CHAPTER 5
Closing her eyes, she grasped Isabel's hand tightly, and felt the alien wrap her fingers around their joined hands.
Maria waited, scarcely daring to breathe, for something, anything, to happen. She could hear the slight hum of Isabel's bedside lamp and the soft scrape as Alex pulled the desk chair nearer to the bed. She knew Liz was nearby, hovering anxiously over them, and Max was sitting next to Isabel. Why wasn't something happening? Was it her? She hadn't gotten any visions from Michael when he'd seen her tying the red sneakers. Maybe he was wrong. Maybe she was too closed off. Maybe there was no hope that she would ever be able to connect with Isabel, with Michael, with anyone. Maybe--
FLASH
A small blonde girl holding tightly onto her brother's hand as they approach the schoolyard, looking around at the swarms of children around them, feeling distant and afraid.
FLASH
A slightly older Isabel bursting into tears, being gathered into her mother's warm arms and rocked back and forth until her shuddering subsides.
FLASH
Max, Isabel and Michael sitting at the Crashdown, passing a bottle of Tabasco and talking quietly.
FLASH
Isabel standing at her window, gazing out at the dark night, taking comfort from the feel of Michael's hand on her shoulder.
Awash in the dizzying scenes flashing before her eyes, Maria flinched as a white-hot light began to grow in the center of her vision. It pierced through her closed eyelids, obliterating the pictures she was receiving from the connection Isabel had made. She struggled to move, to cover her eyes, to escape the painful brightness, but could not. Tears began to pour from under her closed lids, running down her cheeks. Defiantly she opened her eyes to the light, expecting to be blinded by its brilliance.
Instead she saw golden sand and a bright, empty sky.
"Oh my god," she whispered, blinking rapidly to clear the moisture from her eyes.
Isabel's voice came from behind her, sounding a little surprised. "It worked."
Maria took a few agitated steps toward Isabel. "What do you mean, it worked? You didn't think it would work? What are we doing here if you didn't think it would work?"
"Calm down, Maria. I hoped it would. We needed it to. I just didn't know, all right?"
The shorter girl relaxed slightly, and looked around her. "So this is Michael's dream, huh? Somehow I was expecting Playboy bunnies and giant bottles of Tabasco sauce."
Isabel rolled her eyes before answering. "It's exactly like I left it. Sand and sky."
"And you wandered around, and found nothing, right?"
"Right."
"So where are your footprints? This is sand you're walking on. There should be footprints all over."
"I didn't leave any. The sand would move back into place as my feet lifted. I didn't leave any sign that I'd been here. Until Max pulled me out of it, I actually thought I was going to get lost."
Maria's face paled slightly. "No footprints?" she whispered. Turning around and pointing at the sand behind her, she asked hesitantly, "Then what are those?"
Isabel gasped as she saw three distinct footprints leading towards the spot where Maria stood. "Footprints..." She stared, troubled, into Maria's eyes. "Take a few more steps," she suggested. Maria did so, leaving a definite mark in the sand with each one.
"I don't get it. This is really weird," Maria complained, pacing back and forth across the sand. "I mean, you're practically six feet tall. There's no way that I weigh enough to be leaving footprints and you don't."
"I don't know either," Isabel admitted. "But things sometimes get really bizarre in dreams. Even though this doesn't feel like a dream, it is one. It has to be."
Maria contemplated this thought for a moment, before continuing, "Okay, so it's normal for things to be weird. Well with you guys, I suppose it is. So let's see if we can make some progress here, even if things don't make sense. Time for the old tracking-sensing trick, huh?" She gave a snort of frustrated laughter. "Too bad you couldn't just bring a bloodhound in with you and be done with it."
Isabel began, "Maria--"
"I know, I know. I am the bloodhound. Geez," she murmured under her breath, "I can't even be a cocker spaniel, or a French poodle, or even one of those Taco Bell dogs. No, I have to be a big old droopy bloodhound." Taking a few steps away from Isabel, she closed her eyes and tried to concentrate on Michael.
Isabel waited impatiently, finally bursting out, "Well? Can you feel him?"
"Hey, this isn't rocket science, you know," was the response. "Yeah, he's here."
"Where? Where?"
"He feels really nearby and very far away, all at the same time. It's like he's everywhere, you know? Which makes sense, I guess, if we're stuck in his head." Maria opened her eyes. "So which way do we go?"
Isabel thought for a moment before slowly saying, "If he's everywhere, it won't matter which direction we take. He'll be there."
Maria looked at her consideringly, then covered her eyes with one hand, pointing with the other. She spun around until she felt dizzy. "Okay," she said as she came to a stop. "Let's go that way."
Intent on the still forms of her three friends, Liz shook her head and tried to blink. She'd been so focused on the three of them that for a moment she thought her eyelids would refuse to move and she'd be stuck staring straight ahead for the rest of her life. Finally they cooperated, and she blinked rapidly, attempting to bring some moisture to her dry eyes.
