CHAPTER 11
Maria let out the breath she had been holding and looked around at the five friends gathered around her. Her mind turned over and over with what they'd told her, trying to make sense of it. "So," she said slowly wanting to make sure she had all the facts straight, "Michael was just about to climb through, and I woke up?" Isabel nodded. "Then it's my fault he didn't get out. If I would've stayed asleep for just one more minute, he'd have had time to get out, and then he would've been himself again."
"You can't know that, 'Ria," said Liz. "We're just guessing."
"But I--"
"I'm not so sure it was you anyway," said Isabel, thinking back over the events of the night. "Just before you woke up, Michael started to climb out, but then he stopped. He hesitated for just a minute. Maybe he...maybe he kept himself inside."
"But why?" the blonde burst out frantically.
"Why did he get himself stuck in a prison in his mind in the first place?" asked Alex. "We don't know what's been going through his head. No one does, except Michael."
Maria bit her lip and stared at the floor.
"At least we know what the problem is," pointed out Max, "even if we don't know why."
"And Michael did help get you out. Both Michaels did," added Isabel.
Maria shivered. If they hadn't, she could have died tonight. She could have ceased to exist. Gone kaput. Kicked the proverbial bucket. At this very moment she could be serving alien-themed burgers in some celestial diner. Laughter began to well up within her, finally bursting out in a series of chuckles and then a prolonged giggle fit. "Maria? Are you all right?" asked Liz worriedly, putting a hand on her shoulder. "What is it?"
Maria tried to control her laughter long enough to get the words out. "It's Michael," she said between chortles. "I always knew his mind was a dangerous place. I just didn't know I meant it literally." Tears of laughter began to run down her face as they all stood there, stunned. Then Liz wrapped her arms around her hysterical friend, and the gusts of laughter turned into sobs.
"Shhh. It's okay. Everything will be okay," she soothed.
"It is not okay!" cried Maria, sitting up and wiping the tears from her cheeks. "I had him back. I was with him, and he was my Michael, and things were almost right again. Back to the way they should be. And then he had to go and hesitate, when he had a chance. He could've gotten out, but no, not Michael Guerin," she barked, warming in her anger. "No, he had to wait one fraction of a moment too long, like he always does, and guess who's left to pick up the pieces? Us, that's who," she continued, practically shouting. "So what are we waiting for? I said I was going to get him out, and darn it, that is just what I'm gonna do!"
Alex was watching with a grin as his friend regained her spark and fervor. "You know," he commented, "These sudden mood swings are much less scary on you than they were on Michael."
"On Michael?" she asked.
"Yeah," he explained. "Once he'd gotten the flash of you disappearing from Max, he started acting really strangely. Like he was channeling you or something."
"That's not so strange, now that we know Maria was trapped in his mind," said Max. "But he certainly was acting...unlike himself."
Liz added, "He actually called me 'Lizzy'. And he kept sniffing that bottle of cedar oil you gave him."
"What? I never gave him any cedar oil," protested Maria.
Alex's eyes met Liz's in an understanding glance. "He has some, 'Ria. He keeps it in his jacket pocket."
"Ohhhh," she breathed, her eyes softening just a little.
Alex smiled warmly at her before saying, "I hate to break this up, but it's almost 7:00. If I'm gonna sneak back in before my parents are up, I'd better get going." Heading towards the window, he stopped as Isabel put her hand on his arm.
"Alex," she said softly. "Thank you. For everything."
He smiled at her. "Any time, Isabel. Any time." He covered her hand for one quick moment with his own, and then climbed through the window and was gone.
Isabel watched him disappear around the corner of the house before turning back to the room and asking, "So what do we do now?"
"Actually, what I think we need most right now is some sleep," her brother told her. "It's been a long night."
"That sounds really good," said Liz.
"Ummm, I don't think I could sleep right now," said Maria. "I mean, too much is going on in my head, you know? I just want to think through some stuff. And I did get an hour or two of sleep, when I was with Michael. So if you don't mind, I think I'll head on home."
"Okay. We can regroup later today and figure out what to do next," suggested Isabel.
"I'll either be at home or the Crashdown. I'm on the four-to-close shift tonight," said Maria.
"I'm on then, too," Liz added.
"We'll catch up to you there and make some plans," decided Max.
Gathering up her things, Maria looked at the three of them before heading out. They all looked tired, but she could see the hope in their eyes. She knew her own were probably glowing just as brightly.
Juggling her possessions, Maria rooted around in her bag for her house key, only to have the door swing open in front of her. "I heard the car pull up," said her mother. "Is everything all right?"
"Yeah, it's fine, Mom. I hope I didn't wake you up," Maria said, putting her things on the kitchen counter.
"No, I was just pouring myself a cup of coffee," Amy replied. "You're home awfully early. You sure you're okay?" Maria turned and looked for a moment at her mother before throwing her arms around the startled woman. "Maria?" she asked, enfolding her daughter in her arms.
