Dark Visions

by L. J. Smith

  "We're going to have to leave, of course," LeShan said. He seemed to have taken charge while Mereniang was grieving. Kaitlyn was glad; LeShan might be aggressive and quick-tempered, but she found him much easier to understand than the rest of the Fellowship.

  They were all standing in the central hallway of the white house. Around them the Fellowship was busying itself, packing and carrying, moving and loading.

  "You think Mr. Zetes will attack again," Rob said. It wasn't a question.

  "Yes, that was just the beginning. He's removed our defenses—and that was probably all he could do at one go. Next time it'll be for the kill."

  A tall woman looked in from another hallway.

  "LeShan, are the children coming with us? I'm trying to arrange transportation."

  LeShan looked at Kait and the others.

  "Well?" he said.

  No one spoke at first. Then Rob said, "Let me get this clear. Timon's idea was that we should go back down to Mr. Zetes, and use the shard of your crystal to destroy his crystal."

  "It's the only way to do it," LeShan said. "But that doesn't mean you have to."

  "Timon died so we could have a shard," Anna said. Her normally gentle face was severe.

  "And I still don't understand," Kait burst out. "Why did everyone listen to him? You were dead-set against fighting before—what made you all change your minds?"

  LeShan's lip curled. "I don't think they all did change their minds. They're just used to obeying Timon.

  He might not have considered himself the leader, but everyone let him do the thinking."

  "And he changed his mind because of the attack?" Lewis said uncertainly.

  "Because of Sabrina," Kaitlyn said. Everyone looked at her. "Didn't you see?" she asked.

  Lewis blinked. "Who's Sabrina?"

  "Sabrina Jessica Gallo. She was one of the gray people. I didn't realize it before because I couldn't see her face."

  "Are you sure?" Rob asked.

  "Positive. I saw her clearly this time. And I guess that means the other gray people are the other old students. They all looked young to me."

  "That was what Timon sensed," LeShan said. His lips were still curled slightly, as if he had an unpleasant taste in his mouth. "We all sensed it, everyone who was touching the crystal. The attackers were children

  —none of them over twenty. And their minds were twisted… I can't explain it."

  "They were insane," Kaitlyn told him rather calmly. "That's what Mr. Zetes said, that the crystal had driven them crazy. And that's why I never thought of him using them to attack us. I had the idea they were in institutions somewhere."

  "Maybe Mr. Z got them out," Lewis said hollowly.

  LeShan grimaced. "In any case, we could feel their agony—and their evil. None of us realized evil like that still existed in the world. I think we had the idea that it died when our country died."

  "And you're not going to tell us what that country was, are you?" Kaitlyn asked. She'd been meaning to get the question in since yesterday.

  LeShan seemed not to hear her. "If you four go back down to fight this man, it will be dangerous," he said. "I won't pretend otherwise. And you can't rely on any help from us. I've got to make sure all these people get settled somewhere—and by the time I'm free, it may be all over with you."

  "Thanks," Rob said dryly.

  "If I can help after that, I will. But it's your decision."

  "We'd be safe if we went with you?" Kaitlyn asked. She felt almost wistful.

  "Reasonably safe. Nobody can promise perfect safety."

  Kaitlyn sighed. She looked at Rob, and at Lewis and Anna. They were all looking at one another, too.

  Do we really have a choice? Rob asked.

  The longer we wait, the stronger Mr. Z will get, Anna said. Her thought smoldered with conviction.

  We might as well finish what we started, Lewis put in, sounding resigned. He'd bounced back remarkably quickly from his upset. With his natural resilience and optimism, he was even now hoping for the best in Lydia—Kait could tell.

  Kaitlyn had a different reason for wanting to go back. Yes, she wanted to stop Mr. Zetes, but there was something more important.

  Gabriel, she told the others.

  There was an immediate swell of emotion. Some of it was anger, bewilderment, feelings of betrayal. But there was sympathy, too, and determination—and love.

  You're right, Rob thought. If he really is going to join Mr. Zetes—

  I'm afraid he is, Kaitlyn broke in. I should have thought of it last night. Meren said that any crystal that produces energy could feed him. And Mr. Z's crystal certainly produces energy.

  You think that's why he left? Anna asked.

