Loving the Enemy

 

Author: April

Disclaimer: I sadly own nada.{SOB} Characters are not mine, unless they are not from Roswell. Songs are Bif Naked-"Lucky", Linkin Park-"Papercut", Save Ferris-"Let Me In", Celine Dion-"Us", Limp Bizkit-"My Way", Bif Naked-"Vampire", and Mandy Moore- "I Wanna Be With You".

Summary: AU fic. Maria DeLuca is not who she appears to be. She is a skin, the enemy of the Royal Four, a group of aliens who lived on the same planet as the skins in their past life. When Maria is forced to work against Michael Guerin, one of the alien hybrids, she becomes caught in the cross-fire. Will she choose to stand by her species and the only friends she has ever known, or will she sacrifice everything that is dear to her, including her life, to protect the man she has fallen in love with?

Category: Michael and Maria

Rating: PG-13

Author’s Note: This was written in response to a challenge. The challenge rules were as follows:

1) Must be AU

2) Must have a rating higher than G

3) Must be M+M ( And Michael must have spiky hair!!)

4) Maria must be a skin who is working against Michael

5) Maria and Vanessa Whitaker must be good friends

6) Nicholas must have feelings for Maria, but he must not be in love with her

7) Maria must sing in a club at some point

8) Michael and Maria must dance in a club at some point

9) Maria must dream of Antar and Michael

10) Maria and Michael must go to a football game

11) Has to have plenty of romance and angst!!

This fic kind of distorts the episodes of season two a little, for obvious reasons. Please, bear with me. I would love feedback, but only kind words, please. I am very fragile. LOL. This is my first fic, but don’t let that stop you from reading it. Read it!! PLEASE!! And tell me what you think.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

PART 1: DESIRE AND FIRE

The Skins had a camp outside of Roswell, New Mexico, right in the middle of the desert. It was a scary place to be---if you were a human. It was basically like a mobile army surgical unit. There were tents scattered all around in a circle and a big tent in the center for all of the gatherings that were held periodically. Sort of like the meeting hall or something.

It was dusty and dirty. They all wanted to go back to Copper Summit, Arizona, or, better yet, home. To Antar.

Maria DeLuca hated it there. She had been given the nicest tent thanks to Nicholas, but she still didn’t like it. It was too crowded. Too suffocating.

Whenever she brought up the issue to Nicholas, he would tell her to tough it out. He always told her that they were not going to leave until their mission was done.

Nicholas was the leader of the skins. He was trapped inside the body of a fourteen year old. That’s how his husk had been designed. But his knowledge far surpassed his structure. He was the one who made all of the plans, who decided who was going to do what and how and when they were going to do it.

Maria was lucky. Nicholas was in love with her—as much in love as a skin could be. She never got yelled at like the others did. She would get lectured, but when it was all over, he would hug her and kiss her and tell her that she was the best person—or skin, rather, that had ever walked this hideous planet.

Unlike the others, Maria did not remember Antar. It was vague, very hazy. But Nicholas and her friend, Vanessa Whitaker, would tell her stories about what it was like. They would tell her that it had been a marvelous place before the war broke out. That it had been beautiful. Gardens had been around every corner with tall sunflowers shooting up for the ground. And there was never a cloud in site. They told her that it was much better than this world. And that’s why they were going to go back. . .someday.

All they had to do was get rid of the Royal Four and take possession of the granalyth.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Everybody report to the meeting hall!" a voice from outside ordered. "Nicholas is calling a meeting."

"Oh, God, I swear, all we do is go to these stupid meetings anymore." Vanessa said, snapping one of her many clip-on earrings into place on her ear-lobe. "Nicholas never even gives us time to relax anymore."

Maria sighed. "I know. But I don’t think he wants us to relax."

"Yeah, I guess you’re right. We have to stay focused on the task. We have to get home."

Maria nodded in agreement, and once again, she wished that she could remember what her home-planet was like. What had she been like? Had she been in love?

"Vanessa, on Antar in our other life, was I. . ." she paused, feeling slightly embarrassed by asking the question out loud. "Was I in love?"

"No, you weren’t." Vanessa replied sadly. "But all of the guys were in love with you." She smirked, fastening the other earring onto her ear. "You ready to go?"

Maria nodded and got up from her bed. Actually, it couldn’t really be called a bed, because it wasn’t a bed at all. A bed was a place where you could retreat to at night when it was cold or where you could go to just hang out whenever you wanted to. What she had was not a bed. It was a cot.

When they entered the meeting hall, they found that it was already packed with the rest of the Skins. Nicholas was standing atop a platform in a dark leather jacket and black pants with a few boards behind him.

"Greetings, everyone." he said without expression. Nicholas was not one to put much enthusiasm into what he said unless it involved the Royal Four. "I’ve called you here today to discuss my new plan to capture the Royal Four. First off, our own Vanessa Whitaker killed Nasedo last night."

Everyone began to clap for Vanessa, and she blushed.

"But," Nicholas said, bringing the cheers and clapping to an abrupt stop. "Our job is not yet done. There is still a lot of work to do. We can only hope that Zan and the others will be weaker now that their protector is gone." He motioned for one of the skins to hand him a stick and they did. Then he used the stick to point to a few items on his boards. "This," he said, pointing to a picture of a good-looking boy with extremely dark hair and fairly large ears, "is Zan. Or Max as the humans like to call him. Max Evans. The main one we are after. The king. If you ever come in contact with him, you will address him as Max, not Zan. Understood?"

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"And this," Nicholas moved his pointer to a girl with short, curly blonde hair. "This is our Ava. She is Tess Harding to the humans. Watch out for her. She is very strong. She definitely has the best control out of her powers out of the four of them."

Maria shivered slightly as she stared at Tess’s picture. There was something about her that was frightening. Her eyes looked different than Max’s. There seemed to be a hint of evil in them somewhere.

"And this lovely creature is Isabel Evans. Or Valandra as we know her." Nicholas said, pointing to a beautiful girl that looked more like a super-model than an alien. Her hair was long and wavy. She was beautiful. Maria suspected that Nicholas had been in love with Isabel on Antar.

"Most of you will remember that Valandra betrayed her brother and ended her life and the lives of the ones she loved in our other life." Nicholas said. "We could use this to our advantage."

So Isabel was the Valandra that Vanessa had mentioned so many times.

"And finally," Nicholas moved his pointer over to another boy. His hair was a sandy brown, and it spiked up everywhere. It looked like he had gotten shocked. Maria had to force herself not to laugh at his appearance. To think he was once a warrior. Now he was a clueless teenager with no sense of style what-so-ever.

"This is who Rath has become. Michael Guerin." Nicholas said. "Perhaps the easiest target of the four according to our spies. He’s sort of the loose cannon of the group,—goes off and does things without consulting the others at all, let alone think about what he’s doing, and he still doesn’t have very good control over his powers. Another thing we could use to our advantage."

Maria took a minute to look over the four pictures tacked up to the bulletin board. They didn’t look like aliens at all. They looked so normal.

But of course, she thought, I’m an alien, too, and I look just as normal as they do.

"I have come up with a plan." Nicholas announced proudly. "Instead of attacking one of them like we usually do, we are going to attack all of them at once without them even knowing it. I will send one person after Max, one after Isabel, and so on. You will become friends with them. Learn as much about them as you can, and then report back to me. When I feel the time is right, we will kill them. As a group. So, you see, everyone will have some sort of part in this."

Maria thought it sounded like a good plan. Nicholas always came up with good plans. Too bad she wouldn’t be a big part of it. She wasn’t as experienced with her powers as the rest were, and she didn’t even remember her other life or the people in it.

"Vanessa, you are going to go after Isabel." Nicholas told her. "I figured that since you killed Nasedo, killing Isabel would be no problem.

Vanessa smiled happily and whispered to Maria, "This is going to be so great!"

Maria nodded. Yeah, it was going to be great for Vanessa. She was going to take part in killing Isabel Evans, the sister of the king.

"Roger, you will go after Tess for the simple reason that I think you can take her mind away from Max, if you know what I mean, and gain her trust that way." Nicholas continued. "Neil, you will be going after Max, our main target. The king. I chose you because you have served me well within the past few years, and I know that you will do a good job. And, for Mr. Electric-Socket-Hair over here," He pointed to Michael again. "Maria DeLuca."

"What?" she shrieked. She was Maria DeLuca. How could she go after one of the Royal Four when she didn’t even know who she used to be?

"That takes care of it." Nicholas said, ignoring her out-burst. "Go back and relax in your tents now. You’ll need the energy soon enough."

"Yes, we get to relax!" Vanessa shouted as she and the rest of the skins exited the meeting hall. When it was just her and Nicholas, Maria walked up to him and opened her mouth to protest that she was not the right person for such a job but he spoke first.

"Maria, you’ll do great." he said, brushing a loose strand of hair away from her face. She didn’t like the feel of the air around her when he was near her. It always seemed to be charged with static electricity, but she tried to ignore it.

"But why did you pick me?" she asked. "I don’t even remember anything about where we came from. I’m not right for such an important task. You should have picked. . ."

"Just shut up." Nicholas ordered. She couldn’t tell if he was serious or not. Nicholas was an unreadable person . . . alien . . . skin . . . whatever. She could never tell what he was thinking or what he was feeling or if he was even serious.

"I picked you because you’re a beautiful creature, and you’re bound to capture Michael’s attention. All you have to do is seduce him, Maria. Then you’ll get him to open up to you and tell you where the granalyth is, and we’ll be able to kill him. And then, we’ll go home."

"But isn’t he going to find it suspicious when I ask him where the granalyth is?" Maria protested. "Isn’t he going to realize that I’m a skin?"

Nicholas patted her on the shoulder. "You’ll find a way. Lie if you have to. I know you’re good at it."

Maria sighed. "Yes, sir."

"You don’t have to call me sir." Nicholas reminded her. He turned to walk away, but then turned back. "Just don’t think about it, Maria." he advised. "You’ll find it’ll be easy."

Maria nodded in agreement and watched Nicholas walk away.

God, she had never even kissed anybody except for Nicholas. How was she supposed to "seduce" Michael Guerin let alone get him to tell her where the granalyth was?

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"What are we gonna do without Nasedo, Max?" Michael Guerin knew that he was acting paranoid and panicked, but he was worried. And when he was worried, he freaked out like he was doing now. "I mean, he’s our protector."

Max was silent. The poor guy had been through a lot. Nasedo had died in his arms. And, to top it all off, he had told them that the Skins were among them now.

"We just have to stay calm and stick to our hide-in-plain-sight strategy." Isabel said, coming into the room with a cup of coffee for her brother.

"That’s gonna be easier said than done." Max said suddenly. "Whoever the Skins are, they don’t sound like nice people."

"That’s right." Michael agreed. "We’ve gotta watch out. That means no more using your powers in public, Isabel. Not even to change the color of your nail-polish."

"God, Michael, you make me sound like such a ditz!" she exclaimed. It wasn’t like Isabel to get angry over one of Michael’s little jokes. She had known him practically her whole life, and she was used to his teasing and playful banter—or at least he thought she was. Apparently not. Or maybe she was just a little on edge, too.

"We should tell Liz and Alex and VaLenti." Max suggested. "They need to know. They’re part of this, too. And Kyle . . ."

"I agree." Isabel jumped in. "I don’t want anything to happen to Alex. Or Liz and Kyle and VaLenti."

Michael groaned. He still believed that telling the humans the truth was a mistake. Now they had more people to worry about. If stupid Max hadn’t been in love with Liz and felt like he had to tell her the truth . . .

"Michael, are you still with us?" Isabel asked, waving a hand in front of his eyes.

"Yeah." he said. "I was just thinking about how much easier it might have been for us if Liz and Alex and all of them didn’t know."

Max had been staring at the floor until now. He looked up and glared at Michael. "Liz has helped us out a lot." he said. "Did you just forget that it was her idea to throw VaLenti off at the Crash Festival?"

"And Alex has helped, too." Isabel jumped in. "And so has VaLenti."

Michael sighed. "Whatever. I’m gonna go back to my apartment. I’ll see you later." He began towards the door, but Max stepped in front of him and stopped him. "Maybe I should go with you." he suggested.

"I’m a big boy, Maxwell." Michael snapped. "I may not be a king, but I can take care of myself." With that, he shoved past his friend and out the door. It was early morning now, but he still didn’t want the Evanses to see him sneaking through their house.

Outside, the sun shone directly in his face and made him squint. There were two little boys playing in a near-by sprinkler already, enjoying what was obviously going to be one of the hottest days of the year. It was still morning, and Michael already found himself sweating as he walked home to his apartment.

Why can’t I get them to understand? He wondered silently to himself. Why can’t I get them to see that we are all gonna die if we don’t do something fast?

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Nicholas wasn’t old enough to drive—actually he didn’t appear old enough to drive—so Vanessa drove the rusty old Volkswagon they had found a few days ago abandoned in the middle of the desert to West Roswell High. Nicholas sat in the back while Maria sat in the passenger seat.

The school looked fairly nice. Nothing really special. It wasn’t huge, but it wasn’t a tiny shack, either.

"Here you are." Nicholas announced over the rock music that Maria had turned on. "West Roswell High."

Maria tilted her head to look at it better. She wasn’t going to ask how Nicholas had managed to get her into this school. She had never been to school in her life. She had no background at all.

"Have a fun time." Vanessa said in a mothering sort of tone.

Maria smiled and slapped her on the shoulder. "Shut up. It’s not like I wanna be here."

"Yes, you do!" Nicholas almost shouted. "You want to go home, right? You want to go back to Antar?"

Maria nodded and got out of the car. This was no fair. Vanessa got to pose as the Congresswoman of Roswell. She got to go to school.

The car sped away quickly. Nicholas did not want to be seen by anyone, especially one of the Royal Four just in case they recognized him from their other life.

As he drove away, Maria felt him enter her mind. That was what was scary about Nicholas. He could enter your mind and basically take all of your memories from you. When it did, it felt like he was frying your brain on a skillet.

Don’t mess up, Maria. I’m warning you.

Maria gripped her head in pain. "Thanks for the support." she mumbled. That was the thing about Nicholas. He could be very supportive of you, but then, the next minute, he would be threatening you. He had most likely sensed that she was worried and scared about what she was doing.

Maria adjusted the backpack on her shoulder and tried to blend in with the crowd, while, at the same time, looking for the Royal Four—more specifically, Michael Guerin. She had only seen one picture of him, but she would never forget that hair. That CRAZY hair.

And then she saw him. He was leaning against a tree. Several other people were around him. They appeared to be having a conversation.

She noticed Tess, Isabel, and Max, too.

God, this was scary. She had never actually seen the Royal Four in this life. She had only heard stories about them. Now, she was watching them talk under the shade of a willow tree, escaping the heat of the day.

She had to do something. She had to get them to notice her.

Pushing past the other kids, she made her way over to the tree. She pretended that she was going to walk right past without a second thought, but she secretly dropped her book, right on Michael’s foot.

"Oh, I’m sorry!" she apologized.

"That’s okay." he told her, handing her the book. Their eyes met for a brief second, and Maria found herself turning red. She hoped he didn’t notice.

"Are you new around here?" Isabel asked from behind them, absentmindedly playing with a lock of her hair, which was curled today.

"Um, yeah." Maria said. "My name’s Maria."

Everyone greeted her politely telling her their names and shaking her hand except for Michael.

"This is Michael." Max said. "He’s not that social if you can tell."

Michael shot Max a warning glare and then turned to Maria. "I’m Michael." he told her, extending his hand to shake hers.

"So I’ve heard." She shook his hand and noticed that his skin was unusually soft for a guy.

Don’t go there, DeLuca. She told herself. You’re here on a mission. Besides, what did you expect? For him to have green scaly skin?

Suddenly the bell rang and everybody scattered in different directions. Isabel, Max, Tess, and the girl named Liz and the boy named Alex said good-bye to Maria, and Michael walked away without a word.

This was going to be easier said than done. Nicholas had said that Michael Guerin may be the easiest target of the group, but perhaps he was going to be the hardest. He was a stonewall. How was she supposed to get a stonewall to open up to her?

She would have to find a sledgehammer.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The school was a lot bigger than it appeared to be. There were so many winding hallways and so many stairs that Maria was getting very confused. She asked a few students for help, but they all ignored her. Even the teachers didn’t seem to have time for her.

She was wondering around the hallway aimlessly, getting very panicked because she was late for class—God, she really was turning into a normal teenager, wasn’t she?—when she saw Michael at his locker. The rest of the hallway was completely empty, so she figured that this would be a good opportunity to bond with him at least a little.

"Um, excuse me, Michael?" she said as she approached him.

"Yeah?" he said not looking at her.

"I, uh, I seem to be kinda lost. Do you think that you could help me find my way to my next class?"

He slammed his locker shut. "Sure." he said. His voice held no expression, no compassion, just like Nicholas’s did.

"I’m supposed to be in Ms. Hardy’s room right now." she said, pointing to her schedule. He was already walking. Fast. So fast that she almost had to run to catch up with him. "It’s 4^th period, right?"

"Yup." He practically ran up the stairs, his loud, thundering footsteps echoing in the hallway.

"I didn’t realize that this was such a big school." Maria continued to attempt conversation. "From the outside, it doesn’t look that big, but once you get inside, it’s just really big."

He was silent.

Stupid Stonewall, she thought bitterly.

"Um, I’m trying to make conversation here." she informed him. "And talking to you is as bad as talking to my mother when she has a hangover." She applauded herself mentally for thinking up such a good simile, even though she had never had a mother in this life.

He turned around to face her. "I’m not that interested in school." he said. "So I don’t like to talk about it. Sorry."

"Oh. Well, what are you interested in?"

"Why do you wanna know?" he asked, turning around and continuing his path down the hallway with Maria following close at his heels.

"Because I’m new here and I wanna make some friends." she replied.

"I’m not the friend type."

"Yeah, I can see that."

Michael stopped in his tracks at a door labeled "Ms. Hardy". "Here you go." he said.

"Thank you." she walked inside and tried to ignore the stares that everybody was giving her. Even the teacher.

"And who do we have here?" The woman who appeared to be Ms. Hardy asked.

"Maria." she said, trying to sound sweet and innocent. "I got a little lost."

"Nice to meet you." Ms. Hardy said, extending her hand. Hand shaking seemed to be a popular greeting here in Roswell.

After shaking her new teacher’s hand, Maria sat down where Ms. Hardy instructed her to sit in. She looked around at her classmates as the teacher rambled on about nuclear fission.

She felt so alone. Besides the fact that she was a Skin, she just didn’t belong here. Not with these kind of people. She had never ever been to school in her life. She didn’t even know what division was. How was she supposed to take part in 11^th grade science?

More importantly, how was she ever supposed to get that jerk to open up to her and tell her where the granalyth was located? It was an impossible task.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The cookies needed tabasco sauce. They just weren’t perfect without it.

Michael hit the bottom of the bottle to get the spicy sauce out and onto his chocolate chip cookies that the school was serving that day. Once they were coated, he bit into it and let the taste fill his mouth. Sweet and spicy. The combination was so addicting.

"Michael, that is so disgusting." Liz said from across the table. She grimaced when he took another bite out of it.

"Yeah." Alex agreed.

 

"Really, Michael, why do you have to do that?" Isabel asked. "In front of Liz and Alex, I mean. You know they don’t have the same tastes we do."

"Too bad. You’re just gonna have to live with it." Michael snapped. He was so sick of getting picked on for the most insignificant reasons. So what? He was eating tabasco on cookies. It was what he liked. And the United States of America was a free country. He could do what he wanted, when he wanted, and how he wanted whenever he wanted, regardless of what other people around him thought or said.

They ate in silence for the longest time. None of them had really spoken to each other the entire day about anything important or worthy of hearing about. So, Michael decided to break the silence. "What are we gonna do?" he asked after swallowing his concoction of cookie and tabasco. "About . . . you know." He didn’t want to say Nasedo’s name. Anybody could be listening.

Max shrugged. "I don’t know."

Michael sighed. He still couldn’t understand how his friend could shrug this off.

"Can it." Alex said suddenly. "That Maria girl is on her way over here as we speak."

Michael looked up and saw the blonde girl coming towards their table with her tray of food in her hands. "Hi." she said. "Can I sit with you guys?"

"Of course." Isabel said, scooting over a little so that Maria could sit down next to her. Typical Isabel. She always knew how to be friendly and polite at desperate times. If it had been Michael, he would have told her to go sit by herself.

"Thanks." Maria said. "Gee, starting new schools is always soooo hard." She emphasized the so.

"I know." Alex agreed, munching on a baby carrot. "I came to Roswell when I was in 1^st grade. Everyone treated me like I was some kind of disease. But then again, they still treat me like that, so . . ."

Maria giggled a little. "Oh, Alex, you’re so funny." she said. "All of you are really nice." She made eye contact with Michael when she said this.

Oh, God, is she thinking about how I helped her get to class again? He wondered. Who cares?

"It’s nice," Max said, "to be nice . . . to the nice."

Michael kicked him under the table. "It’s nice to be nice to the nice?" he whispered.

Max smiled. When Max got nervous, he smiled and said really stupid things.

"So, Maria, where did you go to school before Roswell?" Liz asked.

"Um . . ." She paused for a second, then continued. "I’ve gone to a lot of schools actually. My family moves around a lot. My dad gets the best job offer, and then another one that’s even better comes up."

"Oh." Liz said.

"I don’t really get an opportunity to make a lot of friends." Maria said, staring directly at Michael this time. "I don’t get to know many people, you know. It gets really lonely."

I can relate, Michael thought. He didn’t have anyone besides Max and Isabel. No family of this earth, and probably know family on his home planet, either. Max had Liz. Isabel had Alex. He had no one. Absolutely no one.

"I’m gonna go." Michael announced, standing up before he could think anymore pathetic thoughts. ‘I’ll see you guys later." He walked as quickly away from the table as he could. He wanted to get away from his friends and their happy, merry lives. Okay, they weren’t always happy and merry. Sometimes they were running for their lives or battling the freakin’ FBI. But still . . . They had it better than he did.

There had to be something out their that was better for him. Better than Roswell. Better than his planet, wherever that was.

If only he could find out what it was.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

After lunch, Maria headed out to find a pay-phone. When she finally located one, she deposited two quarters into the little slot at the bottom and dialed Nicholas’s cell phone. He had told her to contact him if she needed to, and right now, she definitely needed to.

"Hello?" As always, his voice was flat.

"Nicholas, it’s me." Maria said quickly. "Look, I . . ."

"Is something wrong?" he interrupted her. "Have they discovered you."

"No, no." she told him. "But something is wrong. Look, Nicholas, I’m not the right person for this job. I just can’t do it. Michael’s just impossible to get to know. I’ve tried, I really have, but I just . . ."

"You’ve been there four hours." Nicholas reminded her, cutting her off again. "You haven’t gotten a chance to try, Maria. Now, I’m warning you, put some effort into this or we’re going to have to have a serious talk. And just might not love you anymore."

Maria sighed. She hated it when Nicholas would say that he loved her, because it never really seemed like he did. Was their race even capable of loving? She had never been in love, and apparently on their other planet, she hadn’t been in love, either.

"Maria? Do you understand?"

"Yes." she agreed reluctantly. "I understand. I’ll try harder." She hung up the phone and slumped against the wall. "Why do I have to do this?" she wondered aloud.

"Do what?"

She looked up, startled and surprised and saw Michael standing over her.

"Oh, uh, go to all of these schools." she lied. "It’s just so unfair."

Michael grunted. "You don’t know the first meaning of unfair." He turned and was about to walk off, but Maria stopped him, remembering what Nicholas had told her.

"Michael, why do you have to be such a jerk?" she asked. The words had come out of her mouth without her consent. She just had to ask.

"Why do you never shut up?" he inquired in return. "You’re always hanging around me, talking and talking and talking and talking some more." He never turned around to meet her gaze. He just stood with his back to her.

"I’m sorry." she said, even though she didn’t think she should have to apologize to him. "I just wanted . . ." What was the point? It was worthless. Talking to him, trying to get him to understand, was worthless. It’s not like he would take anything she said under consideration anyway. "Forget it." she said. Now it was her turn to turn and walk away.

"Hey!" It was also Michael’s turn to stop her.

She turned around and looked him in the eyes, challenging him. He took two steps towards her and leaned down to stare at her. He didn’t speak, as if he had forgotten what he had wanted to say to her all at once.

"Aren’t you going to talk?" she prompted him. "Because if you’re not, then I will. I just wanted to come to Roswell and meet some new people and do some new and exciting things."

"You don’t come to Roswell to do that." he told her coldly.

"And apparently, I shouldn’t try to befriend you, either, because you’ve just got to be this brooding, insensitive jerk who can’t even have a decent conversation with me!" Maria was yelling now. "And you know what? That doesn’t bother me, Michael! I don’t give a crap! Good-bye!"

Once again, she tried to spin around and walk off, looking all sexy and confident, but he grabbed her arm and stopped her. His touch sent flames up her body and she gasped. "Let go of me!" she said, slapping his arm with her free hand.

