by Melinda Metz
***
"We never should have sent Michael and Maria to get information from Kyle," Isabel told Trevor, tucking a stray blond hair behind her ear as she perched on the edge of her bed. "Neither of them has the necessary finesse."
"And you do?" Trevor asked teasingly, causing her to blush. Isabel found she liked being teased by him, which was somewhat unusual. It put him in a very small and very select group.
She put on her haughtiest look. "Don't you ever doubt it. I drip finesse," she answered.
"Ooh. That's attractive," Trevor shot back.
Isabel laughed, stretching out flat on her back on her comforter. "Give me a few minutes in Kyle's dream orb, and we'll have the exact location of the device. Then we'll be so close to getting Max back."
Trevor stood up from her desk chair. "Should I go?" he asked, suddenly sounding sort of shy in an adorable little-boy way.
"No, it's okay." Isabel closed her eyes, pleasantly aware of Trevor's eyes on her. She turned her head slightly, allowing her blond hair to fan out on her pillow. Pretty picture, huh, Trevor? she thought. Then she began tensing her muscles and relaxing them in sequence, from her feet all the way up to her neck. Tense, relax. Tense, relax. Her body went all soft and pliant, and the swirling orbs of the dream plane became clear in all their shimmering glory.
So beautiful. Isabel let out a sigh of pleasure. There hadn't been enough beauty in her life lately because she'd been so worried about Max. But she had a feeling deep in her gut that their latest plan was going to work. Liz had proved that Max could still respond, that he wasn't completely and totally controlled by the consciousness, at least not every moment. When they used the device to shatter the consciousness, Isabel was sure her brother would find a way to help. And to free himself.
One of the dream orbs whirled closer, brushing soft as a soap bubble against Isabel's cheek. She recognized the orb. It belonged to Tish Okabe, one of her closest friends-outside the tight circle of those who knew the secret. Isabel allowed herself a moment to appreciate the iridescent whirls of color in Tish's orb, then began to hum, coaxing the dream orb that belonged to Kyle toward her.
It responded almost immediately, whipping toward her bullet fast and spinning to a stop in her outstretched hands.
"Eager, aren't you?" she whispered, then slowly spread her hands apart, urging the dream orb to expand. Soon it was large enough to step inside, but Isabel took a moment to survey the dream from without.
She felt a twinge of pity when she saw that Kyle was dreaming about being in the institution. The guy couldn't even get out of there for a couple of hours when he was asleep. Well, she could give him one pleasant association with the place-while she was getting what she wanted.
"I think you'll like this, Kyle," she said. An instant later she was dressed in a nurse's uniform, a very short, very tight nurse's uniform. Her hair was in a French twist, with a few tendrils free around her face. "I think you'll like this a lot." With a satisfied smile she stepped through the wall of Kyle's dream orb.
"Time for your shoulder rub," she said, all bright and perky as she headed toward the single bed in the dreary room. "Sit up, please." Kyle eagerly obeyed, and Isabel sat down on the bed beside him, taking a moment to turn the sheets from rough cotton to perfumed satin. She began massaging his shoulders, sometimes leaning close enough for her breasts to almost brush against him. Almost.
"I need to ask you a few questions. For your chart," Isabel announced, keeping up the massage. "Can you describe one of your fantasies for me?"
"This is pretty much at the top of the list," Kyle answered. He had to clear his throat a few times before he got it out.
"Uh-huh. Interesting," Isabel answered. She also thought it was interesting how people would accept pretty much anything in a dream. She hadn't changed her face or anything, but Kyle didn't seem to think there was anything strange about Isabel Evans turning up as his nurse.
"And what's your favorite color? I'm very curious about that." Isabel moved the massage a little lower down Kyle's back.
"Blue. Like your eyes," Kyle answered immediately, needing to clear his throat a few times for that one, too.
"Mmm-hmm." Isabel moved the massage still lower, getting a sound that was part gasp and part yelp from Kyle. "And that device that you used on the Stone. Where is that now?"
