"Hello, boys," she said smoothly, pulling up a chair beside her brother. "What's new and exciting in the lives of my two favourite misfits today?"

"Not much," Max shrugged. Out of a sense of male solidarity, he decided to gloss over Michael's troubles with Isabel. "I got an A on my biology paper. Michael's in a bad mood. Other than that, nothing."

Isabel looked from her brother to her friend as she spoke. "What else is new, and what else is new?" Her smile soon faded once she saw the scowl on Michael's face. "What's with you?" She wondered if he somehow knew about Maria and her little field trip into his mind. Isabel combed his face looking for any tell-tale clues.

"Nothing," he growled, his frowned deepening. "Why are you looking at me like that?" Michael snatched his can of Coke from the table with such fervour that some of the liquid spilled out of the container and on to his t-shirt as he raised the can to his mouth. "Great." He set the can down and wiped his hands on his jeans, then discreetly raised a hand to his t-shirt. To a passerby, it appeared as if he were merely trying to brush something off it, but Max and Isabel knew better.

Michael brushed his hand over the shirt a couple of times, but the stain didn't disappear. Frowning, he tried again, a little more vigorously. The stain stayed put. He glanced at Isabel and Max, who were looking on curiously, then tried a third time. Still, the Coke remained.

"Why the hell can't I do this?" he hissed.

Max looked puzzled. "Try again."

Michael did, with similar results. "This is ridiculous. I might suck at the complicated stuff, but I've never had problems doing something like this before."

"I don't know," Max shook his head slowly, shrugging. "Try to concentrate," he suggested.

Michael tried one last time. Nothing happened. He looked up at his friends, chagrined. "It's like I'm powerless or something."

Isabel felt the colour drain from her cheeks as the word hit her ears. Powerless. Her stomach filled with a flock of butterflies. How was it that Michael suddenly lost his capacity to erase things around the same time Maria mysteriously gained her ability to mindwalk? It was merely a coincidence, she told herself. It had to be. There had to be a logical explanation for it all, anything else simply couldn't be possible. She swallowed. Could it?

Michael stood up, interrupting her thoughts. Isabel stared at him, a mild look of horror on her face. "Where are you going?"

"To the bathroom, to clean this stuff off the hard way," he sneered, striding away from the table without a backwards glance.

Max lifted his head up from his food and watch him leave, then turned to his sister. He was about to make a mild comment about Michael's brusque behaviour to ease the hurt he was sure Isabel must have been feeling after the way Michael had spoken to her, but then he noticed the uneasy look on her face. "Is? You okay?"

"Yeah," she replied shakily, pasting a wan smile on her face. "Fine."

Max was more intuitive than she gave him credit for, though. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Honest. I'm fine, really."

"Is ...?"

"I just ... has anything like that ever happened to you, Max?"

He looked confused. "Like what? Like what just happened with Michael?" She nodded. "No. I don't think so. Why, are you worried?"

"No," she replied quickly. "Not worried. Just ... concerned."

"Come on, Is," Max smiled. "You know Michael. He said it himself, and we've seen it for ourselves -- he's not exactly a master of control when it comes to this stuff. Lack of concentration and a short attention span will do that to a person."

"Yeah, I know. But ... it's just ..."

"He'll be fine," Max said reassuringly. "It was probably just a little glitch or something. Nothing to worry about."

Isabel nodded stiffly, not believing a word her brother said.

Maria laughed. "Read between the lines much, Liz?"

"But she did!" Liz grinned. "Okay, admittedly, maybe not in those exact words, but the concept was there --"

"Ah, the concept," Maria replied cheekily, nodding. "Ohh, okay, I understand. Here, lemme see that paper, I'll soon read between the lines for you!" She playfully snatched the paper out of her friend's hands.

"Ow!" Liz cried, wincing a little bit.

The smile faded from Maria's face. "What?"

"Paper cut," Liz muttered, sticking her index finger in her mouth to stop the tiny drops of blood which dotted the surface of her skin.

"Oh, Lizzie, I'm sorry," Maria said, scrunching her face up in sympathy. "I shouldn't have grabbed it like that. Here, let me see? I think I have a Band-Aid in my purse." She knelt down to rummage through her handbag, pushing through the debris of lipsticks, half-opened packages of gum, pens and other assorted feminine accessories. "A-ha!" Maria exclaimed, holding up a neon pink Band-Aid with little purple stars on it. "This should do it."

Liz removed her finger from her mouth and wiped it on her shirt before holding the wounded appendage out to Maria. She opened the tiny wrapper and peeled away the adhesives, then took Liz's hand in her own to apply the bandage. The minute Maria's fingers touched Liz's cut, the small incision slowly began to fade away, then disappeared all together.

Maria dropped the Band-Aid in horror, her cheeks paling. "Oh, my God." She stared at Liz, then at Liz's finger, then at Liz again. "Oh ... my God." Without another word, she turned and bolted down the hall.