The yell reverberated through the woods. Jarod was down the tree and working his way towards the sound almost before its echo faded. He thought he heard a female voice yell ‘Luke’, right before it. If Liz and Luke were down here…

He heard a grunt and something knocking against a tree just ahead of him. Jarod ducked down and wormed his way forward. There was a man with his back towards him, working on something on the ground. As he shifted, Jarod saw the unconscious body of a girl. Liz!

With a yell of rage, Jarod jumped up and power dived into the man. They went down in a tangle of arms, and legs. Jarod was first to recover his orientation and took a quick look around for Luke. A pair of tied feet just in sight, on the other side of a tree, seemed to indicate that Luke had met with similar treatment. Jarod’s first intent was to grab onto the man before he could escape.

Imagine his surprise, when the man turned on him, and he found himself looking into the enraged eyes of a teenager, not much older than seventeen. He locked onto his hand and the kid grinned at him. A grin without mirth. Whatever Jarod was going to say was lost in darkness.

***

Grand Canyon, southern rim just east of the visitors center:

Max was the first out of the Jeep. He stood looking down and out over the vast black depths of the canyon. The others bunched up with him. Maria and Isabel, being a little nervous at being so close to the edge, took the opportunity to cling to Michael and Alex.

Michael shook his head. “Even if we found a trail, and ran all the way down, it would take us over an hour. Can’t you pick up ‘anything’ Max?”

Max stood tense with the strain of trying to do just that. Isabel offered to help. “What if I hold your hand? Maybe you could use some of my energy.”

“Hey, yeah! We can all hold hands. We’ll be your battery like.” Alex offered.

Michael shrugged, “Hey it can’t hurt to try.” Maria hugged him tighter, gratefully.

Max held out his hands and Isabel took hold on one side, then as an after thought, put Alex between her and Max. Michael did the same with Maria. “H,A,H,A again.” Alex muttered with a nervous laugh.

Max didn’t have to consciously try to link them this time. The connection was immediate and strong. There was no doubts or second thoughts in this group. They were all united in wanting to help Liz. Max reached out mentally searching for Liz. He could feel the direction she was in but could not reach ‘her’. The others felt the effort he was putting out and concentrated in adding their own ‘whatever’ to his.

Max felt frustration building up in him, along with the incredible power that was feeding into the connection. He felt so helpless. There, right there was where Liz had to be. Oh if only they could be down ‘there’ right now!

Suddenly the world reeled and a wave of weakness swept over him.

“Oh my God!” Maria fell to her knees, holding her head as dizziness hit, and looked around. “How did we get here! How did I get here?” She looked up at Max. “How did we do that?”

Isabel and Alex held each other up, until Alex’s dizziness and Isabel’s weakness faded. Alex looked around. “This is a trip! Why…how…What are we doing here?” He finally finished. Pale faced, Isabel wanted to know just that, and more.

Michael knelt down and wrapped one arm around Maria, hiding his own weak knees. Not willing for anyone to see how it had effected him also. He looked up at Max, shrugged and grinned. “I don’t know what we did either, you were driving.”