“Is it really that far-fetched? I can take myself somewhere else. I know when I’m in danger. You’re weird with patterns, and Gabrielle can do all sorts of strange things. We’re all able to use telepathy with each other. Is it such a stretch to believe others can use it, too? I have to go down there. I have to know if he’s real, if he’s here, in this place. I feel him. I can’t explain it, but it’s like he’s crawled inside of me somehow and I need him. I need to prove this to myself. And I’m afraid he’s injured.”
“Why didn’t you tell us right away, Joie?” Jubal asked.
“Because I don’t want the voice to go away,” Joie admitted with stark truth. “I saw a counselor. He said I was having a break with reality, schizophrenia, probably brought on by the trauma of being shot. I didn’t want to point out it wasn’t the first time I’ve taken a bullet; it wasn’t the worst injury and it won’t be the last. I didn’t take the medication the counselor prescribed. I thought maybe it wasn’t so bad to live in a fantasy world part of the time. I still function and do my job.” She managed a faint smile, her sense of humor rising even in the middle of such a serious conversation. “Do you think many people want a schizophrenic bodyguard? They get two for the price of one.”
“Come on, Joie, you can’t believe you’re going crazy. You’re . . .” Gabrielle paused in search of the right words. “You’re
you
. You can do anything. You excel at everything. You
can’t
hear voices. You’re the most stable person I know. Out of your mind for loving this kind of thing, but still . . . stable.”
Joie smiled up at her sister. “I’m definitely hearing a voice. Right now he’s telling me to get out of here. He’s saying it’s dangerous and that we’re all in mortal danger. He actually used the word
mortal
. I don’t use that word. Do you think I have a split personality? I’ve always preferred male activities. I’ve always been such a tomboy. Maybe this is just my male side coming out. And just so you know how really screwed up my mind is, he’s sexier than I am.”
“Maybe your intuition is telling you not to make the descent, Joie,” Jubal cautioned. “We haven’t planned this out adequately.”
“I don’t have a choice,” Joie said sadly. “Not this time. We have the rigging. We have the supplies. We’re all dressed warmly enough. I can go down and look around. If I’m not back in a couple of hours, you can go for help.”
“You didn’t let me finish. If he isn’t real, we should find out, and if he is real, logic would say we need to help him if he’s hurt. Besides, we’re a family and as Dad always says, ‘in for a penny, in for a pound.’ ”
Gabrielle shook her head. “We all go. We stick together, Joie. If you have to do this, then we do it together like we always have.”
“Then we should stop talking and get moving,” Jubal said decisively.
Joie wasn’t going to change her mind. Whatever was compelling her into that black abyss was too strong to fight. Worse, the dread was still growing inside him. Jubal glanced down into the dark hole. Evil lurked close by, and he had the feeling they were going to come face to face with it.
“J
oie, this is out of this world,” Jubal said softly, in awe. He turned in a full circle, shining his light on the walls of the gallery. The descent had been a long one, well over three hundred feet. “I’ve never seen anything like it. What a find. The ice formations are incredible. I swear I actually saw a vein of gold in more than one place. There are so many halls and galleries to explore.”
The century-long hidden domain was breathtaking. Despite the urgency she was feeling, Joie allowed herself a brief moment of wonderment, looking around her into twisted corridors and tunnels, shadowed pools lined with gem-like crystals and a network of narrow crevices and grottoes. The gallery opened up into an entire underground world. If they hadn’t found that strange crack allowing them inside, they would never have seen the sparkling world deep beneath the earth.
Small ice balls and ice draped the ceiling and walls, shimmering all hues of blue; steep slopes and wide outcroppings marked the magnificent gallery. Inside the subterranean world were peaks and crags, the ice forming mountains and valleys, ridges and gorges. Underground rivers were frozen after carving out tunnels and shapes. “Windows” gave glimpses of
moulins
deep beneath them.
Gabrielle cautiously moved around an ice sculpture that rose like a living flame from the floor. “Look at this. When I shine my light on it from this angle, I’d swear the thing had gems in it. It’s as brilliant as a polished diamond but reflects the light as if it were red like a ruby.”
