"So, Michael's the only one who knows where the Stones are, huh?" Trevor asked Maria. They sat side by side on the hood of Michael's big old Cadillac, waiting for him to teleport back to the desert so they could get to work.
"Yeah, I guess he figured it was safer that way," Maria answered, coughing as the wind kicked up a sand cloud all around them.
At least it's nothing personal, Trevor thought. It's not as if Michael told everyone except me. Although Trevor wouldn't be surprised if that's how it had gone down. He knew helping kill DuPris had gone a long way toward winning back Michael's trust. But he wasn't sure if his brother had gotten over the fact that Trevor had used their relationship to try to get close enough to one of the Stones so he could bring it to DuPris, back when Trevor still thought DuPris was almost a god.
"You look like him, you know?" Maria commented, leaning back a little so she could study his face. "Same eyes. Same hands. Same basic build. You even have some of the same expressions-like the raising-one-eyebrow thing."
Trevor raised one eyebrow at her, and she smiled. "Looking like him, that seems to be a good thing by earth standards."
"Oh yeah," Maria said. Then a faint blush colored her cheeks. Trevor always noticed stuff like that-blushes, teary eyes, rapid breathing. The way the human body responded to emotion fascinated him, although the sensations could be almost creepy when he felt them happening to himself. "I think I see him coming back," she added, jerking her chin toward a mesquite bush.
"You're right," Trevor agreed. He could see a network of veins forming. Blood began to rush through them, then muscle and bone began appearing, followed by the internal organs until Michael's body was whole again except for two empty eye sockets.
"This is the part that makes me eww," Maria confessed, shuddering slightly as she squeezed her eyes shut.
"Something about me makes you eww?" Michael asked as his gray eyes solidified.
"Many things," Maria answered, peeking to make sure Michael was all intact.
Why don't I believe that? Trevor thought, catching the little swirls of pleasure that had appeared in Maria's aura as Michael teased her.
"So I have the Stones. Now what do we do?" Michael asked, slapping his hands against his dusty jeans.
Trevor shrugged. "Basically we're trying to find a way to boost their power," he answered. "But I have no idea how."
"Maybe we could each hold a Stone and then connect, and see if the two Stones are more powerful when they're linked through the connection," Michael suggested.
"First you'd have to see how powerful they are when you use them together unconnected," Maria said. She slid off the hood and grinned. "Hey, I sounded like Liz for a second. Go, science girl."
She's so adorable, Trevor thought. So bouncy. Bouncy hair, bouncy personality He shot a glance at his brother. What was the guy's problem? Didn't he notice how attractive Maria was?
"Maybe we should whip up some kind of weather thing," Michael suggested, looking around the empty desert. "It's not like many people come out here, but just in case someone noticed, at least there would be a natural explanation."
"Sounds good to me," Trevor answered, hopping off the car.
"Your lovely assistant, Maria, agrees," Maria said with a little curtsy.
"I'll go first." Michael pulled one of the Stones out of his pocket. It began to glow with a purple-green light, a light that intensified every second. He stretched out his hand, aiming the Stone away from them.
The desert sand began to swirl, forming a tall column. The column began to whirl, dragging more sand into it.
"I don't know if this was such a good idea," Maria shouted as a large boulder got sucked into the tornado.
The funnel of spinning sand expanded. Trevor felt it sucking the ground out from under his feet, greedy for even more mass.
"Michael! The car!" Maria cried, panicked.
Trevor jerked around just in time to see the Cadillac fly into the air and whip into the funnel. Shielding his eyes with one hand, he staggered over to Maria and grabbed her wrist. Images of a man's face, a chocolate cake, and a piece of wood with a wicked-looking nail in it flashed through his mind as he made the connection. He used his powers to make both their bodies heavier, anchoring them to the ground.
Maria's hair slashed into his face, each strand like a wire whip in the furious wind. He could see her screaming something, but he couldn't hear a word.
He tilted back his head, craning to see the top of the tornado's funnel. He couldn't. But he could see the car. It was so high up, it looked like a toy.
Slowly, slowly, the car became larger, large enough for a kid to squeeze in. It's coming back down, Trevor realized. The howling wind grew a little quieter. The Cadillac touched down with a shuddering thump, and a flood of sand fell from the sky, burying Trevor, Maria, and Michael up to their knees.
Michael turned toward them, covered in grainy silt. "I didn't even use a quarter of the potential power," he told them, his eyes stunned. "I don't know what I was thinking. One of these babies opened a wormhole. This was no kind of test."
"But I bet it got people's attention," Maria said, struggling to free herself.
Trevor realized that her body-and his-was still weighted down. He used his powers again, restoring them to their usual weight and density, then he helped Maria out of the sand.
"You're right," Michael told Maria, tousling his hair and causing streams of sand to fly everywhere. "We better get out of here. We can figure out a better test tomorrow." He used the Stone to move the car over to a section of sand that was still firmly packed, then tossed the keys to Maria. "I've got to put the Stones back. You can take the car and leave it at your place. I'll pick it up later."
"I live to serve," she muttered, twirling the keys once around her finger.
Michael turned to Trevor. "Want to come with me?" he asked.
Trevor nodded, getting the unspoken message. Michael had decided to give him another chance by letting him in on the Stones' hiding place. His brother was offering Trevor his trust for the second time. And Trevor was going to make very sure Michael didn't regret it.
FOUR
Isabel didn't want to step into the bedroom. If she did, she might end up having to use her power on Max. Well, on the consciousness, really. But she couldn't attack the consciousness without damaging Max. And even thinking about hurting her brother set the contents of her stomach agitating.
"So, are my two starlets ready to perform?" Alex asked, putting one hand on her shoulder and one on Liz's.
"Starlet? Did I actually hear you use the word starlet?" Isabel muttered, tossing her long, blond hair over her shoulder in an attempt to look nonchalant. "Are you from planet 1950 or what?"
But did it feel good to have Alex making dorky comments? Did it feel good to feel the warmth of his hand through her shirt? Yes, she had to admit it did. Anything calming and familiar was good at this point.
"Isabel's right," Liz jumped in. "The word you'd be wanting to use is actor."
"Not actress?" Alex asked, green eyes widening in what Isabel suspected was mock surprise.
"There's no reason for a word like that to be sex differentiated," Liz said with a little nod. "No one says doctress, right?"
"Or lawyeress," Isabel added. She shot a glance at the closed bedroom door, then immediately looked away. Could it possibly be more obvious that they were all avoiding going inside?
"But then, there is stewardess," Alex countered, tightening his grip on her shoulder slightly.
"Flight attendant, cave boy," Isabel shot back, leveling him with a glare. She knew she should be reaching for the door handle, but she didn't. She just couldn't make her fingers go there.
"So if I want to be politically correct, I should just call all three of us chickens for standing out here having a fake argument instead of going in?" Alex asked.