I wasn’t sure where I was going or how I had gotten here, but I knew that I couldn’t stop. I had to keep running, to find what had been stolen from me. Vines coiled menacingly from the forest, and tree roots crept to trip me. I fell, rose to my feet, then fell again. Bruised and aching from the dampness of the night, I paused, trying to catch my breath.
Something tugged at the back of my mind and I fought to recall it. I knew it was important but no matter how I tried, the memory disappeared before I could grasp onto it. If I could just catch a glimpse of what it concerned . . .
The kids? I reached out, trying to find them in the forest, but they weren’t there and the sense that they were snug in their beds reassured me. Joe? This time I sensed a restlessness, but no threat of danger. He was tossing and turning in his sleep. Likewise, when I searched for Samantha and her kittens, the threads came back—feline contentment, full stomachs and a warm soft spot in which to slumber.
Reassured that my family wasn’t in danger, I turned back to the forest. How had I gotten here? I couldn’t remember. Had I come with someone? Had I driven here in my sleep?
Asleep . . . that rang a bell. I quickly scanned my surroundings. While the woods surrounding me looked like the typical Northwest forest should, there were little things . . . I squinted, staring at the trees, and then realized that I could see faces in them. Swirls in the bark, eyes gleaming from dark hollows. I was seeing their true nature, their spirit and essence that eluded most mortals during waking consciousness.
Which meant . . .
. . . I was asleep. Bingo! A bell chimed in the back of my mind. I was sleeping, but this dream wasn’t just any run-of-the-mill dream. No, I knew instantly that I was lucid dreaming, that I was aware and out on the astral while my body remained safely at home.
So, why had I come here? I’d occasionally found myself wandering the astral, out for a stroll, during my dreams, but this time felt different. A sense of urgency plagued me, as if there were something I must discover.
As I turned, looking for some sign to guide me, a noise to my right startled me. The foliage pulled back, revealing a path opening up through the trees and I followed it, winding through a place of long moss and towering firs. And then as the trail grew rougher, I began to see webs stringing from branch to branch, a canopy of silk overhead. I paused, listening. The rustle of scurrying insects sent a shiver up my back. No longer neutral, the forest had suddenly become ominous and threatening.
A closer look at the webs revealed spiders, thousands of them—with great bloated bellies and stiffly jointed legs, scuttling along the silken strands. I was standing beneath a colony of arachnids, and terror kicked in as I broke into a frenzied run. Dodging branch and bough, I prayed they wouldn’t fall on me, that I wouldn’t trip and land in one of their webs.
Panting, I skirted root and rock, as the woods broke open into a meadow. I came to a screeching halt as, once again, I saw the quicksand and bog that I’d come to recognize as the twisted labyrinth of Rusty’s mind.
Hell! Had I somehow linked with him in my sleep? I wanted to wake up, to break the connection, but something inside whispered, “No, go on.”
I slowed my pace, carefully navigating the treacherous terrain. And there, under the darkening moon, I saw them. Rusty and Murray. He had chained her to a tree and was standing guard over her, a large knife in his hand. I stumbled forward as he gazed at Murray, his eyes shining like glacial floes reflecting in the starlight.
“Let her go. She doesn’t love you,” I pleaded, but he didn’t seem to hear me. Mur was crying silently; but as she looked up, our eyes met and she gasped. A warmth burned at my chest and at first I thought Rusty had attacked me with some sort of psychic blast, but then I saw that the garnet in my rune pendant was glowing. I glanced back at Mur. Her pendant was doing the same. We were linked by the runes.
“Help me. Emerald, please help me.” Murray’s scream echoed through the night.
“I’ll save you. I promise I’ll find you,” I cried out, but my words were like a whisper on the wind.
Rusty laughed aloud as he reached out to stroke her cheek. “How can she help you when she doesn’t even know you’re gone?” And then, in the blink of an eye, they vanished and I was alone in the silent woods.
“E M , EM! WAKE up. You’re having a nightmare.”
