Quicksilver

TEN

All the terrible shadows that Virginia had seen in mirrors since she had first come into her talent at the age of thirteen prowled the eerie mist that filled the hall. The dying stared at her with horrified, dread-filled eyes, as if they somehow sensed that she bore witness to their deaths. They did not plead for her to save them. They knew there was no hope. They asked for something else from her, something she could almost never provide: justice.

The ghastly visions whirled around her. She was suddenly dizzy. Her stomach roiled. For an instant she thought she would be ill, and then she realized she could not orient herself in the strange fog. There was no way to distinguish up from down. If she put one foot wrong she might tumble down the staircase that she could no longer see.

A voice came out of the mist, edged with the grim determination of a man who is hanging on to sanity by sheer force of will.

“Hallucinations,” Owen rasped. “Get down. This energy is so thick we won’t be able to find the stairs.”

He used the grip on her arm to pull her down onto her knees and then into a sitting position beside him. They locked hands and scrambled backward, feeling their way, until they came up against a hard surface. The wall, Virginia thought. At least she now had a sense of direction.

“It’s glasslight energy,” she said. “The same energy that was infused in the clockwork carriage. But there’s so much of it. It’s as if I’m trapped in a nightmare. I can’t lower my talent.”

“Neither can I,” Owen said. “Too much stimulation. The radiation is so intense, it’s electrifying our senses.”

“This thing is a far more powerful weapon than the carriage.”

“I think the carriage was designed to induce unconsciousness. This device was made to kill.”

“Or drive one to one’s death,” Virginia said.

“Can you control it? If not, we’re going to have to feel our way to the staircase.”

“I am doing my best.”

She strained to concentrate her senses in an effort to perceive some image in the mist that she knew was real. The horrific visions blurred and faded slightly. The clockwork dragon came back into view. It wavered in and out of focus as it slithered, scraped and clanked toward her.

“Much better,” Owen said. “A little closer and I will be able to kick it over.”

The device halted several feet away. The nightmarish scenes flickered on and off like visions in some ghostly magic lantern show.

“Not close enough,” Owen said. “But given the erratic way in which it is generating energy now, I may be able to reach it.”

She felt him shift beside her and knew that he was about to push himself away from the wall.

“Wait,” she said quickly. “I’ve managed to neutralize some of the energy, but if you get too close, it will get a better fix on you. Right now it appears to be confused.”

“You speak of the damn thing as though it were alive. It’s just a machine, a bloody damn clock.”

“I’m aware of that, thank you very much,” she snapped.

“Right,” Owen said, his tone suddenly very neutral. “Sorry.”

This was hardly the best moment for a quarrel, she thought. She concentrated on holding the currents steady.

“I believe the problem from the machine’s point of view is that we are touching each other,” she said. She tightened her hand around Owen’s gloved fingers and pressed her shoulder more firmly against his. “Our auras are overlapping. I think we appear to be a single entity to the dragon.”

“A single entity with two auras. It can’t get a strong fix.”

“Yes, I think so. But I cannot hold it still much longer. Let’s remove our gloves. Perhaps we can increase the confusion with skin-to-skin contact.”

“Worth a try.”

Arms linked, they each stripped off a glove. Seconds later Owen’s powerful bare hand closed firmly around Virginia’s fingers. A shock of awareness shivered through her. The surging currents of masculine energy thrilled her. It seemed to her that she was drawing power from him, as if the currents of her aura were now carried along on the rush of Owen’s energy field. Like a swimmer taking advantage of a powerful ocean wave, she thought. She should have been terrified, but the unfamiliar sensation was exhilarating. Because it is connected to Owen.

On the heels of that thought came another: What is happening here between us?

But there was no time to try to understand the sense of intimate connection that she was experiencing. The dragon’s energy was becoming increasingly violent.

She drew on the link with Owen to heighten her talent and intensify her focus. Underneath the waves of raw power that she was wielding, she sensed a danger, one she had never before encountered. Like the swimmer riding the crest of the wave, she had to remain in control of the dazzling white-hot storm she had created. She did not know for certain what would happen if she failed, but her intuition warned her that if she lost her focus for even a second, she and Owen would both drown in the raging sea of energy.

For a heartbeat or two it seemed that the effort was not working. But in the next breath the room steadied around them. The visions did not evaporate entirely, but they faded to ghostly images. The eyes of the clockwork dragon continued to spark and flash with ominous light, but the death masks in the magic lantern show that filled the hall grew pale and erratic.

“Let’s approach it together,” Owen said. “With luck, it will remain confused.”

Hands tightly clasped, they pushed themselves to their feet against the wall. Virginia kept up a high level of dampening energy. They waited a moment. When the paranormal storm did not flare up again, they moved toward the dragon.

When he got within range, Owen lashed out with one booted foot. The dragon toppled onto its side, glass eyes rattling in their sockets in an attempt to obtain another focus on its target. Virginia breathed a sigh of relief as the last of the dreadful hallucinations evaporated.

“I am no longer seeing visions,” she said.

“Neither am I,” Owen said. “Let’s get this damn thing deactivated.”

Keeping his grip on Virginia’s hand, he stripped off his other glove and crouched beside the device. He moved his fingers over the enameled body of the dragon and pressed a spot on the side. The back of the device opened on small hinges, revealing a complicated clockwork mechanism. Owen reached into the beast and did something to the metal innards. The dragon’s gilded claws froze in midair. Its eyes went dark as the energy inside faded.

In the eerie stillness that settled in the hall, Virginia was suddenly conscious of the rapid beat of her own pulse and an edgy sensation. She was acutely aware that Owen still gripped her hand. Little frissons continued to crackle through her, jangling her senses, arousing them in unfamiliar ways.

Owen released her fingers. The strange sensations dimmed a little, but they did not vanish altogether. She was certain that if Owen touched her again the thrilling feelings would flare up at once. She took a step back, putting some distance between herself and Owen, who seemed oblivious to the stirring energy in the atmosphere.

“I’ve got the key,” Owen said. He slipped it into the pocket of his coat. “I’m certain the device won’t operate now until it is rewound.”

“Like a clock?”

“Exactly like a clock.” Owen inspected the insides of the dragon. “And an elegantly made one, at that. Our clock maker spares no expense when it comes to materials.”

“Why on earth would anyone leave such an expensive device in an empty house?”

“It is hardly likely to be stolen,” Owen pointed out. “The average housebreaker would not survive an encounter with this toy.”

“True. Which implies that someone left it behind to guard the premises.”

Owen gave that a few seconds of close thought. “But it was not on guard when I came here the first time. That means that on one of his return visits the killer realized that someone else had been inside. He set the dragon to make certain that any future intruder would not survive.”

“He is protecting something that is very important to him.”

“I found nothing of value here on my first visit.” Owen got to his feet and looked at the closed door at the end of the hall. “I overlooked something. We must find out what there is in this house that warrants such an exotic guardian.”