He reluctantly took his hand away, silently blaming himself for everything from having gone away for the weekend to being the reason they were stranded on Earth. Self-recrimination was always his first thought when anything happened to his family or friends.
«Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown.»
It was that line from Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 2 that
often came to Max's mind in situations like these. He had never actually read the play, but he was familiar enough with the quote that he had heard one day in English class. Ever since he had found out that he was literally the king of his home planet he had truly come to understand its meaning.
And now I want to bring a child up in this mess, he thought, once again doubting his own abilities even though his apparent weekend success story was in the living room watching television.
«What happened to you?» Maria broke through his thoughts, referring to the dirty state of his still unchanged clothes.
«Long story," he replied.
Turning to Michael, Max's expression asked what to do next.
«Everyone take a point along the circle," Michael said, accepting the mantle of command. He passed out a stone to each of his friends as they filed into place, holding one for Liz until she came into the room. «Remember, all of our thoughts need to be with Isabel to bring her back.»
Kyle was the only one of the group unfamiliar with the ritual, since he had not taken part in it when Michael had been ill. That was back when Kyle was still considered one of the «bad guys," when, in truth, he had only been an innocent bystander. «What is it exactly that we're doing?» he asked, examining the stone that was placed in his hand.
«Restoring the balance," Michael abruptly replied.
«Oh.» Kyle was still totally unclear. «Okay.»
«Cliff's Notes version," Maria built on her boyfriend's non-answer. «Michael thinks there's something wrong
with the energy in Isabel's body. The stones carry the same energy. We concentrate on Isabel. We're taken to some higher plane of existence where we get her and bring her back.»
«Higher plane of existence?» He worried if where they were going was sanctioned by Buddha.
«Just concentrate on Isabel and you'll get back fine," she replied. «I hope.»
Kyle tried to ignore her last comment as Liz came into the room, immediately realized what was happening, and took her place on the empty spot along the medicine wheel.
Michael handed Liz the last remaining healing stone and picked up the bowl. River Dog had claimed that water was a substance the aliens and humans had in common and was used to bond them in the ritual. Taking a sip, he then handed the bowl to Max on his left. Max also took a drink from the bowl and passed it to Kyle, who went along with the ritual by passing it to Liz. The bowl finally ended with Maria, who placed it on the nightstand beside her, leaving a few sips of water in the bowl, figuring they might need it for Isabel when they revived her.
Now came the hardest part. River Dog had taught them all a chant to accompany the ritual. Although the phrase had been responsible for saving his life and thus the sound of it was permanently emblazoned into his mind, Michael was not familiar enough with the Native American language to know the exact words or their meaning. Sounding the words out carefully, he began the chant, hoping the pronunciation came close enough to the correct phrase. «Taa-KAH-shalah BEY-ta-wa ah-]AH…»
He indicated to the others that they should join in, hoping it was their joined concentration behind the words that had mattered more than the words themselves, which he knew he was butchering by even attempting to recite them without a proper translator available.
«Taa-KAH-shalah BEY-ta-wa ah-]AH…»
«Taa-KAH-shalah BEY-ta-wa ah-]AH
«Taa-KAH-shalah BEY-ta-wa ah-]AH…»
They continued the chant, each reaching out to Isabel separately and together as one. With eyes closed, they tried to find their friend, restore the balance, and bring her back. Intensity crept into their voices as they continued to search for their lost member, without any response. But instead of images of Isabel, each of them only saw the darkness behind their sealed eyes.
Max realized it had not taken anywhere near this long to locate Michael when he was ill. Peering out, he looked down to his sister and saw no change in her prone body. «Taa-KAH-shalah BEY-ta-wa ah-]AH," he said even louder, willing the others to match him in both volume and force. He did not care that Jason was in the other room and could probably hear them. His sister's life could be at stake, and worrying about the possible discovery of their alien secret by a twelve-year-old was not high on his priority scale.
«Taa-KAH-shalah BEY-ta-wa ah-]AH…»
«Max," he heard Michael's voice, but ignored it.
«Taa-KAH-shalah BEY-ta-wa ah-]AH» he repeated the chant again, knowing that he was the only one in the room still speaking.
«Max, it's not working," Michael gently insisted as Max
felt the people on either side of him already moving away from the circle.
Opening his eyes, Max confirmed that all of his friends already had a look of resignation on their faces.
«Maybe we did need to use a circle of rocks… I could find River Dog," Michael suggested. «If we knew the exact words…»
«No," Max said. «It won't work.»
«It was just a guess," Liz quickly went the positive route. «There's probably a lot more we can try.»
But Max barely heard her as he moved in to protective mode. «Kyle, was Isabel like this when you found her?»
«Actually, she was sitting up," he explained. «In a very uncomfortable-looking position. I laid her down.»
«What was the room like?» Max continued. «Was anything out of place?»
«No," Kyle admitted. «It pretty much looked the same way it does now, except for the bed and rope. Oh, and I borrowed your baseball bat. Hope you don't mind.»
Maria flashed him a confused look.
«And you didn't move anything else?» Max asked, ignoring the last part.
«Actually," Maria chimed in, «I did find her yearbook on the floor. I put it on the desk.»
Both Max's and Michael's faces lit up at the clue, although no one else in the room knew the significance of the yearbook.
«Why didn't you say anything?» Michael asked in an accusing tone.
Before Maria had a chance to express her confusion, Max cleared things up for her and the rest of their friends. «Isabel
uses her yearbook when she dreamwalks on our classmates.» He bent over his sister and noticed that her eyelids were fluttering slightly. Max knew that this was a result of the rapid eye movements experienced when people dream. «Was it open to a specific page when you found it?»
«No. It was closed," Maria replied, picking up the book and seeing the one beneath it. «Look at this. A book on dream analysis.»
«Okay, we know what's going on. Now we just have to figure out who she was dreamwalking-," Max said.
«No, we don't," Kyle interrupted. «It's me.»
Kyle proceeded to explain his previous request that Isabel help fix his dreams and the reason why he had asked. He detailed every bit of his sleeping problem and his conversations with Isabel.
«Why didn't you say something sooner?» Michael said in his normal accusatory way.
«She said she wasn't going to do it because it was too dangerous," Kyle replied defensively. «It never occurred to me that she would try it without telling anyone.»
«She does have a tendency to act on her own," Max said. «And I've never known her to back down when a friend's life could be at stake.»
«Wait a minute.» Kyle froze. «I just want to be clear on this. Are you saying Isabel's currently trapped in my mind?»
Max's face was stone as he nodded.
«Well, get her out!» Kyle yelled.
Hoping to break the tension, Maria walked up to him and yelled in his ear, «Don't worry, Isabel. We're working on it!»