Movement caught her attention, and she turned her head to watch Joie as she examined the glacial ice that formed the gallery. “Be careful, I suspect that a good number of viruses previously unknown to us come from insects and even perhaps the fungi in caves such as this one. These microorganisms exist with no light and few nutrients, locked inside the ice, yet still capable of living. There’s such a wealth of information down here.” She gave Joie a quick, excited grin. “No one has probably ever touched this ice. Can you imagine the microbes living down here? This is a scientist’s dream.”
Joie took a long breath and let it out, looking around at each of the tunnels leading to other chambers. She was so close now, she could almost feel him breathing. Somewhere in this labyrinth of halls he was waiting for her. Smoldering. Angry that she had disobeyed him and put herself and her siblings in danger. He was real, not a voice in her head, not a part of a split personality. He was real and alive and in pain. She could feel his pain, throbbing through her body, beating at her head.
Tell me.
She demanded it. Forced him to deal with who she really was, not who he thought she should be.
Tell the others to be quiet. They are in danger. I have battled the same enemy three times since you first found me in the cave weeks ago. I am a prisoner and wounded and extremely weak. I cannot aid you much in the battle, and the enemy has powers you cannot possibly comprehend.
Joie pressed her lips together, her heart suddenly pounding. His tone rang with truth. He believed in what he was saying. Joie tended to keep her cool with humor. She gave him a mental image of rolling her eyes in exasperation.
Sorry for the fluff in my head, but I’m usually found wrapped in cotton or
bubble wrap to protect me from all the evil people in the world.
“Jubal, Gabby, we have to be quiet. Something’s in here with us and it isn’t good.”
She took the lead and Jubal dropped back to protect his sisters, neither sibling asking questions. They knew Joie, knew she was good at her job and she had switched easily into hunter/protector mode. She trusted Jubal. He was the steadiest man she knew in a fight, and she worked with a lot of good men.
“Tell us what’s happening, Joie,” Jubal demanded.
She shook her head and placed a finger to her lips. “He’s telepathic. I don’t want to chance communication he might overhear until we know what’s really going on.” She mouthed the words to her brother and sister and waited for them to nod in understanding before she continued.
She
was ready to trust the stranger in her head, but she wouldn’t risk Gabrielle and Jubal without knowing what they were getting into.
There were several halls and tubes leading away from the open gallery they had descended into. She moved slowly to stand in front of each to feel her way. The pull of Traian was strong and she knew the moment she was at an entrance that he was somewhere in that direction. Using hand signals, she started down the hall, as stealthy as one could in climbing gear. The long hallway continued forward but two other tunnels branched off from it, one leading down and the other appearing to climb upward. The pull to go down was strong.
Joie,
Traian’s voice seemed weaker.
I’m asking you one last time to get out of here. You’re risking your life and the lives of your companions.
She moved through the halls with confidence, recognizing the feel of him now, knowing she was moving toward him. She picked up the pace, although she remained very conscious of the layers of ice surrounding them. The walls appeared thick, but they creaked and cracked, loud popping noises signaling ice falling or shooting out of the walls from the weight above them.
I doubt very much if I’ll need your aid, Mr. Brawny, but I’ll keep it in mind. How many?
Traian sighed, obviously unwilling to argue with her anymore. Worse, she felt his strength draining away and had to fight the need to run to him.
There is one with me now. The others will return well fed and high with a lust for killing.
Joie didn’t like the sound of that. Lust for killing held very bad implications.
Could you be exaggerating just a little?
She desperately hoped he was.
You do not want to meet them.
Joie gave a little sniff, her heart slamming hard just once at his tone. He wasn’t joking about his enemies. She took a deep breath and let it out.
Isn’t that the truth. Anyone with a lust for killing isn’t going to be invited for Sunday dinner.
