Without warning, her fingers dug into his flesh and her body spasmed. Max jerked the wheel and hit the brake, bringing the car to rest on the shoulder of the highway. Damn hard to do when it felt as if his knee was caught in a vise. His bones creaked under her hand, and when he got the car into park he tried frantically to dislodge her grip. He'd heard of people in the throes of a serious seizure injuring others. He didn't need to limp through the Midwest. "I warned you to stay away!" The voice that hissed from Bella's mouth dismissed any notion she was having a simple mortal convulsion.

Max froze. "I'm… sorry?"

The Oracle crawled Bella's body forward with jerky motions, like a freaky puppet. Max flattened himself against the driver's door, feeling slightly ridiculous for being afraid of Bella.

That feeling fled when she twisted his knee. The bone and cartilage gave way with a sickening crunch, and he screamed. "Every mile you come closer to me, the greater my power over you grows." As if to illustrate the point, Bella's body flew backward, her head striking the passenger window with a sickening thud.

Almost instantly, the Oracle's hold receded. Bella blinked, winced in pain, then wrapped her arms around her middle and cried out in panic. "Did it happen again? Did she do it again?"

Struggling to keep his head straight despite the pain, Max reached for her to offer whatever comfort he could give. He was afraid that if he opened his mouth he would start crying like a baby, from the pain of his knee or the fright that he was once again unable to protect her.

"What did she do to me?" Bella slapped away his hands, her voice escalating in pitch. "Did you see what she did?" Her panic took him aback. "Bella, you're fine."

"I am not fine!" She pounded the dashboard, then raked her hands across her bound hair. Then repeated, more quietly, "I am not fine."

What was he supposed to do? He'd tried to hug her. That hadn't worked. Now she was crying softly and doing a fine job of withdrawing, leaving him in a damned awkward position.

And there was his knee. It was broken, no doubt about it. If Bella went all weepy and catatonic, he wouldn't be able to cart her to safety. Heck, he might not even be able to cart himself to safety.

And there was the Oracle's warning. It wasn't a threat he was going to take lightly.

A couple months ago, he would have hit the gas and laid on the horn to let the Oracle know they were coming. But with Bella in the car beside him, all he wanted to do was turn and run. Funny how a person can grow on you.