4
Square…..
Outside the Harding Residence, Michael and Maria were
sleeping in the Jetta. Maria’s cell phone rang, she made a sound in her
throat, turning to snuggle into Michael’s body. The phone rang again.
“Hello?”
“Maria, are you up?” Maria’s eyes opened to
Isabel’s voice, sitting up.
“Yeah, we’re awake.”
“She’s leaving now.”
Maria patted Michael on the stomach waking him. “We’re
on it.”
Michael rubbed his eyes, starting the Jetta. “Where are
my shoes?”
“I tossed them in the back.”
“Driving without shoes is illegal.”
Maria snorted. “Your point?”
Michael grinned as Tess’s car pulled out. “Just thought
I’d mention it.”
~~~
They met in the park after Liz confronted Tess, or
specifically was confronted by Tess in the women’s bathroom.
Maria bit on her nail. “So she didn’t hurt you, or
threaten you?”
“No. She acted totally innocent.” Liz said looking at
the others. “I’m telling you, she has no idea that we found out about
her.”
Max didn’t like this. “We can’t trust anything she
says.”
“Well, maybe we should trust her.” Michael suggested.
“This is the fourth alien we’ve been waiting for our whole lives.”
Michael frowned when Maria made a face.
Isabel hugged herself harder, disturbed by recent events,
and her dream about Alex and Michael. “I don’t think that anyone, or
anything that would pretend to be a teenage girl in order to seduce Max is on
our side.”
“Isabel’s right.” Max said sending Liz a look.
“It’s a shapeshifter. Who knows what other powers it has that we don’t
have? The three of us, no matter what we may discover about ourselves...we
were raised human. Nasedo’s an alien. Nasedo’s killed. And judging from
the way I felt when I was with Tess, it definitely has some kind of power over
us.”
“Yeah, I felt it too.” Isabel said, unhappy with the
uncertainty. “Like I was drawn to her for some specific reason. Like I had
to let her in.”
Liz frowned. “Isabel, you have to fight it.”
Michael shook his head. Why? Because Liz didn’t want
another alien in the group, or because it was an alien that made Max act out
of character?
Max saw Michael’s reaction. “You too, Michael.”
“You just want to deny who we really are?” Maria looked
away. She had heard this argument between Michael and Max too many times.
“I want us to stay who we really are! Don’t you?”
“I’m the one least involved. The one she won’t
suspect.” Alex pointed out. “I’ll get close to her.”
“No!” Isabel said grabbing Alex’s hand. “Stay away
from her, Alex. Besides, we don’t even know if Nasedo is Tess anymore.”
Max agreed with Isabel. “Could be anyone at anytime.”
Liz took Max’s hand. “We can only trust each other, now
more than ever.”
“We can’t just sit around and wait for her to do
something to one of us.”
“Max, Michael and I will find out all we can about her,
ok?” Isabel told Alex. “We won’t give her the chance to surprise us.
Please, Alex, I don’t want anything bad to happen to you.”
“Wait,” Maria looked at Michael nervously, “what are
you guys going to do?”
Max answered, not noticing that Maria was talking to
Michael. “We’re going to keep following her. Hope she reveals more to us
before she finds out we’re on to her. We still got the camera in her house,
remember?”
Maria and Michael remained behind when the others left.
Maria kicked at the ground.
“They’re going to bury this again. I know they will.”
“You can’t know that, Michael.”
“Neither of them wants to be alien. They would rather be
human.” Michael shook his head. They were close, so much closer than they
had ever been.
“Caution, Michael. They’re just talking about taking
caution.”
“They’ve been doing this my entire life! We are aliens,
and no matter how much they deny it, we can’t change that.” Michael stared
off across the park, his hands on his hips. “Max wants her to be evil,
wrong, so he can explain away kissing her to Liz.”
Maria put her hands on his waist, resting her forehead
against his back. “What about how worried you were yesterday with Liz in the
house? You didn’t trust Tess then.”
Michael closed his eyes sighing. “I know. I know I
didn’t, but I also know that there haven’t been too many opportunities for
us to find out anything about ourselves. I can’t let this go.”
“I know.” Maria whispered against his back.
~~~
Liz was making a list as Maria worked, and Max sat there
answering her questions. “So that’s it. Science Lab third period, hallway
between fourth and fifth, and P.E.”
