Echoes in the Dark

by Robin D. Owens

  She glanced down and was only a little surprised to see a small, perfect sloop. She’d missed the raising!

  “Don’t worry.” Faucon’s smile was almost sad. “You’ll get plenty of practice. Your warship isn’t as simple as this sloop.”

  Alexa squealed and Raine and the men dropped their hands. The Swordmarshall swooped in and got her ship. She grinned. “It’s mine.”

  Bastien, her husband, who was leaning against a tree, smiled brilliantly at Faucon. “We’ll be wanting a room with a large tub so my lady can play with her new toy.”

  Much snickering at Alexa’s surprised expression.

  Faucon bowed with a flourish. “I’ll make sure of it.”

  There was a flurry of wings and a volaran landed delicately among them. Atop the winged horse was Koz. He lifted a large padded velvet bag. “I’m here and I have Raine’s mirrors.”

  Faucon stepped farther away from Raine as Koz dismounted. “Dinner, first,” he said.

  Too late for Raine to prefer Koz. During the night before and the time with him today, she was falling for Faucon.

  After dinner they all gathered in one of Faucon’s sitting rooms on the castle’s main floor. Or all the humans did. The feycoocus were off on their own mysterious business.

  Along one wall of the room were French doors, looking out into a night spangled with brilliant stars and moon. Just beyond those doors swished the everlasting tide.

  The room was comfortable with faded orange-and-red patterned rugs and well-worn leather chairs in a butterscotch color.

  As always when working with his mirrors, Koz had settled on the rug and placed the velvet bag beside him. Raine sat on the floor, too, but gave him plenty of elbow room.

  Koz drew out the mirror, then unfolded it to gasps of amazement. First it was a triptych, opening like a triple wallet, one side to the left and one to the right, all backed with what Raine recognized as soulsucker skin. Then Koz flipped up a mirror to the top and down the bottom until the whole array looked like a cross.

  “I’m pleased to say these are the best magic mirrors ever made.” He gave a deprecating cough. “Probably couldn’t have been done without my advances in the field.”

  “Better the mirror magic field than the battlefield,” Marian said, patting her brother on his shoulder.

  Koz switched his gaze from the others to meet Raine’s eyes. “I’ve calibrated them to the mirrors now in your brothers’ and father’s homes.”

  Huge feeling rose in her, so big she couldn’t speak. To be able to see her family! Even if she couldn’t communicate with them like Bri did, she’d know they were safe and happy. A horrible noise came from her, a groan, then she was heaving with sobs so deep she could barely breathe.

  Bri came to her left and wrapped her arm around her, and with Calli to her right they held her as she wept. She cried as she hadn’t since she’d arrived on Lladrana.

  “You’re safe, you’re valued, you’re safe now,” Calli murmured. Raine let her body shake, all her emotions out.

  To their credit, the men hadn’t stampeded to the door, but all except Koz had withdrawn to the far corner of the room—backs against the wall, protecting each other? Raine snorted a chuckle and realized she’d been wrong when Faucon handed her a large white linen handkerchief to blow her nose.

  She did and wiggled a bit to let the other women know that the crying was over. From their supportive mind-tones, she knew that each one of them had suffered through bouts of tears.

  Separation anxiety, Marian sent, matter-of-factly.

  Separation from our own world, Bri said, and my parents and twin. Her bondmate, Sevair, strode over to pick her up in his strong stonemason’s arms and cradle her.

  So half of Raine’s vision was unblocked. Faucon, the handsome hunk, was crouched before her. When she met his eyes, he said, “I have double-checked with the ship’s captain who has your stalker in his crew. Being unused to hard work and of a nature to boast, the man is not faring well.”

  “Too bad,” Alexa said. She’d risen from a couch and stood, chin out, hand on her baton. She glanced at Raine. “Better than if he was here. No future for him in Lladrana.”

  “No,” Koz said. He’d moved away down the rug and was fiddling with his mirrors, which reminded Raine.

  “Koz, I ordered and paid for your hats—”

  He looked up at her with a grin. “Thanks, the feycoocus have already delivered them.”

