by Melinda Metz
The anti-Max turned to Alex, ignoring Liz. "If the Stones aren't in the cave, where do we try next?"
Alex wished he could head butt Max for the pain he'd just caused Isabel and Liz. But he couldn't hurt the consciousness by hurting Max's body, not much, anyway
"We could do a day trip to Carlsbad Caverns," Alex suggested. "Maybe even a weekend thing. It's huge, so searching it could take some time."
Alex struggled to remember some factoid about the caverns. "There's one room-that's what they call the different parts of the caverns-rooms-named the Hall of Giants," he volunteered. "It has some really tall rock formations in it… which is why it's named the Hall of Giants."
The Max thing twisted its lips in a condescending smile. Bring it on, Alex thought, ready to babble all night if that's what it took to keep the consciousness occupied. And make it leave Liz and Isabel alone.
***
"Let's see if I've got this right-while I was driving the car home yesterday, you two were frolicking in the ocean," Maria said. She slid off the hood of the Cadillac and glared from Michael to Trevor and back, trying not to let herself get distracted by the image of said wet-male frolicking.
"Not frolicking," Trevor told her, absentmindedly drawing in the desert sand with the toe of his work boot as he leaned against the car. "Like we said, we were able to test the power of the Stones by using them to heat up the water in the ocean. At first we just did a little section."
"So you could frolic," Maria shot back, noticing what Trevor had drawn in the sand was a big, curling wave.
"Then we realized that we could use the ocean as a way to fully test the combined power of the Stones," Trevor continued.
"The bad news is, forming a connection and using the Stones together didn't give us much more juice than each of us using the Stones separately," Michael added. He adjusted his weight on his leg so it wasn't pressing into the side of the hood ornament.
"Which means we're looking for another way to boost the Stones' power," Maria said.
"Yeah," Michael agreed.
"Yeah," Trevor repeated.
Silence descended. Too bad none of them had a clue how to do it.
Michael stretched out on the hood, staring up at the sky as if looking for inspiration. Maria tried not to look at the strip of naked stomach that Michael's scrunched-up shirt was now exposing. It gave her a certain kind of inspiration, but definitely not the kind she needed.
Stones. She needed to be thinking about the Stones. How could they be enhanced?
Maria forced her gaze away from Michael and over to Trevor. "I guess it wouldn't help for you two to connect with me? I mean, I can add a little bit of energy, but probably not enough."
"Probably not," Trevor answered, but he said it in a nice way. Maria was liking Michael's brother more and more as she got to know him. But as similar as he and Michael were, Trevor just didn't get to her the way Michael did. Looking at Trevor was enjoyable. Looking at Michael was almost meltdown inducing.
"Wait. Wait. That almost made me think of something." Michael sat up fast.
"What?" Trevor asked.
"Almost made?" Maria chimed in.
"Shut up," Michael snapped at them, running his fingers through his black hair until it was spikier than ever. "Just wait. I got this flash of a thing. An idea."
Trevor gave Maria the raised-eyebrow look. She gave it back, but she had to use her fingers to make her eyebrow go as high as his did.
"Okay, connecting with Maria is a stupid idea. It would hardly do anything," Michael burst out.
"That's been established, thank you very much," Maria muttered, blushing for no reason.
Michael ignored her and turned to Trevor. "But what if the two of us connected to Max? It might take the power of all three Stones to shatter the consciousness from the outside. But if we link to Max, we link to the consciousness, and then we'd be using the power of the two Stones from the inside."
Maria's stomach dropped. Destroying something from inside Max didn't sound appealing to her.
"It could work," Trevor answered slowly "The consciousness might be much more vulnerable from the inside. But there's no way of testing your theory. Max is the only being on earth connected to the consciousness."
"What's the downside of trying it?" Maria asked, hoping they might see how dangerous this could be. "I mean, do you have any idea if the consciousness could sense what was happening and… retaliate?"
Trevor shrugged helplessly. "I don't have any more information than you do. It's never been attempted."
