by Melinda Metz
What are you doing? he thought. She let you kiss her today to get rid of Kyle. Period.
Then why did her eyes keep drifting down to his lips? Did she want him to kiss her again? It sure seemed that way. But if Max were misreading her signals, if she only let him touch her to throw Kyle off track, Max would look like a jerk. Worse than a jerk.
"Uh, I should go after Isabel and Michael," he said.
*** 11 ***
"There is a remarkable similarity in the accounts abductees have given of the medical procedures performed on them by the alien beings. Most report that hair and skin and tissue samples were taken and that small objects were implanted in various parts of the body. Many experienced a needle or drill penetrating the braincase."
Maria stumbled away from the exhibit. She couldn't read any more. She'd thought a trip to the UFO museum would make her feel better, because it would help her understand Max, and Michael, and Isabel. But it had filled her head with horrific images.
The aliens didn't see anything wrong with performing experiments on people. Want to know how a human thinks-why not just stab a needle in its brain? No need for anesthetic. And if you accidentally gave one a lobotomy or traumatized it so badly it could never have a job or a family-no problem, there are always more of them to scoop up.
Maria heard footsteps behind her. She turned around and saw Alex hurrying toward her. Finally. She'd called him more than an hour ago.
"I just got your message," he said breathlessly. "You sounded really upset. What's up? Why did you want me to meet you here?"
"Do you believe in life on other planets?" Maria asked.
"Please tell me you didn't drag me down here to have one of your marathon finding-the-meaning-of-life conversations," Alex complained.
Maria glanced around the museum. There were a couple of tourists in earshot. She grabbed Alex by the arm, dragged him to the tiny coffee shop in the back, and sat him down at a table in the corner.
"Remember that day at lunch when you came up to me and Liz and she started talking about tampons?" Maria asked.
"Could you just pick a subject and stay with it for ten seconds?" Alex begged.
Maria opened her mouth, then shut it. Was she really going to tell Alex about Max and the others after she had promised Liz never to say anything to anyone?
She stared down at the table and traced one of the little alien heads decorating the tabletop. She ran her finger around it again and again. Its big, dark, almond-shaped eyes seemed to stare up at her accusingly.
Liz just didn't understand. She thought she could trust Max. She didn't realize that aliens don't have the same feelings and emotions humans do.
Alex reached out and pulled her hand away from the alien head. "Hey, something really is wrong, isn't it? You can tell me. What about that day at lunch?"
She couldn't handle this by herself. And for the first time she couldn't talk her problem over with Liz. Liz was part of her problem.
"That day at lunch Liz changed the subject when you came up because something happened to her, something that we both promised to keep a secret," Maria said.
Alex leaned closer. "Is Liz all right?" he asked.
"Yeah. At least for now," Maria answered. Just get to the point, she told herself. "Last weekend Liz got shot while we were working at the cafe. Max Evans was there-and he healed her. He put his hands over the bullet hole, and it closed up. He saved her life."
"Oh, I get it." Alex slid back in his chair. "You and Liz are working on your project for Miss Dibble's class. Arlene Bluth told me she's going around asking people to borrow a quarter and telling them she'll mail it back. She's supposed to write a report on the reactions she gets and analyze what it indicates about society or something. Your project is much cooler."
"I'm not telling you this for some school project," Maria exclaimed. Her voice started rising out of control. She took a deep breath and continued. "I was there when it happened. I was holding this cloth over Liz's stomach, and I could feel the blood soaking through it. My fingers were getting all slippery, and I knew she was going to die."
Maria swallowed hard. "Anyway, he saved her. And when she asked him how he did it, he told her he was an alien." There, I said it, she thought. She felt horrible about betraying Liz's trust, but they were both in danger, and they needed help.
"You're serious. You really believe that Max is from outer space?" Alex asked.
"Max, and Isabel, and Michael Guerin," Maria said.
