Title: Synchronicity
Rating: Teen/Adult
Summary: Takes place after Consanguinity. It’s been a happy time for humans and aliens alike. They’ve had the opportunity to just be regular teenagers enjoying a typical teenage life. But all of that is about to change.
Chapter One
Synchronicity – Coincidence of events that seem to be meaningfully related.
Liz Parker awoke and reached immediately for the journal that she kept by her bed. She wanted to write down her dream before she forgot.
October 26,
Again my dream contained images of stars in a spiral pattern. I could see the stars, but it wasn’t me looking up at stars from Earth, it’s more like I was in the stars. The star pattern shifted and formed a grid pattern, and some of the points on the grid were connected. It was more than last night.
Liz rushed to record as much as she could before the images faded trying to write down every detail. She struggled to remember then threw the pen in frustration, and climbed out of her bed. Today was Saturday, and, in addition to her regular waitressing duties, she was responsible for training their newest waitress. Not that it was going to be an arduous job because their new waitress was Tess Evans, one of her best friends. Tess wasn’t the first member of the Evans family to work at the CrashDown. Her brother Michael worked the grill. Max Evans, Liz’s boyfriend and Tess and Michael’s brother worked, ironically enough at the Alien Museum across the street.
The only member of the Evans family to not hold down a part time job was Isabel, and that was because her parents refused to let her get a part time job unless she gave up some of her many organizations to which she volunteered her time. She was involved in so many charitable activities that she didn’t have time for anything else. Liz theorized that she did it to make up for the person she used to be on Antar. It still freaked Liz out on some level, knowing that her boyfriend and his siblings were aliens from the ’47 crash. They’d been murdered on their home planet of Antar at the hands of Kivar, Isabel’s lover. Their essence had been cloned and sent to Earth with the hopes that they’d survive and return to Antar.
If that wasn’t amazing enough, apparently there had been another timeline, and Max had traveled back from the future to change the past and put them on the timeline they were on now. Sometimes it made her head ache, just thinking about it.
She showered quickly and changed into the ugly turquoise uniform her father insisted the waitresses wear. Flying down the stairs, buttoning her uniform as she went, Liz burst into the staff area of the CrashDown, the alien themed restaurant owned by her parents, and crashed into Tess who was waiting nervously.
“Hi,” Liz said, breathlessly. “Sorry I’m late. I overslept.”
“It’s okay,” said Tess. “How do I look?” She smoothed her hands over the silver alien apron nervously. “I look stupid, don’t I?”
“We all look stupid” said Liz. “It’s part of the uniform’s charm. And don’t be nervous, Tess. You’ve helped us out plenty of times before. That’s why dad insisted we put you on the payroll. Now come on, you’re going to be fine.”
“If you say so,” said Tess. “I don’t’ know, maybe I should just go help Isabel. Nobody gets mad if you screw up volunteer work.”
The two girls were silent s they thought about the almost maniacal zeal Isabel brought to her volunteer activities.
“Uh, on second thought, never mind,” said Tess. “I’m better off here.”
Tess’ first shift, while not an unqualified success, wasn’t a total disaster, either. She didn’t spill, drop or break anything, but she did mix up several orders during the day. But the regular customers were understanding and accepted her mistakes with good humor.
Liz and Tess sat, sharing a basket of Saturn Rings between them while they waited for their friends to join them. Kyle was the first to arrive, and he slid into the booth next to Liz and dropped his head on the table.
“I’m so tired,” came his muffled voice. “I slept like crap last night.”
“Poor baby,” said Tess, rubbing his hair. “Let me go get you some coffee.” She slid out of the booth and crossed the floor while Liz looked curiously at Kyle.
“Bad dreams last night?” she asked.
“Not bad, just weird – and never ending,” groaned Kyle. “Stars and graph paper and connect the dots. It was freaky.”
“Graph paper?” asked Liz. “You mean like a grid?”
“Yeah, I guess,” Kyle said. “What does it matter?”
“Maybe it doesn’t,” said Liz. “But I’ve been having those same dreams.”
“So? You’ve been having weird dreams too. So what?” Kyle asked brusquely, lack of sleep making him short tempered. “Big deal.”
“Not weird dreams,” said Liz. “The same dreams.”
Kyle looked at Liz in shock and started to say something, but she quickly shook her head as Tess returned with the coffee, and Alex and Isabel entered the café. Tess slid the mug in front of Kyle and took her place across the table from him. Isabel slid into the booth next to Tess, and Alex pulled up a chair and sat at the end of the table.
”How are the working girls?” asked Isabel. “Did you survive?”
”Barely,” said Tess. “I felt like I made so many mistakes.”
“You did fine, Tess,” Liz said automatically, her mind still on her conversation with Kyle.
“Way to go, Alice,” said Alex, causing everyone to stare at him. “What? You have to admit, it’s a better waitress name than Tess. Listen. Tess, pick up. It doesn’t sound right. Now Alice pick up has a certain ring to it. It just sounds right.”
“What it sounds like is you’ve been watching too much Nick at Night,” said Kyle.
“Hey, leave my boyfriend alone, or I’ll turn your hair green,” said Isabel.
“And my girlfriend will make your hair fall out,” countered Kyle.
“Children, children, don’t make me pull this restaurant over and separate you,” said Maria as she walked past carrying a tray of drinks. “What’s the deal for tonight? We doing anything?”
“Oh, yeah,” said Isabel. “I knew I was supposed to tell you something. Derek Jensen’s having a party tonight, and we’re all invited. Actually, the whole junior and senior classes are invited,” she qualified.
“Count me out,” said Kyle, his head resting on his arms again. “I’m wiped out.”
“Awww, come on, Kyle,” said Tess. “It’ll be fun.”
“Sorry, Tess, I’m exhausted. Um, maybe you can ride with Alex and Isabel or something.”
“Yeah, sure, Tess,” said Alex. “Ride with us. It’ll be fun.”
“Yeah, fun,” Isabel echoed insincerely.
“What will be fun?” asked Max who’d entered the CrashDown unnoticed and hung over the back of the booth.
“Derek Jensen’s party,” said Kyle. “I don’t want to go, Tess does, so Alex said that Tess could ride with them.”
“Ride with Liz and me,” said Max. “You don’t care, do you, Liz?”
“Of course I don’t,” said Liz. “The thing is, I’m not feeling great and I thought I’d just stay home tonight.”
“Oh,” said Max, looking hurt. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah, I think maybe I’m coming down with a cold or something, and maybe if I get some rest, it won’t turn into a full fledged one.”
“Well, I could just – “ began Max.
“No, Max, you can’t just,” said Liz, laughing. “Tell you what, if I break my leg, you’re my go to guy for healing, but for a cold, I’ll stick with bed rest and chicken noodle soup.”
Liz’s comment caused everyone to laugh and the awkward moment was glossed over. Maria checked with Michael, who was manning the grill, and they decided to rent movies and hang out at Maria’s house instead of going to the party, and Alex cajoled Max and Tess into riding to the party with him and Isabel. In the flurry of making plans, nobody noticed Liz whispering to Kyle.
** * ** *
Kyle climbed the fire escape outside of Liz’s window and rapped gently on the window.
“Hey,” he said after Liz opened the window. “What did you want to talk about?”
“I want to talk about those dreams you’ve been having. When did they start?”
“Uh, Liz, are you going to make me kneel out here all night, or are you going to let me come in and talk?” Kyle asked.
“Oh, sorry,” Liz said, backing away from the window. She went and sat on her bed and waited impatiently for Kyle to climb in and sit down at her desk.
“Are you all settled now?” she asked, impatiently.
“Geez, sarcastic much?” asked Kyle. “What’s your problem? You know, I could be sleeping right now instead of sitting her listening to you rag on me.”
“Sorry,” said a shamefaced Liz. “I’m just kind of freaked out is all.”
“Why are you so freaked out over some stupid dreams?” asked Kyle. “I’m just pissed because they keep interfering with my sleep, that’s all. I don’t think there’s anything to freak out over.”
“I think lack of sleep is the least of your worries Kyle,” said Liz. “The least of mine, too.”
“You’re freaking me out, Liz,” Kyle said “What’s up?”
“Tell me about your dreams,” said Liz. “What you can remember.”
Kyle thought for a minute before speaking. “Well it’s all sort of disjointed images,” he said. “I keep seeing stars, but it’s not like I’m standing on the ground looking at them. It’s more like I’m up inside them or something. Oh, I know,” he said excitedly. “It’s sort of like in Star Wars when the Millennium Falcon goes into hyper drive, you know?”
Liz nodded to show she understood and Kyle continued.
“But the stars, they’re not all blurry like in Star Wars. There’s a shape too them. Kind of a whirlwind shape. From there, I see some sort of graph or something, with dots on it.”
“Are the dots connected?” Liz asked.
“That’s the strange thing,” said Kyle. The first time I had the stupid dream, none of them were connected but each time I had the dream, more and more of the dots were connected.”
Liz rummaged around in her nightstand drawer and pulled out her journal and some papers. Kyle, familiar with Liz’s journal began to laugh.
“Oh great,” he said. “Are you going to read me your journal? Max looked at me tonight,” he kidded.
“Jerk,” said Liz, throwing a pillow at him. “Just shut up and listen.” She read him her entry from that morning, and it matched Kyle’s description of his dream perfectly.
“That’s freaky,” he said. “Why do you think we’re having the same dreams?”
“I’m not sure,” said Liz. “But here, look at this.” She passed him a piece of paper with a grid drawn on it. “Do you think you can show me what dots are connected on the grid in your dream?”
“I don’t have to,” he said, handing the paper back. You did it for me. Um, are you interested in doing my English homework too?”
“Kyle, this is serious,” said Liz. “Something strange is going on here, and it’s happening to us. Not to Alex, not to Maria, just us.”
“Do you suppose it has to do with Max healing us?” asked Kyle.
“I’m sure of it,” said Liz. “The message from the other Max said we both developed powers. I think that’s what’s happening to us.”
“So why the funky dreams?” asked Kyle.
“I don’t know,” Liz admitted. “Maybe it’s a clue our subconscious is giving us to let us know we’re changing. And when all the dots on the grid are connected…”
“We’re changed,” finished Kyle.
“Yeah, pretty much,” said Liz. “At least, that’s my theory.”
“Have you told Max about it yet?”
“No, because until you said you were having dreams too, I didn’t think anything of it. I just figured I was having weird dreams or something. Listen, Kyle can you do me a favor? Can you try and write down your dreams as soon as you wake up in the morning, and try and track your grid connections too? We can compare and see if there are any differences.”
Kyle went and sat next to Liz on the bed and examined the grid pattern. Neither one of them noticed Max looking in Liz’s window at them, his face, a mask of anger.
Synchronicity - Teen/Adult (cc) Part 6 - 8/23/07 pg 9[WIP]
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majiklmoon
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Synchronicity - Teen/Adult (cc) Part 6 - 8/23/07 pg 9[WIP]
Last edited by majiklmoon on Thu Aug 23, 2007 6:28 am, edited 5 times in total.
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majiklmoon
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Title: Synchronicity
Rating: Teen/Adult
Chapter Two
Monday morning, Liz waited at her locker for Max. Tess walked by, and Liz smiled and started to call out to her, but her smile faltered at the look of utter hatred Tess shot her. Liz couldn’t begin to understand why Tess would look at her that way. She searched her mind, trying to figure out what she had done to upset her friend.
“Tess, wait!” she called out, but she just ignored her and continued walking down the hall.
“That is one pissed off alien,” said Maria, who had witnessed the whole exchange. “What did you do?”
“I have no idea,” Liz said slowly, still trying to figure out why Tess was angry. She ran her fingers through her hair in a nervous gesture and continued to peer down the hall. “Have you seen Max anywhere?”
“Yeah, actually I did,” said Maria. “He blew past me a few minutes ago, and man did he look pretty pissed too.”
“Hmmm, I wonder what’s wrong?” Liz said, her sense of foreboding growing. Something was wrong, seriously wrong and she wasn’t sure what it was.
The bell rang, and Liz quickly grabbed her books, closed her locker and joined the streaming mass of students on their way to class. She entered her first period English class, and stopped short. Max had moved from her regular seat next to her, and was now sitting next to Tess in Kyle’s regular seat. Liz’s usual seat remained open, and Kyle sat in Max’s regular seat. Miserably, Liz slid into the chair and tried to catch Max’s attention. When he failed to even look in her direction, she turned to Kyle and gave him a questioning look. He shrugged and began to scribble furiously on a piece of paper. Minutes later, a folded up piece of paper landed on her desk. Liz unfolded it carefully, wincing with each crackle the paper made.
Liz, what’s going on? Tess won’t talk to me; she won’t look at me or anything. I called her this morning and Isabel told me to leave Tess alone. I don’t get it. Liz finished reading and looked at Kyle, and she could see that his expression mirrored the miserable feeling she had in her chest. She was as much in the dark as Kyle and she couldn’t shake the strong sense of foreboding that crept over her.