He didn’t say anything for the longest time. Instead, he just stared at her as if he was a plastic surgeon, examining the face of his patient. Then, he finally spoke. "I’m sorry."

She was so surprised to hear him speak again, let alone in the form of and apology, that she could help but let her mouth drop open. "I can’t believe you just said that." she managed to get out finally. "After my whole stupid speech about you being a jerk and all that, you go and apologize."

The hints of a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth, but he didn’t allow himself to actually grin. "Yeah, I know. Just don’t get too used to it." He let go of her arm and walked on down the hallway, not taking one glance back at her.

Maria smiled to herself. Maybe this would work out after all.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Maria flopped down on her cot the minute she got back to the Skin camp. She was so exhausted. She had had an extremely tiring day, and she was ready for a nap. Vanessa had just headed off to the office—she was posing as the congresswoman, and Liz Parker, whom Maria had met at school today, was working for her—and Maria was preparing for some serious sleep when Nicholas barged into her tent, eyes flaming and mouth set in a menacing grin.

"What are you doing back here already?" he spat exasperatedly.

"School’s done with until tomorrow." Maria reminded him. "This is what normal kids do."

Nicholas grunted. "You should be out with Michael, getting something to eat or studying for an upcoming test. Anything to get through to him, Maria."

She was getting fed up with Nicholas lecturing her. She had done everything that he had told her to do. "Nicholas, Michael Guerin is not going to be an easy target like you thought he was. In a way, he’s going to be the hardest of the four to get through to. He doesn’t open up to anyone. I’m trying my best. You’re just going to have to be patient like everyone else." It felt good to tell Nicholas off for once. It gave Maria a sense of strength and power that she really didn’t have.

Nicholas sat down at the foot of her cot and looked her in the eyes. "As much as I hate to admit it," he said, "You’re right. I’ll just wait. Take your time, but do it right, Maria. We can’t risk being discovered this early on in the project."

She nodded, but she had a question to ask as well. "Why did you pick me?"

"I already told you, Maria. You’re a beautiful girl. You’re sociable. You can get to him if you really try."

"But there’s other pretty girls around here." she protested. "Why not pick one of them. They would have more control over their powers, and they would remember Antar, and . . ."

"Maria," Nicholas pressed his icy cold index finger against her lips to silence her. "Just follow my instructions, and you should be fine." Suddenly, he bent down and kissed her on the lips. It had been a long time since he had kissed her, and Maria had not expected it. It felt so strange, so odd. There was absolutely no chemistry between them as far as Maria was concerned, but Nicholas obviously felt differently. He parted her lips with his own and slid his tongue into her mouth. She kissed him back only because she didn’t want to make him mad.

Finally, he broke away. "Good-bye." he said, still, with no expression at all. She did not return his farewell as she watched him walk out of the tent.

When he was gone, Maria got up and looked through her "closet". She and Vanessa had found two old boxes and modified them with their powers to look like closets. Vanessa’s had turned out better, of course.

I’m going to wear something sexy tomorrow, Maria decided. Something that will get Michael’s attention, but won’t violate the dress code. The school had a pretty strict dress code, and Maria didn’t feel like getting in trouble this early in the year.

She finally found what she was looking for. Spaghetti straps were not aloud, so she figured that she would wear a see-through blouse over it. It had butterflies on it, and it was a beautiful lavender color. Yes, it would look perfect over her white spaghetti strap along with a pair of hip-hugger jeans.

She would get Michael’s attention . . . one way or another.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Who was that girl? Who was that beautiful girl? That perfect vision standing at the entrance to West Roswell High.

Michael had just been sitting at a tree, talking to Max when he spotted her. She was wearing a striking outfit that fitted the curves of her body wonderfully. He could see her creamy shoulders underneath her see-through blouse. His fingers itched with the desire to run across that skin . . . down, down to her hands . . . farther down, down to wrap around her stomach . . . up, up . . .

Okay, he was going to far.

"Max, who is that?" Michael asked, interrupting his friend in one of his Liz Parker talks. He pointed to the girl, the beautiful girl.

Max squinted against the sunlight. "That’s that new girl Maria." he said finally.

"Oh." Michael tried, but he could not take his eyes off of her. How come he had never really looked at her before this? How come he had never really seen her in this light until now?

Suddenly, she turned and their eyes met. Even from far away, he could see that hers were sparkling green. His heart began to beat faster as she made her way through the crowd over to him and Max.

"Hi." she said, mainly to Michael. She smiled at him and he felt as if he might melt down to the ground, not only from the heat outside, but because of her presence next to him. He thought about telling her that she looked nice, but then decided that it would look too obvious.

"Hi." Max returned her greeting, unlike Michael, who just sat there by the tree, dumbfounded.

"Do you think that I’ll get in trouble for wearing this to school?" she asked, pointing towards her outfit. "Is it gonna be, like, against their stupid dress code or something?"

"No!" Michael almost shouted. "They, uh, they won’t care about that." He tried to cover up his outburst, but she saw right through him.

"Thank you, Michael." she said. "I take it you think that I should indeed wear this today."

He could feel a blush creeping up in his cheeks. "I . . . I . . . it’s up to you." he said. "But, the school probably won’t care."

She smiled once again. "Okay. Well, bye." She turned and started to walk away, but then turned around and looked at Michael again. "Uh, Michael, can you come here for a minute?" she inquired, motioning for him to follow her.

He got up slowly, trying to look reluctant, but inside, he was growing more and more excited at the thought of walking with Maria.

He was being so stupid.

He followed Maria up the steps and into the building, through the hallways until they finally stopped at what appeared to be her locker. "What are you doing?" he asked her.

"Looking for something." she answered.

"What?"

"Nosy." She slammed her locker and pulled out a fake butterfly tattoo and a water bottle and two tissues. "I wanna put this on my shoulder,." she explained, "because it totally matches my outfit, but I can’t quite get it on right. I need you to help me."

"Why me?" he wanted to know.

"Just because out of everybody here, I know you best."

He shook his head. "You don’t know anything about me." he told her.

She cocked her head to the side and raised her eyebrows. "Not yet."

Whoa. What did that mean?

"Come on." she said. "Let’s go in here." She opened the door to the eraser room, the room that most students liked to go in to make-out. If only she knew what this looked like.

Michael followed her in there, taking just a minute to examine his surroundings. He had never actually seen the inside of the eraser room before. This was something new for him.

"You know how to do these things, right?" she said, bringing her hair to one side of her head and pulling down her see-through blouse.

"Yeah, I guess." he said. He tried not to think about all of the skin that was showing now that she had pulled down that blouse. He was nervous about touching her, even though it was just to apply a tattoo on her shoulder.

"Any day now." she pressed.

"Sorry." What was it about this girl that had him apologizing right and left? He didn’t apologize to anyone. He was Michael Guerin. Everyone was supposed to apologize to him, not the other way around.

After wetting down one of the tissues with the water bottle, he slowly pressed the tattoo onto her skin, making sure that his fingers came in contact with her shoulder as he did so. Then, he took the tissue and pressed it down on the tattoo. She tensed up a little when the cold water hit her, and he wished that he could hold her to warm her to the core. Just looking at her made all of the coldness vanish from him . . . inside and out.

He made sure to take a long time. He didn’t want this moment to end. This moment, where they were together in here, so close. Alone.

Finally, he peeled off the paper, revealing a small butterfly on her left shoulder. He leaned forward and blew on it so that it would dry. He had seen that in the movie A Walk To Remember—Isabel had made him watch it one time, and he had never forgotten it.

"Did it turn out okay?" she asked.

"Yeah," was the only word that he could get out. He reached down on the floor and picked up her blouse. Carefully, he slipped it on her arms and over her shoulders. The new tattoo matched perfectly.

She turned around slowly to face him, and gazed into his eyes. "Thank you." she said with a smile.

"No problem." No problem? It was more like, ‘Hey, I can put another one on, too, and it doesn’t have to be on your shoulder this time’.

They were so close. He could feel the heat emanating from her body. Her lips were gently parted, and he was thinking about kissing her. He had never kissed a girl before, for obvious reasons. He didn’t want to get attached to anything or anyone. If he ever found a way home . . .

She closed her eyes and began to lean in when . . .

The school janitor walked in the eraser room suddenly and spotted them. "Hey, you kids get out of here." he ordered. "This room is for staff only."

Maria took one last look at him and then practically ran out of the room with a huge smile on her face.

Was it possible that she was feeling the same way about him that he was about her?

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Ahh, Mr. Guerin, nice of you to actually join us today." Ms. Hardy said when Michael walked into the classroom that day. "Go ahead and take a seat next to Maria."

Was it fate that Ms. Hardy told Michael to sit by her? Whatever it was, it was going to help Maria’s plan.

Maria didn’t talk to Michael. She just sat there, pretending to listen to what Ms. Hardy had to say. School was truly a boring and dull place. She had only been there for two days, but she already knew why humans complained about it so much.

Michael wasn’t even pretending to listen. He made it clear that he was not interested in hearing about what Ms. Hardy had to say. He just sat there, looking around the room and crumpling up pieces of paper to throw in the near-by trash can. Maria had to smile as she watched him aiming and then shooting . . . and usually missing.

"Michael, I would appreciate it if you didn’t make so much noise while you’re not listening to me." Ms. Hardy said. Her eyes were glued on the blackboard as she drew the periodic table with chalk.

The class began to laugh a little.

Maria couldn’t hold in her own laughter. These were the good parts of school. The parts where you could just laugh and be happy. The parts that the teachers liked to tell you about. The parts that didn’t happen very often.

Finally, after Ms. Hardy had finished her drawing, she turned her attention back to the class. "We’re going to start a new project today . . ."

The class groaned.

"But you’ll have partners." Ms. Hardy told them, putting their groaning and moaning to a stop. Apparently partners made it a lot easier. "I’m going to give you and your partner, whom you are sitting next to, an element on the periodic table to research."

Whom you are sitting next to, Maria thought happily. I’m sitting next to Michael! God, this really is fate!

Ms. Hardy began to tell the tables what element they were going to have as Michael glanced over at Maria. "You good in science?" he asked her.

If only he had known that she had never been to school, let alone researched a friggin’ element on the stupid periodic table before. She had never looked in a microscope before. She had never written a paper before. She had never even opened a text book before.

She shook her head. "Not really." she replied. What an understatement!

Michael sighed. "Then I say we’ve flunked. Too bad."

His lack of interest in the project struck Maria as funny for some reason. Stonewall Guerin didn’t care if he failed this project or not.

But why should he care? He was an alien from the planet Antar. He had bigger things to worry about.

"Michael, Maria," Mis. Hardy stopped at their table. "You have sodium. Is that alright with you?"

"No." Michael said. "I don’t wanna do this stupid project at all."

Ms. Hardy stared at him coldly. "Then I suggest you go back to preschool." she said. "There you can sleep and eat all day."

"Sounds good to me." he said as the teacher walked away.

Maria smiled. She liked Michael. She really did. He was funny . . . in his own special way, and he was a nice person to be around . . . sometimes. True, he was moody and a bit of a jerk, but something about him was strangely . . .

Attractive.

She wished she didn’t have to use him. But she needed to find the granalyth. Not only for herself, but for Nicholas and Vanessa and all of the other skins that wanted to get back to Antar.

But once they figured out where the granalyth was, they wouldn’t be needing Michael anymore. Or any of the other Royal Four, either. They would be killed.

Maria shoved a piece of hair away from her eyes and concentrated on her new science project. She flipped through the book a little too eagerly. To anyone sitting near by, it was clear that she was not really reading it at all.

"This blows pop cans." Michael complained quietly.

Maria stopped turning pages and turned to look at him. She smiled and then began to laugh again. This time, louder. Very audible, in fact. The other kids turned and stared at her, wondering what could be so funny. Michael stared at her like she was a crazy person from the asylum or something. "What?" he asked. "What’s so funny."

Maria shrugged. "I don’t know." she said. "It’s just, at my, um, house, we don’t really make a lot of jokes or anything, so when you said, ‘This blows pop cans’, . . . I don’t know. I guess I just thought that it was funny." She continued to laugh, despite her growing embarrassment.

Michael shook his head. "You’re strange, DeLuca, you know that?"

She nodded and continued to flip through the book, still not caring about what was written on the pages. God, it felt so good to laugh. Even though what Michael said was not really that funny, it had made her laugh hysterically, because she never laughed back at the skin camp. Vanessa was her best friend, and they definitely had good times together, but when she told jokes, they were usually about Antar, and Maria didn’t understand them at all. And when she was with Nicholas, he never made jokes.

She knew she looked like a freak show, but she didn’t care.

Michael sat around while the rest of the class worked, still doing nothing, and Maria decided to do something to attract his attention. She had worn a deadly short skirt today that Vanessa had loaned her, so she dropped her pencil on the floor on purpose, trying to make it look like it had been an accident. (She knew it was the oldest trick in the book, but she did it anyway. Oldies were goodies.) She seductively and slowly bent down to retrieve the object, making sure that Michael was watching and that he got a good view of the skin that she was now exposing. Making brief eye-contact with him on her way up, she smiled.

She could feel him watching her even when she returned to the book. She could sense his eyes lingering on her legs and chest, and she through her hair back over her shoulders in a flirtatious move. She fought hard to keep the blush from rising in her cheeks.

There was something about his gaze. It was addicting, like a drug. She wanted him to watch her more, so she did everything in her power to keep him interested. She stood up and stretched her arms above her head, exposing a patch of naked stomach as she did so. She crossed her legs in front of her. She continued to drop things on the ground. She did everything that popped into her mind. She just wanted him to watch her. Needed him to watch her.

"You should probably get together with your partner tonight and finish this up." Ms. Hardy said as the bell rang and students began to scatter to lunch. "Especially you two." She pointed to Michael and Maria. "You didn’t get anything done today."

Michael let out a huge sigh. "This is crap." he muttered.

"Well, I’m not about to fail because you didn’t want to help me on this." Maria told him sternly. "I’ll meet you tonight."

"Fine. Whatever." Michael agreed. He didn’t seem as reluctant as she thought he normally would have, and she hoped it was because of her little show. "Where do you live?"

She froze. Where did she LIVE?

The answer was right in her head. She lived in an alien army camp outside of Roswell. She slept on a cot and kept her clothes in box.

"Um . . ." she stuttered. "I, um . . . uh . . . We better meet at your place. My house is really messy right now since we just moved in." She mentally applauded herself on improving her lying abilities.

Michael rubbed his forehead. "You really don’t wanna come to my apartment." he said.

"Yes, I do!" she almost shouted.

He grunted. "Fine. But it’s awful." He took a piece of paper out of his pocket and scribbled down his address. "Come on by whenever you’re ready, but not any later than 7:00. The Spurs are on tonight."

Maria flashed him a smile and took the paper, although she hadn’t the slightest clue who the Spurs were. Probably a sports team. All guys liked sports, right? Even aliens.

"I’ll come by before that." she promised him. "See ya."

"Yeah."

Maria walked out of the room, making sure to swing her hips as she did so. And even though she did not have eyes in the back of her head, she could feel Michael Guerin staring at her again.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

Maybe this was just too much.

Michael had been cleaning up his apartment ever since he got home from school. In fact, he had left early, just to make sure that things would be perfect when Maria came by. But now, he could see that he was over-doing it. The place was just too clean, not only for him, but for a guy in general. And it smelled like . . . flowers. He shook his head disapprovingly. Isabel had given him some air freshener once, but she had not warned him that it would make his place smell like the home of a little fairy.

Worst of all was the music. He had put on music. Romantic music. He was way too obvious.

He knew that it would be in his best interest to shut the music off, but he didn’t. He didn’t want to, because it just seemed so perfect, so right.

"It was a Monday when

my lover told me

‘Never pay the reaper with love only’

What could I say to you

except ‘I love you’

And ‘I’d give my life for yours.’?"

Michael sat down on the couch and closed his eyes, imagining Maria’s smiling face and bright green eyes. God, she was so beautiful.

"I know . . . we are . . . we are the lucky ones.

I know . . . we are . . . we are the lucky ones.

I know . . . we are . . . we are the lucky ones, dear."

Perhaps he was luckier than he thought he was. Perhaps just getting to know this beautiful girl a little bit was the best thing that would ever happen to him. Perhaps he had a lot more than he knew he did. Perhaps she was meant for him.

"The first time we made love

I wasn’t sober

And you told me you loved me

over and over

How could I ever love another

When I miss you every day?"

He missed her now, even though he had only been apart from her for a few hours. He missed seeing her face and hearing her voice and watching her body move in perfect, flawless, effortless motions like he had done in class earlier that day.

"Remember the time we

made love in the roses?

And you took my picture

in all sorts of poses

How could I ever get over you

When I’d give my life for yours?"

Images of himself and Maria kissing in a garden of roses flashed through his mind, even though he knew he shouldn’t be thinking such thoughts.

"I know . . . we are . . . we are the lucky ones.

I know . . . we are . . . we are the lucky ones

I know . . . we are . . . we are the lucky ones

I know . . . we are . . . we are the lucky ones, dear."

A loud knock sounded on the door and Michael jumped a little bit, quickly switching the music to a rock/rap song. He grabbed the remote from the counter and flicked the TV on before running to the door with the remote still in his hand. (He had thought this out a lot.) Trying not to look too eager, he opened up the door and came face to face with her.

She looked beautiful.

She looked sexy.

She looked desirable.

God, why had she worn that? She had on a dangerously short skirt again, and a top that tied just above her belly-button. She almost had nothing on, and that was both a good thing and a bad thing.

"I’m here." she said with a smile.

"Yeah, I can see that." he said, opening the door for her to come in. Her arm brushed his as she entered, and he had to hold back a moan. God, here he was, getting all excited because a girl, who just happened to be beautiful and wearing hardly anything and who had just entered his apartment, had touched his arm.

"This place is nice." Maria commented, looking around a little bit. "I thought you said it was awful."

"It is." he said, waving his hands around in the air. "Compared to your house, it’s probably a dump."

She shook her head and turned around to face him, looking a little tense. "My house is really trashy." she said. "I hate it, because I feel like I’m not supposed to be there. Like there’s something else out there for me. Something bigger. Something better, you know?"

He nodded, just slightly dazed at how much she was like him. If only she knew that there was an entirely different planet, an entirely different life out there for him!

They sat down on his couch and worked for awhile. Michael even tried to help her at first, but he found himself getting distracted. By everything. Everything that involved her, that is.

"Michael, are you going to help me or not?" she finally asked, running out of patience.

He sighed. "I just don’t like doing this." he said. "Like I said, it blows pop cans."

She smiled, and her smile seemed to brighten up the whole room from the ceiling to the floor.

"I know." she agreed. "Let’s watch some TV." Reaching down on the floor, she found the remote and seized it, flipping on the TV and channel surfing once she figured out what buttons did what.

He liked the fact that she was so relaxed in his house, but he knew that if he didn’t say something, it would be unnatural.

"Hey, what makes you think that you can just come barging into my house and take control of my TV?" he spat, regardless of the smile forming on his lips.

Without taking her eyes off of the screen, she replied, "Only the fact that you could never get this remote control away from me if you tried."

Michael’s smile was replaced by a smirk, and he could no longer resist the urge to touch her. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders and pulled her down on top of him, surprising her a little. She released a little squeak and then began to laugh.

He took a hold of her hands and tried to pry them open to get the remote out, although he could care less about the damn remote. He just wanted to touch her. But she refused to give up. She held on tightly, kicking at him with her tiny feet and trying her best to elbow him in his gut, laughing all the while.

He laughed, too. He never laughed. Ever.

Finally, she elbowed him in his gut and bolted free of his grasp. "Ha, ha, ha." she laughed.

He shook his head and jumped up. He began to run after her as she took off down the hallway. She ran straight into his bedroom.

"Ooh, I’ve got you cornered now." he teased. He grabbed for her, but she moved out of the way just in time and he landed face down on his bed.

She laughed. "Look who’s eating bed-sheets!" she exclaimed.

He rolled around quickly and looped one arm around her waist, pulling her down on top of him. She began to laugh hysterically. "Look who’s eating t-shirts." he mimicked. She laughed harder and began to hit him in the shoulder with the remote.

"Hey, hey, that hurts." he said.

"Oh, I’m sorry." she stopped abruptly and replaced the remote control with her delicate fingers, rubbing his now aching shoulder gently. "Better?" she asked.

"Much." He reached up and placed a loose strand of silky, blonde hair behind her ear. She blushed.

"That was fun." she admitted.

"Yeah." he agreed. "It was." He found himself speaking in a dazed sort of way again as he watched her lips move.

"Michael," she whispered, as if sensing that something was about to happen.

"Shhhh," He pressed his index finger to her lips to silence her. She closed her eyes and sighed.

They leaned in slowly and tenderly, as if the air was breakable like glass, until their lips were finally pressed together. Michael felt like he was crushing Maria’s lips with his own—that’s how hard he was kissing her—but he didn’t stop. He couldn’t. And Maria didn’t seem to object. She kissed back with just a much force and hunger parting her lips so that Michael’s tongue could explore her mouth.

One kiss intensified, and Maria cupped Michael’s face in her hands. He held her waist with his hands and rubbed tiny circles on her very bare skin with his thumbs. She felt so good. He needed more. He wanted more.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

It felt as if fireworks were going off inside of her, exploding, bursting, sending the bits and pieces of her body scattering in all directions. She wasn’t even sure if she was really there anymore. She felt like she was as thin as the air.

Yet, she also felt like she was on fire.

She had never experienced kisses like this with Nicholas before. When he kissed her, it was sort of vulgar and a bit repulsive, but with Michael . . . everything was different. She wanted him to kiss her until her lips broke from the force and pressure beneath his.

And she wasn’t supposed to want that. Not really.

But she did. She felt his hands snake up into her hair and found her own hands cupping his face, begging for more.

When his body shifted beneath hers, she would move with him in perfect synchrony, afraid to be apart from him, even if it was only be inches of air. She didn’t breathe, because she did not want to take her lips away from his. She ignored what her brain was telling her and listened only to her heart.

But finally, he pulled away and stared into her eyes. She licked her lips and leaned in a little, but he made no effort to join her.

"What?" she asked finally.

He smiled. "I’ve never kissed anybody before." he finally replied.

Maria couldn’t believe that. He was such a great kisser! He knew just what to do and when to do it! Nicholas had been kissing girls for over two lifetimes and he still wasn’t that good.

Nicholas. The project. The granalyth. Antar.

Michael.

Whatever they had wasn’t real, and it never would be. It never could be. Because they were enemies. And she could not get attached to him. Not when she knew he would be dead as soon as Nicholas and the others found out where the granalyth was.

"I have to go." she blurted, wrenching her body apart from his. The cool air hit her like one thousand ice-cubes being launched at her at full force. She already missed him beneath her.

"Wait, Maria . . ." He began to stop her, standing up and placing his hand on her shoulder.

"No, no." she said, shaking her head and running into the living room to grab her coat. She just had to keep telling herself that. No, no, no, no.

"Maria, you can’t just do something like that and then run away!" he shouted from the hallway.

Maria turned to meet his gaze again and felt tears sting her eyes. "Yes, I can." she said decidedly. And with that, she spun around and walked out the door, making sure that she did not cry until she was far out of earshot.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The sun was setting when she got back to camp, and the sky was blanketed in colors ranging from blue to yellow, white to red. It cast an otherworldly glow on the camp, and she was once again reminded of what her mission was.

Why had she kissed him?

Correction: Why had they kissed each other?

Opening the door to her tent, she found Vanessa sitting on her cot reading a magazine titled YM.

"Maria, you’re back! Finally!"she chirped excitedly. "Oh, my God, you will never guess how many magazines Pamida has! And they’re good magazines, too. Better than the ones Nicholas gets us. Did you know that Freddie Prince Jr. and Sarah Michelle Gellar are . . ."

"Getting married." Maria cut in. "I know. When you’re in school, you hear a lot."

Vanessa smiled. "How is West Roswell High, anyway?" she asked.

Maria froze and hoped that it was not too obvious to Vanessa. "It’s bigger than it looks." she said. "I don’t agree with all of their teaching methods. I mean, they go way fast. Especially for a person like me who’s never been in school before, let alone done the work of juniors in high school. Of course, nobody knows about that, so they can’t take any extra time for me, which really sucks, because I’m always finding myself asking Jerry Daniels for the answers, ‘cause he’s, like, a real computer geek, so he’s really smart, but he’s so disgusting. He picks his nose when he thinks nobody’s watching, and he . . ."

"Maria, girl, slow down. You’re rambling. I’d love to hear about your day, but in more than one sentence, please." Vanessa interrupted.

Maria sighed. "Sorry." she said, plopping down on her cot and slipping off her shoes. Her mind began to drift back to Michael and that kiss. That beautiful, wonderful kiss. That kiss that had embarked more passion from inside of her than a million kisses from Nicholas could ever do.

