Fired Up (Dreamlight Trilogy #1)(75)
Author: Jayne Ann Krentz

“Sure.” She could feel his hand wrapped tightly around hers. She opened her eyes and looked up at a familiar ceiling. “No place like home.”

“Welcome back,” Jack said. His stark features were drawn hard and taut. She sensed a subtle pulse of psi.

“You’re not sleeping again,” she accused.

“Not for the past twenty-four hours,” he said. “I’ll live.”

“What day is it?” she asked.

“Thursday. I carried you out of that Rollins gym the night before last.”

“And he’s been sitting here at your bedside ever since,” Rose announced from the other side of the bed. “We all have.”

At the foot of the bed, Hector got to his feet and ambled across the quilt to lick Chloe’s face. She grimaced and patted him.

“Please tell me he hasn’t been drinking out of the toilet bowl again,” she said.

Rose looked at Jack across the width of the bed. “Definitely back to normal. I’ll get her a glass of water. She needs fluids after that fever.”

Memory came slamming back. Chloe clutched Jack’s hand.

“Am I okay? You didn’t let Arcane do anything to me, did you?”

He smiled a little. “As far as Fallon knows you’re resting after your traumatic ordeal.”

“What time is it now?”

Jack checked his watch. “It’s just going on seven o’clock in the evening.”

“That certainly explains why I have to go to the bathroom. Excuse me.” She pushed the covers aside and got to her feet. Belatedly she glanced down and saw that she was wearing a nightgown. The gown and the bed were damp with sweat.

“Rose insisted on being the one to undress you,” Jack said.

She felt herself grow warm, not with fever this time. “Well, it’s not as if you’ve never seen me naked.”

“No. But Rose seemed to think you would be embarrassed later. Something about your intimacy issues combined with being vulnerable because you were asleep.”

“Right. Intimacy issues.” She pushed herself off the bed and hurried down the short hall into the bathroom.

Hector padded after her and settled down outside the door to wait for her. Abandonment issues, she thought. What the heck, we’ve all got issues.

She looked into the mirror and saw a woman who had just survived a raging fever. It was not, she thought, an attractive sight. Her hair was matted with dried perspiration, her complexion was wan and dehydrated and her eyes showed clear evidence of the strain and exhaustion. She was not exactly a candidate for Miss Perky of the Month, but she was alive, reasonably sane and when she cautiously opened her senses she realized she still had her talent. Thanks to Jack, she thought. He had trusted her and kept his promise.

She smiled at the woman in the mirror. Suddenly she felt a lot better than she had a few minutes ago.

When she emerged from the shower she found Rose busy in the small kitchen. Jack had made a pot of herbal tea. They drank it in front of the window, looking out at the view of the old- fashioned streetlights of Pioneer Square glowing in the rainy night.

“Did you tell Fallon Jones about my theory that dreamlight talents are immune to the formula?” Chloe asked.

“Didn’t know it was a theory,” Jack said, his tone a little too neutral. “On the way out of the gym you said that you were sure you were immune.”

She cleared her throat and reached for her mug. “Yes, well, I was almost positive. Anyhow, did you tell him?”

“No. Thought I’d leave the explanations to you.”

Rose spoke from the kitchen. “Fallon Jones has called every hour on the hour since Jack brought you back here. I turned off all the phones. Doesn’t that man ever sleep?”

“Not a lot, apparently,” Chloe said.

There was a short silence. Chloe looked at Jack.

“So now we know the origin of the Cerberus legend,” she said.

He nodded once, understanding immediately. “The third talent is the ability to use the lamp as a weapon.”

“I still say it’s all a single talent. And don’t forget, it takes two people to work the lamp that way.”

He said nothing for a moment.

“What are you thinking?” she said.

“I’m thinking that we don’t tell Fallon Jones exactly what the lamp can do. Arcane doesn’t need any more Winters legends.”

She smiled. “Don’t worry; Harper Investigations takes client confidentiality very seriously.”

“Speaking of Fallon, I’m ready to give him a call. I want to find out what happened after we left the gym. There was nothing in the morning papers yesterday or today, so it looks like Arcane and Nightshade managed to keep things low profile.”

“Nothing beats a couple of clandestine paranormal organizations when it comes to keeping secrets,” Chloe said. “By the way, I think I know what happened to Adelaide Pyne’s journal. A woman named Victoria Knight has it.”

“ABOUT TIME YOU CALLED,” Fallon growled. “Chloe okay?”

“I told you that she was fine,” Jack said.

“You lied. But I’m getting used to it.”

“She needed rest. I didn’t want you disturbing her. What happened at the gym?”

Fallon exhaled slowly. “Not much. The illusion-talent I sent in found Nash’s body and a bunch of unconscious guards but not much else. Hulsey was long gone.”

“What did he do with the body?”

“I didn’t ask,” Fallon said.

“What about computers? Hulsey’s notes? Files?”

“The agent retrieved a few items of interest, but nothing that looks useful. Evidently Hulsey grabbed the essential stuff when he fled.”

“Probably had it all on a computer that he took with him when he escaped through the tunnel. What about the hunters?”

“They all recovered consciousness and were offered the antidote. Four of them accepted. They’re being treated now, but I doubt that we’ll get anything useful out of them. Nightshade operatives at that level never know much.”

“What about the ones who didn’t accept the antidote?”

“The illusion-talent let them go,” Fallon said wearily. “Not much else we can do. If Nightshade follows its usual pattern and cuts them loose, they’ll all be dead soon. We tried to warn them, but these guys were seriously indoctrinated. It’s like they’d joined a cult.”

Jack thought about that. “Maybe that’s how Nightshade recruits at the lower levels.”