"In the first case, we have a snake who is defending his natural habitat from an intruder. Max happened to be the unfortunate victim, but he was fortunate to have two beautiful women come to his rescue. Nahb' suffered the same fate. He too went into the jungle and met Nawiaka. His wife, Ohl, also knew what had happened to him and she sent his sister with the antidote since she was pregnant with their first child, and was too close to term. We can only speculate how she knew her husband had been bitten," he said, as he glanced knowingly at Liz.

'And last, but by no means least, we have the scorpion. A tiny creature who is able to crawl into minute cracks and crevices and hide until his intended vitim comes into sight.You must all be wondering why Max did not feel Liz's peril, when she had quite obviously felt his."

Max hung his head in shame as Balam reminded him of his lack of awareness when it came to Liz's well being.

"No, please, I do not want to cause you despair over this oversight. There are two reasons for Max's lack of response. They are both speculation on my part, but I feel very strongly that I am correct. The first one is that Max was still suffering the effects of Nawiaka. Am I correct in saying that your powers have only now started returning, Max?" he asked.

Max nodded mutely, still feeling badly that he couldn't have prevented the incident, or at least have helped Liz in her predicament. Liz reached for his hand and kissed it to reassure him. He smiled weakly at her and she mouthed *I love you*, just to make sure.

"The second reason is much more deadly and sinister. Liz was not the intended victim," he pronounced dramatically, as his eyes swivelled towards Tess.

"Huh?" Kyle said.

"What are you talking about?" she spluttered as everyone turned to look at her."I wasn't even in their bathroom! Why would anyone want to hurt me?!"

"No, I do not want you to misunderstand. I am not accusing you of any wrongdoing. Please let me explain." He stood up from his chair as he tried to make his point.

"Liz, when we first met yesterday, you were wearing a white sunhat, am I correct?"

"Yes, but it got wet when the rain started and I borrowed a dry one from Tess," she admitted.

"And the one you borrowed from Tess, it had a very distinctive colour and design, had it not?"

"Yes, we used to kid her about it, actually. It was bright yellow, and there was a big blue and white striped butterfly on the back of it."

"So it would certainly stand out in a crowd," he prodded her.

"Yes, I guess it would," she nodded.

Balam turned his attention to Tess. "Senorita, do you recall wearing that sunhat on Monday?"

Tess thought for a moment. "Yes, I was as a matter of fact. Why?"

"So you were wearing it when the rock slab was pushed at all of you. Do you recall exactly what occurred after that particular incident?"

"Let me see," she concentrated hard. "Well, just after that, Kyle got kind of weak and fell on the grass. I went over to him to see what the problem was. I remember glancing back over my shoulder at the temple....I don't really know why I did that.......and I saw this man staring at us. I didn't pay too much attention to him because I was more worried about Kyle. I just remembered thinking he was pretty rude for trying to listen to our conversation."

"Now, Liz, when you came back to the hotel on Tuesday, were you still wearing Tess's sunhat?"

"Yes," she affirmed. "But I had my hair pushed up under it 'cause it was still wet."

"So anyone following you and your friends would have naturally assumed that you were Tess if they had seen you the day before wearing the same hat."

"Yeah, I guess they would. We are about the same height and size, so from a distance I guess we could've been mistaken for each other."

"Well, I think that is what might have happened," he determined. "I have been most concerned about this dark stranger you have told me about and I think this person, to avoid incrimination, deliberately put that scorpion in your bathroom. He must have thought that Tess had seen his face on Monday, and mistaking Tess for you yesterday, he decided to do something about it."

"But why didn't he do something sooner?" Liz asked.

"Opportunity!" Balam responded. "You recall that Max left you early this morning and if that person had been watching carefully, he would have seized the moment to slip into your room to leave the scorpion in your bathroom. I am curious about one thing. Do you know who this dark stranger is?"

