by Melinda Metz
“Look, there’s something you have to know about Cameron,” Michael said, his eyes locked on the road. “Everything I told you about her was a lie, and that’s because everything she told me about herself was a lie.” He rushed on. “She wasn’t in the compound as a test subject—she was in there as a spy for Valenti.”
“Spying on you?” Maria asked softly.
“Got it in one,” Michael answered. “Valenti promised her if she got the names of the other aliens in Roswell from me, he wouldn’t turn her back over to her parents.”
He shot a glance at Max over his shoulder. “I told her.” He spat out the words as if they tasted bitter on his tongue. “I betrayed you and Isabel.”
Maria could imagine what had happened. Michael had believed Cameron was a prisoner, just like him. He saw the two of them as united against Valenti and the Project Clean Slate people. Why wouldn’t he tell her the truth? She opened her mouth, wishing she could say something to comfort him, but she couldn’t find the words.
“Cut yourself some slack,” Alex told Michael. “She already knew the truth about you. It’s not like you were telling her that there were aliens on Earth.”
“And she helped Adam escape,” Liz added. “Why wouldn’t you trust her?”
It didn’t matter what the rest of them thought, Maria realized. What would matter to Michael was what Max thought. She turned and looked at him. He still seemed totally wiped out.
“You didn’t betray me,” Max said. “Cameron betrayed you.”
The tight, guarded expression on Michael’s face didn’t convince Maria that he believed Max.
“So what do you think Cameron’s deal is in this situation?” Alex asked. “Why do you think she didn’t say something if she knew where DuPris took Isabel and Adam? She can’t have any connection to DuPris, can she?”
“Don’t ask me,” Michael answered. “It’s not like I have a great track record knowing what’s really going on with Cameron. I’m the one who told her—”
“Don’t even go there again,” Max interrupted. “Cameron betrayed you. End of story.”
End of story for Max, Maria thought. But Cameron had torn something deep inside Michael. Even when it healed, there would probably always be a nasty scar.
Kind of like the one she had. Kind of like the one Alex had. Didn’t anybody’s love story get a happy ending?
She took another glance over her shoulder. Oh, right. Princess Liz and Prince Max.
Liz stared up at the sky as the Jeep sped down the long, straight stretch of highway to Albuquerque.
“Looking for binary pairs?” Max asked softly.
She hadn’t been, but she said yes, anyway, remembering a night not too long ago when she and Max had sat in the parked Jeep, talking about the future, looking up at the star-filled sky. That night she had told Max that the two of them were like a binary pair, two stars so close together, they appeared to shine the same light. That had been the night Max had finally agreed they could be more than just friends, a night she’d never forget.
As if he could read her thoughts, Max reached over and took her hand.
Liz felt a little shiver whisk along her spine. She couldn’t shake the image of that hand, Max’s hand, covered in gore. Clawing open DuPris’s body cavity.
“Max, do you trust the collective consciousness?” The question burst out of her.
“I don’t know what you mean,” he answered, his voice flat.
“I know what she means,” Alex jumped in. “She means totally without your permission—no, more than that, totally against your will—the consciousness used you to try and kill someone. Not exactly a trust builder.”
“I explained to you that the beings in the consciousness were furious. Basically they just lost it when they saw DuPris,” Max said. His grip on Liz’s hand tightened.
“And that’s okay with you?” Michael demanded. “Because you had your akino and joined them, they can just make you do whatever they want whenever?”
Liz was glad to hear that she wasn’t the only one who had some doubts about the consciousness. Hopefully hearing concerns from all of them would get Max thinking.
“Not whenever,” Max protested. “It was just that one time.”
He didn’t answer Michael’s first question, Liz noted. She knew the answer, anyway. What the consciousness had done to Max was not okay with him.
She twisted her hair into a knot on the top of her head, something that always helped her think better. And something that gave her a reason to slip her hand away from Max’s.
