(Rainshadow, #2) Deception Cove (13 page)

FEAR OF BEING CAUGHT OUT IN THE OPEN AFTER DARK
proved to be an excellent motivator. They made good time, walking into the tiny community of Shadow Bay shortly before sunset. Relief flashed through Alice when she saw the first buildings and other trappings of civilization.

It had been an arduous trek. Drake had not allowed many rest breaks. Alice was exhausted and she knew that Karen was, also. But the realization that they would not be spending another night outdoors made the physical effort more than worthwhile.

Her initial elation faded quickly. At first glance, Shadow Bay appeared deserted.

“They all left,” she whispered, her spirits plunging.

“Oh,
no
,” Karen wailed.

There were no passengers waiting at the ferry dock. A small sign announced that the run to Thursday Harbor had been cancelled until further notice. The shops on the short main street were closed and, for the most part, dark. One nearby shop window was illuminated, but the glow came from the unique light of an old-fashioned amber lantern. After a moment, Alice realized that more amber lanterns lit the tavern and a couple of rooms in the small motel above the row of marina shops. Aside from the handful of lamps, however, the town looked empty. It was as if the last person to leave had forgotten to de-rez a few lights.

She reached up to touch Houdini, who was perched on her shoulder. “Does this place remind anyone of that horror movie
Ghost Cove
?”

Karen looked around with growing panic. “Yes, it does.”

“Never saw that one,” Drake said. He stopped in the middle of the street and surveyed the ominously quiet surroundings. “Did it end well?”

“No,” Alice said. “Probably better not to go into the details. What happened here? Do you think your brother managed to evacuate the entire island and then decided to leave, as well? I have to tell you, the thought of being the only people remaining on Rainshadow besides Zara Tucker and her security guard is a little scary.”

“And Pete,” Karen said anxiously.

“And Pete,” Alice added.

“Take it easy,” Drake said. “There are people here. But the power is off. That’s probably why the shops are closed and the street is empty. Well, that and the incoming fog.”

“Where is everyone?” Karen whispered.

As if on cue, a man with long, unkempt hair, a scraggly beard, and fierce eyes appeared from the shadowed space between two weather-beaten buildings. He was dressed in flowing green robes bound at the waist by a leather belt. The belt buckle was set with an amber stone. The leather boots on his feet looked well worn, as if they had seen a great deal of hard wear.

He held a large, hand-lettered sign attached to a narrow wooden post. The sign read,
PREPARE FOR THE GLORIOUS DAWN. ARE YOU READY FOR THE RETURN OF THE ANCIENT ONES?

He strode rapidly toward Alice, Drake, and Karen, a man on a mission.

“Welcome, travelers,” he intoned. “Do you bring news of the Aliens? Have they returned?”

“Haven’t seen any Aliens,” Drake said.

“Good.” The bearded man nodded solemnly. “You still have time to prepare. You must seek the third level of psychic enlightenment before it is too late. Only those who arrive at the third level will be able to accept the Glorious Dawn that is coming.”

“Who are you?” Alice asked.

“My name is Egan. I was sent here with the others to warn the people of Rainshadow that the Glorious Dawn will arrive here first. Many fled. But those who remain will not listen to me. If we are not prepared, the Aliens will take back this world and destroy us in the process. There is very little time left.”

“Do you have a plan to reach the third level?” Drake asked.

“The answer lies in dreams,” Egan said. He swept out a hand to indicate the dark fog hanging at the edge of the harbor. “Those who cannot or will not achieve the third level will meet their doom in the nightmare fog.”

“How do you know all this, Egan?” Alice asked gently.

“The dreams,” Egan whispered. He stared at the psi-fog. “I see it all in my dreams. Soon you will know the truth, too.”

“Where are the other people in this town?” Karen asked.

Egan frowned, briefly confused by the change of topic. “Those who did not flee are making preparations for the night. With darkness comes the fog, you see.” He pointed down the street to the door of one of the shops. “Some of the unenlightened are gathered there. They said that soon others would arrive to join them. You must be the ones they’re waiting for. They feared that you wouldn’t be able to get to the island in time because of the fog.”

Alice realized that he was pointing to a shop illuminated with the light of an amber lantern. The sign over the door read:
SHADOW BAY BOOKS
.

“Where will you sleep tonight, Egan?” she asked.

“In the marina warehouse,” Egan said. “I have a lantern to protect me.”

The door of Shadow Bay Books opened. A big, bearded bear of a man came out onto the sidewalk.

“Thought I heard someone out here,” he said. He looked at Drake. “I’m Jasper Gilbert. You must be Drake Sebastian. About time you got here. Don’t mind telling you that we were starting to get a little worried.”

“I’m Drake,” Drake said. “This is my wife, Alice. And this is someone we picked up along the way, Karen Rosser.”

It was, Alice realized, the second time that day that Drake had introduced her as his wife, first to Karen and now to a stranger. For some reason she found it unsettling. She was almost overcome with the urge to explain.
I’m not his real wife. It’s just an MC and not even a real MC, at that
. Except that it was a real MC.

