The blonde girl huddled on the ground, tears in her eyes. Thoughts of her lost lover, her loneliness, her own lack of self-worth, raced through her mind. Suddenly a tall form knelt beside her and a gentle hand lifted her chin. Tender brown eyes met hers as a soft voice spoke, giving comfort and support. In response, the girl spoke hesitantly of her past, of the father who'd left and of the mother who worked so hard to make ends meet, of her own blind search for love. Taking her in his arms, he told her of his love for her, that her strange and frightening past could be, and would be, washed away into nothing. Lost in his arms, she finally realized that she would never be alone again.
The two held each other tightly, locked in a passionate embrace...only breaking apart at the sound of third voice calling, "...and blackout."
Maria smiled up at Mark Blumenthal, who reached out a hand to help her to her feet. "This scene's coming along really well," the tall senior commented. The drama teacher, Ms. Bedinger, concurred.
"You're right, Mark, the scene works well, and 'Suddenly Seymour' sounds very good. Once we get the lighting in, it will be extremely effective. Now if you two will take a look at the rest of Act II over the weekend, we'll begin blocking that on Tuesday. Go ahead and memorize what we've done so far with Act II Scene I; I'd like you to be off book the next time we run it."
Maria nodded, and headed towards her bookbag to place her script and pencil inside for the trip home. Ms. Bedinger had started blocking the Seymour and Audrey scenes at the first rehearsal, while the choral teacher worked with Melanie Royer, Debbie Schaefer, and Pamela Harris on their songs. In a few short rehearsals, Maria felt like she was already getting a good grasp on her character, and had learned most of her music.
Mentally checking her homework list, she decided she'd better stop at her locker for some textbooks before heading home and then over to Isabel's for the 'slumber party'. She'd managed to concentrate on schoolwork and the play over the past few days, without thinking more than three or four times a day about the coming ordeal. Huh. More like three or four times an hour.
"Hey, Maria, wait up!" she heard, and turned around to see Mark heading toward her. He smiled down at her and asked, "So how come you haven't done any shows with us before? You're doing a great job with Audrey."
"Bad fifth-grade class play experience," she admitted.
Mark asked curiously, "Oh? What happened?"
"Let's just say that a bucket of water and slippery shoes are not the stuff of which stardom is made. Unless you're into the Three Stooges, I guess."
"Wipeout?"
She nodded ruefully. "Right in the middle of my big dramatic scene at the end. Not really good encouragement to continue on the theatrical path."
"What made you go for this? I mean, I'm glad you did, but you just kind of came out of the blue. Nobody had you pegged for an actress."
"Liz Parker and Alex Whitman talked me into it. And I think I'm really glad. It's a lot of fun, you know?"
He smiled understandingly. "Well, it's great to be able to work with you. I hope that--"
He was cut off by Pamela Harris, who took his arm possessively while conspicuously ignoring Maria. "Mark," she said firmly, "I've been waiting for you forever. We need to hurry if we're going to make the movie in time."
"Sure, Pamela," he told her. "Sorry, Maria, I've got to head out. We're catching a ride with Melanie. See you on Monday!"
"See you, Mark! Bye, Pamela." Maria rolled her eyes as the snooty girl gave her a small grimace of dislike behind Mark's back. What a witch. At that moment, Maria vowed firmly to never be that wrapped up in herself. Stuffing her math text and notebook in her bookbag, she closed the locker door, and leaned on it wearily. Okay. Time to stop being the normal high school Maria and be the dreamwalking, alien-hunting Maria. Oh, goody.
She drove home with her mind on the upcoming events of the evening. She trusted Isabel and Max, but she was still nervous about the whole thing. What if it didn't work, and she couldn't accompany Isabel on her dream safari, or she could, but couldn't sense Michael? Or worse, what if she could sense him, but he didn't want to be found? Putting the car in park, she took a deep breath and then headed inside.
Her mother was in the kitchen, putting away groceries. "Hey, Mom. Close up the shop early?"
Amy DeLuca nodded. "Business was pretty slow, anyway, so I thought I'd give up for the evening and run some errands. How was school?"
