Part 16
Roswell, New Mexico
Kyle glanced at the clock in his fourth period English class for the
fifth time in the past ten minutes. The minute hand seemed to be
moving backward. There was absolutely no other explanation for
why this class was taking so long to end.
He was the only one who had managed to make it to school. Tess
had been absent in the two classes he shared with her, Kyle
assumed Maria was too ill to come and Alex had gone AWOL as
well.
So much for acting like everything was normal.
He tapped his pencil against his desk impatiently, frowned slightly
when he noticed that Pam Troy was staring at him, a slight smirk on
her face. Kyle scowled at her. She quickly turned away and began
giggling with the girls sitting hear her. That girl needs to get a
life, Kyle reflected as the bell finally rang.
Kyle jumped out of his seat, pushed his way through the crowds of
students to the front door of the school. There was no point in
hanging around. His concentration was totally shot anyway and he
was going to explode if he had to sit through one more ridiculous
class, his next one being French.
Somehow the proper use of the subjunctive did not seem significant
when one of your friends was dying, while three more were off on a
covert mission to England to try and bring a fourth back from another
planet.
And then there was Tess: the girl he loved, who didn't know he was
alive and was suddenly acting like he had the Bubonic Plague.
It was time to get to the bottom of that little mystery.
Tess had returned to Maria's the previous evening in order to check
on her. She had barely even acknowledged Kyle or Alex's presence
but Tess had even offered to sleep on the Deluca's couch if Maria
wanted. Kyle had seen Alex and Maria exchange perplexed looks at
that. Tess was taking this "protecting Maria" stuff way seriously.
It was beyond weird. It wasn't like Maria was in any real danger that
Tess would be able to prevent. Her illness was slowly draining her,
but there was nothing Tess could do about it. What was she trying to
accomplish?
Kyle climbed into his Mustang, pulled out of the student parking lot
with a screech of tires. He saw two freshmen practically have to
jump out of his way, felt a little bad, but kept going.
He pulled up in front of the Harding's house several minutes later.
Tess had continued to live there after Nasedo had gone to work at
the Special Unit. Kyle's dad had taken care of the paper work and
had helped Tess to become legally emancipated like Michael.
Nasedo had left her with enough money to live quite well.
Of course, Kyle did not want to even think about where Nasedo might
have gotten the money. He would not have put it past the
shapeshifter to have murdered some billionaire in his sleep just to
keep his earthly finances solvent. While Kyle had never actually met
the guy - the stories that Maria, Liz and Alex had told him about
him...they made his toes curl.
And the man responsible for a murderous rampage across the
South-West was basically Tess' father - he had raised her at least.
Sure he had done most of it to protect Max, Isabel, Michael and
Tess, but he had still killed a lot of innocent people.
Max, Isabel and Michael had been raised as humans. Max and
Isabel had known loving parents and a pretty normal life. Yeah,
Michael had had to deal with some crap, but he had at least had Max
and Isabel.
Tess had only ever had a murderous, shape-shifting, emotionless
weirdo to depend on.
It was no wonder that she was kind of strange. The fact that she was
as normal as she was...it was one of the things Kyle admired about
her.
There was no answer when Kyle rang the doorbell. He peered in the
picture window in the front of the house but there was no sign of any
life within. He turned around, stood on the lawn for a moment with
his arms crossed, frowning.
Where the hell was she?
He knew she wasn't at Maria's. He had called there on the cell in his
car, just to check in. Amy Deluca said that Maria was sleeping and
that there had been no sign of Tess all day.
Kyle didn't really feel like driving the streets of Roswell in search
of her. He'd try the Crashdown and then come back here later if he had
no luck. He had climbed back into his car and had started down the
street when he saw his quarry walking down the sidewalk, her head
lowered, her curly blonde hair falling over her face. Tess appeared to
be deep in thought.
Just as he opened his window to hail her, another car, coming from
the opposite direction, pulled up next to her. Tess raised her head,
clearly not noticing Kyle at all, although he was only about ten feet
away from her. She quickly opened the passenger door and climbed
in.
"Tess!" Kyle called, trying to catch her before she took off with
whoever was in the car. He jumped out of the Mustang, ran down
the street after them, but they were gone. Belatedly he realized that
he should have stayed in his car and followed them.
Imbecile. Worrying about Tess was turning him into a moron.
He stopped, scowling. There was absolutely no one in Roswell that
Tess Harding should be getting into a car with, he reflected. Her only
friends were her fellow Czechs and he, Liz, Alex and Maria. He
wondered briefly if it was Nasedo, finally back.
Tess had contacted the shapeshifter at the FBI after Max's
disappearance. Nasedo had apparently been strangely uninterested
in the whole affair. "He had to go back sometime." The bastard had
told her.
They had largely been out of touch with him since. Once Max was
gone, he didn't seem to take his role as their "protector" quite as
seriously. No one quite knew what to make of that.
Kyle returned to his car, wondered if he should try and catch Tess
and her mysterious companion. He decided it would be pointless.
He might as well go grab some lunch at the Crashdown and try and
catch up with her later.
His plans changed a moment later when his cell rang. "What?" He
demanded as he switched it on. In his current mood there was no
time for social niceties.
It was Alex and he didn't seem to care, not even bothering with a
typical snappy comeback. "I don't have time to talk Kyle, but you
better come to the hospital right away."
Kyle's brow knit. "What's wrong?"
"It's Maria. Get here quick." The other boy hung up without saying
another word.
Kyle turned off his phone, stared out the windshield in front of him.
He knew exactly why Maria was in the hospital.
The end was near.
************************************************************
Tess waved her hand in front of the stone wall, watched with an
expressionless face as the silver handprint appeared. She glanced
at her companion, raised an eyebrow.
The girl stepped forward, placed her hand directly on the mark. Tess
closed her eyes as the wall slid away, leaving the entrance to the pod
chamber open.
So she had not lied. She was one of them.
And Tess Harding's entire world changed.
Part 17
Salisbury, England - the same day
"Isabel, those sunglasses look ridiculous." Michael snapped. "It's raining."
Isabel swung around to stare at him, lifting the glasses onto her head as she did so. "I was trying to be low-profile." She replied, sounding annoyed. "It's going to be a little hard to do that with you yelling all the time."
"Yeah and wearing sunglasses in the rain ISN'T going to draw attention to you." Michael snorted, turning away.
"Someone got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning." Isabel said to Liz in an undertone.
The three of them, plus Mr. Evans, had arrived in Salisbury about a half an hour before. They had gone for a quick lunch at a nearby pub called the Turk's Head (Liz still wondered when a Turk had ever been anywhere near Salisbury) and were now standing outside the tourist office waiting for Isabel's dad to arrange spots for them on a sight-seeing tour out to Stonehenge. They were planning to check out the security features at the heritage site and basically get a lay of the land so that they could return later that night and try and open the portal to Illyria.
Liz was surprised by how cooperative Mr. Evans was being about everything. They hadn't had to lie to him once, which was like a new record for them. Even the illegal aspect of their operation did not seem to bother the straight-arrow a bit.