----------------------------------------------

"Yes," they all replied in unison. Max went on to explain. "We ran into him in New Mexico, on a few occasions," Max verified.

He went on to describe the car accident he caused with Liz and the time he pushed him over the rail in the cave in Carlsbad. He also went into detail about the time Charlie had taken him to the cave up in the mountains and how he had impersonated Max on that occasion.

"That is most interesting," Luis admitted. "Now that you tell me he is capable of these changes in appearance, I start to doubt my original theory about the scorpion. Unless, of course, he is limited to just his own appearance and that of Max's. This is very puzzling indeed. We shall see," he surmised.

He then told him about Charlie's revelation concerning the Maya living in New Mexico 5000 years ago.

"I must confess, I have never heard of such a thing before. I would like to talk to this Charlie to find out what more he has to say on the subject."

The teens had this mental image of the sophisticated Balam carrying on a conversation with the old codger, and had to stifle their laughter.

"Perhaps you should start from the beginning and tell me about your experiences in New Mexico. Then, maybe we can start forming some concrete connections."

"Well," Max stated, "it all began last August, when Liz and I took a weekend trip to the San Andres Mountains. That was the first of the visits from Grandma and you know all about what she said then. When we got back to Roswell, we started working on our search, after she visited me at the UFO Centre. About the same time something strange happened. My boss, Brody, gave Liz and me his house. He said he wasn't getting to use it, and he liked us and so he thought we might want it. Weird, huh?"

"Yes, that is most peculiar," Balam admitted. "Was any money exchanged during this transaction?"

"Yeah.....one dollar. I guess that's standard for a contract. The only hitch is that he holds power of attorney over the deed until we both turn eighteen, which will be in a few months time.As we started to accumulate more files, we decided to transfer them to the bungalow. It has two computers and a whole bunch of other equipment and a wall safe."

"Then, Liz found a real link between the two groups of symbols...it was the number 8. We decided to see if there were any connections between ourselves and the number and Liz came up with some really good links."

Liz then explained briefly what she had learned and Balam was very impressed with her deductive reasoning.

"Yes, the number 8 holds great significance to my people, as I'm sure you are well aware of. Please continue."

"Well, Liz also remembered this drawing she'd seen about King Chac and his ritual killing. Soneone had impersonated him and then killed his wife. Naturally, he was executed for this crime. We thought this stranger might be following the same plan....or at least, the ritual part. Anyway, this led us to making the final decision to come to Mexico. We figured we'd have a better chance of finding the real answers if we came to the place where it supposedly all began."

"I would be very interested in seeing your files and going over your detailed findings. Do you happen to have them with you?"

Max told him that they did, but were concerned about anyone else getting their hands on them.

I will be very careful," he promised. "I have a wall safe at home, and when I am not studying the notes, I will safely store them in the safe."

"The files are specially coded with a failsafe mechanism. If the proper code isn't punched in within 30 seconds, the file self destructs. And they can't be copied either."

Balam was most impressed with their precautions. "Do you have any more searching planned before you leave Mexico?" he asked.

"We're supposed to visit El Diablo Grotto, tomorrow."

"Ah, yes, the final cave in your search. Well, I hope you find what you are looking for when you make your visit. I have made the trip many times and it is quite fascinating."

Max handed over the information to Balam, giving him the code.

"I would like to meet with you tomorrow night to go over my findings. Would the same time be convenient?"

"Yes, that would be fine," Max agreed.

Balam said his goodbyes and left. The teens chatted for a bit and decided that it had been a long enough day and headed for their rooms, leaving Max and Liz alone.

"Well, what do you think?" he asked her.

"I think that Balam will be able to help us," she replied.

"So do I. Thanks for making me listen," he said. He glanced at her foot. "How does it feel now? You haven't had a painkiller since this afternoon."

"It still feels a little sore," she winced.

"Here, why don't you try to stand on it?" Max asked as he helped her up.

