"It appears to be so," the sheriff commented.

"But why would he kidnap her?" she added.

Jim took a breath and tapped his knuckles on the desk. "Well, I have some more information for you about that very question."

"Really?" Agent Duff came around the desk and stood in front of the sheriff. "Well, Sheriff, you've certainly moved this investigation along quickly considering you wouldn't tell me anything before you lost your job."

Jim tightened his jaw, avoiding her eyes. "I messed up when I let it become too personal. Isabel and Max are friends with my son and Tess, the girl staying with us. I didn't realize how deep this got until I started investigating on Isabel's behalf. Believe me, this isn't just about those kids anymore, Agent Duff. It involves a very rich family that wanted to get rid of the beneficiary to a large inheritance claim."

Agent Duff was intrigued by Sheriff Valenti's last statement.

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

"Do you think that Agent Duff will buy that story?" Liz asked Max while they drove out to Pohlman Ranch in his jeep.

Max shrugged his shoulders. "I hope she does. If she thinks that Grant was going to be paid fifty thousand dollars by Laurie's aunt and uncle to stage a kidnapping and get her out of the way so they could get her chunk of her grandfather's money, then we're totally in the clear. Even if the FBI talks to Laurie's family and they deny the whole thing, Michael and Sheriff Valenti made sure to plant the dirty money in Grant's hotel room--money that was THEIRS."

Liz's mind was overloaded with the amount of lies they all were telling."But what if they investigate Mr. Dupree's will and discover that Laurie WASN'T the beneficiary to his estate? I mean, Laurie's aunt and uncle could have lied to Michael and Maria about the inheritance. Obviously they just wanted to get rid of them."

Max smiled. "Well, I fabricated Grant's Pinecrest documents. I could easily do the same to Mr. Dupree's will."

Liz shook her head incredulously. "Speaking of Grant's files, Isabel and Maria are headed to Pinecrest right now to distribute them into the place where they found Laurie's personal stuff, right?"

Max nodded. "Yup, so if the FBI checks to confirm that Grant DOES have personal files there, they won't be able to dispute that evidence."

"Wow, we really outdid ourselves on this one, didn't we?" Liz said. "I feel guilty about it. I mean, we don't even know the truth--what we're covering up."

Max pulled onto a dirt road that would eventually lead to the pod chamber. "I feel guilty, too, Liz, but at least it bought us some time. And after a short suspension, Sheriff Valenti will get his job back and we'll be able to pursue the truth."

"I suppose you're right," Liz conceded.

"Now, while Michael and the sheriff accompany the FBI to Arizona to get Laurie back, we better concentrate on destroying the ganderium before we're in anymore danger," Max said as he pulled off the side of the road. They immediately noticed Kyle's red sports car parked in the weeds. Liz and Max exchanged curious glances and got out of the jeep.

"What is Kyle doing here?" Liz asked as they began the trek to the pod chamber.

"He's probably here with Tess, although I can't imagine why." Max grabbed her hand. "Come on."

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

"You didn't mention what we talked about last night to Liz or Max, did you?" Kyle sat on the dirty flor of the pod chamber with Tess.

Tess picked at a weed sprouting up beside her leg. "Well. . .no."

"That didn't sound too convincing," Kyle observed.

Tess sighed. "I was going to ask Liz about it, but there just didn't seem to be a good time to bring it up."

Kyle grabbed her chin and turned her head to face him. "Tess, you know you can't say anything! I told you that!"

Tess pulled away gently and stood up. "I just don't see why she would orchestrate something like that without a reason! Don't you want to find out what that reason is?"

Kyle followed her to a standing position. "Frankly, I don't really care WHAT the reasons were for doing it. I was just glad to get back at Max for stealing her from me in the first place."

Tess' eyes narrowed with jealousy. "That's a horrible thing to say, Kyle."

"Well, it's the truth," he said simply.

"What's the truth?" Max asked as he and Liz walked in. Tess jumped, startled.

Kyle quickly said, "Nothing."

"What are you guys doing here?" Liz questioned.

"We thought we could help," Tess explained. "With Isabel and Michael being busy with other things, we figured we'd need two extra people."