"Oh, right. Anyone else?" Alex joked. "How about Ronald McDonald-no one on earth has feet that big. And don't forget Elvis-everyone knows he's at least half alien."
"I'm serious," Maria insisted. She had to make him believe her. She had to. She needed someone on her side.
"You're tweaking. I feel like I should be taking you to a rehab center or something," Alex said. "But I know you never put impurities in your body."
"So you believe me?" Maria asked. She tightened her grip on his hands. If she had to hold him here until she convinced him, she would.
"I don't know. Let's just pretend I believe you and go on." Alex pulled his hands away and shoved his hair away from his face. "You know, you're not the first person who's told me a story about aliens. A friend of my dad's, an air force pilot, swears he saw a UFO. Swears it. And he's a total by-the-book military guy."
He was willing to listen. That was as soothing as a good whiff of cedar oil. Maria took her time and told him the whole story as calmly as she could, with as many details as possible. Alex didn't interrupt with questions. He just concentrated on what she had to say, his green eyes locked on her face.
"After I left Max's house, I called you and came straight here," Maria concluded.
"Do you know what other powers they have-besides healing?" Alex asked.
Maria shook her head. "Valenti and Elsevan DuPris both said the power to heal and the power to kill went together, but I don't know if that's true or not."
"If I knew for sure what their powers were, I'd say we should just try to talk to them. It sounds like all of you are scared," Alex said. "But that's the problem. Scared and freaked out plus possibly lethal abilities that we have no way to fight-that's not a happy combination."
"Valenti is the one with the information we need. He knows more about the aliens than anyone else," Maria said. She caught a glimpse of all the little alien faces on the tabletop and covered them with her purse. "We have to go to Valenti. He's the only one who can protect us."
***
This was the right place to come, Isabel thought. The entrance to the cave was almost impossible to find if you didn't already know where it was. It wasn't in the side of a cliff or anything-it was more of a crack in the desert floor.
Yeah, there was no way Valenti could know about the cave. If anyone had ever known about it, she would probably be floating in a jar full of formaldehyde somewhere right now. She shuddered at the image that flashed into her mind.
But that's what would have happened, she told herself. If any human had found our pods while we were incubating, they would have ripped us out, killing us before we even had a chance to live.
Isabel spotted Michael's sleeping bag in the back corner. She picked it up and wrapped it around her shoulders. It was almost like having Michael's arms around her-the thick cloth was warm, and it smelled like him.
She wished Michael were here right now. It was easy to feel safe with Michael around. Besides, they needed to figure out what to do about Valenti-and they definitely needed to make their plans without Max and the humans. Max was totally worthless. Liz had him so turned around, he couldn't even see straight… He actually thought he could trust her.
I'll talk to Michael as soon as I get home, Isabel decided. But she couldn't go back yet. Valenti was out there somewhere. And this was the only place she was absolutely sure he wouldn't find her.
He doesn't know that Max is the one who healed Liz, Isabel reminded herself. And if he doesn't know about Max, he doesn't know about me
. Nothing bad has happened. Valenti doesn't know anything.
But she didn't quite believe it. She'd always had the feeling that Valenti was moving closer and closer to finding out the truth, to finding her. When she was a little girl, she used to dream about him every night. Except in the dream he was a wolf, a wolf and Sheriff Valenti at the same time. In the dream he was always hunting her, sniffing and growling, and getting closer and closer to her hiding place.
Isabel sat down and leaned against the cool limestone wall. Maybe she could move in here. The cave was about three times as big as her bedroom. A portable CD player, a few pillows, her makeup drawer-it wouldn't be so bad. She gave a choked laugh. Stacey would love that. Isabel Evans living in a cave.
She wasn't going to let Valenti do that to her. She wasn't going to hide from him for the rest of her life-just for tonight. Isabel wished she could close her eyes and go to sleep for hours, the way humans did. She just wanted to blank out for a while. But she couldn't. It wasn't time for her to sleep yet, and her body simply wouldn't shut down until the right time.
