Dark Nights

Chapter Two

Jubal Sanders glanced up at the sky, heavy with clouds, the temperature dropping alarmingly. “Night’s going to come fast when it does,” he announced. “Maybe two hours to sunset. If we don’t want to camp up here on the side of the mountain, we’ve got to start down.”

“You’re losing it, Joie, there’s nothing here.” Gabrielle Sanders sank gracefully to the ground and drew up her knees as she regarded her sister with cool gray eyes. “Stop making yourself crazy and enjoy the view. It’s breathtaking up here. You’ve been in a frenzy for hours now.” Tipping her head back, she stared up at the sky. “We’ve been climbing forever. If you were going to find anything, you would have done so by now.”

“I’m not losing my mind, Gabrielle,” Joie insisted. “Or, truthfully, maybe I’ve already lost it.”

There was a sudden silence. The wind paused. A hawk screamed as it missed its prey. Gabrielle exchanged a long look with her brother. They both stared at their younger sister. She seemed focused entirely on the rock surface she was studying.

“Well, that’s a relief,” Gabrielle replied, laughing. “All this time I thought I was the abnormal one.”

Joie let her breath out slowly. She knew she was acting crazy, almost out of control. What was she going to tell Gabrielle and Jubal? That she really had lost her mind some weeks ago and this was a last-ditch effort to hold on to her sanity? That she wasn’t joking, and she belonged locked up somewhere on heavy medication?

She’d woken up in the hospital in Austria with a strange buzzing in her head. Whispers that never ceased. A man’s voice, not just any man’s voice, but his voice, her mysterious, sexy stranger. She could imagine telling Gabrielle and Jubal she’d met a hot man during one of her numerous astral projection jaunts. Oh, yeah, and he was deep beneath the earth in a network of unexplored caves in Romania. They’d lock her up and throw away the key.

She couldn’t stop thinking about him. She was certain she was clinically obsessed with an apparition. How could he have been real? The doctors had told her she was out a long time. Who knew what went on in one’s brain when they were under anesthesia? If she told her sister and brother she wasn’t so much looking for the perfect cave as she was the man trapped in one, they’d definitely haul her butt to a head doctor. There was no way to explain her need to find him to anyone.

She’d been placed on leave, as was typical when one of the professional protectors was injured on the job. She hadn’t gone back to the States, but when Gabrielle and Jubal had come to visit her, to help her with physical therapy, she convinced them to go to the Carpathian Mountains and go caving with her.

In the beginning she’d tried to ignore the whispered intimacy, but eventually she’d succumbed to the sheer lure of it. She’d carried on silly conversations with him, sometimes philosophical ones, and God help her, sexy, nearly erotic exchanges she couldn’t imagine herself having with anyone else. The voice in her head had been growing stronger since she’d entered Romania, as if, finally, she was much closer to him.

What are you doing?

The voice came out of nowhere, unexpectedly as it always did, catching her by surprise. Masculine. Sometimes amused. Sometimes teasing. Always alluring. She tried not to hear it. Tried not to respond. But she could never help herself. She always talked to him. Laughed with him. Wanted him.

In spite of the beauty of his voice, this time he sounded infinitely weary, strained, as if he were in pain. She’d never heard that particular note in his voice and it alarmed her. Was he hurt? Could he be hurt? If she wasn’t crazy, that meant he was real and she didn’t need to feel crazy most of the time. Right now, maybe a little bit.

“Come on, I’m so close to the entrance I should be able to see it. Jubal,” Joie appealed to her brother. “You know I’m right. I’m always right. There’s a network of caves, most of them unexplored, and we’re right on top of it.”

Okay, not a little crazy. Joie was certain she’d already begun her descent into madness. She’d rather be with that voice in her head than with any real person in the world. She lived to hear that voice. She thought about him day and night, had become consumed by him.

Joie lifted her chin a little defiantly and reached for him—her imaginary friend who was fast becoming an imaginary lover.

I’m proving you don’t exist so I can get over you. I have a list of would-be lovers a mile long, and I’d like to have a little fun for a change.

You’re too close. I can feel you. You have to leave. This mountain is dangerous.

Joie frowned, studying the snow-capped rock face. She was so close to the hidden entrance. So close. The mountain needed to breathe, a soft sigh of air and she would have it.

