by Dale Mayer
Okay, then. No, she wasn’t going to be fine, according to the chattering at her ear. Celeste froze, stricken by a thought. “Do you really think it’s that big a problem? Surely the pool can fix it given enough time.”
And this time every spirit animal in the room erupted in cries of alarm.
Damn. That wasn’t good.
If it was a problem, who could she call on for help? Her sisters, of course, but was there anyone else? She felt like she was supposed to handle this herself, but if so…how?
Minkel’s paw covered the wounds, sending healing toward the injury in his own way. Silky reached a long arm down toward it, too, but couldn’t quite reach. She stroked the injury with her own fingers. She needed to see if she could dig the black spots out of her flesh herself. She hated the idea, but there wasn’t much choice. Hiking herself up to sit on the edge of the pool, she dug into her trouser pockets and found tweezers and a pocket knife. The former didn’t work at all, so she took a deep breath and opened her pocket knife, wincing and whimpering against the pain. All without success. Strangely enough, it seemed she couldn’t go deep enough. In fact, it looked like her efforts had pushed the objects in her leg deeper under the skin.
With a noisy sigh of frustration, she put her leg back into the pool to heal the damage from her efforts. Instantly, the irritated wound felt better. With a groan, she realized someone was definitely going to have to cut her leg open and get them out. And she wasn’t looking forward to it.
She dried off and limped back to her bedroom. She opened her bedroom closet and smiled to see the clothes she’d left behind. She was damn glad to have them. Funny how time changed one’s attitude. Before, she’d never have worn these clothes. Now she was desperate to find something clean and respectable. Fashion could wait. And for long time given her circumstances.
Pulling out jeans and clean underwear, she searched through the stacks for a clean shirt, crying out in joy as she found over a dozen. A huge haul for her. She’d have clothes to go to work in. At the bottom of the closet were shoes. Of all kinds. She’d forgotten about most of them. Happily, she dressed, bending to tie up her walkers.
Speaking of which, she needed to eat. She had no idea what time it was, but the sun was breaking overhead. She warmed up leftover pasta and contemplated her next step while she ate her meager meal.
The whine of an engine broke the silence. Celeste froze. That was the sound of a hovercraft flying overhead. Had she put the stealth mode back on the cottage? She’d been in so much pain… She didn’t know. Still, she bolted to the door and engaged the energy system to hide the cottage.
But it was too late.
The huge black craft hovered in the front yard briefly, then landed. Pissed, she added another lock to the front door. It was one of the new vehicles from the Paranormal Center. That meant Matt—the last person on the planet she wanted to see.
The door opened as she glared at it.
Genesis jumped out, and Celeste gasped loudly.
And no matter how many locks or stealth modes available to Celeste, there were none that could keep her sisters out.
Watching Genesis walk towards the door, she realized she no longer wanted to.
And then, Tori exited the craft.
Celeste let out a squeal and threw her arms open wide.
Instantly, the locks popped and the stealth coverage opened up. The front door burst open and Celeste raced out to the front yard.
Genesis burst into tears and opened her arms.
Like a mirror image, Celeste also burst into tears and hugged her. Held tight and secure inside her sister’s loving embrace, Celeste realized just how childish her last year away had been. Tori joined them, wrapping her arms around the two of them.
Celeste leaned in close, absorbing the feel and scent of the two most important women in her life. God, she loved her sisters. She’d been such an idiot.
“I’m sorry,” she said brokenly. “I shou—”
“Shh. It doesn’t matter anymore. You’re home,” Genesis whispered. “I’m just so thankful you’re home.”
Tori said, “Besides, I haven’t been home long, either. It’s all got to happen in its—”
“Own—”
“Time…”
They all fell into the same refrain that Granny had repeated all their lives.
Finally, the tears still trickling down her cheeks, Celeste lifted her head and beamed at her sisters. “I do love you guys, you know.”
“And we love you,” Tori said. “Now…” She glanced at Genesis. “We know you’re hurt. How bad?”
