"Liz, I need to tell you something important, is Carrie near you?" he asked

She frowned at the seriousness of his voice, "No, Max what wrong?"

"We found out Carrie isn’t who she appears to be, you need to be careful about what you say around her. We’re here with Riverdog, he told us Atherton doesn’t have a granddaughter." Max answered.

"Max, who is she then… is she an agent? What should we do?" Liz asked worriedly

Max was worried too but they couldn’t afford to tip their hand, "try to act normal, just be careful, don’t let anything slip, you haven’t yet have you?"

"No Max, we’ve been having fun, picking out dresses, you know, for the dance? Maria and Carrie have already found the perfect ones, Iz and I have been having trouble." Liz added

Max grinned to himself, "Liz you would look beautiful in a flour sack. It’s just a homecoming dance, it’s not formal is it?"

"No, it’s not formal, I just want to look nice for you. Don’t worry I’ll find a dress. I’ll talk to you later Max, and we will be careful around Carrie."

Liz hung up the phone and went back to the table with the other girls. As she sat down Isabel asked what her brother wanted. Liz blushed that she was so easy to read when she talked to Max. "I’ll tell you later okay?" she said with a light tone and a smile.

"I can’t believe you two were able to find those dresses so quickly, I mean they are perfect!" Liz said indicating the dresses Maria and Carrie had found.

Maria’s was a dark coral colored salsa styled dress with a full skirt that stopped just above the knees. Carrie’s dress was emerald green satin, with a princess neckline that showed off her long narrow neck. The colors on both dresses were perfect for the wearers’ skin tone and complexions. Liz had wondered a bit at that lucky break when Isabel located the dresses on the rack. The sales girl had even forgotten that the dresses came in those colors. Liz couldn’t help but remember that day on the lawn when Isabel changed the color of her nail polish.

As the girls were finishing up their lunches Kyle walked up to them and asked how they were. Liz explained that they were all out shopping for dresses for the dance, Kyle noticed the bag sitting next to Carrie. "So, Carrie, have you picked out your dress yet for our big date?" Kyle asked with a glint in his eyes.

Carrie was just abut to show him her dress when Liz stopped her, "Kyle, now you don’t want to spoil Carries surprise now do you? All you need to know is the color so that you can buy the flowers." Liz said with a glint in her eyes. "What are you doing here anyway?"

"Oh, I was just going to go see movie over a the theater, You wouldn’t want to come with me now would you Carrie?" Kyle asked, "you’ve already picked out your dress."

Carrie thought about it and after looking at the girls and seeing that they didn’t mind. She agreed thinking it would give her more time to get to know the sheriff’s son. Carrie picked up her bags and headed off towards the theater. Looking back to thank the girls for all their help in picking out the dress.

After Carrie had gone, Liz filled them in on Max’s warning about Carrie. "What do you suppose it means…?" Maria asked.

"I don’t know. But I think we should try to meet up with the boys after dinner." Said Liz.

They all agreed, and headed off to find dresses for Isabel & Liz. After trudging their way through another dozen stores they found an interesting one. Isabel dragged them in when she finally found what she was looking for. There she found a dress not just any dress but the dress the dress from Alex’s dream. It was red silk with tiny embroidered flowers trailing up from the bottom, the top of the dress was trimmed with black velvet and had two narrow straps to hold it on her shoulders. The skirt was tapered and ended just at the knees and had a slit in the back. She knew this was the dress she needed to wear. Glancing a few racks over she spotted another dress this one was sleeveless had a high narrow collar made of light blue silk with tiny flowers embroidered from the top down and a slit in the side The dress had a oriental look to it. The girls hurried into the dressing rooms to try them on when they walked out Maria’s jaw dropped. Her friends looked stunning.

"Do you think Max will like this Isabel?" Liz asked.

Isabel smiled, "Oh, yes… you do know that that’s his favorite color?"

Liz blushed; she had noticed that Max’s eyes lit up when he saw her wear this color. "Isabel, Alex is going to faint when he sees you in that dress."

Isabel just nodded she knew she would get a reaction from Alex with this dress. She hoped it would also give her a chance to explain about watching his dreams. She hated to keep secrets from him.

When they left the mall the sky was already darkening, they agreed to meet back at the Evans’s after dinner, telling their parents they were going to watch videos.

After Max got off the phone with Liz he went to have lunch with the others. They had started without him looking at the photographs first, Riverdog pointing out old friends long since dead. When he came to the photograph of himself though he paused, and wiped a tear from his eyes. Remembering that day as if yesterday he explained that that was the day that Nasado, the other man in the picture, had given Atherton the pendant. They had just completed a ‘bonding ritual’ important to Nasado’s people as a sign of trust.

