Max
in the City……
“This was a mistake.” Max said to Tess as they rode the
elevator up to the
“You've been looking forward to it all day.”
“I mean this whole thing. Coming here. The city. Rath.
Lonnie.” Max glanced at Tess. “It's a mistake.”
“Max …”
“What do I know about war and peace and politics? I'm
gonna blow it. I'm gonna sit down at this meeting and I'm gonna meet these
people, and they're gonna look at me and they're gonna see this kid from
“Relax, relax. We're almost there.” Once the elevator
arrived at the top, Max and Tess went to look out over the city. “This is
where you belong, Max … up here with the world at your feet. Like a king.”
“I'm the king of the world.” Max muttered dejectedly.
“Yes, you are … just … not of this one.”
~~~
Rath and Lonnie walked through a restaurant on the streets
of
“Ooh! Yo, pastrami.”
“Yo, when he gets here … if he gets here … we're
puttin' him in his place, 'cause I'm sick of gettin' attitude from him.”
Lonnie said to Rath.
Rath took a bite of the sandwich, staring at it in disgust.
“Mayo! Who puts mayo on pastrami?” He looked around at a waiter. “Hey,
you! What kinda sick mother puts mayo on pastrami, huh? I oughta bust your head
open for …”
“Drop it!” Lonnie ordered him. “He's here.” Rath
tossed the sandwich making a threatening gesture at the waiter as he followed
Lonnie to the subway entrance. Nicholas walked up the stairs from a subway
station. He was holding a map of
“Took you long enough,” Lonnie said sarcastically to
the young boy. “Where the hell have you been?”
Nicholas looked around in disgust. “God, I hate this
town.” He studied the two aliens who looked like Michael and Isabel, but
weren’t. “So where are they?”
“They're doin’ the tourist thing …
“You let them wander around this open sewer alone?”
“Yo, even Max Evans can find his way from the
“Better hope you're right. Without Max, no one at the
“We're two of the Royal Four.” Rath reminded the Skin
threateningly.
“Royal rejects is more like it.” Nicholas laughed.
“Hey, yo, get this straight. We are the originals. They
are the rejects.” Rath’s anger was increasing at the disrespect for his
position and authority. Zan was gone. He should be King.
“Ha!” Nicholas laughed. “Uh, gee … they were
carefully hidden away in
“Yo,” Lonnie said getting in between Nicholas and Rath
before Rath did something stupid. “You ain't getting the Granilith without us,
so just remember that.”
“You're not getting home unless I get the Granilith.
Remember that.”
“Here they come.” Lonnie told Nicholas spying Max and
Tess a block away. “Go.”
Nicholas walked back into the subway station, cursing about
Max and Tess were across the street. They waved at Rath and
Lonnie.
“Here come the losers!” Lonnie warned Rath as Max and
Tess joined them. “Hey. So enough sight-seeing for one day?”
“There's a lot more to see.” Max told her.
“I could use a rest.” Tess suggested.
Lonnie lifted a brow. “Wanna see our crib?”
Max shrugged. “Sure.”
Rath and Lonnie led Max and Tess into a subway station
through the tunnels. They lost them, but found them in this huge room, their
den. Lonnie was on the sofa and Rath was batting tennis balls around with a
hockey stick.
Tess and Max looked around, shocked that their counterparts
were raised in the sewers of
The
~~~
Maria glanced over at Michael and Isabel sitting at a
table. They were no doubt talking about Max. Isabel was highly upset. Maria’s
eyes met Michael’s and they shared a silent moment of communication.
“Two days, and not a word.” Isabel fretted.
“Your parents asking questions?” Michael asked
wondering how Max was going to explain this one. Maria had a safety catch in her
life … her mother was often gone for work distributing alien souvenirs around
the state.
“They think he's gone camping again.”
“They gotta think he's turned into some kinda tree
hugger.” Michael commented shaking his head at the asinine explanation.
“They think he doesn't wanna spend Thanksgiving with his
family.” Isabel told Michael still upset with having her mother cry. “He
could have at least said goodbye.”
“You know Max. It's got nothing to do with you. It's
probably got something to do with, uh …” Michael pointedly looked over at
Liz who was saying goodbye to a customer.
Isabel followed his glance towards Liz, upset that once
again all Max cared about was the human girl. The smell of the diner was
sickening. Isabel couldn’t imagine how she was going to choke down
Thanksgiving dinner the next day with all the unhappiness in her home.
“Can we?” Isabel asked, needing to be away from the café,
away from the place where her brother made a decision that changed all their
lives.
“Yeah. Yeah.” Michael looked around for Maria. “Hey,
we're, uh, outta here.” Maria nodded clearing their table. Michael paused for
a moment, his hand on her waist while Isabel waited at the door impatiently.
“You were right, I was wrong. Now I care. We might need to go for Max.”
Michael glanced at Isabel quickly. “Can we go?”
“After Thanksgiving. Mom is expected in
“After work?” Michael suggested a time for them to
talk.
“Yeah, but you come over to my place. Mom wants you there
for the day.”
“What was I supposed to bring?”
“Your appetite.”
Michael smiled, leaning down to kiss her cheek before
joining Isabel.
Maria waited until they were gone before walking over to
Liz. “Girlfriend, we need to have a talk. You got a serious problem.”
“What?”
“A … very vicious rumor is going around about you in
school, and I shouldn't make a bigger deal about it than it is, because I know
we can take care of it, but it's just that, like, everybody's talking about it
…”
“Maria.” Liz begged stopping the long continuous run-on
sentence gracing Maria’s normal speech pattern.
“Okay. The word is that you and Kyle slept together.”
Maria held up a hand before Liz could get upset. “I know. It's so humiliating.
I know. I just can't imagine who made it up.”
“Um … it's true.” Liz confessed, her face reddening
not at the confession, but rather, the bald face lie.
“What?”
Maria’s mouthed opened in shock. “No, Liz, the rumor is that you and Kyle
Valenti slept together as in, like, sexually!”
Damn, there were tons of rumors about her and Michael, and
if half were true, neither of them would ever do anything but … well, that was
they would be too tired. Damn. This rumor was different. She and Michael did
sleep together, often, but this one was implying something more between Liz and
Kyle.
“I know.” Liz told her friend, unhappy with lying.
“And … it's true.”
“Huh. Ok, you lost your virginity to Kyle. I mean, that
is a revelation, and I don't know what that's about, but why didn't you tell
me?” Maria stared at Liz, unable to fathom how such a major event in her
friend’s life could be tossed out so casually, so completely forgotten.
