"We're right here, Max. We're all here with you," Liz exclaimed. "Stay with us. Stay with me."

And without thinking about it, without deciding to do it, Max was up on his feet. Flying through the brilliant white light, the snowflakes whizzing past him faster and faster until they were nothing but blurs.

Then the light began to fade, and he could see he was speeding down a tunnel. His bed stood at the end, so far away it looked as tiny as a box of matches. Liz, Isabel, Alex, and Maria, small as dolls, gathered close around it, staring down at Max's body.

My body, Max thought. How can that be my body?

He was rushing straight toward the body on the bed until he was so close, he could see the droplets of sweat on the body's forehead, see the tiny splotches of blood on the body's lips. Then he slammed into the body-his body-and melded with it. He could feel the sheets crumpled beneath him. The pillow soft under his head. The air rasping in his lungs as he breathed. Liz's hand holding his.

"Focus on the crystals, Max. Connect to the collective consciousness," Liz urged.

The collective consciousness. This time the words brought back a rush of memory. He was going through his akino, his life change ceremony. If he didn't connect with the collective consciousness of his home planet, he would die.

And he'd thought that was what was going to happen because he couldn't make the connection without the communication crystals stored on his parents' spaceship. The ship kept in a secret compound, surrounded by guards with machine guns.

He turned his head slightly, locking eyes with Isabel. "You found the ship?" he asked his sister, his voice cracking. But he already knew the answer. He held the communication crystals in his hand. That was the proof. "Where's Michael?" he croaked out. "Ray?" They'd gone into the compound with Isabel, so they should be here, too.

"Not now," Isabel answered, her voice tight. "Make the connection, Max. Hurry!"