by Melinda Metz
It's Michael, she repeated to herself as she was forced to press a mechanical kiss against the side of his jaw. It's Michael.
He pulled her tighter against him, and she caught a whiff of something sharp and tangy. Eucalyptus. Eucalyptus-what she always smelled when they made a connection.
They weren't completely connected yet, but if they could-Maria slammed the thought away. She couldn't let DuPris read it.
It's Michael. It's Michael. It's Michael. She returned to her mantra, but now it held a new meaning.
"I told you you'd enjoy yourself," DuPris said. She felt him toying with one of her curls, but she refused to let herself be distracted.
Her fingers were forced into Michael's hair, and she tried to imagine her aura wrapping itself around them both. The sent of roses, her connection scent, blended with the eucalyptus, softening its bitter edge.
Almost there, she thought. Then she caught a flicker of blue out of the corner of her eye and a splash of brick red. Their auras were becoming visible to her. They swirled together-and it happened. Michael and Maria made the connection.
She raised her eyes to Michael's. She raised her eyes. Not DuPris.
Before DuPris had a chance to realize what had happened, Maria shot her hand to the left and grabbed Isabel by the arm.
***
An infusion of Maria's sparking blue aura and Michael's brick red one shot into Isabel's body. She could almost taste it in her blood.
She tried to wiggle her fingers and smiled when she was successful. She reached for Max, grabbed his hand, and felt his aura rushing through her, too, giving her a blast of big brother protection along with the smell of cedar. DuPris didn't know who he was dealing with here. When the six of them made a connection, they were unstoppable.
She'd missed Max, missed all of them so much. She felt as if she'd been away from them forever. But she was back!
Hi, Liz, Isabel thought when she felt Liz's amber aura join the rainbow ripping through her. She took a deep breath and caught a touch of Liz's exotic ylang-ylang in the perfume of their connection.
She was totally losing it, but she didn't care. They were going to shatter DuPris's hold on them. And then they'd be free. If she could, she would have done her trademark back flip into a full split. Free! Whee!
"The puppets are trying to take over the theater," DuPris said dryly. "How entertaining."
Give us one more minute, and you'll see how entertaining it is, Isabel thought. She realized DuPris might take it as a challenge if he chose that minute to read her thoughts, but let him. She was ready for a fight.
Alex's vivid orange aura zoomed into the mix, trailing the scent of almonds. The force of it, of him, almost knocked Isabel off her feet. Who wouldn't be ready for a fight with Alex on their side? The boy might not have any powers, but he did not know the meaning of the word surrender.
Isabel let out a whoop, glorying in her ability to open her mouth and make a sound. She was regaining control by the moment. The room began to fill with music, a concert made up of the music of their dream orbs. She wasn't the only one who was back. They were all back!
***
Alex threw out an image to the group-a cartoon man in a black-and-white-striped uniform swimming away from Alcatraz, his arms moving as fast as a planes propellers. Alex knew no one had been held prisoner on the island for years, but hey, why be so literal?
Isabel responded with a picture of herself in her cheerleader uniform, jumping up and down and yelling her head off. Typical Isabel. Had to send a picture of herself. But there was no bitterness to the thought. Here, in the connection, he could open himself up to her without their history weighing him down. He could enjoy the pure, essential Isabel, with all their mutual crap stripped away.
She sent out another picture of herself, this time jumping so high, she touched the sun. Yeah, baby, he thought.
Michael followed up with a surfer shooting a curl. The big cheeseball. Alex shot him back a grinning guy in a T-shirt that said Totally Tubular on the front. With each image the power of the connection grew stronger. They were charging the battery. Gassing up. Amazing that this little cornball image exchange would turn them into a well-oiled fighting machine.
***
Adam cringed as Max hurled out the image of a tiger stalking through the jungle, yellow eyes watchful.
This was all too much, too big, too loud. The colors of all the auras clashed with the pictures everyone kept throwing. And the heavy perfume swirling around him felt like it was replacing all the oxygen in the air.
He started to pull his hand away from Liz's, but she held tight. She let an image slowly unfurl in front of him. The two of them in her backyard, just sitting on the grass under the night sky.
Michael sent him a picture of the two of them playing crazy eights in his compound cell. Isabel waited until that image had completely faded, then sent over the acid green clouds of the home planet they shared. Max added a view of the earth from space. Maria showed him a butterfly breaking free of a cocoon, wings still wet.
They wanted him to be a part of this and not just to protect him, he realized. He let his own aura stretch out, adding a band of yellow to the ribbons of color tying them together.
He took a deep breath, allowing himself to appreciate each scent in the air, including the smell of green leaves that he somehow knew was coming from him. Then he selected an image and let it soar out. He smiled as the two pieces of golden brown toast popped out of the shiny silver toaster.
His smile widened as Alex responded with the image of all seven of them eating toast together. Loaves and loaves of perfect toast.
***
Liz could actually taste the buttery toast in her mouth. This felt so right, all of it.