Max nodded, thinking. That was all he could remember. “I
think that’s all.”
“And there was no other contact?” Liz asked. “She
didn’t even look at you?”
“Nothing.”
Maria stopped wiping down the counter. “She’s playing
hard to get. It’s a classic move. She ignores you, thinking it’s going to
make you crazy and force you to go to her.”
“Are you still drawn to her, Max?” Liz asked, holding
her breath, waiting his answer.
“No.”
Liz became thoughtful. “Hmm...”
“Which only further necessitates the implementation of my
plan.” Maria said.
“Wait.” Max looked nervously at Maria. “What plan?”
Michael, listening, lifted a brow in amusement. Oh, this should be good.
“Oh, Operation Never-Leave-Max-Alone-For-An-Instant. That
way one of us is always around in case she works the voodoo on you again.”
“I don’t need a babysitter.”
“No, you’re right.” Maria said. “What you need is a
bodyguard – at all times.” Max shot Michael a glare when he snickered
while putting an order up. Michael made a face.
Hitting the order bell, Michael pointedly looked at the
orders done in the window. “I don’t cook for myself, you know.”
Maria came over picking up her orders, leaning over, she
kissed Michael lightly on the lips. “If you can call this cooking.”
“Hey…”
Liz ignored the other two. “You know, Max, Maria’s
right. We don’t know what she’ll do to you if she ever gets you alone.”
Michael scratched his brow, hiding a smirk. Oh, whatever it was, he was sure
Liz wouldn’t appreciate it, especially if the sucking face was any
indication.
“I told you, you don’t have to worry.”
“I know. Max, I’m not saying any of this because I’m
jealous. It’s just that,” Liz searched for an explanation, “...she’s
an alien, Max.”
“So am I.”
Liz turned slightly pink. “Yeah but, what if
she’s...”
“The bad kind?” Max asked. “One of the monsters
people has been so afraid of since the crash?”
“I can’t help it. You know, no matter how much I get to
know you, Tess, Nasedo, I...she scares me.”
“That’s why we won’t let her win.” Max said
reassuring Liz. “So go change, we’ll go back to the garage and watch her
on the monitor.” Max never noticed Sheriff Valenti coming up behind him.
“Isn’t that against the law, Mr. Evans?” Jim asked.
Michael and Maria stopped what they were doing, Michael coming up behind
Maria, pulling her back into his body. “I wish you’d stop doing
that...hiding things from me. ‘Cause you see, I always know more than you
think I do.” Valenti put the miniature camera on the counter. “Ed Harding
found that inside his house. Now I know you put it there, and I know it’s
special issue FBI equipment, so the question is: how’d you get your hands on
it in the first place? You know what it tells me? That Pierce and the alien
hunting unit of the FBI are here in
Michael’s arms tightened around Maria. “Don’t even
think about it, Maxwell.”
Max shared a look with Michael. Taking Liz’s hand, he led
her towards the back breakroom.
“He won’t betray you, Michael.”
“It would be the first time, if he doesn’t.” Michael
said bitterly.
“He’s scared. Can’t you understand that? He’s
trying to protect you…all of us.”
“I thought you were on my side.” Michael let Maria go.
Maria’s hand reached out and stopped him from walking
away. She pulled him back, hard, against her. When dealing with Michael, it
was hard to break through to him at times, but Maria found he responded well
to human contact.
“I am on your side, you know that. I just can’t let
anything happen to you.” Maria glanced up at him. “Stop making this a
fight between you and Max. I know you want this, but I wish you would be a
little cautious. Sometimes when you get what you want, you find that it
isn’t what you expected.” Maria framed his face with her hands. “I just
don’t want you to be disappointed or hurt.”
Michael hugged her. He wouldn’t be. Finding home…it
meant everything.
~~~
Isabel was in her bedroom telling Max about her encounter
with Tess. The strangeness of it was still bothering her. Her hands shook.
“She really scared me, Max. It was like I lost a few
seconds of time, and when it was over, I wasn’t even sure if what I
remembered had happened or not. Is that what she did to you?”
“Kind of.” Max sat down on the edge of a chair. “It
was like she could make my mind go places I wasn’t taking it.”
“How about your body?” Isabel asked, clasping her
hands. “I mean, did you feel like something inside of you was
changing...like waking up?”
“Something primal.”
“Instinctive,” said Isabel.
