Dreamwalk

180

Upon hearing the screeching tires of Max's car as it pulled up to the house, Michael ran out of Isabel's room. Running through the house, he had the front door open and he was |

at the ready to greet his friend and leader.

Pushing past the second in command, Max burst into his home and made a beeline for his sister's room without so much as a «hello.» Liz followed, trying to ease Jason's concerns without actually telling him why Max was in such an agitated state, which was difficult to do since they had just traveled north on 285 at double the maximum speed allowed by law.

«Who's the kid?» Michael asked in his typical gruff and unwelcoming manner.

«Who's the dork?» the kid shot back.

Michael smiled. «I like him," he said, and went to take his preordained place by Max's side without waiting for a formal introduction.

Not knowing what they would find in Isabel's room, Liz told Jason to stay in the living room and distracted him

with the TV and the Evanses' video collection. Remembering that he wasn't the little boy she used to know, Liz avoided suggesting the Disney classics in place of something he'd rather be seeing. Eventually, she just let him pick a film himself since she knew there was nothing in the collection that was too mature for his viewing. She warned him to stay where he was no matter what he heard, explaining that Isabel could be contagious and she didn't want him getting sick too. It was a little white lie, but partially true since honestly she didn't want him exposed to whatever could be happening in the other room. Once he agreed, Liz went to join her friends.

In Isabel's room, Max went straight to his sister's side, hardly bothering to notice his friends or the changes in the room's design. Taking Isabel's hand, he did the same check for fever, pulse, and breath rate as everyone else who had entered the room had immediately done. Like the others, he found nothing out of the ordinary-except that his sister still appeared to be in a coma.

With his hand still on her forehead, he closed his eyes and tried to make contact with her. He hoped that his healing power alone would be enough to save her, but he got no response. It was almost as if her mind was not in there to answer him back.

He reluctantly took his hand away, silently blaming himself for everything from having gone away for the weekend to being the reason they were stranded on Earth. Self-recrimination was always his first thought when anything happened to his family or friends.

«Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown.»

It was that line from Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 2 that

often came to Max's mind in situations like these. He had never actually read the play, but he was familiar enough with the quote that he had heard one day in English class. Ever since he had found out that he was literally the king of his home planet he had truly come to understand its meaning.

And now I want to bring a child up in this mess, he thought, once again doubting his own abilities even though his apparent weekend success story was in the living room watching television.

«What happened to you?» Maria broke through his thoughts, referring to the dirty state of his still unchanged clothes.

«Long story," he replied.

Turning to Michael, Max's expression asked what to do next.

«Everyone take a point along the circle," Michael said, accepting the mantle of command. He passed out a stone to each of his friends as they filed into place, holding one for Liz until she came into the room. «Remember, all of our thoughts need to be with Isabel to bring her back.»

Kyle was the only one of the group unfamiliar with the ritual, since he had not taken part in it when Michael had been ill. That was back when Kyle was still considered one of the «bad guys," when, in truth, he had only been an innocent bystander. «What is it exactly that we're doing?» he asked, examining the stone that was placed in his hand.

«Restoring the balance," Michael abruptly replied.

«Oh.» Kyle was still totally unclear. «Okay.»

«Cliff's Notes version," Maria built on her boyfriend's non-answer. «Michael thinks there's something wrong

with the energy in Isabel's body. The stones carry the same energy. We concentrate on Isabel. We're taken to some higher plane of existence where we get her and bring her back.»

«Higher plane of existence?» He worried if where they were going was sanctioned by Buddha.

«Just concentrate on Isabel and you'll get back fine," she replied. «I hope.»

Kyle tried to ignore her last comment as Liz came into the room, immediately realized what was happening, and took her place on the empty spot along the medicine wheel.

Michael handed Liz the last remaining healing stone and picked up the bowl. River Dog had claimed that water was a substance the aliens and humans had in common and was used to bond them in the ritual. Taking a sip, he then handed the bowl to Max on his left. Max also took a drink from the bowl and passed it to Kyle, who went along with the ritual by passing it to Liz. The bowl finally ended with Maria, who placed it on the nightstand beside her, leaving a few sips of water in the bowl, figuring they might need it for Isabel when they revived her.

Now came the hardest part. River Dog had taught them all a chant to accompany the ritual. Although the phrase had been responsible for saving his life and thus the sound of it was permanently emblazoned into his mind, Michael was not familiar enough with the Native American language to know the exact words or their meaning. Sounding the words out carefully, he began the chant, hoping the pronunciation came close enough to the correct phrase. «Taa-KAH-shalah BEY-ta-wa ah-]AH…»

He indicated to the others that they should join in, hoping it was their joined concentration behind the words that had mattered more than the words themselves, which he knew he was butchering by even attempting to recite them without a proper translator available.