I slammed back into my body as Joe woke me out of my slumber. At first I couldn’t remember what I’d been dreaming about and then everything flooded back. I scrambled out of bed.
“What’s going on?” Joe asked, switching on the light and sitting up. “You look freaked.”
Panicking, I looked down at the rune hanging around my neck. The garnet was glowing. I grabbed the phone, punching 1 on the speed dial. “I have to call Jimbo!”
“Why? What’s wrong?” Joe looked thoroughly confused by now.
“Murray’s in danger,” I said, waiting impatiently as Murray’s line rang.
“Anna, is that you?” Jimbo’s breathless voice came over the phone and my heart sunk. It hadn’t been a dream.
“It’s me, Emerald. Murray’s in danger. I just had a nightmare about her.”
“She never came home. I just got off the phone with the cops and they said that Dispatch never called her. They never logged a complaint about the Catlan house. He got her, Em. That damned bastard got her.”
“Are the cops out at Catlan’s? If he told her to meet him there, then you can bet that’s where he grabbed her.” I was already motioning for Joe to hand me a pair of jeans and a sweater.
“Yeah, I’m headed out to meet Deacon. I was grabbing my keys when you called.”
“I’m going with you. I gave her a necklace and I have one that matches it. The runes link us. In my dreams, my pendant led me to her.”
Joe had already slid into his jeans, and he looked ready to come with us, but I shook my head and mouthed, “You have to stay with the kids.”
“I’ll pick you up in ten minutes,” Jimbo said. “Wear thick clothing. We may need it.”
The phone went dead and I dropped it on the bed and turned to Joe. “Rusty tricked Murray. He’s got her. I saw them in my dream. This can only lead to bad, Joe. Once he realizes that she won’t stay with him willingly, once he sees that she really, truly wants nothing to do with him, he’ll kill her. I’m going with Jimbo. We’re meeting Deacon, though, so the cops will be there.”
Joe stared at me for a moment, then nodded without putting up a fight. “You think you can find her using that, right?” He pointed to the necklace. “I know you have to go. I’ll watch the kids, but promise me you’ll be careful. And take your cell.”
“I will, but don’t you dare call me. If we find him, I don’t want the phone alerting him that we’re there.” That had happened before to me and almost cost me my life.
“What do you need to take with you?” Joe pulled on a T-shirt.
I layered my clothing, pulling on a light tank, then a flannel camping shirt, and, lastly, a warm hooded sweat-shirt. “Flashlight, spare batteries, the switchblade Jimbo gave me, cell phone, some water, and a couple candy bars.” To be honest, I had no idea what I’d need, but that seemed like a logical list.
Joe raced downstairs to pull it together while I jammed my feet into my Keds and tied them in a double knot. No tripping over untied shoelaces for me. By the time I made it downstairs, he had a lightweight fanny pack waiting for me. It even had a place to clip on the water bottle. I fastened it around my waist as Jimbo pulled into the driveway, his truck rumbling like a freight train.
He ran up on the porch. “Damn it, now’s when I need my chopper. My truck’s so loud it’ll wake the dead.”
I grabbed my keys from the desk. “The boys at the enclave gave me a bike—we can use that,” I said, handing them to him. Joe grabbed the helmets out of the closet for us.
“You got it, babe,” Jimbo said, heading back down the steps.
Turning to Joe, I paused. This was my love, my other half, the key to
my heart. “I’ll be safe. I know I will. Please don’t worry. Just watch the kids and pray that we find her in time. Rusty is mad, Joe. He’s totally, utterly mad.”
Joe pulled me to him and kissed me so long and deep that I couldn’t breathe. “You’d better keep your promise. Get moving. Go save her.”
I raced down the stairs and climbed on back of the bike, jamming on my helmet. Jimbo started the bike and it purred to life. Within moments, we were headed into the darkening night.
THE OLD CATLAN place was about four miles outside of town on a back road leading toward Mount Baker. The Catlans had owned a substantial property but most of it had been subdivided through the years as the family dwindled. What was left was an abandoned house, a couple of barns, and about two acres of scrub. Local teenagers used it for parties, and the fire department was constantly worried that they’d torch the place someday, but so far, the remaining Catlans hadn’t seen fit to remedy the problem.
