"I bet Isabel killed Nikolas because he was going out with Stacey Scheinin on the side," Isabel heard someone whisper. Then she heard a burst of laughter. She smelled a whiff of gunpowder. Oh, G.o.d, no. It was starting again. The image of Nikolas falling to the floor, his eyes wide open and staring.

Isabel shoved her way out the main doors and ran around to the quad. She forced her eyes up and saw Alex, Max, Liz, Maria, and Michael settled in their usual lunchtime spot. The smell of the gunpowder started to fade.

"Hey, Isabel. I heard you're in the market for some new man meat," a guy shouted. "I'm grade-A prime."

Isabel recognized the voice and the att.i.tude. Usually she would have found a way to reduce Kyle Valenti to a writhing puddle of humiliation. But today all she wanted to do was get across the quad to her friends.

Just a few more steps, she told herself. Then she squeezed into the circle next to Alex. Some of the tightness in her chest relaxed, and she could breathe a little more easily.

"Do you want me to go beat up Kyle for you?" Liz asked. "I'd enjoy it, really."

"It's okay," Isabel mumbled. "But thanks." Liz was being so totally incredible. She'd called Isabel every night that Isabel had been out of school, and she and Maria had stopped by one morning with m.u.f.fins and juice and a ton of magazines.

Neither one of them had even gotten close to saying, "I told you so, I told you Nikolas was going to put us all in danger." Neither one of them had given the slightest hint they were relieved that Nikolas was . . . was . . . Isabel shivered. Michael pulled off his jacket and tossed it to her. Typical Michael. Always there for her, without making a big deal out of it.

They had all been there for her-Michael, Liz, Maria. Plus Alex, her human tranquilizer, sitting outside her door hour after hour, talking until he was hoa.r.s.e. And Max, in total big-brother mode, bossing her around, making sure she at least got out of bed every day.

"What is DuPris doing here?" Alex asked. "Don't they have laws about strange men wandering around talking to us children?"

Isabel glanced over her shoulder. Yeah, there was town wack job Elsevan DuPris. He strolled their way, twirling his walking stick between his palms, then veered off to talk to a group of kids over by the big oak tree.

Almost everyone in Roswell read DuPris's paper, the Astral Projector. But what DuPris didn't seem to realize was that they read it because the stories were hilarious. Isabel always loved it when he did one of his special reports on bloodsucking alien babies.

"If he offers you candy-run," Liz advised.

"I don't like the way he always happens to end up talking to us," Max said.

"Cheese it. Here he comes," Alex said.

Maria giggled. "Did you actually just say cheese it?"

"That I did," Alex answered. "That's my latest list. Food-related expressions. Which you would know if you cared enough to check out my web site."

"h.e.l.lo, young people," DuPris called as he ambled up to them. "You look like some of the brightest and best of your cla.s.smates."

Michael smirked. "Why, aren't you just as sweet as pie," he drawled, imitating DuPris's fakeoid southern accent.

Isabel choked back a laugh. This was the good part about rejoining the outside world. Here she was just a normal girl hanging out with her friends in the quad, a group in the middle of all the other groups. There was nothing more normal than that.

"I'm doing an opinion poll for my little paper," DuPris told them. "If you would be so kind, I'd like you to answer me this question. If you were an alien and you went to our lovely shopping mall, what would you buy?"

The mall. Why is he asking about the mall? Isabel thought. Her heart gave a hard double-fast beat. Could Valenti have told him he shot an alien there? Or does he have some other source? Does he know I was there, too? Does he know the truth about me?

Isabel shifted her weight so her arm grazed Alex's. She needed to feel the warmth of his body.

"It would have to be . . . a Crock-Pot," Alex said.

"Absolutely," Michael jumped in.

"If I were an alien, I'd Find a Crock-Pot pretty much irresistible," Max agreed.

"They're so convenient," Liz added.

"And there's so little cleanup time," Maria chimed in.

DuPris raised one eyebrow as he turned to Isabel. "And you, young lady, do you agree with your witty friends?"

