Author: DocPaul

Email: DocPaul2002@yahoo.ca

Rating: PG-13

Spoilers: Set in early season 2.

Warning: Yeah not beta’d so land mines abound. There is an original character, a sort of Mary Sue, but she was necessary because I’m afraid I’m incapable of believing High School student Liz Parker would have enough intelligence or skill to what was needed...

Disclaimer: They tell me they’re not mine, but I am in dispute.

Summary: After Destiny, and the first part of the summer with Michael pushing Maria away, she reevaluates her life, and makes some changes. Changes Michael finds hard to handle as danger lurks on the horizon in the form of Skins.

Author’s Note: Yeah, I like the evil to be evil. Not some pasty watered down version of bad. There was much more to the story, but this was a vehicle for Michael to come to a reality, to an understanding of what he needed most in his life, and a medium to give him voice to say what he never could say.

LEAVE WITHOUT LEAVING

The Measure of our Youth

"And the measure of our torment is the measure of our youth.

God help us, for we knew the worst too young!"

~Rudyard Kipling~

Maria sat holding the phone in her hands. The dial tone was loud and mocking. He was home. She knew he was home. And she knew he knew it was her calling. He didn’t answer. He didn’t bother to talk to her. It was over. Maria was finding the silence intolerable, so she finally decided to talk to her mom.

~~~

Michael sat watching the phone. It was ringing again, bringing a moment of life into his home. Unmoving he thought of all the things he wanted to say to her, all the things she would say to him, and in that imaginary conversation he was free.

He was fast walking a path of a silent stalker, but she couldn’t know that. Sitting for hours watching her work and later watching her through her bedroom window passed without thought. He needed to see her, hear her voice, and watch her sleep. These passing times were the solace to his soul that made him hope that maybe someday, somehow he would find a way to reclaim her. Then one day, it was too late. She was gone.

~~~

Michael searched everywhere for her. He looked for her at the CrashDown, around town, and at her bedroom window. But the house was dark, her room was empty, and her voice was silenced. Michael didn’t know where to look or whom to ask about her. It was as if he had lost the right to ask about Maria. He left her of his own free will. How could he justify wanting to know about her life when he kicked her out of his. So Michael did the only alternative available to him, he looked for her around every corner. She remained missing.

Isabel and Alex watched Michael with concern. They both knew where Maria went, but they remained silent. If Michael had asked, they would have told him, but he didn’t. Alex and Isabel talked among themselves about just telling him, but something stopped them. Somehow they were afraid that if Michael knew where Maria was he would take off after her, just to be near her. But Maria left because she needed time to heal, time to regain herself away from Michael. If he showed up in her sanctuary it wouldn’t be fair to her. Maria had already suffered enough. She needed peace. So they kept it to themselves and watched after Michael as best as they could.

“He’s getting worse, Alex. Maybe we should just tell him? Or at least let him know that she’s okay and will be home at the end of summer.”

“Do we really know that? That she’s coming home?” Alex had his own doubts.

“Of course she’s coming home. Why wouldn’t she?” Isabel rubbed her hand along her neck at the soreness and tension. Maria had to come home. She was needed, desperately. Both her brothers seemed to wilt after she left.

“Because this place causes her pain.” Alex just shook his head at the changes in all their lives. No one had been spared the devastation. Destiny. It mocked them.

What was Destiny, but another way of saying they had no free will, that their lives, mind and hearts were not their own? Was being engineered to be with someone really that important? More important than the human heart, the soul, the very touch of existence? Was being bred to fight a war again and again really a life or a hope of living at all?