«Taa-KAH-shalah BEY-ta-wa ah-]AH…»

«Taa-KAH-shalah BEY-ta-wa ah-]AH

«Taa-KAH-shalah BEY-ta-wa ah-]AH…»

They continued the chant, each reaching out to Isabel separately and together as one. With eyes closed, they tried to find their friend, restore the balance, and bring her back. Intensity crept into their voices as they continued to search for their lost member, without any response. But instead of images of Isabel, each of them only saw the darkness behind their sealed eyes.

Max realized it had not taken anywhere near this long to locate Michael when he was ill. Peering out, he looked down to his sister and saw no change in her prone body. «Taa-KAH-shalah BEY-ta-wa ah-]AH," he said even louder, willing the others to match him in both volume and force. He did not care that Jason was in the other room and could probably hear them. His sister's life could be at stake, and worrying about the possible discovery of their alien secret by a twelve-year-old was not high on his priority scale.

«Taa-KAH-shalah BEY-ta-wa ah-]AH…»

«Max," he heard Michael's voice, but ignored it.

«Taa-KAH-shalah BEY-ta-wa ah-]AH» he repeated the chant again, knowing that he was the only one in the room still speaking.

«Max, it's not working," Michael gently insisted as Max

felt the people on either side of him already moving away from the circle.

Opening his eyes, Max confirmed that all of his friends already had a look of resignation on their faces.

«Maybe we did need to use a circle of rocks… I could find River Dog," Michael suggested. «If we knew the exact words…»

«No," Max said. «It won't work.»

«It was just a guess," Liz quickly went the positive route. «There's probably a lot more we can try.»

But Max barely heard her as he moved in to protective mode. «Kyle, was Isabel like this when you found her?»

«Actually, she was sitting up," he explained. «In a very uncomfortable-looking position. I laid her down.»

«What was the room like?» Max continued. «Was anything out of place?»

«No," Kyle admitted. «It pretty much looked the same way it does now, except for the bed and rope. Oh, and I borrowed your baseball bat. Hope you don't mind.»

Maria flashed him a confused look.

«And you didn't move anything else?» Max asked, ignoring the last part.

«Actually," Maria chimed in, «I did find her yearbook on the floor. I put it on the desk.»

Both Max's and Michael's faces lit up at the clue, although no one else in the room knew the significance of the yearbook.

«Why didn't you say anything?» Michael asked in an accusing tone.

Before Maria had a chance to express her confusion, Max cleared things up for her and the rest of their friends. «Isabel

uses her yearbook when she dreamwalks on our classmates.» He bent over his sister and noticed that her eyelids were fluttering slightly. Max knew that this was a result of the rapid eye movements experienced when people dream. «Was it open to a specific page when you found it?»

«No. It was closed," Maria replied, picking up the book and seeing the one beneath it. «Look at this. A book on dream analysis.»

«Okay, we know what's going on. Now we just have to figure out who she was dreamwalking-," Max said.

«No, we don't," Kyle interrupted. «It's me.»

Kyle proceeded to explain his previous request that Isabel help fix his dreams and the reason why he had asked. He detailed every bit of his sleeping problem and his conversations with Isabel.

«Why didn't you say something sooner?» Michael said in his normal accusatory way.

«She said she wasn't going to do it because it was too dangerous," Kyle replied defensively. «It never occurred to me that she would try it without telling anyone.»

«She does have a tendency to act on her own," Max said. «And I've never known her to back down when a friend's life could be at stake.»

«Wait a minute.» Kyle froze. «I just want to be clear on this. Are you saying Isabel's currently trapped in my mind?»

Max's face was stone as he nodded.

«Well, get her out!» Kyle yelled.

Hoping to break the tension, Maria walked up to him and yelled in his ear, «Don't worry, Isabel. We're working on it!»

The joke didn't go over very well. The tension remained, though there was now a loud ringing in Kyle's ear to distract him for a moment.

«Has something like this ever happened when she dreamwalked before?» Liz asked.

«Never," Max replied. «I have no clue how to stop it, Michael and I can't consciously enter a person's mind like that.»

«Are you sure?» Maria asked, not wanting to broach a sensitive subject. «Michael and Isabel do have that connection. You know, from before they were sent here.»

Maria was, quite reluctantly, bringing up the topic of the former relationship between Michael and Isabel when they were on their home planet. The two had shared some mental links in their human form, most notably when Isabel thought he had impregnated her in her dreams.

«Maybe Michael should try to reach her," Maria suggested.

«I don't think so," Liz interjected. «She's in Kyle's mind. He's probably the only one who could get through to her.»

«I did see her earlier when I meditated," Kyle suggested. «But as soon as I realized she was there, I was pushed right out of my trance.»

