by Melinda Metz
It was like her brother had joined a cult or something. And he couldn’t wait for her to join, too. Maybe I should call one of those psychics and ask for advice, Isabel thought.
Or maybe she should just go upstairs and shake Max out of his trance. Yeah, he’d been talking to his little friends long enough. Isabel stood up and strolled down the hall and over to the stairs. She had her foot on the first step when she heard a soft knock on the door.
Yes! Michael or Adam had come to save her from terminal ennui. It had to be one of them—no one else would show up at this time of night.
She spun around, rushed back down the hall to the front door, and flung it open.
“Do you think you could have gotten here a little sooner?” she demanded.
And then she realized it wasn’t Michael standing there. It wasn’t Adam, either.
It was Alex.
Oh, God, it was Alex.
“Are you? What? I—” Isabel’s brain was too scrambled to complete a thought. She squeezed her eyes shut for a second, trying to get a grip, then she opened them and a smile spread across her face, a smile so big, it felt like it was stretching all the way to the back of her head. “Just get in here,” she said.
Alex took a step forward, then he did a slow crumple to the porch.
Isabel dropped to her knees beside him. She shoved her hands under his shirt and pressed them against his chest. Her heart gave a painful jerk as she realized how cold and moist his skin felt.
Just make the connection, she ordered herself. She stared down into Alex’s green eyes, and she was in. But she couldn’t focus on the images from Alex’s life flying past her. She was freezing, her entire body so chilled, it almost burned—as if it had been rubbed with dry ice.
No, not her body. Their body. She and Alex had only one body now.
Why is he so cold? she thought. What’s wrong? She explored their body slowly and methodically, ignoring the spikes of ice digging into her.
There were no foreign substances in the bloodstream. Alex didn’t have a virus or anything that was giving him chills. Isabel directed her attention to his—their—brain, tracing the neural pathways.
Suddenly the images from Alex stopped coming. All she could see was blackness. Then a single image formed. Alex screaming, an endless scream, his face twisted in fear.
He’s terrified, she realized. There was no external cause for the condition of his body. He’d been frightened so deeply that his internal systems had started to shut down.
What happened to him? What did he see? What did the beings do to him?
Not the time for questions, Isabel ordered herself. Alex needed her healing. But there wasn’t a specific place to direct her powers.
Isabel drew as much strength and energy from herself as she could, then she let it fly into Alex. Was it enough? She pulled her hands away, breaking the connection.
She would have loved to stay connected, to stay that close to Alex. But she had to get Max.
“Can you stand up?” she asked. She brushed his hair off his forehead.
“Yeah.” Alex shoved himself to his feet, and Isabel looped her arm around his waist and half carried him over to the sofa. It’s Alex, her brain gibbered. It’s Alex, Alex, Alex, it’s my Alex.
“Just lie here for a minute.” She grabbed the Indian blanket off the back of the chair and wrapped it tightly around him. “Don’t move. I’ll be right back,” she whispered.
This was definitely not a situation that she wanted the parents involved in. Fortunately they were both pretty heavy sleepers.
“Miss you,” Alex mumbled. Isabel didn’t know if he meant that he’d miss her when she went upstairs or that he’d missed her when he was gone.
“Miss you, too,” she answered, meaning it both ways.
She turned around, ran up to Max’s room, and dashed inside without bothering to knock. One look at his face showed her that he was still connected. Isabel grabbed the pillow off his bed and whacked him across the head.
“Max,” she hissed. “I need you. Right now!”
Max’s eyelids fluttered open, then he lifted his head and stared at her.
“Did you just hit me with a pillow?” he asked, sounding confused.
“Alex is back,” Isabel exclaimed. “He’s downstairs.”
Max leaped to his feet and was out the door before Isabel could say another word. She followed him as he raced to the living room. He stopped so abruptly when he reached the sofa that Isabel slammed into his back.
“I can’t believe it’s really you,” Max said softly. Alex gave a weak smile.
