Ghost Moon

by Rebecca York

  She looked up at him, then back to Caleb. Her lips trembledwhen she started to speak. “I have a guess. And it scares me.”

  “He has some rare sickness. Something from your world, and he’s contagious?”

  “No! How would he get something from my world?”

  “You could be a carrier,” Logan muttered.

  “No. It’s nothing like that. I’m sorry I’ve made you think the worst of me.” She gulped, then forced herself to try and explain. “You have organ transplants here.”

  “Yes,” Ross answered.

  “And the person can reject the organ.”

  “Yes,” Ross agreed.

  “I think that’s happening to him. He didn’t have an operation,but he took over this body. And I think it’s rejecting his soul.” She felt her throat clog, because what she feared was so monstrous that she could hardly imagine it. “And if they separate, I don’t know what will happen to him.”

  “Jesus!” Logan swore.

  “Is there anything you can do about it?” Ross asked.

  “In my world, there are adepts who may be able to help him. I don’t know for sure.”

  “You’re going to take him back there?”

  She looked up at the two grim-faced men. “If I can. But I can’t do it by myself. Zarah and I hid the portal. I need her to help me . . . uncover it again.”

  “Zarah’s pregnant. You want to bring her out here in the woods?” Logan asked.

  She didn’t want to, but she saw no alternative. “I can’t do it without her. Can I use a cell phone to talk to her?”

  He didn’t answer, and she imagined what he must be thinking. You want to cure him so he can kill us.

  Before he could voice that objection, she made a promise. “If we can save his life, I’ll make sure he doesn’t go after you,” she said.

  “How?”

  “I’ll keep him in my world,” she answered, because she knew that was the only sure way she could honor her promise.Yet at the same time, she didn’t know what that would mean for Caleb. He had been born here, and he wasn’t preparedfor the dangers of her environment.

  She saw Ross weighing the consequences, and she knew that he had the power of life and death over the man she loved.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  Quinn felt as though her own life were hanging in the balance. When Ross finally pulled a phone from his pack and handed it to her, she let out the breath she hadn’t known she was holding.

  “Thank you.”

  Trying to keep her hand from shaking, she called Logan’s house and asked to speak to Zarah.

  “I was worried about you and Caleb,” her friend said as soon as she came on the line.

  Quickly, Quinn explained what had happened. “I need to take Caleb home to our world where an adept can treat him. If you can help me unblock the portal.”

  “I think we can do it, but how do I know where to find you?”

  Quinn looked at Ross. “Can we take Caleb in the car as close as we can get to the portal?”

  “If you tell me where to find it.”

  “It’s not too far from the place with the open grave. The place where big rocks tower over a stream.” She swallowed. “I guess that’s not very descriptive.”

  “I think I know where you mean,” Logan said.

  “Thank you,” she breathed, then put the phone to her mouth again and spoke to Zarah. “We can meet at the portal. You remember how to get there?”

  “Yes. I’ll come as soon as I can. If you’re going back, I want to send some things to Griffin. Nothing hard to carry.”

  “Of course.”

  She handed the phone back to Ross, and he spoke to Rinna, telling her which roads to take to get close to the portal.

  When she turned back to Caleb, she saw his eyelids flutter.They opened, and he stared at her.

  “Quinn.”

  “I’m right here. I’m going to help you. The Marshalls are going to help you, too.”

  “Why should they?”

  Ross answered. “Because it’s a family problem.”

  Caleb turned his head toward the other man. “You look like him.”

  “We all do.”

  “I don’t!”

  Quinn knelt beside him. “What you look like doesn’t matter.”

  He grimaced. “It’s more than how I look.”

  “Caleb, I love you. If you die, something inside me will die.”

  His expression softened, and he started to speak. But the words came out garbled again, and she knew that he had lapsed back into a state where he couldn’t communicate with her.

  And now she had another fear. She had said she would try to find a healer who could help Caleb. But what if he didn’t want to be healed? What if he simply wanted to die?

  How could she give him back the will to live without remindinghim why his spirit had stayed on earth in the first place?

  She was wondering how they were going to get him into the car when he lost consciousness again. Ross and Logan picked him up and carried him between them, back toward the hunting lodge.

  It was a slow trip because Caleb was heavy.

  But they managed to get him into the SUV, then drove as close as they could get to the portal.

  Rinna and Zarah were already pulled off the road and waiting in Logan’s truck.

  The men carried Caleb into the woods and toward the rock outcropping.

  Zarah and Quinn embraced. “Thank you for helping me,” Quinn said.

  “I’m helping myself, too. You’re planning to go to Griffin’s house, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then you can tell me if he’s all right.”

  “He is!”

  “Then why haven’t you heard from Draden?”

  “Because all their efforts are going into defending themselves.”

  “Or Griffin is dead.”

  “Don’t say that! You have to be optimistic.”

  “I’m trying, but it’s difficult,” Zarah answered. She took out a small envelope and gave it to Quinn. “Give him my love. And give this to him.”

  “What is it?”

  “A letter. And photographs he’ll want to see. There’s a picture of you and me together—in case someone stops you, and you need proof that you’ve been with me.” She went on to explain about one of the other pictures, and Quinn felt her heart contract.