"Guys' bathroom closest to the cafeteria." Kyle half spoke, half groaned. "Metal box. Taped behind the toilet. Last stall."
"Good boy." Isabel patted him on the head. "I'm sure you'll be out of here real soon. Just stop talking about aliens. That's just silly."
And she was outta there. Out of the orb and out of the dream plane. "Finesse, that's all it takes," she said to Trevor as she opened her eyes. "The device is at school. We'll get there early and pick it up."
Trevor stood up. "Good job," he said. He backed two steps toward the door, then immediately took a step forward, toward her. "It's almost time for the two hours' sleep. I should change back to Max and go to my room." He took another step closer to Isabel.
"Yeah, you probably should," she answered, teasing Trevor a little even though, being a guy, he didn't realize he was being teased.
Trevor got a deer-in-the-headlights, Dawson-ish look on his face. "Uh, I talked to Michael, and if we shatter the consciousness, he's going back home with me," he blurted out.
Isabel felt like she'd been stabbed in the heart, but Trevor didn't give her a second to recover from that little bombshell before he hit her with another.
"I want you to go with us," he added. Then he stumbled forward, sat down on the bed, and kissed her. All his clumsiness disappeared as soon as his lips touched hers.
This has to be his first kiss in his human form. And he's already so good at it, she thought fuzzily. Then she stopped thinking, all her attention needed just to feel. Feel his tongue brushing against hers, feel his hand curving around her neck, feel the heat of him as he pulled her closer.
"Wow," she mumbled when he finally released her. And Isabel wasn't a girl who said wow. Her heart was pounding as if she'd just run a mile.
"Do you think you would want to come back with me?" Trevor asked throatily. "Is it a possibility at all?"
Isabel smoothed her hair away from her face, trying to give her brain a few seconds to get fully functional again.
"I… I think I need to wait and see what happens with Max," she answered. "He might not be in great shape when we break him free."
Trevor stood up and met her gaze, his eyes serious. "Iz, I want you to be prepared. I don't think-I really don't think you should be assuming that Max is going to make it."
Another stabbing pain, this one in her heart and her gut. "I'm really tired," she said shortly, standing. "I'll talk to you in the morning. Remember, we have to be at school early to get the device."
She wanted him out of there, and she approached the door, forcing him to walk out ahead of her. As long as he stood in her room, his words would continue to hang over her head, waiting to fall, waiting to crush her.
"Isabel, I-"
"Just go, Trevor," she said. Then, seeing the hurt look on his face, she forced a tight smile. "Please. I'm really tired."
She didn't let a single tear fall until the door was closed behind him.
***
"I cut school and started working on the timer," Trevor told the group.
Michael leaned across his kitchen table and studied the silver disk in Trevor's hand. "When will you have it ready to go?" he asked.
"It won't take much longer," Trevor answered, turning the disk over and over in his hand. "Isabel's going to help me wrap it up and hook up a remote so we can guide the device at least partway through the wormhole. We should be finished late tonight."
"So tomorrow morning we do this thing," Michael said, glancing from Isabel to Trevor to Liz to Alex, but keeping his eyes away from Maria. He'd started having a hard time looking at her. It had gotten to the point where it actually hurt to see her face.
"Is there anything we should be doing?" Alex asked, leaning his elbows on the table.
Trevor shook his head. "Getting the timer and the remote hooked up is a two-person job. And that's all there is to do."
"That and get through tonight," Liz said. She twisted her hair into a knot on top of her head, then immediately let it fall free. "The waiting is driving me crazy."
Get through tonight, Michael thought. How was he going to do that? This could be his last night on earth. He shouldn't waste it watching TV. Without a conscious decision, Michael's eyes went to Maria. She was pale… and beautiful. He felt something wrench inside his body and looked away fast.
"I'm-I've got some stuff to do. Stay here as long as you want." He made his escape, slamming out the door and pounding down the staircase leading to the parking lot. As soon as his feet hit asphalt, he started to run. He kept running until he got to the doughnut shop.
