KEYLESS ENTRY
Tess
was feeling pretty good as she left the Valenti household. Her plan was
working better than she had expected. It was the morning after the prom
and all of her hard work was beginning to pay off. Kyle was in the palm
of her hand; he considered her one of the family. Then there was
sweet, stupid Max. The images she had planted in his mind over the past
few months had finally stuck. He REALLY believed that they were together
in another life. She enjoyed telling him the river thing. She had made it
up right on the spot and could not believe that he had bought it hook, line,
and sinker. She could barely contain her laughter and had to
stifle it in his shoulder as he hugged her. Not only had he kissed her,
but Liz had seen it. Tess heard someone behind them and with the intake
of breath and then the person fleeing from the school, she deduced that it could
only have been one person. Her plan was working beautifully.
Kissing Max had been an alright experience. Nasedo had been better. It had upset her when she had lost him. But, a crown was a pretty good replacement for a lover, she rationalized. And, when she ruled the other planet, after Max died "accidentally" she would be sure to honor his memory. She now needed to move onto her plan for getting rid of all of the humans that were an obstacle to her. Kyle was taken care of, Al was a wuss, Liz would most likely recede to lick her wounds so that left only Maria. She would have to be taken care of soon. She was a definite liability. She smiled to herself as she imagined all of the ways to kill the pouty-mouthed blonde.
As Tess was leaving for her morning constitutional, Maria called Liz and found out that she was still asleep. She then decided to call Max and ream him out for not telling her that Michael was taking dancing lessons. When she got Max on the phone, however, all thoughts of Michael disappeared from her mind. After hearing his strange greeting she demanded to know what was going on.
"Maria," Max said a little warily, "I think before I tell you about my night, you ought to talk to Liz. That way, I stand half a shot at living."
"What did you do that could be so bad," Maria said lightly, hoping to alleviate his stress. "I mean, it's not like you hooked up with Tess."
When her last comment was met by silence, Maria exploded with profanities abound. Max tried to calm her down, but it was not use.
"HOW DUMB ARE YOU?" Maria screamed at the top of her lungs. "This never would have happened if I wasn't so distracted with Spaceboy. Dammit! What the hell happened?"
As Max described the events over the last few weeks, Maria got more and more flabbergasted. "You are an idiot! Don't you understand that the reason why Tess is clearer to you is cause she put those memories there. She's, like, mindraping you. I can't believe this crap."
"Maria," Max's muffled voice came across the telephone line as he slipped a shirt on over his head, "I think I know what I'm doing."
"You SO don't, I'm coming over there right now," she said as she slammed down the phone. She grabbed the keys to the Jetta and threw a coat over her pajamas and was off to knock some sense into Max.
As Tess was thinking evil thoughts and Maria was yelling at Max, Kyle was cleaning up the homestead and thinking of the wild turns his life had taking recently. After he found out that he could be part alien, he had turned to Isabel to help him find out if he had any powers. At first, it had been a bust (no pun intended) but then, they stumbled upon something. As he was leaving the Evans' he mistakenly picked up Mr. Evan's jacket, which was very similar to his own. When he had it in his hand, he suddenly heard Mr. Evans' voice reciting some legal mumbo jumbo. When he came back to himself, he was on the floor and Isabel was shaking him. She told him that he had blacked out. So, yeah, he had been shot and almost killed but now he could read people's thoughts. Not a bad deal, considering. However, he couldn't control it as of yet. He got information that he really didn't want to know about, like when he heard his dad thinking about Amy DeLuca. THAT had been wrong on so many levels.
After he heard Tess leave, he noticed that the house was a mess. Mostly due to her. She never picked up anything. As he went around straightening the house, he ended up in his old room, as he picked up Tess's dress from last night off of the floor, his hearing became muted, he knew now that this was a sign that he would now be privy to what she was thinking.
A few minutes passed. When he came back to his senses, he sat down, hard, on the floor. He had heard what Tess really thought; that she had everyone fooled and was now planning on killing Maria. He ran to the phone and quickly dialed the number that he knew by heart. With every ring that went by, he got increasingly more worried. He quickly ran out of his house door, bypassing the keys to his very expensive and fast car, to go and warn Maria.
"Maria, you're not being logical. Can you show me any proof to your theory?" Max said, while trying to calm his friend down.
"Um... how about she's a ho that can't be trusted and can make you see things that aren't there?" For the last few words she smacked Max on the head for emphasis.
Max grabbed her hand. "Liz doesn't want to be with me!" he yelled. "She basically told me that it's over last night."
"When last night?" she asked.
"Maria, it's not like I was checking my watch," he snapped back.
"I meant in relation to the catastrophe that occurred," she said.
"A few minutes before that," he muttered as he sat on the bed.
"So, if I had found you, WE would have ended up playing tonsil hockey?"
"NO."
"That's right," she said, crossing her arms as she stood in front of him, " and you know why?" Before he could answer, Maria continued on with her rant, "Cause I don't have the power to implant memories in your mind to make you think you remember our first kiss that NEVER HAPPENED. Max, don't be fooled!"
"You're only saying this because you're Liz's friend and you don't like Tess."
