The Seeker

bodies may have adapted to age at a normal earth rate.'

Michael studied Ray's unlined face. The guy didn't look a day over forty, but he'd been living here for at least fifty years.

Ray stood up. Max, always polite, stood up, too.

'Wait a minute,' Michael said. 'I want to hear the rest of the story. What happened to Clyde?'

'Dead,' Ray answered. 'I saw his body on my way to release your pods. Please, guys, I really have to rest.'

Michael squinted at Ray's aura. Maybe talking about the crash had been too painful for him. The blue-green color was now covered with a net of deep purple, something Michael had seen on people who had suffered a death in the family.

'Thanks,' Max said, pulling Michael to his feet. 'Thanks for everything.'

'Yeah. You saved our lives-twice,' Michael added. He headed to the door.

'Happy to do it,' Ray said. 'Come back anytime you want.'

Michael hesitated with his hand on the doorknob. He turned back to Ray, but he couldn't quite bring himself to make eye contact. 'Do you know if I have any brothers or sisters… back home?' he whispered.

Ray shook his head. 'Siblings are rare on our planet,' he said gently. 'Each set of parents is only allowed one birthing cycle. Sometimes two children will hatch out of the same pod-'

'Like Isabel and me,' Max interrupted.

'Yep,' Ray answered. 'But it happens very seldomly.'

'Just curious,' Michael said. Brothers and sisters probably would have been a pain in the butt, too, he forced the thought. He walked out the door without another word. Max followed him down the stairs. They climbed into the Jeep and stared at each other for a moment.

'So now we're supposed to head to Flying Pepperoni for pizza, right?' Michael finally asked. Yeah, that's what you did when you got absolute proof you had no family anywhere in the entire universe-went out for pizza.

'Right. We have to give a full report to Liz, Maria, and Alex,' Max answered. He started the Jeep and pulled out of the UFO museum parking lot. 'I told Liz I'd pick her up on the way.'

'Isabel should be with us for this,' Michael said. 'She'll want to hear about the crash and our… our parents.'

'Um, she's not in great shape,' Max admitted. 'When I left the house, she was sitting in the middle of her bed. Just sitting there with the lights off.'

'She wasn't cleaning out her closet or reorganizing her sock drawer or anything?' Michael asked.

Max shook his head, his expression troubled.

Michael frowned. He'd known Isabel since she was a little girl, and he knew that when she was upset, she didn't mope around or listen to sad music or even slam doors. She did things like arranging all her sweaters by color from dark to light, then arranging them all again by the kind of yarn they were made of.

'She's messed up in a big way,' Max said. 'I hated Nikolas, but he was her boyfriend. It's got to be hard to deal with watching someone you care about get killed.'

'Then she shouldn't be alone,' Michael said. If Izzy was in trouble, she should be with him. He wasn't going to let her sit by herself in the dark.

'She refused to come out of her room,' Max told him.

'Drop me off at your house,' Michael replied. 'Pick up Liz, then come back. I'll have Isabel ready to go.'

*** 2 ***

'I want us to be just friends,' Max whispered as he drove toward Liz's house. 'I love you, but we have to be just friends.'

No matter how long he practiced saying it, it would never feel right. He didn't want to be friends with Liz. He wanted so much more.

'Being near me puts you in danger,' he said loudly. 'Look what Valenti did to Nikolas. He could do the same thing to you.'

Now that felt a little better. Max would do anything to keep Liz safe. Anything to avoid feeling what Isabel was feeling right now.

Max turned onto Liz's street. He hoped Michael would have better luck with his sister than he had. Isabel had barely even looked at him when he tried to talk to her this morning. But if anyone could get through to her, it was Michael. Even when they were little kids, Izzy and Michael had always understood each other. It used to make Max jealous sometimes, but right now he was glad his sister had someone to talk to.

He couldn't read minds the way Ray could, but he could always feel the emotions of Isabel and Michael. And at the moment Isabel's pain was crashing down on him in never-ending waves. Michael must have felt it, too.

Poor Isabel. He was only getting the 'lite' version of what she was going through, and even that was enough to make him feel sick. If he were in Isabel's situation, if Sheriff Valenti had shot someone he loved… if he'd shot Liz…

Max couldn't complete the thought. You're going to make sure that never happens, Max told himself.

'We have to be just friends,' he tried out the sentence again. He pulled the Jeep into Liz's driveway. She was out the door in an instant-she must have been watching for him. He stared at her, wishing he could stretch this moment out and make it last the rest of his life. That's about how long it would take for him to get tired of the way the sun made Liz's long dark hair shine. The way that dimple in her left cheek deepened when she smiled at him. The way her low-slung jeans showed off the deep curve of her waist. The way-

Liz climbed in the Jeep and the moment ended. 'Are you going to tell me everything now, or do I have to wait?' she asked.

'It's a pretty intense story,' Max said. 'I'd rather only tell it once, okay?'

'Are you all right?' she asked. She rested her hand lightly on his arm, and Max's breath caught in his throat. He bet kissing any other girl in school would have less effect on his body than that one simple touch from Liz.

'Yeah,' Max answered. He knew he had to say something to her. But right now the only thing he could think of was her hand on his arm. Her soft skin touching his, sending waves of heat through his body. He had to get away from her hand. Then he would be able to function, able to do something other than imagine how it would feel to take her in his arms…

He reached into the glove compartment and pulled out a pack of gum. He didn't want gum. He just wanted a way to move his arm out from under her hand without looking like that's what he was doing.

'Um, I wanted to talk to you about what happened last night,' he said in a rush.

A deep flush crept up Liz's throat and spread to her cheeks. He knew exactly what she was thinking about- their cramped little hiding place under the counter at Victoria's Secret.

Liz had had to lie on top of Max, her body stretched out against his. He knew he shouldn't have touched her. He knew that was breaking the rule-the just-friends rule-but he hadn't been able to resist running his fingers over her face. Tracing her perfectly arched eyebrows, her sharp cheekbones, her soft lips.

When she had started touching him back, he'd had no choice but to wrap his hands in her thick silky hair and kiss her. A kiss that totally moved him. They had kissed before that night. Three kisses. Max remembered each of them, had gone over them again and again in his mind, trying to relive them. But this last kiss… it took them to a whole other level of kissing.

Max yanked his thoughts back to the present.

'I just wanted to say that…' Max hesitated. 'I wanted to say that even with what happened, I still don't want to… I still think we should keep on as friends, as just friends. It's too dangerous for you otherwise. If you get close to me, Valenti gets close to you.'

'Max-' Liz reached out for him again, her eyes concerned.

Max jerked away from her. 'Last night Valenti proved how dangerous he is,' he interrupted. 'He shot Nikolas. Isabel said he didn't even ask any questions first. He just pulled out his gun and blew Nikolas away.'

Max stole a glance at Liz. Her beautiful dark eyes shimmered in the sunlight. Shimmered with tears, Max realized.

He wanted to pull the car keys out of the ignition, hand them to her, and beg her to stab him through the heart