Another scrap of folded paper landed on her desk. She picked it up to open it and was inundated by images flashing through her mind. She gripped the note tightly in her hand as the images assaulted her. A small whimper escaped her lips and Kyle looked over in alarm. Her face turned a deathly shade of gray and a thin line of moisture appeared above her lip. Alarmed, Kyle raised his hand and called out to the teacher.
“Ms. Reynolds. Something’s wrong with Liz.”
Everybody turned and stared. Kyle climbed out of his seat and reached out and put his arm around Liz. He grabbed the note out of her hand and slipped it into his pocket as the teacher approached. Almost instantly, Liz’s breathing, which had escalated rapidly, slowed and the color returned to her face.
”Miss Parker, are you all right?” the teacher asked in alarm.
Liz struggled to focus, she wasn’t sure what happened but she was certain it wasn’t information she should share. She tried to speak, but wasn’t able to form a coherent thought.
“I think it’s because she didn’t eat this morning,” Kyle volunteered. “She was running late this morning when I picked her up for school. Maybe if I took her down to the caf and got her some food?”
“Do you think that’s it, Miss Parker?” the teacher asked, concern clouding her eyes.
“Yeah, Kyle’s right,” said Liz. “I overslept this morning and skipped breakfast.”
“Here,” Ms. Reynolds said, scribbling out a hall pass. “Go down to the caf and get something to eat. Mr. Valenti will accompany you.”
Liz reached out for the pass and took it in her hand. As soon as her skin made contact with the paper, she began to tremble violently. A quick thinking Kyle reached out and grabbed the pass from her. As soon as he did, her trembling subsided, Liz smiled weakly at Kyle to thank him. Kyle quickly through his books and hers into his backpack, and slung it over his shoulder. He put his arm protectively around her waist and guided her out of the classroom, ignoring the matching malevolent stares from Max and Tess. Liz, catching sight of the anger on Max’s face leaned against Kyle instinctively, and he tightened his grasp on her waist.
“Don’t worry,” he said. “It’ll all work out.”
“No, it won’t,” Liz said sadly. The classroom door closed behind them, and it was like a door closed on her heart as well.
Once they were clear of the classroom, Kyle turned to Liz.
“What the hell happened in there?” he demanded, leading Liz to a nearby bench. “And I’m not talking about Tess and Max. What happened with you?”
“I don’t know,” said Liz. “I started opening that note and all these images filled my mind. It was like a T.V. set and all the channels kept changing really fast. It was like KyleTV was playing on 128 different channels or something.”
“KyleTV?” asked Kyle. “How’d it look? Wait, never mind. Did the same thing happen when you took the pass from Ms. Reynolds?”
“Yeah, but not as intense,” said Liz. “But I did see her drop a huge pile of books in the hall. It was weird. Is, uh, has this been happening to you?”
“No, not yet,” said Kyle. “And frankly, I’m glad. I think you’re going to need me to baby sit you 24/7 for a while.”
“It happened worse when I touched something you handled,” said Liz. “Do you suppose there’s any sort of connection between that and the grid pattern? Do you think we’re forming a connection between us or something?”
“Gross, so like what, you can read my mind?” asked Kyle. “Are you going to eavesdrop on Tess and I when we’re making….yeah, never mind. I don’t thing that’s going to be happening any time soon.”
“Did you see them?” Liz asked. “Max looked at me like he hated me. Tess too. I don’t get it Kyle. Why do they hate me?”
Acting instinctively, Kyle wrapped his arms around his friend and hugged her tightly. The bell rang, and the loud noise in the previously quiet hallway caused them both to jump apart, but not before Max and Tess caught sight of them. Liz looked guiltily at Max and watched as his lips compressed tightly together forming a thin white line and he stormed off down the hall. Liz jumped up to follow and collided Ms. Reynolds, sending her arm full of books cascading to the floor.
“Oh, gosh, I’m sorry,” Liz said, scrambling to pick up the books.
“I gather you’re feeling better, Miss Parker,” the teacher asked.
“Oh, uh, yeah, thanks,” stammered Liz, nervously. “Uh, Kyle and I need to be getting to class – sorry about the books.”
Liz turned and grabbed Kyle by the hand and pulled him down the hallway and into the eraser room, quickly pulling the door closed behind them.
“Liz, did you?” Kyle began.
“Oh my God, Kyle, I did it,” said Liz. “I saw the future.”
The bell rang, but they ignored it, taking time to come to grips with Liz’s emerging power. Kyle kept grabbing different things for Liz to see if she could receive any impressions but soon became discouraged while Liz became more and more depressed because she couldn’t control the impressions and they were so inconsistent.
“Kyle, what am I going to do?” Liz asked. “I can’t go around not touching things.”
Kyle hugged her again and patted her back soothingly. “It’s okay, Liz. We’ll figure it out. I’m not going to leave you alone to deal with this. We’ll figure it out together. Max still loves you, I mean how could he not after the night the two of you…”
“Kyle!” Liz cried, pulling away from him. “My God, were you spying on us or something?”
“No, I, God, no, Liz,” Kyle said. “I just saw it when I was holding you, I swear. It was so clear; it was like I was there. You and Max on that blanket – you know, the red plaid one you have…”
“Kyle!”
“Sorry,” said Kyle, his face, embarrassment coloring his cheeks.
“Kyle, do you realize what you did?” asked Liz. “You pulled that memory out of my head. I wasn’t even thinking about it. Try it and see if you can do it again, but um, not that one. Please?”
Kyle focused on Liz, his face contorting with effort, but he couldn’t do it. Again and again he tried until he finally threw his hands up in the air in frustration, knocking several books off of a shelf. He and Liz reached for them at the same time, and their fingers touched, and Kyle jerked back and stared at Liz in shock.
“You’re wearing a matching polka dot bra and panties,” he groaned. “Because you wanted to surprise Max tonight. God Liz, can’t you think of anything besides sex?”
“Kyle stop it – no wait, don’t stop it. You did it again,” Liz said. “Though why you have to keep picking up on stuff like that is beyond me. You’re seeing what’s in my mind. This is so cool!”
“Um, why is it cool for me, but the biggest tragedy known to man when you do it?” Kyle asked.
“I don’t know,” said Liz, laughing a little. Suddenly it didn’t seem to be quite as traumatic because she wasn’t alone any longer.
The bell rang signaling the end of class and Kyle opened the eraser room door and walked out into the crowded hallway directly into the path of Max Evans. Max looked at Kyle and then at Liz who had walked out directly after him and curled his hand into a fist. He swung at Kyle who threw a hand up to ward off the blow. Passers by watched in shock as Max went flying back as if struck.
“Kyle, stop it, what did you do?” Liz shouted. “Max, are you okay?”
“Leave me alone,” Max spat.
“Actually, I believe Miss Parker will join you and Mr. Valenti in the office while we sort out this unfortunate situation,” said Mr. Seligman, their science teacher.
The reluctant teens followed the teacher down the hall and into the principal’s office. Ensconced inside the quiet chamber, Liz opened her mouth to try and explain when a voice inside her head whispered, “Let me handle this.” Liz closed her mouth in shock and stared at Kyle who sat on a wooden bench between her and Max. She watched as Kyle leaned back, resting one hand on hers, and the other on Max, who stared at both of them in shock and amazement.
“Liz had been feeling sick in English this morning,” Kyle said, smoothly. “So Ms. Reynolds had me take her to the caf to get something to eat because Liz had skipped breakfast. On our way back, Liz began feeling dizzy again, so I had her sit down. Max, as her boyfriend, was of course concerned and came looking for her. I bumped into him, and sent him flying. It was a complete accident.”
“Is that what happened?” asked the principal, his voice severe.
“Yes, exactly,” said Liz. “You can ask Ms. Reynolds, sir. I suppose when I started feeling dizzy again, I should have gone to the nurse, but Kyle had a candy bar in his bag, and the extra sugar really helped.
“It’s true, sir,” added Max. “Liz was running late this morning and skipped breakfast. I was concerned when she didn’t come back to class and when to find her, and that’s when I collided with Kyle.”
“ I tried to hold him steady,” said Kyle.
“But then I bumped into Kyle and Max went flying.”
“Well, this is highly irregular,” said the principal. “But you’re all good students – not academically,” he added, looking pointedly at Kyle. “But I’m willing to let it slide this time, but don’t let it happen again. Do I make myself clear?”
All three nodded their agreement and the principal had the secretary give them passes to return to their next classes. Once free of the office, Liz turned to Max, eager to explain her side of the story, but Max wanted no part of it.
“Leave me alone,” he said. “I don’t know what the hell happened in there, or how you did that, but I can’t deal with it right now.”
“Max,” Kyle called out as Max took off down the hallway.
“What?” Max answered, anger simmering in his eyes.
Kyle reached out and put his hand on Max’s shoulder. “Maybe you should just listen to her,” he said.
“And maybe you should just stay out of it,” Max said, but some of his anger was gone. “Liz, we’ll talk later,” he added.
He took off without waiting for an answer and after he turned the corner and disappeared from sight, Kyle and Liz began walking in the opposite direction, while Liz struggled to suppress a flood of tears.
“Liz, don’t,” said Kyle. “It’s going to work out.”
“How, Kyle. Tell me how it’s going to work out and how you know it’s going to work out. Is this another new power of yours?”
“I know because when I talked to Max, I could see how broken up he was, and I saw that he thinks your cheating on him with me, and I THINK I told him that he was insane. He doesn’t want to think it, and he is also kind of thinking that maybe there’s something else going on, something alien related, and he’s feeling guilty because he healed us. Oh and I also think I took away some of his anger,” said Kyle in a rush.
“Kyle, don’t be stupid. You can’t do that,” said Liz.
As she spoke, Kyle reached out and took her hand in his, and an incredible sense of well-being flooded her.
“Oh my God, Kyle, you can do that,” said Liz. “Do you realize you’ve developed three powers Kyle? That’s like incredible or something.”
“Uh, Liz, maybe you should calm down,” said Kyle.
“I’m calm,” said Liz. “What makes you think I’m not calm?”
“That,” said Kyle, pointing downward.
Liz followed his gaze and looked down at her hands and bit her lip. Her hands were crackling and shooting off green sparks.
Rating: Teen/Adult
Chapter Two
Monday morning, Liz waited at her locker for Max. Tess walked by, and Liz smiled and started to call out to her, but her smile faltered at the look of utter hatred Tess shot her. Liz couldn’t begin to understand why Tess would look at her that way. She searched her mind, trying to figure out what she had done to upset her friend.
“Tess, wait!” she called out, but she just ignored her and continued walking down the hall.
“That is one pissed off alien,” said Maria, who had witnessed the whole exchange. “What did you do?”
“I have no idea,” Liz said slowly, still trying to figure out why Tess was angry. She ran her fingers through her hair in a nervous gesture and continued to peer down the hall. “Have you seen Max anywhere?”
“Yeah, actually I did,” said Maria. “He blew past me a few minutes ago, and man did he look pretty pissed too.”
“Hmmm, I wonder what’s wrong?” Liz said, her sense of foreboding growing. Something was wrong, seriously wrong and she wasn’t sure what it was.
The bell rang, and Liz quickly grabbed her books, closed her locker and joined the streaming mass of students on their way to class. She entered her first period English class, and stopped short. Max had moved from her regular seat next to her, and was now sitting next to Tess in Kyle’s regular seat. Liz’s usual seat remained open, and Kyle sat in Max’s regular seat. Miserably, Liz slid into the chair and tried to catch Max’s attention. When he failed to even look in her direction, she turned to Kyle and gave him a questioning look. He shrugged and began to scribble furiously on a piece of paper. Minutes later, a folded up piece of paper landed on her desk. Liz unfolded it carefully, wincing with each crackle the paper made.
Liz, what’s going on? Tess won’t talk to me; she won’t look at me or anything. I called her this morning and Isabel told me to leave Tess alone. I don’t get it. Liz finished reading and looked at Kyle, and she could see that his expression mirrored the miserable feeling she had in her chest. She was as much in the dark as Kyle and she couldn’t shake the strong sense of foreboding that crept over her.
Another scrap of folded paper landed on her desk. She picked it up to open it and was inundated by images flashing through her mind. She gripped the note tightly in her hand as the images assaulted her. A small whimper escaped her lips and Kyle looked over in alarm. Her face turned a deathly shade of gray and a thin line of moisture appeared above her lip. Alarmed, Kyle raised his hand and called out to the teacher.
“Ms. Reynolds. Something’s wrong with Liz.”
Everybody turned and stared. Kyle climbed out of his seat and reached out and put his arm around Liz. He grabbed the note out of her hand and slipped it into his pocket as the teacher approached. Almost instantly, Liz’s breathing, which had escalated rapidly, slowed and the color returned to her face.
”Miss Parker, are you all right?” the teacher asked in alarm.
Liz struggled to focus, she wasn’t sure what happened but she was certain it wasn’t information she should share. She tried to speak, but wasn’t able to form a coherent thought.
“I think it’s because she didn’t eat this morning,” Kyle volunteered. “She was running late this morning when I picked her up for school. Maybe if I took her down to the caf and got her some food?”
“Do you think that’s it, Miss Parker?” the teacher asked, concern clouding her eyes.
“Yeah, Kyle’s right,” said Liz. “I overslept this morning and skipped breakfast.”
