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 If you have not read Part I, you need to search for this thread first and read it: Storylines:Max and Liz - Part I. This is the second part of a possible storyline involving Max and Liz.
 Liz is somewhere between waking and dreaming. She's so warm and comfortable tucked under the covers. She doesn't want to move. Someone's calling her name. She shifts position slightly. She hears her name again. Max? OMG! Max! Liz is suddenly wide awake. She nudges Max who had fallen asleep beside her. "Max, wake up! " Groggily, Max awakens. Liz whispers, "There's someone here." "Who?" "I don't know. You have to hide." She half pushes him out of bed. The door opens and Max flattens to the floor on the other side of the bed. "Maria!", says Liz, looking surprised. Maria looks about the room and sees all the stuff on the floor. "Rough night?" "Ah, yeah," says Liz, nodding in agreement. "It's almost 11:30. Did you forget?" "Forget?" Liz looks puzzled and is watching Maria who is walking toward the end of the bed. "The mall?" "Oh, yeah. I kinda overslept. I haven't been sleeping that well ..." Maria sees Max's foot sticking out from the other side of the bed. "I bet you haven't." Maria plops on the end of the bed and peers over the edge. "Hi, Max," she says and looks back to Liz. "I guess it isn't the end of the world after all." "Maria!" Max gets up off the floor and begins to pull himself together. "I'd better go." Liz nods. “I'll call you later." "Bye, Max," says Maria as he climbs out the window.
After Max leaves, Maria tries to pump Liz for info, but Liz isn't giving any. "Oh, come on," Maria pleads, "Just one little detail." Liz changes the subject. "Maria, I had a flash ..." "I knew it!" "No, no, no ... it's not what you think. I was looking through Grandma Claudia's things and I picked up this crystal ..." "And you had a flash?" "Yeah, but it was different. ... It was so intense, like I was really there." "What's different about that? You always say that!" Maria quips. "I don't know how to explain it," Liz says at a loss for words. "I was going to tell Max, but ..." "you were distracted?" Liz throws a pillow at Maria and gets out of bed. "Just give me a few minutes to get ready." Maria begins picking up the stuff on the floor and putting them in the box. "So this was Grandma Claudia's?" "Yeah. There's lots more. I was just sorting through some of it ...," Liz says from the bathroom. "On the floor?" Liz gives her a look. "What's this?" asks Maria. "What's what?" says Liz coming out of the bathroom. Maria is holding the artifact, a piece of rock with a petroglyph on it. "I don't know. But I've seen that (pointing to the symbol) before ... maybe in one of Grandma's books. It reminds me of Newspaper Rock in Arizona. I was going to check later." Maria puts it in the box. "Okay, I'm ready," says Liz.
As Maria and Liz are exiting the Crashdown, Isabel and Michael are coming in. "Have you seen, Max?" Isabel asks Liz. "You just missed him," says Maria before Liz has a chance to answer. "I thought we were going to meet last night," says Michael to Maria. "Things change," says Maria. "Bye!"
Isabel and Michael sit down at the table. "Well, I see Courtney hasn't shown up for her shift again. I guess it's safe to say she doesn't work here anymore," says Michael. "Where do you think she is?" "I don't know, but we need to find out." "We need to find Max first. I'm really worried, Michael. I've never seen him like this. Do you think Tess' plan worked?" "I don't know. ... Liz didn't seem too upset." "They're just sooo intense." "All I know is that Max needs to focus on what's important ... and he's never going to do that when Liz is around." "I think you may be wrong. I think he might really need her."
Maria and Liz are walking through the mall. "So what's going on between you and Michael?" says Liz. "I thought you said Michael had been with Courtney." "It's over. Did I tell you? Courtney's a Skin?" "No way!" "I knew there was something flaky about her ... you know, she was always scratching. Anyway, he can't be with her, you know, she's a porno queen. ...But now I've got 'Mikey G' where I want him," says Maria. "And where's that?" "Almost to the point of groveling. I'm pulling a 'Mikey G' on 'Mikey G.'" Liz looks at her friend skeptically. "And if I'm lucky, I'll find just the right outfit to put him over the edge." Liz pulls up short. "Is that Tess with Kyle?" she says. "Yep." "Listen, Maria, I need to talk to Tess for a minute." "That tramp. You really want to talk to her." "Yeah." "Don't expect me to follow you." "I'll catch up with you." "Where are you going to be?" "Right over there," Maria points. There's a killer dress in the window.
