completely. It was like a veil had suddenly been removed from her eyes, and she could see clearly for the first time. I've misjudged her…badly.
She looked over at Max in the driver's seat, who had been silent since the last word of his story. He gripped the steering wheel tightly in his hands, and his arms were straight out in front of him. His jaw clenched. The telling of the story to Isabel had obviously left him emotional, and he was obviously trying to keep his feelings from flying out of control.
"Max," Isabel said, "I know this must be hard…"
Max glared at her, and Isabel backtracked. "Okay, I know I can't know how this feels to you…but I know it hurts." She fell silent for a moment as she tried to figure out how to say what she knew she needed to say to him. "The thing is…you should come away with this knowing you're doing the right thing."
"The right thing?!" Max exploded. He took his eyes off the road for only a moment to meet her eyes with his own incredulous ones, before looking back, and their speed picked up a little.
Isabel hastened to get her point across as the jeep hit a small ditch in the road and bounced her up toward the ceiling. "All I'm saying is, you guys have already gone through so much….to go back on it now would be to invalidate everything you've already given up. Liz did what she did because she knew she had to. She knew it was for the best. I mean really, what choice did she have?" Max remained silent, and she continued. "And now you know the truth…well, that's unfortunate, because it makes it harder on both of you…but the fact remains."
Isabel bounced in her seat again as they ran over what looked like a small boulder in their path. "The fact remains that you guys can't be together. You know now for a fact what will happen if you are. And there's just so much more at stake than the two of you."
"You think I don't know that?" Max asked harshly. "You think it doesn't rip my heart out to know that by loving Liz, it would cost you and Michael your lives? And everyone else's?" Isabel remained silent as Max breathed a ragged sigh. When he spoke again, he was calmer. "I know that Liz and I can't be together. I know that can't change. It just…hurts." He stopped for a moment and his voice was thick with emotion when he spoke again. "But we would have been happy, Isabel. We would have been married, and happy, and it wasn't us who caused this."
Isabel reached out and placed her hand on his shoulder, knowing that there was nothing she could do to help ease his pain. She searched for the right words, but could find none. A moment later, the jeep slowed as they neared the quarry, and she looked through the windshield at the base of the plateau they were to meet Michael on. "I don't see Michael's car," she said.
Max pulled to a stop at the base, and put the jeep in park. "He must've parked around on the other side," he said, pulling his seat belt off. They got out of the jeep, and stood in front of it as they contemplated the path up to the top of the plateau. "Well," Max said, jingling his keys, "let's go find out what's going on." They started up the path.
From a distance, Liz watched Max and Isabel start up the path, and waited until they'd rounded a bend before easing her car as quietly as she could closer to the base of the plateau. Parking so that a boulder would block the view of her car from the top, she shut off the ignition and waited a moment before climbing out of the car. A feeling of restlessness filled her, and she hoped that it was just nervousness at having them discover that she'd followed them there, and not some sort of premonition as to what was about to happen. Well, she thought, starting up the path after them, here goes nothing.
Reaching the top, Max and Isabel found Michael waiting for them. He was standing at the edge of the plateau, looking down over it. "Hey." he said.
Max and Isabel glanced at each other, and started in his direction. "Hey," Max said. "What's going on?"
Michael continued to peer over the ledge, looking down at something below him. When he spoke his voice reflected his preoccupation. "Check this out." he said to Max.
Max stepped up beside him and looked down, seeing a small rock platform about ten feet below their current position. It was enclosed by low rock ledges on three sides, and the edge of the plateau forming the fourth wall. Other than that, Max saw nothing. He started to get an odd feeling in the pit of his stomach. "What am I looking for?" he asked, turning to look at Michael.
Michael's lips twitched in amusement, and the movement spread. It shimmered over his whole face, and down his body. And in the stillness left, was Rath. His piercings glinted in the sun, and distracted Max for a moment as Rath said "This!", and shoved him over the edge.