“Here,” Ms. Reynolds said, scribbling out a hall pass. “Go down to the caf and get something to eat. Mr. Valenti will accompany you.”
Liz reached out for the pass and took it in her hand. As soon as her skin made contact with the paper, she began to tremble violently. A quick thinking Kyle reached out and grabbed the pass from her. As soon as he did, her trembling subsided, Liz smiled weakly at Kyle to thank him. Kyle quickly through his books and hers into his backpack, and slung it over his shoulder. He put his arm protectively around her waist and guided her out of the classroom, ignoring the matching malevolent stares from Max and Tess. Liz, catching sight of the anger on Max’s face leaned against Kyle instinctively, and he tightened his grasp on her waist.
“Don’t worry,” he said. “It’ll all work out.”
“No, it won’t,” Liz said sadly. The classroom door closed behind them, and it was like a door closed on her heart as well.
Once they were clear of the classroom, Kyle turned to Liz.
“What the hell happened in there?” he demanded, leading Liz to a nearby bench. “And I’m not talking about Tess and Max. What happened with you?”
“I don’t know,” said Liz. “I started opening that note and all these images filled my mind. It was like a T.V. set and all the channels kept changing really fast. It was like KyleTV was playing on 128 different channels or something.”
“KyleTV?” asked Kyle. “How’d it look? Wait, never mind. Did the same thing happen when you took the pass from Ms. Reynolds?”
“Yeah, but not as intense,” said Liz. “But I did see her drop a huge pile of books in the hall. It was weird. Is, uh, has this been happening to you?”
“No, not yet,” said Kyle. “And frankly, I’m glad. I think you’re going to need me to baby sit you 24/7 for a while.”
“It happened worse when I touched something you handled,” said Liz. “Do you suppose there’s any sort of connection between that and the grid pattern? Do you think we’re forming a connection between us or something?”
“Gross, so like what, you can read my mind?” asked Kyle. “Are you going to eavesdrop on Tess and I when we’re making….yeah, never mind. I don’t thing that’s going to be happening any time soon.”
“Did you see them?” Liz asked. “Max looked at me like he hated me. Tess too. I don’t get it Kyle. Why do they hate me?”
Acting instinctively, Kyle wrapped his arms around his friend and hugged her tightly. The bell rang, and the loud noise in the previously quiet hallway caused them both to jump apart, but not before Max and Tess caught sight of them. Liz looked guiltily at Max and watched as his lips compressed tightly together forming a thin white line and he stormed off down the hall. Liz jumped up to follow and collided Ms. Reynolds, sending her arm full of books cascading to the floor.
“Oh, gosh, I’m sorry,” Liz said, scrambling to pick up the books.
“I gather you’re feeling better, Miss Parker,” the teacher asked.
“Oh, uh, yeah, thanks,” stammered Liz, nervously. “Uh, Kyle and I need to be getting to class – sorry about the books.”
Liz turned and grabbed Kyle by the hand and pulled him down the hallway and into the eraser room, quickly pulling the door closed behind them.
“Liz, did you?” Kyle began.
“Oh my God, Kyle, I did it,” said Liz. “I saw the future.”
The bell rang, but they ignored it, taking time to come to grips with Liz’s emerging power. Kyle kept grabbing different things for Liz to see if she could receive any impressions but soon became discouraged while Liz became more and more depressed because she couldn’t control the impressions and they were so inconsistent.
“Kyle, what am I going to do?” Liz asked. “I can’t go around not touching things.”
Kyle hugged her again and patted her back soothingly. “It’s okay, Liz. We’ll figure it out. I’m not going to leave you alone to deal with this. We’ll figure it out together. Max still loves you, I mean how could he not after the night the two of you…”
“Kyle!” Liz cried, pulling away from him. “My God, were you spying on us or something?”
“No, I, God, no, Liz,” Kyle said. “I just saw it when I was holding you, I swear. It was so clear; it was like I was there. You and Max on that blanket – you know, the red plaid one you have…”
“Kyle!”
“Sorry,” said Kyle, his face, embarrassment coloring his cheeks.
“Kyle, do you realize what you did?” asked Liz. “You pulled that memory out of my head. I wasn’t even thinking about it. Try it and see if you can do it again, but um, not that one. Please?”
Kyle focused on Liz, his face contorting with effort, but he couldn’t do it. Again and again he tried until he finally threw his hands up in the air in frustration, knocking several books off of a shelf. He and Liz reached for them at the same time, and their fingers touched, and Kyle jerked back and stared at Liz in shock.
“You’re wearing a matching polka dot bra and panties,” he groaned. “Because you wanted to surprise Max tonight. God Liz, can’t you think of anything besides sex?”
“Kyle stop it – no wait, don’t stop it. You did it again,” Liz said. “Though why you have to keep picking up on stuff like that is beyond me. You’re seeing what’s in my mind. This is so cool!”
“Um, why is it cool for me, but the biggest tragedy known to man when you do it?” Kyle asked.
“I don’t know,” said Liz, laughing a little. Suddenly it didn’t seem to be quite as traumatic because she wasn’t alone any longer.
The bell rang signaling the end of class and Kyle opened the eraser room door and walked out into the crowded hallway directly into the path of Max Evans. Max looked at Kyle and then at Liz who had walked out directly after him and curled his hand into a fist. He swung at Kyle who threw a hand up to ward off the blow. Passers by watched in shock as Max went flying back as if struck.
“Kyle, stop it, what did you do?” Liz shouted. “Max, are you okay?”
“Leave me alone,” Max spat.
“Actually, I believe Miss Parker will join you and Mr. Valenti in the office while we sort out this unfortunate situation,” said Mr. Seligman, their science teacher.
The reluctant teens followed the teacher down the hall and into the principal’s office. Ensconced inside the quiet chamber, Liz opened her mouth to try and explain when a voice inside her head whispered, “Let me handle this.” Liz closed her mouth in shock and stared at Kyle who sat on a wooden bench between her and Max. She watched as Kyle leaned back, resting one hand on hers, and the other on Max, who stared at both of them in shock and amazement.
“Liz had been feeling sick in English this morning,” Kyle said, smoothly. “So Ms. Reynolds had me take her to the caf to get something to eat because Liz had skipped breakfast. On our way back, Liz began feeling dizzy again, so I had her sit down. Max, as her boyfriend, was of course concerned and came looking for her. I bumped into him, and sent him flying. It was a complete accident.”
“Is that what happened?” asked the principal, his voice severe.
“Yes, exactly,” said Liz. “You can ask Ms. Reynolds, sir. I suppose when I started feeling dizzy again, I should have gone to the nurse, but Kyle had a candy bar in his bag, and the extra sugar really helped.
“It’s true, sir,” added Max. “Liz was running late this morning and skipped breakfast. I was concerned when she didn’t come back to class and when to find her, and that’s when I collided with Kyle.”
“ I tried to hold him steady,” said Kyle.
“But then I bumped into Kyle and Max went flying.”
“Well, this is highly irregular,” said the principal. “But you’re all good students – not academically,” he added, looking pointedly at Kyle. “But I’m willing to let it slide this time, but don’t let it happen again. Do I make myself clear?”
All three nodded their agreement and the principal had the secretary give them passes to return to their next classes. Once free of the office, Liz turned to Max, eager to explain her side of the story, but Max wanted no part of it.
“Leave me alone,” he said. “I don’t know what the hell happened in there, or how you did that, but I can’t deal with it right now.”
“Max,” Kyle called out as Max took off down the hallway.
“What?” Max answered, anger simmering in his eyes.
Kyle reached out and put his hand on Max’s shoulder. “Maybe you should just listen to her,” he said.
“And maybe you should just stay out of it,” Max said, but some of his anger was gone. “Liz, we’ll talk later,” he added.
He took off without waiting for an answer and after he turned the corner and disappeared from sight, Kyle and Liz began walking in the opposite direction, while Liz struggled to suppress a flood of tears.
“Liz, don’t,” said Kyle. “It’s going to work out.”
“How, Kyle. Tell me how it’s going to work out and how you know it’s going to work out. Is this another new power of yours?”
“I know because when I talked to Max, I could see how broken up he was, and I saw that he thinks your cheating on him with me, and I THINK I told him that he was insane. He doesn’t want to think it, and he is also kind of thinking that maybe there’s something else going on, something alien related, and he’s feeling guilty because he healed us. Oh and I also think I took away some of his anger,” said Kyle in a rush.
“Kyle, don’t be stupid. You can’t do that,” said Liz.
As she spoke, Kyle reached out and took her hand in his, and an incredible sense of well-being flooded her.
“Oh my God, Kyle, you can do that,” said Liz. “Do you realize you’ve developed three powers Kyle? That’s like incredible or something.”
“Uh, Liz, maybe you should calm down,” said Kyle.
“I’m calm,” said Liz. “What makes you think I’m not calm?”
“That,” said Kyle, pointing downward.
Liz followed his gaze and looked down at her hands and bit her lip. Her hands were crackling and shooting off green sparks.
-
majiklmoon
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- Posts: 361
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Title: Synchronicity
Rating: Teen/Adult
Chapter Three
Lunch was a somber affair for Kyle and Liz who were virtually ignored by Max, Tess, Isabel and Michael. Maria and Alex shot them looks of sympathy but remained seated at their usual lunch table. Liz sniffed miserably and pulled her sleeves down over her hands. Kyle watched her repeat this several times before he reached out, grabbed her hands and pushed her sleeves back up.
“No green glowy’s?” he asked.
“Not since earlier, but I’m afraid it’s going to start happening again.
“It doesn’t have to happen again, look,” Kyle said excitedly. He reached into his backpack and pulled out a book. “Look what I found in the library.”
“A book?” asked Liz. “Imagine that – finding a book in the library.”
“Jerk,” said Kyle. “It’s not just any book, look,” he said, shoving the book into her hand.
“The Path of Spiritual Enlightenment?”
“Yeah, it’s great,” Kyle said, enthusiasm coloring his voice. “I think all our answers are in here. Once we master our emotions, we’ll be able to master our powers.”
“I don’t know, Kyle. I don’t think it’s going to help,” she said doubtfully. “Besides I’m kind of happy with the religion I already have.”
“Liz, it’s not about changing religions – it’s about finding inner control. You know, mastering our emotions. I’m serious Liz, I know it’s going to work.”
The bell rang signaling the end of their lunch period, and Liz gathered her belongings slowly, waiting to see if Max would come and talk to her. But it wasn’t Max who came and stood beside her, it was Isabel.
“You know, my brother really loves you,” she said. “And you’re ripping his heart out right now. I mean, Kyle’s a great guy, but how can you dump Max for him? And really, you didn’t even dump him, you just started ignoring him and hanging out with Kyle. It’s horrible, Liz and after everything he did for you, he deserves better treatment.”
Miserably, Liz stood there, letting Isabel’s violent tirade wash over her when a strange feeling coursed through her body. She glanced down at her hands, which were holding her books protectively against her like a shield and winced. Green sparks shot from her fingers and she prayed Isabel wouldn’t notice them. Without a word, Liz pushed past Isabel and headed straight for the nurses office. With any luck at all, she could the nurse would let her go home.
** * ** * ** *
“Isabel, you can’t, it’s wrong,” said Tess, sitting on her bed. “People’s dreams are personal and private and you shouldn’t invade them.”
“I’m not invading them,” Isabel said reasonably. “I’m just visiting. Besides, don’t you want to know what’s going on with Kyle?”
“I already do,” Tess said, miserably. “He’s with Liz now.”
Isabel had her doubts abut that. Oh, something was up with Kyle and Liz, but after seeing Liz this afternoon, she didn’t think it was romance. She slipped one of the framed photos of her friends off of her nightstand and under her pillow.
“Good night, Tess,” she said to her sister. “And don’t worry, things will work out.”
“I’m not too sure about that, Isabel, but thanks,” said Tess, turning out the light. “Night,” she added as she climbed into bed.
Isabel waited several minutes until Tess’ breathing slowed and evened out before she removed the picture from its frame. She looked at it and smiled, remembering the happy time last summer when the picture was taken. Kyle had his arm around Tess, and Liz smiled adoringly up at Max who looked down at her with at her with an equally sappy look. Finally, when she was positive Tess was asleep, she reached out and pressed a finger to Liz’s face.
Within seconds, Isabel entered the dream plane and then moved into Liz’s dream. Instead of the typical Max Liz dream she’d been subjected to in the past, this time she found Liz, standing alone in a field of stars that whirled around her. Liz’s mouth was open, and she was crying and it took several minutes before Isabel could make out her words.
“I want it to stop, I just want it to stop!” Liz cried.
The dream shifted in the way that dreams do, and Liz stood in front of a giant grid with flashing plot points. Some of the points were connected. Those that were emitted a steady light, those that weren’t flashed brightly in the dark.
”I know this,” she said, softly. “I’ve seen that before,”
Isabel watched as a connection struggled to form and Liz cried out. She reached up and clawed at it, as if she could stop it from forming. Isabel watched in amazement as the two points struggled to form a connection, but each cry from Liz forced the connection to break. Finally, the connection formed and Liz dropped to her knees and began to sob. The heartbreaking sound of Liz’s tears touched Isabel in a way few things had ever touched her before. For the first time since she learned how to enter people’s dreams, Isabel felt like an intruder, and she exited Liz’s dream, feeling very small.