It seemed that Phillip Evans was willing to risk anything if it meant that his son might be brought home.
Liz heard Michael sigh. She knew that he had heard Izzy, but was choosing to ignore her now.
It was true that Michael was being much more belligerent than usual. Well, actually he was acting much more like the OLD Michael. The old Michael, the non-guilt-stricken Michael had been snarky about a lot of things.
Liz's eyes narrowed. Something had happened.
"Michael, what did Maria say on the phone this morning?" Liz demanded suddenly. She knew that Michael had called her best friend before they had left London. It had been around midnight Roswell time, but he had decided to do it anyway.
Michael turned back to face them, his expression shuttered. "She said everything was fine. Tess is still acting a little weird, but everything was basically okay." He said, sighing again. "I don't know...I just feel like something's wrong back there."
Liz frowned at him. Trust Michael to not be completely focused on the matter at hand. She was worried about Maria too - desperately worried - but they needed to concentrate on Max now. They could only help one friend at a time. And if they could bring Max back...
Maybe he could save Maria.
It seemed that Isabel could tell that Liz was gearing up to lay into Michael, because she smoothly interrupted. "Here comes my dad."
Sure enough, Mr. Evans was hurrying across the Salisbury High Street. Liz flinched when he barely avoided being hit by a car. In typical North American fashion he had forgotten to look in the opposite direction before stepping off the curb.
He looked flustered as he came to join them.
"Are you okay Dad?" Isabel asked worriedly.
"Yes, yes. Just forgot for a minute that everything's backwards over here." Mr. Evans replied in an irritated tone of voice.
"Not backwards." Liz told him jokingly. "Just different."
"Right. Anyway, our tour leaves in about ten minutes. We're to meet the van at the Cathedral." Mr. Evans seemed to calm down a bit when Isabel gently took him by the arm and began to lead him towards Salisbury Cathedral, whose spire towered over the town.
Liz trailed behind her three companions, enjoying the light rain that was misting against her face. This was one of the things she had missed most about England - the fact that one had to bring an umbrella everywhere because while it could be perfectly sunny when you set out in the morning, it would definitely rain at least once if you forgot one.
While Liz's previous trip to the United Kingdom had been under the shadow of grief surrounding her decision to leave Max the opportunity to pursue his destiny with Tess, she had grown to love the country and now considered it almost like a second home. She loved everything about
it - the unpredictable weather, the lack of central heating, the fact that there were only five television channels, the snails that one had to jump over on the sidewalk after it rained, the efficiency of the Royal Mail, the fact that soccer was called football...but mainly she loved the sense of history that permeated from very stone and tree and blade of grass.
In England you knew that important and world-changing events had taken place there. You just felt it with every fibre of your being.
Liz was hoping that one more world-changing event would take place there tonight.
Liz threw back her head, staring up at the cloudy sky. As she watched, the sun managed to penetrate through the grey mass, sending a beam down to warm Liz's face.
"You're coming home Max." Liz whispered. "Tonight."
************************************************************
"This is the heel stone. It is faced by five great trilithons which form a horse-shoe shape."
The tour-guide droned on. Although Isabel had considered him to be quite cute when she had first seen him, Thomas had soon proved a disappointment. It was clear that he was simply reciting facts that he had memorized, that he had no great interest in what he was telling them. She scowled, exchanging an annoyed look with Michael. He too looked bored by what he was being told. "Who cares if it's in a horseshoe shape? We can bloody well see that! What about the aliens?" He asked Isabel under his breath.
It astounded her that their guide was missing the power that Isabel could feel flowing through her as she gazed at the great stone circle of Stonehenge.
It was smaller than she had expected. The name Stonehenge was so attached to mysticism and legend - she didn't know what she had expected, but it had certainly been BIGGER in her imagination.
Of course it didn't help that she was completely surrounded by tourists, not only from her own small tour-group but from the at least fifty buses she had counted in the parking lot when they had arrived. Isabel again wondered why so many tourists decided it was a good idea to wear Bermuda shorts with knee socks and sandals. Somehow it was difficult to picture Druids going about their business in this place that was being photographed and stared at by silly people who were only there because their guide-books told them to go.
"I don't understand why we can't get closer to it." A middle-aged man near her was whining to his wife.
"Maybe because they know you'd knock it over." Isabel heard Michael mutter. She giggled.
It was true that the standing stones themselves were impossible to get close to, at least not with all the English Heritage employees hovering around. They would for sure catch you before you had any sort of chance to get close to the stones. Fortunately the low bars separating the tourist paths from the circle would not prove to be a problem later that night. They were clearly just a barrier to stop people from moving off the paths.
"Why was it built?" A member of Isabel's tour group asked Thomas.
Isabel could feel Michael perk up beside her. Liz, standing nearby, was ignoring Thomas completely though, gazing at the stones, her eyes shining.
Isabel bit her lip. She hoped her friend wasn't get her hopes up too high. While Isabel was positive that she would be able to open the gate, they had no way of knowing if Max would come through it.
They were going on faith here - a lot of it. Isabel was trying to prepare herself for disappointment, but she could see that Liz had no doubts.
She wished that she could feel the same.
The sandy-haired guide began a clearly rehearsed monologue about the origins of Stonehenge. "It is clear that the circle was built in three stages beginning between 2900 and 2500 B.C. by Neolithic peoples. The purpose of its construction is believed to have been a temple dedicated to the worship of the sun..."
Isabel frowned when she noticed Michael whispering something to a kid who looked to be about ten standing near him. The kid's eyes were widening with interest, and he suddenly blurted out in an Australian accent, "What about the aliens?"
Isabel rolled her eyes. Great Michael! Way to draw attention to yourself, she thought. Michael looked most pleased with himself. Isabel could see that her dad's face had whitened while Liz's attention had been drawn by the comment as well. She was glaring at Michael.
Thomas' eyes had snapped towards the boy, a sneer on his face. "Aliens? I think not." The little boy's face fell. Michael's expression of disappointment was almost identical.
A few minutes later Thomas told them that the bus would be heading back to Salisbury in half an hour. "Feel free to take as many photographs as you would like and be sure to visit the gift shop." Their tour-guide called over his shoulder as he ambled off to go flirt with one of the English Heritage people.
Isabel turned to Michael, shaking her head. "What? Did you think he was really going to say: well, yes young man - aliens DID build Stonehenge?"
Michael looked mildly embarrassed. "Well, it didn't hurt to try." He motioned towards Liz, who was standing about fifty feet away, staring at the stones intensely. "Is she all right?"
Isabel frowned slightly. "Why don't you ask her yourself?"
"Because I don't really feel like having my head bit off that's why." Michael replied, sounding sad.
"Is it finally getting to you?" Isabel asked, feeling a spark of hope. She hated the tension that existed between her brother and her best friend. It was draining trying to keep the peace...well, at least trying to keep Liz peaceful, while trying to shield Michael from the brunt of her anger. It didn't help that Michael seemed to enjoy it, having wrapped himself so completely in his guilt over Max's disappearance and Maria's illness.
Isabel knew that a reckoning was coming. And it had to be soon. Maria needed Michael and Liz at peace with each other and they certainly did not need Max to reappear into the middle of a civil war between his soulmate and his best friend.
