by Melinda Metz
“Estela,” her papa called out.
Liz’s mama appeared in the doorway an instant later. She’s been going nuts this whole time, I bet, Liz thought.
“Liz and I wanted to look at some pictures of Rosa. Do you know where they are?” he asked.
“I—yes, I’ll go get them.” Liz’s mother smiled at them, a quavering smile, but a smile. “I’d like to look at them, too.”
“Are you carless?” Maria heard Michael call as she headed out of the school.
“Yes, unfortunately, I’m almost always sans car,” she answered when he caught up to her.
“I could give you a ride,” he offered as he slung his backpack over one shoulder.
“Oooh, a ride in that big car of yours. That’s so sweet.” Maria batted her eyes at him, almost tripping over the curb as they started across the parking lot. “I hear that you own your own apartment and a business, too. Is that true?” She ran her fingers up and down his arm in an exaggerated flirt maneuver.
Hey, if she could touch him and stay in buddy mode by pretending she was just goofing around, why not? Well, except for the fact that it left her feeling like a dog that had been teased by a piece of meat hanging just out of reach over its head.
“That’s right, sweetcakes. Now all I need is a little arm trophy, and I’m set. I could probably get you an … audition, if you’re interested in the position,” Michael answered.
But she could tell his heart wasn’t in it. The boy was troubled. As soon as they were both settled in his car, she turned to him and said, “Okay, come on. Tell Dr. Maria everything.”
“What?” Michael asked, looking at her like she was nuts.
“What?” she repeated, looking at him like he was nuts, mocking him.
Michael started the car and got in the line of vehicles moving out onto the street. He kept his eyes locked on the windshield.
“Oh, you want me to use my famous psychic powers.” Maria wiggled her fingers at him. “I see Max. I see Trevor. I see you in the middle,” she intoned, trying to do some kind of Romanian gypsy accent.
“Max is practically forcing me to take sides against him,” Michael burst out. “He won’t even consider the possibility that the consciousness could be wrong about Trevor.”
“Max doesn’t like to take chances with the safety of the group,” Maria reminded him. “You know him—Mr. Responsibility.”
Michael got his turn at the driveway and pulled out onto the street. “What he doesn’t seem to get is that Trevor is my brother,” he answered. “My brother isn’t going to be a threat to the group.”
“You don’t know that for sure,” Maria said as gently as she could. She felt so awful for Michael. He’d been wanting a real family his whole life. He should be in the midst of a party marathon, showing Trevor everything, doing brother stuff. But instead Michael’s best friend—let’s be real, practically Michael’s other brother—was trying to convince Michael that his only living family member was a deranged killer.
“So you agree with Max?” Michael demanded. He screeched the car to a stop at a red light.
Maria shot out her hands and braced herself on the dashboard. “I’m thinking you might be more dangerous,” she muttered. But at the hurt that she could see in Michael’s gray eyes—the hurt he was working so hard to hide—she relented.
“I’m not sure what to think,” she admitted. She couldn’t tell him that she was positive, absolutely positive, that Trevor was a wonderful guy—even though she knew that’s what Michael wanted to hear. “Alex and Max both seem pretty sure that there’s some kind of—of problem. I just want us all to be careful until we figure out exactly what it is.”
“But you’ll at least give him a chance?” Michael asked as he turned onto her street. “That’s all I ask, that you don’t make any assumptions about him until you get to know him.”
“I will absolutely, totally give him a chance,” Maria promised. She had to do that much for Michael, even though her intuition was twanging away inside her, telling her it was a bad, bad idea.
Neither Alex nor Max was the type to jump to conclusions. If they both thought Trevor could be dangerous, they were probably right.
Michael swung into her driveway and stopped the car—a nice, gentle stop this time.
“You want to come in?” Maria asked. “I promised Kevin I’d help him do a mock newspaper for social studies. You should hear his headlines about Magellan. He makes the guy sound like a comic book hero.”
“Sure, why not?” Michael answered. “Although I was hoping I could talk you into making brownies or something for Trevor. I’m meeting up with him later.”
