"I don't know. I thought we could look for that rock Maria saw when she used the Stone to track Valenti. The one she said was shaped like a chicken," Max answered.

Maria. A burst of white-hot anger blazed in Michael just thinking about what she'd done. She'd known using that stone to see Valenti was dangerous, but she didn't stop. Oh no. That would be too rational. She didn't even wait until he could be with her, to watch her and make sure she was okay. The girl needed a keeper.

"Valenti was at home the first time Maria used the Stone to see him," Michael told Max. "Then she tried again less than an hour later. That's when she saw him drive by the rock. So we should pick a direction and head out into the desert for about forty-five minutes. Then start searching in a big circle around town."

"When you say it that way, it sounds so easy," Max commented. He gave a weird, wheezing laugh.

"So, do you have a preference in direction or not?" Michael asked.

"Not," Max answered.

Michael kept the Jeep pointed straight ahead. They'd hit the desert eventually. The only bad thing about the long drive was that it gave him way too much time to think. His mind kept going back to Maria's visit to his room last night. It had completely messed him up, disturbed him in so many different ways.

"I found out something you will not believe," Michael announced. "Maria knew she was putting herself in danger by trying to track Valenti with the ring. And she lied right to my face. She looked right at me and told me not to worry, acted like I was being overprotective."

"Hmmm," Max murmured.

"That's it? Hmmm?" Michael shook his head. "Maria, she's just not the kind of girl who lies. I mean, I can see if she got too excited about her power to be careful. But lying." He shook his head again.

"Yeah. If Maria lied, you can bet she had her reasons," Max agreed.

Michael snorted. "I guess so. She's different than Isabel. Izzy lies just to entertain herself. She's like one of those Siamese cats. You know-totally self-interested, way too beautiful, way too aware of the fact, and totally willing to use it to get what she wants."

"So if Isabel's a cat, what does that make Maria?" Max asked.

"Something in the puppy line. Like maybe a golden retriever pup. Blond and fluffy. Sweet. Eager to please."

"Advice. You might not want to let Maria in on your golden retriever analogy," Max said, then returned his attention to the search, flicking his eyes back and forth across the desert. He clearly wasn't letting anything get past him.

That was good because about one second later Michael's thoughts returned to Maria again. "I just wish I knew why she did it," he burst out. "It's driving me nuts."

In the silence that followed, Michael realized that he already knew why she did it. Maria knew if she had told him the truth, he would have made her stop using the power. And she'd wanted to find the ship so badly. That's what she'd said.

No, actually what she'd said was, "I wanted to find it for you so badly." For him.

He thought about asking Max if that meant Maria was… what, like in love with him or something. Or if it just meant they were friends, and she was looking for the ship because she wanted to help him out as a friend. No, that was way too girlie.

Bring on the barf bags.

"Is that something over there?" Max asked, his voice tense and urgent. He pointed to a rock off to the left.

Michael slowed down and studied it. "I don't think so," he answered. "It looks like your basic rock to me. Not a chicken rock."

"This is impossible!" Max cried.

"Maybe," Michael admitted. "But at least with what Maria saw, we know the ship is still intact. And we know it's been-or still is being-kept somewhere close by. We're closer to finding it than we've ever been before."

"Yeah, now it will only take us ten or twenty more years to find it," Max muttered.

Man, things must be really bad between Max and Liz again. Max was obviously having major escape fantasies. Michael knew all about those. When he was a little kid, and even not so little, he'd spent a ton of hours wishing he could find the ship, hop in, and just fly off home-with Max and Isabel, of course.

Except lately… lately that fantasy wasn't so appealing. Partly because now he knew for sure that he had no family back on their home planet, no one who'd be waiting to welcome him home. But it wasn't that. It was that now he had more to leave behind than he ever did before. Like Liz and Alex. And Maria.

Maria. What was he going to do about her? He'd been dancing around that question for too long. Trying to figure out if it would be just too weird to get something romantic started with her.

Romantic. Right. Translation-something physical. When he'd first started hanging out with Maria, he'd fallen into thinking of her as kind of a little sister. Even though she was the same age as Isabel, she seemed younger somehow. But it was pretty much impossible to imagine Isabel screaming through some cheesy horror movie, digging her nails into his arm, covering her eyes, and begging him to tell her when the scary part was over. Which is what Maria always did.

And he enjoyed it. But in that big brother kind of way. He wondered what would happen the next time they had one of their monster movie fests. When she hurled herself at him, would it remind him of that kiss?

That kiss. Michael sped up a little, flying into the darkness of the empty highway. He didn't know what to think about the kiss. Except that he would never, ever look at Maria as anything close to a little sister again.

"Put that you've totally fallen in love with him by reading his lists," Maria suggested. She leaned over

Isabel's shoulder as she typed. "Then sign it something like Victorianna, Mistress of the Darkness."

Maria was glad that Isabel had invited her and Liz over. She could use the distraction. Not that anything could make her stop thinking about what happened last night with Michael. But at least three percent of her brain could focus on what message to send Alex, while the other ninety-seven fixated on remembering the expression on Michael's face and the fury in his voice when he demanded to know what was wrong with her.

"Won't Alex recognize your screen name?" Liz asked Isabel.

"I'm using my mom's," Isabel answered.

Maria gave a half laugh, half snort. "What if Alex writes back? What if he tries to start some hot cybersex with your mother?"

"That is so gross," Isabel complained. "But I'm not worried. Alex is way too gaga over me to be thinking about anyone else."

"Remember that you had 'Victorianna' mention her double-D cup. And her collection of leopard-print lingerie," Liz teased. She twisted her long, dark hair into a knot at the base of her neck. "Are you still feeling so confident? Huh, Isabel? Huh, huh, huh?"

"Guys do really like big… collections of wild animal bras and panties," Maria added.

Isabel hit the send button and zapped the message to Alex. "Alex is completely caught in the velvet trap of my femininity," she said smugly.

Maria and Liz looked at each other and burst out laughing. "Your what?" Liz demanded.

"You heard me," Isabel answered. "So am I logging off or what?"

It would be great to be Isabel, Maria thought. So drop-dead gorgeous you could treat the world like a big guy mall. Picking up a blond here, a redhead there. Only thinking about if you wanted them, not wondering if they wanted you.

"Go to Lucinda Baker's home page," Liz said. "I want to see if there are any new entries."

"How do I get there?" Isabel asked.

"You've never gone?" Liz reached around to the keyboard and typed in the address. "It's a riot. She ranks the kissing technique of every guy in school."