"That's not true at all," and Maria almost smiled at the look Max gave her. "I LOATHE her. I'm even thinking of starting a new afterschool club called the Anti Tess League. Sure, at first we may not have many members, but at least I would know that I was among those like myself, those who can see through her ruse."
"Maria, not to further piss you off, but you've lost your mind."
"Fine. But before I totally lose my mind, answer me this -- how can you believe in what you remember one hundred percent in a memory that you got from Tess "helping" you? We know what her power is so what makes you think that she's not using it on you?"
"Why would she do it now?" he asked while looking up at Maria.
"Cause you're vulnerable to her now. You said it yourself, Liz has been pushing you away. Tess may be shady, but she's not blind. It's easier for her now because you're weakening in your belief of you and Liz being together. Don't give that up."
He looked up at her again, with an angry look on his face, "Liz told me it was too dangerous for us to be together, she sleeps with Kyle THEN she tells me that she's gone through excruciating pain because of me. Why shouldn't I give up? And why should I trust her again? So she can go and sleep with Alex, too?"
"Ok, now you're just talking crazy. Who would sleep with Alex?" she said, but upon seeing the look he gave her she quickly said, "I'm sorry, the blonde in me is kicking in. So, you can't trust Liz?" He nodded. "And you didn't used to trust Tess but now you're thinking you should?" He nodded again. Maria sat down next to him on the bed and faced him. "Then trust me. I got you through last summer and listened to you when you needed me this year. I'VE never betrayed you. Believe me when I tell you that things are not always what they seem. Not between Liz and Kyle and certainly not with Tess. Something is wrong with her. I. Know. It."
Max looked at her for a moment, remembering the times that they had spent together. Calling her at all hours of the night to discuss Liz, the time she dragged him to an amusement park to divert his attention, even for a few hours, from his misery, and the time that she just held him when he had lost it totally. He realized that he HAD to trust in one of the people around him or he would go insane. She was right, if anyone deserved his trust right now, it was her.
Before he could tell her so, an out of breath voice said from the window, "She's right Evans. Both he and Maria turned towards the window and watched as Kyle gracefully swung himself into the room. He crossed the room quickly and embraced Maria, hard. "Kyle, the human brain needs oxygen to live, please let me go," Maria said. "Sorry, just glad to see you." He looked over at Max. "We need to talk."
Tess was enthralled. Max said he wanted to have a special night with her. He wanted to meet her at the entrance to the pod chamber. That was fine with her, she had found out that she couldn't get into it by using her hand. It was ironic that a piece of rock knew she didn't belong, but she had fooled the king.
Max was already waiting for her. "Hi," he said smiling shyly at her. "I'm glad you came."
"I'm glad you asked me," she said huskily.
He opened the door to the pod chamber door for her. She entered and then turned around to face him. "So, what are we doing here?" she asked.
"Well, I left you a present in here and I wanted to see the look on your face when you found it," he answered.
"That's so sweet," she said. "Can I start looking?"
"Go right ahead," he said as he leaned against the wall by the opening of the pod chamber.
Tess loved presents. She immediately went into the room with the Granilith. She saw a box sitting on the floor. When she opened it, she saw a folded piece of paper inside. She smiled widely. She picked up the piece of paper, eager to see what message Max had left for her. It read: "Tess, I wanted to meet you here for one reason. This is a special place for us." She squealed in delight of his absolute stupidity. Her face fell when she went on with the rest of the note. "It's special for MY kind because we can come and go as we please. I realized that I've never seen YOU open the pod chamber. So, let's call it a little test. If you can get out, I'll marry you, make you my queen and help you kill Maria (you can thank Kyle for that information, he's got a cool little power he forgot to tell you about). Hey, I'll even kill Liz as a special present to you. If you can't get out, well, you die. There is only so much oxygen to go around. Your Love, Max."
She quickly ran into the other room. The door to the pod chamber was closing. She saw it go past Max and Kyle. Maria caught a glimpse of her and waved energetically. Seconds before she reached the door, it closed. She pounded her fists against it, but it was to no avail. She looked around at her tomb.
Max, Maria and Kyle were at the Crashdown. They were discussing what to tell the others and how to get Liz to rethink her choice. "Don't' worry," Kyle said as he took a huge bite out of his cheeseburger, "with me on your side, you'll win Liz back in no time."
"Why doesn't that make me feel better?" asked Max, to no one in particular. "Does this mean that this time I don't have to alternate with you?"
"Nope," he said. "Besides, I've always preferred blondes," with that comment he gave Maria a look.
"Don't even THINK about it. Anyway, at the rate our parents are going, what you're thinking about has got to be illegal in this state," Maria said while moving her chair away from Kyle. Isabel came into the Crashdown. She scanned the restaurant for her brother. Upon seeing him with Kyle and Maria, she quickly hurried over to their table.
"Guys, I can't believe that this is happening again. But, Tess is missing." She waited for some reaction from the table. They all exchanged looks. Max then smiled strangely at her and said, "Boo hoo."
Ok, I'm going on the fact that i never remember her opening the chamber, but I could be wrong. also, in the dots Tess never uses her powers. and the whole m/m conversation is a bit cheesy. other than that, didya like it? -Denise