Chapter 11

Confirmations

Merlin suddenly felt exhausted. It had been a very long day after a long night. Nick watched her with wary, hungry eyes.

“Dare you to be a normal guy, just for a while,” she said.

“Where’s the fun in that?” he frowned.

“Let me put it this way – I’m tired, I’m gonna have a cup of hot chocolate an’ I would like us to talk like two reasonable adults. Think you can accommodate me? Or do you want me to hog-tie you an’ interrogate you? Cos, if you do, it’ll have to wait till morning.”

“I don’t see any challenge in that. It’s no fun.”

Merlin slowly nodded. “Oh .. I get it. Regular, sensible, caring an’ thoughtful .. no place in the grand scheme. It has to be nasty, cruel, dangerous, on the edge, over the line. That’s fun. Fighting, racing, hunting. Unprotected sex. Or did you wear a condom?”

“I’m not that stupid.” His scornful gaze raked her face. “AIDS started in San Francisco.”

“Good to know you haven’t lost it completely.” She regarded him and saw a stranger. “Okay. We have to find a way to make it fun for you. Come with me.”

He grinned. “I don’t think so.”

“Dare you to come with me,” Merlin sighed.

His feet dragged but he followed her thru the small lounge and the dining room, and then into the pool house.

“Get in. You can strip if you want.”

She pointed to the pool and Nick slid into the water fully clothed.

“This isn’t a challenge for me. Water’s a second home,” he retorted.

“We’ll see. Right, I’m gonna ask you some questions an’ I dare you to answer them as truthfully as you can, okay?”

Nick slowly shook his head.

“Humor me,” Merlin said, her mouth smiling, her eyes deadly.

“Hit me,” he invited.

“It’s always an option,” she muttered. “What’s going on, Nick?”

He wouldn’t answer.

“All right. Deep breath, under you go. I dare you to .. stay down there as long as you can. Dare you to surface only when you think you’re gonna die. Put it on the line for me, hotshot.”

He sucked in a breath and submerged. Merlin glanced at the time. Last night had been long, the day had been long and, now, it was going to be another long night. She watched him sitting on the bottom of the pool. He appeared in no distress .. yet. She pulled out her cell phone and called Alopex.

“Would you come over?” she asked. “I got a tiger by the tail.”

*****

Rachel couldn’t sleep. The air seemed breathless, as if anticipating a thunderstorm which was strange because it hadn’t been that hot lately. If Merlin was experiencing unusual emotions because she was normal, Rachel had a lot in common with her. She was scared for Merlin, something she’d not really felt before. There had been uneasiness but never true fear. And to think it was caused by Nick … A month ago, Rachel would have said it was impossible.

She and Alex had tried calling as soon as they’d been able to escape from the supper table but there’d been no signal. The mountains. Nice to visit, pretty to look at, but devils for screwing with technology. They’d continued trying though and Alex had said she wouldn’t give up until she got an answer.

Rachel decided to try now. It was way after midnight. Merlin must be home. Maybe she hadn’t returned any of Rachel’s calls because the hour was so late. Yes, Rachel might waken her but, if she knew Merlin as well as she thought, she’d still be up. Worrying. Or hurt.

She sat up in bed and switched on the small reading lamp. She picked up the phone and pressed out the number. It rang maybe four times.

“Yeah.”

“Peri, oh, thank God. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.”

“Is Nick there?”

“Oh yeah.”

“Is he .. okay?”

“Going a little blue but he’ll live. I got your answers, Rachel. Alopex, I’ll take this in the kitchen. Will you keep on this? Thanks.”

“Did you say blue?” Rachel frowned.

“He’s drowning himself. Like I said, he’ll live. But I could, very easily, get him to off himself. An’ I think he’d do it as well.”

Rachel sat up a little more. “I don’t understand.”

“It isn’t hypnosis. It’s like we said. Games. Challenges. If you know what to say, it’s easy. Those two have been pulling each other’s strings. Puppets. Simon says. Only, in this case, it’s ‘dare you’. Dare you with a twist. The dare has to be dangerous, life threatening, or, as Nick describes it, fun.”