"Maria, what’s wrong?"

Maria looked up, disrupted from her thoughts. "Nothing’s wrong." she lied a little too quickly. "Why would anything be wrong?"

"Well, you haven’t given me a report on Michael today yet."

Maria glared at her friend. "And since when do I have to report to you?" she snapped.

Vanessa looked hurt. "Sorry." she said quietly.

Feeling bad, Maria apologized. "No, it’s okay. I should be the one who’s sorry. I didn’t mean to snap at you."

"Apology accepted."

Maria smiled. Vanessa was so easy to get along with. That was one of the reasons that she was Maria’s best and—let’s be real here—only friend.

"You wanna know what’s wrong?" Maria said finally.

"Yes!" Vanessa almost shouted.

Maria looked around the tent, checking to make sure that nobody else would be able to hear her. "Okay," she whispered. "You have to promise that you will not tell anyone. Especially Nicholas."

Vanessa nodded in agreement.

Maria closed her eyes and spilled. "Michael Guerin and I kissed today."

"Ohhhhh!!!" Vanessa shrieked. "You kissed Rath?"

"Michael." Maria corrected. She didn’t care what his name was in his past life. She would always know him as Michael. Michael Guerin. The sexy a**hole with the differently styled but appropriate hair. The hair that was actually very soft and silky, despite it’s ungroomed appearance. Michael Guerin, the guy with the hands that were actually not calloused like she imagined they would be, but soft and smooth. The hands that could map and trace her body all they wanted to.

"Anyway," She broke herself away from her thoughts to continue talking. "The guy knows how to kiss. And I guess it was his first kiss, too, which totally blew me away, ‘cause it was awesome."

Vanessa smirked. "So, what happened next?" Vanessa asked. "Did you two make woo?"

Normally Maria would have laughed, but on this particular evening, she didn’t. Maybe she didn’t because they might have actually "woo"ed if she hadn’t left when she did.

She shook her head. "No." she replied. "I left."

"You left?" Vanessa said in disbelief. "I thought you said it was awesome!"

"It was." Maria acknowledged. "But . . ." This was the part she was dreading on telling. "But the reason I left was because . . ." She paused. "Because I couldn’t stand to be around him anymore."

"Why not?" Vanessa continued with the questions.

"Because . . ." Another pause. There was no real way to explain this. "Because I’m getting too close to him. I know it sounds crazy, but . . ." Both girls were silent. Vanessa sat, twiddling her thumbs, leaning over to hear Maria talk, awaiting patiently.

"I don’t think I can kill him." There. It was out. Finally.

"What?" Another shriek, followed by another. "What?"

"I know that I barely know him at all, but still . . ."

"You won’t have to kill him." Vanessa told her assuringly. "All you have to do is get him to spill about the granalyth. Then, Nicholas and I and everybody else will do the killing."

"I just can’t be a part of it." Maria tried to elaborate. "I just can’t."

"Maria," Vanessa’s tone was serious and almost threatening. "You don’t have a choice." she said. "You’re going to have to kill him. Eventually."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

http://www.crashdown.com

Michael laid his head down on the arm of the couch and closed his eyes. He tried to drift off to a dreamy world where reality did not exist—even though the thought that he may dream about Maria did not occur to him–but he found that impossible. His head was just swimming right now. He pictured the kiss, that passionate kiss, over and over again in his mind like he was watching it in a movie theater.

Why had he kissed her? He didn’t even know her. And besides, he was a Stonewall. No attachments, no loose ends.

He let himself fall into the music that had ended up playing on the radio. Some rock song by Linkin Park. Listening to it, he realized that it was the perfect song for him.

"It’s like I’m paranoid

Lookin’ over my back

It’s like a whirlwind

Inside of my head

It’s like I can’t stop

what I’m hearing within

It’s like the face inside is

right beneath the skin."

Yeah, he was paranoid. Of everything. Of course, anyone would be when they were an alien being hunted by the FBI.

There was a whirlwind going on inside of his head right now, too. A whirlwind of thoughts, predictions, hopes.

And lastly, the face beneath his skin, the other side of him that didn’t want to pay attention to his stupid Stonewall exterior was sending him messages, telling him to do crazy things that Stonewall would never do.

"It’s like I’m paranoid

Lookin’ over my back

It’s like a whirlwind

Inside of my head

It’s like I can’t stop

what I’m hearing within

It’s like the face inside is

right beneath the skin."

Michael rubbed his forehead with his fingers, trying to ease the rising tension. He could feel a migraine coming on.

 

He found himself tired. So tired that he could not keep from escaping reality and entering his dream world.

He began dreaming the moment he fell asleep. He was walking all alone on a cloud. The wind rippled through his hair, making the spikes even spikier. He let them fly around. He didn’t care. All he cared about was the feeling he had that someone was there with him.

He peered into the fog in front of him, wondering if this was going to be a nightmare where the same person who killed Nasedo came to kill him, but then he realized that the setting was too beautiful and peaceful to be the scene of a nightmare.

"Michael,"

He heard his name and snapped around to see an angel standing behind him. A beautiful angel. A perfect angel. An angel that held the same face as Maria DeLuca.

"What are you doing here?" he asked frantically. "You shouldn’t be here."

"Relax, Michael." she told him, placing her hand on his shoulder. Was this really a dream? Her touch felt real. She felt real.

He wished it was real.

"You can’t be here." he warned her, still slightly afraid that something would happen. That this was all too perfect to last.

"Why not?" she asked, cocking her head to the side in a cute manner.

"Because . . ." He had no answer. He couldn’t tell her the truth, but he couldn’t lie to her. He had nothing to tell her.

"Michael," She said his name again. "Dance with me."

As if on cue, music began. The song filled the expanse of cloud that they stood on an Maria looped her arms around Michael’s neck, urging him to place his hands in the curve of her waist. He tried to tell her that he couldn’t dance—actually, he had never tried—but she was stubborn and told him that he was dancing with her or she was leaving. And that was enough to get Michael to do as she wished.

They swayed slowly, gazing into each other’s eyes, neither one asking any of the questions that they were wondering about.

"I’ve been watching you and all you do

For quite some time

Knowing all the ins and outs of you

Should of known what was on your mind.

But all the world is spinning round and round

Inside my head tonight

I will fall into the darkness

And I fear I will never see the light."

"You don’t know me." he finally had to tell her, breaking the comforting silence.

"You don’t know me, either." she replied, still gazing deep into his eyes as if trying to sense what he was trying to tell her. "Besides, what can be so bad that we can’t be together?"

He resisted the urge to laugh aloud. If only she knew!

"Well, why don’t you tell me." he said instead. "You’re the one who practically ran out of my apartment today."

She looked down at the cloud beneath her feet as if she were ashamed, and he immediately felt bad. "Hey," He lifted her chin with his thumb. "It’s okay. I’m sorry."

She shook her head. "No, I should be the one who’s sorry. It’s just that things are so complicated. My life. The people in it."

"That makes two of us." he muttered, trying to be quiet, but she heard.

"Yeah." she agreed, smiling slightly.

"So let me in!

All that I wanted from you

Was something you’d never do

So let me in

Oh, please, tonight

Don’t let this day end tonight

I fall."

They danced for the longest time, until the song’s end actually, and Maria’s head moved to rest on his shoulder. He let his hands slide up her back, rubbing her skin gently. She had on a dress that had a low-cut back, and he noticed her skin was cold, so he was hoping he could warm her up.

As the song neared it’s end, she looked up to meet his gaze with tears in her eyes.

"What is it?" he asked, placing his hand on her cheek.

"I have to leave." she said, her voice cracking a little. "But I don’t want to." She forced a smile which he found very cute.

"You don’t have to." he whispered.

She shook her head. "No, I do." she protested. "Good-bye, Michael." She leaned in and planted a soft kiss on Michael’s lips, and before he could kiss back, she pulled away and ran back to wherever it was she had came from, blending into a near-by cloud until she was nothing but a memory.

"It was all that I wanted from you

It was something you never knew

To let me in

But not tonight

For this is the end tonight

I fall."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

After knocking on his best friend’s door for over 30 seconds, Max Evans barged inside with Isabel right beside him. Since when did he knock anyway?

Probably since Michael got his queen-sized bed. Not that he’d ever use it for THAT purpose.

Max was immediately taken back by the sound of music that flooded his ears. It sounded like Save Ferris. Isabel listened to the band all of the time, but Michael never listened to this kind of music.

"Oh, my God, I love this song!" Isabel squealed excitedly, swinging her hips and bobbing her head in rhythm with the music.

Michael was standing by his CD player singing along, a look of stern concentration on his face as if he were remembering something important. He seemed unaware of the other two people that had just entered his apartment.

"Michael, since when do you listen to this kind of music?" Max asked. He still couldn’t believe that Michael was actually listening, let alone singing to this song, which he had once classified as "chick music".

Michael remained silent and his mouth continued to move along with the words.

"Michael . . ." Max repeated, trying to get some sort of a response from his friend.

Michael finally turned around. "Oh, hey, Max." he said before returning to the song.

"What, so I don’t get a greeting?" Isabel asked, feeling a little left out once again.

"Hey." Michael said. He closed his eyes and continued to lip-synch, bobbing his head from side to side like Isabel had just a few seconds before.

"Who are you and what have you done with Michael?" Isabel spat finally.

"Yeah." Max added. "The Michael Guerin I know doesn’t listen to Save Ferris." He walked over and switched the number on the CD player. "He listens to Toby Mac."

"Toby Mac is a friggin’ Christian Rock preacher!" Michael shouted, seeming annoyed that Max had changed his song. "I don’t know why you even put him on this CD, Isabel."

Isabel sighed and shook her head. "When I burned that CD, the purpose was to get you to listen to something besides Metallica." She sat down on the sorry excuse for a couch that sat behind the picnic table. "I guess it worked." She smirked and Michael glared at her.

"I just felt like listening to that song." he said, switching off the Christian Rock so that the apartment was silent. All three aliens stared at each other for a few seconds until Michael broke the silence.

"Are you guys gonna tell my why you decided to drop by or what?"

Max heaved in a deep sigh. He hated telling Michael things like this, because he always freaked out and did something stupid.

"I have a new boss." he announced.

Michael crossed his arms in front of his chest and leaned back against the wall. "What’s so great about that?" he asked.

"It’s just a little weird that Milton would give up everything he worked for, just like that." Isabel replied for him.

"Yeah." Max agreed. "The man was so set on finding out about the crash. About aliens." He dropped his gaze to the floor. "About us."

"So, what? He probably got a big money offer or something." Michael tried to explain.

"That’s not who Milton is." Max said. "I realize that I only worked for the guy for a few months, but I know what he’s like. He wouldn’t just . . ." He trailed off in mid-sentence and shook his head. "Besides, the new owner seems kinda strange."

"And we thought that you would wanna know with all of the strange happenings lately." Isabel put in.

"What strange things?" Michael seemed totally lost.

Max couldn’t believe that this was Michael. If Nasedo hadn’t been dead, he probably would have guessed it was the shape-shifter.

"Uh, Michael, Nasedo died a few days ago. Did you just forget?" Isabel seemed to be in as much shock as Max was. "What’s with you today?"

"Nothing." Michael answered, but it sounded like a lie. "I just didn’t sleep well last night."

Max knew Michael, and he knew the guy didn’t need a lot of sleep. Aliens, in general, didn’t need a lot of sleep. And Michael was usually up all night watching sports on his little TV that he had found at a rummage sale 6 months ago.

"We just thought you’d wanna know." Max repeated. He headed for the door with a wave of his hand and Isabel followed.

"What’s going on with him?" Isabel asked as they climbed into the Jeep outside.

Max shrugged.

"That just didn’t seem like the Michael we know. He seemed so, carefree. Not stressed. Almost happy."

Max laughed. "Yeah, maybe he’s got a girlfriend."

Isabel laughed as well. "Yeah, right, like that’s ever gonna happen."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Maria, Vanessa. How are things going with the project?"

Maria shielded her eyes as the bright morning light snapped her awake, along with the chilling sound of Nicholas’s voice.

"Good." Vanessa said eagerly. "Liz Parker is my new assistant."

Nicholas smiled. "Why, I’m impressed, Vanessa. The very Liz Parker that was shot by Max Evans! How’d you work that?"

Vanessa smiled mischievously. "Pulled a few strings."

Nicholas patted her on the back. "Nice job. Keep it up." he said. Turning to Maria, he glared. "And what about you?" he asked.

Maria glanced nervously from Vanessa to Nicholas, but then spoke, determined not to look too obvious. Nicholas could not know that she was having a hard time dealing with the fact that the Royal Four were going to be killed someday.

"Okay, I guess." she lied. "Michael’s my lab partner."

Nicholas shook his head. "Maria, Maria," He took a seat on the end of her cot. "You’re not going to find out where the granalyth is by being his lab partner."

Maria closed her eyes and flashed back to the kiss on his bed in his apartment the day before. She knew she should tell Nicholas about it, but she didn’t want to bring it up again.

"Well, we’re getting closer." she said. "Things like this can’t be rushed."

Vanessa stifled a laugh.

"I mean, Michael Guerin is so totally inapproachable. It’s proving to be really hard."

Nicholas rubbed his head in frustration. "Roger and Neil aren’t having very much luck with Max and Tess, either."

"Don’t get discouraged, Nicholas." Vanessa said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "This has got to work. I mean, we’ve got all four targets not even knowing who we are, the shape-shifter is

dead . . . We just have to take our time and not make any mistakes." She shot Maria a warning glare. "We’ll find the granalyth." she said. "And then we’ll kill the Royal Four."

Maria wrapped her blanket around herself and tried desperately not to picture Michael’s face in her mind.

"That’s right." Nicholas agreed. He stood up and headed out the door without another word.

When he was out of earshot, Vanessa sat down on her own cot and began to brush her hair. "Maria, do you realize what Nicholas would do to you if you betrayed him?" she asked.

"I’m not going to betray him." she promised. "I can kill Michael Guerin. I know I can." But as she said the words, she knew that they were all lies.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

She saw him sitting with Max, Isabel, Tess, Alex, and Liz under their usual tree the next day. Their eyes met for just a second, but she forced herself to turn away. She could not look into those eyes, knowing what she knew.

She tried to avoid him as much as she could that morning, and her strategy actually worked out pretty good. That is, until she had Ms. Hardy’s class with him. She walked in just slightly late because she had deliberately stopped to go to the bathroom so she did not have to spend any more time with him than necessary. But when she did walk in, the first face she saw was his, and all of the memories that they had together came rushing back to her.

They hadn’t known each other for that long, so they really didn’t have a ton of memories, but the few that they did have were very, very memorable.

Seeing Michael for the first time in person on her first day of school. Thinking of him as a Stonewall for the first time, and realizing that she would have to be the sledgehammer. Talking to him for the first time while he helped her find her way around the school. Standing in the eraser room in front of him with barely anything on. Him, pressing the butterfly tattoo to her skin and then blowing on it to make sure it was dry. (If only he knew how special that moment had secretly been to her.) Fighting over the remote at his apartment, and finally, lying on top of him on his bed, kissing him with all of the passion she had stored up inside of her.

She sat down, trying to be as unnoticeable as possible.

Michael kicked her foot under the lab table, but she pretended like she hadn’t noticed.

"Hey," he finally said. "Are you gonna talk to me or are you just going to ignore me for the rest of your life?"

She sighed, knowing that she would get nowhere with her current plan.

"It was just a kiss." Michael told her, but she could tell he thought of it as something more.

"No, it wasn’t just a kiss." she told him back, trying to keep her voice at a whisper. "Besides, you told me it was your first one, so . . ."

"What does that have to do with it?" he spat, his voice just a little above the desired decibel this time.

She shook her head. "You’re impossible, Michael, you know that?" she informed him.

"Ditto."

She could feel his leg rubbing against hers under the table, and she couldn’t help but wonder if it was by accident or on purpose.

And then, without think, she turned her body completely to face him and cupped his face in her hands, pulling him to her and crashing her lips onto his at full force. He kissed back without hesitation, wrapping his hands in her hair and sliding his tongue into her mouth. She welcomed it, not wanting to hold back for anything.

It didn’t matter that there were other students sitting both behind them, in front of them, and on either side of them, or that Ms. Hardy was sitting up by the blackboard, reading from the stupid science book, or that the smell of chemicals was drifting in the air, making it slightly hard to breathe, despite the passionate kissing. All that mattered was that she was kissing him and he was kissing her, and that she was touching him, and he was touching her. All that mattered was that she felt like this was right. That this was what was always meant to be.

"Michael! Maria!" They pulled back slightly when they heard Ms. Hardy’s voice ring out in the air and stared into each other’s eyes. Maria could hear the snickering from the rest of her classmates, but ignored them. She already missed the fire from Michael’s mouth, but she could still feel the desire in all parts of her body. Most of all, her heart.

"What are you doing?" Ms. Hardy shrieked.

"I don’t know." Maria murmured. She pulled completely away from Michael and gathered her books up in her arms.

"Maria, what are you doing now?" Ms. Hardy asked as she stood up.

Ignoring everything her teacher said, Maria ran past the students and out of the classroom, as far away from Michael Guerin as she could get.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Hey, did you hear about that Michael dude and that new girl?"

"Yeah. I heard they were totally heading into a make-out session in Ms. Hardy’s 4^th period."

Liz Parker leaned to her left so she could hear fragments of conversation spoken between two sophomores. That Michael dude? Were they talking about the Michael she knew? Impossible. Michael Guerin, making out with some new girl in science? He would never . . .

Unless the new girl was Maria. Liz had noticed the way Michael suddenly became red around her. Maria had sat down at their table at lunch again that day, and he had bolted at top speed. Was it just a coincidence?

But Michael . . .

"That girl is hot," one of the kids was saying. "Guerin is so lucky."

Yep. It was definitely the Michael she knew.

Liz smiled to herself. God, they made such a cute couple. She hoped Michael had finally found someone. She and Max had each other, though they were not exactly TOGETHER at the moment, and the same was true for Izzy and Alex. If Michael found someone who he had even the slightest of feelings for, he could become a whole new person . . . alien . . . whatever.

"Liz, have you seen Michael?" a familiar and somewhat unpleasant voice asked, approaching Liz at her locker.

Liz spun around and looked Tess Harding dead in the eye. She and Tess didn’t converse much, for the simple reason that they did not like each other at all. She had grown accustomed to pretending that she didn’t mind the girl while in front of the others, since she was their species, but since no one else was around now, she wasn’t going to pretend.

"Actually, no, Tess." she replied. "Why does it matter anyway?"

Tess ran her fingers through her hair. "Never mind, Liz." she snapped. "You wouldn’t understand."

Liz scrunched her eyebrows together. "What’s that supposed to mean?" she asked. "What’s so important that you actually had to come and ask me a question?"

Tess sighed. "You make it sound like I’m a bad person."

Liz shrugged, not voicing her opinion out loud, but only in her head. You took the words right out of my mouth, Tess.

"I just wanted to find Michael to ask him about this rumor flying around school." Tess said, trying to remain civil in front of the rest of the students.

"The rumor that he kissed Maria in science?" It wasn’t really a question, because Liz already believed it was true, but she phrased it like that anyway just so Tess wouldn’t feel so stupid.

"I don’t know who it is." Tess said, obviously a little exasperated. "I just wanna find him and ask him about it, that’s all."

Liz turned around and flapped her hair in Tess’s face. She busied herself with putting things in her locker while she spoke. "Well, I think he probably did. I mean, he and Maria are constantly giving each other these looks, and they seem to have been avoiding each other lately."

"What?" Tess shrieked. "How can you think that? You know Michael has a destiny!"

Liz slammed her locker shut at the word destiny. Stupid, stupid destiny.

"I know." she said. "A destiny just like Max."

Tess stuffed her hands in her pockets. "You’re just gonna have to face it, Liz." she said coldly. "You don’t belong with him and he doesn’t belong with you. Alex doesn’t belong with Isabel. And Maria doesn’t belong with Michael. Just give up."

Liz spun around on her heels and her hand made contact with Tess’s cheek in a hard and painful slap. Tess gripped her cheek in pain and growled deep in her throat. She then narrowed her eyes and stared directly at Liz for a very long time.

What is she doing? Liz wondered silently.

She looked ahead of her suddenly and saw an image of Max. Max and Tess. Together. Holding each other’s hands and kissing by the lockers. Tongue and everything. "I love you," she could hear him whisper. "I loved you in my past life. I love you in my present."

Liz felt tears sting her eyes and she tried to shake them away. She knew that what Tess was doing was only a mind-warp. Isabel had explained her power to her many times before, but she had never actually been put under one. She had never imagined that it would feel this real. That it would feel this painful.

And then, the image was gone, just as quickly as it had appeared.

"It’s only a matter of time," Tess said. "Before Max wakes up and realizes who his true destiny is." She stalked off with her head held high and her hair swaying in long curls behind her.

Liz made sure she was clearly out of sight before she ran around the corner and into the bathroom to cry.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

She couldn’t do this anymore.

Maria wet down a paper towel and rubbed it over her face. She had to get out of this crazy plot right now. She would tell Nicholas that she was not the right person for the job. She would tell him that Michael was getting too close to discovering her true identity. She would lie if she had to. Anything to get out of this.

But being a skin was like being a member of a gang. Once you got in, you didn’t get out.

Maybe she just wasn’t strong enough for this. Or maybe she just didn’t have the heart to lead him on like this so that he could be killed.

Or maybe she just didn’t want to face the fact that she was falling in love with him.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

He could sense her walking down the hall. Once he did, he peered through the glass to see her walking, balancing her books precariously on top of one another, looking at the ground as if she didn’t want anybody to see the expression on her face.

When the time was right, he reached out and grabbed her arm, pulling her into the room with him, taking her by surprise.

"God, Michael, you scared me." she gasped, holding a trembling hand to her chest.

"I’m sorry." he apologized. "I didn’t mean to. I just need to talk to you."

She shook her head. "No, you don’t, Michael." Her hand reached for the door knob, but he grabbed her wrist just as she was about to open it.

"This is the second time we’ve kissed now, Maria." he said. "And this is the second time you’ve run away."

She stared at him with watery eyes. "I can’t talk about this right now." she said. "I have to go."

Michael held onto her tightly, determined not to let her go this time. "You can’t keep running." he told her sternly. "Trust me. I used to run. From everything. I still do, actually. And I’m just now beginning to realize that running is not an answer."

"It is for me."

He reached up and ran one hand through her silky hair. He had the strangest feeling that he had seen her before, but he knew that that was impossible. He could never forget a beautiful face like hers.

"Please, don’t touch me." Her voice shook as she spoke, and it was now a whisper. A whisper that sounded very afraid. Very frightened.

"Maria . . ." He leaned forward, prepared to touch his lips to hers, but she surprised him by backing away.

"I said don’t." she told him. Her tongue darted out to lick her lips, and he found himself entranced by the way they moved as she spoke.

"You don’t know me." she told him. "You don’t know anything about me and you never can."

And before he could say anything, she had run away once again.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

PART 2: FOOLING AROUND

If the whole ordeal hadn’t been so serious, it would have been funny. She had fallen in love with him. She barely knew him. All she knew was that he was an alien who she probably had heard of in her past life. She knew he had spiky hair—spiky hair that was soft as silk. She knew that he wanted her. That was all.

Yet, she had still fallen in love with him.

If only Nicholas knew that she had fallen in love with the enemy. He would probably laugh hysterically, no believing a word she said. "Maria DeLuca!" he would say. "Loving the Enemy! Yeah, right!"

Telling Nicholas was not an option. The only person she could confide in was Vanessa.

But at the moment, Vanessa didn’t seem too interested. They were sitting in the food tent, or, as Maria liked to refer to it, the crap tent, not enjoying a disgusting dinner, and Vanessa kept staring at Brad Malcom, one of the younger guys at camp. Vanessa had a way with men. She was pretty, and she knew it. She had a body, and she flaunted it.

Maria sighed and dug around in her cottage cheese. She hated her life.

"Maria, I’m gonna go sit with Brad, is that okay?" Vanessa checked before she stood up and crossed the room to Brad’s table.

"Sure, whatever." Maria mumbled after she was gone. "Leave me here alone. I don’t care." After digging around in her food for a few more minutes, she got up and dumped her uneaten food in the trash can, leaving her tray on top to be used the next day at breakfast. She walked out the door and headed to her tent ignoring the stares the guys were giving her as she passed. Guys always stared at her for some reason or another. She didn’t consider herself pretty, and she wasn’t really huge in that certain area, so she could not understand why they liked to stare at her.

Maybe she would pick up Nicholas’s skill of reading memories and thoughts someday and be able to tell what they were thinking and why.

Maria entered her tent and plopped down on her bed. She wasn’t tired. In fact, she was wide awake. She needed to go out and do something like a normal teenager would do, but Nicholas would never permit that.