«You need to reach out through your mind," Liz replied.

«How?» Kyle asked. «Last time I checked, I was a mere mortal-well, mostly mortal.»

«Through your dreams," she explained. «You need to go back to sleep.»

«In case you missed what I said earlier," he replied, «I haven't been having the easiest time falling asleep lately. How do you suggest we do this?»

«Ooh, hang on.» Maria bounced over to her purse and started digging around, finally pulling out a small bottle that she handed to Kyle. «Use this.»

Kyle looked at it skeptically.

«It's a relaxation aid," she explained. «Purely natural ingredients, nothing to worry about.»

«I don't know.» He was still reluctant. «Sleeping pills?»

«No," she said. «Not sleeping pills. They're just some herbs that help with relaxation. I use them at particularly stressful times in my life when the cedar oil I usually rely on isn't relaxing enough. You know, like when our lives are in some sort of mortal peril, or the night before a really big test.»

Kyle looked at Isabel, still lying motionless on her bed. He felt a tremendous amount of guilt over the fact that everything appeared to be his fault. But why did you try to help me on your own? «And you're sure it's safe?» he asked.

«My mom wouldn't let me take it if she hadn't totally checked it out.» Maria looked absolutely sure of herself.

Hesitant, Kyle took one of the herbal capsules out of the bottle, staring at it as if it were dangerous. The blue capsule looked harmless enough to Kyle, but so did Michael, and he could kill people with his thoughts.

«Here, take it with this.» Maria lifted the bowl off the nightstand. It still had some water left in it from their failed ritual.

«This has been one strange day.» Kyle swallowed the capsule in a gulp.

As Michael and Maria carefully returned Isabel's room to its normal setup, Max took Kyle to his room to give him a comfortable bed to lie in and relax. Liz followed, covering

the windows and dimming the lights for him. Once everything was set up and Kyle was comfortably in bed, Michael and Maria joined them.

«Is everything okay?» Max asked.

«I can't decide if the bed is too hard, too soft, or just right," Kyle replied. «Do you have any porridge?»

No one laughed at the truly lame joke.

«Are you tired?» Max asked. «Do you think you can fall asleep?»

«It would probably be easier if I didn't have four people staring intensely at me," Kyle said.

Max immediately understood. «I should go check on Jason.»

«Yeah, we'll go too," Maria agreed as they all started to leave the room.

«Liz.» Kyle stopped his ex-girlfriend. «Would you mind staying?»

Instinctively, she looked to Max for approval or to apologize for her connection to Kyle, but Max consciously chose not to return her glance. With his sister's life in jeopardy, this was not the time for petty jealousies. Besides, he had been trying to move beyond her bond with Kyle just as he hoped that she could move past his relationship with Tess.

After the others filed out of the room, Liz sat beside Kyle on Max's bed and took his hand into hers. It was certainly an odd situation, no matter how one looked at it, and they both couldn't help but smile.

«So, back when we were dating," Kyle said, heading for dangerous territory, «did you ever think we'd end up like this?»

«What? Didn't you?» Liz played along. «Lying in my

new boyfriend's bed while you tried to release his sister who is trapped in your dreams? I always suspected that our relationship would end when I met an alien and threw all of our lives into almost constant peril.»

«Yeah, me too," Kyle agreed sleepily. «I just wanted to make sure we both had had the same expectations.»

«Marias magical herbs seem to be working?» Liz asked hopefully.

Kyle stifled a yawn in response. «How do you think I'm supposed to find Isabel once I'm asleep?»

«Honestly?» Liz said. «I have no idea. It's not exactly like we're treading on scientifically proven ground here. But, I can't think of anything else we could do.»

«Is it worth it?» Kyle turned serious for a moment. «All that we've been through? All that we're going to be put through?»

Liz thought about his question. There was no easy answer. «I don't know. Obviously, in light of Alex, I'd have to say no. But then I think about Max, Michael, and Isabel going through all of this by themselves with no one to turn to for help and I have to be glad that we can be there for them.»

«In spite of getting shot, running from the FBI, and Isabel getting trapped in my brain?» Kyle added with a full yawn.

«Yeah, in spite of all that.» Liz smiled. «Maybe we should stop talking so you can get some rest.»

«Okay," he said sleepily, closing his eyes. «Good night, Liz.»

«Good night," she replied.

Liz stayed with Kyle, listening to his breathing grow more steady. It did not take long for him to fall into what

she had hoped would be a productive sleep. She waited a few minutes to confirm that he was definitely out before moving over to the chair by Max's desk. She had no intention of leaving him alone while he experienced whatever it was he was about to go through.

Watching over his sleeping form, she wished Kyle luck on his journey, hoping he would be able to rescue Isabel and gain whatever kind of closure he needed to end his own suffering.