The Rebel rh-8

by Melinda Metz

  Michael could hardly imagine what his life would have been like if Trevor had been around. Everything would have been radically different. Even if they'd been in foster homes, at least they would have had each other.

  "You're not that much older than me," Michael reminded him, clamping down on the sentimental trash in his head. "I probably would have gotten invited to all the cool parties and had to take you along."

  "Would not," Trevor countered.

  "Would too," Michael joked.

  Maria laughed. "You really are brothers, aren't you?"

  "Definitely," Trevor answered. "I paid special attention to all the materials the Kindred gave me on sibling relationships. I wanted to make sure I treated Michael right." He reached over and socked Michael on the arm. "Is that right? Or should I be giving you a wedgie?"

  Michael felt himself starting to grin like an idiot and tried to get a grip.

  "What I studied didn't mention that friends take responsibility for their friends' siblings," Trevor added.

  "You lost me," Michael admitted. He drained his soda in a long gulp.

  "The way that Max took charge of Kevin just now," Trevor explained, jerking his chin toward the office.

  "That's not so usual," Maria told him. "It's just that in our group, we're almost more like family than friends. I guess that makes Kevin kind of an honorary little brother to Max."

  "I definitely think of him as my little brother," Adam volunteered.

  As far as Michael knew, this party was only the second time Adam had ever seen Kevin. But Michael wasn't about to bring that up. Not when Adam was trying so hard to prove he was one of them.

  "So, okay, you guys. Back to the important topic of bunny's noses. Adam, what color pink would you say they are?" Maria joked.

  "You have to tell me what you're on," Michael teased. "I want to be sure to avoid it."

  Maria tilted back her head and stared him in the eye. "Just a little tangerine oil, which is very invigorating," she answered, all serious.

  "Can I have some?" Trevor asked.

  "Of course." Maria opened her ridiculously small purse and pulled out a vial of oil. She took out the stopper, dabbed some of the oil on her fingers, and then rubbed it into the base of Trevor's throat.

  "You could have just given him the vial," Michael muttered. He wanted Trevor to experience pretty much all the cool things earth had to offer-but not getting touched by Maria.

  "It's better if it's on a pulse point," Maria explained, still smoothing the oil into Trevor's skin.

  "Feels good to me," Trevor answered. He pressed her fingers back to his throat when she started to pull them away.

  Michael felt his face start to flush. Was Trevor hitting on Maria? Exactly what "local behavioral norms" had he learned before he showed up here?

  "Feels good to me, too," Maria told him. "Did you know fat-free cookies can taste amazingly like the fat-full ones?"

  Was she hitting on Trevor? That oil was long gone, and she still hadn't taken her hand away. Michael narrowed his eyes, studying her. Maria's aura was sparkling, little silver flecks scattered through the silky blue.

  Michael shoved his hands through his hair. Yeah, there was a very real possibility that she was flirting. He shot another glance at her. Make that she was definitely flirting.

  "I've never had a fat-free cookie," Trevor answered, smiling down at Maria.

  "Don't listen to her. She doesn't know anything about cookies. She doesn't even eat cookies," Michael informed him.

  "I might start," Maria said, still looking at Trevor. Although Michael thought he caught her giving him a lightning-fast glance out of the corner of her eye.

  Is she trying to make me crazy?

  "So, Trevor, what do you-" Maria began.

  Then the lights flickered and the crowd gave an oooh of anticipation. "Get ready to bop!" someone shouted.

  "Give me a friggin' break," Michael muttered. He took a step toward the guy manning the big boom box, but Maria snagged him by the elbow.

  "Come on, Michael. We have to give Trevor and Adam the chance to experience the bop," she said.

  Michael groaned. But he knew Maria well enough to know that she'd be relentless until she got what she wanted.

  "There wasn't anything about the bunny hop in the material you studied, was there?" he asked Trevor as the bop music started to blare.

  Trevor nodded, glancing around at the lines of people starting to form up and down the aisles of the museum. "Bunny hop, Charleston, swing dancing, disco, break dancing, everything," he answered.