She looked blindly around the room for a clock. Alex spoke up softly, "Thirty-seven minutes. Twenty-three to go." Nodding, she blinked again before turning to gaze once more at the bed. Isabel and Maria lay unmoving, hands clutched tightly together. She could see their chests move in unison with each shallow breath they took. Max sat motionlessly on the edge of the bed, holding onto Isabel's arm with both hands. His eyes shut, he seemed dead to the world. Liz pressed her lips tightly together. This would work. It had to.
In the arid desert, Maria and Isabel trudged along, leaving one set of footprints trailing behind them. "You know, this is the desert. We should have brought some bottled water along with us," Maria commented.
"We're lucky I could bring you here, much less refreshments," Isabel snapped back. "Besides, this little trip is only for an hour. I think even you can survive that long, thank you very much."
"Are you sure it's only an hour? It feels like a lot longer than that already."
"Maria, would you stop complaining? You're not making this any easier, you know?"
"Oh, so I'm here to make this easier? Who knew? I thought I was just your tracking do--" Her voice cut off abruptly as she fell backwards in the sand.
Isabel rushed over to her. "Maria! Maria! Are you all right?"
The reply was short and to the point. "Ouch."
"What happened?" asked Isabel tensely.
"What does it look like? I ran into something. It's right there..." Maria's voice trailed off as she sat up and looked expectantly ahead of her. She saw nothing but the ever-present stretch of desert sand.
"What's right there? I don't see anything!"
"Well, I don't see anything, either, but the massive lump on my forehead sure tells me there's something there. I don't care what sort of wonky dream Michael is having, there's no way I could be knocked over by something doesn't exist!"
Isabel moved slowly towards Maria's feet. Slowly reaching out into the air beyond them, she tried to feel for what could have knocked the girl down. "I don't feel anything. Are you sure you didn't trip?"
"Yes, I'm sure I didn't trip. I'm telling you, I ran into something. Something hard." She joined Isabel and began feeling the air in front of her. "It was right about...here." At that, her hand struck a hard surface. "Here, Isabel! Right here! Feel this!"
The taller girl moved carefully over and placed her hand in the air next to Maria's. "I don't feel anyth...Oh."
They both began sliding their hands up and down the invisible barrier before them. "It goes all the way to the ground," said Maria. "You're taller than me. Can you reach the top?"
Isabel stretched up as far as she could, but the barrier exceeded her grasp. Picking up a fistful of sand, Maria tossed it in front of her. It flew through where the wall should be and quickly fell, mixing in with the sand several feet away. "It doesn't stop the sand, but it sure stopped me."
"Maybe we can go around it," Isabel suggested. Maria began moving to the right, keeping her hands in constant contact with the unseen obstruction. Isabel followed. After a minute, she glanced back to see Maria's footprints curving away behind them. "Maria, I think that this obstruction, whatever it is, is round."
Maria glanced back at her, then at the footprints, and began to move more swiftly around the impediment. Moments later, she'd reached the point where the marks in the sand turned abruptly to the side. "You're right, Isabel," she said, gazing at the ring of footprints in the sand before her. "I can see right through it, but it's there. It feels smooth, and kind of metallic." She paused for a moment, and then asked hopefully, "Do you think you can use your molecular manipulation thingy to make it visible?"
Placing both hands on the unseen surface, Isabel concentrated, but got no response. She sat down on the sand, hissing, "Arrgghh! This is so frustrating!"
"Well, that's Michael for you," responded Maria with a smirk. Leaning on both her hands, she rested her forehead against the smooth surface of the barrier and closed her eyes. They flew back open when she realized that she was feeling a familiar little tingle deep inside. "Isabel! I can feel him! I think he's in there!"
"What?"
"Inside the cylindrical wall thing!" She began banging on the imperceptible wall in front of her, shouting, "Michael! Michael Guerin! Are you in there? You better get your butt out here, buddy!"
Isabel remarked, "Oh yes, I'm sure threats will work." But she joined in pounding on the wall and calling Michael's name.
The only response Maria got to her assault was reddening palms. In frustration, she pulled off her shoe and started slamming the barrier with the heel. "Michael... (slam) ...Guerin!... (slam) ...If... (slam) ...you... (slam) ...don't... (slam) ...get... (slam) ...out... (slam) ...here... (slam) ...right... (slam) ...this... (slam) ...minute... (slam) ...I... (slam) ...will..."
Her threat went unfinished. Suddenly a bright light overwhelmed her. Dizzy, she swayed, dropping her shoe and falling towards the wall. As the light swirled up around her, she thought she heard an angry--and familiar--voice shout, "What the hell?"
Maria opened her eyes, gasping, to find herself back in Isabel's room.