It looked like there was something for him to do here.
A few minutes after Bell had brought their food out, she and Sam emerged from the kitchen with plates for themselves.
Liz and Maria immediately rose and started moving another table to add to theirs so that everyone would be able to sit together.
Pointing to the now larger table, Liz said, "Join us.”
She didn't have to look to know that Max was giving her a look… probably Michael, too. But there were things she needed to know, things that were more important than avoiding other people to keep their secret.
"You sure you want a couple of old farts intruding?" Bell asked.
"Don't be silly, just sit," Liz said.
Bell nodded and said, "Kids, this is my husband, Sam. Sam, these are Liz and Maria's friends.”
Sam gave them a short nod as the older couple sat down to eat.
"So what are you kids doing on the road in that van of yours?" Bell asked.
For a second, no one spoke, and Liz glanced at Max. She saw that the others were doing the same.
Max didn't hesitate further. "We all just graduated from high school. We wanted to see the country and to stay together for a while," he said.
Liz was relieved. It was a good story. It was also true… as far as it went.
Bell turned to Sam and said, "We should have done something like that when we were kids.”
Sam gave a snort but didn't look up from his food.
Turning to the group, she smiled and said, "Sam is not the adventurous type. But I'm glad to see you kids doing what you want. You'll have plenty of time later to settle down into jobs and a normal life.”
Will we? Liz wondered. Will we ever? She watched as Bell reached her fork onto Sam's plate and ate something from it. There was something very familiar and warm about the gesture. Liz was sure that the two did have something together.
Something good. Something normal.
Something that was impossible for the six of them now. Something that was impossible for her; even if she did somehow sever her connection to her half-alien boyfriend, could she find a normal life for herself? In that last three years she had spent countless hours hoping for that normality, but she had been changed by her experience. Even if she could somehow forget every- thing that had happened in the last three years, she was no longer the girl she once was. In fact, she was no longer completely human.
She was no longer normal.
When the changes in her body first showed themselves, she had been scared. Now with her new abilities even more pronounced, she was still scared, but there was something else. She was determined not to let the fear rule her life. Determined that she would do something other than suffer as…
Max's codependant girlfriend, as she had once said to Maria.
She was going to do something to make a difference with the new part of herself. And she was going to start right now.
"Bell, what do you think is going on with the disap- pearances?" Liz asked.
Liz watched a cloud cross Bell's face. She didn't speak for a long moment, and then said, "I really don't know.”
Then she paused again and said, "There have been about a dozen in the last three months.”
"About?" Liz asked. "Doesn't anybody know exactly how many?”
"Well, people don't need a reason to leave this town, a hole-in-the-wall with few jobs anymore. And a lot of people have taken off in the middle of the night over the years. Sometimes they're in trouble, running from the law or their beau. Sometimes they're looking for something that they won't find in Stonewall. And sometimes they don't leave a forwarding address.”
"So some are missing and some are escapees?' Maria asked.
Bell gave them a thin smile and said, "Probably.”
That didn't explain all of it, though, Liz knew. And it definitely didn't explain her vision of Jimmy's future.
"In the last three months, how many of the people who have 'left town' have been guys?" Liz asked.
"None," Bell admitted.
"What do the police say?" Max asked. Liz could sense that Max didn't approve of her interest in the town's strange business, but she was glad that he was helping.
There was silence from Bell for a moment, and then she said, "The sheriff was one of the first ones gone. She disap- peared, and no one has heard from her since.”
A chill ran down Liz's spine as she remembered the room that wasn't a room and the screams. She was sud- denly sure that no one would be hearing from the sheriff ever again.
"The state police don't believe what they're hearing. They think the girls just ran off," Bell said.
"Jimmy said that a few girls turned up later," Liz said.
Bell nodded. "Three more that we thought were miss- ing turned up five days later. They were pretty shook up and didn't remember anything about where they had been. The doctors couldn't find anything wrong with any of them.”
Liz didn't want to ask her next question, but she couldn't back down now. "How long has Jimmy's sister been gone?" she asked anxiously.
"Seven days today," Bell said.
The entire table was silent. To Liz's surprise, it was Sam who broke the silence. "She was a nice girl," he said, and then went back to his food.
Bell nodded. "Actually, she had some wild years, but she always took care of Jimmy. Their parents died when they were young, and they were living with an aunt who doesn't much care about either of them. Jimmy still lives there.”
"Jimmy said she was planning to move to Pueblo with him," Liz said.
Bell nodded. "Yes, she had gotten into a hairdressing school. They were supposed to leave in a few weeks.”
The table went silent for the rest of the meal. Liz found she wasn't hungry, but forced herself to eat. As she did, she found the new thing inside her asserting itself more strongly, pushing aside the fear that she had felt for so long.
And she realized that she knew that new thing's name. It was determination.
13
Liz and her friends walked back to Johnny's Garage in silence. They automatically headed for the studio apart- ment in the back of the garage.
"So what do you guys want to do tonight?" Michael asked.
"Well, Space Boy, those of us who have worked all day are looking forward to sleeping," Maria asked.
"We'll have to work out sleeping arrangements," Max said. Gesturing to himself, Michael, and Kyle, he added, "We can sleep in the van.”
As the group came around to the side of the garage, Liz shook her head and said, "We'll squeeze in. The floor will be better than another night in the van seats.”
They reached the apartment door and found a pile of blankets and sleeping bags next to it. "The locals are a simple and friendly people who offer travelers oatmeal, blankets, and diner food," Maria said with a smile.
"That's really nice," Liz said, examining the pile. They were all old but clean. She grabbed up what she could and stepped inside, the others close behind her.
"What happened in here?" she asked. The room looked different, like it had been painted. There were some other changes as well.
"Don't get us started," Michael said. "Isabel, our alien- redecorator.”
They took a few minutes to figure out how to fit every- one. There were three sleeping bags, some blankets, four regular pillows, and two couch pillows. The guys insisted that the girls take the sleeping bags and pillows, while they made do with the blankets, the one pillow, and the two couch pillows.