Alex let out a cheer and Liz wrapped her arms around Maria in a congratulatory hug. Maria opened her eyes and, holding the crystals clutched to her chest, freed one arm to point. "He's in that direction," she reported.
"How far?" asked Tess, clearly anxious.
"I can't tell that. These things don't have a range finder on them," Maria said wryly. She turned to Max. "Okay, troop leader, what's the plan?"
"We head out and see where he is. Scout around, and come back to get the Sheriff if it looks like we need backup," the alien king said decisively. He looked around the group. "This might be dangerous. If anyone doesn't feel comfortable going, speak up now. No one will hold it against you."
"It would be safer if the humans didn't go," Tess piped up. "The rest of us have our powers to protect us."
Maria shook her head. "This human, for one, has to go. Bloodhound, remember? But I'd go anyway."
"You've got that right," Alex added. "We're all in this."
"And I didn't get us the day off work for nothing," said Liz, smiling.
Maria glanced at her best friend. "Ah, the benefits of being related to the owner," she teased, then turned to Tess, more serious now. "We're not going to be left behind again, not like when you got Max out of Eagle Ridge."
A bleak look shadowed Liz's eyes. "Max," she said hesitantly. "Maybe you're the one who shouldn't go. If Bob's goal is really to kill you, or have Michael kill you, maybe you shouldn't be anywhere near there. Even if you don't want to admit it, your people need you."
The others were silent. Max frowned, and Maria followed suit. Was his duty to his home planet always going to be a sticking point between Max and Liz? And, more urgently, would it keep him from helping Michael? She didn't have to wait long to find out.
"Michael is one of my people, and my second-in-command. But most importantly, he's my best friend. I'm going."
Alex began to applaud, and Maria shot the alien king a blinding smile. For her part, Liz nodded. "I'm not surprised," she admitted. "But I had to ask."
They quickly decided to take the only two available vehicles, since Maria's mother had the DeLuca Jetta. Isabel, Maria and Alex would lead the way in the Jeep with the others following in Kyle's convertible. Maria privately wondered how the ride would go with Kyle and Max, Liz and Tess all in the same car. Well, they'd just have to be mature about it, because more pressing things hung over them.
Although she was itching to get underway, Maria reluctantly set her double handful of crystal spheres on the counter and crossed to Michael's phone to dial a very familiar phone number. The other end was picked up almost immediately, and, though she turned her back, she was aware of the others listening in to her side of the conversation.
"Hey, Mom.... No, we're at Michael's.... I know his apartment is still off limits, but I figured since he's not here it would be okay. Listen, Mom, we have a lead on him. We're heading out now to find him." She bit her lip, then continued, "It's a long story, which I'll explain later. If I have to," she added under her breath. Someone stifled a snicker; she thought she recognized it as Alex's. "But we think we can find him," Maria went on. She listened for a moment. "Yeah, we were already planning to call Sheriff Valenti if we found anything. No, I'll call you, too. Just...I'm going to turn my cell phone off between calls. I wanted you to know, so you wouldn't worry if you couldn't get through." She listened for a moment; then, giving a sigh, she answered, "Yes, all of us. We'll be fine, I promise.... Come on, Mom. You--you trust Max, don't you? Well, Max is not going to let anything happen to me, okay? I have to go, Mom. I just wanted to let you know what was going on.... What? Yeah, Mom, I love you too.... I'll tell them. Bye."
Hanging up the phone, she turned a long-suffering glance towards her companions. "My mother says to be careful," she reported. "She's not going to be happy if anything happens to any of us."
"It won't," Isabel assured her, handing her a cloth-wrapped bundle. "The crystals," she explained. "Michael doesn't have a bag of any sort, and I thought this would be better than the cereal box."
Maria clutched the bundle to her chest. While she'd been on the phone, Isabel had taken one of Michael's shirts from a drawer and wrapped his crystal collection in it. Maria's eyes met Isabel's in a glance of understanding and determination; then together the two girls led the way out of Michael's apartment.
* * * * *
Wonder of wonders, Bob bought it. He gave a satisfied laugh and stepped back to study his creation. Michael met his eyes, allowing just a hint of his thirst for violence to shine through. "So," he said avidly, "how are we gonna do this?"
Rather than answering, Bob dug into a pocket. Michael managed to control his flinch at the thought of the electroshock device Bob had used on him the day before, and was rather relieved to see that wasn't what the alien was reaching for.
Of course, when Bob reached out and stabbed the hypodermic into Michael's arm--again right through his jacket--the teenager didn't feel quite the same sense of relief. "Goddammit!" he yelped. "What the hell is it with you and needles?"
"It's an antidote to the serum I gave you", Bob said, seemingly unperturbed by Michael's vehement objection.
"Well, you could have warned me first," Michael grunted, stung.
Bob ignored him. "Just sit there and wait for it to activate," he ordered.