As if on cue, Nicholas entered the room without knocking, of course. "Maria," he said, stroking the side of her face with his very unpleasant hand. She tried to remain calm under his touch, but her body wanted to run away from him, all the way to Michael Guerin, so that he could touch her. Because when he touched her, it felt right. But when Nicholas touched her, it felt wrong, and she had never noticed this until now. Until she had experienced Michael’s hands and fingers.

"Guess what?" he asked. It was the first time she had ever heard any expression in his voice. "What?" she asked, becoming suddenly excited. "Maybe he would tell her that the plan was off. That they were just going to stay on Earth. Or that it was not necessary to kill the Royal Four anymore.

"The plan is working!" he almost exclaimed. "In not time at all, we’ll have possession of the granalyth, and the Royal Four will be dead!"

Maria felt like she had been on an elevator that had been slowly rising. Now, it had plummeted straight to the bottom again. "Oh." she said.

"Aren’t you excited?" he asked. "I thought you’d be overjoyed. You’re going to see Antar again, Maria, only it’ll be like the first time for you." He leaned in and brushed his lips across hers. The sensation was not a desirable one. She even pulled away, because she did not like being with him.

"I am excited." she told him, and that was the truth. The thought of seeing her home planet was overwhelming. Yet, she wasn’t as excited as she ought to be. "I just don’t want to get my hopes up." she lied. "Something may go wrong. I know you know that, Nicholas."

He shook his head stubbornly. "Nothing is going to go wrong." he reassured her. "What could possibly go wrong?"

I could fall in love with our so-called enemy, she thought shamefully. "You’re right." she gave in. "We’re going back to Antar. And the Royal Four will soon be . . ." She paused. " . . . history."

Nicholas almost smiled. "Now, that’s the spirit." he said.

Maria smiled back, even though in her heart, she felt like crying. "Nicholas, can I ask you a favor?" she inquired quietly.

Nicholas cocked his head to the side. "Nobody’s ever asked me for a favor before." he said. "They’re all too scared of me. But you, you beautiful thing, you’re brave. That’s why I love you." He leaned in and kissed her again, and she fought to keep her feet from leaping out of the room, carrying the rest of her body not far behind. "Anything." he whispered.

"Um . . ." She wasn’t sure how to go about this. "Do you think that I could go out to a club tonight?" she asked politely. "There’s this place up by the school called Area 51, and everybody’s going."

He chuckled. "You really are in high-school, aren’t you." he said.

She nodded quickly. "And, who knows. Michael may even be there."

"Oh, please." Nicholas spat. "Even in his other life, Rath never attended the parties. What makes you think he’ll be any different in this life?"

Maria had to think of something. It wasn’t that she wanted to go to see Michael. She knew he probably wouldn’t be there anyway. She just wanted to get out and do something fun like normal people her age did. "Well, I’ll never know unless I go check." she said sweetly. She knew he was weakening already, so she hesitantly kissed his earlobe and whispered, "Please?"

He moaned slightly. "Oh, fine." he said. "But report back to me when you get back, got it?"

Maria nodded and wrapped her arms around him. "Thank you!" she exclaimed. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

He had had the distinct feeling that he belonged somewhere. It had been a gut feeling, not an actual feeling that other people could feel. It came more from the inside. He could feel it twisting and turning around inside of him, telling him to do something.

He had been sitting in his apartment, discussing Nasedo with Isabel, Max, and Tess, and not really listening to what they were saying, and squirming around in his chair the entire time while this nagging feeling ate at his insides.

They had been rambling on and on when he had stood up and entered his bedroom. They followed him in there and watched him search through his closet for a decent outfit.

"Michael, what are you doing?" Max finally asked.

"I have to go somewhere." Michael replied mechanically. He left it at that.

"Uh, hello, we were in the middle of a very important conversation." Isabel said in a snotty tone that made Michael think of her as an ice princess or a siamese cat or something along that line.

"I don’t care." he barked. "I’m going."

"Where exactly are you going?" Max asked a little more calmly.

"Area 51." Michael replied without hesitation. He wasn’t sure how the words had flown from his mouth. He just knew that that was where he had to go, and he was gonna make it there if it killed him.

"Why are you going there?" Tess asked. She spoke in the same tone that Max did, and it made Michael feel like he was being babied.

"I have to." he said.

They all seemed confused, but Michael didn’t care about them anymore. He grabbed a bunch of clothes that needed ironing badly, but would do okay, and headed into the bathroom to change.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"What’s going on with him?" Isabel asked suspiciously after Michael disappeared into the bathroom. "He’s been acting really weird lately. First that song, now this." She couldn’t figure out what had gotten into Michael. She had heard that rumor about him and Maria, but she didn’t think that Michael would actually . . . No! Not after all of his speeches to Max!

"Maybe those rumors are true." Max said, as if reading her mind. "I didn’t believe them at first, but, now, when I see him, I’m definitely becoming a believer."

Tess laughed. Typical. Max’s joke wasn’t even funny. But Tess took it upon herself to laugh like the little blonde ditz that she was.

"Maybe we should go to that club with him." Isabel suggested. "I mean, he knows absolutely nothing about parties at all." Isabel couldn’t control the urge to protect her somewhat brother. She and Michael had always been close. They had always had a special bond. And now, he was getting older and growing up.

God, she really sounded like his mother, not his friend/sister.

"Isabel, we don’t know anything about parties, either." Max reminded her.

"Speak for yourself." Isabel knocked on Michael’s door twice, and was answered with a "What?"

"Um, it’s Isabel." she said. "I was just wondering if we could all go with you." She looked at Max and Tess for some help.

"Uh, yeah." Max said weakly.

"Yeah." Tess echoed.

"Come on." Isabel begged in her cutest voice. "Please?"

There was an audible sigh from inside the bathroom, and Michael suddenly swung the door open, startling Isabel, who had been leaning up against it. "Fine." he agreed. "But you leave me alone until I find what I’m looking for."

"And what exactly are you looking for?" Tess asked, curious as always.

Michael shrugged. "I don’t know." he said.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The music pulsated through her body like her own blood as she danced. It took control of her, and made her body do things that it would not normally do. Back at camp, she would never dream of dancing like this. But here, where it was dark, nobody could see her. Here, where it was loud, nobody could hear her. And here, nobody knew her.

Maria swayed her hips with her arms up above her head in a fast, rhythmic pattern that she continued over and over again. The moves made her short skirt hike up high on her already exposed legs, but she didn’t attempt to cover them up.

Once again, guys were giving her looks, and few were actually being brave enough to come up and ask her to dance, but she turned them all down. She was alone tonight. Only her. Nobody else.

She was dancing her way back to the bathroom when she noticed a sign hanging on the wall. She peered through the darkness to make out the words, "Chereoke every night!"

Maria smiled, reading the sign over and over again. Nobody knew her here, like she had previously established. Nobody really cared anyway. What the hell? She might as well do it.

Nicholas had told Maria not to sing around him, and the rest of the skins agreed with him. They said that on their planet, singing meant betrayal, that when a entity sang, it meant that they had betrayed, and that they believe they shall suffer. So he had told her to put her singing to and end, and she only sang when nobody else was around.

She was not on her planet now. She had free existence here.

Maria found the manager of the club and asked him about the chereoke. He said that she only needed to find a song out of their book of selections and go upstairs to contact the DJ. She nodded in understanding and seized the book that the man handed her.

She sat down in the lounge area of the club on one of the chair, which she found extremely comfortable, and flipped through the book slowly. She didn’t know many songs, for they had never really listened to music back at camp or in Copper Summit, Arizona, so she didn’t have a clue what half the songs sounded like or were about, but she did have one song that she was looking for in particular. If only they had it in there . . .

And then she found it. It was near the end of the book, because it started with a U. It was a Celine Dion song that she had heard only once before a long time ago in Copper Summit on the radio. Nicholas hadn’t been home that day, so she had defiantly turned on the radio and listened to whatever was on. The song she had listened to was called Us. That was the song she was going to sing.http://www.crashdown.com That was the only song she wanted to sing.

She traveled u the stairs to the DJ’s booth and handed him her request.

"I can make it happen." he told her. "Just go down there on that stage and I’ll get the music going for you, okay?"

"Thank you." she told him with gratitude. This meant so much to her.

The nerves in her body began to tingle as she pushed through the crowd towards the stage. Since when had she ever sang before. Maybe once or twice before when nobody was around to hear her. Maybe she had hummed a few melodies to herself sometimes. But nobody had ever heard her before. She didn’t even know if she was any good.

Yet, she still found herself walking closer and closer to that stage.

She walked up the steps, tugging down her skirt just a little as she did, and grabbed the microphone in her hands when she was up on top. She had only seen people do this in movies. She had never done it, and she had no clue what to do.

So she went with the flow. The music started up, and she began to sway slightly, getting into the feel of it. She waited until the words appeared on the back screen and began to sing.

"I want to know why

You’re letting this die

Without the blink of an eye

You say that you need time

I say you’ll be fine

If you would only see

Like you did before

You became imprisoned

Can I reopen the door?"

She had been closing her eyes, just so that she could not see the audiences horrified expressions when she began to belt out something horrendous, but she decided to open them for the chorus. Just to see what they thought.

"You say it doesn’t matter

Then tell me what does?

And why that isn’t what

What you’ve been thinking of

You say it’s never easy

Then tell me what was?

Is it never worth the pain?

Could you believe it was?

When life keeps living

That’s what life keeps giving

To us."

When she saw the mesmerized expressions on their faces, she realized that she was doing good.

Her eyes locked with someone else’s in the audience, and she recognized the face immediately. Michael Stonewall Guerin himself. He was staring at her in awe with his mouth agape and his eyes wide in wonder.

Why was he here? Why was he watching her?

"Once we were one mind

Drifting in one time

And ever true, we were friends

But something is gone from my

Picture of this life

If we could only see

Like we did before

We became imprisoned

Can I reopen the door?"

She sang to him, determined to keep her composure. He never took his beautiful brown eyes off of her, and she kept her green ones locked with his. The emotion flowed from her soul, from wherever it was that had stored them for so long.

"You say it doesn’t matter

Then tell me what does?

And why that isn’t what

What you’ve been thinking of?

You say it’s never easy

Then tell me what was?

Is it never worth the pain

That you believe it was

When life keeps living

That’s what life keeps giving

To us."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

So this is why he had came here. He had known it in his gut all along, he just hadn’t wanted to admit to himself that he was going this crazy for her.

Michael was too dumbfounded to clap when she was done. Maria DeLuca had the most beautiful voice he had ever heard. It rang like music in his ears. Like chiming bells. Like the sound of a bird chirping happily. Like the kind of music you heard on the radio, only better.

She smiled and bowed a little, breaking the eye contact that they had maintained for so long and practically ran off of the stage around to the back.

He had to follow her.

He ran around to the side of the stage as fast as he could, pushing through the throng of people and found a door, as he had expected. He through it open and found himself in a dimly lit hallway with stairs leading up to the stage, and leaning against the wall, running her hands through her hair and tugging violently on her skirt stood Maria.

"Hey," he greeted. "That was awesome."

She didn’t say anything.

"You okay?" he asked, placing his hand on her shoulder.

She shook her head, and he noticed for the first time that she was crying.

"Hey, hey, hey, Maria . . ." He moved forward, intending to wrap his arms around her and comfort her in her time of distress, but she backed away. "No," she protested. "No, just stay away from me."

"I can’t." he told he honestly. He needed to make he understand. He was crazy about her.

"You have to." With that, she pushed past him completely and ran through the tiny hallway out into the club.

At the risk of being a stalker, Michael followed her out, keeping his eyes focused on her and only her. She was moving fast, like she wanted to get out of there, but he wasn’t going to let her run away this time. She had done that too many times already. She was almost going to beat his record.

He was finally able to catch up with her, and he wrapped his arms around her waist to stop her from going any farther. He heard a small sigh escape her lips as his hands made contact with her bare stomach. (Her outfit was definitely revealing, and he definitely liked it. A lot.)

"You can’t run anymore." he whispered in her ear over the music. "I won’t let you." He began to sway back and forth, moving her with his arms. He had never danced before and hadn’t the slightest clue what he was doing or how he was doing it. All he knew was that he needed to share something with her.

She slowly got into it until she snaked her arms down around his to rest on the top of his hands. She made him rub the pale skin exposed on her abdomen, and he complied with pleasure. She leaned her head back on his shoulder and closed her eyes, and he couldn’t help but press a little kiss to her earlobe, breathing a trail down her cheek to her lips, where he kissed her soft and sweet, but passionate and explosive all at the same time.

"Michael . . ." she moaned, throwing her arms above her head to reside in the air. "You don’t understand."

He didn’t understand? He was an alien. He understood a lot more things than the average teenager.

"You don’t know me." she repeated over and over again. "You don’t know me. You don’t know me."

"Shhh," he whispered in her ear.

And, obeying his command for once in her life, Maria DeLuca said no more as the danced until they felt an uninvited presence near them.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Michael, what are you doing?"

Michael reluctantly turned to meet the eyes of the voice who he really hated right at the moment.

It was Tess. He had known it was her since he had heard her shrill little voice ring out beside him, but he had hoped that it wasn’t. But it was. And now she was staring at him with a horrified expression on her face.

"What are you doing?" she repeated again.

"I’m dancing." he replied simply, locking his arms tighter around Maria’s waist to prove that nothing she said was going to make him leave her.

Tess grunted and glared at Maria, she glared back, and he smiled.

"You don’t want him." Tess told her. "He belongs with somebody else." She sent Michael a warning glare, reminding him that the certain someone was Isabel, who he considered his sister in every way that counted. Destiny. He didn’t care.

"Tess, shut up." Michael told her.

Tess scrunched her eyebrows together in an expression that wasn’t very appealing on her. "Michael, what’s wrong with you?" she asked. "This isn’t you."

Before Michael had a chance to answer, Maria spun around and locked her lips onto his. He reacted immediately, remembering how sweet her lips tasted.

"Michael, stop!" Tess was yelling, hitting him on the shoulder with her little fists. "Stop it!"

But he didn’t stop until Max and Isabel came up and pulled Tess away. He gazed into Maria’s eyes and smiled. "No more running?" he asked, just to make sure.

"No more running." she agreed, her own smile lighting up her face.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Maria knocked quietly on Nicholas’s door to his tent.

"What?" he spat from inside.

"It’s me." she said.

Immediately, the door swung open and Nicholas appeared on the other side, dressed in pure black pajamas, his hair spiking out all over the place from sleep. "Have a good time?" he asked.

"Um, yeah." she said. That was an understatement. She had Michael had danced until midnight, until they had agreed that it was definitely time to go home. It had been the single best night of her entire life.

"Did you see, um . . . what’s his name?" Nicholas asked, allowing Maria inside his tent.

She stepped inside, not quite sure if she should sit down on his cot like he did with her or stand. She decided to remain standing, just to remain on the safe side.

"Uh, yeah, I did, but we didn’t really converse much." she lied. "I tried, but . . ."

Nicholas grunted. "Well, at least you’re getting somewhere." he said. "Neil’s barely seen Tess Harding, let alone spoken to her, and Roger isn’t going anywhere fast with Max." He grimaced when he said Max’s name, and Maria knew he wanted him the most. Max had been the king on Antar. Maria didn’t remember it, true, but Vanessa told her plenty of stories about how he had such a strong army.

"Come here." Nicholas ordered, extending his arms. Maria walked forward a bit stiffly and shivered when his lips touched hers. He didn’t taste like Michael did. He tasted . . . wrong. Michael tasted right.

"Maria," he murmured. "What is this?"

"What is what?" she asked, wondering what it was that could have made him stop kissing her.

"This taste on your lips." he elaborated. "Is it . . ." he paused. "Michael." He spoke it in the form of a statement not a question. "You kissed Michael."

Oh, no. How was she going to lie her way out of this. Nicholas had extremely strong senses. He could taste Michael on her lips. He could smell him on her clothing. Not to mention, he could just use his special power and go into her mind to find out what she had done that evening at Area 51.

"Uh, yeah, I did." she replied honestly. Again, it was an understatement, but he didn’t need to know anymore.

He almost smiled. "Maria," he said. "I’m impressed. I have to admit that when I put you up with this assignment, I wasn’t completely sure that you would be able to pull it off. But now, with this latest news . . . Is there anything you can’t do?"

She forced a laugh.

He kissed her again. "Ooh, it’s going to be so great to kill him again." he whispered hoarsely.

"Again?" Maria echoed.

"Oh, yeah. Didn’t I mention that I killed him in our past life?"

Maria tried to smile, but she couldn’t completely pull it off. Nicholas didn’t seem to notice. He was too wrapped up in his plan.

"No," she told him. "You left out that small detail."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Michael, I can’t believe that you would do something like that!" Tess was still outraged when she got back to Michael’s apartment with Michael, Max, and Isabel.

"Tess, just let it go." Max said.

"I can’t." Tess protested. "You guys don’t understand how important our destiny is to our survival."

"Yes, we do!" Isabel shouted defensively. "You’ve been telling us about it for the entire summer now. But what difference could it possibly make if I was with Michael or . . ." She paused. "Alex. Or even Grant."

Tess sighed. Her fellow hybrids just didn’t know the importance of anything.

"I’m gonna go." she announced, picking up her purse and starting for the door.

"No," Max stopped her dead in her tracks. "It’s safer if one of us goes with you."

"I’ll be fine." She opened the door and walked out, slamming it in their faces.

When she got home to her empty house that really wasn’t a home at all, she suddenly remembered that she still had to go and pick up a present for Isabel’s birthday. She sighed and plopped down on the couch. Was this horrible night ever gonna end? First, she had seen Michael dancing with that Maria girl, and then she had got yelled out by Isabel and Max. Now, she had to go out and find a store that was still open and get Isabel a present so she could help set up for the party tomorrow. Great.

Tess reluctantly got up with no idea what was in store for her next.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Michael!"

He snapped his head around to the sound of the familiar voice. When he saw the huge smile that was plastered across her face, he couldn’t help his own grin from appearing.

"Hey," he said. What was he supposed to say? They had just danced last night. REALLY danced. They had touched, and they had even kissed. What was she going to say to him now?

They were both silent for a moment, and Michael found himself staring at the floor like a dumb idiot. He didn’t know what to do.

"How do you feel about last night?" she asked suddenly, breaking the silence.

Whoa. He had not been expecting that at all. "Well," he began. "I’m wishing that I could kiss you again right now." He knew he sounded cheesy, but he didn’t care.

She blushed. "You can." she told him, walking up to him and looking him squarely in the eyes. She tugged on his shirt collar and brought his lips down to meet hers. He made sure to kiss her long and hard, and he planned to kiss longer, but then Mr. Crosby tapped him on the shoulder from behind and gave him a big lecture on how sexual activity was not allowed at the school.

"We can go in the eraser room." Maria suggested when he was out of ear shot.

"But you’ll be late for your class." Michael said. He wanted to kiss her more than anybody, but he didn’t want her to end up failing whatever class she needed to be in because of him.

"I don’t care." she said, taking a hold of his hand and leading him into the eraser room. That was what he liked about Maria, besides the fact that she was the most beautiful person he had ever laid eyes on. She was an adventurer, and she wasn’t afraid to take chances and break the rules. Most girls weren’t like that. He had never actually dated one, but he had met the girls that Isabel hung out with, and they were nothing but ditzy, valley-girl, cheerleaders.

He closed the door once he was in and clamped his lips down on hers again. She slid her tongue into his mouth and he returned the favor gladly. He caressed her back with his hands and pulled her tightly against him so that he could feel her heart beating fast against his. He wanted to stay like that forever, with her, holding her, touching her, kissing her, and that thought scared him to death. He had never imagined that he would turn into Max and develop feelings so intense for a girl that he could imagine eternity with her. But this was worse than the Max/ Liz ordeal, because Max had known Liz since the third grade. Michael had only known this girl about a week, maybe even less than that.

"May I ask why you’ve had the sudden change of heart?" Michael asked when he pulled away.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I mean, a few days ago, you didn’t want anything to do with me. Now, you’re all over me."

She grunted. "I am not all over you."

"It’s not a bad thing." he told her. "I know I’m irresistible."

She laughed, a full hearted, hardy laugh that he just loved. "Seriously," he said, not wanting to break the happy mood but knowing that he would have to do it eventually. This was just something he needed to know.

She sighed. "I don’t know." she admitted honestly. "I don’t know anything anymore. All I know, Michael, is that when I met you, my life became turned upside down."

He felt bad about this. About the fact that he had made her life so complicated, and he let it show, just so she would know that he hadn’t intentionally done it.

"It’s okay." she reassured him, reaching up to stroke his cheek with her hand.

He shook his head in disdain. Why was she so perfect for him? He wasn’t supposed to find someone like this. This was not what was meant for him. He had always known that that was the truth. He was an alien, and she was a human. If she was with him, she was in danger.

"Michael?"

He looked into her eyes and saw them shimmering with tears, so he bent down and pressed his lips to hers again, and he felt whole. Complete. Fulfilled. But in the back of his mind, the knowledge still lingered that something was not quite right about all of this.

He didn’t know why he let the thought linger in his mind. Maybe he just didn’t want to face the fact that he was falling in love with her.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Feeling dead tired, Maria practically collapsed onto her cot. She had just gotten back from Area 51 again. She had gone with Michael. He was, surprisingly, a good boyfriend. He did things for her that Nicholas never would. And the way he kissed . . . it set her body on fire.

She had managed to keep her relationship with Michael a secret from Nicholas and everyone else at camp for about three days now. Even Vanessa. Vanessa didn’t understand how she was feeling. As far as they were concerned, she was still working hard. Trying, but ending up with little results. Nicholas was even starting to get impatient, but he was somehow managing to keep his cool.

Maria changed out of her clubbing clothes and into her pajamas, ready to fall to sleep, even though she knew that her dreams would be filled with Michael and only Michael. That wasn’t completely a bad thing. Sometimes, they would kiss. Sometimes they would touch. Sometimes, they would just look into each other’s eyes. But when she dreamt about Michael, which she often did now days, she would always wake up with a horrible feeling in her stomach, and she was reminded that their relationship could never last.

Maria fell into bed and closed her eyes. Sleep was about to overtake her when someone barged in the door. She knew it could only be Nicholas. Or Vanessa. But Vanessa’s footsteps were much lighter than the clanking ones she heard now.

"Maria, get up." he ordered.

Maria rubbed her eyes, pretending that she had been asleep for a long time so that he would not know that she stayed out so late and didn’t even bother to report back to him. She sat up and ran her hands through her hair, yawning. "What is it?" she asked, trying to hide her annoyance.

Nicholas sighed. "Vanessa’s dead."

Maria froze. What?, she thought. "What do you mean?" she asked aloud.

"Do I have to spell it out for you?" Nicholas spat. "Vanessa is DEAD!"

Maria shook her head. "No, no, she’s not." she denied. "Vanessa is alive. She’ll be back any minute now, and she’ll come walking through those doors and give you the surprise of your life."

Nicholas groaned. "Maria, dear, you’re only making it harder on yourself. You’re going to have to accept that this is what happens in war. People die. Good people. People like us."

We’re not good, she thought. We’re anything but. We’re using the Royal Four to find the granalyth, and then we’re going to kill them. Yeah, we’re good people.

"How did it happen?" she asked. Her voice came out as a hoarse whisper.

Nicholas sat down on her cot beside her and put his arm around her. It wasn’t comforting. If anything, it made her feel even more uncomfortable.

"She was going after Isabel." he explained quietly. Nicholas was rarely quiet, so she knew that he was being serious. "She captured Tess, but soon realized that she had the wrong girl. So she apparently used Tess to get to Isabel. She was trying to get Isabel to tell her where the granalyth was, but . . ." He broke off in mid-sentence. "That little bitch tapped into something she didn’t even know she had and killed her."

Maria covered her mouth with her hand. Her best friend. Her best friend on the planet, or any other planet for that matter, had just died. She would never see her again. All she was now was a pile of skins.

"Don’t cry." Nicholas told her. "Be strong. You shouldn’t get attached like that."

Maria fought back the urge to yell at him. If anyone was getting attached, he was. He had admitted several times that he was falling madly in love with her.

"I need to be alone right now." Maria told him.

"Fine." Nicholas agreed. He stood to leave, but hesitated with his hand on the doorknob. "I really am sorry about Vanessa, Maria." he said, and she wanted believe that he was being sincere, but she didn’t know if he was or not. She could never tell. A person that could kill four innocent aliens like that couldn’t have much compassion.

He turned to leave, and Maria shifted so that she could clutch the blankets tight against her chest and cry into her pillow, muffling the sound so that no one could hear her.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"I can’t believe I KILLED her!" Isabel shrieked. She was panicked, terrified, worried about what she had just done. Michael embraced her, trying to let her know that it was alright. He himself had done the same thing, and he himself had felt the guilt afterwards.

"It’s okay, Isabel." he soothed, running his hands up and down her back. He could feel her shaking beneath him.

"No, it’s not okay!" she protested, fighting to get out of his arms. "She was a person!"