Of course you would say that. You don’t want me to know you aren’t real. She stepped to her left, skirting around an outcropping. She could feel the entrance now. Her body responded, excited. Eager. And it had nothing to do with him. Look, honey, it’s been fun, but we have to break up. I can’t have a mythical lover, even if you’re an awesome lover in my dreams. A girl wants to have the real thing once in a while. It isn’t like I can introduce you to my family. Hey, guys, this is my invisible pal, Traian. He has a name like a locomotive, but that’s my fantastic imagination.

Traian is a very old and respected name.

She heard the amusement seep into his voice, but it was still very strained and a terrible urgency to get to him fast took seed in her heart.

Go away from here, Joie. I will not comment on your name, as it would be considered extremely rude.

Comment away, Traian. You’re not real and neither is this conversation, so insult me all you want.

“You’re always looking down when you should be looking up, Joie,” Gabrielle said with a sigh. “If you reach straight up, you might be able to catch a cloud. Have you even noticed the flowers? They’re gorgeous. I wish I knew what they were called. For once in your life, think of something besides caves.” She waved her arms to encompass the countryside. “This is Dracula country. If you’d forget your obsession with caves, we might be able to explore the old castles for a change.”

The flowers that are pink with a yellow middle are called Tratina. The white daisies are Marguarete. I cannot remember offhand what the blue ones are called, but it will come to me.

Are you eavesdropping on our conversation?

You are thinking loudly—and denying my existence—which seems to be a habit of yours lately.

Joie gave a little sniff. He was a figment of her imagination and he knew the names of the flowers. She glanced over her shoulder at her sister.

“Gabrielle, the pink ones are Tratina, and the white daisies are Marguarete. I have no idea what the blue ones are called.”

“You’re a walking encyclopedia,” Gabrielle said, impressed.

“That should teach you to tell me I have no interest in anything but caves,” Joie said. She shivered, although she was dressed for the cold. There was just something a little off about the place and a part of her felt as if they needed to get off the mountain fast. She glanced up at the sky. Maybe there was a storm coming.

Jubal stared at the wild countryside surrounding them, on either side and below. There were many deep gorges and several caves. Green valleys and plateaus made the view breathtaking. Below them, in the heavier depressions, water had soaked the ground, causing peat bogs. There were vivid green beds of moss and numerous shallow ponds winding their way around stands of birch and pine. The area was magical, and yet Jubal was uneasy. The air was crisp and cold and the sky seemed clear, yet a strange mist covered the surfaces above them. At times he thought something moved in the mist, something alive and terrifying.

He studied the towering heights rising above them. They were halfway up the mountain and the mist seemed to be slowly descending. If they were caught out in the open, they had the equipment to spend the night, but it would be a nasty night.

“Joie, give it up and let’s get out of here,” he said. “This place feels haunted to me. I don’t like the vibes.”

Gabrielle turned her head to stare at her brother. “Really, Jubal?” She arched a winged brow at him. “That’s strange, because I feel exactly the same way—like we shouldn’t be here, or that we’re intruding in some way. Do you suppose it’s all the vampire stories we were listening to at the inn last night that’s made both of us jumpy? Normally, creepy stories are amusing, but I definitely feel apprehensive.” She raised her voice. Her younger sister had moved around the outcropping and appeared to be examining another limestone boulder jutting out of the side of the mountain. “What about you, Joie? Does this place give you the creeps?”

“We came here to explore the caves,” Joie said firmly. “We’re always very respectful when we’re on the mountain and never leave anything behind, so there’s no reason to be nervous. The mountain gods have no reason to be angry with us, if there are such things. I know the opening is here. I’m feeling it very strongly. I know I’m close.”

Joie ran her hand up a long crack and then walked carefully back around the outcropping of the mountain, stepping over her brother’s outstretched legs without even glancing at him. Her heart began to pound, a sure sign that she was close. She closed her eyes and tried to image the opening, to “feel” her way with her mind. Her obsession was growing stronger and with it, the conviction that this was the place.

“The entrance is here, I know it is,” she muttered aloud.

The others feel the threat of the vampires. You must go, Joie. Traian’s voice came to her softly in warning, slipping into her mind, bringing with it an ominous chill.

Oh, now you’re going to tell me you believe in vampires. I just picked up that thought from Gabrielle. You aren’t real, so be quiet and stop trying to frighten me away. I’m not leaving until I know for certain. She was not buying a vampire story to scare them all away.

