The Twilight Before Christmas (20 page)

Hannah sighed. “I know. He’s just so annoying all the time. I closed the window in the entryway; too much fog was drifting in, and it scared me.” She forced an uneasy laugh. “I never thought I’d be afraid of the fog.”

Kate stood up and looked around the house. “What do you mean too much fog was drifting in?” She stared out the window toward the sea. “You
saw
it? You weren’t dreaming? What did it look like?”

Sarah stood up too and began to move uneasily about the room, checking the windows.

“It looked like fog,” Hannah said. “I came down the stairs and, to be honest, was a little unsteady, so I sat on the floor in the entryway for a couple of minutes. I could see fog drifting in through the open window. It appeared to be normal fog, a long wisp of it, but the fact that I could see it in the house upset me. So I closed the window.”

“Nothing can get into the house, Sarah,” Abbey said. “It’s protected. You know that the house has always protected us.”

Sarah shook her head. “Mom told us we needed to know the ancient language of the Drake sisters, and we all shrugged it off with the exception of Elle. She also told us we needed to renew our safeguards every single time we came home, but did we do that? No, of course not—we’ve become complacent. Mom has precog, we all know it. It was a foreshadowing, but we didn’t take her instructions seriously.”

Abbey put a hand to her throat. “Do you think the entity was influencing me to use my voice on Jackson as well as at the committee meeting?”

Sarah nodded. “There’s a good chance of it. We have to be very careful. None of us are handling this very well. We’ve never faced such a thing before.”

“And I never want to again,” Kate said fervently.

“Dinner,” Matt called from the kitchen. “Come eat. And bring Hannah with you. Jonas said she had to eat something.”

Hannah rolled her eyes. “There’s my point exactly, Kate. Men always try bossing women around. It’s their nature, they can’t help themselves. We know the thing in the fog is a male, and I’ll bet he’s seriously upset with a woman.”

They all started into the kitchen. Sarah and Kate helped steady Hannah. “Actually, I felt guilt and sorrow and rage coming from him,” Kate said. “I could feel the connection, but he tossed it away because he feels he doesn’t deserve forgiveness. Something terrible happened, and he believes he’s to blame for it.”

“Why is he causing terrible things to happen now?” Hannah asked.

“I don’t know,” Kate admitted. “But it has something to do with Christmas. Sarah’s right. We have to really pay attention to every detail now. He can’t get any stronger, or we won’t be able to stop him.”

Matt spent the rest of the day poring over the entries in the diaries and listening to the easy teasing back and forth between the sisters. The women slept on and off throughout the day. Damon and Sarah spent a lot of time kissing every chance they could steal away, and he was a bit jealous that he didn’t have the right to be as openly demonstrative with Kate. As the hours slipped by, all he could think about was Kate and being alone with her.

He slipped his arm around her shoulders. “It’s late, let’s go back to my house.”

“Elle’s driving in tonight. I’d like to wait for her. She’s supposed to be here any minute, and we slept most of the day after that horrible encounter this morning,” Kate replied.

“The fog is coming in,” Matt announced. He opened the door and wandered out to the wide, wraparound veranda to stare out over the ocean.

“Elle should be here any minute; she told us midnight,” Kate said, studying the wisps of fog as they drifted toward land. “She’ll make it before the fog hits the highway.”

“Who decorated your Christmas tree?” Matt indicated the huge tree covered in lights and adorned with a variety of ornaments.

Kate went down the porch stairs to stand in front of the tree. She touched a small wooden elf. “Isn’t it beautiful? Frank, one of the local artists, did this carving. Many of these ornaments have been handed down from generation to generation.”

“Don’t you worry about them out in the weather?” The tree was inside the yard, and two large dogs protected the area. Sarah’s dogs. No one would sneak in and steal the ornaments, even the more precious ones, but the sea air and the continual rain could ruin the decorations.

“We never worry about weather,” Kate said simply. “The Drakes have always decorated a tree outside and, hopefully, we always will.”

The fog burst over them in a rolling swirl, wrapped around the tree, and filled the yard, streaming in from the ocean as if pushed by an unseen hand.

“I think our old nemesis is attacking another Christmas symbol,” Matt said, pointing to the top of the huge Christmas tree in the front yard. “What does the star stand for? There has to be a meaning.”

The fog tangled around the branches, amplifying the glow of the lights through the vapor. Kate looked up at the star as it shorted out, sparks raining down through the fog. It brightened momentarily, then faded completely. She was looking up and saw through the wisps of clouds a hot, bright star streaking across the sky, plunging toward Earth. She went still, the color draining from her face. “Elle.” She whispered her sister’s name. “He’s coming for Elle. That’s what he was doing in the house. He’s after Elle.” The fog was choking the road, making it impossible to see.

“What the hell do you mean, it was in the house?” Matt raced back inside the house just as her sisters hurried outside to join Kate. He caught up the phone and called Jonas. He had no idea what Jonas could do. No one could see in the fog. They didn’t know exactly where Elle was, only that she was close. She had said she’d arrive sometime around midnight. It was close to that now. She might be on the worst section of narrow, twisting highway leading to Sea Haven.

