The Rebel

audition, if you're interested in the position,' Michael answered.

But she could tell his heart wasn't in it. The boy was troubled. As soon as they were both settled in his car, she turned to him and said, 'Okay, come on. Tell Dr. Maria everything.'

'What?' Michael asked, looking at her like she was nuts.

'What?' she repeated, looking at him like he was nuts, mocking him.

Michael started the car and got in the line of vehicles moving out onto the street. He kept his eyes locked on the windshield.

'Oh, you want me to use my famous psychic powers.' Maria wiggled her fingers at him. 'I see Max. I see Trevor. I see you in the middle,' she intoned, trying to do some kind of Romanian gypsy accent.

'Max is practically forcing me to take sides against him,' Michael burst out. 'He won't even consider the possibility that the consciousness could be wrong about Trevor.'

'Max doesn't like to take chances with the safety of the group,' Maria reminded him. 'You know him-Mr. Responsibility.'

Michael got his turn at the driveway and pulled out onto the street. 'What he doesn't seem to get is that Trevor is my brother,' he answered. 'My brother isn't going to be a threat to the group.'

'You don't know that for sure,' Maria said as gently as she could. She felt so awful for Michael. He'd been wanting a real family his whole life. He should be in the midst of a party marathon, showing Trevor everything, doing brother stuff. But instead Michael's best friend-let's be real, practically Michael's other brother-was trying to convince Michael that his only living family member was a deranged killer.

'So you agree with Max?' Michael demanded. He screeched the car to a stop at a red light.

Maria shot out her hands and braced herself on the dashboard. 'I'm thinking you might be more dangerous,' she muttered. But at the hurt that she could see in Michael's gray eyes-the hurt he was working so hard to hide- she relented.

'I'm not sure what to think,' she admitted. She couldn't tell him that she was positive, absolutely positive, that Trevor was a wonderful guy-even though she knew that's what Michael wanted to hear. 'Alex and Max both seem pretty sure that there's some kind of-of problem. I just want us all to be careful until we figure out exactly what it is.'

'But you'll at least give him a chance?' Michael asked as he turned onto her street. 'That's all I ask, that you don't make any assumptions about him until you get to know him.'

'I will absolutely, totally give him a chance,' Maria promised. She had to do that much for Michael, even though her intuition was twanging away inside her, telling her it was a bad, bad idea.

Neither Alex nor Max was the type to jump to conclusions. If they both thought Trevor could be dangerous, they were probably right.

Michael swung into her driveway and stopped the car-a nice, gentle stop this time.

'You want to come in?' Maria asked. 'I promised Kevin I'd help him do a mock newspaper for social studies. You should hear his headlines about Magellan. He makes the guy sound like a comic book hero.'

'Sure, why not?' Michael answered. 'Although I was hoping I could talk you into making brownies or something for Trevor. I'm meeting up with him later.'

'We'll do that, too,' Maria said. She hopped out of the car, happy to have something nice to do for Michael's brother that wasn't potentially life threatening. 'Should I do my carob ones or the-'

'The other ones, definitely,' Michael said as he followed her into the house. 'Maybe with white vinegar icing.'

Maria made a gagging sound. 'It will keep Kevin from snagging any, at least,' she answered. 'Kevin, the clock's ticking,' she shouted. 'I told you, I'm not staying up until two A.M. like last time.'

'Maybe we beat him home,' Michael suggested.

'He should have been here at least half an hour ago. But it doesn't look like he came in and then went out again. It's way too neat.' Kevin usually started tossing things the second he hit the hall-backpack here, coat there, shoes on the coffee table. 'I guess I should check the fridge for a note, just in case he grew a completely new personality and left one.'

She hurried into the kitchen, Michael right behind her. She spotted a bright orange sheet of paper under one of the magnets. 'Color me amazed,' she said. She dropped her backpack on one of the kitchen chairs and grabbed the note.

She sank down on the kitchen floor as she read it. She didn't even think about the chair a few feet away from her.

'What?' Michael demanded.

The note fluttered like a hummingbird's wing as she handed it to him. She couldn't make her fingers stop shaking even when she knotted her hands together.

Michael read it out loud. 'You give me what I want. I give you what you want.' He sat down on the floor next to Maria. 'I don't get it.'

Maria swallowed hard. 'It's not from Kevin. I think it's from…' She stared down at her hands, not even able to look at Michael. How could she look at him when she was thinking what she was thinking? But what she was thinking was the only thing that made any sense.

'Michael, I think the note's from Trevor,' she finally said.

'What are you talking about?' Michael flipped the note over, then flipped it back. 'I don't see anything that-'

'Kevin?' Maria yelled sharply. 'Kevin!' The house was empty. 'Don't you get it?' Maria cried, what little self- control she had snapping. 'It's a ransom note! Don't you get it? Trevor kidnapped Kevin. He's not going to give Kevin back until we hand over the Stone!'

***

'I think Michael's right. We shouldn't necessarily trust the consciousness, at least not blindly,' Liz declared from the backseat of his car.

Thank God for Liz, Michael thought. And Adam. At least they were adding some sanity to the group. And Isabel was still doing her Switzerland impersonation-totally neutral so far. But Max, Maria, and Alex were in full-throttle Trevor-is-evil-incarnate mode.

'Can't you go any faster?' Maria cried, clearly a breath away from all-out hysteria.

Michael pressed the accelerator down a little harder. 'This car isn't exactly designed for desert driving,' he told her. 'But we're almost to the cave.'

'Kevin is going to be fine,' Max said from the shotgun seat.

'Yeah,' Alex agreed. 'Trevor's smart enough to know that he has to keep Kevin safe or he won't have any value as a bargaining chip.'

Maria let out a little moan. Alex winced. 'Sorry,' he told her. 'I was trying to be encouraging. I forgot to give you the nonstupid translation.'

'We should have taken the Jeep, too. I hate getting all squished,' Isabel complained. Then she looked over her shoulder at Maria. 'Sorry. I forgot to give you the non-self-centered translation.'

'It's better that we only took one car,' Michael said. 'I don't think it's a good idea to convoy to the cave. It could get noticed.'

It wasn't the real reason he'd wanted them all in one car. He didn't want anyone getting to Trevor without him. The only reason he'd even told them Trevor's whereabouts was so that Trevor could prove he was innocent.

'I don't know why you say that we shouldn't trust the consciousness,' Max said to Liz, although he said it without turning around to look at her. 'I mean, just because it interferes with us kissing-'

'That's not why,' Liz snapped. 'Have you forgotten what the consciousness did to you, Max? It used you as a killing machine. Don't try to pretend you weren't sickened when it made you attack DuPris because I know you were.'

'The consciousness also almost killed you,' Isabel added. 'It sucked out so much of your strength to open the wormhole that you almost died.'

Is she coming around to my side? Michael wondered.