But he didn't have time to come up with something better. He'd have to do it on his own, too, without the consciousness. He'd need all their strength later… and it still might not be enough to survive opening the wormhole.
He shoved the thought away. Right now, all you have to do is move some molecules, he told himself. Nothing you haven't done before. Except this time he'd be trying to re-form himself. Michael wouldn't be there to do it for him.
Max focused on his body, on their body. He could feel all eight of their hearts beating. He visualized the museum, picking the exact spot he wanted them to go, then he gave their molecules a mighty shove, scattering them like pool balls after the break.
He felt himself flying apart, his molecules mixing with the molecules of Liz, Michael, Alex, Isabel, Maria, Adam, and Cameron. No, more than that-mixing with the molecules that made up the world. Everything was molecules, and he was everything.
His consciousness, his Maxness, felt as if it was disappearing. For a moment he fought it, resisting the pull toward oneness, then he abandoned himself to it, throwing himself into the void. So this is freedom was the last thought he was able to form.
'That was so cool!' Maria cried.
Max opened his eyes, feeling shaky with relief. He'd done it. He didn't know how, but he'd done it. All eight of them were standing in the museum's little coffee shop.
Liz shook her head. 'It should have been impossible. How could you have re-formed us when your own brain was in pieces?'
'You even put my leg back the right way,' Cameron added. She kicked her leg out a few times. 'No broken bone.'
'And you managed to bring our clothes,' Michael said, 'What a guy'
'I didn't bring the Jeep, though,' Max answered. 'I guess I'll have to tell Dad that Isabel left the keys in it again and someone stole it.' He glanced over at his sister. She had her eyes lowered, and he could tell she hadn't even heard what he'd said. She just needs a little decompression time, he thought.
'I have a theory-well, not about the clothes part, but about the other part. Want to hear my theory?' Maria asked. She bounced back and forth on her toes, obviously enjoying an adrenaline high.
Max smiled at her. 'I would love to hear your theory.' In fact, there was nothing he'd like more. He wanted to stand here for a minute and hang with his friends like a normal person.
'There are some massage therapists who believe memory is stored in the body, not just in the brain,' Maria explained. 'Supposedly they can help people tap into a repressed memory just by touching them in the right place. Anyway, I think maybe our molecules remembered where they belonged.'
'Either that or the molecule fairy put them back together for us,' Alex said.
'Molecule fairy?' Adam repeated, a faint frown on his face.
Max was struck by just how few days Adam had had in the real world. He had a lot of lost time to make up for. Max promised himself he'd help him do it.
'Adam, there's something you have to know about Alex,' Michael told him. 'He's a moron.'
Everyone laughed except Isabel. 'So what do we do now?' she asked, her voice harsh.
Max rubbed the back of his neck. 'The wormhole,' he answered. 'I don't think we have any choice.' He braced himself for another round of protests. They didn't come. Probably because they'd all gotten a firsthand look at how phenomenally powerful DuPris was, how impossible it would be for them to come up with a plan to defeat him.
'When?' Liz asked, wrapping her arms around her waist.
'As soon as we can figure out a way to catch DuPris a little off guard,' Max answered. 'Any ideas?'
'We could all dress up like hookers,' Alex suggested, voice flat.
'I think we should eat, get some rest, then meet up and start working on a plan,' Liz said.
'We don't have time for that,' Michael answered, his voice grim. 'Look!'
Max followed Michael's gaze and saw a network of veins forming a few feet away. 'DuPris followed us!' he cried.
'Not just DuPris,' Michael shot back. And Max realized there were two other bodies beginning to form-the hunters.
'How long will it take you to open the wormhole?' Alex demanded.
'I don't know,' Max admitted.
'Go upstairs and start the process,' Liz ordered. 'Ray's bedroom is pretty much over the coffee shop. We'll keep DuPris in here. You open the hole above him.'
'How are you going-' Max began to protest.
'Let us worry about that!' Liz exclaimed. 'Now go!'
Max ran for the staircase. Liz checked on DuPris. His organs had formed, but he still had no eyes. 'Michael, Isabel, Adam, make all of us look like DuPris!' she cried.
'What good will that do?' Isabel yelled.
'I don't know. But we have to try something, and maybe we can confuse the hunters,' Liz explained in a rush. 'They won't attack us if they think there's a possibility we're DuPris.'
Adam stepped up in front of her and put his hands on her face. She felt her flesh begin to shift, her bones softening and re-forming in a new configuration. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Michael working on Cameron. She glanced in the other direction. Isabel already had Alex and Maria looking exactly like DuPris.
'Done,' Adam announced.
'Do yourself. Hurry!' Liz urged. Flesh was covering DuPris's body and the long, thin frames of the bounty hunters. But DuPris's eye sockets were still empty, and the dozens of little bumps that were the bounty hunters' eyes hadn't formed yet.
'Now what?' Isabel asked.
'Now we try to buy Max some time,' Liz answered. She forced herself to stand right next to DuPris, and she was the first thing he looked at when his eyes formed.
'I'm tired of games,' he told her. He reached for her throat.
'Are you two lumps going to stand there while he attacks me?' she yelled at the bounty hunters, striving for DuPris's arrogant tone. 'Kill him!'
The bounty hunters responded immediately, so fast on their long legs. One of them grabbed DuPris by the hair.
'Touch me again and I'll turn you into ash right now,' DuPris barked. The bounty hunter let go. DuPris pointed at Liz. 'That one is an imposter. Destroy it!'
'Both of them are impostors!' another voice that sounded like DuPris's called from behind her. 'Leave them and follow me!'
The hunters hesitated, looking at each other. Then one moved up to DuPris and one moved up to Liz. It leaned close, closer.
Hurry up, Max, she thought. She squeezed her eyes shut as the hunter began using its mouth tentacles to explore her face.
Max felt the consciousness pulling the power out of him, stretching it out and up as they frantically tried to construct a tunnel between his world and theirs.
He knew only part of the power for the wormhole had to come from him. The power of the consciousness would create one piece of the tunnel.
