by Jayne Castle
“Dr. Tucker used those crystal Keys to fire up the Chamber,” Karen said. “That’s all I can tell you.”
Drake finished his tea. “Alice and Karen and I all need some food and some sleep.” He looked out the window at the unnatural dark that had fallen in the past half hour. “We need to pull together the information we’ve got and come up with a plan, but there’s nothing we can do until morning.”
“You’ve got that right,” Fletcher said. “Shadow Bay was never what you’d call a lively town after dark. We roll up the streets around nine o’clock most nights. But lately it’s gotten real quiet at night. You can move around to some extent with an amber lantern, but that fog makes people nervous as hell.”
“Folks think they see things in it,” Rachel said. “And now that we know about those mutant insects in Deception Cove, we have to take the hallucinations a little more seriously.”
“Everyone who couldn’t get off the island or who refused to leave is staying here in town,” Fletcher explained. “Jasper and I are sleeping in our shop.”
“Rachel and I are staying at the B-and-B at the end of the street,” Charlotte said. “We can squeeze Karen in there, but the place is really full. I think Burt Caster, who owns the Marina Inn and Tavern, mentioned that he had one room left. Drake, you and Alice can have it.”
Alice went very still. She did not dare look at Drake.
“That works,” Drake said.
Rachel gave Alice a commiserating smile. “I’ll bet you didn’t expect to spend your honeymoon on Rainshadow, did you?”
“Actually,” Alice said, “it’s become something of a tradition for me.”
Chapter 18
“YOU KNOW,” ALICE SAID, “IF WE HADN’T ALREADY SPENT a couple of nights together, this situation would be somewhat awkward.”
Room Number Five at the Marina Inn had seen better days. The curtains, carpet, bedspread, and towels were faded and a bit frayed, but the bathroom and the sheets were clean, and that counted for a lot in her opinion. During the past year she had learned to establish priorities. Nevertheless, in the low, mellow light of the amber lantern on the table, the place didn’t look all that bad. Under other circumstances, it might even have been romantic in a retro sort of way. The kind of place where a young, broke, eloping couple might spend a honeymoon.
But she could not remember a time when she had felt young, and she was married—temporarily at least—to one of the wealthiest men in the four city-states. True, they had eloped, but not for the usual reasons.
When they had entered the room a moment ago, Drake had done a methodical walk-through of the small space. Houdini had followed at his heels, evidently taking the job of checking out the room as seriously as Drake. There was none of the usual dust bunny obsession with turning the nearest bright, shiny object into a toy; no trying to swing from the drapery cord. At first Alice had wondered if the effects of the chocolate zingers had simply worn off, but now she sensed that, like Drake, Houdini was in sentry mode.
“Charlotte and Rachel probably could have made space for you over at the B-and-B,” Drake said. “But I didn’t want to go into detailed explanations of exactly why we got married, not in front of a lot of people we don’t know very well.” He shrugged out of the pack and dropped it on the small table near the window. “Figured that would be even more awkward.”
“You’re right.” Alice smiled ruefully. “Explaining to a bunch of strangers that you married me to protect me from Ethel Whitcomb, who thinks I murdered her son, would have been a tad difficult.”
“That wasn’t the part that worried me.”
“No?”
“No.” He opened the pack. “I held off on the explanations because this is a small town. It’s even smaller now that the few locals who are still here are all hunkered down. I trust everyone at that table tonight, primarily because Harry told me that he trusts them. But there are no secrets in small towns. If word gets out that our marriage is a fake, there’s no telling who will find out.”
Alice looked out the window. The dark mist had closed in on Shadow Bay. Here and there she could see the weak light of an amber lantern in a window or the flames of a hearth fire, but the rest of the scene was drenched in dark, disturbing energy.
“I don’t think that any gossip will get off this island as long as it’s locked in this fog,” she said.
“We can’t be sure of that. I’d rather not take any chances.”
“Are you going to tell your brother the truth about our marriage when he returns?” she asked. Assuming he does return, she thought. But there was no reason to sound pessimistic. Drake had enough to cope with at the moment.
“I’ll have to explain the situation to Harry.” Drake removed his overnight kit from the pack. “He’ll know there’s something off about the marriage as soon as he finds out about it.”
Alice wrinkled her nose. “Because we don’t look like a happily married couple?”
“No.” Drake studied the fog-bound scene through the window. “Because in our family we don’t do MCs.”
Her insides clenched but she tried not to let him see the effect his words had on her.
“I suppose MCs are way too tacky for the Sebastian family,” she said, going for flippant. “Always nice to meet a man with such high standards.” Guilt flashed through her. “Sorry,” she said gruffly. “That was uncalled for under the circumstances. Our MC is certainly not typical.”
“It’s not so much a question of standards—more like a definition. In my family, marriage is marriage. An affair is an affair. There is no middle ground.”
“In other words, in your family, when it comes to making a commitment, there’s no gray area. You either make a commitment and keep it or you don’t.”
He gave her a wary look. “Something like that.”
“What a lovely, noble tradition. Very admirable. Yet here you are, stuck in a low-class MC thanks to me. Yep, I can see why you feel like you have to explain things to your brother. Sorry about that, but if you will recall, it was your idea.”