"Max!" he heard Isabel scream, and then he tumbled over. Luckily, there weren't any outcroppings between him and the floor of the rock platform, so he was uninjured when he hit bottom and rolled. He heard Isabel scream again, and immediately started climbing the cliff. He scaled it quickly, and when he reached the top he saw Rath with his hand around Isabel's throat as they struggled at the opposite edge of the plateau. Isabel managed to break away from him, and swung a fist, connecting with his jaw solidly and sending him off balance. Rath recovered, and extended his hand toward Isabel. Max felt the energy in the air around them crackle, and knew that Rath was about to blast her. He struggled to get over the edge of the cliff, but something inside him knew he wouldn't be in time. "Isabel!" he shouted.
Suddenly he saw a blur at the edge of his vision, and looked up in time to see Liz shooting out from behind a boulder near the entrance to the path back down into the valley. In the blink of an eye she had tackled Rath with everything she had, rushing him over the edge. Max's heart thumped loudly as he thought for a moment that she'd follow him over, but she recovered her balance at the last moment and Rath dropped over the edge alone, reaching out with his hands and catching nothing but air as he fell. Max practically vaulted over the top of the drop, and joined Isabel on the surface.
"Oh my God," Isabel said, clutching at her throat with one hand. "He was going to kill me…"
"We've gotta get back," Max said. "We've got to warn the others."
Liz, who had been watching down the side where Rath fell, suddenly sprang back and grabbed an arm from each of them, ushering them toward the path. "I think we really need to worry about us right now," she said. As they stumbled toward the mouth of the path, the ground began to rumble beneath them. It was barely noticeable at first, but it grew quickly until they suddenly found themselves hard pressed to stay on their feet. They started shakily down the path, and then heard a loud cracking sound behind them. Turning as one, they saw the brilliant golden light shooting up into the sky from where Rath had fallen.
Isabel gaped in shock. "Is that him? How can that be him? How can he be that strong?"
Max's mind raced, and he looked at Isabel. "He's after you," he said, grabbing her and starting to drag her back down the path again. "We've got to get you to safety…and we have to warn the others."
Liz was on his wavelength, and a plan was forming. She turned to Isabel as they struggled down the path. "Can you make him see me as you?"
Isabel looked at her, a little dazed still from her close encounter. "What?"
Liz repeated herself roughly, trying to break Isabel out of her fog. "I saw Tess do it once…can you make him think he's seeing you when he looks at me?"
Isabel responded to the urgency in Liz's tone. "Y-yes, I can." she said.
It suddenly hit Max where Liz was going with this. "Liz, no…" he started, but was interrupted by a blast of energy shooting down the path at them. Isabel yelled in alarm, and they all looked up and saw that Rath had climbed back up to the top of the plateau, and was now aiming at them again. Max grabbed Isabel and Liz and took off at a run, trying to get to the end of the path several yards away. Just as the trio got to the base, another blast hit down between them, and they all veered off to either side of the path. Isabel ended up on one side, Liz and Max on the other…each hiding behind the large boulders that framed the path. Between them: the no-man's land upon which Rath's blasts continued to rain down. Rocks chipped and flew every which way at each blast, and Max pulled Liz back further behind the boulder. She struggled against him and leaned out to see Isabel over behind her boulder.
"Isabel do it!" she yelled, "I'll draw him away and you can take my form…get back and warn the others!" Isabel looked back at her hesitantly.
Max spun Liz around to face him. "No, Liz! He could kill you!"
Liz shouted back, blinking as another blast rocked the ground behind her. "He'll kill Isabel if we don't get her out of here!"
Max looked over Liz's shoulder and watched as Isabel tried to cringe closer to the boulder she hid behind, to keep the fragments of rock from biting into her too painfully. In his horrified imagination, he saw the next blast get too close…saw her fall to the ground and not move again. The thought decided him. "Do it!" he shouted to his sister.