"We went to the cave and formed a connection with one another, freely sharing our memories and our feeling so that we could completely trust one another. The connection was more intense than anything I had ever experienced before." River dog paused, "Our soles were laid bare before each other with no room to hide. That’s why I was so surprised when I came upon Nasado an Atherton in an argument and Atherton was killed."

"What were they arguing about?" Max asked.

Riverdog shrugged his shoulders; "I wasn’t close enough to tell. But I know they had disagreed about his publishing a new book. His publisher was after him to write a follow up."

"What happened to Nasado? Do you know where he went?" Michael asked?

Riverdog sighed, "As I told your friend Nasado left town shortly after Atherton's death, I haven’t heard from him since."

"But this is what Nasado looks like?" Alex asked excitedly. "We could scan the photo into the computer and run an age progression on it. We would know what he would look like today…"

Riverdog held up his hand, "No, that wouldn’t work." Alex paused, waiting for a reason. "Nasado was able to alter his appearance. He could change his skin color, the shape of his face. He could become just about anyone he wished." Riverdog added.

Max and Michael just starred at each other; jaws slacked, never considering the possibility of changing their appearance. But it was true, they could reshape the bones in their body, alter the pigmentation of their skin. They would have to practice to see what they could accomplish.

Riverdog looked through the journal, looking at the glyphs. "Eddie, do you recognize any of these?" Eddie looked at the book, the corners of his mouth turned up at the corners.

"Yeah, these are the words you have been trying to beat into my head for the last 10 years." Eddie glanced at Riverdog seeking for permission to continue, "this is my tribes written language, it hasn’t been used in generations but the knowledge has been passed down by the wise men. Some words of our spoken language are still in use now, but the written language has all but disappeared from the tribe. To my knowledge Riverdog & I are the only people alive to still know these ancient symbols. These others are similar to those in the cave. My guess is that Atherton was attempting to create a dictionary of some sorts to preserve the language of both peoples."

Max nodded, his suspicions confirmed. "Could you translate these symbols for us? They may be a key to translating the drawing in the cave." Eddie moved to write the translations in the margins of the book and Max stopped him. "No we shouldn’t keep the information in one place. It’s too risky if the government gets the journal back there’s no telling what they would do with that information. We need to keep it separate."

"Tell me." Michael said. They all looked at Michael. "I can remember it. I remember every book I’ve ever seen word for word."

They all looked at Michael, finally Max nodded; it was true he thought. Michael did have a gift for words, he was able to keep them locked in his head, releasing them only as necessary.

Eddie attempted to describe the language his people used. "It very old, filled with symbolism, it has taken me a decade to learn what I know, and yet I still feel I have only scratched the surface. It’s not like an ordinary language where a word always means the same thing. These glyphs are complete thoughts. The way you put them together gives them meaning. Much the way the letters of the alphabet make up the English language. Simply knowing the ABC… doesn’t mean that you can read a book. It’s the way those letters are put together that gives meaning to the words." Eddie scratched his head. "I don’t know that I can tell you in words how to read in my language. I can tell you what the ideas behind the glyphs are, but it would be like me telling you this is an ‘A’, unless you know where the ‘A’ falls in the word you do not have any meaning."

Riverdog agreed, "this language is very old. Nasado was very interested in it because he said the structure of it was very similar to his own language. He explained that this was one of the reasons he was sent to us. To find out if there was some sort of a link between our two people’s"

"How was Nasado able to learn about your language?" Alex asked.

"It was part of the bonding ceremony, where we shared thoughts. Although I was able to see his memories there were so many images that was impossible to retain it all and it quickly left my mind. I have been searching for any of these thoughts since you first came to me hoping to find something to help you in your quest. But even with all of the purification ceremonies, I have not been able to dredge up anything else. Nasado however was like a sponge, absorbing all of my memories like a child. He was able to pull things from my mind that I hadn’t thought about in years."

"Perhaps that will work for us…If we make the connection with you, perhaps we can pull the information from you mind." Michael offered.

Max’s eyes flashed on Michael’s, worried about Michael’s abilities to make the connection on his own. "What if we make the connection together Michael, I could help you stabilize the link while you concentrate on finding the information we need."

Riverdog agreed and allowed the boys to form a connection with him. First Michael and Max linked and then they both reached for Riverdog’s hands. Max peered deeply into the older mans eyes, struggling to reach for the connection. They came against a wall, for some reason they were unable to breach the barrier around Riverdog’s mind. After several minutes of trying they gave up. "I don’t know why we couldn’t make the connection. It was almost like someone placed a barrier in your mind to prevent you from linking." Max stated.