You already know; you just cannot admit the truth. I am trapped and will not be able to rescue you should you come upon them.

“Rescue me?” Joie nearly shouted the words, her eyes flashing with indignation. She turned her head to smile in reassurance at her brother and sister.

Gabrielle and Jubal exchanged a long, amused glance, used to Joie and her ramblings when she was on the scent of a new cave. Few people were as adept as their youngest sibling at discovering magical worlds below the surface.

Rescue me? She hissed it into his mind. You can just bite me, Traian. Do you have any idea how annoying it is for someone like me to be treated like a ditzy little woman who can’t fend for herself? The trouble with arguing with the voice in her head, Joie decided, was trying to determine whether it was all imagination or real.

I would not mind biting you. This time his voice purred with sexual innuendo. But another time would be better. Seriously, I’m in some trouble and if you managed, by some fluke to actually join me, I am not certain I could adequately protect your party from harm.

Joie shivered in spite of herself, yet heat curled deep inside her. If you keep this up, my brother and sister are going to figure out I’m crazy and have me committed. Then where will you be? Strands of dark hair blew across her face, hiding her expression from her siblings.

And just for your information, Sir Galahad, I am not the “in need of rescue” type, so get over that one fast. Sheesh. First it’s vampires and now it’s rescuing. Will you just be quiet and let me figure this out? I don’t suppose you want to tell me, give me a hint or two, if you’re really down there and know where the opening is.

Jubal leaned back in the tall grass with his hands behind his head, studying the cloud formations. The mist had begun to reach them, long streaming tendrils that looked as if giant hands were reaching for them. A few of the thicker streams had dropped low and looked almost as if they were winding their way around Joie’s legs as she made her way back around the outcropping, drawn again and again to the same place.

“You’re like a hound dog on the scent of a criminal, Joie,” he said, narrowing his eyes, watching the snake-like ribbons of mist. “You would have made a great detective.”

“She would have,” Gabrielle agreed with a little grin. She concentrated on the bright blue flowers with their symmetric petals, lying on her back waiting for her sister to call it a day. The beautiful masses of flowers were unusual, yet something sinister seemed to lie beneath the ground, just inches from the soft petals, an obscene, malicious presence.

The wind rushed over the mountainside. The flowers shook, some closing quickly. Gabrielle gasped and drew her feet up. She sat up quickly, blinking rapidly.

“What is it?” Jubal asked.

“I don’t know. For a moment I thought I saw something moving beneath the soil. I know this sounds crazy, Jubal but the soil rose up an inch or so as if something alive tunneled beneath it.” She looked around her, noting the mist streaming down toward them. “This place definitely gives me the creeps.”

“Joie, come on. We’re getting out of here,” Jubal decided, reaching a long arm to gather their gear. “The sun will be down in a couple of hours anyway.”

Joie examined every inch of the outcropping and the niche on either side. The rock was grown over with scrub and grasses. Wildflowers lifted their bright heads toward the diminishing sun as if soaking up the last of the rays. Joie narrowed her gaze and stepped up as close as possible to the large outcropping, focusing completely on the jutting surface and every crack and shadow. “I’ve never felt so driven in my life. I don’t think I can leave without finding it,” she admitted honestly. “I’m sorry—if you two want to take off, go ahead. I’ll come along as soon as I can.”

Jubal and Gabrielle exchanged a long, knowing look. “Sure thing, sis, we’ll just leave you up here all by yourself. Knowing you, you’d disappear into a cave and mate with a troll,” Gabrielle said. “Just like Mom is always saying is going to happen.”

“Ha ha,” Joie answered, the frown still on her face as she studied the outcropping.

“What’s the name of this mountain range?” Jubal asked idly, but his gaze was on Joie as she scanned the rock surface. “The bogs are even beautiful. If it wasn’t so freaky up here, I could live in this area.” When Gabrielle arched a black eyebrow at him, he laughed. “I could. I don’t need to live in a city. I’ve got the same genes as the two of you. I just like to have money, you know. I need it for the two of you, to bail you out of all the trouble you get into.”

“You idiot,” Joie said affectionately, although she didn’t look at him. “You have enough money to retire from that silly job of yours and do something useful with your life. Something humanitarian. There’s a small crack running the length of the rock here. There’s something funny about this, Jubal, come look at it. It just isn’t right the way it is and you’re exceptionally good with puzzles.”