She glanced back at her brother and sister, frowning, suddenly afraid for them. What was she getting them all into with her obsessive behavior? She hesitated at the next twisting tunnel. He was so close now, and so was danger. She felt it and she could tell Gabrielle felt it as well. Her sensitive sister pressed her hand hard into her stomach and had a look of fear stamped on her face. Behind her, Jubal had produced a gun, his features hard-edged and sober. They would stand with her, back her up under any circumstances, but she didn’t feel it was right to force them—through their love of her—into a dangerous and unknown situation.
“Let me go in alone, figure out what’s wrong and . . .” She began, mouthing the words rather than speaking them aloud or telepathically. She still didn’t want Traian to be privy to her private conversation with her siblings and she didn’t know how strong his psychic abilities were—but he felt powerful.
She
had to find the man, but she didn’t trust strangers with her siblings’ lives.
Jubal held up his hand to stop her and indicated with a hand signal for her to proceed. She looked at Gabrielle’s resolute expression. No, they weren’t going to leave her. They were in it together, good or bad, they stood with her. She took a breath, nodded and stepped into the water-carved tunnel.
Bands of green and blue in wide circular stripes surrounded them and ordinarily would have had all three examining the beautifully constructed tube, but the moment they entered the hallway, all of them felt the presence of evil. Joie’s mouth went dry. She touched her belt, assuring herself her knife was close at hand.
I guess I’d best pull your butt out of trouble and get the heck out of Dodge.
Traian sighed.
You do not act like any of the women I know.
Thank you, I appreciate your saying so.
Her stomach was in knots.
Evil permeated the narrowing hallway, so that every breath drawn in was foul, the air dense—thick with poisonous breath. The tunnel narrowed and the ceiling dropped considerably, making it impossible to walk upright. Joie dropped to her knees and crawled through the tube on her hands and knees. Jubal and Gabrielle followed close behind. The steady drip of water reminded Joie of the clicking of the branches at the theater the night she was shot. There was a peculiar rhythm to the drops, almost as if some unseen hand, not nature, guided the water’s descent. The tube began to widen until she could once again stand.
A strange growling noise assaulted her ears, sounding like a cross between a hyena laughing and a dog growling viciously. Immediately she held up her hand behind her, signaling Jubal and Gabrielle to stop while she scooted closer. She used the tall columns of rock and ice formations as cover as she worked her way into a position to be able to see into the chamber.
A man—and it had to be Traian—was literally pinned like an insect to a wall of ice, his feet actually off the floor. Blood ran down from each shoulder and leg where sharp, twisted stakes had been thrust through his body. It was the most horrific form of torture she’d ever seen. Joie held her breath to keep from crying out in dismay. It was no wonder she could feel the pain radiating from him. Every movement of his body had to be excruciating. Who would do such a thing? And far beneath the earth in an ice cave, it was bizarre, unreal and too cruel.
She could see something that resembled a man—or at least had a man’s shape—prodding at Traian’s wounds with a bony finger, dipping it in blood and licking with a grotesque, purple tongue. A shudder ran through her body.
She forced herself to look at the terrifying apparition holding Traian prisoner. He was nearly as tall as Traian, but his body appeared skeleton-like, as if his skin had shrunk over bones. His clothes were filthy and tattered, thin strips of material that should never have been worn in an ice cave. The
thing
—she had no other name for it—had longish strands of hair sticking out haphazardly in all directions over his misshapen skull.
The thick perversion of evil emanated from the creature. The apparition turned slightly and she could see the fingers ended in long, wicked-looking nails, almost like a bird’s talons, very sharp and yellowed and stained. It was hard to control the pounding of her heart. She’d faced many human monsters, but this—this
thing
—was not human, at least not any more.
She knew Traian was aware of her presence, but he didn’t make the mistake of giving away her position by so much as glancing toward her. He watched the creature hovering over him with cool eyes.
“You seem nervous, Lamont,” Traian observed in a low, amicable tone. He sounded polite, almost friendly and just a little bit amused.
The creature hissed, a low, ugly expression of hatred. Without preamble he bent his head to Traian’s neck and sank his teeth into the pulse beating there. Joie could easily see the long canines stabbing into flesh; something she’d only seen before in films. Her heart pounded so loud she was afraid the thing would hear the drumming even above the sound of water and cracking ice.