"Cameron, get over here!" Michael shouted. And then he felt his stomach clench into a ball. Her right leg was twisted at an impossible angle. It had to be broken.
"Cover me!" Michael shouted. Without waiting for an answer, he hurled himself at Cameron. He wrapped his arms around her and rolled them both across the floor. A bolt of sizzling green-purple lightning struck about a foot away from them.
"I said, cover me!" he yelled.
Max didn't want to kill DuPris, but if it was DuPris or Michael-"Listen up, everyone!" he called. "DuPris is the bunny."
Instantly he felt a ball of power begin to form in the middle of the group. There wasn't time to let it get too big. Michael and Cameron couldn't wait for their backup. DuPris looked ready to hurl another lightning bolt. Max could see it forming.
"Okay, now!" he shouted. The air crackled as they hurled the ball at DuPris's head.
DuPris spun toward it and raised the ring. The ball exploded in a harmless shower of sparks-and DuPris turned back to Michael and Cameron, the new bolt of lightning fully formed in his hand.
"Michael, move!" Max shouted.
Michael pulled Cameron over in another roll-and they hit the wall.
DuPris drew back his arm.
A wave of coldness washed over Max. There was no time for another attack. He wasn't going to be able to save them.
A blast shook the room, brilliant white light filling every corner, dazzling Max's eyes. "Michael, are you guys all right?" he shouted. "Did you get hit?" He blinked rapidly, trying to clear his vision.
Two beings came into view, moving slowly across the living room toward DuPris. They were tall and thin, their legs and arms extremely long.
And their mouths… Max couldn't stop staring at their mouths. They were gaping holes lined with pencil-thick tentacles, tentacles that continuously waved from side to side as if tasting the air.
"The bounty hunters," Maria breathed.
Game over, DuPris, Max thought. And guess what? You lose! Because the bounty hunters-our saviors-are about to take you back home for judgment. And finally, thank God, we will be safe. DuPris glanced over his shoulder and smiled with relief. "It took you two long enough," he complained. "I've been waiting for over fifty years."
DuPris knows the bounty hunters. They're not here to kill him. They're here to help him. The realization was like a fist to Max's kidneys. Another realization quickly followed-he was going to have to open the wormhole.
But not now. It was too dangerous without the element of surprise on his side. Right now, DuPris was all caught up in reaming out the hunters, but any second he could turn his attention back to the group. They could hardly hold off DuPris while he used the ring. There was no way they'd be able to fight him and these vicious-looking bounty hunters.
Max decided to use the momentary distraction of the hunters to reconnect the group.
"Everybody grab hands… now," Max ordered.
The group quickly re-formed the circle-including Michael, who had Cameron cradled in his arms. She was connected now, too. An olive green aura had joined the colors wrapped around them.
Max sent out an image-a stream of molecules rushing from the ranch house all the way back to the UFO museum.
"Max, no!" Liz cried.
But he didn't have time to come up with something better. He'd have to do it on his own, too, without the consciousness. He'd need all their strength later… and it still might not be enough to survive opening the wormhole.
He shoved the thought away. Right now, all you have to do is move some molecules, he told himself. Nothing you haven't done before. Except this time he'd be trying to re-form himself. Michael wouldn't be there to do it for him.
Max focused on his body, on their body. He could feel all eight of their hearts beating. He visualized the museum, picking the exact spot he wanted them to go, then he gave their molecules a mighty shove, scattering them like pool balls after the break.
He felt himself flying apart, his molecules mixing with the molecules of Liz, Michael, Alex, Isabel, Maria, Adam, and Cameron. No, more than that-mixing with the molecules that made up the world. Everything was molecules, and he was everything.
His consciousness, his Maxness, felt as if it was disappearing. For a moment he fought it, resisting the pull toward oneness, then he abandoned himself to it, throwing himself into the void. So this is freedom was the last thought he was able to form.
"That was so cool!" Maria cried.
Max opened his eyes, feeling shaky with relief. He'd done it. He didn't know how, but he'd done it. All eight of them were standing in the museum's little coffee shop.
Liz shook her head. "It should have been impossible. How could you have re-formed us when your own brain was in pieces?"
"You even put my leg back the right way," Cameron added. She kicked her leg out a few times. "No broken bone."
"And you managed to bring our clothes," Michael said, "What a guy"
"I didn't bring the Jeep, though," Max answered. "I guess I'll have to tell Dad that Isabel left the keys in it again and someone stole it." He glanced over at his sister. She had her eyes lowered, and he could tell she hadn't even heard what he'd said. She just needs a little decompression time, he thought.
"I have a theory-well, not about the clothes part, but about the other part. Want to hear my theory?" Maria asked. She bounced back and forth on her toes, obviously enjoying an adrenaline high.
Max smiled at her. "I would love to hear your theory." In fact, there was nothing he'd like more. He wanted to stand here for a minute and hang with his friends like a normal person.
"There are some massage therapists who believe memory is stored in the body, not just in the brain," Maria explained. "Supposedly they can help people tap into a repressed memory just by touching them in the right place. Anyway, I think maybe our molecules remembered where they belonged."
"Either that or the molecule fairy put them back together for us," Alex said.
"Molecule fairy?" Adam repeated, a faint frown on his face.
Max was struck by just how few days Adam had had in the real world. He had a lot of lost time to make up for. Max promised himself he'd help him do it.
"Adam, there's something you have to know about Alex," Michael told him. "He's a moron."
Everyone laughed except Isabel. "So what do we do now?" she asked, her voice harsh.
Max rubbed the back of his neck. "The wormhole," he answered. "I don't think we have any choice." He braced himself for another round of protests. They didn't come. Probably because they'd all gotten a firsthand look at how phenomenally powerful DuPris was, how impossible it would be for them to come up with a plan to defeat him.
"When?" Liz asked, wrapping her arms around her waist.
"As soon as we can figure out a way to catch DuPris a little off guard," Max answered. "Any ideas?"
"We could all dress up like hookers," Alex suggested, voice flat.
"I think we should eat, get some rest, then meet up and start working on a plan," Liz said.
"We don't have time for that," Michael answered, his voice grim. "Look!"
Max followed Michael's gaze and saw a network of veins forming a few feet away. "DuPris followed us!" he cried.
"Not just DuPris," Michael shot back. And Max realized there were two other bodies beginning to form-the hunters.
"How long will it take you to open the wormhole?" Alex demanded.
"I don't know," Max admitted.
"Go upstairs and start the process," Liz ordered. "Ray's bedroom is pretty much over the coffee shop. We'll keep DuPris in here. You open the hole above him."
"How are you going-" Max began to protest.
"Let us worry about that!" Liz exclaimed. "Now go!"
Max ran for the staircase. Liz checked on DuPris. His organs had formed, but he still had no eyes. "Michael, Isabel, Adam, make all of us look like DuPris!" she cried.