Part
XII
Michael
We're in seventh grade now. Isabel doesn't get to talk to Tess as much. She swears she's the only one who can dreamwalk but I think that maybe Tess can block her. So that she only talks to us when she wants to. She has the same kind of mental image as I do. In dreams, we project ourselves as we see ourselves, and Isabel can sometimes see that. She sometimes sees the bruises that Hank puts on me, even though Max heals them. Even though the bruises have healed physically, in my mind I usually see myself with a black eye for days after.
I see bruises on Tess too, but she doesn't have a Max to heal them. So even in her mind they last longer. She won't let anyone ask about them, or about what she's protecting us from. Her and Isabel finally made me and Max see that she went away to protect us, but won't say protect us from what.
She has explained that we are all part of the Royal Four. She said that in the place we came from, Max was a king. Isabel, his sister, was a princess. I was Max's best friend there too, and I was engaged to Isabel. SO we were older there than here. I was also in charge of the military. Tess said she was the queen. She won't say what else, but she smiles a little when we ask.
She also explained that there's something we can use to go home, but no one knows where it is. She said that the man who took her away wants to find it. I said, "He didn't take you, you went with him." She got a look on her face like that deer that was on the road got when the headlights hit it. She said she went with him because if she didn't he would've come after her and everyone she was with, like Kyle and the Sheriff.
She said he might have found us, meaning the other three. She said we might know things we don't know yet, which didn't make sense. She said that we have lots of memories we aren't aware of inside of us. She said Nasedo (That's his name) might find them, and use them. She said that would be a very bad thing.
I believed her. Isabel believed her. And Max believed us. He's still mad that she didn't say anything before she went away, but what she told Isabel was that if she had to see him or me or her to say good bye it would've been too sad and she would've brought disaster down on our heads, and eventually on all of planet Earth.
Tess is a little dramatic.
So, like I said, seventh grade now. We're doing harder stuff in all our classes. Except English. I sleep through that class and get As on everything. Including essays, cause they don't look at names while they grade 'em. I'm good at Math, but that's boring too. Isabel makes it interesting. She's the only reason I don't sleep through that class.
We're taking Natural History in science. It's all about rocks. Not even Isabel can always stay awake through that class. We don't have it together, but she tells me about it at lunch. She still sits with us at lunch, even though the fashion twins and her other popular friends make fun of her for it. It helps that Kyle sometimes sits with us too. Usually not. But sometimes. Max plays basketball with him, and even without powers, Max is pretty good.
We (Me and Max, not Isabel) still avoid after school activities. We founded the three fifteen club. The bell rings at 3:15 and we book it out of there. There are no other members, just us.
Christmas is coming up, and I'm starting to worry about presents. I don't have much money and this is Roswell. It's not like I can mow lawns to make a few bucks—there are no lawns to mow. Who would I have to buy presents for? Max and Isabel of course. That stupid DeLuca girl too, maybe. And Mrs. Evans.
Two years ago she gave me crayons. Last year she gave me a real drawing book, and an art book that tells you lots of stuff about drawing. She gave me oil crayons, which are different than little kid crayons.
This year, I'm working really hard on a portrait. It's of Isabel and Max, but I keep getting something wrong. It looks like them, but it doesn't look like them at the same time. I can get the shapes right, but I can't get that look on Izzy's face when she giggles, or the expression Max gets when he relaxes. I haven't been able to make the paper show how much love there is for her, not only from them but from me too. I'm still trying, but I'm getting desperate. What if I can't get it right? What else can I give her? She's given me SO much. I want to give her something back, but I don't know what, other than this picture.
Maria DeLuca is easy-anything with too much glitter would be fine. Max, well, I got it taken care of. There's this really old comic book store downtown. The guy who runs it is a nut, who makes me nervous. He really believes in aliens and government conspiracies/cover ups. And he looks at me like I'm a bug. But he had this awesome comic book—original X-men and everything, that I know Max wanted. It took pretty much all the savings I had from some yard work I've done, but I got it.
Isabel is the tricky one. She always loves presents, but at this point it can't be anything too big cause I'm a boy and she's a girl and I don't want everyone making a big deal about it and embarrassing her. I saw this really pretty locket in a window downtown, but when I asked the man inside how much it was, he said twenty-five dollars. I don't have twenty-five dollars right now. And that locket is going to get sold soon, because it's so pretty.
I asked him if I could put a down payment on it. I know about down payments and lay away from Isabel. If there's ever been anyone in Roswell who knows how to shop, Isabel is she. He sneered. "No. Now beat it you little punk."
I asked Mrs. Parker if they needed any help at the Crashdown. Sometimes she lets me wash dishes and she pays me, but she said she's so very sorry but she can't right now because the child labor people are cracking down on everyone, but especially her cause she lets Liz work there. Liz is her daughter, and she's a brat.
I was getting desperate, so I asked Mrs. DeLuca if I could stock shelves. She sighed and said she was having trouble paying her one full time employee. Business is bad this year.
Finally, I asked the Sheriff if there's anything I could do for him. The Sheriff isn't as bad as most adults, but you have to watch all adults. He looked surprised, and asked why I wanted the job. I said that I needed some cash to buy Christmas presents. He made a face like he'd sucked on a lemon, but said, "Sure, we have filing that needs doing." He got one of the deputies to help me, and then he left. I think he talked to Hank, cause when I got home he yelled at me for going to the Sheriff for money. He gave me ten bucks, slapped me upside the head, burped and left for the bar.
So I'll be able to get Isabel the most perfect locket in the world. I just hope it's still there. Because Isabel deserves perfect. Anything less is unacceptable.