Silence reined for ten seconds in the aftermath of Tess’s announcement, and then everyone began talking at once. Alex stood back and took in the noise around him. Tess was trying to answer the rapid-fire questions Michael and Isabel were throwing at her. Maria was trying to get Michael’s attention, and Liz was trying to regain control of the situation. Only Max was silent. Alex watched his eyes move from person to person, trying to grab onto something tangible. And with this group, pigs would be flying airplanes before they calmed down on their own enough for Max to make sense of them.
With a sigh, Alex crossed to the door and flipped the light switch on and off a few times until the noise settled down. With eternal patience, he looked at them. “You know this isn’t helping.”
Liz moved to Alex’s side and immediately flipped the light switch off again. Ignoring the looks of confusion everyone was giving her, she turned her attention to Tess. “Why do you think Nicholas is coming? And how do you know the Skins are here?”
“When Maria and I were on our way back over here, I saw them. I recognized a few of them from Whittaker’s funeral. And I saw them again in New York at the Summit meeting. They must be Nicholas’s personal guards or something. So Nicholas can’t be far.”
“And just when a bad situation couldn’t get any worse,” Kyle mumbled.
“If Nicholas is here, he’s come for blood,” Isabel stated fearfully.
“I stand corrected.” Kyle crossed his arms over his chest and studied Isabel. “What’s this guy’s deal?”
“He wants to get back to Antar,” Tess informed them, remembering the Summit meeting. “It’s all he wants. And he’ll kill to get it.”
“Okay, nothing has changed,” Liz decided. She paced in front of Alex in a small line. “Nicholas isn’t here yet obviously or none of us would be standing here now.”
“Do you think Nicholas had something to do with Max?” Maria asked, not directing her question to anyone in particular.
Isabel shook her head. “No. If Max had seen Nicholas, he would have said something.”
“Except Max can’t seem to say anything coherent at the moment,” Kyle pointed out.
Isabel glared at him, but he didn’t shrink back. “I think that whatever happened to Max is separate. Nicholas has his own agenda.”
“I agree. That’s why you guys still need to go to Santa Fe. We need Max for this, and there’s no telling how long Brody will be gone for.” Liz glanced at Max, hating the confusion she found on his face.
“Wait. Is that safe?” Kyle asked. “You’re sending all the aliens to Santa Fe and leaving us here alone for Nicholas to use as bait for when they get back into town? I say we vote on a plan B.”
“There isn’t time for a plan B, Kyle. If Michael and Isabel can find Brody, maybe they can figure out what happened to him. And besides, we have Tess. If Nicholas really is on his way, she’s the only one that has a chance at stopping him.”
Tess watched Liz as she spoke; surprised Liz was bringing her into the conversation. “I was going to try to connect with Max when he calmed down anyway to see if I can help. Plus, I was thinking that I could get the Destiny book from home. Maybe Max can make sense of it now.” She shrugged. “I’ll stay if you guys still want to go.”
“What about our parents?” Isabel asked. “They’ll notice if neither of their children come home for a couple of days.”
“Oh, this is the easy part,” Maria declared. “Isabel is staying with me, and Max is with Michael. My mom will assume Michael and I have snuck off for a weekend orgy and Alex’s are never there to ask questions anyway.”
“It’s true,” Alex confirmed, shrugging when he saw the look of disbelief on Isabel’s face.
“That’s the least of our worries,” Maria continued. “How long will it take us to get to Santa Fe and track down Brody?”
Max continued to watch his friends with a growing sense of frustration. Something was wrong, something even bigger than his current problem. And he had no way of knowing what it was. They could be in danger and there wasn’t anything he could do to help them. He couldn’t even help them with his problem. What if they needed him?
He tugged at the collar of his shirt. Was the room getting hotter or was it just him? He’d been trying to ignore it, but the temperature in the room had been climbing the longer he was in it. Was the air condition broken? He tried to focus on the conversation taking place around him, searching for any kind of body language to give him a clue what was going on.
His head had begun to throb anew and he was beginning to wish that they would make their plans somewhere else. It wasn’t as if he could do anything but watch them plan anyway. And he hardly expected them to play a game of Pictionary or charades to explain what they were about to do.
Pictionary.