She cleared her throat. "Crock-Pot gets my vote. Uh-huh."

"Why, I thank you, and I hope to see you all again soon." DuPris gave them a little wave and set off.

"Do you think he knows?" Isabel asked the second he was out of earshot.

"He might know something happened at the mall," Max said slowly. "One of the UFO heads might have reported a strange light. When Ray used his power to trap Valenti inside, it was almost blinding."

"That makes sense," Liz agreed.

"You don't think Valenti told him the truth?" Isabel asked.

"No way. Valenti would probably just kill DuPris if he found out the truth. I don't think the Project Clean Slate boys want anybody in their business," Alex said.

He was right. Of course he was right. Isabel really, really had to get a grip.

"What are you guys doing after school?" Isabel said in a rush, trying to force her mind away from the horrible movie that played and replayed in her mind. "Maybe we could go to the frozen yogurt place or something."

"Michael and I are meeting Ray at the cave," Max answered. "He's going to show us some stuff that we can do with our power. We can do so much more than we ever thought."

"What? But using powers could attract Valenti's attention," Isabel cried. "I'm never using mine again-for anything. You guys have to promise me you won't, either. Promise me!"

"Isabel, take it easy," Max said.

"No!" she shot back. "If Nikolas and I hadn't used our powers, Valenti never would have come after us." Isabel felt hot tears flood her eyes. She wiped them away with the back of her hand. "Nikolas would still be alive and we wouldn't have to be afraid," she forced herself to continue. "So you can't vise your powers at all. Ever. We just have to act like regular humans."

"Ray says there are ways to cloak power use," Michael said.

"No. Don't even try to convince me," Isabel answered.

"But your power is an incredible gift, Isabel. If Ray can teach you how to use it safely-," Maria began.

"Drop it!" Isabel snapped. "You have no idea what you're talking about. You don't know what it's like to have these powers!"

Maria quickly looked away, her cheeks flushing.

Isabel sighed. "I'm sorry, Maria. I didn't mean to yell at you. I just . . . I wish I could just be normal like you."

"Iz . . . ," Michael said.

The bell rang, cutting him off. Isabel jumped to her feet.

"Look, you guys go see Ray without me if you need to," she said. "I have no desire to spend hours at the cave, listening to some old guy blabber. I have to get to cla.s.s." Yeah, cla.s.s. That was a good normal-human-girl thing to do. "Are you coming, Maria?"

"Sure." Maria didn't meet Isabel's eyes. Uh-oh, Isabel thought. Maybe I really insulted her with that you-have-no-idea-what-it's-like comment. Still, even if Maria was mad at her, it was better than walking to cla.s.s alone.

She followed Maria down the hall to English, slid into her seat, and pulled out her copy of Julius Caesar. They'd been studying the play for weeks. No more thinking of Nikolas. All she had to do now was listen to the teacher.

Ms. Markham made her way to the front of the cla.s.s. Isabel noticed that she had a piece of what looked like tuna salad on the front of her shirt. The woman should wear a bib.

"Time to get started," Ms. Markham said. "We left off at Portia's speech, so begin, Portia."

n.o.body began to read. Isabel glanced around the room. She didn't see anybody looking for their book or trying to find the right page or anything.

"Same roles as yesterday," Ms. Markham said. "Who is our Portia?"

"It was Maria," Arlene Bluth called.

"All right, Maria," Ms. Markham called. "No more time to get in character. We have a lot of pages to cover."

Maria didn't begin to read. Isabel twisted around in her seat and stared down the row.

Something was wrong. Maria held the play in her hands. But she was gazing at it as if she'd forgotten what it was.

"Maria?" Ms. Markham prodded.

"Uh, Maria wasn't feeling that well at lunch," Isabel said quickly, standing up. "I'll take her to the nurse."

Isabel didn't wait for Ms. Markham to answer. She grabbed Maria's arm and led her out of the cla.s.sroom and down the hall to the bathroom.

"What's going on?" Isabel demanded. "Are you okay?"