  They must have gotten the hats from the tailor. No one would deny the magical beings.

  She coughed. As if that was a signal the rest of the men sauntered back to drape themselves over or lean on various pieces of furniture near their ladies. Looking at Koz, she said, “The mirrors were going to be delivered with something that would make my guys keep them in their houses for three generations?”

  Koz smiled and it was charming and her pulse might have fluttered once upon a time. “Ayes.” He reached into a little belt pouch, withdrew his hand and opened his fingers. She goggled at huge diamonds. They must have been four carats each.

  Raine blew her nose again, better than gaping at the jewels. “I can never repay you!”

  “Raine,” Koz said, “I have more riches here than I or any children I might have will ever spend. Even in four generations, or maybe even in ten.”

  Faucon glanced at the diamonds, then at Raine. “These gems are costly in your world?”

  “Ayes,” Raine said, still staring at the beautiful facets shooting rainbows.

  Faucon shook his head. “They are common here, not worth much.”

  “Huh?” Raine stared at him.

  Chuckling, Koz said, “I can barely buy a bit of land with these. A mistake bringing them from Earth. Your father and each brother got two. So what was a huge payoff to your father and brothers is actually covered by the hats.” He lifted up a finger. “One like Bastien designed, low crown, extra-wide brim, of soulsucker—” he lifted another finger “—and a cowboy hat. Hand-made to fit.”

  “Thanks,” Raine said, gulping back more threatening tears. “About your time and effort—”

  Koz waved a negligent hand, eyed Faucon and scooted back over to give her a firm kiss that left her lips throbbing.

  She stared at him, then leaned back, smiled.

  He winked. “A good kiss from a pretty girl is enough, ’specially since the project itself was damn fascinating.” Leaning over, he snagged the mirror array and velvet bag.

  “Bossgond and I had a good time exploring Best Haven. Nice town. Your map of the main streets and the Pearsons’ building was perfect, of course. We addressed the package to the senior Pearson and moved it to his office. Good idea signing Judge Philbert’s name to that note, Alexa.”

  Bri chuckled. “He’s a U.S. District Court judge and has clout.”

  Raine nodded. “The Pearsons had been courting him, invitations to the country club, the yacht club.” She shrugged. “You know.”

  “Sure,” Koz said. “Now, the mirrors.” He straightened the array. “The center is your father’s mirror. The left is your oldest brother John’s.” Again the self-deprecating smile. “I couldn’t figure out the birth order of the rest, but the right is Simon’s, the top is Terry’s, and the bottom is Nathan’s.”

  He hesitated, then said diffidently, “This is the original set, but I made a duplicate and left it at Bossgond’s Tower, where it should be safe enough.” Koz grimaced. “In payment for that and helping you I did have to give him the access word to your father’s mirror. I hope that’s all right.”

  Raine swallowed and bobbed her head. When she spoke her voice was crusty. “If that was his price, that’s fine, and I’m glad there’s another set.” She touched a corner of the mirror.

  Koz said, “When the mirrors are live we have video and audio. The procedure for these mirrors is the same as Bri’s. There’s an access word to initiate the spell to see through the mirror. One for each person—” he cleared his throat “—or household. Your brothers John an
d Terry are married.”

  “I was at John’s wedding,” Raine said, making an effort to keep her voice steady. “I was taking Granny Fran’s mirror to Terry as an engagement gift.”

  She must have sounded shaky. Faucon came and sat near her.

  “Right,” Koz said. “Anyway, I gave the mirrors access words that you’d remember, based on what I saw when the mirrors were mounted. Here’s the list.” He tossed her a small piece of paper. The phrases were written roughly, as if his Lladranan hand formed English awkwardly.

  The first, for her father, was “Follow your heart,” and Raine sniffled. That was a sampler her mother had cross-stitched when she was a bride. The piece of embroidery had hung in the family living room for as long as Raine could remember.

  The rest of the words made her smile. “Yo, ho, ho” for Simon’s pirate ship in a bottle. “Bottle of rum” must mean Nathan had put in that bar in his living room as planned. She swallowed. “Quiambog” and “Cos Cob” meant John and Terry still had maps on their walls. Their wives sailed, too. “Thank you,” Raine whispered thickly. Faucon reached over and took her hand. His fingers were warm and the Song that spun between them was nearly painful in its intensity.

