They were well into the trees before the music started. Sedona knew that Lyle must have sensed the predators, as well, because he growled a low, urgent warning in her ear. The shatteringly beautiful strains of a song that had no words whispered to her; summoning, beseeching, and luring with unspoken promises. It echoed in the stillness of the forest like the sweet, unconditional love of a mother’s lullaby and grew gradually into a glorious celebration of the senses.
“Damn,” she whispered. “They’re here, Cyrus. I can sense the singing.”
“They must have holed up somewhere nearby, waiting for the storm to end,” he said. “They’re hunting us again. Go cold.”
She fought the instinct to remain in her heightened senses but it wasn’t easy. With grim determination she managed to lower her talent a few notches.
Some of the heat and glitter evaporated from the landscape. Twilight blue shadows lengthened in the trees, darkening the forest. The music grew fainter but it did not disappear.
“This may buy us some time,” she said, “but I don’t think going cold will work for long. We’d have to shut down our auras in order to go completely dark. No way to do that.”
“Not an option,” he agreed.
The human aura gave off a lot of natural paranormal energy. Even those who possessed little or no measurable talent radiated psi whether or not they were aware of it. The bottom line was that all life gave off energy from across the spectrum. The only folks who didn’t emit para-radiation were those who were dead.
Cyrus glanced at his locator. “We’re closer to the gate than we are to the cave. We’ll have to make a run for it. I’ll try to give us some cover with a dead zone. Theoretically it should work. Give me your hand. Keep a good hold on Lyle.”
His fingers closed tightly around hers. She tucked Lyle under her arm. Energy shifted in the atmosphere and then a chill of icy awareness raised small goose bumps on her skin. She knew that Cyrus had jacked up his talent. The otherworldly sensation enveloped them in a protective sphere, just as it had yesterday when he had swept her up in his arms and carried her through the storm to safety.
She heard Lyle muttering but he did not freak out. She had no way of knowing what the experience was like for him but she got the impression that he didn’t like it any more than she did. He seemed to comprehend that the three of them were in this together, though, and that Cyrus was offering protection.
They ran, zigzagging through the trees. The cold, ghostly dead zone moved with them, briefly altering the atmosphere around them until they moved on. Sedona watched as the beautiful quartz trees lost their glow and turned dull and lifeless when she and Cyrus got close; brightening once more when they passed out of range. The ground under their boots was temporarily rendered a cloudy gray color.
It was as if they were ghosts, Sedona thought—real ghosts. The last time she had been too preoccupied with taking readings from the locator to pay much attention to the effects of Cyrus’s talent on their surroundings, but now she thought she understood why the matchmakers had been unable to come up with a good match for him. It would take a very strong talent, indeed, not to feel nervous around someone who could drain the energy out of everything and everyone within a fifteen-foot radius.
Lyle hissed. She realized he was watching a thick cluster of sparkling foliage on the right. The jeweled leaves shivered.
But there was no wind, she realized, not even a faint breeze to rustle the leaves.
“Cyrus.” She tried to pitch her voice as low as possible and discovered that was not easy to do when you were running with a pack on your back and a dust bunny under one arm. “Over there, to your right. About twenty feet.”
“I see it. Keep moving. I think it’s confused. It can probably sense our movement but it must be getting conflicting messages because of the dead zone.”
The thing in the bushes prowled alongside, keeping its distance. Sedona could not make out a shape but every so often she thought she caught a glimpse of reptilian scales that glinted like a million tiny mirrors in the glacial light.
“Gate’s just ahead,” Cyrus said. “Get ready to do your thing.”
“I’ll have to be able to go fully into my senses to open the gate,” she warned. “You’ll have to dissolve the zone.”
“I know. I’ll cover you with the flamer while you work.”
She caught a glimpse of the glacial-blue-quartz wall. A moment later they burst out of the trees a few feet away from the energy gate.
“Give me your flamer,” Cyrus said.
She handed it to him and then went to stand in front of the gate. Cyrus turned his back to her and stood facing the woods, a flamer in each hand.
“Ready?” he asked.
“Ready.”
She felt the cold of the dead zone evaporate in a heartbeat. Immediately she raised her senses. The crystal world shimmered back to gemstone brilliance.
She reached for the focus. Lyle scrambled out from under her arm and bounced up onto her shoulder. From there he leaped to Cyrus’s shoulder.
“Here they come,” Cyrus said.
She did not turn around to look at the threat. It would do neither of them any good. She would have to depend on Cyrus to watch her back while she did her job.
She heard the snap-snap-snap of the flamers followed by a low, keening howl that was unlike that of any animal she had ever heard. It was the roar of a savage beast, and it awakened primordial fears long buried in the most primitive part of her brain.
The flamers snapped and crackled again. Lyle growled.
Every instinct was urging Sedona to turn around to confront the monsters but she had the focus now. She had to hang on to it for all their sakes. She reached out delicately, seeking the core currents that sealed the gate. The hot energy shifted and churned at the touch of her talent.
Behind her the terrible roaring continued. So did the zapping of the flamers.
The gate opened, revealing the green quartz corridor on the other side. She had time to register the sight of a small crowd gathered inside the tunnel. There were several hunters armed with flamers. Rachel and Harry, along with Charlotte and Slade appeared. Joe and his son were with them. Henderson, she saw, was wearing a walking cast. A rescue team, she realized.
“Gate’s open,” she shouted at Cyrus.
“Go,” Cyrus ordered. “I’m right behind you.”
She whirled around and saw him fire the flamer one last time at a monstrous lizard the size of an SUV. It had small, reptile-cold eyes and a mouth full of teeth. The creature was covered in strange, silvery scales that reflected the blue energy of the artificial sunlight—natural camouflage that would make it difficult to detect in the glittering forest.
As she watched, a second monster shimmered into view.
“Sedona,” Rachel called. “Get in here.”
“Get your ass through the damn gate,” Cyrus said. He backed steadily toward the opening, Lyle still hunkered on his shoulder.
“I’m going, I’m going,” Sedona muttered.
She ran through the gate, concentrating on holding it open long enough for Cyrus and Lyle to get through.
Slade and Harry joined the hunters at the entrance of the gate. They fired into the glittering world, laying down a blanket of flames to provide cover for Cyrus.
He fired one last shot as he raced through the gate with Lyle clinging for dear life.
“Close it,” he said.
Sedona released the gate. It slammed shut with a senses-dazzling rush of energy. The last thing she saw in Wonderland was a mirror-scaled monster shrieking its frustration as its prey escaped.