"She was a skin." Michael corrected. He briefly flashed back to when he had killed Agent Pierce. Sure, he had been trying to save everyone, but Pierce had actually been a person. A real human being, not an alien.

"Michael, can you get me another ice cube?" Max asked. He was busy taking care of Tess, who had gotten severely banged up by Vanessa. Neither her nor Isabel looked very good at the moment.

Michael headed back to the kitchen to get another ice-cube for Max and Tess. Max had managed to heal most of Tess’s bruises, but the process had left him drained, and he was now healing the rest the old fashioned way.

"There’s something else I need to tell you." Isabel announced when Michael came back into the living room. "It’s about the granalyth."

"The what?" Michael didn’t understand. Since when had Isabel started to speak in a foreign language.

"The granalyth." Isabel repeated, taking deep breaths to calm herself down. "Whitaker was talking about it before I . . . before I killed her. She wanted it. Really bad. She would have killed me for it. Anyway, I went up to the pod chamber after . . . the incident, and I stumbled upon the granalyth."

"How did you just stumble upon it?" Max asked.

"It’s kind of hard to explain." she answered.

"How do you know it’s the granalyth?" Michael asked. He was becoming very overwhelmed very fast. This was just too much to take in in one night. First, an encounter with the skins, then a killing, then this.

"I just have this feeling." Isabel said. "I know it is. Just trust me."

"We should go check it out," Max suggested, "tomorrow, when Tess is feeling better." He looked down affectionately at his former wife. Michael could see how they may be destined to be together. Of course, Max and Liz were totally and completely in love, but Max cared for Tess in a way that no one else in their group had been able to yet. He had accepted like he had known her for years.

"Yeah," Michael agreed. He knew that Isabel needed some time to regenerate herself. She was probably feeling like crap right now.

"I’m gonna go." Isabel said. "I totally need to shower, and just . . ." She didn’t finish. "Bye."

Michael watched her leave. Isabel Evans was just another reminder of who he was supposedly destined to be with. He closed his eyes shut, and let a picture of Maria drift into his mind, even though his brain told him not to.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The next day was not normal for Michael, assuming that any of his days were. After getting to see the granalyth for the first time, he was ordered by "The King" to go back to school and finish the day like normal. Normal wasn’t finishing the day at all for Michael. Anyway, then he had gotten assigned a paper on an old war bum who was about as exciting as a stick of chewing gum. It had been a total bore for Michael until the veteran started talking about the crash of 1947. This guy had seen things and heard things that barely any other people had. And he described things in such detail that Michael felt like he was right there reliving it with him. He told things beyond the description that the books Michael sometimes read when Hank didn’t know did.

t wasn’t scary until he started talking about pods. Michael knew instinctively that they were the pods of Max, Isabel, Tess, and him.

Yeah, it had been a pretty interesting day. Now, all that Michael wanted was to jump into the shower and stand there for a long, long time, just letting the water soak over his skin.

Now, Maria would be a nice addition to the scene, too . . .

Michael shut the door to his apartment and leaned his head against the door. Why did his life have to be so exhausting? The only thing that was keeping him sane was Maria, but he rarely saw her. They only had a few classes together, and she usually had to go somewhere after school. They had made plans to go to a few clubs, but only a few of them actually turned into an event, because she was always busy. Always doing something.

Michael sighed, blocking out the events of the previous day and decided to get busy with that shower. He undid the buttons to his shirt, letting it fall to the ground, wishing that it was Maria’s fingers undressing him instead of his own.

He knew he shouldn’t be thinking such thoughts. He didn’t want to turn into Kyle.

Just then, there was a knock on his door. He went to answer it, figuring that it would just be Max, Isabel, or Tess, but when he opened it up, he saw Maria on the other side. Her eyes widened when she saw him with his shirt off, and she smiled. "Hey." she said.

"Hey." he replied. "What’s up?"

She looked inside, as if checking to make sure no one else was around. "Can I come in?" she asked.

He opened the door so that she could step through and watched as she navigated her way through the mess towards the couch.

"Sorry about the mess." he apologized, shutting the door when she sat down.

She snorted. "I don’t care. My place is just as bad." He noticed that she didn’t say the word home and he figured the reason was because she had just moved and didn’t quite feel like she belonged here yet. Well, they had that in common. Except he had been feeling that way all his life.

He sat down beside her, enjoying the small sigh that escaped her lips when his arm brushed hers. Did he really have that much of an effect on her? "What’s up?" he asked again.

She shrugged, and then admitted, "I missed you."

He felt himself smile, a real smile, and then leaned in and cupped Maria’s face with his hands before closing the distance between them and kissing her. Her tongue slid into his mouth eagerly, and her hands snaked up his bare chest. "Oh, god," she sighed. "Michael . . ."

Hearing her say his name made him want to be with her even more. He slid his hands around to hold onto her by her waist. When she felt his touch, she arched her body up into his, not breaking the kiss that had begun to consume them both.

She pushed him down on his back and laid down on top of him, still kissing his lips, still touching his chest. He had never been like this with a girl before. Half naked and laying on the couch of his apartment where they were the only two around.

"Maria," he murmured, pulling back for air.

"What?" she asked, obviously not happy that they were no longer kissing.

He didn’t know what he was going to say. He had just wanted to say her name. Her beautiful name. So he leaned in and began to suck on her neck vigorously. He knew she would probably have a hickey the next day, and he felt bad. He’d seen how Isabel tried so hard to cover hers up when she got one from Brad Marlin at that party she had went to in the 7^th grade.

"Baby," he whispered, his breath hitting her skin. "Stay with me tonight."

She stiffened on top of him and didn’t say anything.

"Come on." he begged.

She ran her fingers lazily across his chest. "I wish I could." she said sadly. "But dad wants me home tonight. Says I’ve been going out to clubs too much lately."

Michael was exasperated. "We’ve only gone out a few times." he said, and that was even an exaggeration. Make that one time.

"I know." she agreed. "But my dad’s really strict."

Michael sighed and ran his fingers through her hair. "Okay." he gave in. "I guess you better be going now."

Maria nodded in agreement and stood up. She grabbed her purse and headed towards the door, with Michael following behind her. "By the way I just got hired at the Crashdown as a waitress, so maybe you can stop by sometime."

Michael raised his eyebrows. "I think you might be seeing me there a lot, actually." he said. "I’m one of the cooks."

Maria smiled and almost laughed. "Okay." she said. "I’ll see you tomorrow." She leaned in and pressed a soft kiss on his cheek, and then practically ran out of his apartment.

Again. Just like she had that first time that they kissed.

Michael sat back on his couch. He put a shirt on, because he was cold without Maria’s fingers touching him, warming him to the core. He ran his hands through his hair, wondering why she had suddenly up and left. Had he frightened her when he had asked her to stay the night with him?

He had frightened himself.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Maria didn’t have anywhere to go. She couldn’t go back to camp. It would only remind her of who she was and what she was destined to do. And it wasn’t a home. She had always known that it wasn’t a home. She had always known that her home was no Antar, a planet she didn’t even remember, for one reason or another. But now, she was beginning to wonder if perhaps she had found her home in Michael Guerin.

It sounded crazy. She couldn’t believe that she was having such thoughts.

But then it occurred to her that maybe he was having the same thoughts, too. After all, he had asked her to spend the night with him. And he had asked it with the sound in his voice that made Maria suspect that there was a fire growing inside of him.

God, she wanted to spend the night with him, but she knew that she shouldn’t.

She walked quickly down the deserted streets in the edge of town. It was a dump out here, nothing compared to the cute and cozy houses she saw on Michael’s street. There wasn’t any houses, really. Maybe a few shacks. There were tons of clubs, where Maria guessed the druggies and loadies liked to go on Saturday nights.

 

Maria closed her eyes and let the music flow through her. One club had it especially loud, and it began to vibrate through her body. She wanted to go in there. When she was in there, she could relax and just dance until the dancing consumed her entirely.

She walked briskly, because it was cold, and she didn’t have a jacket, and entered the club, ignoring the forbidding sign that hung over the entrance door that read THE DUNGEON.

She walked down a long hallway and bumped into two security guards. They asked for her ID, explaining to her that this was an adult club.

Maria panicked. She didn’t have an ID. "Maybe," she said with a seductive smile. "You could just let me in without one and I could, um . . . pay you back later."

Both of the guards smiled, and let her pass them by and into the club.

It was a big place. Bigger than she had thought it would be, judging by the outside. And it was crowded. Bodies were crammed into tight places that they probably weren’t meant to be crammed into in the first place. A live band was playing up on the stage. She didn’t recognize them, but then again, she hadn’t seen or heard much music in her day. They were slamming on their guitars in full out rock mode. They weren’t really singing, they were screaming.

And Maria couldn’t help but run down the stairs and become one of the dancers on the floor. She swayed her hips and let her arms fly in the air. A few guys tried to come up and dance with her, but she pushed them away. They were all disgusting,—they all had their tongues and noses and eyebrows pierced—and none of them were Michael.

Maria was just dancing, blending in with the crowd, being a normal girl when she felt two familiar and frightening hands slide around her waist.

"Nicholas," she said, surprised to see that he was here.

"That’s right. It’s me." he said. He bent down, ready to suck hungrily and greedily on her neck, but he paused. Maria turned around to look at him. "What?" she asked, noticing the way that he was looking at her.

"You have a hickey." he said.

Maria flashed back to her and Michael’s make-out session on the couch at his apartment and it all came flooding back to her. How was she going to cover that up?

"Maria," he said with a smile. "Did you get that from Michael?"

She didn’t want to tell him the truth, because then he would know that she and Michael were getting closer, but she didn’t want to tell him that she had gotten it from some other ordinary guy. Then he would get jealous and angry. She had known Nicholas enough to know that he was not a nice person . . . alien . . . when he was angry.

"Yeah." she almost whispered. She couldn’t bring herself to talk any louder, not when she was bringing Michael’s life closer and closer to and end with every word that she said.

Nicholas smiled at her with an evil expression that she was used to seeing by now. She swayed her hips for his delight, just so that they could get off of the Michael Guerin conversation. He was easily distracted, placing his hands in the curve of her waist and grinding his hips into hers. She didn’t know where he had learned to dance. He hated music. He hated singing. He hated dancing.

She danced with him, trying to hide the saddened expression on her face and trying to think of anything but Michael.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"So, I was wondering, how did you get into that club anyway?" Maria asked the question in the car on the way back from THE DUNGEON. She had to admit that she was getting into the whole party thing.

She hoped they had parties on Antar.

"Magic." Nicholas joked, wriggling his fingers from the passenger seat.

Maria sighed. Nicholas didn’t use his powers in a recreational way. He used them all the time for any purpose, whenever it was to his gain or advantage.

"What’d you do, Nicholas?" she asked.

"Relax, I only knocked him out." Nicholas replied. "Although it would have felt good to kill someone."

Maria pretended to laugh, although she found it seemingly difficult.

They drove the rest of the way in silence, and Maria wondered what Nicholas was thinking. Was he reading her mind at the very moment, sorting through each and every one of her personal thoughts . . . and fantasies?! Could he tell that she had fallen in love with the "enemy"?

She glanced over at him quickly. He was looking out the window with a blank expression on his face. He clearly wasn’t reading her mind or, as some of the skins liked to call it, "raping" her of her memories. Whenever he did that, his face would become scrunched up in concentration, and his features would become slightly distorted as he tried to distinguish what was what and what meant what.

Maria breathed a sigh of relief. If he ever read her mind . . .

"Baby, what’s wrong?" he asked suddenly.

She didn’t like him calling her baby. It didn’t sound right coming from his lips.

"Nothing." she lied. "I’m just thinking."

He nodded in agreement, and didn’t say anything for the rest of the drive.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Michael, we’ve gotta do something. I finally see where you’re coming from. We can’t jut sit around on our asses all day and night." Max was pacing nervously around his bedroom, trying desperately to figure out something to do.

"Finally." Michael grumbled. "I’ve been telling you this for as long as we’ve known each other and you’re just now getting the picture?"

Max sighed. "Michael, I don’t like to think about things like this. I have people here that I care about. Like my parents." He coughed and cleared his throat. "Like Liz."

So do I, Michael thought. If only you knew, Maxwell. I finally understand where you’re coming from.

"So what are we gonna do?" Michael asked.

Max sat down on his bed and rubbed his temples. "I don’t know." he said. He looked and sounded exhausted, like he had been up all night thinking about this. He had just called Michael and told him to come over immediately at 2:00 in the morning. Michael, of course, had used the window. Was there any other respectable entrance?

"We have to figure something out fast." Michael pressed. He needed Max to come to a decision

. . . NOW. And if he didn’t Michael would. He was, after all, second in command.

"I don’t know what to do." Max said. He was almost in tears. "I’m not a king."

"Yes, you are!" Michael almost shouted.

"Keep your voice down." Max warned, standing up and beginning to pace again. "I don’t wanna wake Isabel or my parents."

Michael sighed. "Fine, I’m gone."

"No," Max stopped him before he could even begin to climb out the window. "I need you help."

"Well, that’s a first."

"Michael, I’m serious."

Michael sighed. "Alright, fine. The way I see it, Isabel just killed someone. She’s pretty torn up. If we’re gonna do anything, it’s gonna be you and me."

"What about Tess?" Max jumped in. "She’s stronger than both of us."

"Not right now, she isn’t." Michael pointed out. "Just because you can’t see her bruises anymore doesn’t mean that she’s not hurt on the inside."

Max nodded in understanding. "I guess you’re right." he said. "Now, what do you think we should do, ‘cause I really have no idea."

Michael took a seat on the edge of the bed and ran his hands through hie tousled hair. It always got like this after he slept. "We gotta do something about the skins." he said simply. "They’ve targeted Tess and Isabel now."

"But we don’t even know who they are, let alone how we’re gonna stop them." Max protested.

"We’ll find ‘em." Michael promised. "And then we’ll kill ‘em."

Max raised his eyebrows in what seemed like a gesture of surprise. "Wow. I didn’t think you were so into the whole killing idea."

Michael shrugged, thinking about Maria. He had to eliminate the skins so that she would be safe. Then he could rest at ease.

"Things change."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Her heart started to pound rapidly within her chest when she saw him. He was so beautiful. His features were perfect. His hands, his mouth, his eyes . . . everything. In her mind, he was flawless. But in Nicholas’s mind, he was nothing more than a pesticide, a hostile pesticide that must be destroyed ASAP.

He began to walk towards her. She stayed frozen in place like a statue, not sure of what to do or how to do it. What was it about him that had her freaking out inside whenever he was the slightest bit near?

"I need to talk to you." he said when he was by her side. He grabbed her arm and pulled her along with him until they were standing back behind the school.

"What is it?" Maria asked, absentmindedly kicking a piece of trash lying on the ground with the tow of her shoe.

Michael remained silent.

"What’s going on?" she asked, concerned now. What if he had discovered who she really was? But how was that possible? Had Vanessa spilled the juice when she had tried to capture Isabel? Had he seen her skin shedding in the Crashdown? Had she been to obvious? Her mind raced with questions, and her heart raced with desire as she looked into his brown eyes.

"I just . . ." he started. He let his sentence trail off and evaporate, and then grabbed her hand within his own. Then, he leaned in and pressed his lips down against hers. All of her thoughts and worries evaporated as well, until all that was left was Michael. His hands ran up her back and held onto her tightly, pressing her body to his. She buried her own hands in his spiky locks, wishing that she could be closer, closer. So much closer.

He was the one to pull away, and a small sigh escaped her lips at the loss of contact and the coldness of the September winds. "Michael," she gasped, out of breath.

"I can’t promise you forever." he told her, suddenly. "Nothing is forever, Maria. You have to understand that."

She nodded, her mouth hanging open and her eyes wide open as well.

"Promise me," he said. "That you won’t think about tomorrow. Or the next day. Or the day after that."

"I promise." she whispered.

He let out a shaky sigh and brought a hand up to stroke her cheek.

"Michael, what’s wrong?" she asked, although she had a pretty good idea.

"I just . . ." he began again. "I can’t tell you. Just understand what I’m saying."

She nodded again, the same expression on her face. "I understand." she told him honestly. "Believe me, I understand."

He smiled slightly and then captured her mouth with his again.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

PART 3: BEHIND CLOSED DOORS

He pulled her into their room. Yes, it was their room. It had become their room, because they were always in there. They were never actually in school. They were never actually doing what they were supposed to be doing. They were always in the eraser room, kissing, touching, hanging onto whatever it was that they had.

It was beautiful, from every single hot and steamy kiss to every gentle touch or caress. It made Maria feel wanted, and not just for her body. That was why Nicholas wanted her. He didn’t really care about her, because he didn’t care about anyone. He couldn’t . But Michael did care about her. Really care. She could see the way he cared about her reflecting from his eyes. She could hear the way he cared about you in the sound of his voice, whether it came out in a whisper or moan. She could feel the way he cared about her by the way his hands were tracing up her back underneath her shirt.

She hadn’t noticed until now how passionate the kisses had gotten.

Maria went home that afternoon. She didn’t want to finish school. Actually, she didn’t feel like she could. Partly because of Michael. Partly because of the fact that she had fallen head over f**kin heals in love with him. Because she didn’t want to betray him. It didn’t matter if she betrayed Nicholas now, because he wasn’t important to her. All that mattered was that she was working against Michael, and she loved him, all at the same time.

The other part of the reason why she went home that afternoon was because she didn’t feel well. Physically. She was beginning to feel lightheaded and dizzy. She was having problems concentrating on anything, including Michael.

As much as she didn’t want to, she would have to talk to Nicholas.

When she arrived back at camp, she headed straight for his tent. She was feeling awful. Worse than she had in school. She grabbed her head and braced herself against the door frame before she took in a deep breath and knocked on the door.

Nicholas told her to come in from the inside and she opened the door in a hurry. She needed to sit down. She stepped in and after taking one look at Nicholas, who was doing his hair by looking in a small mirror, she collapsed onto the floor. She felt herself hit the ground and assumed that she was going to black out, but she didn’t.

"Maria! Maria!" Nicholas jumped up and ran to her side. Everything seemed to take place in slow motion. Nicholas was blurry, and his movements were slow and mechanical. His voice sounded so far away.

"Maria!" he shouted again, slapping her on the face as her eyelids began to drift closed. "Keep your eyes open!"

She struggled to keep her heavy lids from closing, but a big part of her just wanted to close them and keep them closed for as long as time would allow her. Maybe, if she kept them closed long enough, Nicholas and the rest of the skins would carry out the plot without her, and she wouldn’t have to take any part in it. Maybe she would wake up on Antar and forget all about Michael Guerin.

That was wishful thinking.

So she decided to do as Nicholas told her and open her eyes as best she could.

"What happened?" he asked her worriedly. "What are you doing?"

"I . . ." she breathed. "I feel sick."

A worried expression crossed Nicholas’s face. It was an expression that she had become very used to. Nicholas was always worried or frantic or paranoid or something.

"What, what is it?" she stammered, still out of breath and winded.

"The harvest." he almost whispered.

She didn’t understand. "Nicholas, this is not time to be thinking about corn." she said, struggling to sit up and grabbing her head.

"No, no, it’s not about corn at all." he snapped. "I’ve never told you anything about this because I didn’t know if you could handle it."

"What are you talking about?" Maria spat. She ran her hands through her hair as if that would help the rising stress from exploding over inside of her.

"You skin," Nicholas began to explain, "Your husk . . . it can only survive for 50 years, if that at all. After the 50 year time period, it begins to deteriorate until it deteriorates all of you completely."

"Until I die." she said in simpler, yet scarier terms.

"Yes." Nicholas said. "You’ve probably been shedding more lately than usual. You’ll all be going through this. Everyone at camp will soon be feeling like you’re feeling now. Except for me. I don’t need a husk to survive." He said the statement with a certain amount of pride, and Maria knew it was his way of proving to her and to himself that he was better than everyone else . . . in his mind.

"So, I’m gonna die?" she asked, somewhat scared of the answer. Although, if she died, she wouldn’t have to take part in Operation: Kill Michael Guerin and the Others.

Nicholas shook his head. "Not at all!" he exclaimed.

Darn.

"Maria, do you think I actually left Copper Summit without your husk?"

She felt really stupid.

"I just finished harvesting them a few weeks ago." Nicholas told her, rising to his feet and extending a hand to help her up. "Come on. We can go fit it onto you right now."

Maria followed Nicholas out the door, trying to keep up with him. He was walking too fast. She couldn’t walk that fast.

"Come on." he urged.

She tried to focus on Michael instead of the growing ache in her stomach as she raced forward.

He lead her to a small THE CHAMBER. THE CHAMBER was a room only for Nicholas. He had explained to all of the Skins when they had first arrived at the camp that if they ever entered that room without him or without his permission that he would not hesitate to kill them. So no one ever entered THE CHAMBER, because Nicholas never gave anyone permission to go in there.

"I’ve been harvesting the husks in here." he explained, motioning towards the door. He opened for her to step in. "Go ahead." he urged, noticing that she was just a little reluctant.

So she went. And when she saw Vanessa’s husk sitting in a glass chamber the moment she stepped foot in THE CHAMBER, she immediately wished she hadn’t.

"It’s okay." Nicholas said. "Keep going."

She walked down a long row of husks, each sitting within a glass case, looking like a suit of armor she would have to slip into.

She saw her own husk at the very end and almost shivered when she laid eyes on it. It was another her . . . almost.

"How come you didn’t tell me?" she asked Nicholas as he went around to the back of the case and unfastened a lock with his powers.

"I just didn’t want to." he said. "There was no reason to, and I thought that since you didn’t even remember Antar, you might not need to no about this."

"You thought I was weak." Maria said, once again putting his words into different terms.

"Yes, I did, okay?!" he shouted. "But now, if it makes you feel any better, you’ve proved me wrong." He took her husk from inside the case with his bare hands. He then re-locked the case with his powers and walked around to the front and handed Maria her husk. "Here. Put it on." he instructed.

She stared at the "piece of armor" in her arms. "I don’t know how." she said.

"Yes, you do." he said. "There’s a place inside of you that knows."

She still didn’t know what to do. The "place inside of her" that supposedly knew wasn’t functioning at the moment.

Nicholas sighed. "Fine, I’ll get you started. Go into the bathroom and get into the tub. Go from there."

"Um, okay." she began to make her way down the row of cases again, still unsure about what she was doing.

"Unless you want me to come in there and help you?" Nicholas offered.

"That’s okay." Maria told him. "Thanks anyway." The thought made her want to gag.

So she went into the bathroom, still feeling kind of tipsy, and let the place inside of her take it from there. And either way, it was a good thing. If she messed up, she wouldn’t have to go through all of this. If she lived to see her next day, she would get to see Michael again.

But the question was, did she really want to live, knowing all that she knew and all that was bound to happen?

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

She was able to put on the husk successfully, but only one part of her was happy about that. The other part wished she had failed.

Maria walked out of the bathroom to find Nicholas waiting for her outside the door. "Looks like it all worked out okay." he said, admiring her new skin. "In fact, I think it worked out very good. You’re even more beautiful now, Maria."

She smiled.

Later that night, all of the Skins gathered around a fire set in the middle of the camp. It was really cold out, and the tents did not have any source of heat, so it was actually warmer outside by the flaming inferno. Maria sat by Nicholas. She was wearing a huge jacket, but she didn’t feel warm, because she was sitting by a killer. A cold-blooded killer.

She wasn’t that much different from him, was she?

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Michael didn’t know Maria’s phone number. She had never given it to him, which he found sort of strange. They had done all of their conversing in school. If he had known, he would call her to see where she had been during the last half of school that day. He was worried about her. She had just sort of disappeared. And she hadn’t looked or seemed well in the eraser room when they had been making out, either.

So instead of calling, he sat in his apartment with the football game going. Nebraska was getting crushed. Really getting crushed. Poor Cornhuskers. Football was all they had going for them. Their basketball team was sure crap. Michael had found that out when he had watched them play Arkansas.

He stared at the screen telling himself that the game was really interesting and that his whole night was set—he was just going to sit here and watch it, because, after all, it was really, really interesting—but he knew that it would not turn out like that.

He decided to go downstairs to the lobby to get a cappuccino (or in this apartment complex’s case, a crapuccino) and then come back up to his place. Then he would be all set. Crapuccino and really interesting football game.

He slipped on his shoes, for the complex had a no shoes no service policy, even if you were a resident, and opened the door.

Maria was poised ready to knock on the other side. Perfect timing, he thought.

"Hi." she said. "I just thought I’d come by."

"Oh." He didn’t by it. True, he hadn’t known Maria DeLuca very long, but he did know that she didn’t just stop by. Her visits had a purpose.

"Why are you really here?" he asked her.

She blushed. "Well, the heat is kicking on in my house," she explained, "and I’m freezing. I need someone to warm me up." With that she stepped forward and into Michael’s awaiting arms. She wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned in for a quick kiss.

"I can do that." he told her with a mischievous grin.

She laughed. "Actually," she said. "I was thinking we could go out somewhere."