“I was embarrassed.” Liz answered, her sentence ending
in more a question than a statement.
“That is such a completely unacceptable answer for you to
give to me, your best friend in the entire world …”
“I didn't want to talk about it.”
“Why? Why didn't you want to talk about it?” Liz always
told her everything, and the only time she lied or didn’t was when it had to
do with Max. Max was the spanner in their relationship that put boundaries and a
slight drift, one where Michael entered. “Why, did he hurt you or something?
Was this like a date rape?” Maria’s voice rose in concern, upset, imaging
the worse.
“No!” Liz quickly quelled Maria’s fears. “No, it
was nothing like that, ok? I was just upset about Max, and Kyle was there for
me, and we were close at one point, and one thing just led to another, and we
…”
Maria’s face fell, and she couldn’t stop the hurt that
entered her eyes making Liz wince. “And you didn't tell me.” She walked
away, too upset to talk any longer. She needed to talk to Michael. Liz watched
her, her brown eyes dark pools of misery as she watched her best friend for life
walk away, her shoulders slumped. “Max
Evans,” Liz thought, “...the
things I do for you.”
~~~
Liz finished the shift alone as Maria left early to go home
to help her mother get ready for Thanksgiving the next day. Liz knew that it was
really because Maria couldn’t talk and it was easier to be somewhere else.
Liz took the garbage out at the end of shift and found Ava
there, sleeping in the alley. Sighing, Liz took the alien girl home. Maybe her
parents wouldn’t mind, it would be like bringing home a stray.
~~~
Max and Rath entered a large building that appeared empty.
It was open with the room opening among columns into a large amphitheater
chamber with high ceilings.
“You got it together?” Rath asked as he led Max to the
emissary.
Max nodded as he took a seat across from the Emissary and
Rath backed off. The man walked behind Max and placed his hand behind Max's
head. A light burst forth from the emissary's hand, shooting through Max's head,
and projecting an image in front of Max. It was five lights circling around to
gradually form the V-shape, which was the Royal Seal of Antar, Max’s home
planet. Rath stood back, his mouth opening in wonder. So Max was
the King … not Zan!
“Sign here … your Highness.” The Emissary instructed
Max with deference before passing him a receipt and leaving.
“So you … you really are the king.”
“It's a … it's a time card. The Emissary works for a
… a temp agency?”
“Duke, the Emissary never left his crib.” Rath tried to
explain. “The body that walked outta here works for a temp agency.”
“What?”
“It's like a vessel, you know? A puppet.” Rath tried to
speak in plain speak, plain enough that Max would understand. “The alien
Emissary far away on another planet. Human knobhead here on this planet.
Emissary reaches out with his mind, takes control of the human. Human walks
around like a puppet doing whatever the Emissary wants him to do.”
“Like he's … like he's possessed.”
“Ha. Yeah, possession. Doin' the Linda Blair, you
know?” Rath laughed at Max, a simpleton for King. “Human dude never knows
what happened to him. He thinks he's been frickin' abducted. Heh.”
“I still don't understand why …”
“Lonnie will give you the 411 later. Now you should be
celebrating.” Rath told Max, since he barely got it himself. Lonnie was the
one who understood things.
“I should?”
“You passed, man. You are the frickin' king!” Rath
slapped Max hard on the back, leading him from the building. “Which means you
earned yourself a slice of the best pizza in
~~~
Maria’s bedroom door opened, and hands moved her over.
“Scoot.”
“You’re supposed to be sleeping on the sofa.” Maria
reminded Michael. “Did you not get the gist of lecture number eighty-seven?”
“Lumpy.”
“Use the other sofa. It’s newer and pretty comfy.”
“Too short.” Michael settled into the bed taking up
most of the space as he rearranged Maria to suit his frame. “Why are you
upset?”
“I didn’t say … I’m not upset.” Maria denied.
“Sure you are. You’re doing that thing.”
“What thing?”
Michael shrugged off Maria’s tell sign. “So tell me.”
Maria snuggled in closer talking into Michael’s chest.
“Liz.”
“Right.” He should’ve known. Parker was like a social
disease the group was passing around to each other. Who else could it be about?
Always Liz. Sure.
Maria quickly told Michael about the rumor.
“So? I heard that the other day. Who cares? There are so
many rumors about us, and none of them are true.” Michael reminded Maria.
He didn’t mind the rumors about him and Maria. They had a
partial truth to them. He was sleeping in her bed. Maybe not quite the way
people thought, but it served its own purpose as well. It kept other girls from
bugging him, and more importantly, it made other boys believe that Maria was off
limits. It helped her keep up her resolution not to date sweaty high school
boys. Michael chalked it up as his public service to a good friend.
“Liz told me tonight it was true.” Maria couldn’t
hold the hurt from entering her voice. “One of my best friends takes a huge
step in her life, and she forgets to tell me? I …”
“She slept with Kyle? For real?”
“That’s what she told me.”
Michael was thoughtful in the dark room. “No wonder Max
is more whacked than usual.”
~~~
Michael made an irritated moan in his throat when the phone
rang at three in the morning. Maria sleepily reached over from her position of
sleeping on top of him to answer the annoying ring.
“Hello?” Maria said in a husky voice thick with sleep.
“Look, we need to talk in person.”
Liz voice chirped over the phone.
Maria glanced at her bedside clock in disbelief. “It's
three in the morning.”
“Please, Maria.”
Maria moaned resting her head against Michael for a moment.
“Where?”
“The place by the thing that we went that time with
what's-her-name.”
“I'm there. Bye.” Maria placed the phone in the cradle.
“Parker?” Michael asked not caring enough to open his
eyes.
“Yeah. I’ve gotta go.”
Michael finally glanced at the clock. “What did she have,
a damn nightmare? Can’t she inconvenience someone else?” That Parker was
exhausting.
“Stop being grumpy. Go back to sleep.”
“Nah. I better go with you. This is
“I’ll be fine. I’m taking the Jetta.” Maria grabbed
a pair of pants to pull over the shorts she was sleeping in with one of
Michael’s shirts.
“I still better come.”
Maria pushed him back into the bed. “Sleep. You can cover
my ass in case my mom figures out I went out.”
“Great plan. She’ll be so busy going ballistic with me
being in your bed, she’ll never notice you’re not here.”
“You really are handy to have around at times.”
“My lifetime goal achieved,” Michael mumbled to himself
as Maria let herself out her bedroom window. “Hey! Shut the window, it’s
cold in here.”
~~~
Maria sat with Liz outside in front of a large fountain.
Maria listened as Liz told her about going home from Madam Vivian’s, about the
appearance of Future Max.
