by Jayne Castle
Drake glanced at Alice. “Tell me that you can swim.”
“I know the basics but I’m no expert,” Alice admitted. “All of my swimming has been done in pools.”
“What about Houdini?”
“I’ve seen him swim in a bathtub but I doubt that he’s ever been in the ocean.”
“Get one of the life preservers ready for him,” Drake said. “Attach it to my vest with that cord. Maybe he’ll figure out what to do if we end up in the water.”
Alice took the round preserver down from a nearby hook and connected it to Drake’s vest.
“Are we going into the water?” she asked quietly.
“Not if I can help it.”
The fierce current was growing stronger. The boat was hurtling toward the wall of fog that ringed the island. He searched for the major landmarks that indicated the entrance to Deception Cove, twin pillars of stone that formed a natural gate to the cove. He spotted them at last, rising out of the fog bank, but the narrow entrance was hidden by the thick, dark mist.
He knew he would have only one chance to break free of the underwater river that was sweeping them toward the island. If he miscalculated they would either go under or slam into the rocks.
He powered up the big flash-rock engines and leaned into the wheel, turning to port, searching for the very edge of the fierce current.
The water fought back but he was able to slip the cruiser to the side.
“Hang on,” he said.
“Already doing that,” Alice said. She clutched Houdini and the life preserver in one arm and gripped the nearest handhold.
He could feel the slight disruption caused by the cove current. He took advantage of it, pushing for one last burst of power from the laboring engines.
He hauled hard over on the wheel. The cruiser responded by popping out of the rip and into the cove current. The momentum took the boat straight into the fog bank.
A sudden darkness descended. The dark fog seethed with energy. An eerie calm enveloped the cruiser. The current slackened. A strange, muffled silence fell.
“It’s like we stepped into another dimension,” Alice whispered.
Drake throttled back until the boat was gliding slowly through the fog, skimming over the glassy, smooth surface of the water.
“I can’t see a thing,” Alice said, her voice tight with tension.
Cautiously, Drake took off his glasses and looked at the darkly illuminated world around them.
“I can,” he said quietly.
It was a realm lit by all the colors of midnight. The mist still enveloped them, but when viewed through his other vision it was no longer impenetrable. Instead the stuff was thin and wispy. If it weren’t for the currents of hot energy, it would have been like any other light fog. He could make out the rocky pillars that guarded the entrance to the cove.
Alice turned her head very quickly, searching his face. “It’s dark light energy, isn’t it? I can sense it.”
“Yes. I’ve never seen it manifest like this, though.”
Alice reached up to touch Houdini. “It feels ominous, as if a storm is coming in.”
He could sense it, too, Drake thought. The rising chaos of a greater darkness that would coalesce into something more dangerous when the last of the daylight vanished.
“We need to get settled on shore before night falls,” he said. “Got a feeling this fog will get worse in an hour or so.”
“I think you’re right. Can you actually see through this stuff?”
“Partially. I can see where I’m going now but that might not be possible later. What do you see?” he asked.
“I can’t see anything beyond the bow of the boat.”
He reduced the power further and motored slowly through the entrance to the Cove. Once they passed the stone columns, they emerged from the fog. The water remained calm.
“That’s a relief,” Alice said. “I can see the beach now.”
Drake cruised toward the crescent of sand that edged the quiet cove. When he could not go any further without running aground, he cut the engines and lowered the anchor.
He studied the half moon of a beach and the dark, heavy woods beyond. The twilight drenched the scene in thick shadows.
He looked at Alice.
“Welcome back to Rainshadow,” he said.
“A second honeymoon on this damned island,” Alice said. “What could possibly go wrong?”
Chapter 10
THEY USED THE DINGHY TO TAKE SOME EMERGENCY equipment and camping supplies ashore. The fog was still hovering out over the water but it was moving in slowly, swallowing the cove as it approached.
Houdini, evidently oblivious to the ominous mist, quickly discovered the pleasure of surfing with a life preserver. He frolicked in the shallow water, clinging to the device with his two front paws while he paddled with his hind legs. Every so often he caught a small lapping wave that carried him up onto the sand. He chortled madly and immediately set out to catch another wave.
Alice took one last look at the dark fog offshore and turned to watch Drake establish camp for the night. She liked watching him, she realized. He went about the business of setting up the tent, bedrolls, and small amber lantern in the efficient, competent way that characterized everything he did. He had put his sunglasses back on, she noticed. Evidently what little daylight was left was too much for his sensitive eyes.
“I’m sorry I’m not much help here,” she said. “I’ve never gone camping in my entire life.”
“Don’t worry about it.” Drake rezzed the amber lantern. “Harry and I used to camp out a lot here on Rainshadow. Got it down to a fine art.”
“I can see that.” She walked toward him across the sand. “I assume the amber lantern is for my sake. I appreciate it. Will it bother your eyes?”
“Not as long as I keep my glasses on.”
She watched him take a small gadget out of a pack. He aimed it at the pile of kindling and driftwood he had made. A flame shot out from the device. The kindling caught immediately.
“What is that thing?” Alice asked.