“We’ll do that, too,” Maria said. She hopped out of the car, happy to have something nice to do for Michael’s brother that wasn’t potentially life threatening. “Should I do my carob ones or the—”
“The other ones, definitely,” Michael said as he followed her into the house. “Maybe with white vinegar icing.”
Maria made a gagging sound. “It will keep Kevin from snagging any, at least,” she answered. “Kevin, the clock’s ticking,” she shouted. “I told you, I’m not staying up until two A.M. like last time.”
“Maybe we beat him home,” Michael suggested.
“He should have been here at least half an hour ago. But it doesn’t look like he came in and then went out again. It’s way too neat.” Kevin usually started tossing things the second he hit the hall—backpack here, coat there, shoes on the coffee table. “I guess I should check the fridge for a note, just in case he grew a completely new personality and left one.”
She hurried into the kitchen, Michael right behind her. She spotted a bright orange sheet of paper under one of the magnets. “Color me amazed,” she said. She dropped her backpack on one of the kitchen chairs and grabbed the note.
She sank down on the kitchen floor as she read it. She didn’t even think about the chair a few feet away from her.
“What?” Michael demanded.
The note fluttered like a hummingbird’s wing as she handed it to him. She couldn’t make her fingers stop shaking even when she knotted her hands together.
Michael read it out loud. “You give me what I want. I give you what you want.” He sat down on the floor next to Maria. “I don’t get it.”
Maria swallowed hard. “It’s not from Kevin. I think it’s from …” She stared down at her hands, not even able to look at Michael. How could she look at him when she was thinking what she was thinking? But what she was thinking was the only thing that made any sense.
“Michael, I think the note’s from Trevor,” she finally said.
“What are you talking about?” Michael flipped the note over, then flipped it back. “I don’t see anything that—”
“Kevin?” Maria yelled sharply. “Kevin!” The house was empty. “Don’t you get it?” Maria cried, what little self-control she had snapping. “It’s a ransom note! Don’t you get it? Trevor kidnapped Kevin. He’s not going to give Kevin back until we hand over the Stone!”
“I think Michael’s right. We shouldn’t necessarily trust the consciousness, at least not blindly,” Liz declared from the backseat of his car.
Thank God for Liz, Michael thought. And Adam. At least they were adding some sanity to the group. And Isabel was still doing her Switzerland impersonation—totally neutral so far. But Max, Maria, and Alex were in full-throttle Trevor-is-evilincarnate mode.
“Can’t you go any faster?” Maria cried, clearly a breath away from all-out hysteria.
Michael pressed the accelerator down a little harder. “This car isn’t exactly designed for desert driving,” he told her. “But we’re almost to the cave.”
“Kevin is going to be fine,” Max said from the shotgun seat.
“Yeah,” Alex agreed. “Trevor’s smart enough to know that he has to keep Kevin safe or he won’t have any value as a bargaining chip.”
Maria let out a little moan. Alex winced. “Sorry,” he told her. “I was trying t
o be encouraging. I forgot to give you the nonstupid translation.”
“We should have taken the Jeep, too. I hate getting all squished,” Isabel complained. Then she looked over her shoulder at Maria. “Sorry. I forgot to give you the non-self-centered translation.”
“It’s better that we only took one car,” Michael said. “I don’t think it’s a good idea to convoy to the cave. It could get noticed.”
It wasn’t the real reason he’d wanted them all in one car. He didn’t want anyone getting to Trevor without him. The only reason he’d even told them Trevor’s whereabouts was so that Trevor could prove he was innocent.
“I don’t know why you say that we shouldn’t trust the consciousness,” Max said to Liz, although he said it without turning around to look at her. “I mean, just because it interferes with us kissing—”
“That’s not why,” Liz snapped. “Have you forgotten what the consciousness did to you, Max? It used you as a killing machine. Don’t try to pretend you weren’t sickened when it made you attack DuPris because I know you were.”