Yeah. This is definitely a last-night-on-earth kind of event, he thought as he stepped inside and pulled in his first breath of the sugary air. He couldn't take off without having a few more of his crullers.
Michael ordered himself an even dozen, then sat down at his usual table and pulled a handful of hot sauce packets out of his jacket pocket. He got one of the crullers set up just the way he liked it and took a big bite.
It tasted like dust. He added more hot sauce and took another bite. More dust.
Michael finished off the cruller, then ate two more, pretending they actually tasted good to him, then he shoved away his tray. Now what? A last trip to the mall? A last slice of Flying Pepperoni pizza? A last trip to Adam's grave to tell him that he was leaving?
He picked up one of the uneaten crullers and twisted it with both hands until it broke into sticky chunks. There was no question about where he wanted to go. Right now he wanted to be holed up in Maria's girlie-girl room, doing… anything. Watching some bad horror movie. Anything. As long as she was there doing it with him.
But that's not going to happen, he ordered himself. It's not fair to her. And be honest, buddy, it would probably kill you.
ELEVEN
Isabel nervously twirled a golf club between her fingers, scanning the parking lot of the Black Hole Putt-Putt Golf Course. She smiled when she spotted Alex's VW Rabbit turning in, then rushed over to the car as he pulled into a parking spot. Isabel didn't make a habit of rushing toward guys-even if she felt like it. But there was no reason to play those kinds of games with Alex.
"I got you a golf club already," she announced before Alex even had a chance to swing both feet to the ground.
"Thanks," Alex said. He took one of the clubs and shook his head, laughing.
"What?" Isabel asked, grinning because his laugh was always contagious.
"I was just thinking about the last time we came here," he answered. "My brain was doing this gerbil-on-an-exercise-wheel thing. I kept trying to figure out if you thought we were on a date, or, you know, some kind of significant outing. And I was obsessed with debating whether or not you could actually want me to touch you."
"I bet you almost had a heart attack when I kissed you," Isabel said, nudging him with her club. "Remember? It was right over-"
Alex grabbed her hand and pulled her halfway across the parking lot. "It was right here," he told her. He pointed toward a small, spray-painted X. "I put that there," he admitted.
Coming from someone else, this gesture might have seemed odd, but coming from Alex, Isabel didn't even blink. "I can't believe how much has happened since then. How much has changed." Isabel knelt down and gently touched the X.
"As Liz's dad would say, what a long, strange trip it's been," Alex answered. "So when are you going to get around to telling me whatever it is you want to tell me? Because I'm just not going for your story about having an irresistible desire to play minigolf."
"Trevor didn't need me after all," Isabel said, standing, but finding herself unable to meet his eyes. "It turned out that the two-person job was more of a one-person job. I just wanted to get out of the house and-" Isabel stopped herself, blushing. "All right, I do need to talk to you," she confessed.
"Father Manes is ready to listen," he said, lowering his voice. He led the way to the first hole.
Isabel carefully positioned her ball on the little rubber mat, stalling, then straightened up and gave the ball a whack without even trying to aim at one of the moon craters.
"Here's the deal. After we shatter the consciousness-" She didn't allow herself even a mental if. "After we shatter it, Michael is going to go back to the home planet with Trevor to help rebuild the society. Of course, Michael hasn't bothered to tell me or anyone else. I heard all this from Trevor. It's just like when Michael would change foster homes. He'd hardly even say a word about it."
Alex hit his ball down the faded purple carpet. His didn't get through one of the moon craters, either. "This is… it's big."
"That's not all," Isabel told him. She wanted to get everything out, needed to, but her hands were getting sweaty and her heart was pounding. "Trevor asked me to go with them. And I just have no idea what I should do. I was making myself insane, then I realized that I needed to talk it over with someone." She shook her head. "No. I needed to talk it over with you. I knew you'd help me figure out what I should do."
"Are you two golfing or what?" a kid yelled from behind them.
