Special thanks to everyone at the Random Roswell Ramblings fanfiction board who gave me such great support and feedback, and to Emily and Kara for hosting the board in the first place; to Penny who listened to each new part as it came out and debated plot points over our cubicle divider; and to my sister who allowed me to 'entertain' her on both eight-hour legs of a Christmastime car trip by reading her the first two-thirds of the story (and who will no doubt be subjected to the sequel in bits and pieces, too. Sorry, sis.)

PROLOGUE

Killer.

Killer.

The word rages through his mind, never pausing. Incessant. Unstopping. He wakes with a sudden jerk, striving to escape the white-hot rage that surrounds him, pins him to the bed. He is awake, but the word is still there, pressing on him until he can hardly bear it.

In desperation he pulls himself inward, trying to flee the word, the thought, the idea. It chases through his mind, taunting him until he can endure no more. He doesn't notice the blood on his palms or in his mouth. His will pushes, pushes...and SNAP! The word fades down into a low murmur in the back of his brain, so low he can barely hear it, although he knows it's there. He lies, panting, afraid to open his eyes, concentrating on breathing in...out...in...out...until finally his eyes flicker open to face the dim shadows of the room.

He can no longer hear the word, but he knows it is still there.

Killer.

CHAPTER 1

"Why can't things be normal?" Maria DeLuca complained to her best friend Liz Parker, who smiled sympathetically as they walked down the hall of West Roswell High. "I mean, with everything we've been through lately, you'd think we'd be granted just one week of normal. Everyone gets a break sometime! Isn't it our turn?" she pouted.

Liz stopped by her locker and picked up her trig book as she thought over the grueling events of the previous spring and summer. "Maria," she said calmly, "things are pretty normal. At least normal to everyone else in Roswell. We go to school, we work at the Crashdown after school, and have the occasional Ben & Jerry bingefest...What's not normal about that?"

"C'mon, Lizzy. I don't mean boring normal--you know, pre-Czechoslovakian normal. I'd be perfectly happy with 'Being Questioned By The Sheriff And Chased By The FBI' normal." She took a moment to actually hear what she'd just said. "On second thought, maybe I'd even settle for a week of boring normal."

Liz studied Maria's face. "Is it Michael?"

"Oh, please. Not everything in my life is about Michael!" the blonde scoffed. "Just because he hasn't so much as spoken to me in three and a half months..." Her voice trailed off and she let out a heartfelt sigh. "Yeah, so maybe it is Michael," she admitted. "Fine. He has this ridiculous idea that he's dangerous, that I'm going to get hurt by being around him, so he completely avoids me. I can't shake him out of it. It's driving me crazy, but you know Mr. Stone Wall Guerin. After everything that's happened, the least he could do is..."

She stopped abruptly as she caught Liz's sympathetic glance. "Okay, you've only heard this rant about a million times already," she admitted sheepishly. "I'm just gonna sniff some cedar oil here, and calm down." She rummaged through her backpack for the oil, uncapped the tiny vial, and, breathing in, smiled shakily at Liz. "At least you and Max actually speak to each other."

"Maria, it's not you. Max says Michael's been avoiding everyone else, too," Liz began, but was interrupted by a friendly voice from across the hall.

"What's up, ladies?"

"Maria's having another spazzout, Alex," answered Liz, smiling.

"I am not spazzing out!" retorted Maria, giving Liz a friendly poke in the shoulder. "I am just trying to take my mind off things. You know, like be a normal teenager."

"A normal teenager, huh?" Alex Whitman smiled. "Well then, I have the perfect opportunity for you. Made to order for Roswell's biggest drama queen, in fact."

"Alex..." warned Liz.

"No, seriously, Maria. Have you checked out the bulletin board today?" the gangly teen asked.

"No. Why?"

"Then come with me," he said, pulling her by the arm back down the hallway the way he'd come. Liz followed silently in their wake, her brown eyes curious.

"What are you talking about, Alex?" Maria said as she was towed along. "And I am not a drama queen! I just, like, react fully to things, okay?"

Alex snickered as he stopped before the large bulletin board on the wall outside the principal's office. "React fully, huh? Well, react to this, DeLuca!"

"What?" Maria said, suspiciously eyeing a colorful poster tacked to the center of the board. "You want me to join the Latin Club? Please! I can barely stand English."

"No, Maria, it's perfect for you," Liz said suddenly, her eyes lighting up. "Look."

