Dreamwalk

17

Liz shuffled through the magazines in the doctors outer office, lamenting the fact that everything had a published date of at least a year ago. She was looking for something to take her mind off her concerns for Jason as he was being examined in the other room. He has to be okay. It's just a little bruise. But she couldn't help think of the bigger wounds that they couldn't see.

She should have realized that the changes in Jason had been caused by something serious, since he had totally shut her out. It was one thing for him to break away from his parents, since that was traditionally part of the process of growing up, but for him to shut himself off from a close, trusted friend was a real sign of trouble.

Liz blamed herself. Her own world had turned so crazy since Max had saved her life that day in the Crashdown that it was understandable she might have missed the warning signs. She could have been around more, considering Artesia had gotten a lot closer once she had obtained her drivers license. But she knew that the real person to

blame was George Lyles, and she would certainly have the time to deal with that.

Frustrated, she dropped the copies of out-of-date Time and Newsweek magazines back into the rack and settled on an old copy of Highlights magazine for children. Turning to the puzzle section, she intended to test her mind with harmless, easy-to-solve riddles as opposed to the difficult games she seemed to be stuck with every day lately.

«This isn't the first bruise like this I've seen on you," Dr. Sellers said as he examined Jason's shoulder.

As usual, Jason said nothing, sitting on the examination table staring down at his feet. Max noticed that he had shut down once again as soon as they had reached Dr. Sellers's doorstep.

«I guess he's an active kid," Max offered, not quite sure how much to say right then.

They had been lucky enough to find Jason's family doctor at home that Saturday. The affable older man was kind enough to open the office attached to his home to give Jason the once-over. Liz and Max explained that he had fallen off his ATV after having gone on a little unsuper-vised joyride, assuming that it would be best not to raise questions about why the two teens had let him go out on his bike without his parents around.

«I'm sorry, how was it that you know Jason?» the doctor asked, genuinely concerned for the child's safety. Max gave the man extra points for being so obviously protective.

«He's my friend.» Jason offered the first kind words to Max since they had met yesterday speaking through his locked bedroom door.

«He and Liz grew up together," Max added, since Liz had decided to stay out in the waiting room to give Jason some privacy. «In Roswell.»

«Okay," the doctor said both to the explanation and to indicate he was done with the examination. «You can put your shirt back on. Everything looks fine to me, but I'll want you to come back with your mom on Monday so we can get some X rays just to be sure.»

Jason nodded his head.

«We'll make sure he comes back," Max added.

«Good," Dr. Sellers replied. «Jason, do you mind if I speak to Max for a moment?»

Jason looked to Max to see if it was okay.

«Why don't you go out and wait with Liz," Max said as the boy hopped down off the table. «I'm sure I'll only be a minute.»

«Okay," Jason said softly as he left the room.

Once the boy was out of earshot, the doctor turned to Max. «I don't know exactly how close you two are, but Jason seems to trust you.»

«I hope," Max said.

The doctor continued. «Jason hasn't really trusted anyone for a while now.»

Max was confused at just how closely the doctor knew his patient, and apparently his face showed his bewilderment.

«It's a small town," Sellers explained. «People come to me with their medical problems and they open up about other things too. His mom's a good woman.»

«She seems to be," Max agreed. «I know she and Liz are very close.»

«Like I said, I've noticed these bruises before," the doctor continued. «I never really put it together.»

«We're taking care of it," Max assured him. «Jason's opening up to us. We're going to talk to his mom.»

«I'm glad to hear that," the doctor said. «He's a good kid. You did the right thing bringing him here.»

Max was pleased by the doctor's words. It was the first sign that he was doing the right thing in his role as guardian for the weekend. «Thanks.»

«Take my card.» The doctor handed him a small slip of paper. «Please call me no matter what happens.»

«Okay.» Max shook the doctor's hand.

He went out into the lobby and collected Liz and Jason, bolstered by the doctor's simple words. For the first time that weekend, he felt like he was in control. They had resolved Jason's attitude problems and were going to tackle the larger issue when his parents returned. Not only that, but they also had an adult on their side who happened to be a medical expert. This bolstered Max's confidence to believe that everything would turn out right.

«Jason said everything was fine?» Liz confirmed as they walked back out to the bikes. They had been so concerned about getting Jason checked out immediately that neither of them had even thought to stop back at the house and pick up Max's car.

«Looks that way," Max replied. «Dr. Sellers wants him to come in Monday for some X rays.»

They could both see the look of trepidation on Jason's face as he climbed aboard the ATV behind Max.

«I'll go too," Liz offered. «I can stay until Monday.»

«Are you sure?» Jason asked.

«I'll stay as long as you need me," she replied.

They rode the bikes back to Jason's home, carefully sticking to the road so as not to risk any more adventures. Max wasn't sure if ATVs were okay to ride on the street, but he honestly didn't care. It was only a short trip from the doctor's place, and they found themselves pulling back into the garage only a few minutes later. Placing the two remaining sets of keys on the rack, they made their way to the house.