"Perhaps this was Nasado’s doing…he was very concerned that someone might learn this information. That’s why he taught me how to test other visitors. Before he left the final time he linked with me and said, you should be safe now, don’t come after me." Said Riverdog.

Eddie had been watching the interaction between Riverdog and the outsiders… and although he did not relish the idea of forming a bond with these strangers, he knew that would be the only way Michael would be able to learn what they needed to know. Eddie turned to Max and said, "link with me I will share what I know with you."

Max looked at Eddie; sorry at how angry he had been with this young man when he learned that it had been Eddie that had invited Michael into the sweat that almost killed him. "Are you sure? I don’t want to do anything that you are uncomfortable with. We will try to respect your privacy except for the information we need."

Michael and Max were able to quickly from the connection with Eddie, both amazed at the complexity of this Native American language but it also felt oddly familiar. They both looked back at the journal and found the symbol from the pendant Isabel had found, using the Native American translation they both smiled when they realized it was something they both knew already, it just felt right. The symbol meant ‘home’ but it also meant so much more… comfort, acceptance, safety, love; it was more than what words could describe. It was the ‘idea’ of home. Max and Michael knew that they would need time to go through the drawings in the cave. Individually the symbols had so many meanings they needed to be looked at as whole to get the correct message.

Max attempted to explain all of this to Alex, but it was just a completely different way of looking at language. Alex attempted to understand… but in the end accepted the fact that this was just too different.

Michael looked out the window and realized that it was getting late and that they should probably head back. "Riverdog, would you mind if I came back next weekend? I would like to study with you if I can… I know I have much to learn before I can attempt to decipher the message, but I would like the chance to try." Michael asked.

Riverdog looked at Michael, and knew that this was as it should be. "Yes, Michael I will take you as a student. You may come Saturday’s with Eddie. We will do this together."

Michael, Max & Alex said their good byes and headed back to town.

Maria and Liz walked into the Crashdown together, They were surprised to see Mr. Parker busing tables and taking orders. "Dad why are you out front today?" Liz asked, "Rosa was supposed to be working today."

"Her son fell down while playing today, she had to take him to the doctor’s today. I don’t suppose you two would be willing to help an old man out for a few hours would you?" he smiled hopefully at the girls.

The girls looked at each other silently agreeing, "sure pop, we can cover the dinner rush, but we were planning to go to Isabel’s after dinner to watch a movie, but we can work until then."

The girls dropped off their dresses in Liz’s room, and then headed back down to the restaurant to change for work. Maria made a quick phone call to let her mom know what her plans for the evening were. When they came back into the restaurant to work they saw Kyle and Carrie coming through the door. Liz rushed over to take their order.

"Kyle, Carrie, um can I take your order?" Liz asked a bit surprised that they were still together after the movie.

Carrie replied, "hi Liz, what’s good to eat here?"

"Well it’s all good, but I happen to love the X-files sandwich and Saturn rings", Liz said with a smile.

"Sounds good." Carrie said

"Make it two Liz." Kyle added

Liz nodded and wrote down the order, "Will there be anything to drink?" she asked

Kyle answered before Carrie, "How about two alien blasts. Carrie you’ll love them trust me."

"Sure, that sounds good." Replied Carrie

Liz left to put the order up, and Kyle and Carrie went back to their conversation.

"Those two seem to be getting along." Commented Maria

Liz frowned, "I’m a little concerned about that. I mean we don’t know what Carrie wants or who she is working for and if she and Kyle start comparing notes there is no telling what they will discover."

"We’ll just have to wait until we see the boy’s tonight before we worry any more about those two. Liz look on the bright side, perhaps they will distract each other from thinking about us?"

Liz saw that their order was up and took over to them, "here you go." She said putting down the food, "so… how was the movie?"

"Great! It’s been a long time since I saw a good action movie. You never seem to want to see them Liz."

"I just don’t like all that blood and gore, and those big guns and explosions frighten me." Liz replied harshly.

Carrie jumped in sensing that there was some tension, "Liz, did you find a dress?"

"Yes, actually Isabel found it. I think it’s perfect. She found one for herself as well."

Carrie smiled, "I’m glad, I really looking forward to this dance, It’s been a long time since I’ve been to one."

"You didn’t have them at your old school?" Kyle asked

Carrie instantly realized her mistake, "Uh… no, they stopped having them when they started having problems." Glad that she was able to cover for the fact that she had been out of school for several years.

"Well you’ll love our school’s dances, we have live bands not some DJ with CD’s." Liz explained.

"Wow, that sounds nice. Our school never had live bands. So Kyle what kind of dancer are you?" Carrie teased

Kyle blushed, "I’ll try not to step on your feet too often Carrie. Do you have any Steel toed shoes?" The three laughed at the joke, and Liz left to continue working.