Isabel sighed, then she reached over and pulled the treasure chest from the hollowed-out spot in the wall. It had been a long time since she'd looked at the objects she and Max and Michael had found in the desert. Maybe they would help keep her mind off Valenti.
She opened the lid of the battered wooden chest and pulled out the little square of plasticlike material. She ran her fingers over the purple markings. She'd spent hours trying to decode them. She'd never told Max and Michael, but she'd secretly hoped they were a message from her mother.
Isabel didn't think much about her real mother anymore, or at least she tried not to. A few years ago she had rented the Roswell Incident alien autopsy tape. She had only been able to watch a few minutes. The sight of the small body lying on the metal tables sickened her-even before the doctors made the first incision.
Max and Michael kept telling her the whole tape could be a fake. They didn't know what their real parents looked like. They weren't even sure what they looked like themselves. Maybe their human bodies were just a kind of practical adaptation to living on earth. Maybe on their own planet they would look completely different.
It didn't matter to Isabel if the tape was fake or not. From that night on, every time she thought about her real mother, that image had filled her mind, blocking out everything else.
Isabel's shoulders started to shake, and a hiccuping sob escaped her. That's what's going to happen to me when Valenti finds us. She could almost feel the cold metal underneath her, the cut of the knife.
She shoved herself as deep into the corner of the cave as she could. She pulled her knees to her chest and gathered the sleeping bag tight around her. "You're safe here," she whispered. But she couldn't stop another sob from ripping through her.
She heard a scrabbling sound. She jerked up her head and saw a pair of long, jean-clad legs sliding through the entrance to the cave. A moment later Michael jumped down onto the cave floor.
"Hey, Izzy Lizard," he said.
Michael crossed the cave with long strides and wrapped his arms around her. He rocked her back and forth, holding her tight against his chest.
Isabel clung to him. She finally felt safe. Safe… and kind of embarrassed. "I-I'm sorry," she stammered. "I c-can't stop crying."
"I've seen you cry before," he told her. He rubbed his hands up and down her back, soothing her with his touch. "You cried more than this that time I flushed your doll down the toilet."
"I'm getting your shirt all wet."
"You hate this shirt." Michael used the corner of his worn flannel shirt to wipe the tears off Isabel's face. "You can even blow your nose on it if you want to. That's how much I care."
"No thanks." Isabel grabbed a Kleenex from her purse and wiped her nose. Then she pulled out her compact and studied her face. Her skin looked red and blotchy. She brushed on a little powder.
"Feel better?" Michael asked.
"Feel stupid."
"Don't worry about it." He smoothed her hair away from her face, his big hands gentle. "You've done much stupider things."
Isabel slapped his shoulder. "Thanks."
Michael nodded. "Let's get out of here. Max must be flipping out."
"He deserves it. Can't we just stay here tonight?" Isabel didn't think she was ready to leave the cave, even with Michael.
"There's only one sleeping bag-and it's mine. Come on. I'll stay at your house tonight if you want."
"Will you sleep in front of the door of my room-like a big watchdog?" She smiled at Michael. It felt good to do something so normal. She'd been practicing her flirting skills on him since she was a little girl.
"I was thinking more like the couch," Michael said. "But maybe we can work something out. Would you be willing to mow my backyard?" He pushed himself to his feet and stretched his hand down to Isabel.
She let him pull her up and guide her across the cave floor. She climbed up on the rock she used to reach the mouth of the cave. Then she hesitated. "He's out there somewhere."
"He's not going to hurt you. If he tries, he's going to have to get through me," Michael promised.
Isabel knew she had to leave the cave sometime, and she'd much rather do it with Michael by her side. "Let's go."
Isabel hauled herself out of the cave. Michael scrambled up a second later. They began the long walk back to the Jeep, and Isabel pulled off the tarp they used for camouflage. They always parked it some distance away from their cave as a precaution. She handed Michael the keys and jumped into the passenger seat. "You drive, okay?" she asked. She just couldn't handle it right now.