There was no way that her brother was going to have to choose between the two of them. Isabel would not allow it. "You need to do something about this Michael. This thing between you and Liz...it's like poison or something. She's been able to handle herself around you up until now, but I see her losing it a little more every day. It can't go on."
"She needs to hate me." Michael told her firmly. "It's the only thing that's holding her together. And we both know I deserve it."
Isabel clenched her hands. "That's ridiculous! Michael, you know that Liz is not the kind of person meant to hate anyone. You encouraging her in this is only making it worse. It's destroying her. You guys need to talk about this."
"Leave it alone Isabel." Michael snapped, walking away from her. Isabel gritted her teeth. He was deliberately walking in the opposite direction from Liz.
Isabel rubbed her eyes tiredly. Now's not the time to think about this, she thought. She began walking the perimeter of the stone circle, eyeing the different security features of the site.
The whole complex, including the gift shop, the visitor's centre and the tunnel leading out to the circle itself was surrounded by chain-link fence, topped off by barbed wire. Isabel wondered briefly if it would be electrified at night. She and Michael should have no trouble getting through it, but it would be a heck of a lot easier if it was just wire.
They would have no way of knowing until that night whether security guards would be posted or not. It was more than likely that they would. They were going to have to find them all and disable them before they would be able to open the portal. Michael would be able to knock them unconscious with his blast - he had refined it enough for that. It wouldn't be pleasant, but desperate times called for desperate measures.
Isabel glanced at her watch. It was 3:00. She had checked the sign on the way in. The site closed at 6:00. That gave them just enough time to go back to Salisbury in the tour van, rent a car and by the time they drove out through the rolling hills to the stone circle it would be dark.
She felt her stomach clenching with nervousness and excitement. If only they knew that Max would be where they needed him...
She wished that there was someway to communicate with Max - to find out if he was going to be waiting for them...
Isabel paused, stared at the heel stone intently.
She could try.
She wandered to a secluded corner of the site. Isabel could hear the mutter from the tourists in the distance. She could see her father talking to Michael near the heel stone, pointing out something to her friend.
She sat down on the grass, which was still damp from the recent rainfall. Isabel saw Liz heading in her direction, saw her pause as she seemed to realize what Isabel was doing. Trust Liz - always so in tune with those around her...well, except for Michael of course.
Isabel closed her eyes, tried to concentrate on shutting out the noise from the hundreds of people milling nearby. She conjured an image of Max in her mind...called to him...
* MAX! LET ME IN! *
She could feel herself fading from the earthly plain, could feel energy running through her veins and into her mind...more power then she had ever felt before in all her thousands of dreamwalks...
She realized that it was the lay-lines...hundreds of them seemed to meet under the gigantic stone circle...and somehow, she, Isabel, was tapping into them.
And suddenly...the vision came...
But it was not really a vision, more like a connection...
Flash*
** Mirana! **
Flash*
** Can you hear me my child? **
Isabel could feel her heart speeding up. She recognized the voice...it was the same one from her earlier visions. But this time it seemed to be speaking directly TO her, instead of AT her.
* I can hear you! * She screamed back with her mind. She concentrated on pulling the energy from the laylines into her mind, focused on throwing that energy behind the words she was sending out. * Who are you? *
Flash*
** I am your mother! ** The voice replying sounded strange, like it was emotionally overwrought. ** I have connected with you at last! **
Isabel felt the connection slipping. * Mother! Stay with me! *
Flash*
** Mirana! I have much to tell you! **
* Max! Where is he? Please mother! *
Flash*
** Your brother is almost lost to you my daughter, almost lost to all of us.**
Isabel could feel her breath leaving her body. MAX! She forced herself to calm down.
* Is it too late mother? *
Flash*
** No my child, but you must open the gate tonight. He needs to return to Earth - to remember who he was...is...**
* But how can we be sure he will be there? *
There was a pause. Isabel frantically reached out with her mind. She wondered if she had lost the link to her mother.
* MOTHER!*
Flash*
** He will be there Mirana. I will make it so. **
The voice sounded more distant...Isabel could feel the connection ending...
* No! Mother! *
She was only met with silence.
Isabel finally opened her eyes. Liz was sitting nearby, watching her quietly, clearly there to make sure that no one disturbed her. Isabel could feel tears welling up in her eyes.
Liz crawled over to join her, put her arm comfortingly around her shoulders. "What did you see Izzy?"
"I didn't SEE anything..." Isabel whispered, choked up. "I SPOKE to my mother."
She watched Liz's eyes light up with joy. Her friend squeezed her again. "I'm so happy for you!"
Isabel smiled through her tears. "She's going to help us Liz." Liz looked at her questioningly. "She's going to help us get him home."
Liz's eyes filled with tears of happiness as well. The two girls hugged, bonded in their amazement and hope.
The moment was shattered as Michael's voiced penetrated the fog surrounding them. "What's going on?"
Isabel could feel Liz tense. Her friend's face froze. Isabel's spirits deflated a little.
"I just connected with my mother." Isabel told him, climbing to her feet. Michael looked impressed.
"What'd she say?" He demanded eagerly. Isabel watched sadly as Liz began to walk away from them. She turned back to Michael, saw him flinch slightly, but he quickly refocused on her.
As Isabel told him, she wound her arm through his, silently offering comfort.
It was time to do something about the state of affairs between Michael and Liz.
She knew now that Max WAS coming back - it was just a matter of all the pieces falling in to place. Nothing was going to spoil it. Liz and Michael were just going to have to get over themselves.
And she was going to make them.
Part 18
Roswell, New Mexico
Kyle paced the hospital waiting room, his hands clenched behind his back.
Where the hell was Tess?
He had left at least five messages on her answering machine and it had been at least three hours since he had seen her get into the strange car.
He was pissed. Not only did he have to worry about Maria, who was fighting for her life down the hall, but he had to worry about Tess, who seemed to be reverting to her old, selfish ways.
Kyle's pacing stopped abruptly when Alex entered the waiting room. Maria's best friend was rubbing his right temple like he had the world's worst head-ache in progress.
"How is she?" Kyle demanded.
Alex collapsed into an uncomfortable looking chair, which looked even more uncomfortable with Alex's lanky form spread across it. "She's in a coma." He replied, his voice cracking. "Mrs. Deluca just told me."
Kyle stared at him. "Jesus..." He swallowed. "How's Mrs. Deluca?"
"Not good." Alex replied. "I don't even know what to do for her...I can't call Liz's parents because they think Liz is HERE, and as far as I know they're her only friends."
Kyle grimaced. "I didn't even know they WERE friends?"
"Well, sort of..." Alex shrugged. "I don't really pay attention to my friends' parents' social life."
Kyle felt helpless. Maria was dying and the people who should have been with her - Michael and Liz - were on the other side of the world. He wondered if doing something for Maria's mom would make him feel any better. "Do you think seeing my dad might help her?" He asked Alex.
Alex's head snapped up. "Were they that close?" Alex asked curiously.