"Okay. And rehearsal went really well. I'm having a lot of fun with it, Mom."
Her mother smiled warmly at her. "I'm glad, honey. Glad you're having a good time. And I'm really proud of you." She gave the girl a hug.
"Don't say that until you see the show," joked Maria. "You don't want to have to eat your words, now, do you? I mean, I might suck."
Amy got that righteously indignant look that only mothers could wear. "Maria DeLuca! I do not want to hear that from your mouth again. If I say I'm proud of you, then I'm proud of you. No arguments!"
"Okay, okay! Just kidding, Mom." Maria decided to change the subject. "So, you got a big night planned?"
"Sure, honey. Just me, some paperwork, a glass of wine, and maybe a little TV. Big doings in the DeLuca household."
"No date?"
"Not tonight. A quiet evening at home for me...Be glad you have more fun things to do."
"Uh huh."
Amy smiled knowingly. "What is it tonight? Movies, makeovers...I know, maybe a little talk about boys?"
"Mom!" Maria exclaimed. "We do have other things to talk about, you know. I mean, it's not like Isabel, Liz and I are seeing anybody right now. It's just a Girl's Night. No talk of boys allowed!" She fervently hoped her mother would take her statement as 'protesting too much' and assume they were in for the standard slumber party rituals. Not that she would ever be able to guess what was really going to happen...
"Sure, honey. Whatever you say."
"Well, it could be worse," Maria teased. "I could be dating the Sheriff!" And with that, she bolted from the room, giggling, before her mom's well-aimed dishtowel could strike.
* * * * *
"Here you are, girls," said Diane Evans, carrying a tray of soft drinks and assorted munchies into Isabel's room. "This should keep you going for a while."
"Thanks, Mom," Isabel answered from her perch on her bed.
"Dad and I will be in our room if you need anything else, and Max is reading in his. Now don't you stay up too late," her mother warned in a joking tone. "Have fun!"
The three girls nodded, reaching for the glasses and cans of soda. Diane left the room smiling reminiscently as she shut the door behind her. It didn't seem so long since it was her mother bringing the snacks up at her slumber parties. She gave a regretful sigh. Time really did go too fast.
Inside the bedroom, Maria asked nervously, for at least the fourteenth time, "What time is it now?"
"It's only 11:37, 'Ria," her best friend answered her.
"It'll be at least an hour before there's even a chance Michael will be asleep," Isabel warned. "Plus Max won't come in until my parents are sleeping, and we need to wait for Alex, anyway."
"I know, I know," responded Maria impatiently. "I just want to get this over with. I've got a funny feeling that it's really important."
"We'll do it," Liz said to bolster her up. "We'll figure out what's wrong with him and then we'll fix it. We can do anything as long as we work together."
Maria nodded, feeling slightly calmer. It would work. She was determined to make it work. How didn't matter, it just would. Or she would go certifiably insane.
"So what do you want to do until Alex and Max join us?" Isabel asked.
"Well, Maria was about to tell us how rehearsals were going," Liz said quickly, settling down at the foot of Isabel's bed.
"Yeah? So how are they?"
"Pretty good, I think, but we have a lot to do, and only five more weeks of rehearsal to do it in. It's really fast. We've blocked most of the scenes between Mark and me--"
"Blocked?" interrupted Isabel.
Maria explained, "You know, Ms. Bedinger has told us where to enter and exit, where to stand, that sort of thing. I haven't worked much with the rest of the cast yet, though."
"How's working with Mark? He was pretty good in Hello, Dolly last year," the alien commented.
Maria hadn't known Isabel had an interest in theater. "He's good in this, too. He's really nice. It feels really comfortable working with him."
"Plus," Liz teased, "I heard he's a great kisser."
Maria flushed and took a quick gulp of her soda. "It's acting, Liz. He's not kissing me, Seymour is kissing Audrey. You know, make believe. It's really sweet, actually. And different."
"Different?" put in Isabel curiously.