"Really?" he said. "Where? It’s, like, midnight."

"I know." she said. "But I know a place that stays open all night." She leaned in and whispered the words in his ear, and he found it strangely seductive.

"It’s called THE DUNGEON." she elaborated. "And I know the name is kinda frightening, but you’ll really like it. It’s cool."

Anything with Maria was cool.

"Okay." he agreed. "Let’s go." He grabbed his coat and slipped it around Maria’s shoulders and then, together, they left for THE DUNGEON.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Maria, what are you doing?" Michael couldn’t believe that Maria was actually thinking about sneaking into an adult club. Most girls weren’t like that. Isabel would never even do that, and Isabel could be pretty daring and risky sometimes.

"I’m sneaking in." she replied as if it were no big deal. "And I’m taking you with me."

"We’re gonna get caught." he warned her.

"Well, then we’ll sneak out of jail." she said.

He shook his head but followed her anyway. He had always dreamed of doing something like this. Something totally wrong and illegal, but Max and Isabel had always been to afraid. But Maria . . .

He followed her down a dark hallway. He couldn’t see her, so he held onto her hand. Then he began to hear two voices. Two rough and husky voices. Definitely security guards.

As the two beefy men came into view, Michael realized that he was right. He swallowed the huge lump that was forming in his throat and went along with Maria.

"Hi, again, you guys!" she chirped. Then, with that, she pulled on Michael’s hand hard and they went zipping between the guards and down onto a huge flight of stairs. They ran down the stairs before the guards had a chance to stop them and into the crowd.

Maria was laughing hysterically, and Michael couldn’t control his own laughter. "Did you see their faces?" he asked her. "They were, like, what the . . ."

And then suddenly, she kissed him, full and passionate, right in the middle of his sentence. She cupped his face with her hands, and his arms slid instinctively around her waist to hold her tightly against him. He didn’t want to risk losing her in the whirling bodies dancing all around them.

"Yeah!

This time I’m gonna let it all come out

This time I’m gonna stand up and shout

I’m gonna do things my way

It’s my way, my way or the highway!"

The music buzzed around them, radiating through Michael’s bones, penetrating through his skin and flowing into Maria’s as he kissed her harder. He wanted more of her. He needed more of her. He craved her, all of her.

She pulled away slowly and inhaled a deep breath of much needed air. Then, she turned her back to him and began to dance, rubbing her body up against his. Where had she learned to dance like that? God, her dancing sent him spinning into an entirely different world.

He let his hands trail down the sides of her body so that they rested in the curve of her waist. He swayed back in forth with her, surprised that he was actually dancing. He wasn’t a dancer, and he knew he probably looked stupid, but he didn’t care. He just didn’t want this to end. Ever. For anything.

"Yeah!

This time I’m gonna let it all come out

This time I’m gonna stand up and shout

I’m gonna do things my way

It’s my way, my way or the highway!"

He bent forward and began to suck on her neck furiously as she turned around and wrapped her arms around his neck. He heard her say something, but paid no attention as he moved her over to a dimly lit corner of the club where two couches were positioned across from each other. She seemed a little surprised when he laid her down on one of the couches, like she had been paying no attention to the fact that her feet had willingly been walking over there with him, and a small sigh escaped her raspberry lips when he brought his lips down to hers again.

The kissed for a long time—a really long time—as their tongues battled for dominance in each other’s mouths and their hands battled for possession on each other’s bodies. Little moans and sighs kept escaping her pleased lips. Then they pulled away from each other to look into one another’s eyes, and Michael saw that she was crying. And here he had thought that those little sighs and moans were for him.

Using his thumb, he wiped her tears away. He didn’t ask what was wrong. He knew she didn’t want him to.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

She didn’t know how they had gotten back to his apartment. It was all a blur. A massive blur, where she could not decipher one image, touch, or sound from the next.

He lifted his shirt over his head from his perched position on top of her and threw it to the ground. "Are you sure?" he asked her in a whisper as his fingers lingered on top of her stomach.

 

She nodded, even though she wasn’t sure. She wasn’t sure about anything anymore, but right now she didn’t care. She just needed to be with him, even if it would not last.

It could not last.

He gently lifted her shirt over her head as well and then slid his hands up her back to unhook the clasp on her bra. She had expected him to be a pro, an experienced pro who knew exactly what he was doing, but he was just the opposite. He fumbled with the clasp and cursed aloud when he could not get it undone.

"Shhh," she soothed, bringing a finger to his lips. She brought her hands behind her back to assist him.

And it continued in this way. Frantic, scared, frightened, eager . . . all at the same time. And it was beautiful, for he didn’t know any more than she did. He went about things slow and gentle, careful and quiet, and that comforted her a great deal.

It was so beautiful.

He was kissing her, and then he pulled away suddenly and gazed into her eyes with a smile on his face. Before she could ask him what he was doing, he blurted it out.

"I love you."

She felt her heart sink in her chest, and the tears that had spilled over at THE DUNGEON arose in her eyes again, threatening to spill over.

"You don’t know anything about me." she reminded him in a whisper.

"I don’t need to."

The tears spilled over onto her cheeks and he leaned down to kiss them away.

She laid in his arms that night completely awake while she listened to his breathing. His heart was pounding rapidly beneath the side of her face, and his skin was gradually becoming wet as she began to cry again. She muffled her sounds so that he would not wake up and hear her, and prayed to whatever god existed, if any, that he wouldn’t wake up.

He loved her. He actually loved her. Nobody had ever loved her before. Nobody would ever love her like he could. Of that much, she was certain.

She wished she didn’t love him back.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The morning sun hit Michael’s eyes and jolted him awake at once. He tried to move his arm to block the shining light, but something was weighing it down. Or rather someone. A particularly beautiful, perfect someone.

Maria DeLuca was taking in breath after breath as she slept peacefully. A small smile forming on her lips showed that she was having a good dream.

Michael leaned down and ran his fingers through her hair before placing a gentle, soft kiss on her forehead, causing her to stir ever so slightly.

He didn’t regret what they had done together last night. It had been the greatest, most exhilarating experience of his life. While they had been together, really together, he had felt like she was bringing out a completely different side in him. The side he had always wanted to be. And she had brought that side out in him. Her alone.

But she had been crying. Whether it had been for joy or for sorrow, he did not yet know, and he didn’t want to know. Not at that particular moment anyway.

"Michael, are you awake?" she asked him groggily, rubbing his naked chest with her fingers.

"Yeah." he told her. His voice was husky, clouded with sleep. "Hey." He watched as she opened her weary eyes and stared up into his for the first time that morning. Her eyes looked red and puffy, like she had been crying some more, but he didn’t say anything.

"Hey." she said, a small smile finding it’s way to her lips.

He didn’t know what to say. What was he supposed to say after what they had just done the night before? They had taken a huge step. Not just a big step, but a huge step, especially for him. He was a feakin’ alien/human hybrid! But he still wanted to show her that he cared, that it actually meant something to him.

This was crazy. He barely knew her at all.

"So," he began.

"So." she echoed.

"So, how are you feeling?" he asked.

"I feel great."

He smirked, knowing that he had been the one to make her feel that way, but then he thought back to when she had begun to cry after he had said the three most meaningful words of his life.

"You were crying." he declared. "Last night, you were crying after I told you . . ." He trailed off.

"I know." she said, running her fingers lazily down to trace circles over his rock-hard abs. "But we don’t really need to talk about that, do we?" She attempted a smile, but it looked forced.

"We do." he told her. "I do. I know you were crying while I was sleeping, too, Maria. Your eyes are red and puffy."

She reached up and ran her hands over her eyes like that was going to help at all. "I was." she admitted. "I just didn’t want you to hear me."

"Why?" he wondered aloud. "Baby, last night, I told you I loved you. I’ve never told that to anyone before. Not even Max and Isabel, and they’re practically my family. You gotta know that that means something."

"I know." she said again. "I know it means something, but I just didn’t want you to hear me, okay?"

He didn’t buy it. Something else was going on here.

"Look, Michael, I just did something last night that I promised myself I was never gonna do until I got married. I was just a little shaken up."

"Don’t be." he soothed, wrapping his other arm around her and managing to pull her even closer so that he was almost hugging her. "Last night was the best night of my life."

"Really?" Her eyes began to sparkle, making the green seem almost teal.

"Yeah." he told her honestly. "Really." With that, he tangled his hands in her hair and brought his mouth to hers. Her tongue slid into his mouth at once, urging his to do the same.

Michael let his hands slip under the blanket that was wrapped around the two of them to rub her back gently. "Oh, Michael . . ." she moaned against his lips.

Michael used his hands to force her body down onto his as hard as he could, so that her breasts rubbed up against his chest. He rubbed vigorously at her back while her mouth attacked his as she moved directly on top of him, her body crushing his.

He wished that moment wouldn’t end, because, in some ways, it was even greater than the sex. Because it was just him and Maria, and they were both completely at ease. Completely with each other.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew it was too good to last.

Unconsciously, his fingers began to pull at something hanging from her back. He opened his eyes and pulled it all the way off and then stared at it in horror. No, it couldn’t be. NO!

A piece of skin just like he had found near Pierce’s bones that night and just like the skin of Vanessa Whitaker hung loosely in his fingers. His mouth dropped open when she pulled away from him and his eyes grew huge. How could this be?

"Maria," he murmured. "What is this?" In his heart, he already knew the answer, but he didn’t want to admit it to himself in his mind.

She looked at what he was holding and her face took on the same expression as his. "Oh, I don’t know." she said, her voice quivering, but it was obviously a lie. "That is so disgusting! Get it out of here!"

Michael shook his head, forcing his tears to stay inside his eyes. "You know what this is." he said coldly. "How could you?" He pushed her off of him and she fell down on the other side of the bed with a loud thud and a squeak of the mattress. She clutched the blankets to her chest and began again. "Michael, I can explain."

"Just save it and get the hell out." he snapped, glaring her straight in the eye so that she knew that he meant it. He got out of the bed and quickly found his boxers on the floor. He slipped them on, and then his jeans.

"Michael, please, don’t do this. We just need to talk." she tried to tell him.

"I said get the hell out!" he shouted. He couldn’t remember if he had ever shouted at her and actually meant it. He pulled his shirt over his head and waited for her to collect her clothes and leave.

But she didn’t. She sat there on the bed with the blanket wrapped around her like a towel, her eyes shimmering with tears, her bottom lip quivering, and her eyes pleading with him to understand.

"I’ll kill you." he threatened, lifting his hand in the air so that it was pointed directly at her. "I will!"

"No, you won’t." she said. She wasn’t asking a question. She was stating a fact, and that irritated him. To prove his point, he sent a burst of energy flying at a nearby lamp, breaking it into pieces.

"Calm down." Maria told him soothingly, getting up from the bed and rushing to his side.

"Stay away from me." he ordered, backing up so that she could not reach out and touch him.

A single tear leaked from her right eye to flow down her cheek. "Michael, do you know how hard this was for me? I’ve lived with this knowledge of who you are and who I am for days."

"I’ve lived with it my whole life!" he shouted. "Do you know what it feels like to be alone, Maria? Completely and utterly alone?"

She nodded slowly. "Yes." she whispered. "Because I felt that way every day. Until I met you."

He almost laughed and shook his head. "No, don’t try to sweet-talk me and act all innocent. I know what you’re up to now. You never really had any feelings for me at all! You were just leading me on!"

"No, you can’t let yourself believe that Michael!" she yelled back with a power of her own.

"Get outta my house!" he shouted furiously. "Now!" He walked towards her, causing her to take a few steps backward as he inched closer.

"You wanna know the reason I was crying?" she asked as he pushed her closer and closer towards the door. "I was crying because, inside, I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to stay away from you. And I knew that you weren’t going to be able to, either. And in my heart, I realized that what you were feeling matched what I was feeling exactly! Michael . . ."

"Shut up." He picked her clothes off of the floor, which had somehow landed in a heap by the couch, and threw them at her. "Here. Take you filthy clothes and get out."

"Michael . . ." She didn’t even have anything to say now as the tears flowed freely.

As he looked into her eyes, he thought about taking her back, bringing her into his arms again and kissing her violently. It didn’t matter where. Wherever he could reach. And he would tell he over and over again that he loved her, that he would do anything for her, that he would die for her, and she would echo his words as the tears fell down her face.

Yeah, right. That was a fantasy, not a reality.

"Michael, please, listen!" she begged.

But he didn’t. Instead he placed his hand on the door frame, ready to close it, but not quite able to.

And then she whispered in a voice that was so quiet and shaky that it did not sound like her, "I love you, too, Michael."

And with that, even though he didn’t know if it was the right thing to do or not, he slammed the door in her face and leaned back against it waiting for the tears to come, like he knew they eventually would.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

How could he?

Maria leaned back against the door and asked herself the question. He loved her. He had even told her that. What made him decide to throw her out?

She clutched the blanket to her chest, feeling suddenly alone and vulnerable sitting out in the middle of the hall with no clothes on. She tried to bring her crying to an end, but she couldn’t stop. The tears fell from her cheeks and slid down her neck, eventually reaching the blanket so that she felt cold, too, as they soaked through to her skin.

She supposed it was all her fault. After all, she had been the one that had deceived him. She had been the one going after him. It was her fault.

She stood up, determined to find a bathroom and change and then head back to camp. She wouldn’t tell Nicholas anything. She wouldn’t tell him that she had been discovered. She wouldn’t tell him that after she had left the night before, she had went to Michael’s for some odd reason and then ended up sleeping with him. She wouldn’t tell him that she had fallen in love with the enemy.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Anything that Michael got a hold of, he threw. He threw everything so hard, that the sounds that it made as it broke into pieces seemed to echo throughout the room and fly out into the rest of the building so that everyone could hear how angry, upset, and frustrated he was.

The only person that he would ever, could ever love was his supposed "enemy". And he had just slept with her and given her all of him. He had just told her that he loved her.

He ran his fingers through his hair. He did that a lot when he was nervous or on edge. Usually it somehow calmed him down. Not now.

He didn’t want to go to school. He couldn’t. But he didn’t want to hang around home, either. Everywhere he looked, he was somehow was reminded of Maria. He could still envision the two of them together on the couch before they had transferred to the bed. Her naked body under his, both coated with sweat.

Right now, he just wanted to die.

"Hey, Michael." Max barged in, uninvited, without knocking. God, what if he and Maria had been in bed when he came in? Gee, he had to get a lock for that door. Not that it would really matter in Max’s case, but . . .

"What are you doing here?" Michael snapped.

Max eyed the floor suspiciously. "I’m picking you up for school." he replied. "It’s a quarter to eight. The question is,"—He reached down and picked up a piece of broken glass off of the

floor—"what are you doing?"

Michael sighed. This wasn’t something he could talk about with Max. "Nothing." he lied. "I’m not goin’ to school today, so you might as well leave." He fell down on the couch and buried his face in his hands, rubbing his eyes to rid them of the sleep that clung to the corners.

"What’s wrong?" Max asked, sitting down beside him.

"Nothing!" Michael yelled. "I just don’t feel like goin’ to stupid school today, okay?"

"Michael, is there something we need to talk about?" Max asked kindly, as if Michael were in kindergarten.

Michael grunted. "Screw this." he said, standing up and grabbing his coat from the tiny closet next to his door. "I’m going to school." And he walked out of the door, slamming it behind him, and leaving Max sitting alone on the couch with a puzzled expression on his face, feeling totally confused and lost.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

She hadn’t reported back to Nicholas last night, and she hadn’t had time to go back there that morning, either. Great. He probably knew she had been with Michael.

The only reason Maria had even gone to school in the first place was so that Nicholas would not get any more suspicious than he already must be, and she also thought that maybe Michael would come, too. Then she could talk to him. If he would let her, that is.

She reached her locker and began to fumble with the combination. What was it again? She wasn’t even functioning right now. 3-37-29? No, 3-29-31, right? No.

She began to pound dangerously on it when she couldn’t get it open, and felt like crying again.

She leaned her head against the cool metal, willing herself to stay calm, until she felt him behind her.

"We need to talk." he declared. "Eraser room. C’mon."

She followed him in their room without meeting his gaze and only aloud herself to look up at him once they were inside the room where the lighting was dim, if at all, and where she could not see his expression and the emotions on his face. "I’m so sorry." she began.

"I know." he said, rubbing his forehead. "I really know. But I just . . . I can’t forgive you, just like that. You knew all along. All along!"

She felt a severe pang of guilt hit her in the chest cavity, right near her heart. That was true. Everything he said was true. She was the bad guy here.

"I gave you everything." he murmured, choking on his words.

She couldn’t say anything. She didn’t know what to say. What was there to say, anyway?

"I’ve never given myself like that to anybody before." he continued, struggling to stay calm just like she had been by her locker.

"Michael, please, understand that I never wanted to do this. I never wanted to be a part of this."

"What is this exactly?" he inquired, wanting even more answers.

She wasn’t supposed to tell him, but at the same time, she wanted to. The words came from her heart, not from her mind, because right now, her mind and her heart were at war, trying to figure out what to do and what to say.

"I was assigned to go after you." she said.

"What?"

"It’s sort of hard to explain, but Nicholas . . ."

"Who’s Nicholas?" he interrupted.

Maria shuddered, picturing his face and what he would do if he knew that she was betraying him. "Nicholas is my leader." she stated simply. "He’s the leader of all of us skins, and he’s so powerful, Michael. More powerful than you and Max and Isabel and Tess combined. You have no idea."

Michael folded his arms across his chest just like the security guards at THE DUNGEON did. "Tell me more." he ordered.

"He came up with a plan." she continued. "He sent one of us after each one of you. It’s sort of hard to explain."

"No, I’m with you. Go on."

"Anyway,"—Where was she supposed to go from here? I accidently fell in love with you? Yeah, that would be real great. "I didn’t want to do it." she said. "I really didn’t. I’m not that strong. I knew somehow I would mess things up. But I couldn’t disobey Nicholas. He would’ve killed me." She looked down at the ground and muttered, "He’ll kill anybody who gets in his way."

"What exactly are you guys doing?" Michael asked. "I mean, you’re sure as hell not just going after us for the fun of it."

Maria brought her head back up to look into his eyes. "We’re supposed to find the granalyth." she said.

Michael’s eyes widened. "The granalyth." he echoed.

"It’s our only way home."

Michael was silent as he started to take in the new information. "Home." he said, echoing her words again. "To, to . . ."

"Antar." she finished for him. "Our home planet, Michael."

He stared like a stupid person at the floor, his arms still crossed in front of him. "I, I don’t remember home." he stuttered.

"Either do I." She couldn’t believe she had actually said that. She didn’t like to bring up that fact too much.

"You don’t?"

"Not any more than you do."

He nodded in understanding. "So, if we give you the granalyth, if we just surrender it over, then you’ll all leave and we’ll be back to normal?"

No, Maria thought inside her head. Nicholas will make sure he kills you.

"I don’t know." she lied. "I don’t know what Nicholas thinks anymore. He just wants to get home, Michael, just like you do."

Michael stared at her, now, his eyes meeting hers directly. "So, if he ever gets the granalyth, you’ll be leaving with him." It wasn’t in the form of a question, but she answered anyway.

"Yeah."

Michael shifted on his feet. "Oh." he said. That was all.

The bell rang just then, signaling the start of another one of the endless pep-rallies that the ditzy cheerleaders put on each week.

"I should go." Michael said nervously, reaching for the door handle.

"Wait." Maria stopped him. She stepped closer to him so that she could feel his breathing. "Please, don’t tell anyone about me. About who I am." She knew that she was asking a lot from him. "Please. Not even Max or Isabel. My life may depend on it."

Michael stared at her, clearly thinking about what she said, and then walked out of the room in his typical manner, not providing her with so much as a decent answer.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Whooooo!" Both Liz’s and Isabel’s screams pierced the air inside the stuffy gym as the cheerleaders announced Kyle’s name. Kyle came running out from the locker room with a football in his hands. The guy was involved in so many sports. His athletic ability seemed to be endless.

Michael buried his face in his hands, trying to hide his disgust. He had never understood the point of these stupid pep-rallies. Yeah, sure, some of the perves out there got a little pleasure by watching the cheerleaders do the splits in mid-air and by watching the dance team members shake their booties, but otherwise, what was the point? To announce that they were having their homecoming game that night? Everyone knew that anyway.

"Michael, are you okay?" Max asked from beside him.

Michael almost shook his head, but then he remembered what Maria had said. "Please, don’t tell anyone . . . who I am . . . please . . . my life may depend on it."

"I’m fine." he lied. "I’m just tired. Hank kept me up all night."

"How?" Max asked, concerned as always.

"Um . . ." Lying had never been one of Michael’s strong-points, even considering his alien status. "He was watching football all night and screaming and stuff and breaking stuff, and . . ."

"I get the picture." Max said. "You don’t need to tell me anymore."

Thank God, Michael thought, grateful as ever. He didn’t like lying to his best friend in the entire world, but at the same time . . .

Michael turned his head to the side, just enough so that he could see her. He wanted to see her, even though he knew he shouldn’t.

She was looking at him. No, not just look, searching him. Searching his soul, as if looking for answers to her questions. Searching for his true feelings.

And then he did something unexpected and totally out of character for him, of all people. He got up. He got up, and he walked in front of people sitting around him, and made his way over to the other side of the bleachers where she was sitting. He squeezed in beside her and looked her directly in the eyes.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Homecoming." he said. "The game. Tonight. Be there. We need to talk some more."

She nodded like a stupid person. "Oh, okay." she stuttered. "I’ll try."

Then, Michael got up and went back to his seat the way he had come.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Maria passed the time until the homecoming game by doing things that normal girls would do if they were just about to go spend time at the game. She polished her nails and toenails and curled her hair with a curling iron, using the plug in the kitchen and a little hand mirror to help her. She had found all of the supplies needed for her little make-over in Vanessa’s drawers. Vanessa had gotten real into the teeny-bopper thing after posing as the Congresswoman, too.

The tent seemed so empty now days without her friend there. Worst of all, though, was how her things were still where she had left them, still in place, perfect to the last detail. Every night, Maria glanced at those items, and it felt like Vanessa was going to come walking in the door any minute, rambling on about what a great day she had had and about how she loved being in a position of power among the government.

Maria hated Isabel Evans for killing her best friend, but then she reminded herself that she wasn’t that much different. After all, she was helping Nicholas, wasn’t she?

Finally, it was time for her to leave, so she told Nicholas that she was taking the car to go to the game.

"Why?" he asked her.

"Why do you think?" she returned. "To see if Michael’s there, of course."

"Right." Nicholas seemed extremely on edge today. Even more than usual.

"Right." Maria echoed. She turned to head out the door, thinking that that would be it, but then, she felt Nicholas grab her arm to stop her. "We’re running out of time, Maria." he snapped. "I’ve been waiting and waiting, and nothing ever happens. Roger and Neil aren’t getting anyway, and Vanessa’s dead. It’s all up to you now."

Maria looked straight ahead at a nearby tree, trying not to shudder at his words. She didn’t know what to say. She couldn’t tell him that she would make it happen. There wasn’t a chance in hell of that. But she couldn’t just say no to Nicholas, either. She was in a lose/lose situation.

So, she did exactly what Michael hadn’t wanted her to do at one time. She ran. She ran out the door as fast as her legs could carry her and got into the car and slammed the accelerator down as hard as it would go, eager to get away from this camp, which had become her prison.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Look, look!" Isabel squealed. "It’s Kyle. He’s the first string running back." She pointed down to the field to where Kyle was doing stretches along with the rest of the team.

Michael didn’t care. His thoughts were somewhere else.

"I wonder if he’s gonna make any touch-downs?" Isabel wondered aloud. "God, Michael, I’m so glad you decided to come with me!" She squeezed his arm and began to squeal like her ditzy friends. Well, it was good to see her happy at least.

The game started off good. The comets scored right away, and Kyle was actually the one who had caught the pass. But Michael didn’t care. Where was she?

"Michael!"

He turned around when he heard her yell his name. She was standing up a few steps by the concession stand wearing the tightest, black, leather pants ever and a pink halter top. Her hair was curled around her face in big ringlets, and her make-up was perfect. Even more perfect that it usually was.

Making sure that Isabel was totally absorbed in the game and talking to her endless string of friends, Michael got up and walked up the stairs to where he was waiting for her.

"I came." she said. She looked nervous, uneasy.

"Let’s go somewhere a little more quiet." Michael said, motioning for her to follow him out of the stadium. She did.

He walked down the parking lot with his hands stuffed in his pockets, searching for a place where he and Maria could be alone. She wasn’t saying anything. She just followed him like he wanted her to, but that wasn’t like the Maria he knew. The Maria he knew would talk whenever she got the chance.

Michael spotted a small shed in the distance. He knew it was where the school kept most of their athletic equipment. "In here." he said, opening the rickety door so that Maria could step in. She eyed it suspiciously. "Go on." he urged.

