As soon as the message ended, Max could feel his veins close back up. He rubbed his eyes with his sleeve, and his vision cleared a little.

"Max, you've got to tell us what's happening," Alex demanded, grasping his shoulder.

"The consciousness-" Max spat, tasting blood in his mouth. "The consciousness wants Isabel to make the connection. If she doesn't-"

Max felt dozens of holes open up in his stomach. Hot acid rushed out. He fell onto his side and curled his knees to his chest as if that could somehow protect him from the pain.

"I'll try to heal him," Adam told Liz, rushing over to Max's side.

"I wouldn't do that," DuPris advised calmly over Max's wails of agony. "If you connect to him, the consciousness will be able to use you for motivation, too." He slowly walked toward them, the usual smug smile on his lips.

"Adam, wait," Liz instructed, holding out a hand. "Motivation? What are you talking about? Do you know what's going on here?" she demanded.

DuPris turned his gaze on her, his cold green eyes sending a shiver down her spine. Liz forced herself to keep looking at him. She knew DuPris enjoyed getting a reaction, and she was determined not to give him one. Alex, Adam, and Maria moved into a tight knot around her, joining Liz in the face-off.

"Isn't it clear?" DuPris said. "Your friend over there is being tortured by the consciousness."

"But he's part of the consciousness," Maria protested.

"Oh, little bunny. So innocent," DuPris said. He reached out and tugged on one of Maria's curls. Maria didn't flinch.

Good for you, Liz thought. She found Maria's hand and gave it a squeeze.

"The consciousness cares nothing for the individuals who form it," DuPris continued with a quick shake of his head. "It benefits the consciousness if Isabel joins it. If it has to torture Max over there to get the result it wants, so be it."

"What are we supposed to do?" Maria cried, looking down at Max, who was choked with pain. Liz felt like she could feel everything he was going through in her own body. She needed to make his pain stop. Now.

"Listen to him," Trevor called from Isabel's side. "The consciousness is evil."

"Let me illustrate," DuPris said. "Say I'm the consciousness, and he is one of the unfortunate ones who have made the connection." DuPris nodded toward Adam. "If his death benefits me, I simply-"

DuPris whipped the Stone out of his pocket and aimed it at Adam, and before Liz could move, before she could scream, a laser of purple-green light speared out of the Stone and into Adam's chest.

He crumpled to the floor like a wet rag. Liz felt a cry well up in her throat, but it just stayed there, choking her, bringing tears to her eyes. She dropped down beside Adam and rolled him onto his back. A perfectly round hole went all the way through his body. Through his heart.

"You killed him!" Liz screamed. She wrapped Adam tightly in her arms and pulled him to her chest. "Oh, God, you killed him."

DuPris smiled and shrugged nonchalantly. "Just proving my point."

FOURTEEN

Trevor would not let himself look at Adam. If he did, he knew the revulsion, horror, and hatred churning through him would show on his face. And he didn't want DuPris to know what he was feeling.

"You see? The leader is right," he shouted. "The consciousness cares nothing for the individual."

"The leader is right?" Michael repeated, disgust coating his words. There were tears in Michaels eyes as he looked at Adam, but he never left Isabel's side. "I can't believe this is happening," he said.

Trevor leaned across Isabel, bringing his face as close to Michael's as he could. "Listen to me," he whispered. "I'm taking DuPris down. But I need your help."

Michael's face was all skepticism until he looked into Trevor's eyes. He must have read the determination there because seconds later his expression shifted.

"You got it," Michael said.

"Good. Let's start by slamming him with the ship." Trevor grabbed Michael by the wrist. The connection was almost instantaneous-a brother thing.

Trevor kept one eye on DuPris as he and Michael began building a power ball between them. The leader was clearly enjoying the reactions he'd gotten from Liz, Alex, and Maria. He wasn't paying any attention to Trevor and Michael.

But Alex was. He shot a suspicious glance at Trevor. Michael saw the look. He nodded at the ship, then at DuPris.

Alex nodded back. He bent down and urged Liz to her feet, pulling her away from Adam's body, then he wrapped Maria and Liz in a three-way hug, backing them away from DuPris as if they were just in mourning.

"Let's do this thing," Michael whispered, feeling like they'd stored up enough power. Trevor nodded almost imperceptibly. "On three. One. Two. Three."

Trevor and Michael shot the power ball at the ship, picking it up and hurling it across the room. It knocked DuPris to the ground before he realized what was happening.

Instantly DuPris used his power to throw the ship away from him. But in that one instant Trevor and Michael were on him. Michael went for the gut, so Trevor took the head. He made a connection and started feeling around for an artery in DuPris's brain.

He instantly felt a pinching in his own brain-case and realized DuPris had already found a grip on him.

Trevor kept one hand on DuPris's forehead, keeping the connection, squeezing, squeezing. Brilliant dots exploded in front of his eyes, but he ignored them. With his free hand he began feeling around for the Stone. It had to have fallen out of DuPris's fingers when the ship hit him. If it hadn't, he and Michael would be corpses by now.

Where is it? Where is it? Trevor raced his fingers across the floor. Nausea swept through him. Another few seconds and the pressure in his brain was going to make him pass out. DuPris, on the other hand, was fine. Trevor didn't know what DuPris had done, but the artery Trevor was squeezing felt like it had somehow been encased in steel.

Trevor heard a thud behind him. He was pretty sure it was the sound of Michael being thrown off DuPris. He was on his own now. Trevor grabbed for a different artery, hoping DuPris hadn't been able to protect them all. But it was steel hard, too.

Patches of blackness narrowed Trevor's vision. He turned his power on his own brain, trying to heal the damage DuPris had done while still feeling for the Stone. If he didn't get the Stone, he was going to die. They were all going to die.

Then two things happened very quickly. A heavy work boot crunched down on DuPris's throat.

"I like to do things the old-fashioned way," Alex announced.

And then Trevor felt the Stone being pressed into his palm. "Is this what you're looking for?" Marias voice asked.

Some of DuPris's attention had to have shifted to repairing the damage in his neck because the pressure in Trevor's brain lessened. Focus, he ordered himself. Focus.

He pressed the Stone down on DuPris's chest and detonated its power.

The world went white and silent.

When Trevor regained consciousness, he was lying on the ground. He shoved himself into a sitting position.

"Where's DuPris?" he demanded groggily. "What happened?"

The realization that Liz, Maria, and Alex were flecked with blood and tissue and pieces of bone hit him. He staggered to his feet. "What happened? Are you all right? Did DuPris teleport?"

He took a step forward, and his foot slipped on something squishy. Trevor looked down and saw what appeared to be a section of intestine.

"Um, that would be DuPris," Maria said, her voice flat and emotionless.

"Necessary sacrifice," Trevor muttered. Unlike Adam. Adam, who had posed no threat to DuPris or the rebellion. Adam, who had been killed for… for sport.