by Jayne Castle
Alice heard the crackle of dead branches and pine needles. Small pebbles skittered. Next came the muffled thud of footsteps and the sound of heavy, labored breathing.
Not insects, she thought. She did not know if that was going to be good news or bad news.
A moment later a woman appeared, making her way awkwardly through the trees. She was young, probably not more than eighteen or nineteen, thin, and haggard looking, as if she hadn’t eaten or slept well in some time. Her long brown hair straggled around her shoulders. She was dressed in dark green trousers, a matching shirt with a logo on the breast pocket, and heavy boots. A uniform, Alice realized.
As she and Drake watched, the woman trudged forward, slipping and sliding on the leaves and pebbles.
Drake straightened and moved out from behind the boulder.
“Hello,” he said quietly.
The woman froze. Stark panic etched her features. She looked back over her shoulder and then, evidently deciding she could not retreat that way, took stock of the sheer granite drop into the sea. Seeing no escape via that route, she bolted for the thick woods.
“No, damn it,” Drake shouted. “Stop. We won’t hurt you.”
Alice emerged from behind the boulder. “It’s okay. Please, come back.”
But the fleeing woman did not stop. She disappeared into the heavy undergrowth. Her high-pitched screams echoed in the woods for a moment and then abruptly ceased.
“Son of a ghost,” Drake said. “She would have to go through the fence.”
“We can’t leave her there,” Alice said. “We have to find her. She’ll never survive the night inside this part of the Preserve.”
“I know.” Drake looked grimly resigned to the inevitable. “Okay, let’s go. Stick close.”
“Don’t worry, I will.”
The invisible energy of the paranormal fence line made its presence felt within a few steps. The force field was unpleasant and unnerving at first, lifting the hair on the nape of Alice’s neck. She gritted her teeth against the effects and followed Drake deeper into the psi-barrier.
The hallucinations—auditory and visual—struck hard. Strange figures materialized out of the shadows, beckoning her to her doom. Specters warned her to go back before it was too late. And always, always, there were the bloodcurdling chills that wracked all of her senses. She jacked up her talent to counter some of the effects. She knew that Drake had done the same thing.
He reached back and held out his hand. She grabbed it. The shock waves of the fence diminished somewhat. Just like last night, she thought. Physical contact helped to ward off the worst of the psychic disturbances.
Houdini dashed along at their heels, unaffected by the forces.
And then, between one step and the next, they were through the fence and inside the Preserve. The hallucinations ceased only to be replaced by the strange atmosphere of the Preserve.
Energy stirred all around Alice—some of it from the botanical world, some from the animal and insect kingdoms. All of it felt overheated. Here and there flashes of psi-light sparked in the shadows. Patches of vegetation glowed. Mushrooms fluoresced. The thick tree canopy overhead blocked out what little daylight there was. An ominous wind stirred the leaves of the trees, causing them to shiver and glitter with malevolent light. The whole place was infused with the dark energy of a building storm front.
Drake came to a halt. Alice stopped beside him. There was no sign of the woman, but Houdini made urgent little noises and fluttered through a small forest of giant iridescent ferns.
Alice and Drake followed.
The screams started again.
Chapter 13
THE HEAVY ENERGY OF THE PRESERVE DISTORTED SOUND. Alice could not be sure of the direction of the screams. But she could tell that Drake and Houdini were able to track the desperate cries.
“This way,” Drake said. “Whatever you do, don’t get lost on me.”
“I won’t,” Alice vowed. “I’ve been lost in here before, remember?”
They pushed their way through a maze of massive, phosphorescing palm fronds, Houdini in the lead. Brushing up against the hot greenery sent little sparks of energy across Alice’s senses. The sensation was not painful, but the strangeness of it all made her deeply wary.
The crying was louder now. The sobbing woman was not far away, but the energy inside the Preserve was so disorienting she might as well have been a hundred miles off.