So she stepped into the completely dark room, and he followed her. When he found a string, he pulled on it, and a light lit up the tiny little shed, illuminating Maria’s flawless face. She still looked uneasy. Almost scared.

He sat down beside her and began to talk.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

She nodded a little too quickly. "I should be asking you the same thing."

There was a brief moment of silence as Michael studied her features. Something in her eyes didn’t look right. She looked beautiful, yes, but still, something in her eyes looked . . . haunted.

"What’s wrong?" he asked her, knowing that something definitely was wrong.

She let out a heavy sigh. "It’s just," she began, pausing a little after those first two words. "Nicholas." she finally finished. "He, he’s getting really impatient."

"What do you mean?" Michael asked.

"He wants the granalyth now. And he says it’s all up to me to find out where it is." She stood up and wrapped her arms around herself, as if it were cold in the stuffy little shack. "Isn’t this just a twist of fate." she joked, though it wasn’t funny.

"You can lie." Michael reminded her. "You’re good at that."

She spun around to face him and sent him a glare, reminding him that she wasn’t in a good mood.

"I can’t lie." she told him. "You don’t understand what Nicholas can do."

Now Michael was concerned. "What can he do?" he asked, standing up as well and moving to stand beside her.

No answer.

"Maria?"

She turned her back to him again. "I can’t explain it." she said. "I guess, he just goes inside your head and he sorts through all of your memories of the past few hours . . . days . . . whatever. He can see what I did, what I’m thinking. He can sense what I’m feeling. He can rip all of my memories away from me if he gets the chance."

Michael didn’t like the sound of that, and, instinctively, a hand slid up her back to rest comfortingly on her shoulder. "It’ll be okay." he told her, even though he didn’t know if it really would be.

Maria shook her head. "No, Michael." she said. "If something happens to you, it’ll be all my fault." She turned around to face him again, and he saw tears shimmering in her eyes.

That was all the motivation he needed. With that, he pulled her into his arms and brought his lips down to crush hers, sending jolts of heat through his body, sending his heart into an unbelievably fast rate.

And that was when Michael completely forgot about everything that had ever made sense to him.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Where was she? She had left to that stupid football game hours ago, and she still wasn’t home. How long could football games last?

Nicholas paced around his room impatiently. His footsteps were the only sounds on the hard ground that served as a floor. He had expected Maria to be back hours ago, but she still wasn’t. Everyone else at camp was asleep in their beds. She hadn’t even reported back to him yet.

Maybe he had scared her when he had grabbed her arm before she left and told her very sternly that it was all up to her. He knew Maria, and he knew that she was fragile, and that she would break easily if he pushed too hard or too fast. Maybe he had been pushing just a little too much.

But he was very impatient. The plan shouldn’t have been taking this long. They should have already discovered the granalyth’s location by now, and the Royal Four should have been dead. And most importantly, he should have been back on Antar with Maria, and maybe even a few of the other skins if the granalyth would transport them all.

He hadn’t told his comrades that the granalyth would only transport a small number of them, and that, after that, it was done. Through. It would transport no more. And whoever didn’t make the first trip . . . well, they would be left behind to die on earth 50 years later when the husks began to die out again and Nicholas wasn’t there to harvest for them.

"Nicholas, I’m back." Maria had entered into his tent so quietly while he was deep in thought that he hadn’t even heard her.

"Oh, good." he said. "I was getting worried that something happened to you like what happened to Vanessa."

Maria visibly stiffened at the mention of Vanessa. "Well, I’m going to bed now. I’m really tired. I guess I’ll see you tomorrow." She turned to leave, but he stopped her.

"Maria!" he almost shouted. "Did anything happen? Between you and Michael?"

She shook her head. "Nope. Nothing. Sorry." She reached for the doorknob, but he put his hand out to stop her.

"Maria," he said, a little more calmly now. "Do you understand how important this is? How important all of this is? This isn’t just some game. This is home. Antar. Everything we’ve ever dreamed of. Now, if you get Michael to tell you, then I can guarantee you a place in the granalyth when it’s ready to transport, and I can guarantee you that home that you’ve been dying to see and know for all of these years now."

"Nicholas, things like this take time." she said. "I don’t want to make any mistakes."

Okay, that was understandable. "Fine." he agreed. "But, please, hurry up with it so we can get the granalyth ASAP if you can?" He knew that it was the only time in his life he was ever going to use the word please to anyone lower than him ever again.

"Okay." she said, but something didn’t seem quite right about her voice. It was quivering, and her eyes were full of tears. But he ignored these two very pertinent facts as she walked out his door and headed to her tent.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"You’re beautiful."

Maria blushed as Michael complimented her and allowed him to run his fingers through her hair. She smiled and gazed into his eyes as the rain beat down outside his window.

"I don’t say that to many people." he continued. "In fact, I don’t say that to anyone. Besides you, that is."

Maria repositioned herself on his stomach and sighed. "You’re beautiful, too." she told him.

"I’m hideous."

"Nope. You’re not." She closed her eyes and let the sound of the rain outside mesmerize her, combined with the way his hands were running up and down her shoulders now.

"I still can’t believe that you sneaked away from home." he said, bringing his fingers up to trace over her lips.

"It’s not a home." she murmured. "It’s camp."

"Right." Michael agreed, correcting himself immediately. "I still can’t believe you sneaked away from camp."

Maria shrugged. "I am getting pretty risky, huh?" she joked.

"Not risky enough for me." Michael said mischievously, moving down on the bed so that her head rested on his chest and so that he could rub her breasts gently between his fingers. His touch felt so intoxicating, and she wanted more, but she had to tell him something first.

"Michael, I don’t know how much time we have left together." she said, leaning back a little and digging her head down hard into his chest as his touches became more passionate and rough. "It could be a day. It could be an eternity. But I just want to know that I’d rather spend it with you than spend it . . . watching you watch me. Wanting you, and not having you." A small sigh escaped her lips, followed by a groan after the sentence made it out of her mouth.

"I love you." he said. His own voice was sort of breathy.

"I love you, too." She turned her head to the side so that there lips could come together and tangled her hands in his unruly hair at once. Her favorite place to keep her hands was in his hair, just because it felt comfortable, and it always made him kiss her harder.

And, eventually, Michael did begin to kiss harder. He rolled her over on her back and fell down on top of her, letting his hands rub her waist, right above the border of her jeans, and letting his tongue glide into her mouth with much practice now.

"Michael," she gasped when he pulled away. She looked up at his face, concentrating on his brown eyes. "Make love to me again." she whispered.

He brought his eyes down to look at her body, and then let his hands trail up under her shirt. He pulled it up enough so that her belly was exposed. Leaning down, he placed a soft kiss on top of her belly-button, causing her to giggle.

But then he began to swirl his tongue inside and out of the indentation, causing her to squirm beneath him and tangle her hands in his hair again, pushing him closer to her.

And, once again, his movements were so slow and delicate, almost effortless, and he made her feel completely comfortable and at peace. And, as last time, he made everything seem so beautiful.

And that’s why it hurt so much when she had to get up, out of his arms and leave him early in the morning the next day.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

It continued like this for days. Each day, Michael and Maria would meet secretly in the eraser room, hoping that no one would discover them, and in there, they would kiss and touch, and even sometimes just talk. And then, when the bell rang, they would both leave before the swarms of students crowded the hall.

They would stay out late at night, dancing at THE DUNGEON or Area 51, whatever they felt like, or sometimes just at Michael’s apartment, lying in his bed, and, of course, kissing. And then she would leave to go back to camp. She would report back to Nicholas and lie to him, hoping that he could not detect what she was thinking and remembering.

And things seemed to be going great. Because Maria was happy. Michael was happy. And Nicholas didn’t suspect that anything was really going on behind closed doors.

Until that particular day.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Maria was sitting in Nicholas’s tent with him, but she might as well have been alone, for Nicholas didn’t say anything. He sent her these looks once in a while, angry looks. Perhaps even frustrated looks, but she tried to ignore them, and she fought the urge to run out and buy some music with whatever money she had so that she wouldn’t have to sit in these endless silences with Nicholas all of the time.

"How’s everything going with Michael?" he asked, opening up a magazine and beginning to flip through it.

Maria shrugged, forcing the memories of a few nights before out of her mind. "Okay." she lied.

Nicholas nodded, which she found weird, and out of character with him. Nicholas had been so concerned about the granalyth and getting home. He had even sort of threatened her. Now, he seemed to be allowing her all the time in the world that she wanted. Strange.

The silences continued as Nicholas continued to leaf through the magazine. He went through it so fast that it was clear that he wasn’t actually looking at any of it. Something else was on his mind, but Maria was too afraid to ask.

"Maria," Nicholas suddenly spoke, placing the magazine back down on the ground and sliding over on his cot so that he could sit beside her.

"What?" she asked.

Nicholas shrugged. "I don’t know. I’m just so proud of you. And you look so beautiful today."

Hearing the words coming out of Nicholas’s mouth sent shivers flying up Maria’s spine. Something just didn’t seem right about this situation. Nicholas was talking to her like a child who had done a good job. And she hadn’t done a good job, either. She had betrayed him. She had betrayed all of the skins . . . Vanessa . . . Kivar . . . She had betrayed her own race.

Nicholas reached up and ran a hand tenderly through her hair, as if to show the true meaning of his words. Maria closed her eyes and pretended that he was Michael, gently caressing her cheek, her lips, but somehow the real thing was better.

And then, suddenly, the tenderness stopped as quickly as it had started, and Maria shrieked as a memory was torn from her mind. She saw a picture of herself and Michael making out in the eraser room fly past her eyes. She felt the picture leave her mind and enter Nicholas’s, and she heard Nicholas grunt as he continued to pull memory after precious memory away from her.

"No . . ." she moaned quietly. "No . . . please . . ." But it was useless. Once Nicholas made up his mind, he made up his mind.

He clamped his hand down on top of her head and grimaced as he watched the most precious moments of her life run by so quickly that the images were barely distinguishable.

* Maria, laughing with Michael, feeling totally and completely at peace for the first time in her life. *

* Maria, dancing with Michael at THE DUNGEON, the music banging through her body, her heartbeat banging rapidly, pressed us against his chest. *

* Michael’s hands, trailing up her back. *

* Michael’s lips, seeking her own for comfort, for compassion, for ecstacy. *

* Maria, throwing her head back as Michael lips attack her neck furiously. *

* Maria, running her hands up and down Michael’s bare chest, feeling the rock hard muscles of abdomen and the quivering nervousness in his stomach all at the same time. *

* Michael, kissing across her stomach and down her thigh, all the way to her feet before returning to her lips again. *

* Maria and Michael, laying tangled up in each other the next day as the rain beat softly on the window. *

* Michael, telling her that he loved her. *

* Maria, telling him that she loved him. *

* Michael, peeling off a piece of her skin. *

* Maria, telling him everything the next day. *

And, then, it was done, and Maria was free again, she took a few deep breaths and then glared at Nicholas. "What were you doing?" she spat. "How could you go through my mind like that?"

Nicholas just stared at her, mouth agape and eyes wide open. It was an expression she had never seen on his face before.

And then she remembered what he had seen.

Everything. Absolutely everything that had happened between herself and Michael.

"I can explain." she lied.

Nicholas shook his head. "I was getting suspicious, Maria." he said. "You know, you’ve never been a great liar. So I had to check. Just a peek. But I never expected that . . ." He broke off. "You’ve betrayed me."

Yeah, that was true.

"You’ve fallen in love with him." Nicholas stood up now, his hands clenching into fists, and Maria began to fear for her own safety.

"You’d give up everything," Nicholas yelled. "For him! You race! Your life! Your home!"

Then, without thinking, Maria’s hand shot out protectively in front of herself and she sent a burst of her built-up energy flying straight at Nicholas, knocking him to the ground. She took the opportunity to jump to her feet and run out the door as fast as she could.

"Maria!" She could hear him calling from behind her, but she didn’t look around. She had to get away now. He would kill her. He wouldn’t hesitate.

She pushed through a gathering crowd by a warm campfire and into the night, into the shadows, where the darkness cradled her and protected her. Her eyes searched frantically for a way of escape. Nicholas would catch her on foot in no time. She could hear him approaching now.

And that’s when she saw it. It was beaming and shining like a light at the end of a tunnel. The Volkswagon that they had found in the desert. She climbed in the drivers seat and used her powers to start the car. She gunned the motor, hoping that somehow she would be able to escape in time.

"Maria!" A flash of blinding light exploded in the air and she almost ran off the road, but she was able to maintain her balance. She could hear Nicholas’s footsteps pounding behind her. Why couldn’t this damn thing go faster?

Two bursts of energy zipped right past her head, almost hitting her directly, and disappeared into the night air.

Finally, the Volkswagon picked up enough speed to leave Nicholas in the dust, but it did not drown out the sound of his pure evil voice calling after her, splitting the night air into two. "This isn’t over, Maria! I’m gonna get you and your lover boy both! You can count on it!"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Ahh, come on! You had it Buckley! What kind of wimpy shot was that?" Michael almost choked on his food after the shot that he had just seen his favorite team and favorite player make. Even he could have made it.

Michael was just starting to get distressed over the game when someone knocked frantically on the door. Reluctantly, he set his food down on the coffee table that he had purchased to set his feet on when he needed to relax and stood up, running his fingers through his hair and slowly making his way towards the door.

"Michael, let me in!"

He recognized that voice.

"Hurry, Michael!"

That was all the motivation he needed. With that, he slid the chain lock away, not realizing that he had locked her out. She burst through the door looking absolutely terrified. She was breathing deeply, and little beads of sweat hung from her forehead. She slammed the door behind her and then looked up into his eyes, not giving him the slightest clue as to what was going on.

"Michael!" she sobbed suddenly, throwing herself into his arms and holding onto him so tightly that it hurt. "I’m so glad you’re okay!"

"Baby, what’s going on?" he asked, stroking the back of her head with the palm of his hand, hoping to ease whatever it was that was going on inside of her at least a little.

Her sobs just came harder and ragged, as if she were having a hard time breathing.

"Maria," He didn’t want to, but he pried her away from him and cupped her face with his hands. "You’ve gotta talk to me. What’s going on?"

Nothing.

He ran his thumb across her cheek to show her that, whatever it was, he would understand.

"Nicholas." she replied.

He was taken aback. "What?"

"Nicholas knows!" she shouted. "He knows everything. About you. About me. About us. He knows that I told you. He knows that I’ve betrayed him."

This thought had never occurred to Michael. He had gotten so used to just having a normal relationship with Maria over these past few days, ever since the second time they had made love.

Michael sat down on the couch, suddenly feeling like he couldn’t support himself. He didn’t know what to say. Nicholas knew? How could he know?

As if reading his thoughts, Maria answered him. "I don’t know how it happened. He was just touching me and then . . ." She broke off, and Michael tried not to let the thoughts of Nicholas touching Maria bother him.

"It’s not your fault." he told her, pulling her down by her waist on top of his lap. He bent forward and placed a soft kiss on her neck. She felt so tense. "We’ll figure something out."

She shook her head. "No, we won’t." she said doubtfully. "You don’t know Nicholas, Michael. You don’t know how dangerous he is. He won’t stop until he’s gotten what he’s wanted."

"And what does he want?" Michael asked.

Maria looked off into space. "The granalyth." she replied simply. "And us . . . dead."

Michael felt a shiver travel up his body, but tried to stay calm for his beautiful Maria, though that was proving to be easier said than done, as he was feeling very threatened and vulnerable right now. But he didn’t care about that. All that mattered was that Maria was safe.

Suddenly, she stood up. "We have to get out of here." she said. "Out of Roswell. As far away as we can get."

Michael would have liked the idea if it hadn’t been such a crisis situation.

"Get your stuff packed up." Maria instructed, for once, giving the orders and taking charge.

"Um . . ." This was just too much information to take in at one time. "Uh, okay, let me call Max and Izzy and explain what’s going on to them." He reached for the phone, but Maria’s tiny hand darted out and took a hold of his wrist, preventing him from getting any farther.

"No." she said as if he were a dog who had just done something very bad. "They can’t know."

"What?" Michael was confused. Max and Isabel were his family in every way that counted. They deserved to know.

"Nobody can know, do you understand, Michael?" Maria asked very carefully and slowly, making sure to enunciate every syllable as clearly as she could. "Michael, it’s a matter of life and death."

Michael slowly lowered his hand, not wanting to, but knowing that what Maria said made sense. He hoped that Izzy would dream-walk him and learn everything that way. Then, at least, he wouldn’t feel like he had abandoned them.

Then he turned around to Maria. "Okay," he said after only a bit of hesitance. "Let’s go."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

http://www.crashdown.com/fanficMaria leaned her head against the window and peered outside as the world whizzed past her in a blur of unrecognizable sights. Michael was sitting beside her in the driver’s seat of the Volkswagon gripping the steering wheel so hard that his knuckles were turning white.

They had been driving for hours. They didn’t have a specific destination in mind. Maybe somewhere in Texas. Or maybe they would even get brave and venture down to Mexico.

Maria let out a sigh and closed her eyes. She was so tired. She wanted nothing more than to go to sleep at that very moment, but she didn’t want to leave Michael all by himself.

"Go ahead." Michael urged her on, seeing what she wanted to do. "I’ll be okay."

So Maria got herself in a comfortable position, and she was asleep within minutes.

She dreamt of another world. A world she had never seen. It had to be another world. It was too beautiful and perfect to be earth.

She was in a beautiful garden surrounded by flowers and bushes and trees. In the middle was a huge fountain shooting water high into the air. Ahead of her was a huge metal fence, obviously put there as a boundary. A boundary to what?

She peered into the hazy mist that hung low on the ground and noticed an outline on the other side of the fence. A masculine figure. A man.

Michael.

She walked towards him slowly, the mists swirling around her feet, stepping in time with the music she heard playing in the background.

"Baby, get ready

I’m comin’ for you

I’m a vampire!

I want you

Nothing you can do

I’m a vampire!

Watch me do my dance for you

Nothing you can do

Baby, get ready

I’m comin’ for you

I’m a vampire!"

"Maria," she heard him whisper when she stepped closer. "My love,"

"Michael?" she asked, reaching out to touch the bars that separated them.

He let his fingers twirl around hers and leaned forward, pressing his head against the bars. "I can’t take it." he said. "I can’t take being without you. I love you."

She didn’t say anything.

"I want nothing more than to take you up in my arms and carry you to my quarters to make sweet love to you right now." he said, a sly grinning finding its way to his face.

"Baby, get ready

I’m comin’ for you

I’m a vampire!

Watch me do my dance for you

I want you

Nothing you can do

Baby, get ready

I’m comin’ for you

I’m a vampire!"

She was staring into his majestic eyes which seemed to light up the dark, misty world that they were in and reached out to touch his cheek when a few words made their way over the sound of the music and into her head.

". . . on Antar, in out other life, was I . . . was I in love?"

Maria spun around as the words went in and out of her brain. She remembered saying that. It was her words exactly. Her voice.

The words echoed into her head, drowning out the sound of the music until there was none, and until the echoes were reduced to for simple words that repeated themselves over and over again, begging to driver her insane.

". . . was I in love?"

". . . was I in love?"

". . . was I in love?"

She jolted awake suddenly, just as the words began to make since to her. She leaned forward and accidently broke her seatbelt. She took in deep breaths, trying to calm herself.

"Maria, what’s wrong?" Michael asked, placing a hand on her back. "Are you okay?"

Maria didn’t answer him. Instead, she thought back to her conversation with Vanessa that day in the tent. Vanessa had answered her, and, at the time, the answer seemed logical. But now . . . now she knew everything. Vanessa had lied to her. She had been very much in love. She knew that now. She had seen how Michael felt about her. How much he loved her on Antar. How much she loved him.

"Maria!" Michael shouted. He pulled the car to a rest on the side of the deserted highway, and then turned to her again, rubbing her back gently. "Talk to me." he said.

She didn’t know if she could talk. She had just learned so much. So many of her questions were answered now.

"They lied to me." she gasped in shock. "Everything they told me was a lie!"

"Who?" Michael asked.

"Vanessa and Nicholas." she replied. "Everyone." She ran her fingers through her hair, which was soaked with sweat ever since that dream. It wasn’t like it had been erotic or anything. In fact, it had been peaceful. Beautiful. Mysterious.

"Michael," she said slowly, trying to keep her words straight. "In our other life, on Antar . . ." She paused for a brief moment, and then told him what she knew. "We were in love."

He shook his head and scrunched his eyebrows together. "How is that possible?" he asked doubtfully.

"I just saw it with my own eyes!" she shouted. "Well, okay, not really with my own eyes, but it felt so real. I was there. It was like I was reliving a memory." She closed her eyes and remembered the way he had spoken to her, the way he had looked. He had had the outward appearance of a soldier. Rough and rugged, even with a slight beard, but when he spoke to her, it had been so delicate and fragile, and the words had flown from his heart.

"I served you a lot before the fighting broke out." she continued, surprising herself by her words more than him. It was all coming back to her now, after all this time of nothing. "I would come up to your chambers and bring you food or water or whatever it was you wanted. Sometimes, we would just sit and talk. You would tell me about Isabel, and about how she was getting closer and closer to Kivar every day. I would tell you that you didn’t belong with her, and you would ask me who you did belong with. And then I would always shrug.

"But then, one day, something changed. You asked me and I told you that we belonged together. And then you kissed me. It was secretive, mysterious, passionate, exotic. We were up alone in your room, and one thing led to another. You laid me down on your bed and told me you loved me. And I started to . . ." She broke off and pressed her fingers to her lips, thinking of the resemblance between her last life and this one. "I started to cry." she said.

Michael smiled, remembering.

"You went so slow." she continued. "It was so gentle, and you made me feel special, and I knew I wasn’t just Isabel. I was your destiny." Her own smile tugged at the corners of her mouth as she remembered both times, until her memories coalesced into one. "And the next morning, I woke up in your arms. I knew I had to leave, so I left before you could get up. And when I walked outside into the morning light, I heard of the war. We had started fighting, and I realized that we could never be lovers. Because we were enemies.

"But we kept seeing each other secretly, well aware of the fact that Isabel and Kivar were doing the same. But then, one day, everything changed. There was a battle. A big battle. Thousands were killed." She felt a tear slide down her cheek as she remembered. "I tried." she whispered. "I tried to run to you and push you out of the way, but I wasn’t fast enough. And I watched you die. You fell to the ground in one massive heap, and you were gone immediately. You couldn’t say anything to me. You couldn’t hear me speaking to you. You were dead. Because of . . ." She stopped again as a familiar face flashed into her mind.

"Because of who?" Michael asked.

"Because of Nicholas." She relived everything inside her head. The bolt of energy Nicholas sent flying out of his hand straight at Michael like a bullet. The sound as it hit his body. The look of pure pain on his face as he hit the ground.

"I won’t let it happen again." she said, the determination showing up in her voice, completely washing out the fear. "He’s evil."

Michael wrapped his arms around her and allowed her to cry into his shoulder, soaking his shirt through to his skin. "How do you remember?" he finally asked.

"I don’t know." she replied. "I’ve been wondering all of these years, but . . ." A thought suddenly occurred to her. A very rational, though. A though she knew had to be true.

"He kept me from learning anything." she said. "Nicholas remembered Antar. He remembered everything about it. He knew about us. I know he did. So he kept me from knowing anything, so I wouldn’t remember you. He took a hold of my mind and tried to make all of my memories disappear. And Vanessa, she was in on it. She was helping him! And that’s why I was sent after you in the first place, Michael. Nicholas knew you’d fall in love with me. He just didn’t know I’d fall in love with you back."

Michael sighed. "This is a lot to take in." he said. "I wish I could remember."

Maria shook her head. "No." she told him. "You don’t want to." A brief picture of her warrior Michael lying lifeless on the ground flashed in her mind. "You really don’t want to."

"No, not the bad stuff." he said. "Just the good stuff. You know? The kissing. The touching. The sex."

Maria couldn’t help but laugh. "If I remember correctly," she said. "The sex was very good."

Michael laughed at this, too and pressed a soft kiss to her lips. Then, he pulled away so that he could look into her eyes. He was fully supporting the weight of her body with his hands. "We’re gonna make it." he told her confidently. "We’re gonna be alright. I promise."

And then they were off again, riding to wherever, it didn’t matter. Riding as far away from Nicholas and the rest of the Skins as they could get.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Maria! Maria! Maria, wake up!"

Maria shot straight up in bed, just like she had done in the car, and clutched the blankets to her chest. She had had another dream/memory of Antar. Only this one had been a nightmare. She had watched Michael die, over and over again, like a movie that just would not stop.

"Are you okay?" Michael asked from beside her. "You were shaking and squirming and saying something."

Maria exhaled a heavy sigh. "Yeah, I’m okay." she said. "I was just having another dream." She rubbed her forehead to try to ease some of the rising tension, but she found that Michael did a better job of that by wrapping his arms around her and bringing her face down to his chest.

"What was it about?" he asked.

She didn’t want to tell him.

"Maria?"