“I'm sorry.” Liz said as she took a breather. “I know
this all sounds really crazy …”
“No, please. Crazy is sleeping with Kyle Valenti, so,
please get to that part.”
“Okay. So, um … right, Max … Future Max … tells me
that the reason that the world comes to an end is because … get this … he
and Tess weren't together when their enemies came to Earth. And the reason they
weren't together was because Max and I got married.”
“Oh.” Maria sat back a little, her mind working over
the story.
“I know it's really confusing.”
“No, no, no. I'm with you.” Maria waved off the
concern. No, she was getting it, and it wasn’t working in Max’s favor.
“Keep going.”
“Future Max tells me that I have to find a way to get
present day Max to fall out of love with me.”
“So you slept with Kyle.” Maria concluded.
“No, no. Not really. I arranged it so Max saw Kyle and me
in bed together, but nothing really happened.”
“So Max thinks
that you and Kyle …” Maria nodded her head. Okay, so that made some sense,
more than Liz going and losing her virginity without confiding in her best
friend.
“I'm sorry I lied to you.”
Maria waved that off. No foul. “No. I'm so sorry that I
got so mad. I should have known that it was, you know, an alien thing.” Maria
couldn’t help but ask. “Are you still a virgin?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay.”
“Okay.” Liz said glancing at Maria uncertain whether
Maria was. She and Michael..., and if Michael hadn’t been there tonight …
“Yeah.” Maria said reading the look on her friend’s
face. “So am I!”
“Frigid!” The two girls high five'd each other,
laughing. Major events in life were always easier to weather with a friend, a
confidant.
“So how did the rumors start?”
“I don’t know.” Liz shrugged. “It’s a small town.
I know Kyle wouldn’t be bragging about it since he knows the truth. I can’t
imagine Max rushing around telling the world. It was just the three of us, and
…” Liz stopped.
“What?”
“Tess knows. When we were in Copper Summit she asked me
how Kyle was.”
“Max told Tess!” Maria was about to slam on Max, but
Liz stopped her.
“It was cruel and hard, Maria. It hurt. I hurt him. Maybe
he needed someone to talk to, someone that would be on his side.”
“He could’ve talked to me.”
“No, he couldn’t.”
Maria sighed. Liz was right. She would’ve been torn
between her loyalty to Liz and her friendship to Max. “Well, be that as it
may, Tess went and told the entire school. That bitch! After all you did to try
to help her.” Maria couldn’t forgive this. It was an act of malicious
intent, a need to make Liz look bad to other people. “God, I hate this. At
times, I almost like Tess, but then there is this slight … skewing moment, a
glance, a thoughtless act, and my hackles go right back up, and I don’t trust
her again.”
“It’s okay, Maria. You don’t have to hate her for my
sake.”
“It’s not that. I mean, she saved me from a Skin,
I’ve had a few decent conversations with her, and she’s like a normal girl.
She helps Michael with his powers … you know, she tries hard. Then something
like this … and I just don’t know again.”
“It doesn’t matter. Max said it was over. He said
goodbye, and I think he really meant it in all ways possible.” Liz bit her lip
her eyes suddenly glassy. “He gave me back the pocket knife.”
“The Christmas pocket knife?”
“The same.”
Maria couldn’t believe it. It had taken them forever to
find that present. Liz had agonized over it for days. She and Max hadn’t been
together so she was at a loss as to how find a present for Max that wasn’t too
intimate, but something personal that he could hold on to from her. She finally
gave up and asked Maria what she got Michael. A pocket knife. It was the same
pocket knife that Michael had dropped at Pierce’s burial site.
“When they return your personal items, gifts, t-shirts,
pictures, and other things …”
“It’s over.” Liz confirmed hugging her knees in
misery. Liz rubbed her face hard, her eyes a pool of misery. “I’m just
having such a hard time having him hate me. Having him think that I would toss
away our love so carelessly.” Liz couldn’t stop the tears. “It hurts,
Maria. I didn’t know it could ever hurt this much, that I could hurt this
much.”
“Liz...”
“I dream. I dream about the wedding he told me about, the
life we might have shared, and how can I ever be satisfied with anything else?
For the rest of my life, it will be the only thing I ever want … the only
thing I can’t have. Ever.”
“I hate Max Evans.” Maria said solemnly.
“Maria! No! It’s not Max’s fault!”
“Yes it is. Ultimately.” Maria told Liz. “I don’t
mean our Max … that poor young boy
who has just had his teeth kicked out. I mean the man he became … Future
Max.”
“He was … don’t hate him, Maria.”
“Too late.” Maria took Liz’s hands. “He said you
were the love of his life?” Liz nodded. “Then why did he tell you about your
wedding? Why you? How could he hurt you so much, telling you every detail of a
life you can never have? Leaving you to live a life mourning a lost love? You
can’t miss what you never knew, Liz. He should’ve loved you enough to spare
you.”
“He said that I was the only person he trusted enough to
listen to … that I was the only one that could make him change.”
“God, he is such a terrible King. Such a terrible friend!
What a horrible lover.” Maria shook her head. “What about Michael? What
about Isabel? Couldn’t he approach them? Shouldn’t he trust them, believe in
them? Michael would’ve done it. He would’ve found a way to make Max
understand, to believe in what Future Max was saying. He could tell him about
the mariachi band. He was already learning the song. How could Michael know
that? The Gomez tickets. He had to buy them in advance.”
“I think he …” Liz paused unable to think of another
excuse for the pain she felt today, the pain left by knowledge.
“Or, if he came to you … why tell you how great your
life together was? Why not lie? Say you married and it was the biggest mistake.
That you and he ended up broken apart, that he later remembered loving Tess in
his previous life, but she had left. And when their enemies appeared he needed
his Queen, and he was lost without her. That he came to blame you, and you
carried the guilt that had he never saved you, that he would’ve ended up with
Tess when she came. That it split you up, destroyed your lives, and all the
bitterness … blah, blah, blah. You see what I’m saying?”
“That it would’ve been easier for me to think I was
correcting a childish choice that ended in my own misery and his, then to be
settled with a haunting image of a perfect life full of love?”
“The end of the world would topped it off.”
“I don’t know why he and my future self decided on this
course … and it doesn’t really matter now, because I know … I know and it
is killing me. I am so weighed down in pain, I can’t remember how to
breathe.”
“God, Liz. I know Max. I know how he feels about you, but
armed with this knowledge, this cruel intent on his future self’s part … I
wonder if Max really even knows what love is. How could anyone do this to
someone they love?”