  "You swing dance?" Maria exclaimed. "I would love to learn that."

  "One of the guards taught me the bunny hop," Adam volunteered loudly, clearly feeling a little left out again.

  "Okay, well, both of you should know that Roswell has its own special version of the bunny hop called the alien bop," Michael explained. "It's about to start, so be afraid, be very afraid."

  "There's nothing to be afraid of," Maria said.

  "Except looking like a dork," Michael interrupted.

  She ignored him, focusing on Adam and Trevor. "What you do is, you put your arms around the waist of the person in front of you." She moved up behind Michael to illustrate, standing close enough that her breasts brushed lightly against him.

  Suddenly Michael didn't think the bop was such a horrible idea. Especially since Maria was demonstrating on him and not Trevor.

  "Then you kind of bend your knee one way while you twist your foot the other way," Michael said, looking from Trevor to Adam.

  "Excellent party!" Maggie McMahon called as she bopped past, followed by her boyfriend, who was dressed in a guy version of the outfit Maggie was wearing. Pathetic.

  "Would I give any other kind?" Michael shouted back.

  "What do we do after the leg-bending thing?" Adam asked.

  "You know what? It's easier if you just watch everyone else and imitate what they do." Michael grabbed Adam by the back of the shirt.

  "Now, you grab onto Trevor," he said, before Trevor could wrap his arms around Maria.

  Adam obediently linked his fingers through Trevor's belt loops. "Now what?"

  "Now we bop!" Maria shouted.

  ***

  Isabel sat at the top of the spiral staircase, staring down at the party happening below. She liked being able to see everyone in her little group at once, well, everyone but Liz, who was practically being held prisoner at home. Somehow it made her feel safe to see them all together, and safe wasn't something she'd had enough of in her life.

  Her eyes ran from person to person-Michael and Trevor scarfing pizza with sugar off one of the display cases, Adam stretched out on the floor with his head next to the boom box, Maria saying something to Max that was making him laugh by the front window, and Alex getting hit on by Stacey Scheinin near the entrance to the coffee shop.

  Wait… what?

  "Uh-uh. Not gonna happen, Stacey," Isabel whispered. She leaped to her feet and rushed down the stairs. Then she slowed down and casually made her way over to Stacey and Alex.

  She could see why Stacey's guy antennae had led her in Alex's direction. There was something different about Alex since he got back. It was like he was giving off a double dose of those pheromones that caused sexual attraction or something. He'd been getting looks from practically every girl in the place.

  And that was fine. Good for Alex. Really. But Stacey was not getting her Princess Pink nails into him. She'd said way too many nasty things behind Alex's back in the past.

  "What do you think of Trevor?" she asked, deciding that was the easiest way to go.

  "I think none of us really knows him yet," Alex said slowly "I think until we do, we should be… cautious."

  And I think Alex is getting a case of the jealous, Isabel decided. But she wasn't going to let that ruin the night for any of them. She snuggled up closer to Alex and rested her cheek against his chest.

  "Cautious. That makes sense," she mumbled.

  To he
r relief, Alex didn't say anything else. They just danced. When the song ended, Isabel kept her arms around Alex. He tightened his grip on her, burying his face in the side of her neck. Then he slowly pulled away. "Thanks for the dance," he said, his green eyes warm as he looked at her.

  Isabel had the feeling Alex was talking about more than the dance, that he was talking about their whole horrible/wonderful time together as a couple. She reached out and ran her hand down his cheek.

  "Thank you."

  They stared at each other for a long moment, then they each seemed to realize there was nothing else to say. Something was ending, and they had to let it happen.

  Isabel gave Alex a last smile. She turned around and pushed her way through the crowd, heading back toward her perch on the staircase. Then she stopped. She didn't feel like just watching anymore. She didn't feel like just being safe.