Max leapt off Liz’s bed and strode to her desk as the thought struck him. Liz had offered him paper before to see if he could write what had happened. And when he had failed at that, he hadn’t even thought about drawing the device.
Max didn’t have to root around Liz’s desk. He knew she kept things meticulously in place, and he found a pad of paper easily. The room had grown quiet around him but he didn’t pay attention to them. He realized that his sudden movement had probably caught them off guard. They’d already begun to forget about his presence even when he was in the room with them.
Closing his eyes, Max tried to retrace his steps from the previous night. Brody had called him over to workbench and had begun pulling out various devices. His abnormally clear memory helped him walk though the events as if he were reliving it. And when his memory flashed across the cube that had hit him with the jolt of energy hard, his hands began tracing the image onto paper.
Never having been an artist, Max tried to draw the device as best he could. Even if it was the worst drawing ever made, it was something. Relieved at last to be able to do something more useful than take up space, he took an extra minute to try and sketch some of the more authentic looking devices that had been in the box as well. Proud of himself, he picked up the pad and was surprised to find Liz hanging over his shoulder.
Her hair was hanging around her face, framing it, and when he shifted, the silk strands tickled his face. She was staring at the picture with rapt awe and his heart turned over in his chest. He hadn’t been this close to her in longer than he could remember and it had his pulse rate rising. She still smelled like strawberries, and his senses hadn’t been prepared for that.
Her perfect lips opened and though he had no idea what she was saying, he found himself caught up in the action. Her lips were slicked with gloss, some pale pink color that you had to be inches away from to appreciate. Her voice was beautiful, soft and rich. And he realized that it didn’t matter what she was saying. He didn’t need the words.
She must have been talking to him, not remembering that he couldn’t understand a word she said. She flushed and glanced at him, and she caught him staring at her. Cursing himself, he forced his eyes away and handed the pad of paper to her. He focused on the wall, the desk, anything to avoid that gaze. Wanting to make sure they understood which device was the most important one to look for, he circled it. And then his own curiosity got the better of him and he turned his attention back to her.
Liz took the paper, careful to avert her eyes, and Max’s internal cursing stopped. What was she afraid he would see? The truth she was trying to keep from him? Something was off. He had watched Liz for most of his life. He knew her every mannerism, her every gesture. And she was acting skittish. At first, he’d attributed it to embarrassment, or maybe shame that she had been caught by him with Kyle. But he’d watched her interact with Kyle earlier and for the first time, he finally had tangible proof of what his heart had been telling him all along.
Liz was lying to him.
*~*~
Liz paced the living room floor, crossing and uncrossing her arms. She was too restless, filled with too much nervous energy to sit. They’d been in there a long time. Were they having any luck? Part of her hoped they were. Anything they had to do to help Max would be worth it in the long run. Even if it meant that Tess and Max had to forge a deeper connection.
Michael and Isabel had taken Maria and Alex and had left for Santa Fe hours ago, promising to call when they got there. But they were the least of Liz’s worries. Shortly after they had left, Tess and Max had closed themselves up in her bedroom in an attempt to form a connection that could help him.
Liz was baffled. It wasn’t amnesia, at least not as far as she could tell. He knew who he was, who they all were. He just didn’t know or understand English. He did understand Antarian though. Liz’s scientific mind struggled to put the pieces together. His vision was affected by light and unless she was mistaken, he’d been looking feverish. Was this another change taking place inside of him?
She was beginning to form a theory but there wasn’t enough evidence yet to support it. Plus, there wasn’t reason to panic everyone else if she was wrong. And she wished she was wrong with everything inside of her.
“Liz, you’re making me dizzy. Why don’t you sit down for a minute?”
“Kyle, I can’t. They’ve been in there for hours.” How long did it take to form a connection anyway? It had only taken her and Max seconds to do before.
Kyle watched her pace and decided enough was enough. “Are you more afraid she’ll be able to help him or that she won’t?”
Liz did stop pacing now. “What do you mean?”
She was within easy reach and he snagged her arm, pulling her down onto the couch beside him. “Liz, I never asked why you did what you did. I kept my mouth shut even when I listened to everyone take a shot at you. Why are you doing this?”
“Please don’t ask.” She was tired of lying. It took everything inside of her and twisted it into knots. And she couldn’t do it anymore.
