Chapter Twenty-Two – Crash
"Hello, Dad," Liz said into her cell phone.
Hi Lizzie, what's up sweetie? How goes the studying? came her father's tinny reply.
"Dad, have Alex and Isabel left yet?" Liz asked. "We really need the books they were getting."
Liz, Alex and Isabel left here over an hour ago, Jeff answered. You mean to tell me that they're not there yet?
"No, they're not," said Liz. "Maybe they just had car trouble or something," she added hopefully. "Okay, thanks, Dad. We'll go see if we can find them."
Liz, wait, her father said.
"Gotta run, Dad. We'll call you as soon as we find them." Liz said. She quickly disconnected the call so that her father couldn't ask any awkward questions and turned a worried face to the others.
"He says they left the CrashDown over an hour ago," she said, her expression worried.
"We need to go look for them," said Max. "And fast before whatever is doing this to us has time to do any more damage."
"Let me get my shoes and we can head out," groaned Michael as he tried to pull himself up off of the dilapidated sofa.
"Whoa! Not so fast, Space Boy. You're not going anywhere," said Maria. "You just got," she paused, "Well, I don't know what you got, but it wasn't good, and you need some time to get over it."
Michael glared at Maria, his eyes wishing a thousand different deaths on her for interfering in his life. Nobody had ever shown the least bit of concern for him, and he wasn't comfortable with Maria doing it now, even if it did give him a warm glowing feeling in his gut.
"Maria's right, Michael," said Max. "You need to stay here and regain your strength."
Michael chaffed at being kept out of the action, but he knew both Max and Maria were right. The quickest way to regain his strength was to rest. He grumbled an acknowledgement and collapsed against the sofa, trying to groan again.
"Liz, why don't you come with me," Kyle and Max said together.
Liz caught her lower lip between her teeth and looked from Max, to Kyle, unsure of what to do.
"Kyle, look," said Max. "Whatever is happening, it seems to be directed at Liz, and I can protect her better than you."
"That's crap," said Kyle. "Did you ever thing that's whatever is happening is happening because of you, and if she's with you, she'll be in more danger!"
"Max, Kyle, stop it!" Liz shouted. "Will the two of you stop with the testosterone already? We don't have time for this. Someone, or something is out there, and we don't know why, or what it wants. The last thing I want to do is listen to the two of you go at each other while our lives are in jeopardy."
Kyle and Max both looked shamefacedly at the ground, and then Liz, but never at each other, finally Michael decided to speak.
"Look, Liz is right," he said. "We don't have time for this. The three of you should go together, and Maria can stay here with me."
"What, why?" Maria and Kyle asked, simultaneously.
"Because neither one of you have powers," said Michael with sigh. "You can't protect yourselves against whatever's out there."
"Who died and made you king," said Maria, angry at being ordered around.
"I'm not the king," Michael said with a long-suffering sigh. "I'm his second in command."
"What?" Maria asked, not unkindly. "Max is the king, and you're the second in command. Where is all of this coming from. King of what?"
"He's right," said Liz, his voice dull. "He's the king, and Tess is his wife."
Max looked at her with a horrified expression on his face. "Liz, I'm nobody's king, and I'm sure as hell nobody's husband. I'm just a kid."
"Not here Max," Liz said. "Up there," she raised her finger and pointed upward. "We need to go to the library," she said. "That's what Kyle and I were talking about earlier. There's something at the library, and we need you to get it."
Michael pushed himself up off of the couch, groaning a little. He went and stood next to Maria, who slipped an arm around his waist in both a comforting and supportive gesture. Michael looked down at the blond gamine faced girl next to him and smiled. Having her there next to him felt right, and it gave him the strength to speak up.
"Maria and I will go out and look for Alex and Isabel," he said in a voice that brooked no arguments. "Maria will drive, it will be okay," he added in an attempt to forestall the barrage he was certain Max was about to unleash. "You three go to the library and find this whatever that Liz is so jazzed about."
"Be careful," Max said. "Don't take any unnecessary chances, and call us if you find anything," he added.
The Roswell Library was about to close for the evening, but Liz pleaded with the librarian to give them just five minutes.
"Please," she begged. "I just need to find one more source to finish my project."
"Okay, Miss Parker," the librarian capitulated. "But only because you are such a regular patron of the library. I wouldn't do this for just anybody."
"Thanks so much, Ms. Nelson," said Liz.
"What's your project on?" the librarian asked Liz conversationally as she led them to the reference section.
"Oh, um," Liz stammered.
"Ancient languages," said Kyle. "We're teamed up on a project on ancient languages, and we need one more book."
"Well, they're right over there," said the librarian with a wave of her hand. I'm just going to go check the rest of the doors. Please be quick."
The waited until Ms. Nelson was out of site before they dashed over to the area the librarian had indicated. Kyle grabbed a chair and climbed up and shoved some books away.
"It's here, I know it is," he said, pushing at the wall.
"Let me try," said Max. He climbed up on the chair next to Kyle and passed his hand over the wall where Kyle was pointing. A panel slid back, and Max slid his hand in and pulled out a book.
"Are you kids ready?" the librarian called from across the room.
"We sure are," said Liz. She reached up and pulled down a book on Latin and walked over to the circulation desk.
"This is exactly what she need," she said, flashing the librarian a blinding smile. "Thank you so much."
"I'm always glad to help," said the librarian. "You kids better hurry," she added. "It's getting late."
"We will," said Max. "Thanks again."
With the aid of a streetlight, Max, Liz and Kyle examined the book. It was unlike anything Liz or Kyle had ever seen before. Max was less certain.
"I feel like I should know what this says," he said, his voice ripe with frustration. "It's like it's right there, on the edge of my memory, but every time I try to reach for it, it slips away."
"Maybe this will help you," said Liz, her voice dead with pain. She passed the open book to Max, and he stared at the four engraved pictures grouped together.
"That's me and Isabel and Michael," he said, pointing at three of the pictures.
"And that's Tess," Liz said.
"Liz, look, it's just a picture," said Max. "It doesn't mean anything."
"It means everything," said Liz. She started to stay more, but the ringing of her cell phone interrupted her.
"Hello," she said into the phone.
Liz we found them," said Maria, tears in her voice. IThey had an accident, just outside of town, heading towards the Pullman Ranch.
"We'll be right there," said Liz. She closed her phone and looked at Max.
"Michael and Maria found them, just outside of town near the Pullman Ranch. They crashed."