“Yes,” he said a little too evenly. “It was my idea. And it’s not like Harry did things perfectly, either. He went through a full-blown Covenant Marriage ceremony, but his wife divorced him three weeks after the wedding.”
“Really?” Alice stared at him, astonished. “I didn’t hear about that.”
“Probably because a lot of money was spent keeping the scandal out of the media.”
“I see. Wow.” Alice thought about that. The dissolution of a Covenant Marriage was not unheard of, but it was rare because it was a legal and financial nightmare that always left a social stigma. “Mind if I ask what the grounds for the divorce were?”
“It was granted under the new laws governing divorce. Harry’s ex claimed intolerable psychical incompatibility.”
“Geez. Must have cost a fortune.”
Drake smiled wryly. “Like I said, money can’t buy everything but it comes in handy at times.”
“That’s for sure.” Alice took a deep breath. “Okay, thanks for the family background. That makes me feel a little better about getting you into this mess.”
Drake stopped smiling. “You didn’t get me into it. The MC was my idea, remember?”
“I know, but—” She stopped because she did not know where to go with that.
Drake surveyed the room with a grim expression. “And while we’re on the subject, I apologize for the accommodations.”
“Not a problem.” Alice sat down on the bed, leaned back, and braced herself on her hands. “I’ve lived in worse places. You saw that apartment I was renting in Crystal City. This is a real step up. It’s . . . cozy.”
He watched her through his glasses. “I was apologizing for the lack of privacy, not the lack of luxury.”
“Oh, well, that can’t be helped. You heard the woman at the front desk. This is the last available room. We’re lucky we’re not going to be sleeping on the floor in the lobby. What do you say we go downstairs to
the tavern and get some dinner? Don’t know about you but I’m hungry.”
Drake seemed to relax. “Sounds like a plan.”
“Also, I could use a drink.”
“That, too, sounds like an excellent idea.”
* * *
THE TAVERN ON THE FIRST FLOOR WAS LIT WITH AMBER lanterns and crowded with locals who were spending the night at the inn. The mood was that of a community under siege, Alice thought. In spite of the fact that almost every table was filled, a dark, subdued atmosphere pervaded the rustic space. Some of the booths and tables were occupied by families. The parents talked in hushed tones. The kids were unnaturally quiet.
A boy who appeared to be about thirteen sat at a table with a woman who looked the right age to be his grandmother—a young grandmother. She was blonde with a fit, athletic figure and she wore a police uniform complete with a mag-rez pistol. There was another person at the table, a young man in his early twenties. He, too, wore a uniform with a patch embroidered SBPD.
The kid brightened when Alice walked in with Houdini on her shoulder.
“Hey, look, the lady has a dust bunny,” he said to a friend.
The other youngsters in the restaurant turned around to look at Alice. The little ones jumped up and came running.
“Can we pet him?” a small, dark-haired girl asked eagerly.
“What’s his name?” an older boy asked.
Sensing that he had an audience, Houdini went into high-rez cute mode. He bounced a little and chortled a greeting.
Alice found herself surrounded by a small throng of excited children. She took Houdini off her shoulder and set him on the back of a chair.
“His name is Houdini,” she said. “And I don’t think he would mind if you pet him.”
Drake looked at her. “You and Houdini entertain the kids. I’ll get us some food.”
He went to the counter to put in an order. There was a harried-looking cook laboring over an old-fashioned stove that was operating off an ancient amber-fueled generator.
The kids gathered around Houdini’s chair. The small girl reached out to give him a tentative pat. Houdini chirped encouragingly.
“Houdini is a magician,” Alice said. “He can disappear.”
“Yeah?” The boy who had been sitting with the police officers looked skeptical. “Will he do it for us?”
“I think so, if you ask him nicely. What’s your name?”
“Devin Reed. That’s my grandmother over there. She’s a police officer. Her name is Myrna Reed. And that’s Officer Willis with her. They’re in charge because the chief is gone for a while.”
Alice glanced at Myrna, who nodded and gave her a grateful smile. The adults in the room were quietly scared, Alice thought, and trying not to show it for the sake of the children.
She turned back to the small audience and put a hand on Houdini. “What do you say, Mr. Houdini? Will you do your vanishing act for us?”
Houdini chortled happily.
“That means yes,” Alice said.
She kicked up her talent, generating a little energy through her hand.
There was a collective gasp when Houdini vanished. He chortled again. The sound, coming as it did out of thin air, caused an excited murmur to run through the crowd. Alice realized it wasn’t just the kids who were watching now. Several of the adults in the room were also paying attention.
“How did he do that?” Devin asked. “Tell us how the trick works.”
“Professional magicians never give away their secrets except to students of the art who are serious about becoming professional illusionists,” Alice said. “Besides, if you knew how it worked, it wouldn’t be any fun. Houdini, please reappear.”
She lowered her talent. Houdini popped back into view.
“Can he make other stuff disappear?” one of the kids asked.
“Oh, sure,” Alice said. She picked up a spoon and held it out to Houdini. They had done the trick many times before. He gripped the end of the spoon in one paw. Alice kept her hold on the other end and generated a little energy. The spoon vanished.