Kyle let her lean her head against his shoulder and he wrapped an arm around her. It was odd to discover that he now saw his ex-girlfriend as more of a sister than anything else. And if she would just stop getting herself into impossible situations, maybe he wouldn’t have to watch over her so carefully. “Is this all part of some loopy plot to push Max and Tess into this supposed destiny? Because I have to say that I know you’re smarter than that.”
“What do you mean?”
He struggled not to sigh. “Liz, are you blind or just crazy? You didn’t see the way Max was looking at you before everyone left? He has stars in his eyes and they’re all for you.”
Liz sat up straighter, narrowing her eyes. “No, he didn’t. Kyle, he’s feeling alone and scared and I was a familiar face.”
Kyle scoffed. “Liz, my face is familiar. Yours is a vision. At least to him anyway. Don’t you get it? Not even seeing us in bed like that was enough. He still loves you. He’ll probably love you until the end of time. Why are you pushing that away?”
Was Kyle right? Liz considered the possibility for the first time. What if even that horrible night hadn’t been enough to make him stop loving her? But the memory of the tortured look in his eyes quashed any hope she had left. And Future Max had disappeared. That meant that things had changed. He had moved on. With Tess.
Liz shook her head. “You’re wrong, Kyle. Max doesn’t love me like that anymore.”
Kyle did sigh now, and pulled Liz’s head back onto his shoulder. “Liz, I love you. But you’re so clueless sometimes.”
The door to Liz’s room opened and Liz felt the tension pool in her body again. Tess walked down the hall and took in the couple on the couch. Liz leapt to her feet and met Tess’s eyes anxiously.
“Well? Did it work? Is he okay? What did you find out?”
Tess lowered her gaze, unable to meet Liz’s enthusiasm and hope. She shook her head. “I couldn’t do anything. It’s like there’s this…block in his head that I couldn’t push past. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“You couldn’t do anything?”
“I’m sorry, Liz.”
Tears threatened to fall, but Liz pushed them back angrily. “You don’t owe me anything, Tess. How is Max taking it?”
Tess shook her head and her curls fell around her face. “Not very well. He shut me out as soon as he figured out I couldn’t do anything.”
Liz sighed in defeat. “Well, we have to hope that Michael and Isabel can find that thing Max drew. It might be his only chance.”
The front door opened and Liz automatically pasted a smile on her face when her father came through the door. “Hey. Did you guys get everything you needed?”
Jeff beamed a smile at Kyle and Tess. “We certainly did. What have you kids been up to this evening?”
“Ah, nothing much,” Liz answered. “We had an early dinner a little while ago and we were taking a break from working on a project for school.”
“Well, don’t let me stop you. I think I’m going to make sure everything ran smoothly without us downstairs. Your mother had to stop to talk to someone, so she’ll be up later. Are you sure you kids don’t want anything else to eat?”
Kyle jumped up. He had to get out of that apartment. Liz was itching to see how Max was doing and he doubted she would do it if he and Tess were there. “Actually, I wouldn’t mind free food.”
“I’d be surprised if you did,” Jeff answered, clapping a hand on Kyle’s shoulder.
“Tess, didn’t you say something earlier about wanting a smoothie?” Kyle asked pointedly. “Liz needed to finish printing up those articles for us, so we should have a few minutes.”
Tess looked back and forth between Liz and Kyle, torn. Finally, she nodded her head. “Sure.”
Liz watched as Kyle and Tess disappeared with her father and she let out a deep breath. She made a mental note to kick Kyle later, but for now she needed to see how Max was really doing. Her door was closed and she knocked briefly before opening it.
Max was standing beside the window, wincing as he watched the last rays of the sun fade below the horizon. And Liz’s feet moved her closer to him of their own accord. His body was angled away from her, giving her only an outline of his features. He hadn’t turned toward her yet, hadn’t made any motion that told her he even knew she was there.
She should leave, run before she did or said something that aroused his suspicions. She was already the world’s worst liar, and if Max had even the passing thought that she still loved him, she would never be able to continue the charade. But even knowing that, knowing that she was making things more difficult, she couldn’t stay away from Max, not when he was so obviously in pain.