Jimbo barreled along at sixty miles an hour over roads so bumpy that I braced myself against his back in order to ward off whiplash. Holding tight to his waist, I leaned into the turn as we swerved into the driveway. Deacon and Sandy were already there. As we climbed off the bike, they motioned us over.
“They’ve been here!” Deacon led us to an area where they’d set up a spotlight. It was cordoned off with crime tape. Murray’s car was there, the driver’s door still open. A few feet away, Murray’s purse lay on the ground, its contents scattered across the hardened dirt. Her gun was there, gleaming under the stars.
“Was it Rusty?” I asked, my hand on Jimbo’s arm to steady him. He’d seen the purse and gun, and now his face had drained of color and he looked almost ready to faint.
Deacon glanced at Jimbo, as if assessing his state of mind. “We already found a print on the purse. Yeah, it’s him. You guys nailed it on the head.”
“I’ll kill him,” Jimbo said, so softly I almost didn’t catch it at first. “I’ll kill him and feed his heart to the buzzards.”
Ignoring him, I turned back to Deacon. “Do you know where he took her?”
Deacon shook his head. “Not yet. This was the perfect place for a setup. He lured her out here and somehow managed to take her off guard. The place is abandoned and isolated. There have been several reports over the past few weeks of trouble here that didn’t pan out, so I can see why the detective would have believed that it was just another crank call but she had to check it out. I wonder if Rusty made the others to build up a pattern.”
“What the fuck are you doing standing around here? We have to find her before that S.O.B. hurts her!” Jimbo’s rage shook the air. He was hopeless and helpless and terrified. I tried to calm him down, but he was having none of that. “Can’t you even keep your own people safe? The cops in this town are a joke. No wonder Anna bitches so much about the department.”
“We know he’s driving a green van—an older model. Ford. We’ve got APBs out all over the county, and the state patrol has set up roadblocks on all the main arterials between here and Bellingham. He won’t slip past us,” Deacon said, but I could hear the uncertainty in his voice.
“Where’s Bonner?” I asked.
“He’s fielding operations from the station. I’ve got search teams combing the property, and we’re going through all this evidence to see if there are any leads.” Deacon glanced over at Murray’s purse and back at Jimbo. “Hey, man, I’m sorry. We’re doing everything we can. Detective Murray’s resourceful. You know she’s going to be fighting him.”
Jimbo stared at him, then stomped away without a word. Deacon glanced over at me. “Take him home, Emerald. Somebody should be waiting by the phone in case he calls with a ransom demand.”
“He’s not a kidnapper in the traditional sense of the word and you know it, Deacon. He wanted Murray and now he’s got her. He’s not going to be asking for money.” I stared him down until he ducked his head.
“I know, I know, but there’s nothing you can do here, and I don’t want Jimbo going off the handle and interrupting our investigation. You know perfectly well it’s not a good idea to have the family on hand during times like this. What if . . .” He paused, then lowered his voice. “What if we find . . . her? What if we find her and she’s not in good shape? He doesn’t need to be here to see it. Do you understand?”
And then I did understand. Deacon didn’t hold a lot of hope. He knew what they were up against, and he didn’t have a clue as to where Rusty had taken her. In a flash, I knew what he was thinking.
“You think he’s going to kill her, don’t you?” I said, whispering.
Deacon shrugged, but the look on his face told me everything I was afraid to hear. “Take Jimbo home, Emerald. For both your sakes.”
There was nothing else for me to say. I knew she was alive, knew there was a chance to save her, but first we had to know where to look. I walked over to Jimbo. “They want us to go home and wait, in case she calls.”
“White Deer’s already waiting by the phone. And just how is Anna going to call? Her fucking cell is over there on the ground!” Jimbo let out a low growl. “O’Brien, I need you to find her. I know you can do it. White Deer keeps saying you and Anna have linked souls. Can’t you use that connection to find out where he took her?” He sounded desperate.