Rachel blinked as this filtered thru to land with a heavy thud. “Oh my God … What are you doing?”

“I figured as he was here an’ he’s one of the afflicted, I’d ask some direct questions so I guess you could say he’s assisting with inquiries. Every time he refuses to answer, he has to almost drown himself. It’s a dare. When he comes up, while he’s getting his breath back, his defenses are slightly lowered an’ we’re little by little getting information from him. Slow process an’ it’s gonna be an incredibly long night.”

“What have you learned so far?” Rachel asked, hunching her shoulders.

“He feels free. That’s what’s going on. Freedom. Liberation. No inhibitions. He seems to have good recall but he’s being very selective in what he gives out. So far, we’ve learned that Steve started it an’ passed it on to Nick but he won’t tell us how an’ drowning isn’t getting it outta him. Alopex an’ I .. we see it as being under the influence. It’s like he’s drugged an’ he isn’t gonna give up his supplier, not without a fight.”

“And is it narcotics?”

“No. At least, not illegal narcotics. I think this is hormonal. He can’t fight off the effect. When Steve’s name is mentioned, it’s like it resets the cycle .. which says a lot to me. The other day, when he came home, he was grounded for a few minutes. He was himself. He told me he was in deep and couldn’t seem to help himself. Then I blew it outta the water when I used Steve’s name. Nick switched, like that,” Merlin related, snapping her fingers. “As for what else he an’ Steve Anthony have been doing .. I can tell you the night they went racing they also started a fight in a bar an’ trashed the place. It was planned an’ coldly executed. They put the owner outta business an’ beat a lotta guys senseless. I know too that Nick’s done other stuff, stuff he wouldn’t ever do if he wasn’t under the influence.”

Rachel heard the reluctance to go into detail. “Are we talking personal here?” she asked cautiously.

“Very.”

“Well .. it all seems to fit, doesn’t it?” Rachel accepted briskly, not pushing for what she knew she wouldn’t get. “Steve changed on his second day. He was incredibly offensive to Alex. Nasty. Cruel. But, if he felt freed from all inhibitions, polite courtesy would have been the first thing to be tossed out the window. Racing, fighting, a hunt to the death … Even before that, disappearing without a word, not really caring when he got back. Yeah, it fits. But .. fun?”

“It’s putting themselves on the line, Rachel. They take it in turns. Nick will dare Steve, Steve dares Nick. Once one says it, it’s as if they both lose control. The dare becomes the puppetmaster. Now I know how to control it, I have an edge.” Merlin sighed suddenly. “But I can’t keep him here. Nick, an’ Steve, they’re victims. They didn’t do this to themselves. Someone or something is behind it.”

“If you let him loose, it’ll just go on,” Rachel warned.

“It will, yeah. But Alopex will watch them both as best he can. He’ll focus on the one in most danger. He won’t let them die, Rachel. We have other work to do an’ we put up with the insults, the machismo, the bad attitude. Hell, it won’t be the first time I’ve been sworn at. We have to track down what’s causing this an’ fix it .. or we’ll lose them. An overdose of adrenaline … A body stressed like that isn’t a healthy body. Longer it goes on, worse the damage is gonna be.”

“Well .. okay.” Rachel shook her head, then said, “I could sedate them.” Prolonged exposure to adrenaline would give high blood pressure, sweating, pallor, tachycardia and nervousness. She hadn’t seen any evidence of nerves but, when Nick and Steve were alone, who knew what they felt.

“I doubt it’d make any difference. Yeah, it’s like they’re hyper but it isn’t from any chemicals, least not external ones.” There was a pause. “I don’t know how it works, Rachel. The adrenaline is real an’ really pumped, it doesn’t seem to be stopping an’ dissipating an’ I believe that’s down to a trigger .. the ‘dare you’ thing. It’s the trigger which overrides everything an’ I don’t think you can sedate against it. Alopex says he can sense evil but it’s vague. There’s nothing to fight here. It’s just a .. general background darkness. The influence, if you want.”

