Melinda Metz - The Vanished

"Right," Adam said, sounding less than enthused.

Michael felt for the guy. Liz had taken off kind of abruptly, and it was obvious Adam had a crush on her. It wasn't that Michael wanted Max and Liz to break up. Max was his best friend, and Michael thought Max and Liz made a good couple. But Michael knew what it felt like to get your heart trampled on.

But Michael was not going to think about Cameron.

"Oh, please," Maria said. "Isabel and I beat you and Adam into the ground with our patented marshmallow bombardment."

"Guys don't know how to fight," Isabel added. "Oh, they think they're so tough, with their wars and everything, but for true combat, we girls win every time. Just think of that old saying, 'Hell hath no fury-'"

"Get real," Michael interrupted. "If Alex was here, we would have…"

Michael let his words trail off. Mentioning Alex had been a mistake. The party had crashed with a thud almost loud enough for Michael to hear. Everybody stared into the embers of the fire.

"Hey," Michael said, trying to salvage the evening, "you know those lists Alex used to make?"

"Like the one about bad business ideas," Maria said. "That was one of my favorites."

"Exactly," Michael said. "So I was thinking-"

"What was the number-one idea?" Isabel asked.

"Months-of-the-year underpants," Maria replied. "Alex is so twisted."

"Hello!" Michael shouted, and his friends turned to look at him. "As I was saying, Alex's web site has been just sitting there since he got transported. And it's getting old fast. So we could-"

"Update it!" Maria filled in. "So it's like we haven't forgotten about him. He'd be kind of still here."

"Great idea," Michael said sarcastically. "Why didn't I think of that?"

"I've got the laptop," Adam said. He pulled out Max's computer from his knapsack.

"We can't upload anything since we don't have a phone, but we can make the list and then put it on-line later," Isabel said.

Maria clapped and then rubbed her hands together. "Okay, let's go. Who's got an idea for a list?"

"Favorite kinds of toast?" Adam offered. "There's wheat, and rye, and with jam-"

"No," Isabel said. "Next."

"Um…," Maria began. "How about The Ten Best Holidays'? We could pick little ones, like Groundhog's Day or Flag Day."

"Nah," Michael decided. "Needs more of an edge. How about The Five Coolest Foreign Cars'?"

"And that has an edge? " Maria asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

"They're foreign cars," Michael explained.

"Lame," Isabel said. "Let's do 'The Ten Ways to a Man's Heart.' That's perfect."

"Perfect?" Maria asked. "For Alex? His father and his brothers would kill him. Alex is sensitive, but he's not that sensitive."

"I withdraw the suggestion," Isabel said.

Everyone fell silent, once again staring into the fire. This is hard, Michael thought. No wonder Alex was always rewriting his lists.

"No other ideas?" Maria asked.

Nobody replied.

Isabel heaved a giant sigh. "I think we should just give up," she said. "Trying to think like Alex is just making me miss him more."

Michael nodded. Thinking like Alex was impossible.

Because Alex was the only Alex.

Adam took a deep breath of the dank air of Carlsbad Caverns and smiled. Somehow the dark caves felt like home.

Which was actually pretty sick. Sick, but true.

As planned, Adam and the others were on the first morning tour. They'd avoided the Red Tour, which took the elevator down into the caves, and opted for the Blue Tour. This one followed a winding switchback trail down from the enormous cave mouth to the famous Big Room. Adam's group was bringing up the rear of the tour just in case they had to veer off the beaten path undetected.

They'd already passed the thousand-year-old Native American paintings near the entrance and had walked along a black asphalt paved path through several smaller rooms with fantastic limestone formations. In his head Adam ran through the names of some of the most spectacular natural creations: the Iceberg Rock, the Veiled Statue in the Green Lake Room, the Soda Straw formations in the Papoose Room, the ornate natural rock sculptures in the King's Palace.

He hurried to keep up with the tour group as they passed the six-story-high formations in the Hall of Giants, heading toward the Big Room.

Suddenly Adam stopped short. He'd felt something… a little tingle, like someone had run a feather down his spine.

Somebody nearby was using power. Power no human possessed.

The twinge hadn't been enough for Adam to be able to locate the source, but it was close. In the cavern.

Adam rushed over to his friends and grabbed Michael's shoulder.

"I think DuPris is nearby," Adam whispered hoarsely

Michael's eyes grew sharp. "Where?" he asked. "How do you know?"

"Didn't you feel it?" Adam asked. "He was using his powers."

"Shhh! Not so loud," Max said. He led Michael and Adam over to a fat, rippled stalagmite, away from the rest of the tour group. Liz, Maria, and Isabel followed. "Now, what did you feel?"

"Just a little tingle," Adam replied. "Somebody using their power, but I couldn't tell where it was coming from. Neither of you felt it?" he asked, searching their faces.

"I didn't," Michael answered. "But your powers are more developed than ours."

They needed him. That realization still gave him a rush.

"Let's keep looking around," Max said decisively. "We'll rejoin the tour. Everyone just act normal. Adam, tell us right away if you feel it again, okay?"

"I will," Adam promised.

Adam hung out beside Liz as the group moved into the Big Room-the second-largest cave room in the world. The tour group guide said that the largest cave was in Borneo.

Adam stared up at the high, pointy ceiling of the vast cave. The room was so big, it wouldn't even have felt like it was underground… if it wasn't so dark. The people who ran the park had done a good job with placing small lights around the room. Adam couldn't see any of the fixtures, but the more stunning formations were backlit, illuminating their eerie shapes and colors and throwing mysterious shadows on the cave walls.

Although for some reason he found that his eyes kept drifting away from the awesome sight over to Liz. Another awesome sight.

As the park ranger led them around the edge of the Big Room to a small, damp offshoot called the Painted Grotto, Adam felt another twinge of power and stopped.

Liz turned around, her brow creased with concern. "Do you feel it again?"

Adam opened his mouth to answer, but before he could, a blast of sizzling, white-hot power slammed into his heart and vibrated through every molecule of his body. Adam strained against the overpowering pain, closing his eyes to keep them from bursting out of their sockets. The pain was viciously intense, and Adam was vaguely aware that he was shaking violently.

Make it stop, he begged silently. Someone make it stop.

And then it did.

Adam gasped in a ragged breath. His eyes felt dry and shriveled, but he managed to blink and look around. Max was pressing his hand to his chest hard, and Isabel was grasping Max's arm, her eyes closed. Michael's fists were clenched, and he stared at Adam, his eyes wide.

"What happened?" Maria asked, her voice trembling.

"You felt that one," Adam said.

"Oh yeah," Michael agreed in a low voice.

"If I never have that experience again in my life, it'll be too soon," Isabel said, still clinging to her brother. "What was that?"

"DuPris," Adam answered. "At least I think so. It sure felt like the Stone of Midnight to me. What else is that powerful? And it was pretty close this time."

Liz slipped her hand into Max's and looked into his eyes, brushing a lock of hair from his forehead.