“It’s already turning out to be more than one time,” she finally said, working to keep her tone gentle. “Now they’ve ordered you to open the wormhole and send DuPris back.”
“Ray Iburg is part of the consciousness. My parents are part of the consciousness. You don’t think that’s enough of a reason to trust it?” Max exclaimed.
Ah, there it was, Liz thought. The reason Max wasn’t letting himself acknowledge that he hated what the consciousness had done to him.
“There are millions of beings in the consciousness, though, right?” Maria asked tentatively “So what Ray or your parents want, that might not be what the consciousness makes you do.”
“They aren’t making me do anything,” Max snapped.
Michael snorted. “Tell that to DuPris,” he muttered under his breath.
Max wrapped his arm around Liz and pulled her closer against him. The wrinkled spot on his neck brushed against her cheek. She twisted around and ran her fingers over the patch of skin. It felt dry and hard, mummified. “Do you know what did this to you?” she asked. She was almost positive she knew the answer, but she wanted to hear what Max would say.
“Huh-uh,” he answered, Liz felt like shaking him. She would have if she thought it would do any good.
“I know I’m not a science geek like the two of you,” Alex said, leaning across Liz to check out Max’s neck. “But even to me it seems significant that it appeared right after the consciousness had control of Max.”
“I guess,” Max mumbled.
“When they had control, it drained you,” Liz said, deciding to spell it out for him since he didn’t seem capable of analyzing the situation on his own. “You’re still exhausted. What I want to know is—” She pulled in a deep breath. “What’s going to happen to you when you open that wormhole? How much is that going to take out of you? Are you going to end up like this all over your body?” She flicked the wrinkled spot. “Are you … are you going to die?”
Max didn’t answer, but Liz felt the tension filling his muscles.
“Didn’t the consciousness bother to tell you what could happen?” Michael demanded.
“The knowledge I received—” Max stopped abruptly and turned his head away from Liz, peering out into the desert whizzing by.
“The knowledge you received,” Alex prompted.
Liz felt as if all the air was being sucked out of her lungs as she waited for Max to reply.
“It will take a lot of strength, from me and the consciousness. There’s a … possibility it could take too much out of me for me to recover,” Max admitted. “But I have no choice. DuPris is evil—none of you are going to try to argue with that, I hope—and I can’t just let him wander around making the world his own private puppet show.”
Michael slammed his foot on the brake, and the Jeep squealed to a halt. He jerked around to face Max. “When were you going to tell us this?” he yelled. “What am I saying? You weren’t. You were just going to be Saint Max and die for the good of humanity without a word of complaint.”
“I’m not planning to die,” Max yelled back.
Liz struggled to pull in a breath. Her lungs felt flat and useless, as if her chest had gotten too tight for them to expand. “Maybe there are other ways to deal with DuPris,” she said.
“Ways where no one ends up dead,” Maria added.
“Let’s talk about it on the way to the bus station,” Alex instructed. “No matter wha
t we decide to do about DuPris, we’ve got to find Isabel and Adam.”
Michael turned back around, and the Jeep jolted back down the highway. “We could just kill DuPris,” he told them. “I had a problem with the consciousness using Max to do it against his will, but I have no problem with going in there and doing it myself.”
“That’s crap,” Max shot back.
Liz agreed. She could see Michael killing if he had no choice, if there was no other way to save an innocent life. But it wasn’t something he would do casually.
“I don’t know if you could kill him if you wanted to—no offense,” Alex added. “It was DuPris’s power combined with Adam’s that turned Valenti into the Abominable Ashman, remember?”
“Too bad we can’t use the ring,” Maria said. “The Stone of Midnight might be strong enough to send DuPris back without using any of Max’s power.”
“If we knew how to work it.” Liz loosened her hair and immediately reknotted it.
“And if it didn’t send a signal to the bounty hunters that would not die,” Michael added. “I thought I killed one of them, and it just divided into two parts. Both alive.”
“Hold the phone!” Alex exclaimed.