  “They can do that here?” she asked.

  “Yes,” Zarah answered. “They can do things we would never have thought of.”

  Quinn knew they had to cut the conversation short. “Okay,” she said. “I’ll give all this to him and give him your love.” As she spoke, she silently prayed that she could find Griffin—for Zarah and for herself. He was her protector in her own world. And if he was dead, she was in serious trouble.

  Quinn went to the plastic storage bin and took out the clothing that had come from her own world. Disappearing into the bushes, she changed quickly. But she kept the fanny pack. And the gun that Logan had given her.

  As she stuffed extra magazines into the bag, she thought about Logan. He had been her friend. And her chest tightenedwhen she considered what he thought of her now. She’d put his family in danger. And probably he was hoping that she would disappear into the portal and never return.

  She hadn’t exactly promised that. She’d said she would leave Caleb there. But when it came time to bring Zarah home, Quinn would be the one to do it. And, by the grace of the Great Mother, maybe Griffin would come with her.

  She slipped the envelope Zarah had given her into the fanny pack as well, then she walked toward where the group was waiting.

  Caleb was lying on the ground. While she’d been busy, the men had dressed him in a dark T-shirt and sweatpants. And Ross had taken off his running shoes and socks and put them on Caleb’s feet. It wasn’t much like clothing from Quinn’s universe. But it was certainly better than being naked.

  “We could barely carry him,” Ross said. “How are you going to get him t
o help?”

  “I can’t,” she admitted. “I’m going to have to find someonewho can come to him.”

  Ross nodded.

  Logan and Rinna were standing a little apart, talking. He looked up when he saw her approaching, then walked forward.

  “I’m sorry I was rough on you,” he said.

  “I know you want to protect your family.”

  “Caleb died because of one of us. The least we can do is try to help him.”

  “Thank you.”

  He scuffed his foot against the ground. “Uh, how much time does he have?”

  “I don’t know for certain. But the longer he stays like this, the worse it’s going to get. He should be treated as soon as possible.”

  “What do you need from us?”

  “Energy.”

  He laughed. “I’m not sure how to provide it.”

  “Zarah can gather it from you.”

  “Okay.”

  Quinn looked around the group. “I’d better say good-bye now. When the portal is uncovered, I’ll have to leave quickly.”

  “The gods protect you,” Rinna said, holding out her arms. Quinn went into them and hugged the other woman tightly. Then she hugged Zarah.

  The two male werewolves looked like they weren’t sure what to say. But before they could shake Quinn’s hand or whatever they were going to do, Caleb woke and began flailingaround.

  Quinn hurried to his side and knelt. “It’s all right. Everything’s going to be all right.”

  “Where am I?”

  “In a cave. We’re going into my world where we can find someone to help you.”

  He looked wildly around. “Your world?”

  “I told you about it.”

  Zarah came over with her lamp. Holding it in one hand, she placed the fingers of her other hand on Caleb’s forehead, stroking his cool flesh. “Everything’s fine,” she murmured. “You’re going to be all right.”

  He calmed down, and Quinn let out a small sigh. “Thank you.”

  “I can’t cure him, but I can calm him.”

  They walked toward the back wall of the cave, where the portal was hidden.

  “What do we do?” Ross asked.

  “When Quinn and I join hands, send us your thoughts.” She gestured toward the back of the cave. “Think about a space opening up where that rock wall is. When it does, you’ll see straggly trees and a plain beyond . . . with ruined houses.”

  She sat down on the ground, Quinn sat beside her, and the others gathered around, watching her hunch over the lamp.

  Quinn could feel Zarah sending her consciousness into the flickering flame. Probably, Rinna could, too. She had once opened a portal by herself, using the energy from three other adepts and a squad of soldiers.

  When Zarah reached for Quinn, she gripped her friend’s hand tightly and clung. Back in the school for adepts, she had learned to share energy with others, and she was able to give Zarah extra power. Rinna did it easily, too.

  The others had never joined together in this way, but she felt them doing their best.

  For a long moment, nothing happened, and Quinn felt her throat clog. What if it was too hard to undo what they had done earlier?

  But she felt Zarah probing at the rock wall, and felt Rinna pouring energy into the process. And finally she saw a place where the stone thinned.

  As it disappeared, she felt her heart clunk inside her chest. She was looking into her world. She had lived there all her life until the past few weeks, and it should be a familiarplace, but somehow it felt like a foreign country.

  A rustling sound made her turn. Caleb had climbed to his feet. He stood swaying on unsteady legs, then he ran toward the opening between the worlds.

  “No. Wait,” she called, but he ignored her.

  She glanced at the other people. “I have to go after him.”

  “Should we come?” Logan asked.

  “You may not be able to get back,” Quinn shouted over her shoulder as she dashed through the portal with no idea what she was going to find on the other side.

  Caleb had seemed so weak and helpless. But he was alreadytwenty yards ahead of Quinn by the time she charged through the portal.

  Had the door closed behind her? She didn’t know, and she kept her gaze fixed on Caleb as he ran across the plain toward a wooded area.

