They hit the stairs, Max making sure that he was in the lead. He was especially wary because this was the place in Liz's vision where Maria had gone over the railing. But they made it down the stairs without incident and were in the front of the house. Keeping close together, they searched the front rooms. Then they moved to the center of the house, through the ballroom, and into the dining room, where Michael and Maria were waiting.
"Nothing," Michael reported.
Max nodded. They could not have gotten far. Kyle had been knocking at their door maybe three minutes ago. They could search the house more carefully, checking every closet and looking under every bed, but that would cost them precious time if Isabel and Kyle were outside. Still, they didn't have much choice.
"We'll start in the kitchen," Max said, realizing that he had fallen into his old habit of taking charge. Well, there was no time for long discussions and voting. Isabel might not have that time. For now, she'd be depending on him to do the right thing. Like she depended on me once before, Max thought. It had been another time on another world, and he had failed her then. He had failed her, and Michael, and himself.
He pushed those doubts out of his mind as they reached the kitchen. He looked around. Nothing was out of place. Then the door to the walk-in freezer caught his eye, and he raced over to it. Pulling it open, he looked inside. Nothing.
"Start trying doors," Max said.
He saw Liz open the pantry and head to the mini-hospital
they had found earlier. It was empty. He had just turned back when Michael called him over to the open door next to the pantry. Max could see the light from inside and immediately knew what he was looking at. Of course. How could he have missed it before, when they had first arrived and were searching the house?
Sloppy. Foolish and sloppy, he thought. And Isabel might pay for his mistake now. "Let's go," he said.
They all raced down the basement stairs. Before he could take another step, however, the light in the kitchen went out. Then the basement light went out as well. Max spun around and saw the light in the hallway go out as well. He grabbed Liz's hand. Then the rooms beyond went dark one by one.
A moment later, the light in the kitchen popped back on. Maria gave a startled cry, and Max could see Michael standing by the light switch.
"I don't like this," Michael said.
Max nodded. He didn't either.
Then there was a loud crashing sound from upstairs. Max felt Liz tense up, and then Maria let out a scream. The noise was followed by a loud banging sound that seemed to start from directly above them and travel toward the front of the house.
"Come on," Max said, already heading for the house's back stairs. This was the first definite sign of someone else being in the house. Someone, or something, he thought. Either way, Max decided he was ready; whoever was making that noise was no doubt involved with whatever had happened to Isabel and Kyle.
Racing up the stairs, Max immediately saw all doors
were closed, even though he and Liz had thrown all the doors open when they did their quick search on the way downstairs. Someone must have run through the hall, slamming the doors.
"Someone closed them," Max said, when the others had gathered next to him. Motioning his friends to stay back, he tried the first door, turning the knob and throwing it open. The room was empty.
He heard Michael and Maria try one across the hall. He grabbed Liz's hand again, and then went down the hallway, opening doors as the other two did the same on their side. At the end, Max threw open Isabel's room, which was also empty.
"Someone's playing with us," Michael said, echoing Max's own thoughts.
"Someone?" Maria said.
"What?" Michael said.
"Do I have to spell it out? Do I have to be the only one who's willing to consider the obvious?" Maria said.
"You mean ghosts," Liz said.
"Well, big spooky house, missing people, loud noises. This is not brain surgery," Maria said.
"Maria…," Michael began.
"No, listen to me. Is it really any stranger than half-alien teenagers with cosmic powers?" she said.
Michael didn't look convinced, and neither did Max. There had to be a logical explanation.
"Whoever it is, it isn't the Special Unit," Liz said.
"Whoever it is, we need to find them, and find Isabel and Kyle," Michael said.
"And what about Liz's vision?" Maria asked.
"We are not defenseless," Michael said, confidence in his voice.
"Well, neither was Isabel, but…," Maria said.
Before Michael could respond, Max raised his hand and said, "We need to be very careful. Whatever or whoever it is, we'll deal with it. The most important thing now is to find Isabel and Kyle…" Before it's too late, he finished silently. He saw that he didn't have to say it. Everyone was thinking the same thing.
"Maria is right about one thing," Michael said. "Something got Isabel, in spite of her powers."
"They may have caught her by surprise, and there are more of us," Max added. "Whatever happens, we have to stay together, or at least in pairs. No one goes anywhere alone."
A loud crash downstairs broke his train of thought. "Michael, you and Maria… " Max hesitated for a moment, remembering Liz's vision. They needed to keep Maria away from the top of the front stairs. "You take the back stairs, Liz and I will take the front," Max said. He would have rather kept the four of them together, but they had come up that way and had given whoever it was a chance to disappear down the opposite staircase.
There was more noise downstairs, and when Max and Liz hit the great room, they saw furniture lying everywhere. Someone had turned over chairs and tables, and had done it quickly.
"Max, look," Liz said.
He turned to see a blazing fire in the fireplace, where moments ago the fire was almost out. "Michael!" he called out.
"No one here!" came the muffled reply from the other end of the house.
"Wait there!" Max said, heading back through the house. There was some more overturned furniture in the dining room. Michael and Maria were waiting at the bottom of the back stairs, just outside the kitchen.
"Whoever it is, they're gone," Michael said. "What now?"
There was something bugging Max. There was one part of the house they hadn't checked. "Back to the kitchen," he ordered.
A few seconds later, they were in the kitchen, and Max sensed that something was wrong. "Max, look," Liz said, pointing to the plastic that had covered the back door to the house. Someone had re-sealed it. No, more than that: It looked like it had never been torn. It was odd. If someone, or something, is trying to scare us, why bother with the plastic? Max wondered.