"Max, you are aware that we live in Roswell, not LA?" Isabel asked. "This is a little touchy-feely woo-woo, isn't it?"
"Let's just start," Liz said.
Max glanced around at Isabel, Michael, Alex, Maria, and Liz. They stood in a circle in the center of the cave, all of them looking uncomfortable.
"I think we should all hold hands," Max said.
"Oh, please," Isabel muttered.
"Tell me again why we're doing this?" Michael asked. He sounded like a five-year-old who needed a nap.
"We're doing this because before we can come up with a plan to deal with Valenti, we have to know we can trust one another," Max explained. "It's like we're going into battle-and we have to know who is covering our backs."
Alex looped his arm around Michael's shoulders. "I already have complete faith in this Power Ranger." Michael shoved him away, but Max noticed that Michael couldn't stop a grin from breaking across his face.
Max shook his head. Michael and Alex had discovered they shared the same sense of humor. Spending much time around them could get ugly. "If we hold hands, I think I might be able to form a connection between all of us-the way I do when I'm healing," he explained.
Isabel sighed loudly. "He's never going to shut up until we do it." She grabbed Max's fingers and squeezed them as tight as she could. His sister was not a happy camper. But she was a big reason Max wanted to try to make the group connection. Isabel needed a jump start to allow her to trust the humans.
Max reached for Alex's hand. He was kind of glad Liz wasn't on his other side. Touching her might make it hard to concentrate on the whole group. When he was around her, it was hard for him to focus on anything or anyone else.
He took a deep breath and began searching for a way in, a way to connect.
Liz could hardly believe they were all in one room-well, sort of a room, a cave room-together. When she first showed up, she almost wished she had a metal detector so she could check everyone for weapons. Although that wouldn't really work for aliens because they basically carried their weapons around in their heads.
And now, now they were all holding hands. It was like the end of How the Grinch Stole Christmas! where all the little Whos down in Who-ville stood around and sang their song welcoming Christmas. The song that made the Grinch's heart grow.
I hope this works on Isabel's heart, she thought. But that wasn't the right attitude to go into this thing with. Liz took a deep breath and tried to let go of all her thoughts, the way she did when she made the connection with Max. She imagined all the mean thoughts and prejudices and fears slipping away, becoming unimportant.
And then she heard the music.
Isabel recognized the notes echoing off the cave walls. They were the sounds of the dream orbs. She could pick out the tone of each of their orbs in the music.
The sound of each orb alone was beautiful. But together… Isabel let the music fill her. There was no way anyone could listen to it and feel afraid or angry. The music took the place of all her negative emotions, filling her with a sense of peace, of rightness.
The music wouldn't sound this way if there was someone here who wanted to do harm, she realized. She heard the high sound of Maria's dream orb playing follow the leader with the lower sound of Isabel's orb. I guess this means I'm going to have to be friends with her or something, she thought. And across the circle she caught Maria smiling at her.
Maria wished she could stand there forever, listening to the music. No, not listening to it. Feeling it. It washed through her in waves, sweeping away all the garbage. The thoughts about the test she had tomorrow, the anger at her parents over the divorce, and most of all her fear of Isabel.
She was as afraid as I was, Maria thought suddenly. The thought just appeared in her mind, and she knew it was true. An image flashed into her head of Isabel curled up in the corner of the cave, terrified that Valenti was coming after her. Maria felt a wave of sympathy. It was all an act. All Isabel's threats were just to hide how scared she was. She was never going to hurt me.
Maria caught a hint of cedar in the air. No, not just cedar, cedar and ylang-ylang. And cinnamon. And almonds. And eucalyptus. And roses.
It's like the music is making the perfume, she thought. Then she realized the truth. It's all coming from us.
Michael swayed on his feet. The music and the smells were making him sort of dizzy. He needed to go outside. He needed to be alone for a minute. It was too intense in here.
Max's plan had worked. Michael was convinced that no one here was dangerous. So couldn't this thing end? He didn't know about the rest of them, but he didn't like standing here with his guts spilling out. That's what it felt like. He stared over at Max, trying to signal him that it was time to break the connection.
As he watched, Max's aura began to glow and shimmer. It was like a liquid emerald. It wasn't clouded by any emotions. It was just a jolt of one hundred percent pure Max.
Michael felt his anxiety start to fade as he lost himself in the color. He caught a glimpse of something shining to his left. He turned and saw that Maria's aura had started to glow, too, the blue of a mountain lake.
He gazed around the circle, taking in the deep purple of Isabel's aura, the warm amber of Liz's, Alex's sunny orange, and his own brick red. We really look like a rainbow…, he thought. And he laughed. He felt the others laughing with him.
It's like a total multimedia event, Alex thought. He tried to come up with a word for the mix of colors, music, and scents, but nothing felt right. What he was feeling went beyond language.
Alex had never felt so connected to other people, so accepted. He didn't have any friends who had known him since practically birth, friends the way Liz and Maria were friends. He'd switched schools so many times that he hardly had any friends at all. And his brothers were all older and so different. He always felt kind of like a freak around them.
Maybe this is what it's like to have lived in one town your whole life.
He'd always wanted to have a home in a place where everyone knew him.
Max slowly loosened his grip on Alex's and Isabel's hands, allowing the connection to fade.
"Whoa," Alex muttered. "All I can say is whoa."
"Yeah," Maria agreed. "Whoa."
"I think I finally know how my dad feels at a Grateful Dead concert," Liz told them.
"If we could make that in a pill form, we could become drug lords and make a billion," Michael added.
"Thanks, Max," Isabel said softly.
"So I guess now we know we can trust everyone here." The connection left Max feeling calm and hyperalert at the same time. He felt ready to take on Valenti. "Anyone have any ideas about how to handle the sheriff?"
"Actually," Michael answered, "yeah."
"Everyone knows what they're supposed to do, right?" Max asked. In less than an hour, if everything went the way they planned, Valenti would be off their case forever.
"I rehearsed in the shower," Maria told him.
"We've been over it a thousand times already, Dad," Isabel answered. "Can we please just go back into the dance? They're about to announce the homecoming queen, and I want to be there to act all surprised and happy."
"We know our stuff," Alex agreed. "Let's go. We wouldn't want Isabel to miss the big moment, right, Michael?"
"Right. That would be horrible," Michael said.
Max caught the scent of jasmine as Liz moved past him. He followed her across the parking lot and into the gym. He tried not to stare at her, but she looked so gorgeous in that dress. All long legs, and smooth shoulders, and shiny dark hair. The green material of the dress was making him crazy. At first glance it looked really sheer, almost see-through. But it wasn't really see-through because there was some kind of lining under it.