Falling Light (Game of Shadows #2)(25)

The ghost was easier to see than he had been early this morning. In full sunshine, he was barely a glimmer. Now the strong, powerful lines of his body were distinct in the gray, cloudy evening.

He looked at Mary and seemed to hesitate. Had he felt something when she’d seen his death? She shuddered, hoping he would never ask, and Michael put a bracing arm around her shoulders.

“What is it?” Michael asked. “What’s happened?”

Michael and Nicholas had been, if not friends, at least colleagues. She might have frowned at Michael’s abrupt attitude, except that she saw how his gaze traveled over the scene again. He was as wary as she was of staying in one spot for too long.

Astra sent me with a message for you, Nicholas said. She said she knows of the traps the enemy has set for you. Don’t turn away from your course. Don’t turn south. Push through their barriers, and move quickly, because she is calling in all of her favors and sending help.

Mary waited expectantly for more, but instead of saying anything further, Nicholas fell silent.

She muttered, “Was that meant to be cryptic, or is it just me?”

The ghost said to Michael, She said that you would understand.

Michael’s arm tightened on her shoulders. He glanced down at her, and he looked grimmer than ever. He said, “I do.” He looked north. “We don’t have time to try to play it safe and go south. We need to go into Petoskey and get a boat. We’d better hurry. There’s a hell of a storm coming our way.”

“And getting on a boat right now is supposed to be a good thing?” She looked between Michael and Nicholas doubtfully. “I’m pretty sure I’m missing something important here, because usually people like to get off the water when there’s a hell of a storm coming their way.”

Michael said, “If we go south we won’t be able to get on the water in time to take advantage of the cover she’s offering. When it hits, the storm will be the dominant image on any radar systems, and it will help to disguise our presence from pursuers. It will also drive police patrols to dock until it has passed.”

“It still sounds awfully risky,” she said.

Michael nodded. “It is. So is going south.”

“But if we go south, you can do the null space thing while we’re on the boat, right?”

“Yes, but I can’t project the effect onto long-distance radar equipment,” he said. He lifted one broad shoulder. “Going north or going south—there’s going to be dangers and risks either way. What do you want to do? Whatever we decide, we’d better do it quickly. We shouldn’t keep standing here. If we don’t move north fast enough, we may not be able to get out on the water in time.”

A sharp gust of wind hit them. She shivered as she said, “I don’t know. . . .”

Nicholas interrupted her. My father is dying.

Her mouth snapped shut. She and Michael stared at the ghost. She said softly, “Oh, damn. I’m so sorry.”

Michael asked, “What happened?”

The ghost seemed to shake his head. I don’t know. He was already unconscious when I reached him. All I know is that he is on the island, and Astra has said that she can’t do anything for him. His glimmering, dark eyes fixed on Mary. But perhaps you could, if you reached him in time.

Nicholas had come to help her, unasked, when she had been running alone and terrified in the forest. She didn’t even have to think about it. “Of course,” she said, instinctively reaching a hand out toward him even though he was insubstantial. “We’ll be there as soon as we can.”

Nicholas raised his own hand, as if he would clasp hers.

But he couldn’t, of course, because he was dead.

Unless she could do something about that too.

That morning, she had examined two men whose souls were dead, although their bodies were still active and dangerous. Drones, Michael called them. Their spirits were gone, and there was no way to recall them. She could even see how the Deceiver had killed the spirits but left the bodies animate and functional. The long, slashing psychic scar on both drones had been clearly visible to her mind’s eye.

While here she looked at a ghost of a courageous and extraordinary man who had not deserved to die.

She bit her lip. What she was considering did not seem as chilling as it had the first time it had occurred to her. She wasn’t sure what that said about her. In the next breath, she decided she didn’t care.

Because on the one hand, there was one man who did not deserve to be dead. While on the other hand, the Deceiver had created so many drones that no longer deserved to live.

“I have something I want to discuss with you,” she said to Nicholas.

“That’s going to have to wait,” Michael said. He turned her around and propelled her toward the front of the Jeep. “Either that or we’ll have to talk about it on the road, because we’ve got to get moving.”

I must return to my father while I can, said Nicholas. I will see you on the island, and we can talk there. Safe journey.

“And to you,” Michael said.

Nicholas vanished.

They were right, of course. She loped around to the passenger side of the Jeep and climbed in.

Michael slid into the driver’s seat and started the engine. As he pulled out of the parking lot, he said, “What did you want to discuss with Nicholas?”