“How do we track it down then?” Rachel wondered, idly rubbing her bare arms.

“Beats me. Maybe Derek has an idea.”

Rachel breathed out quickly. “Derek is being overly optimistic an’ stubborn. He has guilt that he brought Steve into the team. Alex said it – he’d snap in two rather than give up on any one of us, an’ that goes for Steve as well. We have tried to get Derek on board with our concerns an’ reservations. He won’t listen.”

Merlin paused. “Maybe you haven’t told him the right things. He’s a Legacy Precept, Rachel. Top dog in that house an’ with excellent reason to stay top dog. Maybe you should treat him like that. Look, I’ll wring as much as I can outta Nick an’ pass it on. But, come dawn, I have to let him go. Just remember, these guys are not the people you think you know. You don’t. Don’t trust them.”

She nodded. “I’ll warn Alex,” Rachel responded. “An’ .. I’ll speak with Derek,” she added thoughtfully.

*****

Forewarned is forearmed. Alex had taken Rachel’s call early and she’d thought about it long and hard. And now .. it was beyond a joke. They couldn’t put it down to a game of king of the heap any longer. It was time for action.

Alex pushed back from her workstation, folded her arms, pursed her lips and angled her head very slightly. There was an air of deliberateness about the entire movement. A sense of open challenge. Well, she reflected, there’s a lot of it going on around here and, if you can’t beat them …

She waited. It didn’t take long.

Derek flushed a little. “What?” he asked, sounding defensive.

“You have to ask?” she accused.

“Alex, there is a lot going on – ”

“And that is just an excuse,” Alex cut in. “We’re all set for the fundraiser tomorrow. And we are not exactly rushed off our feet, which is just as well in the circumstances.”

The flush deepened. “It is simply … ” His mouth worked.

“It’s simply what, Derek? Tell me how you see it.”

“Competitiveness. Two men, the same age, the same general background, same interests … ” Derek shrugged expansively. “They are .. testing the limits. Seeing how far they can push each other.” His shoulders twitched. “It’s a .. a guy thing. They’ll grow out of it. That’s what I’ve been told.”

Alex slowly nodded. “Purely macho behavior, to be expected, nothing to worry about.”

“Exactly.”

She softly laughed. “When did you stop caring about the people in this house?”

That stung. His head jerked back sharply. She hadn’t slapped him but he had the same reaction as if she’d risen and smacked her palm across his face. Blood boiled into his cheeks. His eyes stared and his expression was one of being deeply, possibly mortally, wounded and definitely humiliated and embarrassed.

Alex felt a twinge of guilt at his response but reminded herself it was necessary.

“Look,” she went on, keeping her voice hard, “you wanted us to collect evidence and we have. You also said you’d like to hear it. Is now convenient? Something very strange is going on here an’ I don’t know what it is,” Alex said, without waiting for his reply. “Purely macho behavior .. sure, I’d expect that. Testing each other, pushing to find the weak spots, absolutely. We’ve all done that, it isn’t limited to just the guys, but I would expect Nick and Steve to take it on an’ take it to extremes. They’re not doing that, Derek.”

She frowned. “Well, yes, they are but there’s a lot more to it.” Alex sighed quickly, trying to find the words. “It’s like .. like they’re kids, but they’re not. Kids – boys – dare each other to do things. Steal from stores. Ride their bikes in an’ thru heavy traffic. Usually, it’s small stuff. But Nick an’ Steve .. they’re not little kids, they’re adults an’ they know what they’re doing. They’re involved in some pretty dangerous things.”

She watched him. Derek slowly sat down.

“So .. yes,” Alex said, “there is the element of testing each other, pushing, but, when they’ve both come thru it an’ survived, they’re the best of buddies. They laugh about what they’ve done an’ start thinking about the next dare.” Alex shook her head. “It isn’t right, Derek. Something strange is going on.”

