Deadly Intentions

by Leighann Dobbs

  Right now, she could tell they needed her help. It was all coming to a head just as she’d been told and she’d have to come clean with her nieces and hope they trusted her if she wanted her mission to end in success.

  “That locket is protected with an energy seal. You won’t be able to open it yourselves.”

  “What the heck is an energy seal?” Morgan scrunched up her face.

  “It’s a paranormal device. People with certain skills can seal anything that has hinges with an energy cypher. Only people skilled in breaking that cypher can open it. It’s kind of like picking a lock.”

  Fiona raised her right brow at her aunt. “And you know how to break the cypher?”

  Eliza nodded. “But first, tell me what happened. I know something is wrong and I think I can help.”

  The girls hesitated. Eliza was afraid they wouldn’t trust her enough to let her in, but after a few seconds, Celeste said:

  “Oh, what the heck. She knows about the locket and the energy lock. Maybe she can help.”

  “Okay.” Morgan nodded and told Eliza how Dorian Hall had told them Jolene had been taken and how the mysterious old woman had brought the locket to their shop earlier that day.

  Eliza stared down at the locket on the counter. “This is made from meteorite.”

  “Do you know something about the locket?” Fiona asked. “Near as we can tell, it seems to have unusual properties.”

  Eliza glanced up at Fiona. “The stone conducts energy like some metals conduct heat. The meteorite this stone came from has a high concentration of iron and nickel which makes it highly conductive to paranormal energy.”

  “Is that why I feel all tingly when I touch it?” Celeste asked.

  Eliza nodded as she bent closer to inspect the locket. “Yes, it enhances paranormal abilities. All meteorites do, so jewelry made from it would be especially valuable for us para’s because wearing it would guarantee that you’d always have something that could amplify your special gifts.”

  “You’ve seen jewelry like this before?”

  “Not the locket per se … but I’ve seen pendants. This is very old. It was most likely owned by an Energy Master.”

  “Energy Master?” Morgan stared at the locket.

  “Someone highly skilled in the art of bending energy—making it do what you want. You know what I’m talking about, right?” Eliza’s ice-blue eyes stared at each of her nieces in turn.

  She sensed that in that one look she was making a connection … a bond that couldn’t be broken, stronger even than their bond of family. She just hoped it wasn’t too late.

  The girls glanced at each other again. Then Morgan spoke for them.

  “We know exactly what you mean.”

  Eliza nodded. “I know you girls have paranormal gifts, just as I do. It’s a Blackmoore family trait like the blue eyes. Which is why we have to get Jolene back. It’s critical to our cause.”

  “Your cause?” Jake looked skeptically at Eliza.

  “Our cause,” she replied. “This isn’t just about the Blackmore family or even the paranormal community. What Dr. Bly intends to do could spell disaster for the entire human race.”

  ***

  Morgan felt a dark sense of foreboding take hold in the pit of her stomach as she listened to her aunt. She’d learned to trust her gut instincts and right now they told her that her aunt wasn’t exaggerating about what might happen if Bly’s plan came to fruition.

  She shivered thinking what might happen if Bly was successful … and what he might be doing to Jolene right this very minute.

  Luke, Jake and Cal, however, were a bit more skeptical.

  “So, you expect us to believe this Dr. Bly is some sort of mad scientists whose goal is to take over the world?” Jake’s brows had risen almost to his hairline.

  “I guess it does sound a bit far-fetched when you put it that way, but basically that’s what it is.” Eliza shrugged. “He really does have a multibillion dollar company that researches alternative energy, but that’s just a cover for his real work.”

  “Which is?” Luke asked.

  “Trying to harness paranormal energy.”

  “Why would he want to do that?”

  Eliza sighed. “You guys probably haven’t thought about it this way, but having gifts like the girls have could make one very powerful. Thus far, you’ve only used your gifts to defend … but think about what you could do with them if you wanted to use them on the offensive for evil purposes. Those gifts would enable you to control whatever you want. Money. People. Even whole governments. And Bly wants it all.”

