That, and the alien thing. When you were one of only three aliens on earth-or at least when you thought you were one of only three aliens, like they had when they were kids-you pretty much had to be best friends with the other two. That would be Max and Max's sister, Isabel.
Max pulled off his sunglasses. His bright blue eyes gleamed with intensity. "I've been asking myself the same thing," he admitted. "I guess it's a normal thought-Ray is the first adult of our kind we've ever seen. Still, it's weird to think of anybody as my dad except, you know, my dad."
Michael hadn't even considered the possibility that Ray could be Max and Isabel's father. That would be so not fair. They already had two great adoptive parents.
Not like Michael. After he'd broken out of his incubation pod, a rancher had found him wandering in the desert and dumped him at the orphanage. Michael had been doing his impersonation of a human pinball ever since, bouncing around from one foster home to the next.
Get over it! Michael ordered himself. You're becoming more pathetic by the second.
"You know, there are no laws against operating a moving vehicle while talking," he told Max.
"What? Oh." Max backed the Jeep out of the driveway of Michael's foster home du jour and headed toward the center of town. "We're both getting ahead of ourselves," he told Michael. "We don't even know if Ray is the same species as we are. All he said last night was that he's an alien, too. He could have come from a completely different galaxy or something."
Michael hadn't considered that possibility, either. He was really losing it. At least he hadn't bounded out to the car with seventeen Father's Day presents for Ray. He hadn't sunk to the complete depths of the Pathetic Ocean. Not yet, anyway.
"I guess you're right," he answered. "You know that blast-of-light thing Ray did to trap Valenti in the mall? I don't think we have the power to do anything like that. So maybe he is from someplace else."
Max-aka Mr. Responsibility-slowed down when the stoplight ahead of them turned yellow. Michael would have sped up.
"Or maybe we have powers that we don't even know about," Max commented. "Isabel said that… Nikolas could do a lot of stuff we can't."
Michael noticed Max's hesitation before he said Nikolas's name. He understood completely. Just thinking of Nikolas started the acid churning in Michael's stomach.
"Maybe we should be hoping that Ray's a different kind of alien. Nikolas was from our home planet, and he almost got us all killed," Michael muttered. "We should never have let Isabel get near that guy. We knew she'd end up getting hurt."
"As if Isabel would listen to either of us," Max answered. He stopped at the stop sign on Smith Road for a full ten seconds-obviously having paid attention the day Mr. Brown covered the dangers of rolling stops in driver's ed-then continued down the empty street. "And anyway, we tried," he added.
"If Nikolas wasn't already dead, I'd want to kill him myself," Michael spat out, growing more furious with every word. "We warned him to stay away from Sheriff Valenti. We told him Valenti was dangerous."
"We didn't know Valenti would kill him," Max said in a low voice.
Michael didn't answer. No, they hadn't known the sheriff would go that far. It just proved how careful he, Max, and Isabel would have to be from now on.
"At least we got Izzy out of there without Valenti realizing the truth about us," Max said.
Michael was too angry to talk. He had known Nikolas was a stinking piece of scum. Isabel needed someone better, someone who could really love her the way she deserved. He should have done whatever it took to keep her away from Nikolas.
Max pulled up in front of the UFO museum. "Ray has an apartment on the top floor," he said.
"I can't believe you worked for the guy at the museum and didn't know the truth about him," Michael said as they circled around back. The first time he'd met Ray was last night, and that was only for a few minutes. He wondered if he would feel something from Ray today. Some connection.
Because he could really be my dad. The thought speared through Michael's brain before he could stop it.
When they got out of the Jeep, he dropped back a step so he was out of Max's sight, then wiped his hands on the legs of his jeans. He wished there was something he could do about the clammy patches spreading down his back and under his arms.
"Hey, it's not like alien auras look different or anything," Max answered as he led the way up the stairs to Ray's door. "How was I supposed to know?"
Max rang the doorbell and Ray opened the door a second later. "Figured you'd be here early," he said. "Where's everyone else?"
"Isabel's still pretty shook up," Max said. "She didn't want to come."
Michael was glad Max was doing the talking. His throat had gone completely dry-unlike the rest of his body, which kept pumping out sweat like he was running a marathon.
Ray ushered them into his living room. It was filled with beanbag chairs. And nothing else.
"What about the other three who were at the mall?" Ray asked.
Michael shot a quick glance at him. Max was right about Ray's aura. It didn't give any clue that Ray was different. It was shining white, with whorls of peaceful green and blue-the aura of a laid-back guy with nothing to hide.
"Uh, I didn't know if it was okay to bring them," Max said. "You know they're humans, right?"
Michael wanted to hear Ray's answer to this question. Would Ray think of humans the way Nikolas had? Nikolas had hated humans. That was one big sign there had been something wrong with him. He'd treated Liz, Maria, and Alex as if they were insects.
Ray laughed, and a few more green spots appeared in his aura. "I find humans quite enjoyable."
"So, who are you?" Michael demanded. His voice came out sounding hoarse and ragged. "Where did you come from?"
He hadn't been planning to ask that. He hadn't been planning to ask anything-not yet. At least I didn't use the dad word, Michael thought.
Ray pointed to his T-shirt. It said, I Survived the Roswell Incident.
"Wait. Are you… you were on the UFO that crashed back in the forties?" Max stammered. "We always thought… we thought our incubation pods came from that ship."
"They did. Anyone want a soda?" Ray asked. "I have some in the kitchen."
Michael felt like his head was spinning. Ray was on the ship with their incubation pods. So that meant he had to be from their planet. And it also meant that the odds that he was Michael's father had gotten much, much better.
Ray started toward the kitchen. Michael stepped in front of him, blocking him. "Wait. Back up," Michael demanded. "You knew about the incubation pods? So why didn't you come looking for us? Why weren't you there when we broke free?"
"Michael, ease off," Max murmured. "Ray's the guy who saved our butts last night."
"Don't tell me to ease off," Michael snapped. "This guy let us spend years not knowing who we are or where we come from or why we have the power we have. We had to stumble around, piecing it all together bit by bit. He didn't even bother to find out if we were alive or dead."
"I didn't have to come looking for you because I knew where you were," Ray explained. "I knew because I put you there. I put your pods in the cave. And then I left you alone. I thought it was your best chance for survival. I couldn't be sure that the government didn't know or at least suspect the truth about me, so it was safest for you to have no connection to me at all."
Michael felt his shoulders relax a little. "So are you…" He cleared his throat. "Are any of us related to you, or…? I mean, are you our father or something?"