Jayne Castle - Canyons of Night

“Not sure,” Slade said. “It’s still unfocused.”

“He lost his mother a few months ago. That kind of trauma can delay or even totally screw up developing senses.”

“He’s a good kid but he’s caught some bad breaks.”

“I understand that there’s no father in the picture.”

“No,” Slade said. “The kid’s got his grandmother but that’s it.”

“Myrna isn’t going to have an easy time of it. It’s hard enough to raise a teenage boy alone. Trying to deal with one who is showing some serious talent will be even more complicated.”

“Especially if the person doing the raising isn’t comfortable with the concept of nonstandard talent, herself,” Slade said.

“Who is, unless you happen to be Arcane? And even within the Society, very strong talents tend to make other sensitives nervous.”

“That’s the thing about power of any kind,” Slade said. “It can be scary. I told Devin that what was happening to him was normal but that most people wouldn’t think so. I advised him to keep quiet about his new senses until he’s older and until he’s figured out how to control them.”

“Good advice. Meanwhile, he needs guidance. No matter how you label it, what he did last night certainly fits the definition of illegal entry.”

“It won’t happen again.”

“A kid like Devin could go either way,” Charlotte said.

“I know.”

“Sounds like you speak from personal experience.”

“I do.”

HE WALKED HER HOME SHORTLY BEFORE ELEVEN o’clock, using a flashlight to illuminate the unlit road that wound through the trees along the bluff. The flashlight was for Charlotte’s sake. In spite of the damage to his talent, his night vision was still good, especially when he was a little jacked, as he was now. He had tried to keep his senses tightly shuttered all evening but just being around Charlotte was enough to give him a slight buzz, enough to illuminate the world with a faint ultralight radiance. Enough to keep the sweet ache of semi-arousal going deep inside him.

But Charlotte would have been walking blind without the artificial light. Darkness on the island was absolute once you were away from the town’s small business district and marina. There were no streetlights. The cottages and cabins scattered along the cliffs and bluffs were set far apart and veiled by thick woods. The branches of the trees that crowded close to the edges of the pavement blocked out what light came from the stars and crescent moon.

Charlotte glanced at Rex who rode on Slade’s shoulder. “You two are lucky. You can both see in the dark. Must come in handy.”

“Night vision has its uses.” He wondered how much longer he would have the paranormal eyesight that allowed him to see in total darkness. He wouldn’t need it to know if Charlotte were nearby, though, he thought. No matter how psiblind he became, something in him would always respond to her presence.

“When did Rex attach himself to you?” Charlotte asked.

“Shortly after I got out of—” He stopped abruptly. “After I finished my last job for the Office. I was living in an apartment in Crystal City. Heard a sound out on the balcony one night. I opened the slider and there was Rex. He just sat there for a while staring at me. He looked like he was waiting for something.”

“Food?”

“That’s what I figured. I gave him some leftover chicken. He ate it and then he left. The next morning he was back on the balcony with a nice little rock.”

“A rock?”

“A very green rock, psi green. I knew it had come from the underground rain forest.”

There was no mistaking the unique, acid-green glow that was the hallmark of so much of what the long-vanished aliens had constructed. Aboveground the ancient ruins of their dead cities glowed with green energy after dark. Down below, the endless labyrinth of catacombs they had built were lit with the strange green light day and night. The vast reaches of the bioengineered jungle buried deep in the Underworld were illuminated with an artificial green sun.

No one knew what had happened to the aliens who had first colonized Harmony. But human anthropologists and researchers had concluded that something in the environment of the planet had proved poisonous to them. The psi infused into the walls and buildings of their elegant, graceful cities and into the engineering marvel that was the Underworld had clearly been intended to be the antidote.

But in the end the forces of nature on Harmony had evidently proved too much for the aliens. No one knew if they had simply died out as a species or if they had called it quits and abandoned the planet. Whatever the case, they had vanished thousands of years before the human colonists from Earth had arrived on Harmony. The experts could not establish a firm date for the era of the alien colonists because the green quartz that they had used to construct virtually everything they had built or manufactured was indestructible. It showed no signs of weathering or erosion.

