"Maybe third time's a charm, Maxwell," Michael said. It was a surprising attempt at humor for Michael, and Max found himself smiling. The effort won Michael a hard smack in the arm from Maria, however.

"I do have a few other thoughts," Max added. "If what Liz said was correct, then we lost because all four of us, including Tess, were not fighting together.”

"But Max," Liz said, "Tess is dead. She died when the air force base blew.”

Max nodded. In perhaps the only selfless act of her life, Tess had walked into the base instead of endangering the group further. She had chosen to die fighting instead of living out the rest of her life in the Special Unit's White Room. Shuddering from his memory of that place, Max wondered how much of his youth he had left in that room.

How much had been burned out of him by Agent Pierce under those bright white lights? Just about all of it, I guess, Max thought.

Max understood Tess's decision. He had vowed to him- self that he would die fighting before he ever went back there. Oddly, Max had died and had seen things, glimpses of the other side that he wished he could forget. Neverthe- less, he would go there before he would go back to the White Room, because he had seen both death and Hell… and Hell was white.

"I think the three of us have to become stronger, to.compensate for Tess's loss," Max said.

"How do we do that?" Isabel asked.

"By doing the opposite of what we have done up until now," Max said. He saw the light of understanding go on in Michael's eyes.

"Our powers," Michael said.

"What? What about them?" Isabel said.

"Up until now," Max explained, "we have tried to not use them, or to do so only when absolutely necessary.”

"But not anymore," Michael said.

Max nodded his agreement. "The point of this trip for me was to do things differently. We've been hiding our whole lives, denying who we are. Now I'm ready to use my powers to do whatever good I can. We're not hiding anymore and we're not exactly running. I think if we can keep moving we can stay ahead of… our enemies. Maybe as we use our powers more, well gain extra strength.”