Liz pointed to an announcement pinned in the lower left-hand corner of the bulletin board. The headline read

The West Roswell High School Drama Club
announces auditions for its fall production of
LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS

Maria stared at the flier for a moment and then slowly looked up at Alex, who was grinning at her. She glanced over at Liz, then back at Alex, shaking her head, before suddenly bursting into laughter. "Okay, let me get this straight, Alex," she said, gasping for breath. "You know just how happy I am with a certain...Czechoslovakian...and now you want me to hang out with one on stage? Even if said Czechoslovakian is a giant man-eating plant from outer space--Are you trying to make me insane?"

"Hey, I'm just trying to tell you to go for it. You know, keep those vocal chords in shape until The Whits can get another gig. It'll put your singing ability to good use and keep you out of trouble at the same time," he said, straight-faced.

"But I haven't been in a play since the fifth grade...and besides, Snow White wasn't exactly high art," she protested. "And I am not in trouble! Although you will be if you're not careful, Mr. Whitman," she added, a smile reducing the effect of her threat.

Liz spoke up. "Maria, you wanted to do something normal. Well, this is normal. Why don't you try it? It might be fun."

The light left Maria's eyes as she stared down at the floor. "Look, Liz, this is nice and all, but I don't think it's for me. Don't you remember how much stage fright I had when I tried singing with The Whits? Besides, I have to work after school, anyway, so I don't think--"

"Don't think. Do. Just say yes!" quipped Alex. He looked at Liz, and raised one eyebrow. Liz's eyes narrowed slightly; then she gave a quick nod and turned to Maria.

"So we'll rearrange your work schedule so your shifts don't conflict with rehearsals. It just so happens that I know the boss. I'll talk to him tonight." Liz grinned mischievously at her friend.

"Now don't go jumping the gun here," Alex interrupted. "She has to audition first. Don't put the cart before the horse."

A small spark of indignation coursed through Maria. "What, you don't think I can do it?" she said, giving him a mock glare. "It was your idea in the first place!"

"Hey, don't go all Hurricane DeLuca with me," he replied, putting his hands out to shield himself from her wrath. "I break easily."

Maria glanced from friend to friend and then shrugged nonchalantly. "You know, guys, you're going to have to work harder than that if you think you're going to get away with this sort of thing." She gave them an innocent look. "What? You didn't think I'd notice the tag-team attempt to cheer me up?" She turned to look again at the announcement flier.

As two pairs of eyes met guiltily over her head, a wide smile slowly spread across Maria's face.

Maria swallowed one last time before looking out into the auditorium. Sure, she'd had stage fright before singing with Alex's band on the night of Liz's infamous blind date, but this felt even worse. The nausea and clammy hands were the same, but at least with the band, it was a bunch of them on stage. This was just her. Being watched. Judged. Her panicked eyes flickered out across the mostly empty seats in search of a familiar face, then settled on Liz, who nodded to her supportively.

After a full week of hints, mock threats and bribes from her so-called two best friends, Maria had finally agreed to give the audition a shot. Truth to tell, she was actually kind of excited about it--at least up until this afternoon, when suddenly the dry, dusty town of Roswell, New Mexico seemed to put out to sea. And seventeen years in the desert had definitely not made her into a sailor; the shaky legs and queasy stomach that came along with this nerve-induced seasickness were a sure sign of that. Wishing she had her cedar oil, she dragged her attention away from her churning stomach and dry mouth and tried to get her mind in order for this suddenly mindnumbing ordeal.

She'd chosen to sing 'As Long As He Needs Me' from the musical Oliver! for her audition piece. As a kid, she'd watched the movie over and over with her mom; it had been one of her favorites in the sixth grade. She wasn't sure what had caused her to think of the movie when she was hunting through some old sheet music books in search of an audition song, but was happy to find something that she could really put her heart into.

Of course, Nancy was only bludgeoned to death by the man she loved. She didn't have to deal with a too stubborn for his own good, follicly-challenged loner from another planet...No, she was not going there! Audition time. She had to sing. Okay. She could do this. She could do this. Okay. She just had to breathe...

Taking a shaky breath, she turned and nodded to Aaron Davis, who was playing the piano for the auditions. She had begged him a week earlier to make a tape of her song for her to practice with, and he had cheerfully agreed in return for the promise of a free Galaxy Melt and order of Saturn Rings at the Crashdown. Maria had practiced the song in her bedroom during every minute that was free from school or her waitress job. She'd even spent some time singing when she should have been doing homework, to the detriment of a French quiz grade.

As Aaron began the song's intro, she looked out and caught Liz's eye, then looked down the row. Although Liz and Alex, in a fit of guilty remorse, had agreed to come along to the audition for moral support, Maria was surprised and pleased to see Isabel Evans sitting next to Alex. Isabel smiled warmly at her, Alex gave her a double thumbs-up, and she began to sing.