“Something not human.” Max looked over at the window
when Michael opened it. “What’s wrong?”
Michael shrugged. Like he knew? “I don’t know. You tell
me.”
“I called him.” Isabel said, looking at Michael
uncomfortably. “I didn’t think any of us should stay alone tonight.”
Michael looked at Max and then Isabel. They weren’t
telling him something. Sighing, he climbed in the window holding out his hand.
“Give me the phone. I need to break a date.”
~~~
Michael woke up gasping. Confused for a moment, it took a
moment to realize he was sleeping on Max’s floor.
“Michael, what is it?”
“Isabel.”
The two of them quickly went to Isabel’s room, not
bothering to knock. Isabel was sitting up in her bed breathing hard, her hand
on her chest.
“Isabel?” Max sat on her bed.
“A dream. It was just a dream.”
“Are you ok?” Max asked. “What did you see?”
“It was only a dream.” Isabel said staring at Michael.
Michael stared too, agreeing with her. “It was only a
dream.”
They moved downstairs. Looking through the drawings that
Max made of the cave symbols, Michael and Isabel searched them.
“That’s the one.” Michael said, gesturing to one.
Isabel leaned to look closer. “Definitely.”
Max looked at the two, confused as to why they shared a
dream. “And you’re sure you both had the same dream: the rock formation,
the map on the ground, everything?”
“Yeah.” Michael said looking at the other symbols,
trying to remember what he saw.
“Think! Was there anything else, anything unusual? I
mean...what were you guys doing out in the middle of the desert?
Isabel and Michael said at the same time, “Nothing!”
Neither of them was willing to admit to the kisses they shared in the dream.
“Nothing important.” Isabel said, ignoring Michael to
talk to Max. “There was this one other thing...when Tess was here yesterday,
when she told me to look for signs, she made that symbol out of sugar
cubes.”
“So it means something.” Max moved the drawing around
to look at the symbols. “If we just knew how to read this!”
Isabel bit her lip, looking at Michael. “Tell him,
Michael.”
Looking between them, Max saw the look they shared. “Tell
me what?”
Irritated by Isabel, Michael shrugged. “I thought I
figured it out once, but…” There, so he confessed that he failed again.
Now Max knew.
“But what?”
“I was wrong.”
“What if you weren’t?” Isabel asked Michael. Turning
to Max, she explained what Michael did. “Michael used the V constellation to
navigate the symbols.”
“How did you know how to do that?”
“I just knew.” Michael didn’t see what the big deal
was. “But it didn’t work.”
“But what didn’t work?”
Isabel glanced at Michael, confessing to Max. “The night
you were drunk, Michael and I went to the public library. That’s where the
symbol was supposed to lead. We though that if Nasedo left us a symbol at the
cave, then we should send one back to him.”
“Why didn’t you tell me about this, Michael?” Max
asked his tone disapproving. Here Michael was always pissed about him keeping
secrets all the while Michael was keeping secrets too.
“You mean why didn’t I get your approval?”
“Do you realize what you did?” Max asked angrily.
“That’s why Nasedo is here. It’s why he’s pretending to be Tess. You
led him right to us.”
“Yeah, I thought that was the goal.” Michael couldn’t
believe Max. Once again, he was making it impossible for them to find out
anything…that was except for what Max wanted to know.
“The goal is to stay in control. It always has been.
Discovery on our terms...no one else’s.” Max paced the room barely to
contain his anger. “I mean, this whole search you’ve been on, didn’t you
ever think it could lead to this?”
“Lead to what? An answer to every question we ever had?
Maybe Nasedo is here to make things better.” Michael stood up, unhappy that
once again it was only his quest, and his alone. “Oh, I forgot, what could
be better than your comfortable little life in
“Why are you so scared to be human?”
“That’s enough, both of you.” God! They never
changed. “Do you ever stop to ask how I feel? God. No, you’re too busy
deciding who’s right to notice that this is happening to me, too.” Isabel
was afraid, and they were too busy arguing over who was wrong. “Oh, God.
Whatever Tess did when she was here yesterday, the sugar cubes, the...I think
she made me have that dream.”
“Let’s just try to be prepared. You never know when
these dreams may come again.”