Not so small however that she didn’t’ venture into Kyle’s dream next. By this time, she wasn’t surprised to see Kyle with the same grid in his dream. Kyle’s demeanor, however, was very different than that of Liz Parker. He sat peacefully in front of the grid, his face serene, watching as connections were made on the grid. Astounded, Isabel watched as a large red ball appeared in front of Kyle. He reached out and captured it in his hands. He tapped the ball once and it turned blue, tapped it again and it turned green. He passed his hand over the ball and it floated effortlessly into the air and disappeared. Isabel put her hand over her mouth in shock and quickly escaped Kyle’s dream.
Awake in her room, Isabel slid quietly from her bed and began to rummage through her closet. She pulled out the strange metallic book that Tess and Kyle had found and began to leaf through it. Strange symbols flashed before her eyes teasing her. It was a language that she didn’t know, but knew she should. It was there, on the fringes of her memory, teasing her, but she couldn’t remember it. Frustrated, she dropped the book on lap, wincing as one of its metal edges hit her knee. It slid from her lap to the floor, falling open as it landed. Isabel picked the book up slowly, trying hard not to scream as she looked at the image on the page. It was a picture of a brain, with a grid, similar to the one in Liz and Kyle’s dreams superimposed on it.
“Oh, God,” she whispered.
Morning came far too soon, and a weary Isabel dragged herself out of bed and into the shower with her eyes half closed. Still half asleep after her shower, she used her powers to fix her hair and make-up, and was in the kitchen eating before her siblings were up. She made a quick phone call and was just walking to the door to go wait for her ride when Tess walked into the kitchen.
“You’re up early,” Tess yawned, opening the refrigerator and getting out the orange juice.
“Yeah, I’m going in early to study with Alex,” Isabel replied. “Hey Tess, can you do me a favor?”
“Yeah, sure Isabel, what is it?”
“Give Kyle the benefit of the doubt, okay? Liz too. I’d ask you to tell Max the same thing but he tends to get a stick up his ass about stuff, and nothing is going to change his mind.”
Tess giggled at the visual her sister had created. “That” is going to make me smile all day,” she said. “Thanks Isabel, you always manage to make me laugh.”
“Yeah, well, remember what I said,” urged Isabel. “Cut Kyle some slack. Things aren’t always what they seem. Oh, here’s Alex,” she added shifting gears mid conversation. “I’ll see you later.”
Isabel dashed out of the house and into Alex’s waiting car.
“Morning,” she said, leaning over to kiss him quickly. “And thanks.”
“Morning back, and you’re welcome,” said Alex, returning her kiss. “Now are you going to tell me what this is all about?”
“I’ll explain everything,” said Isabel. “But I only want to do it once. Did you call Kyle and Liz? Are they going to meet us?”
“Yeah and neither one of them were too happy about the early morning summons, let me tell you,” Alex said, wincing at the memory of his phone call with Kyle. “But surprisingly, once he was fully conscious, Kyle was more agreeable than Liz.”
“That’s kind of what I figured would happen,” muttered Isabel.
“Yeah? How come?” Alex asked.
“I’m a woman of many and varied talents,” joked Isabel as Alex drove down the empty street.
“You’re also amazingly cheerful this morning,” Alex said, reaching out and taking her hand in his. “As well as beautiful.”
“You’re too much, Alex,” Isabel said blushing.
“Hmmm, a blush,” said Alex with a mock leer. “I’ve got a few things to say and do that would really make you blush,” he said wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. “But we’re here, so it will have to wait until later.”
He pulled his silver Toyota into the space next to Kyle’s Mustang, grabbed his bag and jumped out of the car. He quickly jogged around to the passenger side and opened the door for Isabel.
“You didn’t have to do that,” said Isabel, swinging her long legs out of the compact car.
“Maybe not,” said Alex, “But I wanted too. Plus, there is this added benefit,” he added, kissing her deeply.
“Get a room, would ya!” came a voice from behind them, causing the two to jump apart.
“God, Kyle, scare us why don’t you? Where’s Liz?” said Isabel.
“Um, Liz isn’t feeling to great,” hedged Kyle. “So she’s lying down on one of the couches in the student lounge.”
“Yeah, I’m sure she’s not feeling too well after last night,” Isabel said, cryptically. “Now come on, lets go help her feel better.
Their footsteps echoed through the deserted school as they made their way to the student lounge. Several classrooms had lights streaming from the doors, indicating either early club meetings or teachers who had come in early to plan or grade papers. Liz Parker was aware of none of this, however. Instead, she tossed fitfully on the narrow couch muttering in her sleep.
“She’s got to stop fighting,” Isabel said.
“Fighting what?” asked Alex. “What’s she fighting? What’s going on?”
“Wait, you know?” asked a surprised Kyle. “How’d you find out?”
“I figured it out last night,” said Isabel. She knelt down on the floor heedless of the grime that ground into the knees of her pants.
“Liz,” she whispered. “Liz, wake up.”
She tried several times to wake Liz up, but with no success.
“Can you go into her dream?” Alex asked.
“I can try,” Isabel responded. “But I’d better do it quickly. This place is going to fill up fast.” She closed her eyes and slid into Liz’s dream and found her friend struggling to break the connections that were forming rapidly on the grid.
“Liz, you have to stop this,” she said, walking up to her friend. “Fighting it isn’t going to make it not happen. It’s going to happen, but the more you fight it, the harder it’s going to be for you. Just let it happen.”
“But Isabel, I’m afraid,” sobbed Liz. “I don’t’ want to change. What if it makes me a fr-?”
“A what, Liz? A freak, a monster? Is that how you see us? Is that how you see Max? Is that how you see me?” Isabel asked, her voice breaking with the effort it took not to burst into tears as she waited for Liz’s answer.
“No, of course not,” Liz said, and Isabel breathed a sigh of relief. “You guys are my friends, not monsters.”
“Then why do you think you’re becoming one?”
“You guys were born this way,” explained Liz. “I’m changing, and I don’t know what’s going to happen.”
Isabel reached out and took Liz’s hand in hers and led her back to the grid.
“Look, Liz, it’s not changing you. Those are connections that are forming in your brain. That’s all – I promise.”
“You’re sure?” Liz asked, hopefully.
“Yes, I’m sure,” Isabel said, hoping she was telling the truth. “I found something in the book that Kyle and Tess found last year. But please, let me explain it to you Kyle and Alex all at once. Do you think you can wake up now?”
“Yeah, I think so,” said Liz.
“I’ll see you on the other side then,” said Isabel. “And Liz? It’s going to be okay.”
Isabel vanished from the dream and Liz gave one last look at the grid and forced herself to wake up.
“Hey,” she said, looking around at her friends. “Please tell me I didn’t snore.”
“You did,” Kyle said straight faced. “Like a truck.”
“And don’t forget the drool,” added Alex.
“Shut up,” Isabel laughed. “You didn’t do anything like that,” she added.
“How are you doing?” Kyle asked.
“I think I’m going to be okay,” Liz said, looking gratefully at Isabel.
“Will somebody please tell me what’s going on?” Alex demanded. “Some of us are a little out of the loop here.”
“Liz and Kyle started to develop their powers,” Isabel explained. “And for some freaky, unexplainable reason, Kyle is the one embracing the change, and Liz is fighting it.”
“Hey! Why do I think that’s some sort of insult?” Kyle asked.
“Mostly because it was,” said a laughing Isabel.
“Awww, come on,” Kyle mock whined as the bell rang and the hallways filled with students. “Why is everybody picking on me?”
“Cause we love, Kyle,” said Liz, hugging him and laughing. She released Kyle, still laughing looked up to see Max standing and staring at her. “Max,” she whispered. “Wait.” But it was too late – Max turned and walked down the hall without a word to anybody.
“Damn it Max,” Isabel said more to herself than anybody else. “You’re really missing the boat here.
“Forget it, Isabel,” Liz said. “If Max trusts me so little, then we can’t have a relationship.”
“Maybe you could talk to him?” Alex said.
“And maybe he could trust me,” Liz countered. “Anyhow, let’s forget about Max and focus on the matter at hand. How did you figure out what’s going on, Isabel?”
Isabel had the grace to flush when she admitted that he had visited their dreams the night before.
“But still, that’s a pretty big leap to make,” said Kyle. “Just seeing our dreams.”
“It was more what was in the dreams,” said Isabel. “That grid. I was certain I’d seen it before, and I had – in here.” She reached in her bag and pulled out the metallic book and opened it up to the page containing the grid.
“That’s us,” Kyle said softly.
“No we just have to figure out what it says, and that’s where Alex comes in,” said Isabel. “We know Alex can decode the book. He did it before. Well, not before, but in the other time line. We just have to figure out how he did it.”
“It’s gong to take a powerful computer to do it,” Alex pointed out. “And nothing around here is powerful enough.”
“We’ll figure it out,” said Isabel. “We have to, but in the mean time, Liz, you have to stop fighting it so much. The more you fight, the harder it’s going to be for you.”
“Isabel’s right,” said Kyle. He rummaged through his bag and pulled out a book and passed it to Liz. “Promise me you’ll read it, Liz.”
“The Path to Spiritual Enlightenment,” Alex read over Kyle’s shoulder. “You found Buddha?”
“Shut up, would you, or I’ll kick your butt with my new found alien powers,” Kyle said.
“Oh my God! You’ve got powers?” Isabel asked. “I didn’t think it would happen until the grid was all connected.”
“I think once certain parts of the grid are connected, we get certain powers,” Liz said. “So far, if I can touch an object and sort of get a look into the future. Funny though, I thought it was all out of control yesterday – especially if I touched something Kyle touched, but today, nothing.”
“You’re more relaxed today,” Kyle pointed out. “Maybe that has something to do with it.”
“Maybe,” Liz said. “I guess I need to focus on staying calm.”
“We’ll figure it out,” said Isabel. “How about you, Kyle? Any powers yet?”
“Yeah, it’s wicked cook,” said Kyle. “If I touch someone, I can kind of look into their mind. And oh,” he added excitedly, “I knocked Max on his ass with a burst of energy. THAT was good.”
Everyone laughed, and a lot of tension that surrounded them evaporated.
“I wish I could do that,” Liz said wistfully.
“I can work with you,” Isabel offered. “You know, sort of tutor you or something. You too, Kyle.”
“That’d be great,” Liz said with a sigh of relief. “I can’t imagine what it was like for all of you growing up with your powers developing and nobody to help you.”
“It wasn’t like that though,” said Isabel as they walked down the crowded hallway. “On some level, we always knew we were different and we could do different things. I think, on some level we even knew we just needed to trust ourselves and our instincts.”
The small group stopped at a junction in the corridors and said their goodbyes. Isabel and Alex went down one hallway, and Liz and Kyle walked toward their English class.
“You ready?” Kyle asked, dropping a supportive arm on Liz’s shoulder.
“Yeah, as I’ll ever be,” said Liz with a smile, and together they walked through the classroom door as the final bell rang.
Rating: Teen/Adult
Chapter Three
Lunch was a somber affair for Kyle and Liz who were virtually ignored by Max, Tess, Isabel and Michael. Maria and Alex shot them looks of sympathy but remained seated at their usual lunch table. Liz sniffed miserably and pulled her sleeves down over her hands. Kyle watched her repeat this several times before he reached out, grabbed her hands and pushed her sleeves back up.
“No green glowy’s?” he asked.
“Not since earlier, but I’m afraid it’s going to start happening again.
“It doesn’t have to happen again, look,” Kyle said excitedly. He reached into his backpack and pulled out a book. “Look what I found in the library.”
“A book?” asked Liz. “Imagine that – finding a book in the library.”
“Jerk,” said Kyle. “It’s not just any book, look,” he said, shoving the book into her hand.
“The Path of Spiritual Enlightenment?”
“Yeah, it’s great,” Kyle said, enthusiasm coloring his voice. “I think all our answers are in here. Once we master our emotions, we’ll be able to master our powers.”
“I don’t know, Kyle. I don’t think it’s going to help,” she said doubtfully. “Besides I’m kind of happy with the religion I already have.”
“Liz, it’s not about changing religions – it’s about finding inner control. You know, mastering our emotions. I’m serious Liz, I know it’s going to work.”
The bell rang signaling the end of their lunch period, and Liz gathered her belongings slowly, waiting to see if Max would come and talk to her. But it wasn’t Max who came and stood beside her, it was Isabel.
“You know, my brother really loves you,” she said. “And you’re ripping his heart out right now. I mean, Kyle’s a great guy, but how can you dump Max for him? And really, you didn’t even dump him, you just started ignoring him and hanging out with Kyle. It’s horrible, Liz and after everything he did for you, he deserves better treatment.”
Miserably, Liz stood there, letting Isabel’s violent tirade wash over her when a strange feeling coursed through her body. She glanced down at her hands, which were holding her books protectively against her like a shield and winced. Green sparks shot from her fingers and she prayed Isabel wouldn’t notice them. Without a word, Liz pushed past Isabel and headed straight for the nurses office. With any luck at all, she could the nurse would let her go home.
