Jayne Castle - Canyons of Night

But there was one other possible scenario. The outer edge of the energy fence that marked the Preserve was not far from here. Both boys were aware of it.

He looked at Rex, who was now staring intently into the trees where the fence began. Slade got the impression that he was waiting. Waiting for me to start the hunt? Rex was acting as if they were a team.

Cautiously he eased his talent up another notch. The first whispers of the dark stormlight energy at the far end of the spectrum flickered across his senses. He could not risk going any hotter, he decided. If Charlotte was wrong, he might trigger total and complete psiblindness right here and now. He needed what was left of his senses to find the boys.

But Devin and Nate had been in a flat-out panic when they ran. They had left tracks that were vivid enough to be seen with his senses only partially elevated. One set of tracks glowed hotter and more vividly than the other.

“Smart boys,” Slade said softly. “You made a run for the Preserve.”

Devin’s newly emerging intuition might have told him that he could get through the barrier. He might even have realized that he could drag Nate with him. It would not have been a pleasant experience but a couple of scared kids could overlook a lot of disturbing energy when they were running for their lives. Adrenaline would have fueled their flight. It was a potent drug and it left seething tracks.

Slade started toward the fence line.

The shooters’ prints stopped short of the invisible energy barrier. Relief surged through Slade. The gunmen had not pursued the boys into the Preserve. That made sense. They clearly possessed some talent, but not a lot, probably not enough to make them want to risk going into the Preserve.

Slade loped after Rex, who was trotting eagerly ahead. Rex’s mood had changed. He chortled enthusiastically, evidently enjoying himself. It was obvious that he was following the boys’ prints. He knew both Devin and Nate. Maybe he thought this was some sort of psychic game of hide-and-seek.

With his talent slightly elevated, Slade had no trouble following the trail into the denser stand of trees. The oppressive energy of the fence was strong now, but he had entered the Preserve often enough to be able to push through it. Devin and Nate had managed to get through it, too. Their psi-prints were still visible and still leading deeper into the Preserve.

There was one last blast of nightmarish energy from the fence and then Slade was through the force-field barrier. He stopped long enough to orient himself and adjust his talent to a lower level. When he looked down he could still see the glowing trail.

“Once inside they probably wouldn’t have gone far,” Slade said.

But Rex wasn’t listening. He bounded ahead with his purse.

Slade followed the prints through a jumble of boulders and another stand of trees. Rex vanished into the woods, chortling cheerfully. A short time later Slade heard Devin’s voice.

“Look, it’s Rex. What are you doing here, Rex? How did you find us? Where’s the chief?”

“Right here,” Slade said. He walked out of the woods into a small clearing.

He took in the scene in a single glance. Devin was perched on a rock, patting Rex. Nate was nearby. His face lit up when he saw Slade.

“Chief Attridge,” he said. “You found us.”

“Told you he’d get us out of here,” Devin announced proudly.

He gave Rex one last pat and jumped to his feet. He dashed toward Slade. So did Nate.

There was a disconcerting moment when it looked like both boys were going to throw their arms around Slade. He breathed a sigh of relief when the teens stumbled to an awkward halt a short distance away.

“Nice work,” he said to cover up the embarrassing moment. “You saved yourselves and you stayed put until someone got here. Your families are going to be proud of you. So am I.”

Devin and Nate grinned.

“Two guys shot at us,” Nate said.

“We think they were drug smugglers,” Devin added.

“Devin got us through the fence,” Nate said. “I didn’t think he could but he did it. That was one weird trip, let me tell you. I thought my head would explode or something.”

“I know,” Slade said.

Devin’s triumphant expression faded. “I know we aren’t supposed to go into the Preserve, Chief.”

“You did what you had to do to save Nate and yourself. It was the right thing.”

Devin flushed but he grinned again.

“Did you catch those two guys who chased us in here?” he asked.

“No,” Slade said. “They’re long gone and the site has been pretty thoroughly cleaned. I couldn’t find your packs or your bicycles.”

“Those two assholes probably dumped them into the water,” Nate muttered. “My bike was brand-new. Dad said if I let anything happen to it he wouldn’t replace it.”

“I’ll have a talk with your dad,” Slade said. “Got a hunch he’ll be reasonable, given the circumstances. Let’s get out of here. You can give me the whole story on the way home.”

