'Hello, Maria.'
After all these years, Maria couldn't believe that she recognized his voice. But she did… instantly. Her father was standing behind Michael, in the doorway to her house.
She shot a furious look at Michael. 'What is he doing here?' she spat.
'I told you, don't freak out,' Michael said lamely.
Maria pushed by him and stormed up to the door. 'Get out of my house,' she said. 'Now.'
'No,' her father said.
Maria opened her mouth, but no words would come into her brain. She was too filled with fury.
'This house is part mine, you know,' he said conversationally. 'The down payment was all my money.'
'And every single cent since then has been Mom's money,' Maria snapped. 'The stupid down payment doesn't give you the right to set foot on this property ever again after the way you treated us. Now I said get out.'
'And I said no,' he replied. 'Maria, look… '
'Why did you let him in?' Maria demanded, turning on Michael.
'He was here to pick up Sadie,' Michael said. 'She called him right after you left for the hospital. Is your mom okay?'
'I don't know,' Maria said, the very thought of Amy bringing a lump to her throat. If her mother knew that this awful man was standing here in her house…
'Maria?' said a small voice. Maria swallowed hard and tried to smile at Sadie, who'd appeared in the doorway behind their father.
'Sadie, I'm sorry,' she said. 'I know he's a good father to you. But I can't stand him, so I really need you guys to leave now.'
'That's what I'm trying to tell you,' Michael put in. 'They can't leave.'
'Why not?'
'Because whatever sickness Amy has seems to have
spread to the whole city,' her father said. 'There's a quarantine.'
'No kidding,' Maria said. 'I was at the hospital, remember?'
'The entire town is quarantined,' Michael said. 'They have roadblocks set up. No one can get in, and no one can leave. And that includes Richard.'
Richard? 'You're on a first-name basis with my father now?' she hissed.
'Maria…,' Michael began.
'We tried to go home,' Sadie interrupted. 'They made us turn around.'
'And it's just as well,' Richard said. 'I wanted to see you, Maria. We have a lot to talk about. Now we'll have the chance.'
'I have nothing to say to you,' Maria replied. 'If you wanted to see me so badly, you could have. Anytime in the past decade.'
'I understand why you're angry with me. But I'd like to tell you my side of the story,' Richard said. 'And since we're stuck here, this seems like a good time to do it.'
'You might be stuck in Roswell, but you're not stuck here. Go to a hotel,' Maria said.
'No,' he replied. 'I'm still your father, and I expect you to do me the courtesy of listening to me.'
Maria turned to her boyfriend. 'Michael, will you make him leave, please?'
Michael took both of her hands in his. 'Baby, I think you should talk to him,' he said gently. 'It might make you feel better.'
Maria's mouth dropped open in astonishment. 'Excuse me?' she said.
A shrill beeping sound split the air. Michael's cell phone. He grabbed it out of his pocket and flipped it open. 'What?' he said into the phone.
But Maria already knew who it was. Isabel, or Max, or maybe Valenti. Someone from their group calling to set up an alien powwow. The quarantine at the hospital had been strange enough; the fact that it was now a city-wide quarantine called for some serious investigation by those who happened to have superhuman powers.
'Fine,' Michael barked. He snapped the phone shut and stared pleadingly at Maria. 'You're going to kill me.'
She sighed. 'No. I know you have to go where you're needed.'
Michael bit his lip. 'I don't want to leave you in the middle of this,' he said, nodding toward her father and Sadie.
'Then hurry back,' Maria told him. The truth was that she wanted to hurl herself into his arms and beg him not to leave her alone with her father. She desperately needed moral support from him. But giant otherworldly crises always took precedence over her life. She mustered up a smile to make Michael feel better. 'Keep me posted.'
'I'm so sorry,' he said. Then he hurried over to his motorcycle, leaped on, and sped away.
Maria turned back to her father. 'This had better be good,' she said.
Michael screeched to a stop in front of the Valenti house, jumped off his bike, and stomped up the walkway. He was
seething. What kind of a boyfriend would leave Maria in a situation like that? Her father had abandoned her! And now she was alone with him, without her mom for support. And without her useless boyfriend, he thought angrily. No matter how hard he tried, he never seemed able to be there for Maria when she needed him. He always had to put his alien responsibilities first. He knew he had no choice, but every so often he wished he could be a better boyfriend to Maria.
He slammed through the door and stopped in surprise. Isabel, Max, and Valenti all turned their worried eyes to him. They look like crap, he thought. 'Just how bad was it at the hospital?' he said out loud. ''Cause you all look like crap.'
Isabel rolled her eyes.
'It's bad,' Valenti said. 'Half the city is sick. Kyle, Marias mom… '
'And Liz,' Max said.
'What?' Michael cried. 'They're all sick?'
'They're all in quarantine,' Isabel told him. 'The CDC said they were taking all the patients over to Metachem to treat them.'
Michael was baffled. 'Meta-chem? The pharmaceutical company?'
'Yeah,' Valenti answered. 'They say they've got better labs over there and enough space. They don't want to have to shut the hospital down.'
'That's weird,' Michael said. 'Isn't it?'
'I'm thinking the CDC can control access to the patients better if they don't have other people coming in and out,' Max said. 'At the hospital, there's a big staff, and there are all the people who are already patients there.'
'Well, they definitely want tight control,' Michael agreed. 'They've shut down the whole town. No one gets in or out.'
'This makes me nervous,' Isabel said.
'It's not an alien hunt, it's a quarantine,' Max told her. 'Still, we've got to put an end to it as soon as possible. We have to break into Meta-chem tonight.'
'What?' Michael said. 'Why?'
'Because I'm going to heal those people,' Max announced.
9
'Liz! You awake?' Kyle whispered.
In the bed next to him, Liz stirred. 'Yeah,' she said. 'I don't really feel like I can sleep anymore. All my senses just keep racing.'
'I know what you mean,' he said. 'I keep hearing things even when I don't want to.' That wasn't the worst part, though. The worst part was how much his skin hurt wherever the thin cotton sheet touched him… which was