Isabel heard him and stepped out slightly from the cover of the boulder. She closed her eyes and searched for her inner stillness. Everything around her faded to nothing, and in the silence left she was able to draw upon her power. She reached from within herself up to Rath, on the surface of the plateau. Into his mind she was able to stealthily creep, twisting here and there, around his thoughts and memories. Not touching them, just traveling past. She placed her illusion, and retreated as silently as she'd come. On her way out she felt something tugging at her…something there in his mind, calling to her. Almost without her noticing, she picked up the knowledge and took it with her, leaving his consciousness. Coming back to herself, Isabel opened her eyes and saw Max and Liz looking at her worriedly from across the path. She nodded.
Max reached into his pocket and pulled his keys out, tossing them across the divide to Isabel. In case I don't make it, he thought. She snatched them out of the air, and clenched them tightly in her fist as she prepared to run to the jeep. Max turned back to Liz, and searched her face desperately. She was afraid…he could see her fear clearly, but he could also see her resolution. "I'll get to my car," she said, and pointed over to the left where he could just see the bumper peeking out from behind a large boulder. "I'll take the dirt road, get to the Interstate and head toward Alamogordo…you get her back. I'll lead him away as far as possible, and…call you when I can."
Max swallowed, his worry for her obvious as his hands clenched in helplessness. But he saw no other way out of this. "Liz," he said. He drew her to him and crushed his lips to hers in a desperate kiss.
Isabel watched, tense as Liz and Max shared a passionate kiss before Liz backed away to the edge of the boulder's protection, and stood ready to take off toward her car. Max glanced over toward Isabel to see if she was ready, and they all waited for a break in the fire from above.
Rath paused for a moment, peering down the path to see what effect his blasts had had. He knew that the trio had split up…one on the right side, two on the left, but he wasn't sure which were where. Suddenly a running figure caught his attention from the left side, and he narrowed his eyes when he saw it was Isabel. She seemed to be running for the cover of a large boulder right next to the dirt road…far to the left of the Jeep, which was closer. He aimed to fire again.
Max watched as Liz sprinted away from him, leaping like a gazelle over rocks and small shrubs in her way over to her car. He could hear her ragged breathing, and watched as her hair seemed to bounce in slow motion behind her. With each step she took forward Max lived in fear of a blast burning her down from above. It wasn't long before it happened.
The blast struck a mere foot behind her, and if Liz hadn't already been leaping away she would have been thrown by it. She continued on. Max turned to Isabel. "Now!" he shouted. Isabel shoved away from the rock wall, propelling herself toward the Jeep at speed. There was a pause in the fire from above as Rath took note of the new target, but their ruse was obviously working…his next blast was still directed toward Liz. Isabel ran on unmolested.
Max's gaze shot back to Liz as Rath continued his barrage upon her. She zagged this way and that, and that was the only thing keeping her from being hit. Suddenly, though, one of his bolts got too close, and Liz went flying. Before she'd even hit the ground Max found himself running after her. He dodged a blast as Rath realized he was going to "Isabel's" aid, and finally reached Liz. She was starting to get to her knees, gasping for breath, and he hauled her to her feet, dragging her after him as he ran toward the car. Rocks exploded behind them as they ran, and they could see that Isabel had gotten to the jeep. She stood indecisively outside the door of it, watching as her brother and Liz ran from the rain of blasts coming from the path now, as Rath followed them down. Max yelled to her as he ran. "Go! Warn them!" Isabel jerked a nod in reply and jumped in the jeep, starting it and reversing quickly. Skidding to a stop, she put the car in drive and sped off up the road the way they'd come.
Rath watched as the girl took the jeep and headed back, knowing that she'd go to warn the others. He debated taking the jeep out, but his powers were already almost depleted after the constant usage in the past five minutes, and he let her go. The human wasn't the one he'd come for, anyway. He refocused on Isabel and Max, running toward the boulder, and he realized there must be another car behind it. Reaching the bottom of the path he let loose one final blast in their direction.
