Dadgummit

by Maggie Toussaint

  Flicking the light on, I positioned it above my gun as I’d seen TV cops do. If the technique worked for them, it would work for me. Oliver barked again and bounded through the crevice.

  With another glance around the mountainside for good luck, I slid through the fissure. Between Oliver tracking Jonas and my life sign reading ability, I had no doubt I’d locate Jonas.

  The tattoo on my wrist heated appreciably. “Not now, Rose,” I muttered. “I’m busy.”

  A part of me wanted Jonas to be held accountable in human courts, but his fate wasn’t up to me. We’d made a deal with my protector on the Other Side. I got Charlotte, Gail, and Deputy Duncan out of the hands of the Little People, Rose would get Jonas, and the Little People would get their deep sleep memory talent back. Once everyone was satisfied, I’d finish up my vacation and go home.

  The passageway narrowed. At times I had to walk sideways to get through. I kept my senses locked on Jonas’ position. I didn’t need any nasty surprises. He was ahead of me but moving slowly. Why was that?

  If he had the means to escape, why would he head into a cave? That was the opposite of escaping. He’d proven to be a wily adversary so far, so I had to trust that he had a plan, a plan that wouldn’t bode well for me. Even if I caught and secured him with the cable ties Mayes had handed me when we started this hike, how would I march him out of here as a captive?

  Don’t get ahead of yourself. First, find him. Then get the drop on him. Escorting him out of here won’t be a worry for a while.

  Oh, joy.

  Good thing I was familiar with dark places. Another person might be put off by the dank smell, the jagged abutments, and the treacherous footing. Not that I liked those things, but I’d been in worse situations.

  I picked up the pace. Jonas was moving slower and slower. Was he injured? I should be so lucky.

  He had to know I was behind him. Despite my need for stealth, the setting wasn’t conducive to sneaking up on my target. Suddenly, Jonas’ energy flickered out. He was there, and then he wasn’t. The passageway opened up, and I picked up speed, darting along the twisting corridor of rock, feeling the deep chill of the mountain in my marrow.

  Another bend and I stood in the center of a cavern. The ceiling vaulted high overhead. Some semblance of twilight filled the empty space. I flashed my light from ceiling to floor all around the area. No one was here, visually or according to my extra senses, but Jonas had tricked me before. Mayes had said the man seemed to be a phantom.

  If that was the case, he was still present. I patrolled the space, noting two other openings in the wall, all my senses on high alert. I sent Oliver to the pathway we’d used to get here and told him to stay.

  Gun and light raised high, I clung to the edge of the room, watching and listening. “I know you’re here, Jonas. Despite your powers, you aren’t invincible. I know about your weakness. I know what you’ve done.”

  I saw a flicker of movement and whirled to face it. Nothing was there. Was Jonas doing that? I kept moving. I needed to draw him out of hiding. “I saw Haney’s flipbooks and figured it out. You wanted Haney from the beginning, so you ruined his family. He was a vulnerable child, and you made him bring you victims. Did he find out you led his mother to the Little People? Or was it White Feather who opened his eyes to what you are?”

  Another sparkle of energy fizzed across the room. I headed toward it, weaving fact with fantasy until I struck the right nerve with Jonas. “I spoke to Lizella Tice, Jonas. She told me all about you. There’s nowhere you can go now. The cops have your picture. If you don’t have Haney to serve as your energy pimp, what will you do? Someone’s bound to notice a bunch of people going missing, or another bout of killer flu. You think I don’t know what happened at that rehab center? I know everything.”

  He flashed into solid form before me, malignant energy swirling around him. “You know nothing.”

  Chapter Fifty-Two

  “I knew you were in here,” I said, instinctively backing up toward the way I’d entered this chamber. Might as well try my first bluff. “I knew about your invisibility powers.”

  He shook his head. “You fool. I lured you here. This is my turf, the seat of my power.”

  “Your power? You don’t have power. You steal power from others. That makes you a thief and a killer.”