** * ** * ** *
“Isabel, you can’t, it’s wrong,” said Tess, sitting on her bed. “People’s dreams are personal and private and you shouldn’t invade them.”
“I’m not invading them,” Isabel said reasonably. “I’m just visiting. Besides, don’t you want to know what’s going on with Kyle?”
“I already do,” Tess said, miserably. “He’s with Liz now.”
Isabel had her doubts abut that. Oh, something was up with Kyle and Liz, but after seeing Liz this afternoon, she didn’t think it was romance. She slipped one of the framed photos of her friends off of her nightstand and under her pillow.
“Good night, Tess,” she said to her sister. “And don’t worry, things will work out.”
“I’m not too sure about that, Isabel, but thanks,” said Tess, turning out the light. “Night,” she added as she climbed into bed.
Isabel waited several minutes until Tess’ breathing slowed and evened out before she removed the picture from its frame. She looked at it and smiled, remembering the happy time last summer when the picture was taken. Kyle had his arm around Tess, and Liz smiled adoringly up at Max who looked down at her with at her with an equally sappy look. Finally, when she was positive Tess was asleep, she reached out and pressed a finger to Liz’s face.
Within seconds, Isabel entered the dream plane and then moved into Liz’s dream. Instead of the typical Max Liz dream she’d been subjected to in the past, this time she found Liz, standing alone in a field of stars that whirled around her. Liz’s mouth was open, and she was crying and it took several minutes before Isabel could make out her words.
“I want it to stop, I just want it to stop!” Liz cried.
The dream shifted in the way that dreams do, and Liz stood in front of a giant grid with flashing plot points. Some of the points were connected. Those that were emitted a steady light, those that weren’t flashed brightly in the dark.
”I know this,” she said, softly. “I’ve seen that before,”
Isabel watched as a connection struggled to form and Liz cried out. She reached up and clawed at it, as if she could stop it from forming. Isabel watched in amazement as the two points struggled to form a connection, but each cry from Liz forced the connection to break. Finally, the connection formed and Liz dropped to her knees and began to sob. The heartbreaking sound of Liz’s tears touched Isabel in a way few things had ever touched her before. For the first time since she learned how to enter people’s dreams, Isabel felt like an intruder, and she exited Liz’s dream, feeling very small.
Not so small however that she didn’t’ venture into Kyle’s dream next. By this time, she wasn’t surprised to see Kyle with the same grid in his dream. Kyle’s demeanor, however, was very different than that of Liz Parker. He sat peacefully in front of the grid, his face serene, watching as connections were made on the grid. Astounded, Isabel watched as a large red ball appeared in front of Kyle. He reached out and captured it in his hands. He tapped the ball once and it turned blue, tapped it again and it turned green. He passed his hand over the ball and it floated effortlessly into the air and disappeared. Isabel put her hand over her mouth in shock and quickly escaped Kyle’s dream.
Awake in her room, Isabel slid quietly from her bed and began to rummage through her closet. She pulled out the strange metallic book that Tess and Kyle had found and began to leaf through it. Strange symbols flashed before her eyes teasing her. It was a language that she didn’t know, but knew she should. It was there, on the fringes of her memory, teasing her, but she couldn’t remember it. Frustrated, she dropped the book on lap, wincing as one of its metal edges hit her knee. It slid from her lap to the floor, falling open as it landed. Isabel picked the book up slowly, trying hard not to scream as she looked at the image on the page. It was a picture of a brain, with a grid, similar to the one in Liz and Kyle’s dreams superimposed on it.
“Oh, God,” she whispered.
Morning came far too soon, and a weary Isabel dragged herself out of bed and into the shower with her eyes half closed. Still half asleep after her shower, she used her powers to fix her hair and make-up, and was in the kitchen eating before her siblings were up. She made a quick phone call and was just walking to the door to go wait for her ride when Tess walked into the kitchen.
“You’re up early,” Tess yawned, opening the refrigerator and getting out the orange juice.
“Yeah, I’m going in early to study with Alex,” Isabel replied. “Hey Tess, can you do me a favor?”
“Yeah, sure Isabel, what is it?”
“Give Kyle the benefit of the doubt, okay? Liz too. I’d ask you to tell Max the same thing but he tends to get a stick up his ass about stuff, and nothing is going to change his mind.”
Tess giggled at the visual her sister had created. “That” is going to make me smile all day,” she said. “Thanks Isabel, you always manage to make me laugh.”
“Yeah, well, remember what I said,” urged Isabel. “Cut Kyle some slack. Things aren’t always what they seem. Oh, here’s Alex,” she added shifting gears mid conversation. “I’ll see you later.”
Isabel dashed out of the house and into Alex’s waiting car.
“Morning,” she said, leaning over to kiss him quickly. “And thanks.”
“Morning back, and you’re welcome,” said Alex, returning her kiss. “Now are you going to tell me what this is all about?”
“I’ll explain everything,” said Isabel. “But I only want to do it once. Did you call Kyle and Liz? Are they going to meet us?”
“Yeah and neither one of them were too happy about the early morning summons, let me tell you,” Alex said, wincing at the memory of his phone call with Kyle. “But surprisingly, once he was fully conscious, Kyle was more agreeable than Liz.”
“That’s kind of what I figured would happen,” muttered Isabel.
“Yeah? How come?” Alex asked.
“I’m a woman of many and varied talents,” joked Isabel as Alex drove down the empty street.
“You’re also amazingly cheerful this morning,” Alex said, reaching out and taking her hand in his. “As well as beautiful.”
“You’re too much, Alex,” Isabel said blushing.
“Hmmm, a blush,” said Alex with a mock leer. “I’ve got a few things to say and do that would really make you blush,” he said wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. “But we’re here, so it will have to wait until later.”
He pulled his silver Toyota into the space next to Kyle’s Mustang, grabbed his bag and jumped out of the car. He quickly jogged around to the passenger side and opened the door for Isabel.
“You didn’t have to do that,” said Isabel, swinging her long legs out of the compact car.
“Maybe not,” said Alex, “But I wanted too. Plus, there is this added benefit,” he added, kissing her deeply.
“Get a room, would ya!” came a voice from behind them, causing the two to jump apart.
“God, Kyle, scare us why don’t you? Where’s Liz?” said Isabel.
“Um, Liz isn’t feeling to great,” hedged Kyle. “So she’s lying down on one of the couches in the student lounge.”
“Yeah, I’m sure she’s not feeling too well after last night,” Isabel said, cryptically. “Now come on, lets go help her feel better.
Their footsteps echoed through the deserted school as they made their way to the student lounge. Several classrooms had lights streaming from the doors, indicating either early club meetings or teachers who had come in early to plan or grade papers. Liz Parker was aware of none of this, however. Instead, she tossed fitfully on the narrow couch muttering in her sleep.
“She’s got to stop fighting,” Isabel said.
“Fighting what?” asked Alex. “What’s she fighting? What’s going on?”
“Wait, you know?” asked a surprised Kyle. “How’d you find out?”
“I figured it out last night,” said Isabel. She knelt down on the floor heedless of the grime that ground into the knees of her pants.
“Liz,” she whispered. “Liz, wake up.”
She tried several times to wake Liz up, but with no success.
“Can you go into her dream?” Alex asked.
“I can try,” Isabel responded. “But I’d better do it quickly. This place is going to fill up fast.” She closed her eyes and slid into Liz’s dream and found her friend struggling to break the connections that were forming rapidly on the grid.
“Liz, you have to stop this,” she said, walking up to her friend. “Fighting it isn’t going to make it not happen. It’s going to happen, but the more you fight it, the harder it’s going to be for you. Just let it happen.”
“But Isabel, I’m afraid,” sobbed Liz. “I don’t’ want to change. What if it makes me a fr-?”
“A what, Liz? A freak, a monster? Is that how you see us? Is that how you see Max? Is that how you see me?” Isabel asked, her voice breaking with the effort it took not to burst into tears as she waited for Liz’s answer.
“No, of course not,” Liz said, and Isabel breathed a sigh of relief. “You guys are my friends, not monsters.”
“Then why do you think you’re becoming one?”
“You guys were born this way,” explained Liz. “I’m changing, and I don’t know what’s going to happen.”
Isabel reached out and took Liz’s hand in hers and led her back to the grid.
“Look, Liz, it’s not changing you. Those are connections that are forming in your brain. That’s all – I promise.”
“You’re sure?” Liz asked, hopefully.
“Yes, I’m sure,” Isabel said, hoping she was telling the truth. “I found something in the book that Kyle and Tess found last year. But please, let me explain it to you Kyle and Alex all at once. Do you think you can wake up now?”
“Yeah, I think so,” said Liz.
“I’ll see you on the other side then,” said Isabel. “And Liz? It’s going to be okay.”
Isabel vanished from the dream and Liz gave one last look at the grid and forced herself to wake up.
“Hey,” she said, looking around at her friends. “Please tell me I didn’t snore.”
“You did,” Kyle said straight faced. “Like a truck.”
“And don’t forget the drool,” added Alex.
“Shut up,” Isabel laughed. “You didn’t do anything like that,” she added.
“How are you doing?” Kyle asked.
“I think I’m going to be okay,” Liz said, looking gratefully at Isabel.
“Will somebody please tell me what’s going on?” Alex demanded. “Some of us are a little out of the loop here.”
“Liz and Kyle started to develop their powers,” Isabel explained. “And for some freaky, unexplainable reason, Kyle is the one embracing the change, and Liz is fighting it.”
“Hey! Why do I think that’s some sort of insult?” Kyle asked.
“Mostly because it was,” said a laughing Isabel.
“Awww, come on,” Kyle mock whined as the bell rang and the hallways filled with students. “Why is everybody picking on me?”
“Cause we love, Kyle,” said Liz, hugging him and laughing. She released Kyle, still laughing looked up to see Max standing and staring at her. “Max,” she whispered. “Wait.” But it was too late – Max turned and walked down the hall without a word to anybody.
“Damn it Max,” Isabel said more to herself than anybody else. “You’re really missing the boat here.
“Forget it, Isabel,” Liz said. “If Max trusts me so little, then we can’t have a relationship.”
“Maybe you could talk to him?” Alex said.
“And maybe he could trust me,” Liz countered. “Anyhow, let’s forget about Max and focus on the matter at hand. How did you figure out what’s going on, Isabel?”
Isabel had the grace to flush when she admitted that he had visited their dreams the night before.
“But still, that’s a pretty big leap to make,” said Kyle. “Just seeing our dreams.”
“It was more what was in the dreams,” said Isabel. “That grid. I was certain I’d seen it before, and I had – in here.” She reached in her bag and pulled out the metallic book and opened it up to the page containing the grid.
“That’s us,” Kyle said softly.
“No we just have to figure out what it says, and that’s where Alex comes in,” said Isabel. “We know Alex can decode the book. He did it before. Well, not before, but in the other time line. We just have to figure out how he did it.”
“It’s gong to take a powerful computer to do it,” Alex pointed out. “And nothing around here is powerful enough.”
“We’ll figure it out,” said Isabel. “We have to, but in the mean time, Liz, you have to stop fighting it so much. The more you fight, the harder it’s going to be for you.”
“Isabel’s right,” said Kyle. He rummaged through his bag and pulled out a book and passed it to Liz. “Promise me you’ll read it, Liz.”
“The Path to Spiritual Enlightenment,” Alex read over Kyle’s shoulder. “You found Buddha?”
“Shut up, would you, or I’ll kick your butt with my new found alien powers,” Kyle said.
“Oh my God! You’ve got powers?” Isabel asked. “I didn’t think it would happen until the grid was all connected.”
“I think once certain parts of the grid are connected, we get certain powers,” Liz said. “So far, if I can touch an object and sort of get a look into the future. Funny though, I thought it was all out of control yesterday – especially if I touched something Kyle touched, but today, nothing.”
“You’re more relaxed today,” Kyle pointed out. “Maybe that has something to do with it.”
“Maybe,” Liz said. “I guess I need to focus on staying calm.”
“We’ll figure it out,” said Isabel. “How about you, Kyle? Any powers yet?”
“Yeah, it’s wicked cook,” said Kyle. “If I touch someone, I can kind of look into their mind. And oh,” he added excitedly, “I knocked Max on his ass with a burst of energy. THAT was good.”
Everyone laughed, and a lot of tension that surrounded them evaporated.
“I wish I could do that,” Liz said wistfully.
“I can work with you,” Isabel offered. “You know, sort of tutor you or something. You too, Kyle.”
“That’d be great,” Liz said with a sigh of relief. “I can’t imagine what it was like for all of you growing up with your powers developing and nobody to help you.”
“It wasn’t like that though,” said Isabel as they walked down the crowded hallway. “On some level, we always knew we were different and we could do different things. I think, on some level we even knew we just needed to trust ourselves and our instincts.”
The small group stopped at a junction in the corridors and said their goodbyes. Isabel and Alex went down one hallway, and Liz and Kyle walked toward their English class.
“You ready?” Kyle asked, dropping a supportive arm on Liz’s shoulder.