Kyle shrugged. "They seemed to be getting pretty close until all hell broke loose when Tess came to town. I mean, it was a long time ago, but I know that my dad really cared about her...he just sort of seemed to get distracted with all the Czech stuff."
"Don't we all." Alex muttered. "Well, I guess it couldn't hurt." He leaned forward, placing his elbows on his knees, his head in his hands. "I mean, things couldn't possibly get worse."
Kyle wished that Alex hadn't said that. The last time HE had thought that same thing, things HAD proceeded to show him how wrong he was by getting ten TIMES worse.
He hurried over to the pay-phone. Kyle paused as his hand raised to dial his dad's cell. He was not surprised when he dialed Tess' number instead. He'd call his dad in a second.
"Hi! You've reached the Harding residence. Neither Ed or Tess can come to the phone right now. Please leave a message at the beep."
Kyle sighed, hung up the received. Where the hell was she?
He quickly pulled out another quarter.
"Valenti." His dad answered the cell tersely, as was his way.
"Dad, its me."
"Kyle, I'm kinda busy right now." The Sheriff, as usual, had seemed to half tune-out when he realized it was his son on the phone. Bet he wouldn't have done that if it was Max Evans, Kyle briefly thought, forced himself to suppress his lingering bitterness.
He knew his dad loved him. That wasn't the problem. He just sometimes felt that his dad wasn't very INTERESTED in him.
"It's an emergency Dad." Kyle told his father. "Maria Deluca's in the hospital."
Kyle's dad paused on the other end. "It's bad huh?"
"I think this might be it Dad." The Sheriff was aware of the situation with Maria, had been since it had developed.
"Do you want me to come over there son?"
"Yeah, but not for me...I think Maria's mom might need someone."
His dad paused again. "I'm on my way. I just need to call Owen and tell him to mind the shop..."
"Okay, thanks Dad." Kyle hung up, he turned around, froze in his tracks.
Tess Harding was standing directly behind him. She had a stricken expression on her beautiful face. "Is it true Kyle? Is Maria dying?"
"It's true." He said quietly. Her face crumbled. Kyle was astonished when she threw her arms around him, apparently searching for comfort. He brought his arms up around her waist hesitantly, let one hand stroke her back.
He hadn't known that Tess cared about Maria this much. If it had been Michael or Isabel...he might have understood it...but this was weird.
"Everything's falling apart." He heard Tess murmur against his chest. Somehow, suddenly, he knew that this wasn't just about Maria.
"What's wrong Tess?" He asked into her hair, feeling his heart beginning to beat faster at the scent of her perfume.
He felt her tense, as though she had suddenly become aware of what she was doing. She pulled away from him, turned to stare at Alex, clearly trying to compose herself.
"It's nothing. Forget it. I'm going to go see if maybe I can do something for her." Tess hurried away, without showing him her face again.
Kyle watched her go, a perplexed expression on his face.
Tess was hiding something...there was no doubt about that.
Alex had climbed to his feet, had come to join Kyle.
"What was that all about?" He asked Kyle.
"I have no idea." Kyle replied.
But he was going to find out.
* Dreams * MARIA
She felt as if her body had been incinerated from the inside out.
Maria carefully opened her eyes, realized that she was lying flat on her back staring up at a peculiar yellowish sky. She reached up, massaged her temples, tried to sit up.
She froze when she toppled over backwards, landing on something soft.
Make that SOMEONE soft, she amended to herself.
He groaned.
Slowly turning her head, Maria stared down at Michael. He was sprawled on his stomach, one arm thrown wide, the other shielding his head.
Clutching her side when she moved, a sharp pain flashing through her entire abdomen, Maria managed to nudge him. He groaned again.
"Michael?" No answer. "MICHAEL!"
"What do you want?" She heard him mutter.
"I want you to get up and tell me where the heck we are, because I am on the verge of totally freaking out here."
Michael rolled onto his back, slowly opened his eyes. She wondered briefly if it was HER Michael, or if it was pod-person Michael. She assumed it was pod-person Michael since he was the last Michael she had seen.
She realized that she was confusing herself, decided to just wait and see.
Michael was climbing to his feet, looking around, his expression amazed.
"I'm home." He reached down and pulled her to her feet. "I'm home Maria."
Maria stared at him. He sounded like HER Michael. His voice contained inflection, emotion...it was not the flat monotone she had become used to over the past months.
She followed his gaze, took in the waving yellow grass that seemed to stretch on forever in all directions.
Michael suddenly looked at her perplexed. "Why are you here?" He demanded.
"I think because I fell into that light thingy." She replied, reaching up to rub her head again. It was still killing her. "You know - the one I pushed YOU into...sorry about that." She continued sheepishly.
Michael opened his mouth to reply when a noise to their left caused them to both freeze. He grabbed her, thrusting her behind him.
Another head popped up in the grass. It was River Dog...or Tarsus of Dernia as they had learned he truly was. The shapeshifter climbed unsteadily to his feet, seemed to become aware of their presence.
Tarsus' eyes narrowed when he caught sight of Maria peering over Michael's shoulder. "That one is more trouble then she is worth. She has ruined everything - we have returned without Jaxon. Kill her immediately Tristandor."
Maria could feel Michael's back tense under her hands, which were clutching his jacket. He didn't have time to reply though, because Tarsus had begun pacing.
"This is a disaster. My leader is going to be most put out. The only consolation is that Jaxon will no doubt follow you." He turned quickly to stare at them, did not seem at all upset that Michael had made no move to kill Maria. "I've changed my mind. Do not kill her. We will need her to bargain with when the King arrives."
Maria frowned in confusion. None of this was making any sense.
"Time to take my true form." Tarsus' face was implacable as always, but if Maria did not already know that the alien did not have any emotions, she would have thought that he sounded glad. She watched him raise his hand. It began to glow, causing a chain reaction in his entire body.
"Ohmigod! Michael! Is he going to turn into a little green man?" Maria demanded, feeling horror beginning to take ahold of her.
"Shhhh! Maria!" Michael sounded annoyed, and very Michael-like. It made her feel better. She wondered again why he suddenly seemed to be HER Michael again and not weird-emotionless-minion of Tarsus Michael.
But now was not the time. She wanted to close her eyes to hide from whatever Tarsus was turning himself into, but it was like a car accident. She couldn't look away.
The light finally dissipated and she gasped in astonishment.
Standing in front of her was a perfectly normal-looking man. He was young with dark hair and blue eyes. He was actually quite handsome. Maria blinked.
Tarsus was staring off across the plain. "Dernia is south of here. We will go there to rally the troops to bring them back here to capture Jaxon when he makes the journey."
"What if he's long gone by the time we get back? Shouldn't we wait for him?" Michael asked the question Maria had been thinking.
Tarsus frowned. "Don't ask questions about things you don't understand."
"Ummm...how are we ever supposed to learn if we don't ask questions about things we don't understand?" Maria asked. Was this guy really as imbecilic as he sounded? She wondered why they had all been so scared of him.
"Shut her up." Tarsus ordered. Michael squeezed Maria's hand warningly.
They exchanged glances, then followed Tarsus across the plain of yellow grass, heading south.