  “Minor points in the general scheme of things. I’m in need of a new slave, Baxley Powell. You could be my new Haney. People like you.”

  “I won’t be your anything,” I said.

  “We’ll see.” He vanished from sight. The room darkened ominously. The hair on the back of my neck electrified. Whatever was coming wouldn’t be pleasant.

  My flashlight beam flickered then went out. I beat it against the side of my leg, to no avail. “I’m not afraid of the dark. You got the wrong girl.”

  He didn’t respond. It occurred to me that Jonas and I were in the same space. Why not call Rose now? She could secure him with a snap of her fingers.

  I sent her a mental text. Got him. Come now.

  Nothing.

  Not even a flash of heat from my rose-shaped tattoos.

  How odd. I’d never been out of touch with Rose, not since she’d marked me with her tattoos. She’d said we were connected in the land of the living and the dead. Once she’d come to me while I was trapped between worlds. She’d said we were connected in all realities. Maybe this one didn’t count.

  I called Oliver for backup, but he didn’t come either.

  Okay, that was weird. I edged backward some more. I kept the gun held high, ready to shoot Jonas if he laid a finger on me.

  My thoughts raced. No Rose. No Oliver. Just me.

  Tiny pinpoints of light appeared on the ceiling. I watched them until I realized they were spinning, and I was lightheaded. I sank to my heels, eyes closed. Jonas was manipulating the environment, trying to subdue me. His power was strong here.

  I needed to return to the passageway where Oliver the ghost dog waited. The opening should be directly behind me. I stashed the gun in my waistband and crabbed backward until my head bumped the wall. It was a risk to open my eyes, but I did it anyway. Gigantic fish with prehistoric teeth swam through the air.

  Quickly, I shut my eyes. The opening had to be one way or the other. I went right first, about ten paces. Nothing. I retraced my path and then headed left. Bingo. I eased out into the corridor. Oliver licked my face and hands.

  I hugged him tightly and then tried Rose again.

  She materialized in a flash of light. For this visit she’d chosen the tough biker girl leathers for her clothing, so her tattoo-covered arms were visible. “What took you so long?”

  The scent of burning sulfur would’ve brought me to my knees if I weren’t already sprawled on the floor. “There’s some kind of spiritual block in the cavern. I couldn’t reach you. Jonas is in there. Somehow he’s manipulating how the room looks, and he can go invisible.”

  “He’s not invisible to me,” Rose said as she stepped over me. She muttered some words in a language I didn’t understand. The cavern reverted to normal in the blink of an eye.

  Jonas stood with arms outstretched as if directing a symphony. But one look at Rose and he froze. His eyes stayed overlarge; his arms seemed to be waiting for a chorus that would never come.

  I scrambled to my feet, Oliver beside me. “Did you do that?”

  “I did.” Rose strode toward her prize. “He will bother you no more. Summon the others.”

  “The Little People? I don’t know how to reach them. Mayes showed me how to get to their place.”

  “Must I do everything? You’re trying my patience.”

  “I didn’t know I needed to contact the Little People again. I don’t have them on speed dial. My agreement was to find Jonas for you. I found him. Now it’s your turn.”

  “Careful. I’m not in the best of moods today, but having a new soul to torment should go a long way toward getting me into the boss’s good graces.” Rose scanned the room.
“Sweet setup he’s got here. I’ll have to remember this place. Picture the Little People portal, worm.”

  “It’s in my head.”

  Rose glared through me as if she could reach in there and grab the image from my gray matter. To keep her from attempting anything of the sort, I stretched my thoughts. “Got it.”

  The sense of movement was sudden, abrupt, and disorienting. I fought off a wave of nausea as we landed in another dark passageway. I flicked on my flashlight, relieved at the familiar sight of the wide corridor. I’d been here before. Faint drumming reached my ears, further confirming we were where we were supposed to be.

  “I will stay here with the prize. Find their leader and return to me. Do not keep me waiting.”

  I scrambled to comply, shouting their names as I ran. “Trahearn! Meuric! Arwel!”