Alex didn’t know. No one did. All they knew was whoever thought of it was a fool. Alex had to believe that goodness and love would win. He was staking his own life on it, his own heart.

~~~

It was a summer of pure hell. The weather was unrelenting in heat with promises of rain on the horizon to be chased away by the demon sun.

Michael and Max were in the jeep at the quarry looking at the horizon. School started tomorrow and neither were the mood to talk about what this year was going to be like. Max looked like crap. He worked, slept, and ate and that was about all he did all summer.

Truthfully Michael looked just as bad if not worse. All Michael seemed to be able to do all summer was work long hours at the CrashDown. He worked so many shifts that he saved enough money to pay his rent for the entire school year in advance. Between the after school job and the annuity payment he received from the state every month, his finances were looking pretty good. Add the money he was saving from not eating and he was a regular Rockefeller. The two young men remained silent waiting for the other to breakdown and talk.

“You think she’ll be there tomorrow?” Michael asked as he looked out over the quarry.

“Maria?” Max already knew, but Michael was so silent lately it was nice to hear his voice.

“Yeah.”

“I don’t know.” Max discreetly looked over at Michael. “Isabel says she hasn’t arrived home yet. Maybe today sometime?”

“Did you know where she was at?” Michael asked quietly.

“Yes.” Max avoided looking directly at Michael. Maybe he should’ve told him sooner, but it was hard to know what to do since both Michael and Maria were his friends.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Michael didn’t even try to suppress the anger in his voice.

“You didn’t ask.” Max said specifically, deflating Michael’s anger.

Michael thought about that for a while. He didn’t ask. Not once did he seek out anyone who would have known where Maria was. Why? Rubbing his sternum, he mused on his lack of action. He felt her missing so deeply, but yet, he couldn’t ask about her. Why?

“Has Liz talked to you?” Perhaps Max was having a better time of it.

“She talks at me. But no, she doesn’t talk to me. It’s almost like a stranger has moved into her body since she got back from Florida, and taken away the person I loved. I can’t seem to break through to her that she’s my destiny. The destiny I choose. I may keep looking for answers and ways to help our people, but that doesn’t mean I’m gonna accept Tess as part of that destiny.”

“But you’ll have to leave her. When we leave I mean. You’ll take off to find our people, and she’ll be left here. Then what Max? What happens to her then? Does she just shake off years of loving you to rebuild her life, or does she grow old watching the skies waiting for your return?” Michael stated the very thought that had haunted him since getting involved with Maria.

Max remained silent at his side. Michael could see his jaw muscles clenching and unclenching. It wasn’t really easy for him to break up Max’s dreams, but Liz had to be considered too.

Was it easier to cut away early, then it would be to cut away after they had so enmeshed their lives until they could be untangled without harm coming to both of them? Michael prayed to the only God he ever knew that it wasn’t too late for Max and Liz, because he knew it was far too late for him.

Maria had slid into his heart so quietly and quickly that each pump of his heart pushed her deeper and deeper into his body and soul. At nights he could close his eyes and taste her in his mouth. Michael gave a slight groan at the thought and tried to adjust his position in the jeep seat.

“You okay?” Max looked over at the uncomfortable Michael.

“Yeah, sure, I’m fine.” Max looked down and noticed the reason for Michael’s discomfort.

“Thinking of Maria again, I hope.”

“Well, forgive me Maxwell, but it’s hardly you. I could strangle her for this. Leaving without a word, forcing me to worry about her everyday she’s been gone.” Max looked forward again and against his will he began laughing. Michael shot him stony glares until the humor of the situation made him laugh too.

“I thought that was what you wanted? I thought you said you didn’t want her near so you didn’t have to worry about her getting hurt because of you. And how the hell was she supposed to tell you where she was going? Or even say a word to you? You avoided her calls, refused to answer the phone, or even talk to her. You shut her out.”

“Yeah, so?” Michael looked at Max confused. What the hell was his point?

“You worried non-stop. You’re more worried about what she’s doing without you looking in on her than you were when she was under your care. She has you running around in circles. And the strange thing is, she doesn’t think you care about her.”

“Did she tell you that? That I didn’t care?” The astonishment in Michael’s voice clued Max into how little Michael was able to read others emotions.

“No, she told Liz.” Max looked away and said quietly, “That’s why she left.”

“She left because I didn’t care?” Michael voice held all the disbelief he felt.

“No, she left to learn how not to care for you. She went away to find a way to let you go, let you have what you wanted.” Max ignored his friends swearing under his breath. “You told her to stay away from you, so she is.”

“Where did she go?”

“Some commune type place that her mother has a friend that runs it. It was up near Seattle. I guess she learned to meditate and other new age kinds of stuff.” Max almost laughed aloud at the look on Michael’s face.

“Her mother enrolled her in a brainwashing cult?” Oh God, it was worse than he imagined.

“It isn’t a cult, Michael. It is a new age commune.”

“Same difference.” Michael said off handedly.

“Actually, no, it’s not. She’s been writing Isabel, Alex, and me. Her letters have changed over the past few months. At first she wouldn’t even mention you, and now she mentions everyone and tells Isabel to pass on her love. She talks about meditating on the Sound, walking in the ocean, and greeting the sunrise. Isabel says that it sounds serene. That she seems to be at peace.”

Michael just snorted. “Sound like a hippy thing.”

“If she’s found tranquility then I guess it doesn’t matter. She was in a bad way when she left. If I had half a brain I would’ve gone with her. I could have used the serenity.”

“Yeah, then you’d sound even more gay than usual.” Max just laughed at the comment, and Michael eyes narrowed as he looked at his friend. “Liz may come around, Max.”

“Not unless she learns to see me different.” Michael studied Max closely trying to understand this change. “I spent the whole summer finally waking up. Liz and I both convinced ourselves that I was more human than alien. There were times last spring where we forgot almost like the alieness was just part of an adventure. That was until it got too real. You were lucky you know?”

“Lucky?” That was a concept Michael couldn’t even comprehend. “How so?”

“Maria knew and accepted it. I mean really knew that you were an alien from the very beginning. She didn’t try to deny who you were. All she really wanted was for you to care for her as much as she cared for you.” Max’s hands clenched down hard on the stirring wheel. “It never had anything to do with you being alien. Actually I think your alien status was a detractor. She always just saw you.” Max hesitated for a second. “After the whole Hank thing I saw her sad and on the verge of crying. I asked her what was wrong. She told me that you were so beautiful. What parent wouldn’t want you?”

Michael frowned at Max rubbing his hand over his face and scratching his eyebrow. “She said that?”

“Yeah.”

“That explains it then.” Michael looked away thoughtful remembering times, better times when Maria was a mystery to him. Hell, she still was. Would he ever figure her out? Even if given a lifetime to explore?

“What?”

“Before all this Destiny stuff blew up, Maria use to spend time with me at my apartment. I would wake up to find her just watching me, and she would get real silent. I couldn’t understand what she found so interesting for her to watch for so long.”

“The two of you slept together?” Max’s voice raised in volume as that information hit him.

Michael ignored the rising color on Max’s face. “Lots of times, but not the way you mean. We’d be heavy into a make out session and eventually we’d just fall asleep together. I like having her there. It was the best sleep I have ever had. I miss that.”

“I hope she comes back then for your sake. You should’ve told her you loved her, Michael.”

“I did.” Michael said almost too softly to be heard.

“Then maybe you should’ve shown her that you loved her instead. Her father no doubt told her he loved her too, on his way out the door.” Max watched Michael startle at those words. “Problems occur when words and actions don’t match. Your leaving probably hit way too many insecurities that Maria carries inside.”

“Sure, I can see what a good job telling Liz that you loved her and showing her has done for you.” Michael could feel his anger rising. Her stupid father, and then him, no wonder she left. “Face it Maxwell, we’re both losers in the game of love. And the worse part is that we’ve got so many years of our lives to keep making these mistakes, over and over again. Who knows, maybe we were just as clueless in our last lives. All I know, if someone takes my “essence” after this life and re-engineers me again, I’ll find them and kill them where they stand. I can’t spend endless lifetimes walking around like some kind of romantic nightmare. Soldiers don’t make very good romantics.”

~~~

Maria wandered the hall and was surprised at the difference the change of scenery made in her mindset. How can a place you’ve seen your entire life look so different? Was it the new awareness, the serenity that took some of the gray away and let colors blend in? If one looked at the desert the first thing that would amaze was the amount of life and color, even in the soil. And there in the horizon loomed Roswell carved out of the hot New Mexico sky, standing stark and waiting. Maria was finally home.

Every year when school starts, there was that rush to find your schedule, get your locker, and pick up your books. This year was no different from countless other years. A person would stand in the hallway at their assigned locker and notice the smell that was associated with high schools everywhere, cooking food in the cafeteria, fresh wax on the floors, and the almost sputtering smells from the overworked air conditioning trying to compensate for both the heat outside, and the added heat from hundreds of extra bodies inside. It was a sensation almost as timeless as time itself.

Michael was leaning up against a locker waiting for Max and Isabel to finish their discussion when he noticed the change in people around him. Following their glances he saw her first.

The heart recognizes first what had been lost and now was found. Maria. She was silently moving down the hall smiling recognition at people along the way. They watched her stop at her locker and leave some of her stuff inside. Turning around she noticed the group of them watching her. Michael’s heart jumped into his mouth when they made eye contact for the first time in months.

Maria appearance had changed; she looked so great, so special, almost an entirely different person. Her hair was longer and her skirt was shorter, and in short, she was a total knockout. Michael struggled to push the air out of his lungs.

“Hi, Neil, how are you?” Michael watched her make her way over to them. Her voice, it was like the soft sound of an angel. Stop that! Oh God, he was sounding like Max. He moved harder back against the lockers wishing for restraints to keep him impervious to the siren song of her voice. It was like his ears and mind found the very thought it was searching for these past few months. After a lifetime of need, it was hard to come to the realization that need was a pit that seemed endless. He needed Maria.

“Hi guys. It’s great to see you. How was summer?” Michael frowned at the creature that looked like Maria, but somehow was detached. Suddenly it hit him. He could no longer feel her.

