by Melinda Metz
“He’s not going to hurt you. If he tries, he’s going to have to get through me,” Michael promised.
Isabel knew she had to leave the cave sometime, and she’d much rather do it with Michael by her side. “Let’s go.”
Isabel hauled herself out of the cave. Michael scrambled up a second later. They began the long walk back to the Jeep, and Isabel pulled off the tarp they used for camouflage. They always parked it some distance away from their cave as a precaution. She handed Michael the keys and jumped into the passenger seat. “You drive, okay?” she asked. She just couldn’t handle it right now.
“Sure.” Michael climbed behind the wheel and backed the Jeep out of the rocky overhang where they hid it. Isabel could hear the mesquite bushes crunching under the tires as they drove back toward the highway.
“How did you get out here, anyway?” she asked.
“Hitched.”
“Are we leaving tracks?” she asked. She’d never thought of that before. Were they leaving a trail that could lead Valenti to their cave?
“Too dry out here,” Michael answered. “Valenti’s just a man, you know. You act like he has superhuman powers or something. If he gets too close, we’ll take him out.”
She glanced over at Michael. He wasn’t kidding.
“What about Liz and Maria?”
Michael didn’t answer for a moment. “I think Max is right about Liz. If she was going to talk, she would have done it when Valenti showed her the handprints on that guy’s body. But Maria . . . I don’t think she wants to hurt anyone, but she’s scared. And that makes her unpredictable.”
“She practically said she was going to go to Valenti,” Isabel reminded him.
“I bet Liz can handle Maria,” Michael said as he swung the Jeep onto the highway “But if she can’t — ”
The long wail of a siren cut him off. Isabel’s eyes jerked to the rearview mirror. She saw the flashing blue lights of the sheriff’s car, and her heart slammed into her ribs. “It’s Valenti.” She knew he was out here. She knew he would track her down.
Michael pulled over to the side of the road.
“Don’t stop. Are you crazy?” Isabel cried.
Michael reached over and grabbed her hand. He squeezed it hard. “I was probably speeding or something. You’ve got to get a grip. Don’t let him see how scared you are.”
Isabel tensed as the sound of Valenti’s boot heels grew louder. She couldn’t bring herself to look over at him when she heard him stop by Michael’s side of the Jeep.
“I need you to step out of the car, please,” Valenti said, his voice low and even. “Both of you.”
12
What happened to her? Ever since Isabel had stormed out of the house, Max had been able to feel her fear, strong and constant, like a headache. But about an hour ago he’d experienced something more like a hammer to the forehead. A shot of pure terror. He knew something horrible had happened to her.
I hope Michael found her first, Max thought. He couldn’t stand the idea of Isabel going through something so terrifying alone. If Michael didn’t find her, he would have come back here, Max told himself.
So where were they? He’d expected Isabel to come slamming back into the house a couple of hours after she left — maybe with a new dress or a pint of Ben & Jerry’s that she would refuse to share with him. That’s what she usually did when she had a fight with him or their parents.
Well, maybe he hadn’t expected that to happen. It wasn’t like he and Isabel had a fight about whose turn it was to wash the dishes. But he’d hoped, he’d really hoped.
“Denial’s not just a river in Egypt,” he muttered. It was something his mom always said. Max and Isabel were always making fun of her because she had a saying for everything. They’d even made up this game. One of them would come up with a situation, and the other one would have to come up with what Mom would say.
Max glanced at the clock. It was after two in the morning. What could possibly have happened that would stop Isabel from making it home? All he could feel from her was terror — nothing else, no hints about where she could be. He’d called a few of her friends, casually asking if she was there, but he wasn’t surprised when they all said no. Izzy was popular. She had a billion more friends than Max. But they were all sort of surface, let’s-hang-out-at-the-mall friends, not people she would go to if she had a problem. The only humans Isabel really trusted were their parents.
Man, Isabel, would you just come home already? Max thought. He shouldn’t have yelled at her. She was already so freaked, and he’d made it worse.
