"There are millions of beings in the consciousness, though, right?" Maria asked tentatively. "So what Ray or your parents want, that might not be what the consciousness makes you do."
"They aren't making me do anything," Max snapped.
Michael snorted. "Tell that to DuPris," he muttered under his breath.
Max wrapped his arm around Liz and pulled her closer against him. The wrinkled spot on his neck brushed against her cheek. She twisted around and ran her fingers over the patch of skin. It felt dry and hard, mummified. "Do you know what did this to you?" she asked. She was almost positive she knew the answer, but she wanted to hear what Max would say.
"Huh-uh," he answered. Liz felt like shaking him. She would have if she thought it would do any good.
"I know I'm not a science geek like the two of you," Alex said, leaning across Liz to check out Max's neck. "But even to me it seems significant that it appeared right after the consciousness had control of Max."
"I guess," Max mumbled.
"When they had control, it drained you," Liz said, deciding to spell it out for him since he didn't seem capable of analyzing the situation on his own. "You're still exhausted. What I want to know is-" She pulled in a deep breath. "What's going to happen to you when you open that wormhole? How much is that going to take out of you? Are you going to end up like this all over your body?" She flicked the wrinkled spot. "Are you… are you going to die?"
Max didn't answer, but Liz felt the tension filling his muscles.
"Didn't the consciousness bother to tell you what could happen?" Michael demanded.
"The knowledge I received-" Max stopped abruptly and turned his head away from Liz, peering out into the desert whizzing by.
"The knowledge you received," Alex prompted.
Liz felt as if all the air was being sucked out of her lungs as she waited for Max to reply.
"It will take a lot of strength, from me and the consciousness. There's a… possibility it could take too much out of me for me to recover," Max admitted. "But I have no choice. DuPris is evil-none of you are going to try to argue with that, I hope-and I can't just let him wander around making the world his own private puppet show."
Michael slammed his foot on the brake, and the Jeep squealed to a halt. He jerked around to face Max. "When were you going to tell us this?" he yelled. "What am I saying? You weren't. You were just going to be Saint Max and die for the good of humanity without a word of complaint."
"I'm not planning to die," Max yelled back.
Liz struggled to pull in a breath. Her lungs felt flat and useless, as if her chest had gotten too tight for them to expand. "Maybe there are other ways to deal with DuPris," she said.
"Ways where noone ends up dead," Maria added.
"Let's talk about it on the way to the bus station," Alex instructed. "No matter what we decide to do about DuPris, we've got to find Isabel and Adam."
Michael turned back around, and the Jeep jolted back down the highway. "We could just kill DuPris," he told them. "I had a problem with the consciousness using Max to do it against his will, but I have no problem with going in there and doing it myself."
"That's crap," Max shot back.
Liz agreed. She could see Michael killing if he had no choice, if there was no other way to save an innocent life. But it wasn't something he would do casually.
"I don't know if you could kill him if you wanted to-no offense," Alex added. "It was DuPris's power combined with Adam's that turned Valenti into the Abominable Ashman, remember?"
"Too bad we can't use the ring," Maria said. "The Stone of Midnight might be strong enough to send DuPris back without using any of Max's power."
"If we knew how to work it." Liz loosened her hair and immediately reknotted it.
"And if it didn't send a signal to the bounty hunters that would not die," Michael added. "I thought I killed one of them, and it just divided into two parts. Both alive."
"Hold the phone!" Alex exclaimed.
"Hold the phone?" Michael repeated. "What are you, a dork?"
"A dork who's going to save Max's smooth pink butt," Alex answered. "The bounty hunters were hired by the beings on your home planet because they wanted DuPris brought back for judgment. Let them do their job."
Suddenly Liz felt as if she could breathe again-deep, full breaths of the cold night air. "So we give DuPris the ring. He won't attack because Max almost killed him the last time."
"I don't think I could do it again even if I wanted to," Max said. "I would need the strength of the consciousness, and they don't want him dead anymore."
"We have to pray DuPris doesn't know that," Liz said. "So anyway, we give him the ring."
"We tell him it's in exchange for Adam and Isabel so he won't get suspicious," Maria suggested.
"And then we stand back, way back," Alex concluded. He gave a couple of little bows. "Thank you, thank you."
"So what do you think, Max?" Liz asked, feeling her chest start to tighten up again when she saw the somber expression on his face.
"I think it could work," Max said. "But if it doesn't…"
He let his words trail off, but Liz knew what he'd planned to say. If their plan didn't work, Max would open up the wormhole. Even if it killed him.
"Wait here," Michael ordered as he pulled up in front of the Albuquerque bus station. He leaped out of the Jeep and raced inside. "Did the bus from Roswell come in yet?" he called to the woman behind the ticket counter.
"That's it out there," she answered. She pointed out the back window at a bus. An empty bus.
"Did the people already get off?" he demanded.
She blew a big bubble, and Michael got a whiff of grape gum and garlic. "Do you see anyone on it?"
He rushed up to the counter. "When did it get in?" he asked.
"Not more than a few minutes ago." She blew another bubble, this one so big, it. obscured half her face. Michael resisted the urge to reach out and pop it.
"Did you see a girl get off?" He was talking so fast, his words were tumbling out on top of each other. He forced himself to slow down. "She's tall, about five-ten, thin, short red hair?"
"Answers to the name of Cameron?" a voice asked from behind him.
He spun to face her.
"If you decided to give me another thirty seconds, forget about it," she told him. "I have nothing else I want to say to you." She started toward the door.
Michael lurched forward and blocked her, grabbing her by the shoulders. "Where is she?"
Cameron tried to pull away, but he tightened his grip. He was not going to let her go until she'd told him everything. She jerked up her head and stared him right in the eye. "Where is who?"
Truly an excellent liar, Michael thought. "Isabel. And Adam. You know where DuPris took them."
"Last time I saw them was in the museum with you, okay? Now let go, or-"
"Or what?" Michael interrupted. "Or you'll find the Albuquerque sheriff and turn me in?"
Her eyes darkened, and he felt the fight go out of her. She stood there passively, no longer trying to get free of him. "If I knew where they were, I would tell you," she said. "I would do anything I could to try and make up for… I just don't know. I don't."
Michael started to shove her away, then he saw something that made him tighten his grip until Cameron winced. "You don't know where they are," he repeated. "Then you want to explain to me where you got Isabel's necklace?"
Cameron's hand flew to her throat. "A little girl dropped this in my lap as she was getting off the bus."
"Is there some kind of problem?" the woman behind the counter asked, cracking her gum.
"No," Cameron answered.
She could have said yes. She could have tried to get him booted out of there. But she didn't.
Michael released her. "A little girl? Was she alone?"
"She was with a guy in his twenties, her dad, I thought. There was a little boy with them, too." Her eyes widened. "Do you think it was them? You think DuPris changed their appearance?"