The Vanished

EIGHT

Isabel leaned against Michael's shoulder, enjoying the flickering warmth of the bonfire. Michael felt solid against her arm. Comforting and protective.

Brotherly.

"How was it I ever thought I could date you?" she asked Michael cheerfully, tilting her head back to look up at him. "It would have been a huge mistake."

"Definitely. But you're beautiful and I'm beautiful, so it seemed to make sense at the time," Michael joked.

Isabel sat up on the thick plastic pad she'd brought with her. "Beautiful! Beautiful? You're so conceited!" she squealed.

"Men are not beautiful," Maria jumped in. "Only women can be beautiful."

"I am beautiful, and you both know it," Michael replied with a smile.

"God!" Isabel exclaimed. "You're more arrogant than I am."

"Nah, it's not arrogance," Michael said. "It's just a basic understanding of reality."

"See?" Isabel said to the others. "Total arrogance."

"He's self-centered, too," Maria piped up.

Isabel grinned. Maria deserved to get in a few jabs of her own.

"Hey!" Michael protested. "Don't hate me because I'm beautiful, all right?"

"We don't," Maria reassured him. Then she gave him a long look up and down. "In fact, I've changed my mind. I do think you're beautiful."

"Hey!" Isabel protested.

"Thank you," Michael said primly.

"And you're lucky you are," Maria continued. She leaned closer to him. "Because if you weren't beautiful, we'd have no use for you. You're way too conceited!"

"Go, Maria," Isabel said, impressed. Who knew the girl had it in her?

Michael rolled his eyes and pretended to ignore them.

"Michael, Michael," Isabel continued, enjoying herself. "So vain, it's insane."

"I am not listening to this," Michael said.

"That rhymes," Maria called. "It's a song."

Isabel laughed, watching Michael's face start to turn red. "Michael, Michael," she repeated, adding a lilt to her voice. "So conceited… I'm defeated."

"That doesn't even make sense," Michael protested, obviously trying hard to keep his cool.

"Yes, it does," Adam jumped in.

"Michael, Michael," Maria sang. "So arrogant, he makes the girls pant."

"All right, that's it," Michael said. He grabbed the bag of marshmallows away from Adam. "One more little rhyme from either of you and it's war."

Right, Isabel thought. I'm so scared.

"Michael, Michael," she sang, batting her eyelashes at him. "So egotistical, it's almost… metaphysical."

Michael flung a marshmallow, and she felt it bop onto her forehead. He instantly doubled over in laughter.

Isabel narrowed her eyes at him. "You're so dead." While he was busy laughing, she grabbed the bag of marshmallows out of his grasp and pulled one out.

"Don't even think about it," Michael said. He had stopped laughing.

"Oh, you have no idea what I'm thinking, my friend," Isabel said. She hurled the marshmallow at Michael. It flew off into the desert, missing him by at least five feet. Isabel winced. Her aim had never been that great. Michael shook his head, laughing at her lack of coordination.

Irritated, Isabel reached out and snapped the marshmallow with her mind. It had already passed Michael by, but it veered awkwardly and hit him on the back of the head.

"My turn!" Maria shouted. She tore open a second bag and began lobbing marshmallows in Michael's direction.

Michael picked up marshmallows that had landed near him and returned fire at both Maria and Isabel. Liz screeched and scrambled away from the fray while Adam just looked on with interest.

As Isabel ducked and threw, she decided that Liz and Adam shouldn't be allowed to stay neutral in this war. Her next volley was directed at their heads.

Suddenly they had a full-fledged marshmallow fight on their hands. Shrieks of laughter filled the night sky.

My friends are so juvenile, Isabel thought, whipping another marshmallow into the fray.

Liz mashed a marshmallow on Adam's forehead, then turned to flee. But before she could make a move, Adam grabbed her around the waist, wielding two marshmallows with his free hand.

Liz screamed but was silenced when Adam stuffed the two marshmallows into her mouth. She started to laugh, but when she sucked in her breath, she pulled her mouthful of marshmallow goo down into her throat. In a moment of panic she realized the goo had lodged there. She wasn't getting any air.