Michael managed to do as the other alien asked for a short while. Then he started to wonder just why the other alien was so willing to accept that he had been subverted. Michael himself wouldn't be; he was more inclined to be suspicious by nature, he guessed. He should just be grateful that it had worked and stop letting it unnerve him. But the thought was making him antsy. Fidgeting with his rings, he spoke up again. "So how's this gonna work?"
"How do you think?" Bob countered.
Michael shrugged. "How the hell should I know? You're the one with the master plan. You tell me."
Bob's eyes were not particularly friendly as he stood and watched the boy. "I'll tell you what you need to know when you need to know it," he said in unmistakable warning.
"Don't blow a gasket," Michael muttered. "I'm just asking."
"Well, don't," Bob snapped. "Concentrate on what you're told to do."
"Whatever." Irritated, Michael waited a minute, then pointed out, "But you haven't told me to do anything, Dad." He noticed with some satisfaction the other alien's slight grimace at the use of that name, and set himself to needle him a little more. "So, Dad, what do you want me to do?"
"Just sit there and be silent!" Bob snapped. "We can't do anything until the serum wears off. At that point, we'll continue our work."
"Great." Michael shifted uncomfortably in his chair, trying not to think too much about what that work might consist of. Dropping his hands down, he began to tap his fingers against the metal seat, beating a ragged rhythm with his rings. The swinging handcuff which dangled from his right wrist added an emphatic bass drum beat.
"Exactly how long is it gonna take?" he asked. "I got things to do, you know."
"Let's start with this," the other alien responded, paying no heed to Michael's impatience. "Where is the king?"
"You really think I'm gonna tell you? You might get the jump on me, and I wanna take him on myself." Michael laughed gruffly. "He won't know what hit him."
A smile crossed Bob's face. "You really want to hurt him, don't you?"
"Oh yeah," Michael answered. He pulled out his memories of growing up and allowed his unleashed hatred and violence to color them. "Do you have any idea what it's like, growing up trailer trash while your fearless leader gets the good house, the nice parents, the regular meals? I think it's time the king gets a taste of what it's like to be one of the less fortunate. First him, and then I'll take out his wimpy little bride." He rose from the chair and crossed towards the wall. "And then we'll see about my former girlfriend. You know, if you weren't so damn slow to get the job done, we could've already started by now."
Ignoring his complaints, Bob asked, "How adept are you at using your gifts?"
"Gifts? I get presents?" Michael cut in, just to annoy him.
"Your gifts. Your powers," Bob explained. "Surely you've noticed you're not quite like the others."
The others? Did he mean the other members of the Royal Four, or humans? Might be best to play dumb. "Uh, different how, exactly?"
Bob let out a sigh that was a little more dramatic than necessary, in Michael's opinion. "You really aren't too bright, are you, boy?" he asked without seeming to expect an answer. "All of our kind have certain...abilities. They vary from person to person, but everyone has one gift that is stronger than their others."
"Oh yeah? What's yours?" Michael wanted to see what the alien would say. Nasedo had already told him of Bob's ability to connect and read others of their species. "You a shapeshifter or something?"
Bob's eyes narrowed. "What do you know of shapeshifters?" he asked suspiciously.
Oops. Not too smart there, Guerin. Carefully he gave Bob his best innocent look. It was successful enough to fool the other alien; Michael was rather surprised. "I read, you know," he said dryly, trying to cover his gaffe. "You think I wouldn't find out everything I could about alien phenomena? I live in Roswell, man."
"Have you met one?" The question was abrupt.
Met one? Met didn't even begin to describe his rather tumultuous acquaintance with the being known as Nasedo. Who was hopefully getting some good dirt on the situation right now. Which Bob certainly didn't need to know. Raising one eyebrow, Michael out-and-out lied, "Not unless you're one."
Bob seemed to relax. "I am, to some extent. I would have to be, to merely exist on this planet, much less to go unrecognized for what I am."
"Well, I'm not one, and I do okay," Michael pointed out.
"You are a rather special case, you and the king and his bride and his sister. You are hybrids, engineered to survive on this planet."
Michael considered this for a moment. "So anybody else from our planet who's on Earth would have to be a shapeshifter or another hybrid?"
"They would have to be a shapeshifter. The technology that allowed you to be hybridized is extremely complex, and was destroyed after the four of you were re-created."
Huh. He hadn't denied the existence of other aliens on Earth. Then again, he hadn't confirmed it, either....
"And shapeshifting's your gift?" Michael continued, trying to draw him out. Bob hesitated and then nodded. "Cool!" Michael enthused, inwardly shuddering at the fake excitement he was mustering up. God knows where that came from. "So let me see you do something. Be someone else."
"It takes a great deal of energy," the other alien said stuffily. "It's not to be used lightly."
"Come on, Dad," Michael wheedled. Where the hell did that annoying whine come from?