“Max?” She laid a gentle hand on his arm, sucking in a breath when he turned his head to acknowledge her. Frustrated tears swam in his eyes. Without thinking, Liz raised her hand to his face, meaning to offer some measure of comfort. Max visibly flinched and she retracted her hand quickly. Of course he didn’t want her comfort. She had betrayed him, hurt him in the worst possible way. Kyle hadn’t known what he was talking about earlier.
And she knew she was doing more harm than good by being in the room with Max. She spun on her heels, wanting to get away from the look on his face. But before she made it more than a few feet, his fingers wrapped around her arm. She turned and found him watching her openly. And the piercing gaze unnerved her, left her with the impression that he could see right through her.
She broke contact with him quickly before he saw too much. But even as she turned and fled from the room, she was afraid it was too late.
*~*~
“Liz, are you sure this is alright?”
“For the hundredth time, yes. Max and I will be fine here. My parents are going to bed shortly and they’ll leave me alone.”
Kyle frowned, pursing his lips. But Liz ignored it, turning instead to Tess. “Thanks for bringing the book over. I think it’ll do him some good to have something to do.” Liz remembered the look on Max’s face when he’d opened the book and had been able to read the symbols. She couldn’t imagine what it was like not to recognize anything around him.
Since then, his nose had been buried in it. He’d settled outside on her balcony a while ago, leaving the rest of them to talk privately. It was cold outside and the wind had a biting chill to it. She was worried about him getting sick, especially since he’d been looking so sickly. But she had to remind herself that Max wasn’t hers anymore. If he wanted to streak naked through the streets of Roswell, she had no say in the matter. And that was her choice.
Tess nodded, not sure what to say to Liz. They were on shaky ground under the best of circumstances, and it looked as though they were being forced into a situation where they would have to be allies. “Just call us if you see or hear anything suspicious.”
Liz swallowed back the lump in her throat as Tess stepped aside, no doubt giving her time to say goodbye to Kyle privately. It was both frustrating and funny that everyone thought they were dating again. Kyle was still frowning and it made her smile. He was such a mother hen sometimes. “Kyle, I’ll be fine. Quit worrying.”
“Max could stay with us, you know. Dad wouldn’t mind.”
“Right. And I’m sure Max will be able to get plenty of peace at your house.”
Kyle hissed out a breath. He didn’t like the situation, but what more was there to do about it? “You be careful. If anything funny happens-“
“I’ll call you.” Acting on impulse, Liz leaned up and wrapped her arms around him in a hug. Kyle returned the embrace, offering her support and a possible apology for their earlier disagreement. And she smiled at him, letting him know there were no hard feelings. Raising on her toes, she leaned in close to kiss his cheek. “I’ve got it, Kyle. Go home and get some rest. I appreciate you staying all day, but there’s really nothing else to be done now. I’ll see you first thing in the morning.”
Liz waited patiently as Kyle and Tess left the apartment. She escorted them halfway down the steps, knowing her parents kept half an eye on her at all times. Trying to maintain the illusion that nothing was wrong, she lightened her step and bounced back into the living room where they were both watching television.
“Your friends gone already?”
“Yeah, Kyle has to do something with his dad early in the morning and Tess decided to leave with him.” She avoided sitting down with them, knowing that Max was still sitting out on her balcony without a clue what was going on. But she did hover next to them for a minute.
“Did you kids get your project done?” Nancy asked with a smile.
“Almost. We’ll probably work on it most of the weekend. I was thinking of working a bit more before calling it a night. Maybe steal a little quiet time to write in my journal.”
“My little girl, the straight A student,” Jeff beamed.
Liz tried not to let guilt settle in her heart, and she smiled back at him. She leaned over and gave both of her parents a kiss. “I’m going to go settle in. Good night.”
When her parents had released her, content with her excuses, Liz turned back down the hall. When had she become a pathological liar? There had been a time when her words were nothing but the truth. Now, she was lying to her friends, her family, Max. Was there no one that knew the real her anymore?
Inside her room, she was careful to lock the door before she reached for her sweater. She could feel the cool air from the open window where she could make out Max’s form. He was lying in one of her armchairs, not the one she always used, but the one she had put out there for him. It seemed like such a long time ago that it was hard to remember the girl with stars in her eyes that could be giddy with excitement over the prospect of sitting alone with Max.
