The Wild One (9 page)

Nikolas stared back and forth between Michael and Max. “Wait. Am I getting this? I knew Isabel was afraid. But you two are also scared of a
human?
That's like being afraid of a fly. If this Valenti guy gets too close, I'll just squash him.”

“Nikolas is right,” Isabel insisted. “Why are we so scared of Valenti? We have the power. He doesn't.”

“I can't believe I'm hearing this.” Liz spoke up for the first time. Her dark eyes glittered with anger. “Valenti isn't a fly. He's dangerous to all of us.” She tuned to Nikolas. “You don't know him. We do. We know what he's capable of. You have to listen to what he did to me. He—”

“I don't listen to insects.”

Liz's head snapped back as if she had been slapped. Maria's face grew pale.

Nikolas stood up and strode across the quad.

What a complete and total jerk, Alex thought. At least Isabel got to find out the truth about him right away.

But Isabel jumped to her feet and followed Nikolas without even glancing at any of them.

“I can't believe she did that!” Michael burst out. “I cannot believe she just plopped down and said, ‘Oh, hi, this is Nikolas. He's an alien, too'”

“She should have come to us first. Alone,” Max agreed. “It's like it doesn't even occur to her that this is something that involves all six of us. That guy Nikolas could put us all in danger. What is she thinking?”

It's pretty obvious what she's thinking, Alex answered silently. She's thinking she wants the brown-haired boy. And I'm guessing that's much more than okay with him.

“Hey, Nikolas, wait up,” Isabel called.

Stacey walked out of the bathroom in time to see Isabel trotting after Nikolas. Her lips turned up in a smug little smile. “Don't think you've won our bet,” she said softly “I saw you in the quad, and it looked like
you
were holding
his
hand, not the other way around.” She wagged her finger in Isabel's face. “That doesn't count.”

“Oh, shut up, Stacey,” Isabel muttered. She continued after Nikolas, but she slowed down a little. It was too humiliating to be seen literally chasing a guy That was not her style.

Nikolas stopped at his locker. Isabel forced herself to walk over to the drinking fountain and take a few sips. Then when she figured she wouldn't look pathetically eager, she wandered over and leaned against the locker next to Nikolas's.

“Max worries. He can't help himself. I think it's a
big-brother thing,” she said. “Michael's totally protective, too.”

“Us worrying about some sheriff is like a general with a nuclear warhead worrying about a kid with a BB gun,” Nikolas said.

When Isabel was a little girl, she used to have nightmares where Sheriff Valenti was a big wolf chasing her. He kept getting closer and closer, his long, sharp teeth dripping saliva. Even when she got older, she couldn't shake the feeling that someday he was going to capture her, lock her away somewhere, and do all kinds of hideous tests on her—ending up with her on some dissecting table.

“I really want you to teach me how to build up my power,” Isabel said. “I want to be able to do what you said—squash Valenti like a fly if I have to.”

She didn't care what Max said. Because Nikolas was right. With her power
she
could be the strong one. She would love to give Valenti a few nightmares about her. She would love to stop being careful.

She would also love having an excuse to spend some time around Nikolas. No, make that
a lot
of time.

Nikolas slammed his locker shut. “I think I can fit you in,” he told her. His eyes traveled slowly up her body from the tips of her boots to her face and lingered on her lips.

“Um, cool,” Isabel stammered. She tried not to stare at his mouth. But it looked so kissable. When was Nikolas going to kiss her? If he didn't make his move soon, she'd just have to do it herself.

“Well, we're all going to a movie tonight. You
should come,” she added. Isabel didn't usually ask guys out. In fact, she never asked guys out. She liked to make them work for it a little.

But Nikolas was new in town. He didn't know anyone. And besides, she felt like she was addicted to him. She couldn't stand the idea of going through the whole weekend without seeing him.

“Does
we
include your human friends?” Nikolas asked.

“Yeah. I know it's weird having humans know the truth about us. It really freaked me out at first,” Isabel said quickly. “But the three of them totally came through for Max and Michael and me. They helped us get Valenti off our trail.”

“They aren't even the same species as us. And they smell funny,” Nikolas answered. “Sitting in some movie with a crowd of them doesn't sound like fun to me.”

“Come on. You've never had one human friend?” Isabel asked.

“Nope, but I did have a dog once,” Nikolas said. “Hanging out with humans is probably part of the reason your power is dull. You spend too much time with them, you start thinking like one of them, then you start believing you're one of them.”

Isabel thought about trying to convince him he was wrong, then decided to skip it. Things were just starting up between them. She didn't want to risk blowing everything with a stupid fight.

Nikolas would get to know Alex, Maria, and Liz eventually. And when he did, he'd change his mind. He had to.

Max knew Liz was coming down the hall behind him. He wasn't sure exactly
how
he knew, but he definitely did. Maybe he picked up on some little things—like the sound of her footsteps or the smell of her shampoo—and processed them on a subliminal level.

He glanced over his shoulder. Yeah, there she was, striding down the hall like she had somewhere very important to be. Liz always walked like that no matter where she was heading.

“You want a ride home?” he called. Because he hadn't had enough of those totally awkward, numb-brained, tongue-tied moments with Liz.

“Actually, I'm going to the Crashdown,” Liz answered as she caught up to him. “Papa still hasn't figured out how to do the work schedules on the computer, so I have to show him again.”

Liz spent a ton of time at her family's alien-theme restaurant. Back when he had a total crush on her and she was only thinking of him as her lab partner, Max used to eat at the Crashdown Cafe constantly just to give himself a little more Liz time. He'd hang out, watching her, pretending he wasn't watching her. Now doing that would be too weird for both of them.