He could take Dad’s car and drive around. Maybe if he went in the right direction, the feelings from Isabel would get stronger. That way he’d be able to track her down. It didn’t usually work like that, but Max had to do something. If he stayed in his room one more second, he’d go nuts. His parents would find him curled up in the corner, whispering to himself.
Max grabbed his key ring off the dresser. He decided to go out the window. His dad had X-ray hearing — if Max tried to go out the front door, he’d get busted. Luckily they thought Isabel was already home for the night. He didn’t think he’d be able to find an excuse for what he was doing sneaking out after midnight. At least not one that would pass his dad’s bull detector.
He slid out the window and hopped into the backyard. He trotted to the low side gate and vaulted over it. As he headed to the driveway he heard his Jeep driving down the street. He’d spent so much time working on the engine, he knew the sound by heart.
Max spun toward the sound. He felt some of the tension drain out of him when he saw that Isabel and Michael were both in the Jeep — until they pulled into the driveway and he saw their faces. All Isabel’s lipstick and stuff had worn off — she never let that happen. And Michael’s mouth was set in a hard line.
“What?” Max demanded.
“Valenti picked us up,” Isabel answered.
“What?” Max exploded.
“He was just doing his usual harass-anyone-under-twenty crap,” Michael explained. “But it scared the hell out of both of us.”
Michael shot a glance at Isabel. Max gave a small nod, signaling that he had picked up on the fact that Isabel was seriously flipped out.
“I think . . . I think he could tell there was something wrong,” Isabel stammered. “I was acting way too scared for someone . . . who got stopped for speeding, especially because I wasn’t even driving.”
Max could see the muscles in Isabel’s throat working as she struggled to keep from crying.
“You were fine,” Michael told her. He took off his jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders. That’s when Max realized she was trembling.
Isabel shook her head. “I made him suspicious. I messed up.”
“He probably just thought you were worried you’d get grounded for showing up at home so late,” Max said. He didn’t really believe it. No one looking at Isabel right now would believe it. But he had to say something. The haunted expression on his sister’s face was tearing him up.
Isabel wrapped her arms around herself. “Maybe, maybe you’re right,” she mumbled. “But we aren’t safe for long. Valenti’s going to find out about us, I know it. We have to leave town tonight, and we can’t ever come back.”
“If we bolt, then he’ll really be suspicious. We’d end up with every Project Clean Slate agent out there searching for us,” Max argued. “Besides, Mom and Dad would be devastated. They’d never get over it.”
And I would never see Liz again, he thought. Something was building between them, and he wanted to be around to see what it was.
“Mr. Hughes would probably have a party if I took off,” Michael muttered. “But Max is right. It wouldn’t be smart.”
“If we stay, we have to do something about Maria. She’s going to tell Valenti everything — you saw the way she looked at us. And Liz won’t be able to stop her,” Isabel insisted. “We’re not going to be safe as long as any human knows our secret.”
Safe. Max knew how important it was to Isabel to feel safe. He wasn’t sure if she ever really had. But he couldn’t let her hurt Liz or Maria.
“Liz is Maria’s best friend,” he said. He tried to keep his voice emotionless. He didn’t want Isabel to think he was about to go off on her again. “They’ve known each other since they were little girls. I’m sure she’ll be able to convince Maria to keep quiet.”
“You have a lot of confidence in Liz,” Isabel said. She didn’t sound happy about it.
“So should you. Valenti came down on her hard, but she didn’t tell him a thing,” Max reminded her. “I want us all to agree that we leave Liz and Maria alone.”
Isabel didn’t answer. Michael was looking anywhere but at Max.
“Come on,” Max urged.
“Okay,” Michael said finally
“For now,” Isabel added.
I don’t believe it. Maria told Alex. Liz could tell just by looking at his face.
Maria and Alex were waiting for Liz by her locker, and it was clear they weren’t just hanging out, killing time before the first bell. They obviously had something important to say to her. “Hi, guys.” Liz just wasn’t ready to have this conversation. She acted really caught up in dialing her locker combination. When she pulled down the lock, it wouldn’t open. She’d screwed up the combination somehow.