It evidently annoyed Bob, too. "Stop calling me that," he ordered irritably.
"Sure, no problem. What d'you prefer? Pop? Father? I can't call you Daddy, that's for little girls and wusses."
"Father will do, if you must."
"Okay then, Father," Michael said, ignoring the bitter taste of the word on his tongue. "So if you're a shapeshifter, what am I? Is it genetic, or what?"
Bob looked at him in shock. "Of course not. You don't need to shapeshift; you're a hybrid."
"Then what's my gift?" Michael said, genuinely interested. Bob couldn't be referring to the powers that they already knew about. Nasedo had once told him that their abilities came from their human side, albeit from a very advanced human side. These alien gifts must be different. Although it was interesting that Nasedo hadn't mentioned them at the time.... Didn't matter right now. Whatever his so-called gift was, it might be helpful. He wasn't particularly successful in controlling the human powers, but maybe he could handle the alien one. Anything to give him the edge.
The other alien's tone was matter-of-fact. "You're a generator."
What the--"I'm a what?"
"A generator--a power source. How do you think were able to attune the power spheres to you?" Michael hadn't been aware he'd done so. He'd actually created the blue crystals out of rocks, but maybe the other alien didn't know that.
"And it's because I'm this power source or whatever, that you want me to kill the king?" he asked, his brow furrowed. "Or are you just trying to keep things in the family? The family that slays together stays together?"
"It's because of your gift," Bob confirmed.
This didn't make any sense. "But what do you need me for? Why don't you just get a gun and shoot him?" Michael hoped he wasn't giving the other alien any ideas. Probably not, as he'd already gone around threatening people with a gun. It wasn't that long a stretch to actually using it.
"Killing him isn't enough. He has to be destroyed completely. We'll need proof that it's done."
"Can I suggest something in a nice video camera?" Michael said. "You push record, do the deed, and it's captured for posterity."
"That's hardly adequate," Bob chided. "It's foreign technology, not to mention the difficulty of transporting it across galaxies."
"You can travel through space but you can't work a VCR?" Michael scoffed. "What do you want to send instead, the king's head in a box?" Ouch. Not such a great visual there. But somehow Michael kept his face impassive.
The other alien seemed more irritated. "We won't need to send them anything. The entire planet will know when the bond is broken."
Michael just looked at him. Bob looked back, taking in the teen's utter lack of comprehension. "The bond, the bond," he spat. "The one between the king and his subjects. The one that--" Here he paused. "But perhaps you don't... How well do you know the king?" he asked abruptly.
"Okay, I guess. I know who he is," Michael fudged.
"Do you feel any sort of connection to him? An awareness of his well-being?"
"What the hell are you talking about?" Michael said, pushing himself away from the wall.
Moving away from him, Bob began to mutter to himself. Michael strained to make out what the other alien was saying.
"...a defect in the hybridization process? It could be the distance, the link would have to travel across space twice, from here to there and back to here...."
Moving closer, Michael cut in loudly. "You wanna explain what the hell you're talking about?"
Bob jumped a little, as if he'd almost forgotten the boy was there. Pointing to the chair, he commanded, "Sit," then repeated the order more loudly when Michael didn't immediately obey. Even after Michael plunked himself down on the chair, Bob remained silent for a moment.
Finally, he spoke. "How much do you remember of your other life?" he asked.
"Pretty much nothing," Michael admitted.
"The king is the most powerful figure on the planet," he was told. "Not because he is a political figure, although he is; there are hundreds of people who could rule if that were all it took."
"Why, then?"
"The king, like his direct ancestors going back farther than we have record, has a link with his subjects, one that is relayed through the very core of the planet. Through it he can monitor and enable the well-being of the planet and the people, the health of our entire world."
Michael's forehead wrinkled as he took this in. "And when the king dies--" he began.
"The link is transferred to his heir. The new king."
"Uh, I don't think the current king has an heir," Michael pointed out. "Unless he's been holding out on me."
"He doesn't. He had not secured the succession before his own father died. That's why we tried to kill him on his wedding day, before he could sire one. We succeeded in killing him, but not in destroying him."
"He was re-created," Michael said quietly.
"Yes. And I have waited years to finish what was started then."
"And if he dies, and doesn't have an heir, what happens to the bond with the planet?" Michael asked.
"We believe it will pass to his closest relative."
"His sister." Isabel.
"That would be impossible."
"Why? Is our planet a patriarchy, or what?" He took in the look of surprise on the other's face. "What? I told you I read. I have a vocabulary, you know," he said crossly.
Bob shook his head. "The rule passes down to the elder child, regardless of its gender. His sister couldn't take his place because she would be dead."
"What?" Not only was he supposed to kill Max, but now he was supposed to kill Isabel, too? No. He refused to hurt either one.
"The sib-bond is too strong. She could not survive the death of her pod-sib."