As she gasped for breath, Liz saw Adam's eyes widen in horrified shock. He pounded on her back as Liz attempted to force the marshmallows either up or down.

I just want to breathe, her brain screamed as her eyes watered. Breathe!

Finally she swallowed painfully and took a gulp of air. She dissolved into coughs, and Adam stopped pounding and started rubbing her back soothingly.

His hands were warm and comforting as she dropped shakily to the ground, holding her aching throat with both hands. Adam sat with her.

"Sorry! I'm so sorry! Are you okay?" he asked. His hands were still touching her back, lightly caressing her shoulder blades.

All Liz's perceptions focused on the touch of Adam's hand. She felt light-headed, almost as if she were tipsy. "Who spiked the 'mallows?" she mumbled.

I felt like this when we were dancing, Liz remembered, her thoughts coming slow and somehow soft. It felt… good.

Liz frowned. When had they gone dancing? Suddenly the dream she'd had the other night flooded back to her. Adam was there. He had done something to a nightmare she'd been having. He'd changed it, made it safe.

"You were in my dream."

"Liz, I'm so sorry," Adam said gently, his breath against her ear. His low voice sent a tingling shiver down her side. "I wasn't trying to spy on you or anything. I just-"

"Don't worry about it." Liz jumped up. "I'm going to bring Max some marshmallows," she blurted out. She grabbed an almost empty package off the ground. "He loves these things."

Liz ran her hand through her hair as she walked away from the campfire. She suddenly realized she was trembling, and she wrapped her arms around herself. Things had been getting a little… complicated there with Adam for a moment.

She had to see Max. Right now.

Where had he disappeared to, anyway? When he wandered away from the campfire, Liz had assumed he wanted to find someplace private to connect with the collective consciousness, but he'd been gone a long time. Too long.

Liz shook her head. She was actually feeling jealous of a group of beings on a planet that was so far away, it couldn't be seen from the earth. She was losing it.

She kept walking, trying to enjoy the peace of the desert and not get all crazed. Her feet crunched on the dry ground as she wandered in a rough circle around the campsite.

She was about to give it up-or start screaming his name like a loon-when she spotted him. He was sitting cross-legged on a rock, staring away from her. His skin seemed to glow with a slight silver tint in the starlight.

Liz hurried over to him. "Hey, Max-"

She froze when she got a good look at his face. His eyes were glazed, expressionless, and his cheeks were slack. There was more movement in the vast emptiness of the desert than in Max Evans's body. He looked like the living embodiment of a black hole.

Liz shivered. She knew Max was just connected to the consciousness, but the sight of him so motionless and… vacant was deeply disturbing.

For a second she considered shaking him. But Max would only be annoyed that she'd interrupted him-not the mood she wanted him in. She turned away and began walking slowly toward the camp.

Why couldn't she have found Max talking to a cute girl or something? At least Liz knew how to deal with other girls.

When she reached the campfire, Liz hesitated. Maybe this wasn't the best plan. Adam was over there, and… Well, it just wasn't a good idea.

I should just pack it in, Liz thought as she veered off to the flat area where they'd all set up their sleeping bags. Tomorrow's going to be a long day, anyway.

As she crawled into her sleeping bag, Liz pushed aside a strong feeling of disappointment. This wasn't the way she'd expected to be going to sleep when she'd first heard about this trip. She'd been looking forward to falling asleep curled up beside Max after some romance under the stars. Obviously that wasn't going to happen.

Liz closed her eyes and sighed, willing herself to stop obsessing and go to sleep.

But right before she drifted off, a thought crept into her mind unbidden, causing her heart to skip a beat.

Would Adam visit her in her dream again?

Even though the night had become cool, Michael's face felt hot and sweaty. The marshmallow war had been good exercise. He began to pick up the dirty marshmallows off the ground, tossing them into the fire.

"We didn't save any to roast," he complained. "All day I'd been looking forward to toasting marshmallows on a stick, and now we wasted them all."

"It wasn't a waste," Isabel said with a smile at Maria. "At least we managed to kick the guys' butts."

"Keep dreaming," Michael said. "You two were running for cover. Adam and I dominated, right?" He looked at Adam expectantly.

"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.