  Three strapping young men in buckskins and braids met me at the opening. I pointed behind me. “We caught the guy. You can get your memory power back. Please come with me.”

  They huddled together and talked softly. Trahearn motioned a woman close and sent her away. “We will follow you,” Trahearn said to me.

  I showed them the way, now fully illuminated. Guess it didn’t suit Rose to wait in the dark.

  She stood beside Jonas, but she’d transformed into her terrible Medusa-like guise, only her snake-haired head had multiplied to three heads of slithering hair. Her height had increased too, so that she now stood head and shoulders above the rest of us. Jonas was still frozen in conductor mode.

  “I’m here to uphold my end of the bargain,” Rose said, speaking only from her center head while the other heads rotated to take in the entire room. “Do you have the vessel?”

  “It’s coming.” Trahearn stared at the ground in front of Rose.

  Was he frightened of her? Rose probably had more superpowers than the Little People, so that explanation made sense.

  “Good. I’m looking forward to having a new apprentice. Who will pay the blood price?”

  “I will pay the price,” Trahearn said simply, and he moved to flank Rose’s right side. She did something to him, and he stood statue still.

  “Only one?” Rose tsked. “The afterlife has so many troubles. I could use more assistants. Any volunteers?”

  Meuric and Arwel remained mute, their gazes fixed on solid ground. I didn’t look at Rose either, but she summoned me by thought just the same. I took my place at her left side. Rose pointed at Jonas and did something to unfreeze him.

  “Where am I?” Jonas asked. He stared everywhere at once. “What happened?”

  Flames sprouted from each of Rose’s heads. “You have been judged by a council of your peers and found guilty of theft, among other crimes. Do you have anything to say for yourself?”

  “I took what was mine.”

  The air in the corridor crackled and heated until I found it hard to breathe. Rose shot a puff of something at Jonas, and he fell to the floor. “Liar,” she said. “You took what did not belong to you, and you did it over and over again. By my count, you’ve murdered twenty people and injured hundreds more.”

  Jonas shrugged. “I’m a reaver. This is what I do. Raid and take what I need. My kind has been on this planet for nearly a thousand years. I am following the creation directive.”

  I struggled to take in his words. His kind. Would I have to fight them all? And what the heck was the creation directive?

  “We demand justice for his crimes,” Arwel said, apparently the new spokesman for his people. “He defiled our land, angered our people, stole our gift of remembrance, and murdered our friend. Do not reward him in your world. He should be stripped.”

  An image of Jonas’ too-white body flashed into my head. Hastily, I banished that thought. I did not want to see that man naked.

  Chapter Fifty-Three

  “You can’t strip me,” Jonas countered, his voice going squeaky high. “It will upset the balance of life.”

  Lightning bolts shot out from Rose’s fingertips, zipping down the corridor. “I don’t give a flying flip about the balance of life. You caused heartache and mischief, and you made me come here twice to clean up your mess.”

  I snuck a peek at her. Rose’s breastplate was the color of fire and sapphire, over-bright and darkly lustrous at the same time. Though she reeked of hellfire, I knew for a fact Rose answered to the Big Boss upstairs, and that she worked undercover in the afterlife. Bottom line, my guardian angel had a day job as a demon.

  Two women scurried forward, heads down, bearing a small, jeweled chest. “Give it to my apprentice,” Rose directed.

  I accepted the item, holding it in both arms. The chest weighed a ton. I hoped Rose didn’t draw this process out. “Open it,” she commanded, so I flipped the latch and opened the chest. “Do not under any circumstances let it go.”

  Rose extended her right hand, and a boom of thunder filled the corridor, echoing throughout the mountain. The Little People fell to their knees. Jonas prostrated himself before her. “Please, no!” he cried.

  The air crackled with charged particles and fury. I tried not to breathe in the thick sulfur, but it surrounded me and permeated my body. Jonas arched and moaned. Simultaneously, the chest became so heavy I could not stand. I sank to my knees, resting the chest on the rock floor, but not once did I loosen my grip.

