by Jayne Castle
“Are the answers all there?” he asked.
“Most of them.” Alice gave him a misty smile. “I can’t tell you how much it means to me to have this diary.”
Drake thought about the hours he had spent in the Sebastian family archives over the years. “I understand how it feels to be able to touch your own past.”
“I owe it all to you. You really are a magician.”
“No,” he said. “We needed each other to get through this thing. If it hadn’t been for you, Tucker would have destroyed Rainshadow.”
Alice shook her head. “I’m the one who put the crystals in her hands.”
“That wasn’t your fault. You were trying to retrieve some pieces of your past. In my family, we don’t consider that a crime.”
She sighed. “Thanks. I appreciate that. Still, if I hadn’t fallen for Fulton’s line—”
“If I hadn’t fallen for Zara Tucker’s line three years ago, none of this would have happened. There’s plenty of blame to go around.”
“She really is a sneaky, conniving, sociopathic twit, you know. Also a total psycho. Any woman could immediately see through her.”
“Maybe that was my problem, I’m not any woman.”
Alice stared at him for a heartbeat. Then she laughed.
“Point taken,” she said. “Think you’ll have a problem seeing through women like that in the future?”
“No,” Drake said. He watched her through his glasses, savoring the light and energy that danced in the atmosphere around her. “I see everything a lot more clearly these days.”
Chapter 43
“ALICE THINKS SHE OWNS HALF OF RAINSHADOW?” Harry asked.
It was rare to see his brother looking dumbfounded, Drake thought. But this was one of those moments and he relished it.
“Half of anything of value that might be found inside the Preserve, to be more precise,” Drake said. “And she’s right. There’s a signed copy of the agreement in her great-grandfather’s diary and, according to it, there’s another copy in the Sebastian family archives.”
Harry whistled softly. “Son of a ghost. Wait until the old man hears about this.”
“Should be interesting.”
Harry raised his brows. “Another person, someone who didn’t know you well, might wonder if that’s why you got involved in an MC with Alice. Maybe trying to use a fake marriage to get her to cooperate with you?”
“No,” Drake said. His sense of amusement evaporated in an instant. He was suddenly angry and a little worried. Was that what Alice believed? he wondered. “That’s not why we’re married.”
Harry nodded. “Figured it wasn’t.”
“I’ve got a strategy.”
“You always have a strategy. That’s why they call you the Magician back home.”
“For the record, I had a hell of a time convincing Alice to go for an MC.”
“Yeah?”
“Her last MC husband tried to kill her.”
“That would be Fulton Whitcomb?”
“Yes.” Drake looked at him. “And before you ask, I believe Alice’s version of events.”
Harry nodded, still thoughtful. “Okay, in that case I believe it, too. Doesn’t explain why you’re in an MC.”
“Ethel Whitcomb has been spending a lot of money this past year trying to make Alice’s life hell. The effort has been successful for the most part. The night I found Alice, I had to deal with a private investigator searching her apartment, looking for anything that could be used against her. Ethel wants Alice in jail.”
“You figured Ethel Whitcomb would back off once she found out that you were in the picture.”
“I thought it would send a message,” Drake said evenly. “At the time I was concerned that Whitcomb might try to have Alice followed to Rainshadow. We didn’t need the complications. That was before I found out that the island had been shut down by the fog.”
“Uh-huh.”
Drake looked at him. “What?”
“You’re sleeping with Alice North.”
“So?”
“I’m thinking you didn’t need to get involved in an MC to protect her from Ethel Whitcomb. You have other resources available to you for handling situations like that.”
“In hindsight, maybe it wasn’t absolutely necessary. It just seemed like the most efficient way to get Whitcomb out of the picture until the problem here on Rainshadow was resolved.”
Harry smiled slowly. There was a knowing look in his eyes. “Wait until Mom finds out.”
Chapter 44
ALICE PUT THE NORTH DIARY DOWN ON THE TABLE AND looked at the small crowd gathered in the café at the back of Shadow Bay Books. Drake and Harry both lounged against the wall. Jasper, Fletcher, Rachel, and Charlotte sat at tables, cups of tea in front of them.
“In the years that followed the breakup of the North-Sebastian partnership, my great-grandfather returned to Rainshadow on a number of occasions,” Alice said. “His light-talent made it possible for him to come and go through the psi-fence, and his copy of the psi-code treasure map allowed him to get to the cave where the crystals were stored. He ran some experiments on the stones and at some point he discovered that they could be made to function as paranormal compasses.”
“Compasses that pointed toward hot spots on the island?” Drake asked.
“Right,” Alice said. She put her hand on the diary and thought about what she had read. “Properly positioned, they resonated with the energy fields coming from the various ruins on the island. But he could not navigate the terrain inside the Preserve any better than anyone else—until he found Bainbridge’s personal papers that led him to the hole-in-the-wall entrance and into the tunnels.”
Rachel smiled, understanding. “Once North was down in the catacombs, he set out to map them, and in the process he found the ruins of at least two Alien labs, the pyramid and the aquarium.”