Michael snorted. “Great…yeah, let’s just try to be
prepared for the damn dreams! And how do we do that?” Michael stood
irritated. “Oh, I forgot! It doesn’t matter, because no matter what they
mean, if it interferes with your cushy little life, then we’ll probably
practice ‘caution’ and ‘control’. We can only be impulsive when it’s
about you.” Michael threw his hands up in irritation. He was out of there.
~~~
Michael saw her across the way. She was at her locker.
Going up to her quickly, he leaned against the locker next to hers.
“Hey.”
Maria glanced at Michael smiling. “Hey right back at
you.”
“I’ve been thinking.”
“Oh, great this usually involves me having to get my car
towed.”
“I’m serious here, Maria.”
“Yeah, tragically, so am I.” Maria shut her locker
door. His face was a study. “Okay, what’s going on?”
Michael looked around at the other students. Taking
Maria’s hand, he pulled her behind him. “Come with me.”
~~~
Maria sat back on the desk in the back janitor’s closet.
Michael was ranting.
“Are you through yet?”
Michael stopped pacing. “No!”
“Hmm.” Maria sighed. “I’m just surprised you were
able to suppress it until now. Thanks for not waking me up in the middle of
the night.”
Michael sat down next to her. “Sorry about canceling last
night. Isabel was all wiggy about Tess.”
“So she thinks Tess is influencing your behavior? Hers
and Max’s?”
“Something like that.” Michael shook his head. “Max
is being cautious. Wait and see. Do you know how often I’ve heard that?”
“Michael…”
“God! Every time I think we might be making some progress
those two throw on some type of brake!” Michael sat back dejectedly.
“Isabel told Max about the library. I can’t believe she did that, but I
should have. She’s always on Max’s side.”
“Maybe she doesn’t see it as being on one side or
another.” Michael made a sour face at her. She was always trying to make him
see reason. “Hmm. So let’s talk about this dream.”
“Symbols. There were symbols in the desert. It reminded
me of the hallucination I had when I was sick.”
Maria hit him in the stomach with a light tap to his
stomach. “The kiss, Michael!”
“It was just a dream.”
Maria glanced at him, noticing his discomfort. “Uh huh.
So you kissed her in the desert with all these symbols around, and then what
happened?”
Michael shrugged. “I startled awake. It was nothing.”
“How can it be nothing? I mean, you’re all willing to
accept everything strange that you find, but you discount this.”
“Maria…”
“Okay, okay, don’t go all stone cold alien on me! I
just saying…you’ve known Isabel for ten years, right?”
“Yeah, so?”
“So…in ten years, have you ever felt…you know, like
kissing her or dating her?”
Well that was the problem. Michael rolled his eyes. Leave
it to Maria to catch onto the most uncomfortable thing about the dream.
“Maria, she’s my sister. I’ve always thought of her as my sister.
So…no. I’ve never imagined kissing her or dating her. So can you drop
it?”
Maria cleared her throat. “I suppose if that’s what you
want.”
“I do.”
“Fine.”
“Fine.”
Maria was quiet for a moment, but she couldn’t hold it
back. “But…”
“Maria!”
“No, hear me out. What if this dream is pointing you to a
way of learning more about you? Maybe it takes you and Isabel to unlock some
secret, or something. How can you not accept that or at the very least explore
it?”
“And if it is this Tess person making the dreams, then
what?”
Good question, and Maria was uncertain. “Well, I’m just
saying that you’ve expressed your alieness all your life, feeling more alien
than human. You’ve been waiting for your life to be strange and bizarre, and
now it is…it is and you dismiss it, just because it doesn’t feel right?”
“Maria, I’m not ignoring it. I’m think it’s going
to take a lot more than a stupid dream to make me feel that way about Isabel.
I’ve got more years thinking of her like a sister, and it’s not easy to
change that.”
Maria hugged his arm. “Maybe. I just think that you
shouldn’t close your mind. Your life is strange, and it’s not impossible
to think this couldn’t be happening.”
“Whatever.” Michael scratched his brow. “What about
Max?”
Maria shrugged. “Well, kiss him too, if it helps, but
personally, I never really thought of you as leaning that way.”
Michael gave a small laugh of derision. He couldn’t help
it. With Maria, you always never knew whether to laugh or cry, she was such a
damn scream.
~~~
Michael was in his apartment with the maps he used before
to locate the constellations, trying to locate the four squared symbol.
“Where the hell are you?”