"Are you about finished?" DuPris asked. The image of the whole group eating toast shriveled as he paced in front of them. "It seems that it's already time for another lesson in New Reality 101."
She tightened her grip on Max and Adam. They were still connected, and the connection was still strong. But not strong enough to take on DuPris. Not yet. She could feel it.
Liz chose another image-Max healing her after she got shot at the Crashdown. That's where it all started. That's what brought them all together, even Adam, in a way, because that day they all started down the road that led to him.
She catapulted out the image, but she couldn't feel a response. It didn't reach them, not even Max, she realized.
"I hold in my hand one of the three Stones of Midnight," DuPris lectured. "Its power is greater than anything you have ever experienced. Until now."
Liz felt her stomach lurch, and she realized the house, the entire house, was rising into the air. A moment later it fell with a shuddering crash that sent Liz's teeth slamming together. She swallowed and tasted blood in her mouth.
"That was just a little demonstration. Very little," he continued. "Ready for another one?"
Yeah, Liz thought. Bring it to us. That will bring the-
She stopped herself from completing the thought in case DuPris was listening.
"I can feel the peanut of power you've got growing over there. Want to see what it can do?" he asked. "I think we should all see what it can do." He yanked Maria out of the group.
Isabel and Michael immediately closed the gap, but Liz felt cold without the warmth of Maria's aura around her. The music of the connection sounded out of key without her note. The perfume smelled too sharp and spicy.
There's still a lot of strength left, she told herself. But she felt so powerless seeing Maria standing next to DuPris, her eyes blank and dead.
"Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt her," he announced. "She's just going to be the prize in a game I call bunny, bunny, who's got the bunny. Here's how it works. You use your power to keep me from taking back full control. I use my power to make you the puppet people. You win, you can leave. You lose, and the bunny gets burned." He patted Maria on the head. "And you'll do the burning."
No, Liz thought.
Not that. If she did anything to hurt Maria, she wouldn't want to live herself.
DuPris turned to Adam. "You remember the rules, don't you? You and I played once before. Or was it twice?"
Liz felt a shudder course through Adam, and the connection grew a little shakier. We're weakening, and we haven't even really started yet, she thought.
DuPris beamed and opened his arms wide. "Okay, ready, one, two, three-go!"
She braced herself for a blast of the Stone's power. It didn't come.
Don't think about it, she ordered herself. Build up the connection. That's the only thing that matters.
But how? She turned her attention to the bands of color binding them together. She didn't know what to do exactly, but she had to try something. She imagined their auras turning to metal, using all her will to make them hard and strong, impenetrable.
And it began to work. She didn't know how. She suspected that the connection helped her to access a power that she'd always had, maybe locked in one of those mysterious pieces of the human brain that seemed to have no function.
Liz felt the others join with her, struggling to turn the rays of light into armor. When the armor was finished, DuPris would have no control over them. She hoped.
She discovered it was most effective to concentrate on reinforcing her own aura. She focused her mind on the bands of amber, working her way inch by inch, not allowing anything to distract her.
Until she noticed the beads of moisture on the piece of aura she had just finished. The droplets gleamed with the Stone's purple-green light.
And they ate through the armor like acid.
***
Cameron stared at the ranch house. It had flown probably twenty feet in the air before it crashed. And it was a house. What the hell were they fighting in there?
Cameron sidled up to the closest window and peeked inside. The scene inside was utterly confusing. Michael and the others were surrounded by what looked like big sheets of metal that were being eaten away by acid or something. Cameron wasn't sure if that was good or bad.
Maria stood apart from them, and it was clear she'd entered the zombie zone. Clearly bad.
And there was a guy with oily, slicked-back hair holding a glowing stone. Obviously he's the one I should go after, she decided. She circled around to the back of the house, found an unlocked door, and slipped inside.
You have no weapon of any kind. You have no martial arts training. You don't even have very long fingernails. Just what are you planning to do? she asked herself as she made her way through the kitchen and down a dark hall. She had no answer.
"Honey, I'm home," she muttered under her breath as she stepped up to the half-open door that she thought was the one she'd seen from outside. If she went in here, she should end up behind the oily-haired guy with about half the room between them.
At least until he turned around and threw her farther than he'd thrown the house.
Cameron knew if she stood there much longer, she'd wuss out. She shoved open the door and ran toward the man as fast as she could. She pretended the couch was a track hurdle and leaped over it.
Her outstretched leg slammed into the back of the guy's head and knocked him to the ground. Cameron landed beside him. Which was pretty much the end of her nonexistent plan.
***
The eroded metal surrounding the group clattered to the floor, and Michael stumbled forward. It took a second for him to realize that he had total control of his body again.
Immediately he whipped his head toward Maria. She was free, too, already holding on to Liz with both hands.
And DuPris? Michael spotted him lying on the floor next to… Cameron. What? When did she-Didn't matter. She was here, and somehow she'd managed to bring down DuPris.
But not for long. DuPris was already struggling to his feet, his eyes locked on her.
"Cameron, get over here!" Michael shouted. And then he felt his stomach clench into a ball. Her right leg was twisted at an impossible angle. It had to be broken.