  Too bad Ross had put those shoes on his feet. Tender feet might have slowed him down.

  As she watched him pull away from her, terror seized her. She could lose him among the ruined buildings. Heedless of her own safety, she pushed herself to run faster, the breath sawing in and out of her lungs as she plunged ahead.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  The last time Quinn had been in her universe, Baron’s soldiers had been chasing her.

  Had they left a contingent to watch for her and Zarah?

  As she tried to catch up with Caleb, she looked to her left and right but didn’t see any troops. Of course, soldiers weren’t the only threat in the badlands. She was just as likely to run into slavers or thieves, or all manner of lawless men who had taken refuge in the open lands between the cities.

  To her vast relief, she saw no one.

  Praying that nobody was waiting behind the nearest ruin, she closed in on Caleb, thankful that he was slowing his pace.

  He never reached the house. As suddenly as he had made his escape attempt, he stumbled and went down, falling headlongin the dirt.

  She rushed to his side, and when she rolled him over, he began flailing at her. The only thing she could do to keep from getting hurt was to back up—or throw herself on top of him. She chose the latter, struggling to press his arms to his sides while ducking away from his head when he tried to bash her with it.

  Again, everything suddenly changed. He went limp, and she was left lying unprotected and exposed in the middle of a dusty plain.

  She climbed to her feet, looking in a circle as she brushed herself off. Then she grabbed Caleb under the arms and beganto pull him toward the closest building. It was hard going,and she was panting by the time she reached the shadow of the wall. But at least she felt a little safer.

  The problem now was what she was going to do with Caleb. She had to leave him to get help. But if she did, he was likely to run off, so that when she came back with a healer or a wagon from Sun Acres, he might be anywhere.

  LOGAN walked to the rock wall and peered at the portal. It was still open.

  “Shouldn’t it be closed?” he asked Zarah.

  “Yes. But I’m too worn out to do it now.” She turned towardRinna. “Do you think we can do something?”

  “Maybe. But let’s wait for a few minutes.”

  Logan gave Ross a sidewise glance. He could tell his cousin was astonished to be looking into another world.

  “I hope they’re going to be all right,” Ross said.

  “Yes,” Zarah agreed. She sounded exhausted.

  Ross got bottles of water from his pack, and they all took a drink. The two male wolves went to scout the area while the women rested.

  When they came back, Zarah and Rinna were huddled togetherover the lamp. Logan could see the wall shimmering in back of them. After a time, it seemed to turn solid, unless you tipped your head to the side.

  “That’s the best I can do,” Zarah said apologetically.

  “It’s good,” Logan said. “But maybe we should keep a guard up here—in case we get unwanted company.”

  “Not a bad idea,” Rinna agreed.

  “And we should block the opening of the cave with brush, so no one stumbles in from this side,” Logan said.

  “Yes.”

  When Zarah started to get up, Logan shook his head. “You stay here. We’ll bring branches.”

  “I’m not an invalid.”

  “And I’m not your husband. But he would tell you to wait here.”

  “Yes.”

  “You get brush and vines,” Logan directed Rinna. “Ross and I will get larger branches.”

  The
y all scattered into the woods and came back a few minutes later.

  Logan, the landscape architect, set branches upright in front of the portal. Then they piled on brush. When they were finished, the opening was hidden.

  They started back down the hill toward the place where they’d left their car.

  But the werewolves’ senses were sharp. They’d gone less than fifty yards when Rinna stopped short.

  “I hear something,” she whispered.

  The two men nodded.

  “Take Zarah back to the cave,” Ross said.

  “What’s happening?” the pregnant woman asked.

  “We’re going to find out.” Logan was already pulling off his shirt. He stepped behind a tree to finish undressing, and his cousin did the same.

  As Logan climbed out of his pants, he thought of Caleb. Changing to wolf form was so much a part of who Logan was. What the hell would he do if he suddenly couldn’t do it?

  He grimaced as he imagined Caleb’s mental anguish. He’d been angry at the guy, but at this moment, he felt sorry for him.

  He closed his eyes, then began the chant that would transformhim from wolf to man. The change always hurt, but todayhe welcomed the pain. It was a lot better than the alternative.

  Two gray wolves started down the hill. It was too bad they couldn’t speak to each other. But that was one of the inconveniencesof being in animal form.

  By mutual agreement, they slipped from tree trunk to tree trunk. When they caught sight of two men walking through the underbrush, they both stopped short.

  One was large and balding. The other was smaller and more slender, with a nose that had been broken.

  Logan had never seen them before, but they matched Quinn’s description of the men who had buried the body. Both of them were holding guns as they walked slowly through the woods.

  What did they expect? To find Caleb lying on the ground somewhere?

  And what if they walked into the cave where Rinna and Zarah were hiding?

  Logan’s jaw clenched. He’d left his life mate exposed. He slipped over to Ross, giving his head a shake, pointing in the direction of the cave.

  Ross nodded, then inclined his own head toward the SUV pulled up along the road.

  Logan was pretty sure what Ross had in mind. He wanted to read the license plate before going back to the cave. He didn’t like it. But he understood the reasoning.