"As long as he needs me
Oh, yes, he does need me
In spite of what you see
I'm sure that he needs me..."

Bill Sykes be damned, this could almost be about her and Michael. Thinking of the taciturn alien, she felt her nervousness melt away as her annoyance grew. Talk about being able to relate to a song. She loved a guy who couldn't, or wouldn't, give her what she wanted, what she needed. And yet that didn't change how she--or Nancy--felt.

Caught up in her thoughts, Maria came to the end of the song, not quite remembering getting there. She looked up, almost startled, and saw Liz, Alex and Isabel applauding wildly for her.

"Thank you, Maria," said Ms. Bedinger, the drama teacher. "Pamela Harris, you're next."

Maria climbed down the stairs that led to the stage, and went to sit next to Liz. "That was great, Maria!" Liz whispered in to her ear as Pamela started to sing 'I Feel Pretty'. "I wish I could stay for the rest of your audition, but I've got to get to the Crashdown. I'm on the dinner shift today."

"Thanks, Lizzy," Maria whispered back. "I'll give you a call tonight and let you know how the rest went."

Liz gave her a big hug and snuck quietly up the aisle as Maria, along with the other auditionees, climbed back onto the stage to read some scenes from the play.

An hour and a half later, a very tired Maria picked up her bookbag and walked to the back of the auditorium, where Alex and Isabel were now standing. Alex gave her a high five, saying, "Well, DeLuca, I expect to be fully acknowledged in your Oscar speech. Told you you could do it! Yessir, it was all my idea! Thank you, thank you, thank you." He took bows to an imaginary audience as Isabel shook her head at him.

"You were great, Maria. I had no idea you could sing like that--or act! You have a great shot at getting a part," the tall blonde said with a smile.

"Thanks, Isabel. Audrey will probably be played by a senior, like Pamela Harris. I'm just hoping to be one of the three doo-wop girls. It would be a lot of fun. Plus take my mind off...other things."

"Well, I think you were fantastic. I'm really impressed," Isabel told her.

Alex grinned, putting an arm around Maria. "Hey, you impressed Isabel, the Queen of Roswell High! Accomplishments like this do not happen every day, you know. Ladies, I believe a celebration is in order! What say we hit the Crashdown, my treat? Then you can give Liz the scoop."

Maria gave him a regretful smile. "Thanks, Alex, but I'd better get home. I've got some studying to do to make up for my last French quiz, or my mom will kill me."

"Isabel?" He turned to the other girl.

"No thanks, Alex. I've got some errands to run. But I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

Isabel pulled the Jeep up next to the self-service pump at the Lift Off gas station, where Michael Guerin had worked all summer. Liz had kindly helped to rearrange his schedule so he had minimal shifts with Maria, but even so, he couldn't handle seeing her. He'd stayed at the café until Mr. Parker could find another cook, and then found both a full-time summer job stocking shelves at the local supermarket and this part-time job at the station.

His lamebrain plan to keep as busy as possible in the hope of not having time to think hadn't really worked, but at least he had some decent money coming in for a few months. Enough to keep him in Tabasco sauce and pay the rent, anyway. Now that school was back in session, he was down to just the part time job.

Glancing around, Isabel frowned. Michael had been acting strangely all summer, but for the past few weeks, he had been weird. Well, even weirder than normal. Plus he'd been completely avoiding Max and her. Now she was determined to get to the bottom of things. Not that she didn't know what was wrong with him. Time to do something about it.

Isabel stopped the Jeep and honked the horn. A moment later Michael stepped out of the building and saw her.

"What, Iz, you can't even pump your own gas now?" he asked dispassionately.

"The Jeep needed a fill-up, so I thought I'd come by and see how you're doing," she replied, not at all affected by his tone...or lack thereof.

"Fine. I'm just fine." Michael put the nozzle into the Jeep's gas tank and began pumping unleaded.

"Max and I thought it might be good to get together over dinner for another planning session," she ventured.

His voice remained impassive as he put her off. "No can do, Iz. Gotta work late tonight."

Isabel looked at him suspiciously. He was acting strangely calm, not at all like the Michael she knew. Where was the tension, the pent-up energy that always filled him? She decided to push his buttons a little.

"Guess who auditioned for the fall musical this afternoon?" she asked. Her tone was nonchalant, but she watched Michael carefully. He didn't answer, just shrugging his shoulders as if he was totally uninterested in the subject--which in fact he was. Giving up on a stronger reaction from him, she finally burst out, "Maria."

