Max was sitting in his kitchen, lost in wordless thought. His mother walked in.

"Hi, Max."

"Hi, Mom." She looked at him inquisitively.

"Is something wrong?"

"No. Not at all." She raised an eyebrow.

"All right, whatever."

Isabel came down the stairs with a small girl who looked about 11. They made a lot of noise. Mrs. Evans caught them in the living room.

"Who's this?"

"Oh! Hi, Mom. Um.this is. Elsie." Elsie smiled up at Isabel. She started to say something, but Isabel stopped her.

"She's, like, this little super-genius. She's in my class."

"Oh! Wow! Elsie, do you mind showing off?" Elsie looked to Isabel for permission.

"Go ahead," she urged her.

"Ok. What do you want to know?"

"Um.well, how about we start small? What's.5 squared?"

"25."

"And what's.5 factorial?"

"120."

"Wow! Do you have that memorized?"

"Well, it's just that I've heard it so much.you know, all those permutations."

"Um, Mom, I think that's enough showing off. Come on let's go." Isabel guided Elsie into the kitchen and out the side door. Following Isabel's signal, Max joined them.

"What's up?"

"Max!" Elsie shouted, "I love you, Daddy!" Max couldn't help smiling. The randomness of children is so cute.

But Elsie wasn't a normal child. So why was she acting like one?

"We need to take her to Alex's now." Elsie was going to live with the Whitman's because Alex's dad was the only one of their parents who knew about them, and they figured if she stayed at Michael's, one of them would kill the other.

To Elsie, Isabel said, with great importance, "You can't call us Mommy and Daddy in front of our parents." Elsie's happy look was replaced by one of disappointment. "Look, I'm sorry, but they don't know, and we'd like to keep it that way."

"What about me? Don't you care about me? Aren't you proud of me? Don't you want to share me with your parents?"

"Yes! But.we can only share you as a friend."

"They're my grandparents." Max and Isabel looked at eachother, then down at their feet. "I wish you would trust me."

(Isabel)"Of course we trust you!"

(Max) "That's why we're going to let you keep talking to your grandparents. We trust you not to tell them who you really are."

"Not that kind of trust. But, the kind where you trust me with your lives."

(Max) "We are trusting with our lives-"

"I would keep you safe if anything bad did start to happen. Only good can come from letting this secret out."

"Come on. Let's go," Isabel said, pulling Elsie away from Max and towards the car. She was protecting her. Protecting her from Max.

The drive to Alex's house was a little longer than the Proud Parents would have liked. Elsie was just like a normal kid. She pointed out every stupid thing she saw along the way: "Hey, look, a candy wrapper! I remember Michael eating lots of candy and drinking Tabasco sauce. I like this one kind of candy because it reminds me of a flood-hey, look, the letter 'h' isn't lit up! There are two boys exchanging money! They all do it, but I haven't come across anyone who understands why."

"We're here," Isabel announced. She was instinctively trying to keep tension at a minimum. But, what made her feel her brother was a threat?

Alex came out to meet them. Elsie ran to him.

"Hi, Alex!" She said as she gave him a big hug around the waist.

"Hey!" Alex said, picking her up and swinging her around. He's a natural with kids.

"Alex! I have a name!"

"Congratulations! What is it?"

"Elsie!"

"Oh, cool!" Alex set her down and she ran into the house as if it were home.

"Hey, guys. How's parent-hood?"

"She's such a strange little girl," said Isabel. "It's like I'm putting her about everyone else."

"Well, isn't that normal? I mean, parents are supposed to protect their kids, right?"

"Yeah, but, we haven't had the connection most people have with their kids. She just showed up."

"So, you think she's trying to control you? I mean, more than other kids?"

"I felt a strange closeness to her. But, now it's like she's moved onto Isabel."

"No. Not anymore. I don't feel it anymore." They both looked at Alex like they'd just discovered he was an alien.