  I don't know. I doubt that's all of it. But I think he'd rather get energy from a crystal than from people. And the more contact he has with that crystal—

  "The worse he'll get," Rob said aloud. "The more like Sabrina and those other poor jerks."

  "We've got to stop that," Lewis said, startled.

  Rob looked at him, and then smiled. It was just the ghost of his normal grin, but it warmed Kaitlyn immeasurably.

  "You're right," he said. "We've got to stop it."

  "My parents may be able to help," Anna said. "I'm sure they've been trying."

  LeShan said, "I'll arrange your transportation."

  That was all he said, but his lynx eyes flashed at Kaitlyn. She had the impression that he was desperately proud of them.

  "Wait, there's one more thing, " she said anxiously. "I wanted to ask you before, but I never got the chance. There's this girl back in California. Mr. Zetes put her into a coma somehow—with drugs, we think. I told her brother that we'd ask you for help, but…"

  Her voice trailed off. She could feel Rob's concern regarding Marisol, and his chagrin over forgetting—but LeShan's face was impassive.

  Of course they won't be able to help, she thought. They're not doctors. I was stupid for even asking. . .

  She didn't want to imagine Marisol's brother's face when she told him.

  LeShan was nonchalant. "The perfect crystals had the virtue of curing most diseases," he said. "Even a shard ought to do something to help your friend."

  Kaitlyn's breath came out in a rush. She hadn't even realized she was holding it, but suddenly her heart was lighter.

  LeShan was walking away, but he glanced back over his shoulder and grinned.

  "So it's just us again," Lewis said. They were waiting for LeShan to bring them a guide through the forest. Kaitlyn was carrying her duffel bag, which held her clothes—all dirty by now—and her art kit.

  She had the crystal shard in her other hand.

  "We're the only ones we have to rely on," Kaitlyn agreed.

  Anna said, "That's all anybody ever has, really."

  "Yeah, but all that driving, all that searching," Lewis said. "All for nothing."

  Rob looked at him quickly. "It wasn't for nothing. We're stronger now. We know more. And we finally have a weapon."

  "Right," Anna said. "We set out to find this place and we did. We wanted to find a way to stop Mr. Z and we have."

  "Sure. It's all over but the screaming," Lewis said, but he smiled.

  Kaitlyn looked back at the white house, now looted and empty. She was wondering if she could have stayed if things had been different. If Gabriel hadn't betrayed them, if the Fellowship were staying, could she have made her home here? Would it have been a place where she could have belonged?

  "If we can destroy the crystal, we can cure Gabriel, too," Rob was saying.

  Kaitlyn looked at him fondly. No, she thought. I don't belong with the Fellowship. I belong with Rob—and Lewis, and Anna, and Gabriel, too. Wherever they are, I'm home.

  "Right," she said to Rob. "So let's go do it. The search is on again."

  She looked down at the shard. As a ray of sun broke through the clouds, it flashed like diamond.

  THE PASSION

  For Pat McDonald, editor extraordinaire
,

  whose keen insight helped shape my visions, and whose

  boundless patience allowed me to perfect them

  CHAPTER 1

  A dog barked, shattering the midnight silence. Gabriel glanced up briefly, his psychic senses alert. Then he went back to breaking into the house.

  In a moment, the lock on the door gave way to his lockpick. The door swung open.

  Gabriel smiled.

  There were four people awake in the house. One of them Kaitlyn. Beautiful Kaitlyn with the red-gold hair. A pity he might have to destroy her-but he was her enemy from now on. He couldn't afford weakness.

  He was working for Mr. Zetes now. And Mr. Zetes needed something-a shard from the last perfect crystal in the world. Kaitlyn had it... Gabriel was going to take it.

  As simple as that.

  If anyone tried to stop him, he was going to have to hurt them. Even Kaitlyn.

  For just an instant there was a tightening in his chest. Then his face hardened and he moved stealthily into the dark house.

  "Give up, Kaitlyn."

  Kaitlyn looked into Gabriel's dark gray eyes.

  "How did you get in here?" she said.

  Gabriel smiled silkily. "Breaking and entering is one of my new talents."