To be continued...
Roswell, New Mexico
Kyle glanced at the clock in his fourth period English class for the
fifth time in the past ten minutes. The minute hand seemed to be
moving backward. There was absolutely no other explanation for
why this class was taking so long to end.
He was the only one who had managed to make it to school. Tess
had been absent in the two classes he shared with her, Kyle
assumed Maria was too ill to come and Alex had gone AWOL as
well.
So much for acting like everything was normal.
He tapped his pencil against his desk impatiently, frowned slightly
when he noticed that Pam Troy was staring at him, a slight smirk on
her face. Kyle scowled at her. She quickly turned away and began
giggling with the girls sitting hear her. That girl needs to get a
life, Kyle reflected as the bell finally rang.
Kyle jumped out of his seat, pushed his way through the crowds of
students to the front door of the school. There was no point in
hanging around. His concentration was totally shot anyway and he
was going to explode if he had to sit through one more ridiculous
class, his next one being French.
Somehow the proper use of the subjunctive did not seem significant
when one of your friends was dying, while three more were off on a
covert mission to England to try and bring a fourth back from another
planet.
And then there was Tess: the girl he loved, who didn't know he was
alive and was suddenly acting like he had the Bubonic Plague.
It was time to get to the bottom of that little mystery.
Tess had returned to Maria's the previous evening in order to check
on her. She had barely even acknowledged Kyle or Alex's presence
but Tess had even offered to sleep on the Deluca's couch if Maria
wanted. Kyle had seen Alex and Maria exchange perplexed looks at
that. Tess was taking this "protecting Maria" stuff way seriously.
It was beyond weird. It wasn't like Maria was in any real danger that
Tess would be able to prevent. Her illness was slowly draining her,
but there was nothing Tess could do about it. What was she trying to
accomplish?
Kyle climbed into his Mustang, pulled out of the student parking lot
with a screech of tires. He saw two freshmen practically have to
jump out of his way, felt a little bad, but kept going.
He pulled up in front of the Harding's house several minutes later.
Tess had continued to live there after Nasedo had gone to work at
the Special Unit. Kyle's dad had taken care of the paper work and
had helped Tess to become legally emancipated like Michael.
Nasedo had left her with enough money to live quite well.
Of course, Kyle did not want to even think about where Nasedo might
have gotten the money. He would not have put it past the
shapeshifter to have murdered some billionaire in his sleep just to
keep his earthly finances solvent. While Kyle had never actually met
the guy - the stories that Maria, Liz and Alex had told him about
him...they made his toes curl.
And the man responsible for a murderous rampage across the
South-West was basically Tess' father - he had raised her at least.
Sure he had done most of it to protect Max, Isabel, Michael and
Tess, but he had still killed a lot of innocent people.
Max, Isabel and Michael had been raised as humans. Max and
Isabel had known loving parents and a pretty normal life. Yeah,
Michael had had to deal with some crap, but he had at least had Max
and Isabel.
Tess had only ever had a murderous, shape-shifting, emotionless
weirdo to depend on.
It was no wonder that she was kind of strange. The fact that she was
as normal as she was...it was one of the things Kyle admired about
her.
There was no answer when Kyle rang the doorbell. He peered in the
picture window in the front of the house but there was no sign of any
life within. He turned around, stood on the lawn for a moment with
his arms crossed, frowning.
Where the hell was she?
He knew she wasn't at Maria's. He had called there on the cell in his
car, just to check in. Amy Deluca said that Maria was sleeping and
that there had been no sign of Tess all day.
Kyle didn't really feel like driving the streets of Roswell in search
of her. He'd try the Crashdown and then come back here later if he had
no luck. He had climbed back into his car and had started down the
street when he saw his quarry walking down the sidewalk, her head
lowered, her curly blonde hair falling over her face. Tess appeared to
be deep in thought.
Just as he opened his window to hail her, another car, coming from
the opposite direction, pulled up next to her. Tess raised her head,
clearly not noticing Kyle at all, although he was only about ten feet
away from her. She quickly opened the passenger door and climbed
in.
"Tess!" Kyle called, trying to catch her before she took off with
whoever was in the car. He jumped out of the Mustang, ran down
the street after them, but they were gone. Belatedly he realized that
he should have stayed in his car and followed them.
Imbecile. Worrying about Tess was turning him into a moron.
He stopped, scowling. There was absolutely no one in Roswell that
Tess Harding should be getting into a car with, he reflected. Her only
friends were her fellow Czechs and he, Liz, Alex and Maria. He
wondered briefly if it was Nasedo, finally back.
Tess had contacted the shapeshifter at the FBI after Max's
disappearance. Nasedo had apparently been strangely uninterested
in the whole affair. "He had to go back sometime." The bastard had
told her.
They had largely been out of touch with him since. Once Max was
gone, he didn't seem to take his role as their "protector" quite as
seriously. No one quite knew what to make of that.
Kyle returned to his car, wondered if he should try and catch Tess
and her mysterious companion. He decided it would be pointless.
He might as well go grab some lunch at the Crashdown and try and
catch up with her later.
His plans changed a moment later when his cell rang. "What?" He
demanded as he switched it on. In his current mood there was no
time for social niceties.
It was Alex and he didn't seem to care, not even bothering with a
typical snappy comeback. "I don't have time to talk Kyle, but you
better come to the hospital right away."
Kyle's brow knit. "What's wrong?"
"It's Maria. Get here quick." The other boy hung up without saying
another word.
Kyle turned off his phone, stared out the windshield in front of him.
He knew exactly why Maria was in the hospital.
The end was near.
************************************************************
Tess waved her hand in front of the stone wall, watched with an
expressionless face as the silver handprint appeared. She glanced
at her companion, raised an eyebrow.
The girl stepped forward, placed her hand directly on the mark. Tess
closed her eyes as the wall slid away, leaving the entrance to the pod
chamber open.
So she had not lied. She was one of them.
And Tess Harding's entire world changed.
Part 17
Salisbury, England - the same day
"Isabel, those sunglasses look ridiculous." Michael snapped. "It's raining."
Isabel swung around to stare at him, lifting the glasses onto her head as she did so. "I was trying to be low-profile." She replied, sounding annoyed. "It's going to be a little hard to do that with you yelling all the time."
"Yeah and wearing sunglasses in the rain ISN'T going to draw attention to you." Michael snorted, turning away.
"Someone got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning." Isabel said to Liz in an undertone.
The three of them, plus Mr. Evans, had arrived in Salisbury about a half an hour before. They had gone for a quick lunch at a nearby pub called the Turk's Head (Liz still wondered when a Turk had ever been anywhere near Salisbury) and were now standing outside the tourist office waiting for Isabel's dad to arrange spots for them on a sight-seeing tour out to Stonehenge. They were planning to check out the security features at the heritage site and basically get a lay of the land so that they could return later that night and try and open the portal to Illyria.
Liz was surprised by how cooperative Mr. Evans was being about everything. They hadn't had to lie to him once, which was like a new record for them. Even the illegal aspect of their operation did not seem to bother the straight-arrow a bit.
It seemed that Phillip Evans was willing to risk anything if it meant that his son might be brought home.