A chorus of oohs and aahs swept through the crowd of youngsters. There were more suggestions from the audience.
“Make the dish vanish,” someone said.
“No, make the whole table disappear,” the dark-haired girl pleaded.
Alice and Houdini went to work. Together they made the saltshaker, the small bouquet of artificial flowers, and a paper napkin vanish. When Drake started back toward the table with a tray of pizza and a couple of beers, Alice decided to go for the wow factor. She positioned Houdini on the table.
“Mr. Houdini will now make the table vanish,” she intoned. “Leaving him suspended in midair.”
The kids waited, breathless with anticipation. Alice heard several chairs scrape on the floor as a number of adults moved closer for a better view.
“Are you ready?” Alice asked.
There was a chorus of yesses.
She touched the table. “Mr. Houdini, please make the table vanish.”
Houdini chortled and bounced up and down. He knew the applause line. Alice sent a heavy pulse of energy through her fingertips. The table vanished, leaving only Houdini and the artificial flowers.
The kids shouted with glee. Houdini was in the zone now. He dashed in circles around the top of the table, looking as if he was running in midair. He paused to pull one of the artificial flowers out of the little vase. He waved the flower madly at his audience, who responded with gleeful shouts.
Drake stopped a few steps away and met Alice’s eyes. He smiled.
“And the crowd goes wild,” he said.
Alice lowered her talent. The table popped back into view. There was a round of applause, much of it coming from the adults.
“But how does he do it?” a boy asked.
“I told you, Houdini’s a professional magician,” Alice said. “He has his secrets. But between you and me, I’m pretty sure it’s just a trick of the light.”
Drake set the tray of pizza and beer down on the table. He gave one of the slices to Houdini, who set to it with his usual enthusiasm for anything edible. Alice took her seat and reached for a slice.
She was about to take a bite when Devin’s grandmother stopped at the table.
“I’m Myrna Reed,” she said.
There was a short round of introductions.
“I’d say welcome to Rainshadow,” Myrna said, “but I imagine that, under the circumstances, you’d both rather be anywhere else but here. The chief told Officer Willis and me to expect you. He said the two of you were going to help out with the problem in the Preserve. I just wanted to say thanks.”
“You’re welcome,” Alice said. “But I’m not the one who is going to fix whatever is going down inside the Preserve. Drake and his brother are the magicians on that job. I’m just the box-jumper.”
Myrna frowned. “Box-jumper?”
“The magician’s assistant.” Alice glanced at Houdini, who had devoured his pizza and was now table-hopping madly around the room, enjoying his stardom. “Pretty much the same job that I have with Houdini.”
Myrna smiled. “What you did just now with the kids, that was good. They loved it. The parents appreciated it, too. Things have been a little tense here. You can feel the difference in the mood now. You lightened up things for a while.”
“Magic,” Drake said.
He wasn’t looking at Houdini. He was looking at Alice.
Chapter 19
THE SOUND OF THE DOOR OPENING AND CLOSING brought Alice out of a restless sleep. She came awake on a hot tide of energy, leaping from the bed and instinctively rezzing her talent.
By the time she was fully awake she was on her feet, facing the door.
“It’s okay,” Drake said. He spoke calmly, as if her over-rezzed reaction was perfectly normal. “Houdini wanted out. He was very clear about it. I assumed it was all right so I opened the door for him.”
She felt the energy level rise a little
in the atmosphere and knew that Drake had jacked up his talent so that he could see her. If he found that necessary, it meant she was doing a fade.
She took a deep breath and dropped back into her normal senses. She had to give Drake credit, she thought. Most men would have freaked at the sight of a woman jumping out of bed and disappearing into thin air. But it would take a lot to make Drake freak.
“Sure, that’s fine,” she said. “I told you, he often goes out at night. He’ll be back before dawn.” She hesitated. “Sorry about the disappearing act a minute ago.”
“No problem.”
Drake rezzed the lock and moved toward the chair in front of the window. He was wearing the trousers and clean T-shirt that he had produced from his pack. For her part she was still in the long-sleeved black pullover and the black trousers she had stuffed into her own pack. In the morning she was going to have to do some hand washing in the bathroom sink.
Earlier she had stretched out on top of the bed to get some sleep. She had expected Drake to settle down beside her. The bed was certainly large enough for two. It should not have been any more complicated than sitting back-to-back until dawn last night, she thought. Then again, maybe it would have been more complicated. Something about a bed changed things. In any event, Drake had insisted on dozing in the reading chair, his feet propped on the small hassock.
He came to a stop in front of the window and looked at her. “Good thing no one can see either of us now. We’re not exactly dressed like honeymooners, are we?”
She wrinkled her nose. “No, but we’re not your typical honeymooning couple.”
“And Rainshadow is not your typical honeymoon destination.”
“It certainly is for me,” Alice said.
“There is a pattern developing,” Drake conceded.
They both smiled. Alice relaxed somewhat.
Drake looked at her for a moment longer and then turned away to contemplate the night on the other side of the window. “The fog has gotten a lot heavier in the past hour.”