“Pleased to meet you, ladies,” Jasper said. “Good thing you got in ahead of the fog.” He glanced back through the doorway. “They’re here, Fletch.”

An elegant, silver-haired man appeared on the doorstep. The wedding ring he wore matched the ring that Jasper had on his hand.

“Name’s Fletcher Kane. I can’t tell you how relieved we are to see you.” He turned his head to call back into the shop. “Drake Sebastian is here. He’s got a couple of friends with him.”

“A new friend and my wife,” Drake corrected.

Alice glanced at him, wondering why he was putting so much emphasis on her legal status. He gave a small, almost imperceptible shake of his head, making it clear he wanted her to keep quiet about the MC.

A handful of other people rushed out onto the sidewalk. Introductions went quickly.

“Charlotte Attridge now.” An attractive, dark-haired woman with fashionable glasses smiled. “My husband is the chief of police here in Shadow Bay.”

A red-haired woman stepped forward. “I’m Rachel Blake. I own this bookstore.” She gave Drake an apologetic look. “I’m Harry’s fiancée, Drake. Sorry we had to meet like this.”

“A pleasure,” Drake said.

Rachel gave Alice a quizzical look. “We didn’t know that Drake was married. Congratulations.”

“Thanks,” Alice said, “but it’s a little complicated—”

She broke off because Drake was giving her another hard look. She couldn’t see his eyes, but it didn’t take any psychic talent to know that he wanted her to shut up.

She closed her mouth on what would have been a convoluted explanation of the MC.

“Oh, you have a dust bunny pal, too,” Rachel said, delighted.

“This is Houdini,” Alice said.

She reached up to take Houdini from her shoulder. But he surprised her by chortling excitedly. Avoiding her hands, he bounded gleefully down to the ground and fluttered through the front door of the shop. Alice heard a responding chortle from inside.

She glanced at Rachel. “You’ve got another dust bunny here?”

“Darwina. She’ll be ecstatic to have a new playmate. But it doesn’t take much to make a dust bunny ecstatic.”

There was more wild chortling from inside the bookstore and then a sudden silence. “Darwina must have given him one of her last chocolate zingers,” Rachel said. “He and Darwina will both be bouncing off the walls in a few minutes.”

Charlotte waved everyone indoors. “Come on inside and have some tea. You didn’t arrive by boat here in the marina, so I’m guessing you have a story to tell.”

“Where is Harry?” Drake asked.

Rachel paused in the doorway to look at him.

“You didn’t know?” Rachel asked. “No, I guess you wouldn’t have heard. Harry said the last time he talked to you was several days ago. The phones and computers have been down since Monday.”

Alice was aware that the others had gone very quiet.

“What’s wrong?” Drake asked.

It was Fletcher Kane who answered.

“Harry and Chief Attridge left about forty-eight hours ago. They had to go into the Preserve to track a bunch of those Glorious Dawn twits who decided to go through the fence to get enlightened. They got lost, of course. Harry and Slade went in to pull them out.”

“They haven’t returned yet,” Jasper said. “We’re getting concerned, to tell you the truth.”

“They’re okay,” Rachel insisted. “I’d know if something had happened to Harry.”

“And I’d know if anything had happened to Slade,” Charlotte declared.

Both went into the shop.

Jasper looked at Drake and lowered his voice. “Like I said, we’re worried about Harry and Slade.”

“YOU GOT CAUGHT OUT IN THE OPEN WHEN THAT FOG
rolled in last night?” Rachel Blake asked. She poured tea into the three cups she had placed on the table. “That must have been an absolutely horrible experience.”

Alice indicated the amber lantern sitting in the center of one of the tables. “Not nearly as bad as it would have been if Drake hadn’t realized that the boat’s emergency lantern and a nice big fire muted the effects of the fog’s energy. But I have to tell you, it was the mutant insects that made for a long night.”

Everyone at the table, with the exception of Drake, stared at her.

“Damn,” Charlotte said. “You’re not kidding, are you?”

“No,” Alice said. “It wasn’t a joking matter, believe me.”

They were gathered in the café at the back of Shadow Bay Books. It was a motley crew that had come together to figure out how to stop whatever was going on inside the Preserve, Alice thought. The weird thing was that, although she told herself she was part of the group only because she needed the job and because Drake had promised to find Fulton’s killer, she felt oddly comfortable with the others. Maybe it was because she had some genuine family history on Rainshadow. In a way, she had a right to be here; make that a responsibility to be here.

It wasn’t much in the way of family history, of course. She had not even known that Nicholas North existed until a year ago, let alone her connection to him. In addition, he had evidently been a failure at just about everything except the pirate business. She was pretty sure the only reason he had been successful in that line was because of his partner, Harry Sebastian the first, who had no doubt been the brains of the outfit. Still, North had been involved in burying the crystals that were now causing so much trouble, and Alice was his direct descendant. That linked her to the island and the situation—for better or worse. Either way, she belonged here with these people, at least for now, she thought.

Besides, she liked her new friends. They had welcomed her even though she’d had a hand in creating the problem they now faced. She wanted to help them and undo the damage she had unwittingly caused.

