The Vanished

Adam had seen enough. He charged inside her dream orb. He grabbed the creature, and instantly it turned to dust. Then he took Liz by the hand and switched the scene to someplace Liz would feel safe-the ground floor of the UFO museum.

"Get it away! Get it away!" Liz screamed.

"It's gone," Adam said soothingly. "Would you like to hear some music?"

Still shaken, Liz nodded. Adam pressed a button on the jukebox. The music that poured out was smooth and slow, with a high, beautiful melody.

"That's nice," Liz said. She began to sway back and forth. And then she smiled at him, dimpling her left cheek.

A strong pang of guilt coursed through Adam. Was this okay, him here with Liz? Max wouldn't care if they were just doing friendly stuff, right?

Yeah, Max definitely would have wanted Adam to take Liz out of that nightmare. Do something to take her mind off it. Like… like ask her to dance.

Adam held out his arms to her. "Would you-"

"Sure," Liz said. She smiled again, but her expression was different this time. It was less friendly and more… interesting.

Adam gulped as he stepped toward her, but she didn't seem nervous at all. Liz met his gaze, her brown eyes glowing with warmth. Then she was in his arms, his hands clasped at the small of her back. Her tender amber aura washed over his lemon yellow energy like the first streaks of a sunset.

He couldn't forget any of this moment. It was too precious. Adam took a second to memorize everything he was sensing. The supple feel of her body against his own. The heat of her hands on his shoulders. The soft brush of her hair against his cheek.

After all, if it wasn't a dream, he wouldn't have the chance to hold Liz like this. He might never have the opportunity again.

Not in the real world.

In the real world, they would always be just friends.

SIX

"How is anybody supposed to eat this?" Liz asked her friends, all of whom were seated around a long table in the school cafeteria. All her friends minus Alex, of course. And Adam. They still hadn't figured out a way to register him for school without every social services department in the country swooping down on him. So Adam hung out in Michael's apartment alone during the day.

Adam. Liz had woken up with an odd feeling about him this morning-a pleasant feeling, too. But she couldn't put her finger on where it came from.

"That's why I brought tuna fish," Maria said. "You couldn't pay me to eat this cafeteria garbage."

Michael looked at them with feigned shock. "What are you talking about?" he protested. He added extra pickles to the top of his slice of sausage pizza. "This is a gourmet meal."

"That is the most vile thing I've ever seen," Liz said, pointing at his lunch.

"Seriously," Isabel said. "You could have at least added some Sweet'n Low."

"Oh, yuck!" Maria said.

"Fine. More for me, then," Michael replied with a smile.

Liz smiled, too, but she was wondering why Max had been so quiet all lunch period. He hadn't joined in any of their joking around, and he hadn't even sat beside Liz at the table. Max was sitting on the other side of Isabel, across from Michael, lost in his thoughts. Drifting to… wherever.

"Max," Liz said. "Earth to Max."

He looked up at her, surprised. "Oh," he said, a faint blush coloring his cheeks. "Sorry. I was just thinking about the cave."

"Isabel's memory?" Maria asked.

Max nodded. "I've been wracking my brain for any distinguishing factors, but so far… zilch, zip-"

"Nada," Isabel said. "Me too. It's all a blur. I wish I could remember it better, but-wait, scratch that… I'm glad I don't remember. DuPris's a pig."

"What do you remember? Is it like your cave?" Maria asked, referring to the cave where Michael, Isabel, and Max had broken free of their incubation pods. They used it as their hideaway from the rest of the world and had brought Liz, Maria, and Alex there when they'd first started hanging out together. Now they often used it as a sort of crisis headquarters.

"You mean our cave?" Isabel said, looking at Liz and Maria meaningfully. Liz smiled at her. She knew it took a lot for Isabel to include her new friends in something so close to her heart. "DuPris's cave was a lot bigger," Isabel continued, "but it had all your basic stuff-stalagmites, stalactites, bats, darkness, the works. A cave."

"There are a million places like that in New Mexico." Michael groaned. "Max and I have been searching the desert for years, and we've only hit the smallest fraction of the caves out there."

"It doesn't even have to be in New Mexico," Liz added glumly. "DuPris can teleport, remember? He followed us back to the museum from the ranch house. And he took the bounty hunters along with him that time, so he could have transported Isabel and Adam, too."

"I remembered being in the back of a car," Isabel argued.

"He could have done that just to trick you," Michael pointed out. "So it would be harder for us to follow him… which it is."

The bell rang, signaling the end of lunch period.

Biology, Liz thought as she stood up. At least it was her favorite class of the day, and Max was in it with her. Maybe he wouldn't be so out of it if they were sitting next to each other, doing experiments together.

Liz said her good-byes, and she and Max headed out of the cafeteria toward the biology lab. When they were halfway down the hall, Liz nudged Max with her arm.

"You ready for today?" she asked. "We're playing matchmaker to a bunch of mutant fruit flies."

Max stopped short. "You know what?" he said. "I left my book in my locker. I'll catch up with you, okay?"

"Yeah… okay," Liz replied, but Max had already headed down the corridor.

With a sigh, Liz continued to the lab. He's just preoccupied, she told herself.

She made a detour for the drinking fountain by the trophy case. As she bent down, a strong hand grabbed her shoulder. Her first thought was that Max had come back for her. But no way would Max grab her so hard it hurt.

She spun around quickly. Kyle Valenti stood there, glaring at her. Sweat was trickling down his forehead from his hairline, and his pupils were like tiny black pinholes.

"What are you doing?" Liz asked, trying to keep her voice as light as possible. She shrugged her shoulder free. "Is there a problem?"

"Problem?" Kyle repeated. He laughed, but it came out more like a choked gasp. "Yeah, there's a problem! Why don't you tell me where my father is?"

His father. Suddenly Liz was overwhelmed by a rush of fear, pity and confusion, and she had to fight to keep it all from showing on her face. Liz felt bad for Kyle-he had lost his dad. Sheriff Valenti was a horrible person, but Liz didn't even like to consider how she'd feel if her papa disappeared.

But how did he know she'd had anything to do with Sheriff Valenti's disappearance? How much did he know?

"Your dad?" Liz asked, carefully maintaining a calm exterior. "What are you talking about?"

Kyle narrowed his eyes, half covering his shrunken pupils.

"I know you had something to do with it!" Kyle snapped. "You were snooping around my house that day-right before I saw him for the last time. You expect me to believe that's just a coincidence?"

"Kyle, I'm so sorry," Liz said as sincerely as she could manage. "But I honestly don't know where he is." She tried to push past him before he saw in her eyes that she was lying.

Kyle held on to her arm. "So then why were you in my house?" he demanded.

"Kyle, I already told you," Liz began with a nervous laugh, trying frantically to remember the explanation she and Maria had come up with when he'd found them there a week ago. "Maria… and I… were decorating all the football players' houses, just for a laugh-"