He sounded like a little kid trying to convince his babysitter to let him stay up until eleven. He's trying so hard to make me feel okay about what's happened, Liz thought. Why can't I do that for him?
"I have to touch you, okay?" Max asked. "That's how I make the connection."
If he can heal with a touch, can he kill with a touch? The question leaped into Liz's mind. Without thinking, she backed away from Max on the bench.
Instantly his blue eyes grew darker, as if a thick black curtain had fallen over his emotions.
"Never mind," he said quickly. "It was a stupid idea. Why would you want to be connected to me?"
Max started to stand up, but Liz grabbed his arm. She couldn't let him feel this way, feel as if she were disgusted by him.
"I want to do it. Really," Liz told him.
Max sat back down, smiling. He reached out and tucked her hair behind her ears, then gently cupped her face with his hands. Liz felt a shiver rush through her body. And it didn't feel quite like a frightened shiver.
Max leaned close, so his face was inches from her own. His gaze drifted to her lips, and for one long, shocking moment she thought he was going to kiss her. Instead he began to speak, his voice low and soothing. "Now take deep breaths, and try to let your mind blank out."
Her heart was beating so hard, she could hardly breathe at all. Liz concentrated on pulling in a long, deep breath, then she let it out.
Max matched each of his breaths to hers. She could feel the warm puffs of air on her face each time he exhaled, and the smell of his wintergreen Life Saver filled her nose.
She'd never seen such intense blue as his eyes. It was almost like looking through a deep, deep pool.…
Liz realized she was leaning toward him, wanting to be closer, wanting to see through those amazing eyes.…
She closed her eyes, but she could still feel his eyes on hers. She tried to focus all her attention on her breathing. If thoughts began to intrude, she imagined them drifting away, soundless and weightless.
She heard her heartbeat slow as her relaxation grew deeper and deeper. Slowly she became aware of a second heartbeat. Max's heartbeat. It was like they shared one body now.
An image appeared against the dark screen of her eyelids. A child with bright eyes ripping free of something that looked like a cocoon. Another image quickly replaced the first. A Mr. Wizard junior chemistry set. The images came faster and faster. A sky filled with acid green clouds. A bowl with two turtles sunning themselves. A pair of almond-shaped eyes without whites or irises, just pure black.
Then Liz in the elementary school library, her dark brown braids touching the page of her book. Liz, a little older, swinging at a baseball. Liz standing proudly in front of her ninth-grade science fair project. Liz dressed up for the junior prom. Liz smiling, frowning, giggling, crying. Liz lying on the floor of the cafe. Liz staring at Max with an expression of horror on her face.
Liz opened her eyes and found her gaze locked with Max's. She reached up and slid his hands away from her face. She pressed her fingers together to keep them from trembling.
"Did it work?" he asked. "Did you see anything?"
Liz nodded, not trusting her voice. She'd seen everything. She knew everything.
Max was in love with her. He had always been in love with her.
Liz read the question for the third time. "What were the benefits of the gold standard?"
I did study for this test, she thought. I looked at my notes and reread the key parts of the chapters. So why do I have no memory of what the gold standard even is?
Liz skipped down to the multiple-choice section and sighed. A, B, C, and D all sounded like reasonable choices. But even E, none of the above, was a possibility.
Where was her head? Yeah, like I haven't had any distractions lately, she thought. I only almost died. And then found out a guy I've known half my life is an alien. And then found out that this alien guy loves me.
Max Evans loved her. Liz was still trying to wrap her mind around that.
She glanced at the clock. Only twenty minutes left. Maybe she should flip a coin-if she could figure out how to flip a coin for multiple-choice questions. Maybe heads on the desk-A, tails on the desk-B, heads on the floor-
Liz felt a tap on her shoulder. "The principal needs to see you right away," Mr. Beck said softly. "Take your things."
Liz grabbed her backpack. She knew everyone was staring at her as she made her way to the door. They were probably all trying to figure out why honor student Liz Ortecho was getting called to the principal's office.
Why would Ms. Shaffer call her out of class? she wondered as she hurried down the hall. It had to be something big. She swung open the office door-and saw Sheriff Valenti lounging against the long counter that divided the room. His mirrored sunglasses hid his eyes, and his face was expressionless as usual.
"Sheriff Valenti needs to ask you a few questions," Ms. Shaffer said.
Liz jumped. She hadn't even realized the principal was there. The second Liz entered the room, her eyes had locked on Valenti.
"Let's go." Valenti pushed himself away from the counter and headed out the door. He didn't say a word as Liz followed him down the hall, out the main doors, and over to the parking lot. He didn't say a word as he opened the back door of his car for Liz or as he slid behind the wheel and started to drive.
Liz stared at the back of Valenti's head through the metal grill separating the front and back seats. She knew he was playing some intimidation game with her-and it was working. He was freaking her out. Had he found out what really happened at the cafe? Did he know Max healed her? Did he know everything?
Make him tell you what he knows, Liz coached herself. Don't volunteer anything. Don't start talking just to fill the silence. That's exactly what he wants. She leaned her head against the seat, trying for a bored expression. She felt as if any word she said, any tiny gesture she made, could put Max in danger.
The air in the car smelled like cigarettes, and plastic, and sweat, and something medicinal. She wanted to crack the window, but she doubted that windows in police cars rolled down.
Valenti pulled into the parking lot of a small mustard yellow building near the edge of town. He got out of the car and closed the door with a quiet click. Liz almost wished he'd slammed it. At least then he'd seem human. Instead he was an ice man, totally in control. She knew she couldn't play him the way she had Elsevan DuPris.
He opened her door and started across the parking lot. Liz scrambled out and caught up with him. She lengthened her stride until it matched his. They walked across the parking lot and through the building's glass double doors side by side. She wasn't going to walk three paces behind him like a pathetic little puppy dog.
As they walked down a long hallway covered with ugly specked linoleum Liz tried to remember every detail of the story she told him at the cafe. She needed to be able to repeat it back to him today without slipping up.
Valenti stopped abruptly and swung open a door on the left. He stood back and let Liz enter the room first, then closed the door behind them.
Liz couldn't stop herself from giving a tiny gasp as she stared around the windowless room. A morgue. She was standing in a morgue. Liz had seen way too many cop shows not to recognize the stacked rows of metal drawers along one wall.
Oh, God. This wasn't about Max. She was here to identify a body. Who? her mind screamed. Who is it?
Valenti brushed past her and strode along the wall. He grabbed the handle of one of the drawers and slid it open. The sound of the tiny metal wheels rolling in their tracks sent a chill through Liz.
"I want you to see this," Valenti said, his voice calm and cool.
There was a body stretched out on the cold metal of the drawer. A plastic sheet covered it from head to toe, but Liz knew if she walked over there, Valenti would pull back that sheet, and she would have to look. She didn't want to. She didn't. If she looked, it would be real. It would be someone she knew.