The Vanished

Instead he was enveloped in a pocket of rage. Shrieks of fury in frenzied voices swirled around him from beings surrounding him. Max felt like he'd been sucked into a whirlpool of lava and then tossed to crash against jagged, molten rocks.

These beings were calling for Alex's life to be extinguished. They wanted him dead.

Now.

EIGHT

Isabel leaned against Michael's shoulder, enjoying the flickering warmth of the bonfire. Michael felt solid against her arm. Comforting and protective.

Brotherly.

"How was it I ever thought I could date you?" she asked Michael cheerfully, tilting her head back to look up at him. "It would have been a huge mistake."

"Definitely. But you're beautiful and I'm beautiful, so it seemed to make sense at the time," Michael joked.

Isabel sat up on the thick plastic pad she'd brought with her. "Beautiful! Beautiful? You're so conceited!" she squealed.

"Men are not beautiful," Maria jumped in. "Only women can be beautiful."

"I am beautiful, and you both know it," Michael replied with a smile.

"God!" Isabel exclaimed. "You're more arrogant than I am."

"Nah, it's not arrogance," Michael said. "It's just a basic understanding of reality."

"See?" Isabel said to the others. "Total arrogance."

"He's self-centered, too," Maria piped up.

Isabel gri

"Hey!" Michael protested. "Don't hate me because I'm beautiful, all right?"

"We don't," Maria reassured him. Then she gave him a long look up and down. "In fact, I've changed my mind. I do think you're beautiful."

"Hey!" Isabel protested.

"Thank you," Michael said primly.

"And you're lucky you are," Maria continued. She leaned closer to him. "Because if you weren't beautiful, we'd have no use for you. You're way too conceited!"

"Go, Maria," Isabel said, impressed. Who knew the girl had it in her?

Michael rolled his eyes and pretended to ignore them.

"Michael, Michael," Isabel continued, enjoying herself. "So vain, it's insane."

"I am not listening to this," Michael said.

"That rhymes," Maria called. "It's a song."

Isabel laughed, watching Michael's face start to turn red. "Michael, Michael," she repeated, adding a lilt to her voice. "So conceited… I'm defeated."

"That doesn't even make sense," Michael protested, obviously trying hard to keep his cool.

"Yes, it does," Adam jumped in.

"Michael, Michael," Maria sang. "So arrogant, he makes the girls pant."

"All right, that's it," Michael said. He grabbed the bag of marshmallows away from Adam. "One more little rhyme from either of you and it's war."

Right, Isabel thought. I'm so scared.

"Michael, Michael," she sang, batting her eyelashes at him. "So egotistical, it's almost… metaphysical."

Michael flung a marshmallow, and she felt it bop onto her forehead. He instantly doubled over in laughter.

Isabel narrowed her eyes at him. "You're so dead." While he was busy laughing, she grabbed the bag of marshmallows out of his grasp and pulled one out.

"Don't even think about it," Michael said. He had stopped laughing.

"Oh, you have no idea what I'm thinking, my friend," Isabel said. She hurled the marshmallow at Michael. It flew off into the desert, missing him by at least five feet. Isabel winced. Her aim had never been that great. Michael shook his head, laughing at her lack of coordination.

Irritated, Isabel reached out and snapped the marshmallow with her mind. It had already passed Michael by, but it veered awkwardly and hit him on the back of the head.

"My turn!" Maria shouted. She tore open a second bag and began lobbing marshmallows in Michael's direction.

Michael picked up marshmallows that had landed near him and returned fire at both Maria and Isabel. Liz screeched and scrambled away from the fray while Adam just looked on with interest.

As Isabel ducked and threw, she decided that Liz and Adam shouldn't be allowed to stay neutral in this war. Her next volley was directed at their heads.

Suddenly they had a full-fledged marshmallow fight on their hands. Shrieks of laughter filled the night sky.

My friends are so juvenile, Isabel thought, whipping another marshmallow into the fray.

Liz mashed a marshmallow on Adam's forehead, then turned to flee. But before she could make a move, Adam grabbed her around the waist, wielding two marshmallows with his free hand.

Liz screamed but was silenced when Adam stuffed the two marshmallows into her mouth. She started to laugh, but when she sucked in her breath, she pulled her mouthful of marshmallow goo down into her throat. In a moment of panic she realized the goo had lodged there. She wasn't getting any air.

As she gasped for breath, Liz saw Adam's eyes widen in horrified shock. He pounded on her back as Liz attempted to force the marshmallows either up or down.

I just want to breathe, her brain screamed as her eyes watered. Breathe!

Finally she swallowed painfully and took a gulp of air. She dissolved into coughs, and Adam stopped pounding and started rubbing her back soothingly.

His hands were warm and comforting as she dropped shakily to the ground, holding her aching throat with both hands. Adam sat with her.

"Sorry! I'm so sorry! Are you okay?" he asked. His hands were still touching her back, lightly caressing her shoulder blades.

All Liz's perceptions focused on the touch of Adam's hand. She felt light-headed, almost as if she were tipsy. "Who spiked the 'mallows?" she mumbled.

I felt like this when we were dancing, Liz remembered, her thoughts coming slow and somehow soft. It felt… good.

Liz frowned. When had they gone dancing? Suddenly the dream she'd had the other night flooded back to her. Adam was there. He had done something to a nightmare she'd been having. He'd changed it, made it safe.

"You were in my dream."

"Liz, I'm so sorry," Adam said gently, his breath against her ear. His low voice sent a tingling shiver down her side. "I wasn't trying to spy on you or anything. I just-"

"Don't worry about it." Liz jumped up. "I'm going to bring Max some marshmallows," she blurted out. She grabbed an almost empty package off the ground. "He loves these things."

Liz ran her hand through her hair as she walked away from the campfire. She suddenly realized she was trembling, and she wrapped her arms around herself. Things had been getting a little… complicated there with Adam for a moment.

She had to see Max. Right now.

Where had he disappeared to, anyway? When he wandered away from the campfire, Liz had assumed he wanted to find someplace private to co

Liz shook her head. She was actually feeling jealous of a group of beings on a planet that was so far away, it couldn't be seen from the earth. She was losing it.

She kept walking, trying to enjoy the peace of the desert and not get all crazed. Her feet crunched on the dry ground as she wandered in a rough circle around the campsite.

She was about to give it up-or start screaming his name like a loon-when she spotted him. He was sitting cross-legged on a rock, staring away from her. His skin seemed to glow with a slight silver tint in the starlight.

Liz hurried over to him. "Hey, Max-"

She froze when she got a good look at his face. His eyes were glazed, expressionless, and his cheeks were slack. There was more movement in the vast emptiness of the desert than in Max Evans's body. He looked like the living embodiment of a black hole.

Liz shivered. She knew Max was just co