“So … Nikolas,” Liz said as they headed out of the building and over to the parking lot.

“Yeah. Nikolas. I'm sorry he was such a jerk. What he said about humans? That was totally unacceptable,” Max said. “And Isabel didn't even open her mouth to tell him how wrong he was. I couldn't believe that.”

“Max, you shouldn't be apologizing for Nikolas,” Liz answered. “Just because he's an alien, too, doesn't mean you're responsible for him.”

Max shook his head. “I think we're all going to have to be responsible for him. If he uses his powers the wrong way, Sheriff Valenti will go after him … and that's dangerous for everyone,” Max said. “Any ideas?”

“I know,” Liz said. “I'sll throw Nikolas a surprise welcome-to-Roswell party. He'll be so touched that he'll realize I'm not really an insect.”

Max snorted. “That's better than my plan.”

“Which is?”

“I don't have one,” he admitted. And he needed one. He couldn't let this thing with Nikolas get out of control.

They climbed in the Jeep, and Max pulled out of the parking lot. “There has to be a way to convince him how dangerous Sheriff Valenti is,” Liz said. “I know Nikolas thinks he could just use his power to kill Valenti, but he's forgetting that Valenti is part of an organization. If a Project Clean Slate agent ends up dead, I'm sure there would be some kind of investigation, and more agents would show up here.”

“You know that, and I know that, but I don't get the feeling that Nikolas is someone who responds to a logical argument,” Max answered.

“Maybe we could talk to Isabel, and she could talk to Nikolas,” Liz suggested.

“Yeah, because we all know how logical and rational Isabel is,” Max said. His sister hated being told what to do. She really believed rules didn't apply to her. Yeah, she'd been careful with her power lately. But that was only because she was still a little flipped out about what happened with Valenti. Now that Nikolas had convinced her that she shouldn't be afraid of the sheriff, Max wasn't sure what she would do. But he thought Isabel and Nikolas made a very dangerous combination.

“Nikolas obviously made it this far without anyone finding out the truth about him,” Liz said. “So he can't be totally reckless.”

“Unless he just
squashed
everyone who got close to figuring it out,” Max answered.

“I think an alien killing spree would have made the news,” Liz answered.

Max suddenly realized that he and Liz were actually having a conversation. He said something, she said something, he said something else. No awkward pauses.

He pulled his Jeep up in front of the cafe. Liz reached out and touched his arm, and he felt a jolt go through his body.

“Max, I know you,” she said. “I know you're thinking that this whole Nikolas-and-Isabel situation
is something you have to solve. That it's somehow your responsibility to make sure nothing bad happens. But you can't control everything. You'll make yourself crazy if you try.”

“It's just that if they do go wild and start using their power, we could all end up in danger again,” he said.

“And if that happens, we'll all figure out what to do about it. Together,” Liz told him.

Max nodded. Suddenly he was back to not knowing what to say.

Liz gathered up her purse and backpack, then hesitated. “Uh, do you think you'll be able to go to the movies with all of us tonight?” she asked, not quite meeting his gaze.

Max didn't know if he'd be able to deal with a movie. What if he ended up sitting next to Liz? He didn't think he could survive two hours next to her in the dark without touching her.

Well, he wouldn't have to test himself tonight. “I can't make it. I'm starting my new job,” Max said.

“Oh. Well. I hope it goes great.” Liz jumped out of the Jeep. “Thanks for the ride.”

Max pulled back out into the street and drove the two blocks to the UFO museum. Maybe once he'd worked there a little while, he would suggest doing some kind of deal with the Crashdown. Like if you brought in your museum ticket, you got a free dessert or something.

He shook his head as he pulled into the museum parking lot. He was doing it again. Without even
trying, he took everything he saw or read or heard and found a way to connect it back to Liz. Like he was on the way to the museum, so he linked the museum to the Crashdown Cafe because they both had to do with aliens, and then it was easy to connect the Crashdown to Liz because she worked there and her parents owned the place. And that's how he came up with the idea of doing some kind of deal between the museum and the cafe.

Pathetic, he thought.

Max checked his watch. Time to go inside. He climbed out of the Jeep. His new boss, Ray Iburg, had seemed cool at his interview. And working in the museum had to be more fun than his last job—doing research for his dad. Maybe if his dad were a criminal lawyer, it might have been kind of interesting. But his dad did all this environmental law, and Max was sick of reading about oil spills.

He walked through the museum doors, and a white jumpsuit came flying at him. A white jumpsuit covered with rhinestones.

“Your uniform,” Ray Iburg called.

“Thanks, Mr. Iburg,” Max said. “I'm really looking forward to working here.”

“Ray, you have to call me Ray,” he answered. “Otherwise I'll feel like I'm a hundred years old.”

Max wondered how old Ray was. His hair was kind of thinning on top, and it had some gray in it. But his skin looked like it could be in the “after” part of a pimple cream commercial. It was clear and smooth. Max didn't even see one wrinkle.

“I've decided that it's time for the museum to do a full and thorough exploration of the Elvis-alien connection,” Ray said. “That's why I got the new uniforms. I thought we could draw on some sideburns, too. Or maybe I could make some out of carpet remnants. …”

Max nodded as if he had a clue what his new boss was talking about. It was his first day. He wanted to make a decent impression.

“I started a big display around a blowup of that photo of Mars,” Ray continued.

“Mars,” Max repeated. Was the guy insane? Had he just gotten a job working for a complete lunatic?

“You have no idea what I'm talking about, do you?” Ray asked.

“Uh, no,” Max admitted. “I guess I'll have to do some reading or something.”