“Yeah, as I’ll ever be,” said Liz with a smile, and together they walked through the classroom door as the final bell rang.
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majiklmoon
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Chapter 4 - 7/2/07
yes, i suck, i admit it. I hope people still want to read 
Title: Synchronicity
Rating: Teen/Adult
Chapter Four
They got through their day relatively unscathed; at least as far as power outbursts went. Max and Tess were still treating them as if they had the plague. Alex and Isabel felt bad about the situation, but they realized that if they started talking to Kyle and Liz, it wouldn’t look right, and Michael and Maria were so lost in themselves and their relationship to get even get involved. So Kyle and Liz went through their day alone banding together occasionally when their paths converged in shared classes. When school was over, Liz met Kyle at his car, and the two drove away under the angry gazes of Max and Tess.
Liz and Kyle sat in a booth at the CrashDown and compared notes of their dreams from the night before. Heir dreams were unchanged but their grids showed a tremendous change. Large chunks of the grid, which had until now, been blank were completely connected.
“What do you think it means?” Liz asked.
“Why are you asking me?” Kyle asked. “You’re the smart one, remember? But I do want to try something,” he added, reaching out and taking the glass sugar canister in his hand.
“Kyle, I just filled those last night,” said Liz. “What are you going to do with it?”
“Just wait,” said Kyle. He focused all his energy on the canister, staring at it intently. For several seconds, nothing happened, then suddenly, the canister exploded, showering them both in shards of glass and sugar.
Liz screamed, and instinctively threw her arm up in front of her face, shielding her eyes.
“Oh my God, Liz. Are you okay?” Kyle asked staring at her forearm embedded with shards of glass. “I’m so sorry, I was trying to turn the sugar purple. Really. I wasn’t trying to hurt you.”
“Kyle, relax,” Liz said, pressing a napkin against her arm. “It’s just a couple of scratches.”
Kyle jumped up and grabbed one of the large gray tubs the wait staff used to bus tables. He dashed back and began to gather up the pieces of glass.
“Damn!” he said as a particularly jagged edge cut a large gash on the palm of his hand.
Liz grabbed a napkin with one hand and Kyle’s bleeding palm with the other and began to apply pressure to his wound.
”Is it deep?” she asked. “Do you think you’ll need stitches?”
Cautiously, she lifted the napkin from his hand slightly to examine the wound. Kyle, his face pale, refused to look down. He wasn’t a coward, but he couldn’t stomach the sight of his own blood.
“How does it look?” he asked. “It doesn’t hurt at all. That’s probably really bad, huh? There’s probably nerve damage. Liz?” he asked when she didn’t answer. Steeling himself, Kyle looked down at hand, expecting to see a bloody gash, but instead, he saw his palm without a mark on it.
“Kyle,” she whispered. “I think you healed yourself.”
“No way, Liz,” Kyle said, his hand still in hers. He reached out with his other hand and touched her arm gently. “I think you healed us both. Look.”
She looked down at her arm, which minutes before had been dotted with small cuts and gashes and saw a stretch of smooth undamaged skin.
Kyle began to bounce excitedly in the booth. “We have to tell somebody!” he practically shouted. “Where are Alex and Isabel?”
“Right there,” Liz said smiling at his exuberance and pointing out the large front window of the café.
“Come on, let’s go,” he said. Still holding her hand, Kyle jumped up and practically ran out of the café, dragging Liz behind him.
From his position behind the grill, Michael watched as his brain made a few connections of its own.
Outside the CrashDown, Kyle babbled on and on, his rate of speed equal roughly to that of a supersonic jet. As he talked, he gestured dramatically with his hands, and by default, Liz’s hand, which was still clutched tightly in his.
Laughing, Isabel held up her own hands trying to stem the flood of words from Kyle.
“Slow down, and speak a language we all understand,” she laughed. “And maybe you should let go of Liz’s hand before you break it.
“That’s just it,” Kyle said, his voice animated. “Who cares if I break it? She can just heal it herself.”
“What?” shouted Alex and Isabel, together.
“Liz healed us both after I made the sugar canister explode and we both got cut with flying glass,” said Kyle.
“What?” asked Alex. “Is there a program or something I can use to follow along, because I’m all kinds of confused here?"
“We probably shouldn’t hang around here, Isabel said, practically. “The question is where do you want to go? If you want to talk, we can go just about anywhere, but if you want to work on your powers…” her voice trailed off.
“Desert,” the others replied in unison.
** * ** *
Tess stood in the doorway of her brother’s room and watched Max as he lay on the bed staring up at the ceiling.
“Go away, Tess,” he said, not even bothering to turn his head.
“Nice,” said Tess. “Is that any way to treat your sister?”
“It is when I don’t want to talk to my sister,” Max shot back.
“Jerk. You know, Isabel was right. You do have your head stuck up your ass!”
“Isabel said that?” Max asked, incredulously.
“Forget it,” Tess said, walking down the hall. “You don’t want me here, remember?”
“Tess, come back here!” Max yelled, jumping off the bed.
“Can’t,” Tess said. “Michael called and – wait, I can’t deliver the message because you don’t want to talk to me.”
“Look, I’m sorry, okay,” said Max.
“Fine,” Tess said, her eyes dancing with mischief. “Michael called and said we need to get to the CrashDown right away.”
“Forget it,” Max said turning back toward his room. “I’m not going there.”
“Oh my God, you are such a jerk, Max Evans! Will you get over your sorry self for just one minute and think? Life does not revolve around you and only you, Max. Not stop feeling sorry for yourself and get your ass in the jeep.” Blue eyes flashing, Tess pushed past Max and stormed out of the house.
Shocked by her outburst, max followed silently and climbed into the driver’s seat of the Jeep. They drove down the rode in silence for several minutes before Max finally spoke.
“Did Isabel really say that?” he asked.
“Yeah, she did, and she was right, so maybe she was right about other things too.”
“Yeah, like what?” Max asked, his ego still stinging from Isabel’s opinion of him.
“Like maybe we should have had a little faith in Kyle and Liz,” said Tess.
“Have faith?” Max shouted. “Tess, how can you, of all people, say that after what Kyle did to you?”
“What exactly did he do, Max? Hang out with one of his oldest friends instead of going to a party with me? Yeah, that’s a real crime.”
“But he lied, Tess, about why he wasn’t going. He said he was tired, and Liz said she was sick. Why didn’t they just tell us the truth?”
“Did we give them a chance, Max?” Tess asked as Max parked the Jeep. “I know for a fact that Kyle was tired, and Liz hasn’t been looking to great lately.”
“Then what was Kyle doing in Liz’s room?” Max argued.
“Probably nothing,” Tess said, climbing out of the Jeep. “And if we gave them half a chance, maybe they would have told us that.”
Max opened the door to the CrashDown as Tess continued to speak.
“Unless there’s something you’re not telling me,” said Tess. “Is there, Max?”
“You bet your ass there is,” said Michael, meeting them at the door. “Come on, we’re headed out to the desert.”
“You need a ride to the desert? That’s you’re emergency?”
“No, that’s where the emergency is,” Michael said slowly as if speaking to a small child. “So we need to go there.”
“I’m not an idiot, Michael,” Max said.
“Then stop acting like one,” Michael fired back, causing Tess to giggle. Poor Max was getting it from all sides today.
“It’s a big desert, Michael, do you have any idea of where we’re supposed to be going?”
Michael shot Max a look that clearly said ‘duh’ as he said, “I just have to call Maria. She knows where we’re going.”
“This just gets better and better Max groused as they walked back to the Jeep.
Max drove the Jeep out of town as Michael relayed directions via Maria and her cell phone, but it wasn’t long before no directions were needed as they found themselves on the familiar route to the pod chamber.
“Why are we here?” Max asked as he parked the Jeep along side Maria’s Jetta.
“Max, for one in your life, shut up,” Michael said. “Hey, Maria,” he added as Maria climbed out of her car. “Where are they?”
“On the other side of the rocks,” Maria answered after she kissed him.
“They, what they?” Max asked.
“Max, just shut up and let somebody else be in charge,” said Tess. “Lead the way, Maria.”
Title: Synchronicity
Rating: Teen/Adult
Chapter Four
They got through their day relatively unscathed; at least as far as power outbursts went. Max and Tess were still treating them as if they had the plague. Alex and Isabel felt bad about the situation, but they realized that if they started talking to Kyle and Liz, it wouldn’t look right, and Michael and Maria were so lost in themselves and their relationship to get even get involved. So Kyle and Liz went through their day alone banding together occasionally when their paths converged in shared classes. When school was over, Liz met Kyle at his car, and the two drove away under the angry gazes of Max and Tess.
Liz and Kyle sat in a booth at the CrashDown and compared notes of their dreams from the night before. Heir dreams were unchanged but their grids showed a tremendous change. Large chunks of the grid, which had until now, been blank were completely connected.
“What do you think it means?” Liz asked.
“Why are you asking me?” Kyle asked. “You’re the smart one, remember? But I do want to try something,” he added, reaching out and taking the glass sugar canister in his hand.
“Kyle, I just filled those last night,” said Liz. “What are you going to do with it?”
“Just wait,” said Kyle. He focused all his energy on the canister, staring at it intently. For several seconds, nothing happened, then suddenly, the canister exploded, showering them both in shards of glass and sugar.
Liz screamed, and instinctively threw her arm up in front of her face, shielding her eyes.
“Oh my God, Liz. Are you okay?” Kyle asked staring at her forearm embedded with shards of glass. “I’m so sorry, I was trying to turn the sugar purple. Really. I wasn’t trying to hurt you.”
“Kyle, relax,” Liz said, pressing a napkin against her arm. “It’s just a couple of scratches.”
Kyle jumped up and grabbed one of the large gray tubs the wait staff used to bus tables. He dashed back and began to gather up the pieces of glass.
“Damn!” he said as a particularly jagged edge cut a large gash on the palm of his hand.
Liz grabbed a napkin with one hand and Kyle’s bleeding palm with the other and began to apply pressure to his wound.
”Is it deep?” she asked. “Do you think you’ll need stitches?”
Cautiously, she lifted the napkin from his hand slightly to examine the wound. Kyle, his face pale, refused to look down. He wasn’t a coward, but he couldn’t stomach the sight of his own blood.
“How does it look?” he asked. “It doesn’t hurt at all. That’s probably really bad, huh? There’s probably nerve damage. Liz?” he asked when she didn’t answer. Steeling himself, Kyle looked down at hand, expecting to see a bloody gash, but instead, he saw his palm without a mark on it.
“Kyle,” she whispered. “I think you healed yourself.”
“No way, Liz,” Kyle said, his hand still in hers. He reached out with his other hand and touched her arm gently. “I think you healed us both. Look.”
She looked down at her arm, which minutes before had been dotted with small cuts and gashes and saw a stretch of smooth undamaged skin.
Kyle began to bounce excitedly in the booth. “We have to tell somebody!” he practically shouted. “Where are Alex and Isabel?”
“Right there,” Liz said smiling at his exuberance and pointing out the large front window of the café.
“Come on, let’s go,” he said. Still holding her hand, Kyle jumped up and practically ran out of the café, dragging Liz behind him.
From his position behind the grill, Michael watched as his brain made a few connections of its own.
Outside the CrashDown, Kyle babbled on and on, his rate of speed equal roughly to that of a supersonic jet. As he talked, he gestured dramatically with his hands, and by default, Liz’s hand, which was still clutched tightly in his.
Laughing, Isabel held up her own hands trying to stem the flood of words from Kyle.
“Slow down, and speak a language we all understand,” she laughed. “And maybe you should let go of Liz’s hand before you break it.
“That’s just it,” Kyle said, his voice animated. “Who cares if I break it? She can just heal it herself.”
“What?” shouted Alex and Isabel, together.
“Liz healed us both after I made the sugar canister explode and we both got cut with flying glass,” said Kyle.
“What?” asked Alex. “Is there a program or something I can use to follow along, because I’m all kinds of confused here?"
“We probably shouldn’t hang around here, Isabel said, practically. “The question is where do you want to go? If you want to talk, we can go just about anywhere, but if you want to work on your powers…” her voice trailed off.
“Desert,” the others replied in unison.
** * ** *
Tess stood in the doorway of her brother’s room and watched Max as he lay on the bed staring up at the ceiling.
“Go away, Tess,” he said, not even bothering to turn his head.
“Nice,” said Tess. “Is that any way to treat your sister?”
“It is when I don’t want to talk to my sister,” Max shot back.
“Jerk. You know, Isabel was right. You do have your head stuck up your ass!”
“Isabel said that?” Max asked, incredulously.
“Forget it,” Tess said, walking down the hall. “You don’t want me here, remember?”
“Tess, come back here!” Max yelled, jumping off the bed.
“Can’t,” Tess said. “Michael called and – wait, I can’t deliver the message because you don’t want to talk to me.”
“Look, I’m sorry, okay,” said Max.
“Fine,” Tess said, her eyes dancing with mischief. “Michael called and said we need to get to the CrashDown right away.”
“Forget it,” Max said turning back toward his room. “I’m not going there.”