Max dropped off Alex at his house, and then continued home with Michael. When they arrived they found Isabel sitting alone in the house.

"Hi Iz, where are mom and dad?" Max asked

Isabel looked up from her fashion magazine and replied, " They had an emergency meeting with a client, they left money for dinner though. What do you feel like having? Michael you staying too?"

Max and Michael looked at each other before Max finally said, "Why don’t we just order a pizza and we can talk about what we found at the reservation."

"Sure guys," Isabel started," Oh, I invited the girls over later and we can discuss the whole Carrie issue."

"Fine we can have Alex over too, he seems to have the best handle on things." Max said

While they waited for the Pizza, Max and Michael filled Isabel in on the language similarities of the River Dog’s people and that of their own. After trying to explain to Isabel in words for 20 minutes without success, Max finally reached out and grabbed her hands and opened the connection with her. He let the information flow from him to her, but right before he ended the transfer he had an image of Isabel and Alex dancing together in the gym. Max released her hands and looked into her eyes, before saying, "Is that what you saw when you went into Alex’s dreams?"

Isabel flushed and pulled her hands away, "don’t you think that’s an invasion of my privacy brother!" she huffed

"No more so than what you did to him. Do you plan on telling him?" Max asked.

Michael frowned at the exchange between the siblings. But said nothing.

"I was going to tell him at the dance, if you must know. These things must be handled delicately if I don’t want to upset him." Isabel replied

A short time later, Alex, Maria, & Liz showed up at the house. Alex had brought his laptop with him and quickly set it up in Max’s bedroom.

Alex started with the facts he knew." We know Carrie isn’t who she is telling us she is. So the question becomes who is she?"

"Some of the things she was telling us must have been the truth, the things about her brother for instance, she had so many emotions about him that it couldn’t be a lie." Max said

"What do we know about this brother?" Alex asked.

Liz shook her head, "not much, I saw a small picture of him in her locket, and she said something about him running away."

"No she told me her parents had kicked him out." Max stated.

"She told us that she wanted to find, him and we told her you could help, Alex. Maybe you could offer to track him down, she would have to give you factual information if she wanted to find him."

"Perhaps there is another way," Alex said thoughtfully, "I’ve been working on a special search program."

Max look at him quizzically, "search program? What kind of search program?"

"It’s the illegal kind, it’s a program I started writing right after Ms Topolski left. The kind that get me into government files without being detected." Alex paused, looking around to gauge their reactions. " All I need to do is put in the search parameters, and we should be able to find the information we need."

"But we don’t know anything!" Maria said exasperated, " How are we supposed to find out how she is when we don’t even know her real name."

Alex replied, "actually we have quite a bit, we can search for government expenses made in the town of Roswell in the last month. They had to rent a house or someplace to live, they needed supplies and food, and their paychecks…"

Max suddenly sat up, "Wait I know where she lives. They are renting a house over on Sandy Bluff road. We could contact the owner of the house and say we are doing a credit check on the renters, with the Social security number we should be able to Track her ‘dad’ and maybe it will lead to clues about Carrie."

"Excellent Idea! You have a devious mind Max. I’ll make the phone call." Alex responded.

Alex first called the landlord and was able to get the social security number off the rental agreement, armed with this information he learned the true name of ‘dad’ to be none other than Agent Andrew Stephan of the FBI. Alex next used his ‘search’ program to infiltrate the bureau’s database, looking for current mission logs for agent Stephens. The fist thing that jumped to mind as he was gazing at the stream of data scrolling across the screen was that Stephens had been working this same case for over ten years now. As the reacquisition list continued scrolling down toward the present day, a name suddenly leapt into view; ‘Topolski’ was listed under the heading of personnel. Looking farther down the list another familiar name scrolled into view trainee Carrie Austin. Alex rubbed his hands together with delight getting ready to start a new search of Carrie when all of a sudden he heard the most dreaded two word in the English language. "Good-bye"

Alex through up his hands in frustration. "Damn AOHell, it kicked me off!" Alex tried repeatedly to reestablish a connection to the server but no such luck. The phone lines were all busy. Alex sadly closed his laptop. "Well I guess that’s all I can do for tonight. At least we have some names to go on. I try again in the morning."

Maria through up her hands, "Wonderful! I mean this is just wonderful. How can a company stay in business with this kind of service?"

Everyone laughed at the exasperated look on Maria’s face; Liz was the first to look at the clock. "Oh my gosh, Look what time it is. Maria, we have the early shift at the Crashdown in the morning, or should I say, later today." suddenly realizing that it was now past midnight.