“Maria, oh my God, you’re home.” Isabel smiled brilliantly. Her talk with Alex the other night about Maria actually had her worried. “Alex and I were wondering if you’d get home in time to start school. Your hair is so long.” Isabel exclaimed. “It looks wonderful.”

“Great, Isabel,” Maria smiled brilliantly. “you’re just the person I’ve been looking for. Do you time for a little talk in the Ladies’?”

“Sure, but what is it about? I have…”

“It’ll only take a few moments. Guys? We’ll see you later.” Maria took Isabel’s arm and led her away from the silent Max and Michael. All Michael could think of was speak, speak to her you idiot. He remained silent.

~~~

“Maria! You look so wonderful. What’s going on?” Maria quickly looked under that stalls to make sure they were alone. Turning towards Isabel, Maria noticed the leather and approved. Isabel just looked great in leather.

“Hair extensions.”

“Hair extensions, what?” Isabel smiled. Oh yeah. Maria DeLuca was definitely home.

“That’s how I got my hair so long, so fast. I was wondering Isabel if you’re able to alter my real hair to grow to the length of the extensions so I won’t need to keep getting them until my real hair grows out? On my own, it may take me half a year to get to this length.”

“You want me to grow out your hair.” Isabel clicked her nail against her teeth in thought.

“Please. Are you able to do it?”

Isabel smiled. It was so nice to have another female around again. “Sure, want some highlights too?”

“No, nothing to noticeable. If I leave the bathroom totally changed, people will talk.”

“Believe me Maria, with that skirt so short, people are gonna do more than talk.”

Maria laughed at Isabel and stood still as Isabel waved her hand over the hair. “Tell me about it. Just walking in today I was handed three phone numbers, and who is the new hunky teacher? He totally did a double take when he saw me.”

“Forget him. He is a new assistant coach, all beauty, no brains.”

“Jock boy?”

“Exactly. The type that crushes beer cans on their head and thinks beer nuts are a separate food group that is produced by beer.”

“How can you tell?”

“Oh, I had the honor of talking with him last week. He spent twenty minutes telling me about the type of hubcaps he has on his “ride” and said Roswell looked to be a “dope” town.”

“Eww, looks can be so deceiving.” Maria was brushing her now longer, natural hair admiring the more natural look. Isabel Evans was every girl’s fashion friend. The woman was a fashion genius.

Maria looked up at the sound of the ringing in the building. “Bell. Man, I’m so not looking forward to another school year. Meet you for lunch?”

“Absolutely. You have second lunch, right?”

“Doesn’t everybody?” They laugh on their way out of the Ladies’ room. Isabel liked having Maria back. Her outlook seemed so fresh and carefree. After a summer of desolation it was nice to breath the fresh air again. Isabel was dying to ask her about Michael. To tell Maria about how much Michael missed her. Lunch was only three and a half hours away. God, could they have made it any longer?

~~~

Michael watched her from afar. He couldn’t help himself. Maria had changed, but she was also the same. He couldn’t resolve the changes he saw in her. She seemed stronger, more at peace. She smiled, laughed, made horrible conclusions and puns. Maria was everything she was once before, but now she didn’t care about Michael. He watched her go on a date the other day with Dave Winslow. It had felt like his heart was being ripped out.

It wasn’t that she wasn’t talking to him or treating him friendly. She was. He was just being grouped into a huge category called “friend” and he missed being her lover, being her boyfriend. Maria touched him to get around him, gave him friendly pats, and steadied herself against him a few times, but she never touched him just to touch him anymore. He missed the movement of her hands along his body, on his skin. He missed having the right to lay his own hands on her, to kiss her or just to hold her.

The old adage of careful what you wish for, you may get it, suddenly made too much sense. Leaving her behind and telling her that they were over was the stupidest mistake he ever made. Maria had left him without really leaving, because she was still here. But, she was no longer his.

“Hello? Hey there dragon! Is it true that you’re the largest, strongest, and most fastest dragon short order cook in a four corner state area?” Michael startled out of his own thoughts to find wacky-doodle Maria in front of him.

“What?”

“I was asking if you’re…oh, never mind. Do you have the order up for table four yet?”

“Yeah, almost, just waiting on the Saturn Rings.”

“Great. So where were you?”

“Here.” Maria laughs at him in her way too charming manner. Michael felt his heart clutching. Touch her, kiss her, he was going to do both, right now, hard and fast.

“No you weren’t. You were miles away in thought, or is it worlds away?”

“No further than my own backdoor, Dorothy. Here’s your order.”

“Thank you kindly, dragon.” Maria took the plate and started to head away when Michael called her back.

“Hey, why do you keep calling me dragon?” Maria just looked at him and laughed with delight as she walked away shaking her head. Michael watched her perplexed. He didn’t mind her calling him dragon, but he wasn’t getting the association, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to.

It was taking all his strength not to just grab her, shake her, and then make love to her. She was driving him crazy. Lust never felt like this. She could melt him with a look, send his insides quaking with just a smile, and her hand on his arm stopped his heart. She was the first thought in his head in the morning, the last thought at night, and if his remembered dreams and the state of his bed was any indication, the only thought in his head while he slept.

The only thing he knew for a fact was that she no longer cared. Leaving Roswell and entering a brainwashing cult had cured her of her fascination for him. It had taken her pain and gave her back even ground and peace of mind. He hated the bastards that stole her away from him, and he hated himself more for wanting the wounded Maria back, the one he could effect with just a touch.

Michael looked up and his teeth clenched. Fire of anger filled his face as he watched one of the new guys in town chatting up Maria. Her flirting laughter and smiles at the strange new guy, Matt was really driving him crazy.

Watching her go on with her life and leaving him behind in the dust was driving large painful stakes in his heart. Worse thing was she wasn’t trying to make him jealous. She didn’t care. She was just doing as he requested and going on with her life without him. The new waitress, Courtney was coming onto him hot and heavy. He should take her up on her offer to relieve some of the tension. It wasn’t like she was the kind of girl a guy thought about keeping around very long anyway. She was a disposable girl, one that you used and discarded.