"So?"

"She was good. Really good. Alex said she could sing, but wow!" Still getting no response, she went on, hotly, "I just thought you might be interested."

"Well, Isabel, you thought wrong."

"Oh, come on, Michael, I know you better than that. You care about her. You pretend not to, but we all know better. You've been closed off from her--from all of us--all summer. It's time you started..."

"What do you know about it? Nothing." he said dully, his eyes finally meeting hers. His voice rose slightly as he continued, "So just back off, Isabel. It's none of your business, anyway."

Pleased at getting a reaction of some sort, she shouted back. "It is my business! You're part of my family, and you're being a total idiot!" She stopped, hating how defeated he suddenly looked.

Michael closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them and said tonelessly, "Look, Iz, I need to get back to work. Just drop it, okay?"

He pulled the nozzle out of the tank, placed it back in its slot on the pump, and screwed on the gas cap. Isabel handed him a $20 bill, and he wordlessly handed back her change.

Climbing into the driver's seat, Isabel looked back at him, torn between wanting to hug him and wanting to pound some sense into his thick skull. "Thanks for pumping the gas," she finally said.

"Yeah."

CHAPTER 2

Maria walked down the hallway on the way from French class to her locker to grab the lunch she'd packed that morning. She'd actually had a good class for once; she'd been working extra hard to make up for her pre-audition grade funk and had been able to garner some unaccustomed praise from Mme. Fraser when called on to translate a short passage from the textbook. Her eyes sparkled as she remembered the teacher's words. She bounced as she moved down the hall, feeling almost giddy.

Her happiness was suddenly checked by a sudden familiar tingle deep within her and then the sight of a spiky brown head moving at the other end of the hall. For one split second green eyes met brown; then Michael abruptly turned and walked in the other direction.

Maria's good mood faltered. This fleeting glance was the most direct contact she'd had with Michael in weeks. He usually managed to completely avoid meeting her in the hallway. Even in the two classes they shared, English and World History, he avoided her, entering the room at the last minute, never so much as glancing in her direction during the class, and bolting for the door the moment the bell rang. He spent both periods staring down at his desk, silent except when called upon. Only then would he look up and respond in short growled phrases. His seeming ability to ignore her without a problem annoyed Maria to no end. She, the one who could fake anything with anybody, wasn't able to feign anything remotely like his unconcern.

For a moment, she almost wished for the early days of their off-again, on-again, off-again relationship. Even his constant running away wasn't as bad as this. When she thought he hated her, it hurt, but knowing he loved her and still refused to acknowledge her hurt even worse.

Her good mood received a second blow a moment later; the scorching glare from a group of girls who were gathered by the football team's trophy case stopped her in her tracks. Maria mentally cringed for a moment before summoning up her pride, determined not to let them--or anything, for that matter--bother her. Lifting her chin, she continued down the hallway to her locker.

Grabbing her lunch and slamming her locker shut, she moved back down the hall, staring at the spitefully chattering girls in defiance, then headed out to the quad to join Liz and Alex for lunch.

The brown-haired computer geek lifted a hand and waved casually as she approached the table. "Hey, 'Ria," he said.

"What is up with everyone today?" she responded crossly. "I feel like I ran over the team mascot or something. If looks could kill, Melanie Royer and Pamela Harris would be in jail and I would be on the way to the Roswell morgue."

"Dunno," Alex replied, taking a swig of his root beer. "Maybe it's a full moon."

"Uh, we're in Roswell, Alex. We deal in aliens, not werewolves," the blonde girl shot back. "Where's Liz?"

"Hark! Our Lady of the Sciences doth approach. And with Queen Isabel and Lord Max, no less," Alex replied dramatically, looking across the quad.

"Spending too much time at the Renaissance Festival, Alex?" Isabel asked as she sat down across from Maria. "Hey, Maria."

"Isabel. Max. Liz. What's up?"

"We have a problem," Max said soberly.

"See, Liz, I told you things weren't normal! What is it now? FBI? Nasedo? Attack of the Killer Czechoslovakians? What?" Maria demanded heatedly.

"None of the above. It's Michael," replied Max

"Oh, god. What's Spaceboy done this time?"

"It's not what he's done, Maria," Isabel cut in. "It's what he's not done. He's not acting at all like himself. You know Michael, Mr. 'React Without Thinking'. Well, right now he's not reacting to anything. Max and I can barely get him to talk to us, and when he does, he's so calm and collected...It's really creepy."

Alex suggested, "Maybe he's just accepted what's going on. With Tess and your destiny and all."