Houdini, however, had no problem navigating the strange forest. He scampered through a veil of weird blue orchids and promptly vanished.
“Wait,” Alice called.
Houdini reappeared, bounced up and down a few times, and made more excited noises. When they caught up with him, he scampered forward again, heading toward a forest of giant glowing mushrooms.
It was not just the ferns and the mushrooms that seemed outsized, Alice realized. Much of the vegetation appeared unnaturally large. A waterfall of flowers—each bloom as large as a dinner plate—tumbled from a creeping vine.
It had been a year since she had last been inside the Preserve, and at that time she had been on a different part of the island. She had seen many strange and unnerving sights on that occasion, but she did not recall anything quite like the huge ferns and the towering mushrooms. A year ago the forbidden territory had been an eerie wonderland, disturbing in some ways but also enthrallingly beautiful. Today she felt as though she was walking through a demon’s garden lit by garish paranormal energy.
The screams stopped. That was probably not a good sign, Alice thought. Drake was moving faster through the heavy foliage, and Alice hurried to keep up with him.
They broke out into a small clearing and saw the woman. She was no longer running. She had come to a halt between two large trees. She was still trying to scream but her cries were hoarse and breathless now. She flailed wildly but her movements were severely restricted and becoming more subdued by the second.
“Son of a ghost,” Drake muttered, raising the fire-starter.
Alice finally saw what had brought the fleeing woman to a halt. She was trapped in the glistening strands of a giant spiderweb.
Houdini stopped, hissing. Dread chilled the back of Alice’s neck. She looked up and saw a large, dark, bloated shape. Faceted eyes glittered like ice-cold jewels. There was something both terrifying and compelling about the unblinking gaze. Eight long limbs shifted in the shadows.
“Spider,” Alice whispered, horrified.
“Here we go again,” Drake said.
The spider started toward its prey. The woman was no longer shrieking. She was shivering violently and was so deeply entangled in the sticky strands of glistening silk she could not move her arms and legs.
Houdini growled. He was not treating this encounter like a game. But Alice knew there was nothing he could do. If he tried to attack the spider, he would become enmeshed in the web.
“Houdini, no,” Alice said quietly.
“Keep him out of the way,” Drake ordered.
Alice scooped up Houdini and tucked him under her arm.
The spider was closing in on the almost motionless woman.
Drake rezzed the ignition button on the fire-starter. The narrow flame flashed, striking the spider. It jerked spasmodically and then its eight legs collapsed like matchsticks. The thing plummeted to the ground and didn’t move.
“You’re okay now,” Drake told the woman. “I’ll have you free in a few minutes.”
He used the fire-starter like a small cutting torch and sliced through the web. Alice worried that the silk would burst into flames, but instead it shriveled and melted. The remnants flapped like the spectral cloak of a faded ghost.
The woman tumbled to the ground. She was covered with strands of spider silk but she was breathing.
Houdini was still growling, signaling that the danger was not over.
“We need to get her out of here,” Drake said. “The commotion and the smell of the dead spider will probably attract other things that
I’d rather we did not have to deal with. I’ll keep watch while you get her free of the web.”
Alice went to her knees beside the woman and started scraping off the sticky strands.
“Can you move?” she said to the blonde.
“Yes, I-I think so,” the woman gasped.
She struggled to her knees, swiping at the strands of silk that clung to her face. She stared at Drake.
“Who are you?” she whispered.
“Drake Sebastian,” Drake said. “This is my wife, Alice. We can talk this out later. We need to get out of here.”
The woman flinched, frowned in confusion, and then pulled herself together with visible effort. “I don’t understand.”
“Neither do I,” Drake said. “We’ll deal with it later.”
Alice heard something stir in the shadows. Houdini growled again.
Drake grasped one of the woman’s arms. Alice took the other. They ran back toward the fence line. Houdini dashed after them.