Kate whirled around, facing toward the town as a bell began to ring loudly. The sound reverberated through the night. “The bell is the symbol for guidance, for return. She’s here now. She’s coming up the highway now, returning to us. Returning to the fold. Sarah—” she caught her sister by the hand—“she’s nearing the cliffs right now. Even if Hannah had the strength to bring in the wind, it’s too late. He’s warning us, telling us what he’s going to do. Why would he do that?”

Kate reached for her youngest sister, mind to mind. She wasn’t the most telepathic of her siblings, but Elle was a strong telepathic. Kate heard music, Joley’s voice filling the car with her rich, warm tones. Elle’s voice joining in. Elle drove slowly, crawling through the thick fog, knowing she was only a mile from her home. It was impossible to see in front of the car; she had no choice but to pull off the road and park until the fog lifted.

Elle peered at the side of the road, trying to see where the shoulder was wide enough to get her car off the highway in case another vehicle came along. She steered slowly over, aware the cliff was high above the pounding sea. Joley’s voice was comforting, a sultry heat that kept the chilling cold from entering the car. Elle turned off the engine and pushed open the door, needing to get her bearings. If she could see the lights from any direction, she would know where she was. She knew she had to be close to her home. The fog surrounded her, a thick, congealed mass that was utterly cold.

Kate drew in her breath, tried to touch Elle, tried to warn her of the impending danger. Elle kept her hand on the car.
What is it, Kate?

Kate cursed the fact that she couldn’t form an answer and send it to her sister. She could only send the impression of danger very close. They all knew when their siblings were in danger, or tired or upset. But Kate didn’t have the ability to actually tell Elle something was in the fog, something that was taking enough of a form that it could cause bodily harm. She didn’t even know whether to tell her to stay in the car or to get away from it. She could only hope that Elle was sufficiently tapped in to all of her sisters and would know what was transpiring. Elle turned in the direction of their home and began to walk along the narrow path.

Matt rushed past Kate, heading toward the highway. The fog swallowed him immediately. “Try to clear it out, Kate,” he called back. His voice sounded muffled in the thick mist, even to his own ears. He knew the trail; he’d walked it enough times over the years and was certain Elle would do the same.

Jonas and Jackson were converging from their locations as well, all of them running to Elle’s aid from three different directions, but Matt had no idea if any of them would be in time. He only knew that his heart was in his throat, and he had such an overwhelming sense of imminent danger, he wanted to run flat out instead of carefully jogging his way along the steep, uneven path.

Chapter
10

Beneath the star, that shines so bright,

An act unfolds, to my delight.

Matt heard voices, the rise and fall of feminine voices. He knew Kate and her sisters were doing their best to fight against the wall of fog crouched so malevolently on the highway. He picked his way as fast and as carefully as he could. The ocean pounded and roared beneath him, waves slapping against the cliff and leaping high so that every now and then, as he jogged, he could feel the spray on his face. Rocks and the uneven ground impeded his progress. The wind picked up, blowing fiercely against the fog, taking chunks out over the roiling sea.

“Matt!” Jackson’s disembodied voice called to him from deep inside the fog, somewhere ahead of him. “She’s gone over the cliff. She’s not in the water, but she’s not going to be able to last much longer. Search along the edges.” The voice was muffled and distorted by the fog.

“Watch yourself, Jackson, the cliff is crumbling in places,” Matt cautioned. He didn’t ask how Jackson knew Elle had gone over. Hell, he was beginning to believe he was the only person in the world without some kind of psychic talent. “Dammit, dammit, dammit.” He couldn’t return to Kate and tell her Elle was dead, that they’d been too late. He’d never be able to face her sorrow.

Matt inched toward the cliff, testing the ground every step of the way, making certain it would hold his weight. “Elle!” He shouted her name, heard Jackson, then Jonas echo his call. The ocean answered with another greedy roar, lifting higher, seeking prey. “Dammit, Elle, answer me.” He felt desperation. Rage. Fear for Elle was beginning to swirl in the pit of his stomach. He detested inaction. He was a man who took charge, got the job done. He could have endless patience when needed, but he had to know what he was doing.

It seemed a hundred years until Jackson called out. “Found! I’ll keep calling out so you both can get a direction. She’s not going to be able to hang on, so I’m going down after her. I’ve tied off a safety rope.”

Even with the fog distorting the voice, Matt got a sense of Jackson’s direction and moved toward him. Jackson’s voice was far more distant the second time he called out, and Matt knew he’d gone over the side of the cliff to try to get to Elle before she plunged into the sea. He’d been in combat with Jackson, had served on many covert missions with him. He wasn’t a man to rush headlong into anything. If he was already going over the cliff to get to Elle, she needed the help. He was counting on Jonas and Matt to rescue them both. He knew they’d come for him.