With a final push, Max allowed his energy to finish its work. Finally, he picked up his hands. Opening his eyes, he saw that Nicholas looked like he did in Copper Summit… like a normal, if creepy, teenage boy. He was healed, and it had taken nearly everything that Max had. Nearly everything…
But not everything.
Max felt a surge of hope. Maybe this wasn't over. Maybe there was a chance for him to save his friends and to defeat Nicholas once and for all. He had just survived something that would have killed him as recently as a year ago, so anything was possible.
Lifting his hands off Nicholas, Max sat back on the floor and took a deep breath. He was sweating and he knew he must look awful. Liz was saying something, asking him if he was okay… so were the others. For a second, he couldn't find his voice, so he just raised his hand to signal that he was all right. And he was all right. He wasn't well… he was a long way from that… but he was okay. Hope rose in his chest, faint but there.
He saw Nicholas open his eyes and touch his own face with one hand. Then he looked at Max and smiled.
'You did it,' Nicholas said. 'And you're still here. The way things felt there, I wasn't sure if you would make it.' He got up, jumped to his feet. 'You know, Max, I haven't felt this good in fifty years.'
Max raised his head slowly; there was no sense in letting Nicholas know that he felt marginally better than he must have looked. Nicholas leaned down to him and grabbed him by the hair, lifting up his face.
'It's a shame you're not up to par. A few minutes ago, it was me who was under the weather. Now, it's you. Feeling weak, Max? Powers gone? Too bad, really. I always wondered who would come out on top if we went mono a mano, powers against powers. Oh well…,' he said.
'As I recall, you were never much for a fair fight,' Max said. It was a guess, but Nicholas twitched and Max could see that he had struck a nerve. Then the moment passed and he smiled. 'That's the problem with you, Zan. You only know one way to fight, head on. You never had an appreciation for the value of subtlety, planning, real strategy.'
'You mean dirty tricks and backstabbing maneuvers,' Max said.
'Six of one hand, Max, half dozen of the other. But I will point out that you are the one who lost his throne and his kingdom and is now on the floor, barely able to sit up while I hold all the cards,' Nicholas said.
'You got what you wanted, now let them go,' Max said.
'Not yet. You will tell me where the Granilith is first, then you will die,' Nicholas said.
'Let them go first,' Max said. 'You have me.'
Nicholas shook his head and said, 'Can't do that, but I will show you that you can believe me.'
He hit a switch on the remote control and then tossed it aside. For a terrible moment, Max thought he had hit the switch to electrocute Liz and his friends, but nothing happened.
'We can deal, Max. Tell me where it is and I will kill you quickly,' Nicholas said.
'Don't do it, Max,' Liz said. 'Don't tell him anything.'
Max looked into Nicholas's eyes and remembered what he had seen when they were connected. Liz was right: He couldn't trust him to keep his word. In fact, if anything, he could depend on Nicholas to break it.
'Okay,' he said. 'Just let me say good-bye to my friends.'
Nicholas nodded, and Max got up, slowly… more slowly than he needed to. He just needed to get close to Nicholas; he needed one chance to make this come out all right. One chance to do right by his friends and by Liz.
Nicholas stepped behind him and grabbed his arm to pull him up, and Max seized the opportunity. He twisted his body so that he was leaning on Nicholas's small, teenaged frame. As he came up, he balled his fist. He
heard Nicholas gasp as he realized something was wrong. The husk twisted in his arms, but Max held him firm as he brought his fist down hard and made contact with Nicholas's lower back.
As soon as he felt the contact, Max pushed the husk away from him and waited to see him disappear. For an instant, he saw terror on Nicholas's face, but the instant passed and Nicholas was still there.
Nicholas looked as surprised as Max did. 'I think you missed. The spot you were looking for is a little to the right,' he said. Nicholas smiled, but there was no humor in it. 'You surprised me, Max. That was unusually… sneaky,' Nicholas said.
Max stood as tall and straight as he could and said, 'You'll find I'm full of surprises.' In a quick motion, he raised his hand and blasted Nicholas as hard as he could. His powers were nowhere near full strength, but they were enough to knock Nicholas off his feet and onto his back. For a second, Max thought the contact with the floor might do the job that his fist had failed to do, but it did not.
Max summoned his powers again and tried for another blast, but before he could release it, Nicholas was on his feet and raising his own hand. He threw out his own force at Max. Instinctively, Max brought up his green shield, which absorbed the impact of the blow. It bowed inward, toward Max, but held. Max could feel his power fading, the shield weakening even as Nicholas increased the power of his own attack.
Concentrating, Max thought of Liz, of Isabel, of Michael, and of their friends. He thought of all their lives,
of all his failures, and summoned all the strength he had left.
And it wasn't enough.
The shields crackled brightly and then disappeared. Max's hand fell to his side, then he crumbled to the floor.
'You're just making me angry!' Nicholas said. But he wasn't just angry, Max saw. He was scared: Max saw that he had surprised and scared Nicholas. How close had Max come to destroying him with those blows? Pretty dose, he thought. But not close enough.
'You just don't know when you're beaten,' Nicholas said. 'I guess I'll have to show you.'
Max felt an unseen force grab him and push him backward. He was sliding away from Nicholas. Curled into a ball, Max wondered how far he was from the rear wall of the room. A second later, he didn't have to wonder. He crashed into it, taking the impact first with his back, then with his head.
The pain was sudden and intense.
Then he was sliding back the other way. He could see the other wall looming.
'Stop it,' Isabel said. 'I'll tell you where the Granilith is. Just don't hurt him.'
Suddenly Max felt the hold on him disappear, and he was lying on the floor in front of Nicholas.
Max raised his head and tried to say no, but his mouth wouldn't work. Nicholas approached Isabel and said, 'So tell me.'
'You have to let Max go,' she said.
He shook his head, 'No, I don't. See, before morning, I'm going to kill him and throw him in the freezer upstairs
until Kevar arranges for me to be picked up. Before that happens you will have given me the Granilith.' Isabel started to protest, but Nicholas silenced her with a wave. 'When I go to work on you and your friends, you'll tell me anything I want to know. Then I'll kill you and by then you'll be begging me to do it.'
No! Max's mind screamed. He tried to push himself off the floor, but his body wouldn't cooperate.
Nicholas leaned down to him and whispered, 'You failed them again, Max. Your sister, Michael, your friends, especially your girlfriend. And before you die, I want you to know that I am going to enjoy myself with your women. After all, you brought me back to health, and a person my age has needs. I will enjoy getting reacquainted with your sister. And I look forward to getting to know your current mate.'
Pushing off the floor, Max lunged at Nicholas, who moved away easily. Max lay on the floor, panting. He had failed them, and his failure was much worse than he had feared.
It was over, Max felt it.
18
Liz watched Max lying on the floor. He had given everything to his fight with Nicholas, and now he looked barely alive. He had sacrificed so much for all of them. He had taken on so many burdens and blamed himself for so much. And he had suffered so much at the hands of evil people. First Agent Pierce, now Nicholas. It was too much for him, and it was too much for her to watch, but she refused to look away.