  “Seal the chest,” Rose said. “Return it to the Nunne’hi.”

  With trembling fingers, I closed the glowing chest. Drawing deep, I summoned the strength to walk across the corridor and place it before Meuric and Arwel. I edged away from them, returning to Rose’s left side.

  “Our bargain is fulfilled,” Rose decreed.

  The warriors and the two women nodded, gathered up the chest, and departed.

  Jonas sobbed openly on the floor. “Don’t kill me. Please don’t kill me. I obeyed the natural order of things.”

  “You did not,” Rose said. “I’d planned to throw you in the pits of hell, but there is a fate worse than death. You’ve earned it.” She extended her hand to him and made a circular motion. Time froze. Long seconds dragged out. Finally, I could move again.

  “What did you do to me?” Jonas scrambled to his feet, screaming.

  “I followed the natural order of things, taking what was mine to take,” Rose quipped.

  “That isn’t fair.” He launched himself at me, dragging me between him and Rose.

  Rose blasted us with a fireball. Somehow the fire flowed around me and landed on Jonas. His hair sparked. His clothes smoked.

  He howled in anguish and dropped to his knees.

  Rose shoved me aside. “I would erase your memory,” she said to her victim, “but I want you to remember what you lost. What you can never be again. I want you to take that to your grave. And your little hideaway inside the mountain? I sealed the entrances. It’s mine now. Natural order and all that.”

  Rose turned to me. “Secure him.”

  Circuits must have scrambled my brain, because I stood there, staring at Jonas. In what world was this normal? Not mine. How did the fire go around me? Why wasn’t I dead? Did I even have hair left on my head?

  “Quit touching your hair, worm,” Rose said to me. “Use the ties in your pocket.”

  The ties. The ties that bind. The ties of my life. No, that was wrong. The tides of my life. Was it high tide or low tide? I should know the answer.

  Rose poked me. “Snap out of it. Have your nervous breakdown later. Tie the man up.”

  I shook my head as a jolt of pure energy surged through my body. “Sure.” When I’d cinched a cable tie around Jonas’ wrists, I tugged him to his feet. I gazed at Rose, who had both hands on the immobile Trahearn. “Now what?”

  “Now I’m sending you back to your paramour.”

  My blood churned at the accusation. “He’s not my anything.”

  “Hold what you’ve got.” Rose smirked and the illuminated corridor faded from view. Light thinned to streaks and exploded into darkness as we moved through the void of t
ime and space. This being my third trip on the Rose Express, I knew not to freak out. But I couldn’t help wondering what might be going through Jonas’ mind.

  He’d said he was a reaver. I’d have to remember that word and ask my dad if he’d ever heard of them.

  We touched down none too lightly, sprawling onto the planked floor. Dust billowed in a curtain around us, and I caught a fit of sneezes. All I could think of was “don’t let go of Jonas,” so I didn’t. When I stopped, I looked around the drab but familiar cabin.

  Mayes had a pillow under his head and a goofy grin on his face. Deputy Duncan and three other cops had their service weapons drawn and pointed at me.

  I stood and yanked Jonas to his feet. “Looky what I found.”

  Chapter Fifty-Four

  Haney might be dead and gone, but his place was a hotbed of activity. I hoped his spirit would finally know peace. Perhaps he and White Feather would finally be together in the spirit world.

  “Where’d you come from? What happened to your hair?” Deputy Duncan demanded. He advanced on us, gun centered on Jonas’ heart. From the deputy’s fierce expression, I had the strong sense he’d shoot first and ask questions later if Jonas so much as moved a muscle. Jonas had the good sense to stay put.

  I took the high road and ignored his questions. “Your suspect is in my custody. Do you want him?”

  Duncan stared at Jonas like he was a cobra. “What about special precautions? This man is dangerous.”

  I waved him closer, not sure if the other cops needed to hear the gritty details. “He’s a killer all right, but his extra talents were neutralized by my friend on the Other Side. If you lock him behind bars, he’ll stay put until the courts decide his fate.”