Okay, what was he talking about? Michael had heard that term before, 'sib-bond', but where? "Sib-bond?" he repeated. "What the hell is that?"
"The connection between pod-sibs, quite obviously." Michael gave him an irked look and Bob explained further. "The connection between brother and sister is strong, almost as strong as the pair-bond you would call 'marriage' and stronger even than the bond between parent and child. Our people have twinned births, one boy and one girl. No couple has more than the one pair. The podlings are bound to each other; when one dies, the other dies also."
"When the king is killed, it'll kill his sister too?" Michael said, trying to hide his horror.
"Why? Is it a problem?" the other alien countered. Michael managed to shake his head.
"Just means two for the price of one," he forced out. "A real bargain." Swallowing his nausea, he asked, "So when he was killed before, you thought the king's bond, the one with the people, it would pass to someone else?"
"It should have. It would have, if the king's mother hadn't had you all hybridized."
"It stayed with him, then."
"So we think. It's rather hard to tell, what with the distance between the king and the planet and the corruption from his human side. It's possible that the pair-bond between the king and his sister no longer exists," Bob mused. "Killing him in this incarnation may have no effect on her."
"But it did before," Michael said slowly. "When he was killed, she died."
"Dropped in her tracks," Bob said in some satisfaction. "In the middle of the king's pair-bonding celebration. You really should remember, boy; you were with her, after all."
Michael swallowed. "How...how did I die?"
"You were killed battling the king's assassins. You managed to take several of them out of the equation before you were killed. Most impressive, really, if it hadn't been so pathetic." Bob paused for a moment, then let out a breath. "Well," he said, "the serum surely must have worn off by now. What say we get back to your training?"
Michael's head was spinning and he barely even heard the other alien. The one thought he could manage to hold on to was that maybe he hadn't done such an evil thing after all. Maybe he hadn't harmed his sister, his own flesh and blood. If they even had blood in that form. Maybe he'd killed her, simply by dying.
CHAPTER 30
Shivering in the back seat of the Jeep, Alex pulled his jacket more tightly around his neck in a vain attempt to keep warm. They were insane, all of them. Seven teenagers driving on a desperate chase with an unknown destination and a pressing sense of urgency. At least the other four were warm, because Kyle had the sense to have the top up on the convertible. The Jeep was another matter. Maria hadn't wanted anything to block her from sensing Michael, so they'd left the top off. Even though Isabel had fixed the Jeep's heating system so it was steadily belching out a toasty stream of hot air, it didn't really counter the chilly effects of riding in an open vehicle in the mountains in December. Alex tried to pull his hands inside the cuffs of his jacket. Man, it was cold.
The two girls in the front of the vehicle didn't look any warmer than Alex himself felt. Isabel's nose and cheeks had turned rosy from the cold and Maria let out an occasional sniff, though Alex suspected that had as much to do with overwrought feelings as it did the temperature.
They'd stopped for a late lunch at a roadside diner once it became clear that finding Michael wasn't going to be as easy as it had seemed. Refusing to be parted from the blue crystals, Maria had sat with the shirt-wrapped bundle on her lap as she picked at her food. Only Kyle had been able to summon up a reasonably hearty appetite.
After lunch, Max had offered to drive the Jeep to give his sister a break, but she had refused, preferring to deal with the cold that came along with driving the Jeep rather than sitting warmer but inactive in the convertible. With determination, she took her place behind the wheel, an impatient Maria beside her; Max moved back to the convertible and the two vehicles headed off.
Idly Alex sat and stared at the back of Maria's head. The noise of the road prohibited any attempt at normal conversation; instead he held an imaginary conversation with her. It didn't make him any warmer, but at least it gave him something to think about other than their current situation.
They'd started off with high hopes as they'd pulled away from Michael's apartment building that morning. It had still been early--not even eight o'clock--and Maria had been positive that they'd find Michael and be back by lunchtime. Unfortunately, things hadn't proven quite so simple. Michael was vaguely north-northwest of his apartment, but they had no idea how far. Plus the roads didn't run in that exact direction. Isabel was afraid of driving too far out of the way and ending up passing him and Maria was too focused on Michael's direction to care about a lack of drivable pavement. Alex suspected that, if things hadn't been quite so tense, the two girls would have ended up squabbling.
After a few hours of driving back and forth, it became apparent that Michael wasn't to be so easily found, and Isabel pulled off the road so the seven of them could reassess their plans. They finally decided to hop onto the highway and drive north. Eventually, Maria should feel a major shift in Michael's direction, which would enable them to narrow down their search area. Liz had tried to suggest stopping to get some maps, but Isabel and Maria shot the idea down, refusing to make any 'unnecessary' stops.
And that was how they came to be driving through the mountains in what Alex supposed was Colorado. He leaned over to peer at Maria. She was clutching the crystals in her cupped hands, which looked white and frozen stiff. Her eyes were intent on the road in front of them. He'd very rarely seen his friend focus with such concentration.