Liz shook her head, her tears running down her face. Maria
reached over and hugged her friend tight, angry at the misery she felt shaking
Liz’s small frame. Too much. How much did it take to make a body break?
“You need comfort food. Let’s go wake my mom have her
make us her famous stuffed French toast.”
“Extra syrup?”
“Extra syrup and whipped cream.”
~~~
“So he gave you back the pocket knife?” Amy asked as
she put two more slices of French toast in Liz’s plate.
Liz nodded miserably.
“The cad!”
“Mom, more syrup. My toast is dry.” Amy reached over
and took the whipped cream from Maria.
“Don’t eat all that. I need some for pie, and Michael
hasn’t had breakfast, yet. That boy can eat all of this by himself.” Amy
looked around suddenly remembering not seeing Michael on the sofa. “Speaking
of which … where is Michael?”
“Sleeping. My bed.” Maria said helpfully as she shoved
more food into her mouth.
“Maria, I told him …”
“I was going out to see Liz. The sofa is really too short
for his frame to sleep comfortably, and it’s lumpy. He gets all cranky when
his sleep is disturbed. This way he’ll be in a semi-good mood when you make
him dig out the Christmas stuff.”
“Oh! You didn’t tell him did you?” Amy asked worried.
Last year Michael swore that he wasn’t going to be trapped in the tight
upstairs attic again.
“Not a word.”
“Good girl.” Amy beamed at her daughter shoving more
food on her plate.
~~~
Maria worked the morning to early afternoon shift at the
Crashdown, leaving Michael to be bossed around by her mother as he was forced to
help her find all the Christmas decorations and help her cook. Liz was in no
shape to work, so Maria took the extra shift. She needed extra ready cash
because after she and Michael saw her mother off at the airport the next day,
they were planning on jumping the first plane to
It had been a few days since she talked to Brody, literally
not since he bought her breakfast. Maria went to the
“Brody!” Maria called, going into his office without
knocking. “You didn't call for your order, so I brought you one anyway. I
brought you a Galaxy Sub, hold the mayo, and extra pepperjack!” She stopped
when there was no answer. “Oh, Mr. Davis! Hello?” Maria looked at the
unusually quiet
In
~~~
Max paced around the sewer lair as Lonnie and Rath watched
him. “So this is the Royal Seal?” He asked staring at a configuration of
stars that Rath was next to.
“You got it. And these are the five worlds of our star
system.”
Max pointed to the star at the apex of the V formation.
“And that one … that's home? Home.”
“Bingo. That's how the Emissary knew you were the real
deal. You got the Royal Seal stenciled on your brain.”
Max nodded thoughtfully at Rath, wanting more information.
“And these other four worlds … they'll all be sending a representative to
the
Rath shrugged. Yes and no. “Well, they'll be doing the
possession thing again, you know, like the Emissary.”
Tess frowned, not really understanding the possession
thing. “Why don't they … come in person?”
“You see, little girl,” Rath informed her snidely,
“space is what we call very, very big. You know, it's not easy to get places.
People just don't zip around the galaxy like on Star Trek.”
Lonnie laughed rolling her eyes. “No one's coming back
here again in person unless there's a good reason.”
“Like to bring us home.” Rath suggested.
Tess sat up straighter. “We can go home?”
“Yeah, we can.” Rath answered, gesturing towards Max.
“If the man here cuts a deal at the
“What kind of a deal?” Max asked, his eyes holding a
darkness that was impenetrable.
Lonnie didn’t like the look. It was one she couldn’t
read. Applying a lot of humanitarian sap to her explanation was the best way she
knew to keep Max in line. “A deal to bring peace back to our world.”
“And in our world … blood on the streets, baby.” Rath
was getting into the discussion,
warming on the action. “That dude Khivar that took your throne … people hate
his ass!”
“Our mother sent our pods to earth for safekeeping,
hoping we'd come back one day.” Lonnie informed him adding the mother factor
to increase Max’s sentimentality to their home world.
“And that day is now.” Rath stressed. “The word is
that Khivar's desperate, and he'll do anything to end the fighting.”
“Including let us come back home.” Lonnie finished.
“Home. I never thought … not this soon.” Max paused
as a thought occurred to him. “What about Michael and Isabel?”
“And Ava.” Tess added not wanting to exclude her Dupe.
“They're expecting the Royal Four, not the Royal
Seven.” Lonnie told them, not at all happy that the other two were such whiny
wimps. Who cared about the others?
“I am not leaving Michael and Isabel behind.” Max told
her.
“Look, Max …” Lonnie hurried, trying to deflect any
real thought on Max’s part. She didn’t want him to remember that she and
Rath were not part of the Royal Four, and really had no part in the ride home.
“Max, they … they seem so happy … in that cute little town. Chill, chill.
It'll all be okay. You'll see. It'll all fall our way … unless they bring up
the Granilith again.”
Max entire body stiffened at the mention of the alien
device. “The Granilith?”
“Yeah, yeah.” Rath said, talking too fast, almost
giving it away. “It's this stupid religious thing.”
“The Protector told us it's like the Holy Grail, some
piece of junk people on our planet worship for some reason.” Lonnie added
watching Max and Tess. “You ever heard of it?”
“No.” Max said with no hesitation. The Granilith. A
holy relic? He knew better. The Skins weren’t searching for a relic. They were
searching for power.
“No?” Lonnie questioned again.
Rath saw Lonnie on the verge of giving away how important
the Granilith was and he quickly interjected himself into the conversation.
“That's too bad.”
Lonnie caught herself. “Yeah. Would have been a nice
bargaining chip if you had.”
“I haven't.” Max said insistently as Tess held her
tongue.
“No problem.” Lonnie said shrugging like it was hardly
important. “Probably won't even bring it up anyway.”
~~~
The Crashdown closed early that day for Thanksgiving, so
Liz had allowed Ava to sleep downstairs in the breakroom on the sofa. She was
later woken by the other girl’s nightmare. Going to her, Ava confessed to
reliving Zan’s death. It didn’t take much talking to realize that the girl
had blamed herself for her mate’s death.
Opening up the café part of the diner, Liz made them
something hot to drink and listened as Ava talked about her version of Max. Ava
asked how Liz found out about Max being an alien, and she was clearly disturbed
with the news that Max had brought her back from death, saved her.
Liz frowned at the alien girl’s reaction, and for the
first time she worried about what it could mean to be saved by an alien. From
Ava’s reaction, it was not a good thing.
~~~
Isabel answered her phone, unhappy at being woken.
“Hello?”
“Hey, it's me.”