Drake smiled appreciatively. “Aware that the ruins were finds of potentially incredible value, he very cleverly got his old pirate partner, Harry Sebastian the First, to sign an agreement giving North and his heirs half of anything of value that was ever discovered on the island.”
“That was probably the only shrewd business move my great-grandfather ever made,” Alice said.
Fletcher chuckled. “Could turn out to be downright brilliant.”
“At that time Harry Sebastian probably wasn’t paying much attention to Rainshadow, anyway,” Harry said. “He was busy building his business and starting a family. He would have had no objection to signing the agreement. As far as he was concerned, he and North had been partners when they buried the treasure. He figured North had every right to half the value of whatever was discovered on Rainshadow. But he assumed that nothing of financial importance would be found on the island for years, if ever.”
“He also assumed that if something of value was discovered, Sebastian, Inc., through the Rainshadow Foundation, would control the discovery,” Alice said. She kept her tone exquisitely polite.
A quick grin came and went on Drake’s face, but he said nothing.
Harry narrowed his eyes. “Your great-grandfather’s version of your family history is a little different than the Sebastian family version.”
“They say that happens a lot when it comes to history,” Alice said. “Different people hold different views and the prevailing story is the one written by the winners.”
“There are no winners and losers here,” Harry growled. “Just a partnership that went bust.”
Drake shot Harry a warning look and took charge of the meeting. “To continue, Nick North died before he could return to Rainshadow again after the agreement was signed. Thanks to his MC wife at the time, the diary and Nick’s psi-code map to the cave where the crystals were stored disappeared into the underground antiquities market.”
“There’s always a market for lost treasure maps,” Charlotte observed. “No telling how many people tried to find those ruins over the years.”
�
�Tried and failed,” Alice said. “Because only a descendant of Nick North, who also possessed a version of his talent, could decipher his copy of the psi-code map.”
Drake folded his arms and sat back. “Zara Tucker came across North’s psi-code map and the diary during the course of her research. She became obsessed with finding the ruins, particularly the pyramid, which North believed contained extraordinary secrets that only a light-talent could unravel. But first she had to locate the crystals. She landed a position at the Foundation research labs to try to get an inside track and access to the Sebastian family archives.”
“Her plan worked at first because the two of you started dating,” Harry said. “She even persuaded you to go to a matchmaking agency and take the test. Lo and behold the two of you were a perfect match.”
Drake winced. “Don’t remind me. Who knew you could bribe a matchmaker to fake the results of the test? Is nothing sacred?”
Fletcher shook his head. “Nope.”
“It soon became clear to Tucker that, in spite of what the agency test showed, you were not going to marry her and you certainly had no intention of taking her into your confidence,” Harry continued. “Hell, our family has never even officially acknowledged that the Old World crystals existed. Those damn rocks were a deep, dark family secret and we intended to keep it that way.”
“When I ended the relationship,” Drake said, “she was furious because she saw everything she had worked for going down in flames. In her rage, she used the Alien laser on me and then she faked her own death.”
Alice pursed her lips. “In hindsight, it certainly looks as if the two of you should have conducted a more thorough investigation into her disappearance.”
Harry and Drake looked at her.
“Thank you for that advice,” Harry said.
Drake nodded solemnly. “Have to remember that the next time I run into a mad scientist.”
Alice shrugged. “Just saying.”
Rachel and Charlotte smiled.
“Got any idea how hard it is to prove that someone did not fake her own death by walking off into an uncharted section of the catacombs?” Harry asked. “People disappear into the tunnels all the time. In this instance, there was a note. There was a record of a recent para-psych evaluation in which the doctor noted that Tucker was at risk of doing herself some harm. A stash of potent hallucinogens were discovered in her bedroom. None of her bank accounts were ever accessed after she vanished. None of her credit cards were ever used.”
“Okay, okay, I get it,” Alice said. “You thought she was dead. I will admit that it’s easier to disappear than most people assume—if you’re willing to leave everything behind.”
Drake cleared his throat. “Moving right along, Tucker reinvented herself as an Alien antiquities expert in the black market. It was the perfect cover. She operated freely in the shadows of that world and in the process she met Aldwin Hampstead, director of the Whitcomb Museum. They did business together but Tucker never gave up on her goal. She went looking for a North descendant who could lead her to the crystals.”
“Eventually she found me,” Alice said. “But I had no idea that my family history was connected to Rainshadow. All I knew was that I had a talent for disappearing.”
“Tucker had to figure out a way to get you on board without letting you discover your heritage and your claim to half of anything found on Rainshadow,” Drake said. “She was afraid that if you learned the truth you would go straight to the Sebastian family to demand your share. She didn’t dare let that happen.”
“She had another problem as well,” Alice said. “She was going to need a lot of money to conduct an illicit excavation here on Rainshadow.”
Fletcher raised a brow. “That’s where Aldwin Hampstead came in, I suppose.”
“Yes,” Drake said. “He had a direct pipeline into the Whitcomb family fortune. He also knew enough about the family dynamics to realize that Fulton Whitcomb would jump at the chance to prove to his mom and everyone else that he was not a loser.”
“Tucker and Hampstead decided to bring him in on the project,” Alice said. “Whitcomb was thrilled when they approached him with the idea of going after the crystals and the ruins. They told him all he had to do was convince me to enter into a full Covenant Marriage in order to be able to claim half of whatever they found on the island.”
