Liz felt a shudder course through Adam, and the connection grew a little shakier. We're weakening, and we haven't even really started yet, she thought.
DuPris beamed and opened his arms wide. 'Okay, ready, one, two, three-go!'
She braced herself for a blast of the Stone's power. It didn't come.
Don't think about it, she ordered herself. Build up the connection. That's the only thing that matters.
But how? She turned her attention to the bands of color binding them together. She didn't know what to do exactly, but she had to try something. She imagined their auras turning to metal, using all her will to make them hard and strong, impenetrable.
And it began to work. She didn't know how. She suspected that the connection helped her to access a power that she'd always had, maybe locked in one of those mysterious pieces of the human brain that seemed to have no function.
Liz felt the others join with her, struggling to turn the rays of light into armor. When the armor was finished, DuPris would have no control over them. She hoped.
She discovered it was most effective to concentrate on reinforcing her own aura. She focused her mind on the bands of amber, working her way inch by inch, not allowing anything to distract her.
Until she noticed the beads of moisture on the piece of aura she had just finished. The droplets gleamed with the Stone's purple-green light.
And they ate through the armor like acid.
Cameron stared at the ranch house. It had flown probably twenty feet in the air before it crashed. And it was a house. What the hell were they fighting in there?
Cameron sidled up to the closest window and peeked inside. The scene inside was utterly confusing. Michael and the others were surrounded by what looked like big sheets of metal that were being eaten away by acid or something. Cameron wasn't sure if that was good or bad.
Maria stood apart from them, and it was clear she'd entered the zombie zone. Clearly bad.
And there was a guy with oily, slicked-back hair holding a glowing stone. Obviously he's the one I should go after, she decided. She circled around to the back of the house, found an unlocked door, and slipped inside.
You have no weapon of any kind. You have no martial arts training. You don't even have very long fingernails. Just what are you planning to do? she asked herself as she made her way through the kitchen and down a dark hall. She had no answer.
'Honey, I'm home,' she muttered under her breath as she stepped up to the half-open door that she thought was the one she'd seen from outside. If she went in here, she should end up behind the oily-haired guy with about half the room between them.
At least until he turned around and threw her farther than he'd thrown the house.
Cameron knew if she stood there much longer, she'd wuss out. She shoved open the door and ran toward the man as fast as she could. She pretended the couch was a track hurdle and leaped over it.
Her outstretched leg slammed into the back of the guy's head and knocked him to the ground. Cameron landed beside him. Which was pretty much the end of her nonexistent plan.
The eroded metal surrounding the group clattered to the floor, and Michael stumbled forward. It took a second for him to realize that he had total control of his body again.
Immediately he whipped his head toward Maria. She was free, too, already holding on to Liz with both hands.
And DuPris? Michael spotted him lying on the floor next to… Cameron. What? When did she-Didn't matter. She was here, and somehow she'd managed to bring down DuPris.
But not for long. DuPris was already struggling to his feet, his eyes locked on her.
'Cameron, get over here!' Michael shouted. And then he felt his stomach clench into a ball. Her right leg was twisted at an impossible angle. It had to be broken.
'Cover me!' Michael shouted. Without waiting for an answer, he hurled himself at Cameron. He wrapped his arms around her and rolled them both across the floor. A bolt of sizzling green-purple lightning struck about a foot away from them.
'I said, cover me!' he yelled.
Max didn't want to kill DuPris, but if it was DuPris or Michael-'Listen up, everyone!' he called. 'DuPris is the bunny.'
Instantly he felt a ball of power begin to form in the middle of the group. There wasn't time to let it get too big. Michael and Cameron couldn't wait for their backup. DuPris looked ready to hurl another lightning bolt. Max could see it forming.
'Okay, now!' he shouted. The air crackled as they hurled the ball at DuPris's head.
DuPris spun toward it and raised the ring. The ball exploded in a harmless shower of sparks-and DuPris turned back to Michael and Cameron, the new bolt of lightning fully formed in his hand.
'Michael, move!' Max shouted.
Michael pulled Cameron over in another roll-and they hit the wall.
DuPris drew back his arm.
A wave of coldness washed over Max. There was no time for another attack. He wasn't going to be able to save them.
A blast shook the room, brilliant white light filling every corner, dazzling Max's eyes. 'Michael, are you guys all right?' he shouted. 'Did you get hit?' He blinked rapidly, trying to clear his vision.
Two beings came into view, moving slowly across the living room toward DuPris. They were tall and thin, their legs and arms extremely long.
And their mouths… Max couldn't stop staring at their mouths. They were gaping holes lined with pencil-thick tentacles, tentacles that continuously waved from side to side as if tasting the air.
'The bounty hunters,' Maria breathed.
Game over, DuPris, Max thought. And guess what? You lose! Because the bounty hunters-our saviors-are about to take you back home for judgment. And finally, thank God, we will be safe. DuPris glanced over his shoulder and smiled with relief. 'It took you two long enough,' he complained. 'I've been waiting for over fifty years.'
DuPris knows the bounty hunters. They're not here to kill him. They're here to help him. The realization was like a fist to Max's kidneys. Another realization quickly followed-he was going to have to open the wormhole.
But not now. It was too dangerous without the element of surprise on his side. Right now, DuPris was all caught up in reaming out the hunters, but any second he could turn his attention back to the group. They could hardly hold off DuPris while he used the ring. There was no way they'd be able to fight him and these vicious- looking bounty hunters.
Max decided to use the momentary distraction of the hunters to reconnect the group.
'Everybody grab hands… now,' Max ordered.
The group quickly re-formed the circle-including Michael, who had Cameron cradled in his arms. She was connected now, too. An olive green aura had joined the colors wrapped around them.
Max sent out an image-a stream of molecules rushing from the ranch house all the way back to the UFO museum.
'Max, no!' Liz cried.