"Cover me!" Michael shouted. Without waiting for an answer, he hurled himself at Cameron. He wrapped his arms around her and rolled them both across the floor. A bolt of sizzling green-purple lightning struck about a foot away from them.
"I said, cover me!" he yelled.
***
Max didn't want to kill DuPris, but if it was DuPris or Michael-"Listen up, everyone!" he called. "DuPris is the bunny."
Instantly he felt a ball of power begin to form in the middle of the group. There wasn't time to let it get too big. Michael and Cameron couldn't wait for their backup. DuPris looked ready to hurl another lightning bolt. Max could see it forming.
"Okay, now!" he shouted. The air crackled as they hurled the ball at DuPris's head.
DuPris spun toward it and raised the ring. The ball exploded in a harmless shower of sparks-and DuPris turned back to Michael and Cameron, the new bolt of lightning fully formed in his hand.
"Michael, move!" Max shouted.
Michael pulled Cameron over in another roll-and they hit the wall.
DuPris drew back his arm.
A wave of coldness washed over Max. There was no time for another attack. He wasn't going to be able to save them.
A blast shook the room, brilliant white light filling every corner, dazzling Max's eyes. "Michael, are you guys all right?" he shouted. "Did you get hit?" He blinked rapidly, trying to clear his vision.
Two beings came into view, moving slowly across the living room toward DuPris. They were tall and thin, their legs and arms extremely long.
And their mouths… Max couldn't stop staring at their mouths. They were gaping holes lined with pencil-thick tentacles, tentacles that continuously waved from side to side as if tasting the air.
"The bounty hunters," Maria breathed.
Game over, DuPris, Max thought. And guess what? You lose! Because the bounty hunters-our saviors-are about to take you back home for judgment. And finally, thank God, we will be safe. DuPris glanced over his shoulder and smiled with relief. "It took you two long enough," he complained. "I've been waiting for over fifty years."
*** 10 ***
DuPris knows the bounty hunters. They're not here to kill him. They're here to help him. The realization was like a fist to Max's kidneys. Another realization quickly followed-he was going to have to open the wormhole.
But not now. It was too dangerous without the element of surprise on his side. Right now, DuPris was all caught up in reaming out the hunters, but any second he could turn his attention back to the group. They could hardly hold off DuPris while he used the ring. There was no way they'd be able to fight him and these vicious-looking bounty hunters.
Max decided to use the momentary distraction of the hunters to reconnect the group.
"Everybody grab hands… now," Max ordered.
The group quickly re-formed the circle-including Michael, who had Cameron cradled in his arms. She was connected now, too. An olive green aura had joined the colors wrapped around them.
Max sent out an image-a stream of molecules rushing from the ranch house all the way back to the UFO museum.
"Max, no!" Liz cried.
But he didn't have time to come up with something better. He'd have to do it on his own, too, without the consciousness. He'd need all their strength later… and it still might not be enough to survive opening the wormhole.
He shoved the thought away. Right now, all you have to do is move some molecules, he told himself. Nothing you haven't done before. Except this time he'd be trying to re-form himself. Michael wouldn't be there to do it for him.
Max focused on his body, on their body. He could feel all eight of their hearts beating. He visualized the museum, picking the exact spot he wanted them to go, then he gave their molecules a mighty shove, scattering them like pool balls after the break.
He felt himself flying apart, his molecules mixing with the molecules of Liz, Michael, Alex, Isabel, Maria, Adam, and Cameron. No, more than that-mixing with the mole
cules that made up the world. Everything was molecules, and he was everything.
His consciousness, his Maxness, felt as if it was disappearing. For a moment he fought it, resisting the pull toward oneness, then he abandoned himself to it, throwing himself into the void. So this is freedom was the last thought he was able to form.
***
"That was so cool!" Maria cried.
Max opened his eyes, feeling shaky with relief. He'd done it. He didn't know how, but he'd done it. All eight of them were standing in the museum's little coffee shop.
Liz shook her head. "It should have been impossible. How could you have re-formed us when your own brain was in pieces?"
"You even put my leg back the right way," Cameron added. She kicked her leg out a few times. "No broken bone."
"And you managed to bring our clothes," Michael said, "What a guy"
"I didn't bring the Jeep, though," Max answered. "I guess I'll have to tell Dad that Isabel left the keys in it again and someone stole it." He glanced over at his sister. She had her eyes lowered, and he could tell she hadn't even heard what he'd said. She just needs a little decompression time, he thought.
"I have a theory-well, not about the clothes part, but about the other part. Want to hear my theory?" Maria asked. She bounced back and forth on her toes, obviously enjoying an adrenaline high.
Max smiled at her. "I would love to hear your theory." In fact, there was nothing he'd like more. He wanted to stand here for a minute and hang with his friends like a normal person.
"There are some massage therapists who believe memory is stored in the body, not just in the brain," Maria explained. "Supposedly they can help people tap into a repressed memory just by touching them in the right place. Anyway, I think maybe our molecules remembered where they belonged."