“They don’t see the danger in what they’re doing.”

“Yes, they do but they see it as fun. They see it .. as some huge adventure.”

“What do Rachel and Peri say to this?”

Alex looked down. “To begin with, Rachel said it was to be expected, especially between those two, but she was uneasy. There was a kind of bonding going on which wasn’t totally healthy.”

“Bonding is good, more than we could have hoped for only a little while ago. We can always work on the type later. And, do you think it’s at least possible to consider that .. Nick and Steve are doing this as a way of .. releasing pressure? The Legacy has us on a knife edge from day to day. We get accustomed to a level of physical stimulation which makes beating that difficult.”

Alex didn’t react harshly to this comment because Derek was now shorn of the mists blinding him. He was thinking and asking reasonable questions, making considered statements. Therefore, Alex reacted with thought and reason herself.

“It could have been. It was at least possible,” she conceded. “Now we know better. These guys are stuck on some kind of adrenaline high. To beat it, to .. exceed it, take it to a new level each time, they have to do more an’ more dangerous stuff. The reason we hadn’t noticed it is because of who’s involved. If it were Rachel an’ me, alarm bells would have been ringing everywhere. You would have had the both of us isolated and under investigation. The fact that it’s Nick an’ Steve … Even I was blind to it for a while, Derek. I wrote it off as macho one-upmanship .. just like you.”

He nodded slowly for a moment, then his eyes hardened. “I didn’t. I’ve been waiting and watching Nick and Steve very closely. I know something is happening. I didn’t know how far it had gone.”

She blinked. “Why didn’t you say?”

“Oh, but I did. I said to Rachel. I told her I’m the Precept of this house. My people are my responsibility. I have to put my faith in you and the others. In return, you have to trust me, Alex. I’ve been waiting for you and Rachel to tell me your suspicions. I asked you quite deliberately at supper last night .. and you .. ummed and ahhed, spun me a story. You even asked me to stop playing games, not that I was. And yet .. you still did not tell me your concerns. If I cannot get honest answers from my team, where can I get them? So much for trust.”

He straightened. “How is Peri? Did Nick hurt her?”

“I haven’t had the chance to speak with her,” Alex admitted.

“Then I suggest you do,” Derek advised.

*****

The long night was over. In the end, Merlin hadn’t slept at all. She felt like a zombie, working on autopilot. The day was one step removed from reality. She hoped that being out here in the fresh air would drive it away. She ached for a cigarette but she’d quit, again.

Till the next time, she mused ruefully. I’m sorry, baby. Mommy isn’t as strong as she believed she was.

Merlin paused to lean on the low wall. She had never really been one for gardens, flowers, plants. Gardens to her were trees and lawns, something quiet and safe to pass thru on the way to something else. She had both trees and lawns here. Lots of lawns. Quite a lot of trees. But she was also discovering something well known in feudal Japan – warriors had to balance the ferocity with gentleness, the destruction with creation.

Okay, I’m not a warrior right now, but I understand what a warrior has to do. It’s a vague dividing line, and one easier to ignore than nail down because, in a matter of months, I will be back out there in the hunter killer game again. And I’m not into flower arranging or origami but I am really into planting flowers in my garden and I do have rather a lot of garden. I never knew I could use my time up so fast and so .. profitably.

She thought for a second, frowning over whether profitably was the right word. She decided it was. There are many kinds of ‘profit’ and they didn’t all have to involve money. Planting flowers was spiritual profit. It was incredibly satisfying and extraordinarily absorbing. Time vanished and she never even knew. A part of her was regretful, even mournful, that she was enjoying this so much because that part knew she couldn’t devote the time to it in the future. Lawns and trees … Trees took care of themselves and someone could always come in to trim the lawns. Someone always had. But, for now, this year, these few months, she did have the time and she was happy to give it away like this. Merlin found she could work, and work hard, and let her mind drift wherever it wanted.

