Dark Nights Part 5

There was a small silence. Finally Joie sighed, her shoulders sagging. She had to tell someone-and besides-she owed them an explanation. "Does insanity run in the family?" Joie continued to stare down into the well of darkness. "Because if it does, someone should have warned us."

"You think you're insane?" Jubal struggled to understand. Joie was the one who laughed all the time, who found humor in everything. She lit up the world with her smile, and she certainly never seemed to suffer from depression.

"I hear voices. Well ..." she hedged, "a voice. One voice. Mostly at night or in the early morning hours. We have conversations. Long conversations. Sometimes very intense and sometimes humorous." She felt the color rise beneath her skin and was grateful it was dark in the gallery. "Sometimes s.e.xy. I find myself staying up all night just to be able to hear his voice and spend time with him." She shrugged her shoulders. "He even has a name. Traian Trigovise. How could I think up a name like that? I've never even heard of a name like that. He has an accent-a European, very s.e.xy accent. He'd old world and charming and I can't stop obsessing over him."

Gabrielle tightened her fingers around Joie's hand. "When did this start? When did you first hear this voice?"

Joie shrugged, remaining silent. Neither Jubal nor Gabrielle spoke, waiting her out. Finally she sighed again, hating to admit when the voice had first begun. She knew what they would think, but to her, he was real and he was in trouble. She had to find him.

"When I was shot in Austria. You know how much I hate hospitals. When they took me there, I did my little disappearing act." She looked at her brother and sister briefly and then away again. "It isn't as if I didn't consider that I was dreaming when I first saw him-you know feeling the effects of the anesthesia, but it's so much more than that."

She stole another quick look at both of her siblings. She had their attention and clearly they were trying to understand.

"I've practiced astral projection for a long time. Remember all the stories I told you as a child about flying?"

"In your dreams," Gabrielle said.

Jubal shook his head in warning. "Keep talking, Joie."

"I guess I really succeeded. It really happened. This has to be real. I think we connected because we'd both been in a storm, in a battle and wounded at the same time." She shrugged helplessly. "It's the only reasonable explanation to me. He didn't go away. I could hear him talking to me in my mind. He found something important in the caves. I was already planning a trip here with you two, so I figured I could see if he was real."

"Joie," Jubal reprimanded gently. "Telepathic communication? With someone else? I know we can use telepathy, but we've never met anyone else who can."

"Is it really that far-fetched? I can take myself somewhere else. I know when I'm in danger. You're weird with patterns, and Gabrielle can do all sorts of strange things. We're all able to use telepathy with each other. Is it such a stretch to believe others can use it, too? I have to go down there. I have to know if he's real, if he's here, in this place. I feel him. I can't explain it, but it's like he's crawled inside of me somehow and I need him. I need to prove this to myself. And I'm afraid he's injured."

"Why didn't you tell us right away, Joie?" Jubal asked.

"Because I don't want the voice to go away," Joie admitted with stark truth. "I saw a counselor. He said I was having a break with reality, schizophrenia, probably brought on by the trauma of being shot. I didn't want to point out it wasn't the first time I've taken a bullet; it wasn't the worst injury and it won't be the last. I didn't take the medication the counselor prescribed. I thought maybe it wasn't so bad to live in a fantasy world part of the time. I still function and do my job." She managed a faint smile, her sense of humor rising even in the middle of such a serious conversation. "Do you think many people want a schizophrenic bodyguard? They get two for the price of one."

"Come on, Joie, you can't believe you're going crazy. You're ..." Gabrielle paused in search of the right words. "You're you. You can do anything. You excel at everything. You can't hear voices. You're the most stable person I know. Out of your mind for loving this kind of thing, but still ... stable."

Joie smiled up at her sister. "I'm definitely hearing a voice. Right now he's telling me to get out of here. He's saying it's dangerous and that we're all in mortal danger. He actually used the word mortal. I don't use that word. Do you think I have a split personality? I've always preferred male activities. I've always been such a tomboy. Maybe this is just my male side coming out. And just so you know how really screwed up my mind is, he's s.e.xier than I am."

"Maybe your intuition is telling you not to make the descent, Joie," Jubal cautioned. "We haven't planned this out adequately."

"I don't have a choice," Joie said sadly. "Not this time. We have the rigging. We have the supplies. We're all dressed warmly enough. I can go down and look around. If I'm not back in a couple of hours, you can go for help."

"You didn't let me finish. If he isn't real, we should find out, and if he is real, logic would say we need to help him if he's hurt. Besides, we're a family and as Dad always says, 'in for a penny, in for a pound.' "

Gabrielle shook her head. "We all go. We stick together, Joie. If you have to do this, then we do it together like we always have."

"Then we should stop talking and get moving," Jubal said decisively.

Joie wasn't going to change her mind. Whatever was compelling her into that black abyss was too strong to fight. Worse, the dread was still growing inside him. Jubal glanced down into the dark hole. Evil lurked close by, and he had the feeling they were going to come face to face with it.

Chapter Three

"Joie, this is out of this world," Jubal said softly, in awe. He turned in a full circle, s.h.i.+ning his light on the walls of the gallery. The descent had been a long one, well over three hundred feet. "I've never seen anything like it. What a find. The ice formations are incredible. I swear I actually saw a vein of gold in more than one place. There are so many halls and galleries to explore."