It was only because he was watching her so intently that he saw her stiffen slightly. "Maria?" he called over the road noise, leaning forward as far as his seatbelt would allow.
"What is it?" Isabel said sharply, tearing her eyes from the road long enough to glance at the girl beside her.
Maria was silent for a moment, considering something intently. "Alex?" she said finally, lifting her crystal-filled palms. "Take one of the crystals," she instructed. He did so, surprised at the feel of it. For one moment, it felt--not warm, exactly, but almost as if it had held substantial warmth one minute earlier; then the feeling melted away, and all he held was a big blue marble. But Maria was speaking again.
"Take another," she said, and after he did so, "Another." She sat for a moment, then said thoughtfully, "Put that one back." Leaning forward again, he dropped it to join its mates in her waiting hands. He couldn't help but notice the suppressed excitement in her voice.
"What's that all about?" he asked, his spirits lifting.
"It's getting stronger," Maria replied none too calmly. "I can feel him without those two stones just as strongly as I could earlier, with all of them." She smiled. "We're getting closer."
* * * * *
"Focus!" Bob's voice was sharp, and the sound of it rang unpleasantly in Michael's ears. Did the other alien think he wasn't focusing? Wasn't trying? Because he was, perhaps harder than he'd ever tried anything before. He wanted to be able to control this power. Needed to do it. And all he could manage was to watch himself fail again and again, just like he'd always failed at everything....
"Goddammit!" he shouted, rising so suddenly that the metal chair crashed backwards onto the concrete with a deafening clatter. "I can't do this!" he spat, beginning to pace across the room.
"Of course you can," Bob responded, not sounding nearly as supportive as the words made him out to be. "You just need to focus and let it happen."
"What the hell do you think I've been trying to do?" Michael raged as he stalked back and forth. He could feel the other alien's eyes following him as Bob stood, leaning casually against the wall.
"I think you're wasting my time," Bob said, not seeming to care that Michael was on the brink of exploding. "You didn't have this much trouble grasping this the first time, and I doubt your genetic changes have altered your ability to learn. So why the problem?"
"If I knew, don't you think I would have done something about it?" In frustration, Michael slammed one boot-clad foot into the metal chair. It felt good enough that he kicked it again, harder this time, enjoying the satisfying sound it made as it crashed against the wall. He continued pummeling the hapless piece of metal, a kick punctuating each word. "I. Just. Can't. Do. This!"
Sharply, the other alien warned, "If you cannot focus your powers, you're of no use to me. And I strongly suggest you hope that is not the case."
* * * * *
When the phone rang, Amy DeLuca jumped for it. The day had stretched out endlessly as she sat and worried about Maria. But she couldn't afford to close the shop on a potentially lucrative Saturday; finances were tight enough as it was. She and her daughter had enough problems without all this alien nonsense on top....
But it wasn't nonsense. Her only daughter was involved in something very dangerous, potentially deadly, and there wasn't a whole lot Amy could do about it. And on top of that, her little girl--her baby--was in love with an alien. An extra-terrestrial. A non-human.
Or maybe that should be a part-human; Amy wasn't sure she really understood it all. She just got the basic gist of things, that Michael Guerin and her daughter were radically different from each other. Not the same. And that bothered her more than she'd like to admit. Certainly more than finding out about Max, Isabel and Tess. And she wasn't sure why.
Maybe because there were times when she'd actually started to like him. Not all the time, mind you; Michael had a shady enough reputation to worry any mother. And the outward persona he showed the world didn't give much reassurance.
And yet there were times when he astonished Amy. The portrait he'd drawn of Maria, for example: it showed not only talent and artistic sensitivity astonishing in someone of his age and unnourished background, but also the feeling behind the gift. Feelings he did his best to hide. Amy knew there were things he didn't like to show, but she suspected they went even deeper than most people realized. And she wasn't sure if that was because of or in spite of his alien nature.
But none of these feelings could alter the fact that her daughter was out there somewhere, putting herself into a potentially dangerous situation, all for the sake of this young man. Only the fact that Maria had agreed not to take any action without first notifying Amy or the Sheriff had enabled Amy to get through the day. She had spent every moment expecting the shop phone to ring; it was no wonder that she pounced on the telephone the minute it did.
"Maria?"
A startled pause, then a man's voice came across the wire. "No, sorry. It's Richard Delgado calling for Mrs. DeLuca."
Slightly flustered and not a little worried, Amy stammered, "Oh. Sorry, Mr. Delgado. I was expecting another call. This is Amy DeLuca." She had almost forgotten the detective she'd hired. Of course, she couldn't really be blamed for that, with everything that had happened in the past two days.
"I have some news to report," the man told her.
"Yes?" she asked, not even attempting to hide the trepidation in her voice.
The detective chuckled. "Don't worry. It's good news, or at least I believe you'll think so, Mrs. DeLuca. I've located your brother."