Mostly, it drifted to the baby growing inside her, and those thoughts – half formed and more emotions than thoughts – gave her a warm, fuzzy glow. Occasionally, a real thought did burst thru – must remember to do X, can’t forget I’ve got to pick up Y, what name ..? Generally, however, it was just a nice, happy feeling which came from the knowledge she was doing a good and right thing.

Today, her mind had drifted somewhere else and, surprisingly, it wasn’t onto the problem of what to do about Nick.

This .. trickle of psychic energy they’ve given me .. I really don’t think it’s going to make one damn piece of difference to my baby. It isn’t even a trickle. It’s definitely more like a drip and not a regular drip either. It’s like .. a drip today and nothing for a while, then another drip and nothing for a week. If this kid is in any way psychic, I am going to be amazed because I’m not experiencing psychic at all.

I have had weird which is not the same thing as experiencing psychic. And the last time I had anything weird was in Egypt when I heard the earth speak to me. Not a thing since. But for the fact I got the name of the devil and it was right, I could think I imagined the whole thing. Dreamed it. Sunstroke even. Hallucination. Wishful thinking. Since then .. zip. This earth isn’t speaking to me, that’s for damn sure. If it was, it’d be saying ‘hey, nice job.’

Her pocket began to beep at her and she sat back on her heels to take the call. “Yeah.”

“Peri, it’s Alex. How are you? Rachel said – ”

“I’m okay. I can’t say I’m fine, I’m not. I haven’t slept at all. I feel .. but how I feel isn’t important right now, is it? I can get cured inside eight hours.”

“Did Nick hurt you?”

“Oh, he wanted to. I’m grateful he insisted on teaching me self defense. It came in useful. An’ this lifestyle he has right now is wearing him down. He’s tired. I would be too if I were living on adrenaline an’ not much else. But it meant I could defend myself an’ take him prisoner. If he’d been the Nick who originally taught me, I couldn’t have done that. His reactions are off. Slow.”

There was a pause. “Then the hunt to the death – ”

“It happened. It would have gone down. Alopex stopped it. Nick’s reactions are off, but so are Steve’s.”

“Then how did they manage to trash a bar in Marin County?”

“That was nearly two weeks ago. They hadn’t long been affected. Back then, it probably did feel like fun. I have my doubts now. Like users, when you start, it’s exciting. With time, it’s a drag but you’ve lost any choice in the matter. You have to go on.”

“How was Nick this morning?”

Merlin laughed briefly. “Wet, cold, an’ pissed off. Dares with Steve are .. exhilarating, fun filled collaborations. Dares with me turn out to be hard work. How’s Steve?”

“I don’t know. He didn’t come down to supper last night. Didn’t show for breakfast either.”

“I’d go check him out. He’s been into this longer than Nick. Steve’s reactions to it may flag up what Nick can expect.”

“You’re still coming to the fundraiser?” Alex inquired.

“I’ll be there. An’ so will backup. Don’t worry about that. See you tomorrow.”

Merlin ended the call and shoved the phone back in her pocket. She paused for a moment to get back into the mood and was about to bend forward when she heard a very quiet click near to the rear of her head. She sat incredibly still, not even trying to swallow despite the fact her throat had dried.

“No smart words today?”

“None,” she said. She stared ahead, feeling the muzzle of the gun barrel grind against her skull.

“I wanna be free of you. I don’t want that kid slowing me down. I don’t want you around my neck like an anchor chain.”

“Death won’t end it. You know that. It’s why I didn’t wanna marry you. You were the one who insisted.”

“I made a mistake.”

Merlin closed her eyes. She told herself that she didn’t know this guy at all, that his words were meaningless and, when they finally brought this to an end, Nick would regret saying them, but, when it was his voice .. it was tough. The only way thru was to play the game, keep it at arm’s length.

“Yeah, I think it was,” she agreed.

She heard him grunt, as if in pain.

“You okay?” Merlin asked.