She put her foot on the floor but grimaced as the pain shot up her leg. "Maybe you can do something," she said. She lay back down and he sat down next to her. He placed his hand on the sole of her foot and concentrated. She felt the accompanying tingle and warmth radiate through her injured limb. She wiggled her toes and proclaimed it better.

"Thanks," she sighed.

"My pleasure," he smiled, as he bent over to kiss her foot. He placed his fingers on her heel and massaged the skin tenderly.

"Mmmm, oh that feels good," she sighed.

He continued to plant soft kisses running his mouth up her leg, until he reached her groin. He stopped as he reached her panties and Liz brought her other leg up by reflex. He then ran his tongue down her right leg, making her gasp as he licked her skin all the way down to her right ankle. Then he waited for her to look at him.

Her breathing stopped as she felt her back become magnetized to the bed. Her whole body was heavy with desire and she lay there immobilized as he stared at her with hooded eyes. She grew hot all over under his gaze and a sob escaped from her throat as she waited for him to move. He swallowed hard as he descended down towards her mound, his own breaths coming with difficulty as his loins burned with desire.

He pulled her panties off so carefully, she hardly felt the silky fabric leave her skin. She lifted her bottom, as he dragged them down her legs and threw them onto the floor. Then he slowly maneuvered his body until his head was just resting above her mound. He rubbed his chin along her silk, teasing the flesh underneath. His hands rested by her hips as he supported his upper body over her pelvis. She could see the muscles straining in his biceps.

He looked at her flushed face before he descended again to her groin, licking the sensitive skin at the juncture. It was so soft there, and he ran his tongue over it again and again. Her legs trembled as she tried to breathe. Her whole body felt like it was on fire as his tongue moved closer to her heat. He blew on the hairs as he parted her swollen labia with his tongue, seeking her juices to lap up.

He used the tip of his tongue to run along her length, sweeping it to just below her clit. She gasped each time he did this, driving her mad with want as she moved under him. Finally, he let her have what she desired and flattened his tongue over her swelling. She arched up to meet him, whimpering as he drew his tongue across the surface. He spread her wide with the fingers of both hands and ran his flattened tongue up and down her outer lips.

She writhed harder as he teased her sensitive flesh, her fingers digging into the spread and cluthing at the fabric. She didn't know how much longer she could last before she passed out, the feeling was so powerful. Her heart pounded in her chest and her limbs felt weighted down, as her breath came harsh and laboured. It felt like she was coming apart, like all the pieces of her body had decided to separate.

She felt a hum start deep inside her, but she was unaware of its source. She just knew that in another minute she would explode and there would be nothing left of her. But as long as he didn't stop what he was doing she didn't care what happened . She was drunk with desire and she groaned deeply as she started to feel the waves crash around her.

Her body arched up in the air and she vibrated like the strings on a harp, as he continued to play her. Her whole pelvic region pulsed until she came down again, crashing back to earth, a rubbery mass of used up flesh. Max kicked off his pants and tore at his shirt before he wriggled up her body. He slid into her without preamble, pumping her passage with his hardness.

She gulped in air at this new assault, her mind trying to grasp what was happening now.

"I need you, now , Liz." he rasped into her ear, as he plunged in and out of her soft body. "Come back to me," he pleaded.

She concentrated on his husky voice until she became part of the scene again and kissed him solidly as he moved inside of her. "I'm here," she whispered as she assured him of her presence. "I'm always here for you Max," she moaned. "I love you," she murmured. "Love me, Max!"

He kissed her with everything he had. "I love you...... Oh God, Liz, I can't stop loving you! "he cried as he felt himself tense with his oncoming climax. "Liz......Liz!" he called her name as he spilled all of himself into her.

He sank down on top of her, his chest heaving as his lungs searched the air for oxygen.

"I love you, I love you," he whispered over and over to her as he gasped for breath.

She kissed him on his forehead. "I love you," she whispered as she basked in his warmth. "Mmmm, I do love you, with all my heart," she murmured.