  Jake scoffed. “Surely he couldn’t take over a whole government. No one would let that happen.”

  “No?” Eliza’s blue eyes turned hard. “He has a great front with his business and he acts every bit the philanthropist by donating money and helping in the community. For all outward appearances, he’s a pillar of society. It works to his advantage because he can do all kinds of experiments in the name of his alternative energy company and no one suspects him. Quite the opposite, really—they think he is helping us find clean energy. He’s made a lot of friends, many of whom are politicians. And if he gets enough of them in his pocket, he can control most of the world without anyone ever knowing.”

  Luke snorted. “I don’t think too many world leaders would fall for that.”

  “Believe me—Bly can be very persuasive … especially if he is using paranormal powers to do the persuading.”

  “You mean he has gifts, too?” Fiona asked.

  Eliza nodded. “And an army of minions to do his bidding. But, from what we know, his people are not as powerful as he needs them to be and we fear he is experimenting with ways to boost their power.”

  Morgan’s eyes slid over to the locket. “You mean with rocks and crystals that amplify paranormal abilities like meteorites?”

  “That’s part of it. The other part is the ancient relics—items infused with amplifying powers by the old Energy Masters. The more of these he has in his possession, the more his powers grow.”

  “So, there are others with gifts like ours?” Celeste asked.

  “Yes, and they use them for both good and bad purposes,” Eliza said. “Unfortunately, Bly has recruited a lot of people with gifts to his side—the lure of riches and power is too compelling for most.”

  Cal leaned against the counter, arms crossed on his chest. “If there are so many people with gifts, why have we never heard of them? You’d think they’d be everywhere, shooting out energy bolts when they get mad or want something.”

  “There are quite a few with these abilities, although not everyone can shoot out bolts of energy. The abilities manifest themselves differently in everyone. But, as you may have already figured out, it doesn’t pay to advertise that you have paranormal gifts so mostly we keep quiet about it.”

  “I still don’t understand why he took Jolene.” Morgan asked.

  “You girls are very powerful … more than most. My guess is you haven’t even realized the extent of your abilities yet.”

  Morgan pressed her lips together. It was true, she hadn’t spent much time honing her skills, but she could feel them growing stronger every day.

  Celeste spoke up from the other side of the room, her forehead etched in a frown. “Wait a minute … do you think Bly had something to do with our mother’s death?”

  Eliza’s eyes took on a faraway, glassy look. “It’s possible. Your Mom was very powerful, too, so you girls have paranormal gifts from the Blackmoore side and her side. We’re not sure what happened to her, but I’m certain Bly would have either wanted to turn her to his side or get her out of the way.”

  “So Jolene was right,” Celeste said.

  Morgan frowned at Celeste. “Right about what?”

  “She had a hunch that Mom didn’t jump off that cliff. She was investigating it and had come up with some compelling evidence, too.”

  “Like what?”

  “Well, for one, their one witnes
s, Earl Whiting, seems to have acquired some items beyond his price range. Mae told her the truth was on a boat in Perkins Cove.”

  Jake narrowed his eyes at Celeste. “You mean the Andrea June?”

  Celeste nodded.

  Jake snapped his fingers. “I knew you guys had something to do with that boat blowing up!”

  “I always had a feeling Mom didn’t kill herself … but how does this help us find Jolene?” Fiona asked.

  “I’m not sure it does,” Celeste said.

  “Right, then we can revisit it later, but now we need to get to Jolene before she gets hurt … or worse.” Morgan slid the locket over to Eliza. “Open it.”

  Eliza eyed the locket suspiciously. “Are you sure? What makes you think it will help us find Jolene? It could have been planted by Bly and there could be anything in here … once I open it, we may not be able to stop it.”

  “You think it could be a trick?” Fiona looked uncertainly at Morgan. “You have to admit it’s kind of strange that the woman who brought it seems to have mysteriously disappeared.”