Damn, the dead man was asking her out on a date and she was actually thinking about it. Michael turned away from the scene to punish some grilling burgers with his darker emotions.

~~~

When Maria got home that night she was tired and her feet hurt, but what bothered her most was her face muscles. Keeping up this damn sunny demeanor was giving her facial muscles a work out, but truthfully it took fewer muscles to smile than to frown. Working with Michael was hard, harder than she had imagined.

At times she just wanted to butt into whatever was making him sad, hard, and aloof. It was the times when he was caught unaware that she saw the barely restrained emotion under his remoteness. He was hurting, really bad. But, that was no longer any of her business.

God he looked good tonight. She loved that tight t-shirt thing he had going and as much as she hated to admit it, she was starting to really like his new hairstyle. That tossed about down look reminded her of a rock star, and it framed his face making his pouty lips more prominent. But it was the dark emotions in his eyes looking out from under that hair that could slay a heart from a distance.

He seemed so alone and unapproachable and in that laid the attraction. Courtney seemed really interested. Maria almost felt like she should warn the girl off, but after deciding she really didn’t like Courtney, it was an easy decision to leave her to suffer under the cool, non-approachable stonewall, Guerin.

Wanting a man that she couldn’t have had to stop. His feelings in the matter were painfully clear. Time to meditate and regain some control over these hidden emotions that kept wandering to the surface. But in a better age, in an older time, she would’ve taken up the task of dragon slaying and have stolen the dragon’s beating heart, to live basking in the warmth for a lifetime.

Fantasies, all fantasies, and they belonged in her dreams in the twilight hours, because only in her dreams did he still belong to her. It was only in her dreams that her own heart was given its heart’s desire and she rested in his arms gathering peace to face yet another waking day.

One day, in the distant future, she would stop visiting him in this dream world until it faded away, then her heart would free to love another, but until then she rested with him in the land of imaginings. In the morning she woke refreshed and able to once again face her living, breathing dragon darned in full body armor another day, with a smile.

~~~

The week after Nasedo died and Michael was released from jail things became tense. They were finding more and more skins left in areas that they as a group inhabited. Whoever these skins were, they were indeed near and among them, watching and biding their time until they could attack. Michael was in worse shape than the rest. All his spider senses were working in overtime and his anxiety and agitation was becoming volatile. In the darkness of his face, he became a stranger to all of them.

Only Maria seemed to glimpse the hidden Michael locked inside. In silence she stood near him giving him the fortitude and strength that his own emotions robbed him of. In his fear and anger he never noticed where the added support was coming from.

“We’ve made a list of all the new people in town. It is important that we cover as many of them at all times. The skins may be people we have already known, but our mother said that we’d recognize the evil within, so it’s time to start flexing some of these talents.”

Maria sat reading the list to see whom she could cover. The name of the new waitress, Courtney was high on the list. Looking up she looked over at Michael.

“I think that Michael should cover Courtney.” The group looked over at Maria with a question in their eyes.

“Why?” Max asked.

“Because she has done everything to get his attention except break into his apartment, strip down, and lay waiting nude in his bed for him.”

“As far as you know.” They all looked at Michael and then back at Maria.

“See, then it’s easier yet, again. Michael already has an established relationship with her so he is the best equipped to search her out, probe her as it were.”

“Maria!” Liz looked at her friend in shock from where she stood alone and apart from the group.

“What? Bad pun, but you know I’m right. She’s hitting on him and flirting big time, so this gives him an inch, just take her up on some of her suggestions, but the piercing thing?” Michael looked at her with his eyebrow up in question. “If you must pierce, bypass the silly stuff, and go straight to the areas that produce the best stimulation on a man. I would suggest a nipple. They’re so erotic.” The entire group stared coughing and laughing at the look of outrage on Michael’s face.

“Maria!”  Maria just rolled her eyes at Liz’s outraged tones.

“What Liz? Can’t I express a preference?”

“Okay, I think Maria is right Michael, you take Courtney. We have the Congresswoman covered, the geologist, the new curator, and the few others, but what about this Matt guy?”

“Oh, he’s mine. I’ll take him.” They all turned to look at Maria again. “Hey, he keeps asking me out on dates, so I’ll just go on one. It’s not like I’m attached to anyone, and he does keep asking so he won’t be suspicious.”

Max looked over in time to see Michael’s wince when Maria stated that she was unattached.

It was still a real sore point with him. Maria dating other guys was not setting very well with him, but the thought of her putting herself in danger by dating a possible evil alien was clenching all his jaw muscles into one massive bunch.

“So Valenti is covering four of these strangers, Tess has the new girl at school, and Kyle is covering the new jock. I think that covers just about everyone, so lets meet together on Friday and exchange information unless something urgent arises before that.” The entire group gave their consent and Max was out the door to go find Valenti, but before he left he grabbed his best friend Maria to the side.

There friendship had blossomed over the summer before she left, and he loved it. Actually he cherished it. It was Something that he never had before, something he couldn’t have with Liz. His friendship with Maria was deeper and more touchy feely than his relationship with Michael, and she was able to bring a foreign perspective into their discussions. A female one.

“You’ll be careful, right?”

“Of course, caution is my middle name, you know that.”

“No it’s not. This is important to me, Maria. I need you to be safe. Michael is a burning fuse and you know how he feels about you being put in danger.”

“Actually, no I don’t. But, I’ll be cautious, I promise.”

“Okay, then you know how I feel about you being put in danger.”

“This is just a date, Max. I’m not gonna sleep with the guy to see if he can give me a “flash” or something. I really think I’ll save myself until I know whether he’s evil or not.”

“Okay, but do me a favor?”

“Sure, whatever you want.”

“Take your cell phone and leave it on. Call me and leave the phone on so we can track you. Also, Maria, wear a longer skirt, please?”

“What? What’s wrong with my skirt length?”

“Honey, you’re an invitation to wild hot sex in those mini skirts, just until we know what we’re dealing with let’s take no chances.”

“Okay, leave phone on so eavesdrop boy can listen, borrow virginal aunt clothes from Liz, and do not sacrifice my virginity on the alter of finding evil aliens. Think I got it.”

“Thanks.”

Maria just nodded, not really happy with the mandate, but willing to comply. “Max?”

“Yeah?”

“Why so much more concerned over Matt than the rest? What makes him a big scare?”

“Michael. I know Michael has problems with you dating, but this guy has his hackle up big time. I don’t always appreciate how impulsive and brash Michael can be at times, but his instincts have proven to be on the mark too many times for comfort. Something near us, or near you is making all his instincts come online with too much force.”

“Really? So this is a new thing, right?” Maria allowed herself to actually feel concerned.

“No, it’s an old thing. It’s been growing stronger and stronger. But what concerns me are the dark looks and the intensity of his demeanor. He looks like the warrior he was destined to be, ready for full outward warfare. But when we throw you into the fray, into the danger, he becomes borderline psychotic. So for all our sakes, stay safe.”

“Sure thing, Max, sweetie, don’t push the dragon over the edge. Gotcha.”

Max watched Maria leave the room as Michael came over to join him. They remained silently watching as the door closed behind her.

“Stop her, Max.”

“I can’t. Maria is right about her being the only one to check him out. You concern yourself with Courtney, and let Maria do her job.”

“This is gonna go bad, Max.”

Max rubbed his face and turned to look at his best friend of a lifetime. Sighing deeply. “Okay, give it to me. Tell me what has your hackles up. Give me some clue, some proof that this isn’t your jealousy rising to the top, taking control from your higher brain functions. The girl isn’t yours. You tossed her away. She’s a free agent. So tell me that the thought of her dating this Matt guy is really hitting your danger sensors and not your obsessive jealousy?”