“Max.” Isabel sat up immediately turning on the bedside
light. “Where are you? Are you ok?”
“Yeah. I'm fine. I'm still in
“It was great. Mom cried all the way from the cranberry
sauce to the peach cobbler.” Isabel informed him. “So did I.” She added
quietly.
Max seemed not to hear or care. “Isabel, how would you
feel … about going home?”
Isabel sat up straighter pushing her hair behind her ear.
“When you say home …”
“I mean … home.”
“Is that even possible?”
“If it is, do you wanna go or not?”
Max asked having to know.
Isabel closed her eyes for a moment. “I don't know. I
mean … leaving Mom and Dad and
“Well, it isn't. And I need an answer. From you and
Michael both.”
“What? You can't … you can't do this!” Isabel sat on
the side of her bed upset. Too fast. Much too fast. She never thought to…
“You can't just drop this on me all of a sudden. I mean, God, you just leave
with those people without even saying goodbye, without even discussing it with
Michael and I, and now you expect me …”
“I guess I'm just being a self-indulgent little boy
again.” Max said
bitterly.
Isabel made a sound of disbelief. “What the hell is that
supposed to mean?”
“I don't want to rehash the entire thing, Vilandra.”
Isabel’s heart stopped in her chest, unhappy with the way
this was going. “That's not fair.”
“Neither was letting me hear the real story from
Lonnie.”
Isabel bit her lip knowing she should’ve told him
herself. “I'm sorry, Max.”
“It's a little late for apologies, don't you think? You
should have said that the first time I confronted you.”
“The first what?” Isabel’s voice was choked in
confusion. “What are you talking about?”
“I'll call you when the
Isabel stared at the receiver in her hand not hearing the
dial tone. The first time? Groaning Isabel hung up the receiver to pick it up
again calling Michael’s number. It rang for a long time, but there was no
answer. Giving up, she called Maria’s cell phone. A sleepy Michael answered,
his voice irritated.
“Yeah.”
Isabel cleared her throat when she heard Maria’s voice
telling Michael to tell Liz to go back to sleep, they would talk to her in the
morning. “Michael, it’s Isabel. I … I need to talk to you … now. It’s
Max.”
~~~
Maria and Liz watched as Michael and Isabel confronted Ava
about Rath and Lonnie duping Max into going to
“Why did Lonnie impersonate me?”
“I don't know.” Ava glanced at the two aliens that
looked like Rath and Lonnie, but lacked the threatening posture.
“Why don't I believe you?” Isabel asked.
“That's your problem.” Ava told her.
Michael stretched out his hand and blew up one of the
decorations in the Crashdown. “Don't piss us off.” Michael warned her.
Maria seemed slightly taken aback, making a mumbling sound
to herself.
“Maria, what is it?” Liz asked trying to concentrate on
the conversation.
Maria fanned herself slightly uncomfortable, her eyes never
leaving Michael, a threatening, commanding Michael … he was so volatile. “Is
it … um, hot in here?”
“Shhh!” Liz said wanting to hear what Isabel was
saying.
“Fine!” Isabel told her. “We'll do this the hard
way.”
Liz saw that the two aliens were going to get physical with
Ava and she quickly moved in, somehow feeling responsible for Ava’s health.
“Ok, ok, wait, wait. It's okay.” She intervened, leading Ava away from
Isabel and Michael as Maria joined them.
“Come on, Ava.”
Liz sat down at the counter with Ava. “Ok, ok, Ava … you told me that you
had a secret that you couldn't tell anyone. But, um … if Max is in danger, you
have to tell us. You lost Zan. Please don't let me lose Max. I love him, you
know, and I love him just as much as you did Zan. Please, Ava … don't let me
lose him. Please.”
Ava glanced at Liz , at the others and then back at Liz
again. She nodded reluctantly. “Lonnie and Rath … killed Zan. And they're
probably gonna kill Max.” Michael glanced at Maria, and she nodded.
~~~
Michael and Maria saw Amy off on her flight to
“Can I have your peanuts?”
“Nope.” Michael said automatically, reading a New York
City Lifestyle magazine.
Maria sat back, bored by the plane ride. “Why didn’t I
get to sit by the window?”
“Because I don’t have a bladder the size of a pea, and
I wasn’t going to keep getting up to let you out.”
“How are we going to find them?”
“We have the location of the pay phone Max used last
night to call Isabel thanks to the
Maria glanced at her travel companion. “So didn’t
Loonie Lonnie make you appreciate Isabel so much more?”
“Didn’t punk freak Rath make you appreciate me more?”
Maria seemed thoughtful. “The tattoos were kind of …
stimulating.”
Michael lifted a brow. “You thought he was … sexy?”
His expression was saying that if she did, he was reassessing his opinion of her
taste.
“I must admit he was interesting to gawk at, much like a
train wreck. But, surprisingly, I was much more turned on by the man with
authority and a commanding presence.”
Michael’s eyes narrowed as he thought of an angry Brody
facing all those aliens, demanding to know why they were in his place. “I
don’t think he’s the man.” Michael told her.
“Huh?” Maria was off in her own head thinking about
Michael blowing up Christmas decorations in the Crashdown. Wow, who knew he
could be so … wow!
“Brody is way too old for you.”
The name Brody caught Maria’s attention. “Oh! Did I not
tell you … I went by to invite Brody to Thanksgiving dinner.”
“You what? Why would you do that?”
Maria ignored his question. “He wasn’t there.”
“So he took himself off for the holidays.”
“No. I don’t think so. I think if he was leaving he
would call me, leave me a message so I wouldn’t worry.”
“Why would he do that?” Michael suddenly felt his seat
was too cramped. Moving uncomfortably in it, he turned to look her over. She
seemed … glowing. Damn that meddling Madam Vivian. Hack. Fraud. Charlatan.
“He told me that he felt like he was on the verge of
being abducted again. Dreams. Missing time. He told me not to worry if he
suddenly disappeared, so I think if he was taking himself off on his own, he
would tell me so I wouldn’t worry.”
Michael sat back in the seat. He stared out the window when
Maria settled down, finally finding something to read. His thoughts were distant
and dark, and despite what Isabel told him about Max asking if she was ready to
go home, for once in his life, his mind wasn’t on that. Brody. What kind of
name was that anyway?
~~~
On the way to the
“Now, you get in trouble, you look to us, and we'll help
you out.” Rath told Max, chafing at the idea of his future resting in the
creampuff’s hands.
“I think he'll handle it.” Tess told the other alien
boy.
“Hey, is someone talkin' to you, retard?” Rath asked
Tess, his attitude offensive and mean.