“Basically it’s just a fire-starter, an ignition device. But it’s been modified in a Sebastian lab to function as a small blowtorch, if necessary. I’ve got two of them. You can have one.”
“Good grief, why would I want a blowtorch?”
“Makes a handy weapon.”
She winced. “I see.”
Drake crouched in front of the fire, watching the flames through his sunglasses. “Fire is one of the few forms of normal energy that can be used inside the Preserve.”
“Are there a lot of dangerous animals on the other side of the fence?”
“Until recently, the only dangerous critters we had to worry about were the human variety. But that’s not true any longer.”
“Right, those mutated sea creatures who are living in the cave pools.”
“And maybe other things as well.” Drake glanced back over his shoulder at the dark woods that bordered the cove. “There’s so much psi in the ecosystem inside the Preserve now that it’s bound to have an effect on the plant and animal life.”
Houdini splashed out of the cove, dragging his life preserver by the cord. He paused to shake the water from his fur and then trotted over to the fire. He stared at the emergency rations.
“I think he’s hungry,” Alice said.
“I know I am.” Drake got to his feet. “Time to open up some of those tasty instant meals. Sorry I forgot to bring the wine.”
Alice smiled. “So am I.” She glanced toward the cove. The cruiser was slowly disappearing into the fog. “Why do I have the feeling that I’m never going to see my suitcases and my costumes and props again?”
Drake ripped open one of the containers. “Don’t worry, we’ll come back for the boat and your stuff after we take care of business on the island.”
There was nothing in the suitcases that could not be replaced, she reminded herself. Nevertheless, her whole life—or what was left
of it—was in the two suitcases she had been forced to leave on board the boat.
Get a grip, woman. You’re alive and so is Houdini. That’s all that matters. She did not doubt for a moment that they had all been in serious danger a short time ago.
“You saved us, Drake,” she said quietly.
“What?”
He opened another container and then a third.
She watched him break a seal on each package. The scent of heating food wafted toward her.
“Piloting the boat through those awful currents and that fog was brilliant work,” she said. “You saved all of us.”
He glanced at her, amber light flashing on his glasses. “You and Houdini wouldn’t be here in the first place if I hadn’t brought you here.”
“Yes, well, we are here and you saved us. That’s all that matters tonight.”
He looked amused. “You’re a real live-in-the-moment kind of woman. A lot of folks would be pissed as hell at me if I’d brought them into a situation like this.”
“It wasn’t like my life was going so great in Crystal City. At least now I’ve got a shot at getting Ethel Whitcomb out of my life and making a few bucks to boot. I can contemplate a whole different future, thanks to you.”
“We’re not there yet.” He glanced toward the fog-bound cove. “You were serious when you said that just about everything you own is in those suitcases, weren’t you?” he said.
“Yes.” She settled down on a large chunk of driftwood. “Ethel Whitcomb has done a pretty good job of destroying my life this past year. It’s amazing what you can do to another person when you’ve got a lot of money and power.”
“You’ve been living out of a couple of suitcases for damn near a year?” Drake asked. He sat down beside her and handed her one of the emergency meals. He gave another one to Houdini and took the third for himself. “That’s all? Nothing in storage? No property?”
She watched Houdini explore his emergency meal. He seemed enthralled with the little compartments in the plate, each of which was filled with different food. He dithered between the pear crisp and the stew.
“It wasn’t like I owned a lot of stuff before Ethel set out to ruin me,” Alice admitted. “Nevertheless, I had a job, a car that was almost paid off, some savings in the bank, and a couple of credit cards.”
“All gone?”
“My job in the museum gift shop vanished first because Ethel Whitcomb owns the Whitcomb Museum. The director, Aldwin Hampstead, had no choice but to let me go after Ethel put some pressure on him. The car was mysteriously repossessed soon after that. The credit cards got cancelled. When I realized what was going on, I managed to get my money out of the bank before Ethel could find a way to put a lien on it, but it was a near thing. I’ve used up all of my savings just trying to stay one step ahead of the Whitcomb thugs. You’d be surprised how much it costs to buy new IDs every few months.”
Drake whistled softly. “You really have been on the run.”
She ate some stew. There wasn’t much flavor but it wasn’t terrible, and best of all it was pleasantly warm. Houdini made his decision. He went for the pear crisp.
“Good choice,” she said. “Always eat dessert first. You never know when one of Ethel’s creeps will show up.” She paused and then smiled a little as a thought struck her. “I have to say that is definitely one bright spot about returning to Rainshadow. It’s highly unlikely that Ethel Whitcomb’s people will come after me here, not now with this fog and all communications down.”
Drake ate some of the stew. “If they do manage to follow you, they’ll have to go through me to get to you. That’s not going to happen.”
The mag-steel edge on the words was so lethally honed she was pretty sure that it could have drawn blood.
She managed a breezy, flippant smile. “Oh, wow, I’ve got a bodyguard now as part of our deal?”
“Yes,” he said, very seriously.
Some of the survival-mode tension that had been churning inside her for the past year eased a little.
“I believe you,” she said.