Celeste sighed. “I’d hoped it would be better by now, and the pool is doing what it can, but there’s something embedded in my leg that I can’t get out. Nor can the water get it out. It’s managing to combat the damage, but not enough for the leg to heal fully. It’s strange. It looks like a bunch of tiny black rocks.”
She heard her sisters each suck in their breath, but didn’t understand the reason for it. She watched as Tori and Celeste exchanged worried looks.
“What’s the matter?” She frowned, her gaze going from one sister to the other. “What did I miss?”
At that, both sisters gave a weary-sounding laugh.
“So much. Oh, my gosh, you missed so much,” Tori exclaimed. “And it’s not something we’re going to be able to tell you in five minutes. Let’s go inside and have tea.”
Tea. Together. A ritual of their childhood. A reminder of all she’d walked away from that brought a fresh wave of tears to her eyes.
“And I brought breakfast,” Genesis said with a smile. “There is a little food at the cabin, but not much, and nothing fresh.”
They broke apart, and for the first time, Celeste became aware of the two men standing strong, arms crossed, behind the women. She knew them both. Devon and Connor. Both had been engaged to her sisters, and both relationships had blown up the same as everything else.
She sent a sidelong glance to the women at her side. “Both of them?”
“Yeah, both of them,” Genesis said with a happy smile. “It’s been a long road—”
“And not an easy one at that,” Tori interrupted, her own smile easy and gentle.
“But we both made it to the place we were supposed to be,” Genesis said.
“And the reward after the pain?” Celeste knew her sisters would understand her question.
“All so worth it, just like she promised,” Tori assured her. “We did have a little growing up to do. Navigate through some trouble, and hopefully we’re almost at that end of this mess. If we’re lucky, life will get easier from here on in.”
“You still have problems?” Celeste said, startled. “In what way?”
“That’s partly what we need to tell you. So much has happened.” Genesis turned to Connor, and with a beaming smile, she asked him, “Can you bring in the basket, please?” Connor gave a curt nod and walked to the hovercraft.
“He doesn’t look very happy,” Celeste said in a low voice, studying the men’s watchful gazes and careful movements. “Neither of them do.”
“That’s because there is a lot of serious trouble brewing,” Genesis said. “You’re part of it. So are we. Until we get this settled, there won’t be lasting peace for any of us.”
Damn. But Connor was striding toward them, Devon at his side. And the moment was almost gone.
Before they reached the women, Celeste hurriedly asked, “And Matt, is he involved?”
Both her sisters reached to hold her. “Very much so. He’s still at the Paranormal Center, but he’s also in the center of all of this.”
Genesis looped her arm through her sister’s. “Let’s go and sit down. There is a lot to explain.”
*
Matt stayed behind as the others flew to meet Celeste. He wasn’t part of the homecoming—not yet. Maybe not ever. That thought brought a pang of regret to his heart, yet he knew at one point he’d have to face her. And the possibility of that was enough to keep his head b
uried in his work for the time being. He knew the group would be hours reconnecting with Celeste, and hopefully by the time they all returned, she’d understand the dangers. She might even have valuable information to add to the mess. Her connection to the animals could be a huge advantage, but she’d have to be willing to reach out. That would depend on her health, as well. The two sisters had been worried, as the healing pool had been triggered several times. Apparently, that wasn’t a good sign.
No one knew if Celeste had returned alone, either. He damn well hoped she had, but it wasn’t his place to say anything. A knock on his door brought him out of his reverie.
“Matt, we’ve got something you need to see. Right now.” Dr. Mentos, the head of the research lab, stood at the doorway motioning for him to move and quickly. Matt reached the doorway in seconds.
“What’s the matter?” he asked, following Dr. Mentos down the hallway.
“That black rock that Genesis removed from the pool is disintegrating.” Dr. Mentos pushed open the doors leading to the stairway.
Matt raced down the stairs. “Is that bad?”