“All right, that's it.” Max moved Tess behind him
putting himself between her and the other two. “Let's get something clear
right here, right now. I'm the one who passed the Emissary's test. And that
means from now on, I'm the one in charge here.”
“Understood, duke. You're the king.” Lonnie said giving
Rath a warning glare. Imbecile. He was going to ruin everything.
“And for your information, her name … is Tess.” Max
informed Rath, making Tess smile.
“Rath, take Tess and go inside.” Lonnie told her
trained seal. “I wanna talk to Max for a minute.” Her eyes were cold and
deadly as she stared Rath down.
“Come on.” Rath led Tess out of the room.
“I'm proud of you, Max. You're everything I loved about
Zan and more. You're the brother I never knew.” Max stared at the girl that
looked like his sister, but was a world apart. Rath and Tess rejoined them when
they were called into the conference room.
Max entered the room where the
“Brody?” Max said in surprise.
“Actually, my name is Larek. Are you Zan?” He looked
like Brody. Spoke like Brody, but he wasn’t Brody. Max nodded.
“They tell me that used to be my name. But my name is
Max. Max Evans.”
A woman representing one of the other four planets looked
at Larek with disbelief. “If he doesn't even know who he is, how can he sit in
conference with us?”
“He sits with us because the Emissary certified him.”
Larek informed the woman, Kathana. “Kathana, Sero, Hanar, and I will represent
each of our worlds. Max will speak for his.”
Nicholas entered the room at both Tess and Max’s
surprise. “Actually, Khivar speaks for his world. And I speak for Khivar.”
Nicholas took a seat. “Max. Nice to see your genocidal girlfriend again.”
Nicholas met Tess’s eyes. “Killed anyone today?”
“Day's not over.” Tess informed him, getting a strange
look from Rath as the young girl stood straighter, letting him for the first
time see what made her the Queen, what made her the real thing, a Royal Four.
“What a charmer.” Nicholas muttered, his hatred of Tess
apparent.
Larek looked at the others. “Can we begin?”
“You know him?” Lonnie asked as if she had no idea who
Nicholas was.
Max nodded. “Long story. He was in
“Be careful.” Rath warned, having never trusted the
pipsqueak Skin.
“That much I know.”
~~~
Isabel, Liz and Ava were at the Crashdown waiting until
Michael and Maria called them once they arrived in the City. “We've got to
find a way to warn Max. He's in the middle of the
“Where's the
“Some building downtown.”
Liz groaned. They were going to be too late. Michael and
Maria could look forever for the others at this rate. “You gotta do better
than that.”
Ava really didn’t know. Zan refused to go, so she
didn’t have a reason to know. “I
don't know anything more.”
“Hey, Isabel, um … can't you dreamwalk Max?” Liz
asked in a moment of inspiration. “You know, um … put a warning in his mind.
You've done it before, you know, when he was in the white room.”
“That was different. He was drugged. I was only a few
miles away. He's across the country now.”
Liz covered her eyes in despair. “I think we're out of
alternatives. God, I hope Michael and Maria can find them.”
~~~
“I should call them.” Maria told Michael holding onto
him tightly as they stepped through the nasty tunnel following Ava’s
directions.
“After we check this out.” Michael and Maria entered
Lonnie and Rath’s lair. Maria’s mouth opened in shock as she stared at the
pods that the other aliens had emerged from. Michael looked around. “Great.
Here I thought there was no place worse to grow up than
“Grass is greener, buddy.” Maria glanced around the
place in interest. “Okay, I think there’s something gross on my shoes. You
see enough or do we need to stake out this dysentery gene pool? I can feel my
reproductive cells altering as we speak. All my future children will probably be
mutated freaks.”
“Explains Loonie and Rat.” Michael took Maria’s hand
helping her over a pile of something. “Let’s go. We’ll start at the pay
phone and call Liz and Isabel. Maybe Ava remembered something.” Michael looked
around one last time. “Nice new friends Max made.”
~~~
At the
“We're here in the spirit of reconciliation. We're not
here to rehash the past, point fingers, and assign blame.”
The man called Hanar had had enough talking. “Can we get
to it? We're here to end fifty years of misery and suffering among our worlds.
Kathana attacks Khivar. Khivar attacks Sero. Sero attacks me. The situation is
intolerable!”
“Agreed!” said Sero. “We have to find a solution.”
“And Khivar has a solution.” Nicholas informed them.
“Khivar will abdicate the throne and allow the Royal Four to return home under
the following conditions: 1) Max becomes king only in name. All real power and
government remains in Khivar's hands, 2) Max calls upon his followers to lay
down their weapons and support the new government, and 3) Most importantly …
Max returns the Granilith to us.”
“The Granilith?” Kathana said sharply, apparently the
others were equally shocked by the mention of the device.
Nicholas saw their faces and held up a hand forestalling
their reaction. “No, it's no longer on our world. Yes, we've known about it
for a long time. No, Khivar decided he didn't need to tell you. And, yes, we
know where it is.” Nicholas glanced down the long conference table. “It's
with Max.”
“Is this true, Max?” Larek asked.
Max looked at the others. “It's here.”
Lonnie couldn’t believe he lied to her. That dweeb from
nowhere,
“So there you have it. Max comes home with the Granilith.
All is forgiven.” Nicholas told the others. He looked at Max. “Do we have a
deal?”
“I … need to think about this.” Max told the group.
“I'd be surprised if you didn't.” Larek said to Max.
“But be quick about it. Holding onto these bodies isn't easy. In fact, it's
chewing up huge amounts of our resources. Twenty minutes, Max … then I need an
answer.”
“You'll have it.” Max answered, leaving with Tess.
Outside the room, he and Tess went to talk in a quiet corner. “Cut a deal with
Nicholas? I don't trust him any more than I can throw him.”
Tess agreed. “You could throw him pretty far.”
“Then there's Lonnie and Rath. It's hard to believe they
have the same DNA that Michael and Isabel have.”
Again Tess totally agreed. “For what it's worth … I
don't trust them.”
“And then there's this whole thing about the Granilith.”
“Why did you lie to Lonnie and Rath about the Granilith,
anyway?”
“There was something Liz said … just before we left.”
Max told Tess. “She told me the Granilith could be dangerous if it fell into
the wrong hands.”
“How does she know that?”
Max shrugged. That was still a mystery. “She wouldn't
say.”
“But she's never even seen the Granilith.” Tess said.
The only human who had was Maria.
“I know. I know.” Max paced for a few moments. “But I
just keep thinking about it … the way she said it … she seemed so sure. I
just don't know what to do.”