  “No. It’s not a trick,” Morgan felt sure of it. “I can feel it. Plus Celeste said that grandma told her the key was in the locket.”

  “My mother would know. She wouldn’t steer you wrong.” Eliza picked the locket up in her hand and closed her eyes.

  Morgan watched in fascination as pink energy swirled out of Eliza’s hand and encased the locket. The energy swirled tighter and tighter until it looked like it was strangling the locket. The locket bulged impossibly, and then a blue mist puffed out of it turning into tiny particles that floated through the air like dandelion seeds before disappearing in a poof of white.

  Eliza dropped the locket on the counter and staggered into a chair.

  Morgan rushed to her side. “Are you okay?”

  Eliza’s lips curled in a wan smile. “I’m fine. It’s just such an energy drain to unlock a cypher. I believe I was successful, though. Why don’t you see if you can open the locket.”

  Morgan’s stomach twisted as she looked at the locket sitting innocently on the counter. What if she was wrong and it was a trick sent by Dr. Bly to harm them?

  She reached out, her fingers curling tentatively around the locket.

  “Go on,” Eliza prompted.

  The room fell silent and Morgan put her thumb on the clasp.

  She pushed.

  Click.

  The locket flipped open.

  Chapter Twenty

  Morgan jumped back as a beam of bright white light spread out from the locket, projecting itself into the middle of the room. She watched, fascinated, as the projection formed into a 3-D image of a rocky island.

  “It’s a hologram,” Cal whispered.

  Fiona walked toward it, waving her hand in the middle of the projection, then turned to face the rest of them. “But what is it?”

  Morgan shrugged. “Looks like an island.”

  “It’s Fury Rock.” Eliza stared at the hologram that was still forming. “Bly has a research facility there now. It’s at the very top, although it’s not part of this hologram.”

  Morgan frowned at the top of the hologram. The surface of the island was flat and looked large enough to house a compound of buildings. But the hologram showed much more than that. The high cliffs that rose out of the ocean contained several caves and what appeared to be a map of those caves seemed to be forming in the image. “What’s all that in the cliffs?”

  “A tunnel system.” Luke walked around the hologram, looking at it from all angles.

  “That’s where they’re keeping Jolene,” Eliza said. “That’s why my mother said the key was in the locket. It’s a map of the tunnels.”

  “We can use the map to break her out!” Fiona pulled open a drawer, took out a pad of paper and a pen and started to quickly sketch the map of the tunnels.

  “Good idea.” Jake started toward the east parlor. “I’ll get the laptop and we can figure out where this island is and how to get there.”

  “It’s in the Caribbean,” Eliza said. “But it’s going to be tricky. As you can see, there’s not much around to camouflage your approach. I’m sure Bly has staff disguised as security guards that are monitoring the entrances and exits of the building as well as looking for approaching vessels.”

  “I’m sure he’s expecting us. That’s why he took Jolene, right?” Luke rasped his hand across the stubble that was forming on his chin. “So, he’ll be on alert—waiting for our arrival.”

  “Then we’ll sneak in at night,” Celeste said.

  Morgan turned to Eliza. “He won’t know we have this map, will he?”

  Eliza chewed her bottom lip. “I don’t think so. There’s no way for him to know this map—or the locket for that matter—even exists.”

  “Then we have an advantage.” Jake slid the laptop onto the counter and started tapping on the keys. “He’ll expect us to land on the island on the beach side, but since we have a map of the caves, we can surprise him with an approach from the cliff side.”

  “Excellent. Let’s go.” Celeste started for the hall.

  Luke held up his hand. “Wait a minute. We need to plan this out properly and make sure we have the right equipment and people. I know you’re in a hurry to get to Jolene, but if we don’t do this right we may all end up captured by Bly and that won’t help Jolene at all.”

  “Luke’s right, but that’s not all we need to do.” The tone in Eliza’s voice caused everyone to stop what they were doing and look up at her.