"Not 'we,'" Kyle said. "SHE figured this out all on her own."

"How could you and Liz help?" Max pointedly looked at Kyle.

Tess answered, noticing Kyle's eyes darken at Max's sarcastic tone. "I explained to Kyle last night that you, Liz, and Kyle have a connection now because you healed them both. We can use that to our advantage, Max."

"And maybe I'll be of some use, finally," Kyle added, more to himself than to the other three.

Max shook his head vehemently. "I can't endanger Liz that way."

Liz looked over at Max with an eager expression on her face. "Max, there are more important things to think about right now. If Kyle and I can help, I think we're both more than willing to. It should be our decision."

Max was about to argue with her, but he realized that he wouldn't just be arguing with her--he'd be going up against Tess and Kyle, too. He sighed defeatedly, realizing that she was right. "Fine. Let's just do this."

Tess, Max, Kyle, and Liz took turns crawling into the lower pod chamber to the room that held the granolith.

"Wow," Kyle whispered as he took in the full majesty of the mysterious object. "Can we even figure out how this thing works? I mean, we might make things WORSE if we don't know what we're doing."

"It's part of us," Max said, his eyes glued to the granolith. "It senses that we're good. We'll have the power to channel those positive energies through this thing and hopefully get rid of the parasite."

"How do you know that?" Liz asked tentatively.

"We just do," Tess suddenly added, the same determined expression on her face as Max. "Hurry, link hands."

Liz held tight to Max's hand as they surrounded the granolith. She caught Max's eye in the reflection of the black surface. "I'm scared, Max," she whispered.

He offered her a reassuring smile. "It's okay, Liz. Just open yourself up to the feelings, then you won't be scared."

Before linking hands with Tess, Max placed the blue crystal and a sample of the river water underneath the granolith.

"We're ready."

The four of them closed their eyes and took deep breaths. Silence enveloped the room as they concentrated on the task at hand. A few minutes passed before Max tentatively opened one eye and glanced around him. Nothing out of the ordinary seemed to be occurring.

The others must have sensed it, too, because pretty soon all of them had opened their eyes and were glancing around uneasily.

"Nothing's happening," Kyle murmured, afraid to talk in his normal voice.

Liz and Max turned their heads to look at each other, but as soon as their eyes met, a blinding flash of light exploded from the core of the granolith.

Electricity shot through Max, traveling along the length of his arms and sending currents through Liz, Tess, and Kyle. An instant connection was made among the four of them.

A whirlwind of scenes filled their minds as the electricity completed its journey back to the core of the granolith. They all witnessed Tess and Kyle's warm exchange in the kitchen of Sheriff Valenti's house during Christmas and the conversation the two of them had on the park bench the night before.

As quickly as those images came, they were replaced by visions of Liz and Max, only Max had never seen them before. Liz was in his arms, dancing under the stars on her balcony while tears streamed down her face--then Kyle and she were talking in her bedroom before getting under the covers of her bed--

The four of them suddenly felt a burst of energy hit them, ripping their hands out of each other's grasps. They all stumbled back from each other in a shocked daze.

Max blinked his eyes successively until he could focus. His whole body tingled as the last amounts of static faded away. He suddenly got confused as the visions swam through his mind. Could they have been real? Did Liz really orchestrate the whole thing with Kyle?

Before his mind could be distracted by that thought, he remembered the crystal. He ran up to the granolith and kneeled down. The blue crystal was melted into a lackluster pile of liquid on the floor while the water sparkled with renewed vigor.

"Guys, I think it worked!" Max exclaimed in triumph as he stood again. The first thing he saw when he turned around was Liz slumped against the chamber wall. A surprised expression was on her face.

"Liz!" Max suddenly feared for her, hoping that he hadn't caused anything bad to happen to her.

"Max. . ." she whispered, looking up at him as he rushed over. She lifted her hands up so he could see what was occurring. "What's going on?"

Tiny sparks of light were dancing around her fingers before finally disappearing into the air above her fingertips.

"Kyle's hands are doing the same thing!" Tess suddenly spoke up from the opposite side of the room.