Liz heard Michael sigh. She knew that he had heard Izzy, but was choosing to ignore her now.
It was true that Michael was being much more belligerent than usual. Well, actually he was acting much more like the OLD Michael. The old Michael, the non-guilt-stricken Michael had been snarky about a lot of things.
Liz's eyes narrowed. Something had happened.
"Michael, what did Maria say on the phone this morning?" Liz demanded suddenly. She knew that Michael had called her best friend before they had left London. It had been around midnight Roswell time, but he had decided to do it anyway.
Michael turned back to face them, his expression shuttered. "She said everything was fine. Tess is still acting a little weird, but everything was basically okay." He said, sighing again. "I don't know...I just feel like something's wrong back there."
Liz frowned at him. Trust Michael to not be completely focused on the matter at hand. She was worried about Maria too - desperately worried - but they needed to concentrate on Max now. They could only help one friend at a time. And if they could bring Max back...
Maybe he could save Maria.
It seemed that Isabel could tell that Liz was gearing up to lay into Michael, because she smoothly interrupted. "Here comes my dad."
Sure enough, Mr. Evans was hurrying across the Salisbury High Street. Liz flinched when he barely avoided being hit by a car. In typical North American fashion he had forgotten to look in the opposite direction before stepping off the curb.
He looked flustered as he came to join them.
"Are you okay Dad?" Isabel asked worriedly.
"Yes, yes. Just forgot for a minute that everything's backwards over here." Mr. Evans replied in an irritated tone of voice.
"Not backwards." Liz told him jokingly. "Just different."
"Right. Anyway, our tour leaves in about ten minutes. We're to meet the van at the Cathedral." Mr. Evans seemed to calm down a bit when Isabel gently took him by the arm and began to lead him towards Salisbury Cathedral, whose spire towered over the town.
Liz trailed behind her three companions, enjoying the light rain that was misting against her face. This was one of the things she had missed most about England - the fact that one had to bring an umbrella everywhere because while it could be perfectly sunny when you set out in the morning, it would definitely rain at least once if you forgot one.
While Liz's previous trip to the United Kingdom had been under the shadow of grief surrounding her decision to leave Max the opportunity to pursue his destiny with Tess, she had grown to love the country and now considered it almost like a second home. She loved everything about
it - the unpredictable weather, the lack of central heating, the fact that there were only five television channels, the snails that one had to jump over on the sidewalk after it rained, the efficiency of the Royal Mail, the fact that soccer was called football...but mainly she loved the sense of history that permeated from very stone and tree and blade of grass.
In England you knew that important and world-changing events had taken place there. You just felt it with every fibre of your being.
Liz was hoping that one more world-changing event would take place there tonight.
Liz threw back her head, staring up at the cloudy sky. As she watched, the sun managed to penetrate through the grey mass, sending a beam down to warm Liz's face.
"You're coming home Max." Liz whispered. "Tonight."
************************************************************
"This is the heel stone. It is faced by five great trilithons which form a horse-shoe shape."
The tour-guide droned on. Although Isabel had considered him to be quite cute when she had first seen him, Thomas had soon proved a disappointment. It was clear that he was simply reciting facts that he had memorized, that he had no great interest in what he was telling them. She scowled, exchanging an annoyed look with Michael. He too looked bored by what he was being told. "Who cares if it's in a horseshoe shape? We can bloody well see that! What about the aliens?" He asked Isabel under his breath.
It astounded her that their guide was missing the power that Isabel could feel flowing through her as she gazed at the great stone circle of Stonehenge.
It was smaller than she had expected. The name Stonehenge was so attached to mysticism and legend - she didn't know what she had expected, but it had certainly been BIGGER in her imagination.
Of course it didn't help that she was completely surrounded by tourists, not only from her own small tour-group but from the at least fifty buses she had counted in the parking lot when they had arrived. Isabel again wondered why so many tourists decided it was a good idea to wear Bermuda shorts with knee socks and sandals. Somehow it was difficult to picture Druids going about their business in this place that was being photographed and stared at by silly people who were only there because their guide-books told them to go.
"I don't understand why we can't get closer to it." A middle-aged man near her was whining to his wife.
"Maybe because they know you'd knock it over." Isabel heard Michael mutter. She giggled.
It was true that the standing stones themselves were impossible to get close to, at least not with all the English Heritage employees hovering around. They would for sure catch you before you had any sort of chance to get close to the stones. Fortunately the low bars separating the tourist paths from the circle would not prove to be a problem later that night. They were clearly just a barrier to stop people from moving off the paths.
"Why was it built?" A member of Isabel's tour group asked Thomas.
Isabel could feel Michael perk up beside her. Liz, standing nearby, was ignoring Thomas completely though, gazing at the stones, her eyes shining.
Isabel bit her lip. She hoped her friend wasn't get her hopes up too high. While Isabel was positive that she would be able to open the gate, they had no way of knowing if Max would come through it.
They were going on faith here - a lot of it. Isabel was trying to prepare herself for disappointment, but she could see that Liz had no doubts.
She wished that she could feel the same.
The sandy-haired guide began a clearly rehearsed monologue about the origins of Stonehenge. "It is clear that the circle was built in three stages beginning between 2900 and 2500 B.C. by Neolithic peoples. The purpose of its construction is believed to have been a temple dedicated to the worship of the sun..."
Isabel frowned when she noticed Michael whispering something to a kid who looked to be about ten standing near him. The kid's eyes were widening with interest, and he suddenly blurted out in an Australian accent, "What about the aliens?"
Isabel rolled her eyes. Great Michael! Way to draw attention to yourself, she thought. Michael looked most pleased with himself. Isabel could see that her dad's face had whitened while Liz's attention had been drawn by the comment as well. She was glaring at Michael.
Thomas' eyes had snapped towards the boy, a sneer on his face. "Aliens? I think not." The little boy's face fell. Michael's expression of disappointment was almost identical.
A few minutes later Thomas told them that the bus would be heading back to Salisbury in half an hour. "Feel free to take as many photographs as you would like and be sure to visit the gift shop." Their tour-guide called over his shoulder as he ambled off to go flirt with one of the English Heritage people.
Isabel turned to Michael, shaking her head. "What? Did you think he was really going to say: well, yes young man - aliens DID build Stonehenge?"
Michael looked mildly embarrassed. "Well, it didn't hurt to try." He motioned towards Liz, who was standing about fifty feet away, staring at the stones intensely. "Is she all right?"
Isabel frowned slightly. "Why don't you ask her yourself?"
"Because I don't really feel like having my head bit off that's why." Michael replied, sounding sad.
"Is it finally getting to you?" Isabel asked, feeling a spark of hope. She hated the tension that existed between her brother and her best friend. It was draining trying to keep the peace...well, at least trying to keep Liz peaceful, while trying to shield Michael from the brunt of her anger. It didn't help that Michael seemed to enjoy it, having wrapped himself so completely in his guilt over Max's disappearance and Maria's illness.
Isabel knew that a reckoning was coming. And it had to be soon. Maria needed Michael and Liz at peace with each other and they certainly did not need Max to reappear into the middle of a civil war between his soulmate and his best friend.