Chapter 11
DRAKE KNEW THE EXACT INSTANT WHEN ALICE CAME awake on a rush of nightmare-fueled adrenaline. He crouched in front of the tent.
“Take it easy,” he said. “Everything’s okay.”
She sat up so quickly she bumped her head against the roof of the small tent. Her eyes widened in horror as she looked past him into the fog.
“What?” she whispered.
He knew what she was seeing. The hallucinations had been growing stronger for the past hour. Like primal monsters of the night, they hovered just beyond the glow cast by the fire.
“They’re not real,” Drake said.
She ignored him, still caught between the dream world and the waking state.
“Houdini,” she gasped. “Houdini.”
The dust bunny hopped off the driftwood log where he had been sitting earlier, keeping Drake company, and raced into the tent. Alice clutched him close and took several deep breaths.
“What in the world is going on?” she finally asked.
Her voice was remarkably steady given the disorienting and disturbing circumstances, he thought.
“The energy in the fog is creating hallucinations,” he said. “It’s similar to the kind of thing that happens when you go through the psi-fence.”
She pulled herself together with visible effort. “You took off your glasses.”
“Yes.”
“What happened to the amber lantern?”
“The firelight seemed to be more effective against the fog, so I decided to conserve the lantern energy,” he said. He did not add that he thought it best to save the lantern in the event that they wound up spending another night out in the open.
“Is everything okay?” she asked.
“So far,” he said. “I wondered how long you were going to be able to sleep through the effects of this fog. An hour ago the energy levels started to get really hot. It’s turning into a paranormal storm that affects the senses, generating audio and visual hallucinations.”
“Oh, that’s just great.” Alice groaned. “And here I thought we weren’t going to have to worry about that kind of stuff until we went into the Preserve.”
“Whatever is going on inside has spilled out through the fence, at least in this sector. It’s nearly midnight now. It’s a good bet that things are going to become more unstable and more intense for the next few hours. You know how it is with paranormal energy.”
“Always stronger after dark.”
“And especially after midnight,” he said. “The psi-heat will probably ease up as we get closer to dawn.”
“Well, one thing’s for sure: I certainly won’t be getting any more sleep tonight,” she said.
“Come out and sit by the fire,” he said.
“Sounds like a plan.”
He straightened and backed away from the front of the tent. She released Houdini and scrambled out of the confined space. She stretched and dropped down onto the driftwood log.
Drake lowered himself beside her. Their shoulders brushed. Drake felt something spark between them. Talk about your imagination, Sebastian. Now you really are dreaming.
“Huh,” Alice said. “That’s interesting.”
“What?”
She leaned closer so that their shoulders touched again. Drake got another deep jolt of awareness when they made contact. This time Alice did not pull away. The flash of connection steadied and seemed to grow stronger and more intimate.
“When we have physical contact, I can see deeper into the fog,” Alice said.
“Yeah?”
“I think I’m picking up some of the currents of your aura,” she said. “It’s like I’m tapping into your talent a little.”
“I can feel your energy field, too.”
There was a subtle shift in the atmosphere, and he knew that she had jacked up her talent. After a moment some of the tension seeped out of her shoulders.
They
sat quietly, shoulders pressed together. Houdini perched on the end of the log and gazed fixedly toward the dark woods.
“What if we go looking for those two missing crystals and come across something a lot more dangerous than those sea monsters your brother and his fiancée discovered,” Alice asked after a while. “Maybe something humans can’t handle.”
“It’s possible,” Drake said. “But it’s not like we’ve got a choice. We need answers.”
“And if you don’t like the answers?”
He never got around to responding because at that moment a cold frisson of alarm crackled across his senses. On the end of the log, Houdini sleeked out and uttered a low, warning growl.
Drake looked toward the fence line. A pair of faceted eyes the size of basketballs stared back at him from the darkness. They glowed with icy-cold ultraviolet psi-light. The creature’s mouth was festooned with two pincer-like mandibles. Its body was swollen and bulbous in shape and was supported by six spindly, jointed legs. The damned thing was as large as a dog.
“We’ve got a visitor,” Drake said quietly. He reached for the fire-starter, moving very slowly. “Behind you, near the psi-fence boundary.”
Alice turned, keeping her shoulder pressed against his. She gave a sharp, horrified gasp.
“Good grief,” she whispered. “Is that what I think it is?”
“Some kind of insect,” Drake said. His hand closed around the fire-starter. “But not like anything I’ve ever seen inside the Preserve.”
“Looks like your brother was right. Whatever is going on in there is starting to affect the wildlife.”
“Insects evolve rapidly. It makes sense that they would be among the first creatures to respond to the changes in the environment.”
“But that monster is outside the fence,” Alice said. “I thought nothing inside the Preserve could get out.”
“Humans and dust bunnies come and go through the fence all the time.”
“Yes, but we’re different. That . . . That thing evolved inside the Preserve in a very hot environment. How can it live out here on the beach?”
“Just taking a wild guess here—I’m no biologist—but I think it’s safe to say that the energy of the fog provides enough psi for it to come outside the fence at night to hunt.”