“I can’t. I thought about using the Courtney chick for some basic relief, but other than light flirtation, I’m just not interested. There is too much working here, the jealousy and danger, that I’m having a hard time sorting the two. But they’re near to us, real near.”

“How do you know? We found a few shed skins, but how do you know?”

Michael pulled his t-shirt over his head and showed Max his burned skin on his chest and upper arms. The burns were ugly, pink and inflamed. Some looked new while others were slowly fading, mending over time as his alien blood repaired the damage.

“Whoever they are, I’ve been really close to them. I thought it was my skin, peeling, that maybe I was one of them and didn’t know it, but this isn’t peeling. It’s burns, Max. Very much like this one.” Michael reached over and grabbed Max’s arm. Along the inside running parallel to his upper deltoid was a burn very much like Michael’s.

“Damn.” Max rubbed his face hard.

~~~

Maria looked in the mirror, as she was getting ready for her date with maybe evil alien boy. Damn Max and his demand that she dress more conservative. This skirt was a dog. It hung down past mid-thigh and was loose fitting. No one would possibly get any ideas while wearing this piece of wasted material.

Looking over at her closet, Maria sighed in longing at her new leather mini with tooled paisley design and a silk lining. This offensive skirt was some kind of blend, looking at the label, Maria moaned at the mixture of polyester blend and rayon. Grabbing a form fitting mohair halter-top was the only defense she had against dying an old maid.

The doorbell pulled her from her endless pining for a better, more fashionable skirt. Grabbing her cell phone she quickly called Max while grabbing a bag to hide the phone in. Oh forget the bag she could hide it comfortably in the pocket of this turnip bag skirt.

“He’s here. Are you ready?”

“Maria, you fully charged your battery?”

“Yes, fearless leader, it is charged to the max, get it? To the max.”

“Funny, answer the door.”

Maria made a face at the phone and headed to let her beau of the evening in. Funny that her mother wasn’t there to inspect the new guy, but Valenti came by earlier and tempted her away to an evening of fun and dancing. Old people sometimes were just so cute, and other times, just really wigged you.

“Hi.” Maria said smiling at the tall young man on her doorstep. He was...wow! Tall, long dark hair, and his eyes were deep and impenetrable.

“Maria. Am I too early?”

“No, you’re perfect.” Maria said in an almost breathless voice.

Max looked over at Michael as he clenched his fist at the sound of Matt’s voice. This was a bad idea letting Michael shadow Maria with him.

“These are for you.”

“Flowers? I love flowers. Let me put them in some water before we go.” Max could hear Maria walking and the rustling of the flowers as she unwrapped them.

“Oh my God, Birds of Paradise and the Hawaiian mix. I love exotic flowers. How did you know?”

“You’re kind of an exotic bird yourself. It somehow seemed fitting. That is a, um, nice skirt.”

Maria’s voice lost its dreaminess and took on exasperation. “Damn, hit a girl when she feeling low. I promised my friend that I would wear it. It is to staid off potential date rape until I know you better.”

“Well, then maybe your friend should’ve put stipulations on your top. It is almost a moving violation in the making.”

Maria perked up at his compliment. Her new mohair halter-top was her newest prized possession. It cost half of her last paycheck. Maria smiled a large sparkling smile that shined from the inside out. Shopping. It was her panacea.

“For that, I’m gonna treat you so nice that by the end of the evening you’ll declare your undying adoration of me. Let’s go.” Matt offered her his arm to lead her out of the house.

“So where are we going? Please tell me it’s not some place fashionable? I can’t be seen in this Hillary Clinton, I know why my husband seeks sexual favors elsewhere, knock-off skirt. Think of my dignity.”

“No, just a quiet restaurant, and I promise to ask for a discreet dark corner.”

“You’re such a gentleman. All my last boyfriend gave me was a generic bottle of shampoo and conditioner in one bottle and a hard time.” Max looked sharply at Michael who made a rude comment and grimaced.

“It’s not the huge surly guy at the diner, is it? The one that manages to burn every burger I have ever had there?”

“That’s him. He’s okay, but you know foreigners, they sometimes lack social skills.”

“He’s a foreigner?”

“Yes, Czechoslovakian. I mean you have to forgive his bad manners. I understand that their country doesn’t exist anymore, some kind of war or something.”

“True.  That must explain the hair.” Maria waved her hand as if to shoo away an unimportant topic.

“Did I ever tell you my theory about polyester and polyester blends?” Matt shook his head with a small smile. “I’m convinced that they cause brain damage.”

~~~

Michael and Max continued to follow them from the restaurant to a place with live music. Max was amused by the conversation. Maria was always an interesting companion. Her views on the world and ability to see humor in endless situations were very entertaining to say the least. As the evening progressed, Max was beginning to worry about Michael. He had become quieter and quieter as the night moved to the end.

The only reaction he had after they finished discussing him was when Maria had emerged from her home in the ultra conservative skirt and tongue swallowing sweater halter. Max knew he should’ve picked out the entire ensemble. Leave it to Maria to turn a wet dishrag into an invitation for wild hot passionate sex. The girl was a danger to herself. Michael had almost choked on the lump in his throat when he saw her date put his hand on her naked flesh exposed by the back of the top.

“So, Matt, I had a wonderful time and everything. I was just wondering, if I were to say dress more like my usual style in the future, I wouldn’t be inviting unsolicited advances would I?”

“Well, actually, I can promise that all my past girlfriends have never felt the need to run screaming from me, and when they do scream they usually stay near, and it is never anything like ‘you stupid jerk, take your filthy hands off me.’ Would you like references?” Maria chuckled to herself. Immediately getting the reference to sex, she choose to ignore it. Ears were listening.

“No, I just wanted to make sure, because I can’t go through anymore nights of wearing these types of skirts. I figure, as long as I have one small butt that I would, you know, dress it to its advantage. I’ll save the maiden clothes for the years when my natural graces have expanded to a more hefty seat.”

“I applaud your decision. Well, I guess this is goodnight. Let me open your door.”

“Always the gentleman. Wait until I tell my mom that you saw me to my door instead of grunting at me and leaving me in the middle of the street to see myself home.”

“Good to see your taste in men is improving. Here’s your key. Thanks for a lovely evening.”

Matt leaned forward and took Maria’s mouth in a quick, but deep kiss before pushing her into the house and pulling the door closed behind her. Walking down the path back to his car, he was worried. He couldn’t get the images of her ex-boyfriend out of his head, something about that Czechoslovakian worried him. Too much of him was in her head, in her thoughts, but there was a wall, impenetrable in her mind surrounding those thoughts, and he couldn’t get a clean read.

