The Rebel

To her relief, Alex didn't say anything else. They just danced. When the song ended, Isabel kept her arms around Alex. He tightened his grip on her, burying his face in the side of her neck. Then he slowly pulled away. "Thanks for the dance," he said, his green eyes warm as he looked at her.

Isabel had the feeling Alex was talking about more than the dance, that he was talking about their whole horrible/wonderful time together as a couple. She reached out and ran her hand down his cheek.

"Thank you."

They stared at each other for a long moment, then they each seemed to realize there was nothing else to say. Something was ending, and they had to let it happen.

Isabel gave Alex a last smile. She turned around and pushed her way through the crowd, heading back toward her perch on the staircase. Then she stopped. She didn't feel like just watching anymore. She didn't feel like just being safe.

Besides, she was Isabel Evans. And that carried responsibilities. She had to let everyone at the party see how fabulous she looked tonight. It's not like she'd bought her form-hugging pink dress so no one would notice her.

Tish Okabe waved to her from the other side of the room, and Isabel started toward her. Then she felt a hand on her shoulder. She glanced back and saw Trevor. "Would you want to dance with me?" he asked.

"Of course," Isabel answered. "You should know that every girl in the place would want to dance with you. Your earth adaptation is definitely yummy."

"Yummy?" Trevor repeated.

"As in I've got to get me a taste of that," Isabel teased. She slid her arms around his neck, and after a moment's hesitation Trevor positioned his hands at her waist.

The feel of his hands reminded her of Michael. Trevor's gray eyes reminded her of Michael, too. But Trevor's hands, Trevor's eyes… they did something to her that Michael's didn't, making her body feel almost liquid.

"You two know this is a fast song, right?" Isabel heard Maria call. She twirled past them, with Adam trailing behind her.

She's right, Isabel realized with a start. It was as if when she looked at Trevor, everything had slowed down. Reluctantly she released him and got herself moving to the music that was actually playing.

"I wasn't trying to get you to stop," Maria said. Isabel spun toward her, and the two of them started dancing face-to-face, ignoring the guys.

"Not a problem," Isabel answered. She was almost glad to be free of Trevor's touch. It had been almost too intense. Maybe Alex was right to warn her about him. She had the feeling if he got too close, he could melt her into a little puddle on the floor. Had he felt anything even close to what she had?

Isabel shook her head, realizing she'd never wondered that about a guy before.

"What?" Maria asked.

"Nothing," Isabel called back. She felt someone grab her hand, and she was pulled into a spin.

"Hey, I was dancing with Maria," Isabel told Michael when she realized it was him who'd snagged her.

"And now you're dancing with me," Michael a

"I guess I'll have to make do with Alex," Maria said. She crooked her finger at him, and he danced his way over to her.

Isabel caught him giving Trevor a hard, evaluating look. Trevor noticed. He gave Alex the same stare right back. Not tonight, boys, she thought.

"I saw you making goo-goo eyes at my brother," Michael told Isabel, pulling her attention back to him. She could hear the pride in his voice when he said the word brother.

"So what if I was?" Isabel asked. But she didn't like the idea that she'd been so obvious. Obvious wasn't her style.

"I guess he's a good substitute if you can't have me," Michael teased. He dipped her, a big, dramatic dip that had the ends of her hair brushing the floor.

Isabel looked up and saw Adam staring down at her, laughing. She hauled herself back up, using Michael's arm for leverage. Then she reached over, took Adam by one shoulder and one hand, and tried to dip him. They both would have landed on the floor if Michael and Trevor hadn't steadied them.

This is the way it should always be, she thought. All of us together. Then she glanced around, realizing someone was missing.

Where was Max?

"Max, come dance with us!" Isabel shouted.

"In a minute," he called back. "I promised I'd call Liz and give her a live report from the party."

"Tell her we miss her," Maria called.

Max nodded, then wove his way through the crowd and over to the spiral staircase. He took the steps two at a time. The apartment was empty except for a couple making out on Adam's air mattress. Max ignored them. It wasn't like they'd be listening in on his conversation. He could set off a grenade in here and they wouldn't notice.

He headed for a phone in the kitchen, then paused as he got a flicker of interest from the consciousness. He deepened his co

Max sank down to the floor and leaned his head against the wall, deepening the co

"Max, I need to talk to you." Alex's voice sounded so far away, almost inaudible under the music. The music. The music that felt more a part of Max than his own heartbeat.

"Now, Max," Alex insisted.

Reluctantly Max turned down the volume on his co

But it was a different song than when he came upstairs, he realized. And the couple on the air mattress had disappeared.

"How long have I been up here?" he muttered.

"At least an hour," Alex answered. He sat down next to Max. "There's something I've got to tell you. I should have told you before, but I, stupidly, wanted to wait and try to get more info first."

Max felt his muscles tighten when he took in the splotches of gray in Alex's aura. "So what's the deal? Or should we get the others before you start?"

Alex shook his head. "I was actually waiting until I had a chance to talk to you alone," he admitted. Then he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, opalescent stone that shone with a blue-green light.

A shudder ran through Max's body as a burst of joy and loss from the consciousness exploded inside him. "It's another one of the Stones of Midnight," he whispered.

"Yeah. This is what gave me the power to come through the wormhole." Alex hesitated for a second, clenching his fist tight around the Stone, then rushed on. "I don't think Trevor came to earth to have some family reunion with Michael. I think he came for the Stone. And I think he would have killed me to get it."

Max's first thought was for Michael. If what Alex said was true, it would rip Michael apart.

"Wait-what makes you think it was Trevor?" Max demanded. "You didn't actually see him or anything, did you? Couldn't there have been a third being in the wormhole?"

Alex closed his eyes and rubbed them with his free hand. "Yeah, I guess it's possible."

He opened his eyes, the gray spots in his aura darkening until they were almost black.

"But Max, when I'm near Trevor, I get scared. I feel like an idiot admitting it. But it's the truth. I get this physical fear response, and I'm sure it's because I'm picking up all these subtle, subliminal clues that Trevor is the one who was trying to kill me that night."

Yellow lines of fear snaked across Alex's aura. Just talking about Trevor freaks Alex out, Max realized. And Alex didn't freak out all that easily.

"I was thinking maybe you could try and get some background on Trevor from the consciousness," Alex continued.