"I mean, it's nice and all, but there isn't...we don't...it doesn't mean anything, you know? It's not like Michael." She looked directly at Isabel. "Kissing Michael was...explosive." She could sense Liz smiling as she remembered a conversation they'd had months before. "It was passionate, wild...It felt incredible, but it felt right, too, you know? Kissing Mark in the play is just that: kissing Mark in the play." Turning to Liz, she remarked wryly, "I told you that they'd ruin us for other guys!"
Isabel nodded reflectively. "I think I know what you mean. Believe me, it's not limited to Czechoslovakians." She caught Liz and Maria's curious glances and hurried on, "But you're enjoying it?"
"The kissing or the play?" asked Maria innocently.
Isabel grabbed her head in frustration. "You know what I mean!"
"Uh huh. Sure we do!" said Liz, with a twinkle in her eye.
Maria continued, "Yeah, I'm having a lot of fun. As usual, Liz, you were right to talk me into it."
"Of course she was right. Isn't she always?" teased a familiar voice from the doorway. "She's practically a genius!"
"Alex!" the three girls cried in unison.
"None other," he replied, closing the door. "Although I believe the whole 'Maria should be a star' idea was mine."
The girls ignored this as Liz said, "I see you managed to sneak out past your parents."
"Easy as hacking into the FBI database," he replied modestly. "Max will be along in a minute. What were we discussing?"
"Maria was just telling us about Little Shop rehearsals," answered Isabel.
"Well, continue," he said, pulling out Isabel's desk chair and sitting.
"It's just that it feels so natural, so easy," Maria admitted. "We've only had a few rehearsals, and already I can find myself losing myself in Audrey. It's a really good escape, you know? And even though it's a lot of work, it doesn't seem like it. The only thing that could make it better would be if Melanie and Pamela would pull the sticks out of their collective butts and stop acting like they hate me. Well, that, and if you guys were there. I can feel a distinct lack of friendly vibes at rehearsal."
"Melanie and Pamela are just angry because a junior beat them out for the lead. But come on, really. Who on earth convinced Pamela Harris that 'I Feel Pretty' was a good audition song for Little Shop of Horrors? It's not exactly chock full of legit sopranos. She should be grateful that she was cast at all," said Alex knowingly. "As for the 'friendly vibes' lack," he went on, "I believe I can help with that. Guess who will be performing in the pit orchestra?"
"Alex!" squealed Maria, rushing up to give him a hug.
Alex caught himself before she could knock him over, chair and all. "Whoa, there, Maria," he said, delighted at seeing the sparkle return to her eyes. "Don't damage the bass player! You need me, after all. Who else is going to protect you from the vanity twins? A poor little helpless thing like you can't possibly--"
Max, who had been standing in the doorway, smiled as the three girls ganged up and pounced on the hapless teen. "Need some help, Alex?" he asked, shutting the door behind him.
Alex, trying to avoid the assorted pillows and hands that were aimed at him, turned gratefully to the tall alien. "Yes!" he cried, grinning the whole time.
"Give it up, Alex, you're no match for even one of us," Maria shot back, "much less all three. Together, we are practically invincible!"
"And it's a good thing, too. We'll need that tonight," Max put in.
Maria sobered immediately, her mind instantly going to the problem ahead. "So how exactly do we do this?" she asked.
"With your permission, Isabel will make a connection with you. I'll link to her to keep the connection intact, and then she'll dreamwalk Michael. If it works, you'll appear in the dream with her."
"What can we do?" asked Alex.
Max turned to him. "You and Liz need to keep an eye on the three of us. Last time, I had to pull Isabel out of Michael's dream; it may suck all three of us in this time. Give us an hour, then snap us out of it. First Isabel and Maria, then me. Also, if at any time it seems like anything is going wrong, break us out of it immediately."
Liz and Alex nodded.
"Okay, are we ready to try this?"
"Max," his sister pointed out, "it's barely past midnight. There's no way Michael's asleep yet. He only gets three or four hours on the best of nights."
Maria looked up at this, remembering a night when he slept out his sorrow and exhaustion for hours in her arms, but said nothing.