“My humanitarian contribution to the world is looking after you two thrill seekers,” Jubal pointed out as he got lazily to his feet. “Without me to curb your antics, the world would be a frightening place.” He looked up at the strange, moving mist. “Rather like this place.” He sauntered slowly over to examine the surface of the outcropping.

“We’re in the Apuseni Mountains, part of the Carpathians, you heathen,” Gabrielle informed her brother. “If you paid even the slightest attention to anything we said, you’d know that. And you could no more give up your luxury condo and live in the mountains than you could swim the English Channel. And, I might add, we take care of you.”

“Here,” Joie said triumphantly. “I feel the cave’s breath on my face. It’s here. I just can’t figure out how to get in.”

“Hey! I can swim,” Jubal objected. He ran his hand over the rocks, frowning as he did so. “Just because I don’t like to swim doesn’t mean I can’t. I wasn’t born with gills like the two of you. She’s found something, Gabrielle. This is a pattern, but it needs to be . . .” He trailed off, dug his fingers around several of the smaller rocks, and began to rearrange them.

“There’s a surprise,” Gabrielle said and rose to her feet also. The cool mountain air fairly vibrated with excitement. “You could always come and research hot viruses with me,” she invited, slinging her arm around her brother.

“Yeah, I’ll get right on that, Gabrielle, because I’m a crazy man and want to die a miserable, but noble, death,” Jubal said, ruffling his sister’s dark hair. “I think I’ll stick to my stocks and bonds and let you do your wacko research all by yourself.”

“Feel that,” Joie spun around to face her brother. “The mountain is exhaling into the cave’s entrance.”

Jubal nodded in satisfaction. “There it goes. Wow, look at that. As usual, Joie finds the entrance and this one is damned strange.”

The mountain shivered. Creaked. He placed the last rock in the sequence he saw as a pattern. The crack widened, the rock grinding with a loud groan. Ice cold air rushed out as if the mountain had exhaled.

“This is man-made, not natural. Damn it, Joie, don’t go in.” He snagged his backpack and pulled out a logbook, carefully entering the time. “We’re just doing a cursory exploration, and it’s nearly sunset. No one knows where we are.”

It was too late. Joie was too driven to wait for anything, ignoring the time-honored rules they always followed for safety. She squeezed into the crack, dragging her gear behind her.

Cursing, Jubal hastily anchored the logbook near the crack with a couple of rocks, marking the entrance for a rescue team to find should they get lost inside the network of caves he was certain they were about to descend into.

Gabrielle shouldered her gear and followed. “It’s extremely tight, Jubal,” she cautioned. “Pass me your gear; it’s the only way you’re going to get through.”

Jubal took one last look at the sky, noting that the clouds that had been floating so lazily overhead were spinning ominously, a gathering of a great force. Mist now shrouded the entire upper half of the mountain, looking for all the world like a great white veil slowly being drawn over the entire towering mass. They were in the clouds, cut off from below. The mist had gone beneath them as well, searching out the lower fields, covering their descent, the weather turning on them fast.

Resolutely, Jubal pushed into the jagged crack, his chest scraping against the limestone as he forced his larger body into the narrow hall.

Behind him the wind rose in a sudden shriek, lashing at the mountain, while strange, haunting cries echoed off the peaks. Mist swirled around the mountaintop, a mini tornado that snatched the logbook and sent it skittering down the hillside to land in one of the many bogs, where it slowly sank beneath the dark waters.

The mountain groaned, rocks creaking. The floor beneath their feet trembled, shuddered and rippled with sudden life.

“Hold on,” Jubal called to his sisters. “Earthquake.”

They all reached to grab any hold they could. Joie found a couple of finger pockets to stick her fingers in and hoped that terrible dread filling her stomach didn’t mean the passage itself would shift and narrow. Gabrielle placed her fist into a tight fist jam with one hand and braced herself with a flat palm with the other, biting her lip, afraid the ceiling would cave in. Jubal had to use an under-cling, praying the floor wouldn’t drop from beneath him as the ground shook.

Outside the passage, the rocks rolled away from the outcropping, settling into a random pile of innocent-looking stones just at the base of the slowly narrowing crack. The grinding of rock echoed through the cave, a terrible ominous sound that reverberated down the tight passage. Darkness settled into the entryway of the cave and the siblings immediately switched on the lights built into their helmets.