“Me either,” Isabel answered. She reached out and stroked Alex’s face. His skin felt a little warmer, but he was still way too pale.
“Should I start debating whether Lime Warp or Blast! is truly the most superior alien-themed beverage?” Alex joked, his voice coming out thin and hoarse.
“It’s him.” Max dropped into the chair next to the sofa and leaned toward Alex. “So what happened? How’d you make it back?”
“You have to tell us everything,” Isabel agreed. She stepped over the coffee table and sat down as close to Alex as she could get.
“I will,” Alex promised. He struggled to a sitting position, then leaned his head on the back of the sofa, as if the effort had exhausted him. “As much as I can remember, anyway, which isn’t a lot. But first you’ve got to know that we may be getting company.”
“Go on,” Max said, his eyes serious and watchful. He’d clearly heard the urgency in Alex’s voice, just as Isabel had.
Alex lifted his head. His eyes looked clearer to Isabel now. More focused.
“I don’t know how exactly, but I was in a worm-hole,” he began. “I could see … space, outer space, all around me in a blur, but I could breathe and everything, and I—” He stopped himself, his expression turning hard and grim. “That’s not the important part. When I was in the hole, something came after me. I think … I think it might have followed me here.”
That’s what terrified him—whatever was in the hole, Isabel thought. She reached out and took Alex’s right hand in both of hers, then started rubbing.
“Here earth or here this house?” Isabel asked, struggling to keep her voice low.
“I’m not sure,” Alex admitted. “I came here because I didn’t know if I could handle it alone. I thought maybe there’d be need of some—some firepower, and I didn’t want to lead whatever to my parents. Sorry.”
Isabel traded Alex’s left hand for his right and kept rubbing.
“Don’t be sorry,” Max told him. “You did the right thing. If something does go down, Isabel and I can combine powers.”
“Do you have any clue what it was?” Isabel asked. She shot a glance toward the front door, even though she was too far away to see anything out of the long, narrow window that ran alongside it.
“I didn’t see it—I just felt it,” Alex answered. “And I’m pretty sure it wanted something from me. I think it would have killed me to get it.”
“Do you still feel it?” Max asked, his eyes intent on Alex.
Alex hesitated. “I don’t feel it coming after me,” he said slowly. “But I don’t think it’s gone.” He shook his head. “Maybe it didn’t exist at all. Maybe my imagination is just out of control.”
“I don’t think so,” Max answered.
Isabel gave him a sharp look. “You know something about this?” she demanded.
Max stood up and began to pace back and forth in front of the coffee table.
“I’m not sure,” he said. “The consciousness has been in total upheaval tonight. It’s been like a bunch of tidal waves crashing through. I was trying to get some idea of what was happening, but all the beings were too devastated to give me any info.” He stopped in front of Alex. “There could be a connection.”
“The beings wanted me to go back,” Alex said. “They sent me.”
“Maybe something went wrong when they opened the hole. I’ll try to deepen the co
nnection later, see what I can find out.” Max started to pace again. “You’re staying here tonight,” he told Alex in his big-brother-has-spoken tone. “I’ll go get you a sleeping bag out of the garage.” He strode out of the room.
Isabel pressed herself tighter against Alex’s side. It didn’t feel close enough, even though she was so close, she could feel the tiny tremors rippling through him.
He was still seriously freaked. She twisted her body around until she was half facing him, then wrapped her arms around his waist and held on tight.
“You’re home,” she whispered, burying her head in his shoulder, breathing in the scent of him. “Nothing can hurt you now that you’re home.”
“How long have I been gone?” Alex asked as Max pulled out of the driveway and onto the street the next morning.
“Maybe two weeks,” Isabel told him.
Two weeks. Only two weeks. He could hardly twist his mind around that.