There was no way that her brother was going to have to choose between the two of them. Isabel would not allow it. "You need to do something about this Michael. This thing between you and Liz...it's like poison or something. She's been able to handle herself around you up until now, but I see her losing it a little more every day. It can't go on."
"She needs to hate me." Michael told her firmly. "It's the only thing that's holding her together. And we both know I deserve it."
Isabel clenched her hands. "That's ridiculous! Michael, you know that Liz is not the kind of person meant to hate anyone. You encouraging her in this is only making it worse. It's destroying her. You guys need to talk about this."
"Leave it alone Isabel." Michael snapped, walking away from her. Isabel gritted her teeth. He was deliberately walking in the opposite direction from Liz.
Isabel rubbed her eyes tiredly. Now's not the time to think about this, she thought. She began walking the perimeter of the stone circle, eyeing the different security features of the site.
The whole complex, including the gift shop, the visitor's centre and the tunnel leading out to the circle itself was surrounded by chain-link fence, topped off by barbed wire. Isabel wondered briefly if it would be electrified at night. She and Michael should have no trouble getting through it, but it would be a heck of a lot easier if it was just wire.
They would have no way of knowing until that night whether security guards would be posted or not. It was more than likely that they would. They were going to have to find them all and disable them before they would be able to open the portal. Michael would be able to knock them unconscious with his blast - he had refined it enough for that. It wouldn't be pleasant, but desperate times called for desperate measures.
Isabel glanced at her watch. It was 3:00. She had checked the sign on the way in. The site closed at 6:00. That gave them just enough time to go back to Salisbury in the tour van, rent a car and by the time they drove out through the rolling hills to the stone circle it would be dark.
She felt her stomach clenching with nervousness and excitement. If only they knew that Max would be where they needed him...
She wished that there was someway to communicate with Max - to find out if he was going to be waiting for them...
Isabel paused, stared at the heel stone intently.
She could try.
She wandered to a secluded corner of the site. Isabel could hear the mutter from the tourists in the distance. She could see her father talking to Michael near the heel stone, pointing out something to her friend.
She sat down on the grass, which was still damp from the recent rainfall. Isabel saw Liz heading in her direction, saw her pause as she seemed to realize what Isabel was doing. Trust Liz - always so in tune with those around her...well, except for Michael of course.
Isabel closed her eyes, tried to concentrate on shutting out the noise from the hundreds of people milling nearby. She conjured an image of Max in her mind...called to him...
* MAX! LET ME IN! *
She could feel herself fading from the earthly plain, could feel energy running through her veins and into her mind...more power then she had ever felt before in all her thousands of dreamwalks...
She realized that it was the lay-lines...hundreds of them seemed to meet under the gigantic stone circle...and somehow, she, Isabel, was tapping into them.
And suddenly...the vision came...
But it was not really a vision, more like a connection...
Flash*
** Mirana! **
Flash*
** Can you hear me my child? **
Isabel could feel her heart speeding up. She recognized the voice...it was the same one from her earlier visions. But this time it seemed to be speaking directly TO her, instead of AT her.
* I can hear you! * She screamed back with her mind. She concentrated on pulling the energy from the laylines into her mind, focused on throwing that energy behind the words she was sending out. * Who are you? *
Flash*
** I am your mother! ** The voice replying sounded strange, like it was emotionally overwrought. ** I have connected with you at last! **
Isabel felt the connection slipping. * Mother! Stay with me! *
Flash*
** Mirana! I have much to tell you! **
* Max! Where is he? Please mother! *
Flash*
** Your brother is almost lost to you my daughter, almost lost to all of us.**
Isabel could feel her breath leaving her body. MAX! She forced herself to calm down.
* Is it too late mother? *
Flash*
** No my child, but you must open the gate tonight. He needs to return to Earth - to remember who he was...is...**
* But how can we be sure he will be there? *
There was a pause. Isabel frantically reached out with her mind. She wondered if she had lost the link to her mother.
* MOTHER!*
Flash*
** He will be there Mirana. I will make it so. **
The voice sounded more distant...Isabel could feel the connection ending...
* No! Mother! *
She was only met with silence.
Isabel finally opened her eyes. Liz was sitting nearby, watching her quietly, clearly there to make sure that no one disturbed her. Isabel could feel tears welling up in her eyes.
Liz crawled over to join her, put her arm comfortingly around her shoulders. "What did you see Izzy?"
"I didn't SEE anything..." Isabel whispered, choked up. "I SPOKE to my mother."
She watched Liz's eyes light up with joy. Her friend squeezed her again. "I'm so happy for you!"
Isabel smiled through her tears. "She's going to help us Liz." Liz looked at her questioningly. "She's going to help us get him home."
Liz's eyes filled with tears of happiness as well. The two girls hugged, bonded in their amazement and hope.
The moment was shattered as Michael's voiced penetrated the fog surrounding them. "What's going on?"
Isabel could feel Liz tense. Her friend's face froze. Isabel's spirits deflated a little.
"I just connected with my mother." Isabel told him, climbing to her feet. Michael looked impressed.
"What'd she say?" He demanded eagerly. Isabel watched sadly as Liz began to walk away from them. She turned back to Michael, saw him flinch slightly, but he quickly refocused on her.
As Isabel told him, she wound her arm through his, silently offering comfort.
It was time to do something about the state of affairs between Michael and Liz.
She knew now that Max WAS coming back - it was just a matter of all the pieces falling in to place. Nothing was going to spoil it. Liz and Michael were just going to have to get over themselves.
And she was going to make them.
Part 18
Roswell, New Mexico
Kyle paced the hospital waiting room, his hands clenched behind his back.
Where the hell was Tess?
He had left at least five messages on her answering machine and it had been at least three hours since he had seen her get into the strange car.
He was pissed. Not only did he have to worry about Maria, who was fighting for her life down the hall, but he had to worry about Tess, who seemed to be reverting to her old, selfish ways.
Kyle's pacing stopped abruptly when Alex entered the waiting room. Maria's best friend was rubbing his right temple like he had the world's worst head-ache in progress.
"How is she?" Kyle demanded.
Alex collapsed into an uncomfortable looking chair, which looked even more uncomfortable with Alex's lanky form spread across it. "She's in a coma." He replied, his voice cracking. "Mrs. Deluca just told me."
Kyle stared at him. "Jesus..." He swallowed. "How's Mrs. Deluca?"
"Not good." Alex replied. "I don't even know what to do for her...I can't call Liz's parents because they think Liz is HERE, and as far as I know they're her only friends."
Kyle grimaced. "I didn't even know they WERE friends?"
"Well, sort of..." Alex shrugged. "I don't really pay attention to my friends' parents' social life."
Kyle felt helpless. Maria was dying and the people who should have been with her - Michael and Liz - were on the other side of the world. He wondered if doing something for Maria's mom would make him feel any better. "Do you think seeing my dad might help her?" He asked Alex.
Alex's head snapped up. "Were they that close?" Alex asked curiously.