“What d’you fucking care? I’m tired, that’s all. Didn’t get any sleep last night.”

“Makes two of us. Nick, I don’t want to seem pushy but, if you’re gonna shoot me, just get it over with. An’, if you’re not, please leave. I’m busy an’ you’re needed on the island. I think Steve’s sick. He could use a good friend.”

“He isn’t my friend, okay? He’s my rival. An’ I have to beat him. I gotta take him down.”

“Yeah, he said you’d say that. Said you were too soft to take him on. He dared you to go back there.”

At last, the hard metal slid away from her head and Merlin risked wetting her lips.

“He said that? He’s a moron.” He paced away and she glanced back over her shoulder. He looked ill. Smudged shadows lay beneath his eyes. His skin was sallow yet with feverish spots on his cheeks. Then he halted. “I’ll go but, when he’s dead, I’m coming back. You’re next.”

He meant it, she knew. And then, as she knelt in the dirt of a flower bed and felt all the warmth go out of her day, all the simple pleasure of working with nature evaporate, she heard it.

Merli .. help me.

*****

Derek held up a hand but beckoned Alex to enter. “Yes, Rachel. I’ve told Alex the same.”

“I’m sorry,” Rachel sighed. “I recall our conversation very clearly. You told me to concentrate on Parkfield an’ let you be Precept. I guess .. in all the excitement, I forgot.”

“I’m aware of the opinion you two have of me and, at times, it’s true. I don’t see what’s going on right under my nose,” Derek confessed. “But then I expect you to tell me when you need timeout. I don’t want anyone to work themselves into an early grave. I’ve never wanted that. However, when two of my team suddenly, without warning, begin exhibiting major personality differences, yes, I notice.”

“I can only apologize again,” Rachel said. “I’d like to say it won’t repeat itself .. but I can’t.”

“So long as you know when to back down, I can make allowances. You do it because you care and that isn’t a bad thing.”

“Thanks. I’m glad you understand.”

“I have Alex here as well. One moment. Yes, Alex?”

“I’ve just spoken with Peri. She’s okay. Very tired, but that’s all. She said we should check on Steve. I’m going up there. You wanna come?”

“It would be wise. Just let me finish this call. Rachel, you, Alex and Peri have done good work in gathering the facts so far. What we need to ascertain now is how it happened. We have a few days before you’re scheduled to leave. We have to think, carefully, about everything which has happened since Steve arrived, since the morning he landed at the airport and walked thru our door.”

“Don’t you mean the day after?” Alex frowned.

“No. Whatever it was, he brought it in with him. He only triggered it on his second day. We don’t cut corners. We start at the beginning. Rachel, keep in contact. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Sure.”

Derek put down the phone and it rang almost at once. He sighed quickly. “Yes?”

“Derek, it’s me,” Merlin said. “Nick’s on his way over. He isn’t rational. But .. he spoke to me.”

“Nick spoke to you,” he repeated.

“Yeah. The real Nick. I heard his voice in my head. He asked me to help him. I thought you should know. The outside is unstable but, somewhere deep inside, the real Nick is there and aware of what’s happening. He sounded so miserable that I have to assume he doesn’t like what he’s doing. Steve has to be the same. If you’re going to get physical with them, try to disarm or disable, not kill.”

Derek raised a semi-amused eyebrow. “I would have done that anyway but I thank you for the warning. Until tomorrow.”

“See you then.”

He hung up for the second time and paused, just in case, but the phone remained silent. “Let’s go,” Derek announced, promptly rising.

Alex led the way, reminding herself that Steve was a victim, he hadn’t meant what he’d said to her and he hadn’t meant the apology either but, as he hadn’t meant any of it, he hadn’t needed to apologize. Derek followed her long stride up the stairs and the length of the empty corridors.

“Is Rachel not coming over?” Alex asked. “If he’s sick – ”

“We’ll handle it.”

