Melinda Metz - The Outsider

Valenti made a circling gesture with his hand. He obviously wanted Alex to get to the point a little faster.

"The next thing I knew, I was on the ground," Alex said quickly. "He tackled me, I guess. And then I saw the knife. The guy stabbed me in my throat. That's all I remember. Maybe I blacked out or something."

"Do you want to try to explain why you aren't dead?" Valenti asked. "There are a lot of veins and arteries in the throat, and you're not even bleeding."

"I don't know. I guess the guy just nicked me. Maybe I passed out from fear. Pretty humiliating," Alex answered.

Valenti shone the flashlight in Alex's face, studying him for a long moment. Then he moved the beam down onto Alex's throat.

"You want to tell me the rest of the story?" Valenti asked.

He saw the mark, Alex thought. He saw the silver handprint.

"I told you I don't remember," Alex answered. He wished he could see Valenti's eyes. Who wore sunglasses at night?

"Will you remember better if I bring you back to my office? We can go back there and have a nice long talk," Valenti said.

"You're not going to believe me, all right? What's the point of telling you?" Alex cried.

Valenti didn't answer. He just stared at Alex from behind his shades.

Alex sighed. "Okay, this is what happened. The guy stabbed me in the throat, and then he ran off because he heard someone pulling into the parking lot. This other guy came over to me, and he put his hand over the hole in my neck, and it… it just closed up. So are you going to take me to the mental ward now?"

"What did this other guy look like?" Valenti asked.

"I don't know. I mean, I was bleeding to death. That kind of had my complete attention." Alex could tell Valenti didn't like that answer, but he didn't push it.

"What about the car-what was he driving?" Valenti demanded. Alex looked at the ground, thinking. "It was an old green pickup. I saw it when he pulled back out of the lot. He turned left, heading out of town, I guess. But shouldn't you be asking me about the guy who tried to kill me?"

"Later." Valenti turned and strode toward his cruiser. He climbed in and closed the door with a quiet click, then pulled the car out of the parking lot and turned left. Heading after the green truck.

What did I just do? Alex thought.

Max heard the high scream of a siren behind them. He glanced over at Michael. "Valenti," they said together.

"Let's see what this baby can do," Michael said.

Max tried to increase his concentration. He could see the molecules that made up the old truck spinning around them. He shoved them forward-without letting them break apart-moving the truck forward with his mind.

"You are helping me push, right?" Max asked.

"No, I'm just here for the ride," Michael shot back. "Of course I'm helping you push."

Max checked the rearview mirror. He could see the lights of Valenti's cruiser in the distance. "Well, push harder. He's gaining on us." If they didn't make it to the Lake Lee overlook before Valenti caught up to them, it was all over.

Max knew fear made it harder to move the car. He took a couple of deep breaths, the smell of the lake's salt and minerals filling his nose. He focused completely on the molecules, slamming them forward.

The truck picked up speed. Max darted a quick glance at the rearview mirror. Still okay, he thought. The truck bounced and rattled as they sped down the road to the overlook.

"Okay, let's do it," Michael yelled.

Max threw open his door. He heard Michael's door click open at the same time. The ground rushing past made him dizzy. "Don't look down," he called to Michael-and then he jumped.

Pain shot through his elbow as he landed. He ignored it. He had to concentrate on keeping the truck moving. It was harder to control the molecules from a distance, but he gave one last hard shove with his mind. The truck crashed through the fence and made the eight-story drop into Lake Lee, landing with a huge splash.

Michael ran over and pulled Max to his feet. Valenti would reach the overlook any second-and they had to be out of sight.

"How lucky are we to live so close to a bottomless lake?" Michael asked as they took off.

Max didn't answer. He wanted all his breath for running. He raced back toward town until his lungs felt like they were on fire, then he slowed to a jog.

"Tired already?" Michael asked. But Max could hear him panting.

"Thought I'd give you a chance to rest," Max answered. They kept their pace at a fast jog all the way back to the school parking lot.

Before they headed into the gym, Max ran his fingers through his hair and brushed the dirt off his pants and shirt. His jacket would hide his sweat-soaked shirt. He wiped his forehead with his sleeve.

"Aw, do you want to look nice for Liz?" Michael asked.

Max slapped the dirt off Michael's back. "We want everyone to think we've been here the whole time, remember?" He led the way back to the gym. In two seconds Liz, Isabel, Maria, and Alex were gathered around them.

"So did it work?" Liz asked.

"Right now Valenti should be standing at the edge of the cliff, crying about the alien that got away," Michael answered.

"Good going," Alex said.

Max could see relief and happiness swirling in all their auras. The connection between the six of them was so strong that the edges of their auras blended, forming one brilliantly colored ring around all of them.

"We did it," Max said. "It took all of us, but we did it."

Liz knew she was staring at Max, but she couldn't help it. She needed to keep reassuring herself that he was really okay. If Valenti had caught him out there in the desert, Liz might never have seen Max again. A world without Max. That was not a place she'd want to live.

Max leaned close to her. "Do you feel like getting some air?" he asked in her ear.

"You read my mind," Liz answered. She couldn't wait to be alone with Max. "We'll be back in a little while," she told the others.

"Take your time," Maria answered. Michael laughed.

I guess everyone noticed the way we were sort of all over each other on the dance floor, Liz thought as they headed outside. But so what? She didn't care who knew how she felt about Max. She didn't know exactly when it had happened-whether it was when they had sat together at the bird sanctuary and he told her about his childhood; or when he had let her connect to him, allowing her to access his uncensored thoughts; or when she had seen the deep green of his aura in the cave and felt the deep, pure goodness of him; or maybe it was watching him cure the little mouse that had done it-but somehow, somewhere she had fallen in love with him.

Max led the way over to one of the benches in the quad, and they sat down next to each other. Liz expected him to kiss her again or at least hold her hand. But he kept staring down at the ground, his expression serious.

"Is something wrong?" she asked. "Are you worried that Valenti won't believe the alien he's looking for is dead?"

"No, Michael came up with a good plan. I think it worked. Valenti's never going to be able to recover the truck, so he'll never find out no one was inside," Max answered, but he still wouldn't look at her.

Liz reached out and ran her fingers down his cheek. "I just need to touch you. I need to make sure that you're really back. I was so worried about you."

She took a deep breath. She had to tell him how she felt about him. "We've been friends for so long that I think I just sort of took you for granted. I knew you were smart. I knew you were a great guy, that you were always thinking about other people. Remember how you used to pick Maria to be on your softball team every single time?"

Max nodded, but something felt off, Liz thought. He seemed distracted, distant. Of course he's distracted. He just risked his life to keep Valenti away from all of us.