Liz yelped as the blast went over their heads and pulverized the boulder her car was parked behind. Recovering quickly, she dug in her pocket for the keys as she left Max's side and stumbled over to the front door. She yanked the door open, sliding in as Max did the same on the passenger side. Jamming the key home, Liz tuned the key and ignited the engine. The tires spun madly as she put the car in gear and floored the accelerator. They shot past Rath, and Max turned in his seat to watch through the rear window as Michael's duplicate waved his hand before the base of the plateau and a trans-am appeared, previously hidden by his powers. He watched through a cloud of dust as Rath got in and started after them.
"Damn it!" Max breathed. Rath was already gaining on them. "Liz, go faster."
Liz gave it more gas, and her little car shot forward in response. "It won't take this for very long," she warned. She navigated the curves and corners carefully, trying not to fishtail in the dust. She knew that any delay now could be fatal. Behind them, the trans-am was still gaining rapidly, though it seemed to have a little more trouble in the dust, lacking the front-wheel drive of Liz's citation. "We have to gain as much of a lead as we can while still in the desert," she said.
Max nodded. "We have the advantage," he said, "we know the area."
Now how do we use it? he thought. Like a map in his head he plotted out the twists and turns ahead of them, and had an idea. "Go as fast as you can," he told Liz. "Take the corners fast, that's our only advantage."
Liz complied, flooring the accelerator. They took the next turn and Max had to brace himself against the dashboard to keep from falling into Liz's lap. "Okay, maybe not that fast," he quipped.
Liz glanced over at him. Her eyes swept over him in a moment, and then shot back to the road. "Put your seat belt on." she said.
Max looked at her, bemused. "Are you serious?"
Liz glared at him, and he reached for the seat belt.
They kept taking the turns fast, and gradually were able to lengthen their lead a little. Max estimated the distance in his head. "It should only be a few more turns until we get to the interstate." Liz nodded. She was a little worried that he'd be able to gain on them again there. Without the dust of the backroad they were currently on, her front-wheel drive would cease to be an advantage. Luckily, however, state route 70 was just as long and winding as the road they were on right now. Her smaller car should be able to keep ahead.
Within a couple more curves they could no longer see Rath's trans-am behind them, but they knew he was there. Thinking that she was Isabel, he'd have to pursue her. Rounding one last turn in the road, they came up to the 70 junction. A sign stood opposite their road, pointing to the left and the right. To the right, Roswell, to the left, Alamogordo. Coming from Roswell, a semi speeded up what was probably one of the only straight sections in the road. Liz saw their opportunity immediately. Without even slowing down for the stop, she turned out onto the interstate heading west, toward Alamogordo, cutting in front of the semi. Max turned again and looked out the back windshield and Liz's eyes flew to her rearview mirror. The semi honked loudly at them, but there was nothing he could do to get around them due to a curve coming up in the road ahead. Behind the semi, they saw the trans-am stop briefly at the junction, and turn to follow them.
"Yes!" Max shouted, looking back at Liz in triumph. "He can't get up to us because of the semi, but he can still see us to follow us. Liz, you're a genius."
Liz grinned. "Now we just have to hope there aren't any straight stretches of road for awhile." The plan ran through her head again, and she thought they could do it…could continue to lead him away from Roswell. "How long do you think Isabel's thought control will work on him?" she asked.
Max thought about it. "No more than an hour or so, I'd say." he said. "And it's two hours to Alamogordo. Even if he catches up to us by that point, he'll be seeing you as you. Our objective is to get to a phone there, and call the others. Make sure Isabel got back okay and warned them."
As the sun slipped beneath the horizon, night closed in on the three vehicles heading west on state route 70. Liz's small citation, the towering semi, and the sleek and dangerous trans-am.
~*~*~*~*~
Beep. … Beep. … Beep. … Beep. … Beep. …
Michael sat silently listening to the sound of the EKG. It was steady and strong, and this was a bit of relief to his worried mind. His head was in his hands, but he was ever aware of Maria's still form lying in the bed he sat beside, taking each breath in her sleep. She hadn't regained consciousness yet, and the doctors thought it best to let her sleep through her body's healing process. Michael knew they were right, but at that moment he'd have given anything to have her wake up and look at him. Start chewing him out for something or another, call him Spaceboy…anything to know that she was really okay.
