Part 9/11: breaking down Tess (Maria)
As soon as Michael left, Tess jumped out of the attic. I wasn't too surprised.
"Nice Attic, Maria," Tess managed to get out as she caught her breath. "I approve."
"I don't," I told her coldly."What exactly are you doing in my house? Again?"
Tess didn't answer.
I started to walk in a circle around her, trying to figure out what she was thinking at that moment and how she would react to what I was about to tell her. "I know all about you, Tess. Your Plan. Everything."
She didn't even flinch.
"I found this piece of paper just a minute ago, and I was reading it..."
Tess continued to look straight ahead as if I hadn't said anything.
"...You accidentally dropped it next to my refrigerator the other day...Remember that?" I asked, looking closely at the expression on her face. It never changed. "The first thing on here I find very interesting..." That's when I saw it. A sign of fear in her eyes as she tried to remember what was number one her list. I didn't really have the list; I had just made a wild guess that she had made one. "How could you do it, Tess? How could you mindwarp Michael? Of course, I shouldn't be surprised, seeing as how you've done it before. Probably dozens of times..." I stopped and stared into her eyes again. The fear was gone. I continued. "Did you really think mindwarping would keep me from ever knowing Michael hadn't gone?"
Tess looked away. "No."
Her answer surprised me and I was silent for a few minutes. "What does the key unlock, Tess?" I asked softly.
Tess suddenly turned around to look at me. "I didn't have to mindwarp him, Maria. He didn't want to tell you. It had nothing to do with me."
"I don't believe you."
"Well, don't then!" Tess yelled. "I know you think everything I say is all part of some big plan, Maria, but it isn't! I'm not telling you this because I want you to believe me. I'm just telling you because it's the truth, and you're accusing me of something I didn't do! I mean, sure, I didn't want him to tell you..."
"Well, if that's really true Tess, tell me why. Tell me why he wouldn't tell me he'd never left."
She looked away again. "I don't know."
She was lying. "Yes, you do."
Tess sighed. "He loved you too much, okay? There, you made me say it. What else do you want me to admit while I'm at it? How much Max loved Liz? Or how Isabel felt about Alex?"
"I don't understand."
"When Max and Isabel left, I mindwarped Michael so he wouldn't see me. I wanted him to think I'd gone with them. And then I followed him out of the chamber and the first thing he did was go to your house. He was going to tell you."
"Well, why didn't he then?" I demanded.
"Don't you remember what you were doing that morning? You were writing a new song, and he heard you singing it." I remembered. "He listened to the whole song. And then he just left."
I felt like crying. "You never told me what the key unlocks," I said, changing the subject.
"It doesn't unlock anything."
"So I was right all along."
"Hardly. It's the key to a spaceship."
"What spaceship?"
"It's in Utah."
"Tess, were you going to just take Michael with you when you left?" I needed to know.
"I wanted to. That's the reason I didn't leave with Max and Isabel...because they would have gotten mad if all of them weren't there. And...Michael's the king now, you know, so-"
"What are you talking about?"
"He can heal now. When Max died-"
"So you're the one who tried to kill me?" I asked incredulously.
"I didn't try to kill you," Tess said, annoyed. "You just passed out."
"So, what if Michael couldn't heal? Would you have just left me out in the street to get run over or something?"
Tess looked at her feet. "I would have taken you to a hospital," she said quietly. There was a pause. "I was just trying to protect my son," she muttered, as if she'd said it a dozen times in the past.
"That's what I forgot," I realized. "I thought you said something about how he couldn't survive on Earth?"
"Stop it."
"A mindwarp? That's how you deal with every single problem you come across, isn't it? 'You know, it's all okay, because I can always mindwarp the other person and they won't know the difference.' You make me sick." I looked at Tess right then and was immediately sorry.
Because then I saw Tess do something I thought she'd never do. I saw her start to cry.