"It wouldn't be the first time we've done things that have never been tried," Michael said. He tried to smooth down a few of his spikes, but it didn't work. "But who knows if the human body can even withstand having the power of the Stones directed into it?"
"Exactly," Maria said, remembering the way the Stone's power sliced straight through Adam's heart. Her mouth was suddenly very dry.
"When I used a Stone on DuPris, I didn't hold back," Trevor said. "I detonated it right into his body. I don't know if any entity could take that kind of blast without-"
"Going splat?" Maria finished for him. She wiped her hand across her face, as if flecks of DuPris's bone and blood were still spattered there.
"Once we're in, we might be able to direct the power at the consciousness without sending it full force through Max," Trevor said, lacing his hands together and putting them behind his head. "But I don't think we'd be able to avoid giving him some kind of jolt."
"Why not try it on me?" Maria swallowed hard. "That's what a lovely assistant is for, right? Just connect and give me a little, teeny bit of the Stones' power."
"No way," Michael said immediately.
Her heart jumped at the quickness of his protective response, but she wasn't about to back down. "Why not?" she demanded. "It's safer to test it on me. The consciousness won't be alerted, and if… if something goes wrong, you guys can heal me."
"If we just do a little, just to see the human body's reaction to a low dose…" Trevor let his words trail off as Michael shook his head. "No way. We can't risk it."
"It's for Max. I want to do it for Max," Maria insisted. "And besides-" She looked Michael right in the eye and touched his arm. "I trust you not to let me get hurt. At least not permanently."
At least not permanently physically, she added to herself. Emotionally was a whole other story.
Michael stared at her for what seemed like an eternity, and a few times she thought he was about to say something, but he stopped himself. Maria's heart was beating a mile a minute.
"Okay, but we'll take it very slowly," Michael said finally. "If anything goes wrong, even the slightest bit, we break the connection."
"Agreed," Trevor answered. He pulled one of the Stones out of his pocket and put one hand on Maria's left arm. Michael stepped over, Stone already in his fist, and gently wrapped his fingers around her right arm.
I hope they don't get anything too embarrassing off me, Maria thought as they made the connection. The Stone in Trevor's free hand began to glow with a blue-green light. The Stone in Michael's glistened purple-green.
Maria closed her eyes, trying not to panic. Don't think of splat, she ordered herself. Don't think of splat. She repeated the words over and over until Michael interrupted her.
"How are you feeling?" he asked.
"Is it over? Did you do it? Am I bleeding?" Maria exclaimed, her eyes still squeezed tightly shut.
"You're not bleeding," Michael answered. "Do you feel like you should be bleeding? Does something hurt?"
"No. No. I was just wondering," Maria said. She thought she heard a snicker. "You better not be laughing at me!" she warned them, without opening her eyes. She'd open them when this was over, not one second before.
"We're just going to try a little more," Trevor told her. "And no one is laughing."
"Okay. Good." She began her mantra again. Don't think of splat. Don't think of splat.
"Yow!" she cried as she felt her f
eet leave the ground. Her eyes flew open despite herself. She was eye to eye with Michael. And she was… okay. "So this is what it's like to be tall," she said, glancing around. "I like."
"No pain?" Trevor asked.
Maria turned her head toward him, and her body followed. "I'm good," she told him.
"Let's go up just a degree," Michael said.
Maria slowly rose another two feet. She flapped her arms up and down. The guys got the message. A second later she was swooping and darting through the air. "I'm a ballerina bird," she exclaimed, starting off on one of her uncontrollable giggle fits.
"Is she hyperventilating?" she heard Trevor ask.
"No, she's just being Maria," Michael answered with a smirk.
"More! Do more!" Maria begged. And she was dropped into a rolling nosedive, then pulled out just before she reached the desert floor.
"Better than any amusement park ride, huh?" Michael shouted up to her.
Maria giggled even harder as the power twirled her through a triple somersault, then skimmed her low enough to touch Michael and Trevor's heads.