  Besides, she was Isabel Evans. And that carried responsibilities. She had to let everyone at the party see how fabulous she looked tonight. It's not like she'd bought her form-hugging pink dress so no one would notice her.

  Tish Okabe waved to her from the other side of the room, and Isabel started toward her. Then she felt a hand on her shoulder. She glanced back and saw Trevor. "Would you want to dance with me?" he asked.

  "Of course," Isabel answered. "You should know that every girl in the place would want to dance with you. Your earth adaptation is definitely yummy."

  "Yummy?" Trevor repeated.

  "As in I've got to get me a taste of that," Isabel teased. She slid her arms around his neck, and after a moment's hesitation Trevor positioned his hands at her waist.

  The feel of his hands reminded her of Michael. Trevor's gray eyes reminded her of Michael, too. But Trevor's hands, Trevor's eyes… they did something to her that Michael's didn't, making her body feel almost liquid.

  "You two know this is a fast song, right?" Isabel heard Maria call. She twirled past them, with Adam trailing behind her.

  She's right, Isabel realized with a start. It was as if when she looked at Trevor, everything had slowed down. Reluctantly she released him and got herself moving to the music that was actually playing.

  "I wasn't trying to get you to stop," Maria said. Isabel spun toward her, and the two of them started dancing face-to-face, ignoring the guys.

  "Not a problem," Isabel answered. She was almost glad to be free of Trevor's touch. It had been almost too intense. Maybe Alex was right to warn her about him. She had the feeling if he got too close, he could melt her into a little puddle on the floor. Had he felt anything even close to what she had?

  Isabel shook her head, realizing she'd never wondered that about a guy before.

  "What?" Maria asked.

  "Nothing," Isabel called back. She felt someone grab her hand, and she was pulled into a spin.

  "Hey, I was dancing with Maria," Isabel told Michael when she realized it was him who'd snagged her.

  "And now you're dancing with me," Michael announced.

  "I guess I'll have to make do with Alex," Maria said. She crooked her finger at him, and he danced his way over to her.

  Isabel caught him giving Trevor a hard, evaluating look. Trevor noticed. He gave Alex the same stare right back. Not tonight, boys, she thought.

  "I saw you making goo-goo eyes at my brother," Michael told Isabel, pulling her attention back to him. She could hear the pride in his voice when he said the word brother.

  "So what if I was?" Isabel asked. But she didn't like the idea that she'd been so obvious. Obvious wasn't her style.

  "I guess he's a good substitute if you can't have me," Michael teased. He dipped her, a big, dramatic dip that had the ends of her hair brushing the floor.

  Isabel looked up and saw Adam staring down at her, laughing. She hauled herself back up, using Michael's arm for leverage. Then she reached over, took Adam by one shoulder and one hand, and tried to dip him. They both would have landed on the floor if Michael and Trevor hadn't steadied them.

  This is the way it should always be, she thought. All of us together. Then she glanced around, realizing someone was missing.

  Where was Max?

  ***

  "Max, come dance with us!" Isabel shouted.

  "In a minute," he called back. "I promised I'd call Liz and give her a live report from the party."

  "Tell her we miss her," Maria called.

  Max nodded, then wove his way through the crowd and over to the spiral staircase. He took the steps two at a time. The apartment was empty except for a couple making out on Adam's air mattress. Max ignored them. It wasn't like they'd be listening in on his conversation. He could set off a grenade in here and they wouldn't notice.

  He headed for a phone in the kitchen, then paused as he got a flicker of interest from the consciousness. He deepened his connection slightly, and a group of the beings began pulsing with the rhythm of the music from the party, their pleasure almost transcendent.

  Max sank down to the floor and leaned his head against the wall, deepening the connection even further until he felt the pulsing begin in his own body and the explosions of pure glee go off in his head.

  "Max, I need to talk to you." Alex's voice sounded so far away, almost inaudible under the music. The music. The music that felt more a part of Max than his own heartbeat.

  "Now, Max," Alex insisted.

  Reluctantly Max turned down the volume on his connection to the consciousness, and the music began to sound ordinary again.

