She reminded herself that he hadn't seen what she'd seen. He hadn't seen his eyes roll up and-
"Max, you've got to trust me. This isn't something you can pretend didn't happen. You've got to get yourself checked out," she told him.
"Look, I already talked to Ray about it," Max muttered. "It's not a human thing, okay? It's not a doctor thing."
Liz's stomach tightened into a twisted ball. "Then what is it? Tell me, Max."
Max ran his fingers over the grooves in the wheel. "I need to get to work. Or at least I have to call."
Liz took his face in her hands and forced him to turn to her, but he still wouldn't meet her gaze. "We aren't going anywhere until you tell me."
"I'm dying."
Liz tightened her fingers against his face. "What?"
Finally he raised his eyes and looked directly at her.
"I'm dying."
Michael pulled the Pascals' old station wagon up behind Alex's Rabbit. He couldn't believe he'd been summoned to a meeting. The six of them saw each other every day at school. What could they possibly have to talk about that they couldn't have talked about yesterday at lunch?
He climbed out of the car and slammed the door. Whatever it was, it better be good. He was missing the game on TV. He and Dylan had a bet going, and if things went the way he thought they would, Dylan would be cleaning the toilet and polishing the bathtub in the bathroom they shared for a very long time.
Michael hurried up the Evanses' front walk and let himself in. "I hope you didn't get me over here because you've decided we need uniforms in the colors of our auras or something," he complained as he stepped into the living room. "Because if you did-"
His throat closed up around his words as he saw Max's grim face. Something was very wrong.
Michael dropped into the closest chair. "What?" he asked softly.
Max didn't answer. Michael jerked his gaze to Liz. Her eyes were red, and faint tear tracks ran down her cheeks. "Somebody start talking. Now. Is it Valenti? Did he find out something?"
"They haven't told us anything yet," Maria said. "They were waiting for you." She looked as scared as he felt. So did Alex and Isabel.
"Well, I'm here now." He leaned forward, his eyes locked on Max again.
"I… we…" Max cleared his throat. He shoved his hair away from his face, and Michael could see his fingers trembling. "There's something called an akino. It's…" His words trailed off.
"The akino is something everyone from your planet goes through. It's their time to connect to something called the collective consciousness." Liz spoke up, glancing from Isabel to Michael and back again. "Ray said that it contains all your civilization's knowledge, all the emotion, too. It basically lets you feel the emotions of everyone on your planet all at once. Maybe even the ones who have died. I'm not sure."
Liz lowered her gaze to the coffee table, and Michael thought he could see new tears welling up in her eyes. He felt like springing up and shaking her until she finished her thought. He gripped the arms of the chair as hard as he could to keep himself in place.
"Come on, Liz," Isabel begged.
Liz pulled in a deep, shuddering breath. Then the words began tumbling out of her mouth so quickly, it was difficult to make them out. "Max is going through the akino, and that means he has to connect to the collective consciousness or he'll die. But he can't connect to the consciousness from Earth without the communication crystals from your parents' ship."
This had to be a joke. Like a week ago, Michael found out from Ray that his parents were dead. He also found out that he had no family at all back on his home planet. And now… now his best friend was dying? This had to be a sick joke.
Michael heard Isabel begin to whimper low in her throat. The sound ripped through him. A cry like that should never be coming out of Isabel. She sounded like an animal who had been caught in a trap for days, hopeless, in pain, dying.
Dying. And it would happen to all of them. Soon Isabel would be dying, too. And by then he and Max would probably have already died. Leaving his Izzy to go through it all alone.
"How long?" Michael demanded, breaking the heavy silence.
"Ray said-" Liz began.
"Months, weeks, or days," Max interrupted, sounding as if he was forcing the words through a barrier at the back of his throat. "I don't know how long until you or… I don't know when it will start. I guess it happens at different times for different people. It could be years." He locked eyes with Michael briefly, then his gaze skittered away.
It could be tomorrow, Michael thought, filling in what Max had left unsaid.
"So we need a plan to find the ship," Alex said. Maria joined in, babbling about notes and maps and stuff.
What was wrong with them? Michael thought. He'd been searching for that ship his entire life. The chances of finding it in the next couple of days were slim. Unless… Michael remembered that Ray said he had hid the Stone of Midnight in the cave. Hmm…
He straightened up and saw Liz staring at him with a tiny half smile on her face.
"I have an idea," she said slowly.
Alex and Maria kept jabbering. "Let Liz talk," Michael ordered.
"I have an idea," she repeated. "I was just sitting here, looking at Michael, and suddenly I remembered how we saved him from the bounty hunters."
"We all made the connection!" Maria exclaimed. "And it was strong enough to bring him back. Why didn't I think of that! When the six of us connect, it's… I don't even have a word for it."
Liz turned to Max. "Maybe the strength of our connection would give you enough of a boost to complete the akino without the crystals. What do you think?"
Michael knew what he thought. He thought it was a monumentally better idea than trying to find the ship in time. And if it didn't work, he would go to the cave and solve this thing himself.
The strength of the connection had saved his life. Why shouldn't it be able to save Max's, too?
Max reached out and took Liz's hand in his left and Isabel's in his right, completing the circle. The connection crackled between the six of them instantly.
This time their auras were like spears of laser light, slashing across the Evanses' living room with an electric sizzle. Shooting out sparks where the six blades of light crossed in the center. There, in the heart of the circle, the six individual colors blazed in a ball of bright white light. His emerald green, Michael's brick red, Maria's sparkling blue, Liz's warm amber, Isabel's rich purple, and Alex's bright orange combined into that one blinding light.
The hair on Max's arms stood up as the strength of his friends blasted into him, turning his veins to live wires. It felt as if they were each directing their essence toward him. He laughed as Alex zapped him an image of Popeye's muscles bulging after a can of spinach, then gasped as Liz showed him a flock of exotic parrots all taking flight at once. The images came faster and faster. Isabel showing herself hitting him with a shovel during a fight when they were kids. A shark, dead eyes and razor teeth torpedoing through the water from Michael. A flower going from blossom to full bloom in seconds from Maria.
An instant later the music rang out. One note for each of them. Each note a different frequency, each setting up its own vibration along his glowing veins.
He felt invincible. Every sense was filled with their connection. The colors of their auras, the sound and feel of their music, the emotion of their images, and the scents, the scents were exploding in his nose-the rose, the cedar, the eucalyptus, the ylang-ylang, the cinnamon, and the almonds. He pulled in a deep breath, drawing the perfumes deep into his lungs, into each tiny air sac.