Maria didn't answer. She stared straight ahead, her eyes blank.

Isabel's heart began to slam against her ribs. What was going on? Maria was fine a couple of minutes ago when they were walking to cla.s.s. She was mad, but she was fine.

"Maria," Isabel shouted. Her voice echoed off the bathroom's tile walls. But the sound got no response from Maria.

Isabel wanted to run and get Alex, or Max or Michael or Liz. But she didn't want to leave Maria alone. You can deal with this, she told herself. Maria needs you.

She pulled in a deep, shuddering breath, then reached out and rested her fingers on the side of Maria's neck. Yes, she could feel a pulse. It was faint and son of erratic, but it was there.

Isabel bit her lip. Should I connect with her? she wondered. Maybe then I could find out what's wrong. Isabel reached for Maria again but hesitated. I can't use my powers, her mind screamed. Valenti will find me and kill me!

Isabel took Maria by the shoulders and gave her a little shake. "Maria, come on! Snap out of it!"

Maria didn't even blink.

"Maria, you are scaring the h.e.l.l out of me," Isabel cried. She didn't want to use her healing powers. She just couldn't.

She shook Maria harder, shook her until her head was jerking back and forth.

"What are you doing?" Maria demanded.

"You talked!" Isabel stared at her. Maria's blue eyes had lost that creepy blank look.

"Of course I talked. You were practically shaking my head off," Maria answered.

"Are you okay?" Isabel demanded. "Should I go get someone?"

"I'm okay," she answered. "But what are we doing in here?"

Isabel felt her spine turn to ice. "Don't you remember?" she asked. "You totally s.p.a.ced in English."

"Uh-uh." Maria shook her head. "I, um, I knew I shouldn't have eaten that candy bar Alex gave me. Sugar totally messes me up." She grabbed Isabel by the arm. "Come on, we better get back to cla.s.s."

"Maria, what's going on?" Isabel pressed.

"Nothing. Nothing, I'm fine," Maria insisted. "Let's go."

Frowning, Isabel followed her out into the hall. Maria sounded completely fine. But there was no way a little sugar could have gotten that reaction.

No possible way.

-=(6)=-.

Max sat on the floor of the cave and leaned against the cool limestone wall behind him. He felt like he'd pulled a muscle in his brain, a muscle he hadn't even realized was there. Ray had been trying to teach them how to do that time-freezing thing he'd done at the mall. But neither Max nor Michael had gotten close to getting it right.

"Using your brain is more tiring-and more difficult-than using your body," Ray said. He lowered himself onto a big rock across from Max. Michael didn't waste any time sitting. He stretched out flat on his back on the floor.

"Wait. Did you just read my mind again?" Max demanded. The stuff Ray could do was amazing. Thinking about it made Max's head hurt even more.

"Just a little," Ray answered.

He must have caught the look of panic and embarra.s.sment on Max's face-or else read Max's mind again-because he laughed. "Don't worry, when I do it, I don't go too deep. I don't want to b.u.mp up against anything too personal. You never know what you're going to find in a teen's head."

Ray pulled a Lime Warp out of his backpack. He popped the top of the drink. "Want one?" he asked.

"That stuff tastes like goat p.i.s.s," Michael complained. But he took a Lime Warp, anyway, then flopped back down next to Max.

"You know this for a fact?" Max asked. He grabbed a can from Ray. "You've actually tasted goat p.i.s.s and can make an accurate comparison?"

"There are times you sound way too much like that science guy on TV," Michael said. "You know-the walking, talking dork?" He took a slug of his drink, then studied the can. "I still can't believe this is what we really look like. No offense, Ray."

Max glanced at the little dancing alien on the can. It did have the same small body, big head, and huge, almond-shaped, pupil-less eyes as everyone Ray had shown them on the s.p.a.ceship.

"No, you've got it wrong. Well, sort of," Ray told Michael. "This form"-he pointed to the drawing on the Lime Warp can-"isn't any more our true appearance than this one." He gestured to his human body.