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 lust for killing.
Joie didn’t like the sound of that. Lust 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 lust 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 circumstances, but she didn’t feel it was right to force them—through their love of her—into a dangerous and unknown situation.
“Let me go in alone, figure out what’s wrong and . . .” She began, mouthing the words rather than speaking them aloud or telepathically. She still didn’t want Traian to be privy to her private conversation with her siblings and she didn’t know how strong his psychic abilities were—but he felt powerful. She had to find the man, but she didn’t trust strangers with her siblings’ lives.
Jubal held up his hand to stop her and indicated with a hand signal for her to proceed. She looked at Gabrielle’s resolute expression. No, they weren’t going to leave her. They were in it together, good or bad, they stood with her. She took a breath, nodded and stepped into the water-carved tunnel.
Bands of green and blue in wide circular stripes surrounded them and ordinarily would have had all three examining the beautifully constructed tube, but the moment they entered the hallway, all of them felt the presence of evil. Joie’s mouth went dry. She touched her belt, assuring herself her knife was close at hand.
I guess I’d best pull your butt out of trouble and get the heck out of Dodge.
Traian sighed. You do not act like any of the women I know.
Thank you, I appreciate your saying so. Her stomach was in knots.
Evil permeated the narrowing hallway, so that every breath drawn in was foul, the air dense—thick with poisonous breath. The tunnel narrowed and the ceiling dropped considerably, making it impossible to walk upright. Joie dropped to her knees and crawled through the tube on her hands and knees. Jubal and Gabrielle followed close behind. The steady drip of water reminded Joie of the clicking of the branches at the theater the night she was shot. There was a peculiar rhythm to the drops, almost as if some unseen hand, not nature, guided the water’s descent. The tube began to widen until she could once again stand.
A strange growling noise assaulted her ears, sounding like a cross between a hyena laughing and