“Oh my God, you are such a jerk, Max Evans! Will you get over your sorry self for just one minute and think? Life does not revolve around you and only you, Max. Not stop feeling sorry for yourself and get your ass in the jeep.” Blue eyes flashing, Tess pushed past Max and stormed out of the house.
Shocked by her outburst, max followed silently and climbed into the driver’s seat of the Jeep. They drove down the rode in silence for several minutes before Max finally spoke.
“Did Isabel really say that?” he asked.
“Yeah, she did, and she was right, so maybe she was right about other things too.”
“Yeah, like what?” Max asked, his ego still stinging from Isabel’s opinion of him.
“Like maybe we should have had a little faith in Kyle and Liz,” said Tess.
“Have faith?” Max shouted. “Tess, how can you, of all people, say that after what Kyle did to you?”
“What exactly did he do, Max? Hang out with one of his oldest friends instead of going to a party with me? Yeah, that’s a real crime.”
“But he lied, Tess, about why he wasn’t going. He said he was tired, and Liz said she was sick. Why didn’t they just tell us the truth?”
“Did we give them a chance, Max?” Tess asked as Max parked the Jeep. “I know for a fact that Kyle was tired, and Liz hasn’t been looking to great lately.”
“Then what was Kyle doing in Liz’s room?” Max argued.
“Probably nothing,” Tess said, climbing out of the Jeep. “And if we gave them half a chance, maybe they would have told us that.”
Max opened the door to the CrashDown as Tess continued to speak.
“Unless there’s something you’re not telling me,” said Tess. “Is there, Max?”
“You bet your ass there is,” said Michael, meeting them at the door. “Come on, we’re headed out to the desert.”
“You need a ride to the desert? That’s you’re emergency?”
“No, that’s where the emergency is,” Michael said slowly as if speaking to a small child. “So we need to go there.”
“I’m not an idiot, Michael,” Max said.
“Then stop acting like one,” Michael fired back, causing Tess to giggle. Poor Max was getting it from all sides today.
“It’s a big desert, Michael, do you have any idea of where we’re supposed to be going?”
Michael shot Max a look that clearly said ‘duh’ as he said, “I just have to call Maria. She knows where we’re going.”
“This just gets better and better Max groused as they walked back to the Jeep.
Max drove the Jeep out of town as Michael relayed directions via Maria and her cell phone, but it wasn’t long before no directions were needed as they found themselves on the familiar route to the pod chamber.
“Why are we here?” Max asked as he parked the Jeep along side Maria’s Jetta.
“Max, for one in your life, shut up,” Michael said. “Hey, Maria,” he added as Maria climbed out of her car. “Where are they?”
“On the other side of the rocks,” Maria answered after she kissed him.
“They, what they?” Max asked.
“Max, just shut up and let somebody else be in charge,” said Tess. “Lead the way, Maria.”
-
majiklmoon
- Addicted Roswellian
- Posts: 361
- Joined: Tue Nov 13, 2001 10:55 am
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Title: Synchronicity
Rating: Teen/Adult
Chapter Five
Slowly they made their way round the base of the rocks in single file, picking their way over chunks of rock that had fallen over they years. The drone of cars driving down the highway became more and more muffled as they picked their way around the rocks. When they finally reached the other side, they stopped and stared, with varying degrees of shock at the sight before them. Kyle and Liz were both holding rocks in their hands and causing them to levitate.
“Holy shit,” Michael whispered.
“You said it, Space Boy. Did you guys know about this?” Maria asked, turning to Max and Tess.
Tess watched her boyfriend and one of her best friends as they tried to float several different rocks at once.
“I had no idea,” said Tess. “How could this happen?”
“I think it was me,” whispered Max, his heart thumping a staccato rhythm in his chest. “I think I did this to them.”
Tess wiped a tear from her cheek. “I was so mean to them, and look what they were dealing with. How could I be so stupid? Max, we have to apologize,” she added, turning to her brother. “Max, are you okay? Michael, something’s wrong with Max!” she called, looking at his gray face. Beads of sweat dotted his upper lip and he started to sway.
“Max, what’s wrong, man?” Michael asked. He watched in concern as Max’s eyes rolled back in head, and he reached out and grabbed Max just before he hit the ground and began to convulse violently.
“Isabel!” he shouted. “Something’s wrong with Max.”
There were several loud thuds as the rocks Kyle and Liz were levitating hit the ground. Michael shouted again, and his words sent a burst of adrenalin through Liz and she took off running toward the sound of Michael’s voice followed closely by Kyle and Isabel and Alex.
“What happened?” she asked when she reached them. Without waiting for an answer she knelt down beside Max and began to stroke his face.
“I don’t know what happened,” Michael said. “We were watching you guys and he got all gray and sweaty and just sort of passed out, then he started to have these convulsions or something.”
Liz pressed her hand against his head and stared off into the distance as if listening to something. After several seconds, she placed a hand on his heart and one on her own, and both hands began to glow. She then removed her hand from her heart and placed it on Kyle’s chest, and her hands began to glow again. After several more seconds, Max’s breathing slowed and his eyes flickered open and he stared up at his friends and family gathered around him.
“I supposed asking where I am is too trite?” he asked, trying to joke.
“Maybe a bit,” said Isabel. “What happened, Max, how are you feeling?”
“I’m feeling fine – great even,” said Max. “And I have no idea what just happened.”
“I do,” Liz said. “When you healed us, you changed us, and now, we’re tied to you. Kind of bonded or something, and as we started changing, it started affecting you.”
“How do you know?” Tess asked.
“I felt it when I healed Max,” Liz explained. “We’re – oh I don’t know,” she said in frustration. “It’s kind of like when a bunch of girls live together, and they start to get on the same cycle. We, Max, Kyle and I should be on the same cycle, but with all the anger and distrust, it kind of threw us out of whack.”
“Please note that I’m refraining from making any comments about the similarities between us and women’s menstrual cycles,” said Kyle.
“Noted and appreciated,” said Max. “But Liz is right, I was out of whack, and the more out of whack I got, the angrier I got, and the angrier I got, the more out of whack I got,” finished Max. “I get it. I could sense that something was happening. I think on some level, I even knew what it was, but I just couldn’t accept that and I had changed your lives so irrevocably. It was easier to be angry with you than it was to accept what I’d done to you.”
“Max, buddy, you saved our lives. I’d say being able to float a few rocks is a fair trade of for not being – well, you know – dead,” said Kyle.
“Yeah, but if our plan had worked that day in the CrashDown,” argued Max.
“Look, can the three of you do the sack cloth and ashes later,” said Alex. “It’s getting late and I for one, have homework to do.”
The others nodded in agreement and began to walk slowly back to their cars, all of them keeping an eye on Max. The stood in a small group near their cars, an awkward silence surrounding them. All of them wanted to break it, but nobody was sure how. In spite of everything that had happened, there was still so much left unsaid.
By tacit unspoken agreement, Max, Liz, Kyle and Tess rode back to Roswell together. The four had a lot to talk about, and it wasn’t too soon to start.
Rating: Teen/Adult
Chapter Five
Slowly they made their way round the base of the rocks in single file, picking their way over chunks of rock that had fallen over they years. The drone of cars driving down the highway became more and more muffled as they picked their way around the rocks. When they finally reached the other side, they stopped and stared, with varying degrees of shock at the sight before them. Kyle and Liz were both holding rocks in their hands and causing them to levitate.
“Holy shit,” Michael whispered.
“You said it, Space Boy. Did you guys know about this?” Maria asked, turning to Max and Tess.
Tess watched her boyfriend and one of her best friends as they tried to float several different rocks at once.
“I had no idea,” said Tess. “How could this happen?”
“I think it was me,” whispered Max, his heart thumping a staccato rhythm in his chest. “I think I did this to them.”
Tess wiped a tear from her cheek. “I was so mean to them, and look what they were dealing with. How could I be so stupid? Max, we have to apologize,” she added, turning to her brother. “Max, are you okay? Michael, something’s wrong with Max!” she called, looking at his gray face. Beads of sweat dotted his upper lip and he started to sway.
“Max, what’s wrong, man?” Michael asked. He watched in concern as Max’s eyes rolled back in head, and he reached out and grabbed Max just before he hit the ground and began to convulse violently.
“Isabel!” he shouted. “Something’s wrong with Max.”
There were several loud thuds as the rocks Kyle and Liz were levitating hit the ground. Michael shouted again, and his words sent a burst of adrenalin through Liz and she took off running toward the sound of Michael’s voice followed closely by Kyle and Isabel and Alex.
“What happened?” she asked when she reached them. Without waiting for an answer she knelt down beside Max and began to stroke his face.
“I don’t know what happened,” Michael said. “We were watching you guys and he got all gray and sweaty and just sort of passed out, then he started to have these convulsions or something.”
Liz pressed her hand against his head and stared off into the distance as if listening to something. After several seconds, she placed a hand on his heart and one on her own, and both hands began to glow. She then removed her hand from her heart and placed it on Kyle’s chest, and her hands began to glow again. After several more seconds, Max’s breathing slowed and his eyes flickered open and he stared up at his friends and family gathered around him.
“I supposed asking where I am is too trite?” he asked, trying to joke.
“Maybe a bit,” said Isabel. “What happened, Max, how are you feeling?”
“I’m feeling fine – great even,” said Max. “And I have no idea what just happened.”
“I do,” Liz said. “When you healed us, you changed us, and now, we’re tied to you. Kind of bonded or something, and as we started changing, it started affecting you.”
“How do you know?” Tess asked.
“I felt it when I healed Max,” Liz explained. “We’re – oh I don’t know,” she said in frustration. “It’s kind of like when a bunch of girls live together, and they start to get on the same cycle. We, Max, Kyle and I should be on the same cycle, but with all the anger and distrust, it kind of threw us out of whack.”
“Please note that I’m refraining from making any comments about the similarities between us and women’s menstrual cycles,” said Kyle.
“Noted and appreciated,” said Max. “But Liz is right, I was out of whack, and the more out of whack I got, the angrier I got, and the angrier I got, the more out of whack I got,” finished Max. “I get it. I could sense that something was happening. I think on some level, I even knew what it was, but I just couldn’t accept that and I had changed your lives so irrevocably. It was easier to be angry with you than it was to accept what I’d done to you.”
“Max, buddy, you saved our lives. I’d say being able to float a few rocks is a fair trade of for not being – well, you know – dead,” said Kyle.
“Yeah, but if our plan had worked that day in the CrashDown,” argued Max.
“Look, can the three of you do the sack cloth and ashes later,” said Alex. “It’s getting late and I for one, have homework to do.”
The others nodded in agreement and began to walk slowly back to their cars, all of them keeping an eye on Max. The stood in a small group near their cars, an awkward silence surrounding them. All of them wanted to break it, but nobody was sure how. In spite of everything that had happened, there was still so much left unsaid.
By tacit unspoken agreement, Max, Liz, Kyle and Tess rode back to Roswell together. The four had a lot to talk about, and it wasn’t too soon to start.
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Chapter 6 8/23/07
Don't freak too much everybody - here's another update for you
Title: Synchronicity
Rating: Teen/Adult
Chapter Six
Max apologized for most of the ride back to town, first to Liz, then to Kyle and then Tess, for good measure, trying to do anything to assuage the guilt he felt. Unfortunately, his apologies were drowned out by those of Liz and Kyle and Tess. Finally, Liz exploded with laughter.
“You do realize, we’ve all apologized for everything and anything that has happened or could possibly happen to us in the future,” she said.
“But we’re doing such a good job of it,” said Kyle.
“Kyle’s right,” Tess chimed in. “We’re superlative apologists.”
“I can’t help it, I feel totally responsible for everything that’s happened,” said Max.
“Max, you have to stop blaming yourself,” said Liz, reaching out and taking his hand in hers. “Maybe if we’d just told you what was going on right from the beginning, none of this would have happened.”
“And maybe if Tess and I had just trusted you, none of this would have happened,” countered Max. “Besides, you tried to tell me,” Max continued, “once you figured out what was going on, and I wouldn’t listen.”
“But you wouldn’t listen because of what you were going through,” Liz interrupted.
“Uh, yeah, about that,” said Kyle. “Does this mean I’m going to need like Midol or something every month, and am I going to get bloated and crave chocolate? Cause honestly, I gotta say, I’m not really sure if I can handle this whole Antarian PMS thing.”
Kyle’s rant served its purpose, and everyone began to laugh, and the tension level in the car lowered just a bit.
“Cool, I’m glad that worked because I really didn’t want to use my powers on you,” Kyle joked.
“I can’t believe you have powers,” said Tess. “I mean, we saw you and everything, but I still can’t believe it.”
“Welcome to our world,” said Kyle. “Honestly, I can’t believe it either. It’s kind of – well, unfucking believable is the word that keeps going through my mind.”
“How’d it happen, who got what first, what can you do?” Tess asked, the questions coming out in one almost unintelligible sentence.
They all laughed again, and the laughter felt good after their self imposed cold war. Kyle and Liz began to discuss their various powers and their various misadventures with controlling them until they arrived back in town.
“So you made the sugar canister explode?” Max asked, struggling not to laugh. “Good control you got there, Kyle.”
