color for everything. I drew lavender flowers and my father's lavender eyes, my mother's lavender smile. They were the same to me, mother, father, flowers. All good. All lavender. And I was lavender, too.'
Michael's breathing slowed down. The thoughts that had been attacking him faded into a babble that was easier for him to ignore.
'We were made up of the same stuff,' Maria continued 'The boundaries warm and fuzzy. Mom was me, and I was Dad, and he was all of us and the flowers. My father used to hang the pictures I drew up on the refrigerator before he… before he left. He said I'd created a beautiful world, a beautiful lavender world.'
Maria's voice faded as the spinning orbs of the dream plane became visible. He was in. He turned in a slow circle, his eyes darting over the glistening iridescent orbs as he searched for Isabel's.
He didn't see it. But that didn't mean it wasn't there. Michael began to whistle, calling to Isabel's orb. Maybe she wasn't asleep right now, although Adam had slept pretty much nonstop. Or was that even sleep? It was more like unconsciousness. Could Isabel even dream?
Adam got to Liz, he reminded himself. He continued to whistle. He'd stay in the dream plane all night if he had to. It was their only shot.
He sat down, and one of the orbs circled around his head, playfully brushing his cheek. Michael knew that orb. He'd visited it quite a few times when he was about thirteen and obsessed with Patrice Burgess, the woman who worked in the dry cleaners near foster home number whatever.
Michael nudged Patrice's dream orb away A few seconds later he felt a light brush on the back of his neck. Take the hint already, he thought. He turned to flick it off and saw Isabel's orb hovering behind him.
He held out his hands, and her orb spun into them. He peered inside and saw a blond doll in a bikini driving a little pink convertible. The car kept zooming halfway up a steep hill, then rolling back down.
Where was Isabel? He didn't see her anywhere.
Doesn't matter, he told himself. He'd just expand the dream orb, then go inside and find her. He began to whistle again, slowly moving his hands apart, urging the orb to grow.
It began to shrink instead. This had never happened before. The orb had been the size of a volleyball, and it had already shrunk down to grapefruit size. There was no way he could get inside.
'Isabel,' he shouted. 'Where are you?'
The doll in the convertible turned her head. It's Izzy, he thought. He should have realized it before. Isabel was dreaming she was the doll.
With a sucking sound the dream orb collapsed to the size of a baseball. Before Michael could react, it was the size of a golf ball.
'Izzy, you have to tell me where you are,' he screamed. 'Where did DuPris take you?'
Michael heard another sucking sound. The orb was going to shrink again. 'Tell me!' he cried.
'Cameron knows,' Isabel wailed, her voice like a squeaky hinge.
What? Had Cameron betrayed them again? Was she working with DuPris all along? 'What do you mean? How does she know?' Michael yelled.
Before Isabel could answer, her dream orb shrank to the size of a marble, then to the size of a pea, and with a tiny pop, it disappeared altogether.
'The ticket guy remembered Cameron,' Michael announced. He swung himself back behind the wheel of the Jeep. 'She traded in a ticket to Hobbs for one to Albuquerque. That bus left more than two hours ago, but it makes a couple of stops, including the airport, which eats up some time. If we really motor, we should just be able to beat it to the station.'
Was this the hand of fate trying to bring Cameron and Michael together? Maria wondered as Michael wheeled the Jeep around and sped out of the parking lot. Maybe the two of them were destined to be a couple. Maybe Maria should be really happy for them because they'd found their soul mates.
Maybe she should ask Michael to pull over so she could puke.
You shouldn't even be thinking about that stuff, she told herself. You should be thinking about Isabel and Adam. She managed to concentrate on sending them some positive thoughts for about two seconds before she started wondering why Cameron had left town in the first place. Did she and Michael have some kind of fight? Would they end up doing the whole joyful I-was-wrong-no-no-I-was-wrong thing at the bus station? Would she have to watch them kiss?
'Next time you work at the Crashdown, I'm sure my papa is going to ask you how you did on your life science test, okay, Maria?' Liz asked. 'I told him you needed me for an all-night study session tonight or you'd flunk it.'
Maria could hear the tension in her friend's voice. Maybe Michael would have to stop the car for her, too. Liz was always so careful to be the most perfect daughter. She wasn't as skilled as most about lying to her parents.
'Got it. I'll tell him that I never would have passed if not for your brilliant tutoring,' Maria promised. 'I hope the babysitter remembers the cover story I told her to give my mom.' She gave a choked half laugh. 'Actually, it probably doesn't matter. My mom's so in lust, she probably won't even notice that the babysitter isn't me.'
Alex groaned. 'Mom. Lust. 'One of these words is not like the others. One of these words just doesn't belong.''
'Tell me about it,' Maria answered. 'New subject, please.'
'I have one,' Alex said. 'What I don't get is how Cameron could know where DuPris took Isabel and Adam.'
Cameron wasn't exactly the new subject Maria had been hoping for. But what did it matter? Whether they talked about her or not, Maria would be thinking about her. She couldn't help herself.
'And if Cameron saw them, she wouldn't have just gotten on a bus,' Liz added. 'She would have stayed in town until she found you and told you, right, Michael?'
'Look, there's something you have to know about Cameron,' Michael said, his eyes locked on the road. 'Everything I told you about her was a lie, and that's because everything she told me about herself was a lie.' He rushed on. 'She wasn't in the compound as a test subject-she was in there as a spy for Valenti.'
'Spying on you?' Maria asked softly.
'Got it in one,' Michael answered. 'Valenti promised her if she got the names of the other aliens in Roswell from me, he wouldn't turn her back over to her parents.'
He shot a glance at Max over his shoulder. 'I told her.' He spat out the words as if they tasted bitter on his tongue. 'I betrayed you and Isabel.'
Maria could imagine what had happened. Michael had believed Cameron was a prisoner, just like him. He saw the two of them as united against Valenti and the Project Clean Slate people. Why wouldn't he tell her the truth? She opened her mouth, wishing she could say something to comfort him, but she couldn't find the words.
'Cut yourself some slack,' Alex told Michael. 'She already knew the truth about you. It's not like you were telling her that there were aliens on Earth.'
'And she helped Adam escape,' Liz added. 'Why wouldn't you trust her?'
It didn't matter what the rest of them thought, Maria realized. What would matter to Michael was what Max thought. She turned and looked at him. He still seemed totally wiped out.
'You didn't betray me,' Max said. 'Cameron betrayed you.'
The tight, guarded expression on Michael's face didn't convince Maria that he believed Max.
'So what do you think Cameron's deal is in this situation?' Alex asked. 'Why do you think she didn't say something if she knew where DuPris took Isabel and Adam? She can't have any connection to DuPris, can she?'
'Don't ask me,' Michael answered. 'It's not like I have a great track record knowing what's really going on with Cameron. I'm the one who told her-'
'Don't even go there again,' Max interrupted. 'Cameron betrayed you. End of story.'
End of story for Max, Maria thought. But Cameron had torn something deep inside Michael. Even when it healed, there would probably always be a nasty scar.
Kind of like the one she had. Kind of like the one Alex had. Didn't anybody's love story get a happy ending?
