The Dark One

'There is the device that Kyle had,' Liz reminded them, pulling her long, dark hair back from her face. 'That could be an equalizer.'

'Except Kyle's not going to let us have it,' Isabel said, sounding the faintest bit relieved.

'Maybe we could duplicate the technology,' Liz responded.

'Gee, Captain Wizard, you're right. Adam has a toaster. And I have a couple of forks. That's all we'd need,' Michael volunteered with mock enthusiasm.

Liz ignored him. 'I'm just saying that we don't have to just roll over if we don't want to.'

For the first time since the breakup Max looked at Liz, really looked at her, full force, his blue eyes bright with emotion. 'Are you saying you're on my side? You think what DuPris wants to do to the consciousness is a desecration?'

Liz noted the choice of the word desecration and the fervor with which Max spoke but didn't comment on it. 'I didn't say that,' she told him. 'I agree with Maria-DuPris is evil.' She hesitated. 'But I also agree with Isabel and Michael. I don't like what the consciousness is doing to you. You're losing yourself, and because you are, you aren't even able to recognize that it's happening.'

'You can't have it both ways, Liz,' Max said.

She tried to remember if it was the first time he'd said her name since they broke up. 'I think in this case I can,' she answered slowly. 'I think it's possible for the right thing to be done for the wrong reasons. Just because DuPris is evil does not mean that shattering the consciousness is evil, although I'm sure his methods for achieving it would be ruthless.'

'The right thing for the wrong reasons,' Max repeated.

Liz nodded. Or the wrong thing for the right reasons, she thought. Like breaking up with Max. It hurt so much, it had to be the wrong thing. But her reasons were right. She was sure of that. She had to break up with him because he wasn't the Max she had fallen in love with.

'I don't think this is going to work,' Max said. He gestured around the table. 'I don't think that there is any plan or course of action that we'll all be able to agree on. Because as far as the right thing for the wrong reason-I think that's bull.'

'He's right. We're never going to agree.' Maria sounded close to tears.

It used to be so much easier, Liz thought. She remembered the day they'd come up with the plan to fake an alien's death and throw Valenti off Max's trail. That magical day when they'd all connected for the first time in a swirl of color, sound, scent.

Their bond was so pure. So intense.

And now… there were stress cracks everywhere in their group. Between her and Max. Between Isabel and Michael and Max. Between Adam and Max, whether either of them would acknowledge it or not. Between her and Adam because Adam wanted more than Liz thought she could give him. Between Maria and Michael for the same reason-Maria wanted more. And Alex-the guy hadn't even bothered to show up.

'One disgusting pizza.' Lucinda Baker stepped up and dropped the pie on the table, the tin pan clattering.

'I'm not really hungry,' Isabel said.

'Neither am I,' the rest of them said, almost in unison.

Liz wondered if it was the last thing they'd ever agree on.

THREE

Alex leaned against the railing of the mall's upper level and stared down at the fountain below. He was supposed to meet Stacey Scheinin there in fifteen minutes. Stacey Scheinin-as in head cheerleader, as in one of the most popular girls in school.

As in what could she possibly want with Alex Manes? Okay, he had gone out with Isabel Evans. And in his book-and in the books of plenty of guys at school-Isabel ranked higher than Stacey in terms of hotness and just general it-ness.

But Isabel never would have shown the slightest interest in him if he hadn't learned her secret. That had forced them together. It had given her a chance to see him as more than one of the horde of average guys who worshiped Princess Isabel from afar. She'd gotten to see he was someone she could count on. Someone-

Someone that, ultimately, she didn't want to be with. Surprisingly, the pain of that realization had almost faded away completely. Or maybe not so surprisingly. Maybe that's what happened when you got zapped away to another planet where a faction of the beings wanted you dead. Things just sort of fell into perspective.

Alex scanned the area around the fountain. There were no suspicious clumps of giggling girls or smirking guys waiting to mock him for falling for the biggest practical joke ever. Weird as it was, it seemed like Stacey had been totally sincere when she had invited him to meet her here. It wasn't some high-school-ritual-humiliation kind of thing.

Alex pushed himself away from the railing and wandered toward the food court. There was no way he would be waiting at the fountain like some anxious little puppy when Stacey showed. He'd get there when they agreed to meet, but not any earlier.

When he reached the first of the little food stands, Alex turned around. Okay, he didn't want to appear too eager, but that didn't mean he wanted to meet Stacey with questionable breath or the potential of some kind of mall food gunk stuck to his front teeth. He turned into the Gap instead. Nothing was safer than the Gap.

'Excuse me,' a woman called, a tall, gorgeous woman who looked like she should be on a magazine cover and not in a dinky mall in Roswell. 'I need a male opinion. Does this sweater look good on me?'

Alex knew she wasn't talking to him, but if she was, he'd have to say there wasn't a guy alive who wouldn't like her in that sweater-or anything else.

'Excuse me,' the woman said again. Alex glanced around to see what fool could possibly be ignoring her and realized he was the fool. She was actually talking to him.

'That sweater should be paying you to wear it,' he told her, pulling out one of his older brothers' lines. And then she laughed. Actually laughed in a flirty way. Good God almighty, she was flirting with him. I've gone through another wormhole, he thought. I'm on a planet of inverse male attractiveness. First Stacey Scheinin asks me on a could-be date, and now this.

He glanced at his watch and saw that he had only a few minutes to make it to the fountain on time. 'You should buy it. Really,' he called to the woman.

'You're leaving?' she asked, giving him a sexy little pout.

'Sorry,' he said as he headed out the door. Definitely a strange new world. That was the only place a woman could direct one of those little pouts in his direction.

Alex trotted down the stairs instead of taking the escalator, feeling light and buoyant. As long as he was visiting this wonderful planet, he was going to enjoy it.

'I've been waiting two whole minutes,' Stacey called from her seat on the rim of the fountain, spotting him before he spotted her. She gave him a pout, too.

'Two whole minutes without me? Are you all right?' Alex teased, confidence soaring after he'd scored two real-life, sexy pouts in less than ten minutes.

'I will be once you get your butt over here,' she answered playfully. Alex knew Isabel hated Stacey's high, breathy voice, but Alex thought it was kind of cute.

Alex walked over to her, not too fast, and when he reached her, Stacey wrapped her arm around his waist, surprising him. He didn't expect her to get even a little physical so fast. Actually he didn't expect her to get physical at all.

Not that he was complaining or anything. He looped his arm across her shoulders, which he thought was the best response to the waist wrap. The double waist wrap, where the guy slid his arm around the girl's waist, made walking difficult. And the hand-in-the-girl's-back-pocket wasn't a move for amateurs. Unfortunately, Alex felt like he still fit in that category.

'Aren't those the most adorable little strappy pumps?' Stacey cried, towing Alex toward A Walk on the Moon, the mall's shoe store. And they were off. Doing the promenade. Window shopping, or at least pretending to, but mainly walking the lower loop of stores, checking out who was with whom and being checked out in return.