Tess looked up from the book she was reading. "He's not working on his wood project anymore?"

Kyle sat down on the edge of the bed and sighed. "No. I haven't heard him in there for awhile. Where do you think he is?"

Tess repositioned herself so she was sitting next to Kyle. "I wouldn't know. I still feel so bad about your dad losing his job. I'm sorry that he got into trouble because of us. I know we've been awfully needy lately."

Kyle smiled at her. "We already went through this, Tess. I don't have any animosity towards you. Isabel and Max were the ones that made things worse for him. You had nothing to do with it."

"But everything that happens has to do with me, too." She looked down at the floor guiltily. "I'm just so grateful that your father is trying to help us. I just wish we could figure out a way to return the favor."

Kyle looked over at Tess suddenly. "Well, maybe we can. I mean, there's got to be some sort of explanation that we can come up with to make the feds give Dad his job back. We just need Max and Isabel to go along with it."

Before Tess could reply, the phone rang. She hurried over to it and answered. Kyle looked at her expectantly as a brief conversation ensued. Tess hung up the receiver. "Speaking of Max and Isabel, they've called an emergency meeting at The Crashdown. Something serious is going on."

Kyle rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I'm sure it's life or death, too."

Tess gave him a dirty look. "It may well be. We better get going."

*********************************************************************

Liz nervously chewed on her nails, staring at Max and Isabel across the table.

"This is driving me crazy," Isabel finally spoke. "Can't we talk about something while we're waiting for everyone?"

Max glanced at Liz, a thought coming to him. "What's going on with Michael, Maria, and Laurie?"

Liz sighed, shrugging her shoulders. "I haven't heard from them for awhile. Maria's mom got hysterical on the phone with them. I didn't even get to talk to Maria."

"Is that why you were over there?" Max asked, recalling the scene of Liz and Sean Deluca wrestling on the couch. A pang of jealousy surged through him despite his best efforts to not let it affect him.

"You mean Amy Deluca knows that Maria didn't go camping?" Isabel asked incredulously.

Liz nodded. "This just keeps getting worse and worse. I thought we were in above our heads countless other times, but it seems like there's no accounting for all the events that have been happening lately. And now we don't even have Sheriff Valenti to cover for us anymore."

"As much as I'd like to focus on the sheriff right now, we have MUCH bigger problems," Max muttered apologetically.

Liz nodded silently, her mood getting increasingly darker. They would have to come up with an elaborate story to fix everything this time.

The door to The Crashdown opened suddenly and Alex walked in. "What's going on?" he questioned, instantly falling into the booth beside Liz.

"What ISN'T going on?" Isabel answered impatiently, standing up and pacing. "Let's see. . . Grant Sorenson and his mysterious involvement in this whole mess, Michael and Maria out of the state with a potentially crazy girl that has some sort of link to us, Sheriff Valenti getting fired, a message from Larek telling us to get off the planet because we're in danger--" she stopped suddenly and placed her face in her hands. "Pick your problem."

Alex raised his eyebrows and whistled. "Wow."

Tess and Kyle arrived at that moment. Tess quickly went over to the booth and slid in beside Max. Kyle hung back, giving him a wary look. "Look, Max, I don't know what weird alien thing is going on with you and your sister, but you better not try to involve my dad. He's already got enough to deal with, seeing as how that boyfriend of yours--" he glared pointedly at Isabel, "has plans to sue him and potentially ruin our lives."

Isabel's eyes widened. "WHAT?!"

She and Max looked at Tess for confirmation. She nodded in response.

"I wouldn't be so sure he's going to sue anymore," a voice said from the doorway. All six teenagers looked over towards the entrance and saw Jim Valenti. He dropped the door and let it close behind him. "Grant attacked me tonight."

"What?" Kyle asked with concern.

"Are you all right?" Max said.

The sheriff nodded and put a hand on his son's shoulder. "We got a break. The FBI checked into his background. Needless to say, what they found can link him to the kidnapping of Laurie Dupree."

Liz smiled, relieved. "Really?"

Max furrowed his eyebrows. "They found evidence?"

Jim nodded, his face still grim. "We're still not out of the woods, yet, though. There are still questions about why you two have been with me so much lately. We still have some explaining to do, but if we solve this case, I can get my job back."

Kyle and Tess grinned at each other. "That's great news, Dad!" Kyle exclaimed, giving him a quick hug.

"This IS good new, sheriff, but I'm afraid we have something more important to talk about," Max said regretfully, hating to ruin the short moment of relief. All eyes turned to him.

"What is it, Max?" Jim asked.

Max glanced at Isabel and Liz for support. "That blue crystal you found at the gravesite?"

"Yeah?" Jim prodded curiously.

"We found out what it is."

"Well, that's good news, too, isn't it?" Alex asked hopefully, trying to relieve the tension in the room.

"I'm afraid it's not," Max answered softly, his eyes drifting down to the tabletop. "Liz, do you want to tell them?"

Liz was surprised that Max elected her to break the news. Everyone shifted their attention to her, making her feel even more nervous than she already was. "Well, the crystal is called ganderium. It's an alien parasite that came from the crash site--I guess the spaceship. That's what we got from the alien, Larek, that took over Brody's body."

"Brody?" Tess and Kyle said simultaneously.

"Yes," Liz said impatiently. "But that's a whole different story. Anyway, Frasier Woods has a stream running right through it, which might carry the parasite to its host--"

"Wait," Sheriff Valenti interrupted. "Frasier Woods is where Grant is doing his studies." The light was beginning to dawn on everyone. "The parasite probably infected him, causing all that strange behavior that made him kidnap Laurie and attack me tonight."

"And that parasite will infect more people and be dangerous to all of us," Max concluded forbodingly.

Alex whistled again and ran a hand through his hair. "Well, Sheriff, there's your explanation--but I don't think you'll be telling THAT to the FBI."

There was a collective silence as the enormity of the dilemma sunk in.

*********************************************************************

"What are we doing, Michael?" Maria impatiently drummed her fingers on the hood of her car. "We can't stay our here forever, as much as I like it. My mom's going to freak more than she already has if we're not back before the end of this weekend."

Michael took a deep breath and let it out slowly, turning over a stack of one hundred dollar bills in his hand. "Will you be quiet for a minute? I'm trying to figure out a plan."

"Well, if you're trying to THINK, then we'll be here FOREVER!" Maria exclaimed with sarcasm in her voice.

"We have to find a way to get Laurie out of there! Something weird is going on and I'm going to figure it out," Michael continued as if he hadn't heard Maria.

"See, there you go with the thinking thing again. We need Max or Isabel for that. Shoot, even KYLE would probably think of something fastere than YOU can," Maria muttered, rolling her eyes.

Michael looked over at her suddenly. "That's a good idea. Give me your phone."

"What?! No way!" Maria exclaimed as he reached toward her. "What if my mom still has Liz's phone? I don't think you'd be getting much help from her."