thinking. 'But I don't see why I have to run errands for your business. I have my own job, you know.'
'Your job doesn't pay the mortgage,' Amy said. 'So my business is important to both of us.'
'Fine,' Maria said again.
'Yo, Maria! Order up!' Michael bellowed from the kitchen.
'Maybe I will stay for lunch,' Amy said.
'Sit wherever you want,' Maria told her sulkily. She stomped over to the order window to pick up the apple pie a la mode for the old couple. On the stool closest to the window sat that little girl who'd been hanging around in front of Michael's place. Sadie, Maria remembered.
That's what she'd said her name was when Maria talked to her in the Crashdown the other day.
Maria stopped in surprise. The girl was wearing her hair just like Maria's. And yesterday she'd been wearing the same shirt as Maria's. Who was she?
'My father says only dirtbags listen to Metallica,' Sadie chirped at Michael.
Michael narrowed his eyes, clearly trying to intimidate her. 'You shouldn't be talking to dirtbags, then,' he said.
Sadie smiled brightly. 'I just got a new CD player,' she went on, completely unfazed by Michael.
Maria threw up her hands in disgust. This strange girl was following them, staking out Michael's apartment, and now sitting in his restaurant… and he obviously didn't even recognize her. Well, he might not think she's a threat, but I do, Maria thought.
'Hey, you… Sadie,' she snapped, walking right up to the little Maria wanna-be. 'What are you doing here?'
The girl seemed too astonished to talk.
'Are you ordering anything?' Maria demanded.
Sadie shook her head. 'I have no money left,' she said.
'We don't allow loiterers in here,' Maria told her. 'Get out.'
There was a shocked silence. Maria could feel her mother's eyes on her, and Kyle's, and Michael's. They all thought she was being a bitch. But for all she knew, this girl was a Skin, or an alien bounty hunter, or something else otherworldly and bad.
'I'm waiting,' Maria added.
Sadie's brown eyes filled with tears. She climbed off the
bench, picked up her gigantic backpack, and shuffled out the door.
'Jeez, Maria, be a little meaner, why don't you?' Michael said as soon as the door closed behind her.
'Don't you even recognize her?' Maria cried, rushing behind the counter so she could talk to Michael without anyone else hearing. 'She's the one who's been following you.'
'No kidding,' Michael said. 'I'm not a total idiot. I was trying to get some info out of her.'
'By talking about your bad taste in music?' Maria said.
Michael rolled his eyes. 'She's just a kid with a crush on me,' he said. 'She's nothing to worry about.'
Maria was speechless. A kid with a crush on him? Michael was supposed to be the commander of the aliens' military, or something like that. And this was how he assessed a threat?
Michael plunked a tray covered with bowls on the order window. 'Soup's ready,' he told her. 'Kyle gets some, and that guy with him. And give some to your mother. On me. Maybe it'll make her like me better.'
She just kept staring at him.
'Now, Maria,' he said. 'Well talk about that kid later.'
Maria didn't know what else to do, so she picked up the tray and began serving the chicken noodle soup.
6
Did she drink the water?' Mails Wheeler demanded.
Dr. Alan Sosa was rocking back and forth in his chair, sweating and moaning every so often. Maris found him disgusting. What kind of man could be so spineless, so frightened? She was certainly paying him well enough… he had nothing to complain about. 'Alan!' she barked. 'Focus. Did she drink the water?'
'Y-yes,' he stammered. 'At least a sip or two.'
'Is that enough to get the serum into her system?' Maris asked.
'I think so,' Dr. Sosa replied. 'I don't know. It's not like any medicine I've ever worked with. I have no idea how much it takes to affect a human.'
Maris rolled her eyes. 'Well, that's why we're testing it.'
'I have nothing against testing on animals,' Dr. Sosa burst out. 'But this is wrong. This is using an innocent girl as a lab rat.'
'She's not so innocent,' Maris said calmly. 'This serum
came from inhuman DNA found on her clothes. Don't forget that.'
'So what?' he cried. 'She got shot, somebody healed her. She probably thought it was a miracle! And now we're filling her body with DNA that no one has even been able to identify in two years of testing?'
'Oh, please, Alan,' Maris said. 'Do you think Liz Parker handed over her bloody waitress uniform of her own free will? It was taken from her. She was trying to hide it, to protect the person who healed her.'
'I don't care,' he said. 'We have no right to use her as a guinea pig.'
'You're wrong,' Maris told him. 'Liz Parker knows the Healer. She'll be able to withstand the serum. You'll see.'
'What do you want for dinner?' Michael asked as Maria parked in front of his place. 'Chinese, pizza, or cereal from the box?' He opened the passenger door of the Jetta and unfolded his long legs from the tiny car.
'How about a salad?' Maria replied, getting out of the driver's seat.
'What's that?' Michael joked.
'Michael, seriously. I don't care what we eat. But I want to talk about that kid.'
'What kid?'
'Sadie.' As if he didn't know whom she meant. She'd been complaining about that girl for two days now. The kid was following them, it was so obvious. And that was weird. And whenever anything was weird, Maria assumed it was some sort of threat to her boyfriend and his posse of aliens. 'Why aren't you taking this seriously?'
Michael fumbled in his pocket for his keys. 'Because, Maria, she's a little girl.'
'Don't you remember Nicholas?' Maria demanded. The leader of the Skins had been a young boy, not much older than Sadie. Well, he'd been an evil alien in the body of a young boy. But same difference, as far as Maria was concerned.
'I just… I like her,' Michael admitted. He busied himself with unlocking the door.
'What?' Maria cried.
'I think she's cute,' he said, still avoiding looking at Maria. 'She cracks me up. She sort of reminds me of you, in fact.'
'What?' Maria cried again. Had he lost his mind?
Michael pushed open his front door and stepped aside to let Maria in. 'Look, Maria, she hasn't even done anything threatening,' he said.
Maria didn't answer. She was too busy staring at Sadie, who was asleep on Michael's couch. Michael stepped up beside her. 'I think this is threatening,' Maria said. 'What is she doing in your apartment?'
'What the… ' The sound of his voice woke Sadie. She immediately bolted up off the couch and stood staring at them, breathing hard. She looks like a terrified little animal, Maria thought, suddenly feeling sorry for the girl. But Michael seemed to have the opposite reaction.
He strode forward and grabbed Sadie by the arm, dragging her toward the door. 'How the hell did you get in here?' he bellowed. 'What do you want? Who sent you?'
'Nobody,' Sadie cried. 'I just tried the door to the patio and it was unlocked… '
'Why are you following me?' Michael sounded furious. Obviously he'd come around to Maria's way of thinking on Sadie.
'I'm… I'm not,' Sadie said. Her eyes were filled with tears.