"I don't know, Isabel. I saw him at school today, and he looked really ragged. I'm not sure how long he can last without falling asleep on his feet," said Alex hesitantly.
"All right. I'll try to dreamwalk him first, to see if he is asleep. Once he is, then Maria and I will try it together," Isabel responded. Lying down comfortably on her bed, she reached over to her night table for a silver-framed photo of the three aliens. Softly fingering it, she stared at the image of Michael's face, concentrating, and closed her eyes.
The room was silent for what seemed like hours, but in reality couldn't have been more than a few minutes. Maria played with a loose thread on the sleeve of her shirt, and bit her lip to keep from shrieking with tension. Liz reached over and took her hand, holding it tightly.
All four watchers let out a sigh of relief when Isabel opened her eyes and sat up. "You were right, Alex. He's asleep already. I went close enough to his dream to see that it was his, but not close enough to actually be in it," she said. She looked up at Maria, who had stood in her nervous anticipation. "Are you ready?" she asked. When Maria nodded silently, she patted the bed next to her. "Well, relax then. This won't hurt you."
"Or so we think," Maria muttered under her breath, but she lay down next to Isabel without hesitation. Under Isabel's instructions, she took a few deep breaths and silently commanded her body to relax.
Liz pulled Max to the corner of the room and asked worriedly, "Max, what will she see when Isabel connects with her? Will there be visions, like when you healed me?"
"Izzy shouldn't need to make that deep a connection with her, but they both might see some things. We're never quite sure what we'll pick up."
"Don't you think you should warn Maria first?" questioned Alex, who had been listening to their conversation.
"Guys, I'm right here and I can hear you. You're not exactly keeping secrets," remarked Maria from the bed. "So, Isabel, visions, huh? Well, you won't see anything Michael hasn't already seen except...Oh my god." Her face reddened abruptly as she realized that Isabel might just see some rather steamy moments between her and the spiky-haired alien. "Ummm...Isabel?"
"Yes?"
"Can you please just...like...ignore anything in there you don't think I'd want you to see? Please?"
Isabel chuckled softly, immediately knowing what the other girl meant. "Believe me, I don't want to see that sort of thing either. Michael is like my brother. I do not need to go through life with that imprinted on my brain." She gave a delicate shudder and added, "I promise to block out anything over a PG rating."
"Swear?" Maria clutched her hand.
"Swear."
Maria took one last deep breath. "Okay, then. Let's go find us an alien."
CHAPTER 5
Closing her eyes, she grasped Isabel's hand tightly, and felt the alien wrap her fingers around their joined hands.
Maria waited, scarcely daring to breathe, for something, anything, to happen. She could hear the slight hum of Isabel's bedside lamp and the soft scrape as Alex pulled the desk chair nearer to the bed. She knew Liz was nearby, hovering anxiously over them, and Max was sitting next to Isabel. Why wasn't something happening? Was it her? She hadn't gotten any visions from Michael when he'd seen her tying the red sneakers. Maybe he was wrong. Maybe she was too closed off. Maybe there was no hope that she would ever be able to connect with Isabel, with Michael, with anyone. Maybe--
FLASH
<<A small blonde girl holding tightly onto her brother's hand as they approach the schoolyard, looking around at the swarms of children around them, feeling distant and afraid.>>
FLASH
<<A slightly older Isabel bursting into tears, being gathered into her mother's warm arms and rocked back and forth until her shuddering subsides.>>
FLASH
<<Max, Isabel and Michael sitting at the Crashdown, passing a bottle of Tabasco and talking quietly.>>
FLASH
<<Isabel standing at her window, gazing out at the dark night, taking comfort from the feel of Michael's hand on her shoulder.>>
Awash in the dizzying scenes flashing before her eyes, Maria flinched as a white-hot light began to grow in the center of her vision. It pierced through her closed eyelids, obliterating the pictures she was receiving from the connection Isabel had made. She struggled to move, to cover her eyes, to escape the painful brightness, but could not. Tears began to pour from under her closed lids, running down her cheeks. Defiantly she opened her eyes to the light, expecting to be blinded by its brilliance.