As soon as the door shut behind her Maria quickly turned and clutched her throat trying to keep a scream from coming out and bringing Matt back to the house. Putting her hands on the door she slid to the ground trying to untangle the cell phone from her pocket.

Max and Michael watched Matt drive away. When he kissed Maria goodnight, all of Michael’s hair bristled on his arms. He ushered a sound of outrage and anger. Max literally had to restrain Michael from getting out of the jeep and attacking the man.

It wasn’t even that long of a kiss, just a goodnight one really. Almost chaste in nature, nothing really to worry about. Max couldn’t understand Michael’s reaction. But it was as if another man had entered his territory and had attacked and raped his mate. All the violent emotions seething inside of Michael was causing Max’s own senses to become almost overly sensitive. Maria?

“Max?” They heard a loud scream, almost like a wounded animal over the phone. “Help me!”

Max and Michael were out of the jeep and running towards Maria’s house. He could hear her moving around her house making crying noises that sounded insane, almost pain driven. Michael was in front of him and the amount of power he was emitting was hitting Max in waves.

As they came upon the front door it flew open, Max almost paused in shock at the strength of power Michael was demonstrating. It was unlike anything they had experienced before. He was moving objects left and right with his mind, searching for her, searching for his mate.

She was in the bathroom pulling at her clothes, crying and scrapping at her skin. Michael quickly went to her raising the sweater from her stomach. Burns. They were all along skin, over her abdomen, her arms, and her back. Picking her up quickly he stepped into the bath and turned on the cold water. Without thinking he started stripping her body of her clothes and pulling his own shirt off, he stood in the shower, holding her under the water in only his wet jeans. Pushing the plug to the bath closed he let the cold water slowly fill the bath.

“Max call the others now. Tell them to get over here and stop following who ever they’re following, before someone else is exposed.”

“Michael, Maria, we need to…”

“I’ll take care of Maria. Call Liz. Tell her we need replacement fluids and that crap we use at the CrashDown for burns.” Michael looked down at Maria moving against him in pain. “Hurry, Max.”

“I can heal her.”

“Can you? Can you heal the burn on your arm?” Max looked at the burn that he was powerless to heal and then at the burns on Maria naked back. He was out of the bathroom in a run to make the calls.

Laying down in the bath, he held Maria against his body trying to keep her covered by the cool water. The blistering had slowed and no new burns had appeared, but she was still thrashing and letting out screams of pain. Her eyes were unfocused and confused, as if she was viewing something beyond his ability to see. Holding her close and trying to soothe her, he prayed the rest would come soon. Maybe combined they could heal the wounds.

“Michael?” Max stood looking down at them, trying not to stare too much at the very nude, Maria. “I got hold of everyone, except Valenti. They’re on their way. Is she okay?”

“No. I can’t calm her. It’s not just the burns. It’s something else, too.” Liz came running into the bath and stopped dead when she saw Michael and Maria in the bath in their state of undress. When she saw the range of burns along Maria’s skin, her mouth fell opened.

“Oh my God, Maria! What happened Max?”

“She went on a date with Matt. Everything was all right until after he brought her home. He just kissed her goodnight and left and then suddenly she started crying and screaming. When we came into the house we found her here in the bath trying to rip her clothes off. Before Michael put her in the water, the burns were spreading.”

“Liz, did you bring the stuff from the CrashDown that we use for the oil burns?”

“Yes, I brought that and some saline solution to wash out the burns, plus an analgesic cream and this silver cream stuff that supposed to keep her from losing water from her tissues. Michael, I think she needs to drink electrolyte drinks to replace minerals and things. I brought the stuff children’s drink when they’re sick.”

“What about Gatorade?”

“No. That stuff is nothing more than expensive labeling to catch the jocks of the world.”

“Liz, get me some salt from the kitchen.”

Max watched Liz hurry from the room and Michael extract himself from Maria and stood up out of the bath. Quickly he shed his wet jeans and wrapped himself in a towel around his waist. Taking the salt from Liz, he added it to the water and swirled it in, holding a thrashing Maria under the soothing water.

“Liz, hold her head, don’t let her go under.”

“Michael, maybe I should do this alone or with Isabel’s help when she gets here?”

“Forget it, Liz. Maria doesn’t have anything I haven’t seen before. She needs me right now.”

Max and Liz shared a look at Michael’s words. There seemed to have been more to the other couples relationship than any of them knew about or even understood. Michael kept soothing the pseudo-saline water over her skin, holding her out of the water and tight against his own skin. Liz noticed the same type burns on Michael’s skin. It seemed like as one burn mark went off of Maria’s back, it quickly appeared on Michael’s, and then it slowly faded.

“What is going on here?” They turned to see Isabel and Alex in the doorway with Tess and Kyle behind them.

“Max, you and Liz take them into the living room and tell them the story. I’ll be with Maria for a little longer.”

“Michael.” Max looked down at his new friend, at Maria. He was uncertain.

“Max, just go. This is something only I can do right now. Telling the story is something only you can do. We’ll be all right.”

Max and the others left the bathroom shutting the door behind them shutting out the picture of Michael smoothing Maria’s skin and whispering words of comfort in a language that none of them understood. Even Michael seemed unaware of the words coming from his own mouth. The movement of the burns from her skin to his was a strange new event. Michael and Maria were connected at a level none of them understood, and even after a summer apart, that connection was still there.

The group talked in soft words waiting for Michael to finish whatever he was doing. They could still hear Maria’s soft cries and screams, but the thrashing was quieter as she tired. Finally Michael came out of the bath carrying Maria wrapped in a bath sheet.

They followed him into her bedroom as he placed her on her bed. “Liz, get her favorite sleeping shirt. It’s on the left hand-side, third drawer down.”

The group shared a silent look. How Michael knew so much about Maria was a mystery to them, but it was one they would solve later. Liz found the shirt and passed it to him. The entire group quickly turned around as Michael removed the towel and pulled the shirt over her head. Liz noticed that all the burns were either gone or fading fast, and Michael’s skin was quickly returning too normal as well.

Maria was sound asleep, but in her sleep she was haunted with visions and dreams that caused her to thrash in unrest. Her cries and scream were muted, but still loud enough to be heard. It was the pain and anguish that resonated from her that wounded her friends. Helpless, but to watch, they all sat around her bed while Michael sat on the bed with her wrapped in a warm blanket keeping her close.

“What is it Michael? What is wrong with her?” Isabel asked quietly, afraid and worried.

“I’m not sure. It’s more than the burns. She knows something more than that. But, I think we can safely say that Matt is a Skin, as is Courtney.”

“How do you know about Courtney, Michael? How can you be sure?”

“I recognize the feeling, now. I know it. I felt it with Matt, and Courtney was the same, but different. Now that I know it for what it is, I can recognize it. It is the evil within.”