Liz walks over to Tess and Kyle. "Liz," says Kyle, surprised to see her. "Hi, how's it going." "Good, really good." "Ah, can I sit down for a minute." "Sure," said Tess. "I just wanted to thank you. I know how hard that was ... " "Is everything okay?" "Yes, really fine, thanks." "That's okay, then." "Maybe we can talk later ... sometime ..." "Maybe." "Right, well ... later." "Bye, Liz."
It's evening. There's a knock on Michael's door. He answers it and Maria waltzes in wearing her brand new dress. "You want to come in?" he asks. "You said you wanted to talk." "Yeah." "Then, let's talk," she says and plops herself down on the sofa.
Meanwhile, Liz is back in her bedroom. She picks up the phone and calls Max. “Hi," she says. "Hi, are you okay? We really didn't get a chance to talk this morning." "Yeah, I know. Ah, can you come over? I have something to show you. It's really important. I was going to tell you earlier, but then Maria ..." "Sure, I can be there in a 1/2 hour." "That'd be great." She hangs up and picks up the box and puts in back on the bed. She's sitting on the bed when her parents come in. "Hi, Lizzie," says her dad. "How was the trip?" "Too long," says her mother. "Can I get you something?" asks Liz. "No, we're just going to unpack. ... Find anything interesting?" "Yeah, a few things." "Well, take what you want and we'll decide what to do with the rest." "Really?" "Really." "Thanks. You sure I can't get you something?" Her mother shakes her head. "I'm just going to finish sorting this." Her parents head down the hall and Liz goes back to the box. She picks up the crystal again and has another flash. She's at a console and there's a series of crystals laid out in front of her. They're the same shape, but different colors. They have different functions. ... Then she sees the faces. There's a man and two women, but it's one of the women who attracts her attention, a very beautiful woman ... "Show us how it works." The flash ends. Liz is no longer holding the crystal. It's on her bed and she can't quite bring herself to pick it up again. She knows how the Granilith works! How could she know that?
Max knocks at the window, then comes in. She goes over to Max and they kiss. "Max, I know how the Granilith works." He looks at her, stunned. "I was holding this crystal and I had a flash ... and I put the crystal in the Granilith. The crystal activates it. It's on the bed. I can't touch it without having a flash. You need to take it." Max goes over to the bed. He picks up the crystal and gets nothing off of it. "It might be safer here. Where did you get this?" "It's with Grandma Claudia's effects ... in the box. I thought maybe it was something she got from one of her digs but it's so clean ... and there's more." "What do you mean ... more? There's many crystals, all different colors. I'm not sure how many, but each has a specific function and they're all used for the Granilith." "Are there more in the box?" "No, but I don't know if Grandma had any others. My parents have been bringing stuff back little by little, but this is the first crystal I've seen and I don't remember seeing any at her house." "So how did she get it?" "I don't know." "May I?" asks Max. Liz nods. He picks up the artifact. "I know this." "Are you sure?" "Yes, I've seen this." "So have I. But I don't know where. I thought it might be from one of Grandma's books. It's similar to petroglyphs found in Arizona." "We all need to get together. Maybe if Isabel and Michael and Tess see them ..." "What about tomorrow, after school?" "That should work." "Tomorrow." There's a quiet, easy pause in their conversation. "I'd better leave." "Why?" "Because if I don't leave now, I won't want to leave at all." He puts the crystal in the box.
"So that's the story." Michael has just finished telling Maria the story, from beginning to end. "Did Alex really hit you?" "Yeah, he knocked me on my ..." "Good." Maria gets up to leave and opens the door. "Is that all you have to say?" "Is there anything else?" Maria asks. "Yeah," says Michael. He kisses Maria. Maria shuts the door and they kiss again.
Liz is getting ready for bed and she takes the box from the bed to put on the floor. She accidentally touches the crystal and has another flash ... one that leaves her reeling, one that makes her question everything she knows about herself. She sits on the edge of the bed and looks around her room. Has any of this been real? She picks up the crystal. Her parents are watching TV. Liz shows them the crystal and says, "Who am I?"
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