Entering the Lyleses' foyer, the trio split into different directions. Jason went upstairs to change, since his clothes were torn and dirty from the fall. Max's clothes were a bit dusty as well, but hunger was his primary distraction, since he was the only one of them who had left the house without breakfast. He hadn't had a shower, either, but that could wait until his stomach stopped grumbling. Making his way to the kitchen, he left Liz to check the answering machine to see if Jason's parents had called while they were out.

Searching through the kitchen cabinets hoping for something to ease his hunger, Max was hopeful when he found a bottle of Tabasco sauce. Now he just needed something to pour it over. In the adjoining cabinet, he found what he was looking for in one of those incredibly sugary breakfast bars. True, it wasn't a lot of food, but it would hold him over until they could put together something for lunch. Pouring the Tabasco over the breakfast bar for just the right sweet and spicy snack, he had taken only one bite when Liz called to him from the living room. The tone of her voice implied that he should hurry

«What's wrong?» he asked as soon as he entered the room with his breakfast bar still in hand.

«Listen to this," she replied, pressing the «play» button on the machine.

The machine announced that there were four messages, and after a short pause, Maria's voice came through. «Liz. Max. Where are you? You guys need to get back here, fast. Somethings wrong with Isabel. She's sick. We think it's some kind of Czechoslovakian flu. Hurry.»

Max blanched.

A drop of Tabasco sauce fell onto the spotless beige carpet.

He knew that Czechoslovakian was Liz's and Maria's code word for anything alien related. Something was seriously wrong with his sister, and it sounded like Maria didn't have a clue what it was.

«The other messages are from Maria too.» Liz stopped the tape so Max would not hear the increasing desperation in Maria's voice with each call. «She said she's at your place. Give her a call, and I'll go get Jason.»

«We can't take him to Roswell," Max said as he took the phone from Liz.

«Well, we can't leave him here," Liz said. «And I'm not staying behind if something is really wrong with your sister.»

«It could be dangerous," he said, dialing his own phone number.

«If things turn out to be too intense, we'll drop him off with my folks," Liz said as she left the room, ending the argument right there.

«Evans residence," Maria answered on the other end of the line.

«It's me," Max said. «What's wrong?»

Maria filled him in on the situation, which didn't take long since she couldn't tell him much. Following a litany of questions that she couldn't answer, Max finally gave up on asking for information that she obviously did not possess. He turned to see Liz and Jason standing in the doorway, ready to travel. «We'll be there in twenty minutes," he said into the phone.

«But you're over forty miles away," Maria answered back.

«We'll be there," he insisted, hanging up the phone. «Jason, how do you feel about visiting your old hometown?»

Kyle's eyes popped open.

He had been prematurely forced out of his meditation when he heard Isabel calling his name. Running to the bedroom, he found Maria cradling the phone in her hands with an expression of relief across her face.

«Max and Liz are on their way," she reported, looking at her watch to see that it was already one o'clock in the afternoon. She had no idea if their friends could do anything more than she and Kyle were already doing, but the mere fact that they were on their way back was comforting. For Max to be there in twenty minutes meant he would have to break more than a few traffic laws. Hopefully, former Sheriff Valenti could take care of it if anything happened.

«I think Isabel tried to contact me," Kyle said.

«What? How?»

«When I was meditating," he explained. «I was in the process of purging my mind when I saw her for a brief moment. She was calling my name.»

«Did she tell you how we can help her?» Maria asked the obvious.

«No," Kyle said as he took a seat beside his comatose friend. «But she seemed desperate. I don't think we have much time.»

«Don't worry, I've got a plan," Michael said as he climbed in the window and dropped a large sack on the floor.

Kyle was up and around the bed beside Maria in a matter of moments, watching as Michael first took a collection of stones from his sack. Maria instantly recognized them, but Kyle had no clue as to what good they would be.

«I figure if anything's going to help us it's these," Michael said with his usual intensity. Then, looking at Kyle, he explained further. «Before you were brought into our ever expanding inner circle, a Native American guy named River Dog gave us these. I took part in one of his rituals, and it nearly killed me. These stones come from our home planet. They saved me.»

Maria was visibly upset at the reminder of the time when she had almost lost Michael, but she tried not to dwell on it because it was in the past, and in the present there was a more pressing threat. «Max is on his way.»

«We need to prepare.» Michael returned to his magic sack and pulled out the long rope, handing it to Maria. «I need you to cut five pieces of rope that are about four feet long.»

«Okay?» she said with a question in her voice. «What do you want me to do with the rest?»

«Bring it back with the smaller pieces.»

«Gotcha.» She was out of the room in a flash to search for something she could use to cut the thick rope.

«Kyle, help me out," Michael said, moving to the bed, motioning for Kyle to get on the other side.

Grabbing one side of the headboard, he instructed Kyle to do the same. Together, they slid Isabel and her bed about two feet away from the wall so it was closer to the center of the room. «Maria!» Michael called out into the hall.

«Almost done!» she yelled back.