  “What do you mean?” Morgan asked.

  “We need to find something to bring with us. Something that I’m sure is in this house. Something that could mean the difference between life and death for all of us.”

  ***

  So, Eliza had been searching the house for something, Celeste thought, remembering how Jolene had found her in the attic and how they’d seen her come up from the basement the twice now.

  “What could possibly be in the house that would mean the difference between life and death?” Cal asked.

  “An obsidian amulet,” Eliza replied.

  “Is that why you were in the basement?” Morgan nodded toward the basement door.

  “And searching the attic the other day,” Celeste added.

  Eliza nodded. “I know they are both filled with old family stuff. Heirlooms. I searched the areas where the older items are in the attic, but didn’t have any luck. I remembered that there were rumors about a maze of tunnels under the house with a supposed buried treasure. The basement was loaded full when I lived here so I never really explored down there, and since I couldn’t find the amulet in the attic …”

  “But you didn’t find any treasure,” Morgan said.

  Eliza shook her head. “Nope, just a bunch of damp, dark tunnels. I almost got lost down there.”

  Celeste glanced at her sisters. There was a treasure down there … just not one that you could get to right now.

  “We’ll fill you in on that later. Right now we should try to figure out where the amulet could be.” Celeste hoped it wasn’t in the treasure under the house since no one would be able to access it for another three hundred years—at least not without specialized equipment.

  “I still don’t get why this amulet is so important.” Jake’s green eyes were loaded with skepticism as they peered over the laptop screen at Eliza.

  “Obsidian absorbs paranormal energy, but this one is special.”

  “Special? How?” Fiona tilted her head.

  Celeste was wondering the same thing. She wasn’t as well versed in crystals as Fiona, but she did know obsidian could absorb energy … she just couldn’t imagine how that would help save them from death.

  “It belonged to Mariah Blackmoore. She had very powerful paranormal abilities,” Eliza said.

  “You mean our great-great-great-great-great-great grandmother? … or did I miss a few ‘greats’? Fiona asked.

  “Yes, Isaiah’s wife. She wasn’t from here. He met h
er in his travels in the Caribbean and she was very powerful. It’s her power that is handed down through the generations to us,” Eliza replied.

  “And the blue eyes?” Morgan asked.

  “That, too. Anyway, they fell in love and he brought her here. Built this house for her … well, the original parts anyway. ” Eliza looked around the newly remodeled kitchen. “Mariah was a healer and had a way with crystals much like you, Fiona. She imbued the obsidian amulet with an energy infusion which makes it much more powerful.”

  “Okay, but why do we need it so bad?” Celeste asked.

  “Bly has an army of paranormals that will try to push bad energy at you. The amulet will help protect the wearer by absorbing the bad energy, rendering it harmless.”

  “There’s just one amulet?” Morgan looked around the group. “What do the rest of us do?”

  Eliza shrugged. “Yeah, unfortunately Mariah only infused one. So whoever wears it will have to take the lead in absorbing any negative energy.”

  “So regular obsidian won’t help at all?” Morgan asked.

  Eliza shook her head. “In its natural state, it won’t be able to absorb enough of the energy. It needs to have its power boosted in order to be effective for our needs.”

  “We should split up and look for it,” Celeste suggested. “We’ll be able to cover more ground and hopefully find it faster.”

  “Good idea.” Cal turned to Eliza. “Can you describe what we’re looking for?”

  “I don’t think that’s necessary,” Fiona cut in. “We won’t need to split up. I think I know exactly where the amulet is.”

  ***

  Fiona started toward the stairs with Celeste, Morgan and Eliza close behind.

  “I searched the attic pretty well and couldn’t find it,” Eliza said.

  “That’s because it’s not in the attic anymore,” Fiona shot over her shoulder as they spilled out onto the second floor.

  “You already found it?” Eliza asked as they followed Fiona down the hall to her room.