“I hope someone taped Oprah for me, or I’m going to be seriously pissed,” Alex joked. “I’m not going to be able to keep up my rep as a sensitive guy if I don’t know what Oprah’s doing.” Isabel and Max laughed. Alex laughed, too, even though he usually thought it was lame to laugh at your own jokes. He couldn’t help it. It just felt too good to be riding down the streets of his dinky little town with two of his best friends. He was home.
“I hope everyone’s already at Michael’s,” Isabel said as Max turned down the road toward the museum. “They can’t wait to see you.”
“Yeah, and Michael said something about having a big announcement to make,” Max added, glancing at Alex in the rearview mirror. “Although I don’t know what could be bigger than having you back.”
“Yeah, I am pretty huge,” Alex joked, stretching out his arms.
Isabel shook her head but giggled. “Looks like Maria’s here, at least,” she commented as Max pulled into the museum parking lot.
“Get ready for some major squealing,” Max told Alex. He pulled to a stop by the stairs leading up to Michael and Adam’s apartment.
Almost on cue, the door to the apartment flew open. “Alex!” Maria screeched. She took the stairs three at a time, Liz right behind her.
Alex scrambled out of the Jeep and started to run as soon as his feet touched the pavement. His legs were still a little weak, but running was the only option. He was about a third of the way up the stairs when Liz and Maria reached him. He didn’t know whose arms were wrapped around him or who was kissing him, and he didn’t care.
“Come on! Come upstairs,” Liz exclaimed. She and Maria each took one of his hands, and they all squeezed up the staircase without losing their grips on each other.
“Okay, break it up, break it up,” Michael called as they pushed through the front door. He waved them into the living room. When Alex passed by, Michael gave him a fast, hard hug.
“Good to have you back,” he said, not quite looking Alex in the eye.
“Thanks,” Alex answered. He felt a tentative hand on his shoulder, and then suddenly Adam had him in a half hug, half choke hold.
“We’ve been trying to get you home,” Adam said as he released Alex.
“Yeah, we almost did,” Liz added.
“It was so close. We tracked DuPris to the caverns—I figured that part out,” Maria jumped in.
“Excuse me. I think I had something to do with it,” Isabel said from behind him.
Alex gazed from person to person, soaking up the sight of them. Liz, Maria, Michael, and—some strange guy.
“Clearly I missed something more than a few Oprah eps,” he said. “I’m Alex, but I guess you figured that out,” he told the guy.
“I’m Trevor, or at least that’s close enough to my name,” the guy answered after a glance at Michael. He reached out and shook Alex’s hand.
Alex got a fuzzy, unpleasant twinge of déjà vu. He tried to figure out if he’d ever seen the guy before. There was something familiar about him.
“I’m guessing Trevor is part of this announcement,” Max said to Michael.
So the others don’t know him, either, Alex realized.
“He’s pretty much the whole thing,” Michael answered. “I know this is going to sound bizarre. I mean, I know I’m not even supposed to have one. At least that’s what—wait, maybe I should start with—see, I could feel what Trevor—” He started laughing, laughing so hard, he started to choke and snort. “I sound like Maria.”
This is a change, Alex thought. Michael was acting, well, silly was the only word for it. Alex had seen Michael be sarcastic lots of times. And Michael definitely wasn’t a guy to step away from gross-out humor. But silly—that just wasn’t him.
“And what’s wrong with acting like me?” Maria asked, hands on her hips in mock indignation. Michael laughed harder.
Alex smiled. He felt himself entering the sappy zone again. Maria being Maria was a pretty enjoyable sight. So was Michael being not Michael.
“If you don’t stop giggling like you’re deranged or something and tell us whatever you dragged us here to tell us right now—,” Isabel threatened.
“All right. All right.” Michael pulled in a deep breath. “I’ll just say it—Trevor is my brother.”
“How can that be possible?” Liz asked.
“Your brother?” Isabel exclaimed at the same time. “Your brother?”
“Wait, there are even more of you?” Maria blurted out, her words overlapping with Liz and Isabel’s. “Not that that’s a bad thing,” she added quickly.