Instead she saw golden sand and a bright, empty sky.
"Oh my god," she whispered, blinking rapidly to clear the moisture from her eyes.
Isabel's voice came from behind her, sounding a little surprised. "It worked."
Maria took a few agitated steps toward Isabel. "What do you mean, it worked? You didn't think it would work? What are we doing here if you didn't think it would work?"
"Calm down, Maria. I hoped it would. We needed it to. I just didn't know, all right?"
The shorter girl relaxed slightly, and looked around her. "So this is Michael's dream, huh? Somehow I was expecting Playboy bunnies and giant bottles of Tabasco sauce."
Isabel rolled her eyes before answering. "It's exactly like I left it. Sand and sky."
"And you wandered around, and found nothing, right?"
"Right."
"So where are your footprints? This is sand you're walking on. There should be footprints all over."
"I didn't leave any. The sand would move back into place as my feet lifted. I didn't leave any sign that I'd been here. Until Max pulled me out of it, I actually thought I was going to get lost."
Maria's face paled slightly. "No footprints?" she whispered. Turning around and pointing at the sand behind her, she asked hesitantly, "Then what are those?"
Isabel gasped as she saw three distinct footprints leading towards the spot where Maria stood. "Footprints..." She stared, troubled, into Maria's eyes. "Take a few more steps," she suggested. Maria did so, leaving a definite mark in the sand with each one.
"I don't get it. This is really weird," Maria complained, pacing back and forth across the sand. "I mean, you're practically six feet tall. There's no way that I weigh enough to be leaving footprints and you don't."
"I don't know either," Isabel admitted. "But things sometimes get really bizarre in dreams. Even though this doesn't feel like a dream, it is one. It has to be."
Maria contemplated this thought for a moment, before continuing, "Okay, so it's normal for things to be weird. Well with you guys, I suppose it is. So let's see if we can make some progress here, even if things don't make sense. Time for the old tracking-sensing trick, huh?" She gave a snort of frustrated laughter. "Too bad you couldn't just bring a bloodhound in with you and be done with it."
Isabel began, "Maria--"
"I know, I know. I am the bloodhound. Geez," she murmured under her breath, "I can't even be a cocker spaniel, or a French poodle, or even one of those Taco Bell dogs. No, I have to be a big old droopy bloodhound." Taking a few steps away from Isabel, she closed her eyes and tried to concentrate on Michael.
Isabel waited impatiently, finally bursting out, "Well? Can you feel him?"
"Hey, this isn't rocket science, you know," was the response. "Yeah, he's here."
"Where? Where?"
"He feels really nearby and very far away, all at the same time. It's like he's everywhere, you know? Which makes sense, I guess, if we're stuck in his head." Maria opened her eyes. "So which way do we go?"
Isabel thought for a moment before slowly saying, "If he's everywhere, it won't matter which direction we take. He'll be there."
Maria looked at her consideringly, then covered her eyes with one hand, pointing with the other. She spun around until she felt dizzy. "Okay," she said as she came to a stop. "Let's go that way."
* * * * *
Intent on the still forms of her three friends, Liz shook her head and tried to blink. She'd been so focused on the three of them that for a moment she thought her eyelids would refuse to move and she'd be stuck staring straight ahead for the rest of her life. Finally they cooperated, and she blinked rapidly, attempting to bring some moisture to her dry eyes.
She looked blindly around the room for a clock. Alex spoke up softly, "Thirty-seven minutes. Twenty-three to go." Nodding, she blinked again before turning to gaze once more at the bed. Isabel and Maria lay unmoving, hands clutched tightly together. She could see their chests move in unison with each shallow breath they took. Max sat motionlessly on the edge of the bed, holding onto Isabel's arm with both hands. His eyes shut, he seemed dead to the world. Liz pressed her lips tightly together. This would work. It had to.
* * * * *
In the arid desert, Maria and Isabel trudged along, leaving one set of footprints trailing behind them. "You know, this is the desert. We should have brought some bottled water along with us," Maria commented.