Joie moved quickly through the narrow hall, well ahead of her brother and sister. The ceiling dropped with every foot, so she was forced to bend over, eventually crawling on all fours and then sliding on her stomach.

“It’s tight here, Jubal,” she called back to her brother. The sense of urgency driving her was tempered by the building knots in her stomach. The cave didn’t feel right to her.

Normally, caves were a place of absolute wonder. Fascinating, mysterious, the last frontier for those like Joie, who needed to walk where no one else had gone, to discover things and see things no one else had dared to see.

Around her, the coolness of the rock called to her; the steady sound of water streaming from numerous cracks and the sudden chasms plunging into darkness below added to the surreal experience of pushing through a tight crevice on her stomach. She wiggled through until she could feel the cool air coming from a subterranean chamber.

Just up ahead was a perfect tube where powerful, swirling water had blasted through the limestone for hundreds of years, carving an opening. She entered it without hesitation, ignoring the flashing warning sign deep in her stomach. Hard knots coiled tighter, becoming the herald of dark dread. Everything inside her demanded she keep going, even when she had to maneuver her body at odd angles to slither through the tunnel.

“Slow down, Joie,” Jubal cautioned. “Stay within sight of us.”

“I don’t like the way she’s acting,” Gabrielle whispered. “I’ve never seen her like this. She always obeys the safety rules, you know that, Jubal. Something is really wrong.” She felt sick, her stomach churning, her mind filled with a terrible trepidation. “Something terrible is going to happen if we don’t stop her.”

Jubal waited, but Gabrielle didn’t move; she remained wedged in the narrow hall, blocking him from continuing. “Keep going, Gabrielle,” he said. “We’ll catch up to her and talk sense to her. She’s been caving for years. She’s not going to forget everything she’s ever learned.”

“Ever since she was hurt in Austria, she’s been different,” Gabrielle pointed out. “Distracted. Driven.”

“She’s always very focused when she’s going into a cave. And this is a big discovery, an unexplored cave. We have no idea what we’re going to find. Of course she’s excited.”

“You know it isn’t just that; she’s been different this entire trip. Even before that. She’s quieter. Joie isn’t quiet. Now she seems to be somewhere else half the time. I feel like we’re losing her, Jubal—as if something is pulling her into another world where we can’t follow.”

Jubal sighed loudly. “I wish I could say I don’t know what you mean, but that’s why I came on this trip. I’ve been worried about her too.” He reached out and pushed at his sister. “Move it. I can’t even hear her now.”

“I can’t move, Jubal.” Gabrielle sounded scared. “I really can’t.”

“Are you stuck?” Jubal was very calm, but inside that insidious dark dread was stealing over him.

“No,” Gabrielle whispered. “I just can’t move. Have you ever heard the term ‘paralyzed with fear’? I think I really am.”

“Gabby,” Jubal said, his voice very quiet. “What are you afraid of?”

“I don’t know. Joie’s acting so out of control and . . . can’t you feel it? The cave doesn’t want us in here. Listen to the sound of the water. The cave feels evil, Jubal.”

“You’re letting your imagination get the better of you, Gabrielle. Just take a breath. You’re not claustrophobic and you’re not superstitious. If Joie’s in trouble, we have to help her. The only way we’re going to do that is to stick with her and get her through this.”

“I’m trying,” Gabrielle said, pushing with her toes in an effort to break the paralysis.

Joie pushed forward as the ceiling lifted, allowing her to walk once again. Eventually the hall opened into a large chamber.

“Hey, you two, it’s much better in here. There’s a large gallery.” She shone her light around the area, noting the fingerlike formations surrounding a large abyss that yawned in the middle of the chamber. “Looks like a cathedral in here. Ice balls have formed everywhere here and the sculpted ice is fantastic below, layered in blues and greens.”

She peered down into the seemingly bottomless abyss, her heart drumming hard, a breathless anticipation, half for the discovery of a cave no one had walked in and half about a mythical man who refused to go away.

“Ice stalagmites are in abundance, Gabrielle, they’re everywhere on the floor, but that means the temperature here goes above freezing. We’re going to have to be careful,” she called back over her shoulder, all the while studying the deep hole.

The allure of the unknown was always on her when she came into a cave. The idea that she might be where no one had ever been was a feeling indescribable and she rarely tried putting it in words. She had to explore the unknown. She was driven to do so. She had acquired a good reputation and many countries allowed her permits to explore and map caves. She often brought out samples for researchers. That was Gabrielle’s department, not hers, but she assisted her whenever she could.