The century-long hidden domain was breathtaking. Despite the urgency she was feeling, Joie allowed herself a brief moment of wonderment, looking around her into twisted corridors and tunnels, shadowed pools lined with gem-like crystals and a network of narrow crevices and grottoes. The gallery opened up into an entire underground world. If they hadn't found that strange crack allowing them inside, they would never have seen the sparkling world deep beneath the earth.

Small ice b.a.l.l.s and ice draped the ceiling and walls, s.h.i.+mmering all hues of blue; steep slopes and wide outcroppings marked the magnificent gallery. Inside the subterranean world were peaks and crags, the ice forming mountains and valleys, ridges and gorges. Underground rivers were frozen after carving out tunnels and shapes. "Windows" gave glimpses of moulins deep beneath them.

Gabrielle cautiously moved around an ice sculpture that rose like a living flame from the floor. "Look at this. When I s.h.i.+ne my light on it from this angle, I'd swear the thing had gems in it. It's as brilliant as a polished diamond but reflects the light as if it were red like a ruby."

Movement caught her attention, and she turned her head to watch Joie as she examined the glacial ice that formed the gallery. "Be careful, I suspect that a good number of viruses previously unknown to us come from insects and even perhaps the fungi in caves such as this one. These microorganisms exist with no light and few nutrients, locked inside the ice, yet still capable of living. There's such a wealth of information down here." She gave Joie a quick, excited grin. "No one has probably ever touched this ice. Can you imagine the microbes living down here? This is a scientist's dream."

Joie took a long breath and let it out, looking around at each of the tunnels leading to other chambers. She was so close now, she could almost feel him breathing. Somewhere in this labyrinth of halls he was waiting for her. Smoldering. Angry that she had disobeyed him and put herself and her siblings in danger. He was real, not a voice in her head, not a part of a split personality. He was real and alive and in pain. She could feel his pain, throbbing through her body, beating at her head.

Tell me. She demanded it. Forced him to deal with who she really was, not who he thought she should be.

Tell the others to be quiet. They are in danger. I have battled the same enemy three times since you first found me in the cave weeks ago. I am a prisoner and wounded and extremely weak. I cannot aid you much in the battle, and the enemy has powers you cannot possibly comprehend.

Joie pressed her lips together, her heart suddenly pounding. His tone rang with truth. He believed in what he was saying. Joie tended to keep her cool with humor. She gave him a mental image of rolling her eyes in exasperation.

Sorry for the fluff in my head, but I'm usually found wrapped in cotton or bubble wrap to protect me from all the evil people in the world.

"Jubal, Gabby, we have to be quiet. Something's in here with us and it isn't good."

She took the lead and Jubal dropped back to protect his sisters, neither sibling asking questions. They knew Joie, knew she was good at her job and she had switched easily into hunter/protector mode. She trusted Jubal. He was the steadiest man she knew in a fight, and she worked with a lot of good men.

"Tell us what's happening, Joie," Jubal demanded.

She shook her head and placed a finger to her lips. "He's telepathic. I don't want to chance communication he might overhear until we know what's really going on." She mouthed the words to her brother and sister and waited for them to nod in understanding before she continued. She was ready to trust the stranger in her head, but she wouldn't risk Gabrielle and Jubal without knowing what they were getting into.

There were several halls and tubes leading away from the open gallery they had descended into. She moved slowly to stand in front of each to feel her way. The pull of Traian was strong and she knew the moment she was at an entrance that he was somewhere in that direction. Using hand signals, she started down the hall, as stealthy as one could in climbing gear. The long hallway continued forward but two other tunnels branched off from it, one leading down and the other appearing to climb upward. The pull to go down was strong.

Joie, Traian's voice seemed weaker. I'm asking you one last time to get out of here. You're risking your life and the lives of your companions.

She moved through the halls with confidence, recognizing the feel of him now, knowing she was moving toward him. She picked up the pace, although she remained very conscious of the layers of ice surrounding them. The walls appeared thick, but they creaked and cracked, loud popping noises signaling ice falling or shooting out of the walls from the weight above them.

I doubt very much if I'll need your aid, Mr. Brawny, but I'll keep it in mind. How many?

Traian sighed, obviously unwilling to argue with her anymore. Worse, she felt his strength draining away and had to fight the need to run to him.

There is one with me now. The others will return well fed and high with a l.u.s.t for killing.

Joie didn't like the sound of that. l.u.s.t for killing held very bad implications. Could you be exaggerating just a little? She desperately hoped he was.

You do not want to meet them.

Joie gave a little sniff, her heart slamming hard just once at his tone. He wasn't joking about his enemies. She took a deep breath and let it out. Isn't that the truth. Anyone with a l.u.s.t for killing isn't going to be invited for Sunday dinner.

She glanced back at her brother and sister, frowning, suddenly afraid for them. What was she getting them all into with her obsessive behavior? She hesitated at the next twisting tunnel. He was so close now, and so was danger. She felt it and she could tell Gabrielle felt it as well. Her sensitive sister pressed her hand hard into her stomach and had a look of fear stamped on her face. Behind her, Jubal had produced a gun, his features hard-edged and sober. They would stand with her, back her up under any circ.u.mstances, but she didn't feel it was right to force them-through their love of her-into a dangerous and unknown situation.