Maria was slowly regaining consciousness. As she became more awake, her agitation level increased, until she pushed Michael to the side and was out of the bed. Moving around the room, almost like she was trying to escape, she frightened away from everyone, until she was trapped in a corner. Her eyes were wild and unfocused and she was like a wild bird trapped inside a cage. Michael jumped over the bed and stood in front of her barely keeping his towel in place. Putting out his hands in front of him he talked in low soothing words.

“Tell me, Maria. Talk to me. What is it? What pains you?”

She fell to her knees with her body shaking. Holding her hands to the sides of her face she shook her head as if to clear the image. Her cries of anguish cut the rest of them like a knife. Tears were streaming down her face and her eyes held terror, a greater fear then any of them could understand. Liz stood slightly behind Max with tears running down her face. Alex was holding Isabel close and even Kyle seemed to be sheltering Tess.

“Help me, please. Take away. Take away the horror.” Michael moved closer as her whispers were barely audible.

“Take what away, Maria? What is causing you pain?”

“Too many, too fast. Fire that burns, pain, I see pain. Help me. Take the vision.”

“Vision?” Matt gave her a vision. He gave her a fucking flash? Michael swore under his breath swallowing the jealousy like a sharp knife.

Michael moved closer and put his hand over hers joining their fingers. Moving her head to look at him, he tried to get her eyes to see into his, but he could not. Finally, he moved in and took her mouth in a deep kiss joining their bodies, sharing the pain.

As fast as he joined with her, he quickly pulled away almost as if thrown from her. He hit the wall and slid down it. Catching himself with his hands against the wall, he pulled himself back upright. She slowly looked up from where she laid crouched on the floor.

“Thank you.” Maria passed out in a dead faint. Moving himself gently towards her, Michael picked her off the floor and put her back into the bed before passing out himself. Max moved quickly to his side and covered him with a blanket before he lost his towel.

“Michael? Michael?” Max quickly felt Michael pulse. It was fast and pounding.

“I think they’re down for the count. Umm, where exactly are Michael’s clothes?” Alex looked around him.

“In the bathroom. After holding her under the shower and bath for almost an hour, he took them off. We should grab his stuff and run it through the spin cycle and dryer before Maria’s mom comes home and finds her daughter in bed with a not so dressed Michael.”

“It’s not like it would be the first time.” It was becoming apparent that sleeping together in some form was a habit for the once couple.

The group ran around the house cleaning up the mess and drying Michael’s clothes. Liz and Isabel looked at the mohair halter-top in horror. Michael had pulled her into the water with it on. The top had shrunk and was dripping wet. They were glad Maria was asleep and missing the destruction of her newest most prized possession.