“There’s a few ice boulders here, scattered around the top. I’m going to dislodge them. We can’t have that kind of threat hanging over us when we descend.” She used her ice pick to clear away as many of the boulders as she could. Occasionally she could hear the cracks and creaks that told her the ice was weighing itself down and the pressure could send a large piece bursting forth like a rocket, to hurl itself across the empty space with enough force to kill one of them.

“Hurry up, Jubal,” she called. “What’s the hold-up?”

“Gabby’s having to take a moment. Just relax, Joie. Take a breath while I talk her through it.”

She couldn’t wait. Every cell in her body screamed at her to hurry. There was little time. The urgency settled deep into the middle of that terrible cloud of dread she couldn’t stop. She climbed into her rigging as she struggled to hold on to reality. He needed her. Something was terribly wrong. She had to get to him fast.

“Gabrielle! Jubal! I’m going to begin my descent.” Joie tested her harness and glanced back toward the tube. “Gabrielle! Jubal! Are you two okay?”

“Wait for us, Joie,” Jubal ordered. “Gabrielle has a bad feeling about this and so do I. I’m thinking we should regroup for a few minutes and talk this over. This could be more trouble than we want.”

Joie fought back hysterical laughter that bubbled up out of nowhere. “Talk it over? Nobody’s in more trouble than I am right now, Jubal. I can’t turn back. I have to make this descent or go live in a padded cell for the rest of my life. I am not kidding you.”

Jubal caught at Gabrielle’s leg. “She isn’t joking; she sounds on the verge of hysteria.”

“I can’t,” Gabrielle began to cry.

“Move your ass. Right now,” he ordered Gabrielle, and then raised his voice to make certain his youngest sister could hear him. “Joie, don’t you dare start that descent without us. You stay right where you are until we get there. If you don’t listen to me, I’m going to haul your ass back to the surface and take you out of here.”

Jubal rarely used that tone with either of his independent sisters, but it had the desired effect. Gabrielle scooted forward, driven by the fact that her brother obviously shared her growing fears for Joie.

Shaken, Joie pulled back from the abyss, shocked at herself that she would have started without Gabrielle and Jubal. She always put safety first. Always. She was an expert climber and caver. It made no sense that she was acting so insane. She was in dangerous territory. An unexplored ice cave was a disaster waiting to happen for anyone not paying attention to what they were doing.

She pressed her fingertips to her eyes, taking in great gulps of air, trying to find a balance. She couldn’t risk the lives of her brother and sister. She knew they’d come exploring with her because they were concerned about her. She was just as worried as they were for her sanity.

Joie. You must listen to me. You and your siblings are in mortal danger. There is evil here and you must leave before it is too late.

She drew in her breath sharply. There he was again—her mythical man. His voice was commanding. Firm. His tone held absolute conviction. But it also held pain. He was somewhere down below her suffering. She could feel him close to her. He needed her, whether he wanted to admit it or not. He needed her. She had been on rescue teams many times, even led a few herself, but this was different. Whatever his injuries, they hadn’t been sustained in a climbing accident.

His fear for her—for all of them—beat at her, impossible to ignore. Joie sat on the edge of the precipice, staring down into the black abyss. The walls of ice belled outward away from any rope, creating a free rappel. It would be difficult to slow down. They’d have to work to control speed on their descent on an ice-slick rope. Jubal and she both were expert at handling a descent bobbin, but Gabrielle might have a little more trouble. She didn’t look up when her brother and sister joined her.

Jubal rested his hands on her shoulders. He took a long slow look around the large chamber, shining his light up along the vaulted ceilings and studying the edges of the abyss to assess their safety should they choose to make the descent.

“Joie,” he said, as gently as possible. “You’re going to have to talk to us. We have to know what’s going on with you. Exploring caves is something we all enjoy together, we have for a lot of years, since Mom and Dad rigged harnesses for us when we were toddlers. But this isn’t fun. It isn’t even safe and I think you know that. We’re willing to follow you and help you any way we can, but we have to understand what’s going on.”

Gabrielle sat cautiously beside her and took her hand. “So tell us. We’ll help. We always stick together. There’s no need to hide anything from us.”

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 sexy. 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 sexy 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 sexier 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.