* * * * *
Some time--perhaps several hours--later, the two-vehicle caravan found itself off the highway and on a deserted two-lane road in the middle of nowhere. They'd left the mountain range, although Alex could still see it to the west.
Maria was down to three crystals now, the others wrapped securely in Michael's shirt and guarded by Alex. "We need to turn left," she called suddenly. "I think we're passing him."
"There's no road," Isabel said automatically, her eyes scanning the horizon. "We can keep going and look for a turn-off, or go back and look for one we might have missed."
"I don't care what we do, we just need to turn!" Maria snapped.
"Maria," Alex said, leaning forward to put a hand on her shoulder. "It's going to start getting dark soon, and we can't drive across open country with no light. Maybe we should find a place to hole up for the night, so we can get a fresh start tomorrow."
But Maria wasn't really listening to him. "Stop the car," she said suddenly, her eyes focused on something somewhere in the distance.
"Maria," Isabel began.
"Stop the car!"
Putting on the turn signal, Isabel pulled smoothly over to the side of the road. In a trice Maria was out of the Jeep and reaching into the back to take the bundle of crystals from a concerned Alex. Then she crossed the road and started across the deserted terrain.
Isabel and Alex gave each other a look, then started after her.
"Izzy! Alex!" Max called from behind them. "Where are you going?"
Isabel turned and shrugged, but kept walking. The others scrambled out of the convertible and followed.
It didn't take long for Alex and Isabel to catch up with Maria; she'd halted long enough to fumble with the bundle and add one more crystal to it, leaving her with two. "We're getting close," she said almost unnecessarily.
Alex looked ahead, but saw nothing. Sure, the mountains were there in the distance, but nothing in the near vicinity. Only gently rolling swells of ground, with patches of old snow covering the sparse dried grass, and the occasional bare-looking tree. Unless Michael had suddenly developed the power of invisibility, Alex didn't see how he could be anywhere near.
"If he's very far, we'll need the cars," he pointed out logically. "We can't spend the night out here. It's too cold."
Liz's voice came from behind them as the other four teens caught up. "And you hate camping, remember? I had to pay you to come on the camping trip last year," she reminded Maria.
"He's not that far," Maria insisted as she made her way forward. "I wouldn't be able to feel him this strongly."
"So where is he then?" Kyle asked, looking around and not seeing anyone else. "Hovering overhead in a spaceship?" Seven pairs of eyes looked up reflexively, but all they saw was the vermilion and gold of the setting sun.
"He's close," Maria said stubbornly. She didn't stop moving forward, but fumbled a corner of the shirt-bundle open so she could deposit one more crystal inside. She clutched the remaining crystal firmly, wrapping her chilled fingers tightly around it.
When she finally halted in her tracks, it was abrupt enough that it caused a Three Stooges-like chain reaction as the others stumbled, trying not to knock into each other. Paying them no heed, Maria took a few steps in several directions, always returning to the spot where she'd stopped.
"That's it," she finally announced. "We're here."
"Here? Where exactly is here?" Kyle demanded, looking at the empty expanse surrounding them.
"Here is where Michael is," the girl explained patiently.
Liz crossed to her. "Are you sure?"
Maria nodded and spoke, her tone decisive. "He must be underground," she said.
"Anybody got a shovel on them?" Alex asked wryly.
"The sledgehammer's still in my trunk, but no shovel," Kyle responded.
"We don't need shovels," Isabel put in rather abruptly. "There has to be an opening somewhere."
Tess was looking at Maria in horror. "If he's underground.... Maria, is he...is he buried?" she managed to get out.
Maria hastened to reassure her. "No, no. Of course not. He's not dead, Tess. I don't think I'd be able to feel him if he were dead." A horrible thought struck her. "Unless you guys turn into ghosts or something when you die. Maybe I could still feel that.... Oh, that's just wonderful. I'm gonna get stuck with the ghost of Michael Guerin, aren't I? He'll be popping out of the ceiling and rattling chains and--"
Liz cut her off, knowing that the stress Maria was under wasn't exactly helping her think straight. "Maria, you don't even believe in ghosts."
"Well, I didn't believe in aliens either, and look where that got me!" she burst out as she gestured wildly around her. As if suddenly hearing herself, she broke into nervous laughter. "No, it's okay, Liz. I'm not going hysterical or anything, I promise." She took a deep breath and turned to Tess. "Michael's not dead, Tess. I'm sure of that. But Isabel had a good point. If Michael's underground, there has to be an entrance nearby. We just need to find it."
Max, who'd been silently surveying the site, finally spoke up. "We need to take some precautions first."
"Like what?" Isabel challenged, swinging around.
"Like calling Sheriff Valenti. Like coming up with a weapon or two before we go barreling into a situation we know nothing about and can't control. We want to help Michael, not get any of us hurt or worse."