"We're lucky I could bring you here, much less refreshments," Isabel snapped back. "Besides, this little trip is only for an hour. I think even you can survive that long, thank you very much."
"Are you sure it's only an hour? It feels like a lot longer than that already."
"Maria, would you stop complaining? You're not making this any easier, you know?"
"Oh, so I'm here to make this easier? Who knew? I thought I was just your tracking do--" Her voice cut off abruptly as she fell backwards in the sand.
Isabel rushed over to her. "Maria! Maria! Are you all right?"
The reply was short and to the point. "Ouch."
"What happened?" asked Isabel tensely.
"What does it look like? I ran into something. It's right there..." Maria's voice trailed off as she sat up and looked expectantly ahead of her. She saw nothing but the ever-present stretch of desert sand.
"What's right there? I don't see anything!"
"Well, I don't see anything, either, but the massive lump on my forehead sure tells me there's something there. I don't care what sort of wonky dream Michael is having, there's no way I could be knocked over by something doesn't exist!"
Isabel moved slowly towards Maria's feet. Slowly reaching out into the air beyond them, she tried to feel for what could have knocked the girl down. "I don't feel anything. Are you sure you didn't trip?"
"Yes, I'm sure I didn't trip. I'm telling you, I ran into something. Something hard." She joined Isabel and began feeling the air in front of her. "It was right about...here." At that, her hand struck a hard surface. "Here, Isabel! Right here! Feel this!"
The taller girl moved carefully over and placed her hand in the air next to Maria's. "I don't feel anyth...Oh."
They both began sliding their hands up and down the invisible barrier before them. "It goes all the way to the ground," said Maria. "You're taller than me. Can you reach the top?"
Isabel stretched up as far as she could, but the barrier exceeded her grasp. Picking up a fistful of sand, Maria tossed it in front of her. It flew through where the wall should be and quickly fell, mixing in with the sand several feet away. "It doesn't stop the sand, but it sure stopped me."
"Maybe we can go around it," Isabel suggested. Maria began moving to the right, keeping her hands in constant contact with the unseen obstruction. Isabel followed. After a minute, she glanced back to see Maria's footprints curving away behind them. "Maria, I think that this obstruction, whatever it is, is round."
Maria glanced back at her, then at the footprints, and began to move more swiftly around the impediment. Moments later, she'd reached the point where the marks in the sand turned abruptly to the side. "You're right, Isabel," she said, gazing at the ring of footprints in the sand before her. "I can see right through it, but it's there. It feels smooth, and kind of metallic." She paused for a moment, and then asked hopefully, "Do you think you can use your molecular manipulation thingy to make it visible?"
Placing both hands on the unseen surface, Isabel concentrated, but got no response. She sat down on the sand, hissing, "Arrgghh! This is so frustrating!"
"Well, that's Michael for you," responded Maria with a smirk. Leaning on both her hands, she rested her forehead against the smooth surface of the barrier and closed her eyes. They flew back open when she realized that she was feeling a familiar little tingle deep inside. "Isabel! I can feel him! I think he's in there!"
"What?"
"Inside the cylindrical wall thing!" She began banging on the imperceptible wall in front of her, shouting, "Michael! Michael Guerin! Are you in there? You better get your butt out here, buddy!"
Isabel remarked, "Oh yes, I'm sure threats will work." But she joined in pounding on the wall and calling Michael's name.
The only response Maria got to her assault was reddening palms. In frustration, she pulled off her shoe and started slamming the barrier with the heel. "Michael... (slam) ...Guerin!... (slam) ...If... (slam) ...you... (slam) ...don't... (slam) ...get... (slam) ...out... (slam) ...here... (slam) ...right... (slam) ...this... (slam) ...minute... (slam) ...I... (slam) ...will..."
Her threat went unfinished. Suddenly a bright light overwhelmed her. Dizzy, she swayed, dropping her shoe and falling towards the wall. As the light swirled up around her, she thought she heard an angry--and familiar--voice shout, "What the hell?"
