"Mr. Hughes would probably have a party if I took off," Michael muttered. "But Max is right. It wouldn't be smart."
"If we stay, we have to do something about Maria. She's going to tell Valenti everything-you saw the way she looked at us. And Liz won't be able to stop her," Isabel insisted. "We're not going to be safe as long as any human knows our secret."
Safe. Max knew how important it was to Isabel to feel safe. He wasn't sure if she ever really had. But he couldn't let her hurt Liz or Maria.
"Liz is Maria's best friend," he said. He tried to keep his voice emotionless. He didn't want Isabel to think he was about to go off on her again. "They've known each other since they were little girls. I'm sure she'll be able to convince Maria to keep quiet."
"You have a lot of confidence in Liz," Isabel said. She didn't sound happy about it.
"So should you. Valenti came down on her hard, but she didn't tell him a thing," Max reminded her. "I want us all to agree that we leave Liz and Maria alone."
Isabel didn't answer. Michael was looking anywhere but at Max.
"Come on," Max urged.
"Okay," Michael said finally.
"For now," Isabel added.
I don't believe it. Maria told Alex. Liz could tell just by looking at his face.
Maria and Alex were waiting for Liz by her locker, and it was clear they weren't just hanging out, killing time before the first bell. They obviously had something important to say to her. "Hi, guys." Liz just wasn't ready to have this conversation. She acted really caught up in dialing her locker combination. When she pulled down the lock, it wouldn't open. She'd screwed up the combination somehow.
"We need to talk to you," Maria said. "I told Alex everything. I know I promised you I wouldn't, but I was wrong. This whole situation is too big and too dangerous for the two of us to handle alone."
She sounded so stiff and formal, like she'd stayed fit up all night rehearsing. Liz stopped fiddling with her lock and studied her friend. Maria definitely spent last night doing something besides sleeping. Her eyes had dark smudges under them, and her complexion had a grayish tint.
"I wish you had at least called me first," Liz answered. "I left you about a hundred messages. I even stopped by your house, but no one was home."
"I know. I'm sorry. I… I'm sorry," Maria said again. "That's all I can say. But I don't think I did the wrong thing."
At least she's not making a speech anymore, Liz thought. Liz usually would have felt totally angry and hurt if Maria told a secret they agreed to keep. But she'd seen how scared Maria was yesterday. And Isabel did threaten to kill her. That was enough to make anybody break a promise.
"It's okay," Liz said. She turned to Alex. It was so weird to have him standing there all quiet and serious. He usually talked practically nonstop. "So now that you know, what do you think?" she asked.
"I think none of us really knows what we're dealing with-and that's dangerous. We don't know what powers they have. We don't know what their agenda is. I don't think we can just assume they are exactly what they appear to be. I think the three of us have to go to Valenti and tell him what's going on."
"No!" Liz cried. "You sound like your father, you know that? Talking about agendas and powers. We don't know what they are-so let's kill them. Maybe you should go into the military. I think you'd be great at it."
Alex winced. Liz knew she'd said pretty much the most hurtful thing possible. But it was true. "Look, you're both forgetting that you do know Max, and Michael, and Isabel. Maria, you especially. You've known all of them since we were little. They're still the same people they were-"
"They aren't people," Maria interrupted. "And Isabel never threatened to kill me in elementary school."
"And we can't be sure that they haven't just been playing us, showing us only what they want to show us," Alex added.
Liz felt like screaming at them both. She couldn't believe how stupid, and prejudiced, and horrible they were being. You felt practically the same way after Valenti got through with you yesterday, she reminded herself.
"I understand how you feel. I do," Liz told them. "Yesterday I was half convinced I should tell Valenti everything, more than half convinced. But then I saw Max heal one of the mice in the bio lab. No one was around. He didn't know I was watching. If Max has been playing us, why would he bother to save some stupid little mouse?"
"The mouse wasn't in his way. You and Maria are," Alex answered.
"What are you talking about?" Liz demanded.
"The mouse wasn't any threat to him," Alex explained. "Why not heal it? But that doesn't mean that if he felt in danger-or even if his mission was being jeopardized-that he would have any problem killing. We just don't know, that's the problem."
"Mission? What mission? Did we just enter the paranoia zone or what?" Liz demanded. "I know Max. I trust him. I am not going to do anything that might hurt him. And neither are you."
"It's not just your decision," Maria cried. "I'm the one they don't trust-you heard Isabel say it. She's going to come after me. Why don't you care about protecting me as much as you care about protecting Max?"
Liz heard Maria's voice crack. What am I supposed to do? she thought. She was stuck in the middle between her best friend and-and what? What was Max to her, exactly? Two weeks ago she would have just said he was her lab partner and kind of a casual friend. Someone who had been in her life for years but who wasn't really a big part of it. Everything had changed so much, so fast. "Of course I care about what happens to you," Liz answered. "But you're totally overreacting. No one is going to hurt you. I promise."
"You can't promise," Maria insisted. "You don't know. After school I'm going to Valenti's office-whether you come with me or not."
"I'll go with you," Alex said quietly. "Sony, Liz. I have to."
There's no way I can stop them, Liz realized. Nothing I can say. What am I going to do? If I tell Max that Maria and Alex are planning to go to Valenti, I don't know what will happen. Michael and Isabel really might go after them, and I'm not sure Max could stop them.
But if I don't say anything, Valenti will come after Max, Isabel, and Michael. And he'll probably kill them.
I don't want to choose, Liz thought. How can I?
What am I going to do?
"Max, come sit with us," Liz called.
Max turned and saw Liz, Maria, and Alex eating lunch on the grass in the center of the quad. He could tell by Maria's aura that she was just as upset as she had been yesterday-maybe more. A deep gray was mixed in with the churning murky green of her aura.
But it was Liz's aura his eyes were drawn to as he walked toward them. It was filled with so many colors, it hurt to look at it. There were the sickly yellow streaks of fear and the crimson splotches her aura got when she was angry. There were gray swirls of worry and confusion. And across everything was a spiderweb of dark purple. His mother's aura had a spiderweb like that after his grandfather died. It was a sign of a deep sadness. Liz slid over, and Max sat down next to her. He didn't know what to say. Was he supposed to do the usual lunchtime talk thing-someone heard Johanne Oakley throwing up in the bathroom that morning, and now everyone thought she was pregnant; there was supposed to be a raid on Guffman High that night to steal the Olsen High mascot back; Doug Highsinger got sent home for showing up at school dressed like Marilyn Manson. He didn't know if he could pull it off.
"Uh, so, what do you guys think my next list should be?" Alex asked. "I was thinking maybe alternate uses for pennies, you know, because they're pretty much worthless, and…" His voice trailed off.
Alex feels the tension between Maria and Liz, Max realized. You didn't have to be able to see auras to know something was wrong with both of them. Alex's aura didn't look too great itself. It had an oily, greasy cast to it.