"Yeah?" came the muffled reply.
"What is it, honey?"
"Nothing, Mom. I just...It's nothing."
"Did you have a fight with your friends? Is that why you're home so early?"
Maria looked up. "Fight with Liz and Isabel? No way. I just...I couldn't sleep, so I came home."
Her mother looked at her for a moment, but decided not to press. "Okay. Want some breakfast?"
"No thanks. I think I'll just head to my room. Maybe study my script for a while."
"Okay," Amy answered, watching as she picked her things up off the counter. "So did you have fun last night? I'll bet you stayed up all night talking about boys."
Maria looked at her for a moment, a half smile coming to her lips. After all, in a way, it was true. Not about boys, but about boy. One in particular. Raising her eyebrows, she said with a little laugh, "Mom, you have no idea."
The bell rang, and Maria trotted over to the pass-through to pick up the order. Carrying it over to table five, she forced a smile on her face and set the plates in front of the elderly couple, the last customers of the evening. "There you go, one Galaxy Melt and one Space Alien Special, hold the onion. Can I get you anything else?" They shook their heads, and she headed back through the nearly empty restaurant, over to the counter where Liz was wiping off the milkshake machine. "Will this day never end?" Maria complained. "I am totally beat."
"I know what you mean," her friend responded, "and I got more sleep than you did this morning. Plus a nap at home this afternoon."
"I tried, I just couldn't sleep, you know? Every time I lay down, things kept racing through my head. I couldn't distract myself. I even tried doing homework."
"No!" Liz gasped melodramatically. "Not homework!"
Maria rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on, Miss 'I Have My Homework Done By Friday Night So I Can Have The Weekend Free For More Studying', it's not that unheard of." Liz gave her a cheeky grin, and she went on, "So I didn't wait 'til Sunday afternoon this time. No big deal."
A bell rang as the front door opened. Liz and Maria turned to see Max, Isabel and Alex enter, chatting intently. They headed over to their usual booth in the corner. Giving a quick glance over the restaurant to make sure no one needed anything, the two girls headed over to join them.
"Honestly," they overheard Isabel saying, "I think Maria's the key."
"Key to what?" Maria asked, pulling up a chair and sitting as Liz slid into the booth next to Alex.
"To getting through to Michael. You're the one who can sense him. You were the one who found him in his dream. You were the only reason he helped us at all tonight," the tall blonde explained.
"Why can't we just dreamwalk him again, and pull him out?" asked Maria in a reasonable tone.
"Because it's too dangerous," said Max. "We almost lost you the last time."
"I'm willing to risk it."
"Well, we aren't willing to risk you," Max told her firmly. "Not unless we can come up with a foolproof plan. We need to know more than we do."
"Besides," said Liz quietly, "If Michael--the real Michael--helped once, maybe he'll help us again, to rescue him. I mean, to rescue Michael--the other Michael. Oh, this is confusing," she commented shaking her head.
"Maybe we need codenames," Alex quipped. "You know, like Michael One and Michael Two, or Reality Michael and Mental Michael. Or Peter Parker and Spiderman." He looked around at the faces of his friends and said, "What? There's nothing wrong with the classics."
"How about we fix things instead, and then we won't need two names. We'll just need 'Michael'. Because there's only one," Maria said. "So if I'm supposedly 'the key', what am I supposed to do?"
Max said, "The first thing we need is more information, so we can come up with a better plan of action. We need to talk to Michael again."
"So basically, we're siccing you on him, DeLuca," said Alex with a smile.
"Fantastic. First I'm a bloodhound, and now I'm a pit bull?" she said in a joking tone.
"Yep. Pretty much. Latch onto him and don't let go until he gives up," he shot back, playing along.
She grinned at him and said, "Now that I can do. He won't know what hit him."
She looked around and noticed that the elderly couple was standing by the register, ready to go. "Hold on a sec," she said to the gang before heading over to them. "How was everything?" she asked, taking the money the man handed her and making change. They assured her it was fine, and she gave them a genuine smile before following them to the door, locking it and turning the sign over to read 'closed'. She headed back towards her friends, only to find a large, gaily wrapped package sitting on the end of the table in front of her chair.
"What's this?" she asked suspiciously.
She could see the amusement in Isabel's brown eyes as the girl told her, "Open it and find out."
Impatiently tearing the paper from the package, Maria opened the large box and burst into laughter.
"What is it?" asked Alex curiously.
Her eyes danced as they met Isabel's. "Private joke," she told Alex, pulling out the case of bottled water and box of alien-shaped bendy straws. She quickly passed bottles of water and straws around to everyone and proposed a toast. "To dreamwalking."
Isabel countered her. "To friendship."
Maria looked warmly at the people around her, and her voice rang out clear and true as she lifted her bottled water high. "To fixing things." Everyone drank.
TBC...