  "This is Marisol's house," Rob said from behind him. "You can't just-"

  "But I have just. Don't expect help; I've put everybody outside to sleep. I'm here, and I think you know why."

  They all stared at him: Kaitlyn and Rob and Lewis and Anna. They were refugees, runaways from the Zetes Institute for Psychic Research, and Marisol's family had taken them in. Marisol herself was absent; once a research assistant at the Institute, she'd found out too much and ended up in a coma. But her family had been kind-and now Kaitlyn had brought more trouble on them.

  It was past midnight. The four of them had been sitting up in the room Marisol's brother had assigned the girls, talking and trying to figure out what to do next. And then the door had opened to reveal Gabriel.

  Kaitlyn, who was standing directly in front of the handsome mahogany desk by Marisol's bed, made her face utterly blank. She tried to make her mind blank, too.

  Anna and Lewis, who were sitting on the bed, were looking just as blank, and Rob's mind was just one wash of golden light. Nothing for Gabriel to grab onto.

  It didn't matter. He looked past Kaitlyn, at the desk, and his smile was dazzling and dangerous.

  "Give up," he said again. "I want it, and I'm going to get it."

  "We don't know what you're talking about," Rob said flatly, taking a step toward him.

  Gabriel answered without turning to look at Rob. He was still smiling but his eyes were dark. "A shard of the last perfect crystal," he said. "Do you want to play hot and cold-or should I just take it?" He looked at the desk again.

  "If we did have it, we wouldn't be giving it to you," Rob said. "We'd use it to destroy your boss-he is your boss now, isn't he?"

  Gabriel's smile froze. His eyes narrowed slightly, and Kaitlyn could see darkness rilling them. But his voice was calm and easygoing. "Sure, he's my boss. And you'd better stay away from him or you're going to get hurt."

  Kaitlyn could feel a stinging behind her eyes. She didn't believe this was happening, she didn't. Gabriel was standing here like a stranger, warning them away from Mr. Zetes. From Mr. Zetes, the man who'd tried to make them into psychic weapons to sell to the highest bidder, who'd tried to kill them when they rebelled. Who'd hounded them all the way up to Canada when they ran away from him, and who was clearly still after them now that they'd returned to fight him. They'd hoped Marisol's house would be a safe place to hide from him-but they'd been wrong.

  "How can you, Gabriel?" Anna said in her low, clear voice, and Kaitlyn knew she was feeling the same thing. Anna Eva Whiteraven's face-usually serene between its dark braids of hair-was now clouded.

  "How can you join him? After everything he's done-"

  "-and everything he's going to do," Lewis put in. Lewis Chao was normally as cheerful as Anna was serene, but now his almond-shaped eyes were bleak. "He's bad, Gabriel; he's bad, and you know it,"

  Reb said, closing in from behind. Rob Kessler wasn't built for menace either, but just now with his tousled blond hair and blazing golden eyes he looked like an avenging angel.

  "And he'll turn on you in the end," Kaitlyn said, adding her voice to the chorus against Gabriel. In her mind she added herself to the group: Kaitlyn Fair-child, not as gentle as Anna and Lewis or as good as Rob, a girl with fiery hair and a temper. And eyes that people called witchy, smoky blue with darker blue rings in them. Right now, Kait fixed these eyes mercilessly on Gabriel, staring him down. Gabriel Wolfe threw back his head and laughed. As always, it almost took Kaitlyn's breath away. Gabriel was so handsome it was frightening. His pale skin made his dark hair look even darker, like the silky pelt of some animal-like his namesake. A wolf, a predator in his bones, who enjoyed stalking and toying with his prey.

  Of course he's bad, Gabriel said. Kaitlyn heard the words in her head, rather than with her ears, and the tone was amused and mocking. I'm bad, too-or hadn't you noticed?

  Tiny needles of pain jabbed into Kaitlyn's temples. She managed not to gasp, but she could sense Anna's alarm, and Lewis's and Rob's. Gabriel had gotten stronger. Kaitlyn could feel it through the psychic web that connected the five of them, the web that Gabriel had created. The web that would link them until one of the five died. They were all psychics: Rob was a healer and Kaitlyn saw the future, Lewis was psychokinetic and Anna controlled animals-but Gabriel was a telepath. He fused minds. He'd fused their minds, the five of them, by accident, and now they were like the arms of a starfish: separate but part of one being.

