Max grabbed Adam by the shoulders and knocked him out of the Jeep, tackling him to the ground like an angry football player. Max glanced up and saw the rabbit bound away.
"Why the hell did you do that? Did you think it was fun? Did you think-"
"What?" Adam asked. He shoved himself to his feet and brushed some of the dirt off his jeans.
"What?" Max cried. "You're asking me what? You almost killed that helpless rabbit-"
"I did?" Adam cried. "I didn't mean-I didn't even know. I felt kind of… out of control."
Adam looked at the spot where the rabbit had been. Max had to admit, Adam looked genuinely devastated. But Max had seen his face when the rabbit had squealed.
Adam had been smiling.
Liz twisted her hair into a knot on the top of her head. She noticed Adam following her every movement with his eyes. She could almost feel his fingers on the places his eyes touched. Sliding up her neck. Twining in her hair. She wasn't sure how to react. One part of her was flattered at being so admired, but another part of her ached for privacy.
She scooted down the sofa and cuddled up closer to Max.
"Oh no. You guys aren't going to turn into one of that kind of couple, are you?" Maria whined.
"What kind of couple?" Liz asked.
"Let me just ask you a few questions," Maria answered. "Have you ever shared a piece of gum with Max-a piece of gum that you've already chewed for a while? Have you ever engaged in any kind of baby talk? Do you often hear shouts of 'get a room' when you're out in public? If you've answered yes to any of the above, it may already be too late. You may already be that kind of couple."
"Don't worry. We're not going there," Liz promised. "Are we, Maxie-waxie, my little googie face?"
"Where are Alex and Isabel?" Max asked. "I want to get this done."
"This" being coming up with the plan to rescue Michael. Which more than explained how distracted Max was.
"They're only a couple of minutes late. I'm sure they'll be here soon," Maria answered.
"How can you be sure of that?" Max snapped.
"I guess we can't. Hey, doesn't Isabel have a cell phone? I could call and see where they are," Liz volunteered.
"I'll do it," Max answered.
Before he could stand up, Liz heard the front door open. A moment later Alex and Isabel appeared. Isabel headed for the couch, and Alex perched on the edge of Maria's chair, putting them pretty much as far away from each other as they could get and still be sitting in the living room.
Spending time alone on the stakeout obviously hadn't led to any kiss-and-make-up action. Liz didn't know if that was good or bad. Isabel's personality always seemed completely opposite to Alex's, but sometimes that could actually work for people.
"We found nada," Alex announced, obviously eager to get down to business and then get out of there.
Max checked his watch. "Our parents could get home soon, and this isn't a conversation I want them walking in on. Maybe we should take turns keeping watch for them. Adam, do you mind doing the first one? You can see the driveway from the kitchen window."
"Okay" Adam stood up and headed out of the room. As he passed behind the couch, Liz felt a whisper-soft touch on her shoulder. Guess Adam needs a stronger hint, she thought.
As soon as Adam was gone, Isabel turned to her brother. "What's the deal? We both know Mom and Dad are at their office in Clovis. They won't be home for hours."
"Something happened when Adam and I practiced combining our powers," Max answered.
His tone jerked Liz out of her thoughts and pulled all her attention to him. Max almost sounded frightened. This wasn't about coming up with a plan to get Michael out. Something else was wrong. Something major.
"We were trying to set a rock on fire, and this rabbit hopped out," Max continued. "Adam was just about to incinerate the poor thing, until I tackled him. One second its nose was twitching, the next second it was squealing. I think he's got an evil side or something."
A small sound of distress escaped Maria's lips.
"Oh, man," Alex muttered.
No. The word exploded in Liz's brain.
"It had to be an accident," Isabel exclaimed. "The power slipped out of his control or something."
Max shook his head. "You weren't there. You didn't see it. The rabbit screamed. It sounded almost like a person, really loud and high. And Adam was smiling like he was watching a good show on TV or something."
"I can't believe Adam could do that," Maria said.
"We have no idea what he's capable of," Max answered, his voice flat. "We don't know what they did to him in that place. Maybe they've spent years turning him into some kind of killing machine."
"Max is right," Alex said. "We've only been around Adam a few days."
Liz got a flash of Adam spinning in her backyard, laughing as the grass tickled his bare feet. "Adam is about as far from a killing machine as you can get," she told them.
"Of course you'd say that," Max answered. She felt his body tighten, and he shifted away from her.
"Of course I'd say that because what?" Liz demanded. "Because Adam has a little crush on me? You really think that's why I'm defending him?"
"Yeah. I do," Max said bluntly.
"I'm glad to know you think so highly of me," Liz shot back. She wrapped her arms around her waist.
"Adam doesn't have a crush on me, and I agree with Liz," Isabel cut in. "He's completely gentle and sweet."
Maria turned to Max. "Do you think he's dangerous to us?"
"That's the question we need to decide before we go into the compound," Alex said. "What do you think, Max? Do you think there's any chance he could turn on us?"
Michael paced around his cell. Sometimes only needing two hours of sleep a night totally sucked. In here, he wouldn't mind needing twenty.
Okay, maybe not twenty. Twenty would mean he slept way more than Cameron, and Michael wouldn't want to miss any Cameron time. He shot a quick look into her cell. All he could see was the top of her head as she lay on her cot. He liked her hair, which was kind of weird because he usually went for long hair on girls.
He also usually went for girls with a few more curves. Cameron was long, lean, and had more muscles, well, not more than he did, but she was definitely a hard body.
Don't go any farther in that direction, Michael told himself. It wasn't a good idea for boys who lived in glass cells to think about sex stuff too much.
He flopped down on his bed and stared up at the glass ceiling and the cement ceiling far above it. He wondered how far underground they were. Sometimes the idea of being underground completely creeped him out. It was like being buried alive.
Michael jumped up, suddenly feeling way too much like he was lying in a coffin. He shot another glance over at Cameron. He would let himself look at her a little longer if the guards weren't around. He didn't like the feeling of having people out there going, "Look, Alien Boy wants the human girl."
Was that even true? Did he want Cameron? Oh, yeah.
Okay, harder question, Michael thought. Would you want Cameron if she wasn't the only girl in this place?
The answer came just as fast. Oh, yeah.
Even harder question. Do you want her more than you want Maria or Isabel?
Isabel, whoa. How did she get in that question? Isabel was practically like his sister. He didn't think of Isabel that way.
Except, remember that day you were wrestling over the remote? he asked himself. He'd gotten this flash of what it would be like to see her in the non-almost-like-a-sister category, and it had been… intense. Body-burning intense.
That explained how Isabel got into the question. Michael shoved his hands through his hair. He'd really been trying not to think about Maria down here. He had enough to deal with without trying to decide how he felt about Maria saying she loved him.