“Hold the phone?” Michael repeated. “What are you, a dork?”
“A dork who’s going to save Max’s smooth pink butt,” Alex answered. “The bounty hunters were hired by the beings on your home planet because they wanted DuPris brought back for judgment. Let them do their job.”
Suddenly Liz felt as if she could breathe again—deep, full breaths of the cold night air. “So we give DuPris the ring. He won’t attack because Max almost killed him the last time.”
“I don’t think I could do it again even if I wanted to,” Max said. “I would need the strength of the consciousness, and they don’t want him dead anymore.”
“We have to pray DuPris doesn’t know that,” Liz said. “So anyway, we give him the ring.”
“We tell him it’s in exchange for Adam and Isabel so he won’t get suspicious,” Maria suggested.
“And then we stand back, way back,” Alex concluded. He gave a couple of little bows. “Thank you, thank you.”
“So what do you think, Max?” Liz asked, feeling her chest start to tighten up again when she saw the somber expression on his face.
“I think it could work,” Max said. “But if it doesn’t …”
He let his words trail off, but Liz knew what he’d planned to say. If their plan didn’t work, Max would open up the wormhole. Even if it killed him.
“Wait here,” Michael ordered as he pulled up in front of the Albuquerque bus station. He leaped out of the Jeep and raced inside. “Did the bus from Roswell come in yet?” he called to the woman behind the ticket counter.
“That’s it out there,” she answered. She pointed out the back window at a bus. An empty bus.
“Did the people already get off?” he demanded.
She blew a big bubble, and Michael got a whiff of grape gum and garlic. “Do you see anyone on it?”
He rushed up to the counter. “When did it get in?” he asked.
“Not more than a few minutes ago.” She blew another bubble, this one so big, it obscured half her face. Michael resisted the urge to reach out and pop it.
“Did you see a girl get off” He was talking so fast, his words were tumbling out on top of each other. He forced himself to slow down. “She’s tall, about five-ten, thin, short red hair?”
“Answers to the name of Cameron?” a voice asked from behind him.
He spun to face her.
“If you decided to give me another thirty seconds, forget about it,” she told him. “I have nothing else I want to say to you.” She started toward the door.
Michael lurched forward and blocked her, grabbing her by the shoulders. “Where is she?”
Cameron tried to pull away, but he tightened his grip. He was not going to let her go until she’d told him everything. She jerked up her head and stared him right in the eye. “Where is who?”
Truly an excellent liar, Michael thought. “Isabel. And Adam. You know where DuPris took them.”
“Last time I saw them was in the museum with you, okay? Now let go, or—”
“Or what?” Michael interrupted. “Or you’ll find the Albuquerque sheriff and turn me in?”
Her eyes darkened, and he felt the fight go out of her. She stood there passively, no longer trying to get free of him. “If I knew where they were, I would tell you,” she said. “I would do anything I could to try and make up for … I just don’t know. I don’t.”
Michael started to shove her away, then he saw something that made him tighten his grip until Cameron winced. “You don’t know where they are,” he repeated. “Then you want to explain to me where you got Isabel’s necklace?”
Cameron’s hand flew to her throat. “A little girl dropped this in my lap as she was getting off the bus.”
“Is there some kind of problem?” the woman behind the counter asked, cracking her gum.
“No,” Cameron answered.
She could have said yes. She could have tried to get him booted out of there. But she didn’t.
Michael released her. “A litfie girl? Was she alone?”
“She was with a guy in his twenties, her dad, I thought. There was a little boy with them, too.” Her eyes widened. “Do you think it was them? You think DuPris changed their appearance?”
“I think it’s possible.” Thank God, Isabel had found a way to drop him a clue. “Where did they get off? What stop?”
“It wasn’t one of the scheduled ones,” Cameron explained. “They got off near this old ranch house in the desert. The bus driver didn’t want to stop. It was kind of an issue.”
“Can you show me?” he asked.