Kyle shrugged. "They seemed to be getting pretty close until all hell broke loose when Tess came to town. I mean, it was a long time ago, but I know that my dad really cared about her...he just sort of seemed to get distracted with all the Czech stuff."
"Don't we all." Alex muttered. "Well, I guess it couldn't hurt." He leaned forward, placing his elbows on his knees, his head in his hands. "I mean, things couldn't possibly get worse."
Kyle wished that Alex hadn't said that. The last time HE had thought that same thing, things HAD proceeded to show him how wrong he was by getting ten TIMES worse.
He hurried over to the pay-phone. Kyle paused as his hand raised to dial his dad's cell. He was not surprised when he dialed Tess' number instead. He'd call his dad in a second.
"Hi! You've reached the Harding residence. Neither Ed or Tess can come to the phone right now. Please leave a message at the beep."
Kyle sighed, hung up the received. Where the hell was she?
He quickly pulled out another quarter.
"Valenti." His dad answered the cell tersely, as was his way.
"Dad, its me."
"Kyle, I'm kinda busy right now." The Sheriff, as usual, had seemed to half tune-out when he realized it was his son on the phone. Bet he wouldn't have done that if it was Max Evans, Kyle briefly thought, forced himself to suppress his lingering bitterness.
He knew his dad loved him. That wasn't the problem. He just sometimes felt that his dad wasn't very INTERESTED in him.
"It's an emergency Dad." Kyle told his father. "Maria Deluca's in the hospital."
Kyle's dad paused on the other end. "It's bad huh?"
"I think this might be it Dad." The Sheriff was aware of the situation with Maria, had been since it had developed.
"Do you want me to come over there son?"
"Yeah, but not for me...I think Maria's mom might need someone."
His dad paused again. "I'm on my way. I just need to call Owen and tell him to mind the shop..."
"Okay, thanks Dad." Kyle hung up, he turned around, froze in his tracks.
Tess Harding was standing directly behind him. She had a stricken expression on her beautiful face. "Is it true Kyle? Is Maria dying?"
"It's true." He said quietly. Her face crumbled. Kyle was astonished when she threw her arms around him, apparently searching for comfort. He brought his arms up around her waist hesitantly, let one hand stroke her back.
He hadn't known that Tess cared about Maria this much. If it had been Michael or Isabel...he might have understood it...but this was weird.
"Everything's falling apart." He heard Tess murmur against his chest. Somehow, suddenly, he knew that this wasn't just about Maria.
"What's wrong Tess?" He asked into her hair, feeling his heart beginning to beat faster at the scent of her perfume.
He felt her tense, as though she had suddenly become aware of what she was doing. She pulled away from him, turned to stare at Alex, clearly trying to compose herself.
"It's nothing. Forget it. I'm going to go see if maybe I can do something for her." Tess hurried away, without showing him her face again.
Kyle watched her go, a perplexed expression on his face.
Tess was hiding something...there was no doubt about that.
Alex had climbed to his feet, had come to join Kyle.
"What was that all about?" He asked Kyle.
"I have no idea." Kyle replied.
But he was going to find out.
* Dreams * MARIA
She felt as if her body had been incinerated from the inside out.
Maria carefully opened her eyes, realized that she was lying flat on her back staring up at a peculiar yellowish sky. She reached up, massaged her temples, tried to sit up.
She froze when she toppled over backwards, landing on something soft.
Make that SOMEONE soft, she amended to herself.
He groaned.
Slowly turning her head, Maria stared down at Michael. He was sprawled on his stomach, one arm thrown wide, the other shielding his head.
Clutching her side when she moved, a sharp pain flashing through her entire abdomen, Maria managed to nudge him. He groaned again.
"Michael?" No answer. "MICHAEL!"
"What do you want?" She heard him mutter.
"I want you to get up and tell me where the heck we are, because I am on the verge of totally freaking out here."
Michael rolled onto his back, slowly opened his eyes. She wondered briefly if it was HER Michael, or if it was pod-person Michael. She assumed it was pod-person Michael since he was the last Michael she had seen.
She realized that she was confusing herself, decided to just wait and see.
Michael was climbing to his feet, looking around, his expression amazed.
"I'm home." He reached down and pulled her to her feet. "I'm home Maria."
Maria stared at him. He sounded like HER Michael. His voice contained inflection, emotion...it was not the flat monotone she had become used to over the past months.
She followed his gaze, took in the waving yellow grass that seemed to stretch on forever in all directions.
Michael suddenly looked at her perplexed. "Why are you here?" He demanded.
"I think because I fell into that light thingy." She replied, reaching up to rub her head again. It was still killing her. "You know - the one I pushed YOU into...sorry about that." She continued sheepishly.
Michael opened his mouth to reply when a noise to their left caused them to both freeze. He grabbed her, thrusting her behind him.
Another head popped up in the grass. It was River Dog...or Tarsus of Dernia as they had learned he truly was. The shapeshifter climbed unsteadily to his feet, seemed to become aware of their presence.
Tarsus' eyes narrowed when he caught sight of Maria peering over Michael's shoulder. "That one is more trouble then she is worth. She has ruined everything - we have returned without Jaxon. Kill her immediately Tristandor."
Maria could feel Michael's back tense under her hands, which were clutching his jacket. He didn't have time to reply though, because Tarsus had begun pacing.
"This is a disaster. My leader is going to be most put out. The only consolation is that Jaxon will no doubt follow you." He turned quickly to stare at them, did not seem at all upset that Michael had made no move to kill Maria. "I've changed my mind. Do not kill her. We will need her to bargain with when the King arrives."
Maria frowned in confusion. None of this was making any sense.
"Time to take my true form." Tarsus' face was implacable as always, but if Maria did not already know that the alien did not have any emotions, she would have thought that he sounded glad. She watched him raise his hand. It began to glow, causing a chain reaction in his entire body.
"Ohmigod! Michael! Is he going to turn into a little green man?" Maria demanded, feeling horror beginning to take ahold of her.
"Shhhh! Maria!" Michael sounded annoyed, and very Michael-like. It made her feel better. She wondered again why he suddenly seemed to be HER Michael again and not weird-emotionless-minion of Tarsus Michael.
But now was not the time. She wanted to close her eyes to hide from whatever Tarsus was turning himself into, but it was like a car accident. She couldn't look away.
The light finally dissipated and she gasped in astonishment.
Standing in front of her was a perfectly normal-looking man. He was young with dark hair and blue eyes. He was actually quite handsome. Maria blinked.
Tarsus was staring off across the plain. "Dernia is south of here. We will go there to rally the troops to bring them back here to capture Jaxon when he makes the journey."
"What if he's long gone by the time we get back? Shouldn't we wait for him?" Michael asked the question Maria had been thinking.
Tarsus frowned. "Don't ask questions about things you don't understand."
"Ummm...how are we ever supposed to learn if we don't ask questions about things we don't understand?" Maria asked. Was this guy really as imbecilic as he sounded? She wondered why they had all been so scared of him.
"Shut her up." Tarsus ordered. Michael squeezed Maria's hand warningly.
They exchanged glances, then followed Tarsus across the plain of yellow grass, heading south.
To be continued...