“It is if it turns to a powder, yes.” Dr. Mentos said. “That can be picked up by the wind and dispersed.”
Matt had to consider that, but he wasn’t sure he understood the problem. “But if we’ve neutralized it, surely the powder is harmless, isn’t it?”
“But we haven’t neutralized this one. And besides, what if there are more like this?”
“There aren’t.” At least, he hoped there weren’t. “We caught the guy doing this, remember?”
“Sure, but did he leave more behind? Mason said theirs had been stolen on Grandfather’s estate. But all are accounted for that we know of. If there are more, then we need to find them, and fast. They appear to have a shelf life that is very short before they begin to disintegrate.”
When they reached the lab, Matt exclaimed loudly at the sight of the rock contained inside the glass enclosure. The original rock had glowed with power. Now, it was nothing more than a pile of dust, but the energy coming off of it was dark, diseased, with an unwholesomeness to it that was disturbing. “This doesn’t look good. Are you sure it’s secure in there?”
“It is, but if there are more we need to find them.”
“Agreed. Yet, how?” Matt asked, walking around the container, studying its contents. “Do we have anyone that can track this energy to find other rocks?”
“Not that we know of.”
Darbo pulled on Matt’s ear. Right. “How about the spirit animals? They can work this black energy, so maybe they can find the rocks too.”
Dr. Mentos looked doubtful. “That would mean getting them to help us, which as you know can be an iffy matter to begin with, and I don’t know of any that can. Although, dogs are sniffers so what about Connor’s dog? Maybe Devon’s cat?”
“Hmmm.” Of all the spirit animals, that cat was likely the least likely to want to help. But if he did decide to, then it would be huge. He walked with one foot on the dark side. He could handle this energy easily. “I’ll have to ask them.”
“I’d be more worried about someone using these partials as weapons, actually.” Dr. Mentos’ comment was just off-topic enough that Mat was startled. “How would they do that?”
The doctor looked at him in surprise. “Think of a high-powered rifle, firing some of this into a crowd. The particles are that horrid energy. If they were to penetrate the skin, then the person would die. Spray this over animals feed and they’d eat it. What if they entered the food chain?” He shook his head at the possibilities. “I’m thinking these are more dangerous now than I initially surmised.” He spun to face Matt. “We must find out if there are more.”
Only, that was easier said than done. And Matt needed to find someone sensitive enough to hunt these black rock fragments down. He didn’t have anyone on staff that had that particular skill. So he’d have to ask the men if their spirit animals knew of any.
Speaking of which… “Darbo, can you see if there are more of these rocks lying somewhere?”
Darbo chittered quietly in his ear.
“Right, I didn’t think so.”
He frowned as Darbo continued to talk. “What? What are you talking about?”
As Darbo continued, Matt’s heart and mind froze on one particular sentence. Celeste had several of these particles in her leg. That’s why she was in the healing pool. And the pool was having trouble healing her.
He bolted for his hovercraft.
Chapter 4
It was too much to take in. Celeste kept shaking her head, then gasping and then sighing. By the time all the questions had been answered—like that could happen—and the coffee and muffins scarfed down, she needed to go back into the healing pool for her leg. With her sisters at her side, she sat on the side of the pool with her jeans off, and her bare legs dangling in the water.
“How did you get this?” Genesis asked, studying the injury, worry on her face.
“Not sure,” Celeste admitted. “But I fell a week ago when I was in the woods.” She lifted her leg out of the water for the others to see. The water droplets clung stubbornly, as if knowing their job wasn’t done.
“It’s the blackness I don’t like,” Tori said. “We’ve seen way too much of it.”
“True, but never this small,” Genesis said. “Why would it be this size? It doesn’t make sense that the asshole would energize tiny rocks like this. They are almost dust.”
At that moment, the door to the pool room burst open, and three men rushed inside. Celeste gasped in shock as she realized Matt led the charge.
