by Melinda Metz
“You think he should have let her die?” Maria demanded. “Do you think that, too, Michael? Do you think Max should have let Liz bleed to death?”
Maria’s aura usually reminded Max of a lake on a summer day — sparkling blue. Now it was more like an ocean before a storm — murky green and churning, potentially lethal.
“Do you think Liz’s life is more important than the three of ours? Because it could come down to that,” Michael answered calmly. Way too calmly. Michael wasn’t a calm guy. He had himself under control — barely — and if he lost it, Max didn’t know what he’d do.
“Look, even before Max healed me, Valenti knew aliens existed. He doesn’t know anything more now,” Liz said. She glanced from Maria to Michael to Isabel, making eye contact with each of them.
Max could tell she was trying to do some damage control, but he thought it might be too late. He should have told Isabel and Michael about Valenti alone. Being around humans who knew their secret was too much for them.
“Valenti does know something more now,” Isabel insisted. “He knows that you know who the alien is. He’s just going to keep hammering at you until you tell him.”
“Liz would never do that!” Maria exclaimed.
“Liz would never do that,” Michael repeated in a shrill voice, mocking her. “You only say that because you’re too innocent to think of all the ways someone as twisted as Valenti can come up with to make someone talk.”
“It’s not Liz I’m worried about,” Isabel told Maria. “It’s you. You want to tell Valenti the truth, don’t you?”
“We both promised we wouldn’t — ,” Liz began.
But Maria interrupted her. “Yes! I want to tell him. I won’t — not unless we all agree. But think about it — it would solve everything. He told Liz he just wants to track aliens to make sure they aren’t a danger to humans. Once he finds out you’re not going to hurt anyone, he’ll leave you alone. He’ll leave all of us alone.”
“I have three words for you — Project Clean Slate. Does that sound like some Welcome Wagon to you?” Michael demanded. “It’s more like the politically correct way to say death squad.”
“Michael’s right,” Liz said. “We can’t — “
“I don’t care what you have to say about it. You’re not one of us.” Isabel pushed herself out of her chair and strode over to Maria. She leaned down until they were eye to eye. “If you take one step toward Valenti, I’ll know about it, and I’ll kill you. I can do it, and you won’t even see me coming. You’ll go to sleep one night and never wake up.”
“Shut up and sit back down!” Max exploded. “No one is killing anyone. You’re acting as cold and vicious as Valenti.”
Isabel straightened up and stared at Max. He could see tears shimmering in her eyes. “I’m sorry, Izzy,” he said immediately. “I didn’t mean it to come out like that.”
“Don’t even bother,” she answered. “I knew you would side with them.” She ran out of the room. A few seconds later Max heard his Jeep squealing out of the driveway.
“Nice going, man,” Michael muttered as he went after her.
Max was glad Isabel wouldn’t be alone. There was no way she would let him explain or apologize or anything for a while. But she would talk to Michael, and he’d stop her from doing anything stupid. Unless she convinced him to do something stupid.
“I have to go, too. I can’t — ” Maria’s voice broke. She grabbed her purse and her jacket and bolted.
Max moved over to the couch and sat down next to Liz. “I think that went well,” he said sarcastically.
“I’ll talk to Maria,” Liz said. “I know I can convince her not to go to Valenti. She’s just so scared that she wanted to believe we could tell him and he would fix everything.”
“Isabel’s scared, too — more than scared. She’s been terrified of Valenti since we were little kids. He was like the bogeyman to her back then. She used to have nightmares about him and wake up screaming,” Max answered. “But she won’t hurt Maria. Isabel isn’t that crazy.”
Liz didn’t answer. She just studied his face, her dark brown eyes intense. “What?” he asked. “You risked everything when you healed me, didn’t you” Liz said. “Putting Michael and Isabel in danger must have really torn you up.”
“I knew I could trust you,” he murmured, staring at her. He could almost taste her skin under his lips. He could almost feel her body pressed against his. Without even thinking about it, he leaned toward her.
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-oflife conversations,” Alex complained.
Maria glanced around the museum. There were a couple of tourists in earshot. She grabbed Alex by the hand, 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 ugh. 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 plastic-like 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.”