"Alex, he's almost polite."

The humans were silent for a full three minutes while they digested this news.

"What do you want us to do?" Liz asked finally, her brow wrinkling in worry.

"We need to get him to talk, to tell us what's going on. He won't talk to either of us, so we thought maybe if we'd all gang up on him, we could make him open up to us," the tall blond explained.

"You mean, like an intervention?" snorted Alex. "Besides, since when has anyone ever been able to make Michael do anything he didn't want to do?"

"I just don't know what else to try. I'm really worried about him. This isn't just Michael being moody. Something is wrong."

Maria slowly suggested, "What about dreamwalking him, Isabel?"

"We've always promised not to do that to each other. It's hard to get in anyway, and Michael and Max always know when I'm there and can kick me out."

"But maybe it's worth a try."

"Maybe..."

Maria stared at her hands uncomfortably. "I think you should try, Isabel. If something really is wrong, and he's too contrary to admit it..." Her voice trailed off.

Max spoke up decisively. "Okay, here's the plan. If he's too stubborn to talk to us, we'll have to go to him. We'll wait for him at his apartment after school, and see if the five of us can make some sense of this. If not, Isabel will try to dreamwalk him."

"What about Tess, Max?" asked Liz quietly.

"We're not bringing her into things at this stage of the game. I don't trust her and her little mind games. So we'll see everyone at Michael's at 3:30?"

Four heads nodded as the group broke up to head back to class.

Maria tossed her uneaten lunch in a nearby garbage can on her way towards the building, suddenly not at all hungry.

Mrs. Lyons, the History teacher, was droning on about Magellan. Maria looked up from the doodle she'd drawn in place of the notes she should have been taking, and snuck a glance across the room at Michael. Once again, he'd waltzed into class at the last minute, and sat looking down at his desk. She stared at him, her eyes burning an imaginary hole into his spiky head, willing him to look up at her. Of course, since she was not possessed of superpowers, it didn't work. She sighed, and then started as the bell rang. Gathering up her things, she quickly headed for the door, intent on getting to her locker and meeting Liz.

She practically ran down the hall and barely missed knocking into Kyle Valenti, who put out an arm to steady her. "Hey, slow down there, DeLuca."

She shook his hand off her arm and blurted out, "Can't talk now, Kyle. In a hurry." She started towards her locker again.

"I know," he responded. "Ms. Bedinger's putting the Little Shop cast list up."

"What? I don't have time for that. Things to do."

She barely got two steps further before Kyle stopped her again. "Maria, I think you'll want to see this."

Okay. Fine. "What?"

Kyle took her by the arm and pulled her down the hall, just as Alex had several weeks earlier. As they neared the bulletin board, Melanie Royer glared at her and then stalked off in the opposite direction. Maria looked at where Kyle was pointing, and stood, speechless.

"Maria, I've been looking for you. We need to get over to--" Liz's voice cut off abruptly as she saw Maria staring, transfixed, at the board. Her eyes joined the blonde girl's. "Oh my god, Maria!" she whispered, and then turned and hugged her silent friend. "You got the lead, Maria! You're playing Audrey! Maria! Maria?"

"Congratulations, Maria," said Kyle.

"What? Oh, yeah," responded Maria, smiling weakly. "Thanks, Kyle."

"This is just great, Maria. Just what you wanted," Liz enthused.

"Yeah. Yeah, it is," replied Maria. "Umm, Liz? We need to head over to...We need to meet Alex now, don't we?"

"Yep. See you, Kyle!"

After stopping by Maria's locker to drop off her history text, the girls headed out to the front sidewalk where they'd agreed to meet Alex. He stood by the bicycle rack, waiting patiently. Looking at Liz's broad smile, he said, "Someone's in a good mood!"

Since Maria was still being uncharacteristically silent, Liz quickly told him about their friend's coup. Putting an arm around Maria's shoulders, Alex congratulated her. "Fantastic, Maria. I told you you could do it!"

"Actually," Liz cut in, "I believe you were the one with doubts. Remember? Cart? Horse? Something about not putting one before the other?"

Alex opened his mouth to respond but was silenced when Maria quietly said, "Guys, we need to get to Michael's."

As the three of them headed down the sidewalk towards the parking lot, Liz thought she heard Maria mutter, "Fantastic. Now Spaceboy can get in the way of this, too."

As Liz raised her hand to knock on Michael's door, it opened suddenly. Pulling back quickly, Max barely avoided Liz hitting him in the face. "Oops. Sorry, Max." She blushed slightly.

He smiled down at her and said, "Come on in. Michael's not here yet."