Rachel had prepared a special tisane for the weary travelers. Alice was amazed at how much better she felt after a few sips of the herbal brew. She could see that the tisane was also having a soothing effect on Karen Rosser, who now appeared more composed.

The two dust bunnies, high on chocolate zingers, were dashing around the floor of the bookshop. They appeared to be engaged in some version of a dust bunny game. Darwina clutched a small Amberella doll dressed in a sparkly ball gown. There were occasional crashing sounds when books or other small objects fell to the floor.

Drake picked up his cup and inhaled the aroma of the tisane with obvious appreciation. “Figured the amber lantern might be useful, but the fire worked better because with it for illumination I didn’t have to wear my glasses. That gave us an advantage when the insects came out of the Preserve. We used a couple of fire-starters modified for use inside the fence to zap the bugs.”

Charlotte shuddered. “Giant mutant insects. How much worse can things get?”

“I don’t think we want to find out,” Fletcher said.

Jasper shook his head. “Gotta say, it’s amazing that you both survived the night.”

“We spent it watching each other’s back,” Drake said. “Literally.” He looked at Alice across the table. “We maintained physical contact. That helped. And we had Houdini, who functioned as an early warning system.”

Fletcher nodded, understanding. “Sounds like the three of you made a good team.”

“Yes,” Drake said. He did not take his mirrored gaze off Alice. “We do make a good team. Nothing like spending a night zapping giant roaches to find out if you were meant for each other.”

He said it very seriously, but the crowd around the table—with the exception of Alice—laughed. The sudden rush of heat into her cheeks told her that she was blushing.

“Probably a more accurate compatibility test than those questionnaires the professional matchmakers use,” Charlotte said dryly.

“Yes,” Drake said. It was clear he took the comment very seriously. He looked at Alice. “A hell of a lot more accurate.”

Frantically, Alice searched for a way to change the conversation.

“When did the Glorious Dawn crowd arrive?” she asked quickly.

“That lot came in on the last ferry,” Rachel said. She made a face. “No one was expecting them. Slade and Harry were getting as many people off the island as possible. Not everyone was willing to leave, but most of the folks with kids did want to evacuate. Slade and Harry let the Dawn crowd stay because they needed space on the ferry for the Shadow Bay families. They figured they’d get rid of the Dawners on the last run. But there were no more runs. The ferry was never able to get back to the island. Several of the families did not make it off.”

“Thus, we got stuck with the Dawners,” Jasper explained. “And the first thing they did was head into the Preserve.” He sighed. “Slade and Harry thought it would only take a few hours to find them and pull them back out. But that was two days ago.”

No one spoke for a moment.

Rachel exchanged a look with Charlotte.

“We keep telling you, they’re okay,” Charlotte said quietly. “Trust me, Rachel and I would know if that wasn’t the case.”

Fletcher eyed Karen, who was sitting very quietly and drinking her tea.

“You said that this Dr. Zara Tucker stuck a couple of Old Earth crystals into an Alien ruin to jump-start it and now the place is overheating?”

Karen lowered her cup. “Yes. She wants to get off the island before it blows but she’s trapped, too, just like us.”

Alice cleared her throat. “I think you should all know that I’m the one who located the Keys.”

Charlotte stilled. “The Keys? You mean those three crystals?”

“I was told that’s what my great-grandfather called them in his diary,” Alice said. “Why? Does that mean something to you?”

“Nothing terribly useful,” Charlotte admitted. “But it may explain something I’ve always wondered about. My aunt Beatrix, who died and left me Looking Glass Antiques across the street, spent the last years of her life searching for something she called the Key. Singular, not plural, but she may not have realized there were three of them. I don’t think she even knew what the Key looked like or what it opened.”

“Dr. Tucker used those crystal Keys to fire up the Chamber,” Karen said. “That’s all I can tell you.”

Drake finished his tea. “Alice and Karen and I all need some food and some sleep.” He looked out the window at the unnatural dark that had fallen in the past half hour. “We need to pull together the information we’ve got and come up with a plan, but there’s nothing we can do until morning.”

“You’ve got that right,” Fletcher said. “Shadow Bay was never what you’d call a lively town after dark. We roll up the streets around nine o’clock most nights. But lately it’s gotten real quiet at night. You can move around to some extent with an amber lantern, but that fog makes people nervous as hell.”

“Folks think they see things in it,” Rachel said. “And now that we know about those mutant insects in Deception Cove, we have to take the hallucinations a little more seriously.”

“Everyone who couldn’t get off the island or who refused to leave is staying here in town,” Fletcher explained. “Jasper and I are sleeping in our shop.”

“Rachel and I are staying at the B-and-B at the end of the street,” Charlotte said. “We can squeeze Karen in there, but the place is really full. I think Burt Caster, who owns the Marina Inn and Tavern, mentioned that he had one room left. Drake, you and Alice can have it.”

Alice went very still. She did not dare look at Drake.

“That works,” Drake said.

Rachel gave Alice a commiserating smile. “I’ll bet you didn’t expect to spend your honeymoon on Rainshadow, did you?”

“Actually,” Alice said, “it’s become something of a tradition for me.”