“Start at the beginning,” Max instructed, his eyes darting between Michael and Trevor. “Tell us everything.”
Alex didn’t say anything. He was still trying to figure out why Trevor seemed so familiar. Just standing near him was making Alex uneasy, sort of tense and restless.
Michael started explaining, and he was talking so fast, Alex could hardly understand him. Alex wished he had the ability to see auras. He bet at that moment Michael’s was awesome, bursting with the colors of absolute joy.
Alex wouldn’t mind seeing Trevor’s aura right then, too. Maybe if he could see Trevor’s aura, it would reassure Alex that the guy was … okay.
“Anyway, they left Trevor with this group called the Kindred,” Michael was saying. “Or at least what translates to the Kindred in English. It’s a group that believes that people should be able to have as many children as they want.”
“They just left you there?” Maria asked Trevor. Her blue eyes were warm with sympathy.
Alex used the interruption to head over to a stack of flattened beanbag chairs along the nearest wall. He sat down, positioning himself so that he still had a clear view of Trevor. The muscles in his stomach relaxed a little now that there was more distance between the two of them.
“Our parents were going to go back and get me once they found a safe place, a place where they wouldn’t have to keep one of their kids in hiding,” Trevor explained. His eyes were on Alex, even though he was answering Maria’s question.
Alex met his gaze as long as possible, but finally he had to look away when he felt hot bile begin to rise up his throat.
Michael reached out and squeezed Trevor’s shoulder. “You all know the rest of the story,” Michael said.
Michael and Trevor’s parents had died in the crash, the crash that had made Roswell the T-shirt-selling, green-food-producing tourist attraction it was today. Sometimes Alex wondered what it would be like to live in a town that made most of its money off your parents’ death, practically celebrated it, even.
“So, how did you get here?” Max finally asked after they’d all taken a moment to absorb what Michael had said. Max walked over and sat down next to Alex. The burst of relief that spread through Alex made him feel like a total wimp. What—he didn’t feel safe without Max around to protect him?
“I knew that my parents had died on earth and that my brother had survived and was living in Roswell under the name Michael Guerin. Members of the Kindred were able to get me that
information,” Trevor explained.
“You just got here yesterday?” Liz asked. She plopped down across from Max and Alex and gestured for the others to join them.
“Just off the boat,” Trevor joked. He positioned himself on Alex’s other side. It took all Alex’s self-control not to flinch.
“How do you know English and everything?” Adam asked, plopping down next to Isabel.
“The Kindred also got me the materials I needed to teach myself English and the local behavioral norms,” Trevor explained. “I always dreamed about coming here, but I never thought I’d be able to until—”
“Until the collective consciousness opened another wormhole to send Alex back,” Michael jumped in. “Trevor basically hitched a ride here.”
“Yeah, thanks,” Trevor told Alex, giving him another long look.
Alex’s stomach cramped until it felt about the size of a postage stamp. It was Trevor behind him in the wormhole. It was Trevor who had wanted something from Alex, something he would have killed Alex to get.
“That’s one thing we don’t have to worry about, then,” Isabel said. “Alex felt something following him home, and we were afraid it might be dangerous.”
Everyone laughed. Alex forced himself to laugh, too. But he knew what he felt from the being who followed him, from Trevor. A cold-blooded willingness to murder whatever stood in its—in his—way.
“I wish I could have been there to see you two meet. It must have been like a total soap opera moment,” Max said. His tone was casual, but his blue eyes were cool and serious. He turned to Michael. “I’m surprised Trevor even managed to convince you of who he really was.”
Max isn’t sure Trevor is who he’s pretending to be, either, Alex thought hopefully.
“What I don’t get is how the consciousness managed to open the hole,” Max continued. “I asked if they could open one to get Alex home, and what I got back was that they weren’t strong enough and wouldn’t be for a long time.”
Trevor shrugged. “I just took advantage of it. I don’t know how they did it. I’m not connected to the consciousness.” He shot a probing glance at Alex.