The Stowaway

"With the sleeping pills I gave him, I can't believe he even managed to roll over." Michael pulled a medicine bottle out of his pocket and checked the dosage instructions.

"Maybe he didn't do it," Cameron said. "Maybe Isabel did. Do you think she could have carried Adam out of here on her own?"

Michael whipped his head toward her, and Cameron felt scalded by his gaze. "Isabel would not do this," he said, his voice low and deadly. "Everyone is not like you."

It was as if the floor had been yanked out from under her feet. "How can you even compare-" she began. Then she stopped herself. She couldn't have this conversation. Not right now, at least. Not in front of Max and Liz.

"Cameron may be right," Max said.

"I don't believe you," Michael exploded. "How can you say that about your own sister?"

"No, listen." Max shot a glance at Liz, and she gave him a quick nod. "Yesterday Isabel used her powers to slam me up against a wall. She apologized, said she was freaked about what happened with Adam, but…"

Michael shoved his fingers through his hair. "Isabel said there was something evil in Adam, something controlling him," he muttered to himself.

"What if she was right?" Liz asked. "Could whatever it is be in Isabel now?"

Cameron was very glad Liz had asked that question. It was something Michael needed to think about, but if Cameron had been the one to say it, he would have totally gone off.

"We have to at least consider it as a possibility," Max answered. "Fact-Isabel's not here. Fact-she never would have left Michael to die of her own free will. So either Adam regained consciousness, attacked Michael, and forced Isabel to go with him-"

"Or something evil has control of Isabel," Michael finished.

"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 stu

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."