They arrived at his door. Alex stepped aside to let Derek go first. He knocked once and pushed the door open. Steve was sprawled on his stomach, his eyes shut. Quickly, Derek felt for a pulse then he stood back.

“He’s alive. Sleeping. Most likely, he’s exhausted.”

“His body is,” Alex commented. “But look at his eyes. His face.”

Derek nodded. “If we needed proof, this has to be it. The man’s in torment.”

Steve’s face wasn’t still. The muscles flickered and spasmed, the lips moving not in attempted speech but in what looked like silent shrieks.

“We’ll leave him to rest,” Derek decided. “It probably won’t help him but he needs this. We have to find out what’s causing it. Search his room, Alex. He brought it in with him. It may still be here.”

*****

Merlin gave up on the yard as her eyelids were down more than they were up. She hadn’t finished planting the beds but she had time yet. Alopex wouldn’t let Nick kill her. She hoped he’d been there, ready to stop the finger closing on the trigger. In the meantime, she had locks on all the doors and windows. She could keep Nick out while she slept.

She trailed inside, yawning hugely, and set the security system before slowly climbing the stairs.

Her bed had never looked so softly inviting. It seemed to open its arms to her and want to hug her.

“Bring it on,” she breathed.

Merlin lay down, wriggled a little to get nestled into the luxurious softness, and closed her eyes. Then, abruptly, she sighed and opened them again.

Why does this always happen? Why is it that, as soon as I get all comfortable and close my eyes, a stray thought always floats to the surface and prods me for attention?

She reached a hand into her pockets for the phone.

The thought has been ‘Another fire?’

*****

Rachel sat at the kitchen table, deep in thought. The reprimand had been mild but it stuck. Now Derek has given her an instruction. An order. And she intended to obey without question. Rachel had some personal ground to make up with Derek, and obeying his order was easy. It was simply a matter of finding where to begin.

Steve’s first day on the island. I wasn’t there till later. I can’t .. say what he did because I didn’t see him do it. I can remember what he did when I was there. He was .. normal. Did his best to fit with us. Okay .. maybe I’m being too literal here. Steve’s first day. What did I do before I went to Angel Island ..?

I woke up. Took a shower. Dried my hair, put on makeup. Got dressed. Went downstairs, made a cup of tea, fixed breakfast and ate it. Kat came in and said about James’ surprise party. I said I’d call his parents. No, I didn’t totally trust her but it turned out she was telling the truth and I let her go. I had a patient appointment. Then I went to the island.

Rachel waited. Nothing unexpected in any of that. The usual start to a pretty much standard day.

All right .. what else can I remember? The weather was cool and foggy. Again, nothing unexpected there, unfortunately. Oh .. wait. Kat said something about a dream she’d had. A storm …

*****

“Yeah, it was just after the new guy left,” Carl related. “You recall? Derek’s second opinion? He sent the new guy – Steve, is it? – over with a pottery shard.”

“There was a fire. In your office,” Merlin repeated.

“Yeah.”

“How did it start, Carl?”

“Steve asked me to take a look at something. A box. You know how I always wear latex gloves – ”

“I do know that, yes.”

“I examined the box, gave it back to him, he left. I went to start work on the shard but, before I picked it up, thank God, I noticed a sticky residue on the gloves. Disgusting. It was a blue green kinda color, turning to yellow brown as it oxidized, I guess. It was getting warm too. Should’ve given me a clue. I stripped off the gloves an’ tossed ’em in the trash. Next thing I know, the trash can was alight. Gloves had combusted.”

She was silent for a moment. “A box. What was it like? Big? Little?”

“Tiny. Maybe .. two, two an’ one half inches square. Wooden. Intricately an’ heavily carved. It looked like serpentweed, a type of vine. Old. I can tell you that. It had a cipher on the top. I didn’t open it.”

“An’ it left a sticky residue on your gloves.”

“It certainly did. I’d like to get it into the lab to have it analyzed. Can you arrange that?”

“I’ll see what I can do. Thanks, Carl.”

Merlin hung up and quickly called the island.

