Max stood as tall and straight as he could and said, "You'll find I'm full of surprises." In a quick motion, he raised his hand and blasted Nicholas as hard as he could. His powers were nowhere near full strength, but they were enough to knock Nicholas off his feet and onto his back. For a second, Max thought the contact with the floor might do the job that his fist had failed to do, but it did not.
Max summoned his powers again and tried for another blast, but before he could release it, Nicholas was on his feet and raising his own hand. He threw out his own force at Max. Instinctively, Max brought up his green shield, which absorbed the impact of the blow. It bowed inward, toward Max, but held. Max could feel his power fading, the shield weakening even as Nicholas increased the power of his own attack.
Concentrating, Max thought of Liz, of Isabel, of Michael, and of their friends. He thought of all their lives,
of all his failures, and summoned all the strength he had left.
And it wasn't enough.
The shields crackled brightly and then disappeared. Max's hand fell to his side, then he crumbled to the floor.
"You're just making me angry!" Nicholas said. But he wasn't just angry, Max saw. He was scared: Max saw that he had surprised and scared Nicholas. How close had Max come to destroying him with those blows? Pretty dose, he thought. But not close enough.
"You just don't know when you're beaten," Nicholas said. "I guess I'll have to show you."
Max felt an unseen force grab him and push him backward. He was sliding away from Nicholas. Curled into a ball, Max wondered how far he was from the rear wall of the room. A second later, he didn't have to wonder. He crashed into it, taking the impact first with his back, then with his head.
The pain was sudden and intense.
Then he was sliding back the other way. He could see the other wall looming.
"Stop it," Isabel said. "I'll tell you where the Granilith is. Just don't hurt him."
Suddenly Max felt the hold on him disappear, and he was lying on the floor in front of Nicholas.
Max raised his head and tried to say no, but his mouth wouldn't work. Nicholas approached Isabel and said, "So tell me."
"You have to let Max go," she said.
He shook his head, "No, I don't. See, before morning, I'm going to kill him and throw him in the freezer upstairs
until Kevar arranges for me to be picked up. Before that happens you will have given me the Granilith." Isabel started to protest, but Nicholas silenced her with a wave. "When I go to work on you and your friends, you'll tell me anything I want to know. Then I'll kill you and by then you'll be begging me to do it."
No! Max's mind screamed. He tried to push himself off the floor, but his body wouldn't cooperate.
Nicholas leaned down to him and whispered, "You failed them again, Max. Your sister, Michael, your friends, especially your girlfriend. And before you die, I want you to know that I am going to enjoy myself with your women. After all, you brought me back to health, and a person my age has needs. I will enjoy getting reacquainted with your sister. And I look forward to getting to know your current mate."
Pushing off the floor, Max lunged at Nicholas, who moved away easily. Max lay on the floor, panting. He had failed them, and his failure was much worse than he had feared.
It was over, Max felt it.
18
Liz watched Max lying on the floor. He had given everything to his fight with Nicholas, and now he looked barely alive. He had sacrificed so much for all of them. He had taken on so many burdens and blamed himself for so much. And he had suffered so much at the hands of evil people. First Agent Pierce, now Nicholas. It was too much for him, and it was too much for her to watch, but she refused to look away.
Then he turned his head and looked at her, mouthing the words "I'm sorry." She knew he blamed himself for some perceived failure, as if all of their fates were his personal responsibility, that all of their lives rested on his shoulders.
She wanted to tell him that it wasn't true. That this was the life they had all chosen, this was the life she had chosen. This fight was all of theirs. And this defeat was all of theirs as well.
In the end, all she could do was look at him and whisper back, "It's okay, Max." She tried to communicate the
rest with her eyes. She wanted to make this part easier for him, to comfort him, but she could tell by his eyes that she had not.
That was her failure, and her shame.
"Okay?" Nicholas snapped, suddenly in front of her. "You think this is okay. If by all right, you mean pain and death for all of you, then yes, I'd say this is all just fine."
Looking into his sneering face, Liz knew what it was like to truly hate someone. He had won, and he was still trying to scare them, to torture them, to hurt Max through her and them. In her fury, she pulled at the straps that held her arms to the wall behind her at her waist. She couldn't break them. In fact, she couldn't even budge them. All she could do was stomp her feet in her anger.
Herfeet.
They were free. She was bound to the wall, but she could still move her feet, and Nicholas had made the mistake of getting very close to her, to frighten her more. Without a moment's hesitation, she brought a single foot up with all of her might, aiming it where she knew it would hurt most. It hit with a satisfying thud, and Nicholas looked at her in shock and pain. Then he crumbled into a ball on the ground.
Liz felt a flash of satisfaction. She had fought back, even if just for a moment. And she had hurt him, pretty badly by the sound of his moaning. It might be their last victory of the day, and in the end it wouldn't make a real difference, but Liz smiled at the sight.
She only wished she could have fought harder and made a real difference. Thinking back to her dream-vision of the future, she remembered seeing Michael and Isabel
lying dead while Max stood alone to battle some monstrous force. Even fhen he was trying to protect her, but the force he was facing was too great.
And then he had died for her… for all of them.
Was that vision about this fight, with the metaphor of dreams replacing Nicholas with a monster? It seemed impossible. Nicholas was too small and petty to be the force that finally destroyed Max.
Liz felt now like she had felt in the vision: an observer, helpless. She could not fight, had not fought then. How could she? She had powers, but she couldn't control them. Her visions had helped them before, and her other powers had helped Max in Stonewall, but she couldn't even summon them now.