Michael gathered his strength and bashed another hole in the force field. Now his head was free. He shook it back and forth, trying to knock Nikolas's fingers off. But Nikolas wouldn't let go.
Michael's vision dimmed. He was going to black out. Nikolas was going to win.
"Stop it!" Isabel screeched. Her voice sounded far away. Outside the connection.
Suddenly her face loomed in front of his. She pushed Nikolas back, away from Michael's fingers. Nikolas's hand slipped off Michael's head.
The connection was broken.
The force field disappeared, and Michael tumbled to the floor. He didn't try to stand up. He turned his healing powers on himself. Dissolving the two blood clots Nikolas had formed in his brain. Repairing the torn blood vessels.
"Okay, let's just call that a tie," Isabel said, her voice harsh. "I hope you've both figured out that there's no way one of us can kill the other-without ending up dead, too."
Michael grabbed Alex's arm and pulled him up off the floor. "Come on, Isabel," he said.
She didn't move.
"I said come on," he snarled.
"You can't tell me what to do," Isabel whispered.
"What the hell has happened to you?" Michael exploded. "This jerk just tried to kill me! He hurt Alex! I am not going to leave you alone with him. Now come on-we're going home."
Isabel's eyes blazed. "No."
Without another word, Michael turned his back and left her there.
Isabel gazed at herself in her dresser mirror on Sunday morning. She'd been staring for so long that her face didn't look like a face anymore-just a jumble of shapes and colors.
"We're going to the office for a few hours, honey. We'll be back around one," Mrs. Evans called through Isabel's closed bedroom door. "Max is already gone, so you're on your own."
"Okay," Isabel answered. "Bye."
The spell was broken. Her face looked like a face again. Isabel turned away from the mirror. She wondered if Nikolas would come by for her. Nikolas never made plans in advance. He just roared up on his motorcycle and she jumped on.
When he did show up, Isabel knew she had to have a talk with him. A long talk. Usually when she started to say something Nikolas didn't want to hear, he would kiss her. By the time she floated back to earth, she would pretty much have forgotten her point.
But she wasn't going to let him do that. Not this time. She had to make it very clear that if she was going to be with Nikolas, he had to promise never to use his powers against Alex, Max, Michael, Liz, or Maria. If he wouldn't do that, she would walk away. No matter how she felt about him. No matter how right it felt to be in his arms.
She had a few little things she wanted to say to the others, too. It's not like they'd been so totally perfect. Isabel pulled her hair back into a ponytail and frowned at her reflection.
Why did it have to be this way? Why couldn't they all see how incredible it was to have Nikolas around? For all their lives they'd thought they were alone here. Just the three of them. And now there was someone else, someone like them.
Michael and Max should be excited about Nikolas. They should have accepted him as part of their group. And Liz, Maria, and Alex-even Alex-should be happy that Isabel had found one of her own kind to be with. Someone who understood her. Someone who taught her not to be afraid…
Isabel's thoughts were interrupted by the doorbell. Nikolas! She rushed out of her room and down the stairs. She swung open the front door and saw Alex standing there.
Of course it wasn't Nikolas. Nikolas was not a doorbell kind of guy.
Looking at Alex, Isabel couldn't help thinking about what she saw when she healed him last night. The inside of Alex's mind was like an Isabel shrine. He remembered things about her that she didn't even remember.
Connecting with Alex convinced her that he was on her side. He was not happy with the whole Nikolas situation. But he would always be there for her.
Even after she let her boyfriend knock him out…
Isabel quickly pushed that thought aside. So Nikolas had a wild side. He was always nice to her. And that was all that mattered. Right?
Alex shifted his weight from one foot to the other. Was Isabel going to say anything?
"So are you here to see me or Max?" Isabel asked softly "I know everything isn't about me."
Was that supposed to be an apology? Alex wondered. "I'm here to see you," he answered.
Isabel stepped back and swung open the door. "Do you want some toast or something?"
"You're offering to cook for me? I'm touched," Alex answered. She does seem like she's trying to say she's sorry, in an Isabel kind of way, he thought.
"Come on." Isabel led the way into the kitchen. "My parents and Max already ate, but I think they might have left some muffins." She picked up a plate covered with crumbs. "Or maybe not."
"I'm not really hungry, anyway," Alex said. His stomach was in knots. He didn't want to have this conversation with Isabel. But he needed to.
"Are you feeling okay? Your head?" Isabel asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine. You do good work." He sat down in one of the kitchen chairs. Isabel sat across from him. Not next to him, across from him. So don't get too excited about the whole implied-apology thing, he thought. She's hardly throwing herself at your red-haired self.
"Uh, the reason I've called you all here…" Alex took a deep breath. "It's because I'm worried about you."
"You don't have-" she began to protest.
"Wait. Let me finish," Alex said. "I know you hate being told what to do. But sometimes what people are telling you to do is the right thing to do, you know?"
Isabel stood up and started gathering the dirty dishes off the table. She dropped them in the sink with a clatter. "So you're here to tell me to stay away from Nikolas."
"Yeah. I am. Because you're not thinking clearly," Alex said. "I know you don't think Valenti is any threat to you and Nikolas because you have your power, but-"
"No. We are not having this conversation. Because that's not what it's about," Isabel said. She scooped up a handful of silverware and hurled it into the sink.
"What is it about, then?" Alex asked.
"It's about that you're jealous. It's about that you see that there is something going on between me and Nikolas, and it's driving you crazy," Isabel answered. She jerked on the hot water and sent it splashing over the dishes.
"I admit that," Alex told her. What was the point of denying it? It was obvious. "But what about your brother? What about Michael? What about Liz and Maria? They have no reason to be jealous, and they all think Nikolas is putting you in danger. No, not just you-all of us."
Isabel snatched up one of the dishes and scrubbed it furiously. "I want you to leave," she said, without turning around to look at him.
"Fine," Alex said. "But you have to know this is it. I go now, I'm gone. I'm not going to come running back if you change your mind."
"I can live with that," Isabel answered.
"So do you feel any better?" Maria asked.
Liz glanced over at Alex. She knew Maria thought dragging Alex out for ice cream would cheer him up. But cheerful wasn't exactly the word Liz would use to describe him right now.
"Not really," Alex admitted.
Maria turned to Liz. "What do you think? More M amp;M's?"
"Umm. No, I think the problem is the sprinkles. He needs the rainbow ones, not the chocolate ones," Liz answered. "Rainbow equals happy, right?"