"I just wanted to say that I don't really hate you," Maria announced, and then hung up again.

She climbed out of bed and crept over to her closet. She knew she had to keep moving so she wouldn't chicken out. Now the important question. "What should I wear?" she muttered. "I wonder if I have anything that goes well with exploded guts."

She gave a low growl of frustration. She grabbed her favorite pair of jeans and a nubby dark green sweater and threw them on. Then she tiptoed out of the house.

She wished she could take the car, but she was afraid the sound would wake up her morn. She pulled her bike out of the garage instead. She hesitated for a moment, standing motionless in the driveway. Maybe it would be smarter to just go back into the house and hit myself on the head with something heavy enough to knock me out for a few hours, she thought.

No, she'd gotten this far. Maria climbed on the bike and started to pedal. She decided it was a good thing she hadn't been able to drive. The pedaling gave her an outlet for all her nervous energy. Maybe she could burn most of it out before she got to Michael's. Maria pumped harder, flying down the dark streets.

It didn't take her long to reach the Pascals'. Maria jumped off her bike and laid it down next to the low hedge growing alongside the driveway. Then she hurried over to the side gate leading to the Pascals' backyard and slipped through. She circled around to Michael's window. It was open a few inches. All she had to do was slide it up and crawl through.

Yeah, that was all. Plus the whole telling-Michael-she-loved-him thing.

Maria looked up at the sky. She thought maybe the stars would give her the inspiration she needed. Or the courage. Or whatever it was she needed to get herself through the last few feet that separated her from Michael.

But the sky was cloudy. Not a star to be seen. Maria turned in a slow circle. She really needed to see one star before she did this. Just one stinking star.

The window rattled up. "So are you coming in or aren't you?" a low voice asked.

Maria couldn't stop a stupid little squeak from escaping her lips. She jerked her head toward the window and saw Michael grinning at her.

"Coming in," Maria answered. "I mean, if it's okay."

Michael reached out his hand and helped her scramble inside. "Dylan's asleep, so…"

"No, I'm not." Dylan, Michael's thirteen-year-old foster brother, sat up in bed. "Hey, Maria."

"Hi," she whispered. Suddenly she felt like a complete idiot. This was not going to work. How was she supposed to make some romantic speech with Dylan in the next bed and Michael's foster parents asleep a couple of rooms away?

"Dylan, there's one piece of pie left. Why don't you go get it?" Michael asked softly.

"You know we have rules against eating between meals," Dylan answered, his voice filled with indignation. Then he snickered and ducked out of the room.

Michael sat down on his bed. Maria hesitated, trying to decide if she should sit on his bed, too, or sit on Dylan's instead. Stop being such an idiot, she ordered herself, and dropped down next to Michael.

"Um, how was school?" she blurted, without looking at him.

"How was school?" Michael repeated.

"Um, yeah, I mean, are the classes a lot harder when you're a senior? Should I be worried?" Maria added.

Oh my God. What am I saying? Maria asked herself. She shot a glance at Michael to see if he'd started trying to make a straitjacket out of his sheet.

He hadn't. But for the first time Maria realized Michael was wearing only a pair of boxers and a T-shirt. Which didn't help the babbling problem she was having. The guy was just too gorgeous.

"And I was also thinking you could help me decide which electives to take next year," she rambled on. "Since, you know, you've taken some of them."

"So you came over to get advice on if you should take wood shop or choir next year?" Michael asked.

"Yes. No. I don't know," Maria said in a rush. She really wished she had the vial of cedar now. She needed to calm down-badly. She settled for a deep breath. Then she turned to face Michael. It was ridiculous to sit here talking to the wall the way she'd been doing.

"No. Definitely no. That's not why I came over," Maria said firmly, talking directly to Michael's shoulder so she wouldn't have to see the expression on his face. Then she forced herself to meet his gaze. "I came over because I never thanked you for saving my life. Thank you."

It wasn't what she'd come over here to say. But it was something she'd been wanting to tell him. And it was a big improvement over spewing about school.

"I thought you were going to die," Michael admitted, his voice husky. "I was terrified."

Then he was kissing her. Not one of those quick, friendly kisses. A hard, hot kiss, unlike anything Maria had ever experienced. It felt like that glowing piece of her was expanding, filling her whole body with heat and light. Molten heat. Blinding light. Shattering.

As suddenly as the kiss started, it ended. Michael pulled away and stared at her as if he couldn't believe what had just happened.

"I was scared you were going to die, too," Maria told him. She slid her arms around his neck and pressed her head against his shoulder. She wondered if he could feel her trembling. She wondered if he knew it was because that kiss had knocked the world out from under her feet. "It would have been my fault."

"No, don't think that," Michael mumbled into her hair.

"It's true, though," she insisted. "I should have known something bad was happening. I should have stopped using the ring. But I wanted to find it for you so badly."

"What?" Michael grabbed her shoulders and held her away from him. "You let me think what you were doing was totally safe. You kept telling me not to worry!"

"I know, but I thought… I thought I could find your parents' ship. I know how important it is to you, and I… I, um-"

"But you almost died! Why would you do that, Maria?"

"That's what I'm trying to tell you!" Maria cried. "I did it because-"

"There's no reason good enough to put yourself in that kind of danger. It has to be the stupidest thing you've ever done," Michael told her, his voice low and tight with anger.

Maria was completely unprepared for this. What happened to her plan-crawl in the window, lay her feelings on the table, and deal with the consequences? Now she felt her mind swimming through an ocean of guilt, searching for explanations. And she couldn't deal with it.

"I-I have to go," she mumbled. She pushed herself away from him and bolted to the window. Michael didn't say a word to stop her as she scrambled out and fell hard to the ground.

She picked herself up and ran to her bike. She climbed on and pedaled hard down the street. The wind dried her hot tears as they spilled down her cheeks.

She hadn't even gotten the chance to tell Michael why it was so important to her to find the ship. All she'd wanted to say was that she did it because she loved him.

"You drive, okay?" Max asked. He tossed the keys to Michael.

Michael circled around the Jeep and climbed behind the wheel. He didn't think he'd ever driven the Jeep when Max was around to drive it himself. "Are you feeling all right?" he asked.

"Yep," Max answered. "Just, I don't know, kind of tired."

Michael shot a doubting glance at Max, then turned over the ignition and pulled the Jeep out into the street. "Anyplace special you want to search?" he asked.

They had a weird role-reversal thing going on. Usually Max helped search for their parents' ship basically to keep Michael company. But tonight it had been Max's idea to go out. It wasn't even their usual day.