  Gabriel's power had always been strongest, but now it rocked Kaitlyn with its force. His mental voice had been amused, yes-but it had also been like a white-hot poker burning the words directly into her brain.

  By contrast, Lewis's thought sounded weak and distant. I'm scared.

  Kaitlyn glanced at him quickly and saw that he hadn't meant it to be heard. That was the problem with telepathy, with the web that connected them, held them close. It held them too close, sometimes, throwing their private thoughts into the public forum. Leaving them totally exposed, naked to one another.

  Unable to hide anything.

  Realization flashed through her, and she looked back at Gabriel.

  "That's it, isn't it?" she said. "Why you left. It was too much for you, being so close. It was too intimate-"

  "No."

  "Gabriel, we all feel the same way," Anna said, picking up on Kaitlyn's theme. "We'd all like some privacy. But we're your friends-"

  Gabriel's smile was savage. "I don't need friends."

  "Well, you've got them, boy," Rob said softly. He moved in another step and his hand closed on Gabriel's shoulder. With a gesture that made it look easy, he turned Gabriel around.

  Kaitlyn could feel Gabriel's startled outrage in the web. Rob ignored it, speaking quietly and seriously, looking Gabriel straight in the face. His anger was gone, and so was the usual defensiveness that flared between him and Gabriel, the male rivalry, the jostling for position. Rob was struggling with his pride, his internal honesty conquering it. Forcing himself to be vulnerable with Gabriel.

  "We're more than friends," he said. "We're part of each other, all of us. You made us that way. You linked us together to save our lives-and now you're telling us you've defected to the bad guys? That you're our enemy?" He shook his head. "I don't believe it."

  "That's because you're an idealistic idiot," Gabriel hissed, his voice as soft as Rob's, but feral and menacing. He didn't try to move out of Rob's grip. "Believe it, country boy-because if you mess with me, you're going to be sorry."

  Rob shook his head. He had a look in his eyes that Kaitlyn knew well, and his jaw was at his most stubborn. "You can't fool me, Gabriel. You act like a dumb tough guy but you're not, you're smart. One of the smartest people I've ever met. You could make someth
ing of yourself-"

  "I am-" Gabriel began, but Rob went on, gentle and relentless.

  "You act like you don't care about people, but that's not true either. You saved us all from the crystal when Joyce and Mr. Z were trying to kill us with it. You saved us again when they trapped us at the Institute. You helped Kaitlyn save us from that psychic attack in the van."

  And then Rob did something that astonished Kaitlyn. He actually shook Gabriel. Once again, startled outrage washed through the web, but before Gabriel could say anything Rob was speaking again, fierce and insistent. "I don't know what you're trying to prove, but it's no good. It's no good. You care about us; you can't change that. Why don't you just give in and admit it, Gabriel? Why don't you stop this nonsense right now?"

  Kaitlyn's breath was caught in her throat. She didn't dare breathe, didn't dare move. Rob was walking on a tightrope above razors and knives. He was insane-but it was working.

  Gabriel's body had relaxed slightly, some of the predator-tension draining out of it. And though Kaitlyn couldn't see his eyes, she guessed that they were lightening, a warm gray instead of cold. His presence in the web was warming, too; Kaitlyn no longer got images of stalactites and glaciers. Under the burning heat of Rob's golden eyes, Gabriel's icebergs were cracking up.

  "We all care about you," Rob said, never letting up the intensity. "And your place is right here. Come back to us and help us get rid of Mr. Z, okay? Okay, Gabriel?"

  And then he made his mistake.

  He'd been speaking vehemently, throwing his words into Gabriel's face, and Gabriel had been listening as if he couldn't help it. Almost as if he were hypnotized. But now Rob switched to nonverbal communication to punch his message directly into Gabriel's mind. Kaitlyn knew why he did it- telepathy was forceful and intimate. Too intimate. Her cry of warning was lost as Gabriel snapped.

  Come back, Rob was saying. Come back, Gabriel- okay?

  Kaitlyn felt fury building in Gabriel like a tsunami. Rob, she thought. Rob, don't-Leave me ALONE!