Maria sat quietly on one end of the couch, trying not to look around. This was the first time she'd been in his apartment since...well, since the whole destiny mess. Trying not to think too much about it, she looked up as she heard her name.

"Maria! Congratulations!" Isabel gave her a quick hug, and she smiled tightly back at the taller girl.

"Thanks, Isabel."

"You had a great audition. You really deserved it! Who else is in the cast?" Isabel asked, sitting next to her.

"I don't actually know. I didn't get that far down the cast list," Maria admitted.

"She was a little in shock at the time, " Liz said, smiling. "You should have seen her! She actually couldn't speak--" She stopped abruptly as Maria stiffened.

"He's here," she said tersely.

Alex looked at her curiously. "How do you...?"

"I just know," she replied, as the lock clicked and the door swung open.

Michael stepped into the apartment and paused at the sight of the group lying in wait. One eyebrow rose slowly.

Max was the first to speak. "Hey, Michael."

"Hey."

An uncomfortable silence filled the small room.

Finally Isabel stood and smiled, her patented big fat fake smile, the one she saved for snowing the teachers. "Michael! It's been a while since we've gotten to say hi, so we stopped by to say hi. So hi!" she laughed loudly. Michael just looked at her.

Liz smiled, and Alex spoke up. "How's it going, man?"

Michael shrugged.

"Look Michael, we need to talk."

"I don't think so, Max. Got lots to do. Sorry." But he didn't seem particularly repentant.

Maria looked around at the others, who were all beginning to look worried now. She turned back to study the spiky-haired alien she cared so much about. As usual, he wouldn't meet her eyes.

Isabel tried again. "Michael--"

"I'm really kinda busy right now, Isabel. I'd appreciate it if you'd go."

Maria finally spoke up. "Umm, guys? I need to talk to Michael for a minute, okay?" She caught Liz's eye, and nodding, Liz moved to the door, Alex in her wake.

Max took Isabel by the arm, saying, "We'll wait for you outside, Maria." His sister allowed herself to be pulled from the room, her eyes locking with Maria's and silently pleading--no, insisting--that she fix things.

The door shut behind them. Maria looked closely at Michael, who hadn't moved and still wouldn't meet her glance. She took in the circles under his eyes and the furrow of his brow. He looked very, very tired and much older. Only his hair still stood to attention in its usual haphazard manner.

"Michael," she began. "I don't pretend to know what's going on with you, but I lo--We all care about you. A lot. And we're worried about you. So what is going on?"

His shrug and continued avoidance of her eyes began to annoy her. "Look, Michael, you can run from me if you want to. God knows you're good at that. If you want to ignore our relationship, that's fine; I should be used to it by now. But if you think you can get away with ignoring Max and Isabel, you've got another think coming. You need each other, now more than ever. You should be planning, preparing for your big destiny that you all seem so enamored of."

She moved to stand directly in front of him, but he continued to stare at the wall. Her voice rose. "So get with the program, pally, because this too important to screw around with!" Reaching up, she took his face in her hands and turned it towards hers.

He spoke one cold, unemotional word. "Go." His eyes finally met hers. She looked into his eyes for one quick moment before her hands flew away from his face and she ran from the room, pulling the door shut behind her.

Leaning against the door, she slid to the ground and began to shake. She looked up at Max, whispering, "Something is really wrong. That's not Michael."

CHAPTER 3

Wordlessly, Max reached out a hand to pull Maria to her feet, and the five of them climbed down the stairs. Heading outside, they turned around the corner of the building where they'd parked the Jeep and the Jetta earlier, hoping not to scare Michael off before they got the chance to talk to him. Maria's hands shook as she pulled out her keys and handed them to Liz. Alex gave her a hug before taking Isabel's hand and climbing with her into the back of the Jeep. With Max in the driver's seat, the Jeep led the two-vehicle caravan straight to the Crashdown.

Once there, they headed up to the Parkers' living room, nodding at Jeff Parker, who was going over some paperwork in the employee lounge, on the way.

"Hi, kids," the tall man said. "You and your friends want a snack, Liz?"

"No thanks. We're just heading upstairs for a quick study session, Dad," the girl replied.

"Sure. Let me know if you change your mind," her father offered.

Upstairs, the group sat down, Alex still holding Isabel's hand. Without even thinking about it, Max put his arm around Liz, who nestled into him. Maria sat numbly on the other end of the couch.

Isabel finally voiced what they were all thinking. "Nasedo?"

Maria shook her head. "No, I don't think so," she said slowly.

Max suggested, "Another alien? Another...shapeshifter?"