“The consciousness also almost killed you,” Isabel added. “It sucked out so much of your strength to open the wormhole that you almost died.”
Is she coming around to my side? Michael wondered.
“That was necessary,” Max insisted.
“Besides, it’s not just information from the consciousness we’re going on, remember?” Alex asked. “I felt—”
“We’re here,” Michael interrupted.
He jumped out of the car and sprinted to the crack in the desert that opened into the cave. He wanted to give Trevor a few seconds warning before he was descended upon.
“You’ve got company,” he called. “Lots of company.” He swung himself down onto the big rock and jumped onto the cave floor from there.
He did a quick check of the cave. Trevor was alone.
Of course he is, Michael thought. You knew he would be. But Michael still felt relieved.
“I wasn’t expecting you this early,” Trevor said. He stood up from Michael’s sleeping bag and headed toward him.
“Look, we think someone kidnapped Maria’s brother and—” Michael began, speaking as rapidly as he could.
Before he could get out the explanation, Maria half leaped, half fell into the cave.
“Where’s Kevin?” she shouted. She lunged at Trevor, but Michael caught her before she could reach him. He wrapped one arm across her shoulders and held her against him.
“We’re going to find out everything,” Michael told her. “We’re going to get Kevin back, I promise.”
The tension in Maria’s body didn’t ease at all. Michael wished there was something he could say to her, something to make her believe. But he didn’t think she trusted him enough right now to have faith in him. The thought was like a boulder in Michael’s chest.
Max scrambled into the cave, with Alex right behind him.
“See? No Kevin,” Michael announced.
“Just because he’s not here doesn’t mean Trevor didn’t take him,” Max shot back.
“It doesn’t mean he did, either,” Liz said as she hopped down onto the rock and then moved over so Isabel could climb down.
Trevor turned to Michael. “Would you please tell me what the hell is going on?”
“I’ll tell you what the hell is going on,” Maria cried. She wrenched herself away from Michael and went toe to toe with Trevor. “You kidnapped my brother so we’d give you the Stone. Now where is he?”
Trevor shook his head and stared up at the roof of the cave. “Unbelievable. First I was a killer, and now I’m a kidnapper.”
At least Trevor’s trying to stay cool, Michael thought. He gave his brother a nod of encouragement.
“Why don’t you come back tomorrow?” Trevor smiled at Maria, or at least he twisted his lips in an attempt at a smile. It came out more like a grimace. “By then I’ll probably only be a bank robber or something.”
“You knew Kevin was important to the group!” Maria yelled. She lurched forward and pounded on Trevor’s chest with both fists. He didn’t even try to defend himself. “That’s why you asked all those questions about him at the party!”
Michael hauled Maria away from Trevor again. She fought violently in his arms.
“That’s why you took him!” she screamed at Trevor. “Because you know we all care about him, and because he’s small and weak and can’t defend himself.”
“Shhh, Maria,” Michael murmured in her ear. “Shhh. Kevin is okay. He’s okay.”
Maria twisted around to face him, her face so twisted with fear and fury that it was almost unrecognizable. “You don’t know that!” she screamed. “You’re just refusing to accept that you’re wrong about Trevor. And Kevin could be out there somewhere dying! Don’t you even care?”
Alex rushed up to them. He put his hand on Maria’s shoulder, and she flung herself at him. She wrapped her arms around his neck, ragged sobs making her body heave.
The weight in Michael’s chest doubled in size as he watched Liz and Isabel join Alex, surrounding Maria in a protective circle. A circle that kept Michael on the outside. He turned a helpless look on Trevor.
Trevor gave a low growl of frustration. “If I was the kidnapper, right now I’d be telling you that I’d give you a map to your brother’s location as soon as you handed over the Stone,” he said impatiently. “But I’m not doing that. Why?” He glanced from person to person.
“Because you’re not the kidnapper,” Adam finally said from his spot under the cave’s entrance.
“Are the rest of you listening?” Michael demanded.
“What Trevor said makes some sense,” Liz said, her arm still locked around Maria’s waist.