  But it was a different song than when he came upstairs, he realized. And the couple on the air mattress had disappeared.

  "How long have I been up here?" he muttered.

  "At least an hour," Alex answered. He sat down next to Max. "There's something I've got to tell you. I should have told you before, but I, stupidly, wanted to wait and try to get more info first."

  Max felt his muscles tighten when he took in the splotches of gray in Alex's aura. "So what's the deal? Or should we get the others before you start?"

  Alex shook his head. "I was actually waiting until I had a chance to talk to you alone," he admitted. Then he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, opalescent stone that shone with a blue-green light.

  A shudder ran through Max's body as a burst of joy and loss from the consciousness exploded inside him. "It's another one of the Stones of Midnight," he whispered.

  "Yeah. This is what gave me the power to come through the wormhole." Alex hesitated for a second, clenching his fist tight around the Stone, then rushed on. "I don't think Trevor came to earth to have some family reunion with Michael. I think he came for the Stone. And I think he would have killed me to get it."

  Max's first thought was for Michael. If what Alex said was true, it would rip Michael apart.

  "Wait-what makes you think it was Trevor?" Max demanded. "You didn't actually see him or anything, did you? Couldn't there have been a third being in the wormhole?"

  Alex closed his eyes and rubbed them with his free hand. "Yeah, I guess it's possible."

  He opened his eyes, the gray spots in his aura darkening until they were almost black.

  "But Max, when I'm near Trevor, I get scared. I feel like an idiot admitting it. But it's the truth. I get this physical fear response, and I'm sure it's because I'm picking up all these subtle, subliminal clues that Trevor is the one who was trying to kill me that night."

  Yellow lines of fear snaked across Alex's aura. Just talking about Trevor freaks Alex out, Max realized. And Alex didn't freak out all that easily.

  "I was thinking maybe you could try and get some background on Trevor from the consciousness," Alex continued.

  "Maybe," Max answered. "I mean, it's not like I can type in his name and get a bio, but I might be able to get something. And I'd rather not talk to Michael until-"

  "That's one of the reasons I wanted to talk to you alone," Alex agreed. "And I thought you should be the one to have this."

  Alex gently placed the Stone in Max's hand. Max could feel
the power churning under its smooth surface.

  "Okay, just give me a minute." Max closed his eyes and let his connection to the consciousness deepen until he almost couldn't tell where he left off and the other beings began. He formed an image of Trevor and sent it out in a wave that he hoped would ripple all the way through the ocean of auras.

  Almost immediately the auras around him began to vibrate. Their hues changed rapidly in a cacophony of color that burned Max's eyes. Then the changes slowed down as all the auras got closer and closer to the same shade.

  Red. The vivid bloodred of pure fury.

  Max didn't know what the deal was exactly, but he knew that the rage was directed at Trevor.

  And he knew that the consciousness believed Trevor was a danger to Max. To all of them.

  EIGHT

  "I can see you're having a wild Saturday night," the scruffy twenty-something guy behind the counter of the minimart said. He dropped the bottle of vanilla in a little brown bag and handed Liz her change.

  Oh, great, she thought. You know your life has hit a new low when the minimart guy finds you pathetic.

  "I'm just about to head over to a party my friends are giving at the UFO museum," Liz lied.

  The guy gave her a knowing smile, and Liz felt her face get hot.

  She didn't think there was any lower she could sink, but it turned out there was-trying to convince the minimart guy you had a life. And failing.

  "Thanks," she muttered. She snatched up her bag and got out of the place as fast as she could.

  But as soon as she was clear of the guy's sight, she slowed down. She was in no hurry to get home.

  I wonder if Max will have called while I was gone, she thought. She'd expected him to call hours ago, but nothing. Like it would have killed him to tear himself away from the party for a few minutes?

  Liz knew she had entered the self-pity zone, but she just didn't care. She figured she should just move in-pitch a tent or something. It wasn't like her life was going to get better anytime soon.