They plunged through the psi-barrier. When they were on the far side, Alice allowed herself a small sigh of relief. Drake stopped and turned to look at the woman.
“Who are you?” he asked.
“Karen,” the woman said. “Karen Rosser.” She swallowed hard. “Are you going to arrest me?”
“Why would I do that?” Drake asked.
“We were told that any member of the staff who violated the terms of the contract would be subject to arrest.”
Alice frowned. “What contract?”
“The one we signed with the company,” Karen whispered. She pointed to the logo on her green uniform shirt. “I know that the Dream Chamber Project here on the island is supposed to be top secret. But I just couldn’t take it anymore.”
Drake was looking at the logo on Karen’s shirt. Alice followed his gaze. Clearly embroidered was a familiar company name: Sebastian, Inc., Rainshadow Foundation.
“Looks like we are going to have an interesting conversation on the hike to Shadow Bay,” Drake said.
Chapter 14
THEY SET OFF IN A SINGLE FILE, DRAKE AND HOUDINI in the lead. Karen fell in behind Drake. Alice brought up the rear. The walking was difficult in places but not impossible. The sky remained leaden. The dark fog crouched just offshore, waiting for the energy of the night to summon it. The ominous sensation in the atmosphere did not fade, even though they were putting distance between themselves and the cove.
“All right, Karen, let’s start at the beginning,” Drake said. “Tell me about the Dream Chamber Project.”
“I don’t know where to begin,” Karen said. “It’s all been such a nightmare.”
“You said you were working for the Rainshadow Foundation arm of Sebastian, Inc.”
“That’s right. I was hired as a research assistant a few months ago. I’ve got the paperwork to prove it.”
“And you were employed here on the island,” Drake said.
“Until I couldn’t take the stress any longer. We tried to quit.”
“Who is we?” Drake asked.
“The other research assistant, Pete Banks. Like I said, we tried to quit but she wouldn’t let us. When we tried to leave she had the security people lock us up. I managed to escape this morning but—”
Drake stopped and looked back at Karen. “Who had the security people lock you up?”
“Dr. Tucker,” Karen said.
“Dr. Zara Tucker,” Drake said, repeating the name very precisely, making sure.
“Yes,” Karen said.
“Damn,” Drake said. “Well, that certainly answers a few questions.” He looked at Alice. “I knew she wasn’t dead.”
“But what has she been doing for the past three years?” Alice asked.
“Isn’t it obvious? Zara Tucker spent the last three years plotting her revenge against me and my family.”
Chapter 15
DRAKE LOOKED AT KAREN. “LET’S START WITH A BASIC fact. Neither Sebastian, Inc. nor the Rainshadow Foundation has authorized any research projects here on the island.”
“I don’t understand,” Karen said. “Dr. Tucker made it clear that we were signing up as research assistants at a Foundation-approved excavation project.”
“Dr. Tucker is not affiliated with the Foundation,” Drake said. He started walking again. “Officially she isn’t even alive. She was declared dead three years ago.”
“I don’t know what to tell you,” Karen said. “A woman named Dr. Tucker is running the project here on Rainshadow. She’s got lab equipment that carries the Foundation logo. Her security people wear Foundation uniforms.” She glanced down at her shirt. “Pete and I were issued Foundation gear.”
“Zara Tucker is a brilliant but mentally unstable scientist,” Drake said. “She spent a full year working in the Sebastian labs. She also has a way of convincing others, usually males, to do what she wants them to do.”
“You’re telling me,” Karen said grimly. “I’ve seen the way men respond to her. Even Pete thought he was in love with her for a time. He wanted to be her hero. They all do.” Karen glanced at Alice. “You know how some women just seem to have a talent for making men fall all over themselves to please them?”
Alice hid a rueful smile. “Oh, yeah.”
Drake’s jaw hardened. “Keep talking, Karen.”
“Well, the good news/bad news is that after a while Tucker’s charm seems to wear off,” Karen said.