“We need to talk to you,” Maria said. “I told Alex everything. I know I promised you I wouldn’t, but I was wrong. This whole situation is too big and too dangerous for the two of us to handle alone.”
She sounded so stiff and formal, like she’d stayed up all night rehearsing. Liz stopped fiddling with her lock and studied her friend. Maria definitely spent last night doing something besides sleeping. Her eyes had dark smudges under them, and her complexion had a grayish tint.
“I wish you had at least called me first,” Liz answered. “I left you about a hundred messages. I even stopped by your house, but no one was home.”
“I know. I’m sorry. I . . . I’m sorry,” Maria said again. “That’s all I can say But I don’t think I did the wrong thing.”
At least she’s not making a speech anymore, Liz thought. Liz usually would have felt totally angry and hurt if Maria told a secret they agreed to keep. But she’d seen how scared Maria was yesterday. And Isabel did threaten to kill her. That was enough to make anybody break a promise.
“It’s okay,” Liz said. She turned to Alex. It was so weird to have him standing there all quiet and serious. He usually talked practically nonstop. “So now that you know, what do you think?” she asked.
“I think none of us really knows what we’re dealing with — and that’s dangerous. We don’t know what powers they have. We don’t know what their agenda is. I don’t think we can just assume they are exactly what they appear to be. I think the three of us have to go to Valenti and tell him what’s going on.”
“No!” Liz cried. “You sound like your father, you know that? Talking about agendas and powers. We don’t know what they are — so let’s kill them. Maybe you should go into the military. I think you’d be great at it.”
Alex winced. Liz knew she’d said pretty much the most hurtful thing possible. But it was true. “Look, you’re both forgetting that you do know Max, and Michael, and Isabel. Maria, you especially. You’ve known all of them since we were little. They’re still the same people they were — ”
“They aren’t people,” Maria interrupted. “And Isabel never threatened to kill me in elementary school.”
“And we can’t be sure that they haven’t just been playing us, showing us only what they want to show us,” Alex added.
Liz felt like screaming at them both. She couldn’t believe how stupid, and prejudiced, and horrible they were being. You felt practically the same way after Valenti got through with you yesterday, she reminded herself.
“I understand how you feel. I do,” Liz told them. “Yesterday I was half convinced I should tell Valenti everything, more than half convinced. But then I saw Max heal one of the mice in the bio lab. No one was around. He didn’t know I was watching. If Max, has been playing us, why would he bother to save some stupid little mouse?”
“The mouse wasn’t in his way. You and Maria are,” Alex answered.
“What are you talking about?” Liz demanded.
“The mouse wasn’t any threat to him,” Alex explained. “Why not heal it? But that doesn’t mean that if he felt in danger — or even if his mission was being jeopardized — that he would have any problem killing. We just don’t know, that’s the problem.”
“Mission? What mission? Did we just enter the paranoia zone or what?” Liz demanded. “I know Max. I trust him. I am not going to do anything that might hurt him. And neither are you.”
“It’s not just your decision,” Maria cried. “I’m the one they don’t trust — you heard Isabel say it. She’s going to come after me. Why don’t you care about protecting me as much as you care about protecting Max?”
Liz heard Maria’s voice crack. What am I supposed to do? she thought. She was stuck in the middle between her best friend and — and what? What was Max to her, exactly? Two weeks ago she would have just said he was her lab partner and kind of a casual friend. Someone who had been in her life for years but who wasn’t really a big part of it. Everything had changed so much, so fast. “Of course I care about what happens to you,” Liz answered. “But you’re totally overreacting. No one is going to hurt you. I promise.”
“You can’t promise,” Maria insisted. “You don’t know. After school I’m going to Valenti’s office — whether you come with me or not.”
“I’ll go with you,” Alex said quietly. “Sorry, Liz. I have to.”