“It’s also what an intelligent kidnapper would say right now,” Alex protested. He stared at Trevor over the top of Maria’s head, his eyes narrow. “And no one is doubting Trevor’s intelligence.”
“And there’s no one else who has a reason to take Kevin,” Max added.
“Don’t you have any real enemies?” Trevor asked.
“There’s DuPris,” Michael answered quickly. “DuPris would love to have another one of the Stones.” He shot Max and Alex challenging looks, daring them to deny the truth.
“How would DuPris have gotten behind me in the wormhole?” Alex asked.
Michael shoved his hands into his pockets, fighting the urge to slam his fist into the cave wall. Alex was right. DuPris couldn’t have been in the wormhole. “Who else?” he muttered. “There has to be somebody else.”
“There is,” Isabel said suddenly. Everyone turned to look at her. Her eyes hardened as she spoke. “Kyle Valenti.”
“Michael, Liz, Trevor, Adam—you circle around back in case Kyle tries to bolt,” Max instructed. “The rest of us will go straight to the front door.”
He was almost surprised when the group split into the teams he’d specified with no argument. At least we finally found something we can agree on, he thought as Michael’s team headed out.
For now. Max still had a bad feeling about Michael’s brother. But it wouldn’t hurt to check out the Kyle situation. He was praying that Kyle did have Kevin. If not, Max didn’t know what was going to go down between him and Michael. And of course, Trevor himself.
He dug the heel of his hand into his forehead and twisted it back and forth, trying to get some relief from the headache that had kicked in during the drive to the cave.
“Max, let’s go,” Maria urged. “The others should be around back by now.”
“Okay, let’s do it.” He led the way up to Kyle’s front door and knocked. The door swung open immediately. Kyle smirked at them, appearing obscenely self-satisfied.
“Where is he, Valenti?” Max demanded.
“Kevin?” Maria shouted, trying to peer around Kyle. “Are you in there?”
“I’m glad you decided to tell me what I want to know,” Kyle said.
Max charged forward, knocking Kyle back into the house
. He slammed him against the wall of the front hall and jammed his forearm across Kyle’s throat. “No, you’re telling us what we want to know. Where’s Kevin?”
He raised his fist and aimed it at Kyle’s face. He was going to have to do this the old-fashioned way. It wasn’t safe to use his power. “Talk,” he ordered.
Before Kyle could say anything, Max heard the rest of the group burst into the back of the house. “You got him?” Michael shouted.
“Got him,” Max called back. Not using my power isn’t going to be any kind of problem, he thought. He could feel Alex crowding him, and a second later Michael, Trevor, Adam, and Liz burst into the hall, the fury coming off them like heat waves.
No, dividing Kyle into small enough pieces so everyone could get a shot at him—that was the problem. But Kyle, for some reason, didn’t look worried.
“I’m not asking you again,” Max warned him.
“You hit me, you never get Kevin back,” Kyle said calmly.
Stalemate.
Max glanced at Michael. It was automatic. No matter what had been going on between them lately, when Max thought of backup, he thought of Michael.
“Oh, I’m sure that we could come up with something painful enough—long and painful enough—to get you squealing,” Michael answered.
Kyle raised one eyebrow. “Possibly,” he answered. He pinned Maria with his gaze. “But are you willing to risk it? He’s your brother.”
“Don’t let him mess with you,” Alex told her.
“Kevin!” Maria shrieked again. “Are you in here?”
Max heard a sound. Very faint. Possibly nothing. But possibly—
Max jerked Kyle away from the wall and pushed him toward Alex. “Keep him here,” he ordered.
“My pleasure,” Alex answered. A second later Kyle was on the ground and Alex was kneeling on his chest.
Max started down the hall. He heard footsteps behind him. He glanced back. Michael and Trevor.
The thought of Trevor covering his back wasn’t a happy one, but there was no time to battle it out. Max jerked open the first door on the left. Obviously Kyle’s bedroom. Total sty. No Kevin.