"Nothing." she said. "I just . . . I don’t wanna talk about it, k?" She looked up at him, her eyes begging him to understand.

"Okay." he agreed. "Go back to sleep. We’ve got a big day ahead of us tomorrow. I’m thinkin’ maybe we could reach Marathon."

"Yeah, sure, whatever." She didn’t care. As long as she was with him. They had reached some place called Rectorson right by the Rio Grande river, the boundary between Mexico and the United States, and they had rented a hotel room with the little money they had. But they wouldn’t be able to rent for much longer.

Michael had talked about sleeping outside, like campers on the way to Rectorson, but Maria wasn’t to crazy about the idea. She had never been a camping girl. Even staying at the Skins’ camp had been torture for her. Those stupid tents and the tiny bathrooms . . . they weren’t her thing. But actually sleeping outside in one tiny sleeping bag with nothing but a little crackling fire to keep you warm and only your lover laying next to you, holding you tightly and shielding you from any coldness that may come and want to bite at you . . .

On second thought, that sounded pretty good.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Nicholas couldn’t believe it. He couldn’t believe any of it. Maria . . . she had betrayed him. She had fallen in love with Michael . . . again. Of course, he had known he was taking risks when he had assigned Maria to go after Michael, but he had thought that he would be able to keep her feelings under control by pushing all of her memories of Antar into the back of her mind.

Apparently not. Judging by what he had seen stored inside her head, they were very much together and very much in love.

"What are we gonna do about Maria?" Roger asked as he and Nicholas stood in line for the crap that the kitchen was serving on that particular day. "She’s totally foiled our plan."

"Don’t you think I know that?" Nicholas snapped. "God, I don’t know what made me think I could trust her! How could I be so stupid?" He had never beaten himself up like this. This was truly a first.

Nicholas shoved through the line. He wasn’t in the mood for food, especially for what they were having. He sat down at his table. It was the biggest and nicest of them all. And he usually sat alone, except for the times when Vanessa and Maria would sit with him. But now, Vanessa was dead and Maria had betrayed him, so it didn’t seem like that would be happening too much any more.

"We have to kill Michael." Nicholas said. "We have to stick to our original plan."

Roget nodded in agreement.

"But first," Nicholas added quietly. "We’ve gotta kill Maria."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The next day was driving and driving and more endless driving. Michael drove all the way to Marathon, Texas, and Maria tried to catch some sleep on the way.

"We’re here." Michael announced, stopping the car. He felt bad for waking her up, because now he would have to drag her out into the woods for the night.

"I can sleep in here." she said, rubbing her eyes sleepily.

Michael shook his head. "No, we’d be safer in the protection of the woods."

"God, you sound like a boy scout."

He smiled and ran his fingers through her hair. "Come on." he urged her. "I’ve got the sleeping bag and the matches for a fire. We’ll be fine."

Michael opened up his own door and stepped out, then went around to the other side of the car and helped Maria out. They walked into the woods hand in hand, and that’s when Michael noticed that Maria was wearing only a sleeveless shirt. She was shivering.

So he hurried along. Once they reached a tiny little clearing in the woods, he set the sleeping bag out and told her to get inside.

"What about you?" she asked drowsily.

"I’m gonna start a fire." he explained. "Don’t worry, I’m fine."

So she fell asleep peacefully, and then, once he lit the fire, (with the help of his powers, of course) he crawled in beside her and fell asleep, letting the smell of her hair and the smell of her perfume follow him into dreamland.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Nicholas didn’t sleep that night. He stayed up, trying to figure out a way to find Michael and Maria. Especially Maria. He had to kill her first, despite whatever personal feelings used to exist. Those were all gone now. And then, when she was out of the way, he would kill Michael, just like he had in his past life.

He had been working for hours while everyone else at camp had been sleeping, and he had almost fallen asleep himself when it came to him.

"Yes," he whispered to himself. "That’s it. That’s it!" He jumped up and down in triumph. He had come up with a fool proof plan. He was so skilled at his powers. He knew he could make it work.

So, Nicholas went out that night, and walked to the city limits where he caught a bus to the street where Isabel Evans lived. He had figured out where Isabel and Max lived a long time ago. He had never guessed that that information would come in this handy. He stalked around the house, peering inside windows to see which room Isabel was occupying. He had super vision at night, and he could usually see through glass and curtains, too. One of the many perks of being a Skin.

He opened the glass and climbed in quietly. His breath caught when he saw Isabel lying in her bed under the covers, safely tucked away for the night in her silky, red pajamas. She looked so tempting. He wanted to lean down and taste her, (or kill her, whatever he felt like) but he didn’t allow himself to do that. He was here for a reason.

Nicholas placed her hand on the top of her head gently and entered her mind with practiced ease. She shifted a little as he did so, but did not wake up. He leaned down, then, and whispered into her ear. "Isabel," he said. "Vilandra,"

She moaned when she heard the name, and he felt a small sense of satisfaction rising deep within his chest knowing that she still had that side in her. Maybe he wouldn’t kill her. Maybe he would bring her back to Antar with him. Maria wasn’t going anymore, so, what the hell?

"Vilandra," he continued, using her appropriate name. "Do as I tell you. Dreamwalk Michael Guerin. Didn’t you wonder where he was today? Didn’t you wonder why he wasn’t at school? What if he’s hurt? Or sick? Or, worse, dead? You have to find out, Vilandra. Go into his dream and tell me where he is."

She squirmed some more, and then began to mumble something. "Michael," she said. "He’s . . . with her. That girl. Maria." She grunted.

"Let me in." Nicholas urged her. "Let me into your mind and his. Let me see what you see."

And she did, without any sort of hesitation, and then, not only was Isabel seeing where Michael was, but Nicholas was, as well.

He was in the woods, it appeared. A fire was crackling nearby, and laying right in front of that fire was Michael. With Maria, tucked safely under his arms.

"What is this place, Vilandra?" he asked.

"Ralston Woods." she replied, again without hesitation. In this dream world, she was so trusting. He could make her do anything he wanted her to in here.

"Mom and Dad used to take us here all the time on summer vacation." she continued. "It’s such a great camping spot."

Ralston Woods, Nicholas thought. I’ve got to remember that.

"Are you sure?" he asked her.

She nodded.

And then, once again, with practiced ease, Nicholas eased out of their minds and was back in Isabel’s bedroom. She was rubbing her eyes sleepily, and he knew she was waking up. He had to get out of there now.

So he bolted out the window and got on a bus back to the city limits. He ran the rest of the way back to camp this time instead of walking, because, this time, he had wonderful news to tell his comrades.

"Everyone up and into the meeting hall!" he shouted, running past every tent. "Now, now!"

Soon, the meeting hall was packed with Skins, eager to hear what he had to say. They all looked sleepy, but excited all at the same time. Meetings usually meant something important.

Nicholas licked his lips and clasped his hands together like a maniac. "Okay," he said. "Unfortunately, our plan isn’t going to turn out like we planned."

There was an audible moan from the crowd.

"But," he added, "We are gonna kill Michael Guerin."

The crowd erupted in cheers.

"And Maria DeLuca."

The crowd was silent.

"I know, I know, you don’t have a clue what I’m talking about." Nicholas elaborated. "But, I recently found out that Maria had betrayed us, all of us, and actually fallen in love with Michael, just like her past life, if we all remember correctly."

The crowd nodded, and some looked off into space, remembering that forbidden romance on Antar between the two star-crossed lovers.

"We’re gonna kill ‘em both!" Nicholas shouted. "Get dressed! We’re going to Ralston Woods!"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The sun was rising that morning as Maria woke up. She took a minute to appreciate the beauty of nature’s shining light. Why couldn’t everything be that beautiful?

Michael was still asleep. He had went to bed late that night, of that much she was sure. She had noticed when he crawled in beside her.

Maria ran her fingers through her now greasy hair. She hadn’t showered in forever, and the selfish part of her felt like taking off into the woods and looking for a little pond or creek, but she didn’t want to leave Michael all alone.

So, instead, she busied herself with counting their combined cash. They didn’t even have enough for a hotel room, and Michael, although he had a job, couldn’t just go back to Roswell and get a deposit. It was too late now. Too dangerous.

"Maria, baby, you up?" Michael asked suddenly in a sleepy tone.

"Yep." she replied cheerily. She put their cash away in her purse and walked over to the sleeping bag and to her lover. He was on his side, peering over his shoulder, so she laid down behind him and stroked her hands down from the tips of his spiky hair, down his arms, and to his hands, reaching them and entwining her fingers with his.

"Hey."

She laughed, not because it was funny, but because it was how they usually said greeted each other after they had made love and woken up beside each other. Of course, this time, they had just woken up next to each other, but they could do something about that soon.

"Oh, I so need to shower." Michael complained, running his fingers through his messy hair.

"I know." she agreed. "So do I. Is there any kind of water hole around here?"

Michael stretched his arms and sat up, pulling her up with him. "I dunno." he replied. He still seemed kinda out of it. "Let’s go find out." With that, he pulled his shirt over his head, exposing his tanned stomach and rock hard abs. Where had had gotten a body like that, she would never know.

They stood up and were just beginning to go search when Maria felt something in the air. It almost felt like static electricity.

Static electricity. She had always tried to ignore that feel before, but now, that was not possible.

"Michael," she whispered softly, looking around for any sign of her true enemy. "He’s here."

"Who?" Michael asked. "Nicholas?"

She nodded.

"Shit." Michael cursed. "Shit, shit, shit, what are we gonna do?"

Maria peered through the thick covering of trees and saw Nicholas, along with all of the other skins she had once considered her allies on the other side. Those trees were all that was keeping them apart!

"We have to run!" she shouted in a whisper. She grabbed a hold of Michael wrist and pulled him with her, down a steep hill and through some more trees. She felt some sort of needle stab her in the arm, and heard Michael groan as a thorn struck him directly in the chest.

Finally, the cleared the thorny, prickly area and stood in the middle of a grassy clearing with steep hills surrounding its sides. They were trapped.

"Come on, we’ve gotta go back!" Michael shouted, motioning for her to follow him.

Maria shook her head, knowing that the fact of the matter was that Nicholas and his men would be too close now for any kind of escape.

"Then, let’s climb these walls." Michael suggested, running over towards one of the walls. "Come on, I’ll lift you up."

Maria shook her head again, although she was touched that Michael thought of her own safety before hers. "Michael, you go." she told him.

"What?" he shrieked.

"Nicholas wants me." she explained to him. "He wants to kill me because I’ve ruined his plan. He’ll be coming after you later, but first he wants me."

Michael shook his own head. "No, no," he protested. "I’m not leaving you."

Maria felt her eyes filling with tears. "Your life is more important than mine." she said. "You’re one of the Royal Four. I’m just . . ."

"The love of my life." he interrupted, finishing the sentence with one of the most romantic things she had ever heard. "Now, come on!"

Maria could hear Nicholas’s voice as he approached. "Go, Michael." she said.

"No!"

"Go."

"I said no!" His face was turning red as his anger engulfed him, and he suddenly reached out and grabbed her, pulling her to him and lifting her into the air. "Go!" he shouted. If they somehow hadn’t given away their location already, they sure had now.

Maria knew she couldn’t let him get caught. She wouldn’t be able to live with herself if she did, because, after all, this was all her fault, so she did the first thing that came to her mind. She used her powers to break away from him, and then aimed her hand at him and sent him flying over the top of the wall and out of site.

She turned then, and waited for Nicholas to arrive, gathering up all of her strength.

He emerged from the shadows with his army behind him, looking more evil than ever. "Maria, Maria," he said slyly. "Fancy seeing you here." He walked up closer to her, ordering his army to stay behind him, and circled her like a vulture circling its prey. "Where’s your boyfriend?" he asked.

She didn’t answer. She kept a straight face, like she imagined Michael would do if he were in her place at the moment.

"Not that it really matters." Nicholas continued, stopping at her back and tracing her backbone with his index finger. "We’ll kill you both in good time."

Maria raised her eyebrows and, in her most menacing voice, said, "That’s what you think."

Nicholas stepped around to the front of her and looked up into her eyes. "Since when do you tell me what I’m gonna do, Maria?" he spat.

She glared down at him, making sure to keep eye-contact with him so that he would not notice her hand moving up by her side. "Since now." And with that, she sent a bolt of energy flying at him and knocked him to the ground far away from her.

And then they attacked. Roger and Neil and all of the other Skins ran forward, each aiming their hands or fists at her, yelling so loudly that she could not hear herself think. There were so many of them, and only one of her. This was impossible. Why had she done this?

Something hit her in the back, and she screamed out in agony, but she refused to let herself be knocked down. Energy balls hit her from all angles, zapping all of her own energy, and her screams soon became deafening, as, against her will, she fell to the ground with a thud, her face hitting the dew-soaked grass, her arms clutching her chest.

"Ohhh," she moaned.

"Thought you could take us, didn’t you?" Nicholas’s feet appeared in front of Maria’s face. Obviously that little blow hadn’t affected him very much. "Well, guess what? You were wrong."

She craned her neck so that she could look up at him, and saw his eyebrows scrunch up in concentration as he aimed his hand at her and sent out a bolt of electricity right at her.

"Ahhhhhh!" she yelled as the bolt penetrated through her skin and bones and deep into her body, deep into her soul.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Come on, concentrate! Michael ordered himself. He had heard Maria scream way too many times in these past few minutes. He had to get over to help her. He opened his hand up wide so that the palm was exposing and aimed it at the huge rock wall in front of him. If he could only blow some kind of opening into it . . .

Taking deep breaths and closing his eyes shut, Michael gathered up all of the energy that he had stored up inside of him and concentrated on releasing it, right into the rock. When he heard the sound of splitting stone, he opened his eyes and found that he had blown a hole just wide enough for him to step through.

He bolted through, but he wasn’t prepared for what he saw. Maria was lying flat on the ground, and a boy, who he assumed was Nicholas, was standing over her, sending a bolt of electricity or something down straight at her.

"NOOOO!" Michael yelled, not bothering to hide his presence. He stood tall and proud and, with his powers, sent Nicholas flying to the ground and accidently started a fire in the woody area behind him.

Every other Skin glared at him, preparing to attack, but Michael paid them no attention. One at a time, he blew each of their heads off. He didn’t know where all of this strength had come from. Maybe it had just come from the fact that Maria was lying lifelessly on the ground.

Only a few Skins remained, so Michael dealt with them, sending them flying into the raging inferno burning out of control in the woods, and then rushed to Maria’s side.

"Baby," he whispered. "Baby, are you okay?" He cradled her limp body in his arms and stroked her sweat-soaked hair away from her face. "Answer me!" he told her sternly. "Come on!" He didn’t want to face the fact that she might be dead. He couldn’t face that fact. Because, if she really was dead, it would be all his fault, because he had come too late.

"She’s not dead." an icy cold voice from behind him said. "But she will be. Soon. And so will you."

Michael turned around and stared into Nicholas’s eyes. "What do you want from us?" he asked. "The granalyth? Do you wanna know where it is?"

Nicholas scratched his head, as if thinking. "Why, Rath, er, excuse me, Michael, you seem to be digging yourself in deeper here. You’ve just caused me to think of the perfect plan." He used his powers to tear Maria away from his arms, and he collected her in his. "You give me the granalyth," he said. "Or I’ll kill your girlfriend."

Michael wouldn’t even take the chance of letting Maria die. But the granalyth . . . God, he wished Max or Isabel or even Tess were here to help him. He had never really had to do anything alone before.

"The granalyth," he began. "We . . ."

Nicholas sighed, obviously growing impatient, and then, with a wicked smirk, pulled Maria up to his lips and kissed her, making Michael’s rage grow inside.

"We just found it." Michael continued, growing more and more panicked by the moment. He still didn’t know what to do. Even if he did tell this monster where the granalyth was, there was no guarantee that he would stick to his word and leave Maria and him both alive.

"Go on." Nicholas urged. "I don’t have all day here, you know."

"If I tell you," Michael said slowly. "You won’t kill Maria or me. You’ll let us both go and you’ll hop on the granalyth and be home-free, right?"

Nicholas laughed and shook his head. "No, not really." he answered honestly. "Either way, you’re going to die, and I’m going to kill you." He narrowed his dark eyes. "Just like last time. Only, this time, she’s gonna die with you."

Michael glanced at Maria, who was still lying limply in Nicholas arms. "Let her go." he tried to persuade him. "Let her go. I’ll tell you where it is, just let her go."

"Do you really think that I’m that stupid?" Nicholas barked. "I mean, yeah, I may be trapped in the body of a 13 year-old for all eternity, but I’m not stupid! I mean, honestly, do you really think that I’d be that gullible?"

Michael was about to answer with a creative remark when he noticed Maria squirming in Nicholas’s arms, using his shirt collar to pull herself up so that she could whisper in his ear. The word she said was barely audible, but loud enough that Michael could hear what she said and feel all of the emotion put behind it.

"Yes."

Nicholas seemed so surprised and shocked that Maria had said something like that to him in the state that they were in, that he couldn’t even do anything when Maria pressed her hand to his chest and concentrated all of her energy on burning her way through his skin and into his body where she could stop his heart.

"Noooo!" Nicholas yelled as he began to slump to the ground, pulling Maria down with him. "Noooooo!"

Michael watched in both awe and horror as this girl who he had once thought of as a fragile, delicate creature burned through the flesh of that monster. She looked so strong now, like a real warrior, and, inside, he felt bad, knowing that he should have been the one to protect her. He was supposed to be the warrior.

Soon, Nicholas’s screams became fainter and fainter until they disappeared all together, blending with the surroundings, and his eyes fell closed as eternal slumber crept over him.

Maria backed away from his body, breathing deeply and raggedly. She looked absolutely horrified. "Michael!" she called. "Michael!"

He shot up and ran to her side, cradling her in his protective arms. "Shhh," he murmured, stroking her hair. "Shhh, everything’s okay."

"No . . . it’s not." she choked out between sobs. "I . . ." She let loose another ragged sob. "I killed him. I know he was evil, but I killed him!"

Michael briefly thought back to when he had killed Agent Pierce, and how hard it had been on him. He hadn’t even known Pierce. Maria had known Nicholas, and maybe she had even trusted him. Maybe she had even liked him at times. Maybe she had thought of him like a brother.

"You did what you had to do." Michael soothed. "You saved my life. You saved both of our lives."

Maria shook her head. "I’m only alive because of you." she told him.

He smiled, knowing that, although he had almost gotten Maria killed, he had at least done something good. He had saved her life. "Ditto." he said.

He held her until she stopped crying, and tried not to look at the dead bodies on the ground or listen to the fire blazing madly in the background. Then he pulled away and collected all of his remaining strength to put out the very fire that he had started. "Are there any left?" he asked Maria.

She looked around and then shook her head. "Only a few, if any." she said, calmer now. "But I really think we killed them all." The sentence was actually spoken with a bit of shame, and Michael couldn’t imagine how awful she felt. She had betrayed the only family she had ever known. For him. It was all his fault.

"Michael, I wanna go home." she told him, looking directly into his eyes.

Michael couldn’t believe it. "Maria," he spewed. "After all that’s happened, after us, after Nicholas, after this whole stupid plan, and now this, you still wanna go back to Antar? I . . ."

"Michael," she cut in. "I’m not talking about Antar. I’m talking about Roswell. I wanna go home to Roswell."

Michael relaxed, figuring out what she was talking about. "Oh," he said. "Sorry."

"That’s okay." she told him, grabbing his hand in hers. "Let’s just go."

So they left, as if nothing had happened, as if no new chapter in their lives had just come to an end, and tried to forget the haunting, soulless faces that watched them go.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"God, I hope he gets back here soon." Max was pacing around the room, obviously frantic, obviously nervous, and clearly worried.

"Calm down." Tess told him, placing a what she hoped was a comforting hand on his shoulder. "He’s Michael. He knows how to take care of himself. He’ll be alright."

Max only tensed under her touch, but, for some reason, that didn’t really bother her. She took one look at Kyle, and she knew why. She had been getting a lot closer to Kyle lately, and she was beginning to realize that maybe she liked him more than Max. Maybe being with Kyle would be better for her than being with her pre-determined destiny.

Reluctantly, still not sure what was the right decision, Tess removed her hand from Max’s shoulder and smiled at Liz, who was sitting in a booth in the Crashdown next to Alex, looking ill at the thought that Michael and Maria were in trouble.

"So, tell, me what happened again." Max told Isabel. "You said someone entered your dream and forced you to dreamwalk Michael?"

Isabel nodded. "I know there’s no way to be sure, but that’s sure what it felt like. This person, whoever it was, it just felt like they could make me do anything. Like they had complete control over me. It was so scary."

"Did you see his face?" Kyle asked from the bar stool he was perched on, eagerly sipping at his Cherry Coke. Smart question, Tess thought.

Isabel shook her head. "I didn’t think to look. I just wasn’t thinking. I don’t know . . ." She broke off and ran her fingers through her hair. "I just hope he’s okay. Both of them. Because I have a feeling that whoever was in my dream was planning on going after them."

Tess shivered at the thought, and moved a little closer to Kyle.

"I think he wanted to kill them." Isabel said, and somehow, the thought just wasn’t comforting to Tess, and by the expressions on the rest of the group’s faces, it didn’t seem to comfort them, either.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Maria looked out the car window as Michael pulled the Volkswagon to a stop in front of his apartment complex. This was where she felt truly safe. In her heart, she wanted to believe that if she had just stayed there with Michael, tangled up in his arms, nothing bad wouldn’t have happened, and she wouldn’t have taken so many lives.

"I should probably call Max and Isabel." Michael announced. "They’re probably worried."

She nodded in agreement, but she wasn’t thinking about Max and Isabel. They didn’t even have a clue as to what was going on.

"But," Michael added, reaching over and pushing a loose strand of hair back behind her ear. "That could wait for tomorrow."

Maria shook her head. "No, no, call them." she told him. "They’re your family."

"Yeah, I know." he said. "But so are you."

Maria felt a blush rising to her cheeks and a smile forming on her lips, but deep inside, she felt horrible for everything that she had put Michael through. "You don’t know me." she whispered.

After a brief silence, he replied, "Yes, I do."

She looked up at him then, surprised that he hadn’t given her the same response as last time.

"I know that you’re Maria DeLuca, the smartest, prettiest girl I’ve ever known." he told her. "I know that nothing can stand in your way when you’re on a mission, except for me, of course. I know that you have both a tough, strong side, and a soft, sensitive side to you. I know that I love you more than life. Isn’t that enough?"

Maria felt a tear leak over, and she silently cursed herself for not having more control over her emotions. All she did was cry in front of him.

"Come here." he told her, motioning for her to lean up close to him and let him hold her.

So she did. She pressed her face into the soft material of his shirt and began to cry, trying to muffle her sounds, but with little success. Michael’s own tears fell down his cheeks and onto the top of her head. But she didn’t care. Because, at that moment, she was with Michael. And when she was with Michael, she was happy. No matter what.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

EPILOGUE: LUCKY

"So, you’re okay, right?"

Michael sighed. Isabel had only asked him that about a thousand times since he had returned. "Yeah." he said.

"And Maria?"

"She’ll be fine."

"Good."

Neither one of them was sure what had gone on in that dream. Isabel remembered what happened, but what had made her do what she did, or rather who, was still unclear, but Maria was going to try to explain it to them later. She had told Michael before they fell asleep the night before that she was pretty sure Nicholas had gone into her mind and used her to find the two of them.

"You guys are really cute together." Isabel blurted out suddenly. "You and Maria, I mean. I never really thought that you would find anyone that could put up with you, Michael, but you guys seem really great together."

Michael smiled. "Thanks, Isabel."

"Speaking of . . ." Isabel pointed to an angelic girl standing by a tree with her books in hand, scanning the school yard for someone.

Maria.

"Go ahead." Isabel told him. "We’ll talk later." She waved goodbye to Michael and walked away in the opposite direction. With that, Michael charged forward.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Maria squealed happily as Michael swooped her up in his arms, causing her to drop her books. "Hello to you, too!" she exclaimed as he began to nibble on her earlobe.

"Hey."

Maria told Michael to let her down, and once she regained her footing, leaned in to kiss him properly, on the lips. His arms immediately encircled her waist, and she balanced herself by placing her hands on his masculine arms.

"I wanna be with you

If only for a night

To be the one who’s in your arms

To hold you tight

I wanna be with you

There’s nothing more to say

There’s nothing else I want more than to

Feel this way."

"Maria," Michael gasped, pulling away for air. "I wanna spend the rest of my life with you."

Maria almost felt her heart stop, but she tried to maintain her composure. "What does that mean?" she asked with a smile.

"What do you think?" he shot back.

Her smile grew in size, and she leaned in for another kiss, feeling totally happy and totally at peace, knowing that she had finally found her soul-mate, her destiny, her significant other . . . whatever you wanted to call it. All of her worries disappeared. Worries of the next harvest were wiped from her mind, as were worries of surviving skins, if there were any. She didn’t care. She had Michael.

She was the luckiest alien on earth.

THE END!!

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