“They are dust. Very poisonous and painful remnants of the rocks you found, Genesis,” Matt said, his gaze locked on Celeste. “Dr. Mentos called me to the lab a half hour ago. The black rock they were studying has collapsed into dust. Poisonous dust filled with dark energy.”
“You don’t belong here,” Celeste snapped. “I didn’t invite you in.”
“No, and I couldn’t wait that long as that time wasn’t likely to ever come if you had your way,” he snapped back. “Genesis, whatever is in her skin is the same nasty stuff that poisoned the pools and killed so many people. It’s going to leach her life force out of her. We have to remove them.”
Genesis gasped and grabbed Celeste’s leg.
“Hey, easy,” she groaned, as the injury throbbed.
“Sorry sis, but if he’s right, they have to come out, otherwise your leg will never heal.” She held her hand over the injury and infused as much power as she could into the leg. Celeste watched as Tori joined her energy into the healing efforts.
“The rocks aren’t moving,” she cried out.
“No. They’re not,” Matt said, leaning over her. He studied the darkness, watching as the tiny black specks glowed with remnants of power. Instantly, Matt leaned over and clamped his hand on her leg.
Darbo slid down his arm to sit on his hand. Remi, Genesis’s Rare Plumer spirit pet, placed his hand on Darbo’s, and damn if dozens of spirit animals didn’t arrive beside them to give assistance.
“What on earth?” Connor said faintly. “I’ve never seen animals collect like this.”
“You obviously haven’t spent any time with Celeste,” Tori said with a tight grin. “Granny brought every abandoned or forgotten spirit animal home that she could. Celeste is the same. We were raised with dozens of them always coming and going.”
A low, deep howl filled the air, startling Celeste. “Who the hell is that?”
“It’s Storm,” Devon said quietly. “He’s with me.”
Celeste stared at the huge cat in shock. “Really?” She studied Devon, her gaze narrow as she considered the man in front of her. Who knew he had such hidden depths? “Looks to me like he walks on the dark side.”
“He was caught in the middle, but he’s with me now,” Devon said firmly.
Celeste didn’t know if she believed him. She turned her gaze to the large wild shadow cat and called to it. Instantly, the
cat turned those huge marble eyes her way.
Easy boy, she whispered to him alone. We don’t know each other, but that doesn’t mean I’m here to harm you. In fact, I’m the one that’s been harmed. If you can help, then I’d appreciate it. If you can’t, well I understand. And if you won’t, well hopefully that’s because we don’t know each other yet.
The huge cat stalked closer. Everyone in the room held their breath as the massive animal nosed his way into Celeste’s space. In return, she pushed right back until the two of them were forehead to forehead. A huge, rumbling purr filled the room.
“Wow,” Devon said, his voice full of shock. “I’ve never seen anything like that.”
“Yeah, welcome to Celeste,” Matt said. “Her affinity is animals.”
“I can see that.”
Devon’s whisper was just barely loud enough for Celeste to hear, but she didn’t dare take her eyes off the huge cat. She understood the cat’s connection to Devon. Images of his life up until now, the war Devon and Tori had been involved in, passed through her mind in a rapid series of still shots. And his growing respect for Devon. Nice.
She smiled and closed her eyes.
When the cat moved back she stayed as she was, enjoying the moment.
“Ah…what’s going on?” Matt asked, as all the animals backed up from where his hand rested. He pulled back, as if suddenly understanding he was in the way.
Celeste watched. “I’m not sure,” she said softly. “Storm is going to do something.”
Everyone sat back as the cat sniffed her injured leg, a howl starting in the back of his throat that was both powerful and terrifying.
She tensed, not sure she was liking where the cat’s thoughts were going. “On second thought, I don’t think we need his help, do—?”
And the cat snapped—his powerful jaws taking out a chunk of her leg.
Celeste screamed at the instantaneous explosion of pain.
And blacked out.
*
Holy crap. Matt had no idea such a thing was possible.
As Genesis and Tori dumped the unconscious Celeste into the healing pool, clothes and all, the water swarmed like a riptide around the now-open wound in her leg.