"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 wormhole," 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 connection 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."
FOUR
"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 deja 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.