Part Eleven
Liz stood at the window overlooking the parking lot, waiting for Michael and Max to reappear. She had her arms wrapped around her body, trying to stave off a serious case of the jitters. Since she’d awaken from her encounter with Alex, she’d had an overwhelming sense of dread coursing through her.
What had he meant about her becoming who she was meant to be? Why had he sent a lost alien to her doorstep? Who was this Carter person and how could be really be worse than Khivar? Where was Isabel? And most importantly – why did he insist on speaking in riddles?
Maybe she was crazy. Maybe none of that had really happened. It was a dream or a hallucination or something. Maybe someone mindwarped her and made her imagine all of those things.
Liz turned slightly and saw Adam sitting on the couch and knew that none of her denials had any merit. He looked like someone who had just been outted on national television. There was more dread coming from him than Liz had in her pinky, and she suddenly felt very compassionate toward him.
“You know, you don’t have to stay,” she said to him.
Startled by the sound of her voice, he jumped slightly. “Do you want me to leave?” His eyes shifted to the door.
“Not really. I’d like you to talk to my fiancé when he gets back. I’m sure he’ll be interested in what has happened. But I can’t – and won’t – make you stay here.” Never again would Liz thrust the Czechoslovakian secret on anyone – she’d done it once to Alex and it had cost him his life. If Adam wanted to leave, she’d step out of the way and let him go.
Liz watched silently as Adam’s eyes fixed on the door. Some of the uncertainty and nervousness was gone from his mannerisms. She wasn’t sure if that was a result of the cat being out of the bag or of Alex no longer possessing him.
“You know what I am, don’t you?” he asked bluntly.
Surprised by the question, Liz lifted her eyebrows sharply. Then she nodded – there was no point in lying about that.
“What are you going to do?” he asked. There was no fear in his voice, only curiosity; Liz wondered if he had powers and if he was confident enough in those powers that her answer was inconsequential.
“Nothing,” she answered. She worked her mouth for a moment, then figured turnabout was fair play. “Do you know what I am?”
Adam studied her for a few long moments, titling his head this way and that. While he considered his answer, Liz realized that she no longer saw any hint of her dead friend in his eyes. It made her a little sad – did this mean she’d never see Alex again?
“I’m not sure what you are,” Adam finally concluded. “You’re obviously human, but…” His voice trailed off and he gave a quick shake of his head. “I don’t know. It’s something else. You’re not an ordinary human.”
Liz allowed herself a small smile. “You’re right.” But her smile faded away as she remembered Alex’s words to her –
He already knows about you.
“Adam,” she began cautiously. “How can you tell I’m different?”
He shrugged. “It’s just something I can sense.”
“Do you know why I’m different?”
He shook his head.
Not finding her answer, Liz turned back to the window – there had been no activity in the parking lot since she’d looked away. Sighing, she walked over and dropped herself on the opposite end of the couch from where Adam was sitting. They sat in silence for a long while, the only sound coming from the ticking of a clock Liz’s mother had given her when she’d moved out.
Finally, Adam cleared his throat cautiously. “I hope she’s okay.”
Liz turned her head to regard him.
“Isabel, I mean,” he added. “That is her name, isn’t it?”
She nodded, her mind quickly flashing over the tall, blond alien who had helped to find her and had taught her to control her powers of destruction. “She’s…important to me,” Liz confided. “Five years ago I wouldn’t have said that. But now I know Isabel for who she really is and she’s like a sister to me.”
Adam gave her a sympathetic smile.
Liz’s eyebrows drew together. “Do you know why you were following her?”
He shook his head. “No, not really.”
“Did you know she was different?”
“I thought maybe, but I wasn’t sure.”
Liz digested that. So, Adam was able to detect that Liz was different, but not Isabel, who was more alien than she would ever be. “But, you’re from the same place, right?”
“I’m not sure, but I don’t think so.” He gave a laugh at her stunned expression. “What, did you think there was only one type of alien on earth?”
“Well, yeah! Sheesh.” Liz looked away, focusing on nothing, and thought of the species she had encountered so far – there were the hybrids, the shapeshifters and the Skins. So, not all one type of alien, but they’d all come from the same place.
“It’s a big galaxy,” Adam pointed out, his tone as close to a laugh as Liz had ever heard it; perhaps he was starting to lighten up a bit. Then his head suddenly whipped toward the door. “Someone’s coming,” he warned.