Again she shook her head.

"Maria, you said it wasn't Michael," Alex pointed out. "If not Nasedo or another alien, what could it be? Weird as things have gotten around here in the last year, I'm not willing to believe in demonic possession, so..." He stopped speaking as Isabel's elbow made a minor dent in his ribs.

"It's not Michael, and it is," Maria tried to explain. "I mean, there he is, standing there, and he's not, all at the same time." Her voice caught as she said, "He looked me in the eye, and there was nothing there. No spark, no anger, nothing that makes Michael Michael. I...I couldn't feel him."

"Feel him?" Isabel burst out. "This is no time to be playing touchy-feely games!" She sprang up and began to pace across the room.

Alex put a stop to the girl's frenetic pacing by reaching out, grabbing her hand, and holding it tightly. "Calm down, Isabel. That's not what she means. Is it?" he asked Maria, who shook her head again.

"No, it's just that I can always tell when he's there, you know? I don't have to see him, I just know he is."

"When did this start?" Max asked quietly.

"I don't know exactly...Sometime last fall, I guess. I just thought it was nerves at first. I mean, Michael can be pretty scary when you don't know him. Then when I did get to know him, I figured it was just a Czechoslovakian thing. I got used to it."

"And you never told me?" Liz questioned.

"I never told anybody. I never even told Michael. You and Max started getting those visions, and I thought maybe this was related, but...I don't know. It was just private." Her eyes dropped to the floor. "It...I felt special, you know?"

"This is how you knew when he was at the apartment this afternoon, isn't it?" said Alex gently. She nodded.

"I could feel it when he was outside the door. But when I looked into his eyes, nothing."

Maria glanced at the close-knit group of friends around her. She was relieved to see that they seemed to believe her.

"Well, what now?" asked Isabel, once more pacing across the room.

"Max, could you and Isabel try and read him? Maybe you can get a flash from him and see what's going on," suggested Liz.

Max frowned rubbed his forehead. "He's hardly likely to let us get close enough to do that. I don't think we'll be able to ambush him like that again."

Alex tried to break the tension in the room. "Well, going back to demonic possession, we could always try a little exorcism. Burn a few herbs, chant a little Latin, sacrifice a few little green alien dolls..."

Liz smiled, shaking her head, as Isabel picked up a pillow and smacked Alex in the head with it. Maria gave a small chuckle.

"Hey, a little help here!" begged Alex, grinning between blows from the pillow. Neither girl moved to aid their beleaguered friend.

Max smiled and tightened his hold on Liz, lacing his fingers through hers. She looked up at him and nodded. He gazed for a moment into her warm brown eyes before turning to his sister, his face serious. "I think it's time to dreamwalk, Isabel."

Once again, Maria rushed through the halls toward her locker, paying no attention to the people around her. Grabbing her lunch, she headed out towards the quad, her mind on Isabel and the previous night's dreamwalk. Hoping Isabel had been able to get some clue as to what was going on, she marched along, lost in thought.

She stopped abruptly to avoid running into a tall, male form that was planted in the hallway in front of her.

Looking up, she took in the dark brown hair and worried eyes. "Hey, Max," she said, concerned. "You look like you got about as much sleep as I did."

The tall alien shook his head slowly. "I stayed up most of the night with Isabel. She had trouble getting into Michael's dreams. Evidently he's not sleeping much, either."

"Did she get through?" questioned Maria impatiently. "What did she see? What was he dreaming about? What--"

"Hold on a minute, Maria," Max said, putting his hand out to stop her impatient queries. "That's why I was waiting for you. We're meeting on the quad. If Michael's not around, Isabel can tell everyone what happened."

Maria nodded and started down the hall. "How are you doing?" she asked, studying him carefully. "You're carrying enough on your shoulders already without having this weirdness to deal with." Putting her hand on his arm, she went on, "I know Liz has been worried about you, but so have Alex and I. You're our friend, too, you know? You mean a lot to us. So we worry."

Max covered her hand with his own. "I know. Your friendship, and Alex's, and Liz's, are helping me get through this. You all mean a lot to Isabel, too. And whatever is going on with Michael, he cares about you, in his own clumsy way. No matter how confused he gets, you should know how much you mean to him."

"Max, stop trying to make me feel better and let me know how you are!"

"I'm doing okay. We just need to get through this a day at a time."

Maria nodded. "Yeah, I know."

By this time, the two had reached their normal table on the quad. Liz, Alex and Isabel were already sitting and starting on their lunches. The other two humans looked almost as tired as Maria felt. She was inwardly amused, however, to see that despite her late night, Isabel was her usual perfectly made up and coifed self.