“Luna Foundation. Andrew speaking.”

“Hi, Andrew. It’s Peri. Get an urgent message to Derek. Tell him to look for a small wooden box, heavily carved. An’ tell him he is not to touch it at all. Not with bare hands an’ not with gloves. Okay? Run.”

*****

Rachel sipped her tea and waited. Occasionally, she let her eyes flicker to the watch on her wrist or the clock on the wall. Eventually, the door opened and Kat came in. “Hi, Mom.”

“I’m glad you’re here. We need to talk.”

Kat hesitated, her gaze distracted as her mind raced back over the events of the past few weeks. Try as she might, she couldn’t figure where she’d screwed up enough to deserve a kitchen table talk with her mother. She couldn’t even figure where she’d screwed up at all.

Rachel gestured quickly at a chair. Kat sank into it. Her eyes came to rest warily on Rachel’s face and she waited for the hammer to fall. But Rachel said nothing for several stretched moments.

“Mom, I – ”

“You remember that dream you had? About the storm over the house?”

“Yeah,” Kat cautiously agreed.

Rachel’s gaze sharpened into focus. “Tell me about it.”

Kat watched her mother. “Am I in trouble?”

Rachel blinked. “Oh .. no! No, sweetie, you’re not in trouble,” she replied in a rush. “Did you think you were? No. I need your help.”

Inwardly, Kat heaved a sigh of relief. “When you said we need to talk .. an’ you said it in your Mom voice, I thought I’d done something.”

“I have a Mom voice?” Rachel queried, sounding dismayed. “Well .. I guess I do. Yeah. I can hear me using it. You’re right. I’m sorry, Kat. You’re not in trouble but we do need to talk. I do need your help.”

Kat relaxed. “Sure. The dream.”

Rachel nodded. “Tell me all about it,” she requested and leaned forward slightly.

“Well .. it starts like I’m on the mainland. Maybe the city side of the Bay. I can see Angel Island and the sky’s real black over it. Then I start to move, like I’m skimming over the water in a helicopter only I’m not. There’s no windshield, just me. I’m quite close to the water but I’m rushing really fast toward the island. The sky is … ” She shook her head. “It’s like it’s turning. Slowly. Like a wheel. There’s lightning in the clouds. Flickers. I can see the house on top of the island. It’s under the middle of the wheel. Then the lightning starts spearing down. The thunder’s really loud. I stop going any closer an’ I can see the house on the island and a little bit of the Bay on either side. The storm is over the house – real nasty, violent – but .. on the water, it’s calm, blue sky.”

She lapsed into silence and waited.

“So it’s just over the house itself, not the island?”

“That’s right. You said it was .. a metaphor. A sign. Nick an’ Steve.”

“I know. And, in a way, it is. And, in another way, it’s more.”

“How?” Kat frowned.

“Nick an’ Steve have had a stormy relationship which seems to be leveling out. I just wonder if your dream is also a warning to us. Have you had it again or just the two times?”

“I’ve had it a lot.”

“Does it change or is it the same dream?”

“Most of it is the same,” Kat replied. “The only thing which changes each time is that I get a little closer to the island. The first time I hardly got any nearer. Not even as far as Alcatraz. But, now, I’m almost at the ferry dock.”

Rachel stirred. “And all you see is .. the storm over the house.”

Kat shrugged. “Well, I see other stuff too. The trees. The road.”

“Anything else? Doesn’t matter how small a detail or how worthless it seems, Kat. I have a really bad feeling about this entire situation with Nick an’ Steve an’ their .. competitive games.” Rachel squeezed Kat’s hand. “Think really hard, sweetheart. It’s important.”

Kat frowned, her eyes half closing to better picture the image. “There’s a guy by the dock. I can’t make out detail, Mom, he’s still too far away, but I know it’s a guy. Just standing there.”

Rachel sighed, not seeing how that could help.

“He’s the only guy I see in this dream. There are no other people,” Kat concluded.

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