"We don't have anything like amusement parks on the home planet," Trevor said. "When we go back, we should open one. We could call it Guerin brothers. The Guerin makes it kind of exotic sounding."
Maria stopped giggling so abruptly that she bit her tongue. The taste of blood filled her mouth. She couldn't have possibly heard what she thought she'd just heard. Michael was planning to go back home with Trevor? And he didn't think this was important enough to even tell her?
"Let me down!" she yelled. "I think I'm going to be sick." The second her feet touched the ground, Maria bent over, wrapping her arms around her stomach.
I don't mean anything to him, she thought. He can just leave. Maybe kiss me good-bye. Maybe not. Just see ya. Adios. I'm outta here.
A moment later she felt Michael's hand rubbing her back. "Was it too much power, you think?"
She jerked her body away. "No. I'm fine. I just got dizzy."
"There's not much point in doing more experiments with Maria," Trevor said, pocketing his Stone. "It can only tell us so much about what will happen with Max."
"We'll just have to go for it. Tomorrow the two of us will connect and see what happens," Michael answered.
"No!" Maria snapped upright. She was in full panic mode on so many levels, she had no idea why she was thinking clearly, but she was. Maybe panic was the key to a clearer mind. "I just realized that now that the consciousness is aware of what's going on, Trevor can't go near Max."
Michael blinked, and Maria knew he was impressed she'd thought of something that hadn't occurred to him. Not that it mattered to him, really.
"She's right," Michael said. "It would go ballistic if it saw you. It knows you're one of the rebels who want to destroy it."
"So now what?" Maria asked. She struggled to keep all her attention focused on the Max crisis. If she let herself think about Michael anymore, she'd lie down right here and never, ever get up.
"So I make the connection to Max and use both of the Stones myself," Michael answered.
"I don't know if that's such a good idea," Maria said.
"I'm doing it," he said in that firm Michael way that left no room for questions.
And that was that. There was nothing Maria could do once Michael had made up his mind.
SEVEN
"I drove your car to school today-again, since you didn't pick it up-again," Maria told Michael as she came up behind him in the hall after the last bell. "It's in the lot."
He nodded. She'd already told him that at lunch.
"My mom's threatening to make you pay some kind of driveway rental fee," Maria continued, pulling her curls back from her face and letting them bounce right back again.
"Sorry," he muttered as they headed out to the parking lot to meet up with the others. He'd kept putting off going to Maria's last night, afraid he'd find her sleeping in his car again, and he just didn't feel like he could deal with that. Not kissing her had been hard enough the first time.
Man, why had that moron Alex asked him what he wanted in a girl? The question had gotten stuck in his head somehow, and every time he thought of an answer, it had something to do with Maria. Now he couldn't stop thinking about the girl, which wasn't exactly making Operation Cold Turkey easy to carry out.
About halfway across the lot Maria grabbed the back of Michael's shirt with both hands and pulled him to a stop. He turned to face her, and their bodies brushed together, sending a shiver straight through him. He could smell eucalyptus oil on her and the cedar oil she always used when she was stressed. Mixed with that, something sweet and flowery. Michael took a step back. "What?" he said, his voice coming out harsh and hoarse.
"I know you never listen to me. I know I have no influence over you. But Michael, I really don't think you should try to shatter the consciousness alone," Maria said in a rush, her blue eyes wide. "What about Isabel? Couldn't she-"
Michael took another step away from her. Her scent was fogging his brain. "Isabel hasn't had any practice with the Stones," he answered.
Maria closed the distance between them until their bodies were almost touching again. "So take a couple of days and let her practice," she begged in a whisper.
"I can handle it," Michael told her. He turned and started toward the Cadillac again, Maria trotting to keep up with his long strides. "And if it's dangerous, it's better that only one of us is at risk."