  “Right,” Koz said again. “If you want to try to communicate with someone, you tap the mirror and say, ‘Testing, testing, testing.’” His grin came crooked. “If they actually don’t jump outta their skin and reply or whatever, to end the session you say, ‘Signing off.’”

  “That won’t happen.” She glanced at Bri. “Any way your folks could visit and convince—” Raine held up a hand and answered her own question. “No. My guys wouldn’t listen.”

  She looked at the mirrors, drew in a big breath, exhaled. Then she squeezed Faucon’s hand and let it go to hunch over the array. Who to check first? Not her father. She looked at Marian. “Time’s the same there, right?”

  “Ayes,” Marian said. She sat in a loveseat with Jaquar.

  “Perhaps we should leave.” Jaquar stood.

  “No, I don’t mind,” Raine said.

  “It’s not only you,” Alexa said, “it’s your father’s and your brothers’ privacy.” She frowned. “Bad enough Bossgond is a Peeping Tom.”

  The image of a boney old man peering into a mirror, eyes wide with apersonal curiosity, seemed to strike them all at once and there were a series of snorts and chuckles.

  “Please stay,” Raine said.

  “Okay.” Jaquar used the English word. He drifted, casually, over to the mirrors so he could see what was going on during this experiment. Fooling no one since they could all hear his personal Song pick up beat. Marian drifted, too.

  Alexa strode over.

  “Good thing we’re not testing the two-way video. Having loads of people loom over you could freak a guy out,” Koz said.

  Touching Nathan’s mirror—his mind was the most flexible—Raine muttered, “Bottle of rum” under her breath.

  The mirror flicked on, showing a masculine room of cream-colored walls, a huge TV screen on one wall, a green leather recliner and, straight ahead, a multitude of bottles on the bar.

  “Is that liquor?” Faucon asked.

  “It certainly is,” Koz said genially.

  Nathan’s apartment wasn’t large and Raine knew he wasn’t home. She tapped it again with another whispered “Bottle of rum” to close the video, then tried her other brothers in turn. It hurt to see things from home, the map of Connecticut, the silver vase she’d given John and his wife for a wedding gift. So she spent little time at her brothers’.

  Finally she tapped her father’s mirror and whispered, “Follow your heart.”

  The mirror came on. Her entire family was sitting on the curving sofa facing the fireplace. Holding drinks and diamonds.

  17

  Raine’s father swirled his rum and Coke and stared at two diamonds twinkling in his hands. “Damndest thing,” he said in a way that meant he’d said it more than once. His hair was all gray now and Raine grieved for the vanished brown that had been the same color as hers, for the lines engraved deeper in his face. A tiredness showed in his eyes that was carried throughout his body.

  John was holding his wife’s hand—they were solid, both of them individually and as a unit. He glanced at a folded sheet of paper that looked stiffer than most and Raine realized with a little shock that it was Lladranan-made. Her mouth dried. Something here had made it there. Oh, the mirrors, too, but she couldn’t actually see this mirror, only out of it. She knew it was rectangular, width longer than the height, and hung over the mantel where an old mirror had always been.

  John said doubtfully, “They say truth is stranger than fiction.”

  “They say,” Nathan agreed. “But this whole damn thing sounds fishier than the cove at low tide.”

  A small moan escaped Raine. All of this looked, sounded, so familiar. She put the handkerchief to her mouth to muffle any noise so she could hear better. Faucon slipped his arm around her shoulders and she leaned into his muscular body.

  “You think she really is all right?” Terry’s wife asked.

  “Yeah, I do,” Terry said firmly. He’d always been the most optimistic. “She looked okay in the photos.”

  “She looked like she was recovering from a sickness in the photos,” Raine’s father said.

  “I don’t know about all this,” Simon, the pessimist, said.

  Nathan stretched his legs. “Old Preston was too cheerful.”

  “That Trenton Philbert had him snowed,” Simon agreed. “I always thought there was something off about that man.”