“Whatever you do … it'll be the right choice. I'm sure
of it.”
“Why?”
“Because despite whatever Nicholas said about you in
there, I know that you were a great man in that other life. A great king. I know
it in my bones.”
Max stared at the alien girl, the one that brought so much
disruption in his nice planned life. “All you've ever done … is trust me,
been there for me whenever I needed you. I've never done anything to deserve
that kind of loyalty.”
“I think in that other life … you must have been one
great husband.”
~~~
Nicholas was also taking a break from the
“Yo.” Lonnie said stepping from the shadows.
“Yo yourself.” Nicholas watched her carefully, not
trusting her any more than any other lethal variety of snake.
“Miss me?” Lonnie asked backing Nicholas up against a
column.
“Always,” Nicholas’s height, or lack of it, gave him
a great display as he stared at her breasts. “Can't wait to see more of
you.”
“Well, that'll have to wait until we get home.” Lonnie
informed him.
“Let's be clear, Lonnie.” Nicholas said smiling
cruelly, not the small boy he appeared and definitely not the brainless retard
Lonnie led around by his dick. “You don't get home unless I get the Granilith.”
“Let me be
clear, Nicholas. I don't give a damn whether or not you get the Granilith. I'm
going home.”
“Big talk for a woman with no cards to play.” He
smiled. Yeah. He liked big women.
“I got cards. I just haven't shown them to you yet.”
Lonnie played with his shirt. “You know, I'm not like the others. I remember
our world. I remember Khivar. And I remember what it was like to be Vilandra. I
want that life, and I'll do what I have to to get back. Be on my side, and
you'll benefit. Be against me, and … well, it would be a mad, crazy idea to be
against me. Don't worry about Max. He's a cornball. He'll go for the deal. He'll
go for the deal because millions of lives hang in the balance. Besides, he wants
to go home and give mommy a kiss and get fitted for his crown.”
“He won't live long enough to wear it. Khivar wants him
dead.”
Lonnie laughed. “Well, I'd have to be a special kind of
stupid not to have figured that out.”
“If he takes the deal, there'll be a nice public
execution to attend.” Nicholas had business to attend to, loose ends. “If he
doesn't take the deal, Khivar still wants him dead.”
“I can arrange that.” Lonnie said. Max was dead the
moment she entered
“Passage home.” Nicholas said, his creepy hands moving
up her front. Vilandra was always brainless, but willing to get physical. “But
just you. The freak with the Mohawk stays here.”
“Yeah, I can live with that.” If she was going home,
the last thing she wanted was to be tied down by Rath. The boy had outlived his
usefulness. “See you at the
Nicholas watched her walk away. “What a woman.” He said
more to himself laughing at the obvious slight. There was nothing womanly about
Lonnie, or ladylike. She was pure vitriol.
~~~
Lonnie rejoined the others, her anger at Max barely
contained. She had few options and the buckwheat was going to cost her
everything. Before they went back inside, he motioned to the others to go
without them.
“Can I have a minute with my brother?” Lonnie
gestured to Rath to take Tess inside. “You lied to me. I don't like it. But
there it is.” Lonnie looked the boy over, seeing Zan, but someone who had no
feelings of connection to her despite his looks. “But what's about to go down
in there is a helluva lot bigger than you and I, Max.” Lonnie once again tried
to appeal to his basically good human nature. “Millions of lives hang in the
balance. Millions of people may die if we don't stop this fighting. So this is
not about whether you and I go home. We are nothing in the scheme of things.
This is about the greater good.” She stood aside gesturing to the door.
“After you, Your Highness.”
~~~
“Well, Max,
have you made your decision?” Larek asked.
“Yes, I have. And the answer is no.” Max told them.
“I will not give up the Granilith to you. Not to you, not to Khivar, not to
anyone. It was entrusted to me.”
“You're all witnesses. Khivar tried to be reasonable,
tried to extend a hand of peace … and had it slapped away. Our business is at
an end here. Our offers are withdrawn.” Nicholas stood to address the
Kathana and the others stood up to follow him. Kathana
stopped to look at Max. “You made a lot of enemies here today.”
“Do you ever wonder why your predecessor was killed?”
Nicholas asked Max as he exited the room, “He
made bad decisions.”
Larek was the only one to stay behind. Looking at Max, he
was strangely quiet, almost sad. “You don't remember any of this, I'm sure,
but … our families used to be very close. You and I practically grew up
together. I was there at your father's funeral. At your coronation, and your
wedding.” Larek stared at Max with Brody’s eyes. “We were friends. And it
was so painful to watch you fall, to see you trying so hard to make a better
world for your people. And then to watch you have it all taken away by a man
like Khivar.” The regret in the other man’s voice was very apparent despite
his feelings and thoughts being transmitted through time and space. “I told
you that you were trying to do too much too soon, that change takes time. But
you wouldn't listen. You just kept …” Larek gave up in disgust. “What's
the point? It's all ancient history now. What a shame it is to see history
repeat itself.” He walked out without a look back.
~~~
Isabel tried and tried to get a connection to Max. Liz
watched while on the phone to Michael and Maria.
“I can’t do it!”
“Iz, Michael said to try again. You have to!”
“I can’t. It’s too far!”
Ava looked at the two girls desperate to save Max. Biting
her lip, she volunteered information. “Liz can do it.” They looked at her.
“If Max brought you back, then you’re changed.”
“Changed?” Liz asked.
“I can’t explain it. You can do it.”
Liz stared at Ava, but Maria’s voice came over the phone.
She listened to Maria for a few moments. “Maria wants to know where your
friends’ favorite place to eat is. Where will they go if they have to kill
someone and they want it to go unnoticed?”
“
Liz repeated that to Maria. If they could get in the right
locale, they could reach Max faster.
Isabel glanced at Liz. “We have to try, Liz.”
“I don’t know.” Liz shook her head. She and Max were
broken, what slim connection that might still exist was torn.
“Liz … take my hand.”
“I don't know why, but I'm really scared to do this.”
Liz told Isabel sitting down across from her. “You know, if you can't contact
him, what makes you think I can?”
“I know my brother, and I know that if there is one voice
he will hear no matter where he is, no matter what he's doing, it's yours.”
Isabel reassured Liz needing her to at least try. How many times was Liz going
to step back in fear, like she did when Michael was sick? They had no time.
“Take my hand, Liz.”