"Sure." Michael climbed behind the wheel and backed the Jeep out of the rocky overhang where they hid it. Isabel could hear the mesquite bushes crunching under the tires as they drove back toward the highway.
"How did you get out here, anyway?" she asked.
"Hitched."
"Are we leaving tracks?" she asked. She'd never thought of that before. Were they leaving a trail that could lead Valenti to their cave?
"Too dry out here," Michael answered. "Valenti's just a man, you know. You act like he has superhuman powers or something. If he gets too close, we'll take him out."
She glanced over at Michael. He wasn't kidding.
"What about Liz and Maria?"
Michael didn't answer for a moment. "I think Max is right about Liz. If she was going to talk, she would have done it when Valenti showed her the handprints on that guy's body. But Maria… I don't think she wants to hurt anyone, but she's scared. And that makes her unpredictable."
"She practically said she was going to go to Valenti," Isabel reminded him.
"I bet Liz can handle Maria," Michael said as he swung the Jeep onto the highway. "But if she can't-"
The long wail of a siren cut him off. Isabel's eyes jerked to the rearview mirror. She saw the flashing blue lights of the sheriff's car, and her heart slammed into her ribs. "It's Valenti." She knew he was out here. She knew he would track her down.
Michael pulled over to the side of the road.
"Don't stop. Are you crazy?" Isabel cried.
Michael reached over and grabbed her hand. He squeezed it hard. "I was probably speeding or something. You've got to get a grip. Don't let him see how scared you are."
Isabel tensed as the sound of Valenti's boot heels grew louder. She couldn't bring herself to look over at him when she heard him stop by Michael's side of the Jeep.
"I need you to step out of the car, please," Valenti said, his voice low and even. "Both of you."
*** 12 ***
What happened to her? Ever since Isabel had stormed out of the house, Max had been able to feel her fear, strong and constant, like a headache. But about an hour ago he'd experienced something more like a hammer to the forehead. A shot of pure terror. He knew something horrible had happened to her.
I hope Michael found her first, Max thought. He couldn't stand the idea of Isabel going through something so terri
fying alone. If Michael didn't find her, he would have come back here, Max told himself.
So where were they? He'd expected Isabel to come slamming back into the house a couple of hours after she left-maybe with a new dress or a pint of Ben amp; Jerry's that she would refuse to share with him. That's what she usually did when she had a fight with him or their parents.
Well, maybe he hadn't expected that to happen. It wasn't like he and Isabel had a fight about whose turn it was to wash the dishes. But he'd hoped, he'd really hoped.
"Denial's not just a river in Egypt," he muttered. It was something his mom always said. Max and Isabel were always making fun of her because she had a saying for everything. They'd even made up this game. One of them would come up with a situation, and the other one would have to come up with what Mom would say.
Max glanced at the clock. It was after two in the morning. What could possibly have happened that would stop Isabel from making it home? All he could feel from her was terror-nothing else, no hints about where she could be. He'd called a few of her friends, casually asking if she was there, but he wasn't surprised when they all said no. Izzy was popular. She had a billion more friends than Max. But they were all sort of surface, let's-hang-out-at-the-mall friends, not people she would go to if she had a problem. The only humans Isabel really trusted were their parents.
Man, Isabel, would you just come home already? Max thought. He shouldn't have yelled at her. She was already so freaked, and he'd made it worse.
He could take Dad's car and drive around. Maybe if he went in the right direction, the feelings from Isabel would get stronger. That way he'd be able to track her down. It didn't usually work like that, but Max had to do something. If he stayed in his room one more second, he'd go nuts. His parents would find him curled up in the corner, whispering to himself.
Max grabbed his key ring off the dresser. He decided to go out the window. His dad had X-ray hearing-if Max tried to go out the front door, he'd get busted. Luckily they thought Isabel was already home for the night. He didn't think he'd be able to find an excuse for what he was doing sneaking out after midnight. At least not one that would pass his dad's bull detector.