“They wore caps,” Devin said.

“And they had guns,” Nate added.

“I know,” Slade said. He looked down at the ground around Devin’s feet. The boys’ footsteps were still glowing hot. “Devin, are you carrying amber or anything with crystals embedded in it?”

“Just my compass. But it doesn’t work in here.”

“Let me see it.”

“Sure.”

Devin fished the compass out of his pocket. Slade took it from him. All four crystals were glowing brightly.

“Huh,” he said.

“I told you, it doesn’t work in here,” Devin said. “It’s been lit up like that since we went through the fence.”

“It’s not functioning as a compass,” Slade said. “But I think it is working as some kind of tracking device. It might explain why your prints were so clear.”

“What does that mean?” Devin asked.

“I don’t know, but it’s interesting.” He gave the compass back to Devin. “We’ll worry about it later. We need to get you guys back home.”

Nate looked uneasy again. “Does this mean we have to go back through the fence?”

“I’m afraid so,” Slade said. “But this time it will be easier for two reasons.”

“What reasons?” Nate asked, still wary.

“Reason number one is that all three of us are going to go through it together. Brace yourselves, we’re going to hold hands.”

Devin snorted. “Yeah, that’s how we did it the first time, huh, Nate?”

Nate rolled his eyes. “Why does that make a difference?”

“Hard to explain,” Slade said. “But it does.”

“What’s the second reason it will be easier?” Devin asked.

Slade smiled. “It’s always easier to get through something like this when you know what’s waiting for you on the other side. In this case, it will be dinner.”

“YOU KNOW, IF YOU REALLY WANT TO GET OUT OF THIS job and off Rainshadow, you’re going to have to stop playing hero,” Charlotte said. She used hot pads to set the pan of hot, fragrant lasagna on the table. “Now that Myrna and Officer Willis as well as everyone else in town know that you can go into the Preserve to rescue lost kids, the locals are going to pull out all the stops to keep you from resigning in a few months.”

“I wasn’t the hero today.” Slade studied the lasagna with a sense of great anticipation. It occurred to him that he was hungry, especially for Charlotte’s home cooking. “The kids saved themselves. All I did was go into the Preserve to retrieve them.”

“Well, in case you hadn’t noticed, being able to go into the Preserve is considered an impressive feat in these parts. The ability to track a couple of people inside the grounds is held to be downright amazing. This is the first time anyone around here can recall that a rescue was carried out without having to call the Preserve authorities. And the first time in years when the folks who needed rescuing were found alive.”

“Probably the first time the local chief of police has had some psychic talent,” Slade allowed.

“Or at least your particular type of talent,” Charlotte said. “Clearly not every kind of ability works equally well inside the Preserve. I’ve got a fair amount of talent but I’m quite sure I could not have found my way back out, let alone track a couple of kids.”

She cut two large portions of lasagna and set them on plates. She set one of the plates on top of the refrigerator for Rex. He favored heights, she noticed. He chortled exuberantly and bounded up on top of the appliance. He set his clutch aside and settled down to dine with his customary enthusiasm.

She put the second plate of lasagna in front of Slade. She cut a smaller slice for herself and sat down at the kitchen table.

Inviting Slade to dinner tonight had been an impulse, Charlotte thought. She had not intended to do so because she had concluded that he needed some space. He was, after all, dealing with a lot of heavy stuff these days. She knew that he had not yet allowed himself to believe that he might recover his senses. He was not a man to be pushed or manipulated. He had to come to his own decisions. Hence her give-the-man-some-space strategy.

But when he had stopped by her shop shortly after returning to town with the boys, she had changed her mind. The shadows in his eyes and the hard, grim cast of his face had told her that, unlike everyone else in Shadow Bay, he was not in a celebratory mood.

“I take it this isn’t over?” she had asked.

“No, it’s not,” he’d said.

There had been no time to talk because Nate’s parents had arrived on the sidewalk out front, eager to thank him for bringing their son home safe and sound. But she’d gotten the distinct impression that Slade wanted to talk and he definitely needed to unwind. So she’d tossed aside her carefully orchestrated strategy and asked him to dinner. She wanted to hear every single detail of the big rescue, anyway.