Anxious, Liz jumped to her feet and ran for the door. Soon she heard it, too – familiar footsteps on the stairs. Ignoring the fact that Adam McKinney had a supernatural sense of hearing, she waited nervously for her friends to come through the door. She hoped that Isabel was with them because there was so much she had to tell them – Adam was an alien, Carter was a decidedly bad alien, Alex had communicated with her…
But when they finally appeared at the door, her heart sank to her toes. Both Max and Michael looked devastated, their faces resembling that of someone who had witnessed a horrific car crash. Isabel was not with them.
“What?” Liz asked, briefly glancing toward Michael, but mostly keeping her gaze locked on her lover.
Max worked his jaw and she could tell he was close to tears.
“There weren’t any flights to Connecticut this morning,” Michael said, filling in for his mute friend. “Isabel never got on a plane.”
Liz swallowed hard, fear running her blood cold. “Where is she?”
Michael pursed his lips and shook his head.
Liz turned her gaze to Max, who had finally lost it. His lip quivering, he reached for her and she held him tightly.
“She’s gone, Liz,” he cried into her shoulder. “Oh, God - she’s gone!”
* * * * *
“Do you like it here?”
Isabel smiled and released a happy sigh. “I love it here, Carter. Thanks so much for inviting me.”
“Not a problem,” he said as he sank down beside her on the couch. “I wouldn’t want to be with anyone else.”
She grinned at him and turned her eyes to the fireplace, watched the flames dance and flicker. “When are your friends coming by to start the party?”
Carter lifted his glass to his lips. “Oh, they’ll be along when they’re ready.”
“It’s been so long since I’ve been to a Halloween party,” she said. Her lips turned into a frown. “I didn’t bring a costume.”
“It’s okay, I brought one for you,” he said, gesturing toward the coat closet.
She looked at him curiously. “You did?”
He nodded. “Go ahead – go look.”
Her smile slowly returned to her pretty face as she rose and walked to the closet. When she opened the door, she found a beautiful ball gown inside. Not just any ball gown, but a gown that would have made Disney proud. Drawing in a delighted breath, she pulled the dress out of the closet and held it before her. The skirt was wide, lined with many layers of tulle, and it was nearly three times as wide as Isabel was.
“It’s beautiful,” she gasped, looking at herself in the mirror as she held the dress against her.
Carter appeared behind her and smiled. “Not as beautiful as you are.” He pointed to a box on the floor of the closet. “There’s more.”
Her eyes lit up. “There is?” Quickly hanging the dress up, she reached for the box. Inside she found a pair of elbow-length gloves, a pair of glass slippers and a tiara. “Cinderella,” she said, smiling. “I always wanted to be Cinderella!”
“I know,” he agreed. “And I’ll be your Prince Charming.”
“Oh, thank you!” she laughed, throwing her arms around him. They were going to have the best costumes at the party…
Carter blew out a sigh and looked into the bright sky – it was midday already. Glancing at the odometer of the SUV, he quickly calculated how far he’d driven. He was making good time, putting lots of distance between him and those other aliens in Albuquerque. He didn’t particularly care for driving as a mode of transportation, but he had cargo that needed to be moved, and his usual methods didn’t provide for that.
Glancing in his rearview mirror, he caught a glimpse of the duffle bag he’d purchased at the army surplus store and had just recently tossed into the cargo area of the SUV. When he’d first purchased the bag, he’d doubted its size and strength would be enough to hold what he’d intended to put in it, but he was happily being proven wrong. That made him smile.
While he watched, the bag didn’t move, which made him smile wider. Tess had taught him well. If only she’d known that his skills were so much better than hers…
The obvious answer to that was maybe she’d still be alive, here with him on this god-forsaken planet. At that, he frowned. If only she’d trusted him enough to let him get involved.
Carter glanced in the mirror again, wondering what was going through the head of his beautiful yet gullible cargo. He remembered Tess mindwarping that computer geek into decoding that useless book and how it had drained her. It was a constant worry that she’d somehow drop the mindwarp and silly Alex Whatever-His-Name-Was would wake up in some dorm room and not know why. Questions would be asked and then she stood the risk of being exposed.
But Carter had discovered that Tess’s labor had been unnecessary – at least as far as his skills had been concerned. He didn’t need to continually mindwarp someone. All he needed to do was plant an idea in there, give them a nudge, and their brains would take over from there. Whatever they desired, they could have.
He’d seen right through that fragile, helpless Isabel Evans. As he’d walked across the quad at the college, he had read her from a mile away. She wanted happiness, she craved love. And under it all she was a romantic. She’d been the easiest of his conquests so far. Those hybrids had been poorly constructed. They had faults, every one of them.
And that made the smile return to Carter’s face. He was counting on it.
tbc
And for your patience