Cameron nodded.
“It’s over there. See it?” Cameron pointed to the left and Max could just make out the moonlit shadow of a low ranch house in the near distance.
“Should I drive right up?” Michael asked.
“Why not? We’re just here to make a little trade. We come in peace, right?” Alex said.
“I think that’s supposed to be my line, earthling,” Michael told him.
Max ignored them. He was trying to get ready for whatever he was going to have to do in there.
“You okay?” Liz asked him.
He nodded without looking at her. Looking at Liz was the last thing he needed right now. If he had to open the wormhole, he might never see her again. For him death didn’t mean obliteration. He knew that now. If he had to … make the sacrifice, he’d join the others of the consciousness, join Ray and his parents, live on as part of the billions.
But he’d never be able to touch Liz again. Never be able to smell her hair. Never be able to see that dimple that appeared and disappeared in her left cheek. What else was death but losing all that?
Maybe the plan will work, he told himself as Michael pulled up in front of the house.
“Is there anything you want me to do?” Cameron asked.
“Wait out here. You can be the getaway driver,” Max answered as he climbed out of the Jeep. Michael had seemed basically okay with her when they came out of the bus station, but Max hadn’t been able to find out exactly what her deal was yet. Until he did, she wasn’t anyone he wanted around in a dangerous situation.
Michael led the group over to the door. “Do I knock or what?”
Alex reached out and rang the doorbell. “Candygram,” he called softly.
Maria started to giggle. She shoved both fists up to her mouth, trying to hold in her laughter.
“Oh, very intimidating,” Liz told her.
Her giggling stopped abruptly as the door swung open and a handsome, blue-eyed young man appeared. Max’s eyes immediately sought out the man’s right hand. He’d been able to regrow the finger.
“I do nice work, don’t I?” the young man asked, noticing the direction of Max’s gaze. It was DuPris—and his shape-shifting skills
were impressive. If he was at all afraid that Max was going to attack him again, he didn’t show it.
Max did a quick check of his group, not allowing his eyes to linger on Liz. They were doing pretty well at the show-no-fear thing themselves. “We came to make you an offer,” he said.
“Well, do tell,” DuPris drawled. As he spoke, his face returned to its usual shape. “I used that ridiculous southern accent for too long. I’m having trouble getting rid of it.” He stood away from the door. “If we’re going to do business, you might as well come inside.”
The place hadn’t been used in years. There were sheets over the furniture in the living room DuPris directed them to, and a layer of dust coated the wood floor.
“I’m surprised you were able to find me,”DuPris admitted. “I didn’t think you would have mastered the lavila this soon after your akino.”
Max shrugged. He had no clue what DuPris was talking about, but there was no reason for him to know that. If he wanted to think Max had more powers than he actually did, great.
“You want the ring. We want Adam and Isabel. If they aren’t here, we have nothing to talk about,” Michael said. The polite chitchat was obviously driving him crazy.
A door at the other end of the living room swung open, and a little boy and girl stepped through. As Max watched, they began to change. The girl’s dark hair turned to a deep wine color, then to a rusty brown, then lightened quickly to Isabel’s honey blond. Her eyes lightened and brightened to Isabel’s blue. Her body stretched up and grew curves, not something Max especially wanted to see. In an instant the transformation was complete.
But not. Isabel’s eyes were the right shade of blue, but they were empty. Her face lacked any animation. She and Adam were like the most expensive mannequins ever created.
“Release them,” Max ordered. “You’re not getting the ring unless you can prove they’re unharmed.”
“You have a lot of demands,” DuPris commented.
“I have the ring,” Max answered. A worthless ring that would basically kill anyone who used it. He hoped his expression wasn’t betraying any hint of that little fact.
“You have a point,” DuPris conceded.
And then Isabel was running to Max. She grabbed him and held on to him so hard, it hurt. “You’re okay,” he whispered in her ear. “We’ll be out of here in a couple of minutes.”