Almost there, she thought. Then she caught a flicker of blue out of the corner of her eye and a splash of brick red. Their auras were becoming visible to her. They swirled together-and it happened. Michael and Maria made the connection.
She raised her eyes to Michael's. She raised her eyes. Not DuPris.
Before DuPris had a chance to realize what had happened, Maria shot her hand to the left and grabbed Isabel by the arm.
An infusion of Maria's sparking blue aura and Michael's brick red one shot into Isabel's body. She could almost taste it in her blood.
She tried to wiggle her fingers and smiled when she was successful. She reached for Max, grabbed his hand, and felt his aura rushing through her, too, giving her a blast of big brother protection along with the smell of cedar. DuPris didn't know who he was dealing with here. When the six of them made a connection, they were unstoppable.
She'd missed Max, missed all of them so much. She felt as if she'd been away from them forever. But she was back!
Hi, Liz, Isabel thought when she felt Liz's amber aura join the rainbow ripping through her. She took a deep breath and caught a touch of Liz's exotic ylang-ylang in the perfume of their connection.
She was totally losing it, but she didn't care. They were going to shatter DuPris's hold on them. And then they'd be free. If she could, she would have done her trademark back flip into a full split. Free! Whee!
'The puppets are trying to take over the theater,' DuPris said dryly. 'How entertaining.'
Give us one more minute, and you'll see how entertaining it is, Isabel thought. She realized DuPris might take it as a challenge if he chose that minute to read her thoughts, but let him. She was ready for a fight.
Alex's vivid orange aura zoomed into the mix, trailing the scent of almonds. The force of it, of him, almost knocked Isabel off her feet. Who wouldn't be ready for a fight with Alex on their side? The boy might not have any powers, but he did not know the meaning of the word surrender.
Isabel let out a whoop, glorying in her ability to open her mouth and make a sound. She was regaining control by the moment. The room began to fill with music, a concert made up of the music of their dream orbs. She wasn't the only one who was back. They were all back!
Alex threw out an image to the group-a cartoon man in a black-and-white-striped uniform swimming away from Alcatraz, his arms moving as fast as a planes propellers. Alex knew no one had been held prisoner on the island for years, but hey, why be so literal?
Isabel responded with a picture of herself in her cheerleader uniform, jumping up and down and yelling her head off. Typical Isabel. Had to send a picture of herself. But there was no bitterness to the thought. Here, in the connection, he could open himself up to her without their history weighing him down. He could enjoy the pure, essential Isabel, with all their mutual crap stripped away.
She sent out another picture of herself, this time jumping so high, she touched the sun. Yeah, baby, he thought.
Michael followed up with a surfer shooting a curl. The big cheeseball. Alex shot him back a grinning guy in a T-shirt that said Totally Tubular on the front. With each image the power of the connection grew stronger. They were charging the battery. Gassing up. Amazing that this little cornball image exchange would turn them into a well-oiled fighting machine.
Adam cringed as Max hurled out the image of a tiger stalking through the jungle, yellow eyes watchful.
This was all too much, too big, too loud. The colors of all the auras clashed with the pictures everyone kept throwing. And the heavy perfume swirling around him felt like it was replacing all the oxygen in the air.
He started to pull his hand away from Liz's, but she held tight. She let an image slowly unfurl in front of him. The two of them in her backyard, just sitting on the grass under the night sky.
Michael sent him a picture of the two of them playing crazy eights in his compound cell. Isabel waited until that image had completely faded, then sent over the acid green clouds of the home planet they shared. Max added a view of the earth from space. Maria showed him a butterfly breaking free of a cocoon, wings still wet.
They wanted him to be a part of this and not just to protect him, he realized. He let his own aura stretch out, adding a band of yellow to the ribbons of color tying them together.
He took a deep breath, allowing himself to appreciate each scent in the air, including the smell of green leaves that he somehow knew was coming from him. Then he selected an image and let it soar out. He smiled as the two pieces of golden brown toast popped out of the shiny silver toaster.
His smile widened as Alex responded with the image of all seven of them eating toast together. Loaves and loaves of perfect toast.
Liz could actually taste the buttery toast in her mouth. This felt so right, all of it.
'Are you about finished?' DuPris asked. The image of the whole group eating toast shriveled as he paced in front of them. 'It seems that it's already time for another lesson in New Reality 101.'
She tightened her grip on Max and Adam. They were still connected, and the connection was still strong. But not strong enough to take on DuPris. Not yet. She could feel it.
Liz chose another image-Max healing her after she got shot at the Crashdown. That's where it all started. That's what brought them all together, even Adam, in a way, because that day they all started down the road that led to him.
She catapulted out the image, but she couldn't feel a response. It didn't reach them, not even Max, she realized.
'I hold in my hand one of the three Stones of Midnight,' DuPris lectured. 'Its power is greater than anything you have ever experienced. Until now.'
Liz felt her stomach lurch, and she realized the house, the entire house, was rising into the air. A moment later it fell with a shuddering crash that sent Liz's teeth slamming together. She swallowed and tasted blood in her mouth.
'That was just a little demonstration. Very little,' he continued. 'Ready for another one?'
Yeah, Liz thought. Bring it to us. That will bring the-
She stopped herself from completing the thought in case DuPris was listening.
'I can feel the peanut of power you've got growing over there. Want to see what it can do?' he asked. 'I think we should all see what it can do.' He yanked Maria out of the group.
Isabel and Michael immediately closed the gap, but Liz felt cold without the warmth of Maria's aura around her. The music of the connection sounded out of key without her note. The perfume smelled too sharp and spicy.
There's still a lot of strength left, she told herself. But she felt so powerless seeing Maria standing next to DuPris, her eyes blank and dead.
'Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt her,' he announced. 'She's just going to be the prize in a game I call bunny, bunny, who's got the bunny. Here's how it works. You use your power to keep me from taking back full control. I use my power to make you the puppet people. You win, you can leave. You lose, and the bunny gets burned.' He patted Maria on the head. 'And you'll do the burning.'
No, Liz thought. Not that. If she did anything to hurt Maria, she wouldn't want to live herself.
DuPris turned to Adam. 'You remember the rules, don't you? You and I played once before. Or was it twice?'