“So Rex brought you a rock from the rain forest to cement your relationship,” Charlotte said, amused. “What a clever, charming gift.”

“He’s been hanging around ever since,” Slade said. “Sometimes he takes off on his own for a while, usually at night. He started doing that here on Rainshadow on the night we arrived. I’ve gone with him a couple of times.”

She laughed. “Isn’t trespassing still illegal?”

“As illegal as it was fifteen years ago when you and I went in. But things have changed.”

“Like what?”

“For one thing, I’m the chief of police now. I can go anywhere I want on the island without having to worry about getting arrested for trespassing.”

“Oh, right. I forgot. You carry a badge. Must come in handy.”

“It does.” He paused, wondering how much to tell her. “But that’s not the only thing that has changed here.”

She must have picked up on the seriousness he had injected into the words because she turned her head quite sharply to look at him.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“According to Chief Halstead’s notes, the fence was strengthened about five years ago after two people managed to sneak into the Preserve and died on the grounds. The Foundation’s search-and-rescue team brought the bodies out. Then they sent an engineering crew to crank up the power of the fence. It’s definitely much stronger now, a lot harder to get through than it was the night I took you inside. But that’s not the only thing that has changed. The Preserve itself feels different, at least in parts.”

“Really? How?”

“It’s hard to explain. There are still a lot of pretty places, but in some sections the energy is darker and heavier.”

“I recall that it was very disorienting the night you took me in,” Charlotte said. “If you hadn’t been with me I would have been hopelessly lost within ten or twenty feet.”

“Back in those days the psi fence and the fear of getting lost was enough to keep out most folks. But now I’m pretty sure that only someone with a heck of a lot of talent and just as much determination could get through the barrier.”

“You said some of the places inside feel different?”

“I spent a lot of time inside the Preserve fifteen years ago. It was an irresistible attraction to a nineteen-year-old guy who had come into a strong talent.”

“I remember,” she said. She smiled, thinking about it. “I felt the lure, as well.”

“The two times I went in this past week I came across some features that were definitely not present fifteen years ago.”

“Such as?”

“Ponds and lakes that seem to simmer with dark energy. Canyons of intense night.”

“Canyons of night?” she repeated, fascinated.

“I don’t know what else to call them.”

“But the beautiful places are still there? That meadow that you showed me that night, for instance. It was like a fairyland. I’ve never forgotten it.”

“It’s still there,” he said. “Still as pretty as ever. But it feels hotter now.”

“Got any theories?”

“Not yet. But I’ve been doing some research online and I’m working on a theory. Ever heard of a paranexus?”

“Sure. According to the Arcane experts it’s a natural geologic hot zone of paranormal forces, a location where there is a confluence of several kinds of powerful natural energy currents. Similar to a vortex, I think. There are records of such places back on Earth and I’ve heard that they’ve found some here on Harmony down in the catacombs.”

“A nexus is more powerful and more complex than a vortex because there are more forces at work. In addition to the energy of the planet’s magnetic field, there are ocean currents and strong tides, as well as tectonic and geothermal forces involved in a true nexus. When they come together in certain ways in certain locations they produce a lot of ambient energy like the kind inside the Preserve.”

“You think it’s a nexus?”

“Yes.”

“How did you do your research on the Preserve?”

“I found some old navigational charts and ships’ logs and diaries from the First Century expeditions. They’re housed in the online collections of the University of Old Resonance. I also turned up a few accounts of the Amber Sea Islands left by smugglers and pirates. I haven’t had a chance to read all of them yet but I can see that a theme is emerging.”

“What kind of theme?”

“Some of the early navigators were convinced that Rainshadow was haunted by ghosts of the aliens.”

She laughed. “Okay, that’s an original notion but I think you can ignore that theory.”

“The first expedition that went into the part of the island that is now the Preserve disappeared. There were two rescue attempts made but in both cases the teams were forced to turn back. The bodies of the first group were never recovered. Later a couple of expeditions were able to get a short distance inside but none of them got far and most of the territory remains unmapped.”