With a grin, Alex saluted smartly. "Sir! Yes, sir!" he barked.
Max sighed. "I'm not trying to give orders here--" He ignored his sister's muffled snort. "Let's just be careful about this."
"You be careful. The rest of us are going to get in there and find Guerin," Kyle blurted. "If you're too afraid..." he trailed off leadingly.
Max looked him squarely in the eye. "Michael knows I'd do anything to help him. But I also know him, and I am not going to let him blame himself for getting one of you killed, just because you were too impatient to take a few sensible precautions!"
"Stop it!" shouted Isabel. "You two work through your issues later. Max, take my cell phone. Use it to call Valenti and tell him where we are. Or at least," she added, "as close to where we are as you can, considering we don't exactly know. Maria, shouldn't you call your mother and report in?"
Maria shook her head. "The call to Valenti's good enough. Too much to explain, and she can't do anything to help anyway."
"Okay. Kyle, go back to your car and bring the sledgehammer. If that's the only weapon we've got, we'll take it. The rest of us will start looking for an entrance. A door, an opening of some sort, anything unusual. We'll split up the powers among the search groups: Max with Alex, Tess with Liz, and Kyle with me. Maria, stay where you are and let us know if Michael moves. Everyone set?"
Max looked fondly at his sister. "You know, Iz, maybe you're the one who should be king," he commented.
She grinned and handed over the cell phone. "Get cracking."
* * * * *
Michael reached up to run an unsteady hand through his hair, only stopping when the dangling handcuff conked him on the ear. He had to get a grip on himself; the tumultuous rise and fall of his temper wasn't helping him. Taking a deep breath, he held it and then expelled it slowly.
He wasn't sure it actually calmed him down any, but at least it gave Bob the impression that he was able to control himself. "Feel better now?" Bob asked, obviously not caring about the answer except as it related to his own goals.
"Yeah," Michael lied gruffly.
The other alien nodded. "Good. Then try it again. Focus on the wall in front of you. It's not your body that controls it, it's your mind."
Michael let out a snort. If that was really the case, they were screwed. His body was strong and reasonably healthy; he wasn't at all as certain of his brain.
"It's no different than manipulating matter to reshape an object or change its color," Bob lectured. "You simply need to focus your energy in the correct manner, just as you do when you use your other powers."
Michael couldn't help himself; he burst into bitter laughter. "Hate to break it to you, but my powers? They pretty much suck. So if you want me to take on the king, I'm probably gonna have to do it the old-fashioned way." Bob looked at him rather blankly, and Michael plastered a tight-lipped smile on his face. "It'll be more fun that way, anyway," he offered recklessly. "Tear him apart with my bare hands."
"I've already explained why that won't do," Bob said testily. "We're not killing a random teenager here; we're affecting the future of an entire planet. And I can't go back unless the task is completed." He pointed at the floor. "Sit."
Feeling rather like an overgrown puppy, Michael complied, leaning back against the wall and stretching out his legs.
"Now pick a point on the far wall and focus on it. And relax."
"Easy for you to say," Michael muttered, but did his best to follow instructions.
It wasn't good enough. "No, no, no!" snapped Bob. "You're thinking too hard. Don't think about it, just do it. Don't let your mind get in the way."
Like that was gonna happen.
"Think about something else," Bob ordered. "Think about...think about your girlfriend."
Michael knew he was supposed to be thinking about the so-called 'girl' Nasedo was impersonating, but he didn't. He didn't even think about the real Isabel. Instead, his mind flew immediately to Maria-land. To his real girlfriend, if she still was that. She had been, for a few short days, until he'd made the stupid deal with Nasedo, and had broken up with her just like he'd done with everyone else. Michael wasn't sure what she was now.
And even if she still was his girlfriend, wanted to be, he wasn't certain her mother was gonna let it happen. It was bad enough when he'd just been a juvenile delinquent in Mrs. DeLuca's eyes; with her knowing who--no, make that what he really was, it would just be that much worse.
He almost wished he'd never gotten involved with Maria in the first place, because he wasn't sure he was going to be able to handle it all, not without shutting himself off more completely than ever. He wasn't strong, not like he should be. He was barely holding it together as it was; one more blow might very well cripple him for good.
The cuff to his head was unexpected enough to knock him over even though there hadn't been much force behind it. Bob was just trying to get his attention. "Focus!" the alien cried in exasperation.
Michael's voice came crossly as he picked himself up. "D'you want me to focus or think about something else? Make up your mind."
"Do both."
What? "And just how do you expect--" His voice cut off abruptly as something in his brain twitched. For a moment, his mind seemed to juggle with the two concepts, and then for one tiny instant, it seemed to shift itself into two, running somehow parallel. In front of him a tiny pinpoint of blue-tinged light appeared on the concrete wall; almost as soon as he saw it, it winked out of existence and his mind snapped back together with an almost audible click.