"You know, it's really not fair," she told the taller girl. "You've got to be as worn out and stressed as the rest of us, and look at you! Straight from a magazine cover."

Isabel smiled softly back at her. "I guess it's one of the few benefits of our genetic background. Instant beauty aids."

"Boy, if you could package that, you could make a fortune! Maybelline, look out!" teased Alex.

"And just how come you are familiar with Maybelline, Alex?" asked Maria, holding in a chuckle. "Been holding out on us?"

Alex snorted. "Oh yeah, I am such the beauty queen. Come on Maria, I've been hanging out with you and Liz for the last six years. I had to pick up something by osmosis."

Ever the leader, Max changed the subject. "Anyone seen Michael this morning?"

"He was in English. No change," said Maria soberly.

Liz added, "I saw him in the hall earlier, but he seemed to be avoiding me."

"Big surprise there," Maria grumbled.

Max turned to the scowling girl. "Is he around right now? Can you tell?"

She sat for a moment, concentrating. "I don't think so. I'd know if he were," she finally answered.

"Okay," he decided. "Isabel, tell everyone what happened last night."

His sister nodded. "It took a long time to get in," she said. "I mean, I can't dreamwalk him if he isn't asleep. I tried quite a few times before I could reach him at all."

"Well, what did you find out?" demanded Maria impatiently. Liz took her hand and squeezed it comfortingly.

Isabel slowly began to describe her experience. "It was strange. Usually people's dreams have a...well, dreamlike quality to them. Nothing seems quite real. But Michael's was very sharp and very focused, almost too real. It was the desert, but not the desert around here. No rock formations, no pod cave. The only things I could see were the flat sand and a very bright, empty sky."

"Did he realize you were in his dream?" asked Liz. "How did he react?"

"He wasn't in his dream. Nobody was, just sand and sky. I stayed in the dream for over an hour, wandering around, looking for him. I thought he might be hiding somewhere, and if I looked hard enough, I'd find him, or at least signs of him, but nothing. No people, no animals, not even any stars. Nothing at all. It was frightening. And as worried as I was about him, I couldn't find the energy to leave. Max had to wake me up."

"So Michael's not only avoiding us, now he's avoiding his own dreams?" asked Alex. "Strange is right, Isabel."

"How can you not be in your own dreams? What does that mean?" Liz thought aloud.

"I think my mom has some dream interpretation books. Maybe they could give us some clues," Maria offered.

"Actually, Isabel and I had another idea," said Max slowly. "If you can always sense when he's around, we thought you might be able to tell if he's really in his dream or not."

"Oh yeah," scoffed Maria. "I'll just crank up my Czechoslovakian superpowers and hop right on into Michael's head. Hey, remember, human, okay?"

"Cut it out, Maria!" Isabel said in exasperation. "We don't expect you to dreamwalk; we just thought that maybe I could take you with me when I do."

"What?"

"We think it might be possible," added Max.

"It's worth a shot, Maria," said Liz. Her brow wrinkled. "But only if it's not dangerous. If Isabel couldn't get out without you waking her, Max..."

Max looked at her understandingly. "We certainly don't want Maria to get hurt--"

Isabel broke in, "If she did, Michael--whenever he comes to his senses--would kill us."

Giving his sister a chiding glance, Max continued, "But we think it can be done. There are no guarantees, though, Maria. We haven't done anything quite like this before. It's up to you whether or not you want to try."

"Well, we don't have any other ideas, do we? And I am not going to spend the rest of my life worrying about what happened to Michael. He's screwed up enough of it already." Her eyes grew serious. "Besides, I trust you. So yeah, if there's a chance it will help, of course I'll do it."

Isabel smiled at her gratefully. "Thanks," she said simply. Maria nodded at her.

"Hey, I care about him, too, remember? No matter what is going through that twisted head of his. So when do you want to do it?"

"How about asking your mom if you can spend the night on Friday? It may take a while to get through if Michael's still not sleeping much, so it could be a long night. Liz could come, too," she went on. "We could tell our parents it's a sleepover."

"Well, I guess that leaves me out," said Alex. "I don't think any of our parents would go for a coed slumber party."

"If you can sneak out, you can always come in by my window and use the sleeping bag. Michael's done it hundreds of times," suggested Max.

"Great! Now I'm modeling myself on Michael Guerin of all people. Next thing you know, I'll be listening to Metallica and spiking my hair."

Liz and Maria took one look at each other and then back at Alex. "Naaahh."

CHAPTER 4

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.