"Hey, pip-squeak. This is a serious game. For serious people. You can't respect that, I suggest you leave," Alex said. He took Isabel's hand and led her down the fairway, grabbing both their balls and throwing them into the moon crater. A few seconds later they clunked into the metal cup on the other side. "That's two holes in two. Write that down with one of those little pencils," he told her. Then he led the way over to a bench by a shocking pink spaceship. "So, what are you thinking?" he asked.
"I'm thinking…" Isabel gave a helpless shrug. "I don't know what I'm thinking."
"I'm not saying you should go, but it would be kind of like living in Star Wars," Alex said. "I always wanted to live in Star Wars."
"Where everyone has long hair and gold bikinis?" Isabel chided.
"Not everyone," Alex said, sounding horrified. "Only the women." He waved the group of kids past them. "We're considering the strategy of the next hole. You can play through." He turned his attention back to Isabel. "That's only part of my Star Wars fascination. I just always thought it would be cool to be part of something so important."
"So you want to save the universe, surrounded by girls in gold bikinis," Isabel commented.
"Exactly. So many times I've felt like my life is so little and insignificant. And I daydream about having the chance to do something-dork alert!-heroic. Like Han Solo," Alex admitted, a faint blush coloring his cheeks. "Then when I found out the truth about you and the others, it's almost like I got the chance. This year we've had to deal with a lot of life-and-death stuff. Sometimes I wonder how it's going to feel to go back to freaking about zits on my back or whatever."
"Shopping for the perfect accessories," Isabel added. She stretched her legs out in front of her. "I don't think I'll ever find anything more meaningful to do with my life than help the beings who fought against the collective consciousness."
She didn't usually spend a lot of time thinking about meaning-of-life-type issues. It seemed like a waste. But that's what this decision was really about. Isabel had the chance to be a part of something enormous-the restructuring of a whole planet. Her real home.
"And the downside is?" Alex asked, raising his eyebrows.
"It would ruin my parents' lives," Isabel answered. She didn't even need a second to think about that one. "I'd just disappear. And they'd never stop looking for me, wondering if I was alive or dead. It's different for Michael. All the people that really matter to him know the truth. They'll at least know what happened. And he'll have his brother with him."
"You'd have Michael with you," Alex said. "And Trevor." He turned and watched the kids finish up the spaceship hole. "I get the feel
ing something may be starting between the two of you," he added, without looking at her.
"Maybe," Isabel agreed. "But I'm not going to go live on another planet because I like the way a guy kisses." Although there was more than kisses between her and Trevor. They'd known each other such a short time, but there was this comfort between them.
"The editors of Ms. magazine will be glad to hear it," Alex said, still looking at the kids.
Isabel reached out, took his chin in her fingers, and turned his head toward her. "It's okay that I'm talking to you about Trevor, isn't it?"
Alex met her gaze steadily. "Yeah. I get a little… ping, I guess you'd call it," he said with a shrug. "But it's just your basic guy jealousy crap. I mean, we're friends, Isabel. And I-dork alert again-I love you as a friend. I want you to have everything you want. Including Trevor if that's the way it goes down."
"I love you, too," Isabel answered. "And there's nothing dorky about it. God, I would miss you so much if I went. You, and Maria, and Liz. And it's not like I could just call you up if I needed to hear your voice. I couldn't even send my parents a Christmas card."
"When is all this supposed to happen?" Alex asked, looking away again. "When are Trevor and Michael going to go back?"
"They're going to use the wormhole we open to send the device," Isabel answered.
"So tomorrow." Alex sounded a little dazed.
Isabel knew how he was feeling. How could she make a decision about the rest of her life in less than a day?
"I told Trevor I needed to see how Max was first," Isabel said, following Alex's gaze out over the golf course. "If he needs me, I'm staying. That's it."
"But if Max comes through okay…" Alex let his sentence trail off.
Isabel took a deep breath and sighed. "Then… then I might end up going."
***
Stop! Maria ordered her feet. Stop right there.
But her feet kept walking as if they had minds of their own-walking back toward the museum, even though she'd only left the place a few hours before.