"What the--" The words were pulled almost automatically from him. He stared at the wall, trying to process what had just happened. It was just ordinary-looking concrete, no different than the floor or the other three walls.
"That's the idea!" Bob said, managing to sound both pleased and impatient. "Do it again."
* * * * *
It was Alex who finally stumbled over the entrance, quite literally. His foot caught on an uneven bit of ground and he staggered forward. He wasn't able to catch himself, and sprawled awkwardly on the ground, but it had the fortuitous effect of putting him nose to nose with something that didn't look quite right.
"You all right?" asked Max, leaning to offer Alex a hand up. He didn't move to take it, instead scrabbling at the dirt in front of him.
Yep, there it was, a ridge in the soil, too perfectly straight not to be man-made. It was a door, laid flat into the ground. "Got it!" he said triumphantly. Kneeling by it, he began to push at the edge. With Max's help, the door slid back, revealing a ramp that descended into darkness.
"Get Liz and Tess," Max said. "I'll get the others."
In a few short moments, the seven teenagers had gathered around the opening. "Looks awfully dark," Alex commented. "Any of you Czechs have super-enhanced night vision?"
"No," Isabel responded, "but I think there's a flashlight in the Jeep." She darted off after it.
Meanwhile, Kyle pulled a lighter out of his jacket pocket.
"Kyle! Since when did you smoke?" Liz asked, taken aback.
"I don't. I just picked it up because it reminded me of someone," the jock said, turning it around to show the bug-eyed alien on the front. "Can't think who, though," he added with a grin as Tess gave him a cross look.
Max raised an eyebrow but didn't comment on it. "This is how it'll go," he instructed. "Maria will lead the way to Michael. Tess, Isabel and I will go with her." He turned to the others. "Two of you should stay with the cars, in case we need to make a quick getaway. Liz, you can get the keys to the Jeep from Isabel when she gets back. That leaves Alex, unless Kyle wants to let someone else drive his car?" He looked inquiringly at Kyle who hesitated, then shook his head.
"I'll put the top down, though, so you can get in fast if you need to," Kyle said, planning ahead.
Max nodded. "Good. Alex, you can stay with the cars, or you can come with us. Your choice."
Isabel, overhearing as she returned with the flashlight, added, "You don't need to go in, Alex. We could use a look-out at the entrance."
He smiled. "I'm not trying to prove anything here, but I'm going in. An extra person can't hurt if we have to split up to look. I will borrow your sledgehammer though, if you don't mind, Kyle. Seeing as I don't have any alien superpowers."
Kyle grinned and handed over the heavy implement. "Good luck, Alex."
"You might not even need it, if you're lucky," Liz pointed out.
Max turned to her. "If we're not back in an hour, call Sheriff Valenti again. He said he'd do his best to find us out here if we needed him, even though it's not his jurisdiction." Liz nodded and Max's face grew grave. "And at the first sign of trouble, I want the two of you out of here."
"That's a little high-handed, don't you think, Evans?" Kyle asked. Alex groaned inwardly. So they were back to 'Evans' again, were they? "You're not my boss," Kyle continued.
"Michael is one of my people. My responsibility," the alien king responded calmly. "That makes finding him my responsibility. Bad enough to risk Maria and Alex; I don't need any other potential casualties."
"Nice to see you don't mind risking Tess or me," Isabel said dryly.
Her brother didn't blink an eye. "You wouldn't let me keep you from going, even if I tried," he pointed out. "Neither you or Michael has ever been very good at doing what you're told."
"Too true," she said with a smile. "So let's get started, shall we?"
Kyle handed Tess his lighter. "Good luck," he said quietly, then moved back from the entrance. Liz hugged the Evans siblings and her two best friends in turn and then followed suit.
"I've got the flashlight, so Maria and I will go first," Isabel said decisively. "That is, if it's okay with you, Your Majesty?" she teased.
Max shrugged. "After you."
Alex followed the rest of them down the ramp and into the dark, gripping the handle of the sledgehammer tightly and fervently hoping he wouldn't have to use it. After descending for what must have been at least forty feet, the ramp plateaued out into a barren corridor of concrete walls and floors. Isabel shone the light about, illuminating a series of fluorescent lights recessed into the concrete ceiling, but there was no switch, nor would they have wanted to use it if there had been one.
"What is this place?" Tess whispered, shivering. No one answered.
After a short walk ahead, the group came to a break in the walls on both sides. Silently Maria took a few steps in each direction, testing them, before nodding towards the right. They moved on in that direction.
Alex took time to note and be glad that they were all wearing rubber-soled shoes, allowing them to move fairly quietly over the hard floors. He shifted the sledgehammer to his left hand and unzipped his jacket. It was much warmer down here than up above.
He had taken off his knit cap and was about to stuff it into his pocket when it happened. He let out a startled cry as, from behind, a firm hand gripped his shoulder.
TBC...
continue to chapters 31 and 32
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