He heard a horn honk and glanced over. The Jeep was pulling out of the lot with Isabel, Liz, Trevor, and Alex inside. Which left Michael and Maria making the trip to the UFO museum in the Caddy-alone. Great. Yeah, this was great. He needed to be concentrating, focusing, getting ready to shatter the freaking consciousness.
Now all these Maria thoughts would keep invading his head. Not to mention all the Maria smells. And the closeness of the Maria skin. Michael climbed into the car and slammed the door as hard as he could.
The second Maria got in beside him, he threw the gearshift into reverse and jerked the car out of its parking space. He saw Maggie McMahon getting ready to pull out, but he cut her off. There was no time to be nice and polite. The sooner he got out of this car and away from Maria, the better off they'd both be. It was only fair to Maria to taper off his contact with her. And as for touching of any kind-even basic friend touching-there would be no more of that. He really had to go cold turkey. Maybe it would help if he imagined her skin was… cold turkey. Instead of soft. Instead of warm. He glanced at her bare shoulder peeking out from her tank top. Instead of very, very tempting.
"You nervous?" Maria asked, fidgeting with her colorful beaded bracelets.
"No. Of course not," he snapped.
"Oh." She reached over and ran one finger lightly across the back of his hand, and he almost veered into oncoming traffic. "So the way your knuckles have turned all white, that's just normal?"
Michael realized he was gripping the wheel way, way too tightly. He forced his fingers to relax, letting the blood flow return to them.
"Don't touch me while I'm driving, okay?" he said. He checked the rearview mirror. He checked the side mirror. He checked the street in front of him. There was a little splotch on the windshield, and Michael hit the button to squirt some water on it, then started the wipers. Lots of stuff to think about when operating a vehicle, he thought. Lots of non-Maria stuff. He snapped the wipers off and scanned the gauges-no attention available to think about Maria. Or the way her lips really were almost the color of raspberries. Juicy raspberries. Sweet raspberries.
"Michael, we just passed the museum," Maria announced, glancing behind them, confused.
Crap. Michael made a squealing U-turn, eliciting a little squeal from Maria, and pulled into the museum parking lot. He got out of the car in record-breaking time without a second glance at his passenger.
The rest of their friends were waiting outside, and Trevor walked over to Michael as he hurried toward the outdoor stairs that led to his apartm
ent.
"I'll wait down here," Trevor said. "Come get me as soon as it's over. Or have someone else call me if…"
He didn't finish the thought, but Michael knew what he was about to say-if you're getting beaten so badly, you need backup just to get out alive.
"I will," Michael promised solemnly. It seemed like there should be something else to say, but he couldn't think what it was.
"You two could hug, you know," Maria said from behind him. "You are brothers and everything."
Michael and Trevor stared at each other. Then, with a what-the-hell shrug, Michael jerked his brother to him and hugged him tightly, releasing him with a thump on the back. Very manly.
"We'd better get up there," Michael said. He reached into his pocket and wrapped his fingers around the Stones, then trotted up to the stairs and took them two at a time. Isabel, Liz, Alex, and Maria were right behind him, causing the steps to creak and moan as the crew pounded upward. Michael was comforted to know they were there, but he was ready to get this thing done.
"Is there any way we can help once we get inside?" Alex asked, just behind Michael. It was better than having Maria right there, Michael supposed.
"Nope," he answered firmly, sounding calm. He yanked open the door and strode into the living room, where he could hear the TV on. He found the Max thing sitting in front of the tube, which was where it had been when he left for school that morning. Michael walked straight over to him-it. "Hey, Max. I've been thinking about it a lot, and Isabel and Liz and Alex are right. If you want to get home, we should all be helping you."
Here goes, he thought. He clamped his hand down on Max's shoulder and focused on making the connection.
Am I in? Michael thought. He wasn't getting any images, the way he usually did when he connected, but he had felt kind of a click-a meeting of two pieces.
He pulled in a deep breath and let it out slowly, trying to relax, trying to let the images in. All he saw was blackness. Did the consciousness sense his intention? Was it trying to keep him out?