“Shut up,” Kyle said, good naturedly, “Or I’ll show you an incredible lack of control – on your ass. Besides, my doing that is how Liz found out she can heal. Personally, I think you should be thanking me profusely instead of busting on me.”
“Hmmm,” Max said, pretending to ponder briefly. “Good point.”
“What else can you guys do?” Tess asked.
“Well, sometimes, if I hold or touch something, I can see images about that person. I looked it up, it’s called psychometry. “It happened in English class the other day. Kyle passed me a note and my mind just filled with images of Kyle.”
“I believe you said it was like Kyle TV, preened Kyle.”
“Oh,” sad Tess as she realized what Liz was talking about. “Was that the day you got sick in class.”
“Yeah, only she wasn’t sick,” said Kyle. “Just suffering from Kyle – you know, too much of a good thing and all that.”
“Too much of something,” said Liz. “And let me tell you, it wasn’t pretty.”
“I don’t know, I think I’d like all Kyle all the time,” said Tess.
“Well believe me, I’d give that particular imagery to you if I possibly could,” said Liz, “But the healing thing, that was pretty cool. I’ll definitely keep that. Oh and Tess, watch out. Your boyfriend has turned into a peeping Tom.”
“What?” Tess asked, bristling slightly. “There’s no way Kyle would – wait, what did you say, Kyle?”
“Um, Tess, Kyle didn’t say anything,” said Max.
“Yes he did,” Tess insisted. “He just said Liz was full of it and I shouldn’t listen to her.”
“Tess, he didn’t say anything,” said Liz, trying hard not to smile.
“Yes he did,” said Tess. “I heard him clear as a bell.” She turned and looked at Kyle who was holding her hand and smiling.
“Gotcha,” she heard him say in her head, but his lips didn’t move.
“Jerk,” she said, slapping him lightly on the arm. “Is that one of your powers?”
“Yeah, if I’m touching someone, I can kind of get in their head and pull out memories and stuff. Max, remind me to tell you about the underwear later.”
“Kyle!” Liz shouted.
“I’m also kind of figuring out how to communicate that way,” Kyle continued as if he hadn’t heard Liz. “It’s kind of cool, actually.”
“It wasn’t too cool in the principal’s office when you told me I was a stupid son of a bitch and that I should trust Liz. But you were right,” said Max.
“Of course I was,” Kyle said, smugly, sending the others into paroxysms of laughter.
“Anyhow,” Liz said as Max parked in front of the CrashDown. “Those are the extent of our powers to date. Isabel thinks that once I stop fighting so hard, it will happen even faster.”
“She’s probably right,” said Kyle. “It’s too bad we couldn’t be in the dream together. Maybe if we were, and we were working off of one grid, things would progress a lot faster.”
“Grid?” asked Max. “You guys are dreaming about grids, too?”
“Oh, God, here we go again,” said Kyle. “Yeah, Liz and I are dreaming about grids, and connections on the grid. She figures every time a connection is made, our powers develop a little bit more. Why? Is that what you’re dreaming about?”
“Not quite,” said Max, relief playing on his face. My grid is like a map, kind of like in Risk or Battle Ship,” he added, naming a couple of board games both boys had played. “Weird, I wonder what it means.”
They climbed out of the car and began to walk toward the café while they continued their discussion.
“Can’t help you with that,” said Tess, “But I do have an idea for Liz and Kyle, and well all of us, if everybody agrees to it. Why can’t Isabel bring us all into their dream tonight so we can see what’s happening, and maybe make some sense out of it.”
“That’s not a bad idea,” said Max, thoughtfully. “I wonder if Isabel can do it.”
“Of course I can do it,” said Isabel, coming up behind them unnoticed. “Um, what am I doing?”
“We were kind of thinking of taking a dream fieldtrip into Kyle and Liz’s dream,” said Max. “You know, kind of check things out and see if any of us can make any sense out of this grid thing.”
“Well that leaves us out of the loop,” said Maria, looking at Alex. “So you guys have fun with your dream thing and Alex and I will just see you in the morning.”
“Maria, wait,” Liz said, grabbing at her friend’s arm. “You need to be there too. We all do. Look what happened to us when Kyle and I kept secrets. We practically imploded. I’m not letting that happen again.”
“What Liz said makes sense,” said Michael. “But what I want to know about is what grid? I’ve been dreaming about maps and stuff for a couple of days now, only they’re not any maps I’ve ever seen before.”
“That’s it,” said Max. “Maps, that’s what I’m seeing.”
“You’ve been dreaming about maps?” asked Michael. “Why didn’t you tell me before this?”
“Well for one thing, I’m not in the habit of discussing my dreams with you, Michael, and for another thing, I’ve been too busy being a first class ass to talk about anything with anybody.”
“Let’s not start that again,” said Kyle. “These two spent the entire ride back into town blaming themselves for everything that’s gone wrong this past week, including that oil spill down in South America.”
“Pay up, DeLuca,” said Alex, holding out his hand. “I bet Maria $10.00 that you two had a major blame fest all the way home. She figured you’d be too busy, um, making up for lost time to get around to the self flagellation.”
“Actually her exact words were that it was going to take a shoe horn to pry the two of you apart,” said Michael.
“Liz, chica, I’m severely disappointed in you,” said Maria, pulling $10.00 out of her wallet and passing it to Alex as she spoke.
“Sorry, Max was driving,” Liz said, biting her lip and struggling not to laugh. “Now can we stop talking about my sex life and make some plans for tonight.” She pushed open the door of the café and walked in followed by the others.
“Kyle, wait a second,” said Max, pulling Kyle back. “What was that bout underwear?”
Title: Synchronicity
Rating: Teen/Adult
Chapter Six
Max apologized for most of the ride back to town, first to Liz, then to Kyle and then Tess, for good measure, trying to do anything to assuage the guilt he felt. Unfortunately, his apologies were drowned out by those of Liz and Kyle and Tess. Finally, Liz exploded with laughter.
“You do realize, we’ve all apologized for everything and anything that has happened or could possibly happen to us in the future,” she said.
“But we’re doing such a good job of it,” said Kyle.
“Kyle’s right,” Tess chimed in. “We’re superlative apologists.”
“I can’t help it, I feel totally responsible for everything that’s happened,” said Max.
“Max, you have to stop blaming yourself,” said Liz, reaching out and taking his hand in hers. “Maybe if we’d just told you what was going on right from the beginning, none of this would have happened.”
“And maybe if Tess and I had just trusted you, none of this would have happened,” countered Max. “Besides, you tried to tell me,” Max continued, “once you figured out what was going on, and I wouldn’t listen.”
“But you wouldn’t listen because of what you were going through,” Liz interrupted.
“Uh, yeah, about that,” said Kyle. “Does this mean I’m going to need like Midol or something every month, and am I going to get bloated and crave chocolate? Cause honestly, I gotta say, I’m not really sure if I can handle this whole Antarian PMS thing.”
Kyle’s rant served its purpose, and everyone began to laugh, and the tension level in the car lowered just a bit.
“Cool, I’m glad that worked because I really didn’t want to use my powers on you,” Kyle joked.
“I can’t believe you have powers,” said Tess. “I mean, we saw you and everything, but I still can’t believe it.”
“Welcome to our world,” said Kyle. “Honestly, I can’t believe it either. It’s kind of – well, unfucking believable is the word that keeps going through my mind.”
“How’d it happen, who got what first, what can you do?” Tess asked, the questions coming out in one almost unintelligible sentence.
They all laughed again, and the laughter felt good after their self imposed cold war. Kyle and Liz began to discuss their various powers and their various misadventures with controlling them until they arrived back in town.
“So you made the sugar canister explode?” Max asked, struggling not to laugh. “Good control you got there, Kyle.”
“Shut up,” Kyle said, good naturedly, “Or I’ll show you an incredible lack of control – on your ass. Besides, my doing that is how Liz found out she can heal. Personally, I think you should be thanking me profusely instead of busting on me.”
“Hmmm,” Max said, pretending to ponder briefly. “Good point.”
“What else can you guys do?” Tess asked.
“Well, sometimes, if I hold or touch something, I can see images about that person. I looked it up, it’s called psychometry. “It happened in English class the other day. Kyle passed me a note and my mind just filled with images of Kyle.”
“I believe you said it was like Kyle TV, preened Kyle.”
“Oh,” sad Tess as she realized what Liz was talking about. “Was that the day you got sick in class.”
“Yeah, only she wasn’t sick,” said Kyle. “Just suffering from Kyle – you know, too much of a good thing and all that.”
“Too much of something,” said Liz. “And let me tell you, it wasn’t pretty.”
“I don’t know, I think I’d like all Kyle all the time,” said Tess.
“Well believe me, I’d give that particular imagery to you if I possibly could,” said Liz, “But the healing thing, that was pretty cool. I’ll definitely keep that. Oh and Tess, watch out. Your boyfriend has turned into a peeping Tom.”
“What?” Tess asked, bristling slightly. “There’s no way Kyle would – wait, what did you say, Kyle?”
“Um, Tess, Kyle didn’t say anything,” said Max.
“Yes he did,” Tess insisted. “He just said Liz was full of it and I shouldn’t listen to her.”
“Tess, he didn’t say anything,” said Liz, trying hard not to smile.
“Yes he did,” said Tess. “I heard him clear as a bell.” She turned and looked at Kyle who was holding her hand and smiling.
“Gotcha,” she heard him say in her head, but his lips didn’t move.
“Jerk,” she said, slapping him lightly on the arm. “Is that one of your powers?”
“Yeah, if I’m touching someone, I can kind of get in their head and pull out memories and stuff. Max, remind me to tell you about the underwear later.”
“Kyle!” Liz shouted.
“I’m also kind of figuring out how to communicate that way,” Kyle continued as if he hadn’t heard Liz. “It’s kind of cool, actually.”
“It wasn’t too cool in the principal’s office when you told me I was a stupid son of a bitch and that I should trust Liz. But you were right,” said Max.
“Of course I was,” Kyle said, smugly, sending the others into paroxysms of laughter.
“Anyhow,” Liz said as Max parked in front of the CrashDown. “Those are the extent of our powers to date. Isabel thinks that once I stop fighting so hard, it will happen even faster.”
“She’s probably right,” said Kyle. “It’s too bad we couldn’t be in the dream together. Maybe if we were, and we were working off of one grid, things would progress a lot faster.”
“Grid?” asked Max. “You guys are dreaming about grids, too?”
“Oh, God, here we go again,” said Kyle. “Yeah, Liz and I are dreaming about grids, and connections on the grid. She figures every time a connection is made, our powers develop a little bit more. Why? Is that what you’re dreaming about?”
“Not quite,” said Max, relief playing on his face. My grid is like a map, kind of like in Risk or Battle Ship,” he added, naming a couple of board games both boys had played. “Weird, I wonder what it means.”
They climbed out of the car and began to walk toward the café while they continued their discussion.
“Can’t help you with that,” said Tess, “But I do have an idea for Liz and Kyle, and well all of us, if everybody agrees to it. Why can’t Isabel bring us all into their dream tonight so we can see what’s happening, and maybe make some sense out of it.”
“That’s not a bad idea,” said Max, thoughtfully. “I wonder if Isabel can do it.”
“Of course I can do it,” said Isabel, coming up behind them unnoticed. “Um, what am I doing?”
“We were kind of thinking of taking a dream fieldtrip into Kyle and Liz’s dream,” said Max. “You know, kind of check things out and see if any of us can make any sense out of this grid thing.”
“Well that leaves us out of the loop,” said Maria, looking at Alex. “So you guys have fun with your dream thing and Alex and I will just see you in the morning.”
“Maria, wait,” Liz said, grabbing at her friend’s arm. “You need to be there too. We all do. Look what happened to us when Kyle and I kept secrets. We practically imploded. I’m not letting that happen again.”
“What Liz said makes sense,” said Michael. “But what I want to know about is what grid? I’ve been dreaming about maps and stuff for a couple of days now, only they’re not any maps I’ve ever seen before.”
“That’s it,” said Max. “Maps, that’s what I’m seeing.”
“You’ve been dreaming about maps?” asked Michael. “Why didn’t you tell me before this?”
“Well for one thing, I’m not in the habit of discussing my dreams with you, Michael, and for another thing, I’ve been too busy being a first class ass to talk about anything with anybody.”
“Let’s not start that again,” said Kyle. “These two spent the entire ride back into town blaming themselves for everything that’s gone wrong this past week, including that oil spill down in South America.”
“Pay up, DeLuca,” said Alex, holding out his hand. “I bet Maria $10.00 that you two had a major blame fest all the way home. She figured you’d be too busy, um, making up for lost time to get around to the self flagellation.”
“Actually her exact words were that it was going to take a shoe horn to pry the two of you apart,” said Michael.
“Liz, chica, I’m severely disappointed in you,” said Maria, pulling $10.00 out of her wallet and passing it to Alex as she spoke.
“Sorry, Max was driving,” Liz said, biting her lip and struggling not to laugh. “Now can we stop talking about my sex life and make some plans for tonight.” She pushed open the door of the café and walked in followed by the others.
“Kyle, wait a second,” said Max, pulling Kyle back. “What was that bout underwear?”