The Outsider Read Online Free PDF Page B

shirt, revealing the skin of her stomach. Max released his breath in a hiss when he saw the two shining silver handprints. His handprints.
    â€œI didn’t get these from a ketchup bottle,” Liz said. She reached out and took one of his hands in hers. Max held completely still. What should he do? What did she
want
him to do?
    Liz met his gaze for a long moment, then she drew Max’s hand toward her stomach. She matched Max’s hand to the silver print, carefully positioning each finger.
    Can she feel me trembling? he thought. When he was healing her, Max had been totally focused on dissolving the bullet and closing the wound. But now . . . now he was hyperaware of the texture of Liz’s skin, soft and smooth. So warm underneath his palm.
    Max sat down next to Liz. She kept his hand pressed against her stomach. “You did this, Max,” she said, her voice charged with emotion. “You saved my life. How?”
    He slowly removed his hand. Liz dropped her shirt back down.
    â€œI don’t know how to start,” he admitted.
    â€œJust tell me. Whatever it is, just tell me,” Liz said.
    This is Liz, Max reminded himself. They had been in school together since the third grade. If Max had to pick one human to tell the truth about himself, he would choose Liz. She really cared about things, about people. So do it, he thought.
    â€œYou know I’m adopted, right?” he asked.
    â€œUh-huh.” Liz waited.
    â€œMy parents, my real parents, are dead.”
    â€œOh, God, Max. That’s awful,” Liz answered. “I didn’t know. Do you remember much about them?”
    Typical Liz. She’d already forgotten all about herself, about the questions she wanted answered. Now she was totally focused on him.
    â€œI don’t remember them at all. I wish I did,” Max answered. “But I think . . . I think I inherited the power to heal, the power I used on you, from them.”
    Liz started to respond, but Max rushed on. If he didn’t keep going, he was afraid he’d never get it out.
    â€œMy parents died in the Roswell crash. They . . . they weren’t human. And neither am I. That’s why I can do things like, you know, heal. With my hands.”
    There was a long, uncomfortable pause. Liz inched away from Max on the bed. When she finally spoke, her voice sounded way too calm.
    â€œI don’t know what you want me to say,” she said, not meeting Max’s eyes. “Should I start with the fact that the UFO crash supposedly happened more than
fifty years
ago — and you’re only a senior in high school? So your parents have been dead longer than you’ve been alive?”
    She didn’t believe him. Max had never even considered the possibility that she wouldn’t believe him.
    â€œThere were incubation pods on board, and — ,rdquo; Max began, but Liz didn’t let him finish.
    â€œOr maybe I should just skip ahead to the really big problem with your story — there was no Roswell crash. Every scientific investigation has confirmed that.”
    Liz stood up and put on her jacket. “You know, I thought you trusted me. I thought you were going to tell me the truth.” Her voice was cold, and ugly crimson splotches had appeared in her aura. Max had never seen her so angry.
    He blew out a sigh of frustration. He’d been so focused on how Liz would react when he told her the truth that he hadn’t stopped to think she might not believe him. Who
would
believe him? It was like saying he was the child of the Loch Ness monster or something.
    He had to find a way to convince her. If Liz walked out of here feeling like he’d been jerking her around, Max didn’t know what she’d do. She might even decide to tell Sheriff Valenti what had really happened at the cafe.
    â€œWhat about Colonel William Blanchard?” Max blurted. It was the first thing that popped into his head. “He was the commander of