I stared at the moonless sky. Murray was more than my best friend. She was family. She and I were sisters in so many ways and no matter how close Rose and I ever became, there was no way we’d ever connect on the same level that Mur and I did.
“Come on, let’s get away from here and I’ll do my best. I can’t promise, but maybe . . .” I didn’t want to tell him that Deacon’s pessimism might interfere with my search. The last thing Jimbo needed was to know that Murray’s coworkers thought she might be dead. I turned back to Deacon. “Give me your number. We’re heading out.”
I punched his cell number into my phone and then jogged over to the bike. Deacon waved, one short shake of the hand.
BEFORE WE HIT the road, I knelt on the ground to link to the earth mana. When I felt steady enough, I clasped my rune pendant in my hand and closed my eyes. I focused my thoughts on Murray, on her regal countenance, her unquestionable sense of honor.
As I reached deep into my mind for the threads that connected us, I made the leap onto the astral. There—in front of me—a golden cord of friendship and an oath that bound us together, that had stood the test of time. I reached down to pick it up and felt the energy flowing through it. Both ways.
Murray was still alive.
Feeling reassured, I began to trace the cord. I followed it through the mist, through the fog to the edge of a tall wood. This time, I knew the forest wasn’t a metaphor. She was trapped in the woods with Rusty. But where? Every which way we turned, trees surrounded us. We weren’t in a city, Chiqetaw existed on the edge of the wilderness. Rusty could have her tied up anywhere.
And then, the lines of a poem skittered through my thoughts.
Every time I think of you, I lose another night of sleep,
I pray that you will come to me and be my own to keep.
I would bring you to my home, to my side to stay,
In the mountains by a lake, we will find our way.
I wish on every falling star, though my heart, it breaks,
I will have you for my own, or life itself forsake.
Holy hell, the card! The card he’d sent her with the ring! The picture on the front told me everything I needed to know.
“I know where he took her,” I shouted, breaking out of trance. “I know where they are.”
Jimbo grabbed my arm—gently—and looked deep into my eyes. “Where?”
“Icicle Lake Falls. The campground next to the lake. That’s where he took her.” As I looked down at the pendant, the garnet began to glow red. “We’ve got to go in by way of the bridge,” I said.
Jimbo jumped on the bike. “Get on,” he said, flooring it. “What about the cops? Shouldn’t we tell them?”
“We’ll call them when we get there—they won’t go out there just because you tell them your necklace told you where she’s at.”
He had a point. Deacon was good about listening to my hunches, but even he might balk at following advice from a piece of jewelry. If we went out there and found nothing, we’d be wasting their time—and possibly putting Murray in danger by diverting their attention. On the other hand, I knew I was right. She had to be at the lake. Once we found her, we’d call Deacon. I climbed on behind Jimbo and wrapped my arms around his waist.
“I’m ready.”
As we headed into the darkness, I did my best to hold on tight to that golden cord that connected Murray to me. Please, I thought. Please know that we’re coming to get you. Please be strong. Please, don’t die before we can find you. But the only answer I received was a drowsy flicker, and in the depths of my heart, I wasn’t sure whether we’d make it in time.
Sixteen
WE HEADED FOR Icicle Lake Falls campground. Jimbo focused on the road, while I continued to focus on that thin thread through which I might be able to save my best friend. Over the months, my abilities had grown and strengthened, but that was no guarantee I’d be able to take on Rusty. He knew the woods like the back of his hand. Perhaps I could call upon the the energy of the woods to give us an advantage.
“Stop the bike for a second,” I shouted. Unquestioning, Jimbo pulled over to the side and turned off the engine. “I’ll be right back. Wait here for me.”
The night air was chilly, just on the edge of damp. Less than three yards away from the road, the trees took over, and I cautiously hopped across the shallow culvert separating the forest from the highway. As soon as I stepped into the boundary of the forest, I could feel the heartbeat of the land rise to meet my own.