Maria opened her eyes, gasping, to find herself back in Isabel's room.
CHAPTER 6
"No! We were there! We found him!" screeched Maria hysterically.
Liz clamped a hand over Maria's mouth. "Shhhh! You'll wake up Mr. & Mrs. Evans!"
Pulling Liz's hand away from her face, Maria continued agitatedly--but much more quietly--"I cannot believe this! We found him. We were just about to get to him, and poof!! Here we are back in reality. This really sucks."
Alex put a hand apologetically on her shoulder. "We agreed on an hour. An hour passed, so we woke you up."
"It wasn't enough time," said Isabel. "But you weren't to know that."
"Fine," Maria burst out. "So next time give us longer. I am going back in there and I am coming out with one sorry spike-headed Spaceboy, if it kills me! Or him!"
Max spoke up from his place beside Isabel. "All right, we'll try again. But give us a few minutes, will you? Holding the connection between you and Isabel is harder than I'd thought."
Liz glanced at Maria and noticed what she hadn't seen in all the commotion. "It's evidently hard on you, too, Maria. What happened to your shoe? And your forehead?" Her eyes widened as Maria explained.
"Oh, that. I ran into this invisible wall."
"Invisible wall?"
"Uh-huh."
Isabel confirmed her statement. "There's an invisible, cylindrical barrier in the middle of Michael's dream desert. Maria thinks he's inside it."
"I don't just think he is. I know he is," Maria said stoutly. "Didn't you hear him, right before we were pulled out?"
Isabel shook her head. "What did he say?" asked Max.
Maria chuckled a bit. "He said, and I quote, 'What the hell?' Typical."
Isabel nodded, her eyes shining. "Sounds like Michael. Our Michael."
Maria smiled brilliantly back at her. "So let's go give him a piece of our minds, shall we?"
Isabel placed her fingers lightly on the swelling on Maria's forehead. "Just as soon as I fix this, okay?"
* * * * *
A short while later, Isabel and Maria found themselves back in the desert, where the trail of footprints began. "You know," remarked Maria innocently, "we still didn't bring any bottled water with us."
Isabel glared at her and then burst into laughter. "Tell you what," she said. "Let's take care of Michael, and tomorrow I will buy you an entire case full of bottled water. And a box of alien-shaped bendy straws. How's that?"
Grinning, Maria cried, "You're on. Race you to the wall!" And with that, she took off across the sand.
Isabel easily caught up with her, and they jogged in tandem along the line of footprints, slowing as they neared the circle that marked the otherwise intangible barrier. "What next, oh one-shoe-wonder? More yelling?"
"Uh-huh. Little Mikey is going to come out and play now, whether he likes it or not," Maria said in a determined voice. "I will knock down the entire barrier if I have to. I've already knocked down a stone wall; a little old invisible one is certainly not going to stop me." Isabel looked at her, impressed, then gestured for her to have at it.
"First things first," Maria decided. Crouching down, she began to search the sand for her missing shoe. When she was unable to find it, she shrugged and pulled off its mate, preparing once again to set upon the obstruction before her. "Michael," she called sweetly, gripping the shoe, "Oh, Michael...If you don't want me to bash in your little wall here, you might want to step outside it for a minute."
There was no movement before her. Gritting her teeth, she called once more, "Michael?" then muttered, "Fine. If that's the way you want to play it, Spaceboy." Lifting the shoe, she counted aloud, "One! Two! Thr--"
An oh-so-familiar voice arose out of nowhere. "Maria?"
"Michael!" she squealed. "It's me! And Isabel. Where are you?"
The voice ignored her question, barking "What the hell are you two doing here?"
"We came looking for you, you idiot," said Isabel affectionately.
"How did you--You shouldn't be here. Get the hell out!"
The two girls smiled broadly at each other. This was definitely their Michael, not the automaton who'd been parading through Roswell for the last few weeks. Maria spoke up joyfully. "We just found you, Spaceboy, and we are not leaving until you come out of there and tell us what's wrong with you."
"No. Get out of here."
