The Wild One

Isabel?'

Alex's first impulse was to defend Isabel. But he wasn't sure she would want that from him right now.

'I didn't believe him right away, either,' Isabel answered. 'But I went into Nikolas's dream. He has the same memories we do-of the home planet. And he knew exactly where our cave was.'

Max shook his head. 'I don't care-I can't feel his emotions like I feel yours and Michael's. I think he's lying.'

Nikolas snorted. 'You guys are pathetic. You've been so busy not using your powers that you don't even know what powers you have! Don't you know how to block your emotions? You don't feel me because I don't want you to feel me.'

'That's a pretty convenient excuse,' Michael muttered.

'If you don't believe me, I could just use my powers to set that tree on fire,' Nikolas told Michael.

'Didn't Isabel warn you not to use your powers?' Max asked, his voice low and urgent.

'See, he's definitely lying. We can't use our power to set fires,' Michael said at the same time.

Nikolas rolled his eyes.

'Nikolas's power is a lot more developed than ours,' Isabel explained. 'He's going to give me some lessons.'

Look how fast she jumps in to defend him, Alex thought. And look how obvious it is that she plans on spending a lot more time with him.

'I don't want you taking any lessons from him,' Max told Isabel. 'I don't want either of you using your power at all.'

'You know what? I don't really care what you want,' Nikolas shot back.

'Uh, this isn't the part where you challenge each other to some kind of battle to the death, is it?' Alex asked. ''Cause if it is, I want to get out of the way. This is a new shirt, and my mom will freak if I come home with any blood or brain matter on it.'

Nikolas and Max both ignored him. Which was probably a good thing. He didn't think he really wanted to find himself in the middle of something with those two. Alex could hold his own in a fight. Growing up with three older brothers had made sure of that. But none of his brothers had alien power.

'If you use your power, you put us all in danger,' Michael said. Alex noticed the muscles in Michael's neck knotting up. He was not too thrilled with Nikolas. And Alex couldn't help feeling a little happy about that.

'Didn't Isabel tell you about Sheriff Valenti?' Max asked. 'The guy's mission in life is to track down aliens.'

'And he works for an organization called Project Clean Slate,' Michael added. 'So it's not likely that he's looking for us just to say hi.'

Nikolas stared back and forth between Michael and Max. 'Wait. Am I getting this? I knew Isabel was afraid. But you two are also scared of a human? That's like being afraid of a fly. If this Valenti guy gets too close, I'll just squash him.'

'Nikolas is right,' Isabel insisted. 'Why are we so scared of Valenti? We have the power. He doesn't.'

'I can't believe I'm hearing this.' Liz spoke up for the first time. Her dark eyes glittered with anger. 'Valenti isn't a fly. He's dangerous to all of us.' She turned to Nikolas. 'You don't know him. We do. We know what he's capable of. You have to listen to what he did to me. He-'

'I don't listen to insects.'

Liz's head snapped back as if she had been slapped. Maria's face grew pale.

Nikolas stood up and strode across the quad.

What a complete and total jerk, Alex thought. At least Isabel got to find out the truth about him right away.

But Isabel jumped to her feet and followed Nikolas without even glancing at any of them.

'I can't believe she did that!' Michael burst out. 'I cannot believe she just plopped down and said, 'Oh, hi, this is Nikolas. He's an alien, too.''

'She should have come to us first. Alone,' Max agreed. 'It's like it doesn't even occur to her that this is something that involves all six of us. That guy Nikolas could put us all in danger. What is she thinking?'

It's pretty obvious what she's thinking, Alex answered silently. She's thinking she wants the brown-haired boy. And I'm guessing that's much more than okay with him.

***

'Hey, Nikolas, wait up,' Isabel called.

Stacey walked out of the bathroom in time to see Isabel trotting after Nikolas. Her lips turned up in a smug little smile. 'Don't think you've won our bet,' she said softly. 'I saw you in the quad, and it looked like you were holding his hand, not the other way around.' She wagged her finger in Isabel's face. 'That doesn't count.'

'Oh, shut up, Stacey,' Isabel muttered. She continued after Nikolas, but she slowed down a little. It was too humiliating to be seen literally chasing a guy. That was not her style.

Nikolas stopped at his locker. Isabel forced herself to walk over to the drinking fountain and take a few sips. Then when she figured she wouldn't look pathetically eager, she wandered over and leaned against the locker next to Nikolas's.

'Max worries. He can't help himself. I think it's a big-brother thing,' she said. 'Michael's totally protective, too.'

'Us worrying about some sheriff is like a general with a nuclear warhead worrying about a kid with a BB gun,' Nikolas said.

When Isabel was a little girl, she used to have nightmares where Sheriff Valenti was a big wolf chasing her. He kept getting closer and closer, his long, sharp teeth dripping saliva. Even when she got older, she couldn't shake the feeling that someday he was going to capture her, lock her away somewhere, and do all kinds of hideous tests on her-ending up with her on some dissecting table.

'I really want you to teach me how to build up my power,' Isabel said. 'I want to be able to do what you said- squash Valenti like a fly if I have to.'

She didn't care what Max said. Because Nikolas was right. With her power she could be the strong one. She would love to give Valenti a few nightmares about her. She would love to stop being careful.

She would also love having an excuse to spend some time around Nikolas. No, make that a lot of time.

Nikolas slammed his locker shut. 'I think I can fit you in,' he told her. His eyes traveled slowly up her body from the tips of her boots to her face and lingered on her lips.

'Um, cool,' Isabel stammered. She tried not to stare at his mouth. But it looked so kissable. When was Nikolas going to kiss her? If he didn't make his move soon, she'd just have to do it herself.

'Well, we're all going to a movie tonight. You should come,' she added. Isabel didn't usually ask guys out. In fact, she never asked guys out. She liked to make them work for it a little.

But Nikolas was new in town. He didn't know anyone. And besides, she felt like she was addicted to him. She couldn't stand the idea of going through the whole weekend without seeing him.

'Does we include your human friends?' Nikolas asked.

'Yeah. I know it's weird having humans know the truth about us. It really freaked me out at first,' Isabel said quickly. 'But the three of them totally came through for Max and Michael and me. They helped us get Valenti off our trail.'

'They aren't even the same species as us. And they smell funny,' Nikolas answered. 'Sitting in some movie with a crowd of them doesn't sound like fun to me.'

'Come on. You've never had one human friend?' Isabel asked.

'Nope, but I did have a dog once,' Nikolas said. 'Hanging out with humans is probably part of the reason your power is dull. You spend too much time with them, you start thinking like one of them, then you start believing you're one of them.'

Isabel thought about trying to convince him he was wrong, then decided to skip it. Things were just starting up between them. She didn't want to risk blowing everything with a stupid fight.

Nikolas would get to know Alex, Maria, and Liz eventually. And when he did, he'd change his mind. He had