by Jayne Castle
“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.”
The glowing ultraviolet eyes moved toward them with the quick, sharp movements typical of a creature with a jointed exoskeleton. It hesitated, probably because it didn’t like the fire, Drake thought. Then, as if it had come to some decision regarding prey, the monster skittered forward swiftly.
Houdini hissed.
Drake waited until the giant insect was within range. He aimed the fire-starter at one of the compound eyes and released the device at full power. The narrow blowtorch beam struck one of the insect’s eyes. There was a loud crackling noise and then a pop when the creature’s exoskeleton exploded under the fiery impact.
The smell of torched insect drifted through the fog.
Houdini chortled exultantly.
There was a short silence. Drake could feel Alice’s tension.
“You know,” Alice said, “in my experience, whenever you come across one insect, you can usually expect to find more in the vicinity.”
“I was just thinking the same thing.”
The second set of glittering eyes appeared from the far end of the cove. Drake waited until it got within range and ignited the fire-starter again. The big insect exploded in a flash of black smoke that quickly faded. Houdini chortled again, getting into the game now.
“Did you say you had a second fire-starter?” Alice asked.
“I did say that.” He pulled it out of the pack and gave it to her. “Just press this button. Maximum range is only about twenty feet, so you have to wait until the target gets as close as that pile of rocks over there.”
She examined the fire-starter in her hand. “Got it.”
“We’ll sit back-to-back on this log,” Drake said. “That way we’ll still have physical contact, but I’ll be able to keep watch in one direction while you keep an eye out for anything coming up from the opposite end of the beach.”
“Works for me.”
She put one jean-clad leg over the log, sitting astride. He did the same. They pressed their backs together, and energy shivered around them as they both jacked up their talents.
For a time the strange night was silent except for the muffled lapping of the waves in the cove. Drake savored the feel of Alice’s sleek back. She was warm and smelled good. It was ridiculous under the circumstances but it felt right to be here like this together.
Houdini made an eager, chittering sound.
Alice stiffened. “My three-o’clock position. Here goes.”
Drake turned his head and saw a monstrous beetle. “Aim for the biggest part of the thing.”
Alice rezzed the fire-starter. The beetle disintegrated into a smoky ruin.
Houdini went wild and did a victory lap around the fire.
Alice sighed. “Maybe he thinks we’re in the middle of some kind of game.”
Drake zapped another insect.
“I do realize that, as honeymoons go, this one is probably not going to make any woman’s top-ten list,” he said.
“Now, see, there’s where you’re wrong,” Alice said. “It’s all a matter of perspective. I can promise you that this honeymoon is a lot more fun than my last one.”
“Yeah?”
“Hey, this time my husband isn’t trying to murder me. He’s saving me from giant cockroaches.”
“I like your glass-half-full attitude.”
Chapter 12
THE TERRIBLE FOG BEGAN TO RETREAT A COUPLE OF hours later. Alice could not be sure of the time because her watch and Drake’s had both stopped, victims of the heavy psi in the area.
The war with the oversized insects ended shortly thereafter as the surviving monsters retreated back through the fence into the Preserve. The first faint light of dawn appeared.
Drake swung one leg back over the log so that he was no longer sitting astride and took his mirrored sunglasses out of his jacket.
“They’re gone,” he said as he put on his glasses. “I was right, they can’t live outside the Preserve during the day. They need the fog to survive.”
“Thank goodness,” Alice said. “The thought of hiking to Shadow Bay and zapping mutant insects along the way was a little daunting.”
Houdini chortled a cheerful greeting and looked hopefully at the remaining camp meals.
“Hungry?” Drake asked. He got to his feet, reached down, and opened the pack. “So am I. Let’s see what we’ve got for breakfast.”
Alice rose slowly from the driftwood log, stretching to work out some stiff muscles. She watched Drake open the pack, intensely aware that, in spite of everything, she missed the feel of his warm, strong back pressed up against her. She missed the psychic connection that had bound them so intimately through the long, dangerous night. Nothing like surviving an attack of monster insects together to forge a bond between two people, she thought. Don’t read too much into this.
She studied the scene on the beach in the low light of a sullen gray dawn. There were a handful of charred insect carcasses scattered about on the sand. One of them was way too close for comfort.
“Yuck,” Alice said. She turned away from the sight of the dead monster, shuddering.
Drake held up three meal packets. “Looks like stew and pear crisp for breakfast or stew and pear crisp.”
“Choices, choices,” Alice said. “I think I’ll have stew and pear crisp.”
“Excellent decision.”
Drake rezzed three meals. Alice dropped down on the log again to eat her breakfast. Drake sat beside her. They watched Houdini go through the same dithering process that he had gone through the night before, eventually choosing to eat the pear crisp first.
Alice realized that Drake was smiling a little, not so much in amusement but more like satisfaction, she decided.
“What?” she asked around a mouthful of stew.
“Just thinking that we made a good team last night, you, me, and the dust bunny.”
She thought about that. “Yes, we did, didn’t we?”
“That said, we need to get to Shadow Bay today. I don’t think we want to spend another night out in the open.”
Alice froze as a horrible thought struck her. “You said you hadn’t heard from your brother in several days. What if—?”
“Shadow Bay has been overrun by giant insects?” Drake shook his head. “I don’t think that’s very likely, not on that sector of the island.”
“Why not?”
“The town is located a few miles from the fence in a region of Rainshadow that has historically experienced a much lowe
r level of paranormal activity.” Drake angled his head toward the nearby woods. “This sector around Deception Cove, on the other hand, has always been a real hot spot, even before the recent problems. It’s noted on all the old charts. That’s why the fence comes so close to the shoreline around here.”
“You’re assuming that the mutations would start first in a place like Deception Cove?” Alice thought about it. “Makes sense.”
“That’s my best guess.” Drake finished his meal and got to his feet. “Let’s move out.”
It did not take long to pack up the camp, mostly because Drake did all the work, Alice thought. She didn’t even know how to fold the tent.
“I feel more than a little useless,” she said. “Please don’t hesitate to give instructions.”
“I won’t.” Drake gave her a coolly approving smile. “And you sure as hell weren’t useless last night.”
She decided that comment made her feel a lot better.
Drake handed her the smaller of the two packs. “Here you go.”
She struggled into the pack and followed him down the beach. Houdini scampered along at their feet, pausing here and there to investigate an interesting rock or log.
“Everything’s a game to you, isn’t it?” Alice asked him, smiling.
Drake glanced at Houdini. “Life is simple for a dust bunny. Deciding whether to eat the pear crisp before the stew is probably about as difficult as decision-making gets.”
The beach ended in a tumble of rocks. Drake wove a path through them and started into the tree line. Alice followed, concentrating on her footing so intently that she blundered into Drake before she realized that he had stopped and was standing very still.
She opened her mouth to ask a question, but he silenced her with a small motion of his hand. Houdini, too, had gone silent. He was still fully fluffed and was looking at the woods up ahead as intently as Drake.
Alice watched Drake take out the fire-starter.
Oh, crap, she thought. More mutant insects.
Drake closed his hand around her arm and drew her into the shadows cast by a pile of boulders. They hunkered down and waited.