He looked up to see Tess in the window. Glancing quickly at
the sofa, he noticed that Maria hadn’t noticed. She was still lounging on
the sofa with her earphones on, reading a magazine while humming. Tess drew
the four square symbol on his window. Michael left the table walking over to
the window.
“What does that mean? Where is it?”
“You already know.” Tess said. “You’ve been there
before.” Maria sat up when Michael had walked by. Taking off her earphones,
she went to join Michael. They watched as Tess walked away.
“You’re right, Michael. That chick is majorly
whacked.” They both stared at the four square symbol.
~~~
Michael entered Max’s bedroom. “
“What?”
“The four squared symbol on the map, that’s where it
is.”
“I’ve never even heard of it.” Max turned in his
chair.
“That’s because the government took it over in 1947.”
Michael said sitting on the side of Max’s desk. “Three guesses why.”
“Close to the crash site?”
“It was the
crash site, Maxwell.” Michael tried to contain the excitement out of his
voice. “But it’s not on any maps anymore. It’s like they erased any
trace of it. But I can find it. The cave painting will lead us right to it.”
Max frowned as a skeptical look entered his eyes. “And
you just figured this out all by yourself.”
“Yeah.” Michael cleared his throat. Okay, so Maria
helped, but she wouldn’t mind him taking all the credit.
“Michael, if Nasedo is doing anything to you, you can’t
trust it.”
“Hey, I remembered it, ok? I had a flash.” Michael
shook his head. Again, Max was fighting against them learning anything.
“You’re not the only the only on who gets them.” There had to be a
reason. Max was holding back. “So, what happened at the library? Did you and
Liz discover anything while tailing Tess?”
“Nothing.”
“What she just took Kyle there for no reason?” Now that
was strange. Who heard of going on a date to the library…well unless you
were Max and Liz. Tess didn’t look to be the ‘study date’ type.
“I said nothing happened. We’ll talk to Isabel in the
morning.” Max tossed the sleeping bag to Michael. “You better spend the
night here again.”
“I actually have a real bed you know. Your floor and the
sleeping bag aren’t really comfortable, Max.”
“Did you want to talk about this with Isabel or not?”
“Fine.”
Max watched Michael bed down. “Or maybe you had another
date with Maria? You two always seem to be in each other’s company.”
“So? What of it?”
“Nothing. Just mentioning it.”
“Yeah, whatever. Say goodnight, Maxwell.”
“Goodnight, Maxwell.” Max said softly. He watched
Michael cover his eyes with his arm.
~~~
Michael startled awake again. This time, he didn’t wake
Max. Leaving the room quietly, he went to Isabel’s room. Her light was on.
Entering the room, he found her standing at the window. She must have sensed
his presence.
“You’ve seen them too, haven’t you?”
Michael came up behind her. “The dreams.”
“The rock formation...the symbol.”
Michael nodded. “The two of us.”
“The baby.” Isabel said softly, finally looking at
Michael. “I think it’s all true, Michael. I think I’m pregnant with your
child. How can this be?”
Michael, remembering his conversation with Maria, shrugged.
“Something weird like this had to happen sooner than later. No matter what
Max wants to think, we’re not human, Isabel.”
Isabel looked back outside, staring at the stars. “Oh my
God, Michael, what are we going to do?”
“I don’t know, but we’ll figure it out.” Michael
hated to say it. “We better go tell Max.”
Isabel and Michael entered Max’s bedroom to find his bed
empty and the window open.
“Max?” Isabel turned to Michael. “Where could he have
gone?”
Michael took a deep breath. “I think I have an idea.
C’mon. We better go find him.”
~~~
Max had a vision of himself coming out of the pod. Isabel
and Michael were already out. There was a fourth pod with a girl with blond
curls. They left her there. Michael stared at Tess, they stood across from
each other. Neither noticed Michael and Isabel coming closer. They were in the
desert, at the rock formation.
“You know who I am now, don’t you?” Tess said to Max.
“You understand our destiny.”
Michael reached Tess first. He grabbed her arm, pulling her
away from Max. “Hey. What the hell did you do to him?” Thinking of the
dreams he shared with Isabel, Michael said, “To all of us?”
“Michael, stop it.” Max made Michael release Tess.
“She’s not Nasedo.”
Isabel stared at the girl, her fear still alive. “Then
who is she, Max?”
“She’s one of us.”
