The Hot Zone (A Rainshadow Novel Book 3) (18 page)

“Even though she was a big conspiracy theorist?”

Cyrus shrugged. “Takes one to know one. Like I said, she and Fallon collaborated a few times.”

“So what happened to the investigation into her case?”

Cyrus picked up another blue pebble and sent it sailing into the dark aqua shadows on the far side of the cave. “Fallon Jones wrote in his private journal that he and Isabella eventually concluded that Arizona Snow had been used as a research subject in a secret government experiment.”

Sedona froze. “
No
. Good grief. Like me, you mean?”

“At this point we have no indication that anyone in the government is involved with Blankenship, but, yes, Arizona was a test subject like you. She was selected for the experiment because the researchers had determined that she had some natural, measureable degree of talent.”

“They wanted to see if they could enhance her para-senses?”

“Right. That kind of research was still very controversial in those days because no legitimate scientists would risk their careers by claiming to believe in the paranormal.”

“Go on,” Sedona said.

“Arizona was not the only subject in the experiment. Fallon was never able to determine if the research was successful because the entire project was shut down for some reason before it was concluded. Supposedly all of the files were destroyed. But Fallon Jones was a damn tenacious investigator. He found the lab notes of one of the researchers, a scientist who was obsessed with the results of the experiments and could not bear to see his work destroyed.”

“What was in the notes?” Sedona asked.

“A copy of the scientist’s version of the old Jones formula. There was another note, as well, and it concerned Arizona Snow.”

Sedona watched him. She was very still now. “What did it say about her?”

“According to the notes, all of the subjects who were subjected to the drug later died from the usual side effects once the drug was withdrawn. Except Snow.”

“Why didn’t she die?”

“The scientist who left the journal was convinced that Arizona Snow had some natural immunity to the bad side effects of the formula.” Cyrus paused. “He theorized that the ability to tolerate the drug without succumbing to the side effects might be an inherited trait linked to Snow’s unique psychic genetics.”

Sedona took a long breath and let it out slowly. “In other words, Blankenship grabbed me for his experiment because he hoped that I would be immune to the side effects of the drug.”

“I think so, yes.”

“I was the perfect research subject. He wanted to find out how I could tolerate the drug.”

Cyrus sent another blue gem skimming along the floor of the cave. “Most of what I’ve given you is speculation mixed with old legends with a few actual facts tossed in for spice.”

“But if you’re right, Blankenship thinks I hold the key for tolerating the downside of the drug. He’s desperate to get his hands on me so that he can continue his experiments.”

“That’s my theory at this point. One other thing you should know, Sedona.”

“What?”

“You told me, yourself, your talent is stronger than ever. In addition you’ve developed the ability to work fire energy.”

She closed her eyes briefly. When she opened them there was grim understanding in her gaze.

“In other words, I’m not just immune to the downside of the formula,” she said. “The stuff actually worked on me.”

“Without creating addiction or withdrawal issues.”

“Arizona Snow and I can’t be the only people in history who were able to tolerate the drug. There must be others out there who are also immune.”

“We know of at least one other familial bloodline that we strongly suspect carries a similar genetic twist,” Cyrus said. “A bloodline that may, in fact, have been affected by an ancestor who took the drug.”

“Really? Who?”

“The descendants of the crazy alchemist who invented the damned formula.”

She stared at him. “Your family?”

He smiled. “I can’t wait for you to meet the rest of the Joneses.”

Lyle’s cheerful chortling echoed from the inner chamber of the cave. He dashed out of the blue shadows just as Cyrus sent another blue stone skipping across the floor.

Lyle changed course immediately and sped after the bouncing stone. He caught it when it hit the wall of the cave.

Euphoric with his success, he scurried toward Sedona and Cyrus, the pebble in one paw.

“About time you showed up,” Sedona said.

Lyle graciously gave her the pebble and made excited noises.

“Thanks,” she said. She examined the small rock carefully. “More blue amber. It’s really beautiful.”

Cyrus watched her tuck the amber into her pack. He shook his head, amazed and a little awed by her cool composure.

“You seem pretty damn calm about everything I just told you,” he said.

“Actually, your story about those experiments on my multi-great-aunt Arizona Snow come as something of a relief,” Sedona said. “At least it explains a few things. I’ve been going in circles, even starting to wonder if I had hallucinated the whole prisoner-in-a-lab scenario.”

“You prefer that it was the real deal?”

“Yes, because it means I don’t have to doubt my memories.”

Cyrus nodded. “I understand.”

Lyle, evidently satisfied with the reception of his latest gift, hustled closer to Cyrus and chortled expectantly.

Cyrus examined the assortment of blue stones in the vicinity and found another piece of blue amber. He sent it skittering across the cave. Lyle dashed after it and trotted back to give it to Sedona.

“Nice,” she said. She patted Lyle. “Thanks.”

Cyrus looked out the entrance of the cave. The heavy psi-snow did not look nearly as intense as it had a few minutes ago.

“I think the weather is lifting,” he said. He rolled to his feet and started toward his pack. “We need to be prepared to move out in a hurry.”

“One more question before we try to leave this place,” Sedona said quietly.

“Only one?”

“Did you come to Rainshadow prepared to kill me if you discovered that I was an unstable multi-talent?”

The shock of the question hit him like a blow. For a moment he could not move. When he finally had himself back under control he crossed the room to where she sat, gripped her arms, and brought her to her feet.

“No,” he said. “I came here to give you the antidote, if it proved necessary.”

She blinked. “There’s an antidote?”

“It was discovered in the twenty-first century back on Earth but there hasn’t been much experience with it.”

“Why not?”

“No one has ever had any need of it here on Harmony,” Cyrus said. “Arcane doesn’t keep a stockpile on hand. There was only time to brew a single dose before I left for Rainshadow. I brought it with me.”

“In case you needed to use it on me?”

“Yes.”

She thought about that for a minute and then managed a decidedly misty smile. “So you were never actually planning to kill me.”

“I told you, Fallon Jones was a friend of Arizona Snow. In our family we take that kind of history seriously.”

“You came here to try to save me.”

“That was the general idea. Turned out you didn’t need saving.”

Tears sparkled in her eyes. “Thanks. No one ever did anything like that for me before—at least not since my parents died.”

“You saved my team yesterday. We’re more than even.” He kissed her forehead and then he released her. When he glanced toward the mouth of the cave he saw that the storm had definitely lessened. “Let’s move.”

She walked to where her pack sat on the ground. Hefting it with the ease of long practice, she slipped it over her shoulders.

“Ready.” She glanced around. “Lyle? Time to stop playing with the pretty rocks. We’re leaving now.”

Lyle chortled and scurried over to her. She picked him up and set him on her shoulder.

Cyrus went cautiously outside, raising his senses a little to get a better feel for the psi levels. The storm was waning rapidly.

He glanced back at Sedona. “One more precaution.”

“What’s that?”

He took a thin, coiled length of line off his pack, snapped one end to his belt, and clipped the other end to Sedona’s belt. At full length the cord stretched about ten feet between them.

“We don’t want to take the risk of running into another freak storm and getting separated,” he said.

“Got it.”

They walked out into a landscape that was rapidly clearing. The blue sunlight sparked and glittered on the quartz and crystal forest.

“It would be beautiful,” Sedona said. “If the whole place didn’t feel sort of dead.”

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.