Out of the corner of her eye Alice saw a pained expression come and go across Drake’s face. But he said nothing.
Karen did not appear to notice.
“Personally, I knew there was something a little weird about her from the start,” Karen said. “But, hey, she’s some giant-brained scientific type, right? They’re probably all a little weird. I figured she was really, really focused on her research project. In any event, it wasn’t like I could just walk away from the excavation ruins.”
Drake glanced back over his shoulder. “Why not?”
Karen waved a hand to indicate the dark woods. “It’s somewhere out there in the frickin’ Preserve. Ten steps outside the ruins and you’re lost. The only people who can come and go on a regular basis are the security guards. Besides, Pete and I had signed those contracts and the money was really good. We planned to get married and buy a house when the project was finished. Anyhow, a few weeks ago Dr. Tucker really started losing it.”
“Define losing it,” Drake said.
“She was temperamental from the beginning, but when it became obvious that the Chamber was overheating, she became full-on whacko,” Karen said. “That’s when two of the security guys took off. That made her crazy for a time.”
“What happened to the security guards?” Drake asked.
“Pete and I heard them talking just before they left. They knew the situation inside the Chamber was deteriorating. We heard them making plans to take the boat that they kept in Deception Cove. They used it to bring in supplies.”
“There’s no boat back there except the one we arrived in,” Drake said.
“I’m assuming they got off the island.”
“How many guards are left?” Drake asked.
“Only one, the boss of the security team. His name is Quinton. Pete and I are pretty sure that he and Dr. Tucker are lovers. Well, he thinks he’s in love with her, at any rate. I doubt if Dr. Tucker has ever loved anyone but herself in her entire life. Quinton is definitely under Tucker’s spell, though. I think he’d do anything for her. He pretty much proved it by sticking around after the other two guards took off. Now he’s trapped here on the island, same as everyone else.”
Drake looked back at Karen again. “How did you get away?”
“With this.” Karen took a small crystal flute out of her pocket. “Pete managed to steal it. Dr. Tucker found a few of them when she excavated the underground ruins. The two guards used them to bring in supplies. They used one to get away the other day.”
Alice took a closer look at the flute. “What is it?”
/>
“Alien technology,” Drake explained briefly. “Harry told me that they turned up a few of these in the aquarium. The flutes can be used to navigate the Preserve to some extent, but their usefulness is limited because they have to be tuned to specific locations.”
“In other words, if you don’t know where you’re going, you can’t get there using a flute, is that it?” Alice said.
“Something like that,” Drake said.
“This one was tuned to the cove,” Karen said. “This morning when I escaped I was able to follow the frequencies.”
“Will it work in reverse?” Alice asked. “Can we use it to find this ruin you’re talking about?”
“No,” Karen said. “Not any longer.” She looked at the flute, despair in her eyes. “I barely made it out of the Preserve. The psi levels are too high inside the fence now. They interfered with the tuning. I made it as far as the fence, but the flute gave out entirely when I went through the barrier. Now it’s gone flat. Listen.”
She blew gently on the crystal flute. There were a few faint jarringly discordant notes and then nothing at all.
Drake stopped and took the flute from her. He turned it in his hand, examining it carefully. “Chief Attridge’s wife, Charlotte, might be able to retune it. There’s another man on the island who has a talent for tuning, as well. Calvin Dillard. We may have some options.” He put the flute in his shirt pocket and started walking again. “Tell me about the research project that Tucker is running.”
“All I know is that Dr. Tucker is excavating an underground Alien ruin right here on Rainshadow,” Karen said. “There’s this big crystal pyramid down there. Lot of energy inside, at least there is now.”
Drake pushed through some low-hanging branches. “What’s going on down there?”
“When Dr. Tucker found the Chamber, it was shut down. There was energy inside but it was locked in the crystals that form the walls of the pyramid. Dr. Tucker used two other crystals she called the Keys to release the power.”