There’s no way I can stop them, Liz realized. Nothing I can say What am I going to do? If I tell Max that Maria and Alex are planning to go to Valenti, I don’t know what will happen. Michael and Isabel really might go after them, and I’m not sure Max could stop them.
But if I don’t say anything, Valenti will come after Max, Isabel, and Michael. And he’ll probably kill them.
I don’t want to choose, Liz thought. How can I?
What am I going to do?
13
“Max, come sit with us,” Liz called.
Max turned and saw Liz, Maria, and Alex eating lunch on the grass in the center of the quad. He could tell by Maria’s aura that she was just as upset as she had been yesterday — maybe more. A deep gray was mixed in with the churning murky green of her aura.
But it was Liz’s aura his eyes were drawn to as he walked toward them. It was filled with so many colors, it hurt to look at it. There were the sickly yellow streaks of fear and the crimson splotches her aura got when she was angry. There were gray swirls of worry and confusion. And across everything was a spiderweb of dark purple. His mother’s aura had a spiderweb like that after his grandfather died. It was a sign of a deep sadness. Liz slid over, and Max sat down next to her. He didn’t know what to say. Was he supposed to do the usual lunchtime talk thing — someone heard Johanne Oakley throwing up in the bathroom that morning, and now everyone thought she was pregnant; there was supposed to be a raid on Guffman High that night to steal the Olsen High mascot back; Doug Highsinger got sent home for showing up at school dressed like Marilyn Manson. He didn’t know if he could pull it off.
“Uh, so, what do you guys think my next list should be?” Alex asked. “I was thinking maybe alternate uses for pennies, you know, because they’re pretty much worthless, and . . .” His voice trailed off.
Alex feels the tension between Maria and Liz, Max realized. You didn’t have to be able to see auras to know something was wrong with both of them. Alex’s aura didn’t look too great itself. It had an oily, greasy cast to it.
“How about really bad dog names?” Liz jumped in. “Names you would never want to have to yell at the top of your lungs if your dog gets lost.” She sounded hyper-cheerful and phony, kind of like Stacey Scheinin. Something is really wrong
here, Max thought.
Liz glanced between Alex and Maria, and her toothpaste commercial smile faded. “I can’t do this,” she said. “I can’t just sit here and — Max, Alex knows.”
Max felt as if he’d been Sucker punched. There was no way he’d be able to Control Isabel and Michael now. No possible way.
Liz reached over and grabbed his hand, lacing her fingers with his. “I want you guys to look at Max,” she told her friends. “Really look at him. He saved my life. He — ”
“Hey, Max; congratulations, I didn’t think you’d be able to keep Liz interested in you for a whole day.”
Max tensed and felt Liz’s grip tighten on his hand at the sound of Kyle Valenti’s voice. Kyle circled the group and positioned himself behind Alex.
You can’t get into it with him right now, Max thought. It wouldn’t be smart.
“Don’t get too used to spending time with her, though.” He smirked down at Max.
Kyle seemed like an attention deficient type. Max figured if he didn’t answer, Kyle would get bored and leave.
But Kyle kept staring him. He looked a little confused, as if he couldn’t figure out why Max wasn’t saying anything.
“Well, I guess you could still see Liz if you don’t mind visiting her in prison,” Kyle continued. “Accessories to murder don’t go to juvie.” He turned to Liz. “You know lying to my dad makes you an accessory, right?”
“Your problem is with me. Leave her out of it” Max ordered.
“As long as she keeps lying to my father she’s in it,” Kyle shot back. “I don’t know what my dad thinks, but I figure the murderer she’s protecting is you, Evans. It’s not too cool hiding behind a girl.”
“Kyle, you’re pathetic,” Maria burst out. “You came up with this ridiculous theory because you can’t deal with the fact that Liz would rather hang with Max than you. Just grow up already.”
A dark flush colored Kyle’s face. “I bet your sister would be impressed, Liz,” Kyle said. “I mean, she got arrested once, too, but it was only a little drug bust. You’re going to be hitting the big time.”