Max knew she was on the balcony before she’d even made a sound. The air just shimmered when she approached. He kept his attention riveted on the alien book in front of him. It was easier that way. This he didn’t have to think about. He didn’t have to endlessly puzzle and think out every nuance. Liz was an endless puzzle to him. He thought he’d had her figured out once, but she kept changing.
He’d once thought that she would love him forever, that it could be enough to defeat the insurmountable odds. But by her own words, she didn’t want to love him anymore. He’d thought he could count on her without fail. Yet, she had slept with Kyle while he’d been in the process of winning her back. He’d tried to let her go, thinking that as long as she was happy he could live with the pain. But when he’d finally looked at her, she wasn’t happy. And when he thought that maybe he could reach out to her and make her happy again, he looked through her window to find her locked in Kyle’s arms. When would life get easier?
She stopped beside the armchair and he closed the book softly. He wondered where Kyle and Tess were. The others had left hours ago, presumably to find Brody and the device he’d drawn for them. And he wondered where he would be staying tonight. He’d hoped desperately not at the Valenti’s house. He wasn’t sure if he could handle Tess’s insistent hovering or Kyle’s…face. He knew it was petty, but he didn’t want to have to acknowledge his existence right now. He was able to hold in his arms the one thing Max would give up his life for.
But he supposed it was too much to hope for a quiet night at Michael’s. They were probably afraid he would do something drastic or stupid if left by himself. But if he was honest with himself, he really didn’t want to be alone right now either. It was too much.
He looked up at her now. She had wrapped herself in a fuzzy red sweater and was hugging herself. Was she cold? How was that possible? It had to be a hundred degrees inside. Outside wasn’t much better, but at least he could breathe out here. At times, the air had seemed too thick, and he’d had trouble breathing it in. But the feeling always subsided.
Meeting her eyes, he tried to read the emotions that were always swimming there. She had seemed on the verge of telling him something at every second of the day for the last week. He knew it had to do with Kyle, and he wished he could just pull the truth out of her.
She broke their eye contact and held out a hand to him. Without hesitation, he accepted it, letting her lead him back inside. He felt his body temperature rise when she closed the window behind them and he tried not to let it bother him. He supposed someone would be coming to claim him for the night shortly. It was late, he could tell by the darkness of the sky and the position of the moon when he’d been able to see it. And he wondered why they’d waited so long to settle him for the night. Had it been that big of a dilemma as to where to shove him?
Liz had moved to her closet and was pulling out blankets and clothes. She laid them in a neat pile at the foot of her bed. Max watched her curiously. She hadn’t spoken to him yet, and he was grateful for the silence. His head was still throbbing and he just wanted a few minutes of peace. When she pulled one of her pillows out from under her very neatly made bed, Max’s pulse rate doubled.
He tried to meet her eyes, but she was still moving. Hope surged through his veins before he could automatically clamp down on it. Where were Kyle and Tess? He hadn’t seen or heard them in awhile, fifteen minutes maybe. Liz had pulled a stack of blankets out of her closet and sitting neatly beside them was a folded pair of pajamas. Was he…could she possibly mean for him to stay there? With her?
Not paying attention to his confusion, or maybe purposefully avoiding it, she brushed past him and began piling the blankets at the side of her bed on the floor. She moved with purpose, mechanically, and he wondered if it was so he wouldn’t have a chance to object to the sleeping arrangements. But he decided it didn’t matter in the slightest because he was relived beyond words that she wasn’t turning him away. Today had been one of the worst days of his life and she hadn’t looked upon him with anything but kindness.
Finished with the makeshift bed, Liz dropped the pillow on the floor at the head of Max’s new sleeping area. She looked up at him and smiled, gesturing towards it for approval. He returned her smile, nodding. Satisfied, she returned to her closet and pulled out more clothes. She gestured back towards the pajamas at the foot of her bed and then she bobbed her own head in the direction of the bathroom.
She left him standing alone in the middle of her bedroom, in a state of confused awe. Had he said Liz was a puzzle? She was beyond that. She was a clever riddle wrapped in the web of a conundrum. But for tonight, he wouldn’t bother trying to figure her out. He would merely accept the small measure of peace and the truce she was offering him. It might mean nothing in the grand scheme of things, but for tonight he could pretend that it meant more. And it was enough.