Tension filled the air as Michael impatiently waited for his girlfriend to return. Kyle knew better than to say anything when Michael was in this kind of mood. He would only throw rude comments back.

«What exactly are we doing?» Maria asked, coming back into the room. She apparently was used to the rude comments.

«Making a medicine wheel," Michael stated simply as he took the longer piece of rope from her. Walking around the bed, he laid the rope on the floor in a circle. It was a little long, so the ends overlapped for a good three feet.

That task complete, Michael held his hand out to Maria, and she handed him the smaller pieces she had cut with a kitchen knife. «I didn't have the time to collect a few hundred rocks to make the same design River Dog made when I was sick. We'll have to go with this.» He started laying out the rope one piece at a time, leaving one end beside Isabel with the other end on the rope circle.

The plan was to use the rope to re-create the medicine wheel design that River Dog had laid out on the ground when Michael's friends had had to pull him back from his own near death experience. When placing the smaller

ropes beside Isabel on the bed, he had to cheat a little since a couple of the pieces weren't long enough to reach from her to the circle on the floor. However, he really didn't think it mattered, because the design probably had nothing to do with the healing.

The Royal Four had used the healing stones twice since then to revive Nasedo-although only one of the attempts had been successful. They hadn't re-created the medicine wheel design on those occasions, but with Isabel's life at stake, Michael wasn't taking any chances. He looked down at the five lines radiating out from Isabel to equidistant points around the circle. It wasn't exactly pretty, nor was it entirely complete with several gaps throughout, but it would have to do.

Michael went back to his goody bag and pulled out the last item. It was a bowl he had bought in The Pottery Place that was painted with some kind of Native American «inspired» artwork. He actually suspected that it was just a cheap tourist knockoff. It still had a price tag glued to the side, which he quickly rubbed off. «Fill this with water.» He handed it to Kyle. «And we'll be ready as soon as Max and Liz arrive.»

The darkness receded, and the desert flew back into place.

Isabel took a moment to reorient herself after nearly losing touch with the fictional reality in which she was trapped. Kyle and the mysterious orb had disappeared as curiously as they had appeared. For a brief moment she had seen him with his eyes open and had noticed the shock on his face as if he wasn't expecting to see her.

She wondered if it was just a dream image of Kyle or if

maybe her friends were trying to rescue her. She had hoped the latter was the case, but couldn't stop thinking about the fact that her entire family was gone for the weekend. It was very possible that no one would be aware of what she was going through until late Sunday night, and she worried that could be too late.

Making her way back to the spot where she had been digging, she thought that little Kyle had disappeared as well. But as she got closer, she realized that the hole was now deep enough that little Kyle could bend down in it and be totally hidden from view. Isabel sensed that they were never going to find what they were looking for until Kyle's subconscious allowed them to, and she didn't see that happening anytime in the near future.

«You stopped digging," the boy said when she returned to him.

«You intend to keep us digging forever," she simply replied.

He looked guilty at having been caught.

«Look, Kyle, I came here to help, but you're not letting me," Isabel said gently. «If you insist on keeping me here, you're going to have to give me some more to work with.»

The pair of buzzards-or vultures-was circling again. Strangely, Isabel took this as a good sign. A road appeared, knifing through the desert, with a car parked alongside it. The car looked to be from the eighties, but Isabel really knew nothing about cars.

Laughter filled the air.

Great. More imagery. And me without my dream analysis book. Well, at least it's something.

The birds seemed to be talking to each other, letting out

caws that at first sounded cheerful but evolved into angry bellows. The sounds grew louder as Isabel had to struggle to hear her own thoughts.

The laughter either stopped or was drowned out by the screeching birds.

Kyle looked very, very afraid.

«It's okay," she said loudly while comforting the child. «I'm here.»

«But you'll go away," he said.

«I might leave your mind," she replied, not wanting to lie to him, «but I promise I will never leave you.»

At that moment the birds attacked each other as their lazy circles grew into fierce battle. Isabel could only watch, hoping that the fight did not come any closer as their caws got even louder.

One of the birds abruptly disappeared, leaving the other alone in flight. The lone bird landed next to Isabel and Kyle, but made no threatening moves toward them. It appeared to be injured, cradling its wing.

The sounds of screeches echoed away and were replaced by the sound of crying. It was the same sound she had heard coming from behind the door to the sheriff's office when she had been there earlier. This time, Isabel could tell that it was definitely a man's sobs and, if she wasn't mistaken, she recognized the choked voice of the man between his deep intakes of breath.

Again, she looked at the wounded bird. Was it doing the crying?

Without having to consult her book on dream imagery, Isabel finally had enough pieces of the puzzle to begin to understand what all this was about. Unfortunately, as she

watched the bird, she hadn't noticed that little Kyle had disappeared.

Running back to the hole, she saw something peeking up through the dirt. She fell to the ground, pushing the dirt out of the way to find Alex's face staring back at her. He was buried beneath the desert. His dead eyes were locked on her.

Isabel recoiled in shock.

It took her a minute to recover.

The pieces are beginning to tie together, she realized, but what am I supposed to do now?