It was almost an hour before Michael woke up.

~~~

“Maxwell?” They turned to see Michael struggling to sit up on the bed. He pulled back the blanket until he noticed that he had lost his towel. Quickly pulling the blanket back into place Michael looked over to see Maria staring at him.

“Don’t worry. It’s nothing I haven’t seen before.” Michael reached over and pulled Maria into a strong hug.

“Are you okay? I was worried about you.”

“I know. I feel a little better.”

Max sat down on the bed next to Maria and held her hand. “What happened, Maria?”

“It was when he kissed me. It was like someone poured acid down my throat.” Maria squeezed Max’s hand hard. “Thank you for saving me.”

Max cleared his throat. “It was Michael.”

Maria nodded. “I know.” She looked up at Michael. “Thank you for taking away the vision.” Maria reached up and hugged Michael, kissing his cheek. Michael just ducked his head, but remained quiet.

They looked at each other, neither blinking nor backing off. It was the first time since Maria came home that they actually tried to communicate in a silent manner that they always had. It was something the others couldn’t understand. But the sudden flush on Michael’s cheek and a darkening of Maria’s eyes was making the others move on their feet restless. They were intruding on a personal moment.

“Michael, what happened? Can you tell us, you or Maria?” Max asked quickly trying to break whatever it was between the couple. It looked...it felt, hot and liquid, almost sexual.

Michael nodded. He searched Maria’s face, and their eyes found each other again. In silence they remembered and shared the vision. It ran hot between them, like a knife, cutting and edgy. Finally Michael nodded his head slightly at Maria, almost accepting that he would answer. He looked at the others. There were tears in his eyes and in Maria’s.

She hid her face in his chest as the vision still ran in her head, but not in the endless fast speed that it had before. The repetitive onslaught of images were moving so fast in her mind that the shooting light and pain was all she knew until Michael pulled the images from her mind into his.

Michael cleared his throat from the pain closing it, and he began...

“In the fifth year of the planet’s alignment to its three moons, they came in force. They, the scourge, took the lands fast and furious.” Michael met both Isabel and Max’s eyes. And finally, Tess’s. “For over sixteen generations our people knew no war, knew no disease, and as lambs to the slaughter, they herded us to our destruction.”

Michael paused as Maria whimpered against him, her head pressed firmly to his skin, her hands holding him tight.

“The campaign was already six cycles into the war. We fought to the battlements, laid waste to the stores of food and substance, scorching the ground as we retreated. Looking for places to reinforce, we took the high ground, protecting our flanks. The armies of our world were mine to command with you, as our King, Zan, watched our world burn.”

Max made a move to question Michael, to ask how he could know, but Isabel’s hand on his arm stopped him. So they remained silent as Michael continued. His voice echoing, his eyes unfocused as he looked past them, seeing a world, a place long forgotten.

“I stood the ground in front of you. They pushed hard against the left flank and it fell to the onslaught. The right held the line and the enemy felt the crush of defeat. The battle raged for days and the fires in the sky lighted the nights, and they came, feasting on our demise. The final conflict was fought in flats above Or’ Leon, and we stood the ground.”

Michael paused gulping in pain. “In the end, a nation was slew, armies fell and the blood of our brethren ran in rivers of red. The battlefield was so entrenched that as the remaining armies of our enemies walked the fields among the carnage, the blood pooled at their feet, ankle deep. It was there that we were lost to our people. The children and survivors were herded into camps, enslaved as future substance for our enemies. They ate our dead.”

“My God, Michael. Are you sure?” Max backed away from the bed as a tinge of the vision hit him.

“Yeah. I’m sure. Maria took the vision from his mind. It was too much. Like a non-ending story of death and destruction, it ran over and over in her mind, flashing the death of millions at the hand of the scourge.”

Maria’s brow furled in pain, in confusion as the remnant vision raced still in her mind. She made a soft mewing sound of pain, and Michael’s hand came up to cup her face, to comfort her.

“They walked the blood trails dragging the bodies of the dead behind them. We fought and they came. We won and they came. We retaliated and they still came. Thousand of millions lay slain in the fields, and they still came. Our forces held strong, but they were hidden among us. Traitors within our ranks, attacked us from within, while our outer defenses remained strong. We fell from the inside and weaken outward until nothing was left but the destiny to die.”

Michael looked Max directly in the eyes, and what Max saw frightened him enough to make him stand back. Michael was no longer Michael. He was more, something else. He was his ancient blood, a warrior, strong, noble, and proud.

“I stood in front of you until the end, but they went through me, tearing my fresh from my body. They left our bodies hanging from pikes to signify the end of the war.”

“The horror, it was the horror.” Maria whispered with tears running down her face and anguish finding a home in her expression. Michael held her tightly knowing that the images would never be removed from her mind, for they were equally imprinted on his.

 “I saw something else, too. There was a place, Maxwell, a place that the Skins go. If we find that place we can identify the rest of them. It may be as easy as placing cameras around and recording who comes and goes. Then no one else has to be risked.”

“Do you know where it is, Michael?” Michael shook his head. He saw the place in the vision that Maria had taken from Matt, but the place was unknown to him.

“I do.” They both looked at Maria where she rested against Michael. “I know where it is. I recognized the turn off road from when I was lost once doing one of my mom’s deliveries. I can’t describe it, but I know I’ve been there.”

Max sat down on the bed again. “Can you find it?”

Maria nodded. “I think so, if you can get me close, on the road along the way. I can find it.”

Michael shook his head no. Absolutely fucking not! It was the very reason he pushed her away, that which he was trying to spare her. All his sacrifice, all her suffering, and losing her was lost if she remained in danger.

“Maria, you can’t go. I want you out of this, far out of this. If I could ship you off to another world so you could be safe, I would.”

“There is no more safe. It is no longer your place to care.”

“What kind of bullshit is that? I have every right to care. You’re more to me than just an ex-girlfriend I use to feel up and occasionally sleep with.” Michael didn’t notice the other’s getting more attentive to the conversation.  This was starting to get really good.

“That was the past, and this is now. This isn’t about your world anymore.” Maria moved away from Michael pushing Max off the bed so she could get up. Turning back she looked at Michael still in her bed. Standing over him and then turning to the rest she made her own decision. Before it was all done for them, the podsters, it was all done to keep them safe and alive. But that time had passed. Things changed and the stakes were more crucial.

“This is about my world, my people, and my family. They’re here. This scourge that destroyed your world, enslaved it. They followed you. And over fifty years they slowly melded into my world, took strongholds waiting for a time to attack, to do here what they did to yours. And no one will know, no one but us. A small group of teenagers.”

The others looked at each other as the implication of Maria’s understanding hit them. They were the only ones who knew, who understood, who could understand the danger. They were helpless in their teenage bodies.

“The scourge that destroyed your world will work to annihilate mine next, once they have found you, and exterminated you as a threat. When you’re gone nothing will impede their advances. They will gain access to and hide among us until they’re strongly entrenched after generations of infiltration. Then they will signal their people that the time is right, and the scourge will come, which will toll the hour of our destruction.”

Liz sat down heavily in the chair at Maria’s vanity. The weight of what Maria and Michael were telling them outweighed everything. Even a summer of loneliness hating the word destiny, and her pain over knowing that Max was meant for another. This was real. It was millions of steps beyond the whole high school broken romance thing.

Liz just shook her head. “How? How can we stop them? We can barely save ourselves from the FBI Special Unit. These Skins, they have powers. We are weak, where they are strong.”

“These powers that you have,” Maria looked at the podsters. “Nasedo said that they are human powers progressed generations in advance. That means that if they want this planet, they need to take it before our species evolves into a force to be dealt with. If your continual survival is what gives us the time we need to learn to defend ourselves, then you have all the help I can give.”

Michael understood what she was saying. It wasn’t his decision. It never was. Maria and the other humans had the right to decide to risk their lives. What in his mind was his right exclusively was suddenly hers.

“So get use to it. If I get hurt or die, then it was the choice I made. You gave your life once to protect your world; don’t ask me to do less. I saw the destruction, the horror. I’ll not live to see it again.”

“Maria.”

“Max, talk to him. He’s not listening to me. I’ll not be left behind like the little defenseless woman waiting for the end of the world. If my world is to end, it will not be because I did not fight.” Maria looked out her window into the dark seeing that burning alien world, and transposing it on her own. She would not be left defenseless. Not now. Not ever. Time for schoolgirl days were over.

“Now everyone has to leave before my mom gets home. I need some rest. I need to go to my place of peace for a while.” Everyone started for the door except Michael who was still in Maria’s bed.

“Michael? Leave.”

“Umm, I seem to be missing my clothes.”

“Oh for God’s sake. Where are Michael’s clothes?” Maria was at the end of her tolerance. She was so tired, and she could feel herself breaking. It was like glass shattering.

When he had finally dressed himself and was heading out the door, Maria put her hand out and stopped him. “I really meant it when I said thank you. You saved my life tonight. I know I was a little out of it, but I knew that you were trying to save me, so for what it is worth, thank you.” Maria reached up gently kissed his lips.

Michael watched her pulled back from the kiss. Wrapping his hand around her neck, he roughly pulled her back in and plunged her mouth with a kiss that scorched her soul. He wanted to erase any other man’s kiss from her memory, to cleanse her of every thought but him. When he finally released her, he gently kissed her forehead and whispered into her ear, “I have every right to care,” and with that said, he left.

~~~

Maria didn’t emerge from her place of peace for two days. Meditation. She learned it that summer. Learned to focus her thoughts, to center them, and balance herself. Her mother was worried about her, but called her in as sick and took phone messages. When she finally woke it was to find that she had lost her ability to regain her serenity. The vision of horror and one kiss from Michael took away all that she had fought to gain over the summer. The remnant of her control would have to be the façade she lived behind until she regained what was lost. But for now, she had work to do. They all did.

~~~

“Maria?”

“Hi, Matt.”

“I called you and left numerous messages. Your mother said you were ill.”

“I was. Right after you left my skin began to burn. I must have eaten something I was allergic to. It doesn’t make sense, because I didn’t order anything that I haven’t had many times in the past. Maybe they changed their recipe. I’m praying that it’s not peanuts or something. The burns have almost all faded except for a few.” Maria showed the one on her inner arm that still pained and burn. Actually the burning had increased as she came closer to Matt.

When he saw the wound he quickly moved away from her. Maria was a Sensitive, one of those individual’s who could find a hidden Skin from the reaction of their bodies to their mere vicinity. After increased exposures they no longer need contact to have their bodies react, just being in close proximity was enough. The kiss had taught her body the primary exposure creating a sort of antigenic effect like an immune system responding to a virus. Now her body would be tuned to the presence of Skins. She was now a danger to them. She was an early alert.

“Hey, don’t worry. It’s not contagious. I use to get these when I was a child. Amazing thing is that I thought I had outgrown it.”

“You know Maria? I think I need to skip ordering. I just remembered something I need to do.”

“Well, I just wanted to tell you that I had a wonderful evening, except for the allergy thing.” Maria said smiling and her eyes sparkling.