There was a commotion in the hallway, and Michael looked up to see Sheriff Valenti entering the room. Behind him were the mirror images of Tess and Ava. Michael stood even as he noticed that Ava had put her hair up under a cap, and had taken out her piercings. He came around the bed and met the Sheriff at the foot of it. "Thank you for coming," he said.
Sheriff Valenti shook his hand and took off his hat, holding it as he turned to look at Maria.
"How is she?" he asked.
Michael followed his gaze, taking in the scorch marks on Maria's hands and upper arms where she'd tried to ward off Lonnie's blast. "She's stable," he said. "But I didn't know what to tell the doctors about what happened to her."
Valenti looked back at Michael. "What did happen to her?"
Michael sighed and ran a hand though his hair, making it stick up even more. "Well you know how we told you about those duplicates?" Valenti nodded, and Michael went on. "Well, they're here. Apparently mine, Rath, called Max and asked him and Isabel to meet him somewhere, posing as me. Liz was with them, and thought something was wrong. She told Alex she was going to follow them, and had him call Maria to let her know what was going on. Except that Alex didn't know where they were going, so Maria just assumed it was my place. She came over and…Lonnie showed up. As Isabel. She tried to kill me, but Maria got in the way." At the Sheriff's stunned expression, Michael explained, "I called Alex; he told me what happened. He's on his way."
Valenti absorbed this. "Where would they have met him?" he asked.
Michael had already given this some thought. "The only place I can think of is out in the desert…a quarry we go to sometimes. It's about fifteen miles west of Roswell."
Sheriff Valenti nodded. "Yeah, I think I know where you're talking about. I'm gonna go put an APB out on both Max's jeep and Liz's citation. You guys stay here." Valenti turned and headed out of the room, grabbing hold of his radio and bringing it up to speak rapidly into it.
Michael returned to his seat by Maria's side, and Tess and Ava sat in chairs in the other corner of the room, by the door. He looked up at them briefly. "We need to stay together," he said… "until we figure out what's going on. Rath's out there after Max and Isabel, but Lonnie's still at large here in Roswell."
Tess straightened…what he'd said sounded like an order, and she remembered that he had been Max's second in command, in another life. She nodded her affirmation, and he looked back at Maria. She thought for a few minutes. "So what happened, Michael…how were you able to get away?"
Michael told them what had happened. "She came there looking for me. And she would have killed me. But she didn't know about Maria." He looked at her again, and Tess could see on his face all of his concern for her, and for the others he wasn't able to warn in time.
She tried to offer him some comfort. "Rath…doesn't know about Liz, Michael. Three against one…they'll get away."
Michael closed his eyes, trying to keep his emotions off his face. He wanted to believe that she was right…but with every moment that passed and he didn't hear from them, his fear grew. At last he spoke. "They're strong, though. Lonnie took that hit from me and went down…but she was up again in just a minute. How can they be that strong?"
Tess didn't know how to answer him, and was surprised when Ava spoke up from her chair. "It's because of the lives we've lived," she said. "You guys grew up here. You had families, and friends, and people who cared about you. With us….it was just us. There was no one else. No one to notice the way we acted, no one to see our unusual behavior and powers. You guys have lived in constant fear of being discovered, and have sought to hide your powers. We…we were ghosts. Invisible. And we practiced them." As Michael and Tess absorbed this, Ava went on. "Lonnie and Rath especially are strong because they're focused. Their power is important to them, because they're ambitious."
Ava grew quiet, as she remembered. "They're ruthless. That's why they killed Zan. Because he got in their way." She took a breath. "Rath, he's not very smart. He's strong, but he mostly follows Lonnie's orders. She's the one you have to watch out for. She's smart. Smart, and dangerous. And above everything else, she wants to get home. She will kill all of us if we get in her way."
Tess observed Ava's fearful demeanor when speaking of Lonnie. "You're afraid of her," she ventured.
Ava looked up. "You should be too."