The Dark One

Liz heard her papa's steps slow in front of her door. She smiled as they continued on. He hadn't checked on her. He was really trying to show her that he trusted her, that he knew she wasn't Rosa and he didn't have to be afraid she would die from an overdose the way her sister had.

She rolled onto her side and straightened the rumpled covers. She'd been having a good dream before the sound of the footsteps woke her up. What was it? Something about her and Maria at the community swimming pool? Not quite that.

It wasn't an Adam dream-that's all Liz knew for sure. She also had to admit that she was a little disappointed that it hadn't been an Adam dream.

Every once in a while Adam slipped into her dream orb and created something wonderful for her. Those little encounters with Adam, away from the group, away from real life, were magic.

Liz gazed at the phone on her bedside table. She could just call Adam up and invite him into her dream. She'd never done that before, but she could.

Except that would be encouraging Adam to hope that there could be something more between them. She knew he wanted that. She could see it on his face every time he looked at her.

"And I don't want that," she whispered, needing to hear the words aloud.

Except if she didn't want that, why was she lying there thinking about Adam in the middle of the night? Liz reached for the phone, then hesitated, hand frozen in midair.

There's nothing wrong with wanting to spend a little time with Adam, she thought. It's fun. Fun is good. Hardly anything is fun anymore. It didn't have to be some big deal. It didn't have to be leading somewhere. And if she kept things light and friendly, Adam wouldn't get the wrong idea.

Liz snatched up the phone and dialed, hoping Michael wouldn't be the one who answered. She smiled as she heard Adam's voice say, "Hello."

"It's Liz," she told him. "Do you want to come out and play? I mean, do you want to meet up on the dream plane for a while?"

There was a moment of silence, and Liz's palms started to sweat. "We don't have to," she added quickly.

"No. No! I want to. Definitely," Adam exclaimed. "Just go to sleep, and I'll be there." He hung up without saying good-bye.

Liz hung up the phone and settled back down into her pillows, searching for the most comfortable position. It didn't take too long before she began to feel the drifty, floaty, almost asleep sensations.

And then she was in the science lab, a titration experiment in front of her.

"Do you dream about school a lot?" Adam asked from behind her.

She turned and smiled at him. "At least it's not the one where I'm taking a test naked," she answered. A faint blush colored Adam's cheeks. Liz didn't even want to know where his thoughts had just taken him. "So what are we going to do? Are we going to be goldfish again? That was fun."

"Whatever you want," Adam told her. "You tell me, and I'll make it happen."

"Anything?" Liz twisted her hair into a knot on the top of her head. "That's too hard. Too many choices."

"Well… what's your favorite color?" Adam asked.

"Emerald green," Liz answered immediately. Then she realized that was her favorite because it was the rich, vibrant color of Max's aura. "No, pink," she said.

And the entire lab went pink. All shades. Fuchsia. Raspberry. Cherry. Strawberry. Bubble gum. Rose petal. Cotton candy. Only Liz and Adam retained their original coloring.

Liz spun in a circle. "It's like we're inside a… I don't know. A bottle of pinkness."

Adam laughed. "Very scientific," he teased. "Now, what's your favorite flavor?"

"Peppermint," Liz answered. Adam picked up a pencil from the lab table and held it up to her lips.

"Bite," he instructed.

Liz took a tiny nibble, and the sharp, sweet taste of peppermint flooded her mouth. She picked up the closest beaker and, gri

"Okay, I know the lab is one of your favorite places. But choose someplace else, someplace you've always wanted to go," Adam told her, his leaf green eyes appearing even more striking amid all the pink.

"A big city. Someplace as not-Roswell as you can get." Liz took another sip of the liquid peppermint, thinking about it. "New York City," she decided. "Top of the Empire State Building." And poof!

They were there. Liz stared at the pink skyscrapers, so tall, they almost touched the pink clouds. "That one over there-that's the Chrysler Building," she told Adam.

"Hey, do you think I grew up underground or something?" Adam joked. "I read all about New York on the web."

"It needs people," Liz said, leaning over the railing and staring down at the street below.

"Up here with us?" Adam sounded surprised and a little disappointed.

"No, down there. Little ant people rushing around doing important New York City things." Almost as soon as the words were out of her mouth, the street was filled with pink people striding purposefully along with pink briefcases and portfolios. "All this pink is making me dizzy," Liz admitted.

And the whole world turned blue. Navy. Sky. Powder. Blueberry. Turquoise. Cobalt.

"Better?" Adam asked. He didn't let Liz answer before he zapped everything yellow.

"Aaah! Too bright!" Liz cried.

Instantly everything went velvety black. Then a double fistful of stars appeared in the sky and a brilliant full moon. Each of the buildings took on a gentle glow.

"This is so beautiful," Liz whispered. "It's perfect."

"Not quite," Adam said.

Liz glanced at him. That's all it took for her to know he wanted to kiss her.

And she wanted to kiss him, too. She did. This setting was so romantic-it all but shouted for a kiss.

Liz looked into his face and realized it wasn't just the setting. It was Adam, too. Sweet Adam with his eager eyes, eyes that looked at Liz as if she was something rare and special.

But as romantic as the setting was, as sweet as Adam was, the time wasn't right.

"It's absolutely perfect just the way it is," she insisted, turning her gaze back toward the city stretched out in front of them. "Thank you, Adam."

NINE

"I thought I'd be the last one here," Max said as he sat down at the usual cafeteria table. "Some of the beings wanted-" He stopped abruptly when he saw Liz's expression fall and her eyes go hard. "Where's Alex?" he asked abruptly.

"Alex is actually here-in the cafeteria here-just not here here," Maria told him. She gave him a sympathetic smile, but at the same time she seemed to be watching him for a sign or something. A sign that he wasn't him or whatever.

Max glanced around the cafeteria. He almost missed Alex entirely because he was surrounded by girls, most of them in heavy flirt mode.

"I guess we can all see why he decided not to join us," Max said, dropping his backpack down on the empty chair next to him.

Maria snorted. "We can certainly all see what a big idiot he's being. I mean, where's the gratitude? Did those girls bring him back from another planet? I don't think so."

"Actually, neither did we," Max reminded her.

"But we tried!" Maria shot back. She opened a tiny porcelain box and pulled out two of her hand-blended vitamins. "And he-"

"He's just having some fun," Liz cut in. "What's wrong with that?"

"What's wrong is that we have a situation going," Maria answered. She swallowed the vitamins dry. "And he should be a part of dealing with it."

"How is Isabel doing?" Liz asked Max, her dark brown eyes serious.

Max's heart skipped just from hearing Liz address him, but he pushed the feeling aside. "I'm the last person who would know," Max told her.