"No?" the girls said threateningly.
"Look, I...I can't, all right?" the voice said in frustration.
"What do you mean, you can't?" cried Maria, as Isabel put in, "Can't tell us what's wrong, or can't come out?"
The voice came again, crossly. "Can't come out."
Maria began to feel her exasperation build. "Can't or won't?" Receiving no answer, she spit out again, "Can't or won't, Michael?"
"Can't, dammit!"
"Why not?"
The answer was abrupt. "No door."
"Well, it's your dream, Michael," said Isabel. "So dream up a door, and do it fast."
"It's not a dream."
"Not a..."
Silence. Then a hesitant "What do you mean, it's not a dream?" from Isabel. "I dreamwalked you, you're here. It must be a dream."
"You're in my dream, okay? I'm not."
"Well where are you, then?" shouted Isabel.
There was a pause, and then the two girls barely heard a muttered, "Doesn't matter." Another pause, and then the voice rose again, more commandingly. "So would you just get out of here already? Go take your little dreamwalking games and play them someplace else. You're not wanted here."
Speechless for a moment, Maria looked at Isabel, whose forehead was wrinkled with concern. She lifted an eyebrow and motioned with her head towards the barrier. Isabel nodded firmly. Pointedly ignoring Michael's last few comments, Maria said, "He can't get out, you can't use your manipulation powers...I guess we're back to Plan A, an evening of good old-fashioned demolition. Michael," she called, "we're going to try and knock a hole in the wall."
"Did I or did I not just tell you to get out of here?" he snapped. "Besides, I already tried that."
"And now we're going to." With that, Maria began flailing away at the wall with her shoe. Isabel immediately joined in, beating on the barrier with her fists.
After a few minutes of unsuccessful pounding, Maria called out, "You could give us a little help here, Michael! Pick something up and start busting through."
The sarcastic response came quickly. "Pick what up? All I've got in here is this shoe."
Maria came to a standstill. "Shoe?"
"Yeah, a little while ago, this shoe fell out of nowhere and hit me on the head. So?"
Once again, Maria's eyes met Isabel's before she answered, "Michael, that's my shoe."
Isabel began to pace, thinking aloud. "Sand goes through, as if the barrier and what's behind it doesn't exist. People don't go through, but one of your shoes does? I don't get it."
Maria leaned against the wall, once more resting her forehead against it. "This is really weird, Michael. We're in your dream, but it's not a dream. What happened to you? Who put you in there? Who did this to you?"
For a moment, no answer came. Then Michael spoke softly, reluctantly admitting, "I did." Her heart broke.
"Oh, Michael..." Opening her hand, she placed it flat against the smooth surface of the wall. Her eyes welled up. She could almost feel the confusion and hatred and turmoil breaking off of him in waves. She closed her eyes and swallowed convulsively.
The smooth surface beneath her hand began to roughen and grow warmer. Maria opened her eyes only to be transfixed at the sight of a strong brown hand inches away from hers, on the other side of the invisible wall. She jerked back several steps in shock, then tore her eyes away from his hand. Almost reluctantly, she slowly raised her head to meet the brown eyes that gazed hungrily into hers. "Michael," she breathed.
Behind her, Isabel gasped.
The only thought in Maria's mind was to get to him. Now. She rushed precipitously back towards the wall, her sock-clad feet slipping in the sand. Losing her balance, she found herself falling once more towards the barrier that she couldn't see but knew was there. This time, there was no flash of intense white light to pull her away. She flinched, anticipating the hard smack of her body against the unyielding surface; instead, her body plummeted to meet a strong, muscular one, knocking Michael off his feet and landing on top of him.
"Maria! Michael!" Isabel cried from a few paces away. Then, for the second time that night, she woke abruptly in her own room. Sitting up quickly, she looked at her brother, Alex and Liz, and then followed their shocked gazes to the empty spot on the bed next to her...
...and across town, a calm, unemotional Michael Guerin woke and lay staring dully through the dim gloom at the ceiling above him.
Continue to CHAPTERS 7, 8 and 9
Email me