Rachel gave Alice a wicked smile. “I’m sure they were all stunned when you turned down Whitcomb’s offer of a CM in favor of a trial marriage.”
“Yeah, well, there was this small voice whispering that it was all just a little too good to be true,” Alice said.
“After Egan Quinton murdered Fulton Whitcomb, Tucker came to Rainshadow with the diary, the secret of the catacomb entrance, and the three crystals,” Drake said. “Sure enough, she was able to use the stones to locate the pyramid. Thanks to Hampstead, she was able to tap into the museum endowment fund to finance a small-scale excavation.”
“Thanks to her work in the antiquities black market, she had already found her pet ghost hunter, Egan,” Alice said. “He was a professional killer with a talent for disguise. His job was to keep the tunnels cleared of UDEMs and serve as her spy in Shadow Bay. He rounded up a couple of his pals to handle security and bring in supplies by way of Deception Cove.”
Jasper frowned. “You say Tucker had all three crystals but only two of them were found inside the pyramid. How did the third one end up in the aquarium?”
Slade sat forward. “I can answer that. I talked to Tucker again this morning. She said she didn’t want to take any chances with the pyramid until she knew more about the power of the crystals. She took them to the aquarium to run some experiments. But she made the mistake of putting one of the stones into the rainstone vault at the aquarium.”
Rachel looked surprised. “She was able to work the rainstone to open the vault?”
“No,” Slade said. “The vault was open when she arrived at the aquarium. She took one of the crystals inside to see if it would resonate with any of the antiquities. Her action triggered the vault’s closing mechanism. When she realized that she was about to get locked inside, she panicked and ran for the exit, leaving the crystal behind. She barely made it.”
“Once the vault closed there was no way to open it again,” Harry said. He gave Rachel a knowing look. “Not unless you happen to have a talent for working rainstone.”
“In the end, Tucker was left with only two crystals,” Drake said. “She had no interest in the aquarium facility, so she went back to the pyramid chamber and planted the remaining two crystals inside. They eventually set up the unstable resonance frequencies that overheated the Chamber and ignited the fog.”
Slade looked at him. “You are going to take all of those people who are currently sitting in my jail away from Shadow Bay, right? I want them out of town as soon as possible.”
“Harry will handle that end of things,” Drake said.
“Don’t worry,” Harry said. “I’ve already talked to headquarters. A Foundation Security team—the real Foundation Security people this time—will be here in the morning. We’ll transport your guests back to the mainland and hand them over to the FBPI.”
“I’ll bet Zara Tucker lands in a locked para-psych ward,” Rachel said. “Something really twisted in that pretty little blonde head.”
“Tell me about it,” Drake said. “I still can’t believe I dated that crazy woman.”
Alice made a face. “I can’t believe I agreed to an MC with Fulton Whitcomb.”
Rachel smiled. “Everyone makes mistakes when it comes to that kind of thing. What you both need to remember is that in the end you listened to your intuition and cut your losses before you wound up in a Covenant Marriage.”
Alice shuddered. “Imagine being stuck in a marriage with someone like Fulton Whitcomb for the rest of your life.”
Sunlight flashed on Drake’s glasses. “Whitcomb and the others never intended a long-term marriage to be a problem for you.”<
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“There is that,” Alice said.
She shook off the creepy sensation that swept across her senses. She was safe now. It was over. And so was her Rainshadow honeymoon. At that thought, the creepy feeling gave way to an inexplicable sense of loss. Not like it was ever a real marriage in the first place, she reminded herself.
“What’s next on our to-do list?” Harry asked.
Drake straightened away from the wall. Energy sparked in the atmosphere around him. “Next up is a closer look inside the pyramid.”
“Right,” Harry said. “We need to find out how dangerous that Chamber really is.”
“And if it is dangerous?” Slade asked.
“Then we have to find a way to destroy it,” Drake said. “Preferably without taking out the whole island.”
Chapter 45
DRAKE STOOD IN THE CENTER OF THE PYRAMID AND opened his other vision. The translucent stones that formed the walls and the floor of the Chamber still seethed with energy, but the currents were stable now that the Old World crystals were gone. The wall of midnight that had blocked the entrance had disappeared.
“Feels much calmer in here now,” Alice said. “Not nearly so dark, either. I can see some of the energy locked in the walls, but it’s all sort of muted to my vision, as if this room is drenched in paranormal shadows.”
“That’s the way the daylight world appears to me when I view it through my glasses,” Drake said.
“I understand,” Alice said. “What do you see in here?”
She stood beside him, surveying the Chamber. Houdini was perched on her shoulder. He did not show any particular interest in the pyramid. Harry and Rachel stood just inside the entrance. Darwina was perched on Rachel’s shoulder, an Amberella doll in one paw.
Drake turned slowly, examining the Chamber. “Each of the big blocks of crystal are made up of hundreds, maybe thousands, of smaller crystals. Each of the small crystals is illuminated in a different shade of dark light. I’ve never seen most of these colors before. But I think I can channel some of this energy.”