'Okay, we checked the mall. We checked cheerleading practice. Now where-UFOnics?' Alex asked.
'It's sort of early for that,' Maria said. 'Besides, it's in the part of town Michael and Cameron are searching.'
Michael and Cameron. Would she ever get used to saying that? Would she have to? Max had told Liz that Cameron was gone. But no.
'How about Flying Pepperoni?' Alex pulled off his sunglasses and tossed them on the dashboard.
'I guess,' Maria answered. 'It seems kind of hopeless, though. Unless the evil thing in Isabel has some kind of pizza craving.'
Neither of them said a word for a long moment. Maria could feel the silence building up inside her, pushing at the walls of her body.
'Are we having fun yet?' Alex blurted out, a wide, maniacal grin breaking across his face.
'Oh yeah,' Maria answered. 'We're having more fun than-more fun than-'
'Than the last pancake at a breakfast buffet?' Alex suggested.
Maria squinched up her nose. 'I have no idea what that means.'
'Yeah, me neither,' Alex admitted.
Silence filled the car again. Maria felt like a balloon that was about to pop.
'Did I used to have a life?' she suddenly exclaimed. 'I mean, what did I do when I wasn't doing this?' She made a helpless swirling gesture with her hands.
Alex laughed. 'You mean before the alien invasion? You were enjoying your glory days, gathering up the memories you would come to treasure in your old age.'
He sounded so… bitter. Maria twisted the silver ring on her pinkie around and around. 'Can I ask you a horrible question?'
'Uh, sure,' he answered.
'Do you wish that we didn't know the truth about Michael and Max and Isabel?' It was something she'd been asking herself a lot lately.
Alex hesitated. 'It would be easier…,' he finally said.
That was true. A lot easier. Not just because alien bounty hunters and evil controlling things would no longer be a part of her world, but because there would be no one she loved so hard, it hurt. There would be no Michael.
'But no,' Alex concluded. He shot a glance at Maria. 'What about you? Do you wish you could go back in time to before it happened?'
Back to a time when her heart had never been broken. Back to a time when she had never kissed Michael, never told him she loved him.
Maria let out a long, sighing breath. 'No. I don't want to go back.'
'Look, you said you had something to say to me. We've been driving around for more than an hour and nothing,' Michael burst out. 'I'm giving you three more minutes. That's it.'
He couldn't stand having her in the car another second, her with her ocean smell. Even all those pine tree air fresheners Ray had looped around the rearview mirror couldn't completely block it out.
'Why three more minutes? How did you come to that random decision?' Cameron protested.
Now she was getting attitude.
'Three minutes because that's how long it takes to get to the bus stop from here,' Michael answered. 'You want to spend your three minutes on stupid questions, go ahead. Talk about the weather for all I care. But that's all you're getting.' He didn't know why he was giving her that much.
'I don't know how to say what I want to say,' she admitted.
'Three minutes,' he warned her. 'Less than that now.'
She rubbed one finger over her lips, then started talking. 'About what happened with Valenti… I'm sorry. I-'
'Don't bother,' Michael interrupted. He tightened his grip on the wheel until his knuckles went white. 'I don't need to hear any more lies.'
'I'm not-'
Michael interrupted her again. 'You said you didn't know me. That was your excuse, right? You didn't know me?'
'Yeah. I swear, if I'd known you, I never-'
'See, a lie. You didn't know me when you made your little deal with Valenti, I'll give you that. But you knew me when you got Max's and Isabel's names out of me. You sure knew me when you gave their names to Valenti.'
He shot a glance at her. She looked stunned. 'You actually believed your own lie, didn't you? You actually managed to convince yourself that you never could have done what you did if you'd known the people you were hurting. Well, that's bull. You knew, and you didn't care.'
That hurt. He could see it in her face. Good. If he had to face the truth about her, she would have to face it about herself. Why should he be the only one with his guts torn out?
She turned away from him and stared out the window. 'By the time I got to know you, I was already in the compound. I was trapped.'
'What, and I was there for some kind of all-expenses-paid vacation?' he shot back. 'We got Adam out. We would have found a way to get out ourselves sooner or later. But you had to take the easy way.'
'Easy, yeah,' she muttered sarcastically. 'Everything's easy for me.'
'Oh, right, I forgot. You have some bad situation at home. And that makes everything you do okay.' Michael sped up and made a left turn with a squeal of tires. He shoved the gas pedal down harder, made another screeching turn. He wanted her out of this car now.
'Here's the bus station. Have a nice life.' Michael jerked the car to a stop, reached over, and pushed open Cameron's door.
'I'm sorry,' she mumbled one more time. Then she jumped out and raced across the parking lot.
Michael watched her for about two seconds, then he slammed out of the car. 'Cameron, wait,' he shouted. She didn't turn around, but she stopped. He rushed up to her, grabbed her by the shoulders, and forced her to face him. She wanted him to apologize. It was written all over her face. But Michael couldn't let it affect him.
'I'm sure somewhere along the road, you're going to need money,' he said. 'And you'll probably start thinking that if you just told the right people where they could find some real, live aliens, you'd be all set. But I promise you this, you ever say a word about us to anyone, and I will hunt you down and kill you.'
Cameron's skin paled as her face went slack. For once she didn't toss out a canned comeback, and Michael knew his message had hit home. He turned on his heel and walked away without so much as a backward glance.
'The cave is a great hiding place,' Max said. 'If Isabel managed to escape from Adam-or break free from something controlling her-that's where she'd go. She feels safe there.'
'That makes sense,' Liz agreed. She climbed out of the Jeep and helped Max cover it with the tan tarp he used as camouflage when he parked in the desert.
'Ready?' Max asked.
Liz nodded, and they started their hike to the crack in the desert floor leading to the cave. The sun was beginning to set, painting the mountains and pillars of clouds gold and pink. Looking at those clouds, Liz found it hard to believe that evil existed anywhere. But that was a sentimental thought. Foolish. No, more than that- dangerous. Refusing to believe that evil existed made it almost impossible to fight.
Max reached out and took her hand. His touch comforted her, reminding her that at least she wouldn't have to fight alone. His grip tightened when they neared the cave's entrance, and she realized that he was drawing strength from her, too.
'Let's just hope she's there,' he said, then he released her hand and swung himself down into the cave. Liz
