MAXIM SPOKE into Adelaide’s hair, next to her ear, but she didn’t move. “You still with me?” he said, more loudly. When her head lolled on his arm, he grew alarmed enough to shake her. “What are you doing? Wake up!” No answer. With a curse, he leaned on his elbow. A moment before, he’d caught his own mind wandering, blanking out as if preparing for sleep. It’d happened so fast he almost wondered if he was the one who’d slipped away and was now hallucinating. “Listen, we’re not…giving up, okay?” She mumbled a few words. They weren’t coherent, but at least they proved she was alive. Thank God! Closing his eyes, he let go of the breath he’d been holding. “If they find us…like this…they might…take a picture and…and put it on the front page of The Bee. Can you…imagine the caption?” He hoped his comment would cause a reaction, and it did. “They’d better not!” “They could. We have to remain conscious, make sure they don’t.” “We’ll…be…conscious.”