They both concentrated while Ava held the phone with
Michael and Maria. Liz began to describe the area. Ava recognized it as the
place where Zan died. She quickly told Michael how to get there. Liz could see
Max. Looking around, she was in like a dream state, on a street in
“I see him. He’s walking with Lonnie, Rath and Tess.
Rath … he just grabbed Tess from behind and Lonnie is …Max!” Liz screamed
her voice silent in the dream.
~~~
Max, Tess and Lonnie were walking through the streets of
“What's up with you, huh?” Rath asked. “You just
threw away our only chance of ever getting home!”
“Maybe,” Max conceded, unwilling to think about home.
Some compromises weren’t worth the risk.
“Hey, who do you think you are, huh? Makin' big-time life
decisions for Lonnie and me?” Rath asked. “You think you're the man … is
that it?”
“That's right. I am
the man.” Max said finally facing Rath, tired of the reject punk’s attitude.
“Ok, you the man.” Rath said backing off. “Screw
Nicholas. Screw 'em all.”
“Screw 'em tight. We'll find another way home.” Lonnie
said already having made her deal.
“I'm mad hungry. Let's go get a slice.” Rath suggested
once again one of four.
“Sick of pizza.” Lonnie said making eye contact with
Rath. “
“I'm with that.” Rath said smiling.
Max, Tess, Rath, and Lonnie were walking along a street
when Rath grabbed Tess and covered her mouth with his hand. Lonnie reached out
with her hand as she used her powers to loosen a scaffolding platform above the
spot Max stood upon.
Confused Max was staring out into the street. Blinking, he
thought he saw Liz. It was like the time that Isabel talked to him in the white
room, but it was Liz. She was calling out to him, but he couldn’t hear what
she was saying.
Before he could take a step forward or ask the others if
they saw what he was seeing, he felt his body hit … hard. Rolling on the
ground, he shook his head to clear it as a platform crashed to the ground mere
inches from where he once stood.
Max glanced up into the warm golden eyes of Michael.
“Michael?”
Michael nodded, wincing as he got off the ground reaching
down a hand to Max. His elbow was bleeding where it hit the pavement. “Yeah,
Michael.”
“Not Rath?”
“Hardly.” They turned as they heard Maria calling their
names. She was running while talking in the phone.
“Michael!” Maria stopped next to them. “Yeah, we got
him! No. He’s good. Yeah.”
“Liz?” Max said confused. He looked at the platform
that almost took his life, and then at the street where Liz had disappeared.
Looking around confused, he found that Tess, Rath, and Lonnie had all
disappeared as well. “Tess? Tess!” Max glanced at Michael and Maria. He had
no time to question how they got there. “C’mon!”
Max, Michael and Maria ran back to Rath and Lonnie's lair.
There they found Tess sitting in the middle of the floor with flakes flying
around her.
“Tess! Tess!” Max went on her knees beside her.
“Tess, are you all right?”
The girl blinked a few times as if she was waking from a
dream. “I don't know.”
“What happened?”
“They tried to get inside my head, find out where the
Granilith is.” Tess told Max, not noticing Michael and Maria. “I … I
didn't want them to … so I fought back.”
“How?”
“I … I don't know.”
Max looked around at the room that was now empty. All the
stuff that had been there before was burned away. “Where are they?”
“I don't know.”
“Tess … Tess, are you all right?” Max asked getting
up slowly, reaching down to help Tess up.
“I'm ready to go home now. Home to
“Okay.” Max led Tess to Michael and Maria and they left
the subway tunnels.
~~~
In
Once home, Max and Isabel rebuilt their relationship as Max
explained that he couldn’t take the deal. He hadn’t trusted Nicholas, and
even if he did … he could never take a deal that meant leaving Michael and
Isabel behind. It didn’t matter who Isabel was. Isabel or Vilandra … all
that mattered was she was Max’s sister, and he would always love her.
Liz finally said goodbye to Ava, who for once in her life
was free of fear. She was alone, but there was a life out there, one she could
now find freed from destiny and all the pain of the past. Liz was the first
human she ever met, and it was a good experience, even if the human girl was a
total cornball.
Finally Max went to see Liz. The idea that saving her life
changed her was something neither of them ever considered. Liz searched the
mirror, her face, for signs that she was different, no longer Liz Parker, but
all she could see was herself. Max thanked her for saving his life, and through
the experience, he found that despite everything, he still wanted to know her.
Maybe they could never be more than friends, but it was something.
Before Max left her room, he asked to her tell him the
truth. Did she sleep with Kyle? Liz, unable to lie vocally nodded, and Max,
sadly left the room, resigned. Liz sat on the edge of her bed staring at the
empty window wondering if it was metaphor of how empty her life would be.
Forever, would she be staring at an empty window wishing he would come back
inside?
Taking her phone, she dialed Maria.
~~~
“Maria!” Michael called to her irritated by her ringing
phone.
Maria’s hands were full, so she answered the phone
holding it to her ear with her shoulder.
“Mom! I told you I would call …huh? Oh! Hi, Liz!”
Maria made a face at Michael when he made a rude comment about them needing to
go now. “What? I can’t hear you. Just a sec.” Maria shoved as much of her
stuff into Michael’s arms letting him force her to walk while talking. Putting
her finger in her ear, she tried to concentrate on Liz’s voice. “Try talking
now.”
Maria listened as Michael found their seats. Excellent.
They were close to the ice.
“Oh, um … no, I think Michael and I won’t be back
until Sunday …” Michael shook his head violently. “Um … Monday?”
Michael made a cut the phone off gesture. “Definitely Wednesday.” Maria
frowned at Michael who kept her peanuts. “No. I … what? Oh, the noise?”
Maria looked around her. “It’s a noisy town. Yeah. No, we’re fine. Just
waiting for a good ticket price to get home. Max was supposed to wire us the
money since he used our tickets. Uh-huh.”
Everyone around Maria stood up cheering and she missed what
happened. “Hey, listen, Liz … I gotta go! It’s like crazy here. Yeah. No.
We’re fine. Yeah, I’ll call you as soon as we get home. Uh-huh. You bet,
chica! So cool! See yah!”
Maria disconnected glaring at Michael when he grabbed the
phone turning it off.
“You’re missing the game!” Michael said
enthusiastically.
Maria glanced out at the ice of
“Live hockey? I could learn to.” Michael passed Maria
her drink as two players hit the boards. “You know I could really like living
here.”
“Me too. This is a city I was born for. We should move
here when we graduate.”
Michael glanced at Maria who suddenly stood up with the
crowd when two players started fighting. She accidentally spilt her drink on the
guy in front of them who didn’t seem to notice.
Michael smiled at her reaction to the fight. “We
should.”
