Melinda Metz - The Dark One

"Sorry," she said, then bolted for the kitchen.

Alex pulled a thin, square device out of his pocket. "Looks like a PalmPilot, doesn't it?" he asked. "The latest fashion in alien hunting," he added in a mock-announcer voice. "Classic black. And it leaves no unflattering line in the trousers."

He clicked a little button on the side. "Should be easy to use." He stared at the little screen. "Except it's not."

"Can I try?" Adam asked.

"Be my guest." Alex handed over the tracking device with a shrug.

In the Project Clean Slate compound Adam's powers had been tested on everything from starting a blender to defusing a bomb. It hadn't taken him long to learn how to sense the energy pathways in any mechanical or electronic device and figure out exactly how to make it stop or start functioning.

Adam ignored the buttons on the tracker and nudged one of the circuits with his mind. The little screen lit up with a soft green glow. Two black dots blinked in the lower-left corner.

Liz and Alex crowded up to Adam so they could see, too. "I think those two dots are you and Max," Liz said. "Can you make it pull back? You know, extend the range?"

Adam tweaked the tracker until the screen showed the city of Roswell. There were still only the Max and Adam dots on the screen.

"Go wider," Alex urged.

"What've you got?" Max demanded as he and Maria came into the living room.

"So far we've managed to pinpoint the exact location of you and Adam," Alex said sarcastically "And can I just say, it's good to be back on the team." He reached out and clapped Max on the back. "In case you hadn't noticed, I'd been experiencing some kind of ego malfunction."

"Yeah, who could resist the attentions of someone like Stacey Scheinin?" Liz complained. But she reached over and gave Alex a half hug.

"Four more dots," Adam announced, pulling his eyes away from Liz.

"You must have picked up DuPris and Trevor, too," Max said. "How are we going to figure out which is the right location?"

"Doesn't look like it matters," Alex said, leaning over Adam's shoulder. "All four dots are in the same place-about fifty miles outside of Santa Fe. Which means-"

"They're with DuPris," Adam whispered. His fingers spasmed, and the tracker slipped free. Alex caught it before it hit the ground.

"I can't believe this," Max said, pushing his hands up into his hair. "How could Michael be so stupid?"

"Max, he must have had a reason," Maria said, reaching out and squeezing his shoulder. "Calm down."

"We have to find them," Liz said, pulling her hair back from her face. "If Michael went to DuPris, Isabel must be pretty sick."

Adam saw Max's eyes flash with hurt, but the thought seemed to bring him back to the matter at hand.

"All right. If we're getting that close to DuPris, we're going to need firepower," he said, looking each of them in the eye. "We have to get that Clean Slate weapon from Kyle."

"Yeah, he knows the threat of exposing the truth is over. It was incredibly easy to get rid of the reporters he dragged here," Liz said.

"I guess you guys haven't heard," Alex said, his gaze locked on the tracker. "The girl I was with today, she told me that Kyle is getting shipped to a very nice, very quiet hospital in Albuquerque for a 'Boy, Interrupted' kind of deal. He's not going until tomorrow, but there's no way he's going to be left alone tonight, even for a minute."

So not only were they going to have to face DuPris again. They were going in pretty much unarmed. Their powers were useless against DuPris and the Stones. Adam tried to steel himself, but he couldn't help feeling small and pathetic, as helpless as he had been in the compound.

"Okay, plan B," Max said. "I get the crystals and teleport to give them to Isabel."

"Not by yourself," Liz told him. "You might-"

"Might what?" Max demanded.

"You might, um, stop to smell the roses." Maria started giggling and didn't stop until she pinched her own arm so hard, the skin turned white. "Sorry. Sorry, sorry, sorry," she said.

"I can't believe you guys think I would zone out," Max said harshly. "This is Isabel we're-"

"Max," Liz said firmly. "Wake up already. You can't always control it."

"I am so sick-"

"They're right," Adam interrupted. It didn't feel like his place to contradict Max, but he had to. "I'll go-"

"We'll all go," Liz said, her dark eyes on Adam. "This isn't something you have to do alone."

Trevor knelt next to Isabel and placed his hands on the cement floor beside her. He tapped the molecules with his mind, urging them apart just enough for the floor to turn spongy.

"Better?" he asked.

But he wasn't expecting an answer. Isabel was deep in the akino, nearing the moment of crisis.

Michael hovered above them, pacing quickly. "If you're lying to me about her being able to survive-"

Trevor jerked up his head. "If you don't think you can trust me, why did you even come to me for help?" he exploded. Then he saw the fear in his brother's eyes. It spiked through his aura. "She's going to be fine, Michael," he said, his anger instantly gone.

"When I connected with her, I could see her organs, and they were all about to disintegrate," Michael said, his voice rough with emotion. He knelt next to Trevor. "Is that normal?"

"It's normal," Trevor reassured him. He reached out and pushed a strand of sweaty hair off Isabel's face. He didn't think he'd have recognized her as the vibrant, gorgeous girl he'd danced with such a short time ago.

"And her breathing. It's so… it's like it's going to stop any second." Michael shoved himself to his feet and started walking again, this time in a tight circle. Every few moments he stopped and looked down at Isabel, his hands curled in fists in front of his mouth.

He was so worried, Trevor could feel it coming off Michael in waves.

"It's normal," Trevor assured him.

Michael stopped pacing and sat down on the other side of Isabel. He took her hand gently.

"Hey, my Izzy lizard," he said quietly. "Hang in there. It's almost over."

It was clear that seeing Isabel in pain was torture for Michael. Trevor would bet anything that Michael would rather be the one going through the akino if he could spare Isabel.

Michael had been willing to give him that same loyalty. He'd stood by Trevor one hundred percent. When his friends accused Trevor of coming to Earth to steal the Stone, Michael had backed him without hesitation, even though he'd known Trevor for only a few days. The fact that Trevor was Michael's brother was enough. Or it had been enough until Trevor had completely betrayed his trust. Trevor didn't know if he'd ever be able to make it up to his brother.

A low groan from Isabel pulled him away from his thoughts. "The amount of pain-that is unusual," Trevor admitted.

"What?" Michael demanded. "Why?" He tightened his grip on Isabel's hand.

Trevor reached over and loosened his fingers a little.

"Oh, very nice," Michael muttered. "She's in agony, and I decide to break a few bones in her hand."

"You didn't break them," Trevor corrected him. He took Isabel's other hand and held it gently, stroking her feverish skin with his thumb.

"So how she's feeling-it's not normal," Michael said. He swallowed hard, as if his throat was too dry to produce saliva. "What does that mean?"

Trevor moved his thumb to Isabel's wrist, checking her pulse. It was weak and erratic. She was very close now. "I think it's just that the human body responds in a different way to-"

"A different way?" Michael interrupted. "So are you telling me she could die? Why didn't you say that? I trusted you. I didn't even bring the communication crystals."

"You can trust me," Trevor insisted. "She's not going to die." But a tiny seed of doubt had sprouted inside him. Why the hell had he been so completely sure her akino would operate the same way his had? The human body was so different. Maybe it wouldn't be able to stand the strain.