  “He was a good client,” Raine’s father said.

  Nathan said, “Maybe we should have a sit-down with him.”

  The doorbell rang. The Lladranan men looked puzzled at the sound. “Our doorharp,” explained Marian.

  Terry’s wife went up and got it. “Judge Philbert,” she said, surprised, stepping back and letting him in.

  Raine’s father got heavily to his feet. “Speak of the devil.” He still offered his hand.

  The hair on the back of Raine’s neck rose and everyone on her side of the mirror stilled. The men and Alexa stared at the judge with a predatory light in their eyes.

  Here was a man with answers. Raine’s family seemed to think that, too. Nathan made him a martini.

  Though Philbert was dressed casually, his clothes were tailored. Raine had always thought he was much more handsome and sophisticated than his silly-sounding name.

  Then he glanced at the mirror, his gaze fixed, and he stared. He lifted a hand as if acknowledging the Lladranans and turned to the Lindley men.

  “He knows!” Koz said. “He fucking knows about the mirrors.”

  “More,” Jaquar said, tapping Koz’s shoulder. “He knows we’re watching now.”

  “By. The. Song,” Faucon breathed.

  Philbert propped himself against the mantel near the mirror and they saw his profile.

  “I thought that you didn’t totally buy the ‘sailing accident, amnesia, wealthy Swedish lover’ story,” Philbert said smoothly.

  “The sailing accident bit, yeah,” Nathan said, running his hand through his dark hair. It was almost odd to see strong people without streaks of Power in their hair. “We found pieces of her boat last year after that freak winter storm.”

  “But you must admit the rest is difficult,” Simon said. “You know anything more?”

  Philbert shifted as if he put his hands in his pockets. He replied mildly, “Would you believe that she has been, ah, co-opted by an agency that will remain nameless to design a state-of-the-art stealth ship?”

  Bri said, “Ohmygod, Uncle Trent sounds so sincere.” Bri moved to watch the man who’d been a big part of her life.

  “That’s because he’s telling the truth,” Marian said. “He knows the truth. I wonder how?”

  “The Singer has a mole on Earth,” Koz said.

  Raine’s brother Nathan was pounding his fist in his hand. “I knew it! Raine’s defini
tely second-millennium cutting edge. Her work with alloys…” Nathan shook his head. “Her notes were far ahead of anything I’d seen before.”

  “They’ll believe that easier than our amnesiac love story?” Alexa sounded offended.

  “They like spy fiction,” Raine said drily.

  Raine’s father came within a couple of inches of the judge, getting into his face. The men were about the same size, but her dad was larger and more muscular. “You telling the truth this time?”

  “I didn’t lie the last time.” Philbert waved to the letter. “If you run a graphology analysis, you’ll find that isn’t my signature. One of Raine’s friends, I think, trying to reassure you. What I told you was the truth.”

  “You’ve seen Raine?” her dad barked.

  “No. But I’ve been assured that she is fine.”

  “Now,” John said. “She was sick. I know my sister when she looks sick and she was sick.”

  “That is what my source tells me,” Philbert said.

  Questions peppered him and the judge raised his hands. “My unofficial, under-the-table source who should not be talking.”

  “Is there a man?” asked Terry, totally surprising Raine. She wouldn’t have thought he’d care.

  Raine felt the weight of Faucon’s arm on her shoulders.

  “There usually is under such circumstances,” Philbert said.

  “What circumstances?” Raine’s father asked.

  “Intense working situations.”

  Raine’s dad kept his stare on the judge. “Is it dangerous?”

  The judge hesitated an instant too long. Raine’s father grabbed a fistful of shirt. The judge answered, “Building the ship isn’t dangerous. Piloting it in the action would be.”

  “Will Raine be the pilot?” Raine could barely hear her father.

  “I don’t think anyone knows, even Raine,” the judge said steadily. “But she has the best-of-the-best special teams guarding her.”

  “That would be me.” Alexa preened and laughter broke a little of the tension.

  “Dad…” John put his hand on Raine’s father’s arm and the older man dropped his grip, not that Philbert had appeared the least intimidated. Raine’s father turned away.